Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1988
	Director: Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future 1-3, Forrest Gump, The Polar Express)
	Actors: Bob Hoskins (Brazil), Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future 1-3, Piranha 3D), Joanna Cassidy
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, Polar, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 23.05.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Detective Eddie Valiant (Hopkins) is investigating a cheating wife (Roger Rabbit's) before being involved in a much more mysterious case involving Tootown.
Review: I had seen the movie many times as a kid and now I wanted to see it with adult eyes, especially after reading an ecellent review of the Blu-ray in the Mad Movies magazine. The most impressive in this movie is the accuracy with which the cartoons were incrusted in the life film. You never question the fact that the toons are interacting with the life actors, which is quite impressive for a 25 years-old movie (not surprisingly, the movie was over budget by a factor two!). Althought the camera is always in motion, the toons are following and you need a trained eye to notice the mistakes. Interaction with the humans are very good, in particular when passing objects from one to the other character. Shadows and reflections are also very well managed. The story is one of a 70's polar but in a world where toons life alongside people. You laugh and never get bored. A classic movie, made by and with part of the team that brought you Back to the Future: director Robert Zemeckis, composer Alan Silvestri and actor Christopher L. Lloyd.
Rating: 9 /10

The Expendables 2 (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Simon West (Con Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider)
	Actors: Sylvester Stallone (Rocky 1-4, Rambo 1-4), Jason Statham (The Transporter 1-3), Jet Li (Hero), Dolph Lundgren (Rocky 4, Universal Soldier 1 3-4), Bruce Willis (Die Hard 1-5), Arnold Schwarzenegger (Terminator 1-3), Chuck Norris (Missing in Action 1-3), Jean-Claude Van Damme (Bloodsport, Universal Soldier)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action
	Conditions of visioning: 24.05.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Barney Ross' (Stallone) team is back to accomplish a risky mission that nobody else could, using their expert skills in demolition and ass-kicking. Vilain (Van Damme) will be their opponent.
Review: Reading back my review of The Expendables, I realise that the mistakes I spotted have been corrected in this second episode (less lengthy fist fights, more plane attacks, better gun fights more bloody and exaggerated like in John Rambo) but new ones were made. My main criticism is that there are too many action stars in this movie to give enough room to any of them to express himself. The opening scene is great, filled with over-the-top action, explosions and enemies being blown to pieces in great splatters of blood. This reminded me a lot of how graphical violence was shown in John Rambo. Totally exaggerated but lots of fun. Then the story is not bad (follows some events of the first movie) and the motivation of the characters is well justified. What spoils it a bit are the many jokes that are not often funny (like trying to shoot the 80's action movie Commando nowadays). And when Willis and Schwarzenegger join the fun, then it is ridiculous (Arnold: "I'll be back", Bruce: "You've been back enough", Arnold: "Yippee-Kay Yeh"). As the other said, they are really too old for this. When I see this I am not really excited anymore to see Arnold playing in the next King Conan. Van Damme plays a good villain although I suspect a stunt double performed his trademark rotating kick, while Chuck Norris' apparitions are pretty useless.
Rating: 6 /10

Lockout (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: James Mather, Stephen St. Leger
	Actors: Guy Pearce (Memento), Maggie Grace (Taken 1-2), Peter Stormare (Starship Troopers, Jurassik Park: the Lost World)
	Country: F
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 23.05.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: The daughter of the president of the USA (Grace) becomes trapped in an orbital prison with 500 convicts. A wrongly accused lone ranger (Pearce) will be sent to her rescue.
Review: A typical Luc Besson production with no brains. I read it was bad but wanted to see it anyway for the action. As I read it is indeed a pale copy of John Carpenter's Escape from L.A., from the storyline (isolated prison, daughter of the president...) to the badass hero with a cool name (Snow vs. Snake). The characters are as charicatural as can be. The movie doesn't even try to be scientifically believable: gravity, air breathing, explosions in space... nothing makes sense, which is surprising from the dirctor of The Fifth Element. The special effects are OK but we don't get much time to enjoy them as everything seems to play in fast forward. The few space fights between ships are useless and try to imitate Star Trek, including too many camera flares. What remains then? Guy Pearce's character is finally entertaining as he never stops joking about everything, and Joseph Gilgun plays very well the scary crazy convict.
Rating: 4 /10

