Opinion as a Movie-freak

Summary :
Four waves of increasingly deadly attacks have left most of Earth in ruin. Against a backdrop of fear and distrust, Cassie is on the run, desperately trying to save her younger brother. As she prepares for the inevitable and lethal fifth wave, Cassie teams up with a young man who may become her final hope - if she can only trust him.

Genre : SF/Romance
Country : USA

Cast :
Chloë Grace Moretz : Cassie
Alex Roe : Evan Walker
Nick Robinson : Ben Parish

Director : J. Blakeson

Summary
Eilis Lacey leaves small town Ireland for a better life in New York, arranged by an Irish priest in Brooklyn. Working in a shop she takes a bookeeping course and participates in the Irish community. There she meets an Italian, and falls in love.

Genre : Romance
Country : Ireland/UK/Canada

Cast :
Saoirse Ronan : Eilis Lacey
Emory Cohen : Tony
Domhnall Gleeson : Jim Farrell

Director : John Crowley

Summary :
Wendy, a self-absorbed New York book critic, is shocked to reality by the sudden end of her marriage. Always dependent on her husband for driving, she must now learn to take the wheel on her own. Her instructor Darwan is a Sikh Indian who watches with alarm as his pupil falls apart at the seams. He himself is contemplating an arranged marriage with a woman he has never met. As these two lives intersect, both will change in unpredictable ways.

Genre : Comedy/Drama/Romance
Country : UK/USA

Cast :
Patricia Clarkson : Wendy
Ben Kingsley : Darwan
Grace Gummer : Tasha

Director : Isabel Coixet

Summary :
Adapted from the bestselling novel by author John Green, this is a coming-of-age story centering on Quentin and his enigmatic neighbor Margo, who loved mysteries so much she became one. After taking him on an all-night adventure through their hometown, Margo suddenly disappears - leaving behind cryptic clues for Quentin to decipher. The search leads Quentin and his quick-witted friends on an exhilarating adventure that is equal parts hilarious and moving. Ultimately, to track down Margo, Quentin must find a deeper understanding of true friendship - and true love.

Genre : Mystery/Romance
Country : USA

Cast :
Nat Wolff : Quentin
Cara Delevingne : Margo
Austin Abrams : Ben

Director : Jake Schreier

Summary
Mrs. Perch, an elderly, wealthy lady from rural America, is throwing a fancy garden party at her remote country villa. Same procedure as every year - except this time her illegally imported plant fertilizer seeps into the ground. Subsequently, a local species of killer wasps that usually lay their eggs into other insects mutates into 7 ft tall predators. And the celebrating upper class company provides just the right kind of prey. It's up to Paul and Julia, the two catering staffers, to stop the creatures, fight for their lives, and incidentally getting their stumbling romance in order.

Genre : Horror/Comedy/Romance
Country : USA/Germany

Cast :
Matt O'Leary : Paul
Jessica Cook : Julia
Lance Henriksen : Caruthers

Director : Benni Diez

Summary
France, 1940. In the first days of occupation, beautiful Lucile Angellier is trapped in a stifled existence with her controlling mother-in-law as they both await news of her husband: a prisoner of war. Parisian refugees start to pour into their small town, soon followed by a regiment of German soldiers who take up residence in the villagers' own homes. Lucile initially tries to ignore Bruno von Falk, the handsome and refined German officer staying with them. But soon, a powerful love draws them together and leads them into the tragedy of war.
 
Genre : War/Romance
Country : UK/France/Belgium

Cast :
Michelle Williams  : Lucile Angellier
Kristin Scott Thomas : Madame Angellier
Matthias Schoenaerts : Bruno von Falk

Director : Saul Dibb

Summary  
 The Theory of Everything is the story of the most brilliant and celebrated physicist of our time, Stephen Hawking, and Jane Wilde the arts student he fell in love with whilst studying at Cambridge in the 1960s. Little was expected from Stephen Hawking, a bright but shiftless student of cosmology, given just two years to live following the diagnosis of a fatal illness at 21 years of age. He became galvanized, however, by the love of fellow Cambridge student, Jane Wilde, and he went on to be called the successor to Einstein, as well as a husband and father to their three children. Over the course of their marriage as Stephen's body collapsed and his academic renown soared, fault lines were exposed that tested the lineaments of their relationship and dramatically altered the course of both of their lives.

Genre : Biography/Drama/Romance
Country : UK

Cast :
Eddie Redmayne : Stephen Hawking
Felicity Jones : Jane Hawking
David Thewlis : Dennis Sciama 

Director : James Marsh

Summary
A young man in a personal tailspin flees the US to Italy, where he sparks up a romance with a woman harboring a dark, primordial secret.
 
