JimRochester

JeffTheAlpaca

Maybe if There Will Be Blood was set in the future it would look something like this

rogerrobert69

Ni pour ni contre (bien au contraire) (2003) «Neither for nor against (Quite the opposite)»

Great absurd title for average movie by Cedric Klapisch (L'auberge espagnole). Not as bad as critics made it back when but not one of his most memorable. A yopung camerawoman gets caught in a gang of thieves after she films an interview with an escort who introduces her to one of the crooks. She slowly gets more and more a taste for it...

rogerrobert69

Hellboy 2 (2008)

I actiually prefer this second one to the first. The sets like the goblin marketplace and the final cave of the golden army are really nice. The team of Red, Blue and Firegirl gell more and the addition of weird smoky german scientist is a fun addition. I do like the 1st but there is more excitement in this one.
A demon working for the US government and his team of supernatural creatures fight an old fairy King who wants to raise an army of indestructible robot warriors.

rogerrobert69

Freaky Friday (2003)

It would be better if it wasn't a walt Disney movie. The cutesy family side detracts from the interesting (albeit old) idea of switching personnalities. Still mostly fun and amusing but I would have liked a grungier edge to it like "Bad Santa" has.
A mother and her rebel teenage daughter magically switch bodies on the eve of important events for both of them. They'll get back into their own only when they understand the problems of the other one...

TheMovieman

Johnny English Strikes Back (2018) — I think I liked the other two Johnny English movies (I say think since it's been a LONG times since I watched either one of them) but this third entry, coming something like 7 years after the sequel and 15 years after the first) provided a few chuckles though mainly for Atkinson's physical comedy rather than the actual jokes. Otherwise, this was forgettable, though given it did very well overseas, wouldn't surprise me if there's a Johnny English 4... in 2027. 2.25/5

JeffTheAlpaca

I have seen Ben Foster in several movies over the years and hope he gets more lead roles but he had to ruin his rep by marrying some cheesy That 70's Show actress lol.

TheMovieman

The House with a Clock in its Walls (2018) — Enjoyable enough family fantasy movie though nothing terribly memorable and the performances were... fine, though the kid wasn't very good in a few of the scenes. Can't say I have much desire to watch again but for families, it's an okay way to spend 100 minutes. Also, Eli Roth has had a really strange career, going from horror (Cabin Fever), torture porn (Hostel) to cannibal horror (The Green Inferno) to generic thriller (Death Wish remake) and now PG-rated family-oriented fantasy. 3.0/5

JeffTheAlpaca

Awful

Sam Rockwell has been on a roll lately but why did he do this movie?

rogerrobert69

Le trou (1960)

Awesome prison thriller from Jacques Becker (father of Jean, director of Le Prophète) based on a book written by an ex-con about his and his cellmates tempted escape from a Paris prison on the 50s. Not much happening except preparing the escape and digging the tunnel but all the details and long scenes shown of the actual work make this quite gripping. Plus the suspense and tension between the 5 members of the cell make this a winner. Some of the actors could have been better (two out of five were non-actors, including one who was the actual convict who had planned this escape years prior)

rogerrobert69

Un homme et une femme (1966)

Love story by Claude Lelouch filmed "Nouvelle vague" style with a mix between colour and b&w, a lot of telephoto shots, a lot of long scenes without sound or dialogue but just music (soemtimes complete songs!). So a lot of experimenting. This won best screenplay and best foreign film Oscars and made Lelouch's career. Not my favorite of his but very watchable albeit of its time. Great interview on the disk where he explains that the whole style was not premeditated but imposed by budget and equipment contraints. So there you go all film over-analysts who try and find deep meaning in each and every shot of an art piece. It's just a film...!

rogerrobert69

Marie-Jo et ses deux amours (2002) «Marie-Jo & her two loves»

