Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich (2020)

 Genre: Documentary
Directed by: Lisa Bryant 

 Number of Episodes: 4

 

Based on the book of the same name by James Patterson, and co-written by John Connolly and Tim Malloy, this four episode docuseries deals with the story of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This documentary miniseries details how Epstein used his wealth to escape justice for a long time and it also finally gives a voice to many of the survivors of his awful acts.

This is the type of documentary that makes you mad that such realities do exist. It is a well done docuseries, though it feels a bit incomplete. It stayed a little too on the surface for my taste. That being said, it was very informative and it was good that many of the victims got to share their story.

 

Rating: ««««

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

 Genre: Superhero
Directed by: Joss Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans
Running time: 141 minutes

 

The group of superheroes called the Avengers (Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America, Black Widow and Hawkeye) are teaming together again to stop an artificial intelligence called Ultron from destroying them and the rest of humans.

While this is extremely long movie, the action is at least fast-paced. There is rarely a truly dull moment. The acting is fine for the genre. Story-wise, it was not bad. A lot of the nerdy gibberish typical of superhero movies, but still somewhat enjoyable.

Rating: «««

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)

 

Genre: Biographical / Drama
Directed by: Marielle Heller
Starring: Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson
Running time: 109 minutes

 

Based on an article written by Tom Junod and published in Esquire, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood tells the story of a successful but troubled journalist who gets an assignment very different from what he is used to: Interview TV personality Fred Rogers for a short profile on heroes. That meeting with Rogers and the unlikely friendship that ensues will forever change the reporter’s life.

It took me a while to get into this film, considering it was sort of built like an episode of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. I thought that was a very left field way of doing things, but, once I was hooked. This is quite a touching movie.

Tom Hanks did a wonderful job bringing Fred Rogers back to life on screen. At first, I found him positive to the point of creepiness. But, that was mostly my more somber self talking. It was a solid acting job by Hanks.

 

Rating: ««««

Black Hawk Down (2001)

 

Genre: Action
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor 

Running time: 144 minutes

 

Based on true events, this film tells the story of the events surrounding the US military’s 1993 raid in Mogadishu, Somalia.

This film was served by a renowned action movie director and an ensemble cast of talented actors. The story is compelling and it all felt quite real in the way it was delivered on screen. The soundtrack was awesome. Yet, there was a disconnect for me here. For some odd reason, I never really managed to fully get emotionally invested here. This film just felt overly long. So, in spite of good qualities, it felt as just okay.

 

Rating: «««

 

Siren (2010)

Genre: Horror / Thriller
Directed by: Andrew Hull

Starring: Eoin Macken, Anna Skellern, Tereza Srbova

Running time: 80 minutes

 

A young couple and a friend of theirs go on a boat trip on the ocean, where they encounter a rambling man swimming frantically. They get him on board, where he dies shortly thereafter. The group then goes to an island, where they meet a mysterious woman that looks confused. This woman, with a beautiful singing voice, will soon bring demise into their lives.

This is a really bad film. The story is uninteresting and the acting is bad. Usually, in that genre, they go overboard into the sexiness and the exploitation to compensate for the rest. But, there is not even that here. It is quite tame. Billed as a mix of horror and thriller, it is neither scary nor thrilling.

 Rating: «

Martin Matte: La vie, la mort...eh la la! (2019)

 

Genre: Franco / Comedy
Réalisateur: Jean-François Blais
Distribution: Martin Matte 

Durée: 61 minutes

 

Dans ce premier spectacle d’humour québécois complet sur Netflix, Martin Matte parle de famille, d’élever des enfants, des réseaux sociaux et de la vie qui change. Je ne suis pas un grand fan du personnage de Martin Matte, mais je dois avouer qu’il est en pleine possession de ses moyens ici. Ce spectacle est solide du début à la fin. Les punchs entrent comme un tonne de brique, avec des prémisses bien ficelés. Et, comme un spectacle d’humour doit le faire, idéalement, la fin est canon. J’ai vraiment adoré ce spectacle. Le petit sketch au milieu ne servait à rien, mais, autrement, c’est du solide.

Rating: ««««

Gacy (2003)

Genre: Horror

Directed by: Clive Saunders

Starring: Mark Holton, Adam Baldwin, Tom Waldman 

Running time: 88 minutes

This crime horror film is based on the true story of Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who assaulted and killed multiple young men and boys only to bury many of the corpses under his house.

This film offers but a glimpse of what made John Wayne Gacy what he was and of those awful things he did. It felt like the filmmakers wanted to make omelets without breaking any eggs. There is barely any suspense, or violence, in a film about a serial killer that was sought by the police for quite a while before getting caught.

Gacy is a short full-length film that skirts around the subject, never managing to be interesting. Other than Mark Holton’s performance in the lead role, there is nothing much worth mentioning here.

