viaradar Reviews

The Son (2002)

Boring movie, good acting, a waste of time. Disappointing.

[2/10 · 27 February 2023]

After reading some reviews, and with a rating of 7.6 in IMDb, we decided to watch this film a group of friends on a Saturday afternoon. After the first 20', two of them went off to have a drink.

Then, 45' into the movie, another two left, only me stayed until the end. I wish I had joined the first two!

Shot entirely on a shoulder-camera, no music score, long long shots, almost no dialog, most of the scenes had no interest at all, low quality of picture and colour, why on Earth was I enduring this Belgian minimal story?

Because we were misled by the reviews and the rating.

The acting of the two main characters is very natural, but with almost no expressions on their faces, as most of the time we are watching their necks and shoulders from behind.

Don't hope the movie gets interesting at the end, it doesn't!

Choose another flick or do anything else, but don't waste your time watching this crap.

El mar (2000)

Well acted, directed and photographed, but very violent.

[6/10 · 31 January 2023]

I had decided to watch EL MAR as a tribute to its director, Agustí Villaronga, who died on the 22nd/January/2023. I was expecting a kind of romantic gay movie, but what I saw was a terrible story of young men tortured by facts that happened when they were kids, devoured by their inner demons and very hurt by their past experiences. I don't want to spoil what's a very sophistecate story, but I warn you that it is not an easy movie to watch.

Too much blood and male nudity. Most of the dialogs are not natural coming from young minds. The acting is very good and the casting perfect, the actors are very handsome, even the locations are very well chosen, but it's not recommended for the weak at heart.

Weekend (II) (2011)

Interesting movie, good story, excellent acting, but...

[6/10 · 22 January 2023]

It reflects realisticly the interaction of two persons completly unknown to each other that only have in common (in the beggining) the desire to have sex.

Some of the secuences are too long and it lacks some rithm in the action. The actors are well chosen and they look very natural all along.

Too much drugs involved in the action (in MHO). The sex scenes are well shot and they don't need to be very explicit.

It is a great achivement that the budget was less than $120,000 and that the movie got more than $1,800,000 in sales around the world.

Will I be watching this movie again? Probably not.

Will I reccommend this movie to some gay friends? Probably yes.

The Last Match (2013)

A watchable gay film

[8/10 · 2 September 2021]

The background, the carachters, the acting, the script, the photography and the lighting are above the average of most gay films. It lacks in the fields of direction (the use of the camera in some dialogs), the sound (some words are missing due to the lack of vocalization of the actors and the level of sound) and a more elaborated and credible ending. Anyway, it is worth watching this Spanish film.

Retorno a Hansala (2008)

What heppens when an inmigrant dies and his body is returned to his village?

[7/10 · 19 April 2021]

A well writen, directed and acting story. A modest Spanish funeral company is in charge og bringging by car the body of a Maroccan young man that has died in his attemp to flee the misery of his mountain village to reach a better future in Europe. An intense and moving story worth the watching.

Adu (2020)

Highly recommended

[9/10 · 12 April 2021]

This is a brilliant film: acting, cinematography, sound, colour, music...first class. It's a 100% REAL situations. Three stories that bring to the screen what is happening in some parts of Africa now. It is a movie that deserves being watched by the people in the rich countries. The acting of little Adu, his sister and Massar are so natural that makes you share the suffering, the hope, the endurance of this poor criatures. I don't give a 10 due to some inconsistences in the story, but I highly recommend to watch the Spanish film.

Noises Off... (1992)

They pretend to be funny

[3/10 · 31 March 2021]

What a disappointment! A Bogdanovich film, with stars like Sir Michael Caine, Carol Burnett, and the late Christopher Reeve and Denholm Elliott, based in the play by Michael Frayn, is got to be good, but it is not. You are funny or you try to be funny, here they try but with no avail. The only merit of this film is the editing, mainly in the second half, when things develop very fast and the actors change their characters. Stay away, if you don't want to loose 100' waiting for a laugh that it is not going to happen.

The Big Lebowski (1998)

A waste, no funny, a disappointment by the Coen brothers

[1/10 · 11 March 2021]

I mistakenly believed the raving comments of some reviewers and watched this shabby movie. The story, or stories, are void and uninteresting, the dialogs are of illiterate people with small brains. You wait for something to happen that may catch your interest. You wait in vane.

The acting is robust and fit their roles, the colours are bright and the sets are well done, but to what purpose if the whole thing is as foolish as it gets?

Fargo is a well crafted script and an entertaining movie, this is neither.

Tropical Malady (2004)

Don't be tricked by some reviews, this film is BORING.

