Un papillon sur l'épaule (1978)

	Also Known As: Mord in Barcelona
	Year of first release: 1978
	Director: Jacques Deray
	Actors: Lino Ventura, Nicole Garcia
	Country: F
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 29.11.2013, DVD
Synopsis: Roland Fériaud checks in in a hotel in Barcelona. From the neighbour room, he hears groans and has a look just to help. Then he is knocked out and involved in a story he does not understand and in which everyone is looking after a suit case.
Review: The storyline is quite good and reminds a lot North by Northwest by Hitchcock. The dialogues and the directing/cut do not help in creating the suspense as these are rather boring or slow down the key scenes. The acting is correct although this kind of story could have taken different aspects of the high qualities of Lino Ventura and increase the suspense. The camera position is well thought and takes the low creativity of the directing upwards. I am a really disappointed by the pack of Lino Ventura DVDs that I bought last month. I did not know these movies, but I remebered very good ones, Touchez pas au grisbi, Un taxi pour Tobrouk, L'armée des ombres, etc. I wanted to share a bit about these Films noirs that I looked at as a child.
Rating: 4 /10

Enough said (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Nicole Holofcener
	Actors: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, James Gandgolfini, Catherine Keener
	Country: USA
	Genre: Romance, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 18.11.2013, Schauburg, OV sneak preview
Synopsis: A divorced and single parent, Eva spends her days enjoying work as a masseuse but dreading her daughter's impending departure for college. She meets Albert  - a sweet, funny and like-minded man also facing an empty nest. As their romance quickly blossoms, Eva befriends Marianne, a new massage client. Marianne is a beautiful poet who seems "almost perfect" except for one prominent quality: she rags on her ex-husband. Suddenly, Eva finds herself doubting her own relationship with Albert as she learns the truth about Marianne's ex.
Review: The story starts fine, showing middle-class people behaving quite realistically in a party. Then I had the impression of seing lots of characters behaving and talking with the same distance to humans, to humanity and to feelings as Meursault, the character of L'étranger (The stranger) by Albert Camus. But instead of putting this as topic of the movie, the movie takes only the pseudo-romance as story, and even has a pathetic happy end. The acting of the actors was quite good but their roles were not interesting (to me). This movie is not for me.
Rating: 2 /10

Berberian Sound Studio (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Peter Strickland
	Actors: Toby Jones (Captain America 1-2), Antonio Mancino, Guido Adorni
	Country: GB
	Genre: Drama, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 19.11.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Gilderoy (Jones), a shy British movie sound editor (or Foley) arrives in Italy after being hired to edit the soundtrack of the Giallo movie entitled The Equestrian Vortex.
Review: This movie met quite a sixes at the festivals around the world (and especially in Europe) in 2012. I think to remember it described as a kind of Giallo, so wanted to see it as part of my discovery of the new movies in this genre (like Amer, Masks, Tulpa...). It has some characteristics of the Giallo: extreme close-ups, importance of the sounds, insects, putrefaction, witches, the setting in Italy, leather... but there is not one single murder in this movie! The viewer actually spends a lot of time watching people creating the soundtrack of a Giallo, from which we never see a single shot (only the opening credits). This is what is fascinating in this movie: we hear the crude description of brutal scenes, hear them being dubbed, but never see them so that we have to imagine everyting. What happens actually is that the "hero" Gilderoy is so perturbed by those scenes (and the foreign team and location) that he starts to loose his grasp on reality and almost becomes part of a movie. At that point the Berberian Sound Studio started to become too conceptual for my taste. But until then I loved the way the film was shot and especially edited. I though at the beginning that the editing was confused because of the seamless transitions between the recording studio and the apartment of Gilderoy, but then I understood this confusion is intentional. That you like or not the turn the movie takes, I think it deserves to be seen. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that Toby Jones is EXCELLENT! Below you will find some additional posters for the movie that I find all interesting (there are more here).
Rating: 7 /10

