Tag Archives: score: 6

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Dumb and Dumber To (2014)

Review Dumb and Dumber To

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 →

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Hercules (2014)

Review Hercules

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 →

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The Interview (2014)

Review The Interview

If there is one thing The Interview will be remembered for it will be it controversy surround the movie and not the movie itself. During the past few weeks it was reported that Sony had been hacked by a group calling themselves “Guardians of Peace”. They stole a big amount of business sensitive data. This resulted in various movies hitting the internet before their release in cinemas and both internal mails and personal details being published. Threats followed, saying that cinemas showing The Interview could face events that would remember people of 9/11. The hackers group allegedly had ties with North Korea and as the movie is about killing its leader, Kim Jung Un, it would be the reason for the hack.

Initially Sony caved into the demands and issued a statement that the movie wouldn’t be released anymore after all the big American chains pulled out of showing it. Even president Obama responded and said not showing the film wasn’t a wise choice. On Christmas evening though Sony announced that the movie would be available immediately on various VOD platforms like Youtube, Google Play en Xbox. It’s a unique situation that such a “big” movie is offered in such a way to the consumer. The next couple of weeks will show if this strategy has meant financial success for Sony. If that is the case it could open the doors to other studios releasing their movies in this way as well. It would finally give the choice to the consumer to watch the movie at home immediately or head to the cinema. But back to The Interview. Has the controversy about it been valid? Continue reading →

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Bad Neighbours (2014)

Review Bad Neighbours

When I lived in an apartment a couple years ago I was lucky that the neighbours downstairs and me had a good understanding. It meant we both could play music/watch movies at considerable volume without this resulting in problems. When those neighbours left I had to wait and see what type of people would move in. Luckily the arrangement remained the same. But after a while I started having an issue with them as they would play the same song everyday for hours and continued to do so for weeks. The bassline of the song started to get on my nerves and I started wondering how to address this, because of course you run the risk of upsetting the “natural balance”, which could result in escalation. I decided to go in friendly and luckily they understood and we could both continue the way we always did. For Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) Radner it turns out differently. Continue reading →

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Pioneer (2014)

Review Pioneer

At the start of the seventies oil is discovered in the North Sea. Norway had difficulty in getting this oil to land and had to do several test dives in order to find out if it was possible to lay a pipe. If they were able to do this it would mean a lot of money for the country. As tests at this depth were never done before, the Norwegians decided to work together with an American company. The Norwegian brothers Petter and Knut are part of the diving team and are the first ones to do a test dive. When a tragic accident takes place at the ocean floor it is Petter who decided to find the cause for it. It is an investigation which becomes more dangerous to him when he seems to discover a conspiracy. Continue reading →

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Rob the Mob (2014)

Review Rob the Mob

Sometimes it is hard to imagine how some strange stories have actually happened. Rob the Mob is a good example of that. Every normal person wouldn’t even think about sticking up members of the mob, but that is exactly the plan which Tommy Uva (Michael Pitt) thinks up in order to get money. He wants to execute it together with his girlfriend Rosie (Nina Arianda). Continue reading →

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Searching for Debra Winger (2008)

Review Searching for Debra Winger

The way in which women are depicted in the media is often a subject which keeps women busy and a documentary like Miss Representation already shed some light on the subject a couple of years ago. In that film a lot of famous persons were interviewed (including actresses like Rosario Dawson, Geena Davis and Jane Fonda). Actrice Rosanna Arquette decided to make the documentary Searching for Debra Winger in which she tries to give the viewer an idea about how women working in the movie industry experience it. Continue reading →

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The Monuments Men (2014)

Review The Monuments Men

Moviestars are an important factor to get audiences in the cinema seats and movies with a huge cast of stars often mean lots of success. With actors like George Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin and Bob Balaban you can’t say that The Monuments Men lacks stars. The film has been directed by George Clooney and is set during the second world war. It is based on a true story. Despite all that the movie didn’t have the success the studio expected and most reviews weren’t very positive. Still I was curious to find out if this movie really was that bad. Continue reading →

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Battle of the Year (2013)

review battle of the year

Every year the cinema will be host to a couple of dance movies, which usually disappoint when it comes to story. It still is a very popular subgenre though because the scenes you will watch these movies for (the dancing ones) are usually spectacular (something which stands out in the Step Up series). Battle of the Year is an interesting dance film because director Benson Lee was responsible for the interesting documentary Planet B-Boy, in which he followed various crews from different countries, preparing and participating in what is seen as the world championship of B-Boying, Battle of the Year. With this movie he does the same thing, but this time with a fictional story. Does he manage to deliver a movie that is just as fascinating as his previous documentary? Continue reading →

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The Nines (2007)

Review The Nines

Some movies are hard to categorise and The Nines is proof of that. If you start this movie without any prior knowledge of it you start wondering if you are watching a comedy, a drama, a horror film or something else. It initially doesn’t seem to be a movie worth watching, but as the story progresses everything you have seen before it starts to become more mysterious. The three leads, Ryan Reynolds, Melissa McCarthy and Hope Davis don’t play the same roles throughout the movie. Continue reading →