Best of cinema by Mad Movies. Part 3: 2006-2008

Every year my favorite magazine for action/horror/thriller/SF (Mad Movies) publishes the list of the best movies of the previous year (and the worst ones), according to its editors and an average for the whole magazine team.
I have gathered them for your here with a few comments. Enjoy!
All parts of this article can be found under this link.

Die Another Day (2002)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2002
	Director: Lee Tamahori (Once Were Warriors, xXx: State of the Union)
	Actors: Pierce Brosnan (Dante's Peak, Mars Attacks!), Halle Berry (Catwoman, X-men 1-3), Toby Stephens (Severance), Rosamund Pike (Doom, Fracture, Surrogates)
	Country: USA, GB
	Genre: Action
	Conditions of visioning: 30.07.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: James Bond (Brosnan) is captured during a mission in North Korea. At his return he will hunt the people who betrayed him.
Review: The little I remembered from this movie is the ice palace being destroyed by a satellite reflecting the sunlight, and it is the main reason why I wanted to see it again in Blu-ray! The HD image quality is good but not exceptionnal, but it turns out to be enough as the special effects are a bit poorly done. The action scenes are anyway a lot of fun. The movie is quite a classic Bond because of the storyline, the way 007 speaks, the jokes, the two Bond-girls, the Martinis. It is even ridiculous at times (like the minute of dialog he needs to talk the character of Hale Berry into his bed) but you accept it as part of the myth. Because of the scene I mentionned and a few others, because of the ambition of the bad guy and of the gadgets more high-tech than usual, Die Another Day brings some megalomania in the series and is for me to the Pierce Brosnan period what Moonraker was to the Roger Moore period. It is interesting that the movie includes bad guys from North Korea, which was not yet the trend at that period.
Rating: 6 /10

Star Trek I: The Motion Picture (1979)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1979
	Director: Robert Wise (The Sound of Music, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Sand Pebbles)
	Actors: William Shatner (Loaded Weapon 1, Airplane 2), Leonard Nimoy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Transformers 3 Dark of the Moon), DeForest Kelley
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 25.07.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: While an unknown and enormous force approaches Earth, captain Kirk (Shatner) and his crew man an improved version of the ship Enterprise.
Review: After watching and appreciating the new Star Trek movies by J. J. Abrams, I wanted to learn more about this Universe. I never watched a full episode of the TV-series and have seen only Star Trek VIII: First Contact years ago, so I decided to acquire the Blu-ray box-set of the first ten movies. I was very surprised with this first motion picture based on the characters created by Gene Roddenberry. First because of its director Robert Wise known for many classic Hollywood movies. Well, he knew Science-Fiction since he directed The Day the Earth Stood Still, an inspiration for many people. I guess it is his personnal touch to start the movie with a black screen and three minutes of classical music. Very nice music and very well encoded in this Blu-ray edition. I was not surprised by the many optical special effects which defects are clearly visible in HD, but which were at the top of what was done at the time. Douglas Trumbull (Silent Running) was responsible for them. I was rather surprised by the story, and the slow rythm at which it is told: no spaceships attacks, photon torpedos, fights with hand-held phasers etc... but a good five minutes spent rotating around the Enterprise and admiring it at the sound of orchestral music, and later on fifteen minutes of the same show around the alien ship. The characters speak little but we get their complex relationship even if not familiar with the TV-series. In this sense the movie is not an adventure but more pure (realistic) Science-Fiction, closer to 2001: A Space Odyssey than to Star Wars. My third surprise was to notice how much the actors in the J. J. Abrams Star Trek movies are mimicking the actors in the original movies, for the best effect! You can recognize similar gesture and language ticks in both Kirks, both Spocks, both Scottys, both MacCoys. Only by watching the original can you realize how good a job the new actors did. I guess the later movies produced in the 80's and 90's are more following an SF/Action story, but I am looking forward to watching them anyway, and I may be surprised again.
Rating: 8 /10

