guillaumerouy Reviews

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Great movie, but not for the Indian Tourism Office...

[8/10 · 16 January 2009]

This is a great film. Danny Boyle is quite of touching-every-kind of genre, from "drugs-comedy" with "Transpointing" to Horror movie, with "28 days later", and many more, "The Beach" and his sweet masterpiece "Millionaire". Funny enough, this is his second film with "millionaire" word in the main title. And for this one "millionaire" refers, of course, to the super-matching UK's game from Celador "Who wants to be a millionaire ?", the very first TV game in history in which the contestant can win (in the UK where it is originally from) 1 000 000 pounds. The game itself is only a tool to tell a life story : the whole film focuses on the very struggling and tough life of two brothers from a miserable area of Mumbay, India. And actually it is what is all about.

While I enjoyed the acting, cinematography, editing and even the music,

the description of India, in this movie, is quite horrible. After watching this movie, there is no way you will visit this country. India is :

Over crowed and populated, very poor, with Hindus People providing religious intolerance - even to kill the Muslims (which is unfortunately a fact, Hindus being violent with Catholics as well) - very young kids orphaned living in bins with no help but evil people who exploit them, blind them and ask them to beg for even more money, police who - while completely useless according to the situations described in the films - do not hesitate to torture suspicious people in order to them to speak, etc, etc, etc...

This film gave me an idea of India who made me sick, and revealed even more how come Mother Theresa had struggled to do what she did.

According to the vision of the Film, India is not a nice country. At all....

Carrie (1976)

A massive masterpiece ! A classic in Horror film history !

[10/10 · 13 October 2008]

I do not usually put a 10 of 10 on a movie. But this film is the perfect way to adapt a Stephen King novel. The success of this classic is based on two main columns : Brian de Palma and Sissy Spacek. Those two just made the movie in such a way that it became a real classic and a reference in the genre. Thanks to Brian de Palma completely inspired and motivated in making this film as a director. BDP is a big Hitchcock fan. The references to Hitchcock in this film, particularly in the score (reference to Psycho's score) is obvious. But BDP used the camera as a good director should do. He used every angles, every shadows.. The camera is moving, showing us the story. BDP understood what cinema means. Remember the famous scene of the blood pig bucket. All is done in slow motion and even put more tension to us. Then he used the sharing screen thing, the "split screen". Putting different images, different shots in one screen. But the talent of BDP is above all in his way he directed the actors. This is the job of a good director. The casting is terrific.

And Sissy made us speechless.

This film had been directed with great talent and intelligence indeed. It deserves to be ranked as one the best horror movie of all time and indeed one of the best adaptation of a Stephen King novel.

A masterpiece not to be missed !

Halloween (2007)

A decent Remake.

[8/10 · 12 August 2008]

Halloween 2007 is a decent remake.

Different in many points than the Original, far more violent and gory, however not scary at all.

The movie is divided in two parts. The first part, the most interesting and the difference with the original, present the childhood of Michael Myers. His family nest is purely evil (while in the original, nothing is said about his family, which seems to be normal). Zombie is showing us actually young Michael as a victim : being born and growing up in a very dysfunctional and unbalanced family, and a victim of nasty bullying at school. The result : an evil child with an angel face.

The second part is - more or less - the revamp and proper remake of the original. Lots of similarities, nearly the same story. Except the end.

While we could have some compassion regarding Michael's state, we lost it when, as a young adult, he managed to escape from his prison, killing everyone, including the nice staff of the institution he stayed for 15 years, and the people who had been nice to him. Now Zombie show us the truth : Michael is... a machine. A killing machine, a Terminator. No brain, no emotion, no mercy.

Another difference is that the Psy who is trying to heal Michael died at the end. And also Michael himself, as he received a shot straight to his face.

In a whole, this movie is not disappointing. However, Zombie's notorious reputation as a director is there : Abuse of the F word. Long hair - hard-rock type - characters. This movie lacks of fine good acting indeed. In particular Mac Dowell's performance, which is far to be impressive.

Use of the original Carpenter's score also reminds us of the original, and is a good asset to the film.

In a time when horror films remakes are common in Hollywood and generally very disappointing and purely commercial ("The Omen", "The Fog", and many others), Zombie's Halloween managed to deliver a decent remake, different from the original and worth a viewing for the fans.

