dvdmijde Reviews

Gods of Egypt (2016)

Pretty good actually!

[8/10 · 30 August 2019]

Pro-critics be damned, you don't speak for the public! I have ADD and I get easily distracted, especially if a movie is bad or boring. Before I realize, I'll be zapping between tv stations, do something else on my pc or turn off the dvd. (I don't go to cinema's much.)

This movie held me in my seat watching. It a has a modern day make-over to a classic old epic movie from back in the day. I loved all the color representing good times, while the bad times are mostly less bathed in bright colors. As for the gods being bigger than mortals, nice touch!, but I do feel that these ancient and almighty gods could have had some more godly powers, I mean what god would walk the desert if he is able to "think" himself to his destination...., after all they created everything.

The story was quite entertaining, the plot was somewhat predictable but it did have some unexpected and pleasant twists. CGI wasn't mindblowing but it fitted in nicely enough to not be annoyingly present. (Meaning bad)

My conclusion, not a masterpiece but not as bad as critics claim it to be. Despite my ADD I watched it a couple of times now and not once did ai feel bored or felt the need to turn it off. If a movie keeps me in my seat and makes me want to see what happens next, it's a good movie in my opinion.

Note: I like to watch all types of movies, except certain rom-coms, so this review is not written by a person who has a narrow perspective on movies!

Ciske the Rat (1984)

An old Dutch jewel.

[7/10 · 13 July 2019]

This movie is very typically Dutch. Set in te depression years most of the Dutch had no jobs or money. People tried to better their situation by means of strikes and demonstrations, often ended by violent police interventions.

Ciske is an 11 year old boy growing up in these conditions of common hardship, but is raised by a mother who doesn't even care about him. His mother is a barmaid and, as Ciske's father is a sailor and hardly ever home, she seeks solice with other men. Most of the time these men don't care much for Ciske and he often gets a beating by these men or his mother.

At school things are no different, he's an outcast and they call him Ciske the rat and often beat him up. His teachers don't like him and see him as a troublemaker and lost cause, destined to end up in jail as a criminal.

The longer you watch this movie the more sympathy you get for Ciske. He's dealing with a lot in his young life. Untill one day at yet another new school, a new boy is put in his class. He's a sickly boy that has to be moved in a wheelchair, but somehow Ciske starts to care about and for him at school.

As the class is preparing a fieldtrip to the sea, Ciske had a hard time to convince the parents to let his new friend come along, but succeeded. This turns out to be a fatal mistake for Ciske's friend.

After the death of his friend the situation turns very dark as for his mother destroys the one thing Ciske really cares about, making Ciske so angry he does the unthinkable for a 11 year old boy and ends up in the worst possible place.

This movie has a really good 1930's feel and a lot of effort was put in to have cars, homes, furniture, clothing, streetscenery and more to make it look like the '30s. The story is somewhat predictable but is made right by the charm of the young actor who plays Ciske.

It's a drama with an endeering lead actor. This really is a feel good movie in the end, but it deals with harsh reallities from that timeperiod. Foul language, violence and even murder is not shunned in this movie so this makes it that it's not suitable to watch for children, although a lot of children are in it.

This is a very pleasant movie to watch, and although it doesn't have the Hollywood style with death defying action scenes, fast pace or famous glamorous moviestars, it has a good sense of reallity as to how it was in 1930's Holland. This period was bleak, depressing, simple and without much color. People were fighting for existense but still there was a very fine silver lining to be found among all the hurt.

In my opinion you must have seen this movie at least once, especially if you're Dutch, living in the Netherlands or of Dutch decent.

The A-Team (2010)

A childhood memory fiasco.

[1/10 · 24 April 2019]

What were they thinking when they decided to make The A-Team a movie? The tv series was a big succes (in Holland) despite the fact that it had basically the same story every episode.

Now here is the movie! When I see and hear Liam Neeson as Hannibal I almost vomit! Here we have an Irish guy 'trying' to imitate a cowboy with hair that has no business being on his head, an accent that is so weird it's not even identifiable and mumbling while you can clearly hear he can't talk with a cigar in his mouth.

Not to mention the rest of the 'team'! B.A.: Not every muscular, mohawked, big, black guy has the carisma Mr. T had on screen!

Murdock: Despite his so called madness, he was a genius. Not just some fruitcake mental patient...

And last... Faceman: In the tv series he was not just a pretty faced playboy, the character actually had depth.

Overal, watching the team characters on tv they felt like a real team where the characters really fit together like puzzle pieces.

This attempt of a movie has failed on every aspect that was a succes for the tv series. I could only watchbthe movie in utter disgust, it isn't even worth a homage status! It's nothing more than a straight-to-video action movie with characters 'based' on The A-Team. Any action actors, without relating it to The A-Team, could have played a decent part in this fiasco.

I rather watch reruns on tv than watch actors trying their hardest and fail miserably at playing characters that only the original cast was able to portray. Yet another sad example that Hollywood has lost it's creativity and is out of original theme ideas....