Le fils de l'Autre (2012)

	Also Known As: Der Sohn der Anderen, The other son
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Lorraine Lévy
	Actors: Emmanuelle Devos, Areen Omari, Jules Sitruk, Mehdi Dehbi, Mahmud Shalaby
	Country: F
	Genre: Comedy, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 04.10.2015, Cinema am Ostertor, Original French version with German subtitles
Synopsis: As Joseph Silberg (Sitruk) gets 18 he has to pass some medical tests. His mother being doctor and seeing something abnorma asks for investigation. Result is that Joseph has been switched with a Palestinian baby, Yacine Al Bezaaz, as a baby in the hospital. As both families are informed at the same time, they have to work this fate out with understanding.
Review: The story is really good. This might be completely unrealistic. But this way each boy and each family sees itself as split in two parts. Therefore over the hate they felt for the other population, they find what is in common, love. The love of the mothers for their children. The innocence of the younger siblings in front of other culture. The violence inside the fathers and older brother that gets converted into love as well. Thus the message and the proposed solution to solve this kind of deep conflict are excellent.  The acting is excellent, as the parents show the subtility of their feelings, the two kids show both the seriousness of the identity crisis and the easiness of adolescent life. Maybe the best acting was the brother of Yacine, Bilal (Shalaby). Excellent!  I liked the photography, especially the scenes in empty landscapes like the destroyed building or the path between the check point and the house of Al Bezaaz family.
Rating: 8 /10

You're ugly too (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Mark Noonan
	Actors: Lauren Kinsella, Aiden Gillen, Erika Sainte, George Pistereanu
	Country: IRL
	Genre: Drama, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 19.10.2015, Schauburg, OV Sneak preview, English with German subtitles
Synopsis: After her mother's death, Stacey (Kinsella) moves with her uncle Will (Gillen) to a remote region in the Irish midlands. As the two cautiously get to know each other, they have to deal with the dark shadows of the past. There they meet Emilie (Sainte) and Tibor (Pistereanu).
Review: This is an intelligent story about what is binding within family. The characters are not clear neither their role.This makes it surprising when we discover these step by step. I liked also the way I was driven to expect something while something else happens. This is therefore full of surprises that are not spectacular, but this maintains the interest to the movie.  The acting of the main characters is subtle and authentic. The role of Stacey is particularly enhanced by her dialogues, full of cheekiness. This makes the story extremely funny. I do not know whether this is Irish humor, but it is a good humor.  The director Noonan manages to get a lot from the actors in small rooms (e.g. caravans) and in outside scenes. Maybe because the scenery is relatively neutral and put aside via the aperture. He inserted many quiet life views with grass and flowers in the foreground and caravans in the background. These embody a break in the rather hard life of Stacey and Will. Therefore a clever directing.
Rating: 7 /10

R.I.P.D. (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Robert Schwentke (Flight Plan, RED, Insurgent)
	Actors: Ryan Reynolds (Buried, The Proposal), Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski, True Grit), Mary-Louise Parker (RED). Kevin Bacon (Hollowman, Super)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 16.10.2015, HD VOD, 14" computer screen
Synopsis: After dying, police officer Nick (Reynolds) is chosen to join the Rest In Peace Department, eliminating "deados" that liger on Earth. With his partner Roy (Bridges) he will go after some stolen gold and will meet again his former partner Hayes (Bacon).
Review: This fantastic comedy reminds me of Men in Black by its story, couple of partners (one experiences and one new), humour, look of the monsters and of the weapons. A big difference is the far-fetched involvement of the main character in the investigation he is himself leading (suspension of disbelief required). Beyond the lack of originality and of a strong story, R.I.P.D is OK to watch. Jeff Bridges gives all he can (language, facial expressions, mimics, behavior) to play this former cowboy stuck with this odd job, Ryan Reynolds is as bad as in Blade Trinity, and as always I was pleased to see Kevin Bacon. There are a few good ideas that are worth remembering, like the fact that the RIPD officers are not "ghosts" but flesh-and-bone humans that can interact with the rest of us, albeit with a different external appearance. For example Roy is a hot Blondie and Nick an old Chinese guy, which calls for some comedy scenes of course.
Rating: 5 /10

