stefan-huybrechts Reviews

Napoleon (2023)

Excellent trailer - not so the movie

[6/10 · 3 January 2024]

I will not get in to the historical inaccuracies, as in a lot of historical movies history is adapted for dramatic purposes. It is Hollywood after all and especially for big budget movies the goal is to make a lot of money. Beautiful Trailer.

My main criticism is the portrayal of Napoleon. Of course all who knew him are long gone and many accounts are subjective, so we have to make do with that information.

But I can not imagine that a man who ends up on top after all the chaos of the French Revolution, whose generals and soldiers stay loyal to him after all the battles and blood, wasn't an enormous charismatic man.

And that's where the film completely fails for me. You can hate him, admire him, love him, belittle him as Wellington, but the film makes him, and his relationship with Josephine, uninteresting and dull, and as the title is Napoleon, that was my feeling leaving the cinema. A bit more effort of Mr Scott and Mr. Phoenix to know the character and history would probably have added value.

Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2024)

From 9 to 5 in 3 seasons

[6/10 · 1 February 2021]

Season 1 is good. Sharp decline in season 2. And 3 .... well...barely watchable and only in small portions can it be digested. Every 5 minutes there is an emo-moment with the violins in full swing. Even without oxigen. OMG. So bottomline. Stop after season 1. There is only disappointment awaiting you further down the road.

The Great Wall (I) (2016)

Hilarious

[4/10 · 30 December 2020]

This is great comedy and probably still laughing "all the way to the bank" for Matt, Pedro and Willem

Greyhound (2020)

Good film but it isn't 1943 anymore but 2020

[7/10 · 21 August 2020]

I liked this film: it's well made, full of suspense, drama but you would almost expect Clark Gable or James Stewart or any other star from the golden era of Hollywood as Captain to boost the moral on the homefront and help the war effort. Good/God against evil. Watch it in black and white for the real experience. But this is 2020 and if you have seen Das Boot you know it's another bloody war between humans and most of them would rather be doing something else. Portraying the Germans in the U-boats as a silent adversary under the surface would be a start.

Planet of the Humans (2019)

8 for throwing the stick

[8/10 · 5 May 2020]

It's always good to have people question the present sacrements and enviromental solutions for our overconsumption of the natural resources. But it isn't that well done. I would presume that his budget wasn't so big as the billionaires to state his ideas in this documentary. The criticism that he gives no solutions is not fair, because these are not easily found when overpopulation and the lifestyle of a majority of the inhabitants of the first world countries with a gigantic carbon footprint are the source of the problem. Who is willing to really alter their way of life? And that's a really inconvenient truth.

The Plot Against America (2020)

Underrated!

[9/10 · 24 April 2020]

This is a gripping account of what can happen to a country and did happen to several in the first half of the twentieth century and how people react to it. It is slow but it is also often a slow decline toward the dissapearance of the rule of law. Hitler was appointed as prime minister in 1933 by democratic vote in parliament and only gradually instituted the Nazi state. I don't understand the rather low rating in comparison with other series: An inconvenient truth or a mirror image some people don't like? Freedom is a very precious human right.

War Machine (2017)

Good satire

[8/10 · 2 December 2019]

This is certainly not so bad as the rating might suggest. It's hilarious at times but confronting in others. And altough oversimplified perhaps not so remote from reality.

Game of Thrones: The Bells (2019) Season 8, Episode 5

How disappointing

[4/10 · 14 May 2019]

This is what happens when perhaps not so talented writers conjure the conclusion of an epic story. I wonder what GRR Martin has to go through now: A story which took him already 20 years to produce. Gone in a few hours. Sad. Congratulations and all the stars for the craftsman at HBO for the sets. And the actors who try to survive this horrendous scenario. Fortunately for LOTR Tolkien finished the Saga himself. What if D&D had to make Return of the King.

Aliens (1986)

Less is more

[6/10 · 20 February 2015]

David Cameron is definitely not Ridley Scott. 30 years after seeing Alien I saw it again and it still was a great movie. Not so Aliens. It really is no good. What were they thinking? A hundred must be way better than one alien and we put them everywhere and lots of shooting and grenades. The "bleepthing" must be in it! That was awesome in the first so we use it continuously. Where did they get the marines? Frozen from the Vietnam war? A t-shirt as the gear of the future to fight acid aliens! My god. Overrated! And an insult for all the +8 movies. Ripley(Sigourney Weaver) Is OK and she and the story deserved a lot better.