French director Robert Guedigian is used to making very social pictures where all the workers and poors are impossibly together and as a big one-minded fraternity. A bit of an over idyllic view of what socialism could do. Here, he takes a bit of a side street with a touching love story of a middle age wife (his real-life wife Arianne Ascaride) who also loves her lover passionately. She can't choose between husband or lover. loving both equally. Torn by this situation she'll end up making a few mistakes with dire consequences.
Not Guédiguian's best film but a nice moving story. Plus it is nice to see some sensuality and sexuality with ordinary real-seeming people with normal bodies and all their imperfections, not the typical Hollywood silicon breasted bimbo or the over muscular hunk! Normal folks having a normal (well...) sex and love life.

rogerrobert69

Urban Legend (1999)


Urban Legend: Final Cut (2000)

I love this thread as sometimes when I have heard of a film but haven't een it and somebody comments on iy, it'll give me an extra push to try and check it out. That was the case here. Had those in a to watch pile for years and never got around to it until someeone mentionned them here.
Well, can't say I was missing much! Some riseable acting and laughable moments, not much scares nor interesting story overall. I had to laugh my head off in the second one that's set at a film school. I studied at such a school and worked on film sets for 25 years and the amount of technical nonsense in that script was just awesome!
Maybe if I'd seen those as a teenager they would have made more of an impression, but now I just think they are skippable. That's just my opinion and I don't want to offend anyone who likes them.

TheMovieman

Screamers (1995) — The script could've been tightened a bit but otherwise this was a fairly entertaining sci-fi/thriller made better by the weight Peter Weller brought and some respectable, for its time anyway, effects, miniature work and matte paintings. A bit Tremors meets Starship Troopers, Screamers was a fun flick. 3.5/5

JimRochester

I had already seen this as a 4K rental. Considering the talent it was disappointing. I picked it up on impulse from the $5 bin at BB. Worth it just for the scene of GG in her underwear and the scene where she and Isla Fisher make out.



Another venture in the home invasion revenge genre. Not bad but a huge plot hole spoiled it for me. 2.5/5

TheMovieman

Mortal Thoughts (1991) — Pretty good "modern" film noir thriller features a great performance from Demi Moore while Bruce Willis hams it up as an abusive husband to the Glenne Headly who was decent but could've been better. On the downside, it's not exactly unpredictable, but still fairly entertaining nonetheless. 3.75/5

TheMovieman

Detonator a.k.a. Death Train (1993) — Nothing special but still entertaining enough of a thriller with a decently strong cast between a pre-Bond Brosnan, Patrick Stewart, Ted Levine and a Russian-speaking Christopher Lee. 2.75/5

inri222

The Addiction - 4/5

Abel Ferrara’s urban philosophical take on the vampire genre.

inri222

Dunkirk - 3.5/5

Lots of style and suspense, but lacks humanity.

Goonies85

Bad Times at the El Royale - This seems to be somewhat of a divisive movie but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It may have been a bit long, but I liked the way it was structured, and I thought the acting was superb. I just like that Drew Goddard is willing to making different/original movies...I really thought Bridges was great, and I loved when Hemsworth was introduced...I should also add that I enjoyed it more the second time I watched it (which also happened to me with Cabin in the Woods; for whatever reason, I liked it the first time I saw it, but LOVED it the second time I watched it)...

Chappaquiddick - (Hope I spelt that right). I thought this was easily one of the best movies of the year, and I thought Jason Clarke (a personal favourite) and Ed Helms delivered Oscar-worthy performances. Never thought I'd like this, as I thought it would just be a "hit job" on Ted Kennedy, but I figured given the cast and the trailer that wouldn't be the case. It definitely portrays him in a negative light, but the movie is just incredibly compelling...Very well-shot, very tense...And, oh, Bruce Dern is wonderful playing the Kennedy patriarch...Kate Mara is also good in a pivotal role...