Black mass (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Scott Cooper
	Actors: Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon
	Country: USA
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 18.10.2015, Schauburg, Original version English with German subtitles
Synopsis: John Connolly (Edgerton) and James "Whitey" Bulger (Depp) grew up together on the streets of South Boston. Decades later, in the late 1970s, they would meet again. By then, Connolly was a major figure in the FBI's Boston office and Whitey had become godfather of the Irish Mob. What happened between them - a dirty deal to trade secrets and take down Boston's Italian Mafia in the process - would spiral out of control.
Review: I wanted to watch this movie. There have been lots of positive reviews especially for the acting of Johnny Depp. Finally, the story is some kind of Scarface with lower profile. We enter the gangster and FBI society in the 80s. Actually not so good. The acting of Johnny Depp is indeed good. It is a serious role after a lot of good comedies (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Rum Diary, Alice in Wonderland, Lone Ranger), therefore the critics who do not like to laugh prefer this role for Johnny Depp, I guess.  The story is therefore fine but not binding. For sure natives from Boston will like it because of the local touch. The paradox of Whitey being nice with the common people and brutal with any rat and enemy is well shown. Nevertheless I did not feel any emotional tie nor identification with any role. The acting of the main actors is good, but the directing does not bring much emotion apart from the scene when Whitey talks to the wife of Connolly. This makes a general deceiving impression.
Rating: 4 /10

Beowulf (2007)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2007
	Director: Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future 1-3, Cast Away, Contact)
	Actors: Ray Winstone (Indiana Jones 4), Crispin Glover (Willard, Charlie's Angels 1-2), Robin Wright Penn (The Congress, Forrest Gump), Angelina Jolie (Lara Croft 1-2, Wanted), Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs, Fracture)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Fantasy, Animation, Epic
	Conditions of visioning: 06.10.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: The kingdom of King Hrothgar (Hopkins) is threatened by his shame Grendel (Glover), until the hero Beowulf (Winstone) comes to the rescue.
Review: After his positive experience on The Polar Express, Robert Zemeckis pushed even further the at-that-time young concept of motion capture, two years before Avatar made it what it is nowadays. And I found that he really nailed it with that movie, better than with the previous one or the following A Christmas Carol. It seems to me that this heroic fantasy tale was the perfect topic for such an adaptation. The Epic scale of the story told (the legends of Grendel and Beowuf clashing) make for a grand spectacle, also superbly illustrated by Alan Silvestri's soundtrack. I remember that when I first saw Beowulf, it took me fifteen minutes to realize that it was not live action but motion capture and CGI characters. I then rewinded to watch the whole thing again with this new information in mind, and right after the movie I watched all available documentaries on the Blu-ray to learn about the making of this incredible visual experience. It is only too bad I never saw it in 3D, for which many in-your-face effects were designed. There are however some drawback to the technical process: the animation of the horses for example is far too rigid while the dragon, an imaginary creature for which we don't have a reference, looks more believable. And it is known that the most difficult things to reproduce in CGI are photo-realistic living beings. This is why Pixar keep on using toys and other inanimate objects in their movies. Another example is the face of the actors, which texture was rendered quite impressively and which motion was also very well captured, but in which the eyes often seem to wander in the wrong direction. Those "details" were mastered two years later by James Cameron and his crew, owing not a little to Zemeckis' experimentation. Steven Spielberg's The Adventure of Tintin also owes a lot to those first attempts at photo-realism. But enough of those technicalities: I liked the music, the legend, the story, the characters, the actors' play (the usual choice of Crispin Glover for the torture mind, and Angelina Jolie as Grendel's Mother, waw) and the look of the movie. An excellent adaptation. I fear to watch the 1999 Beowulf with Christophe Lambert and make a comparison.
Rating: 7 /10

