tcheb Reviews

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

beautiful but disappointing

[5/10 · 14 October 2017]

The movie is definitely a masterpiece in terms of cinematography. Ryan Gosling does a decent job as well. That's where it ends though. The most frustrating part about it is how it insults the intelligence of the viewer. While the original movie was laid down like a puzzle (the unicorn dreams and origami at different moments in the movie) this one just spells out everything to make sure the dumbest person could get it. The only thing missing was a big sign flashing: "pay attention here" . The flashbacks were placed totally artificially and the whole sequence was so linear it hurts. Also the whole story was way too shallow and included too many cheap tearjerkers.

Another frustrating thing is how, just like all the other recent reboots, it just runs on pure nostalgia while adding virtually nothing new. Edward James Olmos's appearance is a perfect example. The short scene involving him adds nothing to the story. It's just there because they had to find some reason to put him in the movie.

They should have left the original movie alone.

Goodbye Solo (2008)

The longest 90 minutes of my life

[2/10 · 13 November 2009]

This movie almost killed me. I hang on until the very end hoping for something that would make me think that this wasn't a complete waste of time but no. Nothing of the sort happened. The character development is naive and insanely clichéd. Instead of an actual plot, the movie is filled with ridiculous political correctness, cultural commonplaces and cheap tearjerkers.

The acting might actually be good as well as the general production of the movie but the banality and platitude of the script makes it a total disaster.

The critics at the Venice Festival completely lost my confidence with this one.

Noise (I) (2007)

Sharp thriller about isolation, fear and such...

[7/10 · 18 June 2007]

It's been almost a full day since I've seen it and I still don't really know what to think. The movie is Australian so for me it's automatically great, but I'm still struggling to understand some (not to say most) of the movie's elements. The dialogs are as sharp as they get especially between the cop and the killer in the caravan (- What's your name? - It's Mc as in McDonalds and Gahan as in I gahan read the nameplate). The movie also works very well on the psychological level and not just in a Silence of the lambs psycho killer way. I also wish I saw it with subtitles because some of the Aussie slang was just way too much for me.

Valkoinen kaupunki (2006)

A good movie about a very important issue

[6/10 · 18 June 2007]

Quite a good movie about a very important issue: Fathers' custody rights. I'm very happy to see that some care enough to make such a passionate movie about it. I don't know if the DV format was an aesthetic or economical choice but that was my main beef with the movie. I know it kind of enhanced the cold atmosphere but that's one rule I'm adamant about. DV for home video, 35mm for theater, that's it, that's all. Other than that, I loved the characters and the complexity of their actions. The sex scenes were some of the most intense ones I have ever seen. You can almost touch all the love, hate and despair in the couple.

Factotum (2005)

A very faithful adaptation of Bukowski's writing

[7/10 · 8 June 2006]

This was truly a great film! First of all, I was a little bit hesitant because Dillon seemed like an awful case of miscasting in the role of Chinaski. I was very surprised to see that not only he pulled it off fantastically, but also at times there was an obvious resemblance between Buko and Dillon (the bulky frame, the protruding chin etc...).

The movie follows with astonishing faithfulness the rhythm of Bukowski's novels with its anecdotal structure, minimal but sharp dialogues, almost unnoticeable alternation between laughing-out-loud funny and depressingly pathetic etc...

Anyone who loves Bukowski's work like I do shouldn't miss this movie.

Holy Cross (2003 TV Movie)

An almost TOO balanced representation

[7/10 · 7 September 2004]

I saw whis movie at the Montreal World Film Festival and was really surprised at how good it was for a TV movie. The script is classic but very well constructed. What I liked the most about this movie is that it isn't over-dramatized. It shows us the story through two different families' experiences without adding too much misery or infortunes to their lives. We sense that something bad will happen to one of the characters but the movie very wisely keeps track on what really happened thus showing that the real drama isn't who got his a&?% kicked by whom but the girls' trauma after the events. The victims of what happened aren't the hard headed punks who start the trouble or the citizens who spend their time yelling and requesting their war but the kids who never asked for nothing else but go to school. One very powerful moment is when a protestant kid sees her mother yelling at the little girls all sorts of curses. You can really feel what goes on in the little girl's head when she sees her mother going mad.

The only problem is that it is almost too politically correct but you can clearly see that that was the director's intent. In my humble opinion, he tries too hard on justifying the protestants' acts when they can't really be justified. They can only be explained.

Angel (1982)

Neil Jordan's first masterpiece

[7/10 · 8 January 2000]

In this movie we follow a young Irish sax player who accidentally witnesses the murder of a young mute girl he just met. He decides not to tell anything to the police and track the killers down all by himself. Even if it sounds like one, it is all but an action movie. What it really is, is a great psychological drama which in spite of its pretty amateurish style really embarks us in its story. Stephen Rea is as silent and as good as usual. His cold and severe but at the same time fragile look fits magnificently in this tale of revenge and naïveté. Undoubtedly, only an Irish director could have done a movie with such an atmosphere and as much style. We can almost feel the dirt, despair and disillusion in the Irish suburb as well as the corrupted purity and quietness of the country. Danny is the spokes-man of a disenchanted nation only trying to understand what is going on and hoping for a long-awaited revenge.

The Killers (1964)

A not so bad "film-noir"

[6/10 · 7 December 1998]

After killing a man, two professional killers start asking themselves why the job was so easy and why didn't their victim try to run away. Soon after they discover that the man they killed was involved in a million-dollar robbery and that he double-crossed his associate. Finally, they try to find out who their employer was in order to steal the million dollars. The Ernest Hemingway's story is really great and very complex, too bad it's one of the only good points of the movie. The cast is very weak (except Lee Marvin who is excellent in his role), the action is a little slow and doesn't exploit at all the excellent plot. Nevertheless I liked that movie because it had something special that we don't see every day in cinema. First of all the main characters are two merciless bastards who killed the only good guy in the movie and what's more they killed him right at the beginning. Second: it's very convincing, I mean you don't ask yourself all the time: "Yeah right! How did they do that?". It's just not filled with stupid, exaggerated and incredible situations... all of it is very natural and simple. So even if the directing needs some improvement, I liked the movie and recommend it if you want some "quiet suspense".

Ronin (1998)

Car chases, shootings... and yawns

[3/10 · 21 November 1998]

Just one more movie in the genre of Mission: Impossible and Heat. I'd even say that it isn't a movie, but a good show and more precisely a good car chase show. Half of the movie consists of never ending car chases across the narrow European roads. Reno and DeNiro play two mercenaries hired by the Irish mafia and their job is to recover a mysterious case. At the beginning everything seams simple and easy but then it gets complicated when one member of the team betrays the others. And guess where he comes from... well, nowhere else than the Russian mob (what a surprise isn't it). The rest of the movie consists in constant "this one betrayed that one who loves this one but works for that one and so on and so forth...". However there is a tiny attempt to put some depth in all of it and that's where the title "Ronin" comes from (in the far east it designated a masterless Samurai). Pointless to say that it's a complete failure and that it drowns in the idiocy of the movie. Still, there are some scenes worth seeing (that's why I gave one star), which are: the first shooting scene under the bridge and the first car chase (after it becomes boring and exaggerated). Once again I was deceived by De Niro who gave a completely usual and uninteresting performance and Jean Reno seems to be good only in Luc Besson's movies.