Category Archives: Drama

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Sleepless (2017) – Review

review Sleepless

Although statistics prove otherwise, I’ve got the feeling that movies in general have gotten longer and usually are two hours or longer. Of course I have no issue with that (especially if it’s a good movie), but there are moments when you just want to watch something which is shorter and 90 minutes to me is the perfect length. This film which stars Jamie Foxx, seemed like a perfect choice. Something I didn’t know in advance, but quickly found out while watching is that this is a remake of the French film Blanche (also known as Sleepless Night), which I saw a couple of years ago. Although the original wasn’t a masterpiece, it offered enough action to be entertaining enough. Is that also the case with this version? Continue reading →

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Patriots Day (2016) – Review

Review Patriots Day

Mark Wahlberg lately seems to pick out roles in which real events are dramatized. He played in Lone Survivor, which showed how soldiers had to survive once their mission didn’t go according to plan and in Deepwater Horizon he worked as an engineer on an oil platform which exploded. Both of those movies were directed by Peter Berg and Wahlberg connects with him again here. This film tries to recreate the events surrounding the bombing of the Boston marathon. A terrorist attack which had a tight grip on the city for days and received lots of media attention. Continue reading →

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Split (2016) – Review

Review Split

M. Night Shyamalan, once crowned king of the twist, seemed to have lost his touch the last couple of years. Lady in the Water, The Happening (What, no!), The Last Airbender and After Earth didn’t manage to impress and the question was if he would be able to make a comeback. That he still had some humour is something he proved during the last Oscars when he tweeted: “I wrote the ending of the academy awards 2017. @jimmykimmel we really got them!”. When Split started playing at the cinema earlier this year it proved to be a title with staying power as it kept playing for a long time in the cinemas over here in the Netherlands. Does that prove that Shyamalan has proved he still got it? Continue reading →

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Logan (2017) – Review

Review Logan

Maybe it’s the fact that I’m getting older, but I notice that it’s usually not a good idea for me to see a movie at the cinema when it’s late in the evening. In general I go and see movies when I have a day off or during the day in weekends, but when I visit a showing late at night it will happen once in a while that I can’t keep my eyes open during the whole movie. It doesn’t matter whether the film is a moving drama or filled with action, I sometimes just nod off. It doesn’t mean I sleep during the whole movie, but I will miss between one and five minutes. So I decided I wouldn’t review a movie when that happens as I can’t form a complete opinion about it as I might have missed a key moment. When I saw Logan late at night everything seemed to go fine, but halfway through the movie I was gone again. As the reviews were mainly positive and what I saw didn’t really convince me completely I blamed it on sleeping. So later I headed to the cinema again to watch it a second time. Did that change my opinion? Continue reading →

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I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017) – Review

Review I Don't Feel at Home in this world anymore

You are familiar with them, those small, daily frustrations. A colleague or roommate who didn’t clean up, people in the supermarket who pretend they don’t see you when rushing to the register to get ahead of you or that other driver who was driving behind you when two lanes have to merge, but still tries to get in front of you once you have merged. Depending on your state of mind you either let it slide or let it get to you. For Ruth (Melanie Lynskey) those type of moments keep piling up. When she comes home and finds out that a burglary took place and the police states that there isn’t much they can do, she has had enough. Continue reading →

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Trollhunter (2010) – Review

review Trollhunter

When you search for the “found footage” genre on Wikipedia you’ll see that once The Blair Witch Project came out it caused an explosion of titles which also used the technique. Most of those movies are titles you’ve never heard of and that’s probably for a good reason. Making a found footage movie can be done cheaply. You don’t need great equipment for the images to look good and the way the camera itself is used doesn’t have to be tight (shots don’t always have to be in focus or steady). Of course there are various exceptions of movies which did have a budget and chose to use it to tell the story in an effective way (Cloverfield, Chronicle, End of Watch and Europa Report are a couple of examples). The Norwegian film Trollhunter recently appeared on Netflix over here and also has been shot in this style. Is this a better way of approaching the Norse mythology than the horrible Trolls did? Continue reading →

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The Magnificent Seven (2016) – Review

Review The Magnificent Seven

When I watched Seven Samurai for the first time, about seven years ago, it was a movie which really impressed me. A beautifully shot film, with characters you cared about and impressive fights set in the pouring rain. And although I wrote in my original review that the 1960 version of The Magnificent Seven was based on the Kurosawa movie, I had forgotten it. While watching this new version I immediately was thinking about Seven Samurai and it proves how a classic can take a place in your heart. Is that something which this update, with actors like Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio and others also manages to do? Continue reading →

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Inferno (2016) – Review

Review Inferno

The Dan Brown books have been bestsellers for years. The way in which he manages to mix interesting historical facts with an exciting story have made him popular. I can still remember listening to an audio version of The Da Vinci Code in my car on way to work and how I sometimes would stay in my car for an extra ten minutes after arriving just to finish a chapter. Making the movie to the silver screen has been a logical one, as it is a good mix of action and mystery which you might almost compare to the Indiana Jones films but without the fedora and whip. Almost…because the first two movies, The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons didn’t succeed to reach the same level as most reviews were negative. Inferno is already the third part about symbologist and art historian Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks). Third time lucky? Continue reading →

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Pandora (2016) – Review

Review Pandora

What’s the reason we love watching disaster movies so much? It’s an interesting question, because so many awful things happen to the characters in these movies and still we “enjoy” watching that. But when you take a closer look at the genre you realise that even though the disasters are an essential part, the thing we care most about is the human story, the focus on a small group of people, who despite the horror around them do everything in their might to survive or are willing to offer their lives so others can make it. Survival is part of our DNA and maybe that’s the reason we care so much for the characters. Continue reading →

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) – Review

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 review
There are characters on the silver screen you love to spend time with and which you look forward to returning. Of course baby Groot is one of them, but so is the rest of the crew in Guardians. A group which was forced together through circumstances and which managed to win the hearts of movie audiences. With its humour, nostalgia for the eighties, strong soundtrack and lots of action that wasn’t a surprise. All those ingredients are present as well for this sequel. So if you have seen the original you probably won’t even hesitate going to the cinema to find out what adventures await the guardians this time. Continue reading →