Part Scooby-Doo mystery, part Sixth Sense rip-off, with all the crossed-purposes that implies. Amazing that there are so many top actors in this, but even they can't make the dialogue and character actions believable.
Starts off quite well, with some slightly edgy black humour and some exploration of how people might cope with the end of the world, but it quickly drops this to use the apocalypse as the backdrop to a romantic road-trip movie aimed at the indie crowd. It does this passably well, apart from some sentimental bits towards the end, but suffers heavily from comparisons with "Melancholia", which is the same story but actually meaningful.
Tedious retread of the excellent 1990 version. This is badly paced, boring and terribly written. For no real reason, all the interesting stuff about Mars from the original is taken out and replaced with nonsense about people inexplicably having to commute through the planet to go to work, and Bryan Cranston trying to invade Australia with robots. Otherwise, the film recreates memorable scenes from the original, but rewritten so that they become stilted, drawn-out and confusing. Even the cinematography is unoriginal: a lens-flare filled, washed-out look lifted heavy-handedly from innumerable recent sci-fi films, and mixed with endless uninteresting CGI. Only Kate Beckinsale looks like she's having fun.
Strange film more interested in symbolism and cinematography than narrative. It starts off quite interestingly, but gets increasingly dull as it moves towards the end and has nothing to sustain itself with beyond the Buddhist imagery.
Actually Tarantino gives four categories of movie quality: "Top 11", "Others considered in no particular order", "Nice Try" and "Worst". From this I gather that "Nice Try" comes below "Others considered", meaning he didn't even consider it for his top list. "Others considered" contains 18 movies, including Green Lantern, Green Hornet and Hangover 2.
Emily Browning gives a great performance, and the atmosphere of coldness, alienation and ennui was very well done. However, I did feel that a lot of the dialogue was poor, and towards the end it becomes repetitive and ends abruptly. All the characters are intentionally dislikeable but they also feel very artificial.
Painful to watch: a terrible horror spoof with no funny jokes and whose sense of comic timing is to pace everything as fast as possible. It does hold interest in that it becomes so bizarre and complex, so self-referential, mannered and filled with every stylistic tic imaginable, that it feels almost like an experimental film.
Interesting drama with impressive psychological depth and some excellent acting. It captures the daily grind of police procedure well. Unfortunately, even with the languid pacing, this felt far too long. I think the problem was mainly in the first half, possibly due to a combination of scripting and editing, because after
they find the body
, everything seems to pick up as the film starts to concentrate on particular characters and plot strands.
Very good. The direction and writing is brilliant, and it really captures a feeling of downbeat Britishness. It does lose a bit of momentum in the second half though, and I didn't think it was as good as "Kill List".
Performances are great, and Julianne Moore in particular is incredible; she's absolutely magnetic all the time she's on screen. Dialogue is quite good. On the other hand, the plot is a really hackneyed and unoriginal collection of soap opera storylines, and most of the plot threads just seem to fizzle out without resolution.
A huge disappointment. At the start I thought it was going to be really good; it's well acted and beautifully shot, but then it becomes clear that the script is a huge weak point: it's too obvious what's going to happen and the film becomes sanctimonious and contrived.I would recommend the Norwegian film Ondskan for a much better treatment of the themes of bullying and revenge.
edit: As Knaldskalle notes, Ondskan is Swedish. My mistake.
Hilary Swank and Chloe Sevigny give amazing performances and hold the movie together. The film suffers possibly because it's being helmed by a first-time director, so the direction feels very flat and uninspired. However, when the last half-hour arrives, it's heartbreaking.
This film looks amazing, like a Celtic illumination come to life. At its best, the art and the score combine to produce moments that are achingly beautiful. Acting is very good, with actors doing very well with characters who are often quite uninteresting, Aisling excepted; she's amazing and there should have been more of her.
There are a lot of problems with the story, which jumps around a lot, and the pacing, which seems very off, I think because there are a lot of cuts all the time, even in scenes which should be slow, meaning that the moments which should be tense, calm, horrifying, or sad never get a chance to make an impact.
How a French family and their friends cope with moving on from, or into, relationships with others. Perfectly pleasant and admirably naturalistic, but the lives of the characters and their interactions held little interest for me.
Terrible, saccharine, patronising movie about unlikeable characters teaching each other "life-affirming" lessons about taking responsibility. Also, for a film with a message about taking responsibility for your life, changes for the better in the characters' lives are always triggered by them being told what to do or manipulated by another character. The Simon character is especially controlling, even insisting on ordering his girlfriend's food for her. Naturally he's portrayed as perfect husband material.
Rather poor scare attempt where people wander around a house while things go bump in the dark until a muddled twist at the end. That's not to say that the film doesn't generate some effective tension and jumps, and the impression of a single continuous shot for the whole film is slightly interesting, but there needed to be a much tighter script that pared down useless chit-chat and ensured that there was a better pay-off. To her credit, Elizabeth Olsen is fantastic, holding everything together to a degree, and much better than this film deserves.
