Yiannos
Cinema Addict - 1871 Film Ratings
Member Since: Jul 7, 2014
Bio: I love film and rate according to genre and/or a director's body of work.
Recent Ratings
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| 65 55% | Rocky Balboa (2006) - Mar 19, 2019 |
| 68 60% | Dead Presidents (1995) - Mar 16, 2019
"Borrows heavily from other films (e.g Goodfellas, Apocalypse Now) and attempts to inject social commentary into pulpy material. Stylistically, it's an aggressive, bold and confident effort that showcases the Hughes Brothers' technical skill, and there are many very well crafted scenes and performances. Their writing skills are notably less developed, and it suffers from trying to tackle too many issues simultaneously (race, class, the Vietnam war etc), resulting in a lack of clarity and focus."
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| 45 14% | Hard to Kill (1990) - Mar 15, 2019
"Removing nostalgia goggles is hard, but there is just no denying how downright mediocre Seagal's films are/were, even in his 'prime'. Seagal was at the peak of his whispering dialogue phase here, and while he has some presence, his facial reactions are often laughable, especially when emerging from a long coma. LeBrock's function is strictly decorative: her 'character' is just a macho fantasy. The action scenes are decent, but it's really just a polished Cannon style product. Nothing more."
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| 55 34% | Hudson Hawk (1991) - Mar 15, 2019
"Although it isn't entirely successful, there is a spirit of inventiveness (or at least the desire to be inventive) present which is sorely lacking from contemporary event films. Perhaps the critical lashing that offbeat 'flops' like Hawk received is partially responsible for the dearth of creative blockbusters now, but there is a wayward charm to this 'folly' that is appealing, especially in the heist scenes where Willis and Aiello are singing show tunes. Not great, but nowhere near terrible."
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| 60 43% | La madre (2012) - Mar 13, 2019
"Not much to say about this one. If you like Straub's takes on Pavese, you'll probably enjoy it. If you don't, you won't. As far as Straub's post-Huillet work is concerned, it's quite good, but this kind of adaptation works far better at feature length, and it's easy to get the impression that Straub is stubbornly sticking to what he knows rather than exploring new territory. It's simultaneously a strength and limitation in his case."
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| 45 14% | Rocky V (1990) - Mar 13, 2019
"The decision to return the series to its dramatic roots was a sound one, but its biggest flaw is its faux-realism. Are we really supposed to believe that after defending America against a 'common global enemy' that Rocky would be forced to move back to the old neighbourhood and start over? No book deals, TV appearances, clothing endorsements, nothing? His protege Tommy Gun is a thinly written character poorly portrayed by Morrison, and Grant's Don King styled promoter is too on the nose."
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| 38 4% | Rocky IV (1985) - Mar 12, 2019
"Blatant anti-Soviet propaganda that Sly actually wrote and directed, so the blame rests entirely on him. While he is no Einstein, he is too smart to not know that the antagonism presented here is cartoon bullshit, but his ego can't help but situate his character as a geopolitical warrior, the ultimate freedom fighter. His script was written on the head of a pin, and the film is a series of video clip style montages tracked to pure 80's cheese. Rocky's final 'reconciliation' speech is laughable."
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| 40 7% | Pinocchio (2002) - Mar 11, 2019
"It's hard not to imagine what this could have been if Fellini had directed it, but the English version is so horribly dubbed that it's almost unwatchable.This score is based on the rather generous assumption that it plays better in Italian and was essentially mangled in translation. Some very talented people were involved in this project, from the production designer (Donati) to the cameraman (Spinotti), but it's difficult to get over the strange casting of a 50 year old man in the titular role."
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| 50 25% | Rocky III (1982) - Mar 10, 2019
"The moment where Rocky stopped caring about dramatic realism and became a franchise that focused on action set pieces and impossibly strong opponents for Rocky to defeat, thus leading to a sense of contrivance. The internal struggles of the character are presented in an entirely routine fashion, and Sly's semi-flashy use of montage preferences style over meaning. The training sequences became increasingly hokey, and Clubber Lang is a patently ridiculous character. A guilty pleasure (at best)."
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| 85 97% | Die Nacht (1985) - Mar 10, 2019
"Films like this cannot be made without complete confidence and trust, and in Clever Syberberg clearly found a sympathetic collaborator who understood his vision and could deal with the demands of this extreme minimalist piece that is generally confined to one dimly lit room. Clever interprets these carefully selected monologues with concentrated intensity, and her body movements create additional layers of meaning that add real force to her passionate verbal delivery. A singular achievement."
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