Narcos - Season 1 (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Creators: Carlo Bernard, Chris Brancato, Doug Miro, Paul Eckstein
	Actors: Wagner Moura (Elite Squad 1-2, Elysium), Boyd Holbrook, Pedro Pascal (The Adjustment Bureau, Game of Thrones TV-series)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Polar, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: January-February 2016, HD VOD, Home cinema
Synopsis: The rise of Pablo Escobar (Moura) as the leader of a drug-trafficking empire and the efforts by American DEA agents Javier Peña and Steve Murphy (Pascal & Holbrook) to stop him.
Review: Over the past few years I have been very careful to watch only TV-series that had been recommended to be my several friends, in order to perform a good selection and not spend too much time watch such series that I know can take a lot of it. After Battlestar Galactica I have mostly limited myself to Sons of Anarchy, Game of Thrones and Sherlock. Although having heard little about it, Narcos was one I had to see. The most interesting with it is how real it looks: from characters to clothes, sets, back-story and details like moustaches make you feel like you are watching a documentary. Note that there exists in fact a documentary on the same topic (Los tiempos de Pablo Escobar) and a Colombian TV-series (Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal) that I am eager to watch. What also helps realism is that most dialogs are in Spanish (although Columbians complained about the accent of Pablo for example, I am not skilled to recognized such detail), uncommon for American series but necessary when your story takes place in Columbia. Only the scenes involving the American newcomer are spoken in English. Also a great idea to have the audience follow this guy for a better identification. The first episode (Descendo) is an introduction to how cocaine came to Columbia and I thought then that the whole series would be shot in this impersonal documentary style but instead we quickly settle to our main character (Pablo and the DEA partners) that will stay the main focus point. The next episode (The Sword of Simón Bolivar) settles the basis of drug trafficking: political corruption, police bribing, gathering in cartel and when this is not enough kidnappings, killings and even terrorism. The scenes when they have so much money they don't know where to store it also reminded me of the movie Blow with Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz, depicting more or less the same events but from an American point of view focusing on another character. The following episodes show us how drugs wars engulfed the whole country, until the key Episode#7 (You Will Cry Tears of Blood) full of twists and a no-less satisfying end of season. It is obvious that the story was modified for dramatisation effect (in the dialogs and maybe relationship and existence of some characters), but it is also apparent that the true facts didn't need exaggeration: they are violent and horrible enough to provoke the audience reaction expected from such a series.
Rating: 8 /10

Jodorowsky's Dune (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Frank Pavich
	Actors: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Michel Seydoux, H.R. Giger
	Country: USA, F
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 26.02.2016, SD VOD, 14" computer screen
Synopsis: The genesis of Alejandro Jodorowsky's project to adapt Frank Herbert's Dune for the cinema, project that was doomed never to see the light.
Review: The ambition of the project can be summarize by listing the team of "Warriors" that  Jodorowsky had assembled on this project: his friend Michel Seydoux as producer, French Comics books genius Jean "Moebius" Giraud, British SF cover designer Chris Foss and H.R. Giger (later designer of the Alien creature) as conceptual artists, Dan O'Bannon (also later on Alien) as special effects supervisor, Pink Floyd and Magma for the soundtrack, and in the cast his own son Brontis (already in El Topo and in the future La Danza de la Realidad) as Paul, Salvador Dali as the Emperor (requesting 100 000 dollars per minute of film with his image) and his muse Amanda Lear as the princess, Orson Welles as the Baron Harkonen, and also Mick Jager and David Carradine (known at the time from the Kung-Fu TV-series). A perfect cast and crew that started to work on the "Greatest Science Fiction movie Never made" as the tagline of this documentary announces. Because indeed the movie was never made in spite of magnificent storyboard that was sent to all Hollywood studios and that I have had the chance to see once exposed in a Paris museum. I had always thought that the project had been refused because of excessive budget while in fact it was because of its director and of the atypical story, although I suspect that had the movie ever been produced, it would have exploded its budget and/or would have looked rather cheap because of the limited special effects of the time. In fact Jodorowsky was at the top of his fame, but for movie that don't really follow Hollywood's standards: Fando & Lys, El Topo and La Montaga Sagrada. And the story freely departed from Herbert's version to incorporate Jodorowsky's vision (extremely interesting and philosophical when he tells it by the way). The documentary cleverly starts with a brief biography on Jodorowsky followed by the narration of the quest to find Warriors (almost like in a good Western or Martial Arts movie), accompanied by testimonies by those warriors themselves, like for example the one of O'Bannon who tells of his first almost Shamanic encounter with the director. Remember that the guy is the creator of Psycho Magic that I recently heard him describe at the Gérardmer Fantastic Film Festival. And the question that haunts the whole movie is: what if we lived in a World in which the movie would have been made (would it have been the greatest movie ever?), or on the contrary in a world in which its design work (the "Book") would not have been here to influence the Cinema from the past decades (would we have Blade Runner, Star Wars, Flash Gordon, The Matrix?). Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive), one spiritual son of Jodorowsky, advocates the major impact of the work by the visionary director and his team. Only a little of those choices transpire in David Lynch's version of Dune that was finally produced loosely re-using Jodorowsky's ideas. The documentary in itself is not revolutionary but the story of Jodorowsky's Dune has to be told to the World.
Rating: 6 /10

