Year of the Dragon (1985)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1985
	Director: Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter)
	Actors: Mickey Rourke (Angel Heart, Sin City 1-2, Iron Man 2, The Expendables), John Lone (Rush Hour 2), Ariane Koizumi
	Country: USA, F
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 28.06.2015, DVD, 11" computer screen
Synopsis: Stankey White (Rourke) is put in charge of cleaning up Chinatown from young gangs, but he will go beyond that and confront the well-established triads.
Review: A very complex story based on a novel by Robert Daley and adapted for the big screen by Oliver Stone (Platoon). What I appreciated in this movie are the setting in the 80's New York and Chinatown in particular (or at least a well-rendered version of it) and the depth of the characters that are not as superficial as they can usually be in Hollywood movies. What I disliked is the editing when sometimes too elliptic (while the rest of the times it is excellent), the quite unrealistic romance story with the journalist (vs. the realistic one with his wife) and the acting of the until-then fashion model portraying her (Koizumi), also contrasting with the natural acting of everybody else. It is thus a movie of contrasts. Being used to seeing Mickey Rourke in recent big productions, I was pleased to see him as actor in the period when he was the good-looking bad-ass (well, he still is in a different style). The story is often dark and pessimistic and I know that the movie was neither a commercial nor critical success, but I liked its raw style of "Film Noir".
Rating: 7 /10

Flyboys (2006)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2006
	Director: Tony Bill
	Actors: James Franco (Spiderman 1-3), Jean Reno (Godzilla), Jennifer Decker
	Country: USA
	Genre: War, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 26.06.2015, DVD, 11" computer screen
Synopsis: Blaine Rawlings (Franco) leaves the USA to enlist in an Escadrille of planes fighting over France at war. There he will meet other brave pilot-to-be.
Review: Movies about the First World War are much rarer that the ones about the Second WW, especially in the Action genre because it was more a war of men and not weapons, with the exception of Airplanes which were just invented, have been immediately used for combat, and are the topic of this movie together with their pilots. I did not expect too much of Flyboys (I bought it for cheap in DVD to watch it some time in a train, as I did), but it turned out to be quite good, although not very realistic (landing a plane close to the trenches to go on foot help a crashed pilot doesn't make sense). It IS a kind of Pearl Harbor of WWI but without Michael Bay in command, i.e. no slow motion of planes flying in front of a sun that sets three times a day, but instead some virtuose and well-executed aerial scenes that occur at regular intervals between more dramatic scenes of friendship and love. One of the things I liked was that French people speak French in this movie and nothing else, like they did at the time (some could say they still do...) except for the most educated ones like Captain Thenault played by Jean Reno. James Franco and the other actors are good.
Rating: 7 /10

56 Up (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Michael Apted
	Actors: -
	Country: GB
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 26.06.2015, DVD, 11" computer screen
Synopsis: "In 1964, Granada Television brought together a group of seven year olds, from all over the country and from all walks of life. They talked about their dreams, their ambitions and their fears for the future … For nearly half a century, in a unique ground-breaking series of films, we have followed their lives every seven years. They are now 56".
Review: The Synopsis above is the statement with which the Documentary opens, and it constitutes obviously its major interest. The effect of the passing of time on a human life is a topic that all of us are concerned with, and with its long-lasting and unprecedented concept, this Documentary gives us a new perspective on the question, a bit like people creating time-lapse movies from photos of their face ageing over the years. Every seven years a set of questions is asked to the participants revolving around two main topic: relationships and work, but sometimes diverting into politics, religion, music, or the impact of the fame brought by the program on the participants' life. Indeed on top of a peak of fame every seven years, the British Tabloids were exposing their life, successes and (more often) failures almost continuously. The editing plays a huge role in this Documentary, so much that it has been criticized for that, including by the participants themselves. How can you summarize one's life in 5-10 minutes?!? Keeping that in mind, I liked the way it was done, one child at a time and starting with a 20-second overview of key footage recorded since he was seven. The Documentary was broadcasted in three parts (a division that is also present on the DVD), and I liked a lot the first one but less the two next, finding them a bit repetitive. It is probably advisable to watch the 2h30 programme in three instances. The original goals of the programme may not be fully met, like the follow-up of children that would be "the shop steward and the executive of the year 2000" (the interest is now lost), or the chances of success in life based on your background and social class at birth (The number of 7 years comes from the Jesuit motto "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man"), but it is nonetheless extremely interesting.
Rating: 8 /10