[2/10 · 9 March 2021]

Mistaken by the 10/10 reviews, I ordered this movie from Amazon at some price, what an error! I watched this film with the company of a middle-age Thai friend. After the first 20' I realised he was watching other things on his phone. This gives you a first hint that the story doesn't catch your interest. Not only that, but the takes are looong, the rithm veeery slow and what happens on the screen doesn't make much sense.

They are two films in one: the first more "real", but not realistiic, than the second, which is pure fantasy, based on an old Thai legend of a shaman that takes the form of different animals, mainly a tiger, to lure men in the jungle.

Only some takes are nice to watch, like the tree iluminated from the background or the family having dinner, but others are completly nonsense or just a black screen for very long.

Don't be tricked and get other Thai movies that are worth watching, like "Love of Siam" or "Beautiful Boxer".

Song for a Raggy Boy (2003)

Why the R. C. Church lost its grip of the Irish people

[7/10 · 30 October 2020]

This Irish/Spanish/Danish/British production, along others like The Magdalen Sisters (2002) or Philomena (2013), tells us of the horrible events, along the 40's to 70's, that were happening within the walls of schools, convents and churches all over Ireland against defenseless children of both sexes and the impunity of those perpetrators. The acting is very good, although the characters are too much in a black and white presentation. Also the direction and editing leave some scenes with more context to explain and some exaggerations of the physical cruelty and less of the continuing brainwashing by the part of priests, brothers, teachers, authorities and media of the time. Some inconsistencies also apply: no kids were allowed in the private rooms of their teachers and in most boarding schools the daily Mass and Holy Rosary were mandatory. It lacks a more presence of Irish Republican symbols like the flag, the 1916 Rising Proclamation, portraits of Irish heroes or at least of the president at that time, Douglas Hyde, that were everywhere present in schools. The Republican State and the Catholic Church were close allies in that period of time, as opposed to the British Crown and the Anglican Church that were dominant up to 1922. That alliance made the clerical, political and policial authorities work together to grant impunity to those criminals, in order not to tarnish the public image of that religious institution that was helping to reinforce the Irishness of the Republic. Do I recommend watching this film? Yes, but don't expect much more than topics and good acting.

The Journey (III) (2016)

Magnificent story, well written, directed, acted and edited; a must watch.

[10/10 · 24 October 2020]

I lived in Ireland since 1969, when the troubles in the North started. The suffering that the people of this island endured during 30 years was very cruel. This movie is a well scripted fiction about the possibility of the main two leaders of both sides having a journey by car from Glasgow to Edinburgh, giving them the chance to speak to each other for the first time. A very good idea to explain how these two carachters ended up sharing power in Northen Ireland politics and becoming good friends. Now both are dead and into the history books. This film is "fictional history", but very "possible history" The dialogs are excellent as it is the acting, so natural that you see Martin McGuinnes (Sinn Fein) and Ian Paisly (DUP), not Colm Meany or Spall. In my opinion this is a masterpiece of fiction and worth of watching.

Diferente (1962)

A very "camp" Spanish musical of the 60's

[6/10 · 20 October 2020]

I remember watching this strange musical when I was very young; now it seems so outdated and camp, but hypnotic. It has touches of Cocteau, Minnelli and Murnau. Watch it as a rarity, not as a classical musical. Available in DVD, hard to find.

Una pasión singular (2003)

A watchable biography of Blas Infante

[7/10 · 15 October 2020]

This movie is a very decent first try to depict who Blas Infante was: as an ideologist and a human being. The acting is good in general, specially those of Marisol Membrillo (as Mrs. Infante), Daniel Freire (as Blas Infante), Juan Diego (as Blas's father-in-law) and Maria Galiana (as Blas's mother). The script and its dialogs might have needed some trimming and polishing, as they sound a bit academic and unnatural in the mouth of some of the characters. The locations are very well chosen, as some were the places where the actual facts happened. I would like to praise the magnificent fotography by Teo Escamilla and the soundtrack by Javier Camara that enhance some tense moments. The Spanish Civil War (1936-39) was a cruel killing between brothers, as all civil wars, and some aspects of that are well shown in this picture.

A Bigger Splash (1973)

Very boring film, handsome model

[2/10 · 12 October 2020]

A very slow and boring docudrama about British painter David Hockney (28) and Californian art student Peter Schlesinger (18). Very long shots, almost no action, almost no dialog, I almost fell asleep. Not interesting from any point of view. Peter was in his prime back in 1973 and that was all.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Very confusing, not worthy really

[3/10 · 6 October 2020]

I knew that Le Carré wrote very complex spy books, but this film added more confusion with the continuos "flash backs" and changes in the action. It is not worthy to spend more than two hours of a plot that doesn't follow a logical line in spite of the good acting, there are better movies to watch.

