All Ratings for Hugo Sylvain (InfamousHugo)

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921 ratings
535 reviews
3.59 average
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Avatar - PG-13 We've been hearing about this film for quite some times. Its been hyped like no other movies since Star Wars - Epidose I. The final result, well, a lot of people seem to disagree already, but I think it absolutely delivers on every level.

Full review coming in a couple of days
December 20, 2009  
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Up in the Air - R UP IN THE AIR (2009)
dir. Jason Reitman
cast. George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick

Some people might be tempted to ask, what is the best film of a poor year worth ? Id say no worse than the best of a good year. Up in the Air, Jason Reitman's third film, after Thank You for Smoking and Juno proves he's already a better filmmaker than his father.

A film about relationships, life, solitude, choices one make, growing up, and changing how one see things. Up in the Air isnt just a light comedy. Perfectly balanced and representative of its time, Up in the Air is a charming and effective dramedy with enough depth to make you think, enough comedy to make you laugh and enough emotions to be moving.

Engaging characters are played by great actors, giving extraordinary performances. I mentioned this before, but Im still amazed to see how George Clooney has grown and matured has an actor. He gives the performance of his career, and will deserve to win some award comes awards season. Vera Farmiga is equally good, and if this doesnt throw her into stardom, nothing will.

Reitman uses a great soundtrack, suiting the mood intended for the film. He writes - with co-writer Sheldon Turner - thoughtful dialogues for his actors to speak and definitely is one of the filmmakers to look for in the future. He's got three good films so far, out of three, which aint bad. Up in the Air never disappoints. Great film.

December 17, 2009  
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Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire - R PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE (2009)
dir. Lee Daniels
cast. Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton

Precious Jones is an overweight teen living in Harlem. She doesnt like herself cause everyone around her is abusive. She is pregnant with her second child and is entering an alternative school, despite her mother not wanting her to.

Everything in Precious is a bit too depressing. The score, the story, the tone, its almost manipulative, but wait, its not. The acting is right on, with some nice cameo from Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz, both actually very good. Newcomer Gabourey Sdibe is pretty amazing in the title role and Mo'Nique is solid as well. And despite a few annoying editing trick, the film is well-handled.

Its a hard movie to watch if you let it take you into its dark, pessimistic and realistic world. Its heartbreaking and shocking. There are some pretty powerful moments. Its a moving story, moving at a decent pace without the usual crappy Hollywood plot turns. A recommendation.

December 14, 2009  
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The Road - R THE ROAD (2009)
dir. John Hillcoat
cast. Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron

Like last year's Blindness, The Roadšis based on a beloved novel, acclaimed by the public and the critics. Both movies dont only shared high expectation but also the same problems when the story is translated into the movie medium. Characters are the same, and so is the storyline, but whats missing are the words of the authors that made those books as amazing as they were in the first place.

John Hillcoat's film is based on a novel written by Cormac McCarthy, who also wrote the book adapted by the Coens two years ago, No Country For Old Men. I wont compare McCarthy's work with Hillcoat's adaptation, cause its very faithful. The storytelling in the other hand is what makes this film a disappointment. Lets make something clear though, I'll take a disappointment like The Road any day over most movies coming out of Hollywood.

Performances are good. Viggo Mortensen is intense as usual and his eyes translate everything his character feels or thinks. Kodi Smith-McPhee as his kid in this post-apocalypse world is annoying, just like most children in movies where they have to be adult before their age. I wouldnt be surprised to see Robert Duvall get a nomination at some awards show for his 5-minute appearance.

The Road is surprisingly not too slow, there is always something going on and it serves the story and / or the themes to develop. Its definitely well-adapted by Joe Penhall. So why is The Road such a disappointment with all those qualities ? I didnt feel anything. Hillcoat tries too hard to move his audience without being manipulative. I didnt feel the emotions, yet, the film didnt feel bleak enough. I wont blame my expectations, The Road simply isnt the award-worthy movie that was promised to us. Its good though.

December 13, 2009  
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Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother) - R December 3, 2009  
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Funny People - R November 29, 2009  
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Zombieland - R ZOMBIELAND (2009)
dir. ruben Fleischer
cast. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harelson, Emma Stone

Blood, guns and twinkies. Thats what you get in Zombieland, yet another entry in the undead genre. This one takes itself less seriously, and could be a good companion to Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead.

