Reviews by doudouce55

Mr Earl Brooks (Costner) is a successful businessman, who has something to hide. He's a serial killer, who is hunted by soon-to-be-divorced policewoman Tracy Atwood (Demi Moore). But will Brooks get caught?

Kevin Costner and William Hurt (as the maniacal representation of Brooks' conscience, Marshall) both gave great performances. Their characters were well synchronized, and made them even more haunting.
Also excellent were Dane Cook (the murder witness), Danielle Panabaker (daughter Jane Brooks), and Marg Helgenberger (wife Emma Brooks).

Terribly miscast and a terribly bad actress is indeed Demi Moore. (And her character I must say is quite unbelievable. A rich $60-million worth COP??? Give me a break. Let's be realistic here. If she had that money, trust me, she wouldn't be working! and if she did, her job most certainly would not be in the police force.)

Other than that, the movie was well directed, and its script was good - although some scenes were predictable to a certain degree.

The ending left me indifferent, because I expected it to end when it should have, that is without those few 'extra' scenes - this is hard to explain without spoiling something. But, if it's a trilogy, perhaps those scenes were needed. If there is a sequel, I sure can't wait to see it.

Watch it and discover a likeable and smart killer in this psychological thriller.

Amidst all the crappy movies available these days, I must say that this movie was most excellent in every way. Well, almost.

Netherlands, WW2.
Rachel Stein is a young Jewish singer, hiding from the Nazis. She gets a warning that her hiding place is located by Germans and must evacuate. Unfortunately the cross-over does not go well since all people aboard are killed, except Rachel who manages to escape and is rescued. After this, she joins the Resistance and is given a fake ID; her new name is now Ellis de Vries. Part of a Resistance plan goes wrong and she by chance meets an SS official, Muntze, on a train. She eventually gains his trust and is given a job in his office. But it is all part of a plan, for she is trying to finding the person who betrayed her family and the many other Jews on the boat. In the end, she is seen as the betrayer from both sides. Will she be able to prove her innocence?

Extremely well-directed.
Extremely well-written. The writers didn't think the viewers were stupid, and everything mentioned/shown was for a reason. I don't like spoilers, so I'll just give one example:
When Ellis opens a door, her beautiful shoes and her feet get dirty - I'm thinking, hmmm how will she ever get that dirt off her? And there she goes, cleaning the dirt off by putting her feet and shoes in the toilet and flushing!! And ta-da, she will be presentable at the party...

Hats off to the casting directors because I honestly haven't seen such a great cast in a long time. And most excellent actors.

In my opinion, this film has one of the best art direction.
Beautifully photographed as well.

So, what's missing? It's a little too slick, a little too Hollywoodsy for me.

Nonetheless a beautiful film.
VERY recommended.

NOTE: Be prepared for some tears, but mostly anger as some scenes are quite terrible (not because of violence, but there are rather sick scenes that require you to go back in time and think of humiliation and how some people took advantage of others in such times - very well described in the movie); and anger for the injustice that war brought to everyone.

When Gabe Hassan (Khaled Abol Naga) moves in next to him, accountant Terry Allen (Peter Krause) gets paranoid and makes contact with FBI agent Hilary (Richard Schiff). Is Allen right in saying that Gabe is a terrorist? Or is it his imagination?

Everything was just wrong in this film. The idea offered great possibilities, but nothing was developed here. (What if the FBI agent wasn't an FBI agent? What if the FBI agent was in fact the terrorist? What if the FBI agent and the terrorist were working together? What if... It's endless really, but please stop writing crap that is predictable!)
Simply put, the writer stinks. I have no other words to describe the scriptwriter of this piece of badly written crap. Yes, it's that bad.
All wrong, wrong, wrong. When are movies going to stop showing agents as meeting people "secretly" in parks. This is annoying.
What else is wrong? The film was badly directed. Badly acted.
The *only* good actor there was Khaled Abol Naga. He shows talent, and I hope he is given a chance to do more roles. (This in my opinion justifies the 1 star rating for this film.)

Else, don't waste your time. Or money.

