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Pickman

Actually, this film is very funny (intentionally so) in places, so IMDB should really consider the comedy tag. McCord is truly great here. However, the plot is somewhat inconsistent and could use some thoughtful editing. Still, better than you expect from such a premise.
9 years 9 months ago
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Pickman

Love turns us all into fools, doesn't it? My warm feelings for Saoirse Ronan made me watch this, or, rather, sentenced me to two hours of the worst filmmaking I’d encountered over the last years. Well, thank God it didn't ruin Saoirse's career. It could. It really could, even though she would not have been the one to blame.
I also find it hard to believe that the script was written by the man who gave us Gattaca and The Truman Show. Surely it is Mrs. Meyer who’s responsible for 90% of this flapdoodle but well, they could at least try to improve it.
Unbelievably bad.
9 years 9 months ago
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Pickman

They ruined everything that could possibly be ruined. There was a potential here to make a different but still good film. But what they made was this puppet show. Lame, too lame.
10 years 4 months ago
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Pickman

Lucky you. I still can't understand why so many people find fault with this film, clear and logical as it is. Not a masterpiece, but well, it's very, very good.
10 years 4 months ago
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Pickman

Pretty lame for a James Wan film. It's by no means bad but it's heavily generic. If you expect something weird and quirky (like a sewing demon from Insidious) then you're going to be disappointed just like me.
10 years 7 months ago
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Pickman

It seems like Neil Jordan's the only director in the world who has somehow managed to make TWO great vampire films. Mesmerizing, couldn't take my eyes off the screen.
10 years 7 months ago
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Pickman

Don't mean any rudeness here but Ashley Hinshaw would really make a better porn actress than a regular one she's actually become. Bad acting, though, isn't the only issue with this film; clumsy directing and a helpless script seem even more crucial. That's a debut, all right. But we've seen better ones. haven't we?
10 years 10 months ago
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Pickman

This could make two or even three perfect films but ended up as one and the only one, overlong and structurally flawed. Still, it's beautiful and subtle; the director probably cared too much for his ideas and motifs to edit anything out. That might be an artistic sin but forgivable for that matter... Good, good.
10 years 10 months ago
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Pickman

This film is silly and farfeteched but enjoyably so (perhaps all Kaurismäki's works are; Le Havre was my first foray into his realm). I wouldn't say the world cinema would be bereft without this film but its message was well worth making it. Helping each other is a good thing... this one may seem naive, but then all universal truths do, don't they?
10 years 10 months ago
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Pickman

Nice and neat, solid atmosphere, excellent photography and lighting, good performances from supporting actors (even Alice Eve is something more than your regular protagonist's femme). John Cusack is not bad as well, but he isn't Poe, not in the least. Enjoyable, really enjoyable.
11 years 11 months ago
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Pickman

satisfythecrave, gerlistejada - great comments. I've nearly started to have a feeling that my sympathy for Mavis is something of an anomaly.
Great performances, classy script, elegant directing. Love to love it.
12 years 2 months ago
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Pickman

It rouses right emotions in the right way. Humour, sadness, hope. Pretty much sums up a wonderful movie for me.
And yes, the acting was really good (except perhaps Anna Kendrick but it may be due to her character, not performance).
12 years 2 months ago
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Pickman

Pleasingly weird in the first half, but the shift from lightheartedness to macabre in the second one is anything but smooth. This could also have been turned to some advantage but sadly it was not. The film is fairly good at showing us how and explaining who but ultimately impotent in offering what. If it's a couple of folks in tacky Halloween makeup who pretend to be ghosts then the mission's failed. It was also far from prudent to waste the characters so pointlessly after taking so much time and care to introduce them. The Innkeepers could potentially be a powerful ghost story but ends up as a commonplace instead. If it's anywhere near The Shining, it's the guy who takes out the trash in Overlook Hotel... sometimes he even hits the bin, yep.
12 years 2 months ago
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Pickman

What, 170 million? It looks like a penny-worth TV production, made by some frustrated understudy.
Who, Scorsese? I hope he put all his energy into 3D trifles. If he didn't... well, he was not born for this kind of movies.
The one true victim is Chloe Moretz, who appears too embarassed of her nondescript character to play anything, making do with shy smiles and slouchy postures.
I love Georges Méliès and the glorious cinema of his days, but this love-letter is pretty misspelled in my eyes. Ed Wood is a far better dedication to the period of its director's choice.
12 years 2 months ago
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Pickman

Ghibli's best feature since Spirited Away (not as brilliant, though). A breath of peace and summer, mesmerizing in its beauty. Sort of similar to Witch's Delivery Service in how it catches the miracle of everyday life. Enchanting, in other words...
12 years 2 months ago
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Pickman

No jokes, no sense, no moral point. Awful.
12 years 3 months ago
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Pickman

2 JirinPanthosa: the guys from TSPDT made a promise to alter their method of "net-casting" next year, so we can hope for a wider range of names and countries.
12 years 4 months ago
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Pickman

I can only wonder why everybody finds a couple of doubled flashbacks so baffling and incoherent. I'm not an expert at Shakespearean studies but following the plot was easy and somewhat exciting.

Though sagging at some points, Anonymous is a beautiful historical fantasy with powerful performances from older actors (especially Ifans), true-to-life texture, enjoyable settings, some great dialogues and a voice of its own. Whatever you think of Edward de Vere as William Shakespeare, there is a strong message in this film, and I like the taste of it. It tastes of tears and eternity.
It seems Emmerich has redeemed himself.
12 years 4 months ago
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Pickman

Amelie + Ghost World + Mr Nobody + Catcher in the Rye.
Cute and witty, sure. But somehow it managed to put me off a bit, as though it pulled the wrong strings with the wrong hands.
12 years 4 months ago
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Pickman

It is flawed, though. It really is. But the overall effect is so much stronger than stray missteps...
12 years 4 months ago
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Pickman

Amazing. One of its kind.
And it's a movie where you get MORE than you expect.

rtrench +1
12 years 4 months ago
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Pickman

Still unsure how to crack it. At least it makes you go back to it, again and again, worming slowly into your thoughts.
And music... hell, I wish I could live in it. Beautiful, just beautiful.
12 years 4 months ago
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Pickman

Old-fashioned in a sad way, with no real chance to win modern filmlovers. It seems Spielberg was uncertain about his target audience this time, unless he filmed Tintin for himself. It works neither with children nor with adults, however spectacular (it is Spielberg, after all) it pretends to be.
Not bad, but that's all about it.
12 years 4 months ago
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Pickman

Wonderful. Much better than Shrek, nearly as good as Rango. Enjoyed it.
12 years 4 months ago
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Pickman

Great suspense, nice settings, barely existent characters, no logic and dull ending. Not a good choice for #181 in top 500 horror flicks.
What partially redeems it is real-life origin. Still, Eden Lake is way more powerful and gritty.
12 years 5 months ago

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