karl-devos Reviews

Coupling (2000–2004)

One of the best

[16 December 2004]

Just simply amazing how Steve Moffat and his wife are getting away with it: words that would be censored in most series, fly about in this one and you don't feel offended. Every episode is different and the build-up (flash forwards, split screens, themes that run through various episodes) is amazing for a comedy series. British humor at it's very best and very recognizable for every modern day couple. Don't hesitate to go out and buy the four series, you will not regret it and they will put a smile on your face over and over again.

Twentynine Palms (2003)

A complete waste of time and money

[1/10 · 8 December 2003]

The only question I had after this movie was: who funds this kind of utter non-sense? Pitty, probably a lot of talented young directors could have done great things with this budget. Now it went to waste. No story, no actors, no sense: just some nice outdoor shots. You might as well go and see a wildlife documentary.

Intolerable Cruelty (2003)

There's more to it then first hits the eye

[8/10 · 27 October 2003]

Funny who mixed the reactions are to this movie. Could it be that somebody took this film on a first degree? Come on, guy and girls. The Coen brothers just made a great parody on modern society, the cheap romantic comedies we get from Hollywood and american society (gold-digging as it is) on a whole. Maybe that's why most negative comments come from the states :-) It's a roller-coaster of vibrant and witty dialogues and one-liners and funny satiric elements (e.g. the auction-like choosing of a wine at the dinner table). Get real and detect the utterly cynical undertones and the various layers of society criticism. By choosing two gorgeous looking actors and having them play two self-obsessed and utterly vain characters, is a master move in itself. As somebody said it before me: do not think because it's marketed as a comedy, that you can leave your brain at the cloak room. For the ones who didn't, this was a little 'chef d'oeuvre' of vitriol soaked humor.

Amélie (2001)

The true art of cinema

[10/10 · 24 December 2002]

Please go and see it for yourself; this is what cinema was intended to be: funny, visually challenging, moving. Amélie brought tears to my eyes. It is such a complete movie with humour, content, a message and warmth. And above all, it's been brought to you, the viewer, in the most fascinating and artistical way. Jeunet brings Paris into our living rooms like nobody else did before: with extraordinary actors, images and music. So unlike his previous movies with their dark atmosphere. But above all, it's a movie about imagination. Amélie is a girl endowed with an overactive imagination and she -unlike most of us- kept that gift when growing up. As an adult woman, she looks at our world like a child. She wonders. It's just that capacity, of staying naieve, of being able to be surprised, of not being blasé that we often envy children. And indeed, don't look any further. This is not an action movie, not a thriller or an epic adventure story. It's just, THE MOVIE, that might put a real smile on your face.