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Vince-40
Reviews
Twin Peaks: Northwest Passage (1989)
ABC is stupid
David Lynch is a genius in his way and Frost and him created the best Television show ever.
I don't understand why the second season is not on DVD yet, but I hope it is a question of time.
To watch again and again... we want a sequel !
There are a lot of similarity with Mulholland Drive. Go rent that film too !
Vince
The Spanish Prisoner (1997)
It is all psychological !
Ok to fully understand the films of David Mamet you must have some psychological notions.
I am doing a research on the movie and I will post here, what we have found.
But people who think that the plot is unbeleivable... I'll tell you a clue... Most of the things in the movie are not real, Joe Ross is searching his identity, and most of the things (Dell for exemple) that we saw happen in his head !!!
See the film again with that vision in mind and the movie will work much better !
I'll post my results later !!!
Ryan's Daughter (1970)
Well ! This movie isn't bad at all !
I love David Lean's epics movies ! Lawrence of Arabia, Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctoz Zhivago and even A Passage to India are some of the best epic in the history of cinéma.
I knew that this film was bashed by the critics and I was wondering if, I would like it...
I watch Ryan's Daughter tonight and it is very good. I think that maybe, the expectations were too high in 1970. But you know critics always like to jump on the occasion to bash a director when he does some missteps.
That is true: Ryan's Daughter is not the best film of Lean, but it is 95% more intelligent than most of the hollywood movies today.
David Lean is a very intelligent directors and a great images poet. His films are poetic at best and Ryan's Daughter is no exeption.
But I agree that it is maybe a little too long, but my main negative point is that I think that Zhivago and Ryan are a little bit too similar.
To any David Lean's fans : view this film.
I hope they will release it on DVD, this film is stunningly beautifull (like all Lean's epic)
8.5/10
Brief Encounter (1945)
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGREAT !
Well it was my first time that I saw a David Lean film witch was not an epic film !
I love his epic films: Dr Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, Passage to India and Bridge on the River Kwai are among my favorite movies of all time!
But I was surprinsingly please with Brief Encounter !!!
It it really a powerfull film. With great acting, great direction, great use of classical music, and great poetic dialogues ...
But I must admit that there is one big thing wrong with the movie is that the first time that Trevor and Johnson kiss each other is when she dream of her futur life with him... It missed the required kissing scene !!! hehe
Anyway... very good movie. A Classic.
Vincent Leclair
The Thin Red Line (1998)
It is the best movie that I have seen in 1998
The Thin Red Line closely resembles Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. The images are beautiful. I prefer it to Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. It is an intelligent movie, a poetic and philosphical one. The actors are great. Terrence Malick shows us once again that he can do a great movie. Like Badland and Days of Heaven, it is a movie that makes you think and that is very rare in the movies nowadays.
In the Bedroom (2001)
Outstanding first film for Todd Field
While this is a very slow movie, it is never boring.
There are some psychology in the movie and the characters are well characterized and beleivable.
The performances are top-notch. The direction is well done and the scenario is near perfect.
A must see. It makes you think.
PS It is an intellectual movie, so if you like action and brainless movies: BEWARE !
Vince
Black Hawk Down (2001)
A good action movie, a little war film .
I must say that I am a moviegoer and I usely hate brainless action movie. I am also a Ridley Scott's fan. I like Scott long before Gladiator. Blade Runner and Alien are just too of my favorite films of all time. I also like Thelma and Louise. The duellist is a good movie with stunning images, but his other films are not that good. Legend is so-so (but I want to see the director's cut with Jerry Goldsmith's music on DVD, what the hell is going on with this release ???), Someone To Watch Over Me has great acting, Black Rain is beautiffly stylised (but what a bad and cliche scenario), 1492 A Conquest of Paradise has great music and images (but how can the story of Christophe Colomb be boring like that ??? And sorry Ridley, your only miscast of all your directing career : Gerard Depardieu, you could have choose worst, but surely better). Whitesqual is too long and G.I. Jane is just too confusing. Hannibal represend well the book (but the book is not very good... so the film too, but at least I like it !). Gladiator was good, but could have been better.