There is no real plot, just fun characters trying to survive. It almost feels as if they dont care they might be the last people on Earth. They are the same as before, whether its a good thing or not.

Zombieland is actually very funny, and the gore is, well, gory. Its a fun time at the movies. Look out for the cool opening credits and an hilarious cameo appearance by, well, Im not spoiling it, everyone knows already, Bill Murray.

Little Rock: Do you have any regrets?

Bill Murray: Garfield maybe.

November 26, 2009  
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The International - R November 25, 2009  
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Runaway Train - R November 25, 2009  
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The Shining - R November 25, 2009  
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All the President's Men - R November 25, 2009  
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On the Waterfront - Unrated November 24, 2009  
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Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans - R BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS (2009)
dir. Werner Herzog
cast. Nicolas Cage, Eva Mandes, Val Kilmer

Here's what Werner Herzog has to say about directing a remake of Abel Ferrara's "cult" flick Bad Lieutenant: I've never even seen the original film, so we know now the films have nothing to do with each other. (It was the film's producers who insisted on the title) It was a speculation to start a franchise. And from day one, I said this is a mistake, it will backfire, it is wrong. Got it. Its not a remake.

Nicolas Cage is a terrific actor. He is fearless. Unfortunately, he never seems to know how to dose it in whatever roles he picks. Or actually, his performances are barely ever suitable to the characters he plays, making him look bad, uselessly quirky and annoying. With Bad Lieutenant he finds the shoe that fits. His paring with the German director is a match made in heaven. They both understand the material, which would have been bad in lesser hands.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is like an over-the-top parody, and I can already hear some people asking what it is that critics like about this film. The tone is subtle, and it can easily be mistaken as a badly written screenplay, when in fact, it is a terrific film.

Cage is the painkiller-addicted Lieutenant who has to solve a murder, while dealing with mobsters, drug dealers, his prostitute girlfriend, some gambling problem, etc ... There is a lot going on. At one point I was afraid it would all fall apart, but instead, every subplot is imbricated and nothing is left unresolved in the end. But Bad Lieutenant isnt really about the plots - or the subplots - but rather about the madness, almost surrealistic, but its not even close to be a character study.

Werner Herzog said of his film its the most hilarious one of his resume. I agree, but not hilarious in a laugh-out-loud way. Herzog doesnt take the script seriously and lets the story tell itself. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans has nothing to do with the Harvey Keitel flick of 1992. A lot of people will be turned off by its crudeness, or they simply wont get its tone. Its not for everyone, but its a terrific film, and it features Nicolas Cage's best performance in years.

November 20, 2009  
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Lawrence of Arabia - PG November 19, 2009  
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The Untouchables - R THE UNTOUCHABLES (1987)
dir. Brian DePalma
cast. Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Andy Garcia

This is the fictionalized true story of how Elliot Ness went after Al Capone and brought him down. The Untouchables is most likely one of the best adaptation of a TV series along with The Fugitive. Brian DePalma goes all out here, doing great references to such great filmmakers as Seirgei Eisenstein without ever making it feel like a copy, like in previous films - DePalma's usual biggest problem - Dressed to Kill comes to mind. As usual, he uses complex camera movements and great long take making this film technically impressive sometimes. The train station scene is a classic.

The score by Ennio Morricone helps the intensity of the film and a few scenes are simply great because of his music. He also absorbs you right into the movie with the opening credits. Definitely a memorable score.

Kevin Costner had his big break in 1987, in part thank to this film, he gives a fair performance but Sean Connery steals the show as the old agent Malone while Robert DeNiro is almost overacting or parodying himself.

David Mamet's screenplay is clever, we get real characters with some development and some real struggle when they deal with killing people, even if they are bad guys. One of DePalma's best.

November 19, 2009  
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Waiting - R WAITING... (2005)
dir. Rob McKittrick
cast. Ryan Reynolds, Justin Long, Anna Faris

Waiting... chronicles a day - or an evening - in a restaurant. We get to meet all the over-stylized characters one after another and we are supposed to care about them or think they are funny. Im not sure if director Rob McKittrick tried to make his film somehow realistic but its not. Everything is just a bit too underlined, hoping to get the viewer to think «Hey thats so true!», but its not.