Pacific Rim (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Guillermo Del Toro (Mimic, Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy 1-2)
	Actors: Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy TV-series), Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Ron Perlman (Hellboy 1-2)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 23.07.2013, CINEMA theater, 3D
Synopsis: A portal through dimensions opened at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and is releasing giant monsters (=Kaiju) at an increasing frequency. Humanity built giant robots (=Jaeger) to fight them, with the help of gifted pilots like Raleigh Becket (Hunnam).
Review: I have been expecting this movie since I saw the first trailer last year and commented about it in an article. I like Del Toro's previous work although I find he has difficulties mixing the action and the poesy he would like to insert in his Hollywood movies. One thing is clear: the fights between robots and monsters that occupy half of the movie are awesome. I couldn't help exclaiming my enthousiam when a three-armed Jaeger fights an acid-spitting Kaiju the size of a skycraper, and ten other times! I heard criticism that most of those scenes take place at night under the rain, but it didn't disturb me too much as they are well choregraphed and fluid. As big fan of the genre, it looks like Del Toro took all the best from the Japanese Kaiju Eiga movies to create the best live version to date. The most noticeable recent attemps were the 2000 American Godzilla (without robots) and the 2004 Japanese Godzilla: Final Wars which had everything, was a lot of fun but which quality is not match with Pacific Rim. I am pretty sure that following the sucess of this movie, Del Toro will get the green light to adapt Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, and that more Kaiju Eiga will be produced by Hollywood. Now besides the successful rendering of the fights, the weak part of the movie is the story and the dialogs. It is all (too) classical at the beginning (the rebel genius pilot who lost family, comes back to save the world...) but it looks like after half of the movie, Del Toro gave up trying to insert poetry, and just used the worst clichés to fill in the blanks between the battles. The main characters are all charicatural and don't match with the sense of reality that the movie tries to give. Quite a performance: in this movie the giants monsters feel real but the human don't! I was looking forward to see Charlie Hunnam playing, as I knew him only from the Sons of Anarchy TV-series. He is not playing a military type but a sort of rebel, so he didn't have to change his act much and I can't tell that he is a good actor yet. Ron Perlman is true to himself and is clearly a reference character. So the movie deserves 10/10 for the Kaiju fights, but only 5/10 for the dialogs/actors. I pushed the average up to 8/10 but I can't seriously put more, unfortunately.
Rating: 8 /10

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: Gavin Hood (Ender's Game)
	Actors: Hugh Jackman (The Fountain, The Prestige), Liev Schreiber (Scream 1-2, Sphere), Danny Huston
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 23.07.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: The origins of Logan (Jackman) and his brother Victor (Schreiber), what they went through together and what will make them meet again in the 70's.
Review: After seeing three times and being excited by the trailer of the upcoming The Wolverine, I wanted to watch again this first spin-off to the X-men franchise in order to have a fresh memory of the character's background, and because I couldn't remember if the movie was any good.  My overall feeling is that it is not as bad as the critics said. I rather found that it was a quite intense story and that it made a perfect link with the X-men trilogy. The whole background story with his brother is interesting, and wonderfully told throughout the opening credits. Liev Schreiber makes a believable brother for Logan and I loved his deep voice, perfectly matching the character. I am very much looking forward to The Wolverine that I will go to see as soon as possible.
Rating: 6 /10

Only god forgives (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
	Actors: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm
	Country: F, USA, T
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 21.07.2013, Schauburg, OV premiere
Synopsis: Julian, a drug-smuggler thriving in Bangkok's criminal underworld, sees his life get even more complicated when his mother compels him to find and kill whoever is responsible for his brother's recent death.
Review: The story involves a set of crazy individuals, both brothers, the mother, the policemen. Their violence is damped by the music and by the contrast with the relatively slow and quite image. The image is in its large majority in three colours: red, blue and black, that may have several symbolism pending on the viewer. And this is the force of this movie. Like after a David Lynch movie, this movie gives enough indices and is kept open enough and mysterious to let plenty of possible interpretations. Whether the story deals with an adult saying "no" to his controlling mother, or with a relaxed Thai Dirty Harry; whether the colours depict anger, calm and unknown or inner peace and outer excitement. As in its previous movie, Drive, the music gives another dimension to the pictures. This time it is done by a Scandinavian team and the music reminds Sigur Ros. Great!  The only weakness to me is the acting of Ryan Gosling, being very emotionless, what could fit well to the policeman role, but less for the son. Kristin Scott-Thomas acts well.
Rating: 8 /10

