henriquecamilo Reviews

Vampire's Kiss (1988)

UNDERATED CAGE GEM

[8/10 · 28 January 2022]

I get why many people hate this, it's slow paced, Cage exaggerates his performance and the movie is all about him, but for this is what makes it so unique and iconic, it surely could've had some more dialogues and other instereting characters besisdes Mr Loew but I think the movie compensates it with exceptional and hilarious moments of Cage's acting that just takes everything to another level, his character I dare to say it's almost as deep as American Psycho's Patrick Bateman and a lot of the movie's critique kind of ressembles the latter.

Another somewhat controversial statement would be that probably Jim Carrey learned a lot from Cage in this movie, I can't really explain why but he has the same kind of presence, facial experssions and body movements.

I think Nicolas is a one of a kind actor that can do anything from comedy to drama, he created his own style and he always finds a way of selling the character through his unique performances.

Don't go for this expecting some masterpiece but if you want some good acting based comedy you'll find gold here.

I'd give this movie a 7,6 or something but since imbd doesn't have this option i gave it an 8.

Hidalgo (2004)

one of the best movies about horses

[9/10 · 17 September 2021]

I just loved this one, it kind of falls on the category of movies like this but it's still a touching story with a great adventure about a guy and his horse.

Viggo is in one of his best roles here, just excellent and I love the fact that Omar Sharif is here too because this movie reminds me a lot of Lawrence of Arabia for obvious reasons, the cinematography, the places and even some moral lessons along the way, I think the movie really took some inspiration from there but it still has it's own style.

It's just really rare to watch a film like this nowadays so I'm giving it a 9 and a strong recommendation specially if you like horses and western movies, the action here is also great which I didn't really expected in this kind of movie.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

Marvel formula this time with chinese folkore and martial arts

[5/10 · 7 September 2021]

Alright I get it, if you're not a fan of the character you're not gonna like it but I've watched movies before where I had no clue who the character was and it was still great because those movies made me care for them.

I think the acting is pretty decent, the actors do a good job being funny and some of the action scenes are pretty awesome but that's already expected from a MCU production, my real issue with this movie is it's plot, it's a tale about a chinese warrior that doesn't use his abilities for sht even though he was raised to be a fighter and do something but instead he just runs away and hides in new york with this boring comic relief/love interest character, and leaves his sister behind not even caring about it, alright i can buy all that but where's his motivation?

Then suddenly a guy with a sword in his arms appears and steals his necklace and he starts to do something about it, wow what an amazing chinese hero let's give some applause...

Plus his dad/villain is totally forgettable, the whole relationship is poorly written, in one scene he says he's going to kill his dad and in the other he basically forgot about it, the dad doesn't have one scene of development, his character is weak af probably one of the worst antagonists in the MCU, the CGI dragons are pretty amazing but other than that it's just another formula marvel bull and totally forgettable.

I Care a Lot (2020)

a solid option for entertainment

[7/10 · 20 February 2021]

I was mostly surprised to find out that this movie was released today, I just randomly watched it like any other film and I didn't expected to like it that much.

Rosemund Pike is just as awesome as crazy as she was in Gone Girl, I really love to see her playing this kind of badass character. I also enjoyed a lot from all performances, and maybe some of them could've had a little more screen time and development such as Dianne Wiest's character which I think was perfectly played and developed in the first half but she just seems to fade in the other.

Another aspect about these characters that I really liked it's this very cartoon atmosphere that sometimes you get from a Coen Brothers' or Tarantino movies, that I think it's well displayed here and makes it all very entertaining and fun to watch.

I think the plot is creatively written, it has some subtle critiques and a little bit of acid humor that I think works really fine here mostly because of its performances and direction. The only thing that I feel it's lacking here is maybe a little more of realism, the plot sometimes seems absurdly non plausible and that might affect you experience with it.

But overall I think the movie worked really well and never failed to entertain me, I'm highly recommending it and that's all.. ps: I just don't understand how this movie got so much hate here, it's really nothing special but common there's something to enjoy from it, it's not because you didn't liked it that it'll be a 1/10...

Wonder Boys (2000)

pretencious humor and weak drama

[5/10 · 15 January 2021]

Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr, and Tobey Maguire how could this movie not be good, well for me it kinda sucks... but you may like it.

This is clearly a movie more about it's characters than the story itself, and that's not a bad thing if your characters are interesting enough which in this movie I think it's not really the case, and don't get me wrong, all actors here are awesome and I like the characters a little better because of this cast.

My biggest issue with this movie is that when they're are to be funny they sound too pretencious with those intelectual writer jokes that I just don't buy. They're basically talking about how they write well or bad and then making fun about it, or also just name-dropping some famous writer so the intelectual watcher is like "ahaha that's funny, I know that writer".

I think the film works better in its dramatic moments, specially when it's focused on Michael's character, because I think Tobey's just too problematic and Robert's just there for comic relief.

Another thing that I hated here is how the characters almost don't actually get to face their conflicts, it's like they did this... but where are the side effects? there's basically no conflict the whole movie.

Overall there were some enjoyable and funny moments that I liked in the movie, and I also think that there's a good and subtle message to the story here so it's not that bad and you might enjoy it a lot more than me

Training Day (2001)

one of the best cop movies from the 2000's

[9/10 · 12 January 2021]

I didn't know what I was missing, we're looking here at one of the best cop movies of the 2000's.

The direction here is awesome, you really get that thriller atmosphere all the time, both Denzel and Ethan are on their best here, they got nomminated to Oscars and Denzel even won best actor and it's really not for nothing.

The story is far from being basic and has got the right level complexity so the action doesn't get overshadowed here, which is just amazing, each scene here is well written and genuinely thrilling.

