guy_from_may_98 Reviews

Spiral (2000)

Not the worst adaptation, still an awful film

[1/10 · 28 October 2022]

The manga "Uzumaki," written and illustrated by Japanese author Junji Ito is something I've read in full only recently and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It's not perfect but it is effective, extremely tense and it is one unsettling, creepy, sometimes terrifying experiment. In 2000, the manga has been adapted for cinema and I decided to watch the adaptation to see how it turned out. After finishing it, I honestly thought and felt that it is probably one of the worst movies I've seen in my entire life.

My issue with the movie is not even with how it adapts the source material. Sure, the plot only focuses on the manga's first two chapters and spends a lot of time referencing other chapters without really exploring much about them but it still is somewhat faithful. I believe that a TV series would have been more appropriate but overall, the movie does a decent job. A movie adaptation doesn't have to follow word for word its source material to be good and it could work doing its own thing.

However in that case, the movie also fails being its own thing. There is so much about its presentation that just doesn't work. First off, the movie is nothing particular with its cinematography and it sometimes feels very clunky and awkward: there are many shots that are focusing on a character's face and the camera is way too close.

The sound and special effects feel cheap and are ridiculous: there is a scene where a student just unlits a cigarette on a door and they added some explosion effect you'd find in a random low budget YouTube video. Most of those effects are making the movie unintentionally hilarious to watch.

The acting is mid with Fhi Fan, playing Shuichi being particularly bad. The film's tone is very inconsistent: it doesn't know how to be a horror film, how not to appear funny nor realise how much it fails with serious moments. The score and editing certainly did not help: the score is cheesy and very forced while the editing was simply an abomination. So many awful transition techniques and scenes faded into others were used. The editing is definitely the worst part of this movie.

This is already a really funny bad movie to watch sober but maybe the experiment would be greater being drunk. Unironically though, it is one of the worst, if not the worst movie I've seen.

The Innocent (2022)

Successful actor turned director story

[7/10 · 12 October 2022]

I've never seen any of the movies Louis Garrel has directed but I think he is a competent actor in every movie I've seen him in. I finally watched one of his movies as a director and it was really good.

"The Innocent" succeeds at being part funny part emotional. The story is interesting with efficient moments of tension that would make you unable to look away or feel-good moments that could make you smile.

The story is a bag filled with a wide range of emotions but it works mostly due to the actors' solid performances. Noémie Merlant in particular did a great job. She was effortlessly funny, her crying was believable and her character always felt natural. The only other role I've seen from her was Marianne in "Portrait of a Lady on Fire", where she did a good job as well but in this movie it felt like she was held back for a bit. In "The Innocents", she steals the show by delivering the best performance of the movie.

The editing was kind of sloppy at first but it got better as the film progressed. Every actor did a good job, the story is engaging, Noémie Merlant was great, it was well shot, well edited... A very good movie.

Bullet Train (2022)

Worst movie I've seen all year.

[2/10 · 11 August 2022]

It was awful.

The story is pretty bland and the characters are super uninteresting. There are characters that have backstories minutes before they die and it's really lazy, rushed and annoying. I never cared about anyone in this movie.

There are jokes that keeps on reappearing through the whole movie but it's really difficult to enjoy this repetition comedy when the joke was not funny at first. The writers were very confident about the jokes being hilarious that they spammed it, making the movie incredibly one note and embarrassing.

The editing was obnoxious and super condescending, treating the audience as if we were just idiots by replaying numerous scenes in flashbacks so we could go "oooooh I get it".

The soundtrack was intrusive and forced with every song being played only for like 20 to 30 seconds each time. I hate when movies only play fractions of songs to fill the movie.

The score sucked. It tried way too hard to imply that the movie is cool and lacked original ideas.

This movie is 2h07 and it feels incredibly tiring from the get-go.

The acting was decent at least and there are some production values but wow this movie is an infuriating try-hard and boring flick. It's too long, it's never funny and I'm angry at myself for wasting 9.50 euros for this mediocre experience.

This movie was a chore to get through.

The Night of the 12th (2022)

A really effective flick

[7/10 · 3 August 2022]

When I first saw the trailer of this movie, I thought it would just be a typical and by the books thriller film. Safe to say that I was wrong.

The movie was able to keep me interested in general as the plot was immersive and really well put together. The film manages to be unpredictable at times and from the get-go it is creating a very tense and bittersweet ambience. It has been such a long time since a movie made me feel genuinely anxious and worried about characters.

The cinematography was amazing. This movie was shot in the region of Grenoble, a French city surrounded by mountains and they really used the landscapes to their advantage to create a beautiful and colourful movie. The scenery is sometimes breathtaking. Even indoors scenes were amazing.

The acting is great. From small appearance to main character, every actor gives a believable and strong performance.

Unfortunately the movie gets a bit tedious in the last 20 to 30 minutes with less rhythm and believable dialogues to me.

It is still an amazing thriller that keeps you gripped and intrigued for its vast majority. If the last 20 to 30 minutes were handled in a better way, I would give it an 8/10.

