Amelie's Place - Movies

I have written a little something about some films I have enjoyed or even just seen recently. Numbers in brackets refer to how much I liked the film, out of 5. This list is by alphabetical order, there is another one by rating order here.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

- A -

About A Boy (4/5): Based on Nick Hornby's book, it can only be good. Will (Hugh Grant) doesn't work as his father wrote the song Santa Super Sleigh and he receives a lot of money from it. After having a short relationshipt with a mother, he decides single mothers are the best kind of women and pretends to be a single father himself. He meets Marcus, a 12-year old boy who becomes his friend. The film was very well made, with a special 5/5 for the music by Badly Drawn Boy.

About Schmidt (3.5/5): Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) retires and his wife dies. He tries to run his daughter's life, and then goes on some kind of road trip in his camper van. Very well made, quite ironic.

Adaptation (3.5/5): Great film about the screen writer Charlie Kaufman who wants to write a film where nothing happens, only showing the beauty of flowers as in the book The Orchid Thief.

Amelie (2/5): This film has been talked about so much... I agree that it is nice and cute and maybe romantic. What I don't like is that is the confusion about the date. It is supposed to be set in 1997 or around that time (the death of the princess Diana is mentionned) but in that case why does everything looks like the fifties? There are so many films showing France in the fifties already, why make one that is set now but looks like the fifties? One more problem, there are far too many close-ups (and they are very very close). Probably I shouldn't have watched it on a huge screen and sitting near the front, but I didn't know before.
American Beauty (4/5): Some weird changes are happening to two families. Kevin Spacey is great, Thora Birch is amazing.
Angela's ashes (2/5): The film is based on the book by Frank McCourt, but is not as good. Or maybe it just wasn't possible to be as good. Nice anyway.
Anger Management (3/5): Adam Sandler plays Dave Buznik, who gets sentenced to Anger Management therapy with Dr Buddy Rydell (Jack Nickolson). When 'Buddy' moves in with Dave, things start to get difficult for Dave. Quite funny.
L'Auberge Espagnole (4/5): A French student goes to Barcelona for a year. Very good film, a must-see if you plan to spend some time abroad.
Austin Powers in Goldmember (1/5): Austin is back! Quite funny, quite crude as well.
Autumn In New York (3.5/5): Romance with Richard Gere and Winona Ryder. Very moving.
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- B -

Being John Malkovich (3.5/5): A puppeteer discovers a tiny door leading to... inside John Malkovich's head.
Bend It Like Beckham (5/5): The story of an Indian girl living in England who loves football despite her family concerns. One of the best films ever!
Billy Elliot (4.5/5): A boy prefers ballet to boxing, and he is really good at it. Amazing film.
Blood Work (1/5): Clint Eastwood, a good cop, a bad guy and a heart's transplant. Nice film, but nothing great.
Blue Crush (3/5): Gorgeous Anne-Marie (Kate Bosworth) and her friends are surfers and maids in Maui. Anne-Marie has been invited to a big competition where she can show off to sponsors and start getting paid to surf. That is if she finds time to practice between taking care of her little sister, working, and falling in love. Great pictures of surfing, nice film in general, the story is a bit slow though.
Bowling For Columbine (4/5): Very good documentary about the gun culture in the USA, and the aggressive and violent behaviour of Americans as a whole. Very very good, but I have a tendency to get annoyed at Michael Moore for thinking he knows everything a little too often.
Bringing Down The House (3/5): Queen Latifah and Steve Martin star in this comedy about a divorced lawyer, Peter Sanderson (Steve Martin), who meets Charlene Morton (Queen Latifah), having just escaped from prison. Not the best film ever, but definitely not as bad as some critics would like it to be.
Bruce Almighty (4/5): Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) is a TV presenter and things are going very very wrong for him. He asks God to make things better for him, but then God (played but Morgan Freeman), gives him the powers to change things. Jennifer Aniston also stars as Bruce's girlfriend Grace. Very funny, Jennifer Aniston and Morgan Freeman are great as usual.
Bridget Jones's Diary (5/5): Bridget is 32, and still single. She wants to sort out her life and especially get a boyfriend as she is afraid she is going to end up alone and half-eaten by Alsatians. Very funny comedy with Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant.
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- C -

Catch Me If You Can (2/5): Frank Abagnale Jr (Leonardo DiCaprio) successfully pretends to be an airplane pilot, a doctor, a lawyer, and makes a lot of fake cheques. Really good film, but somehow I wasn't completely impressed.