Now Black Hawk Down. I wasn't expected mush when I heard that the producer was Jerry Bruckeimer who is the king at producing brainless action movie featuring bad actors (or at least baddly directed actors)! In fact I am please with the result. It is possibly the best movie produced by Bruckeimer of all his career, but that does not mean that BHD is a great movie ! It is a very well crafted action movie with little deep (very very little).
I find it a bit pretentious. It wants to be The Thin Red Line but it is far from it, exepted maybe for the cinematography, they are tie.
Technically the movie is good. The editing well done (Pietro Scallia does his best job in a Ridley Scott movie here). And the team Scott/Zimmer works marvellously again. Scott and Zimmer never use big loud music to underscore the visuals (like so much movies produced by Bruckeimer). It really a thing to avoid in a war movie (at least in modern war film).
The weak thing of the movie is that it miss the moral found in such films like Appocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Bridge on the River Kwai, etc... A bit too much patriotic, but the worst thing is that the Somalians are represented as the bad guy and nothing more ( but hey ! it is a Bruckeimer movie).
It is sad for Scott because he deserves recognition for his work behind the camera, but the problem is that a great director must also add dept in a film. Give a very good script to Scott and you have 95% of chance that you have a pretty good movie (Thelma and Louise) !
La pianiste (2001)
You can't stay indifferent...
First of all, I must say that I love this film.
It was the first film that I saw from director Micheal Haneke and I was impressed that how good the direction was good !
Haneke surely knows how to direct actors. What I found intresting is also Haneke's scenario. At first, you saw a woman who is very straight and seems to be a good piano teacher and very well loved and respected from everybody in her entourage. Then you realise that she has a mother who is a controle freak and is too much present in her life. Now you know that she is deranged, that she has emotional problems, but you don't know exactly what. And then you fall into her dark side, but her dark side is only reveal when a student sendenly fall in love with her. She can't controled herself anymore.
The roles are very complexed and difficult to play, but Isabelle Huppert is marvellous in her role and she deserves the recognition she had at Cannes Festival. Benoit Maginel is very solid too, but a little bit eclipse by Huppert's performance.
There is one thing that I found strange in the scenario is how the character played by Magimel is not very credible. He is too talented! It is rare that a person is a piano virtuoso, but pass the most of the his time to play hockey and study... It think that it is a weak point, but only a minor flaw.
I just saw the movie once, so I can't do a very complete critic, because I didn't analysed the movie. I like what I saw ! so I give the film a 8.5/10
Oh yeah... as for the end, Haneke showed that he really wanted to shock his audience. A motivation that don't think is necessary to make movies, but Haneke does it with style and precision, that is why his film is better than Baise-Moi for example.
Vince
Gladiator (2000)
Ridley is one of my favorite directors only because of the visuals!
Well Ridley Scott is the director of 2 of my favorite movies of all time, Alien and Blade Runner. I also like Thelma and Louise.
I think that Gladiator is a good film, but not a great one. I think that it doesn't beat Thelma and Louise (the film seems to be very underated because everybody said that Gladiator is Scott's best film since Blade Runner or even Alien).
Ridley Scott's good sense of casting is casting is very present in Gladiator and he knows who to direct an actor.
Russell Crowe is very good : I mean he is Maximus ! But I think that the best performance is give by Joaquin Pheonix (maybe it is because his character (Commodus) is the most developed in the film). Pheonix is so incredible that he steal every scenes that he appears !!! Connie Nielsen is impressive has the frightened sister of his younger brother. She is also very beautiful !
The supporting actors are very good too begining with Richard Harris who gives a very credible performance. The late Oliver Reed's first lines are funny and he is also credible. Djumon Hounsou (sorry for the wrong spelling) is good too, but I think that we don't see him too often. Derek Jacobi is always very good. Spencer Treat Clark give a very good young performance as Lucius.