Hercules (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Brett Ratner (Rush Hour 1-3, X-men 3)
	Actors: Dwayne Johnson (The Rundown, The Scorpion King), John Hurt (1984), Ian McShane (Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Death Race), Rufus Sewell (Dark City)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, War, Fantasy, Epic
	Conditions of visioning: 24.06.2015, 3D Blu-ray, Home cinema with 22" 3D computer screen
Synopsis: Hercules (Johnson) and his companions are in search of a noble cause to defend, while stories of the legendary Twelve Labors of the semi-God are being spread by his nephew.
Review: Since the slow but steady revival of the modern Peplum genre with Gladiator in 2000, we have received a few movies per year in this genre, so I was expecting the legend of Hercules to be told at some point, and who better than the ex-wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson now action-hero to play the demi-God. Note that a similar project was born on the same year: The Legend of Hercules directed by Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger), which seemed more promising but made a flop. Since the very beginning of the movie the viewer is made to doubt the fantastic aspect of Hercules' Labors (the movie doesn't deal with those but actually takes place afterwards), being given hints of the truth behind all that. I liked this approach and was not surprised to find out that it came from the Comics the movie is adapted from (Steve Moore and Chris Bolsin's The Thracian Wars), as it is often the case those days. The story is indeed interesting and some visuals well-thought (like Hercules fighting soldiers equipped with shields decorated with a Lion's head, his symbol, resonating with his internal struggle), except for the mid-movie twist which was very predictable. What remains original about the movie then? Not much, maybe it is just a cinematic adaptation for those who don't find comics book immersive enough. But surprisingly, I found it to be the best role ever for Dwayne Johnson; the beard make him look different and he covers a panel of emotions larger than his usual comic of tough-guy sides.
Rating: 5 /10

Dumbo (1941)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1941
	Director: Ben Sharpsteen (Pinocchio)
	Actors (voices): Sterling Holloway, Edward Brophy, James Baskett
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, Music
	Conditions of visioning: 23.06.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: In a travelling circus, Mrs. Jumbo is expecting and she receives from the Stork a cute baby with immense ears.
Review: After Fantasia, Pinocchio and Bambi, I keep on acquiring the first five classic Disney animated films of the Golden Age. Only Snow White is still missing to my Blu-ray collection. I literally hadn't seen Dumbo in decades, so this is the first time that I get the jokes around the names Mrs Jumbo (for a female elephant) and Dumb-o (for a child others are making fun of). I may be wrong, but the arrival of Dumbo looked to me like a metaphor against racism: a single mother receives a baby under the criticism of her female co-workers; where is the father? And Dumbo has large ears in comparison to the ones of all the adult females; could the father have been an African elephant? In a similar topic, I know that there has been some controversy around the characters of the (black) crows that remind of a Jazz band and whose movements have been inspired by the cabaret performance of two afro-american dancers. Dumbo was created after the financial failures of Pinocchio and Fantasia and managed to bring a lot of income although a strike started at the Disney studios and the whole country was about to go to war. Hence it doesn't display the visual extravagance of its predecessors and it lasts only 63 minutes, but wonderful ones. The story and characters are quite straight-forward but the movie nonetheless overflows with ideas like the USA map seen from the sky, the Storks delivering babies, the brave train that carries the troupe through mountains and valleys, the mouse companion, the scenes shown in shadows through the tents, the exaggerated circus scenes, and my favorite: the so-called "Pink Elephants on Parade", a metaphor for what you see when under the influence of alcohol. It comes as a surprise at two-thirds of the movie, reminds of the expressionists scenes in Fantasia and I found it even a bit scary with those elephants with black empty eyes. There are also other musical scenes of quality in Dumbo: "Song of the Roustabouts" (when the tent is erected), "When I see an elephant fly" (scene with the Jazzy crows) or "Baby Mine" when his mother is comforting Dumbo. This is a movie I should actually watch again once in a while to appreciate all of its details and qualities.
Rating: 8 /10