Changing Lanes (2/5): Good film, you keep wondering how it is going to end. And a bit when it's going to end.

Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle (1/5): I am not a fan of action movies at all, yet I liked the first Charlie's Angels because the girls were great. Girl Power! I didn't find this here. I saw lots of action, fighting, loud music, and every single typical male fantasy you can think about. And yes, the girls were fighting, but against another girl, so the Girl Power wasn't there anymore. Yet the action scenes are incredible (or rather unbelievable), and that might be fun for some people I guess.

Chicago (4/5): Roxie (Renée Zellweger) loves shows and would love to have her own. She ends up in prison after killing her lover. She meets Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta Jones), a famous singer who has just killed her sister. Their lawyer is Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) who likes playing with the press and turning every trial into some kind of show. Renée Zellweger was so good in this, it was unbelievable! (especially after seeing how she sings in Bridget Jones's Diary)
City Of God (1/5): Very good film about the violent street life of Rio de Janeiro between the 60s and the 80s. Too violent for me unfortunately.
Confessions of A Dangerous Mind (2/5): Directed by George Clooney, this film follows the life of Chuck Barris, working TV shows and being a spy. Good cast that includes George Cloney, Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore, but dark and depressing film.
The Core (3.5/5): The core of the Earth has stopped moving, there is no electro-magnetic field anymore, and it was protecting the planet against the sunrays. If nobody "jump-starts" the engine of the Earth, it will be destroyed. Quite good disaster movie.
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- D -

Dancer In The Dark (4/5): Amazing film by Lars Von Trier starring Bjork. The film is a critic of the American justice, and how it is ruled by money. A bit hard, especially in the end.
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- E -

Erin Brockovich (5/5): Erin Brockovich is a single mother in a small town of America. She gets a job with a lawyer and starts investigating a company that may be polluting water. It is a true story, Erin is played by Julia Roberts who is really amazing.

Etre Ou Avoir (4.5/5): A French documentary made in a countryside school over a year. Amazing.

Evelyn (3/5): Pierce Brosnan is an Irish father whose children are taken away when his wife leaves him. He wants them back, but that is against the law. This film is very touching, but I found it so over-sentimental, and some characters are totally exaggerated. Still very nice, Julianna Margulies is great and Sophie Vavasseur is amazing.

Eyes Wide Shut (3.5/5): Shocking film starring Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise.
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- F -

Fever Pitch (4/5): Paul Ashworth (Colin Firth) is an Arsenal fan and an English teacher. Everyone associates him with Arsenal. When he starts going out with his colleague Sarah Hughes, she is annoyed by his child-like behaviour.

Finding Forrester (4/5): Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown) meets the famous writer William Forrester (Sean Connery) and they learn from each other.
Forrest Gump (3.5/5): America from the sixties to now seen through the eyes of Forrest Gump, who is not very bright. Really good, but it is starting to get old. Amazing Tom Hanks at the time he was thin.
40 Days and 40 Nights (4/5): After a bad break-up, Matt (Josh Hartnett) starts having sex a lot and feeling bad about it. He decides to give up sex (and masturbation!) for Lent (40 days, and 40 nights). Obviously this is just the time when he meets a very nice and gorgeous girl. It was really sweet and nice, but at the same time very realistic. Anyone got the number for this flower by the way?
Four Weddings and A Funeral (3.5/5): Very funny comedy with Hugh Grant and Andy McDowell. Charlotte Coleman who played Charles / Hugh Grant's flatmate Scarlett died in 2001.
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- G -

