21/07/2014 - Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
15/09/2014 - Into The Storm
04/11/2014 - This Is Where I Leave You
27/12/2014 - The Water Diviner

Last year I only managed 23 visits. I'll be trying to do better this year.

03/01 - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (3D) - Excellent follow-up. I found this one even better than part one.
10/01 - The Wolf of Wall Street - Stock broker gets creative and earns tons of money until it all comes tumbling down. Interesting story, well acted. Good balance between humour and drama.
25/01 - Homefront - After some problemswith a drug bust, a DEA quits his job, and moves to a quiet town. There he runs into troubles with the locals. If you like Jason Statham and action, you can't miss with this one.
07/02 - De Behandeling - A police detective still struggles with the disappearance of his brother when he was 9. Then, they discover a couple has been held for 3 days in their home. Their 9 year old son is missing. A powerful story about child abuse.
28/02 - Non-Stop - An air marshal on a transatlantic flight starts receiving text messages a passenger will die every 20 minutes unless 150 million dollars is deposited. Not a bad movie. If you
like suspense thrillers you probably will not be bored.
16/03 - The Monuments Men - Interesting tale about the retrieval of stolen art by the Nazi's during WWII. Great cast, and a nice score by Alexandre Desplat.
21/03 - 300: Rise of an Empire - Greece is invaded by Persia, the story runs parallel to the events in 300. Interesting story, shot beautifully, and the movie has a good pace with a runtime of 102'.
28/03 - Captain America: The Winter Soldier (3D) - I liked this one better as the first. I didn't feel the 3D added much to the experience in this case.
04/04 - DivergentWhy do they insist on making these movies 140' and longer. It wasn't bad, but with a runtime of 20 minutes less, it would have been a much better paced movie.

32nd Brussels International Festival of Fantasy, Thriller & Science Fiction Films
08/04 - The Quiet Ones - A professor and a couple students use a woman in their research. They hope to discover evil forces in the brain can create poltergeists. Booooring.
09/04 - The Machine - Two engineers working on A.I., one of them hopes to find a cure for his daughter. When the military gets involved, things get out of hand. Average movie.
10/04 - Nymph - A group of travellers uncovers a killer mermaid in an abandoned military base on a island. Serbian film with Franco Nero in a supporting role. The meremaid looked great but was underused. Above average, but it feels like there was something missing to become a truly good movie.
11/04 - Soulmate - A woman attempts to commit suicide after losing her husband, but fails. She moves to a cottage in Wales to reflect. Then she starts hearing noises. An old fashioned ghost story and not a bad directorial debut.
12/04 - Dark Blood - Last movie of River Phoenix. Director George Sluizer managed to get a hold of the print stored away at an insurance company. About a quarter of the scenes was missing, with the director narrating the missing scenes. Interesting release, but not really my cup of tea.
13/04 - Dementamania - An office worker gets stung by a bee. This results in deranged hallucinations. Not bad, but I feel something was missing to become a good movie.
13/04 - Deadly Virtues: Love, Honour, Obey - A couple is the victim of a home invasion. Over the course of the weekend, their lives changes in ways they could have never imagined. Highly recommended.
14/04 - Afterman III: The Global Warming Disaster - Impact of global warming on the life of the Afterman. The movie is made up of scenes from previous movies, which makes it at times a bit incoherent.
15/04 - All Cheerleaders Die - A girl signs up to become a cheerleader to take down the captain of the football team. Supernatural events take the movie in a whole other direction. Switched tone one third into the movie, combined with an annoying soundtrack, make this a missed opportunity.
15/04 - Omnívoros - A journalist goes undercover to get the scoop on a cannibalistic restaurant. Highly recommended.
16/04 - The Philosophers - A group of 20 philosophy students in Jakarta get an assignment. They need to decide which ten can go into an underground shelter in case of a nuclear apocalypse, so the human race can survive. Good movie, but the ending kind of ruined it.
17/04 - Oculus - An antique mirror causes supernatural events in which a brother and sister lose their parents. When they grow up, they try to destroy the mirror. Rather boring.

18/04 - Need for Speed - A street racer gets framed for a lethal accident. When he is released from prison, he wants revenge. Entertaining movie, and the racing sequences were not done with CGI, so it does't look fake.

32nd Brussels International Festival of Fantasy, Thriller & Science Fiction Films
19/04 - Time Lapse - 3 friends discover a machine that makes photo's 24 hours in the future. They decide to use gambling results for personal gain. Then things start to go wrong. Too many holes in the story and rather boring.
19/04 - Baby Blues (3D) - A young couple moves to a new home in which they find a strange doll. The dolls appears to have a killer instinct. Crap, crap, mega crap.