The Great Escape (1963)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1963
	Director: John Sturges (The Magnificent Seven)
	Actors: Steve McQueen (Sand Pebbles, Le Mans, Bullit), James Garner (Space Cowboys), Richard Attenborough (Jurassik Park 1-2), Charles Bronson (Once Upon a Time in the West), James Coburn (Cross of Iron), Donald Pleasance (Halloween)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Adventure, War
	Conditions of visioning: 18.07.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Prisoner of War British officers arrive in a new camp in Germany and start to plan for escape.
Review: I have seen the movie many time on TV with my father when I was young and never since. I was looking forward to this first Blu-ray release and I enjoyed a lot watching it again, although the HD image quality was not what one could expect for such a classic. I have read on internet that everybody noticed it: the colors are improved compared to previous DVD editions but the resolution only barely. The actor's faces in close-up are OK but no more, and the Bavarian landscapes towards the end are not shown to their best, especially compared to other movies of the same period like Where Eagles Dare (1968) or The Sound of Music (1965). The soundtrack however is crystal clear, and you surprise youself whistling the main theme, as you may have done when watching The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), another movie of that time which looks splendid in Blu-ray. The action takes place during war time but it is more a gathering of great actors playing those prisoners who find any way to outsmart their jailers and escape the camp. There dedication and organization makes the movie feel like a comedy sometimes. In this sense it is even questionnable whether the prisoner camps were so comfortable during WWII (the movie does depict a true story). The last hour of the movie brings you back to reality. Many promising bonuses on the Blu-ray disk will probably tell me how much of the story actually happened. In a nutshell, the story is funny and shows another side of war (even if in a fictionnal way), all the actors are brillant, but another Blu-ray edition is required to fully enjoy this movie.
Rating: 8 /10

Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2001
	Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Un Long Dimanche de Fiançailles, Alien Resurrection)
	Actors: Audrey Tautou (Un Long Dimanche de Fiançailles, La Délicatesse), Mathieu Kassovitz (Amen), Rufus
	Country: F
	Genre: Comedy, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 24.03.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Amélie (Tautou) is a lonely girl living in beautiful Paris. She dreams of Love.
Review: It is difficult to review this movie. I have seen it many many times and it does not affect me now as it did in the first years, when I was watching it in Germany and longing for France. I see that it has aged a little, the sepia colors don't look so good on Blu-ray, and especially parts of it have been copied in other movies, from the same director (Micmacs à tire-larigot) or from others (La Délicatesse). But I still see its qualities: the original screenplay, a nice story about helping others, the narrator's voice-over, the small habits of Amélie that make you smile, her manipulations, the relationhip with her father, simple characters, the romance, the idyllic vision of Paris (no wonder the Asiatic tourists need psychotherapy when they arrive to the real Paris after watching this movie!), the beautiful music by Yann Tiersen, the childhood trauma and at the same time the part of child remaining in an adult. Definitely a masterpiece of French cinema.
Rating: 9 /10

Conan the Destroyer (1984)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1984
	Director: Richard Fleischer (Tora! Tora! Tora!, 20000 Leagues under the Sea, Fantastic Voyage, Soylent Green, Red Sonja)
	Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator, Predator, The Last Stand), Grace Jones (007: A View to Kill), Wilt Chamberlain, Mako (Rising Sun)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 16.07.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Queen Taramis convinces Conan (Schwarzenegger) to escort her niece to retreive a key from a sorcerer.
Review: I am a big fan of the movie Conan the Barbarian: the story, the direction by John Milius and the score by Basil Poledouris. I even bought it twice on Blu-ray because the first one had a scene censored! I read in Arnold Schwarzenegger autobiography (reviewed here) and heard in the Conan the Barbarian making-of that this sequel was weak, done in a hurry, and with much less violence than the original so that a wider audience could attend. I didn't have much memory of the movie, but now after watching it in the best conditions, I disagree with that statement: I found it not too bad, violent enough and much better than Red Sonja in which Arnold Schwarzenegger was tricked to play. Basil Poledouris is still composing on Conan the Destroyer, he reused many songs of the first movie but with a faster tempo (not really useful) but also created a few more excellent pieces. I enjoyed a lot the shooting of landscapes and the overall framing of the movie: you always have something beautiful in the background and interesting elements in all corners of the image. I do not know if this is the work of cinematographer Jack Cardiff or director Richard Fleischer who had delivered many classics already. The movie was actually shot in Mexico, close to Samalayuca where Lynch's Dune was also shot, and near the Nevado de Tolca volcano, which looks amazing. Grace Jones has a quite discreet role but plays well the strong-willed woman, Amazon-style, and has a stunnig sleak panther body. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays better than in the first movie, it looks like he had time to perfect his acting. Thief and archer Sobutai was replaced by the more comic character / sidekick Malak. Really quite satisfying after all the bad I heard about it, and one of the few Heroic Fantasy worth mentionning.
Rating: 7 /10

