Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2011
	Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Kung Fu Panda 3)
	Actors (voices): Jack Black (King Kong), Ian McShane (Death Race), Angelina Jolie (Beowulf), Dustin Hoffman (All the President's Men), Jackie Chan (Rush Hour), Seth Rogen (Knocked Up), Lucy Liu (Kill Bill), Gary Oldman (The Fifth Element)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, Action, Comedy, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 16.08.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Now master of his powers, Po (Black) and his Furious Five will have once again to save China from a terrible enemy. But while memories of his past come back to him, Po will have to master Inner Peace to complete this challenge.
Review: After the successful Kung Fu Panda that I loved, this sequel uses the same ingredients and I liked to see awesome Kung-Fu masters, super-fast animation, Jack Black's brilliant impersonation of Po, colorful landscapes, and a story that follows again the rules of the Kung Fu genre. But that's not enough to make a good sequel that could rival the original, and when trying to compare both I can't help but thinking about this excellent YouTube episode of Movies with Mikey - Making the Perfect Sequel. Kung Fu Panda 2 gives us more of what we loved in the first one which may be good enough for a junior audience, but unfortunately fails short on expanding the Universe originally created. I know, the difference may be hard to catch, and in fact it is more of a feeling when watching the movie that no surprise was coming. The one attempt at opening up is the backstory of Po's parents, which sadly in the end appeared to be there only to tease a third movie already in production at the time. Still fun to watch as an extension of the first movie.
Rating: 5 /10

Shrek (2001)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2001
	Director: Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson
	Actors (voices): Mike Myers (Wayne's World 1-2, Austin Powers 1-3), Eddie Murphy (Coming to America, The Nutty Professor), Cameron Diaz (Charlie's Angels 1-2)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, Fantasy, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 10.08.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: Shrek the Ogre (Myers) lives peacefully in his swap, scaring away the occasional angry mob. That is until Lord Farquaad banishes all fairy creatures to the very same swamp. He is then forced to go on a quest to free Princess Fiona (Diaz) in company of the annoying Donkey (Murphy).
Review: As I wrote in my review of Shrek 4: Forever After, I have never been a big fan of Shrek. It was nice anyway to watch again how it all started back in 2001. After Antz, Shrek was the second 3D animated movie produced by Dreamworks, at a time when Pixar ruled unchallenged. One can see that the movie is 17 years old by the rather simplicity of the textures, and the static animation sometimes. When you know that on that same year Pixar was giving us the fur quality in Monsters Inc! But Dreamworks and its animation departments have made a huge progress ever since, in both story and animation, to the point of surpassing Pixar that I find has been slowing down since it was bought by Disney. The fairy tale parody is an interesting concept, however I found it a bit too imposed. But the pace of the movie is constantly high, and the story is really full of ideas so I cannot be too hard on it. I was surprised by the original voice of Shrek, which I found too slow and not fitting to the character (I guess I remember better the French one that I have probably heard at my first viewing), and as I said this character's animation I found poor. Donkey on the other hand is very energetic, well animated and Eddy Murphy did a wonderful job to perfectly catch the character. In spite of being a parody, it does follow rules of the Fairy Tale genre up to a satisfying resolution.
Rating: 6 /10

I am Legend (2007)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2007
	Director: Francis Lawrence (Constantine, The Hunger Games 2-3)
	Actors: Will Smith (After Earth, Independence Day, Ray), Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 06.08.2018, in-flight entertainment, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Robert Neville, military scientist, believes to be the sole survivor on Earth to a contamination that killed most of the population, turning the rest into flesh-eating monsters that in turn decimated the few immune. His daily routine revolves around finding a cure.
Review: As far as zombie/infested movies go, this is not a bad one in fact. And one of the few with such a big budget together with World War Z. It was released after the big success of the "fast-zombies" or "infected" movies 28 Days Later and Dawn of the Dead (the remake). When I saw it at its release it seemed to me tailored for mega-star Will Smith, but not very original nor interesting. This time around I could still see the attractive entertainment at the surface: vast desolated landscapes, car race in the city, progressive apparition of monsters shot like a Silent Hill video game, including jump scares. It can also seem annoying that in spite of the story, we see almost no blood in order to guarantee a PG-13 rating in the USA. But I could focus more on the real interest of the movie which is the acting of Will Smith, not the usual bad-ass here even though he is strong and clever and good-looking and cool. But he puts much more emphasis on the mental state of Robert Neville, and manages to convey many emotions. The story slowly unfolds, and the encounter with the other survivors bring some fresh air (although the kid is useless) and takes Neville in another direction. This story strongly reminded me of a black & white movie I have seen eons ago: The World, the Flesh and the Devil. Both are inspired by similar stories written at the same time (the mid 50's) but I am Legend is the one adapted from Richard Matheson's novel with the same title, an adaptation that was already attempted several times including in the 1971 The Omega Man with Charlton Heston.
Rating: 7 /10