Girl, Interrupted (5/5): Based on the book by Susanna Kaysen, Winona Ryder plays Susanna, a girl who tried to kill herslef and spends some time in a mental institution. She is amazing as is Angelina Jolie.
The Good Girl (4.5/5): Jennifer Aniston is amazing in this film about a woman who is unhappily married, and has an affair with a guy who is obsessed about The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger.
The Guru (1.5/5): An Indian dancer, Ramu (Jimi Mistry) goes to New York to become famous. His first role is in a porn film, and though he can't do it, he meets Sharonna (Heather Graham), who tells him all he needs to know about sex. He uses this knowledge to become 'The Guru of Sex' and improve posh people's sex lives.
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- H -

Harry Potter and The Chamber Of Secrets (4/5): Harry and his friends are back at Hogwarts school of wizards, and there are still weird things going on. Really good film, a bit scary (a lot, actually!)

Hope Springs (5/5): I have seen the film Hope Springs at the UK Premiere in Bradford on the 14th March (2003) and I really loved it! Hope Springs was directed and written by Mark Herman and is an adaptation of the novel New Cardiff by Charles Webb, the author of "The Graduate". Colin Ware (played by Colin Firth) is a British artist that goes to New England in the little town of Hope in order to forget his ex-fiancee Vera (Minnie Driver) who is going to marry another man. He meets Mandy (Heather Graham) who helps him feel better. As Mandy and Vera are happy together, Vera arrives and tells him that the invitation he received was only a "bigger hint" so that he would set a date for their wedding. But Colin refuses to go back to England with Vera, he won't forgive her. Vera stays anyway to try to convince him, even telling lies to Mandy so that she would persuade Colin to go back to England. This film is superb, Colin Firth is excellent and very funny, this role is the funniest he has played so far. He seemed to have had fun doing the movie. Heather Graham is also adorable, very pretty, funny and seems to be happy as well. Minnie Driver plays Vera perfectly, she is a bit annoying but her character is. The other actors are amazing as well. The music goes perfectly with the film, for instance the song that plays during the credits is "I love it when we do" by Ronan Keating, which adds a final touch to the feel-good and happy feeling of the film. (You can download it and look at the lyrics here) This is a film to watch over and over again, I can't wait to have the DVD!!
The Hot Chick (2.5/5): Jessica is a 'popular' girl. Until one day she wakes up and is a man. Quite funny comedy starring Rob Schneider.
The Hours (4.5/5): Three stories. Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman, amazing) is writing her book Mrs Dalloway and will kill herself later in her life. Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) is reading the book and thinking very seriously of killing herself. Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl Streep)'s day is very similar to the one of the main character in the book, Mrs Dalloway. Very good film, the main actresses were impressive. The official website.
How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days (4/5): Andie Anderson, a journalist at Composure (no, it is not Cosmopolitan!!) is doing a piece on "How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days" by making all the mistakes normal girls make. She is clingy, needy and whiny. Unfortunately the guy she has chosen has made a bet with his work colleagues: she will fall in love with him in these 10 days. Very sweet romantic comedy, really nice, funny.
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- I -

Igby Goes Down (5/5): Inspired by The Catcher In The Rye by Salinger, this film tells the story of Igby, as he is expelled from different schools and then spends a few months in New York, hiding. Amazing film, a classic.
The Importance Of Being Earnest (4/5): Good adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play, the serenade by Colin Firth and Rupert Everett is especially great.
The In-Laws (3/5): Quite funny comedy about a CIA agent, Steve Tobias (Michael Douglas) whose son is getting married, and ends up having to do his job with the (very scared of everything) father of the bride.
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- J -

Jason X (2/5): 400 years into the future, Jason tries to kill everyone once more. I somehow got over the gory parts.

Jerry Maguire (3/5): Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) is a sports agent who tries to set up his own business, helped by Dorothy Boyd (Renée Zellweger).

Johnny English (4/5): Rowan Atkinson plays the worst spy in England, but he is helped by Natalie Imbruglia. Pretty funny.