I worked in both the back and the front of a restaurant and some stuff dont make sense while other seems right, but exaggerated. Where do these people get the time to go smoke a cigarette three at the times during dinner rush is a mystery to me.

Waiting... is highly influenced by Clerks and similar films but it lacks wit. Its hardly ever that funny and when it is, its just unintentional cause we dont laugh for the right reason. All characters are just one-line joke repeated over and over. There is one though, coming out of the lot, Justin Long's Dean, who seems to be a bit more real and Long has some charms and gives a fairly good performance. Anna Faris is underused just as are lots of other actors while Ryan Reynolds shows he has comedic timing but he cant really do anything here with the bad vulgar lines he is given.

This film could have worked if it had tried to be wittier with less gross out joke and a bit more sense. Its not as terrible seemed, but I cant say Im genuinely surprised by it cause I didnt really have any real expectation.. Kudos for the long take in the middle of the film following around in the restaurant, it felt well-inspired but unfortunately they had to show it in fast-forward. All of that being said, I didnt hate it.

November 19, 2009  
N/A
The Firm - R THE FIRM (1993)
dir. Sydney Pollack
cast. Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman, Jeanne Tripplehorn

Based on a John Grisham novel, The Firm is nothing special, its all been seen before but its quite effective with director Sydney Pollack behind the camera, proving to be suspenseful at times and dramatic when needed.

Tom Cruise kind of reprise his role of previous year's A Few Good Men, as a young lawyer, he is less arrogant but just as smart. As usual Cruise gives intensity to his character, except maybe not enough, cause to me The Firm is one of his weakest performance. He flirts with many firms to see which one he'll choose to work for, he can afford it, cause he got some of the best result in school. He ends up picking a job in Memphis, and right from the first moment there are some very dubious behaviors from his employers, almost sounding like a sect at some point - Scientology anyone ? - but he goes in with his wife. They get a huge house, a new car and everything an American can dream off in less than twenty cinematic minutes. The alarm clock wakes him up and the film begins.

Two of his coworkers die in an accident, or was it an accident, soon, Cruise's character discover things against his will and bring him to think his employers might be crooks. He is an idealist so he cant let it happen, hires a private detective who gets killed. The FBI contacts him and he will have to find a way to help them, get out of it safe and keep his career, it wont be easy.

The Firm has the obligatory action scenes near the end, but they are rather suspenseful than thrilling, which is all good. And the film, instead of ending up in a pure Hollywood way - it does in a way though - it manages to bring everything down to the law, which is kind of an exercise in style for John Grisham, and its all good stuff.

The cast is pretty impressive, apart from Cruise, we have Gene Hackman, pretty comfortable in his role of a designated mentor. Ed Harris is fun to watch as an FBI agent and Holly Hunter as the secretary of the dead private detective is very archetypical, but always interesting. David Strathairn also appears as Cruise older brother in jail, and they have one of the best scenes together, and it would have been nice to have more scene like this one, but the film is already long enough, over two and a half hours, which is too long for that sort of films, but everything needed to be developed the best way possible. The jazzy score doesnt help, making the film feels longer as the same bit of music is played over and over again.

November 19, 2009  
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The Fantastic Four - PG THE FANTASTIC FOUR (1994)
dir. Oley Sassone
cast. Alex Hyde-White, Jay Underwood, Rebecca Staab

The acting is terrible, the writing almost just as bad, the film is campy and unbearable. I know, it almost sounds like Im talking about the Fantastic Four with Jessica Alba you all saw, but this one, believe it or not, is even worse.

Produced by legendary moviemaker Roger Corman, this film was never intended to be released, it was shot for the simple reason that if a film wasnt made by a certain date the studio would lose the rights to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's comic book.

The film begins like an episode of Beverly Hills 90210 with Reed Richards, Victor von Doom and Ben Grimm as college student. Susan and Jonny Storm are still kids at that point, but they know Richards cause he lives at their house. An experiment goes bad and von Doom is left for dead. Ten years later, the four remaining characters go in space for the continuation of the experiment that went bad a couple of years earlier, but von Doom now a super-villian, destroy their ship, not before the fantastic four are bombarded with cosmic rays. They survive but consequences are obligatory. One can stretch his body, the other is a man-thing looking like a rock, the girl can become invisible at will and the last produces fire. Together they will have to fight for their freedom and those villains that come out of no-fucking-where without any explanations at all.