Good movie with a great performance from Michelle Rodriguez at its heart. The boxing scenes are impressive, but the relationship and domestic material is a lot less successful.
Starts off well with some good acting and funny lines, though this was balanced out by my eyes rolling a lot at the hackneyed moments. As the film went on, it became a rather creepy study of obsession, stalking and manipulation. Characters continually debate the existence of destiny, which is personified as Tom Hanks' loathsome little kid who's pulling all the strings.
A great film, a stunning meditation on death, anger, spirituality and revenge. It contains moments of chilling beauty and an admirably controlled atmosphere of despair that builds until being purged by the purifying imagery of the final scene.
Great performances from a exceptional cast full of British talent telling an important story, but the film was often far too whimsical or heavy-handed for me, and the writing was very clumsy: the dialogue seemed unnatural, and the villains were all very thinly characterised.
After the mess of the first Dredd film, which tried to cram as many iconic comicbook elements as possible into a hackneyed 3-act structure, this sequel goes for a more simplistic action narrative. Everywhere the first film fails, this succeeds, unfortunately it never seems to rise above the simple storyline and often falls prey to cliches. There are moments when the narrative gains some real energy and it feels like the film is about to take off, but it never does. Overall, it's quite good, but it lacks the wit, satire and intelligence that the comics had in abundance and which would have made this into something other than a standard action flick.
Hilarious to watch a host of top actors humiliate themselves with ABBA karaoke. Amanda Seyfried and Meryl Streep sing very well. Colin Firth and Pierce and Brosnan are astonishingly bad singers.
Very enjoyable in a camp and ironic way, despite choreography and screenplay being terrible.
Comments 326 - 350 of 502
Movie comment on Red Lights
ChrisReynolds
Part Scooby-Doo mystery, part Sixth Sense rip-off, with all the crossed-purposes that implies. Amazing that there are so many top actors in this, but even they can't make the dialogue and character actions believable.Movie comment on Des hommes et des dieux
ChrisReynolds
Beautifully shot and melancholy, with great acting from everybody involved. I don't think it quite achieves everything it sets out toMovie comment on Privacy
ChrisReynolds
I watched it despite the rating I personal got this movie, I understood it. 2/10Movie comment on Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
ChrisReynolds
Starts off quite well, with some slightly edgy black humour and some exploration of how people might cope with the end of the world, but it quickly drops this to use the apocalypse as the backdrop to a romantic road-trip movie aimed at the indie crowd. It does this passably well, apart from some sentimental bits towards the end, but suffers heavily from comparisons with "Melancholia", which is the same story but actually meaningful.Movie comment on Searching for Sugar Man
ChrisReynolds
Very sweet, appropriately enough.Movie comment on Total Recall
ChrisReynolds
Tedious retread of the excellent 1990 version. This is badly paced, boring and terribly written. For no real reason, all the interesting stuff about Mars from the original is taken out and replaced with nonsense about people inexplicably having to commute through the planet to go to work, and Bryan Cranston trying to invade Australia with robots. Otherwise, the film recreates memorable scenes from the original, but rewritten so that they become stilted, drawn-out and confusing. Even the cinematography is unoriginal: a lens-flare filled, washed-out look lifted heavy-handedly from innumerable recent sci-fi films, and mixed with endless uninteresting CGI. Only Kate Beckinsale looks like she's having fun.Movie comment on Loong Boonmee raleuk chat
ChrisReynolds
Strange film more interested in symbolism and cinematography than narrative. It starts off quite interestingly, but gets increasingly dull as it moves towards the end and has nothing to sustain itself with beyond the Buddhist imagery.Toplist comment on Quentin Tarantino’s Official Top Eleven of 2011
ChrisReynolds
Actually Tarantino gives four categories of movie quality: "Top 11", "Others considered in no particular order", "Nice Try" and "Worst". From this I gather that "Nice Try" comes below "Others considered", meaning he didn't even consider it for his top list. "Others considered" contains 18 movies, including Green Lantern, Green Hornet and Hangover 2.Movie comment on Sleeping Beauty
ChrisReynolds
Emily Browning gives a great performance, and the atmosphere of coldness, alienation and ennui was very well done. However, I did feel that a lot of the dialogue was poor, and towards the end it becomes repetitive and ends abruptly. All the characters are intentionally dislikeable but they also feel very artificial.Movie comment on Detention
ChrisReynolds
Painful to watch: a terrible horror spoof with no funny jokes and whose sense of comic timing is to pace everything as fast as possible. It does hold interest in that it becomes so bizarre and complex, so self-referential, mannered and filled with every stylistic tic imaginable, that it feels almost like an experimental film.Movie comment on Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da
ChrisReynolds
Interesting drama with impressive psychological depth and some excellent acting. It captures the daily grind of police procedure well. Unfortunately, even with the languid pacing, this felt far too long. I think the problem was mainly in the first half, possibly due to a combination of scripting and editing, because afterMovie comment on Sightseers
ChrisReynolds
Very good. The direction and writing is brilliant, and it really captures a feeling of downbeat Britishness. It does lose a bit of momentum in the second half though, and I didn't think it was as good as "Kill List".Movie comment on The Kids Are All Right
ChrisReynolds
Performances are great, and Julianne Moore in particular is incredible; she's absolutely magnetic all the time she's on screen. Dialogue is quite good. On the other hand, the plot is a really hackneyed and unoriginal collection of soap opera storylines, and most of the plot threads just seem to fizzle out without resolution.Movie comment on Hævnen
ChrisReynolds
A huge disappointment. At the start I thought it was going to be really good; it's well acted and beautifully shot, but then it becomes clear that the script is a huge weak point: it's too obvious what's going to happen and the film becomes sanctimonious and contrived.I would recommend the Norwegian film Ondskan for a much better treatment of the themes of bullying and revenge.edit: As Knaldskalle notes, Ondskan is Swedish. My mistake.
