Quiet life in Clichy (1970)

	Also Known As: Stille Tage in Clichy
	Year of first release: 1970
	Director: Jens Jorgen Thorsen
	Actors: Paul Valjean, Wayne Rodda
	Country: DK
	Genre: Romance, Music
	Conditions of visioning: 27.08.2014, Bluray, Original English version
Synopsis: Joe (Valjean) is American and visits his French friend Carl (Rodda) for some months. Both search for food as peniless would-like-to-be writers and navigate relationships with various women. Major affairs are for Joey with Nys, a prostitute he meets at the Café Wepler near Montmartre, and Carl with Colette, a fifteen year-old runaway who moves in with them before eventually being retrieved by her parents.
Review: I decided to watch this movie because I wanted to see what a Danish director was looking for in Paris. I did not know Henry Miller who was also mentioned on the cover. I have been surprised by the succession of women affairs. And it is one reason for which Henry Miller is or has been famous in the 60's and 70's. The story is indeed a succession of affairs with all type of women (age, colour, behaviour) even if many are prostitutes. These scenes are alternating with dialogues between Joe and Carl or thought by Joe walking in Paris, looking for food. Dialogues about How to live, about His goals in life. This reminded me Charles Bukowski's novel Women, even if the perspective is very different. Bukowski has much more to tell about life. I did not see much evolution in the main characters from the beginning till the end of the movie. Considering the historical context in 1970 this movie was really modern for the sexual revolution even if not considering neither the feminism movement nor the political situation. There are a lot of naked scenes, even in the street of Paris. The first ten minutes are creative having a good song by Country Joe and the Fish and having words written on the pictures (gray and cunt mostly). The acting is rather boring. The scenes are actually interesting to me only via the music by Country Joe. The lyrics depict much more ideas than the movie itself. Even if some of these can sound misogynous.  Watching this movie gave me the motivation to watch movies based on Bukowski novels, such as Factotum, Crazy love and Barfly.
Rating: 3 /10

Ivanovo detstvo (1962)

	Also Known As: Ivan's childhood, L'enfance d'Ivan
	Year of first release: 1962
	Director: Andrei Tarkowskiy
	Actors: Nikolay Burlayev, Valentin Zubkov, Valentina Malyavina
	Country: SU
	Genre: War
	Conditions of visioning: 23.08.2014, DVD, Russian version with English subtitles
Synopsis: Ivan (Burlayev) lost mother and father during the World war II. Sincethen he found his place in the Red armyto fight against the Nazis. He goes across the front and gain information on the Nazi side. Some officers as Kholin (Zubkov) like him and take Ivan under their wing.
Review: Fascinated by the Solaris of Tarkowski and knowing a good source for his movies, I continue watching his movies. This first movie by Tarkowski won the Golden Lion in Venice.  The movie is in a beautiful black and white, thinking about the shadows as a colour for the picture composition, as a tool generating volume, typical of Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin), but actually mostly as a tool to focus on an actor's face. The story of Ivan is actually good and the way to switch from the flash backs during dreams and the reality is beautiful, also when both converge. This scene reminded me Apocalypse now when Martin Sheen seems to sense the forest. The look of Ivan and the look of Martin Sheen. But many scenes of the movie do not have anything to do with the main story and do not build an interesting story, the affair of Kholin with a nurse (Malyavina). Or at least I did not understood the connection. Otherwise it would be a very good movie. The actors Malyavina and Zubkov are good in these scenes, for the both naive and lascive looks.
Rating: 6 /10 I collected below some interesting posters of the movie, showing how different the movie has been affecting the different countries.

