TinTin-6

Please, somebody, save Sally Field!!! And while you're doing that, grab Rachel Griffith off that set and run, run, RUN! I can't understand how two great and talented actresses like them were tricked into doing this horrible, boring, terrible TV show. We haven't seen Calista in anything since Ally McBeal, and honestly, maybe it should have remained that way. Sorry Calista. And don't get me started about the dude playing her boyfriend. Wow, where did they pick that one? A Head and Shoulder commercial? Or maybe it's just the bad, over sentimental writing. Or the directing. Or the sappy music playing each time Calista looks sad and confused. Oh wait, that's like every time she's on the screen!!!! Anyway, if the rumor is that the show won't last long, than I hope this rumor becomes a reality.

I just saw this movie last night and I'm still enjoying it! I had no idea what 'Little Miss Sunshine' was about. I had only seen one trailer, which basically consisted of one of the early scenes from the movie, when Steve Carell's character explains to Olive, why he tried to commit suicide. That scene was so funny that I didn't care what the movie was about, I just had to see it. Everything about this simple story of a little girl that dreams to be in a beauty pageant, and therefor drags her whole family on a road-trip from Alburquerque, New Mexico to Redondo Beach, California, is perfect. The writing was incredible, the dialog was clever and every character was so well defined that there really wasn't one single main character. The acting was amazing! I was so impressed with every single one of these actors, but the one that really blew me away was Abigail Breslin. Dakota Fanning watch your back! This little girl acted so natural that you never ever felt she was acting. One good example is the scene in which Olive (Abigail) asks her grandfather (Alan Arkin) if he thinks she is ugly. This scene was so moving that it could have easily ended-up being a very sappy and cheesy one. But the acting chemistry between Breslin and Arkin was so amazing that this is one of the best scenes in the movie. Wow, I loved this movie so much. Can't wait for the DVD to come out. I have to have this film in my collection.

Almost every movie I have seen so far in 2006 has been excellent. There was the brilliant Thank You For Smoking, the hilarious Devil Wears Prada and the pretty exciting Mission Impossible III, just to name a few. And then there's Mini's First Time. I hadn't heard anything about this movie until I saw the poster for it in the movie theatre. It intrigued me, so I bought the ticket. What a waste of money and time! This was the most predictable movie out there. This movie was trying too hard to be 'edgy'. It wanted to be Lolita, Swimming Pool and The Opposite of Sex all at once, but it failed to be even a little close to any of these three movies. I felt cheated. I could have watched any Lifetime Original movie on TV and get the same messy, boring and cheap result. One positive note about the film however is Carrie-Anne Moss. Now that was acting! She was funny and not a single second was I thinking "Hey, that's Carrie-Anne Moss!". Same thing for Jeff Goldblum. Yes, those two made the movie, too bad one gets killed off early into the film, while the other one ends up in a coma. As for the end, no twist here. It was horribly predictable. Skip this one and rent Swimming Pool instead (listening to its soundtrack while writing this! :))

I really, really love this film and I'm amazed by all the negative critics it gets on here. Like many on here, it expected a light British, feel-good comedy, but what I got instead was way better and a total surprise. All three actresses (Andie MacDowell, Imelda Staunton and Anna Chancellor) are great in the roles of the three best friends who love to sit around drinking, smoking and eat chocolate while talking about their sad non-existing love life. All is well until Andie MacDowell's character falls for a much younger man. And then suddenly, the movie does a 360 degrees and the mood of the film changes completely. All I can say is that if you're looking for a movie that will make you laugh, as well as make you cry, than this is the movie for you because it really has both.

