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CommanderBalok
Reviews
Une vie de chat (2010)
A nice little tale
Dino is a cat with a double life. Daily he is companion to a traumatized girl (her father was murdered by gangsters), but at night he is companion to a cat burglar. These lives clash together because the girl's mother is a police superintendent trying to find her husband's murderer and the cat burglar. It finds heroism in some unlikely places and leads the viewer through enjoyable twists of plot before it arrives at... but that would be telling. The animation style is quirky but refreshing against what modern animated features provide. The screenwriter and director have a good sense of pacing, mood, and tension. It has a few harrowing moments but I believe it is suitable for families.
Supernatural: ScoobyNatural (2018)
Humor and a nice homage to a great cartoon!
I admit I was a little bit leery. This seemed like two great things that wouldn't be great together, but the writers pulled it off. The plot was plausible and at the same time a wonderful homage to Scooby-Doo. The villain was both expected and unexpected, and the humor worked beautifully.
It won't be to everyone's taste, as we see from some other reviews. But I enjoyed the hell, er, heck out of it and am grateful that the writers decided to stretch themselves and that they had the skill and exerted the effort to do it well. Thanks, guys.
Spartan (2004)
A very well done thriller
Every so often, Hollywood produces a real gem that's strangely overlooked. Just two weeks after opening, this film seems to be disappearing, at least from my area. And that's a shame, because it's a very nice film.
Kilmer turns in a nice performance as an agent who learns just enough to be dangerous. A doer, not a thinker, Kilmer conveys a sense of a man who's out of his depth, but can't stop because his conscience won't let him -- or is it that, once he's started down a path, he has to walk it the whole way?
The movie keeps you guessing most of the way through, with the full story only revealed near the climax. And the climax is nicely done; not over the top like so many thrillers, but gripping nonetheless.
If you get a chance to see this movie before it leaves, do so. You won't be disappointed.
X2 (2003)
The rare sequel that exceeds the original
Often, the sequel (or the second film in a franchise) is the worst of the lot. Here's a rare case where the sequel exceeds the original.
The production values were much better, the storyline was improved, and the actors seem to be getting more of a feel for their characters. Needless to say, some did better jobs than others: Jackman did well as Wolverine. Paquin, Janssen, and Marsden are almost exactly how I'd envision the characters (especially Paquin). Halle Berry, while very easy on the eyes, doesn't have quite the fire I'd expect of Storm. Ian McKellen isn't quite the Magento I've envisioned, but his Magneto is extremely believable.
I hope this franchise continues to do as well as X2, and lasts at least a few more films.
Mr. Magoo (1997)
Just awful...
I enjoyed the Mr. Magoo cartoons I saw while growing up. And I enjoy Leslie Nielson's comic skills. So, I thought, this marriage must produce a funny child.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
This movie was just awful. I don't recall a single funny moment. This is one of the two or three times (in hundreds of films over the years) I've wanted my money back. You will leave this film dejected because you won't ever have that time back to use in a better way. In a comedy, the plot must draw in the viewer and serve as a framework for gags. This plot does neither. It just kinda lies there, gasping like a beached fish.
Changing Lanes (2002)
Very enjoyable film!
I enjoyed this movie -- more even than I expected to. I thought it did a good job of depicting how both characters descended to thuggish behavior when pressed. It stayed true to the characters for the most part. It's two chief weaknesses were the fact that these men's lives continued to intertwine, to perhaps an unrealistic degree, and the end, which was weaker than the rest of the movie deserved. Still, well worth the ticket price, in my view.
Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers: To Live and Die in Starlight (2002)
I wanted very much to like this, but could not...
[WARNING: Minor spoiler below]
I came late to Babylon 5, but have come to appreciate it as one of the finest science fiction series made. Much better, IMO, than anything Voyager did, better than most of Deep Space 9, and a lot of The Next Generation and even The Original Series. It had solid characterizations, good plots, an interesting setting, and believable villains.
The lengthy preamble is meant to illustrate what I'd hoped for from the new series -- and didn't get. The acting was weak. The plot was predictable. The dialog was shabby. The enemies just seemed to be the Shadows with a new coat of paint. The CGI was very nice, but in a nod to "kewl", they overused it with the weapons control sequences.
JMS is capable of much better than this, and he's demonstrated it on numerous occasions. I'm not sure what happened, here. Maybe he got some Voyager people to ghost write it for him? I must sadly rate this effort "poor", and hope that if it *does* spawn a series, that series is far better.