Serenity (2005)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2005
	Director: Joss Whedon (The Avengers: Assemble)
	Actors: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk (Dodgeballs), Summer Glau (The Sarah Connor Chronicles TV-series)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Adventure, Western
	Conditions of visioning: 25.08.14, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Mal (Fillon) runs a group of bandits, looking for jobs from planet to planet, in a Universe controlled by the Alliance. One member of his crew River (Glau) escaped from a governement secret lab where she was experimented on. They would do anything to get her back.
Review: I understood the frustration of the fans of the TV-series Firefly when it was cancelled: they started to get attached to the characters and wanted to know more about the Universe created by Joss Whedon. Also probably there were not many good SF series at that time (it was before Battlestar Galactica) and something different from all Star Trek spin-offs was refreshing. Even if it doesn't bring Firefly back to life (on the contrary it even seals the tomb), Serenity the movie brings some kind of closure to it, and I am glad I could watch it back to back with the series. It was written so that it can be watched independently from the series, but then it probably looks like an average space opera (which are too rare to be ignored anyway as I always say). You definitely appreciate if better if you know the characters and are already attached to them when the movie starts. Serenity feels like a 2-hour long episode of the series but looks much better thanks to the much larger budget: there are many more actors on screen, the sets are bigger and the special effects (mostly spaceship, shown at their best during an impressive space battle) good-looking, even if still poor for the 2005 standards (that's the year of Star Wars III). Joss Whedon cleverly adapted the story to give the viewer the satisfaction of witnessing part of the larger story plot, and in a way that is out of the stand-alone TV-series format, i.e. that at the end of each episode nothing has changed, so that you can watch them in any order. For example in such format you cannot have one of your main characters die. All in all the movie was a pleasant experience. I forgot to mention that Serenity is the name of the ship is which the crew lives (also the name of the last battle fought by the captain in war) while Firefly is its model. Cool ship design by the way.
Rating: 6 /10

Firefly (2002)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2002
	Creator: Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV-series)
	Actors: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk (Dodgeballs), Summer Glau (The Sarah Connor Chronicles TV-series), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men, 2012)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Adventure, Western
	Conditions of visioning: August 2014, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Mal (Fillon) runs a group of bandits, looking for jobs from planet to planet, in a Universe controlled by the Alliance.
Review: I had heard several times about the cursed TV-series by Joss Whedon, in particular since Sheldon Cooper is a big fan in The Big Bang Theory. It was cancelled after only half a season (14 episodes) but generated a community of hard-core fans that did everything they could to keep the series alive, even years after, and who took no small part in the decision to make a movie in 2005. A documentary on the first Blu-ray in the set helps understanding the pressure the creators had to sustain because the series could be canceled any minute. My first impression was that the digital Special Effects look cheap but that's because the series is twelve years old. It actually won awards back then for those effects. The pilot introduces the characters as in all series, and then the series immediately settles to a slow pace, showing different worlds and challenges at each episode. Then we start to feel the urge to tell better and better stories to prevent the series from cancellation, with more and more allusions to a larger story, recurrent enemies, culminating with the best episode for me: Out of Gas, that includes flashbacks of when the crew members first met. Throughout the season the quality varies, I found the episode The Message (the return of an old friend) poorer, while Objects in Space displays a very special atmosphere thanks to the character of Early, and Ariel interestingly shows the inner planets for a change. There may be some variations in quality, but it is clear to be that the series shows a great potential and shouldn't have been cancelled. The Universe created by Whedon is so rich in ideas... About the atmosphere of the series: it is of course Science Fiction, but actually more Western. Some episodes are even entirely Western (Safe, Shinding, Jaynestown) and one reminded me of an A-team episode (Heart of Gold). Indeed the idea is that the settlers in most planets live this kind of life: work the land, ride horses, try to survive, shoot guns and don't trust strangers. This atmosphere makes the series really special, and I was surprised to realize that it influenced my favorite video game Borderlands (in particular the second one) in the atmosphere, colors, music (a lot) and one detail: the design of the maglev train  shown in the episode The Train Job. The Western and space bounty hunter atmosphere is something that existed already in the Cowboy Bebop Japanese animated series (1998) but Joss Whedon gave it a new angle in a live action series, which was quite a challenge. An example of the details that make people like the series: it is supposed to take place a few years after the end of a war between the Alliance and the only other remaining block from the Earth-that-was: the Chinese one. So all characters speak Chinese, and do use this language when they have to curse, which made it OK to be shown on American TV. A few other curses in English are modified ('gorram'), preceding of the 'frak' of Battlestar Galactica. Right after the series I watched the movie made three years after under the pressure of the fans: Serenity.
Rating: 6 /10

