A nice movie with a very frustrating ending!
More heart warming and far less goofy than I had expected, and a little bloodier too. I rather enjoyed the tale about a sensitive goon. The synopsis is somewhat misleading, rivalry is hardly the focus of the story.
Well. It is true that this is a very precarious and painfully low-budget production - the bad monster suit, cardboard scenarious, and painted fabric backgrounds do not even pretend they are trying to be believable, and seem laughable even for a 50's production. But still, the simple storyline is actually very entertaining, and the cast was quite competent. I do not believe the film to be particularly iconic, but I feel that anyone interested in the genre will enjoy this movie, which also inspired the plot for Alien!
Surprisingly tolerable, considering the director. I did not find it as touching as some others who have commented apparently did - as I saw it, there were some minimal efforts to humanize the Americans, and no effort at all to humanize the locals, which made every character feel plastic despite the good work of the actors. It was very difficult to believe these were based off real people, and very hard to care about them, even after following them up close for 2 hours. Nonetheless, the movie looks great and visually convincing (no silly CGI this time, or was it just better than what usually appears on Bay's movies?), the pace is great, the movie did convey the proper atmosphere, and the dialogue was alright. I did not even mind the cliches, and although some political context and background could have made it a more interesting movie, I found it quite entertaining.
It is basically local gossip caught on tape. They put actors in "scenes" that are just there to introduce the topic of a person of interest or theory and then let the actors, all familiar with the case and many from the area, run wild with their guesses. There is nothing wrong with having ideas and interpreting things your way, but I am not entirely sure of why would anyone want to film it. If anything, I see that no one's life was really as affected as news claimed, and that the case became some kind of local myth which people default back to when they have nothing better to discuss.
Wonderful performances and great music! I understand this is a fictional account, but I do not believe accuracy is particularly relevant in such an old case, specially when the names involved have already passed away.
Focusing on the connection between the characters was a great choice over telling a sensational murder tale, it made the Beat Generation look like a debauched version of The Dead Poets Society, and I loved it. The one flaw is that the story starts a bit slow. I found myself almost uninterested during the first half hour, but once relationships are stablished, they become quickly intense and complicated, and the characters develop into these tortured souls, so easy to empathize with, under this charismatic libertine façade, and it just makes you curious and more curious about how things will turn out even though you know exactly what dark event looms ahead.
The main cast was great, and this will probably remain as my favorite DeHaan performance even with his many recent projects (excellent example of well-deserved attention!). I was particularly impressed with Radcliffe, who totally made me believe he was born and raised in America, and gave life to Ginsberg in a way that made him look detestable and selfish and yet feel so relatable. Another excellent work under his belt.
It is a mostly cute romantic comedy that relies heavily on nostalgic references and has unfortunately little else to offer. Even as far as the romance goes, there are no sigh-worthy moments and I found both characters hard to like. It bothered me that I felt like I got to know Sebastian way better than Mia, even though Stone is billed as a main exactly like Gosling, but I think both of them delivered their characters really really well, even if I did dislike them. The scenarios, the costumes and the music were very beautiful, but the lyrics were not up to the same standard, and the dialogue was so predictable, it was easy to speak lines before the characters did! It also felt too long by at least 20 minutes, the editing could surely have been smarter.
Still, I have a feeling this is a title that might age well. All those little Old Hollywood easter eggs in a such a pretty production will surely be worth something in time, at least more than it is now to me.
Oh. Mary Pickford's first talking film, a box office hit, an Oscar winner, an instant classic and totally annoying. Besides being a plain and rather lame adaptation of the play, this is one of those movies made to display Pickford and Pickford alone, giving the audience no rest from the extremely whiny Norma. The secondary characters have so few lines each, that they are unable to balance her out and sort of just fade into the backround. Even Norma's love interest and his rival are written to be forgotten, and the short smiles brought on by Jimmy and Julia are quickly clouded by Norma again when Pickford reclaims the limelight.
There was a lot of care put into the production of this movie, and it is part of the big transition from silent to talking pictures, featuring a huge star and filmed in an iconic studio. This is a historically significant film, and there are many technical reasons to watch it, but all of those still do not make this a pleasant experience. That is not to say Pickford didn't transition well - I quite enjoyed The Taming of the Shrew, for example -, only that this particular piece just isn't a very good one.