Uchū no Senshi: Starship Troopers (1988)

	Also Known As: Starship Troopers OVA
	Year of first release: 1988
	Director: Tetsurô Animo (two episodes of the City Hunter TV-series)
	Actors (voices): Yasunori Matsumoto, Shûichi Ikeda, Kazuhiko Inoue
	Country: J
	Genre: Animation, SF
	Conditions of visioning: June 2013, SD Laserdisk rip, 4" Smartphone & Home cinema.
Synopsis: Young Johnny Rico enlists in the army of the Federation and start his training, while an alien race slowly enters to war with humans.
Review: I learned about this series when writing a post on the Starship Troopers saga. I really wanted to see what it was about so that I even started to watch it on Youtube in Japanese with Portuguese subtitles! Fortunately I could rapidely find the six episodes with English subtitles. The series is said to be the closest to the original book (I have now started to read it again to forge my own opinion on this) and this may be true or maybe it is said so because the series feature the armored suits. Actually I found that the series ressembles in many aspects the Starship Troopers film by Paul Verhoeven, I wonder if he got some inspiration from it. The series start with introduction of the characters and the background love story between Rico and Carmen. Then they enlist and Rico starts training on the Moon. After that, some aliens land on Earth while Rico is training on Mars and makes his first contact with the ennemy. Back to Earth, he learns his mother died in the attack, Carmen's ship has been destroyed and he brings the fight to another alien planet. The series abruptly end after six episodes, maybe because it didn't meet the expected success. Indeed I found that the drawings were not too sexy (Carmen looks like an old lady!) and the music is often cheesy and only sometimes a bit more rock. The behavior of the young soldiers is irrational: they always freeze to think, while in the book they were always "on the bounce". The design of the armored suits is quite nice, but rather standart for Japanese animes of that period. The one thing I liked in the series is the design of the aliens. They are not humanoid and not looking like bugs as we know them, but look rather like some pink blobs, sometimes growing beaks from which they throw lethal balls of energy. The Federation itself confesses that they don't know what the ennemies are or want.
Rating: 4 /10

Gloria (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Sebastían Lelio
	Actors: Paulina García, Sergio Hernández
	Country: RCH
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 15.07.2013, Schauburg, OV Sneak preview
Synopsis: Gloria, a free-spirited woman in the mid 50s, lives the realities of her whirlwind relationship with a former naval officer whom she meets out in clubs.
Review: Gloria and many other characters are depicted with children, some of them divorced, so that this story could also be placed in a European city. As picture of the modernity, the children do not care much about the parents, and inform them barely about their lives. So that the life of Gloria is switching from work to parties in a sweet and dramatic loneliness. Some sex scenes with quite old people, this is quite rare. Globally, the story is a bit slow and reminds therefore Straight story, by David Lynch. Where Lynch filled the space with music, Lelio fills it with the smile of Gloria and her singing shortly some songs. Both actors are making it great and give some impulses to the storyline. The movie was not so bad, but the pace may be boring for many.
Rating: 5 /10

Los amantes pasajeros (2013)

	Also Known As: I'm so excited, Fliegende Liebende
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Pedro Almodovar
	Actors: Javier Cámara, Carlos Areces, Raúl Arévalo
	Country: E
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 01.07.2013, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview
Synopsis: A technical failure has endangered the lives of the people on board Peninsula Flight 2549. The pilots are striving, along with their colleagues in the Control Center, to find a solution. The flight attendants and the chief steward are atypical, baroque characters who, in the face of danger, try to forget their own personal problems and devote themselves body and soul to the task of making the flight as enjoyable as possible for the passengers, while they wait for a solution. Life in the clouds is as complicated as it is at ground level, and for the same reasons, which could be summarized in two: sex and death.
Review: The movie is funny. The colours (green, pink) through the windows are well done and balances the image composition, even if it feels like not being in a plane. The story is funny and is mixing well stories on ground and in plane. But it is just a bit funny. One scene might be remembered, it is the song "I'm so excited!" sung by the gay stewards. Also a bit funny, is the mix of people that is at sometime any type of sex here and there.
Rating: 5 /10