Genre : Horor/Romance/SF
Country : USA
  
Cast :
Lou Taylor Pucci : Evan
Nadia Hilker : Louise
Vanessa Bednar : Gail

Director : Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead

Summary
A doctor takes in a mysterious man who washes ashore at her remote cottage with a gunshot wound. Quickly they both learn the killer has arrived to finish the job, while a storm has cut them off from the mainland.

Genre : Drama/Romance/Thriller
Country : Canada
 
Cast :
Patricia Clarkson : Helen Matthews
Scott Speedman : William
Tim Roth : Tom

Director : Ruba Nadda

Summary
Shortly after the Second World War, Max visits an English pawn shop to sell his trumpet. The shopkeeper recognizes the tune Max plays as one on a wax master of an unreleased recording, discovered and restored from shards found in a piano salvaged from a cruise ship turned hospital ship, now slated for demolition. This chance discovery prompts a story from Max, which he relates both to the shopkeeper and later to the official responsible for the doomed vessel, for Max is a born storyteller. He was befriended by another young man, the pianist in the same band, whose long unlikely name was Danny Boodman T.D. Lemons 1900, though everyone just called him 1900, the year of his birth.

Genre : Drama/Music/Romance
Country : Italy

Cast :
Tim Roth : 1900
Pruitt Taylor Vince : Max Tooney
Bill Nunn : Danny Boodmann

Director : Giuseppe Tornatore

Alternative title : La leggenda del pianista sull'oceano

Summary
In the early 1940s, Allen Ginsberg is an English major at Columbia University, only to learn more than he bargained for. Dissatisfied by the orthodox attitudes of the school, Allen finds himself drawn to iconoclastic colleagues like Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. Together, this gang would explore bold new literary ideas that would challenge the sensibilities of their time as the future Beat Generation. However, for all their creativity, their very appetites and choices lead to more serious transgressions that would mark their lives forever.

Genre : Biography/Drama/Romance
Country : USA

Cast :

Daniel Radcliffe : Allen Ginsberg
Dane DeHaan : Lucien Carr
Jack Huston : Jack Kerouac

Director : John Krokidas

Nederlands hier ...

Genre : Action/Drama/Romance
Country : UK

Cast :
Saoirse Ronan : Daisy
Harley Bird : Piper
George MacKay : Eddie
Tom Holland : Isaac

Director : Kevin MacDonald

Summary
American teenager Elizabeth "Daisy" is sent by her estranged father away from New York to the countryside of England to stay with her Aunt Penn. She is introduced to her cousins, seventeen year-old Eddie,Isaac and young Piper and to their friend Joe. However Daisy is a resentful, needy of love and aloof girl who believes that she is cursed and that bad things happen wherever she goes. Aunt Penn is a busy woman who is studying the war scenario in England, which is on alert due to an imminent terrorist attack, and needs to fly to Geneva. However, the next morning, a nuclear bomb explodes in London and the authorities of the United Kingdom declare a state of siege.

Summary
Theodore is a lonely man in the final stages of his divorce. When he's not working as a letter writer, his down time is spent playing video games and occasionally hanging out with friends. He decides to purchase the new OS1, which is advertised as the world's first artificially intelligent operating system. Theodore quickly finds himself drawn in with Samantha, the voice behind his OS1. As they start spending time together they grow closer and closer and eventually find themselves in love. Having fallen in love with his OS, Theodore finds himself dealing with feelings of both great joy and doubt. As an OS, Samantha has powerful intelligence that she uses to help Theodore in ways others hadn't, but how does she help him deal with his inner conflict of being in love with an OS?

Genre : SF/Romance/Drama
Country : US
 
Cast :
Joaquin Phoenix : Theodore
Scarlett Johansson : Samantha 
Amy Adams : Amy

Director :
Spike Jonze

Genre : Crime/Drama/Romance
Country: USA

Cast :
Josh Henderson : Billy
Haley Webb : Sarah

Beau Bridges : Sherif Brogden

Director:
Antoni Stutz

Summary
Billy and Sarah, two delinquent teenage lovers from the suburbs of Los Angeles, travel to a small southern town to falsely claim a dead friend's inheritance. The two teens, haunted by their own dubious pasts while pursuing their scam, wind up in a nightmare of greed and betrayal when confronted with the twisted and bizarre underworld of Tremo.

My opinion
Sooner or later, I'm gonna nail your maggot ass to the wall.