Shrek 4: Forever After (2010)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2010
	Director: Mike Mitchell (Sky High)
	Actors (voices): Mike Myers (Austin Powers 1-3), Cameron Diaz (Charlie's Angels 1-2), Eddie Murphy (Beverly Hills Cop 1-3)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, Fantasy, Comedy, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 17.11.2013, SD VOD, Hone cinema, French version
Synopsis: Married, father of three, not anymore feared by the villagers, Shrek (Myers) regrets his old life. An evil magician will give it back to him for one day, but what a day...
Review: I have never been a big fan of Shrek, not even from the first movie. I usually find it OK to watch those movies, but I don't burst into laughter at the "make fun of Disney" spirit which is supposed to be the trademark of the franchise. This fourth movie is at the level of the others, maybe better than the second and third. The character of Shrek has evolved and this whole movie is a reflection on the benefits of living a single life vs. having a family with children. It is not very subtle but fits with the characters. As usual I didn't laugh much at the Pinnochio, Donkey or three pigs jokes, but just appreciated watching the story unravel.
Rating: 6 /10

The Proposal (2009)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: Anne Fletcher (Step Up)
	Actors: Sandra Bullock (Speed, Gravity), Ryan Reynolds (Blade 3, Buried), Mary Steenburgen (Back to the Future 3), Craig T. Nelson (Poltergeist, The Incredibles), Malin Akerman (Watchmen)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Romance, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 15.11.2013, SD VOD, Home cinema, French version.
Synopsis: Margaret Tate (Bullock) is chief editor in a publishing company. She is the best at what she is doing and tortures her assistant (Reynolds). When she faces expulsion from the country, she has no other  choice but to get married.
Review: I don't usually watch romantic comedies but I saw the trailer of this one and thought: why not? The odd duo Bullock/Raynolds is funny to watch and even though many of the most funny situations are already shown in the trailer, the movie is still pleasant to watch. It is not great movie making, but a nice light comedy. For example why do the characters always have to speak their thoughts even when alone? I guess this is not the movie genre in which you want to let the viewer appreciate the set, the scenes and decides what he likes or not. It looks like everything is guided towards the next comic situation. During many scenes the set around he actors looked obviously fake not only inside houses but also when you look through the window, or the proposal scene in a fake street of New York. Apart from that, the actors are good. A special mention to Mary Steenburgen (the school teacher Clara Clayton in Back to the Future III) that plays very naturally.
Rating: 6 /10

The Man on the Roof (1976)

	Also Known As: Mannen på taket (original), Un Flic sur le Toit (French)
	Year of first release: 1976
	Director: Bo Widerberg
	Actors: Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt, Sven Wollter, Thomas Hellberg
	Country: S
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 13.11.2013, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: A police commissioner is violently killed in a hospital. Inspector Berg (Lindstedt) investigates and discovers that the deceased was not a perfect cop.
Review: I usually love the cinema from the 70's and this Swedish polar is no exception. The story is told with an incredible realism, especially the investigation that shows the police officers as human beings. When they discuss about the case it sounds like a realistic discussion. I liked that after a night without sleep because of discovering the murder, they keep on investigating and when they reach a dead-end, two of them discuss: "Normally it would be time for us to go home, but if we keep on pushing a little we may raise a hare". And they go on, although they are evidently extremely tired. I also found the movie to be extremely well photographed, often with a very shallow depth of field centred on the characters faces, probably the work of director Bo Widerberg. I don't like too much the title of the movie, I feel that it spoils a bit the ending and focuses on the action which is not the heart of the story. I rather liked the original title from the novel: "The Abominable Man from Säffle", but I leaned by watching the documentary that this title was found to be not suited for a movie. The French DVD edition is remarkable. The image quality is as good as DVD can give and I had no problem watching it on my largest Home cinema screen as if it were a Blu-ray. The DVD is accompanied by a booklet in which are reproduced two articles from Pierre Charrel, a nordic polar specialist. The first article (that I could find on this website, in french only) provides an analysis of the movie and of the political context in which it was produced. The second article (I also managed to find it on this website, in french only) focuses on the heroes of the original novel series. The DVD also proposes a documentary entitled Med sikte på realism (The realism in sight) by Ronny Svensson and Markus Strömqvist, filled with interviews of people who were involved in the movie making at the time, and who describe the chaotic work of Bo Winderberg. All of this was fascinating. I would almost be tempted to watch other of his movies, but unfortunately I think The Man on the Roof is the only thriller he directed, the others being dramas which is not my favorite genre. One last detail: how did I come to know about this film? Well, I was attracted to a great-looking poster drawn for this movie by Czech cartoonist Kája Saudek in the museum to his name in Prague (see the reproduction below), made some research and then wanted to see the film!
Rating: 9 /10