Fünf Jahre Leben (2013)

	Also Known As: Kurnaz - Fünf Jahre Leben, Five years
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Stefan Schaller
	Actors: Sascha Alexander Gersak, Ben Miles
	Country: D
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 24.05.2013, Schauburg
Synopsis: How Murat Kurnaz ended up in Guantanamo Bay is a mysterious story. 5 YEARS investigates the psychological aspect of this endless and unjustified "imprisonment" where Kurnaz had to endure never ending physical and psychological torture.
Review: The story of Murat Kurnaz is a novel itself. Both his German life and his Guantanamo life. The movie describes a bit his daily life in Bremen before his travel to Pakistan to learn how to be a good Moslim. The movie does not show whether Kurnaz is guilty or not, but only let Kurnaz explain what he explained to his tortionary. This way the viewer is set at the place of the judge. The measures taken by the US agents do violate all international laws, daily. It does not matter whether this is done on innocent people or not so innocent ones. But inversely to other big torturers, like Videla, Pinochet, Garrastazu Médici and Mobutu, nobody blamed G. W. Bush nor prosecuted him legally. The inaction of the German government to free Kurnaz (German citizen) is barely mentioned to focus on the brutality of the USA philosophy. The scenery is focused on Gersak, who plays his role greatly. The scenery (few rooms only) is minimalist and this helps to focus on Gersak as well. Compared to Kathin Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty, The hurt locker), Stefan Schaller does not show any patriotism and result as justification for violence, but shows only humans as non-justification for violence.
Rating: 7 /10

Mary and Max (2009)

	Also Known As: Schrumpfen Schafe wenn es regnet?
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: Adam Elliot
	Actors: -
	Country: AUS
	Genre: Animation, Black comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 18.05.2013, DVD, French version
Synopsis: A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York.
Review: This is a very moving story, as this is the story of an overseas friendship, where the honesty of both protagonists is amazing. An 8-year old kid and a 44 year old person would never speak like Mary and Max write. The movie is in that sense a kind of anthem to friendship, showing the whole richness of it, from favourite words to love issues, from passion for chocolate to expectations for life. And the age does not matter for this. With a similar level of sensitivity, it reminds Little miss Sunshine, that was an anthem to family.  I saw this movie already in 2009 in original and the voices fit very well. The experienced voice of Philip Seymour Hoffman. The colours have been well selected, as this gives me really the impression of reflecting the mood of the characters.
Rating: 7 /10

The Hole (2009)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: Joe Dante (Gremlins, Small Soldiers)
	Actors:  Chris Massoglia, Haley Bennett (Kaboom), Nathan Gamble (The Mist, The Dark Knight)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Horror
	Conditions of visioning: 11.05.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Two kids move in a new town with their mother. With the neighbour girl, they discover a hole on the floor of their basement that seems bottomless.
Review: Another movie with / for kids and teenagers by the specialist of the genre: Joe Dante. Well at least he was some years ago. It is quite well done but there is really nothing new. One of the most interesting sequences is the final one that takes us inside an illustrated version of one of the kid's psyche. Some sequence can be scary if you watch alone at night, which was the case for me. It also makes a lot of difference if you are afraid of clowns or puppets. Like recently noticed on Dredd, the noise of the digital camera Red One is pretty obvious and bad on some dark shots. Not nice. It could be interesting to watch the 3D version.
Rating: 6 /10

Sons of Anarchy - Season 2 (2009)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2009
	Creator: Kurt Sutter
	Actors: Charlie Hunnam (Children of Men, Pacific Rim), Katey Sagal (Married with Children TV-series), Ron Perlman (Blade 2, Hellboy 1-2), Mark Boone Junior (Memento), Kim Coates (Black Hawk Down), Tommy Flanagan (Gladiator), Mitch Pileggi (The X-files TV-series)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama, Polar
	Conditions of visioning: May 2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: The day-to-day life of the motorcycle club and gang of outlaws known as the Sons of Anarchy in the small town of Charming, California. On top of having the solve the internal conflicts that arose in season one, the Sons now also have to confront the face of a new kind of foe in their home town.
Review: At the end of the first season I was wondering two things: how could the Sons stay united for long after what happened, and how could the creators of the Series keep the same level of tension and interest. Well, season two cleverly and succesfully  answered my questions. The story (including new characters) is at least as addictive as the one of the first season. The secondary characters of the gang (especially the ones played by Coates and Flanagan) are more developped and we learn more of their back-story. The hopes of Jax to follow in his father's footsteps continue to be expressed but have to be put aside at some point for a more important business. I was a bit dissapointed by the ending but it was still pretty good.
Rating: 7 /10

