Reviews

This is a nice suspense/horror movie, though the main interest is more in the "detective" plot than the horror storyline, I found it quite interesting in that aspect. There is a full set of clichés or hommages to earlier horror movies : obvious are The Shining (sequentially presenting the ongoing days with a doomlike gong sound, the aerial nature views, the horror flashes ), Poltergeist (of course, the TV), etc. Even Psycho is winked a bit (stair scene, cabin guy seemingly weird, even a shower scene!). Probably others also... Anyay, fun stuff - well, sort of.

An extremely average movie, not bad, not that much good, lots of rip-offs (unless put there as an hommage, the easy way out of it). Go rent Vertigo, Rope, even an old Columbo series! Came in and got out exactly the same person : I thought movies were supposed to do the opposite!

And what's the title of the movie about anyway? The clock? Please !

This is a fun movie for kids, I went with 7 - 8 year old kids, they loved it : with them around, it interesting, otherwise, don't go with adults, they'll find it kinda stupid.

By the way, it's paradoxal to see a movie based on a plot very close to an old Star Trek episode ("Wink of an eye") directed by Jonathan Frakes...!

Don't be fooled by the title. Even though the film seems to be very foreign, it is definitely Hollywoodesque. This is far from the British-inspired stuff (i.e. 4 weddings...).

The title gives everything away : Chocolat is an "enrobage". Under the sweetness is a very predictable and moralistic story. My eyes rolled when I saw the baaaaaad mother doing it (the chocolate) with her son. Boo-hoo-hoo.

This is a light, okay movie, but definitely not Oscarworthy.

I was not expecting anything from this - except maybe that the director being quite eccentric, something visually stunning. I heard that pop music was used in a French-1900 background, but that's all. So I expected a basic story, adapted music, and lots of flash.

What it is is actually a speedy musical that grabs you from the beginning. If you let you get into it, it works. Actually, I thought the pop elements were quite interesting - especially the montage on the rooftop (your won't listen to Kiss the same way after this!)

Ewan MacGregor is very good - obviously putting all his heart into his role. Nicole is okay in a way - sometimes she just does not seem to want to work this out.

Otherwise, very entertaining, if it was not for the relatively melodramatic ending, I would bring my 12 year-old daughter to see this. By the way, the Moulin Rouge/Paris environment is irrelevant. The film could have be done in a submarine and it would have delivered anyway.

This is a fun movie, as good as any american flick in the same area. It essentially brings back the cast of the previous film (with all their specific tantrums) and a little more. The driving scenes are awesome once again. And a GREAT first 10 minutes that puts you back in the mood of the original.

Two characters (Gibert and Bertineau) are very funny indeed. The Ninja stunt by the Chief is hilarious, and the général will probably become a recurring character in an other film or series (maybe he already is !). In fact, they steal the show, as the other characters are not as good as they were in the first movie. The film uses all the talents and flaws of each character seen in the first movie, and stretches them. Two times is okay, but I hope they will find a new angle in the next one.

I suppose also that the final scene was an "hommage" to The Blues Brothers, otherwise, it's a steal OR they ran out of budget to do it as big as the original.

The thing that bothered me though was the pace of the movie. In Taxi 1, there was a rythm much closer to american cinema than French. In comedy, timing is everything; you have to give the audience that half second needed laugh at the joke. I have always felt that French comedy movies were way too speedy, especially in editing and dialog : even in other French blockbusters like Les Visiteurs 1 and 2, I always had the feeling the French are hyperactive in word and action (having met some, this is obviously not true). Taxi 2 was closer to these films than Taxi 1, though much more bearable. I hope that the 3rd one will come back to a good plot, with a better (slowed) pace.

But other than that, a fun movie. Fast food cinema. Yummy.

Hollywood has the recipe for a sub movie; here it is. Get a clunky sub somewhere. You have to find yourself a shaky but nevertheless courageous captain when under fire. You need an old grouch to give the kids good advice and stories of old wars. Slap in the mandatory sub-chases-sub scene. The classic "don't make a noise" thing (usually someone sneezes or falls down, or whatever). Oh yeah, don't forget the sub that has to go REAL REAL down while everyone is hoping that it won't collapse under the pressure (it never does that anyway), complete with popping screws.

I'm cynical here, but believe it or not, this was entertaining! Once you get into it and forget all the Das Boots ever put on screen, it's pretty decent. The screenplay is kinda interesting, and the acting is good. Not great, not lame, an okay film. Good fun.

I went to see this with my wife, we don't go to movies a lot together - kids and taste and all, but this was St-Valentine's. Let's go see Leonardo !

Well the thing is not so bad, but it is definitely for an MTV audience. Some of the scenes are stunning and amazingly beautiful. The first half is interesting enough, and makes you attentive to the story. But then, it seems to be a mish mash of video-clips. The Game Boy scene is kinda funny in the delirium part of the movie. But the psychology of it all is pretty primitive, and could have been much better.

All the "drama" scenes seem to be picked up somewhere else. I suppose the director was making a wink to Apocalypse Now at some point, if not, he really messed up that part of the story. And the character development in the club-med-in-paradise environment could have been MUCH better.

It could have been a great movie, but I think they pushed hard to put Leonardo too much in front of everything. Good acting, I must admit, but overshadowed by a movie that tries to be too much of everything at the same time : ecology, sociology, humanism, sex, vacation, action, ... Too bad.

In French, a "navet" is a bomb, a third-rate film. Well, this is a SuperNavet! Not worth even renting! Weak plot, no action, not even a scare! Rated less than the most ordinary episodes of Star Trek TNG. The look of the film is Okay, but nothing new. Save yourself time and money!

I went to see this with my brother-in-law and my wife. He hated it, found it boring, she liked it, though thought it was a little to slow. I thought it was great.

It had a Hitchcockian feel to it, in the story development and the way suspense is spread out in the movie. This is much closer to a "North by Northwest" type of movie. Of course, when the general public is used to "Scream"-like suspense, this could seem as a rather dull and lengthy movie. But the essence of it is more than that. I had a real feel of the dolce vita, so bad that you love the guy's life (young Greenleaf) and hate him at the same time.

Photography is superb, and for once, an ending scene that is so un-hollywoodlike most people will hate it!.

You won't be overwhelmed, but you won't be deceived either.

Well, a friend told me to go see "one of the best films he has ever seen". Saw it 3 times, he said. So this should be good, after all, he liked some of the stuff I liked. He said he cried, even though he was a man, because the issues in this one are very human.

Well, my friend, cry as you may, but this is really a stupid flick. Okay, it's entertaining, especially the "pre-flight" part of the movie - where comic relief is at it's best, I must admit (that JKF line - great!). But honestly, from there on, the thing is pathetically juvenile. They tried to make it a comic-strip movie, like Superman, and make us believe in it at the same time. End result : really dumb. And the "emotional charge" is lame and easy.

You know, some movies you go see with a specific mindset : we are perfectly aware that with this kind of movie, you have to put your good-taste button to zero to appreciate it . Usually, you get out of these with a big smile in your face if you are ready to get in the game.

But for Armageddon, unfortunately, there is no number under zero on the dial, so that's just asking for too much on my part.