I also loved the way the whole plot happens in just one day, it feels like too much sometimes for this short amount of time, but the writing here is amazing and it always feels like it's all very plausible. It's kind of cool how they divided all 3 acts in morning, afternoon and evening, the climax in each act all have great build ups, specially the last one.

It's one of those movies where you might feel like everything happens for a reason and some stuff is plot device, but it really worked out really well for me

Juliet, Naked (2018)

Just really lovely, fun and heartwarming

[8/10 · 11 January 2021]

I mean, I loved this movie, it's just fun, charming and it's premisse is very original for the genre at least, and weirdly I kind of related to Chris O'Dowd's character because he's really obsessed about an artist and this has interfered in his life, in my case it's not that bad, but I think I get him.

So I don't really think there's much to say here, the whole cast is just doing their thing here which is awesome I think everyone was really good.

You can kind of guess what's going to happen in the storyline, but I don't think in anyway that this is a bad thing here, because the movie gives you so much fun with these well written characters and charismatic performances that you can just sit there for one hour and a half and just have a great time.

I highly recommend this, if you just want have a good time watching a movie, it's nothing really special, but maybe for me it was a little better than it would be to anyone else, I definitely want watch this some more times.

Harold and Maude (1971)

Funny and meaningful

[8/10 · 11 January 2021]

Just finished watching Harold and Maude by Hal Ashby and this was a big surprise for me cause movies at that tim weren't so bold like this one, specially when it comes to humor...

This film is about a boy and an old lady and they both live their lives as if it was their last, only that Harold (the boy) doesn't really care about his life and Maude (the old lady) really tryes to make the best out of every moment.

These are two really good and odd characters that also make a good and odd friendship, they go around city stealing cars and just having the time of their lives with each other, meanwhile when Harold returns to his life with his rich and controlling mother, he realizes he'd never really experienced real life and that's why he doesn't care about it.

I think the screeplay as well as the direction did a great job bringing such an odd story to life and giving a great meaning to it, I believe the message here is basic enjoy your life, take chances, be grateful for what you have, we see this in a lot of movies but never in such a creative way.

There were also some sharp criticism in the humor here about social institutions, one of my favorite scenes is when Harold is about to be forced into alisting at the army and he and Maude make a plan together so he won't have to go, so you can imagine that this scene has a very smart humor. (I won't describe the scene so much so you don't get spoilers).

Some of the serious parts and the drama are not so effective in my opinion, but I think it still works.

I highly recommend this film, you may think some of the jokes here and there are a little outdated but I hardly disagree, this is way ahead of it's time and it's just great.

I'm giving this a 8,5/10

Maudie (2016)

one of the best biographical films you're going to watch

[9/10 · 10 January 2021]

It's known by fact that Maud suffered from a serious disease called rheumatoid arthritis, and by that you can tell that it's going to be a really hard work for someone to actually portray her in a movie, well but I guess they found the perfect actress for this role and she's Sally Hawkins. And of course the direction makes an excellent job capturing the struggle that is like to live with such a disesase.

I could easily say this was her best performance so far, I mean she did a great job on "Shape of Water" (which she got a nomination the same year Maudie came out, but unfortunately she could only get one nomination per categorie).

Despite Sally's acting is so great, she's not alone here, Ethan Hawke does a really good job on this unusual role for him.

This movie has so many great aspects, it's really a shame it wasn't recognized by the Oscars, you could argue that it kind of uses that sort of formula for biographical movies and it's not much different from like "Coal Miner's Daughter". This is a very unique story about this very unique artist and I think it deserves a lot more.

You should really give this movie a watch, even if you have no idea who Maud Lewis is, the story here is just really inspiring and beautiful.

I'm giving this a 9,5/10

have you seen this film? what did you think of it?

Rock My Heart (2017)

kinda sweet but there's a lot missing

[5/10 · 9 January 2021]

There are a lot of great dramas about disease and animals helping through the process of recovery and etc, but this is definitely not the case, I felt it had a lot of potential with some pretty decent acting but it's not used really well, the dialogue is just predictable as the storyline, nothing really remarkable happens but you can kind of enjoy if you just turn you brain off a little and just enjoy some sweet moments between this teenage girl and that beautiful horse. Just don't go for this looking for a great film, it's just forgettable but you can enjoy it a little if you're not looking for something complex and deep.

A Perfect World (1993)

cute movie from Clint Eastwood

[8/10 · 6 January 2021]

I mean, it's really cute to see that kid and Kevin Costner just driving around, escaping from cops. The film starts off with a more dramatic and thrillery atmosphere, it doesn't really feel like it's going to be fun, but suddenly everything changes when they kidnap the boy as you might expect, I think the Clint's role in this movie is not much different from what you would expect from him, but there's a really interesting backstory that ties both his character and Kevin's, I think the direction is great mostly when the movie get to it's 30 last minutes it recovers that thriller atmosphere and it's actually pretty awesome how the movie manage to have those cute and funny moments and then it's suddenly all dramatic and intense. (it kinda reminds me of that movie "The Professional") I'd really recommend this to anyone, watch with your family, it's hard not to like it

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

sad but good

[9/10 · 6 January 2021]

I think the story is pretty good, if you like these types of narrative where nothing ever good happens to the main character this might be a great film for you, the acting is absolutely awesome and it has some really great music, all the tecnic qualities are as good as you might expect from a Coen Brothers movie, I just wish the message wasn't such a downer and the protagonist had learned something at the end of the story, but it still is a very decent movie. I think one of the scenes that most capture all the experience of this film at once is the one Llewyn is driving to Chicago with two really annoying characters and a cat, it's funny and it also makes you feel uncomfortable. I'd not recommend this movie if you're looking for something to just scape life a little and have a good time, it's a movie to watch alone and then maybe take some time to think about your own life.