Populaire (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Régis Roinsard
	Actors: Romain Duris (Le Péril Jeune, L'Auberge Espagnole), Déborah François, Bérénice Bejo (Meilleur Espoir Féminin, The Artist)
	Country: F
	Genre: Comedy, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 06.05.2013, Air France in-flight entertainment system
Synopsis: A competitive young insurance broker (Duris) hires as secretary a girl from the countryside (François). Her typing skills will give him the idea to make her compete in a speed comtest.
Review: A nice comedy set in the 50's, maybe initiated after the success of The Artist (it is not the same period or style, but such nostalgic movies are now trendy). The characters are well played and the movie contains some funny situations. The best thing is that typing speed is shown as a real sport. The romance between the two main characters evolves in an interesting and rather original way.
Rating: 6 /10

The big wedding (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Justin Zackham
	Actors: Robert de Niro, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon,
	Country: USA
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 06.05.2013, Schauburg, OV sneak
Synopsis: A long-divorced couple is supposed to fake being married as their family unites for a wedding.
Review: The announced topic, from the right beginning of the movie, is the wedding, but very fast the to be married let place to the trio Robert de Niro, Diane Keaton and Susan Sarandon. As this plot is not really developped and in order to have a continuous flow of jokes, plenty of other stories are added and bring a mess in the relationships. Some of these could have been really good, if fully developped or shown. On top of it, there are plenty of well-known actors and plenty of interesting roles (the biological family of the groom Nuria, Madonna) that have been shown just a bit. At the end, you feel like in a fast food, where you do not have even time to eat. A pity when you have those good ingredients (stories and actors).
Rating: 4 /10

Iron man three (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Shane Black
	Actors: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce
	Country: USA, CN
	Genre: Action
	Conditions of visioning: 29.04.2013, Schauburg, OV sneak
Synopsis: When Tony Stark's world is torn apart by a formidable terrorist called the Mandarin, he starts an odyssey of rebuilding and retribution.
Review: The movie does not know exactly where to go. Some would-like-to-be-fun dialogues, some starts of political statements. Nevertheless, a couple of good stuff, like the Mandarin appearing like an islamist and being actually a British actor Spoiler (highlight to read). The action is overwhelming the screen but for what? The old story linked to the current story makes it a bit more personal, but the character of Robert Downey Jr. is still stuck in his Iron pants. I would only recommend for those who like action but with nothing else to propose. The 3D may also improve the action effects. And I saw it without 3D :/
Rating: 4 /10

Dredd (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Pete Travis (Vantage Point)
	Actors: Karl Urban (The Lord of the Rings 1-3, Star Trek), Lena Headey (300), Olivia Thirlby
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 09.05.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: In a post-apocalyptic future, Mega-City One holds 800 million citizens. Dredd (Urban) is one of the Judges (also jury and executioner) trying to keep order.
Review: Not a remake of the poor 1995 Judge Dredd with Sylvester Stallone, but a different movie inspired by the same comics book. I remember the 1995 movie to be not so good, but I liked the screenplay that threw Dredd in the desert so that he could better come back and kick some ass. The choice was made for this new Dredd to stay in the city, and in particular in one of its 75000 souls appartment complexes. Also the movie was kept simple and I would classify it as B-movie. This was probably a good idea. The story is also simple and inspired by video games (reaching the top floor of a gangster-infested building) but is well told, and what brings the movie apart are the crude violence and gore effects that I was not expecting. It is quite a blast. Unfortunately the movie lacks ambition and scale, that would be my main critic. The large scale visual effects (city, buildings) and the slow motions are cool, but the details are not perfect (slow motion bullets and blood spills). The darks are very noisy and show the limitation of the digital camera used. It might be interesting to watch the 3D version anyway.
Rating: 6 /10

