Huge disappointment, I loved Villeneuve's previous work but except the visuals this film is not worth it for me. No interesting character development so far, standard plot, horrible music (zimmer getting horny on horns again... He used to be good...), and the script is just bad, so forced, the actors constantly seemed to struggle with their fantasy stock lines. I expect actual interesting stuff from a director of Villeneuve's caliber and great actors. This sadly could have been a marvel movie.
The animation is wonderful. But for the rest it is a really average detective/docu/film noir. The acting (even if their faces are painted over, it's still acting) is really terrible, with weird and over-the-top body language.
And why the accents?? Scottish or Irish whatever it was, or both, to represent southern France? A Polish imitating the (ugly, I know) Dutch accent? Why? Was it that hard to find French and Dutch actors? And the music was a bit too cheesy, no?
Still a feast for the eye, and compliments to all the painters working on this project!
This is actually a truly amazing movie! It's very entertaining and well-paced, and also emotionally and intellectually engaging.
The story is set in a fascinating moment in history that is often overlooked: the muslim era in Spain. While most medieval movies are set in gritty, dirty, rainy places where everybody is illiterate and looks like a brute, we discover the live in the flourishing city of Cordoba, booming with culture and life.
We follow the struggles of Averroes (ibn Rushd, big medieval philosopher) trying to fight extremism and idiocy with reason and psychological insight.
It's a very strong story, with good actors and an historical context that is surprisingly relevant for us today.
I highly recommend this film :)
I agree with the bad acting, the overdone sentimentality, and let's not even talk about the script. But why so much hate? I've seen worse in Capra movies... Let's allow ourselves a little overdose of this every now and then. Circus is full of cheap, cheesy acts and poor execution anyway, still it was magic to me when I was a kid.
I'm actually disappointed. I really loved Perfect Blue and Millenium Actress, and Paprika was super crazy, but this movie by Satoshi Kon really felt out of tune.
There's only so many miracles I can stand. And all those overdone facial expressions...
The story is quite original, the characters are alright, sometimes interesting and realistic, sometimes cliche and ridiculous.
There are still a lot of sparks of Kon's genius, especially to represent the (real) suffering of the characters.
This is really a wonderful movie! It's a crazy ride through wonderful drawings and bizar edits. The movie feels really dreamlike with the cuts, the lack of logic (which is somehow not so disturbing), and the general flow of things.
I think the story lacks some strength and depth compared Perfect Blue and Millenium Actress where I really got a strong connection with the characters and understood their motivations and struggles. Here I just shared their confusion.
I think the morality issue was poorly executed (the mixing of science with technology, and using it as the same thing was a bit irritating). I think that it could have been done better with as much dialogue.
The music by Susumu Hirasawa was fascinating!
Entertaining piece of shit. I guess it's somewhere between Shyamalan's avatar, Grey's anatomy and Inception (somewhere...).
The jokes are lazy and predictable, I've never sat in a cinema with so much forced laughter and so many painful snorts. The plot, gneee... what was it about? the characters, flat, weird dialogues, not very credible. Although, Ben Carson proved that a neurosurgeon can believe in the biggest bullshit stories...
Mesmerizing visuals though, although really kitsch. I still think my childhood kaleidoscope is more interesting then what I saw in this movie.
And what a waste to see good actors like Tilda Swinton, Mads Mikkelsen and that guy with the cucumber name I always forget make themselves absolutely ridiculous.
Don't waste your money on this, or get high before you watch it and let me know how it is after that.
It's not that good, right?
It's filmed elegantly, there are a couple of good lines, and a nice-as-always Brendan Gleeson. I also enjoyed that the Ray and Ken are two ordinary losers, terribly un-cool and reletable despite their job. But that's it...
I thought Colin Pharrell was ridiculous (although the character is well written).The plot is filled with way too much improbable stuff (the canadians in the train, the repeated meetings with people, Bruges is quite big you know). I think the whole concept is original, but what a way to kill an original story by making it so bloody predictable :(
Nice movie, really cool idea, although I agree that it has a massive soap opera dimension to it. But without doubt one of the great psychological thrillers and revenge movies of the century (Oldboy and Memento coming to mind). I always admire directors who are not shy of complexity and depth.