It could have been shorter and the plot is quite predictable, but I still found it very watchable. The acting was good, and Lockhart and Hannah were, in my opinion, likable and interesting characters. The movie wasn't scary, but I thought it kept a nice tension in its slow pace, and I am just terribly unnerved by eels, so it works for me.
It took me almost a week to get to the end of this movie. It just never got interesting. And the acting was so horrid, from every member of the cast, that I think Burton asked them to suck. What a pain of a movie.
Ok, this was a really fun movie, and it makes very smart points about social media and reality shows, the need for internet fame/attention and how teenagers interact with this culture of instant gratification and the protection of a screen name. The dark turn the story takes is yet another reminder that the things we do online may have very real consequences even if at first it all looks like a harmless game and a joyful thrill. (Unfortunately, if people haven't learned this by now, when will they?)
One should note though that this movie also works fine if you just want to ride along and not think at all, you won't be bored!
The one thing to lament is the aforementioned bland ending, which I guess was severely edited for whatever reason, making the whole development slightly choppy from the moment when Vee is branded a traitor. Story runs pretty smoothly until that point though.
All actors did a really good job, and the movie visuals are great, making NYC look a bit cooler and more high-tech than it actually is. Soundtrack does a fine job in fitting each scene just right, and you know, the plot is actually interesting for once. As noted, Emma Roberts did a wonderful job in the lead role, and Vee is a quite likable character!
One particular point that scored high for my personal taste is the fact that violence and sexuality were not exploited, even when this movie could have done it and make it seem perfectly justifiable. There are a couple of scenes in which characters show up in their underwear, but there's nothing even implicit, which makes it quite suitable to watch with younger kids in the room.
Keep in mind my score is really mostly based on personal taste, but I would still say that the overall quality of the movie would reach a 7 if I weren't biased.
While there's been a huge improvement in the general production, costumes and music, I'm not sure about the cast and their acting. Surely, some roles were pretty great, but I felt most of the talent went to the side of the villains...
The characters and the acting were actually pretty good! Plot is bit below mediocre and the jump scares were lame. Still, not a bad movie to waste an evening on.
It's a very intricate plot, and it's hard to comment on it without spoiling it a little bit, so I just shall say nothing specific. This was however, developed very nicely, and I would dare say it had the trope done in a much better way that others. It's not a great movie, but it's a decent one, and even with it's slow pace, I found it hard not to watch and follow. The atmosphere of suspense is just that great!
Plot: The plot is actually alright. Twins fall in love with each other and face the social stigma of it. If you can deal with incest in fiction, this movie isn't going to offend you. It could actually have been a very sensitive piece if it was made more carefully.
Technical review: Considering the cast (both MatsuJun and Eikura had solid careers long before this movie), I’m surprised it feels so… cheap? I’m not entirely sure whether it’s a matter of budget or style, but yeah. Characters have little to no make up and styling done, but that could have been a choice to make them more similar to real high school students. The clothes aren’t really fashionable nor truly flattering and Eikura sports some fried strands that makes me think they asked her to straighten her hair on her own. They made even Ayaka Komatsu look plain.
But while that could be explained as intentional, the bad light, the lack of soundtrack (several scenes in the movie that are completely silent and fail to convey a mood) and the acting itself all feel like inexperienced film-making. The dialogues were so lame that they made some key-scenes come off as awkward, and the movie is too long for such a mess. I was curious about this movie, but sort all these flaws were very glaring and distracting.
Characters: They were all just flat. Yori is angsty, Iku is naive, Yano is loyal, Kusonogi is determined. None of them are likable, or even relatable. I couldn’t feel them at all.
Warnings for the underage MatsuJun fans: This isn't by all means an indecent movie. At most, brother and sister are shown kissing, and there are a couple of implicit cases of sexual intercourse, but these were appropriately edited. There are no bad words or drugs. The only big deal is moral dilemma, so I trust anyone over 13 would be perfectly fine watching this movie.
Warnings for the original manga fans: the entire college arc is skipped and the general story is severely reduced, cutting off a lot of the drama between Yori, Iku and Kusonogi.
