Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 20 August 2010 10:21
(A review of
Gladiator)
In fact, I did see the damned thing back then with my buddies in the movie theater when it was released. At the time, it was not yet hailed as a great classic and, to be honest, I thought it was a decent watch but nothing really amazing. Since then, I have re-watched it at least 3 times but I still don't get why everybody seems to think it is one of the best movies ever made. I mean, it did look awesome, the directing was off the chart, Russel Crowe delivered an impressive performance but what about the story? Yes, it was entertaining but it was really also nothing ground-breaking in my opinion. I know, it is a huge classic and it is definitely a solid feature but it is not much more than that, I’m afraid. In my opinion, at the end of the day, the story was in fact a rather generic peplum and it didn't add much to the formula. In this style, I'd rather watch 'Spartacus' or 'Ben Hur' anytime. At least, thanks to this movie and after struggling for many years, Ridley Scott finally managed to make a massive come-back releasing afterwards no less than 12 movies in 15 years. To conclude, coming back to our main feature, it is in fact a decent action movie, I'll give you that, but it is definitely not a great flick and it must be one of the most overrated movies ever made.
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Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 20 August 2010 10:04
(A review of
Dead Poets Society)
This is yet another big classic from the 80's... Personally, I do like Robin Williams. I think he can be quite funny and it is a good thing that he tries from time to time another genre but, unfortunately, he is usually really irritating in these melodramatic movies... But, in my opinion, he is not even the worst thing in this movie... I just hate its message. The best example was when they pick up their book and started to destroy them. Come on ! Is it so brilliant to destroy a 30 euro book ?!? In some countries, they don't even have books for their education. I found it was just revolting. And it is just one example of the dubious philosophy provided by this movie. You know, it is one of those movies which is supposed to deal with poetry but there is no poetry at all during the whole thing and don't start with the whole 'Carpe Diem' crap ... Like Roger Ebert said "Dead Poets Society" is a collection of pious platitudes masquerading as a courageous stand in favor of something: doing your own thing, I think.Of course, the directing and acting were pretty good but the story is nothing amazing, in my opinion. To conclude, it is actually not bad at all and actually rather entertaining but it is far from being a great movie and it must be one of the most overrated movies ever made.
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Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 20 August 2010 10:02
(A review of
The Sixth Sense)
I remember when this movie came out as if it was yesterday. Indeed, I actually saw it in the USA when I was there on holiday. At the time, everybody was talking about this movie. Every time you would talk about movies someone would say at some point 'Have you seen The Sixth Sense? Dude, that was just awesome. I was just blown away by this twist ending !'. I have to admit it, I didn't get the twist before the end but, to be honest, I never felt it was such a strong ending. In my opinion, it was actually rather underwhelming as I thought it was a cheap way to give some supposedly 'deep' meaning to an otherwise decent story. I mean, the directing was pretty good, Bruce Willis gave a decent performance and Haley Joel Osment was definitely impressive but, in my opinion, the concept was actually completely bonkers. Indeed, why doesn’t Malcolm notice that he is not able to connect to his wife, his colleagues or anyone else? Well, simply because ghosts choose to see what they want to see. I mean, come one, what a lame explanation! Just like all the other twists developed by Shyamalan in his next movies, it was a just terribly weak way to cover up some major plot holes. The whole thing was basically about a young boy who is completely freaked out because he can see some dead people, which is quite understandable, and somehow, he becomes friend with one of them and this ghost helps him to overcome his fears and to handle his gift. It's too bad because it was actually a really good story and it is a real shame that Shyamalan tricked the audience by making us believe that Malcolm was actually alive during the whole thing. I mean, seriously, what did it really add to the story? To conclude, it is not bad at all and actually really entertaining but, in my opinion, this so-called great twist pretty much ruined a strong story. In my humble opinion, it is far from being a great movie and it must be one of the most overrated movies ever made.
