Change Your Image
hoffmanntho
Reviews
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
What the hell happened to you JJ?!
I love the new Star Trek movies (at least 1&2, the third one is actually pretty bad) but unfortunately I hate to say that JJ completely blew the new take on the Star Wars Universe. This movie is truly bad!
The characters are poorly written and have zero depth, every single one of them. The humour is bland, there's no emotional depth, its all action and no reflection.
As for the main plot, well it's a 1:1 copy of the very first Star Wars (A new hope), but so much worse it's laughable. What is this, seriously? And where the hell does this New Order come from?! And what happened to the rebellion? Did the screenwriters watch the previous (chronological) trilogy at all?
Oh my god, what a dumpster fire... Avoid at all cost. Shame!
Carnival Row (2019)
Wonder why you subscribed to Amazon Prime? This.
I went into this series with quite a bit of apprehension. I mean, Faeries? Centaurs? In a victorian London-like city, mixed with some Jack the Ripper ambiente... What?!
How about I told you one of my favorite shows is about a bunch of ever plotting loonies of which some can control animals, others can walk through fire and have dragon children...and they all play a game of thrones?
Right... Don't be like me and be put off by some biases before you've started watching this show because damn, it's worth it!
The acting is spot on, and while I expected no less from Orlando Bloom or Cara Delevigne, every single other actor/actress performance was no less good. My compliments to the entire cast!
Then there's the production value. Simply put, it's brilliant. The decors, the lighting, the atmosphere... Superb work, you can pause almost anywhere and marvel at the frame. That's a TV show, really? Bravo!
And finally there's the story. No spoilers so no details but let's just say that the writers did a great job coming up with a good plot, interesting, believable and well written characters. You can clearly feel the historical inspiration but that's absolutely not a minus in my book...
It took me a couple of episodes to get into the universe, mainly because I had to overcome some silly preconceptions, but once I had done that I was hooked.
I can't wait for the next seasons, and hope they will be as well written (!), performed and filmed than this first glimpse into a possibly great series.
May there be more!
Saints and Soldiers (2003)
Band of Brothers - The hidden episode
Watching this movie really felt like seeing an episode of Band of Brothers. And I mean it as high praise.
Following a small group of soldiers, all with different back stories, some likeable and some less but always believable. As the plot unfolds, you get to know them better and watch them evolve. This may not be an action packed blockbuster but it's a character driven, well acted and well written story.
I really enjoyed it and recommend it to everyone who loved movies such as Saving Private Ryan or series like Band of Brothers.
Le chant du loup (2019)
Drowned in its' appaling script...
During the first 10 minutes of the movie:
An enemy helicopter drops a sonar buoy and pings the french sub. It also drops depth charges (must have been out of torpedoes I guess) but completely misses it. A big debate had been going on between almost all members in the con (France is a democracy after all!) but now the XO yells "Dive!". Mevermind, the captain has a better idea. He surfaces the sub, climbs out the con with an rpg, fumbles with the safety but a crew member shoots it off with an AR at point blank range, takes aim and shoots down the now conveniently far away chopper. Oh, and the frigate that launched the heli is nowhere to be seen, didn't notice the surface contact either...
To whomever watched this movie and speaks about realism, and to whomever wishes to see this movie and expects realism or only a somewhat intelligent story, I think this scene speaks for itself...
Approaching the Unknown (2016)
A brilliant reflection on human nature. Not for everyone...
After seeing this movie, I was really thrilled and thought I had seen something worth seeing. Yet I can also understand why many other don't feel that way. This movie doesn't aim to please all audiences, it really targets a specific group of viewers you may or may not be part of.
As other reviewers already stated: if you're looking for an action-packed sci-fi or anticipation movie, move along because this one is not for you. If you're looking for an uplifting, Hollywood-style feel good movie... move along. If you're after great landscapes of Mars and big spaceships roaming about, you should also probably look for other movies. Yet this movie has a lot going for it, as long as you realize what you're in for:
This is a story about a character who is willing to leave everything behind for the greater good, for science and for the slim chance of becoming the first human on Mars. The whole movie is basically a "huis clos", a closed stage in a cramped vessel, where you follow a single individual during his journey of 270 days in space, alone. He has to fight boredom, madness and growing technical issues he is partly responsible for due to his overconfidence and his belief that he can solve everything on his own. He also has to cope with the burden of the entire humanity back on Earth cheering for him and placing the highest expectations on his shoulders. Yet he's just a man. Hopes, successes, failures... They are all part of the journey, and the lead character confronts each in a very believable way.
Acting is spot on (bravo Mark Strong), and the reactions never feel alien or unrealistic. FX are good enough, but this movie doesn't rely on them heavily at all.
There is one very big leap of faith the audience is supposed to make: I find it highly dubious for various reasons that humanity would send a single person on such a long journey without backup: way too dangerous. Yet if you're willing to go with it, you'll find this movie to picture a very believable analysis of human nature when confronted to loneliness, various pressures and challenging situations.
All in all, this movie is more of a psychological approach of long journeys in isolation and adversity, rather than a sci-fi/anticipation movie on colonizing Mars.
I would definitely recommend this movie to those among you who like slow-paced, "psychological" movies such as (with some similarities): - Solaris (2002) - 2001 Space odyssey - Silent running - Das Boot (in some ways) - 127 hours (in some ways) - The survivalist (in some ways)