El hombre de al lado (2009)

Too long and not really interesting

[5/10 · 3 October 2020]

I agree with another rewiewer here that this movie would be a nice shortfilm. The characters and the plot are believable, the acting is very natural, the cinematography is good but very repetitive. Some scenes are annoyingly long with no reason. I wasted two hours of my life watching this long "short".

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)

Very slow, natural acting, nice photopraphy and that's all.

[3/10 · 23 September 2020]

To my aknowledge, it is completely incomprehensible that this movie was awarded the 2010 Palm d'Or at Cannes. Anyone has an explanation for this? I watched the film with a Thai friend and he complained of the loooong shots and the treatment of the ghosts as real people.

The plot is very simple: a man is suffering of a kidney failure and he feels his end is near. He is visited by the spirits of his deceased wife and that of his missing son. At the end, he decides to spend his last hours in a cave in the mountains, accompanied by his sister-in-law and his nephew. In the meantime, he recalls what it could have been a previous life as a princess.

My humble advice is: it is not worthy the almost 2 hours spent watching this movie.

Capernaum (2018)

Very sad, but real and worth watching

[10/10 · 22 September 2020]

I was fortunate enough to find this DVD in a street market last week. What a movie! : the script, the dialogs, the acting of everyone, the cinematography, the score...everything was right. I really believe this is happening now in some parts of the world, not only in Libanon. To my taste, the whole story is hard to watch. Many human beings are enduring these conditions and even worse. I am glad to know that Zain and his real family are living now in Norway. Nadine Labaki is a very talented director and she will deliver more wonderful movies like this one, I hope.

Dark Blue World (2001)

Nice to watch

[7/10 · 10 September 2020]

I am glad I have found this DVD in a street market. The story is interesting and accurate, the air battles are very well done, the acting is very good and the photography is excellent. Krystof Hádek is a pleasure to watch; he was only 19 then. He has performed in 77 films by now at the age of 38. I am not happy with the script, the are some things missing that I don't wish to mention now in order not to spoil the viewing of this nice Check movie.

Transfixed (2001)

A very twisted and incredible plot

[5/10 · 23 August 2020]

Watch this movie if you don't have better things to do.

Brain Drain (2009)

A really funny picture

[8/10 · 1 August 2020]

I went to see this movie just by chance. I couldn't envisage my surprise when I started laughing from the beggining to the end. This is a group of drpouts, losers and nerds that manage to get enroled in "Oxford University" only to be near the girl of his dreams of one of them. One is a nacker who happens to be a hacker; another is a blind chap that wants to become a soccer player; another is a very handsome lad who is completely shy; another is a seller of semen who wishes to make a fortune with his man's fluid, and so on... Everything is surreal and totally crazzy, but laughable. The picture got the Public Award at Malaga Film Festival and even a sequel was produced three years later. The gags, characters and situations are not to everybody likes, but are really funny and surprising. Give it a try.

The Adventures of Felix (2000)

Disappointing, due to illogical situations.

[5/10 · 12 March 2020]

Very long scenes without any action. Irreal and illogical situations and reactions. It is watchable because the main actor, the others and the scenery are nice to look and with natural acting. There is a brief two males front nudity but no sex. Some of the dialogs are absurd in any language. The HIV issue is treated in a very casual way. Happy ending, but leaving some questions unanswered.

El Angel (2018)

Watchable but disapointing

[5/10 · 6 November 2018]

I went last night to see this Argentinian-Spanish film, produced by Pedro Almodovar and directed by Luis Ortega. The script lacks a lot of explanations and some characters are not well defined. The acting is good and Lorenzo Ferro and Darin Jr. are gorgeos. The cinematography is well done and the music good, but very loud. Most of the characters are shown smoking in almost every scen, which is very illogical and a bit annoying. Don't expect much, because is not a woderful film.

The Story of O (1975)

Slow, boring, ilogical. A waste of time and money.

[1/10 · 13 October 2018]

One of the most boring and nonsense movies that I have ever seen. The female characters are treated like their only values are to serve the males. I was about to leave the theater in the middle of the film, I awaited until the end in case there was a turning point in the plot: there was not. I have seen porno movies much more interesting than this "erotic" film.

Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)

Nothing happens

[1/10 · 3 October 2018]

One of the most boring films I have ever seen. Blah, blah, blah, all the time. If you wait if anything happens to stir up the action (?), you wait in vain. Avoid this film if you don't want to waste your time.