The acting is pretty stiff and forced. Which is weird, Almodovar usually gets the best out of his actors (that scream of the mother in Todo sobre mi madre, unforgettable), but Banderas acting is terribly outdated, good for an old James Bond maybe (although I see that I'm the only one thinking that in the comments).
The cinematography is simple and beautiful, explicit about who's in control, and giving fitting frames for their characters (dark, sterile or futuristic frames for Robert vs the patterns, colors and textiles for Vicente - Vera).
Nice and optimistic docu, easy to watch, a bit shallow though, all the wonderful ideas that we are presented have trade-offs for sure, and I would like a bit more of that complexity.
Really great movie. Simple story, well told, well filmed. It made me remember of the silent kids in the class, who never tell stories, who are always reluctant to participate and who always seem forgotten unless there's trouble. It makes me think of the people I know who gone through shit, and never had support to learn to cope with it. It's satisfying to see the old teachers and authority figures being so pathetic and ignorant, yet trying. They seem to be aware that they can't help these boys escaping from a sad life, and seem as convinced of their uselessness as the kids.
Many movies and books have caught the suffering and pride and the hopes and despairs of mining towns, but none as naturally as this one.
There are wonderful moments of kindness that warm up the whole movie. There's the confirmation that there's something out there for all of us, an activity in which we can get lost, feel that flow.
The kid acts really well! And he fits so well in the story, his skinny body, his small eyes, his expression of being used to injustice and confusion, but still sensitive. He feels always out of place except when he is with his bird or tells about it.
Similar feeling as 'my childhood' (https://www.icheckmovies.com/movies/my+childhood/)
ps: I love the accents, many movies seem to be scared of it, but it offers so much: diversity, immersion, realism...
except for the most boring bad guy ever (shame on you X-men for creating such a one-dimensional character) and the complete lack of suspence, it was very enjoyable.
The idea is cool :) it's the kind of pub-talk-idea I usually enjoy a lot. But the execution is a disaster :( I guess it says a lot when Ashton Kutcher is the best actor of the movie (he wasn't bad, especially as a frat boy he looked very natural :p, but the other actors were hopeless). I also think the script is pretty horrible. And I haven't seen any interesting frame, cut or any form of original cinematic language to create deeper layers in the movie.
The thing that killed the movie most for me is that it became a caricature of itself. We all have childhood traumas and glories, and they shape us, but this movie makes the butterfly effect look ridiculous. Tommy from being a Juvie to a Saint, literally, or Kayleigh...
Movie worth watching as a teenager or for the idea, for the rest it is flat, clumsy and a waste of a nice plot for bad cinema.
Very scary bunny.
I think I should have watched this movie when I was 13, I would have been so impressed. Because I feel it is a teen movie. The direction and story feel young, fresh and immature. It has very strong parts, but also horrible cheesy moments that are completely unnecessary (the bullies, the disney XD high school portrayal, some terrible character acting here and there - I do like that the kids are not unnaturally smart or wise though). And after all, it just feels like an average movie about 'odd' vs 'normal' . I understand why it is so popular with conspiracy theory fans I know XD
I think it is worth seeing, and does deserve a cult status after its poor box office perfromance. But this film is not smart or brilliant or aesthetically significant. It is just an enjoyable movie that offers some depth in teen's mind, labelled or not.
A lot of mixed reviews about this movie. I personally love this movie for many reasons. The first time I saw it I was almost alone in an old small cinema in Toulouse. I think it set the mood right. The place could have been part of the film. There might be some spoilers...
What makes the movie so strong for me is basically the photography, the wonderfull shots, surprising angles, use of light and shadows... The decors are amazing, an ode to (the then already very dated) German expressionists (Murnau, Wiene, Lang...). Some moments are genuinly brilliant: the scary looking love bed, that soon becomes a death bed, the whole enchanting river that Tim Burton would love too much. Details such as the children filmed through a spider web (same kind of shot in Ivan's childhood), the frog and other hunting (or guarding?) animals mixed with a couple of cute bunnies. The appearance of Pearl, who looks more like her rag doll than a real child keeps with her the biggest treasure.