The Hunt for Red October (1990)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1990
	Director: John McTiernan (Predator, Die Hard 1-3, The 13th Warrior)
	Actors: Sean Connery (Highlander, Red Sun Rising), Alec Baldwin (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation), Scott Glenn (Absolute Power, Sucker Punch), Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, In the Mouth of Madness), James Earl Jones (Conan the Barbarian)
	Country: USA
	Genre: War, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 22.09.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: In the middle of the Cold War, former CIA agent and analyst in UK Jack Ryan (Baldwin) travels to the USA in emergency to discuss his discovery of a new type of Russian nuclear submarine. Meanwhile the commander of that submarine (Connery) refutes his orders and heads for the US East Coast.
Review: After watching all cinema adaptations of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels (see a quick summary in the review of Clear and Present Danger), I can confirm that The Hunt for Red October is the best one, and I have always loved the movie for as far as I can remember. It is also for me the best in the sub-genre of submarine movies (only shorty in front of Das Boot and Crimson Tide, and I haven't seen U-571). Alec Baldwin plays a good Jack Ryan and Sean Connery a memorable Russian commander and is able to convey for his character a heavy background like few others can. The rest of the cast (Glenn, Neil, Jones and many many others) is also pleasant to watch. For The Hunt for Red October John McTiernan was visually very ambitious and I was impressed by the many scenes involving not only mock-ups but also real submarines, aircraft carriers, fighter jets, helicopters, ... They help making the movie more believable. What many remember from the movie is the cat & mouse game played between the Red October, Jack Ryan, the US military and the Russian fleet, and those countries' respective diplomats. It is masterfully put in images and an extreme tension is present every minute. During this Nth visioning I even noticed that some deductions/conclusions/decisions are quite far-fetched in order to keep the pace fast and the tension high. An extended cut with 20 minutes of added exposition scenes may have been a interesting idea (my two cents worth). But apart from this minor detail The Hunt for Red October remains an excellent movie.
Rating: 9 /10

Feast II: Sloppy Seconds (2008)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2008
	Director: John Gulager (Piranha 3DD)
	Actors: Jenny Wade, Martin Klebba, Clu Gulager
	Country: USA
	Genre: Horror, Black Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 12.10.2015, SD VOD, Home cinema
Synopsis: Monster attacks have spread from a single bar to the neighbouring town, where the survivors of the first attack try to hide, and some others seek revenge.
Review: Direct-to-video sequel to the energetic Feast, this Sloppy Seconds is well-named for the best or the worst. It starts right where the first movie stopped (so they are best watched close in time) and falls perfectly in the continuity with its generous display of gore deaths. Some new characters bring life to this story expanded from behind-closed-doors to a shooting stage on a parking lot in front of a blue screen. In particular two midget key-maker wrestlers and their grandma, a revengeful sister and an adulterous couple stranded with the wife's lover. Some ideas are at level with the first movie in terms of craziness (the catapult !?!) but unfortunately they are not enough to fill 90 minutes and the audience has to suffer through extended useless dialog scenes and in particular a stand-alone side-story involving only one actress totally independent from the rest of the group. The story and character's motivation often don't make sense, and the quality of the blue-screen incrustations for all the rooftop scenes (half of the movie) is very poor. The movie is worth watching only for the few excellent gags. I was told the final episode of the trilogy Feast III: The Happy Finish (2009) is the worst. I am not really eager to watch it.
Rating: 3 /10

Divergent (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Neil Burger (The Illusionist)
	Actors: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet (Titanic, Contagion), Ashley Judd (A Time to Kill, Olympus had Fallen), Jai Courtney (Die Hard 5: A Good Day to Die Hard, Terminator Genysis)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 14.10.2015, In-flight Entertainment system, 8" screen
Synopsis: 100 years after a Global War, the city of Chicago is isolated and in peace thanks to an organization in five classes. For Tris (Woodley), the day of choosing her future class is determining.
Review: Surfing on the wave of SF/Fantasy franchises for young adults, Divergent is actually not as bad as others like The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. It is closer to a Hunger Games, very close to it actually with its female heroin facing a new life, and its divided society. Romance is present as well but fortunately not too pronounced. It is interesting that there are in fact no special powers involved in this movie, just normal humans classified according to their genes or characters (A Brave New World is not far). It is not unpleasant to follow the various challenges the heroin has to overcome (again, structured like The Hunger Games or like any video game), but I had too much the feeling that the movie will stop unfinished (as it does), leaving the door open for a money-making franchise continuing with Insurgent (2015), Allegient (2016) and Ascendant (2017). I find the lead actress Shailene Woodley even less charismatic than Jennifer Lawrence, the sexy Theo James is here only for his looks, and apart from a good Kate Winslet, the best actor may be Jai Courtney, for me much better casted here than as son of John McClane in Die Hard 5: A Good Day to Die Hard or Kyle Reese in Terminator Genysis.
Rating: 4 /10

