agsteribbe Reviews

The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)

A simply simple movie that's a great watch

[10/10 · 24 June 2016]

This is a simple road trip movie with a handicapped teenager and his caregiver that build a relationship as the movie progresses. They aim to visit the worlds largest hole in the ground.

This in itself does not sound like much but the performances from the actors and, to my utter surprise , the absolute naturalness of Ms. Gomez make this movie work really well.

Strange how hard it is to say something about a movie that does everything right and has a surprise performance by someone you don't expect it from. I fell in love with her during this movie and i think she will be a great actress in years to come.

As was the performance of Roberts and the short but very well played part of the pregnant girl. Of course Rudd was good as always.

Are Roberts and Selena the new half of the new breakfast club ? I certainly hope so. Way to go Ms. Gomez, impressed !

Concussion (2015)

An unexpected gem

[9/10 · 12 April 2016]

This movie impresses even for an European like myself who does not have the faintest clue about football (Its not played here). However the good acting and interesting subject matter make it a movie well worth watching, even if you do not know the sport.

Will Smith puts on a fine performance and is convincing as Dr. Omalu, the accent however is a little on the fake side and distracts just a tiny bit from his performance, although you do get used to it after a while.

The fight against the NFL to make them see what is wrong with the sport is well done, the NFL is the giant enemy at a distance, always there always willing to destroy the reputation, friends and family of Dr. Omalu without actually resorting to direct violence. Its a nice tactic to keep you on the edge of your seat "what can happen to him or his family" The love interest is also well played though it feels sometimes like its just there to make the movie a little longer than is needed.

All in all this movie was a delight to watch, made me interested about a sport i did not know i had interest in and should be on your to watch list regardless in what place of the world you live in. A real all American movie for everyone in and outside of the USA.

A Perfect Day (I) (2015)

A perfect bore

[1/10 · 8 April 2016]

I am retired and have more or less the same day everyday apart from the occasional vacation to a far away place to break the routine.

A movie about my average day would be slightly more interesting than this disaster of a motion picture. Switched it off way too late after 55 minutes of badly acted boredom.

If the reason behind this movie is to show the futility of trying to help in a war zone, then they did a good job this however does not a good movie make.

Do yourself a favor and make a you-tube while you walk around in a field looking for your lost keys, watch that for almost 2 hours and you will have a better time than watching this digital distilled moving picture of nothingness.

Misconduct (2016)

Mis-Conducted

[5/10 · 7 April 2016]

This is a movie about a man on a motorcycle who is dying, moves a corpse and stabs a girl for no reason at all.

Or it could be a movie about an obscenly rich lawyer who tries to protect his CEO friend by renting a nearly dead motorcycle guy who moves a corpse and stabs a girl for no reason at all.

Could just as well be a movie about a CEO that is bored of his wife, does not care less if she dies and has a weird rich lawyer friend who knows a guy with a motorbike that likes to move corpses and stab girls for no reason at all.

Then again it could be a movie about a young starting lawyer who does not talk with his wife much and runs into a guy with a motorcycle and so on.

However it really is a movie about a zombie like beautiful girl was has a miscarriage and kills her husbands ex girlfriend.

And can someone tell me the motive of motorcycle guy , the rich lawyer, the zombie girl, and just about everyone else in this movie ? Strangely enough it was an enjoyable watch, however this must be the movie that makes the least sense in the current decade, by far.

Conclusion , switch off your brain watch pokey nipples and actors who needed a paycheck make a total mess of a total mess, in a enjoyable way.

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)

Star wars : The copy awakens

[3/10 · 23 March 2016]

Why o why after almost 40 years is the same exact movie recreated as the one from 1977 ? This so called blockbuster is an exact copy of episode 4 with little bits from 5 thrown in to fill the 2 hour running time. Even the soundtrack is more or less the same.

I can understand the fans wanting something that securely sits in the star wars universe, but a 100% exact copy ? What is the point of this movie, what is its audience ? Most people, even the kids, will have seen the original many many times on TV, in home cinemas or on the small screen that's in front of you in tourist class when flying long haul, there is no need for a copy.

Really annoying is the political correctness in this movie, here we have a black main character and a Hispanic side kick, of course all the evil is done by white men, so the Asians are missing , so you can be sure that the replacement for a character that's killed off in this episode will pop up next time and be Asian, o my.

Near the end of the movie i found myself shouting "look at the size of this thing !", but not in an amused , but rather annoyed way.

If you like things being blown up, stormtroopers still missing everyone with their "Peeew peeew" blasters and gender neutral toilets, go see it ! Otherwise just look at episode 4 yet again.

John Wick (2014)

Death wish 40 years later

[7/10 · 13 October 2015]

Basically this is a Charles Bronson death wish movie from the 70's redone for our times. There used to be a series of Bronson movies all literally the same. Something bad would happen to the main character and he would take revenge. That's it, and strangely enough that is enough for a movie to succeed even now.

Those kind of movies and this particular one, play on the feelings we all have when criminals take something away from us or we are physically or mentally attacked by someone. We want revenge, hatred roars in our minds and if we did not have the tiny layer of civilization and self control, the entire world would play out this revenge story again and again.

