With its title this movie succeeds in getting your attention. It asks you to listen, to find out what its message is. Does debuting director Justin Simien mention to get that message across convincingly? Continue reading
Category Archives: Comedy
Dumb and Dumber To (2014)
Dumb and Dumber is high on my list of favorite comedies. The story about the two “stupid” friends Harold (Jeff Daniels) and Lloyd (Jim Carrey) who want to return a briefcase to its owner and end up in a kidnapping case was comedy gold. The movie still is endlessly quotable and even is you have seen the movie before, it remains funny. This sequel, or actually third movie as we can’t forget the horrible Dumb and Dumberer, tries to recreate the magic of the original. The actors are 20 years older, but are they still able to convincingly crawl into the skin of these iconic characters? Continue reading
Of Horses and Men (2014)
How many good movies do you know where horses play the main part? If you forget Warhorse for a moment (a movie which I found quite manipulative and disappointing) you probably van only think of movies where a young girl has to save a horse. Enough reason for me to approach this movie carefully as I didn’t know if this was a tame horse or a wild stallion. Continue reading
Inherent Vice (2014)
Dear Mister Anderson,
The first work of yours which I ever saw was the movie Magnolia, your work impressed me and during your career I’ve seen almost all of your movies including Punch Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood and The Master. Also didn’t want to miss your latest film, Inherent Vice. I couldn’t wait to find out what it was about and what to expect from it. See, I never read the book this movie is based on, but as you know how to make movies I had confidence this would be a nice surprise. Continue reading
Annie (2014)
As is always the case when a remake is announced, there was a lot of criticism before this movie saw the light of day. The standard reactions like “You should not touch a classic”, “Hollywood can’t create anything original” etcetera could be read everywhere. Those were understandable, but you really can’t say anything about the quality of a movie until you have seen it. I’ll have to admit that I’ve only seen parts of the original, so the story was mostly new to me. Does Annie, starring Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild, 12 Years a Slave), successfully manage to inject the movie with a new energy that makes it refreshing? Continue reading
Black Mirror: White Christmas
With the series Black Mirror, writer/comedian Charlie Brooker has managed to deliver two seasons of an extremely smart TV-show in which he explores the dangers of the quick development in the world of technology. By taking well-known present day concepts and showing what these could lead to in the future he has managed to let its audience think about what could happen: What are the consequences on technological improvements to our body? What is the power of social networks? Or how far are we willing to go when it comes to giving away our privary? It is the reason it is one of my favorite shows and I couldn’t wait to see the Christmas special. The promo shots, which show John Hamm seemingly talking to an egg, made me curious and the question is whether White Christmas has managed to meet my (extremely high) expectations. Continue reading
Labyrinthus (2014)
When it comes to children’s tv and movies there is one company which pretty much dominates that market, which is the Belgian Studio 54 which has a wide range of successful franchises. You’d almost forget that other companies make movies as well, but Labyrinthus is a great example of one checking out. An exciting movie for the older kids. Continue reading
Two Night Stand (2014)
Although I hate generalizing I do think that the romcom genre mainly appeals to the female part of moviegoers who like to dream about love for a moment watching to people who are “meant for each other” trying to get across some obstacles in their way before they get together. It means I’m not the biggest fan of the genre, being a man, and usually skip a lot of them. But as Miles Tiller managed to wow me with his peformance in Whiplash I had to give this more a chance to see how he did in this genre. Continue reading
Let’s Be Cops (2014)
Is it possible to take only a small premise, in this case two guys pretending to be cops, and turn that into a feature length movie? My expectations were that it would quickly into a way too long drawn out sketch that spread itself too thin and not worth watching. But as I’m always curious I had to find out if this movie really was what I was expecting. Continue reading
Hercules (2014)
How do legends form? How is it possible that some stories are forgotten within a few months, but others are still read centuries later and are still being told? Could it be because a specific story holds a lesson, like the well-known fairytales do? Or is it because the story is so unbelievable that it is exactly that which inspires its listener/reader? The admiration only increasing the more beautiful the story is, even if it might not be grounded in reality. It is something the best movies do. This one looks at the legend of Hercules. The son of the god Zeus who managed to defeat an unbeatable lion or who cut off the heads of the Hydra. Continue reading