Now technically the film is impressive. The camera works are well done and the cinematography (Ridley's force) is outstanding! Some may not apreciate the effect during the battle scenes. I think that it is a kind of violence censure. The violence is often suggested more than shown. It could have been a lot more gory ! So I think that the fast editing is a good thing, but I was disapointed the first time that I saw the movie (I've seen it twice). The score is very good. Hans Zimmer deserved to be in the Top 10 greatest and prolific Hollywood composers. The score: The Rock meets The Thin Red Line: 8.5/10 . The CGI effects disappointed me in the first viewing, but it grow on me the on the second viewing!
Ridley Scott's direction is NOT at his best but the actors are very well directed and Scott's vision of Rome is well represented. The themes in Gladiator are a bit similar to the themes of Blade Runner, but here stop my comparision with that masterpiece. Surprisingly, there is a "intimate feel" in that film and that feels good to have Ridley back! (Unfortunatly his next is going to be bad ("Hannibal" staring Sir Anthony Hoptkins, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman and Ray Liota). Ok maybe not, but I have a bad feeling about it! Ridley's cinematography (with the help of cinematographer John Mathiesen) is impressive and he really shows his influences of David Lean. The shots in Morocco remind me a lot of Lawrence of Arabia !
I think that the weakest point of the film is the story. It is not very weak, but it is cliché and there are a lot of deja vu espacially if you had seen Braveheart two days before ! The characters are not very deep and there are some little plot holes.
Well, I think that it is the Hollywood film that you must see this summer if you only want to watch one, but don't expected a masterpiece it is not. ...A kind of Titanic movie...
8/10
U-571 (2000)
See Das Boot first !
Ok this is not a remake of the greatest submarine movie ever made, Das Boot.
Comparing this movie to Das Boot is an insult for Wolfgang Petersen remarkable direction in Das Boot !
This is an action movie.
I hate the "war-action" movie. I think that war is war. War is drama first, not action.
Well, the special effects are great. If you like Armageddon or that kind of boring movie with a lot of Hollywood cliché, this movie is for you !
Vince
Dead Poets Society (1989)
Good but highly overated !!!
Yes, the cinematography by John Seale is great and yes there are some good points in the story, but overall it is bullshit !
The atmosphere in the movie is good, but I asked myself why I found the movie boring.
I think that the movie is not enough long to tell the story the film pretend to tell.
Well, I got it ! IT IS TOO COMMERCIAL. This supposed to be a deep movie, but the way the action is shown, this movie lost is great potential !
Well I gave it a 7.5/10 for John Seale' cinematography, Peter Weir's direction (there are a few good scenes, especially when Ethan Hawke scream "YOP") and Maurice Jarre's music.
The acting is bad and Robin Williams play Robin Williams, not John Kiting.
Vince
The Thin Red Line (1998)
It is the best movie that I have seen in 1998
The Thin Red Line closely resembles Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. The images are beautiful. I prefer it to Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. It is an intelligent movie, a poetic and philosphical one. The actors are great. Terrence Malick shows us once again that he can do a great movie. Like Badland and Days of Heaven, it is a movie that makes you think and that is very rare in the movies nowadays.
Jésus de Montréal (1989)
The greatest film of a great director
"Jésus de Montréal" is probably the best film of Denys Arcand who also made "Le déclin de l'empire américain".
Unfortunately this film had a less big commercial success than "Le déclin de l'empire américain", but it was made with a biggest budget. Even though, it is an accessible film for almost everybody (the Quebequers may be advantaged because it was filmed in Quebec).
I highly recommend this film especially for the Quebequers and all other Canadians.
Vincent Leclair
Le déclin de l'empire américain (1986)
One of greatest films of all time.
Denys Arcand is one of the greatest directors in Canada and in the whole world. "Le déclin de l'empire américain" is a very brilliant film. I recommend it to anyone who is not blinded by the "folie de grandeur" of Hollywood.
P.S. The film is also very entertaining.
Vincent Leclair
Snow Falling on Cedars (1999)
Is this directed by Terrence Malick ?
Ok I know the answer: NO ! but there are a lot of similarity in the Malick's films with Snow Falling on Cedars (especialy with The Thin Red Line)
Director Scott Hicks is a visual poet like Malick, but I'd like to say that Malick is a better one (but if you like Malick style go see SFOC).