The Last Stand (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Jee-woon Kim (A Bittersweet Life, The Good the Bad the Weird, I Saw the Devil)
	Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator), Forest Whitaker (Ghost Dog), Johnny Knoxville (Jackass, Men in Black 2)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action
	Conditions of visioning: 06.05.2012, Air France in-flight entertainement system
Synopsis: A druglord escapes and races towards the Mexican border. The sheriff of a border town (Schwarzenegger) will hold the last stand against him.
Review: The second movie of Schwarzy after eight years of political carrer and The Expendables 2. It is clearly formatted for him and tries to use the rules of the 80's movies, period at which the actor was at his top: bad guy with a superiority complex, good guy alone against all odds, action-packed scenes and a bunch of colorful characters/sidekicks. It feels good sometimes, and I particularly liked the pace at the beginning of the movie, slowly introducing the characters. I was able to go through the first inconsistency in the story, invoking the principle of suspension of disbelief, but as the movie goes on there are too many of them to be overlooked. The reactions of some characters are just wrong and let's face it, Arnie is not what he used to be, unlike Stallone that I still found fit in The Expendables. Also the character played by Knoxville and quite useless and is too obviously present to improve the comedy side. You can still spend a god time if you are nostaligic of this kind of 80's cinema, but it will not mark the memories.
Rating: 4 /10

Frankenweenie (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Tim Burton (Mars Attacks!)
	Actors (voices): Wynona Rider (Alien Resurrection), Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau (Ed Wood)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, Comedy, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 06.05.2012, Air France in-flight entertainement system
Synopsis: Little Victor Frankenstein is upset when his beloved dog dies. He will bring it back thanks to a scientific experiment with lightning.
Review: The full-feature length remake of a short by Tim Burton of the same name, dated 1984. I read that it was not really useful, and tend to agree. Are present the usual Burton characters of sad boy and gothic girl, and the plot is a good idea, but some scenes feel a bit stretched. The animation is nice and in spite of the black and white, it is less depressing than Corpse Bride. The kids characters and their reactions are not so funny, but I liked the behavior of the dog, quite touching.
Rating: 5 /10

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Rich Moore (some Simpsons and Futurama episodes)
	Actors (voices): John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 25.04.2013, Air France in-flight entertainment system
Synopsis: Ralph, the bad guy in a video game, would like to be appreciated more and become a good guy.
Review: I didn't expect much from this Disney movie, but it turned out to be closer to a Pixar movie. It calls to different levels of viewers, not only kids like usually in Disney productions, but also young adults and especially adults in their thirties that lived throught the dawn of video gaming.Indeed the references to classics like Pacman, Mario, Street Fighter or Sonic are numerous. I was even surprised that so many characters from concurrent companies could be gathered in a same movie. The spirit is between Toy Story for the nostalgic characters and their funny unknown behaviors (what happens when we don't look at them?, for example to the drunkard and exhibitionist Zangieff from Street Fighter), and The Incredibles for the more adult references. But beyond that, I found the movie a bit flat and rather predictible, except for some plot surprises. It is not always original and I had the feeling it was using some worn-out tricks to please the viewer. The deep voice of the main character Ralph sounds like the one of Seth Rogen seen in Zach and Miri make a Porn, but it is not him. I may watch the movie again in Blu-ray to catch more details and appreciate it more.
Rating: 6 /10

Symbol (2009)

	Also Known As: Shinboru
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: Hitoshi Matsumoto
	Actors: Hitoshi Matsumoto, Luis Accinelli
	Country: J
	Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 24.04.2013, DVD, OV
Synopsis: A man wakes up alone in a brightly illuminated white room with no windows or doors. When he presses a mysteriously phallic protuberance that appears on one wall, a pink toothbrush materializes from nowhere, clattering to the floor and setting in motion a genuinely bizarre chain of events. Soon the imprisoned man is engaged in absurd and hilarious attempts to escape the gleaming room, releasing random objects from the walls, creating a life sized mouse trap game in which a rope, a toilet plunger and an earthenware jug full of sushi might just be the keys to his escape. Meanwhile, in a dusty town, a green masked Mexican wrestler known as Escargot Man prepares for an important match. His family gathers around him, worried about his seeming impassivity before battle.
Review: The story is crazy and great! The balance between the story of Escargot Man and the story of the man pressing buttons is good. But as often in Japanese movies, some scenes of the second story are too long and Matsumoto is overplaying his character by screaming when it is not appropriate. The story is fantastically original. The scenery as well. But the acting of Matsumoto is really not appropriate and generates flaws when the rest is great. I should watch in another language than Japanese, maybe the translation saves the acting of Matsumoto.
Rating: 6 /10