Ant-Man (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Peyton Reed (The Break-Up)
	Actors: Paul Rudd (Knocked Up, The is the End), Michael Douglas (The Game), Corey Stoll (House of Cards TV-series), Evangeline Lilly (The Hobbit 2-3)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 14.10.2015, In-flight Entertainment system, 8" screen
Synopsis: Discoverer of a formula to shrink living beings to ant-size, Dr. Hank Pym (Douglas) leaves the company he founded in order to keep this potential weapon secret. Thirty years later his work is about to be replicated so he looks for a thief in the person of Scott (Rudd) to suit up and prevent chaos.
Review: I have seen the trailer of this movie too many times this summer and got sick of it. Furthermore I didn't read good critics about it, so I only watched it to complete my knowledge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and because it was available on-board a long flight. The visioning conditions were clearly not ideal for such a blockbuster but I got the gist anyway: as I feared, the movie is not much more than what is shown in the trailer and the story feels like nothing more than a direct-to-video spin-off of the other Marvel movies, maybe like the TV-series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (although I haven't seen it so I can't really say). So the story is not really enthralling and even sometimes confused, the actors just OK, the dialogs usually flat but sometimes delivering punchlines for the audience to remember, and the special effects are medium-good (special mention to the 30-years rejuvenation of Michael Douglas by the special effects company Lola VFX). But the worst is probably the humour, revolving mainly around the thief, and usually coming from the fact that he fails at training with the suit, or that he cracks a joke at the wrong moment (a similar tentative of humour as done in The Guardians of the Galaxy) For those who like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I would rather advise the excellent TV-series Daredevil produced by Netflix. Many wonder what could have the movie been if Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, The World's End) had stayed at its reins instead of leaving the executives "due to differences in their visions of the film", but this we will never know. He is credited as writer nonetheless.
Rating: 4 /10

Ted 2 (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Seth MacFarlane (Ted)
	Actors: Mark Wahlberg (Transformers 4, Pain & Gain), Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy TV-series), Amanda Seyfried (In Time), Giovanni Ribisi (Avatar), Morgan Freeman (Oblivion)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 14.10.2015, In-flight entertainment 8" screen
Synopsis: The magically alive bear Ted (McFarlane) is getting married while his best friend John (Wahlberg) keeps to himself after his divorce. Legal concerns about Ted's nature (person or object?) will unite them once more into new adventures.
Review: Sequel to the appreciated Ted and gathering the same cast and crew, Ted 2 doesn't commit the mistake of trying to surpass the original, but rather expand the character's story while delivering the right amount of dirty jokes, references and complicity between the two buddies that we liked. I was curious to see it since I recently started to watch the Family Guy TV-series from the same author Seth McFarlane and to appreciate his humour. Ted 2 (maybe even more than the first) is a movie for geeks and you need a certain amount of pop culture to understand the many references and jokes (I got maybe half of them, maximum one third). I appreciated in particular a reference to Jurassic Park that was hard to place. I laughed several times at the quick and stupid dialogs between the two buddies, actually quite true to real exchanges two such friends could have in real life. My favorite exchange was maybe when the lead female character Samantha Jackson (Seyfried) asks: Do I have "fuck me" eyes? and the bear replies No, you have "Give me the ring, my precious" eyes (which is kind of true, sadly for the actress). This is followed by another scene at the New-York Comicon. Good job for a sequel!
Rating: 6 /10

Feast (2005)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2005
	Director: John Gulager (Piranha 3DD)
	Actors: Navi Rawat, Krista Allen, Balthazar Getty
	Country: USA
	Genre: Horror, Black Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 11.10.2015, SD VOD, 22" TV
Synopsis: A bunch of colorful characters gets stranded in a bar when they become surrounded by flesh-eating monsters and try to survive in any way they can.
Review: What the hell is that movie?!? Produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, it is a cheap-looking horror survival reminding the second half of From Dusk till Dawn, but even more unpredictable (killing any member of the cast is not a problem), unrestrained in gore and disgusting scenes, and full of a crazy energy. The setting in a bar also reminded me of Scott Stewart's Legion in which Judgment Day is actually taking place around the bar. These is a good dose of macabre humour in Feast, the characters being not really willing to help each other, and each attempt to do so resulting in a ridiculous, predictable and fatal failure. Gore lovers will be pleased by the movie as it is very generous at it, not keeping the apparitions of its admittedly plastic-looking monsters for rare jumps scares but displaying them all the time. As in Bad Taste or The Evil Dead in their times, Feast shows blood and other liquids splattering all around at the first opportunity. Definitely for the strong-hearted and even then, I wouldn't recommend to watch right after a meal. The best splatter-movie I have seen in a while.
Rating: 7 /10