Like all Malick's film, the cinematography is outstanding and if you don't like subtile movie I won't recommand this one to you because, with the only the visual, you must try to find the answers at the questions you are asking yourself while watching the movie.
With poetic cinema, the plot is not very important. You must admire the cinematography and listen to the beautifull music who enchance most of your sens.
I am not saying that this is a perfect movie because it is not and I know that I lot of people did not like The Thin Red Line so I can surely say that this film will not be very popular and will have a lot of mixed reviews (some will give it a ten and some will give it a 1 (by the way, I gave it a 9 to be a stepfoward for the "commercial cinema industry").
Vincent Leclair
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Great
I love independant movies. In The Blair Witch Project, all the Hollywood clichés are out ! And I love that !
The Blair Witch Project is very good because it is so well directed by 2 novices of filmaking ! But the atmosphere is so great... you are with these people !
If you like horror movies like Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Night of the Living Dead (by master Georges A. Romero), that film is for you !
Congratulation for the great accomplishment!
9/10
Vince
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
A great movie by one of the greatest directorS of all time!!!
Stanley Kubrick last film is great. I am a Kubrick fan and a big cinema fan. Kubrick abandon a bit his style that he has use since 2001 A Space Odyssey for a more new style who let me remember the great Martin Scorsese. And, by the way, the whole film has an atmosphere of Taxi Driver Kubrick's version.
The message of the movie is difficult to understand (well, it is Kubrick). It is one of his less commercial film in the range of Lolita. This is an unerotic movie with a lot of sexual content. One of the most weird movie that I have seen in all my life (David Lynch's Blue Velvet is another).
The actors are good. Tom Cruise, in my opinion, is not a great actor, but in this movie he seems credible. Kidman is at his best as always. She is really one of the greatest hollywoodian actress. Sydney Pollack is also credible even if his last scene (the non-explicative scene with Tom Cruise) is a tough one for the audiance to beleive.
I must say that I attended to see the greatest film of my life and I was personnaly disappointed, buy it is obvious that it is a film to watch and rewatch again and again like all the Kubrick movies. The problem with me and the movie was that the central theme of the movie was not a theme that really cared about... well rare are the director who let me appreciate a movie with a theme that you don't personnaly care... I can think a few names.....Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Terrence Malick, David Lean, Steven Speilberg and Stanley Kubrick.
Remember it is not a commercial movie, so may LOVE it or you may HATE it. It happen all the time with very personnal movie just think of 2001 A Space Odyssey or the great war movie The Thin Red Line.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
OVER-RATED BY THE POPULATION !
Well, I think that Star Wars the Phanom Menace is most over-rated movie in the movie history (well, there are some movies that come to my brain like Forest Gump, BraveHeart and Dances with Wolves......).
Well the characters are cold. When a person dies, you don't feel the pain.
The action scenes are good but not as chilling as the Star Wars Trilogy (SW 4,5,6).
The plot is not really good... The intrigue is thin...
The only thing that really works is the publicity for the movie.
Georges Lucas said that it is his best movie.. Well, I will say that we are far off the greatness of American Graffiti and StarWars IV. Like Georges Lucas said: "This is a movie for children". Can't say it better my self.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Great horror movie !
I was really impressed with that movie.
It has great suspense. The cast his outstanding. Gunnar Hansen as Leatherface is just amazing.
The story is simple but it is a movie that makes you think ! Yes! Really, it makes you think on family relationship.
Surprise!: Leatherface is not a stereotype ! (not like Jason of Michael Myers are)
The murder scenes are great ! The first is so memorable, when we saw leatherface for the time kill with a big hammer and when he slam the door !!! Amazing.
Ok, it is not a great movie, but for the genre it is ! It is in my top 5 horror movies ! (#1 is Stanley Kubrick's The Shining)
Over now !
The Shining (1980)
The best horror movie ever made !
Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is my favorite horror movie. I really like the feeling of isolation in the movie. The music is very weird and it is very effective in that movie. The cinematography is outstanding (as always with Kubrick).
Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall are outstanding in their roles. Scatman Crothers and Danny Lloyd are great too.
There are lot of interpretations possible in that movie. May Jack can be the devil ??? Or is it the isolation syndrome or a nervous breakdown... ???
The movie is not as great as 2001 A Space Odyssey, but is there a bad film from Stanley Kubrick ???
See this movie, it is just great !
Nankyoku monogatari (1983)
A good movie. Vangelis score is one again outstanding !
The first time that I watched Antarctica, I was about 8 or 9. It makes me cry a lot because of the dogs who die. Now that I am 18, I have watched the movie again. It is not a great movie but a good one. The cinematography is great. The dogs are well trained and play well.
The best thing about this movie is Vangelis score. Vangelis really knows how to create the ambiance of this cold adventure movie.
And, oh, what a great idea to write the age of the dogs when they die. It surely added dramatic power to those scenes.
It was one of the biggest box office hits in Japan.
Alien (1979)
The best of the series.
Ridley Scott shows us again that he have a visual gift. He creates a great claustrophobic atmosphere in Alien. His second movie (The Duellist was the first one), is just great. The special effects are good for the time. There are some scenes so intense and powerful : when the alien got out of Kane's body is always is a great moment in film history. Visual effects made by H.R. Giger are impressive.
The non cast star is good. Sigourney Weaver as Ripley (who played in the inferior sequels Aliens, Alien3 and Alien Resurection) shows us that she is able to play a lead role. Tom Skeritt is good as Dallas (you must see the uncut version to know what happens to him...)
Jerry Goldsmith 'score is chilling and powerful. James Horner take some music of Goldsmith in Aliens.
Warning: people who like a lot of gore, nonsense story and full of action (explosions) will maybe not like Alien. Alien is more a slow thriller than an action movie. But YOU MUST SEE IT.
-Ripley to Ash "Ok, just get rid of him"
Blade Runner (1982)
One of the greatest science-fiction movies ever made !
I'll class Blade Runner in the three best science-fiction ever made (1- 2001, A Space Odyssey 2- Blade Runner 3- Alien). This movie is a terrific vision of the future and a really realistic one. There are a lot of questions to think about in this movie. The atmosphere of the movie is so great, director Ridley Scott used his visual gift to create a strange LA 2019. The actors are good. It is one of the only movies that Harisson Ford is an anti-hero. Rudger Hauer play the best character of the movie. Sean Young as Rachel is good and so are the others. There are some problems with the script and the screenplay, but nothing to turn the film bad. In my opinion, this is the best movie from Ridley Scott. The score of Vangelis is outstanding like always.
Some people may not like this movie... Young generation who want a lot of action, blood and gore...
I think that this classic will remain in movie history for a long time.
The Thin Red Line (1998)
It is the best movie that I have seen in 1998
The Thin Red Line closely resembles Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. The images are beautiful. I prefer it to Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. It is an intelligent movie, a poetic and philosphical one. The actors are great. Terrence Malick shows us once again that he can do a great movie. Like Badland and Days of Heaven, it is a movie that makes you think and that is very rare in the movies nowadays.
Dead of Winter (1987)
A great thriller, but not one of the best Arthur Penn's movie.
I really think that this film works. I think that it is difficult to not enter the story. Mary Steenbergen is really good in her 3 roles, the victim, the villan and a very dead corpse. Roddy McDowell is great too and Jan Rubes is also credible. Arthur Penn's direction is good. The movie is based on the 1945 film "My Name Is Julia Ross" by director Joseph H. Lewis. We can call it an unofficial remake, but I would like to say that it is an homage to the movie. There are some great scenes: when Katty calls his husband and tell him that Dr. Lewis and Mr. Murray cut off one of his finger, I really like that scene. It is my favorite. Another intense moment is the final, when the piano start. When you compare other classic of Penn (The Miracle Worker, Bonnie and Clyde, The Litle Big Man), Dead of Winter seems silly, but I think that in Dead of Winter, Penn shows us that he once was a great director.