Incantation (2022)

Not that great...

[4/10 · 1 August 2022]

When the movie started, I was intrigued about what the characters were about to go through. The mother bonding with her daughter is pretty cute and their relationship felt natural and charming. Nothing was spectacular but the set-up was interesting.

But after 50 minutes, the movie became progressively more derivative and boring to me.

So many elements of this movie are typical tropes of the found footage genre that are becoming kind of irritating with time. The editing was sometimes odd as more camera angles than what appeared on screen were shown. There is many cheap jumpscares with orchestral hits or huge DUM! Thrown in your face. The score was also very cheesy and intrusive at points.

This movie lacks original ideas and is never really scary. That was dumb.

It's trying way too hard to be eerie and threatening but it just comes off as a very inauthentic and shallow experience.

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

As someone who never cared about Marvel movies

[7/10 · 23 July 2022]

This was actually a really good movie.

I just want to make it clear that the MCU is a universe for which I don't care. Before anyone lose their mind, I'm not some blind DC fanboy criticizing every Marvel movie coming out either. Even if I've watched some movies from both universes, I feel indifferent towards them.

Thor: Love and Thunder was not a movie I expected to like because of it being a MCU film, which to me equals to "a movie that needs for you to watch other movies to fully understand what's going on".

Doctor Strange 2 had that flaw. There were lots of times where I had no clue what was happening or who were certain characters. TL&L does a better job by including context to the story so people not invested in the universe would get it.

It's also a pretty funny movie. Granted, not all jokes work and some fall enormously flat but there are some that made me chuckle or laugh a lot on this movie.

The screaming goat joke however got overkilled. It was a funny gag which adds more goofiness to the movie but it was inappropriate at a crucial point in the movie where a more serious toned sequence is shown.

This sequence in particular, shown in black and white, is fantastic. The tone is eerie and well paced and the visuals are beautiful.

I don't recall much from the score which only repeats the basic Marvel formula but I didn't mind the soundtrack choices. This was a pretty cool soundtrack.

The acting was what you expect from a Marvel movie, nobody goes for the Oscar here but it fits the job.

The visuals while sometimes a bit sloppy with 3d conversion were really good.

Overall, a pretty fun time to spend.

Cadaver (2020)

Good dish but still hungry for more

[6/10 · 22 July 2022]

When it comes to style, this movie has a lot to offer. The acting is really great, there is a lot to see with beautiful scenery captured by immersive cinematography. The lightning is effectively enforcing this unconfortable feeling of tension at points and the score is really good.

When it comes to substance however, the movie is a bit sloppy. The character development is a bit clumsy with the main characters not being really interesting and the villain being explored in a rushed way with scenes showing random newspapers. The plot also seem a bit too familiar at points and it's a shame the movie didn't have enough balls to actually create a fatalistic ending instead of a half baked "happy" ending.

It is a visually impressive movie with tons of ambition and great acting but overall, it's not that memorable with its story.

Psychokinesis (2018)

A passable and fun time

[6/10 · 15 July 2022]

This movie brings nothing new to the table and explores themes with a very familiar approach.

There are actually some scenes that do leave an impact -like the dinner scene where the mother dies or the lunch scene where the bad guy gets beaten up-.

I also felt that the female lead did a really good job with her performance. She was believable whenever she acted sad or angry.

So yeah, not a masterclass or a rule-breaker but a nice movie to watch.

Changeling (2008)

Solid movie

[7/10 · 13 July 2022]

A good movie.

It's well-acted in general with Angelina Jolie giving a great performance in particular. She shows a solid panel of emotions through the film and was believable until the end.

The film's settings and costumes are also pleasant to look at. It's well shot.

I would say my main issue with the movie would be the music. Don't get me wrong, the score in general is beautiful but I have issue with how it is used, sometimes too much or inappropriately. There are scenes that could have been more effective without music.

Overall, a movie worth it for Jolie's performance and interesting story.

The Last Airbender (2010)

Great source material, boring adaptation

[3/10 · 12 July 2022]

"Avatar, the Last Airbender" is an iconic show. I've never watched it as a kid but I binge watched it last week and enjoyed it a lot. It's an efficient mixture of comedy and drama that never feels too heavy. The characters are all loveable and complex, the voice acting is great and the show delivers a lot in terms of scenery and action sequences.

The movie however is a joyless ride.

M. Night Shyamalan was already considered to be a very inconsistent director. After making two of the greatest movies of all times-"The Sixth Sense" & "Unbreakable"-, the guy started to direct movies that are considered horrendous and unintentionally funny.

This movie doesn't seem to break this habit of making bad stuff.

While the story structure does respect the show's first season's plot, the execution feels way too clumsy and rushed. Not a single character is explored with actions or emotions, not a single relationship is established naturally nor believable. The movie plot is basically following a checklist and is, as described by Nostalgia Critic, "the season 1 Wikipedia recap page". Spot on description.

The characters are soulless. Everyone is uninteresting and has no personality. The phoney acting didn't help.