Magicians (2007)

Charming typical Brit-com

[9/10 · 25 November 2007]

The Brits can deliver regarding comedy at the cinema, no, no, i don't mean "Carry On... ". But i mean films like "The Full Monty". "Magicians" deliver completely. Despite some rude and bad language, highly forgivable, the whole thing is charming, cute, without any pretension and funny. Typical from the brits regarding the subject. I enjoyed it completely, and recommend it. If you like " The Full Monty", you will like this one. The actors, quite unknowed, do their part well. And there is not "space", no moment of waiting. It just delivers from A to finish. You won't laugh every seconds, but the over whole of the movie is funny. While I have been very disappointed with brits-com like "Love actually", one of the worst movie i have even seen in my life, the little budget "Magicians" manages far better. A nice surprise, wonderful. Thank you !

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Pure Perfection

[10/10 · 11 November 2007]

Of all Disney's animated movie, I think Mermaid is one of the best. Clemens and Musker really followed Walt Disney genius regarding story telling and adaptation of classic fairy tale. It is fun, charming, adorable, sweet, funny, and great. The characters are all very strong and unmemorable, especially Ursulla and Sebastian. The animation is beautiful. The score is THE best of all Disney's movie so far, and Menken had really been inspired. How many times i heard with great pleasure and smile "under the sea" ? The action is nearly non stop. Ariel is a pure beauty. It is actually difficult for me to "review" or comment this movie, as i think it so good. Clemens and Musker are pure genius, real artists and poets. Wonderful, inspired, magic. Perfect. Tks Ron and John.

World Trade Center (2006)

Nice

[6/10 · 8 November 2007]

Nice, but like many, bit disappointed. I don't know what but it doesn't sound like an Oliver Stone movie. This is or there are some kind of missing elements here. Like : the acting is OK, but just OK. Knowing how she suffers, Jimino's wife reaction is nearly annoying during the entire movie. Nic is OK as usual (but nothing will beat Leaving Las Vegas). The scene of our 2 cops trapped are brilliant. And the scene of Jesus, his Sacred Eart, appearing to Jimino while he is near to die are profound and moving, above all if you are a Christian. The whole scenes of the towers collapsing are also effective. But on over whole it seems or sounds very commercial, very superficial. Not bad at all but it misses the Oliver Stone's touch.

Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

Guilty Pleasure

[9/10 · 5 November 2007]

Extreme violence, rape, gore, blood, voyeurism. Cannibal Holocaust made it! Unbelievable but truth, this film will stay in the history of cinema because of its violence. I saw an awful lots of horror movies, but this one is not like the other ones. Actually i don't think i would be able to take it in a movie theater. But in the comfort of the home, this is a guilty pleasure. Deodato managed so well with his camera. Camera is actually the "hero" here. The camera films everything, including death of poor animals. Cannibal Holocaust will stay in memory because it got it all as Grindhouse DVD says. Well i was lucky enough to get the EC DVD (uncut), brilliant printing, and above all, the sound is nearly perfect. Cannibal Holocaust wont be the same without such a brilliant score ! Riz Ortolani did for CH as John Williams did for Star Wars. CH is bad, but so great !

Dead Silence (2007)

great Halloween movie

[6/10 · 4 November 2007]

Typical Halloween movie from the director of SAW, Dead Silence is not bad but has its boring moments. While you are expecting great gore effects, you won't find it. However, Wan manages well, with his director of photography and production designer, to use the lights and the design. Lights are omi-presents there, with the fake storms of course but also with the use of a light-torch when the protagonists are searching for a clue. While the scenario is a bit weak and easy, the technical direction of Wan is really great. Maybe another cast, i think the protagonist, while being OK, could be better, and a more structured story could had be made a great horror film. For the end, yes, definitely unexpectedly. Give it a go, it won't harm.

