D.Moore

I was hoping it would be good, but I wasn't expecting it to be that great. It's an action comedy without restraint, but unlike the previous films, it has an important admixture of fatality and impressive poignancy, really. The Expendables (2 and 3) could learn from this film how to mix and serve everything properly, how to make a comeback for the old gang (and a farewell party), how to introduce the new young team, and how to effectively have them work with the old without clashing. Mike and Marcus certainly deserved another movie, as did Will Smith and Martin Lawrence (he impressed me in particular with how well the more serious role suited him). The story is surprising but logical at the same time, the action scenes are just right without Michael Bay, and since it was all about flashbacks, I was very pleased to see the return of Mark Mancina's original theme music.

A beautiful cartoon, more for adults than children, both in terms of its artistry (I was blown away by the stop-motion splendor from start to finish) and its story, as wacky as it is sweet and wise. The main character, with Hugh Jackman's voice, is a sort of plasticine Count Teleke of Tölökö, and Carter Burwell hasn't composed such nice music in a while... Everything's on point.

I like Tex Avery's wacky animated slapstick, and Aladdin reminds me of it in many ways. It's as much a beautiful fairy tale as it is a one-hundred percent stripped-down comedy, and its greatest asset is the genievoiced by Robin Williams doing something incredible – no matter how good our dubbing is, in this case it's just never going to be half as good as the original. But I don't want to forget Alan Menken's perfect music and, strangely enough, the songs, which often leave me cold in Disney movies, but here they really did it 100%.

A fun romp that certainly doesn't offend, and a perfect thing for the whole family. It's got a lovely magical atmosphere and lots of good ideas, a great score by Alan Silvestri, and the reliable Ben Stiller in the lead role – I can't think of another actor who could get slapped so hilariously by a monkey.

This really didn't work and I don't really want to comment on what Sylvester Stallone stepped in this time. The previous film benefited mostly from Stallone reuniting with Arnold Schwarzenegger and that made it fun. But this film is worse in every way, Stallone clearly wasn't amused by his role of reciting lines he's heard hundreds of times, and no one else there is the least bit interesting. Boring, and stupid.

When I write that I find Clint Eastwood to be the most admirable filmmaker working today, you might think I'm mainly admiring the fact that he's still making movies on the cusp of 90. And he's doing it so well. That's certainly true, but I admire him even more for the subjects he chooses and how he handles them. Richard Jewell is another one of his "ordinary heroes" who lived through something that you wouldn't quite want to believe if it hadn't really happened. However, unlike Sully Sullenberger, who was "only" in danger of losing his career, Richard Jewell stands in front of the electric chair and, thanks to the fact that he is actually an overgrown child of principle and looks up to the law enforcement officials without bounds, slowly and willingly sits in that chair himself. The story is wonderfully scary. Without exception superbly acted (if I had to single anyone out, P. W. Hauser would be my favorite chameleon aside from Sam Rockwell) and most importantly so beautifully told, in a slow balladic manner with occasional light relief in the form of sensitive humor that both puts the viewer at ease and highlights the absurdity of the whole situation. Wonderful.

I was fascinated by the way Jeff Bridges played Tucker – a man with a perpetual smile, but you don't trust him one bit because you know there's something behind it and you want to know what it is. It could be stalwart stubbornness as well as dangerous explosiveness, I thought, and so I waited for an answer, all the while having a good time with Coppola's cutely stylized direction full of ideas. I'm surprised at how low a rating this film has. Sure, it's no The Godfather or Apocalypse Now, but then again, I'm also not going to criticize Da Vinci's hand sketch simply because it's not as great as his Last Supper.

After three seasons, I can confidently say that this is a really awesome series. The fantasy is equal parts parody and love, the humor is wacky black and most importantly... most importantly it has a real plot that ties all the episodes together and gives all the fun here and there the hallmark of something more serious, especially in the third season when things really happen!

Underwater is most often compared to Alien (and rightly so, as some of the scenes are more than inspired), but I think the filmmakers would have been happy if it was also compared to Gravity. Indeed, several times they try to evoke the mood of the first film mentioned, several times the second, but somehow it doesn't come together and it's all only half as interesting. A number of scenes have a nice gloomy atmosphere but aren't very suspenseful. Some scenes are really well acted, like the one where a stressed Kristen Stewart recounts what happened to Vincent Cassel. And the final super-monster scene is fine too, although we don't really enjoy it and everything ends as expected. I was hoping it would be a little better.

The trailer promised an old-school whodunit, and that's what the film is. I was very entertained until about halfway through, liking how completely but utterly everyone was lying and how Daniel Craig's character (who took me a while to get used to, at the time) accepted all the lies with a knowing smile. But somewhere in the second half it all started to get a bit scratchy, I suddenly felt like I was ahead of the investigators when I shouldn't have been, a feeling that was gradually confirmed and confirmed... until it was confirmed. I don't mind too much if the ending of a mystery doesn't shock me or at least surprise me, but I don't like it when it doesn't satisfy me at all and leaves me completely cold because it gives a terribly twisted impression. In a story by Agatha Christie or A. C. Doyle, on whose legacy Knives Out is based, this would never have happened.