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manuel-neves
Reviews
Capitães de Abril (2000)
An italian actor?
I never understood why an Italian actor is the lead actor here.
Not enough Portuguese actors in the age group or trying to capitalise on a more international recognition of Stefano?
Sorry but for such an important event in PT history you should stay with Portuguese actors or it does not look authentic at all... Would a known English actor play George Washington? It would look fake.. As I said too bad.
Too bad because the story is worth knowing and in particular the character Salgueiro Maia which became the face of the revolution and by the way went to school in my Ribatejo village (Coruche).
Le jeune Ahmed (2019)
Non stop suspense
While the main character could have a used a bit more character development, once we know his goal and his different attempts the suspense becomes riveting.
Knowing quite well the events in France and Belgium of the past year I'd say that the film is a strong realistic representation of fanatism in a miniature setting.
Filha da Lei (2017)
Was there a producer there?
I looking forward to seeing a Portuguese thriller but it is bad unfortunately: bad acting, bad scenario (plenty of unbelievable scenes), bad music, bad directing. Amateurish. Was there a producer there to point out the mistakes?
Watch "the killing" for instance and if you cannot do something 80% as good do not bother.
It has nothing to do with money by the way..
Le rayon vert (1986)
Amateur
The overall concept is interesting BUT many of the people in there do not act well and for some reason the director picked gay guys actors to pretend hitting on the girl which makes no sense and is so obvious.
I feel like i could have done a much better job myself!
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
Empty
So ok there was a lot of work and attention to detail put in there to recreate the 60s but if that was all i came for i would have watched a documentary about it instead. There is no real / interesting story to the film and besides 3 or 4 characters the others act quite badly. It is all a bit slow and the twist at the end which could have the been the central piece of the story was just an excuse for Tarantino style violence.
Roma (2018)
overrated
Vastly overrated. it does have nice photography and a couple of interesting scenes but overall it falls flat in my opinion.
Dunkirk (2017)
Do not buy the hype
It is a bad sign if a movie tries to inject suspense with an overwhelming soundtrack. It means a weak script or weak acting performances. A lot of money was clearly spent here but the end result (the emotion level you receive) is only a bit more than average. While the structure of the script / editing is sort of original, the story itself and the characters are so so. It all feels a bit flat and cannot compare to war movie masterpieces such as Saving Private Ryan or Come and See which have seriously dramatic scenes, acting and emotions.
Un prophète (2009)
masterpiece
At times hard to watch but in the end you come out with the feeling of having watched a masterpiece.
Perfect acting, scenario, directing, cinematography & sound...
This is definitely not a Hollywood production, but the best of what french cinema can be.
Audiard is a great director, having previously made "Read my lips" which i also recommend.
The main actor Tahar Rahim is a revelation, keep an eye on him in the future.
Niels Arestrup is also quite good in his role as a corsican crime boss