I know, I give this review too much words. Its so cheesy and corny and everything else. It looks worse than an episode of the Power Rangers. There is no competence to be seen anywhere in this film. It feels like they assume we all know everything about the comic book throwing characters in but never showing us where they came from, but I guess it was quite faithful to the source material. I didnt think I could finish it, I couldnt find a way to laugh at it anymore, it was simply too painful. I think their costumes is going to give me nightmares.

November 19, 2009  
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Mississippi Burning - R MISSISSIPPI BURNING (1988)
dir. Alan Parker
cast. Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Brad Dourif

«It's ugly. This whole thing is so ugly. Have you any idea what it's like to live with all this? People look at us and only see bigots and racists. Hatred isn't something you're born with. It gets taught. At school, they said segregation what's said in the Bible... Genesis 9, Verse 27. At 7 years of age, you get told it enough times, you believe it. You believe the hatred. You live it... you breathe it. You marry it.»

Mississippi, 1964. Three civil rights workers are gone missing. It doesnt take long for the FBI to invade the small Mississippian town to investigate the case, looking for the bodies and looking for the guilty. Hate grows increasingly on the members of the Ku Klux Klan side. They burn colored people's houses, threaten them if they talk to the FBI but two agents with opposite personalities havent said their last words yet.

Loosely based on one of the most important murder investigation in history, Mississippi Burning is a shocking film with the ambition to open the eyes of the audience in front of deep America's intolerance for races.

That type of film angers me a lot, I personally cant stand any type of racism and I cant really be objective when a movie like this comes along. I am personally fascinated and disgusted by all the hate, making this film a mandatory viewing for everyone.

The main characters are kind of one dimensional. We have the young agent who will do everything in his power to resolve the case. Working with him is a veteran, easy-going character, who uses shady ways to make things happen. The performances though seem to give those characters more depth than what they have. Willem Dafoe is completely committed to his character and Gene Hackman does things in the right way. The better performances though, come from the supporting cast. Brad Dourif as a racist local deputy is creepy and Frances McDormand as his powerless wife is heartbreaking.

Mississippi Burning is an important film because of its subject matter and denunciation of racism. Its predictable for sure and the script isnt particularly that strong, despite some good lines. Hard to watch but worthy.

November 19, 2009  
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Dark Water - PG-13 DARK WATER (2005)
dir. Walter Salles
cast. Jennifer Connelly, Tim Roth, John C. Reilly

Dark Water is another remake of a Hideo Nakata film based on a Koji Suzuki novel. Its not as good as The Ring but its way better than The Ring Two.

The plot is simple, its about a single mom moving in a new building with her daughter. Weird things happen with the apartment upstairs like water drifting from the ceiling. What is interesting here isnt the fright factor but mostly the psychological connection between the main character - played by Jennifer Connelly - and the water appearances, working as a good metaphor to show how she is slowly losing it.

The scary parts arent too laughable so its a good thing, and the atmosphere created is somehow harrowing but the drama is deeper and the characters are well-developed. Tim Roth seems like he is in a whole different movie though.

Walter Salles - The Motrocycle Diaries - does an interesting job here but the studio took over his work so its hard to tell what his actual vision was. Better than most scary movies if you are willing to intellectualize what you see, but not that entertaining.

November 19, 2009  
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Kingdom of Heaven - R KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (2005)
dir. Ridley Scott
cast. Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Edward Norton

Apparently the theatrical cut of Kingdom of Heaven was quite bad. I havent seen it, therefor I cant tell. But I have seen the director's cut, and that one, I can call a very good film.

Ridley Scott made a real epic film. With an overture and en entr'act, just like Ben-Hur and other such classics. Its the real deal, and it really is epic in everything sense of the word.

Orlando Bloom is the lead, which isnt a good choice, but I cant deny, for the first time, he didnt annoy me at all. He almost managed to give a layered performance. He is surrounded by an amazing supporting cast though, including Liam Neeson, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis and Brendan Gleeson, all doing stellar jobs. Edward Norton come out of the lot though, in a supporting role, which requires that he wears a mask at all time. His face is never seen. Eva Green completes the cast, as the obligatory strong woman, giving a strong performance.