The dialogue is bad. They keep on explaining stuff to the audience instead of having normal conversations.

The show has lots of humour and amazing bending scenes but the film lacks a lot in both sectors. The actions scenes are too slow, there is no rhythm at all, making the movie extremely boring.

The score is at least decent.

It has some beautiful string sections but it feels like a waste for being put in such a boring movie.

If Netflix's atrocious Death Note movie was non-existent, "The Last Airbender" would have been the worst adaptation I've seen in my life.

The pacing, the characters, the story, the cgi sometimes... this is really bad.

I'd watch the show multiple times again but seeing this movie once was already enough.

Small Body (2021)

A bittersweet journey

[7/10 · 29 June 2022]

While the movie could have calmed down on the shaky cam, it is still a competently crafted film with beautiful scenery, solid acting and good story.

The film also does an excellent job with lightning and sound design, and succeeded attempting to create a realistic and subtle feel.

Sweden: Heaven and Hell (1968)

A masterpiece

[10/10 · 20 April 2022]

This is probably the most hilarious movie I've seen in my entire life.

I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it as a whole as I'm not familiar with so-bad-it's-good movies but after like 10 minutes, it was clear that this movie was a festival of unintentional comedy.

I was laughing so hard at some point that my tummy hurt like hell and it never happened to me with any other legit comedy movie.

This movie is nonsensical, the dubbing is out of place and the images shown are just so embarrassing. Hence why the accumulation of all those elements made this movie a blast.

I will probably never see it again as it has limited distribution and is almost gone forever but it will remain in my brain rent free as the funniest movie experience I've ever lived.

Titan A.E. (2000)

Might have been better back then

[5/10 · 29 October 2021]

Watching this in 2021 just made me think about how animation sometimes doesn't age well especially 3d animation. It might have been great back in 2000, but now it feels distractingly dated.

The 2d animation also suffers from inconsistencies as there are angle problems at times.

The story is meh. The voice acting is alright but the movie is pretty stereotypical when it comes to plot, characters, actions and score.

Still a decent experience.

Dear Mother (2020)

Could have been better

[6/10 · 27 September 2021]

Laurent Lafitte's directorial debut is not great but it still has qualities showing that the comedian has potential as a director.

The film was well shot and didn't always follow the stereotypical cinematography in comedy movies which was something I did not expect.

The acting was pretty solid as every actor did a good job with their performance.

The score was also pretty nice to hear and it was discreet enough so it wasn't distracting. It was well composed, well produced and it was used in a very pleasant way.

Some jokes were really funny and some others gave me a chuckle here and there but the majority is pretty unfunny and really awkward at times.

The most unpleasant ones were jokes that were undirectly referring to r*pe. In the movie you have the context that the character does not have the will to actually r*pe someone and it constructs the joke as a misunderstanding from the other character involved. It was still super unconfortable to watch... The execution of this type of joke and others could have been executed in a different way because they fell flat most of he time and were really embarrassing as is.

I was never bored during this movie because the directing, score and acting are pretty solid and are holding the film but the humour is hit or miss and cringe at times.

I'll check Lafitte's next directorial effort to see if he can progress as director.

The Nun (2018)

Eh.

[4/10 · 22 September 2021]

This is the typical horror movie with no real surprises or anything really new. Just many jumpscares which only provide surprise and nothing's scary overall.

The writing is cliché and the music tries so hard to frighten but never does.

The movie was reviewed by actual nuns criticising the lack of accuracy about the plot and events surrounding the sister in the movie and its kind of funny.

I can personally certify, being a native French speaker that the French Canadian character is not French Canadian at all.

Right at the moment he started to speak French, it didn't sound anything like a québécois accent and turns out the actor portraying him is Belgian. Why wouldn't they pick someone from Québec directly? There is plenty of great actors there. That was weird.

That was not a great movie. Kind of boring and stereotypical.

Yves Saint Laurent (2014)

Beautifully wrapped but disappointing overall

[6/10 · 21 September 2021]

The highlights of this movie are the costumes, set designs and Pierre Niney's performance who carries the entire movie on his back. The rest in only alright even though the first 40 minutes of this movie are pretty great. It falls apart the more it progresses.

Babyteeth (2019)

Powerful and touching

[8/10 · 17 September 2021]

Lovable characters, great story with intense moments of emotion and the cinematography is fantastic.

Drive My Car (2021)

A good drive

[7/10 · 17 September 2021]

Movie to watch for its characters and its plot. I enjoyed what was going on most of the time, the characters were enjoyable especially the deaf Korean woman who is lovable and it proposes very interesting ideas about art and relationships. The last 40 minutes were kind of boring and too long but the ending goes back to "good" and this movie as a whole is very enjoyable, dressing a touching portrait of many different personalities.

Fragile (I) (2021)

Unexpected cliché

[4/10 · 30 August 2021]

Despite some good acting, this movie is one of the most stereotypical movies I've ever seen. I called out absolutely everything, it's not funny and it was really corny and unspecial.