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1996
	Director: Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet Terror)
	Actors: Harvey Keitel (The Grand Hotel Budapest), George Clooney (Up in the Air, The American), Juliette Lewis (Natural Born Killers), Quentin Tarantino (Planet Terror)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Horror, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 19.08.2014, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: After a bloody courthouse escape and bank robbery, the Gecko brothers (Clooney & Tarantino) rush to Mexico to find refuge, with a family as hostage.
Review: Nothing beats the first viewing of From Dusk Till Dawn, when after 45 minutes of Tarantino style (although filmed by Rodriguez), you enter a completely different movie. It is quite a treat if you don't expect it. This mix of genres is the most interesting characteristics of this movie. I saw the movie many time when I discovered it around 1998, I even had the poster hanging in my bedroom, but last time I did was on an old VHS about 10 year ago. The recent Blu-ray release was the opportunity to appreciate the show one more and at its best. The soundtrack I remembered well because I bought the CD at some point and listen to it regularly. I realize that I love the movie as much now as I did 10 years ago, it is probably the highlight of the Tarantino/Rodriguez collaboration, not equaled ever since. The two main actors are fantastic in roles perfect for them, and the rest are also good in ultra-caricatured roles: the pastor who lost faith, the shy teenage daughter that will become a woman, the biker Sex-Machine, the ex-marine, the bartender (played by a young Danny Machete Trejo). The atmosphere is, as I said, characteristic of a movie influenced by Tarantino: strong characters (outlaws) to which one could get attached, punch lines, crude but realistic description of a part of the USA (in that case Texas). And then the second part is excellent if you like this kind of movies. It contains all one could expect, and is shot in a funny yet mastered way. The Mexican rock is great and the dance scene with Salma Hayek unforgettable. Only in Blu-ray could I notice many details I never saw before, in good (the bloody special effects) or in bad (actors not always giving a good performance, which can be understood when you know that Rodriguez don't usually record many takes of a scene). After two cheap sequels, I heard there is a TV-series now with the same title. I wonder if it's any good...
Rating: 8 /10

Munich Fantasy Film Fest 2014 - what to watch?

Each year takes place in Munich (and other cities in Germany) the Fantasy Film Festival (FFF), a long week of showing horror, thriller and science fiction movies:

http://www.fantasyfilmfest.com/

The conclusions of JoRafCinema on the two previous editions can be found here for 2012 and 2013.
This year the Festival takes place from September 08th to 19th, and I will give you here some recommendations of what you can go and see.

Begin again (2013)

	Also Known As: Can a song save your life?
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: John Carney
	Actors: Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightley, Adam Levine
	Country: USA
	Genre: Music
	Conditions of visioning: 18.08.2014, Schauburg, OV sneak preview
Synopsis: Gretta (Knightley) and her long-time boyfriend Dave (Levine) are college sweethearts and songwriting partners who decamp for New York when he lands a deal with a major label. But the trappings of his new-found fame soon tempt Dave to stray, and a reeling, lovelorn Gretta is left on her own in New-York. Her world takes a turn for the better when Dan (Ruffalo), a disgraced record-label exec, stumbles upon her performing on an East Village stage and is immediately captivated by her raw talent. From this chance encounter emerges a musical and personal collaration.
Review: The story is nice and the main originality is the recording outdoor in the streets and elsewhere. This brings a euphoric atmosphere of creation. I have been surprised by SPOILER the happy end where all have success in family and music. I guess it was a compromise with the production company unlike Carney shows for the music industry.  Both Ruffalo and Knightley are amazing in their characters. Unlike the previous movie by Carney, Once, in which the music had an identity and a unity, here it has no unity. It still sounds good. The image composition is also really good and the image is clean.  It seems like Begin again is a kind of remake of Once with American production means, this means indeed Hollywood-like story, professional actors, clean image, clean soundtrack, etc. It takes some of the charm of Once while giving also more charm on some aspects.
Rating: 7 /10

JoRafCinema is two years old!

A second year has passed and JoRafCinema is still present. As in last year's article and to celebrate this anniversary, we will today summarize what we have accomplished from July 20th 2012 (date of the first post) to July 20th 2014.

Abel (2010)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2010
	Director: Diego Luna
	Actors: Karina Gidi, José María Yazpik, Christopher Ruiz-Esparza
	Country: MEX
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 19.08.2014, DVD, Spanish version
Synopsis: A young boy called Abel (Ruiz-Esparza) is picked up by his mother (Gidi) from an hospital. From autistic Abel starts behaving as if he was the father of the family. When his real father, Anselmo (Yazpik), comes back, the situation changes.
Review: The dramatic situation of a mother loving her child and who forces her other kids to live in the situation of behaving as if Abel would be the father is a huge sick and dramatic sign of love. I really like this idea. Some daily situations are created to show that behaviour but nothing captivating my attention. The tension with his sister and brother are not existing while this should be also a major emotional and psychological disturbance. What captivated me are the relapses of the young Abel until the SPOILER dramatic final swimming pool scene, being also very well filmed and directed.  The directing is ok all along and good for the first and the final scenes. The rest is relatively flat.  Diego Luna is usually a producer or actor and this was his script, and a good one!, and his second movie as director.
Rating: 4 /10