Frank (Ben Kingsley) is a killer for the Polish mob in Buffalo. He makes a lot of mistakes on the job, like not killing O'Leary (Dennis Farina) as requested. This is mostly due to the fact that Frank is an alcoholic. His boss Roman (Philip Baker Hall) sends him to San Francisco to clean up his act. There, Frank works part-time in a mortuary, where one day, he meets Laurel (Tea Leoni), a woman dangerously devoid of boundaries. Frank also goes to AA meetings and gets a sponsor (Luke Wilson).
Meanwhile, things are not going well in Buffalo where an Irish gang is threatening Frank's family business. Soon, Frank is forced to return home, but he is a changed man.

The movie starts off very slow, so I didn't expect to last through the whole film. In the end, let's put it simply: it's not the comedy of the year. It does have funny lines and funny moments. It's a great cast. It's just too bad that the whole story is sooo predictable.
It is however surprising to see Ben Kingsley in such a role. It certainly changes him (albeit slightly) from his other movies.
Still enjoyable. But don't expect much from this comedy. It's very light.

1860s. For 2 weeks, five men, one of which is leader Carver (Liam Neeson), have been tracking a man named Gideon (Pierce Brosnan). They wound him but he gets away.
What is the reason behind the hunt for this man? Who is the bad guy? What connects Gideon and Carver? What event took place at Seraphim Falls?

I must say I don't care for westerns, or period movies. However, this was quite enjoyable because it also is a suspense. I don't want to spoil anything, but in a few words, I didn't expect the twist the story had. Once that was obvious, I nevertheless thought the ending was terribly stupid.
Still, it's filled with action, guns, and good-looking men!
The cinematography was wonderful, and the cast did a great job.

Recommended entertainment.

This movie is about Chris Gardner (Will Smith). In the early 1980s, in San Francisco, Chris invests his savings in bone-density scanners, thus financially breaking the family, and soon bringing troubles to the relationship with his wife who eventually leaves him. Without any money and without his wife's help, and only with a total commitment to his son Christopher (Jaden Smith), Chris makes a decision which will change his life: he fights for an intership as a stockbroker at Dean Witter.

Is there happiness in the movie? Certainly not at first. But eventually...

A definite tearjerker, I was surprised at the quality of the film, and of the actors' performances, particularly Jaden Smith and Will Smith's. Will is a decent actor, and it is refreshing to see him in such a dramatic role. Jaden is a promising young star.
Great script, good cinematography, it's also well-directed.

An enjoyable and very recommended movie.

Liz (Thora Birch) is in love with a boy at school, but he doesn't notice her. With the help of her best friend, she will do anything so that he does. So, one day, her best friend uncovers a sealed underground hole, possibly a bomb shelter, and puts a plan together for Liz. But who is manipulating who?

I found the story interesting, although unoriginal. It turned out to be an adolescent and stupidly predictable film. Without spoiling anything, I can't say much. Since I don't like spoilers...

Good entertainment once in my lifetime, which I do not want or intend to watch again.

Newly elected Congressman Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) leaves Buffalo with his family for the state of Virginia, where God (Morgan Freeman) requests him to build an Arc and, as Noah did before him, load it full of animals to protect them from an oncoming flood.

Lauren Graham *was* badly cast, I had a hard time imagining her as a married woman with 3 kids too!

I found all the jokes lame, lousy, bad.

I did not enjoy Freeman's performance at all. I found him smug and ridiculously bad.

Worth wasting time on, if you enjoy Carell and such humor. Not the greatest comedy of the year.

Late 1940s. Swindler Raymond Martinez Fernandez (Jared Leto) seduces lonely women and steals their possessions. One day he meets the beautiful-yet-deranged Martha Beck (Salma Hayek) and they fall in love. With Martha posing as his sister, Ray can seduce and kill other women in an easier and faster way. At the same time, 2 New York Detectives - Elmer Robinson (John Travolta) and Charles Hildebrandt (James Gandolfini) - chase the sociopaths.

A well-written script. The ending is still quite predictable.
Decent acting from everyone, particularly Salma Hayek, she plays evil convincingly. Great cast.
Appropriate score.
Good cinematography.

Recommended crime movie.

The audience is taken behind the scenes and onto the waves during the most dangerous display of surfing known to man, the Penguin World Surfing Championship. Cody (voiced by Shia LaBeouf), a penguin who loves surfing, dreams of winning that competition.

I give 4 stars to the film because of the CGI animation, the humor and the actors' vocal performances.

If you disliked Happy Feet as much as I did, give a chance to SURF'S UP : it's definitely funnier!
And if you liked Happy Feet, you should enjoy this even more.