Most criticism seems to be about the acting. While all forms of art have many equally valid genres and standards, the art of acting only seems to have one: realism. And I completely agree that if we expect realistic acting, this movie is terrible. But I think our expectations are more to blame than the film. The acting fits very well in the tradition of, once again, German expressionism. Furthermore, they all seem more dreamlike than we are used to in cinema. The characters are both ridiculous and nightmarish, and nightmares have nothing to do with reality (Mitchum is anyway too good an actor to have such a strange 'off performance' if he didn't do it on purpose).
I think he does a wonderful job, his stiff body seems like a machine that is out of control. His voice that will haunt you, "chiillllldren" and his hunting song "leaning on Jesus" combined with his shadow/silhouette play make him really scary. The switchblade game, the mixing up with the left and right hand when he tries to tell the story once more, the scene just before the murder where he keeps his head tilted to be perfectly two-faced. I know it is all very obvious, but I still think it is incredibly good.
In many ways I have to agree that the movie is dated, profanity and stuff don't shock anybody anymore, and the morality of protecting the children, the fight of good and evil, and watch out for charming speakers are even too much for my grandmother. One thing that did shock me was the song the town kids sang to John and Pearl after the execution of their father "hing-hang-hung". So cruel!
Finally this film offers a curious experience of Americana, horror, comedy, Capra-esque sentimentality and redemption (yuck). I was raised with tales and fables. This film is a wonderful extension!
Comments 1 - 25 of 52
Movie comment on Dune: Part One
Lumen
Huge disappointment, I loved Villeneuve's previous work but except the visuals this film is not worth it for me. No interesting character development so far, standard plot, horrible music (zimmer getting horny on horns again... He used to be good...), and the script is just bad, so forced, the actors constantly seemed to struggle with their fantasy stock lines. I expect actual interesting stuff from a director of Villeneuve's caliber and great actors. This sadly could have been a marvel movie.Movie comment on Bohemian Rhapsody
Lumen
Ordinary movie about an extraordinary performer and band. playing it safe killed it.Blog comment on Ballot for new official lists
Lumen
sent my choiceMovie comment on Loving Vincent
Lumen
The animation is wonderful. But for the rest it is a really average detective/docu/film noir. The acting (even if their faces are painted over, it's still acting) is really terrible, with weird and over-the-top body language.And why the accents?? Scottish or Irish whatever it was, or both, to represent southern France? A Polish imitating the (ugly, I know) Dutch accent? Why? Was it that hard to find French and Dutch actors? And the music was a bit too cheesy, no?
Still a feast for the eye, and compliments to all the painters working on this project!
Movie comment on Baby Driver
Lumen
I've got a thousand issues with this movie, but I liked it :pMovie comment on Al-massir
Lumen
This is actually a truly amazing movie! It's very entertaining and well-paced, and also emotionally and intellectually engaging.The story is set in a fascinating moment in history that is often overlooked: the muslim era in Spain. While most medieval movies are set in gritty, dirty, rainy places where everybody is illiterate and looks like a brute, we discover the live in the flourishing city of Cordoba, booming with culture and life.
We follow the struggles of Averroes (ibn Rushd, big medieval philosopher) trying to fight extremism and idiocy with reason and psychological insight.
It's a very strong story, with good actors and an historical context that is surprisingly relevant for us today.
I highly recommend this film :)
Movie comment on The Butterfly Circus
Lumen
I agree with the bad acting, the overdone sentimentality, and let's not even talk about the script. But why so much hate? I've seen worse in Capra movies... Let's allow ourselves a little overdose of this every now and then. Circus is full of cheap, cheesy acts and poor execution anyway, still it was magic to me when I was a kid.Movie comment on Tôkyô goddofâzâzu
Lumen
I'm actually disappointed. I really loved Perfect Blue and Millenium Actress, and Paprika was super crazy, but this movie by Satoshi Kon really felt out of tune.There's only so many miracles I can stand. And all those overdone facial expressions...
The story is quite original, the characters are alright, sometimes interesting and realistic, sometimes cliche and ridiculous.
There are still a lot of sparks of Kon's genius, especially to represent the (real) suffering of the characters.
Movie comment on Paprika
Lumen
This is really a wonderful movie! It's a crazy ride through wonderful drawings and bizar edits. The movie feels really dreamlike with the cuts, the lack of logic (which is somehow not so disturbing), and the general flow of things.I think the story lacks some strength and depth compared Perfect Blue and Millenium Actress where I really got a strong connection with the characters and understood their motivations and struggles. Here I just shared their confusion.