Lost highway (1997)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1997
	Director: David Lynch
	Actors: Patricia Arquette, Bill Pullman, Balthazar Getty, Robert Loggia, Robert Blake
	Country: USA, F
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 14.08.2014, Bluray, English version
Synopsis: Fred Madison (Pullman) is accused under mysterious circumstances of murdering his wife Renee (Arquette). On death row, he inexplicably morphs into a young man named Pete Dayton (Getty), leading a completely different life. When Pete is released, his and Fred's paths begin to cross in a web of intrigue, orchestrated by a shady gangster boss named Dick Laurent (Loggia) and a mysterious man (Blake).
Review: This movie inspired me tremendously after watching it in 1997 and I wanted to see it again to know whether my remembrance is still right. I recognize again the topics that impressed me: time travel, schizophreny, dream, double identity, double life. In that sense, the movie is very dense and suspensefull. There is no way in explaining the storyline as it would disturb the pleasure of watching the movie. The acting of all these actors is fine and subtle. The lights and the music enhance the mysterious atmosphere all along the movie. Lynch mastered this atmosphere!  Seventeen years ago, I remember that with my friends we came out of the movie with plenty of questions, plenty of indices, like a police inspector, but with many solutions that were all valuable and giving even more mystery to the movie. This made out of David Lnych my favourite director for a long time. In the same direction of mystery and open story, David Lynch made the movie Mullholland drive and the series Twin peaks.
Rating: 9 /10

La Totale! (1991)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1991
	Director: Claude Zidi (Astérix et Obélix contre César)
	Actors: Thierry Lhermitte (Les Bronzés), Miou-Miou (Les Valseuses), Eddy Mitchell (Le bonheur est dans le pré), Michel Boujenah
	Country: F
	Genre: Comedy, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 18.08.2014, DVD, 11" computer screen
Synopsis: François (Lhermitte) is a secret agent but his wife (Miou-Miou) and everybody else thinks he is a telecom engineer, until he starts to spy on his own family.
Review: I hadn't seen this classic 90's French comedy in years and I had forgotten a lot of it, but it is pleasant to view such movie once in a while. It is slow to begin and I was starting to get bored but then it takes unexpected turns, and keeps the story alive by not lingering too much on any scene but constantly changing the stakes. I can see what attracted James Cameron to remake it into the Action Comedy True Lies with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. The classic story of spy hiding his identity and/or using it to learn more on the people he knows has also echoes in other movies like This Means War.  Although playing with the usual French theatrical style that disturbs me, the actors are good, in particular I am always amazed at how Eddy Mitchell reconverted from a Rock'n'Roll singer into an actor.
Rating: 5 /10

Hollow Man 2 (2006)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2006
	Director: Claudio Faeh
	Actors: Christian Slater (Broken Arrow, Robin Hood, Bullet to the Head), Peter Facinelli, Laura Regan
	Country: USA
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 18.08.2014, DVD, 11" computer screen
Synopsis: A cop (Facinelli) is in charge of protecting a biologist (Regan) after a colleague of hers is brutally murdered. The military is involved and of course the project on which she was working is secret.
Review: I didn't even know there existed a sequel to the pleasant SF Thriller by Paul Verhoeven starring Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth Shue, until I saw it on the shelf of a DVD store. The original movie was the interesting exploration of the effects of invisibility on the psyche of a man, like only Verhoeven can do. It was a grade A movie with a solid budget and thus excellent special effects. The 'sequel' was released directly to DVD and was obviously cheaper, but it cleverly recenters the story as a police investigation. The few invisible man effects are well done. It is often that sequels are produced for cheap because people want to 'see more of the same thing' but they rarely deliver. In the case of Hollow Man 2 I found that it was fulfilling my expectations which were no different than the ones of other people. Even the climax is satisfying (SPOILER: a duel between two invisible men). As I already thought after watching Bullet to the Head, it is nice to see the too rare Christian Slater, even if we see most of the time only his contour.
Rating: 6 /10

M.A.I.D. (2004)