Joe Kidd (1972)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1972
	Director: John Sturges (The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape)
	Actors: Clint Eastwood (The Beguiled, Space Cowboys), Robert Duvall (Deep Impact, Apocalypse Now), John Saxon
	Country: USA
	Genre: Western
	Conditions of visioning: 22.06.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: In the early 1900's, Joe Kidd (Eastwood) is an ex-bounty hunter not fitting in a small city where Mexicans create disorder because of issues with properties. He will be hired to track down the head of the rebellion.
Review: I could recognize the touch of a great director like John Sturges in the way both actors landscapes are filmed, but also in which parts of the story are emphasized. In particular I liked the starting point when Mexicans rebel against the "Anglos" to whom they gave land when they conquered the country and that now appropriate everything under the false pretense that the old property claims got lost in a fire. What a bad faith, so not only the Native Americans got robbed of their land. Joe Kidd shows a bad side of the American people impersonated by the land owner Frank Harlan (played by Robert Duvall) ready to kill anybody in order to keep his property wrongfully acquired. The rest of the movie is more classical and even lazy sometimes: Clint Eastwood is not at his best (I read that he was sick during the shooting), the reaction of some characters doesn't make sense and the end duel is overdone. Not a bad Western, but not a great one either.
Rating: 5 /10

Babe: Pig in the City (1998)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1998
	Director: George Miller (Max Max 1-4)
	Actors: Magda Szubanski (Babe), Elizabeth Daily, Mickey Rooney (Breakfast at Tiffany's)
	Country: AUS
	Genre: Fantasy, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 22.06.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: After he became a star, Babe the piglet (voice of Daily) is now on a mission to raise money in order to save his farm, accompanied by his bosses' wife (Szubanski). But they get stranded in the airport of a big City.
Review: Chris Noonan, director of Babe, said about this sequel that he had no interest in making Babe 2, arguing that he couldn't really see any place for a sequel to go. Well, as much as I like the first, I was not so shocked when watching Pig in the City that uses a similar recipe, although with much less originality and heart. George Miller continues to boast the advantages of the simple countryside life by propelling the lovable piglet into the big City. I tried to recognize which of our cities is was, but soon realized that it was actually an archetype of City that includes the most famous constructions from all over the world: Golden Gate bridge, Eiffel Tower, World Trade Center, Canals of Venise... In Pig in the City we discover a whole new menagerie of creatures lost/trapped in the city: monkeys of all sorts, cats, dogs, humans also... The digital special effects are improved with respect to the first movie (mouths of the animals in sync with the dialogs) while the mechanical ones are not as good (the flying duck and Pelicans). I found the story less touching than the one of the farmer and his pig in Babe, this time more focused on the (human) moral qualities of the pig, but the conclusion is still alright.
Rating: 6 /10

The Beguiled (1971)

	Also Known As: Les Proies (French), Betrogen (German)
	Year of first release: 1971
	Director: Donald Siegel (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Dirty Harry)
	Actors: Clint Eastwood (Play Misty for me, Gran Torino), Geraldine Page, Elizabeth Hartman
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama, Thriller, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 21.06.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Yankee soldier John McBurney (Eastwood) is found half-dead by the youngest occupant of a school for girls. They will take care of him while the civil war rages on around them. Special relationships will develop.
Review: One of the earliest movies with Clint Eastwood that is not a Western. This career change may have disoriented the distributors of the movie, by looking at the variety of the posters that were produced over the years (see at the end of this post), some trying to wrongfully sell is as a Western with an armed Clint, some other being fair enough to show the Southern flag and placing the movie correctly in context, some insisting too much on the Romance and finally a few really fair to the topic of a wounded soldier surrounded by women that lived in isolation. There is not so much action in this movie, more a display of psychology between the different characters, and how the soldier tries to take advantage of the situation. And once all the elements are in place I was quite shocked by the turn of events, filmed with utter realism. It gave me shivers. A movie that doesn't hesitate pushing the limits of what was allowed to be shown in the early 70's, and with the Master eye of director Don Siegel.
Rating: 8 /10