Antarctic Journal (2005)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2005
	Director: Pil-Sung Yim (Doomsday Book)
	Actors: Kang-ho Song (The Host, Memories of Murder), Ji-tae Yu (Oldboy), Hee-soon Park
	Country: ROK
	Genre: Adventure, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 15.07.2013, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: A team of Korean explorers are on their way to the southern inaccessibility pole, the furthest point from any coastline in Antarctica (see its interesting story on the Wikipedia page). They find the journal of a British expedition from 1922 and then start to experience stange events.
Review: I have had this DVD for years on my shelf, I bought it in France because at that time it was only available there. It was supposed to be a kind of korean The Thing, quite original at that time, and starring the excellent actor Kang-ho Song. The approach to Antarctica in this movie is actually very different from the one of John Carpenter's 1980 classic. Here we focus more on the psychology of a group of men crossing the harshest environment on Earth with no shelter and nothing else than what they have on their sledge. Technology has evolved and they have radio, GPS and Emergency beacons, but such an adventure is still as hard as it was in the 1920's. The constant parallel with the 1922 expedition is a reminder of that. The feeling of isolation is very well rendered I found and the viewer doesn't get scared because some monster is jumping at the screen, but because he fears for the explorers to get lost in the middle of the vast White continent. This reminded me of an article I have recently read in the magazine National Geograpic, relating an Austalian polar expedition at the beginnig of the 20th century. The second half of the movie is unfortunately too long and over-explained like often in Asian movies.
Rating: 6 /10

Game of Thrones - Season 1 (2011)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2011
	Creators: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss
	Actors: Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey (300, Dredd), Maisie Williams, Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings 1-3, Cleanskin), James Cosmo (Sons of Anarchy TV-series), Jason Momoa (Conan)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: June 2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: The power struggles around the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, while the long Winter is coming.
Review: So many people are talking about this series, I had to start watching it before being too many seasons late. The universe created by the book writer George Martin is indeed very rich, a movie adaptation would have had to cut many characters and storlines but the main one. It is fortunate that the american TV network HBO decided to allocate a lot of money to make it a high quality TV-series. As counterpart, there are only ten episodes of 52 minutes per season, but especially in that case quality prevails over quantity. The TV-series format allows taking the time to introduce all characters and let us know each one of them, and their relationship with one another. On the other hand, the comfortable budget is particulary visible in the sets and in the special effects, both of same quality as a feature film. Shooting in exterior or in large sets is a luxury, but makes you feel like you are in a real world and not in a small room like you often feel when watching TV-series. About the story, I liked the mixture of middle-ages and Fantasy and it is well done so I guess it attracted viewers with both preferences. We get to understand the motivation of each character. The stoy takes place in different locations in this imaginary world and alternates between dialogs, fight scenes, struggle for power, background history... The actors are playing very well. Lena Headey plays an intelligent queen like in 300, but a pervert one this time, thirsty for power. I was not looking forward to see Sean Bean play again the tormented knight (like in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Black Death) but here he does it again, even better than usual, and we feel that he is trapped in his sense of honor that makes him unfit in the higher society he is living in at some point. Peter Dinklage (a small person) is great and brings humour to the series although he is not a buffon at all. Jason Momoa plays the perfect barbarian and I understand why he was casted for the remake of Conan, unfortunately his act was completely wrong in that movie. The children of Sean Bean's character are also well played, as do other young characters in the series. As mentionned above, special effects are of high quality. I noticed it especially during episode 8, at the crossing of a magnificent bridge, and during the episodes when The Red Keep in the town of King's Landing is shown, but in every episode the already good-looking sets are extended with CGIs to show larger buildings and areas. I found it a good idea to show in the opening credits a map of the world and focussing on the area where action will occur during this episode. This reminds a lot of any Fantasy novel that always starts with a map. I watched a few of the bonuses present in the Blu-ray set. The 30-minutes making-of is pretty interesting and deals with all espects of the series from adaptation from the book to casting, special effects, costumes... The short documentary about the book is redundant with the making-of. The episode 6 (sold as the turning point in the first season) is presented in a mode called "Anatomy of an episode", which is better than a commentary because not only the director, cast and crew speak while you watch the episode, but it is also interrupted by pieces of interview, behind-the-scenes footage, and other making-of elements. Very interesting. The main thing that bothered me (little spoiler, highlight to read) is that the battles in episode 10 are not shown. They found a clever trick to avoid showing the first (The Imp gets knocked out and we awake at the same time as him) but the second is simply skipped. I know it costs a lot to show this kind of battle, but it would have ended the first season in an even greater way.
Rating: 7 /10