Just Married (1/5): In this American (oh so very American) comedy, a young couple goes to Europe for their honeymoon and it goes very bad. It was a little funny at first, but very quickly dreadful. But everyone else was laughing so I guess it is only me.
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- K -

Kissing Jessica Stein (4.5/5): Amazing film about a woman who gets tired of men and tries to be a lesbian.
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- L -

The Life Of David Gale (4/5): Kevin Spacey plays a death penalty abolitionist who ends up on death row, apparently victim of a machination. The end is quite surprising. Kate Winslet plays a journalist who interviews him. This is a really good film, and the subject is very serious. And Kevin Spacey is once again amazing.

The Lord Of The Rings, The Two Towers (0.5/5): Spectacular, but not my kind. Too much violence and "big stuff". (what is the point of showing an army of 10,000 men except proving you are big and powerful?)
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- M -

The Magdalene Sisters (5/5): This film is about the Magdalene laundries in Ireland where girls were sent when they had "fallen" (been raped, smiled to boys, had a baby...). Amazing film.

Maid In Manhattan (3.5/5): Very sweet film about Cinderella as Jennifer Lopez. I think J.Lo is a very good actress, she was so nice, as were Ralph Fiennes and Tyler Posey (J.Lo's little boy). One thing though: I found it quite 'ironic' that Prince Charming was a Republican politician going for the exact same job his father used to do...

Matrix (2/5): The world is not real, the matrix is ruling everything, but don't worry, they are going to save the world. Very good special effects, but a bit too many weapons here...

Minority Report (1/5): Good film I guess, but I found too many things that looked nice but were impossible or at least totally unbelievable.

Moulin Rouge (4.5/5): Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor star in this musical about Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Love. So romantic!

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (1/5): A Greek girl, Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos), is getting tired of being a Greek girl, she wants to go to college and be able to do whatever she likes. She meets a guy, unfortunately he is not Greek. At the beginning I thought it would be a good film about a girl making her own decisions and having to fight her family. In the end she turned her fiancé into a totally Greek guy, and did everything she used to despise in her mother, sisters and aunts. Very disappointing.

My Life So Far (5/5): Amazing film set in Scotland, about Fraser Pettigrew, a boy who is growing up. Stars Colin Firth as Fraser's father Edward.
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- N -

Nicholas Nickleby (4/5): Very good adaptation of the novel by Charles Dickens.
Notting Hill (3/5): Very nice romantic comedy. Very sweet. Nothing more than that.
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- O -

O'Brother, Where Art Thou? (4.5/5): Based on The Odyssey by Homer, this film by the Coen Brothers is set in Mississippi in the 1930s and stars George Clooney, John Turturo, Tim Blake Nelson and Holly Hunter.
Old School (0.5/5): Stupid film about 30-year-old guys setting up a fraternity. I have rarely seen so bad humour. Yet it seems that blokes enjoy it.
One Hour Photo (2/5): Sy the photo guy (Robin Williams) imagines a new life with a happy family.
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- P -

Phone Booth (4/5): Stu Sheppard (Colin Farrell) picks up a ringing public phone. He shouldn't have. The caller is going to kill him if he hangs up. Amazing film.
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- Q -

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- R -

Rabbit-Proof Fence (5/5): Amazing film about three Australian girls who are taken away from their mother because they are "half-caste" (their father is white). There is a very good website about the film.
The Recruit (2/5): Colin Farrel is training in the CIA. Good film if you like a bit of action, spies and the CIA. Now if you don't it is going to be a bit harder. The film is still good, but it is difficult to really enjoy it.
Resident Evil (2.5/5): Milla Jovovich gets trapped in the Hive and has to fight zombies to get out - same as the video game except you don't have to learn which button does what.
Relative Values (4/5): Very ironic comedy starring Julie Andrews (amazing!), Colin Firth, Stephen Fry, Jeanne TrippleHorn.
Requiem for a dream (3/5): Quite violent film about the destruction of people's lives by drugs or some kind of addiction. Very good film, sometimes shocking.
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The Rules of Attraction (2/5): College students party a lot and take a lot of drugs. James Van Der Beek (Dawson in Dawson's Creek) plays a drug dealer. It is good to see something different, but I found it quite depressing.