Monsters (2010)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2010
	Director: Gareth Edwards (Godzilla)
	Actors: Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able, Mario Zuniga Benavides
	Country: GB
	Genre: SF, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 18.06.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: After collecting samples in space, a probe crashes in Mexico and alien life starts to develop, making it an infected zone. Andrew (McNairy) and Sam (Able) are trying to reach the USA from the other side of the zone.
Review: The first feature-length movie by digital effect specialist Gareth Edwards is what I would call a minimalistic monster movie. So don't be fooled by the title and do not expect an Action movie. What makes the movie interesting for me is that it depicts a realistic alien infection on Earth, including the reaction of the people (some trying to make money out of it, other ones too poor to escape from it...) and of the government (different approaches from Mexico or the USA). In fact we barely see monsters throughout the whole movie, only glimpses here and there, and small mushroom-like aliens. You have to wait for a long time before they are revealed. This new approach to the "alien invasion" theme was quite original and has motivated Hollywood producers to entrust the direction of the Godzilla reboot to Edwards and we can recognize the same style in both movies: off-camera monster action and more focus on characters. I had seen Monsters at the Munich Fantasy Filmfest in 2010, and on second viewing it looks cheaper than I remembered (some digital effect look like they could have been generated by the FxGuru smartphone application) and also more empty: there is really nothing happening in the movie and Sam asks to Andrew two or three times: "what will you do tomorrow?". The sequel Monsters: Dark Continent (not directed by Edwards) seems to use another approach but received bad critics.
Rating: 5 /10

Mar adentro (2004)

	Also Known As: Mourir pour vivre, The sea inside
	Year of first release: 2004
	Director: Alejandro Amenábar
	Actors: Javier Bardem, Belén Rueda, Lola Duenas, Celso Bugallo
	Country: E, F, I
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 14.06.2015, DVD, Original Spanish/Gallegan version with Spanish subtitles
Synopsis: Ramón Sampedro (Bardem) fought a 30-year campaign to win the right to end his life with dignity. Julia (Belén), a lawyer, supports his cause, and Rosa (Duenas), a local woman wants to convince him that life is worth living. Through the gift of his love, his friendship and his humour these two women are inspired to accomplish things they never previously thought possible. Despite his wish to die, Ramón taught them he encountered the meaning, value and preciousness of life. Though he could not move himself, he had an uncanny ability to move others.
Review: The story is based on true events. That is why it may appear so quiet. But it is in fact very moving. Rather the people surrounding Ramón than Ramón himself. This I guess because he just tells his story relatively straight and emotionless but also deep and meaningful. Then many people are moved and explain why, show how, and this builds again an emotional relation to the characters, to their fears, to their love.  This brings the question of euthanasy on the table, and not necessarily for the right to kill people that cannot be saved but for the right for the patient to choose as if he was still able to commit suicide. It says a lot about the beauty of mutual respect of one person to another. The acting is good and from my point of view specially Celso Bugallo. He is very authentic. The rough guy from the country side, loving his brother, respecting his faith and his goal, and truly struggling for his brother sometimes even against his. The directing is interesting as some events are announced subtly and slowly, as we touch the core of the Ramón's suffering with the long and nice flight from the bedroom to the beach. The scenery in Galicia is beautiful even if rather cloudy and cold.  The DVD proposed also some sketches from the story-board where the different sceneries are presented, very precisely, colourful and already close to the reality of the movie.
Rating: 7 /10

Babe (1995)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1995
	Director: Chris Noonan
	Actors: James Cromwell (I, Robot), Magda Szubanski (Happy Feet 1-2), Christine Cavanaugh
	Country: USA, AUS
	Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 17.06.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Farmer Hoggett (Cromwell) wins a piglet at a contest. A special kind of relationship will grow between them, while Babe (voice of Cavanaugh) gets accustomed to the farm animals.
Review: I am not embarrassed to admit that I love this movie. It is for me one of the rare that can pretend to drive adults back to their childhood, only if for a fleeting one and a half hour, an effect that old Disney animated films can sometimes produce as well. The feel-good impression that leaves the movie may come from the original material: Dick King-Smith's 1983 novel The Sheep-Pig. But it is also undoubtedly also due is part to the cinematic adaptation work: scenes in which animals have human reactions brought to the screen thanks to trained animals for large shots, animatronics for close-ups and CGIs for detailed facial expressions and mouth movements when speaking. The movie was directed by Chris Noonan but it is well known that the producer George Miller (director of all Mad Max movies and Happy Feet 1-2) carried the project and may have helped in directing. Yes it is a movie with talking animals (you will recognize the voice of Hugo "Elrond" Weaving as Rex the dog), reminding of the things one can dislike in Disney productions or in kid's movies like Cats and Dogs (and there are many others) in which the animals are equipped with advanced technology (!). In Babe the setting is much more modest and emphasizes the simple life at the farm. The original novel is British, the movie was shot in Australia that looks like New Zealand and Hoggett makes me think of a Hobbit (who respect animals and love things that grow), even the names sound similar. It may be the movie in which I discovered James Cromwell, and I am not surprised that he was nominated for an Oscars, in spite of only 171 words of dialog including 61 sung.
Rating: 9 /10