I dont think I need to give away any plot details, more than its epic. The battles are great, long and entertaining. Ridley Scott shows the extent of his talent when its time to craft a sequence of mayhem, with great cinematography, just like he did with Black Hawk Down.

Kingdom of Heaven is more restrained than Gladiator, Scott's previous entry in a similar genre, and for that reason I think its more engaging. I strongly recommend it, but make sure you watch the director's cut.

November 19, 2009  
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Atonement - R ATONEMENT (2007)
dir.Joe Wright
cast. James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan

Its 1935, on a dog day, Briony writes a play for her brother, who's coming home. Through the window she notices her sister, Cecilia, jumping in the fountain in front of Robbie, the housekeeper's son. Later she finds a letter written by Robbie, for Cecilia with some dirty words in it. Finally, she finds them having sex in the library. All those events lead her to think Robbie is responsible for the rape of her cousin later that night, sending Robbie to jail and a few years later, to war, thats only when she realizes she might have been wrong and try to redeem herself, working as a nurse.

I have to admit, I didnt think I would like it. I knew I could see the qualities and admire the film, but I didnt think I would enjoy it that much. Man, was I wrong, but weirdly enough, I officially fell for Atonement only a few minutes before it ended.

The first part of the film is quite amazing. First, director Joe Wirght shows us things as the young Briony sees them and that make sense when later she throws those accusation. But the following scene is the same, showing what really happens with a lot of sensuality. Some may think its manipulative, but in fact its just showing a point of view to make the film more effective. The second part of the film is less interesting in terms of what happens, but as storytelling goes its doesnt get much better. Not much is going on actually, but we get to see the horror of that war, how soldiers slowly went mad and what those nurses had to deal with. The cinematography is amazing, especially that one particular shot, which last about five minutes, on the beach. Following the character and expressing how lost everyone was, but mostly our main character.

The structure of the film is very interesting and unexpected, not really following a linear path and not throwing useless flashbacks, but simply building the tragedy this story is. The acting is fairly good. James McAvoy is solid and is potentially a future great actor. As for Keira Knightley, she is one step closer to proving me she really does have acting talents. Saoirse Roman is the one stealing teeh show though. She is phenomenal as the young Briony, a character that we like to hate, even though we know she only suffer from childhood innocence. Atonement is for me a nice surprise and a film, Im sure, I will enjoy more next time I see it. Still, its flawed and feels a bit too long at times as it never becomes emotionally engaging, as it should, cause, after all, its a love story. Great score as well.

November 18, 2009  
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Twilight - PG-13 TWILIGHT (2008)
dir. Catherine Hardwicke
cast. Kirsten Stewart, Robert Pattison, Billy Burke

To compare Twilight with any other vampire movie would be irrelevant, because Twilight isnt a vampire movie. Its a teenage romance set in a fantasy world in which vampires glow under the light of day. Funny stuff. Lets put that aside for a second. Catherine Hardwice has directed a great film about what it is like to be a confused teenager, but its not this one. It was Thirtheen, a great character study, it came out a couple of years ago and showed her talent as a director, but here, she seems unable to understand her characters. Its impossible to relate to them or even care about what's going to happen next. But that could possibly be caused by the predictability of the plot as well.

In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Brad Pitt looked old but was in fact young, still it was disturbing to see him talking to that little girl under the table, something didnt seem right, though it was perfectly normal, they were the same age. In Twilight, Robert Pattison plays a century-old vampire who falls for a teenager who fell for him first, but no one seems to see a problem, cause he does look young, despite not being so. Lets put that aside for a moment. Twilight pretends to be a movie about love, but its clearly about lust, and with that in mind, a filmmaker could have done something a little better, but not by much.

Twilight is actually everything you could expect from it. An impossible, non-credible Hollywood romance between two good looking young actors. The dialogue is bad, the editing is MTV-style, the actors lack intensity, or have too much, there is a lot of unintentional humor and in the end a little bit of badly handled action to please the teenage girls's boyfriends in the audience. Teen girls wetting their seats for a Marcel Marceau-looking vampire are making me mad a little. Go see Let the Right One In if you arent afraid of subtitles.

November 17, 2009  
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Ghost World - R November 16, 2009  
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Io non ho paura (I'm Not Scared) - R November 16, 2009  
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