I'm not sure sure why the theme was so popular, or if this was the beginning of it, but I guess it's a nod to what people expected from technology, and what we've actually achieved it with it. Unpleasant manual labor remains unpleasant manual labor, even 120 years later.
Considering that I learned about this from a "Bitch Movie" list that included titles like Mean Girls and Clueless, I was not prepared for how dark this movie would turn out to be. But I did end up enjoying how all the female characters were portrayed as much as victims as they were bullies, and how the story was layered.
What a weird piece. The characters are highly sexualized, but the scenes are mostly visually clean. With the exception of one bar scene where there's partial nudity, the film isn't as shocking as one might expect. Which would be good, because then one could focus on the story.... except there doesn't seem to be one. The narrative goes on like an anecdote, about a prudish woman who finds herself dealing with a sudden sex addiction originated by a bump in the head, and goes on to explore what are the sexual perversions of the people surrounding her, while not taking part on it, just looking from afar.There's no proper conclusion, or lesson to be taken from the story, no point made, or at least I couldn't find one. It isn't funny either, just... odd and exaggerated, like a caricature emphasizing the personal sexual preferences of normal people. Rethinking while writing this, the point may be that it's fine to have your own perversions, as long as you don't get them in the way of other people's lives? I don't know, that seems like a silly point and I'm honestly confused. Having watched this feels like a big waste of time.
I felt more awkward, "please let's fast forward through this", second-hand embarrassment than any real desire to laugh.
Some animation movies are meant to be enjoyed by children and adults both. This is not the case with Minions, which tells the story of the adorable little white fellows that first appeared in Despicable Me before they met Gru. It's a shallow and silly story, with equally shallow and silly characters, but oh, so emphatic on the cuteness aspect, clearly aiming for the younger audience. Children will enjoy it, but parents might just fall asleep watching it. I almost did.
Uh, the movie was nice, but so so weird. Whoever wrote this might consider a career change.
What was that CGI exploding heads scene? It threw me off, I never expected it. It... worked. I loved it. And I'm that type of snob who hates comedies, this might be the first one I've enjoyed in years!
It was hard getting into the story, but the occasional creepy moments made it worth my time.
A bit more cliche than the original, but still decent. Gory fun good enough to watch in a group!
A love story with an action-filled development, I really don't see nothing wrong with it. The plot was simple and very like Romeo and Juliet - star-crossed lovers who go through all kinds of challenges and sacrifices for each other, when they've actually barely spent 10 minutes together. I think the reason why people disliked this movie is because they expected a true action flick, and what they got was a very sweet romance instead. The whole movie is filled with romantic aspects commonly found in epic literature, and this was a nice touch, as I often feel Hollywood actually prefers to sacrifice those idealistic notions for more visually shocking scenes. The special effects provided a very nice background, and I'm not even the type who enjoys those. The acting was good, what lacked was simply character depth, which is unsurprising since the main focus was on the action. I'd describe it as visually striking, simple and enjoyable - I wouldn't mind watching it again sometime.
This was as hilarious as it was thrilling!
Don't let the cover or the ratings fool you, this is a surprisingly decent flick. Pretictable, sure, and the ending is rather lame, but the development was quite thrilling! The interaction between Jordan and the ghosts of the twins rather than portrayed as scary is just very tense, and I liked that. I'm tired of movies where the ugly ghost screams and you're supposed to be scared by mere ugliness. Instead, these ghosts have a goal and actually achieve it, giving it a nice feeling of conclusion. I wish the movie had been longer, if anything - I felt like some characters (specially the killer) were somewhat lacking and that they could have taken the extra time to explore those.
Plot holes, plot holes everywhere. But Elijah's great acting and the good music made this quite entertaining despite it all.
Aah, finally. Veronica Mars was one of my favorite shows when I was a teenager, and the third season by CW was just frustrating. It's nice to finally have this movie, full of familiar faces (I wish Leighton had played Carrie Bishop though, I missed her!) and the same old Veronica struggling with her self-destructive drives. And well, to have her and Logan back together, yes, that was all I wanted!
I'm surprised at how enjoyable this was. Very decent rom-com for a Sunday night!