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Matt Reeves (Cloverfield)
	Actors: Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight trilogy), Jason Clarke (The Big Gatsby, Terminator Genisys), Keri Russell, Andy Serkis (King Kong), Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, SF, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 15.06.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Ten years after a virus has decimated most of the human population and given birth to clever Apes, both populations have evolved in isolation, until a group of men needs something in the territory of the Apes.
Review:  In 2011 Rise of the Planet of the Apes (strangely not yet reviewed on this blog, but would probably rate 8/10) initiated a new series of films that reboots the one that started in 1968 with the classic Planet of the Apes with Charlton Heston, and continued with several movies and a TV-series. A first attempt of reboot was made in 2001 by Tim Burton but didn't meet success, a justified fate in my opinion. The screenplay writers that made the success of the first movie are back: the relatively new Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (also on Jurassic World and Avatar 2&3), this time accompanied by the more experienced but not necessarily more talented Mark Bomback, guilty of writing for Die Hard 4.0, Unstoppable, Race to Witch Mountain, Total Recall and The Wolverine, no great movies but entertaining enough. Dawn... follows the same spirit as the first movie but with a completely new human cast. This plus the fact that we spend the majority of the time with the Apes has the funny effect that we relate more to them than to the humans. We see them as an organized society, family men, including their doubts and internal conflicts, and good Apes and bad Apes like there are usually in movies good humans and bad humans. This inversion of roles is for me the major success in the film, together with the great performance of the Ape cast (body and facial motion capture of actors including the unmissable Andy "Gollum" Serkis). The Special effects (the Apes mainly) are well done but sometimes too smooth to be true. I prefer the more jerked motions of the aliens in District 9 for example, although I admit it is not fair to compare them with effects that reproduce real living beings. War of the Planet of the Apes is in preparation, but I fear that it will take more than three movies to get to the story of the original one, and that fear was confirmed by a recent interview of Andy Serkis to MTV.
Rating: 7 /10

Elite Squad (2007)

	Also Known As: Tropa de Elite (Original)
	Year of first release: 2007
	Director: José Padilha (Robocop)
	Actors: Wagner Moura (Trash), André Ramiro, Caio Junqueira
	Country: BR
	Genre: Action, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 14.06.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: The daily life of Captain Nascimento (Moura) in the section of Special Forces of the police of Rio de Janeiro (called BOPE), looking for a replacement in order to spend more time with his pregnant wife.
Review: I purchased this Blu-ray when I learned that this first fiction film (after he shot a Documentary) motivated Hollywood producers to ask José Padilha to direct the remake of Robocop, before I event saw that movie. From Brazil I think I has seen only City of God in my life and it did a strong impression on me like it did on everybody. Elite Squad takes place in the same kind of Favellas in Rio de Janeiro but focuses on the police Forces that are either corrupted or try to maintain order, instead of showing depressing scenes of poor kids sniffing glue. So Padilha uses a different approach (less Drama and more Action) to sensitise us to the same miserable life of the gangs of Rio. But there is hope as well, with Nascimento the family man and some youngsters studying law and working in NGOs to make the country a better place. The ridicule of the Police bureaucracy and corruption is so pushed that it makes laugh. In contrast the efficient methods used by the BOPE team, though often illegal, are worthy of an American SWAT team, and are filmed masterfully. A word about the structure: the movie starts with a small Action scene, followed by a "Six Month earlier" and both stories join not at the end but at mid-movie, so that the second half is still full of surprises. Well done. I will soon watch the sequel Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within.
Rating: 8 /10