 

Rating: ««

Two and a Half Men (2003-2015)

 

Genre: TV / Comedy
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, Angus T. Jones, Ashton Kutcher 

Number of seasons: 12

 

For the first eight seasons, Two and a Half Men focused mainly on Charlie Harper, a boozing and womanizing jingle writer who takes into his Malibu home his brother Alan and his nephew Jake after the down-on-his-luck chiropractor sibling gets divorced. For the last four seasons, after a very public falling out between main star Charlie Sheen and co-creator Chuck Lorre, Ashton Kutcher was brought in as Walden Schmidt, an Internet millionaire, who buys Charlie Harper’s home and still keeps Alan and Jake with him.

Had this show ended after 8 seasons, after the issues with Sheen, it would be one of my favorite TV comedies. The humor was low brow, but it made me laugh out loud so many times. Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer had a good chemistry, but the secondary characters were a real strength of the show. Favorites of mine were Bertha, the housekeeper, and the sarcastic psychiatrist played by Jane Lynch.

When Kutcher got in, there was still a good amount of funny lines, but I never connected with the Walden Schmidt character. He annoyed me. And Jon Cryer’s character got way too one-dimensional. By the end, the storylines started making less and less sense and it became long overdue to pull the plug.

As for the ending, it could have been so much better, had people manage to put their egos aside. Sure, the show creators and writers had the good sense to poke fun at themselves, but it all felt like a giant middle finger to Charlie Sheen.

 

Rating: «««

One Missed Call (2008)

 

Genre: Horrror
Directed by: Eric Valette
Starring: Shannon Sossamon, Edward Burns, Ray Wise 
 Running time: 87 minutes

 

Beth is a college student who sees a few of her friends die horribly after receiving a mysterious phone call. After she starts receiving such phone calls, Beth starts to investigate the matter with local detective Jack Andrews, who also lost his sister in similar fashion.

This remake of a Japanese horror film is really awful. Laughable acting performances, uninteresting storyline; even though it lasted less than 90 minutes, it still felt neverending.

Rating: «

 

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Genre: Superhero
Directed by: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista
Running time: 122 minutes

Peter Quill, who was abducted as a boy by alien thieves, join up with a group of extraterrestrial creatures to form the Guardians of the Galaxy and fight off the enemy over the possession of a powerful orbital artefact.

This superhero movie offers quite a considerable dose of gobbledygook that is sure to appeal to comic book nerds. I am not one of those people, so that was a turn off to me. That being said, there was a also a lot of humor, which I appreciated. Many lines made me laugh quite a bit. And the music was awesome.

So, while I found this film overly long, considering the story did not appeal too much to me, I was still somewhat entertained.

 

Rating: «««

Liverpool (2012)

 Genre: Franco / Romantic Comedy
Réalisateur: Manon Briand
Distribution: Stéphanie Lapointe, Charles-Alexandre Dubé, Louis Morissette
Durée: 113 minutes

 

Une jeune femme qui travaille comme préposée au vestiaire dans un bar de Montréal se retrouve mêlé à une histoire d’héritage, impliquant le crime organisé et un chef d’entreprise gravement malade qui doit laisser les rênes à son fils, lorsqu’elle prend le manteau d’une cliente qui a quitté le bar en ambulance suite à une overdose.

Cette comédie romantique, flirtant avec le thriller, avait complètement passé sous le radar en ce qui me concerne. Je n’en avais jamais entendu parler. Et je comprends pourquoi. Le scénario est faible, et ce n’est pas le jeu des acteurs qui allait sauver la mise. J’ai déjà vu Stéphanie Lapointe dans des rôles secondaires, et ça pouvait aller. Mais, comme rôle principal…disons qu’on n’y croit pas. Et ce n’était guère mieux pour Dubé et Morissette.

Somme toute, à part quelques bons petits flashs, Liverpool est un film à oublier.

Rating: ««

The Grudge (2004)

 

Genre: Horror
Directed by: Takashi Shimizu
Starring: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, KaDee Strickland
Running time: 91 minutes

 

A house in Tokyo is haunted by a curse after a husband kills his wife, his son and the family cat in it, before being hanged by the ghost of his wife. Years later, everyone that goes into that house is badly affected by the curse.

This American remake of Ju-On: The Grudge is even worse than the original. The story is still a mess to follow and care about, and the acting is bad, especially on Gellar’s part. You never believe for one second by looking at her face that she is supposed to look scared. Thankfully, this one was short.