Final Space - Season 1 (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Creators: Olan Rogers, David Sacks
	Actors (voices): Fred Armisen, Tom Kenny, Olan Rogers
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, SF, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: July 2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Gary was sentenced to years of forced labor, alone on a remote space station. Close to the end of his sentence, he meets a green creature that he baptizes Mooncake and soon after bandits, bounty hunters and an evil mastermind.
Review: There used to be a time when if you wanted to watch a funny animated series for (young) adults the single go-to choice was The Simpsons. Then came South Park, then Futurama, and nowadays the choice is much larger for my rejoicement in particular. This is made possible by the simplification of digital production means over the last years, that allow producing more risky series for cheaper. Crowdfunding can also help talented artists bring their dream to life. At the same time, new distribution networks like Netflix ensure that many series will reach a possibly large audience. It seems that it is what happens for Final Space, which from what I read started by a small episode on Youtube and ended up being produced and distributed. Searching for some original animated fun, I went for it and quite enjoyed it. Beware that it is no Futurama but a much less ambitious series, in both scale and visuals, although it looks good enough and in fact pretty good in a way that matches the SF theme. It is also targeted at a more specific audience: space geeks. But in the end I found it nice to watch and if not always funny, some repetitive humor and offbeat characters made it work. For example H.U.E. (obviously inspired by 2001, A Space Odyssey's HAL) and KVN are robots with attitude like Futurama's Bender or The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy's Marvin. In the series Space is quite the western, reminding a bit of Firefly or Cowboy Bebop, and many liberties are taken with Science, but this approach and the story (sometimes going astray) fits with the unique tone selected for the show. A second season is in production, and maybe more. Like Mooncake says: Chookity Pok!
Rating: 6 /10

The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2005
	Director: Steve Box, Nick Park
	Actors (voices): Peter Sallis, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes
	Country: GB, USA
	Genre: Animation, Comedy, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 03.08.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Inventor Wallace and his brave dog Gromit protect the vegetables of small-town folks from the attack of ravaging rabbits. As the contest for best vegetable approaches, a monstrous adversary appears and defeats all of their plans.
Review: I watched the feature-length adventures of the beloved Wallace and Gromit (seen in the shorts A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave) right after being disappointed again, like I was on the original viewing in 2000, by Chicken Run produced by the same studios Aardman. This mixed story of Fantastic, Horror and Comedy delighted me as it did on the first day. The main character's faces, their expressions, animation, the situations in which their find themselves: everything is just so funny. From the cute little rabbits waving goodbye to their buddy to the carrot-shaped hair of Lady Tottington, from Gromit rolling his eyes to Victor Quartermaine hell-bent on killing rabbits, from the priest to the mini-planes chase, so many exquisite moments. In the modern cinematic landscape of dumb comedies, it is a real please to watch this classic that makes me giggle all along. This is the kind of movie that you can watch many times and always discover new visual or dialog details that you had previously missed, and that if they don't bring anything to the story, just broaden the universe in which the movie takes place and gives you a hint on what was the spirit of the directors, creators and animators when they built it. I guess it was also the right bunch of people coming together at the right time. And I think that beyond the whole visual look, what makes the movie special and glues it together, like it does in a handful of other trans-Genre comedies, is that it follows the rules of the Genre. Those examples include What we do in the shadows (Horror comedy mocumentary), Shaun of the Dead (romantic comedy), Hot Fuzz (Action buddy-comedy) and The Incredibles (super-hero family movie). I have always found that the way the Genre is respected in those movies shows you how much the directors care for it, and how they love Cinema in general and Genre in particular. This also shows a great respect for their audience, and to that I can only say bravo and thank you.
Rating: 9 /10