Movie comment on Boys Don't Cry
ChrisReynolds
Hilary Swank and Chloe Sevigny give amazing performances and hold the movie together. The film suffers possibly because it's being helmed by a first-time director, so the direction feels very flat and uninspired. However, when the last half-hour arrives, it's heartbreaking.Movie comment on The Secret of Kells
ChrisReynolds
This film looks amazing, like a Celtic illumination come to life. At its best, the art and the score combine to produce moments that are achingly beautiful. Acting is very good, with actors doing very well with characters who are often quite uninteresting, Aisling excepted; she's amazing and there should have been more of her.There are a lot of problems with the story, which jumps around a lot, and the pacing, which seems very off, I think because there are a lot of cuts all the time, even in scenes which should be slow, meaning that the moments which should be tense, calm, horrifying, or sad never get a chance to make an impact.
Movie comment on 35 rhums
ChrisReynolds
How a French family and their friends cope with moving on from, or into, relationships with others. Perfectly pleasant and admirably naturalistic, but the lives of the characters and their interactions held little interest for me.Movie comment on In Her Shoes
ChrisReynolds
Terrible, saccharine, patronising movie about unlikeable characters teaching each other "life-affirming" lessons about taking responsibility. Also, for a film with a message about taking responsibility for your life, changes for the better in the characters' lives are always triggered by them being told what to do or manipulated by another character. The Simon character is especially controlling, even insisting on ordering his girlfriend's food for her. Naturally he's portrayed as perfect husband material.Movie comment on Silent House
ChrisReynolds
Rather poor scare attempt where people wander around a house while things go bump in the dark until a muddled twist at the end. That's not to say that the film doesn't generate some effective tension and jumps, and the impression of a single continuous shot for the whole film is slightly interesting, but there needed to be a much tighter script that pared down useless chit-chat and ensured that there was a better pay-off. To her credit, Elizabeth Olsen is fantastic, holding everything together to a degree, and much better than this film deserves.Movie comment on Girlfight
ChrisReynolds
Good movie with a great performance from Michelle Rodriguez at its heart. The boxing scenes are impressive, but the relationship and domestic material is a lot less successful.Movie comment on Sleepless in Seattle
ChrisReynolds
Starts off well with some good acting and funny lines, though this was balanced out by my eyes rolling a lot at the hackneyed moments. As the film went on, it became a rather creepy study of obsession, stalking and manipulation. Characters continually debate the existence of destiny, which is personified as Tom Hanks' loathsome little kid who's pulling all the strings.Movie comment on Jungfrukällan
ChrisReynolds
A great film, a stunning meditation on death, anger, spirituality and revenge. It contains moments of chilling beauty and an admirably controlled atmosphere of despair that builds until being purged by the purifying imagery of the final scene.Movie comment on Made in Dagenham
ChrisReynolds
Great performances from a exceptional cast full of British talent telling an important story, but the film was often far too whimsical or heavy-handed for me, and the writing was very clumsy: the dialogue seemed unnatural, and the villains were all very thinly characterised.Movie comment on Dredd
ChrisReynolds
After the mess of the first Dredd film, which tried to cram as many iconic comicbook elements as possible into a hackneyed 3-act structure, this sequel goes for a more simplistic action narrative. Everywhere the first film fails, this succeeds, unfortunately it never seems to rise above the simple storyline and often falls prey to cliches. There are moments when the narrative gains some real energy and it feels like the film is about to take off, but it never does. Overall, it's quite good, but it lacks the wit, satire and intelligence that the comics had in abundance and which would have made this into something other than a standard action flick.Movie comment on Mamma Mia!
ChrisReynolds
Hilarious to watch a host of top actors humiliate themselves with ABBA karaoke. Amanda Seyfried and Meryl Streep sing very well. Colin Firth and Pierce and Brosnan are astonishingly bad singers.Very enjoyable in a camp and ironic way, despite choreography and screenplay being terrible.
Showing items 326 – 350 of 502