Rating: «

 

Thin Ice (2011)

 

Genre: Comedy/Drama
Directed by: Jill Sprecher
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, Billy Crudup 

 Running time: 93 minutes

 

Mickey Prohaska is a Wisconsin insurance salesman in a dire need of money, after incurring some debt and being kicked out of the house by his wife. His plan to steal a violin from an aging client and to sell it goes awry when an ex-con security company employee gets involved, and Mickey soon finds himself in a huge mess.

The bigger mess here is the story of this film. There is some controversy about an original version of the film called The Convincer, that was screened at the Sundance Film Festival. The film was then re-edited and called Thin Ice.

The acting is fine here, but the storytelling is weirdly laid out and the pacing is bad. There was a nice swerve at the end, but, by then, I had already pretty much tuned out.

 

Rating: ««

Flash of Genius (2008)

 Genre: Biographical/Drama
Directed by: Marc Abraham
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Lauren Graham, Dermot Mulroney 

 Running time: 119 minutes

Based on a true story related in a New York article by John Seabrook, Flash of Genius tells the story of the legal battle waged by Dr. Robert Kearns against Ford and other car manufacturers for using an intermittent windshield wiper based on an idea he patented.

This is your run-of-the-mill underdog story carried much further than it could be expected by a solid acting performance by Greg Kinnear. Kinnear manages to bring Kearns’ stubbornness and determination, tinted with a little paranoia, to life on screen. You could not help root for Kearns, though, often, you felt like giving him a shake and telling him to settle without risking it all.

Rating: ««««

The NeverEnding Story (1984)

 Genre: Family
Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
Starring: Noah Hathaway, Barrett Oliver, Tami Stronach 

Running time: 94 minutes 

 

Bastian Balthazar is a shy boy who recently lost his mother and who is known to have his head in the clouds, so to speak. As he runs into a library, to hide from a group of bullies, he comes upon a book titled The NeverEnding Story. As he starts reading it, he gets pulled into the tale of a young warrior named Atreyu, who goes on a quest to save the fantastic world of Fantasia from a dark force called Nothing.

 

This fantasy film is like a little poem filled with colorful and fantastical characters. Looking at the special effects, The NeverEnding Story looks much older than its actual age. Yes, it is over the top and cheesy, but it is sweet and has a nice message. Not really my cup of tea, but an entertaining cute little movie.

Rating: «««

The Gentlemen (2019)

Genre: Action/Comedy
Directed by: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Hugh Grant 

 Running time: 113 minutes

 

Michael Pearson is an American man operating in the UK as a marijuana kingpin. He is looking to sell his business and retire with his wife, but this plan sets off a chain of attempts to undermine him, with robberies, blackmail and murder attempts.

 

This is a fun action movie, with its fair share of funny lines and swerves that keep you guessing. With a talented and experienced director for that genre at the helm, and with an ensemble cast of talented actors and actresses offering solid work, this is a really, really fun movie. Kudos to Hugh Grant for working against his usual style. It took me quite a while to recognize him.

Rating: «««««

The Master (2012)

Genre: Drama

Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams

Running time: 137 minutes

Freddie Quell is a WWII vet having a hard time adjusting upon his return to society. During a voyage at sea, he crosses the path of Lancaster Dodd, the leader of a philosophical movement called The Cause. Dodd takes Quell under his wing as his protégé, as the former soldier starts to identify with The Cause.

This film is extremely psychology charged and a lot to take, but it carried masterfully on screen by the director and the three main actors. Phoenix, Hoffman and Adams all manage to make you forget the thespians that they are and they make you believe in their character.

I will most likely give this one another shot, down the line, as it is heavy to grasp in one sitting.

Rating: ««««

Coma (1978)

Genre: Thriller

Directed by: Michael Crichton

Starring: Geneviève Bujold, Michael Douglas, Elizabeth Ashley

Running time: 113 minutes

After her best friend is left in a brain dead coma following a procedure that was supposed to be routine, Dr. Susan Wheeler, a surgical resident at Boston Memorial Hospital, suspects that something is terribly wrong and she decides to investigate the matter on her own, even though everyone around her, including her boyfriend and fellow resident Dr. Mark Bellows, call her crazy and try to stop her.

This mystery thriller is based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Robin Cook. It offers a compelling story with just the right amount of tension and suspense. The acting was really good and so was the direction work. This film keeps you guessing and wondering what will come of it all. A few scenes feel dated, but it is a product of its time and should be taken as such.

Rating: ««««

The Wrong Missy (2020)

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Directed by: Tyler Spindel

Starring: David Spade, Lauren Lapkus, Nick Swardson

Running time: 90 minutes

Over the course of a few months, Tim Morris meets two different women named Melissa. The first one, met on a blind date, gives him a a trainwreck of an evening that he wants to forget. The second one, he met by chance at an airport, and they have an instant connection. Wanting a date for his work retreat to Hawaii, where he could be in line for a big promotion, Tim wants to invite the second Melissa to accompany him, so he sends a text. But he sends it to the wrong one.