The U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2006
	Director: David Leaf, John Scheinfeld
	Actors: -
	Country: USA
	Genre: Documentary, Music
	Conditions of visioning: 14.06.2015, SD VOD, 11" computer screen.
Synopsis: How the member of the Beatles got more and more implicated into political debates using his popularity, making him a target of the American authorities.
Review: Watching this documentary was the opportunity for me to learn more about the story of the Beatles in general and of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in particular. It starts around the period when Lennon stated that "The Beatles are more popular than Jesus" (which apparently is the main reason for his murder by Mark David Chapman) and continues on to his relationship with artist Yoko Ono and their growing involvement in protests against the war in Vietnam. Thanks to mostly archive images and a few recent interviews, we learn how Lennon met with activists of the period and was consequently listed and followed by the FBI, as he was criticising the established order by Nixon. In the end he was even about to be deported from the USA but his trial reached a stalemate in which he was continuously noticed for deportation (to please his enemies) but also continuously granted extensions (to please his supporters that the government could not afford to alienate). In the end, contrarily to what some conspiracy theories say, he was not silenced by the American government but by an angry fan. An informative documentary.
Rating: 5 /10

Et maintenant on va où? (2011)

	Also Known As: Wer weiß, wohin?, Where do we go now?
	Year of first release: 2011
	Director: Nadine Labaki
	Actors: Nadine Labaki, Yvonne Maalouf, Julian Farhat
	Country: RL, F
	Genre: Comedy, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 14.06.2015, City46, German version
Synopsis: A group of Lebanese women including the bar tender Amale (Labaki) and the mayor's wife Yvonne (Maalouf) try to ease religious tensions between Christians and Muslims in their village.
Review: The movie should have been in orginal Arabic version with German subtitles and I was fond of watching another movie from Lebanon. Some versions when not digital are not easy to get. The plot is simple but really nice. And the different characters of the village are very authentic, in the various situations, large meeting in front of the TV, fight in front of the Mosque or the Church, in the bar with the strip dancers, etc. It is the life in a small village of so-called religious people. There are many images of people or group of people that really look like a documentary or a hidden camera. The reactions are very natural, even when the women decide to play theatre so that the men can calm. Except for Amale (Labaki) and Rabih (Farhat) playing a romance game quite theatrical.  The realisation is very good too. In some sense, it feels even like Magic Realism in some scenes. The statue of Mary and the way the village is cut from the rest of Lebanon. And I am a big fan of Gabriel García Márquez novels.
Rating: 7 /10

Alien Nation (1988)

	Also Known As: Futur immédiat, Los Angeles 1991 (French)
	Year of first release: 1988
	Director: Graham Baker (Beowulf)
	Actors: James Caan (Rollerball, Misery), Mandy Patinkin, Terence Stamp (Star Wars Episode I)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Polar, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 12.06.2015, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: Aliens have landed on Earth years ago and are now assimilated to the population, not to the joy of all. Sgt Sykes (Caan) will team up with one of them (Patinkin) to solve a series of apparently unrelated crimes.
Review: A classic among the Science Fiction B-serie movies that I had never seen. I was immediately struck by some similarities with Neil Blomkamp's District 9 that must have been influence by it, in particular the backdrop story of alien population integrated to ours but at the same time victim of prejudice and racism, and the hero befriending one of them. And this population consists of workers/slaves, not the elite class. I read once that every SF movie is allowed one suspension of disbelief from the viewer, i.e. we are ready to accept one scientifically wrong fact in order to get into the movie and accept the rest of it. In the case of Alien Nation, you just have to accept that the aliens look humanoid and are visibly actors with rubber masks (not even badly done for 1988), and the rest will follow. Then I liked the inter-species criminal investigation, the acting of James Caan as grumpy cop and its growing friendship with the alien Sam Francisco (unimaginative names given to aliens also remind me of "Christopher" in District 9). In conclusion: a nice B-movie for amateurs of the genre. A TV-series even spawned after the popularity of the movie.
Rating: 6 /10