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Reviews
Charlie Bartlett (2007)
Reminded me of ...
Pump up The Volume. As you may or may not know, Pump Up The Volume is the 1990 film featuring Christian Slater as a renegade teenage radio host with a kind of f*ck the system mentality. It is basically about a socially misfitted person who becomes the person other people are dependent upon. In Charlie Bartlett we follow a similar young man, who struggles with life and all its inconsistencies. Helping others is the way he can forget about his own problems. So he becomes the school shrink. Of course there is the logical addition of a love interest, but in this movies, it's done quite nicely. It's not stretched out too far, doesn't really take up a lot of time in the movie (I'm talking about the getting so far that she is his girlfriend). So Charlie gets into trouble, tries again, tries again, ... and eventually succeeds. It's a classic feelgood-movie, which has very little social commentary but at times situations are quite recognizable. However, if you look at the movie from a broader perspective, it becomes clear that the guy you're rooting for (Charlie) is actually just a little prick. Which makes the conclusion of this film absolutely weird. But the again this story made very little sense.
Watch it like a teen comedy that tries to be intelligent and don't really focus on the fact that it doesn't succeed in this purpose and you will enjoy it. I know I did.
30 Days of Night (2007)
what were they thinking
The premise is questionable, but being a non-judging optimistic person, who just happens to be a fan of horror-movies, I gave it a shot... What a terrible movie. What were they thinking? If you're going to make a horrorflick, either make it intelligent or a slasher. If you get stuck in between - which this movie did - you end up with a moronic subplot that has little to no action-beats. And why is it that every time I see Josh Hartnett in a part, he's a one-dimensional good (hero)character? Some flesh and blood would be nice.
Yup, that's time waisted I'll never get back. Please... tell your friends
Eagle vs Shark (2007)
No words to describe...
just how terrible this movie was... An underachiever, who has been obsessing about the bully who tortured him in high school, decides he wants to get even. To hell with this indie-crap. Seriously... Why make a movie about a loser who doesn't prevail. The characters were one-dimensional. Even though there was enough substance in the basic idea to make them likable, even to a point where you could identify with him. But no, let's try to score cheap laughs - trust me, they are cheap - by making almost every scene in this movie awkward. The only character that had any real depth was the father. At least this character had some realism in him. Why not make this into a drama? This would've been an excellent drama. Then point out the fact that his brother died, his mom is a lesbian and he lies to everyone about everything. This would've been one of the most complex characters ever.
One of the worst movies of the year, coming in this late, it's quite the achievement.
I Am Legend (2007)
I did not like it
The premise of the movie is good... very good. And the first 45 minutes of the movie are actually quite enjoyable. But then it takes a wrong turn. The 'zombies' are terrible special effects. They should've taken guidelines from 28 Days Later. The plot twist with the dog is still OK. But the aftermath is terrible. And the ending is one of the most hollywoodian BS I have ever seen. Will Smith carries this movie. But you can't expect him to make up for the plot-holes, the terrible directing, the poorly written monologue and the constant feeling that this movie isn't going where it should go.
Nice effort, awful result.
Sports Night (1998)
Avant la Lettre
I've recently started getting into the mid 90's - late 90s television shows. I had no idea what I was looking for, so I just googled "best television shows '90s". I have stumbled upon series as 'Freaks & Geeks', 'Undeclared', '21 Jump Street', ... I had never heard of these shows - I'm Belgian, so that explains it, in case you were wondering - but was pleasantly surprised. I also discovered 'Sports Night', which carried the tag line 'It's about sports... the same way Charlie's Angels was about law enforcement'. I'm really liking this show. It described the interdependency of co-workers at a news station. Their quarrels and affairs, mostly amusing (some get boring, but hey, what are you gonna do about it?). I watched Studio 60 this year, and considering how Aaron Sorkin created both shows, I have the feeling he recycled an old idea to try to make it better. Well, he failed. This show doesn't try to give the characters unnecessary depth. It doesn't come in waves. It just is. The characters develop what little they do in a normal, realistic way. No epiphany's, or whatever. The show is entertaining, funny... just good actually. Only thing that bugs me - and it bugs me real bad - is the laugh-track. Don't do it. I know it was common back then, but still. It is senseless. Even though the track isn't omnipresent in the show, it's still quite annoying. It gets the score down from an 8 to a 7. I was born in '88, so I still got a whole lot of 90s-series catching up to do. But I'll stick with this one for a little while longer.
School for Scoundrels (2006)
Finally... Heder gets a little something
This movie wasn't good, not at all... But it wasn't that bad either... I like John Heder, I thought he was pretty good in Napoleon Dynamite, playing the ultimate loser. But then I saw The Benchwarmers and Just Like Heaven, and I thought to myself: Man, this is a one-trick-pony... He needs to progress, a lot! But in School for Scoundrels, I saw that with the right co-actor (Thornton) and a half-decent director (Phillips) it was possible to squeeze a decent (and i mean decent, not good) performance out of him. The story was predictable, but judging on by this movie, Heder could have a future in the movie-industry as a versatile actor. Don't get me wrong, he's not that great, but he could evolve, like Sandler or Carrey. Anyways, happy to see he can do more than play a complete loser.