When you see the cast of a movie such as this, gathering the action heroes from the 80s, there are some standards you expect: a ludicrous story, ludicrous one-liners & a ludicrous amount of ludicrous violence.
It's completely fair to say that Stallone delivered on every count here.
It's a complete 80s throwback and I found it a huge amount of fun. And loved the fact that it's not a parody, but on the other hand you get a good few laughs that are with the movie. It doesn't fall in the category "so bad it's funny". It's tongue in cheek,
but still with a 1st degree approach.
There's no comment to make for the acting (although Rourke has a fine monologue) or the script, however none come in the way and the latter provides good set ups to put those action men up against each other.
And even if a good amount of cheese is there, there's nothing cheesy about the action, which just rocks: it's completely over the top in a good way (much better than The A-Team for example, as far as I'm concerned). It's filmed in a clear manner (ie it uses handheld camera, but not too much), you understand what's going on and although it makes no sense, it's still completely entertaining and believable in the context of the movie. And appropriately gruesome of course! :)
Some could regret that it isn't THE DEFINITIVE 80s MOVIE. Sure, it isn't, it's yet another one.
But a good one.
The boys are back in town!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Gainsbourg, Vie Heroique.
It's great to see a biopic that strays off the usual path.
The association of Joann Sfar, reknown comic book author and Gainsbourg seemed a strange match to me at first (although I'm sure it's all down to a lack of knowledge on my part).
Seeing a comic book author come to making film is also unusual.
Yet after seeing this movie, it all makes sense and I have been much impressed by Sfar's work, as a 1st time director. He managed to infuse his movie with his sensibilities far beyond all the drawings you see on screen, as Gainsbourg paints, clearly bearing Sfar's mark.
There's genuine inventivity in his direction and although it IS a real movie (not a conceptual mess as other artists can tackle the medium) you can feel his comic book origins throughout.
It's movie that works more as an experience than a story, not because the story's poor (there's more than enough material in Gainsbourg's life), but because it's what Sfar wants.
And it's a stimulating one.
And it's very subtle with a lot of events (and famous songs) just referred to.
In a sense, it's what any biopic should do: not TELL you everything you should know about the subject, but inspire you to go and find out more about it.
And the movie does that beautifully by blurring lines between reality and dream.
It's suported by an outstanding cinematography (again, for a 1st timer, the effects are brilliant) and by an amazing cast.
They all managed for me to portray those icons I've seen "for real" as I indeed remembered them, from Gainsbourg to Birkin, to Bardot...
Gainsbourg himself, because of his "gueule" (as the movie states it) wasn't a specifically likeable character, yet he was a compelling one and the feeling is perfectly conveyed here.
I was disappointed to see that, at the end, Sfar had to show a message as a disclaimer to explain why he took this approach. As far as I'm concerned, the movie speaks for itself and I respect his choice even more so that I liked them.
But I guess the general public would need this, which makes me slightly sad.
But this has nothing to do with the movie anyway.
The association of Joann Sfar, reknown comic book author and Gainsbourg seemed a strange match to me at first (although I'm sure it's all down to a lack of knowledge on my part).
Seeing a comic book author come to making film is also unusual.
Yet after seeing this movie, it all makes sense and I have been much impressed by Sfar's work, as a 1st time director. He managed to infuse his movie with his sensibilities far beyond all the drawings you see on screen, as Gainsbourg paints, clearly bearing Sfar's mark.
There's genuine inventivity in his direction and although it IS a real movie (not a conceptual mess as other artists can tackle the medium) you can feel his comic book origins throughout.
It's movie that works more as an experience than a story, not because the story's poor (there's more than enough material in Gainsbourg's life), but because it's what Sfar wants.
And it's a stimulating one.
And it's very subtle with a lot of events (and famous songs) just referred to.
In a sense, it's what any biopic should do: not TELL you everything you should know about the subject, but inspire you to go and find out more about it.
And the movie does that beautifully by blurring lines between reality and dream.
It's suported by an outstanding cinematography (again, for a 1st timer, the effects are brilliant) and by an amazing cast.
They all managed for me to portray those icons I've seen "for real" as I indeed remembered them, from Gainsbourg to Birkin, to Bardot...
Gainsbourg himself, because of his "gueule" (as the movie states it) wasn't a specifically likeable character, yet he was a compelling one and the feeling is perfectly conveyed here.
I was disappointed to see that, at the end, Sfar had to show a message as a disclaimer to explain why he took this approach. As far as I'm concerned, the movie speaks for itself and I respect his choice even more so that I liked them.
But I guess the general public would need this, which makes me slightly sad.
But this has nothing to do with the movie anyway.
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
The A-Team.
Well among the stupid remake / adaptations ideas, when announced, I thought the A-Team was right there with the likes of GI Joes. Then again, when handled properly, you can always get good stuff from trash.
And this adaptation comes as a good surprise. No greatness, but quite fun still.
On the down side, it slightly too over the top for its own good and the action is quite over edited.
But the film manages to saves itself with its characters, very well cast (all 4 main cahracters) and I thought very likeable. Whenever I was about to get fed up with a set piece that I was finding "too much", I got something (eg Murdoch asking the way to Berlin) that made me think "oh why not after all...".
So "just" a disposable blockbuster, nowhere near a Star Trek, missing the madness of a Transformers, but still way better than a Pirates Of The Carribeans in my book.
All in all, fun.
And this adaptation comes as a good surprise. No greatness, but quite fun still.
On the down side, it slightly too over the top for its own good and the action is quite over edited.
But the film manages to saves itself with its characters, very well cast (all 4 main cahracters) and I thought very likeable. Whenever I was about to get fed up with a set piece that I was finding "too much", I got something (eg Murdoch asking the way to Berlin) that made me think "oh why not after all...".
So "just" a disposable blockbuster, nowhere near a Star Trek, missing the madness of a Transformers, but still way better than a Pirates Of The Carribeans in my book.
All in all, fun.
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