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Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 20 August 2010 09:41
(A review of
Rain Man)
I already saw this movie but since it was ages ago, I was quite eager to check it out again. Obviously, it is a big classic from the 80's but, to be honest, I have never been a huge fan of this flick. First of all, I don’t think it grew old very well. Was everybody really so clueless about autism back in those days? I mean, at some point, a doctor mentioned that Raymond was not so ‘bad’ since he was still able to communicate whereas his autism was actually fairly extreme and that comment was coming from an actual doctor. On top of that, it really annoys me every time when these guys from Hollywood make a picture about an autist as he always has to be some kind of genius... Of course, some autists are really gifted but just as much as neurotypical people (my stepson is autistic, he is a great guy and I love him but he is just a regular block, no great special talents and it doesn't make him less wonderful or interesting). However, I have to admit that it took some guts from Tom Cruise to take the usual cocky arrogant character he was always playing at the time and turned him into some major unlikable douchebag. However, it was rather cringe-inducing to see Charlie pretty much molesting his autistic brother through most of the duration. The fact that he suddenly had a change of heart and out of nowhere grew a conscience during the final act was also hardly convincing. Still, I have to admit it, Dustin Hoffman gave an impressive performance here and he must have fought very hard to be able to keep the character as he is without softening the edges. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have to admit that it is actually fairly entertaining but it is far from being a great movie and it must be one of the most overrated movies ever made.
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Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 20 August 2010 09:39
(A review of
The Matrix)
I know... I know... It is such a milestone in motion picture history !!! Let me explain myself... In fact, I saw the damned thing when it came out back then thinking it would be just a fun SF movie. But, as a matter of fact, it started much better than I expected and it seemed really promising. Indeed, the visuals were great, there were some great actions scenes and the theme was really neat : "our world is not real, we live in an illusion". My God ! They are going for the big question "what is the meaning of life ?" at least "What is real and what is not?". I was completely hooked and waiting to see what would happen next. But that was only the first 30 minutes... Then, came this black dude with the famous blue and red pills. And then, I got my answer. We don't live for real, actually, our brains are sucked out by some machines... Come on ! Really? Give me a break ! So, basically, those guys implied that our world was not real, that there might be something else out there but, instead of giving us an amazing and inspiring new world, they went for a vision even more sordid and underwhelming than our actual world. What was then the freaking point?!? I still think it was visually great and indeed a milestone in this area but the story was in fact not great at all. At least, according to my taste. To conclude, it is not bad at all and actually rather entertaining but it is far from being a great movie and it must be one of the most overrated movies ever made.
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Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 20 August 2010 09:32
(A review of
Kill Bill: Vol. 2)
Honestly, I was not a big fan of 'Kill Bill: Vol. 1' but it was fun and I liked it even if it wasn't a masterpiece, in my opinion. So, I had some rather low expectations before watching this second part. To my surprise, this movie was eventually even more disappointing. Indeed, in my opinion, it was not really fun and honestly even quite boring... Basically, it might be the worst movie directed by Tarantino so far. Sure, since Tarantino was directing, it was still not bad at all and actually rather entertaining but it was far from being a great movie and it must be one of the most overrated movies ever made, at least, in my opinion. Some viewers (probably Tarantino as well) think that those two movies are actually one big epic story and I tend to respectfully disagree. Indeed, there was an obvious difference in style and tone between the two movies. Basically, the first movie was a fun throwback to the 70's martial arts movies from Hong Kong whereas the second movie was just ... something else rather boring to behold. To conclude, even a boring movie directed by Tarantino is still much better than all the garbage you can see nowadays, so I still think it is worth a look but I seriously don't get what was the fuss about this flick.
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Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 20 August 2010 09:09
(A review of
Forrest Gump (1994))
It is basically one of those movies that has created through the years some pretty strong reactions. When I think about it, the only movie I can think of right now which has generated the same kind of extreme reactions must be ‘Titanic’. Anyway, the point is that, on one hand, some people think that this movie is just great, a timeless classic and one of the best movies ever made while, on the other hand, there is a whole bunch of people who think that this movie is not that great all and that it is in fact one of the most overrated features ever made. Personally, I’m afraid I belong to the 2nd group. First of all, the main issue I always had with this movie was with its lead character, the infamous Forrest Gump. I mean, the guy is just so stupid and irritating! I know he is supposed to be touching and all but it didn't work for me at all. And the message it gives... "it doesn't matter if you're stupid or defective, as long as you can play some ping-pong, you will be fine". I thought it was pretty bad and offensive towards mentally impaired people… I know many people see this film as some kind of fairy tale and I have been told so many times I shouldn't take it so seriously and I dig that but it just doesn't work for me. To conclude, I have to admit it, it is actually a rather well made feature, it is not bad at all and actually rather entertaining but it is far from being a great movie and it is, in my opinion, terribly overrated.