"Rush Lights" is a mediocre movie and for once the design and interpretation are not really the weak point. The storyline however is terribly simplistic and looks like a regular TV series. Often it seemed like I was watching an old episode of "Matlock" or "Columbus" cause it was so average and uninspiring almost during the whole movie. Then the unbelievable coincidences started to appear at a furious pace. I was just waiting for the next nonsense that they came up with.
The performances and the displayed images need no criticism. The town Tremo is a small village in the middle of nowhere in Texas. It's a dusty place and it seems as if time stood still there. You can still look at the horizon while standing somewhere on a hill and when you're standing at the wrong place where at that moment an old Buick or Cadillac is speeding away, you can be sure that weeks later the sand is still gritting your teeth. So visually it looks acceptable.
The fact that they managed to incorporate Beau Bridges and Aidan Quinn is a positive thing.There is no doubt about the experience that both gentlemen have, given their huge list of films on their resumé. They are also the only two compelling actors and stand their ground in this crooked story. Josh Henderson as "Bill" isn't out of place in this movie. As I said earlier, it looks more like an episode of some TV series. And that's exactly the kind of thing he has a lot of experience in. Usually, his acting was fine but at times it was quite hesitant and faintly. Haley Webb acting as "Sarah" didn't thrill me that much. She looks absolutely stunning (besides the fact that she has such a weird crooked smile sometimes) but sometimes has a tendency to over-act. Despite their limited experience in feature films, they do ensure that their characters look credible.
Where does this movie actually fail? It's the storyline, the conduct and that stupid ending that screws up the overwhelmingly positive feeling I had about this movie. The initial setup is actually average. Billy and Sarah meet and start a relationship. It goes terribly wrong when a friend of Sarah dies from an overdose. It's a bizarre coincidence they look like twins and Billy comes with the brilliant idea to use that benefit and cash an inheritance of the deceased. After arriving in Tremo it turns out this is not so easy and some secrets from the past start to reveal themselves. And from then on it's just a series of astonishing facts.
Lets start with a little summary of some ridiculous things :  
- To receive a plain simple post package here in Belgium I need to show my ID. So I'm pretty sure there is a bit more needed concerning an inheritance then just a quick check of the ID by a lawyer. And especially when it comes to an inheritance involving a significant value of real estate.
- The family lawyer turns out to be closer to the family than he expected. Ignorant as he was in all those years, he can understand the whole thing by simply reading a letter from the deceased rich man and recognizing the handwriting of his mother. And in a magical moment the plot is very very clear to him. 
- While Sarah and Billy are passionately kissing, a shotgun falls down on the floor, goes off and miraculously hits an unknown person standing behind the window. 
- A burglar loses in a clumsy way a DVD with compromising material on it. The recordings show that the rich guy had some kind of gay relationship with his bastard son (This part wasn't made that clear in the movie)
- Billy is looking in the yellow pages for another lawyer for a consultation. Turns out to be the lawyer the rich guy visited to change his will. What a coincidence.
- A dealer is chasing the two lovebirds to collect his money. At first he kind of get killed. I was sure about that after seeing the cloth he's wrapped in, completely soaked with blood. He's thrown in the trunk of the car and then still appears at the end to claim once again his money. But then the  unfortunate fellow suffers a heart attack. Isn't life a bitch ?
Probably there are even more of those facts that can be added to the list. So concerning the content it feels a bit plain and it seems as if they had a lot of ideas and possibilities after a brainstorm session and put them all in this movie. Too bad, because ultimately the visual part wasn't that bad.
My rating 4 /10
Links : IMDB

Genre : Drama/Romantiek
Country: USA

Cast :
Leonardo DiCaprio : Jay Gatsby
Carey Mulligan : Daisy Buchanan
Tobey Maguire : Nick Carraway

Director :
Bza Luhrmann

Summary
An adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Long Island-set novel, where Midwesterner Nick Carraway is lured into the lavish world of his neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Soon enough, however, Carraway will see through the cracks of Gatsby's nouveau riche existence, where obsession, madness, and tragedy await.
My opinion
Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope.