25/04 - Noah - The story is probably well-known. All in all, I found this a rather mediocre movie. Boring, uninteresting and at times badly acted.
03/05 - The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Sadly, it couldn't live up to the first. It was a bit too long, and the villains weren't that great.
09/05 - Flying Home - In order to seal a deal with a sheik, an ambitious investment broker has to convince a Belgian pigeon fancier to sell his most precious pigeon. His feelings for the pigeon fancier's grand daughter complicate things. A well made love drama.
16/05 - Godzilla - I was a bit disappointed in this one. It takes too long for Godzilla to appear, and when he finally appears, he's underused.
30/05 - The Other Woman - An enjoyable nobrainer about a wife and 2 of her husband's mistresses teaming up to get back at him.
21/06 - Maleficent - Live action "Sleeping Beauty". Started out good, but for me, it became less convincing in the 2nd half. Still much better as the previous attempts "Red Riding Hood" and "Snowwhite and the Huntsmen".
28/06 - Edge of Tomorrow - An American officer is caught in a time loop during an alien invasion. Each time he dies, the day is reset. He needs to find a way to defeat the aliens. Good movie, although the 'safe choice' ending was a bit of a bummer.
11/07 - Transformers: Age of Exctinction (3D) - Really enjoyed this one. Mark Wahlberg was an excellent lead, lots of action and special effects. Although it runs 2h30, it never got boring.
25/07 - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (3D) - Next step in the ape evolution. I enjoyed the previous one more, but it's a very well made movie. Very intriguing, clever plot. It may take another viewing to fully appreaciate it. The 3D didn't add much to the movie though.
30/07 - Bad Neighbours - A couple with a baby sees a fraternity move in next door. The struggle for peace and quiet results in a battle between them. I'm not a Seth Rogen fan and this one confirms that fact.
08/08 - Lucy - A woman is forced to become a drug courier and a bag is placed in her stomach. She gets in a fight and this causes a large amount of the drugs to enter her body. This affects the usage of her brain ccapacity. Good movie, and rather different from what the trailer suggested it would be.
22/08 - The Expendables 3 - Part 3 of Stallone's action series. It was ok, but at a few moments, the pace went out of it. Often due to lengthy dialogue scenes by an annoying Antonio Banderas. Still entertaining, but it could have been much better.
25/08 - Guardians of the Galaxy (3D) - After stealing an orb, Peter is hunted by a villain. An unlikely group of creatures becomes a team known as "The Guardians of the Universe". The next franchise coming from Marvel. Entertaining and fun, the sequel was already announced in the credits.
29/08 - Hercules - Brett Ratners take on the Radical comic "Hercules". I enjoyed this one.
05/09 - Into the Storm - Stormchasers track down a large tornado striking down in a small town. If you are into disaster movies, you will enjoy this one.
26/09 - November Man - Powerful spy-thriller re-teaming Brosnan and Kurylenko, directed by Roger Donaldson. Highly recommended.
03/10 - The Equalizer - A guy with a mysterious past gets involved with the Russian mafia. Average, could have been a lot more entertaining had it been a bit shorter with a quicker pace.
10/10 - The Drop - A bar is the centrepiece in this Brooklyn gangster story. James Gandolfini's last movie, not bad, but slow paced.
31/10- Welp - A group of scouts go on summer camp in the woods. The scoutmasters tell a story about a boy living in the woods, who becomes a monster at night. Is it real, or is it a legend. Well made Belgian horror movie, although the ending could have been a little more original.
07/11 - Fury - Brad Pitt stars as a sergeant, commanding a tank on a mission is Germany during the final months of the 2nd world war. If you like war movies, this one is highly recommended. A rather brutal depiction of life in a tank.
08/11 - Gone Girl - A man discovers his wife is missing. After a while it is suspected he may be guilty. Long, boring and unbelievable.
14/11 - Interstellar - A team of explorers needs to find a planet capable of sustaining human life. A rather mediocre movie. What little was there is then ruined by the final act.
21/11 - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 - As with previous books, the final chapter had to be split over 2 movies. I feel most of the fun stuff is kept for part 2. Not enough going on in this one.
04/12 - Todeloo - Belgian horror thriller about the happenings in a toilet of a train station, which is a meeting place for gangsters, junkies, drug dealers,... The first half of the movie is too slow. The 2nd half is quite funny and over the top.
19/12 - Dumb and Dumber To - Harry and Lloyd together again after 20 years. The trailer looked very promising, but the end result was mediocre.
20/12 - Bowling Balls - A war develops between 2 motorcycle gangs after a member of the Bowling Balls starts an affair with the sister of the Banana Knights' President. Entertaining movie, although I expected it to be a bit more over the top.
26/12 - The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - I was slightly disappointed with the final movie. While it's certainly a good movie, I felt they didn't go out with a bang.