I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit. Maybe it is because I went in with very low expectations, considering it is a Happy Madison production. Sometimes, these movies can be pretty silly. Sure, there is silliness in The Wrong Missy, but the premise is cool, the cast does good work delivering some funny material and the whole thing was entertaining and charming. The end was predictable, like it is for most romantic comedies, but the road there was fun. Cameos from people such as Roman Reigns and Vanilla Ice were also a nice treat.

Rating: ««««

Coriolanus (2011)

Genre: Drama

Directed by: Ralph Fiennes

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave

Running time: 123 minutes

In the midst of a war between Rome and the Volsci tribe, food rations are limited and civil liberties are suspended. Rioters are putting a large part of the blame on Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, a Roman general with a clear contempt for the regular class. After being called a traitor by his own people and being exiled, Coriolanus comes back on Rome aligned with the Volsci people.

This is a film adaptation of a Shakespeare tragedy. Honestly, while it got good reviews, it simply was not my thing. Maybe because English is not my first language and I did not study Shakespeare much, I was lost in the language level. I kept saying to myself: What is he or she saying? I was alone and annoyed myself, so my attention drifted off. The film was well done from a visual point of view and the cast had the right intensity, but it was not enough to make me appreciate it.

Rating: «

The Scorpion King (2002)

Genre: Action

Directed by: Chuck Russell

Starring: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Steven Brand, Kelly Hu

Running time: 92 minutes

This film is a prequel to the films The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, and the action is set 5000 years before. It tells the story of Mathayus and of the events that led him to be known as The Scorpion King.

This prequel is much lighter in substance than the first two modern Mummy movies. It is a fast-paced action and adventure film, with a good dose of humor. Dwayne Johnson was showing some potable acting chops, for something very one dimensional, but it was a first effort. That movie is a fun ride while it lasts.

Rating: «««

Shine (1996)

Genre: Biographical Drama

Directed by: Scott Hicks

Starring: Geoffrey Rush, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Noah Taylor

Running time: 105 minutes

 

This Australian film is based on the true story of David Helfgott, a piano prodigy who suffered a mental breakdown while studying music in a reputed school and then spent years in an institution.

This is a brilliant film. Geoffrey Rush is absolutely awesome as the older David Helfgott. He makes you forget that there is an actual actor at work here, so you fully believe in the character. The rest of the cast is also to be praised, for that matter. And the filmmakers manage to tell a compelling story without become overly sentimental and clichéd. Kudos.
 

Rating: «««««

Bill Maher: Live from Oklahoma (2018)

Genre: Comedy

Directed by: Beth McCarthy-Miller

Starring: Bill Maher

Running time: 65 minutes

Live on stage in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Bill Maher talks a whole lot about American politics, as it should be expected. The comedian shares his profound disdain for Donald Trump over a good portion of the show. He also discusses sex, political correctness and children.

This show was a bit too one-track to be excellent in my view, but it was really good. Good material delivered with talent and experience.
 

Rating: ««««

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness (2020)

Genre: Documentary
Starring: Joe Exotic, Carole Bastin, John Finlay

Number of Episodes: 8

This short mini-series focuses mainly on the intense feud between zookeeper Joe Exotic, nicknamed the Tiger King, and Carole Baskin, owner of Big Cat Rescue. We also learn about a host of other characters involved in the big cat business.

This documentary had quite an impact as it came out on Netflix at the start of the pandemic. Had this been a work of fiction, I would have said that this was an overly exaggerated creation. But, it is a true story with real people. And it is a wild ride to watch. It is hard to explain, it just has to be seen to be believed. And, even then, it is hard to believe.
 

Rating: «««««

Deep in the Heart of Texas: Dave Chappelle Live At Austin City Limits (2017)

Genre: Comedy

Directed by: Stan Lathan

Starring: Dave Chappelle

Running time: 66 minutes

Live from the Moody Theatre, in Austin, Texas, Dave Chappelle gives his personal spin on race, on celebrity scandals and on being a father. There were a few weaker spots here, but, overall, this was a very solid comedy show.
 

Rating: ««««

Sleep Tight (2011)

Genre: Thriller

Directed by: Jaume Balaguero

Starring: Luis Tosar, Marta Etura, Alberto San Juan

Running time: 102 minutes

Cesar is a deeply unhappy man working as a concierge in an apartment building. He tries to make life unpleasant for the tenants of the building, but with the ever cheerful Claras, it seems to be more of a challenge. Cesar starts visiting her at night while she is sleeping.

This Spanish film is a very effective psychological thriller. In spite of the English subtitles, the tense storyline is easy to follow and to get emotionally involved in. All the way through, I was the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next. Loved it.
 

Rating: «««««