Explore
 Lists  Reviews  Images  Update feed
Categories
MoviesTV ShowsMusicBooksGamesDVDs/Blu-RayPeopleArt & DesignPlacesWeb TV & PodcastsToys & CollectiblesComic Book SeriesBeautyAnimals   View more categories »
Listal logo
All reviews - Movies (7797) - TV Shows (10)

One of the best ever

Posted : 14 years, 7 months ago on 7 September 2010 06:52 (A review of Fight Club)

In my opinion, this movie has everything. There is some great acting, some great directing and a great story. It entertains you but also makes you think at the same time, at least, in my case. In my opinion, it is hands down David Fincher's best movie and I think it is a great achievement. Yesterday, I watched it again after so many years and I enjoyed it even more. Indeed, back then, when it was released, it was actually a flop, above all thanks to the terrible marketing campaign which focused on the fighting. Of course, this movie is not about fighting, it is filled with many more ideas and I especially enjoyed how they focused on insanity. 10 years later, it remains David Fincher's most ambitious project, it is sometimes thrilling, funny but very very dark. All those elements are mixed together in an incredible visual style, something we have been used to get again and again from this director. Not everybody, like Roger Ebert for example, did like this movie actually. Some people thought it was too violent, some others thought it had a dubious message. I think that, in order to enjoy this movie, you have to understand that the main character is insane, so all the people following his orders are not really wise and his relationship with Helena Bonham-Carter is bound to be messed up as well. My point is that it is a messed up and chaotic movie but brilliantly directed and I really loved it. To conclude, in my opinion, it is one of the best movies ever made and it is a must see for any decent movie lover.


0 comments, Reply to this entry

An average movie

Posted : 14 years, 7 months ago on 6 September 2010 07:26 (A review of In Tranzit)

Basically, there was a time when I would go to a video game shop (which is now closed) and I would buy there on a regular basis 5 DVDs for 5 euros and, sometimes, since I would be missing 1 DVD, I would pick up pretty much anything at random just to reach 5 movies. Anyway, following this amazing process, I ended up watching some rather obscure movies and this one was definitely one of them. In this case, the main reason I wanted to check it out was because John Malkovich was involved but the rest of the cast was also pretty neat (Vera Farmiga, Thomas Kretschmann, Daniel Brühl, Thekla Reuten). Eventually, I must admit that it was dealing with a very interesting piece of history. Indeed, while watching this flick, I came to realize that I have barely seen any movies dealing with the Soviet Union during WWII and only therefore I thought it was quite neat to see this. Unfortunately,  the story was still rather weak though. At least, all the actors involved did provide some solid performances but I wish the story had been more compelling. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in this subject.



0 comments, Reply to this entry

A disappointing movie

Posted : 14 years, 7 months ago on 6 September 2010 11:45 (A review of The Color of Freedom (2007))

To be honest, since it is a rather obscure feature, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Bille August’s work, I thought I might as well give it a try. Indeed, Bille August is one of the very few directors who managed to win 2 Golden Palms at the Cannes Film festival (‘Pelle erobreren’ and ‘Den goda viljan’, in fact, I’m amazed I have still not managed to watch any of them after all these years). Unfortunately,  I must say that even though all his following movies (at least, the ones I have seen so far)  were usually quite interesting, none of them managed to actually reach that level again. This movie, for example, is a perfect example and it had such a potential to be great as it was dealing with a very interesting subject. Unfortunately, even though Nelson Mandela was one of the most fascinating historical figures that ever lived, this was not a great movie, I’m afraid. Above all, I thought that the story was rather weak and not really fascinating whatsoever. Still, there was a very good performance given by Dennis Haysbert though and the whole thing is still worth a look.



0 comments, Reply to this entry

An average movie

Posted : 14 years, 8 months ago on 3 September 2010 06:50 (A review of What Goes Up)

Basically, there was a time when I would go to a video game shop (which is now closed) and I would buy there on a regular basis 5 DVDs for 5 euros and, sometimes, since I would be missing 1 DVD, I would pick up pretty much anything at random just to reach 5 movies. Anyway, following this amazing process, I ended up watching some rather obscure movies and this one was definitely one of them. To be honest, I had some rather low expectations with this movie and I thought it would be just terrible but, to be honest, it was actually not bad at all. First of  all, I always had a weak spot for Steve Coogan and I thought he was again pretty good in this movie. Unfortunately, even though the story was not bad, it was not great either. Basically, it was one of those quirky indie comedies and even though they try convince you that it is all smart, clever, whatever, in fact, it never really reached its full potential. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I though it was a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially  if you enjoyed Steve Coogan's previous efforts.



0 comments, Reply to this entry

A really weird movie

Posted : 14 years, 8 months ago on 3 September 2010 06:47 (A review of D.E.B.S.)

To be honest, I wasn't really expecting much from this flick but, somehow, I still ended up watching the damned thing. Well, even though I didn't have some really high expectations,  this movie still managed to be disappointing. In fact, above all, I thought it was a rather weird movie. Indeed, basically, it deals with some hot girls who ended up getting involved in some lesbian love affair. But the weirdness didn't stop here, those girls were also some kind of super spys and top criminals. Eventually, the whole thing was a real mess and it felt also really exploitative concerning the whole lesbian thing. For the charming Sara Foster, it was already the second flop she made back in 2004 (she was also in the really lame 'The Big Bounce') and, even though her career just started at the time, it never really recovered from this double-blow. For the other girls involved (Jordana Brewster, Meagan Good, Devon Aoki), it didn't have such a negative impact but it was certainly a low point in their respective careers. Anyway, to conclude, at the end of the day, I don't think it is a really bad movie but I still don't think it is really worth a look.



