On a double date with
her best friend Mary and two shady cops in a wooded area, stripper Annie
witnesses the aftermath of a rough sex escapade turned deadly for her friend.
Sensing that her life is now in danger, Annie runs away and finds refuge with
Kyle, a solitary man hiding from his past in his uncle’s fishing cabin.
Live on stage, actress,
comedian and social media superstar discusses her Instagram account, her
family, weight issues, gender perceptions, trolls, fans and other such topics.
Honestly, maybe I just was not the right public for it, but, half-way through, I had not laughed once. So I just never completed it. It felt more like a conference for the converted, to brag about one’s social media presence, than a comedy show. The material ranged from bland to annoying. Some may dig it, I did not.
A recent college
graduate, Benjamin Braddock, is seduced by the mature wife of his father’s law partner,
Mrs. Robinson. The affair becomes that much more complicated after Benjamin
falls in love with Mrs. Robinson’s daughter, Elaine.
This is a cinema classic, thanks in large part to the acting work done by Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman. The movie is a lot of fun, despite the cartoonish silliness towards the end. The soundtrack, provided by Simon and Garfunkel, is great too, though some songs get repeated a little too much. Overall, a fun film that has aged quite well in spite of a few flaws.
Charlie Simms, a
student at a New England preparatory school, gets a temporary job to assist Frank
Slade, a retired army lieutenant colonel who is now a blind man. The old man
and the young one go on an adventure, over Thanksgiving weekend, that will
change both of their lives.
The quality of this film rests in large part on Al Pacino’s performance. What a performance that was. He is so convincing as the former lieutenant colonel left locked into his blindness. Chris O’Donnell was also very good as the naïve young man with a lot to learn about life. It was also a treat to see a young Philip Seymour Hoffman at work. He was already very good.
This film was largely criticized for being too long, but the length was right to me. There was story to tell. Yes, it was over-the-top at times, but I was hooked and never looked at my watch once.
Rating: ««««
Peter Klaven is a
real estate agent who is about to marry the love of his life, Zooey Rice.
Looking at the relationship his wife has with her girlfriends, Peter realizes
that he has no male friend in his entourage. So he goes out to find someone
that could be best man material. At an open house he is hosting, Peter meets Sydney
Fife, with whom he strikes an ever-growing friendship.
The simple one track premise and the few clichés this film contain was highly compensated by the amusing script and the good on screen chemistry between Rudd and Segel. The two played really well off each other. This is a fun movie.
Rating: ««««
In the aftermath of
the Boer War, a group of men go out tracking around the British Colony of New
Zealand to locale a Maori harpooner falsely accused of killing of British soldier.
This film offers compelling visuals, some good action and some decent acting, but, in the end, it never fully clicked for me. There were many times where, for me, it was dragging along. The end was satisfying, but I was hoping for more I guess.
This nature
documentary looks at various animals (and one carnivorous plant) around the
world to see how they live, either alone or as a group, survive, feed
themselves and hunt. The narration is done by British actor Daniel Craig.
This is a brilliant documentary. Nature docs are usually not really my thing, but this one kept me interested. The images were absolutely breathtaking and the information shared was riveting. Highly recommended.
Matthew Logelin’s
wife, Liz, unexpectedly dies after giving birth early, via C-Section, to their
daughter Maddy. The widower now has to deal with the loss while finding a way
to keep his job and raise a little girl by himself.
Inspired by Matthew Logelin’s 2011 memoirs, this is a very sweet, albeit predictable, film. The predictability aspect was strongly counteracted by the strong acting performances offered by the cast. No new ground was broken, to make this absolutely memorable, but it was some strong entertainment while it lasted.
Rating: ««««
Throughout his life
and career, actor Val Kilmer has been shooting videos at home and on movie
sets. Now that a battle with cancer has left him barely able to talk and be
understood, Kilmer has decided to make a documentary with the help of this
material, to chronicle his life, with his son Jack serving as narrator.
This documentary is absolutely brilliant. It is touching like you would not believe. It is sad to see a good actor like Val Kilmer be in such a state, health-wise, but there is a sense of hope and resilience here. I highly recommend this title, that I will very likely watch again down the line.
Rating: «««««
Chris Wilton is a
retired Irish professional tennis player that marries into a wealthy British
family, thus getting a good job with his new father-in-law’s company, but his
unabated lust and desire for his brother-in-law’s fiancée is bound to cause his
demise.
In spite of all of his faults, Woody Allen is a very talented movie-maker. He wrote and directed Match Point, and it is a very smart and compelling look at power, luck, lust, passion and greed. The acting is solid from all involved. The story dragged on a bit, and the ending felt a little rushed, but, overall, this is a very good movie that I highly recommend.
Rating: ««««
Norman Bates has
again been rehabilitated and he is a married with a psychiatrist called Connie,
who is expecting a child from him. Worried that his future child will inherit
his mental illness, Norman calls in a radio talk show discussing matricide to discuss
his past and to verbalize his plan to kill again.
This film serves as both a prequel and a sequel. We find out what led to Norman Bates becoming a killer and we also see where he is later in life. As such, it is not without merit, but the script is weak and the acting performances are very uneven.
Rating: ««
Les Chiefs de Charlestown croulent
dans les bas-fonds de leur ligue mineure de hockey et leur existence est
menacée par la fermeture de l’usine, le principal employeur de la ville. Cette
équipe de troisième ordre pourra-t-elle finalement faire bonne impression avant
le dernier glas? Le joueur et entraîneur de l’équipe, Reggie Dunlop, compte
bien y voir.
