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Movies: 2011 - Watched
 3978  8.4  8.9 01.01.11
"Because this film touches us so deeply, the catharsis has a power that few ― if any ― other moments in film history can match. And that's what establishes this as a transcendent motion picture experience." [ReelViews] Origan's rating:
 
205 7 6.8 01.12.11
"Patchwork agaçant, qui pour masquer sa vacuité, hésite entre hommages et pillages." [Positif] Origan's rating:
 
652 7.2 7.3 02.13.11
"At its core, My Sister's Keeper wrestles with a gratifyingly complex situation: Breslin's lawsuit is both selfish and righteous, as is her mother's expectation of involuntary sacrifice from one daughter to save the other. But the film keeps piling on the tear-jerking pathos, from a judge whose 12-year-old daughter was recently killed by a drunk driver to a doe-eyed romance between two terminal cancer cases. It would take a heart of stone not to be affected by My Sister's Keeper, but the film's unceasing manipulation has a Medusa effect on the organ." [The A.V. Club] Origan's rating:
 
633 6.9 7.3 02.17.11
"The entire film is in fact a ferocious meditation on the dilemma of a son choosing his father. Which one will Bud emulate: the noble failure or the triumphant sleaze? The outcome is never really in doubt, so streamlined and predictable are the characters." [Time] Origan's rating:
2559 8.1 8.2 02.22.11 - cinema
"Aronofsky and cinematographer Matthew Libatique give Black Swan the look of a degraded nightmare and the intensity of a shared hallucination. [...] Florid, often lurid, completely enthralling film held in place by a disarming Portman, who rarely leaves the frame. A psychological thriller about the creative process, Black Swan lingers on the pain and repetition that allowed Portman's character to reach ballet's rarefied heights, and explores the effects of that dedication. [...] For the sake of art, she's given up on life. When she embraces it, her art flourishes, but threatens to consume her. In the end, is the price of beauty worth it? The film provides an ecstatic "yes," trailed by haunting echoes." [The A.V. Club] "Black Swan is visceral and real even while it's one delirious, phantasmagoric freakout." [The New York Times] Origan's rating:
 
106 6.3 6.8 03.01.11
"Here the fascination is Hurt, so deft at steering his character away from booby-trap clichés that he guides his young costars safely out of sap's way and brightens an otherwise very yellowed tale." [EW.com] Origan's rating:
 
832 7.3 7.2 03.04.11 - cinema
"Never Let Me Go, taken from Kazuo Ishiguro's 2005 novel (which is, I think, very nearly flawless), works on its own terms. Its unified sense of craft and relentless good taste reflect a series of careful, exacting creative decisions, from the proper chill of the visual tones to the correctness of the casting. [...] The film is a success. It works. Greatness eludes it, yes. But greatness eludes almost every film adaptation of a major novel, which we must remember when confronted by a good one." [Chicago Tribune] Origan's rating:
 
94 7 7.1 03.09.11 - cinema
An important motion picture for the female gender. A great piece of history narrated with intelligence and pluck. Sally Hawkins' performance is sublime. Origan's rating:
417 6.6 7 03.12.11
The narration is all over the place/too much storylines. What's it about exactly? What's the point? At least, it has funny moments and witty lines at times. Origan's rating:
367 5.7 5.9 03.19.11 - cinema
Anthony Hopkins is superb (and Colin O'Donoghue isn't bad to look at) but The Rite is just another generic horror movie. Nothing really stands out, plot-wise, and it's not even that spooky... Weak compared to The Exorcist. Origan's rating:
227 6.9 7 03.21.11
"A flawed script prevents "Welcome to the Rileys" from being the effective meditation on grief and healing it wants to be, but terrific acting by James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo goes a long way toward salvaging it. [...] Too often we're taken out of the story and wind up watching the actors, not relating to them. Luckily for Scott, they're so good that it makes "Welcome to the Rileys" a more-satisfying film than it probably should be." [Arizone Republic] Origan's rating:
434 7.2 7.1 03.22.11
I feel like one must be on crack to enjoy Chan-wook Park's movies. The director has his style of his own which is cool, and the framing and colorings in Thirst are good but I couldn't take it seriously or enjoyed it: it was just too... quirky. (I'll try and read Zola's Thérèse Raquin though.) Origan's rating:
2002 7.6 7.6 04.08.11 - rewatch
Origan's rating:
536 7.1 6.9 05.04.11 - cinema
The movie's not bad. At least, it works better than the novel. The story still ends up being a bit melodramatic and flat (Sara Gruen's writing felt too detached to me) but it's more "lively": Christoph Waltz really brings layers to his character, and certain scenes with the elephant are moving. Sadly, I didn't see any sparks between Jacob and Marlena (Robert/Reese) (nevertheless, neither in the book). And though, Reese Witherspoon is a fine actress, I'll always feel like Marlena has been sorely miscast. Origan's rating:
 