So there you have it, Reeves plays pretty well although with his usual poker face expression during most of the movie, someone takes his car and kills his dog and of we go on a 250 body count murder spree to kill the criminal. I should mention the dog stands for more than just an animal, it's a symbol of love.

Reeves must be carrying an ammo stock pile on his body that would have normal people unable to move, but if you disregard the "i have myself 1200 bullets please" it's an enjoyable if very violent 100 minutes.

I suspect there will be a John wick 2,3 and so on, as Hollywood has rediscovered Bronson revenge movies.

Terminator Genisys (2015)

TerminatorS come see them all

[7/10 · 29 September 2015]

Arnold is at it again , at the respectable age of 68 and still manages to pull it off, though he is one of the few characters in this movie that actually feels as if he belongs there.

It's a great popcorn movie to watch lots of explosions, fights and a reasonable story all make the 2 hours running time fly past. However it does have it's share of problems biggest one is the miscasting of Sarah Conner in this installment.

Remember Linda Hamilton from the previous movies ? Her charisma, strength and borderline insanity just oozed from the screen making her a perfect match for the dangers that were lurking around each and every corner. In Genisys however, Emilia Clarke plays the role of Sarah and it just does not work. She is pretty , attractive, but there is no strength , charisma or dedication in her performance she is "just" a girl not a worthy adversary for the truckloads of terminators on her tail. Together with a really bad makeup job on John Connor, this is a little distracting.

But all in all, the movie still works the fights, the Schwarzenegger and some humor make for a good and entertaining watch. As with all these movies, switch off brain, hand in popcorn, and be entertained !

Side-note : Why is it o.k. to show so much violence in a movie and not o.k. to see two people naked ? The camera really has a hard time to avoid Emilia's breasts and Jai's male parts. Shame such movies are not made in Europe as naturally showing people distracts way less from the story than awkwardly trying to avoid showing any skin. Grow up USA.

Men, Women & Children (2014)

Well made drama about the internet and us supplies wrong message

[7/10 · 28 September 2015]

This is a well made and reasonably well played drama about how the usage of the internet affects our actions and daily live in the real world.

It shows porn consumption, bullying with messages, extramarital affairs, teen sexual pressure, game addiction and parents stalking their kids. Unexpected for this kind of movie.

However it does this all in a negative fashion, there is hardly anything positive to be found in using the net in the entire movie. Yes people want affection, sex, entertainment and social contacts and yes they will use any means possible to get what they want, and yes the internet makes that easier, but it does not turn all of us into something we do not want.

We decide if we want to have an affair, we decide if we like gaming, we decide to bully someone, and in the end we decide to start having sex, the internet did not chance that, it just is a "new" way to do old things and as such it is not evil or good, it just is.

Side-note : Why is gaming always depicted as negative ? If our kids read 6 hours a day it's "just look at her/him how much he likes reading, isn't it great ?" . But if you spend the same amount of time having fun on the net with a couple of other people, it is evil ?

Jurassic World (2015)

Mercedes World, no sorry Jurassic world

[7/10 · 27 September 2015]

Mercedes World is a nice popcorn movie about an Island in the Central America region where you will find a lot of Mercedes cars running about a lush jungle. You get to see the Mercedes star up close in every 3rd scene and for the real spotters among us, there is quite some diversity in the movie.

There is the G series, the 6 wheeled monster you probably have seen on top gear and of course quite a lot of Kastenwagen, or in English Vans. And the movie really opens with the new Bmw X6 coupe ripoff that Mercedes recently introduced.

Plus there is a Cola sipping main character with a bike. O yes there is something going on with a few dinosaurs behind all the Mercedes action, it distracts a little from the cars.

Seriously, this is a really dumb popcorn flick with dramatic music, fantastic quality CGI and AAFV or All American Family Values. So how to rate this movie ? If you look at how its made, and the creativity put into all the effects, its a 10/10. If you look at the story it's a 2 out of 10. So switch off your brain, pick up the popcorn and watch this Dinosaur Benz of a movie, just the once.

San Andreas (2015)

Excellent old fashioned disaster movie

[9/10 · 12 September 2015]

Finally a real old fashioned disaster movie, with most of the movie time being spend getting nearly killed. Of course the whole story is pretty thin and the situations are absurd to an agree that it is sometimes laughable but strangely enough it fits the movie.

It is just a 2 hour long earthquake happening around you with brilliant visuals, fantastic sound effects and for a movie of this kind, quite reasonable acting too. The family take on the disaster movie works reasonably well, focusing on bringing mom pop and the kid together again through all the mayhem that's happening around them.

As a European i have to say for my fellow viewers : There is the usual all American flag waving during the movie and a laughable slow motion shot of an enormous USA flag at the end of the movie. For the American readers : Don't see this as an insult, we just have a different look on nationalism in Europe.

To sum it up you get falling buildings, tsunami's all kinds of mayhem and not to forget miss Daddario's bouncing cleavage to look at for 2 hours, what's not to like !