Slap Shot est un film américain qui est entré dans le monde à peu près en même temps que moi. Je l’ai connu dans sa version traduite au Québec, et c’est ainsi que je suis tombé en amour avec ce film. J’ai bien dû le voir une cinquantaine de fois en plus de 40 ans. Voilà la raison pour laquelle j’écris cette critique en français et non en anglais. J’ai regardé ce film en anglais une fois ou deux, et l’expérience n’est clairement pas la même.
L’humour ici est de bas étage, mais tellement de lignes classiques ont marqué l’imaginaire de mes amis et moi-même. J’adore le scénario, les personnages, les dialogues et tout le reste. Je ne me tanne absolument pas de le voir encore et encore. C’est maintenant sur Netflix en plus.
Rating: «««««
Jerry Maguire is a sports
agents working for a big agency called SMI. One night, he gets an epiphany about
his job and writes a mission statement that he distributes to everyone at the
office. The document gets him fired, so Jerry Maguire starts his own business
with one client, a brash football player called Rod Tidwell, and Dorothy Boyd,
an employee at SMI who has a crush on him and felt bad that he got fired. Can
Dorothy be more than an assistant to Jerry?
This film made quite a splash when it came out and became kind of a cult classic. It is loaded with material, maybe even a little too much, so it looses focus at times. There is a lot of sappiness too. The film’s saving grace is the acting performances given by all involved. The writer also struck gold with the amount of lines that became part of pop culture.
Rating: ««««
Based on the Ian McEwan
novel of the same name, Atonement tells the story of how a sexual crime
perpetrated in 1935 England and the false perception of a teenage girl looking
at the situation from the outside had repercussions over the six decades that
followed.
This is such a magnificent film. The score, the cinematography, the acting, the story; it all comes together to make a beautiful work of art that makes you laugh, cry and think. This is a film that is well worth watching.
Rating: «««««
A couple of months
after the events of the second movie, Norman Bates is still living at Bates
Motel with the preserved corpse of Emma Spool in his house, now taking mother’s
room. A suicidal former nun named Maureen Coyle arrives at the motel, with a
drifter named Duane Duke. Norman falls in love with the former nun and hires
Duane to work at the motel. A reporter named Tracy Venable comes snooping
around, investigating the disappearance of Emma Spoole.
All the while playing the lead role in his usual strong fashion, Anthony Perkins did a very effective directing job here. It was an interesting follow-up to the Hitchcock original and to the sequel. The story had a few more weaknesses, but it still kept my interest.
Rating: «««
After being
cryogenically frozen for 445 years, along with the scientist who froze him, serial
killer Jason Voorhees is thawed out and brought onto a spaceship for scientific
experimentation, while the scientist, Rowan LaFontaine, is brought back to
life. But, with Jason, things often turn to a nightmare.
This is the tenth installment in the Friday the 13th movie franchise, and it is a silly offering. The whole idea, of Friday the 13th meet Star Trek, is bad enough as is, but the acting is putrid. The whole thing is a mess that is not even a little entertaining.
This film is a
dramatized account of the true story of Erin Brockovich, an unemployed single
mother who finds a job at a law firm and embarks in a legal fight with energy
corporation PG&E in the Hinkley groundwater case.
Erin Brockovich really comes to life on film here, through the acting work of Julia Roberts. You forget the actress and believe the character. She does an awesome job in a compelling story inspired by an unbelievable true story. Some of the supporting characters are weaker here, but Roberts more than makes up for it.
Chuck Barris was a game
show creator and producer who was mostly known for hosting The Gong Show, The
Dating Game and The Newlywed Game. In his autobiography, also titled
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Barris also claimed that he was at one point
an assassin for the CIA. This film is based on that book.
This was George Clooney’s debut as a director, and he did a solid job here. He was greatly helped by a talented cast. Sam Rockwell was particularly good as Chuck Barris. He came off the screen with true gusto. This is a very interesting film that blurs the lines between fiction and reality, just like Barris did in his book. Well worth watching.
Rating: ««««
Andy takes advantage
of a road trip with some college friends, to attend a beer pong tournament, to
meet up with an old flame who is now a bikini model. Andy’s plans are made so
much more complicated by his long-time girlfriend transferring to the same
college he attends.
The charm of the Todd Phillips original is mostly lost here, with a recycled recipe served up by an inferior cast. A few good jokes and some fun pointless nudity barely saves this from being absolutely pointless.
Twenty-two years after the events of the first film, Norman Bates is released from the mental institution, as he is deemed to no longer being a threat to society. He returns to his home and to Bates Motel to resume his life, but he finds himself still haunted by the oppressing figure of his mom.
I came in with low expectations here, and I was pleasantly surprised. Usually, sequels of horror classics are quite bad. But, not here. The acting was pretty decent. Sure, there is still a lot of campiness in the scenes of violence, but it feels like a nice tribute to the original. I was quite entertained here, with the twists and turns. I did not know where things would land, and that is cool.
Rating: ««««
In the 1980’s, a TV
show shot in Las Vegas and shown on American television featured women doing
professional wrestling. It was called The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. This
documentary tells the story of that TV show and of the people involved in it.
It culminates with a reunion of many of the cast members.
This is a very interesting documentary about a very unique TV show that was a product of its time. It was cool to hear, so many years later, the thoughts from all these women that were involved. It was unfortunate that the filmmakers were unable to get comments from creator David McLane and director Matt Cimber. It seems like there is another layer of that story that might never be told.
Rating: ««««