1315 6.5 6.6 05.30.11 - cinema
Ultimately felt like a travesty compared to the first three. Origan's rating:
7169 7.6 8 05.30.11 - rewatch
Origan's rating:
6005 7.1 7.2 06.02.11 - rewatch
Origan's rating:
4197 6.9 6.9 06.05.11 - rewatch
Origan's rating:
3287 7.3 7.6 07.02.11 - rewatch
Origan's rating:
129 6.5 6.8 07.06.11
Cliché, cliché, cliché... and cheesy. One mess of a French romantic comedy with a Hollywoodian scenario (except it's French, so it just sucks twice as more than rom-coms usually do). Characters are poorly developed. Why Juliette doesn't love her man in the first place? What is there so charming about Alex? Vanessa Paradis is bland. Romain Duris should have shaved for the role. François Damiens' character is at least genuinely funny... at times. Origan's rating:
719 6.9 6.9 07.07.11
I was excepting A LOT from this movie ― I just love Atonement, and having Joe Wright work with Saoirse Ronan again (and also direct great actors like Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett) had me excited. Anyway, the movie wasn't quite amazing like I wanted: it was okay. The story was, in fact, quite thin. In my opinion, it needed more backstory, explanations and characters development. At least, the movie was well-paced. The cinematography/coloring was really good, the escape/chasing scenes were engrossing, Saoirse Ronan did great, and having The Chemical Brothers record the score was an interesting choice. Also, yeah for the long shot! Origan's rating:
1789 7.9 8.1 07.13.11 - cinema
My rating seems a bit harsh (it'll probably get better when I'll get the chance to rewatch it) but I'm always am with highly-hyped movies. (Plus, people were also very annoying with all the "here goes my childhood" moaning. Seriously, if Harry Potter is the only thing that defines your childhood, I feel for you.) Anyway, my main problem with this last opus is that it felt rushed. Now, that's a bit contradictory with the fact that the book was split into two parts, but I guess it makes sense to me because the first part was, on the contrary, so much more well-paced... tragically calm. Part 2 is all about action, fight, war and revelations: it's too much to process in such a short time and we can't really linger on any particular scene because the movie must keep a certain dynamic. Therefore, in my opinion, things are only half-explained or half-shown (Snape's story most of all). Origan's rating:
1454 7.3 7.7 07.18.11
The cinematography is terrible and the acting is bad. Some scenes felt unreal, thus some scenes were laughable. Not a bad movie, but overrated knowing it won many awards. Origan's rating:
236 6.8 6.5 07.20.11
I wasn't expecting much of this movie, so it was really a nice surprise that it was actually good. I always felt strange about movies which deal with cheating because I always found them... fake... but Last Night felt honest and believable. It didn't tried to be moralistic, nor overemotional. It just is. A reflection about love and betrayal. Bittersweet. Like life. Like Joanna and Michael's marriage... The music editing and the open ending work well. Origan's rating:
66 6.6 6.5 07.21.11
Uneven. There are some exciting bits in the first and middle parts of the movie, but the third part falls short: there's action but the direction is slow and clumsy. The movie ends up being way over-dramatic (though it's a Japanese blockbuster, I shouldn't be surprised) and unfortunately, the actors fail to move. The plot is otherwise original (though the scenario lacks explanations) but the dull direction does it a disservice. Origan's rating:
208 6 6.3 07.25.11
The characters aren't that interesting, but the story is okay. The editing/music placement was good. Origan's rating:
 