Doomsday (2008)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2008
	Director: Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent, Centurion)
	Actors:  Rhona Mitra (Hollow Man, Shooter), Bob Hoskins, Alexander Siddig, Malcolm Mc Dowell (A Clockwork Orange, Halloween, Suck), Sean Pertwee (Howl, Gotham TV-series), MyAnna Buring (Kill List)
	Country: GB, USA
	Genre: Action
	Conditions of visioning: 19.02.2016, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: After a plague hits Scotland, the world (and in particular England) decides to quarantine the whole country by building a wall around it. On the day the wall closes, 7-year old Eden (Mitra) manages to escape. 25 years later, now a special forces agent, she is tasked with leading a team beyond the wall to find a cure for the recurrent disease that now threatens London.
Review: I loved Doomsday when I discovered it at the Munich Fantasy Film Festival in 2008. I was already familiar with the work of Neil Marshall and I kept on following him ever since. What a story: rebuilding Hadrien's wall to keep Scotland at bay! Knowing the History between the two countries, I find that the plot hits the mark, and such an irony confirmed that Marshall belongs to the new wave of European Genre directors to follow. Malcolm Mc Dowell is brilliant, Rhona Mitra an athletic sexy deadly weapon, and other actors like David O'Hara overplay their part for the joy of fans of the genre like me. Some scenes are pure fan-service (the rabbit!) while others and one in particular are the first that come to mind to whomever I ask who had seen the movie 8 years ago. If you are one of those, does BBQ remind you of something? Would you rather see a post-apocalyptic movie with cannibals, riots, world leaders fighting for power, high-tech, medieval battles or pimped cars races? Well thanks to Neil Marshall you don't have to chose and he gives you all of it in a nice bloody package. Doomsday is for me no less than one of the best post-apocalyptic movies ever, right after Mad Max 2 and Mad Max: Fury Road.  But displaying such generosity has a drawback: some parts of the movie appear to have been less thought through than other, the best two universes being the diametrically opposed anarchy/cannibal urban setting and the medieval rural one, while the ending appears to be more rushed. But that didn't really spoil my pleasure as Doomsday is a totally assumed B-movie. One thing that disturbed me though is the music that I found sometime slightly inappropriate, at other times too present, or even completely spoiling the mood of the scene.
Rating: 7 /10

Tremors (1990)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1990
	Director: Ron Underwood (Mighty Joe)
	Actors:  Kevin Bacon (Stir of Echoes, Super, Hollow Man), Fred Ward, Finn Carter
	Country: USA
	Genre: Horror, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 21.02.2016, HD VOD, Home cinema
Synopsis: Earl and Valentine (Bacon & Ward) are done with degrading handwork in a small isolated town. On their way out of it they witness several strange deaths and end up stuck in town fighting underground monsters.
Review: Believe it or not, this is one of the classic 80-90's horror movies that I had never seen and I am glad I corrected that like I recently did with Wes Craven's The People under the Stairs. I was surprised to find Tremors on Netflix under the category Comedy but in fact it deserves it: the characters are all charicatural to the extreme and are not to be taken seriously, so we don't get very scared when the Monsters' attack occur. But this doesn't mean that the movie is ridiculous, but I would rather say that the special mix of Horror and Comedy brings a kind of unmistakable 90's touch I am quite found of. Only now do I realize how much influence this movie in particular had on the future directors of Eight Legged Freaks, Evolution or the Piranha remake. And Tremors is not badly done at all. The characters may be exaggerated but they are played by decent actors including a young energetic Kevin Bacon post-Friday 13th. The story is not completely predictable and lets itself easily follow, and the crew delighted us (or me at least) with daring crane shots like I had never seen done before or since. And the Monsters' design is original and well rendered. An unmissable part of Genre History. I am not sure the same can be said from its many sequels.
Rating: 6 /10