Live Free or Die Hard (2007)

4 is not a magic number

[5/10 · 30 October 2007]

Die Hard 4 has its moments. Many actually if you like and consider that an action movie should be full of action scenes. Regarding this matter, no doubt DH4 is full of action scenes. But..... Yes, unfortunately, there is or there are many many buts. I try to know what was wrong with this movie and i think it is the young director direction. This quite inexperienced guy (only one movie and its sequels) had certainly tried hard to bring us the joy and entertainment provided by the 3 first DH movies. But he forgot a big big issue there : ACTING. Yes, DH4 is really bad acting and bad casting. While the villain, in the first 3 nearly stole the show, in DH4 he is quite of memorable. And there is not good movie without a good villain. Wiseman failed to succeed to Mc Tiernan and Renny Harlin. While Bruce Willis is still great, it misses far too much "je ne sais quoi" of the first 3 ones, to be remembered as a great DH movie. Yes, we can stay and focus on the Die Hard TRILOGY if you know what i mean.

Ratatouille (2007)

Magic!

[9/10 · 24 October 2007]

Disney like the word "magic". And in this case, the great marriage between Disney and Pixar work so well that the result is Magic. Magic for its original scenario, for the characters, the design and of course, and above all, the terrific animation. While a rat is not a very lovable animal, Pixar succeeded to make a little rodent, and all his family, most adorable and friendly. I tell you, you wont see a rat the same way after watching ratatouille ! By the way, the selling of rats in the UK, as a pet, had been grown up to 50 % since the release of the movie. Not 10/10 because of the score and the song, sang in a very weak, broken french. But over-whole, once again, a great journey into magic. Dreamworks can still manage and try to do better. But without a good writer and director, they will only do pale copies.

Taxi 3 (2003)

Max Pecas Style !

[2/10 · 25 September 2007]

Luc Besson is a Big personality in the French Cinema business. Actually, He would love to be compared as the french "Spielberg". The guy who manages great success at the box office and quality. However, with Besson, this is not the case. Despite some massive french box office hits ("Le grand Bleu", "le 5eme element"), Besson, as a director, never managed to impress us. His movies are extremely commercials but, for most of them, very childish and immature. And this is typical for Taxi 3. Taxi, the first one, was quite funny and the stunts were terrific. This was a hit at the box office because it was "different" from the other kind of french cinema. But, OMG, this one is so bad! This is definitely the WORST ACTING performance ever in a french movie ! Look at Gibert, the "commissaire" - the "captain". Poor guy, he IS the worst actor i ever seen in a long time ! Sounds like the director had focused on the stunts and totally forgot to, actually, "direct" the actors ! While some scenes has some funny aspects, it is so silly that it is stupid. Believe it or not but the scenario and the dialog reminds me of the "great" Max Pecas, RIP, the worst french director ever as Tim Burton compares him with Ed Wood ! Yes This Max Pecas style ! But with more money. Besson may have made some few bucks with this one, but doing such a crap film, i don't think he will be ever remembered as the french "Spielberg" !

The Omen (2006)

useless and bad

[4/10 · 24 October 2006]

Useless and not scary. Bad acting and any originality at all whatsoever. I think the Irish man, John Moore, just wanted to follow the success of recent remakes of '7Os horror movies, like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and others... in order to make a bit of $! But really there are no surprises in this remake, the scenario is a mirror of the original. The music a bit ordinary and i cannot feel sorry for the Ambassador and his wife. Only Mia Farrow is the most interesting character. The Son of the Devil is exactly the same as the one in the original movie. Don't bother to watch it, even to rent it on DVD. Watch the original instead!

RoboCop (1987)

Best Action Movie Ever.

[10/10 · 10 October 2006]

It is Steven Spielberg Himself who encouraged Paul to come to the States to work on film making in and for Hollywood. Paul was not very interested at the beginning. When He first saw the script of Robocop, he thought it was rubbish. Sounds like a low budget B movie, maybe. But his wife didn't agree with this first impression and encouraged him to work on it. And the Dutch man did so. And provided one the best Action movie ever done. And trust me, I watched Lots of them! "Robocop" is very closed to perfection. Great casting, to begin with. From Murphy himself to Clarence Bodicker, one of the worst Villain ever portrayed. And everything is great in this movie. The Scenario is clever and realistic. The Editing also is terrific. There are no "blank" scenes whatsoever. It is action, action and action. Non stop with clever links. The music, the soundtrack, is also very efficient. This movie wont be as good if Paul didn't direct it. Paul got the power from Hollywood and he managed it very well!I love you Paul !