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Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 20 August 2010 09:05
(A review of
Man Bites Dog)
To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and I should probably re-watch it at some point. Anyway, I remember it very well when it was released In France. Indeed, at the time, there was a lot of buzz around this movie and it quickly became a huge cult classic. Apparently, it also reached some international recognition as it was later on added in the list '1001 movies you must see before you die'. With this in mind, I had some really high expectations before watching the damned thing but, to be honest, I thought it was really disappointing. I mean, I have to admit it, the whole thing really had some potential, it started pretty well, it was a little bit like ‘Spinal Tap’ but instead of some hard rockers, you had a serial killer and it had some pitch black humor. But after a while, the jokes got worse and worse with 2 top moments, one when the main character goes to a restaurant to eat some mussels and eventually throws everything up (this scenes lasted like 20 minutes...) and one of the final scenes when the guy rapes a woman... To conclude, I really had a hard time to care for the whole thing and I think it is one of the most overrated films ever made.
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Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 20 August 2010 08:56
(A review of
The Exorcist)
Even though this movie is a huge classic, I always had a hard time to really care for this movie. Basically, before I watched the damned thing, I was expecting something really scary but eventually I didn't think it was scary at all. As a matter of fact, I thought it was actually even rather funny. My guess is that 40 years ago, when it came out, people were quite shocked and possibly scared but nowadays, there are many movies which are really more disturbing. Seriously, when the girl is screaming, swearing, puking, playing with the crucifix, did you think it was really scary ? I did not. Still, it is far from being a bad movie. Indeed, I saw it again not so long ago and it definitely had some qualities. To start off, the directing was very good and the eerie tone of the whole thing was actually very well done. The main flaw, I guess, was with the story. Basically, you can feel that it was the first big movie dealing with Excorcism since they spent way too much time trying to 'scientifically' prove that the girl was not possessed. I mean, the most incredible things happened to this girl and you kept seeing again and again those scientists saying 'there is a perfect logical explanation for this phenomenon' and you could see the mother nodding 'yes, of course!'... Come on, give me a break! As a viewer, it takes you about 5-10 minutes to figure out the whole thing, but it takes the movie about 90 minutes to get there so it gets really tiresome and really unbelievable after a while. But again, in my humble opinion, the least successful part was when the girl goes completely Lucifer on us. Most of the time I was actually shocked about how ridiculous the whole thing looked. Anyway, to conclude, it is definitely not a bad movie but it didn't grow old very well and it must be one of the most overrated movies ever made.
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Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 20 August 2010 08:54
(A review of
The Killer)
It’s another movie that I saw ages ago. In fact, I actually managed to see it in the movie theatre when there was a special re-run. However, it was probably more than 20 years ago and I should definitely re-watch the damned thing at some point. Anyway, I remember it very well, back in the 90's, John Woo was really hot, he was pretty much considered as an icon by many directors such as Quentin Tarantino and since ‘The Killer’ was considered to be his magnum opus, I watched it with the highest expectations. Well, to be honest, I thought the damned thing was actually pretty bad. The fact that it was my first contact with John Woo’s work probably didn’t help. Basically, there were a lot of shootings, lot of slow motion... Eventually, the very top was one of the last scenes. If I recall it correctly, there was this woman who was blind from the start and one of these 2 main male characters who also became blind during one those countless shootings. So, you get to see this blind man and this blind woman actually crawling to each other very slowly, in a typical John Woo slow motion style. Seriously, the scene just looked ridiculous and the worse was that at the end.... They actually missed each other !!! Indeed, they were actually crawling next to each other!! Sure, it was probably supposed to be very touching and very symbolic but, honestly, it just stroke me how pathetic it looked. Anyway, as mentioned before, I was much younger when I saw this flick, maybe I would enjoy it more if I gave it a 2nd chance but, as far as I’m concerned, this movie is actually vastly overrated.
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