Fury (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: David Ayer (Suicide Squad)
	Actors: Brad Pitt (Snatch, World War Z), Shia LaBeouf (Transformers 1-3), Logan Lerman
	Country: USA
	Genre: War, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 06.02.2016, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: 1945. While the American troops are advancing through Germany, their tank patrols are in inferiority against the more advanced German Panzers. The Sergeant nicknamed Wardaddy (Pitt) and his crew are trying to make it through another day.
Review: We actually don't get to see too often a WWII movie, even less a good one. I don't know if the idea behind Fury was influenced by the success of the video game World of Tanks, but it is rather original to follow this tank crew in a maybe less known part of History. The movie offers three major tank action scenes and after seeing the second one I wondered how it could be topped, but they made it. I found the atmosphere in the confined environment well rendered, and the helplessness of the Americans against a better equipped enemy. Beyond those epic scenes, the main interest of the movie resides in its characters like any such movie. Brad Pitt is great, helped by a make-up that changes his "babyface" image, and plays totally differently than in Inglorious Basterds, sign of a good actor. For example he speaks a decent German while in the Tarantino movie his skills were more parodic. I was glad to see for the first time Shia LaBeouf playing something else than a nervous kid as in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle or the Transformers trilogy, and we get attached to the rest of the crew as well.On top of that, the story and direction put an emphasis on the human side thanks to several poignant scenes. I am not sure Fury deserves the title of "Best war movie since Saving Private Ryan" as the cover highlights but for sure it doesn't fall far from this category.
Rating: 8 /10

Les garçons et Guillaume, à table! (2013)

	Also Known As: Maman und ich, Me myself and mum, Chicos y Guillermo ¡A comer!
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Guillaume Gallienne
	Actors: Guillaume Gallienne
	Country: F
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 17.02.2016, DVD, French version
Synopsis: Guillaume (Gallienne) behaves like his mother (Gallienne), talks like her and looks like her. He feels feminine but not effeminate. Everybody laughs at him for that.
Review: That movie did a buzz in France and it had been seen as a huge comedy. But well. Several sketches are funny in this very personal and autobiographical story by Gallienne. Even if these are good pitches, the humour is always the same. The story is quite touching as well and as both key roles are played by Gallienne, he and his mother, this makes it even more touching.  The acting is good, especially Gallienne making a great and successful jump from the theater to the movies.  It is also interesting to have the movie switching from theater scenes to the "reality" of the movie scenes. This makes me feel more the story of Gallienne who indeed wrote the story for the theater first and then adapted it for the movie.
Rating: 6 /10

Trumbo (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Jay Roach
	Actors: Bryan Cranston, Louis C.K., Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, David James Elliott
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 22.02.2016, Schauburg, English version
Synopsis: In 1947, Dalton Trumbo (Cranston) was Hollywood's top screenwriter until he and other artists (The Hollywood Ten) were jailed and blacklisted for their political beliefs as communists. Trumbo involves his whole family and reconquest his place by winning two Academy Awards under fake names. The blacklist pushed by gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (Mirren) and John Wayne (Elliott).
Review: I had no expectation from this movie. And what a pleasure to enjoy a great story giving a view in the History and the McCarthysm talking with great dialogues. The blacklisting used as censorship by the USA government starting in the 40s is very well depicted. The humour is very black and fully credible for a man of words even in his dramatic situation. The story highlights a reflection on the defense of rights: the right of thought and expression, the right of working, also the civil rights.  The dialogues were excellent. Full of black humour and subtlety. Also the situations are full of black humour. small SPOILER After his lung cancer surgery, one character is seen smoking like hell in a bar. And the acting is very good in that sense, dramatic, with subtle humour, and not only by the well known Helen Mirren, but also by Bryan Cranston and Louis C.K.  The camera, lights and scenery serve the purpose of making authentic the Trumbo family.  Within one week, seing Hail Caesar and Trumbo where some topics are common, the difference is great. The best comedy is definitely Trumbo! The commonality are references to epic movies and the involvment of communist screenwriters.  I love this movie for many reasons (story, dialogues, acting), and therefore I cannot put less than 8.
Rating: 8 /10