Requiem (2001)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2001
	Director: Hervé Renoh
	Actors: Patrick Dell'Isola, Moussa Maaskri (À bout portant), Julie-Anne Roth
	Country: F
	Genre: Thriller, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 15.11.2013, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: After thirteen years in jail, four criminals escape and end up in a monastery in which they will meet the old accomplice that is responsible for their imprisonment.
Review: I probably heard about this french genre movie in the Mad Movies magazine, but is is barely mentioned in its 2002 palmares. The general idea of a criminal turned monk and the final twist are good. But the metaphors are not very subtle (the head of the criminals is the devil, the monk is Jesus...). As often in French movies I found that the actors overplay this one, as if they were playing theater. The criminals are caricatured (the boss, the boss' right arm, the rapist, the believer) and predictable. Overall Requiem is not bad, but it often tries to be too serious or too good-looking, and turns out to be exaggerated.
Rating: 4 /10

Arme riddere (2011)

	Also Known As: Jackpot
	Year of first release: 2011
	Director: Magnus Martens
	Actors: Kyrre Hellum, Henrik Mestad, Mats Ousdal
	Country: N
	Genre: Black Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 17.11.2013, Schauburg, German version
Synopsis: Terrified and bloody, Oscar Svendsen awakes clinched to a shotgun in a strippers joint. Around him 8 dead men, and police aiming at him. To Oscar it's clear that he is innocent. It all started when four chaps won 1,7 million on the pools...
Review: This movie was thought as a preparation before my holidays in Norway, and I heard about also as good comedy. Well done! A very black comedy :) The story is taken from a novel of Jo Nesbo. The story confuses the viewer between truth and lie and reminds for that Usual suspects. But all the story is told with such a humour, with very funny caricatures of the inspector and the colleagues of Oscar. The acting is not so demanding and all act correctly their roles. Some secondary characters are really well worked, like the quite policeman of the town and the owner of the stripper. The rest of the directing is correct with some good funny ideas.
Rating: 6 /10

Captain Phillips (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Paul Greengrass
	Actors: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi
	Country: USA
	Genre: War, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 11.11.2013, Schauburg, OV Sneak preview
Synopsis: The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama.
Review: The story focuses on the duel of the American captain against the Somali captain. As a good American movie, it shows the small weaknesses of the Americans, the crazy uneducated terrorists and the US army saving the good people. Not my kind of story. Even if this highlights for the first time in a movie the issue of modern piracy, but not in a constructive way. The acting of Tom Hanks is good and similar to Cast away, the lost man that resists and keeps faith.
Rating: 3 /10

Blue Jasmine (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Woody Allen
	Actors: Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Sally Hawkins
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 10.11.2013, Schauburg
Synopsis: Jasmine French used to be on the top of the heap as a New York elite, but now is returning to her estranged sister in San Francisco utterly ruined. As Jasmine struggles with her haunting memories of a privileged past bearing dark realities she ignored, she tries to recover in her present. Unfortunately, it all proves a losing battle as Jasmine's narcissistic hangups and their consequences begin to overwhelm her.
Review: The story is very moving and we go deep in the distress of Jasmine. It is nevertheless strange to feel pity to such a petty person. I guess, I am affected as a man in front of a woman in distress, but that women would have no (or less) mercy. Finally, this movie could have been a good social critic as Buñuel did, but no. The storyline is the opposite of the standard Hollywood book, having here negative climax filmed like climax. This was original. The acting of Blanchett and Hawkins are very good, in particular their last sister scene. Men are more side objects, except the boyfriends of Sally Hawkins.
Rating: 7 /10

Le silencieux (1973)

	Also Known As: The silent one
	Year of first release: 1973
	Director: Claude Pinoteau
	Actors: Lino Ventura, Lea Massari
	Country: F, I
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 08.11.2013, DVD
Synopsis: Un savant physicien soviétique est enlevé par les services secrets britanniques. Dès lors celui-ci est poursuivi par le KGB.
Review: The story is a very good one. It is at the same level as a good Hitchcock spy movie. As usual in a French movie, no special effects. Surprisingly in the middle of the movie, there is a bit of music very linked to Hitchcock style, so that the originality of the movie looses a bit. Even if music could have make the first part better by giving a bit of suspense. This second Lino Ventura movie from the series is better than Un témoin dans la ville, but is not yet a master of suspense.
Rating: 5 /10

Un témoin dans la ville (1959)