0 comments, Reply to this entry

A touching movie

Posted : 14 years, 8 months ago on 2 September 2010 11:37 (A review of Freedom Writers)

Hilary Swank has one very particular career. Indeed, she was nominated twice for the Academy award for the Best Actress in a Leading Role and won it twice so you might think that she should be one of the best actresses of her generation but, unfortunately, pretty much everything else she did in her career was either not interesting or barely got noticed. This movie is a fine example. Indeed, according to IMDb, it is in fact her 3rd best movie behind, of course, 'Boys Don't Cry' and 'Million Dollar Baby' so I had some rather high expectations but, to be honest, even though it was a decent watch, I can't say I was really blown away by the whole thing after all. I mean , I have to admit it, in this genre, it might one of the best movies I have seen, I'll give you that. But, unfortunately, there were still the annoying clichés inherent to this kind of movies: they hate the teacher, she has an alternative way to teach, they eventually love her, one colleague hates her,.... But, at the end of the day, I still I think it was quite touching and the whole thing is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 



0 comments, Reply to this entry

A disappointing movie

Posted : 14 years, 8 months ago on 2 September 2010 11:32 (A review of Doomsday)

What the hell happened with Neil Marshall?!? At some point, especially after 'The Descent' was released, he was hailed as the next best thing coming from England but, by now, it has been more than 5 years since he has released a new directing effort. Anyway, after his directing debut 'Dog soldier', which was not bad, and 'The Descent', which was quite good, I was getting quite interested in Neil Marshall's work but, to be honest, I thought that his 3rd movie was rather disappointing. Indeed, in my opinion, at the end of the day, the story and the action scenes were in fact rather boring. But, I have to admit that, there were actually a few good points. For example, the beginning was quite nice and Rhona Mitra was a really good choice for the lead. On top of that, the whole thing was seriously violent ! Indeed, I don't know how many people in how many different ways got killed in close-up. There were even a dead rabbit and a dead cow.... To conclude, it was nothing great or original but, in spite of its flaws, I think it is still worth a look, especially if you enjoyed Marshall's previous efforts or if you like the genre. 



0 comments, Reply to this entry

A classic

Posted : 14 years, 8 months ago on 1 September 2010 06:53 (A review of The Red Shoes)

A few years back, I kept coming across those two names, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and they were always referred as some of the best movie directors ever (Martin Scorsese, for example, is a huge fan) and, supposedly, the movies they made together represented the Golden Age of British cinema. After hearing all these, I started to watch all the movies they made together and, by now, I have seen 4 of those ('Black Narcissus', 'I Know Where I'm Going!', 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'). This movie was the first one I saw and, so far, it is easily my favorite one. I mean, I'm not really into ballet but the movie was just gorgeous to see with some flawless directing and it was also very interesting to see how a ballet in general works. The story was also rather fascinating and they seamlessly combined a realistic approach to ballet with some fantasy scenes (which reminded me of 'Black Swan'). Like I said before, I'm not really into ballet so I wasn't exactly blown away by the whole thing but it was still very enjoyable. To conclude, it is and remains a great classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.


0 comments, Reply to this entry

A weird movie

Posted : 14 years, 8 months ago on 31 August 2010 06:01 (A review of The Chaos Experiment)

To be honest, I wasn't really expecting much from this flick but since I still have a weak spot for Val Kilmer, I thought I might as well give it a try. Indeed, Val Kilmer used to be a rather interesting actor and I still think he had some potential but nowadays, he is mostly involved in some garbage and this movie is a perfect example. Indeed, Kilmer was the main reason why I would even think about watching something like this and, eventually, even if it wasn't some total garbage, it was not far from it, I'm afraid. Indeed, there were in fact a few good ideas here and there but, at the end of the day, the directing and acting were just so weak, it was just very painful to watch. At least, the idea of locking some people up in a steam room for hours and see how they melt down (physically and psychologically) was intriguing but it was just poorly developed, I'm afraid. Anyway, to conclude, I think I'm being really generous with my rating here, it is just some basic direct-to-DVD stuff and the whole thing is not really worth a look, even if you have a weak spot for Val Kilmer like I do.



0 comments, Reply to this entry

An average movie

Posted : 14 years, 8 months ago on 30 August 2010 01:10 (A review of Seraphim Falls )

To be honest, it is a rather obscure feature so I wasn't really sure what to expect from the damned thing but since it was starring Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson, I was quite eager to check it out. Indeed, first of all, I thought it was just really neat to see Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan working together. Concerning Pierce Brosnan, I always had a weak spot for this actor and pretty much like another James Bond actor, Daniel Craig, I have the feeling that the guy tends to be underrated but if you give him such interesting material like this one, he will clearly displays some interesting acting chops. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I really enjoyed the beginning and I must admit that I was pretty entertained by the whole thing but then, towards the end, the story started to really drag and I kind of lost interest in this story eventually. Basically, it is all about the hunting of this man and it slowly became more redundant than actually engrossing after a while. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing after all, it was still a decent watch and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 



0 comments, Reply to this entry