	Also Known As: MAID: Mission Almost Impossible Done
	Year of first release: 2004
	Director: Yongyoot Thongkongtoon (The Iron Ladies)
	Actors: Pornchita Na Songkhla, Thienchai Jayasvasti Jr., Jarupus Pattamasiri
	Country: T
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 17.08.2014, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: A bunch of incompetent maids are hired as secret agents undercover in the house of a businesman suspected of corruption.
Review: This is one of my great memories of the FEFF 2006, when I went for the second time and discovered Thai cinema among others. It took me eight years to find this movie again in DVD and watch it with other FEFF addicts. Even if I didn't get the same sensations as when watching it in Udine and I noticed many cheap aspects (music, actors), I still had a great time. It is a very refreshing cinema different from what we are used to see. I got a bit lost in the story, but it is actually because I was busy not missing the comic situations the maids put themselves into, and the dumb faces they wear all the time. I may try to find the previous movie by this young director who was revealed to Europe thanks to the FEFF: The Iron Ladies. This man seems to like women with character in his movies.
Rating: 6 /10

Maps to the stars (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: David Cronenberg
	Actors: Julianne Moore, John Cusack, Mia Wasikowska, Evan Bird
	Country: USA, CDN, F, D
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 11.04.2014, Schauburg, OV sneak preview
Synopsis: The Weiss family is the archetypical Hollywood dynasty: father Stafford (Cusack) is an analyst and coach; mother Cristina mostly looks after the career of their son Benjie (Bird), 13, a child star. One of Stafford's clients, Havana (Moore), is an actress who dreams of shooting a remake of the movie that made her mother, Clarice, a star in the 60s. Clarice is dead now and visions of her come to haunt Havana at night.
Review: The psychological problems of people in Hollywood and actually of any people is usually a good plot. Here served by good actors like Moore, Cusack and Wasikowska. The movie does not bring any original idea on the topic and sounds often very narcissistic. The unique interest to set the situation in Hollywood is that the image is so important that the contrast between image and psychology is larger than in other groups. So what? Shall we have a special compassion to Hollywood stars? The character of Wasikowska is very interesting, because she has been rejected by her family and is not as easy to describe as the other characters. This compensates the bad points in the storyline. The directing is otherwise quite clear by Cronenberg. Even if this time there is nothing amazingly original as in The fly or Crash.
Rating: 4 /10

Solaris (1972)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1972
	Director: Andrei Tarkowskiy
	Actors: Donatas Banionis, Natalya Bondarchuk, Yuri Yarvet, Anatoliy Solonitsyn
	Country: SU
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 09.08.2014, DVD, Russian version with English subtitles
Synopsis: The Solaris mission has established a base on a planet that appears to host some kind of intelligence, but the details are very secret. After the mysterious demise of one of the three scientists on the base, a psychologist (Banionis) is sent out to replace him. He finds the station run-down and the two remaining scientists (Yarvet and Solonitsyn) cold and secretive. When he also encounters his wife Khari (Bondarchuk) who has been dead for ten years, the psychologist changes his opinion on that intelligence.
Review: I find the plot very interesting. This does not only sets questions on extra-terrestrial life, but questions what humans are looking for in their space quest and their open-mindedness about new discoveries. The acting of both main characters is quite, subtle and therefore good for me but the other's not that much. I like that spiritual and society topics are set in an abstract way on the screen, e.g. Mr. Nobody and Mars & Avril. This abstraction makes it, in my opinion, easier to touch everyone. And this might be the strength of Science-Fiction. For Western viewers this movie will remind 2001: A space odyssey from the conceptual directing.  I wanted to watch this movie because of the reputation of Tarkowski and I am quite happy of that. It is a bit slow and the sound track is quite empty, but his ideas gave me motivation to watch more from his work.
Rating: 7 /10

Paris nous appartient (1961)

	Also Known As: Paris belongs to us
	Year of first release: 1961
	Director: Jacques Rivette
	Actors: Betty Schneider, Giani Esposito, Daniel Crohem, Françoise Prévost
	Country: F
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 09.08.2014, DVD, French version
Synopsis: A young Spanish musician Juan dies, apparently by suicide. But a few people do not believe in this suicide. Anne Goupil, a litterature student, gets included in this group of people and starts wondering about the truth of their stories. She decides to investigate.
Review: The story let us experience an impression of suspense very similar to Hitchcock's movies. Unlike the Master of suspense, in this Nouvelle Vague movie there is no visible Bad guy, even if Philip Kaufman (Crohem) behave so time to time, but there is a MacGuffin (the secret) that we follow all along. The acting of Schneider and Esposito are very fresh and authentic, typical for the good movies of the Nouvelle Vague. Their acting is enhanced by the camera which is placed with master. Unfortunately SPOILER once the first clue is given to solve the secret, everything is told very fast and the movie ends without having given a feeling of mystery or of thrill.
Rating: 6 /10

