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Reviews
The Accidental Husband (2008)
Predictable but not too bad
Jeffrey D. Morgan is solid in the role of charming rough dude, and I'm still convinced that Uma Thurman can't act (even though I must acknowledge that Kill Bill would not have been as epic as it is without her).
Colin Firth is too good an actor to not play the lead male role in this/any movie: talent and budget could have been more wisely spent for sure.
But as a whole this is an agreable movie to watch.
I'm not familiar with the fact that in New York you can apparently marry someone by submitting a form via Internet but require complicated procedures involving paperwork and notaries to get this annulled. But without that assumption the whole movie would be pointless. I wouldn't stay at home to watch it, but quite nice none the less.
Magnum P.I. (2018)
Can we put a ban on remakes?
If you want to re-vive a classic show from a few decades ago, your first reponse should be "no, it's not going tobbe better than it's original". Then you sleep on it for one night, two nights until 258 years later you still are convinced a remake might make sense. Otherwise: don't bother. This one misses out on so many points where the original series was appealing that I cannot image any network or producer would seriously consider investing money in it's production unless some drug related money laundering was involved..... any sane person would have spent his/her money in a more sensible manner than invest it in this huge pile of movie horse dung...
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
All the ingredients to become a box-office hit, but the result is a major cock-up
Good book on which the script is based, some very fine actors as lead actors and in supporting roles and a director that used to be able to blend that into a dark but captivating movie. Somehow something has gone horribly wrong.... When the kids are chased near the end I couldn't care less if they would get caught or survive. Simply because their characters remain bland and uninteresting and therefor are impossible to relate to. Beit Harry Potter, X-men or Nanny McPhee: all these, somewhat different, movies about or with children that are "outiders" make you take in an interest in how their characters evolve throughout the story. Not in this one though. I had the same experience after watching the Chronicles of Narnia, so if you liked that one, this might be your cup of tea as well. But it's not mine.
Ocean's Thirteen (2007)
Solid entertainment
First in the series (remake of the original) remains best, but this one is top as well. Ellen Barkin is absolutely fabulously sexy and is a close rival to catherine zeta jones as hot, yet smart & succesful, female character between the all male lead characters.
Killing Gunther (2017)
Not as bad as the rating suggests
Quite over the top, with some acting inspired by Will Ferrell. The documentary like setting is refreshing and it clearly makes fun of some assassin/hitman movies by being more of a parody than a intentionally serious action movie. Don't stay home for it when it airs on tv and you have other things planned, but otherwise quite enjoyable.
Suicide Squad (2016)
No match in comparison to any other super villain movie
Cast is not bad, Margot Robbie is excellent in her role as Harley Quinn, but the story is lame and every time Cara Delevigne is on screen you hope the movie was not only called "suicide squad", but that they actually committed suicide right there on the spot and end it all without having to spend another 90 minutes watching this crap. If you plan to watch it: don't. If you have watched it, you'll have forgotten it the next day.
Workin' Moms (2017)
Unappealing one-dimensional working women
It could have been about working women, or about men even, who are self centered, that mess up their relationships because they focus too much on work or are otherwise out of sync with reality. The fact that they are supposedly mothers does not add to the story. Character development is rather one dimensional, making it impossible to relate to the characters.
The Graduate (1967)
Grips you from the very first scene
Similar the Opening scene (at the railway station) in Once upon in the West and the scene of Martin Sheen tripping in his hotel room in Apocalypse Now, this movie contains scene that you'll remember forever once you've seen it. I'm referring to the opening scene in The Graduate where Benjamin (Dustin Hofmann) is followed while moving along on the conveyor belt in the airport. No words are spoken and the scene is only accompanied by Simon and Garfunkel's music.
A very bold move by director Mike Nichols that promises a lot to follow later in in the movie. And rightfully so.... Hoffman brilliantly plays the role a young man that has outgrown adolescence yet is too young to be considered a man of the world yet.
It's not a "coming of age" type of movie but does give a great view on the "gap" between youngsters and their rather old-fashioned a parents in the late 60's, and by doing so the movie is an interlude to what happened in "the 60's".
21 Grams (2003)
Flashback after flashback the plot unfolds....
Somewhere during the film you find out how it's structured, but it keeps in the dark the first bit; how can people have beards and then none; how can someone be alive and dead in the next scene; extremely healthy one second and mortally ill the next etc. After that you kinda know where it's going, but still manages to keep you on your toes. It's a bit like Memento in that aspect.
Acting is great which is no surprise seeing the cast: Benicio del Torro and Sean Penn are veterans in my opinion, but also Naomi Watts manages to play her role as drug addict annex widow with great depth and conviction. I wasn't impressed by her performances in The Ring and King Kong (but that's maybe because I wasn't that fond of those films themselves) but this is definitely a job well done!