I think the morality issue was poorly executed (the mixing of science with technology, and using it as the same thing was a bit irritating). I think that it could have been done better with as much dialogue.
The music by Susumu Hirasawa was fascinating!
Movie comment on Doctor Strange
Lumen
Entertaining piece of shit. I guess it's somewhere between Shyamalan's avatar, Grey's anatomy and Inception (somewhere...).The jokes are lazy and predictable, I've never sat in a cinema with so much forced laughter and so many painful snorts. The plot, gneee... what was it about? the characters, flat, weird dialogues, not very credible. Although, Ben Carson proved that a neurosurgeon can believe in the biggest bullshit stories...
Mesmerizing visuals though, although really kitsch. I still think my childhood kaleidoscope is more interesting then what I saw in this movie.
And what a waste to see good actors like Tilda Swinton, Mads Mikkelsen and that guy with the cucumber name I always forget make themselves absolutely ridiculous.
Don't waste your money on this, or get high before you watch it and let me know how it is after that.
Movie comment on Goal!
Lumen
Never trust a movie recommendation by a geordie...Movie comment on In Bruges
Lumen
It's not that good, right?It's filmed elegantly, there are a couple of good lines, and a nice-as-always Brendan Gleeson. I also enjoyed that the Ray and Ken are two ordinary losers, terribly un-cool and reletable despite their job. But that's it...
I thought Colin Pharrell was ridiculous (although the character is well written).The plot is filled with way too much improbable stuff (the canadians in the train, the repeated meetings with people, Bruges is quite big you know). I think the whole concept is original, but what a way to kill an original story by making it so bloody predictable :(
Movie comment on L'opéra-mouffe
Lumen
really fascinating!Movie comment on Fugue
Lumen
visually quite nice although it made me dizzyMovie comment on La tristesse riche
Lumen
pfff.... stupid. Great photographers don't make great directors.Movie comment on La piel que habito
Lumen
Nice movie, really cool idea, although I agree that it has a massive soap opera dimension to it. But without doubt one of the great psychological thrillers and revenge movies of the century (Oldboy and Memento coming to mind). I always admire directors who are not shy of complexity and depth.The acting is pretty stiff and forced. Which is weird, Almodovar usually gets the best out of his actors (that scream of the mother in Todo sobre mi madre, unforgettable), but Banderas acting is terribly outdated, good for an old James Bond maybe (although I see that I'm the only one thinking that in the comments).
The cinematography is simple and beautiful, explicit about who's in control, and giving fitting frames for their characters (dark, sterile or futuristic frames for Robert vs the patterns, colors and textiles for Vicente - Vera).
Movie comment on Demain
Lumen
Nice and optimistic docu, easy to watch, a bit shallow though, all the wonderful ideas that we are presented have trade-offs for sure, and I would like a bit more of that complexity.Movie comment on Kung Fury
Lumen
What you get when you let Calvin (from Calvin and Hobbes) make a movie. Awesome! :)Movie comment on Amsterdamned
Lumen
follow the bubblesMovie comment on Kes
Lumen
Really great movie. Simple story, well told, well filmed. It made me remember of the silent kids in the class, who never tell stories, who are always reluctant to participate and who always seem forgotten unless there's trouble. It makes me think of the people I know who gone through shit, and never had support to learn to cope with it. It's satisfying to see the old teachers and authority figures being so pathetic and ignorant, yet trying. They seem to be aware that they can't help these boys escaping from a sad life, and seem as convinced of their uselessness as the kids.Many movies and books have caught the suffering and pride and the hopes and despairs of mining towns, but none as naturally as this one.
There are wonderful moments of kindness that warm up the whole movie. There's the confirmation that there's something out there for all of us, an activity in which we can get lost, feel that flow.
The kid acts really well! And he fits so well in the story, his skinny body, his small eyes, his expression of being used to injustice and confusion, but still sensitive. He feels always out of place except when he is with his bird or tells about it.
Similar feeling as 'my childhood' (https://www.icheckmovies.com/movies/my+childhood/)
ps: I love the accents, many movies seem to be scared of it, but it offers so much: diversity, immersion, realism...