Avatar (2009)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: James Cameron (The Terminator 1&2, Titanic)
	Actors: Sam Worthington (Rogue, Terminator Salvation), Zoe Saldana (Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness), Sigourney Weaver (Alien 1-4, Ghostbusters)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 01.02.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Mining operations on the moon Pandora are generating conflicts with the indigenous population. A program called Avatar has created human-aliens hybrids, remotely controlled by humans. One of them, paraplegic former marine (Worthington), will change the game.
Review:  It is not easy to review the most succesful movie of all times, it has been a draft on this blog since February! I went to see it twice in the cinema to enjoy the immersive 3D. I was impressed by the movie, but maybe not to the point to understand its massive worldwide success. Maybe it is the SF movie people have been waiting for a long time (since Matrix?) and maybe the best space opera since Star Wars! James Cameron has a huge talent for telling such stories, and as a former engineer he is able to involve the viewer in a world realistic in all aspects. I wrote in my review of the Adventure of  Tintin that I was impressed by the photorealistic images, but actually the images of Avatar were already striking five years before! The topic of the movie is very actual: a global and greedy company looking for precious ressources to satisfy an overpopulated planet Earth. The movie was criticized for its simplistic story (basically cowboys and indians in space) but James Cameron tells this story with perfect direction and timing, making it an instant classic. Sometimes it seems like movie don't need to be extremely original to please the public, but just to be told with sincerity. I thought the same about the French comedy Bienvenue chez les Chti's. It may not have deserved to be the most successful French movie of all times, but this simple comedy well told was just what the public needed at that time. I made another comparison of Avatar with the movie Total Recall (1990) in this review. Avatar is clearly a masterpiece of Science Fiction. James Cameron has planned to take eight years to deliver the two sequels.
Rating: 9 /10

Julia's Eyes (2010)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2010
	Director: Guillem Morales
	Actors: Belén Rueda (The Orphanage), Lluís Homar (Eva), Pablo Derqui
	Country: E
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 14.07.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Julia (Rueda) has a degenerative eye disease. Her sister who suffered the same disease became blind and suddently commited suicide. Julia starts to investigate while her condition deteriorates and her husband Isaac (Homar) wants her to move forward.
Review: The most terrifying in this Guillermo Del Toro production is to identify yourself to the main character losing her sight, and the question in background of what would you do if you lost one sense? Would you accept it or not? The subjective view through her eyes progressively filled with dark patches is an easy trick to make the viewer feel involved. Another nice trick is not to show the face of people surrounding the main character when she becomes blind. This gives a good feeling of not knowing what is around. The story slowly reveales itself, some unexpected turns keep the movie interesting until the second half that I found too long. My final rating is an average beteen 5/10 for the story and 7/10 for the direction.
Rating: 6 /10

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2008
	Director: Guillermo Del Toro (Cronos, Mimic, Blade 2, Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy, Pacific Rim)
	Actors: Ron Perlman (Blade 2, Sons of Anarchy TV-series, Pacific Rim), Selma Blair (The Fog), Doug Jones (Men in Black 2, Doom)
	Country: D, USA
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 12.07.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: While Red (Perlman) struggles in his couple life with Liz (Blair) and would like to reveal himself to the world, Prince Nuala of Bethmoora intends to awake the mechanical Golden Army to fight humans.
Review: After reading exciting reviews and interviews about Pacific Rim (I can't wait to watch that one!), I was attracted to watch again other Guillermo Del Toro movies, like this Hellboy 2 which was his biggest movie to date (in terms of cost and visual show). The first Hellboy was a bit dissapointing as it lacked ambition. Although the second movie has a much larger scale, it misses some bigger-than-life action, it is rather intimistic and this may be the trademark of Del Toro. It makes the movie touching but the poesy may sometimes be too much, and leaves the viewer with a feeling of something missing. Apart from that the movie is very good, the story interesting, the mythology very creative like always with Del Toro, the Troll Market is filled with creatures of fantastic design and shapes, so much that you would like to replay the scenes many time to catch all the details. And the CGIs are perfect. The humor fits the odd character of the half-demon. I read that many people are lobbying to get Hellboy 3 on tracks.
Rating: 7 /10