Simon (2004)
A rough diamond
Brings both a smile to your face as tears to your eyes. The raw humor portrait by "Simon" is balanced with the sincere emotions portrayed by the people around him.
Where a few other Dutch movies tell the tale of a loved one being destroyed slowly by a disease of some kind ("Turks Fruit" and "Ik ook van jou") in a dramatic way, the movie "Simon" also touches you by the black humor that goes along with the tough struggle of not only the main character but also the people around him.
Delicate themes like suffering from terminal cancer, euthanasia and (in a less impacting way in this film: gay marriage) go hand in hand with crude jokes about sex, flat-chested women and gay and racial jokes. Though the delicate line between authentic sentiment and cheap emotional effect is never crossed in neither the dramatic not the emotional side of the barrier.
Wedding Crashers (2005)
Absolutely predictable.....great!!
If you've seen the trailers, you'll probably have a good idea of what the Wedding Crashers is all about: 2 goof-balls having a good time during the wedding-season by chasing all women (except the bride) at all sorts of weddings. It starts of with a roller-coaster overview of all weeding-parties they go to which gives you a pretty good idea about their somewhat superficial but fun lifestyle.
And then Cupido hits bulls-eye with his arrow and the 'Wedding Crashers' turns into a more serious, slow-paced film, sometimes resembling "Meet the parents" because of all the "how to behave when entering a odd-functioning family for the first time you don't want to/can't walk away from". Still hilarious at times but ther's some dark humor interwoven as well The end is predictable (judge for yourself) but you wouldn't have expected differently with this kind of movie.
A solid 8!
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Why was this remake made?
The original flick from 1971 is exactly the same, except for maybe 2 points: Willy Wonka's flashback to his childhood and the intermissions where the Umpa-Lumpa('s?) demonstrate a more modern style of singing.
For the rest both movies are interchangeable. So it's not bad, but lacks originality compared to the first one, doesn't add any new dimension to Mel Stuart's version with Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka and therefor makes you wonder why someone thought that people were waiting for this remake....
For the rest, the atmosphere of the Charlie's poor family, the characters of the other winners to amy visit the Chocolate Factory, the colourfull fantasy-interior of the factory: it's great, captured perfectly from Roald Dahl's novel. But also as already seen before....
Silver Streak (1976)
The best movie starring Pryor and Wilder
Though Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder have made about 5 films together this one really shows the chemistry between them.
Gene Wilder is a somewhat average guy that gets involved in a mysterious murder by accident. In the attempts to get rid of him by the criminals he's forced to seek the support of various different individuals, of which Richard Pryor and the cow-farming lady flying the WOI airplane are the most remarkable characters.
Though both Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder, as well as Ned Beatty, give the movie the label "comedy", Patrick Mc Goohan and Richard "Jaws" Kiel give it a real thriller character at the same moment: they keep up their performance of tough killers without a sense of humor effortlessly.
The movie itself starts somewhat slowly, but just when you start to feel disappointed because you think you're watching a soft romantic road(train)-movie, a hilarious rat-race is about to start!
Always agreeable to watch whenever it's broad-casted again...
Something's Gotta Give (2003)
teenage love-story with elderly people...
I saw some comments starting with "Young doctor Keanu Reeves....": well, this movie is not about Keanu. It's about a 60-year old man and a 50-something year old woman. Don't stop reading now because it doesn't get boring! (well, maybe this review, but not the movie itself).
As shown in every trailer Jack Nicholson as 60-year old, vital womanizer gets to know the mother of his "girl of the week". It takes about 2 hours, or so it seems, before the chemistry between them explodes and they passionately make love. For some reason it's tender and funny to see these people make love even though their skin's not as tight as it once used to be.
After that your basic love-interest-story begins: boy wants girl, girl wants boy, both are insecure, he dates another girl, she gets involved with other man etc.
won't reveal the end but it's not a too bad variant of the standard cliché...
You walk out the theatre with a good feeling: money well spent and a smile on your face that will last several hours!
PS: I had checked out IMDB before I went to the theatre and knew that Jack Nicholson would sing "La Vie en Rose": we were the only ones left when the last subtitles disappeared but it's really worth it!! Remain seated until the last subtitles have gone.
Finding Nemo (2003)
Impossible not to love it!!
The story itself is rather simple, but both the humor and the graphical presentation of "Finding Nemo" make it implossible not to simply love it!
From a "nerd" kind of perspective I'm really amazed about the way they captured the fluid dynamics in this film: trying to model flowing and streaming water is virtually impossible and yet the waves and the flow of the ocean, streams etc. etc. are represented life-like!