Movie comment on X-Men: Apocalypse
Lumen
except for the most boring bad guy ever (shame on you X-men for creating such a one-dimensional character) and the complete lack of suspence, it was very enjoyable.Movie comment on The Butterfly Effect
Lumen
The idea is cool :) it's the kind of pub-talk-idea I usually enjoy a lot. But the execution is a disaster :( I guess it says a lot when Ashton Kutcher is the best actor of the movie (he wasn't bad, especially as a frat boy he looked very natural :p, but the other actors were hopeless). I also think the script is pretty horrible. And I haven't seen any interesting frame, cut or any form of original cinematic language to create deeper layers in the movie.The thing that killed the movie most for me is that it became a caricature of itself. We all have childhood traumas and glories, and they shape us, but this movie makes the butterfly effect look ridiculous. Tommy from being a Juvie to a Saint, literally, or Kayleigh...
Movie worth watching as a teenager or for the idea, for the rest it is flat, clumsy and a waste of a nice plot for bad cinema.
Movie comment on Donnie Darko
Lumen
Very scary bunny.I think I should have watched this movie when I was 13, I would have been so impressed. Because I feel it is a teen movie. The direction and story feel young, fresh and immature. It has very strong parts, but also horrible cheesy moments that are completely unnecessary (the bullies, the disney XD high school portrayal, some terrible character acting here and there - I do like that the kids are not unnaturally smart or wise though). And after all, it just feels like an average movie about 'odd' vs 'normal' . I understand why it is so popular with conspiracy theory fans I know XD
I think it is worth seeing, and does deserve a cult status after its poor box office perfromance. But this film is not smart or brilliant or aesthetically significant. It is just an enjoyable movie that offers some depth in teen's mind, labelled or not.
Movie comment on The Night of the Hunter
Lumen
A lot of mixed reviews about this movie. I personally love this movie for many reasons. The first time I saw it I was almost alone in an old small cinema in Toulouse. I think it set the mood right. The place could have been part of the film. There might be some spoilers...What makes the movie so strong for me is basically the photography, the wonderfull shots, surprising angles, use of light and shadows... The decors are amazing, an ode to (the then already very dated) German expressionists (Murnau, Wiene, Lang...). Some moments are genuinly brilliant: the scary looking love bed, that soon becomes a death bed, the whole enchanting river that Tim Burton would love too much. Details such as the children filmed through a spider web (same kind of shot in Ivan's childhood), the frog and other hunting (or guarding?) animals mixed with a couple of cute bunnies. The appearance of Pearl, who looks more like her rag doll than a real child keeps with her the biggest treasure.
Most criticism seems to be about the acting. While all forms of art have many equally valid genres and standards, the art of acting only seems to have one: realism. And I completely agree that if we expect realistic acting, this movie is terrible. But I think our expectations are more to blame than the film. The acting fits very well in the tradition of, once again, German expressionism. Furthermore, they all seem more dreamlike than we are used to in cinema. The characters are both ridiculous and nightmarish, and nightmares have nothing to do with reality (Mitchum is anyway too good an actor to have such a strange 'off performance' if he didn't do it on purpose).
I think he does a wonderful job, his stiff body seems like a machine that is out of control. His voice that will haunt you, "chiillllldren" and his hunting song "leaning on Jesus" combined with his shadow/silhouette play make him really scary. The switchblade game, the mixing up with the left and right hand when he tries to tell the story once more, the scene just before the murder where he keeps his head tilted to be perfectly two-faced. I know it is all very obvious, but I still think it is incredibly good.
In many ways I have to agree that the movie is dated, profanity and stuff don't shock anybody anymore, and the morality of protecting the children, the fight of good and evil, and watch out for charming speakers are even too much for my grandmother. One thing that did shock me was the song the town kids sang to John and Pearl after the execution of their father "hing-hang-hung". So cruel!
Finally this film offers a curious experience of Americana, horror, comedy, Capra-esque sentimentality and redemption (yuck). I was raised with tales and fables. This film is a wonderful extension!
Movie comment on Pitch Black
Lumen
Only Vin Diesel movie worth watching. I don't exactly know how or why, but for some reason I really like this movie.Showing items 1 – 25 of 52