8MM - I know the review on the site says differently, but my memory is that this got pretty bad reviews when it came out (I still believe a lot of that had to do with the fact that the hardcore fans had watched Seven and knew this was also written by Andrew Kevin Walker so their expectations were a little high). I had to wait to watch this on VHS because when it was in theatres in Canada I believe it was a "Hard R", which meant you couldn't even go if you were with an adult. I enjoyed it when I first saw it and found it very disturbing. It holds up well. Cage delivers a very good performance, and Gandolfini, Stormare, and Bauer are really good, and Phoenix was a standout, delivering a very nuanced performance...I felt the only weak link was Catherine Keener, but that probably has more to do with the way her role was written, as I typically love her acting...

The Predator - It's been a while since I've been this disappointed in a movie. When it was initially announced, I was like Shane Black directing? Check. Black and Fred Decker writing? Check. And yet somehow this turned into an epic failure. I thought the whole plot was ridiculous, and felt they tried to pump in wayyyyyy too much humour. The whole "kid angle" annoyed the hell out of me. I absolutely hated Olivia Munn's role (I don't think she's a bad actress, but they really did her a disservice by making her character so dumb). I absolutely hated the lead actor (I think his name is Boyd Holbrook). The only, only parts I liked were the roles played by Key (who had some hilarious lines) and Thomas Jane. Those were the only two actors whose line deliveries were actually funny and worked. And, like others have said, the CGI was pretty bad at times. And the ending was ludicrous and made no sense whatsoever (Munn must be able to run as fast as Quicksilver, apparently). And WTF was up with the "Predator dogs"...Just a tremendously disappointing movie...I'll still check out whatever Shane Black does next, but this was a big misfire...

Celtic Pride - For some reason I had really wanted to watch this when it originally came out. A lot of it had to do with the fact that Damon Wayans was considered a "hot actor" at the time, and I'd obviously known Daniel Stern primarily from the Home Alone movies, and Aykroyd from the Ghostbusters movies. Not sure why I bought the new Kino Lorber release, as I remember hating the movie at the time and thinking it sucked. I really only bought it because subsequently I learned it was co-written by Judd Apatow (obviously I didn't care about that when I was a kid, and Apatow obviously wasn't even close to any sort of "fame" that he later achieved), and I thought maybe it was a subversive movie and I just didn't "get" the humour, at the time. Maybe I was too young. I was wrong. I think this is a pretty awful movie. Very, very few laughs. Very predictable story. Just not a great movie...which is too bad, given the talent that was assembled...

Probably watching The Addiction and The Last Days of Disco next...

Goonies85

Completely agree (although I'd give it an even lower ranking...probably more like 2/5)...Technically? It was amazing, just in terms of cinematography and visual effects and sound effects...But there was virtually no character you gave a damn about...I also didn't think Nolan did a great job of showing exactly the predicament the soldiers on the beaches were in...Felt like it was more implied or the viewer was supposed to know the historical details...Even Tom Hardy was pretty much wasted in this movie...

Goonies85

With that cast, I'm sold. If this is ever released on Blu-Ray, I'll be first in line...Would love to see Brosnan opposite Stewart...

Goonies85

This is one of those movies that's soooo bad it's actually good. I'd probably give it at least a 3/5...And I'm just posting this because I just watched the documentary that's on the Blu-Ray and it's awesome...It's about an hour and fifteen minutes and it's really interesting...And you're right about Eric Freeman's acting...That shit is awesome...

Goonies85

The Addiction - Not one of my favourite Ferrara movies, but it's okay. The Arrow Blu-Ray looks and sounds phenomenal. Lili Taylor is good, Sciorra is impressive, and Walken is good, but I feel it is one of his lesser roles. He's really not in the movie too long...I did really like the black and white cinematography...The picture looks great...I look forward to checking out the extra features but for now I'm going to check out another movie before the football games start...

TheMovieman

The Super (2018) — The first 60 minutes were messy and just all around bad. The last 20 minutes: hold my beer.

What a stupid movie, though hearing (or at least whomever was dubbing him) Val Kilmer performing voo-doo was humorous. I was a little disappointed if only because this was advertised, even on the back cover, as a thriller but instead was in the supernatural element which, to be fair, I'm generally not a fan of (save for The Exorcist, The Omen and Poltergeist). 1.0/5