Hail Caesar (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Ethan and Joel Coen
	Actors: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich
	Country: USA, GB
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 21.02.2016, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English version with German subtitles
Synopsis: Eddie Mannix (Brolin) is a Hollywood fixer for Capitol Pictures in the 1950s. This means he cleans up and solves problems for big names and stars in the industry. Today, studio star Baird Whitlock (Clooney) disappears.
Review: Many styles are mixed in this pot-pourri of 50s Hollywood cinema, having musical scenes, epic scenes, etc. All played as a take in the take. This aspect is funny. Also the link to communists that make the stereotypes on communist moles ridiculous and laughable. Otherwise there is not much what captivated my attention. Many stars acting well their roles, many winks to their own caricatures.  To me this movie appears quite self-centred on Hollywood. And thus not much interesting to me.
Rating: 4 /10

Report on the Gérardmer International Fantastic Film Festival 2016

From January 27th to 31st 2016 took place the Gérardmer International Fantastic Film Festival, the oldest and most famous of such Festivals in France, that replaces the no-less-famous Avoriaz one since 1994. JoRafCinema was present for most of the time as mentioned in a preview article, missing only the last afternoon and closing ceremony, but following anyway the awards attribution online from the train ride home.

The Villa Monplaisir near the Espace du Lac where the Opening Ceremony was held, and the beautiful poster of the 23rd edition.

Kaamelott: Seasons 1-6 (2004-2009)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2004-2009
	Creator: Alexandre Astier
	Actors:  Alexandre Astier, Lionnel Astier, Franck Pitiot
	Country: F
	Genre: Comedy, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: December 2015 - February 2016, SD VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: Arthur, King of Britain (Astier) struggles in maintaining order around the Round Table and motivating his Knights to find the Holy Grail.
Review: I would normally not review on this blog comedy TV-series that usually last 20 minutes per episode, and especially not this one in the very short format of 3.5 minute in its first four seasons. But in the course of the series the tone has changed to a more dramatic one and the format has been extended to 52 minutes. So it started with a 14-minute short produced by Alexandre Astier called Dies Irae and that already contained all the ingredients of what the series would become, and most of its main cast. Then for four seasons it filled the gap of the short comic series to watch just before dinner or the News, like did the successful Un Gars, Une Fille or Camera Café before it. It became quickly very popular thanks to its mix of fantasy, history and a typical french humour that I have read opposed to the British more absurd one for example. My personal favorite character is Perceval played by Franck Pitiot (that some theories compare to Superman...), followed by Merlin (Jacques Chambon). But they all have their special enjoyable traits, and in addition the series includes a vast number of guest actors (cameos) from the French repertoire. Indeed Alexandre Astier is creator, writer, director and actor of the series and he seems to have an excellent knowledge of Arthurian legends and pop culture at the same time, leading to plenty of hidden references throughout the series. Very satisfying when you get one of them... Some episodes are hilarious, usually because of the stupidity of such and such character, and it is thus no surprise that the series is continuously replayed on TV. For its fifth season the series evolved to focus more on the story, the quest of the Grail, the conflicts between Arthur and Lancelot and the background of the characters. I think it was still shown on TV as short episodes but as the humour was less present it probably didn't please the audience. I would rather recommend to watch the 52-minute episodes, also re-edited for this length, which allow better understanding where Astier is leading the story. The sixth season keeps the same format and introduces the other genius idea of being a prequel, i.e. telling the story of Arthur 15 years earlier and showing us the first encounters between all the characters we have come to know. This season is also even more dramatic than the fifth, and ends quite openly, in the fashion a movie would do it. Note that thanks to their format, those last two seasons also display more outdoors scenes, longer shots and a good use of music (also composed and recorded by Astier). Apparently the planned seventh season will never be, but instead one or several full-length movies should be made in the coming years, the long delay being due to some conflicts around the rights for the show. I really wonder what those movies will look like.
Rating: 7 /10