1165 7.2 7.1 07.27.11
Well, this movie was full of quirk: it was quite refreshing. Though, pity there were some awful caricatures (church group, Marianne, Micah/Mrs. Griffith) and pity the second part/ending was disappointing, typical of any other random chick flicks. Otherwise, it was mostly funny and Emma Stone was lovable. Origan's rating:
2064 7.6 8 07.31.11
Twisted crime/investigation movie. Gave me chills, made me cry. Kind of unpredictable and really tragic. The ending felt out of place though. Creepy, easy, convenient resolution... Origan's rating:
824 6.6 7.1 08.05.11
It's no glorification of the US army, nor it is a rationalization of war... If anything, it's more about how war is nonsense and brutal, and yet Clint Eastwood never goes overboard, nor does he force any opinion on us when telling the story. Adam Beach (who plays Ira Hayes) delivers quite a gut-wrenching performance. Origan's rating:
3486 8 8.6 08.07.11
At the beginning, I found it annoying that the movie was told backwards, but as it goes along, it made sense: the main character suffers from short-time memory loss, so the movie is like a puzzle we must put together. It's audacious but brilliantly done. It reminded me a lot of Shutter Island ― what we're led to believe may be wrong, or right, we don't really know. Though in Shutter Island, the story takes place in a mental institution and the main character is probably insane, so it was okay not to have any direct answers in the end. Whereas in Memento, the story deals with a very real crime and I couldn't help trying to solve the case (or even find elements that could help solve the case). While it wasn't the movie's purpose, I still wanted to know the truth... but all stays unclear (and I was left feeling a bit cheated). Origan's rating:
2900 7.2 7.8 08.14.11
The cast is impressive, but there are way too much characters and storylines to get anything good out of it. Actually, the plot lines are all cliché, boring and/or annoying. It's not completely unwatchable thanks to the actors and a few good laughs (but the melodrama and cheesy music will kill you slowly). Origan's rating:
2437 8.1 8.7 08.15.11
Great film noir! I knew the huge plot twist before watching the movie so it did nothing to me (sadly) but it's all very well-orchestrated. Origan's rating:
1902 8.2 8.4 08.15.11
Another disturbing movie by Chan-wook Park... I guess I liked this one a bit more than the others of him I've seen (Thirst and I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK) because it felt less hysterical and the plot seemed more thick. Nevertheless, there's always something atypical about Chan-wook Park's characters and screenplay (that I'm not quite fond of). The twist is okay, but predicable from the get-go. Origan's rating:
2648 6.4 6.9 09.04.11
Yeah, it's a cliché chick flick with a predictable plot and a moral ending, but it's an inoffensive and easy watch. It's actually hilarious. The direction/editing is dynamic at times, though a bit bland and rushed overall. What's most interesting is to take in all the scenes and quotes that became a subject of continuous inner jokes among people on Internet (at least, on certain social networks). Origan's rating:
418 6.7 6.7 09.14.11
Horror and sci-fi, two of my favorite things... OR NOT AT ALL. So yeah, I'm stepping out of my comfort zone for Cronenberg ― I'm intrigue because I really liked A History of Violence and Eastern Promises but I thought it lame that I've only seen two movies of him, so I finally decided it was time to marathon his filmography. Here I'm starting with Scanners and I have to admit I'm kinda disappointed. Now, I don't know what I was expecting but I'm sure that wasn't quite what I sit through. The plot is... cliché? Maybe not in 1981, but it's been done time and time again over the years. I mean telepathy. What's annoying basically is that scanners can do practically anything ― burn people, explode one's veins, read and control minds (and computers), etc ― that's cool, but at some point, you have to set limits (plus, excuse me but everything looked ridiculous). The story is weak and messy, the "revelation" is just so typical and unnecessary, the ending is botched. The characters are all one-dimensional (or simply boring). We don't ever discern their personality, we learn nothing about them or their motives... Michael Ironside is the only actor who displays some talent but then again, though his character is interestingly manipulative, he's also painfully one-dimensional. There are some interesting shots and editing, but nothing much. Meanwhile, there's lot of work to do in the sound department. Origan's rating:
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