	Also Known As: Der Mörder kam um Mitternacht
	Year of first release: 1959
	Director: Édouard Molinaro
	Actors: Lino Ventura, Franco Fabrizi, Sandra Milo
	Country: F, I
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 07.11.2013, DVD
Synopsis: Une lutte sans merci oppose un criminel et le réseau des radio-taxis dans Paris.
Review:  I just bought a pack of 4 movies with Lino Ventura and this is the first and oldest one. The story is relatively basic but both Lino Ventura and Franco Fabrizi are leading it well. The book is by Boileau-Narcejac, famous French crime novelist. The oppressive story tried to be enhanced by the lights, but this does not fit. The transition of lights are often on a wrong timing with regard to the story or the movement of the characters on the picture, but the will was there. The position of lights and camera, the cut tend to know what they want but the realisation is not very successful. Maybe low budget or wrong materials compared to Murnau movies. At least this paves the way to other French crime movies of the 50s and 60s that are also quite silent and dark.
Rating: 4 /10

Monsters University (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Dan Scanlon
	Actors (Voices): Billy Crystal (This is Spinal Tap), John Goodman (The Big Lebowski), Steve Buscemi (Armageddon)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 14.11.2013, HD VOD, Home cinema
Synopsis: Mike (Crystal) has always wanted to become a scarer. He enters Monsters University and meets his future best friend Sullivan (Goodman).
Review: It is nice to meet again the characters we loved in Monsters Inc: Mike, Sullivan and Randy, plus a large number of new monsters all more colorful and perculiar one than the other. The big question was: would Pixal manage to come up with an interesting story for this prequel of a huge hit amongs kids? First the idea to do a prequel is great in this context, and we get to see how Mike met Sullivan. Then they waited twelve years to produce this second movie, so they had plenty of time to mature ideas and maybe try to follow their audience which has also aged. So in general I found the story pretty good. The Computer Generated Images are at the level of what is done nowadays but don't intend to be photorealist because they describe a fantasy world (unlike for example in Rango that I have seen recently). We are getting used to good CGIs nowadays and the ones in Monsters University look good. I love in particular the animation of the five-eyed character Squishy that conveys a lot of emotions. It is interestng to notice that the faces of the monsters were designed to partially ressemble the ones of the actors giving them voices (look at a picture of Peter Sohn against Squishy to understand what I mean). Another success for Pixel.
Rating: 7 /10

Game of Thrones - Season 2 (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Creators: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss
	Actors: Peter Dinklage (Xmen: Days of a Future Past), Lena Headey (300, Dredd)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: October-November 2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: The war between four pretendents to the Iron throne is slowly progressing.
Review: I will assume that the reader of this review has seen the first season of Game of Thrones so I will not alert for spoilers about that one. My general feeling about the second season is that it looks much more like a TV-series than the first one. It seemed to me that a lot of time is spent showing characters talking to each other, in a tent or a room or a castle or outside. The surroundings change but we always see two guys talking, while the first season was more taking the time to set the atmosphere of this foreign world. A direct consequence is that when you look back at the whole season actually not much happens. It gives me the feeling that now that the audience is addicted, the producers will spread the story over many years! This feeling doesn't motivate me for buying the third season which costs around 40 euros. On the positive side, the characters we liked and hated in the first season are still around, the music is still good and the visual effects of high quality in the rare scenes in which they are needed (a few apparitions of the dragons and one battle). One bonus in the blu-ray set tells the story of the different families in the shape of animated drawings, which is nice.
Rating: 5/10

Exit Marrakech (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Carolin Link
	Actors: Ulrich Tukur, Samuel Schneider, Hafsia Herzi
	Country: D
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 29.10.2013, Schauburg
Synopsis: Troubled teenager Ben (16) unintentionally confronts his father Heinrich, a successful German theatre director staging a play in Marrakesh, with his past and his neglected responsibilities. After a falling out with his estranged father, Ben loses himself in the shadowy Medina and sleazy nightclubs of Marrakesh, where he meets a feisty Berber girl Karima and follows her to her hometown, far beyond the city and across unfamiliar and barren land. She helps him gain the courage to stand up to his father.
Review: The story is a classical coming-to-age movie combined this time with a road movie in order to show nice views, as Carolin Link likes to. The acting and the directing have nothing special and are quite flat, but the background of the image is nice. The souk in Marrakech, the desert, the gardens. The movie is entertaining, but does not move me at all.
Rating: 4 /10

Dr Strangelove or How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb (1964)