This is a feel good movie from beginning till end, with fun and likable characters. Just an unpretentious film that doesn't take it self too serious. Kyle MacLachlan is a bit much as Cary Grant's ghost, sounding more like Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot than good old Cary. Funny though, considering Tony Curtis based his accent in Some Like It Hot on no one else than ... Cary Grant!!!! What's really interesting is that most actors in this film had to act with an accent different than their own. Jimi Mistry is a well known actor in the UK and had to switch from a British accent to a Canadian, while the actor playing his boyfriend, Kristen Holden-Ried, is Canadian, playing ... a British guy! It was also very cool to see Linda Thorson, my favorite Avengers-girl, as the Giles' mother.

First of all, I have to admit that I have never seen the actual play on stage before I saw the movie. Now, after seeing this mess, I don't even think I want to! No, I'm not a musical hater. Far from. I enjoyed Chicago, really loved Evita and as a kid, Annie was my favorite movie for many years. When I saw the trailer of Phantom I was intrigued. It looked really, really good. I couldn't wait to see it, although my friend was trying to convince me to see the stage show first. Visually, the film is stunning. Great sets, amazing costumes and an overall incredible production design. But then came the singing. I had the impression that none of the actors were actually singing themselves. And although many of them actually did, the whole thing looked like a bad, out of sync lipsinging contest! Was I the only one who noticed that?!?! I also missed the energy that many musical songs have. Apart from The Phantom of the Opera song, all other songs lacked spunk, were boring and just dragged on and on. Believe me, I was happy when the chandelier crashed, burning the whole opera house down...

I saw this movie when I was about 8 years old, during a sleep-over at my French grandparents. Although the movie never came out on DVD, I did find it in a French video store in Los Angeles twenty years later and enjoyed it as much as when I was a kid! Fernandel plays Honorin, a frustrated stage manager of a traveling theater troupe, whose one ambition is to play the part of the cavalier in the opera "Francois I". A hypnotist puts him to sleep and in his dreams he is transplanted back to the area of the French Renaissance. That's when the fun begins. Having taken a Larousse encyclopedia with him, he becomes the favorite of the French court when he's able to tell them what's going to happen in their future, just by looking it up in the book!!! Being a film maker, I always wanted to make a remake of the movie, until a mediocre Martin Lawrence flic called "Black Knight" was released, in which an employee of a Medieval theme park is transported to Old England, where his modern lifestyle clashes with the Renaissance period ... Believe me, if you can get your hands on the original, watch it, it's a real gem!

For quite some time I had told myself that I wanted to see Lost in Translation. The film was re-released in the theaters due to the upcoming Oscars and at the same time, was available on DVD at the local Blockbuster. I decided to go with the latter and rented it. Damn, was I happy I only spent $4.00 instead of the $10.00 admission ticket!!!! Why this film is getting such a hype and why critics are praising it like its the best film in years is beyond me. At first, I kind of enjoyed it. Two Americans stuck in Tokyo, not understanding a word of Japanese and starting a friendship was a good start for a film. And then I waited, And waited some more. And I kept on waiting for something to happen. Anything! I was hoping those two boring, flat and depressing characters would get out of their expensive hotelroom and start an adventure in this crazy Japanese city that is Tokyo. But no. They hang around in the bar, jump in the pool, look at the city from their hotel room window, go back to the bar, have another dip in the pool, go back to their room, where they look even more depressed than they already were... Okay, are we still awake? Well, considering they were having problems sleeping, they should have done the same like me: rent this overrated masterpiece. They would have fallen asleep in no time!

Because a friend had told me how much he enjoyed this film, I couldn't wait to see it myself. I love French movies and each time I see one here, it's a joy. Except for this one. At first, I loved the fact that the film was set in one of my favorite cities in the world; Barcelona. That almost every actor came from a different European country seemed very cool to me too. On top of it, it had Audrey Tatou and who can resist her? But after half an hour I had enough. Did anybody realize that this was just a two hour episode of a very popular MTV reality show? "What happens when seven strangers live together and stop being polite. The Real World Barcelona!"