2013 Visits - 23

2014:
01/13 - Philomena: I had mistakenly thought that this was a "chick flick," but I now know that it has wider appeal as a serious drama. Judi Dench delivered her usual high quality performance.
01/18 - Wolf of Wall Street: Trailers don't come close - and wouldn't be allowed anyway. Don't take the kiddies.
02/01 - 12 Years a Slave: Just as hard to watch as Schindler's List. Would be unbelievable if not for the fact that it is history.
02/22 - 3 Days To Kill: Kevin Costner was great. Some beautiful women, including the lovely Hailee Steinfeld. Enjoyed the film for the explosive action, but the plot has many holes. See it for fun and eye candy. Don't think too much.
02/23 - Pompeii 3D: Let's see, a couple of other movies you will recognize, in the context of an exploding volcano. Oh yeah, it's in 3D. Not much else to it.
03/01 - Non-Stop: Liam Neeson fans rejoice. Formula plot and action. But there were some nice twists. We expected to like it, and we did.
03/28 - Divergent: What was I thinking? Poor casting and lackluster acting make this one dull for anybody over 13. What a waste of Kate Winslet's talents. And you have one of the hottest martial arts actresses in the business (Maggie Q) and she doesn't do so much as a single kick!! It was a total stretch of credulity that the heroine (played by Shailene Woodley) was actually capable of the moves, the running to catch the train, etc. The actress did not fit the part. On the other hand, Theo James was totally believable.
03/31 - The Grand Budapest Hotel: I was unprepared for this. Clever mix of Monty Python, Mr. Rodgers and Life of Pi. Enjoy.
04/12 - Captain America: The Winter Soldier (3D): Marvel fans will love it. My Home Theater needs another upgrade to match the audio pyrotechnics. Scarlett Johansson alone is reason enough to see this movie.
05/27 - Godzilla: I found this remarkably more like the early Japanese concept than I expected. Modern film techniques and weapons, but basically the same. I could go into why, but that would lead to spoilers. I wanted to see in 3D but I got the theater time wrong. So, I'll get the 3D BD and watch again at home.
06/23 - Edge Of Tomorrow: Once again I missed the 3D version, but I enjoyed this one. I like both Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, and the story was interesting enough. These days, it is very tough to come up with a truly novel Sci-Fi storyline, so I don't expect it anymore. Just give me some decent acting, massive pyrotechnics and digital effects, and oh by the way eye candy - and I'm there!
07/16 - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: More enjoyable than I expected. You soon realize that this has less to do with Apes than with Man and where we are headed (oops, just did some reading and was reminded that man is also a Great Ape). On First Contact, which role will we play? If Man (Homo Sapien), as a single species can't get along, what hope do we have for two (or more)?
08/19 - Lucy: Well it is a shorter than usual movie, with an even more than usual contorted set of premises for a plot. But if you are a fan of Morgan Freeman, and I am one, then you get to enjoy some nice prose. And if you are a fan of Scarlett Johansson, and I admit that I very much am, then sit back and enjoy wonderful scenes of this delightful and talented actress from every angle, every emotion, close-up and far. That alone was worth the price of the movie and the Blu-Ray that I will surely buy.
08/20 - A Most Wanted Man: What a surprise this was. I was expecting a quality performance from Phillip Seymour Hoffman, but I did not expect such a compelling screenplay. I would give away too much to explain the specifics of my surprise, but I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys the genre.
10/18 - Gone Girl: My wife read the book. I didn't. She said the movie was pretty true to the book version. So she already knew about the several twists and turns of this this Hitchcock-like thriller. I didn't, and almost nothing was telegraphed. I was completely surprised a couple of times. I wouldn't dare mention any spoilers - that would be rude. Just saying: this is a fine movie with some great actors - go see it!
12/9 - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1: This was an edge of your seat thrill ride for me. Excellent performances by veteran actors and no-names alike. Gut wrenching percussive effects, interesting sound track. We will miss Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Believe the hype - this is a great movie.