	Also Known As: Dr Folamour (French), Dr Seltsam (German)
	Year of first release: 1964
	Director: Stanley Kubrick
	Actors: Peter Sellers
	Country: USA, GB
	Genre: SF, War
	Conditions of visioning: 26.10.2013, DVD
Synopsis: An insane general starts a process to nuclear holocaust that a war room of politicians and generals frantically try to stop.
Review: The story is not about Dr Strangelove directly but about the crazyness arising in people having power on nuclear weapons. This topic touches at every era, because weapons and massive destruction weapons exist since chemical weapons of the First world war and will not stop so soon. The rythm of the story is not so good and maybe a bit of music or sounds would have helped. The acting is typical 60s by exagerating a bit the characters so that it does not look authentic any more and all people look crazy. But on that time, it was normal and the people who were supposed to be crazy have a crazy look, and this is Dr Strangelove. The other crazy people are actually normal military officers. For the time, after the Cuba crisis, it is impressive to make such a critic movie in the USA without being put in jail as communist.
Rating: 6 /10

Die Hard 4.0: Live Free or Die Hard (2007)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2007
	Director: Len Wiseman (Underworld 1-2, Total Recall)
	Actors: Bruce Willis (Looper, R.E.D.), Justin Long (Dodgeball, Jeepers Creepers), Timothy Olyphant (Hitman, Rango), Maggie Q (Naked Weapon, Mission Impossible III), Kevin Smith (Clerks 1-2, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Deathproof, The Thing)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action
	Conditions of visioning: 12.11.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Now detective in New York and separated from his wife, John McClane (Willis) is supposed to escort a young computer hacker (Long) to Washington, and doing so finds himself in the middle of a cyber-attack against the US government.
Review: With this episode I complete my review of the five Die Hard films. It is interesting to point out that even if it is the most recent I had seen (about two years ago), I remembered from it much less than from the original trilogy. As mitigation, it is true that I have seen it only once. I found it to be the weakest of the five, but not as bad as I remembered. Obviously the new generation of directors like Len Wiseman are not as talented as John McTiernan or Renny Harlin. Also the 90's are over so a Die Hard movie set after the 9/11 events is something different. Produced twelve years after the previous episode, Die Hard 4.0 looks more like an action movie not attached to the franchise; the character of John McClane just appears there because the cinema goers like him. The idea of throwing McClane in the middle of an electronic war is good, as we know he not friend of technology. As in many Action movie attempts of the years 2000, the action is exagerated in this one as well (McClane riding an F-15 jet plane!?!), but there are some quite good stunts, from people and from vehicles (McClane taking down a helicopter by throwing a car at it because he was out of bullets!). The sidekick Justin Long might be present only to attract a younger audience but that's OK, I like him. Mary Elisabeth Winstead is also alright as McClane's daughter. I had forgotten there were so many known faces in this movie. Most funny is Kevin Smith (director of Dogma, Clerks 1-2...) portraying the ultimate geek. Not cult as its predecessors, but quite OK to watch after all.
Rating: 6 /10

Die Hard 3: With a Vengeance (1995)

	Also Known As: Une Journée en Enfer (French)
	Year of first release: 1995
	Director: John McTiernan (Predator, Last Action Hero)
	Actors: Bruce Willis (Looper), Jeremy Irons (Dead Ringers, The Man in the Iron Mask), Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, Deep Blue Sea)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action
	Conditions of visioning: 11.11.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: After a bomb explodes in New York, John McClane (Willis) is asked to obey the responsible terrorist (Irons). He will be accompanied by Zeus (Jackson) who saved him during his first challenge.
Review: Not as excellent as I remembered, but I enjoyed this movie as much as Die Hard 2. It would have been too much to put McClane in the same situation for the third time, so what a great idea to make him be here on the request of the bad guy this time, a guy whose brother he killed in the first movie! What a great moment when you loved the first movies in the 80's, watch this one and hear the sentence "Peter Krieg was born Simon Peter Gruber. Hans Gruber was his brother". It is also original to see McClane not master of his fate in the first half of the movie, unlike we are used to see him: stubbornly upsetting the terrorists' plans. Indeed he is fighting a bad hangover, but we soon finds him back to his old self. Another excellent idea was to pair him with the character played by Samuel Jackson, which brought good comedy scenes. Finally it seems that in Die Hard 3 John McClane evolves from hero to anti-hero who is not anymore a straight cop fighting for justice. He looks a bit bored by going through all this for the third time...
Rating: 8 /10