Catch Me If You Can is a great movie. The atmosphere, the acting, the sets, the costumes, the music, ... all contribute to a very stylish and interesting film. The only problem this movie has is that it's linked to one of the best books I have ever read. The book is so much more exciting and thrilling than the movie. I know, it's the same old story, "the book is better than the movie", but in this case I feel that the screenwritter left out the most exciting parts of the novel and added way too much stuff that was only brievely mentioned in the book. When the book starts, the mother is long gone and Frank's relationship with his father is maybe one page long. The movie also doesn't stress enough how after years of conning and living a luxurious life, Frank retires in France where he ends up arrested by interpol and ends in up in a French nightmare of a prison. I could go on and on how great the book was and how I would go "wooooooooow" each time I turned a page. A wow effect I was missing in the film. So Catch the book first if you can, if not, enjoy the film for what it is ... and read the book after you step out of the theater!

First of all, I have seen the series and have always been a HUGE fan of it. I was very excited when it was announced many, many years ago that there would be a cinematic adaptation of 'The Avenger' (back then, they were talking about Mel Gibson and Nicole Kidman).

When I saw the movie for the first time, I looooooooooooooooooooved it. There! I don't freaking care about all the negative criticism this film gets because most of the time it's from people who have never seen the series in the first place.

The original Avengers was done with a very very small budget. Because of that sets were very simple (but extremely original), there were no extras or backdrop actors (London always seemed deserted) and some of the actors came up with their own costumes (like Patrick MacNee). The stories were always extravagant and brilliant. The wit and the humor very British.

'The Avengers', the movie, captured that oh so typical Avengers style and feel. Mrs Peel drives through a deserted British capital, the villain is extravagant, the sets colorful and original, etc....

Although the story has big holes (huge scenes were just edited out) I still enjoyed it. The cinematography is fantastic (just like one big Magritte painting), the music super cool and the actors did a good at recreating one of the best tv series in television history ....

So stop reading all those bad reviews and go see this movie!!!

If I only had one thing to say about this movie it would be : Whatever you do, don't watch this one even if somebody was forcing you!!! This is got to be the sappiest film on the planet! The story is so predictable and corny that it's not even funny. Bad acting? Yes, very bad but don't blame the actors. Chris 'dude, don't I look like Keanu Reeves' Klein, Leelee 'I'm Helen Hunt's clone' Sobieski and Josh 'Get me a haircut NOW' Hartnett are great actors if they are given the possibility to prove it. I mean wasn't Chris Klein great in 'Election'? It just shows you that bad acting always comes from bad directing.... Anyway, spare yourself 2 hours of getting upset like I was by not watching this. You'll thank me for it!!!

I have been an Ab Fab fan ever since it started airing on the BBC many years ago. Not only did I love the wacky humor in it but I would have watched anything with Jennifer Saunders or Joanna Lumely. Those two rock! Ab Fab started as a sketch on the equally brilliant French and Saunders. In that sketch, Jennifer Saunders played a very excentric mother called Adriana while her studious daughter was played by the very very very funny Dawn French. A few years later the sketch became Absolutely Fabulous. The mother was still played by Saunders (who was now called Edina) and Dawn French had now been replaced by Julia Sawalha. A whole bunch of characters had now been added as well. Patsy, mother, Bubble and many others became the Ab Fab family. And what a family! The best episodes are the ones from series 1 and 2. The humor was fresh and the situations were hilarious. Series 3 was just so so. Still very funny but a bit forced. I was actually happy when Jennifer Saunders decided to call it quits to make the series more unique so they wouldn't go into over producing it. But that didn't last for long. Before you knew it we had an Ab Fab movie The Last Shout, an Ab Fab special and a fourth series. It took me a while before I started enjoying the new series which started airing on Comedy Central last November. The first two episodes disappointed me. There was nothing new and all the jokes had been told before. But from episode 3 on (Paris) things were getting better and better. The two Comediennes Terribles were back on track (with 'Small Opening' being the best one of all new episodes). And for all of you out there who have a DVD player, get the DVD Pack for Series 4. First of all it so much better to watch the DVD than to watch it on American TV where you get interrupted every 5 seconds by commercials and second of all, it includes the 'Mirrorball' episode, a new series that Jennifer Saunders had started writing and which had all the same actors from Ab Fab in it ...