A different angle of reviewing the movie is not looking at the technical highlights, but at the way the different characters are developed. Whether it be fish, whales, shrimp, sea-gulls and turtles ("You've got a serious thrill issue, dude!") they are all depicted in a unique way. But also in a way that allows us to related to them: they've been brought down to the stereo-types we are inclined to see them as.
Ofcourse, if a movie wants to appeal to a large audience, it cannot be focussed only on graphical superbness, or only on the funniest characters you've ever seen. But to combine all these qualities in a film, without selling any of them short in the way that is done in Finding Nemo, will be hard to beat in the year(s) to come!
Circle of Deceit (1998)
One of the worst thrillers ever
Woman with wig, who "dyes" her hair in the middle of the film (=takes of wig) presumably does not see what the audience can see from miles away:
*** begin spoiler alert *** that her hubby is having an affair with her best girlfriend and they both try get rid of her. *** end of spoiler alert ***
And what a spoiler that was: the title already gives it away, doesn't it? Bad acting, bad script: waste of time Oh yeah: in the end, she lives happily ever after....
If you liked this movie, you'll really love "Cannibal women in the Avocado Jungle of Death"....
Astérix & Obélix : Mission Cléopâtre (2002)
Hilarious Asterix & Obelix sequel is even funnier than the first movie!
The second (not animated) movie about the only people still refusing to surrender to the Roman Empire is even more hilarious than the first film "Asterix & Obelix contre Ceasar".
Where the first movie got all the laughs because all cartoon-characters were so perfectly brought to life without losing their cartoonesque identity, this sequel (which is a separate story as are all the comic-books) is even better. Sure, all the ingredients that you find in the first movie and in the comic-books are present again: Obelix is still dying to taste the "magic potion" that gives his other tribe members such enormous powers, Caesar and the rest of the Roman Empire are still enemy number 1, but some new, refreshing elements have been brought to the stage as well.
Not only is setting very idyllic (biggest part plays of course in Egypt) but rather than repeating movie number one, some extras have been added by making all kinds of references to other movies (Bruce Lee etc.). This is all not very new, but the unexpected combination of the known story from the comic-book (with almost the same title as the movie) and references to stuff that has got absolutely nothing to do with Asterix & Obelix really works.
In that way the movie builds further on a tradition by comic-writers Goscinny and Uderzo who didn't hesitate to bring Laurel and Hardy on the stage and even dedicate an entire story to Kirk Douglas.
If all of this doesn't convince you to watch this movie, I'm sure Monica Bellucci playing Cleopatra will....
Takedown (2000)
Great movie about Internet-crime (it is a crime, or isn't it....?)
Even though the movie deals with computers, the Internet and so on, it still is an exciting thriller for those people that don't like or are familiar with high-tech stuff (you don't have to be a mass-murdered to like "Se7en" either).
I heard about this story a few years ago, when Kevin Mitnick was arrested, but I had no idea that a movie had been made about it. When someone suggested to rent it in the video-store, I didn't quite know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised!
It is more serious than "The Net" which is somewhat unreal because I still can't see Sandra Bullock as a hard-core computer-nerd, and better than "Hackers" which is too much focussed on teenagers.
So, if you'd like to see a good thriller without bloodshed: see "Takedown".
Fucking Åmål (1998)
Touching teenage movie with some serious angles we all recognize from our puberty.
"Coming out" is probably one of the most difficult issues someone can be confronted with during puberty, but it is hell in a small town like "Åmål".
Agnes is an outcast on her new high-school and has difficulty making new friends. She's confused about her own sexuality but than it looks like she's not the only one....or is it just a joke someone is playing on her to make fun of her once more???
Casino Royale (1967)
James Bound pistache and Austin Powers predecessor.
A James Bond pistache that keeps you on the edge of your seat at all times. Sometimes completely chaotic, sometimes almost boring but making you beg for yet another brilliant twist in the story-line.
Add up all other Bond movies you ever saw, strip the serious parts and multiply all that's left by a 1000 and the result is this movie. Mike Myers must have gotten al lot of inspiration for his Austin Powers films from this movie!
P.S.: Try to sit through the first half-hour. After that it gets better...
Le grand bleu (1988)
The enthousiastic review of a Luc Besson/Jean Reno Die-hard!
The first 'Besson'-movie I ever saw and the best. Where other movies by director Luc Besson tend to have more action, this movie has a superb, rather long, story with several interesting story-lines.
Beautiful under-water photography and exactly the right amount of jokes to keep the story moving along wihtout it becoming either boring or slapstick: a definite must see!