Starcrach (1978)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1978
	Director: Luigi Cozzi, as Lewis Coates
	Actors: Marjoe Gortner, Caroline Munro (The Spy who loved me, Maniac), Christopher Plummer (Up, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Sound of Music), Joe Spinel (Maniac), David Hasselhoff (Baywatch TV-series, Piranha 3DD)
	Country: I, USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 15.08.2014, DVD, 11" computer screen
Synopsis: The evil Zarth Arn (Spinnel) threatens the galaxy controlled by the Emperor (Plummer) with an ultimate weapon. A couple of bandits (Gortner & Munro) are put in chare of finding the weapon and the lost son of the Emperor (Hasselhof).
Review: Starcrash was quickly produced after the immense success of the first Star Wars movie, trying to benefit from the renewed popularity of Space Operas. It is now known in the world of the cheapest B-movies co-produced by Italy and the USA. The story is not especially bad as it follows the classical themes of Science Fiction, but it is poorly told with an overuse of cheap special effects, repetitive annoying sound effects and bad actors. Caroline Munro may be an eye candy in her tight and short outfit, she can't seriously play. The haircuts and the music are also dating too much the movie to the period in which it was produced. Every time I watch such movie, I realize the genius in Star Wars, and how simple things could make the difference: better actors, mythology, symphonic music, original sound effects and innovative visual effects. In Starcrash only Christopher Plummer manages to show his talent, even if it is funny to watch Joe Spinel and his crazy eyes inherited from Maniac, or a young David Hasselhof. The movie is anyway OK to watch for the sake of cinema History, and because there are actually many things quickly going on, reducing the level of boredom. I had failed watching the movie on my Home cinema 1.5 years ago but this time I found it fitted better a viewing on computer screen onboard a train.
Rating: 2 /10

The Lego Movie (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller (21 & 22 Jump Street)
	Actors: Will Arnett (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games, Zack and Miri make a Porno), Will Ferrell (Zoolander), Morgan Freeman (Oblivion), Liam Neeson (96 hours)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Adventure, Animation
	Conditions of visioning: 12.08.2014, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: An ordinary LEGO construction worker finds himself the center of a prophecy  in which masterbuilders will defeat the evil Lord Business who wants to destroy the world as they know it.
Review: I heard many good things about this movie, and had hopes it could be the new Incredibles, i.e. an animated film intended for children but with a second layer of meaning and references for adults. It is indeed what it tries to be, but I didn't find it as deliciously funny as the Pixel masterpiece. The story of a toy world within the human world reminds of Toy Story or Wreck-it Ralph. The prophecy, the girl the hero falls in love with, the secret weapon, the bad guy...all of this is quite classical, but mixed with the fun to see the figurines of Batman, Superman, the Star Wars cast, Gandalf... and the second level of meaning to the movie which is: can adults play with LEGO, and can you mix up the different LEGO universes? The choice of animation was quite risky but turns out to be impressive: the LEGOs don't move much more than what is allowed by their natural articulations (except for the facial expressions), and anything you see in their world seems like it could have been built with the small bricks including fire, smoke, soap foam, water (the ocean is animated at about 2 frames per second), clouds... The same goes for the accessories: oversized croissant, toothpaste tube, instruction manual... There is actually so much going on that I will need several viewings to catch more details. Not as good as I expected, but well done nevertheless. It could have been interesting to watch the 3D version.
Rating: 6 /10

Still life (2013)

	Also Known As: Mr. May und das Flüstern der Ewigkeit
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Uberto Pasolini
	Actors: Eddie Marsan
	Country: GB, I
	Genre: Black Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 04.08.2014, Schauburg, OV sneak preview
Synopsis: John May (Eddie Marsan) is a council worker charged with finding the family and friends of those who have died alone. When his department is downsized, John must up his efforts on his final case, taking him on a liberating journey in which he discovers life.
Review: The plot of the movie is great and the actor, Eddie Marsan also. But the directing is too slow, too empty to maintain the curiosity of the plot. The humour of the movie is completely in the plot, there are not many black humour scenes, pictures nor dialogues, actually almost none. And this is a pity because the plot could have allowed so many freedom in this kind of humour. Strangely enough, the movie is presented since Mid 2013 in festivals but will be released only in December 2014.
Rating: 2 /10