I had seen the American version first and wasn't impressed at all. In fact I hated it... and I'm gay! All what those people were doing was having sex and getting high every five minutes. My partner then told me he had seen the British version and how much better it was. The characters seemed more real and although the stories were the same, they seemed, to him, more realistic. So I rented them. The first episode was okay. For one, I liked the British Hazel (Vince's mom) better than the American one. As well as Nathan's mom who in this version seems more comfortable with her son's gayness than the American is. But I didn't like any of the main characters. They didn't seem to have any goals in life than just clubbing, having sex and getting wasted. Boring. Then came episode two. Worse! They killed off the only character I liked when he dies of a drug overdose (he survives in the American version). But I did watch every single episode til the very end, hoping something would happen on the screen which would make me say: "Well, it wasn't that bad after all." But that, unfortunately never happened....

Of all three Brosnan-Bonds, this one is the best. I like Goldeneye but found the movie a bit too dark and depressing. Where were the exotic locations? The Bond girls in bikini? The gadgets? And last but not least: when would he use that fabulous BMW Z3 Roadster? I had to wait almost until the end of the movie to see the car... for 10 seconds! James Bond didn't even do anything with it! Shame. But then came Tomorrow Never Dies and Bond was really back. The story is original, the villan hilarious (like we like them), the locations glamrious, the music as Bondesque as it can be, etc.... But the best thing in this movie is the Bond-girl of all Bond-girls: Michelle Yeoh! Wow! 007 has finally met his match with this Chinese agent. We hadn't seen such a strong Bond-girl character since Agent Trible X, alias Barbara Bach in The Spy Who Loved Me. She a Bond-girl that doesn't have to be rescued by the British agent. She stands an her own feet. I loved it. The only negative point I have concerning this movie is the fact that they are trying to make Bond human. Please! Skip that! The whole scene with Carver's wife in Bond's hotel room is really anti-Bond. Bond is a super hero and there really shouldn't be space for an emotional 007. I thought they had learned their lesson in this movie but they even went further in The World Is Not Enough. In that one Bond falls in love. Okay, I can deal with that. But falling in love right after he sees a picture on a computer screen? No no no. Well, I could go on and on about that subject about Bond and his feelings but I guess I'll have to add a comment under The World Is Not Enough.

I have mixed feelings about the last Bond-film. It has amazing scenes like the opening pre-credit scene. I has one of the strongest and best Bond-girls (Sophie Marceau). It has once again fantastic music by David Arnold. But... that's not enough. On the other hand, it also has the worse Bond-girl ever. Denise Richards, by being so stiff and boring, took over that title from Tanya Roberts. But at least, Tanya Roberts could blame it on the character she was playing in A View To A Kill, a Bond girl that was screaming "James!" every five minutes. Here, Denise Richard's acting is just horrible with a capital H. And I really really really dont like the fact that Bond gets so emotional. What's that all about? We want the super hero! Not some guy who cries because the girl he fell in love with (after watching her picture on a computer screen for five seconds) turns out to be a baddy. Pleeeeeeeease! And although I liked the fact that M's part was bigger in this movie, I was holding my heart. M is obviously in love with Sir Drake that she makes it her personal vendetta when he gets killed. That when I got scared. With all the emotional mess in this film, I thought that the twist of the movie was going to be that Elektra was M's....daughter!!!! Fortunately that didn't happen.