A long time ago every Saturday afternoon you could see an old movie on Flemish television. John Wayne , Danny Kaye, Charlie Chaplin, Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Clint Eastwood etc. were seen weekly in a black and white or in those faded 60’s Technicolor color movie. Regularly they played the old dance movies and musicals with well-known stars such as Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Rita Hayworth , Gene Kelly, Samy Davis Jr. . and many others . All situated in the 20's with men in tuxedos and women who float around in expensive evening gowns and overloaded with glitzy jewelry. A paragon of wealth and decadence which was reserved for some at that time. So I saw a lot of them passing by on the screen while dancing the Foxtrot. My hate and disgust for anything that smells like musical , is grown in that period. I skip each musical or dance film purely for the fact that they always start to sing or spontaneously start dancing for every trivial fact. Pancakes are made and you can expect there is a serenade on this baking process. Or there is some ordinary shopping done in a local supermarket , and before you know it, everyone dances a waltz in between the vegetables. Pfffft , nothing for me .
"The Great Gatsby" itself is not exactly a true musical or dance film, but the decadent parties that Gatsby is organizing are dangerously close to it. I expected every moment an alignment of women dressed in swimsuits, extremely precise in a row, making a jump in sequential order and with deadly precision into Gatsby's enormous garden fountain. And yet I didn’t like the choice of music. It didn’t really fit the whole of this movie. The beginning of the song by Jay Z (I thought it was him) mixed with images of New York and the display of wealth that some people possess , I found successful. But the music does not fit with the swirling parties afterwards . In some way it clashed with the picture what you got in mind. And personally I thought that the interpretation of "Back and Black" was a blatant violation of the sublime song of Amy Whinehouse despite that Beyonce has a beautiful voice.
I haven't seen any previous films directed by Baz Luhrmann. I only know Moulin Rouge and i obviously haven’t seen that for the well-known reasons that I already described above. It took some effort to get used to that airborne camera images in the beginning, but on the whole, his approach is sometimes grotesque. It looked all magical and fairy-like. Several times it had such an effect that was used in ancient times to emphasize a love scene or some magical moments. Those hazy and shimmering shadows around certain images. It reminded me sometimes of the first "Wizard of Oz" movie. The imposing and monstrous looking mansion of Gatsby looked like it was in a direct competition with the castle you can admire in Disneyland. So exaggerated. So it all looks decent and is terribly perfectly portrayed. The glamour of those days splashes of the screen, but at the same time, it all looks so fake . The computer animation department clearly had to do an extra effort. In terms of costumes for the characters, this film is matchless. Ditto for the props that can be admired throughout the film. From the Oldsmobiles that drive around until the furniture. In one word: masterful .
Tobey Maguire I think is the biggest flaw in this movie. The fact that he’s a person who has to get over his alcohol problem and tells his story about Gatsby to a psychiatrist or physician, and at the same time has the appearance of a pubescent student, makes the whole rendition of Carraway totally unbelievable. By the way, I still think that his acting ability is limited to the sometimes silly staring into nothing, with such a moronic smile on his face . DiCaprio also looks too young for his portrayal as Gatsby . In fact you may well expect that he would have a face that shows how difficult his live has been. But I think Leo does an excellent performance as the mysterious and extravagant billionaire . Maybe a bit too melodramatic . And the phrase "Old sport" does not fit completely with him. Besides it really started to get on my nerves after a while hearing him saying that over and over again. A disadvantage is that it takes a while before he comes into the picture and then Maguire needs to carry the complete movie. And that failed miserably . For me, Joel Edgerton , who played Tom Buchanan, was the best actor in this film . The bravado and arrogance that he displayed was beautiful to watch.
I don't think I've ever read Fitzgerald's book. The content is actually a plain simple love story . The run-up to the meeting with Gatsby, I liked the most in this movie when Maguire moves into the small house overshadowed by the immense castle of the mysterious Gatsby. Once this is over , it's really only a dull and ordinary love story and Maguire is relegated to a pathetic spectator of the flirting between Gatsby and Dais.

Actually I expected more from "The Great Gatsby". It’s is a damn long, boring and sad movie. I had problems keeping my eyes open. Nothing much happens in it. And if you’re planning to have a fun time watching a happy movie, you better look further. 


My rating 5 /10
Links : IMDB

Genre : Comedy/Romance/SF
Country: USA

Cast :
Domhnall Gleeson : Tim
Rachel McAdams : Mary
Bill Nighy : De vader

Director:
Richard Curtis

Summary
At the age of 21, Tim Lake discovers he can travel in time... The night after another unsatisfactory New Year party, Tim's father tells his son that the men in his family have always had the ability to travel through time. Tim can't change history, but he can change what happens and has happened in his own life-so he decides to make his world a better place...by getting a girlfriend. Sadly, that turns out not to be as easy as you might think.