Starlet (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Sean Baker
	Actors: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson
	Country: USA, GB
	Genre: Comedy, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 22.04.2013, Schauburg, OV sneak
Synopsis: An unlikely friendship forms between 21 year-old Jane and the elderly Sadie after Jane discovers a hidden stash of money inside an object at Sadie's yard sale.
Review: In the first part of the movie,I was not able to say how Janewas making her money. At least her roomates seem spinning between drugs and computer games. When she decides to make out of Sadie a friend, it is funny to see her tenacity facing the suspiscious old lady. But Jane seemed also not to make anything in her life. Her hope of a honest and better life goes all through her relationship with Sadie. The story is very touching,especially with the contrast between her daily life with the roomates and her honest and affectionate relationship with Sadie. The resistance of Sadie will be explained and this gives a happy end, with a touch of melancoly. The scenery is very home-made, sometimes a bit too bright or a bit too dark, but never aggressive nor excessively realistic. The rythm is a bit flat, I guess to reflect the boring life of Jane. Quite nice movie, promising for the director and the Dree Hemingway.
Rating: 6 /10

The broken circle (2012)

	Also Known As: The broken circle breakdown
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Felix van Groeningen
	Actors: Veerle Baetens, Johan Heldenbergh
	Country: NL
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 25.03.2013, Schauburg, OV
Synopsis: Elise and Didier fall in love at first sight, in spite of their differences. He talks, she listens. He's a romantic atheist, she's a religious realist. When their daughter becomes seriously ill, their love is put on trial.
Review: The movie has a very good music, even if I am not a fan of this bluegrass/country stuff. This shows and enhances passion, rythm, love. The passion that rises in the couple is beautiful to watch, even if they do not speak much. The love to their daughter is shown actually as a secondary story, and therefore I did not feel involved in the illness of the daughter but more in the fall of this relationship. The music and the concerts have actually such a big role in the movie, that the rest appears secondary as well.
Rating: 6 /10

Polytechnique (2009)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: Denis Villeneuve
	Actors: Maxim Gaudette, Sébastien Huberdeau, Karine Vanasse
	Country: CND
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 22.03.2013, City46, OV
Synopsis: A dramatization of the Montreal Massacre of 1989 where several female engineering students were murdered by an unstable misogynist.
Review: After Elephant it is not easy to make a movie about mass killing at school. Well, here it is a university. This time, the drama is shown from the perspective of the killer and of several victims. The movie is more focused on how these people feel and their experience and the very short term consequences. The movie is very impressive and the playing very convincing, in particular Sébastien Huberdeau. There is also a small focus on the misogynism, without explaination how this came. The movie shows the fact that women are more successful in the studies and that for plenty of reasons: loveliness, goal-orientation, women should be valued.
Rating: 7 /10

The best offer (2013)

	Also Known As: La migliore offerta
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Guiseppe Tornatore
	Actors: Geoffrey Rush, Sylvia Hoeks, Donald Sutherland
	Country: I
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 18.03.2013, Schauburg
Synopsis: An eccentric art auctioneer, obsessed by pictures of women, gets involved in a Amour courtois story, in which he is a bit lost.
Review: A bit like in The Spanish prisoner, the auctioneer as the viewer is brought slowly into a betrayal story. The movie makes the characters appear quite attaching. We feel compassion for them also. All this with a simple scenery but a very fine story, with plenty of details that end to be critical and plenty of magnificent master pieces, that make the story speak even more to the heart. The acting of Geoffrey Rush is also great.
Rating: 6 /10

Jackie Brown (1997)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1997
	Director: Quentin Tarantino
	Actors: Pam Grier, Samuel Jackson, Robert Forster
	Country: USA
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 14.03.2013, DVD
Synopsis: A female flight attendant becomes a key figure in a plot between the police and an arms dealer.
Review: I have been really disappointed by this movie. I expected something à la Tarentino, with good music, cool scenes and dialogues, because many friends talking good about it. And finally, nothing of this all. The basic story is good but the acting and the directing were lacking of rythm. I did not fell asleep, but I was not so far. Or maybe it was a bad day.
Rating: 3 /10