Of all three Brosnan-Bonds, this one is the best. I like Goldeneye but found the movie a bit too dark and depressing. Where were the exotic locations? The Bond girls in bikini? The gadgets? And last but not least: when would he use that fabulous BMW Z3 Roadster? I had to wait almost until the end of the movie to see the car... for 10 seconds! James Bond didn't even do anything with it! Shame. But then came Tomorrow Never Dies and Bond was really back. The story is original, the villan hilarious (like we like them), the locations glamrious, the music as Bondesque as it can be, etc.... But the best thing in this movie is the Bond-girl of all Bond-girls: Michelle Yeoh! Wow! 007 has finally met his match with this Chinese agent. We hadn't seen such a strong Bond-girl character since Agent Trible X, alias Barbara Bach in The Spy Who Loved Me. She a Bond-girl that doesn't have to be rescued by the British agent. She stands an her own feet. I loved it. The only negative point I have concerning this movie is the fact that they are trying to make Bond human. Please! Skip that! The whole scene with Carver's wife in Bond's hotel room is really anti-Bond. Bond is a super hero and there really shouldn't be space for an emotional 007. I thought they had learned their lesson in this movie but they even went further in The World Is Not Enough. In that one Bond falls in love. Okay, I can deal with that. But falling in love right after he sees a picture on a computer screen? No no no. Well, I could go on and on about that subject about Bond and his feelings but I guess I'll have to add a comment under The World Is Not Enough.

I've always been a huge Darren Star fan. Everything this man touches turns into gold...or at least silver. I loved 90210 (up until they all went to college, then it become a bore, but hey, that's when Star left) and had a passion for Melrose Place. Everything, characters and story lines, were so exaggerated that it made it so much fun. And now Grosse Pointe. This series is so smart, funny, clever, hilarious... The characters are extremely interesting and so are their characters in the Grosse Pointe within Grosse Pointe. The first episode did it for me already when 'Becky' (Irene Molloy) gets into a car accident. On her hospital bed she's being told by the doctors that she lost the baby. Her response: "I always lose everything!". It became better and better and every episode surpasses the other one. But now there's rumours that the show will be taken off the air? Please, are they nuts?!?!?!? Get Survivor or Temptation Island off the little screen but keep your hands off GROSSE POINTE!

It was a summer afternoon and I must have been 10 years old. I was sleeping over at my cousins and because we were bored we ended up watching TV. That's when 'Through the Magic Pyramid' came on. It changed my teenager life! I was completely sucked in by the movie. Like the main character Bobby, I was transfered back in time, in the mystical area of pharos and pyramids. After the movie ended I became an Egypt freak, collecting everything that had to do with the subject. 20 years later I became a screen writer and one of the project I'm working on is a children's story set in the magical world of Egyptian legends and myths. That movie really influenced me.

I was about 14 year old when my cousin told me he had seen a movie with my favorite actor, Roger Moore, set in Belgium. I would have believed him if he hadn't added that the end of the film was set in the castle of Rumbeke, the village my grand parents lived. That sounded just way to unreal. But he was right. 'That Lucky Touch' which was first going to be called 'Heaven save us from our friends' was shot entirely in Belgium (most of it in Brussels) and it's climax was shot in the forest of the castle of Rumbeke. I like this film. Living in the states, it gives me a warm feeling each time I see it. It makes me feel like being home again. My favorite scene is the one in which Roger Moore and Suzanne York are sitting in a cozy pub on the famous grand place in Brussels. Moore tells York that he wants to show her what Belgians do in the early morning hours ... they eat onion soup!?!?!? Hmm, what movies can teach you about your own national traditions.....

I have a problem with Joan Hickson as Miss Marple. Although Agatha Christie always considered her as the ideal Miss Marple (way before she even played the detective) I think she is too slow, too boring, too anything but exciting. The TV movie has nothing to do with the 1981 Angela Lansbury - version, but has everything to do with the book. In the 1981 version, lots of characters had been dropped that were in the book, but in this tv movie, every detail has been respected. But I missed the catty relationship between the two movie stars like in the 1981 film.