Big Man Japan (2007)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2007
	Director: Hitoshi Matsumoto (Symbol)
	Actors: Hitoshi Matsumoto (Symbol), Riki Takeuchi
	Country: J
	Genre: Documentary, Comedy, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 11.10.2015, DVD, 22" TV
Synopsis: Masaru Daisatô (Matsumoto) undergoes an interview, during which we slowly realise that he can at any time be called upon to transform into a giant man protecting Japan against monsters.
Review: I have tried to watch this movie some years ago but fell asleep after the first hour. It does last twice longer and is extremely slow to start, but it is worth watching until the end. The main character is funny in a way only the Japanese could have though about: it is a kind of super-hero from a gone age, under the pressure of doing as good as his much more renowned grandfather, and living a very simply life, suffering constant mockery and disdain, when he is not on duty. The mockumentary style (fake documentary, like What we do in the Shadows) fits well the story that alternates somehow boring interviews in various surroundings with monster fights. The digital effects used for those look very cheap and dated, but it doesn't matter as the important is that we see the Big Man in action, often defeating its enemies by pure chance. Mix into that his ex-wife, his decrepit apartment, the publicity agent selling his actions to TV and advertisers, the semi-official ceremonies proceeding his transformation and the final 15 minutes of total insanity, and you get a bizarre movie that will please the fans of the genre like me. I also liked a lot the next movie by the same director/actor: Symbol.
Rating: 6 /10

Three Years and a Thousand Movies

After three years of sharing with you our movie reviews, we would like to make a balance with some statistics. In our last two yearly articles, we reported about the history of the blog and the trade-off between blog providers, in addition to statistics about the number of movies seen, their country of production, their genre and rating, the list of visited film festivals, and finally a short list of recommended movies of the year.

This year we will try to give an overview on the work we have done from July 20th 2012 to July 20th 2015.

Bleeder (1999)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1999
	Director: Nicolas Winding Refn (Pusher 1-3, Drive)
	Actors: Kim Bodnia (Old Men in New Cars), Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal TV-series), Rikke Louise Andersson, Levino Jensen
	Country: DK
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 05.10.2015, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: Leo (Bodnia) has just learned that his girlfriend Lousie (Andersson) got pregnant. He is trying to accept it while living a miserable life in a poor area of Copenhagen, surrounded nby his brother-in-law Louis (Jensen) and his buddy Lenny (Mikkelsen)
Review: Second movie from the now-famous director NWR, Bleeder takes place right after the story of the revelation Pusher, and uses the same characters. I loved the first movie and have watched the trilogy many years ago, and after watching Drive I wanted to deepen my knowledge of NWR's filmography. There is actually not too much gangster action in Bleeder, but more about the life of people trying to survive in unfavorable conditions. I could appreciate once more the talent of NWR for telling such stories: hand-held camera, long shots, grey colors, scarce dialogs, and many many situations uncomfortable to watch, like scenes of gratuitous racial insults or flirting between two very shy people. And as in all his movies that I know, the tension is very high because you just know that at some point things are going to go west. The music already plays a great role in Bleeder, twelve years before Drive's loud soundtrack. Small technical note: as in many DVDs I bought from UK, the image quality on this one is very poor, but it seems more likely due to a interlacing problem than really to encoding.  I have seen that NWR's third movie Fear X is available on Netflix...
Rating: 7 /10