Genre : Romance/SF
Country : Canada/France

Cast :
Kirsten Dunst : Eden
Jim Sturgess : Adam
Timothy Spall : Bob Boruchowitz

Director :
Juan Solanas

Genre : Romance/Drama/Comedy
Country : USA

Cast :
Steve Carell : Dodge
Keira Knightley : Penny
Rose Byrne : Dana
Aasif Mandvi : Mr Chetty

Director :
Lorene Scafaria

Summary
An asteroid named "Matilda" is on a collision course towards Earth and in three weeks the world will come to an absolute end. What would you do if your life and the world were doomed? One man decides to spend his time searching for his long lost love from high school during the coming catastrophe.
My opinion

Put on some Radiohead... I want to do heroin to Radiohead.

The first 30 minutes I had to persevere and restrain myself not to hit the off-button. Everything indicated that it would be a romantic comedy, where the comic part felt pretty fake. I really can't remember me smiling in that first half hour. Maybe when Dodge's wife runs of because of his irritating dry remark about missing a turn after the news was announced that within a few days the earth would be as flat as a fig and those walking on it too of course. Afterwards I realized it was indeed funny. That woman suddenly decided it was better to spend her last days doing some calisthenics with her (I suppose) lover, then being accompanied by that dry, neurotic and unpleasant dullard.
But then it turned into a more subtle whole, with deeper meanings, symbolism and questions about life. The humor got more refined and subtle. Many chuckle moments for me, when dry yet thoughtful humor creeps into such a melodramatic story. For instance the part where Dodge tells Penny about his wife and Olivia, ending with the quote  "The rest is almost history" .... The word "almost" made me laugh again . And there are more things like that in this movie. Eventually I was empathizing (Geezz, didn't think I would ever do that ... with a movie), and I truly enjoyed this satirical depressing story. The trucker who's shot down by a "hitman", the dog that was tied to Dodge when he lost consciousness after an overdose of cough syrup in the park, Penny's friend in his titanium bunker, the sheriff who's uncompromising until the end and takes them into custody, the cleaning-lady who thinks she's fired. And then it gets mawkish and you see those two people growing to eachother and fall in love ... duh. I would do that too in those last days if I was alone. Secretly I was hoping in the end that it all would be a mistake and that the comet would miss earth at the last minute. But it ends in a flash ... And then I thought, "Damn, what a wonderful movie"
The only negative thing I could come up with was the over-expressive facial expressions of Keira Knightley at times. Sometimes it seemed as if she laughed, cried and smelled a rancid omelet made ​​of rotten eggs, simultaneously in one expression. Awful to see and annoying. I can't remember her using those expressions in "Pirates of the Caribbean". Obviously she had to use it in "A dangerous method", but that came with the character she played and it suited well in that movie. Probably she was enrolled because of that.

Conclusion: I highly recommend this movie if you're in a sentimental and serious mood. Are you in a dip, then avoid this like the plague because it doesn't really make you happy again.
My rating 6.5/10 
Links : IMDB

Genre : SF/Romance
Country : USA

Cast :
Alex Pettyfer : John Smith
Timothy Olyphant : Henri
Teresa Palmer : Nummer 6
Diana Agron : Sarah Hart

Director :
D.J. Caruso

Summary
Extraordinary teen John Smith is a fugitive on the run from ruthless enemies sent to destroy him. Changing his identity, moving from town to town with his guardian Henri, John is always the new kid with no ties to his past. In the small Ohio town he now calls home, John encounters unexpected, life-changing events-his first love, powerful new abilities and a connection to the others who share his incredible destiny.
My opinion

"Grease in space"

I started watching this without any prior knowledge. Ultimately, it is not that special, but also not that terribly bad. It's obvious the makers played it safe. It's ultimately a mix of a high-school teen movie and a softcore SF. The high school section contains all the cliche ingredients: the jock (quarterback, of course), a cheerleader, a nerd who's constantly harassed by the hunks of the school, the newcomer John who's not bad looking but is seen as if he's an alien (what a coincidence). Off course John will defend the nerd and is immediatly attracted to the cheerleader at first glance (melt, sigh, swoon ...). How obvious. You can feel a romantic love relationship coming up. So the main and largest target group, the giggling teenage girls, is satisfied now.
Apparently this movie is an interpretation of a book. For me a decent adaptation is one you still can understand despite you haven't read the book and eventually you know what it is about. However, this adaptation leaves many unanswered questions: what is that damn box, why should they be eliminated in that order, what is the meaning of the necklaces...
Conclusion: A simple teenager feelgood movie with a portion SF action.

Het verdict 5.5/10
Links : IMDB , Moviemeter