The Hateful Eight (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds, Kill Bill)
	Actors: Samuel L. Jackson (The Avengers), Kurt Russell (Bone Tomahawk, The Thing, Stargate), Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tim Roth (The Liability, Reservoir Dogs), Walton Goggins (Sons of Anarchy TV-series), Michael Madsen (Kill Bill), Bruce Dern
	Country: USA
	Genre: Western
	Conditions of visioning: 04.02.2016, Mathäser Kino
Synopsis: Bounty Hunter John Ruth (Russell) is on his way to bring a prisoner to justice when he meets two strangers on the road (Jackson, Goggins) before being forced by a blizzard to stop at a guesthouse where the presence of more strangers make him wonder about who to trust.
Review: I am so glad Quentin Tarantino decided to go on and make this movie, in spite of his initial reaction to cancel it when some idiot leaked his screenplay on Internet and many more idiots shared it, read it and commented on it. Seriously, who wants to be deprived of the pleasure of watching one of his movies by reading the story beforehand?? This is his 8th and so much emphasis is put on this number because he plans to stop movie-making after the 10th. As usual with Tarantino I liked the dialogs between some very strong characters, and there are many of those dialogs in the course of this 3-hour movie, and the characters take a lot of time to say what they have to, but why hurry anyway when you have days of coach trip ahead of you? The outside shots are beautiful (like in The Revenant?) and accompanied by a wonderful music from Ennio Morricone. Once in the guesthouse I found the movie to look very much like a stage play with its single location, long shots and slow camera travellings. Also the acting of Russell in particular, all in exaggeration, reminds of a play. By the way Russell plays a very different character that in Bone Tomahawk in spite of a similar look and historical period, which is a sign of great actor. The discussions about who people really are are of course well written and then, without spoiling too much, I can say that it gets deliciously bloody. I didn't rate it better because even if it was a nice movie and the three hours did not feel like it, The Hateful Eight doesn't contain memorable moments that would stick to the mind like in other Tarantino movies. And the pace was a bit too slow, half an hour less wouldn't have hurt. But hey, how often do you get to see a stage play by Tarantino?
Rating: 7 /10

Dirty grandpa (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Dan Mazer
	Actors: Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Jason Mantzoukas
	Country: USA
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 01.02.2016, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English version
Synopsis: Jason's (Efron) grandmother just died and he gets married in one week. He has to drive his grandfather Dick (De Niro) to his best friend. But it turns up that grandpa has other plan: drive to Florida for spring break.
Review: I have difficulties to imagine that Robert De Niro accepted this role in this movie. Ridiculous. It is not the best of De Niro. I do not know Efron but his acting was terrible. Like most of the movie. Or maybe it was the directing that was so bad that it did not make any work wiht the actors. The story being already quite stupid.  The only scenes to save it were when Jason Mantzoukas appeared and made completely crazy and off-the-wall.
Rating: 1 /10

Kakurenbo (2004)

	Also Known As: Hide and Seek
	Year of first release: 2004
	Director: Shuhei Morita
	Actors: -
	Country: J
	Genre: Animation, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 04.02.2016, DVD, Japanese version with German subtitles
Synopsis: Among the ruins of the city, there is a game only children can play. It is called “Otokoyo”; a game of hide-and-seek. But whenever children play this game, one by one they would disappear into the blinds of the buildings… So the legend. One night, 8 children play the game, each for their own reasons. A boy named Hikora has joined in search of his missing sister who played the game last. But when the game does begin, it becomes apparent that the rumors were true.
Review: This anime is quite short (25 minutes) but manages to settle a good atmosphere. All the characters are well done and we can imagine that each of them could have been developped more. For a small studio, YamatoWorks, they did it good.  And while the children disappear and the solution comes closer, the surprise is great. It is not easy to transmit feelings through masks, thus only the size and position is used to make it.
Rating: 7 /10

The Wind Rises (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away)
	Actors (voices):  Hideaki Anno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Miori Takimoto
	Country: J
	Genre: Animation, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 05.01.2016, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Jirô Horikoshi (Anno) has always dreamt of designing beautiful planes.
Review: Supposedly the last feature length film to be directed by genius Hayao Miyazaki, I has read a lot of good about The Wind Rises and wished to see it to further complete his filmography on JoRafCinema. I found two things particularly interesting about this movie: one is that Miyazaki (and the Ghibli studio) is going against the trend of showing more and more realistic images in live action movies and animated ones as well (I remember the technical perfection in the 2004 Steamboy from another studio). In this movie on the contrary the drawings are very simple (including the backgrounds), and nothing is shown that is not directly related to the story. Back to the roots of animation, all for the best. Secondly, unlike usually with Miyazaki, the story of the movie does not take place in a Fantasy world in which he transcribes his dreams of flying and humanity's problem with war. The Wind Rises actually depicts the real story of the creator of the Japanese Zero planes so dreadfully efficient during WWII, and the advantage of Animation shows up during the dream sequences of the main character. Note that Miyazaki's father was a plane designer during that period. I loved it that the movie depicts engineers of that time as dreamers and artists, trying to creating the most beautiful flying machines regardless of their application. I was thinking about a parallel with the creators of the Atom bomb, who wanted to create a warm light for the world to share, regardless of the consequences. The Wind Rises is actually an animated historical Drama, thus reminding of the Melodrama Grave of the Fireflies (1988) also from Ghibli and produced with relatively little time and money so that it looks very crude but with a powerful story nevertheless.
Rating: 7 /10