The Incredibles (2004)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2004
	Director: Brad Bird (The Iron Giant, Ratatouille, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol)
	Actors (voices): Craig T. Nelson, Samuel L. Jackson, Holly Hunter
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, Comedy, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 14.09.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Famous Super-heroes, Mr Incredible and Elastigirl get married shortly before their hero actions become illegal. Years later they have founded a family but the man is not really happy in his new life and cannot let go of his past, until he is contacted by a mysterious organization.
Review: I have loved this movie from the first time I saw it, and the reason is not obvious. Why would I like it better than the other Pixar productions of the same period, like Monsters Inc or Finding Nemo? My best explanation is that The Incredibles can be seen at many levels; it is not targeted purely to a young audience like animated movies usually are, especially in the USA. Indeed some elements can speak to adults like me: the struggle of man to build a family and maintain his couple active in spite of massive changes in his life (like a new job...), and in general daily activities like working for an obnoxious boss, commuting, doing the daily chores, going out with old friends... Other aspects I cannot relate with but borrow from genres that I like, namely Super-heroes and James Bond movies. In fact The Incredibles follows the guidelines of both genres perfectly (if you don't count the family comedy which is also well done), which is something I have never seen in any other movie: on one side the villain has been created by the hero and is jealous of his powers (typical super-hero Nemesis) and on the other there is the remote island, the henchmen, the doomsday weapon... so typical of a James Bond movie like Moonraker for example. Other reasons to love this movie: the jazzy soundtrack (including a scene in which the hero hums his own theme) and the story-telling and energetic editing that I find just perfect. I believe that The Incredibles should be used in cinema schools as editing example to the same level as Back to the Future or Casablanca.
Rating: 10 /10

Sei Donne per l'Assassino (1964)

	Also Known As: Seis mujeres para el asesino
	Year of first release: 1964
	Director: Mario Bava
	Actors: Francesca Ungaro, Cameron Mitchell, Eva Bartok, Franco Ressel
	Country: I, F, CH
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 27.09.2015, DVD, English version with Spanish subtitles
Synopsis: Isabella (Ungaro), a young model is murdered by a mysterious masked figure at a boarding house run by Max Morlacchi (Ressel) and his lover Countess Cristiana Como (Bartok). When Isabella's boyfriend, Max (Mitchell) is suspected of the killing, her diary, which apparently has some incriminating evidence linking her to the killer and to many others, dissapears, the masked killer begins killing off all the models in and around the house to find the diary.
Review: In the serie of Gialli that I wanted to discover, this is the next one. Mario Bava again introduces some basis for the genre of Giallo. In particular the killer with black-gloved hands, allusions to sexuality and even to provocative sexuality (for that time) and use of colourful palette.  The acting is quite good. This time I watched it in English as a few actors were anyway not speaking in Italian. This way I avoided the surprises of the last Giallo La ragazza che sapeva troppo.  The movie is visually a pleasure especially because each murder is done differently with different sceneries but with the common pride for colours. The directing by Mario Bava is even more creative than in La ragazza.
Rating: 7 /10 As often with the style Giallo, the posters are very creative and graphically beautiful.

Sicario (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Denis Villeneuve
	Actors: Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin
	Country: USA
	Genre: Polar, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 21.09.2015, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, Original English version
Synopsis: Kate Macer (Blunt), an idealistic FBI agent, is enlisted by an elected government task force led by Matt Graver (Brolin) to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S.A. and Mexico. The mysterious Alejandro (del Toro) has many insights in the network of the Cartels.
Review: Since Traffic most of the movies I have watched on the drug cartels were focused in showing the extreme violence. This one goes beyond. The violence is presented on the side as part of the scenery. But the focus is on the hypocrisy of the war against drugcartels. This is not new. It had been already demonstrated by journalists in an excellent documentary À qui profite la cocaine. This fact had never been really considered by the North Americans. Thanks to a Canadian director, this might be the case now!  Josh Brolin is very credible as mercenary, careless of laws and strong convictions. Emily Blunt is also very credible as newcomer discovering a world with astonishment, anger and certain belief in law. Being a fan of Benicio del Toro, I have not been disappointed. Great actor!  Recently I digged a bit in the early movies done by Denis Villeneuve after I had been impressed by Prisoners. He manages to get the best effect of the acting of the three main characters by having the camera at the right place at the right moment. There is nothing special, no arty effect. The directing is very good to enhance the acting and the subject of the movie.
Rating: 8 /10 Another nice poster.