- S -

Se7en(5/5): Se7en is about a killer who thinks he is setting an example as his killings are based on the seven deadly sins. This film is very well made, and was very interesting to analyse.
Shakespeare In Love (4/5): A love story between Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow) and William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) despite Lord Wessex's (Coloin Firth) will to marry Viola, the agreement of the Queen (Dame Judi Dench) and Viola's father.
The Shawshank Redemption (5/5): Morgan Freeman is amazing in this film set in a prison, where his character 'Red' builds a friendship with an innocent inmate, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins).
Signs (2.5/5): Mel Gibson fins crop circles and aliens in his field. The little girl is cute.
Slap Her, She's French (2.5/5): An over-stereotypical French student arrives in America and destroys Starla's perfect life. Pretty good.
Solaris (0.5/5): Steven Soderbergh's last film is definitely not as good as the others (Erin Brockovich and Traffic), I didn't understand the end. I am not even sure there is something to understand there. I didn't really understand why George Clooney's character was doing such stupid things. The only good thing could be that I kept thinking about it even after it was over as I couldn't understand it. But really that was annoying too.
Star Trek: Nemesis (1.5/5): Captain Jean-Luc Picart meets his nemesis. A must-see for fans, still a good film for others.
Star Wars Episode 2 (1/5): Attack Of The Clones (2.5/5): Star Wars is back again, the first one was better.
The Sum Of All Fears (1.5/5): Ben Affleck fights terrorism.
Summer Things / Embrassez Qui Vous Voudrez (4/5): People of different backgrounds try to spend holidays together.
Sweet Home Alabama (2/5): Reese Witherspoon lives in NY and goes home to Alabama to get divorced before getting married. Nice and cute, but I didn't believe in the end one second, she kept changing her mind far too much.
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- T -

Talk To Her (2/5): Pedro Almodovar's latest film is about two men who get to know each other as their loved ones are in comas. Good film but too dark for me.

Tape (4/5): A discussion between two men who dated the same girl in High School, and the "serious" guy may have raped her. Very good film.

Titanic (3/5): Masterpiece but getting old. Kate Winslet was superb, Leo so cute...
Traffic (3.5/5): Very well made film about drugs in America. I particularly loved the part with "rich kids".
The Truman Show (4.5/5): Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) is the star of a reality TV show, only he doesn't know it. Jim Carrey is very good in this film, very different. Natascha McElhone is amazing.
28 Days Later (1.5/5): I found the subject very interesting, but there were too many disgusting things on the screen for me unfortunately.
Two Weeks Notice (3.5/5): Nice and cute. Not great, but I had a good time watching it.
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- U -

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- V -

The Virgin Suicides (4.5/5): Five (georgeous blonde) sisters kill themselves during the 60s and the boys from the neighbourhood try to understand them. Starring Kirsten Dunst (good choice for a gorgeous girl).
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- W -

Whale Rider (5/5): Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes) was born to be the chief of the tribe... if she had been a boy. She has all the qualities of a leader, but her grandfather keeps rejecting her. Truly amazing film.

Women Talking Dirty (4/5): Really good and funny film starring Gina McKee (Wonderland, Notting Hill) and Helena Bonham Carter who are both really great and very funny (especially Helena Bonham Carter who I didn't know before). It is about a friendship between 2 girls. I really loved the book by Isla Dewar that the film is based on. I actually liked it even more as it is much longer :-)
Wonderland (4.5/5): This film follows a family during a weekend, each one trying to find something nice around them. Good London atmosphere and great actors (Gina McKee, Shirley Henderson, Molly Parker...).
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- X -

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- Y -

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- Z -

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A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

Tell me what you think. Don't hesitate to send me an e-mail! : ameliebjd@yahoo.co.uk