Chicken Run (2000)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2000
	Director: Peter Lord, Nick Park
	Actors (voices): Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha, Phil Daniels
	Country: GB, USA, F
	Genre: Comedy, Animation
	Conditions of visioning: 02.08.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: A group of hens led by Ginger, tired of a life of imprisonment and egg-production try by any means possible to escape from their owner, unsuccessfully. The arrival of Rocky the rooster gives them a new hope.
Review: After having enjoyed a lot the Wallace and Gromit short movies produced by the British studio Aardman (A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave), I remember that I was waiting impatiently for their first long feature film back in the year 2000... and being utterly disappointed by it. I remember I saw it in French because the dubbing of the rooster's voice was done by Gerard Depardieu. This recent viewing in original version didn't change my opinion of it. Yes the whole thing is nicely rendered, the hand-animations are well-done, the chickens have anthropomorphic faces in the style of Wallace, speak with a nice British accent, elaborate nicely intricate plans (including references to The Great Escape), try to escape a colorful couple of characters, etc... But I have always felt that the magic was not there. It is present in some elements like details of the hen's characters, the human couple, the factory machinery or the final escape mean. But it lacks lovable characters, pinching dialogs and maybe some craziness. I really thought that was the end of the Aardman studios... until The Curse of the Were-Rabbit came out in 2005.
Rating: 4 /10

Extinction (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Ben Young
	Actors:  Lizzy Caplan, Michael Peña (Ant-Man 1-2), Mike Colter (Luke Cage TV-series)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 28.07.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: A father (Peña) has a recurring dream of losing his family. His nightmare turns into reality when the planet is invaded by a force bent on destruction.
Review: As you may know I am a sucker for World-scale Alien invasion movies. My favorites to date? Battle Los Angeles, District 9, They Live, Edge of Tomorrow and maybe guiltily Independence Day. I could also add The Thing or The Blob but the scale of those is more limited. Extinction is quite unpretentious as you can tell from the low-profile cast (nice to see Michael Peña in a serious lead role), but I like this approach as I liked the one of the recent Annihilation, reminding of an episode of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. Once the attack occurs, it all seems very predictable and made me wonder where it could possibly go beyond a man just defending its family. But then bam! the revelation at the two thirds of the movie took me by surprise, and made watching the end of the movie quite pleasant. This is made possible by a direction that lets the story sink into the audience instead of wrapping up too quickly. It would be easy to say that this twist is the only interest of the movie an that it doesn't have anything else to offer, but the way I saw it is that the quality of direction/editing and acting could let me reflect on what I had just learn and how it impacted my vision of everything that has happened and that we were told before. If not a major film, a nice little Sci-Fi B-movie like I enjoy them.
Rating: 7 /10

The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society (2018)

	Also Known As: Deine Juliet
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Mike Newell
	Actors: Lily James, Matthew Goode, Michiel Huisman
	Country: GB, F, USA
	Genre: Drama, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 30.07.2018, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English versioon with German subtitle
Synopsis: After WWII a correspondence begins between the writer Juliet Ashton (James) and members of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, with them sharing their experiences of Nazi Occupied Guernsey. When an idea for a book catches Juliet she goes to visit the island. Juliet comes to feel for each of the Islanders; Dawsey, Amelia, Isola, Eben, Kit and Elizabeth. A beautiful story of love, friendship and the sadness of friends lost.
Review: The story is different than The bookshop, nevertheless the atmosphere is very similar. A literary person comes to an isolated town, is confronted to the conflicts and secrets within this town and builds strong ties with some villagers. Major difference is that Guernsey society explains a bit what are these secrets, what are and why are these conflicts. We go deep in the history of some villagers, in their trauma. And this makes definitely the step that was fully missing in the bookshop.  We follow this inquiry in a nice atmosphere. Almost too nice. In a slow pace. I liked the scenes with Matthew Goode as Juliet's publisher because his character and his acting bring some pepper in the dialogues and in the action. The other characters are just nice and may lack of personality, to me.
Rating: 3 /10

Assassin's Creed (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Justin Kurzel (The Snowtown Murders)
	Actors:  Michael Fassbender (Prometheus, Inglorious Basterds), Marion Cotillard (Inception), Jeremy Irons (Die Hard 3)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Thriller, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 30.07.2018, in-flight entertainment, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Callum Lynch (Fassbender) explores the memories of his ancestor Aguilar de Nerha and gains the skills of a Master Assassin, before taking on the secret Templar society.
Review: A big budget and known actors for the adaptation of a famed video game known for its open universe and across-time historical sets. I have never played the game myself, I just saw some demos of the episode released with great publicity a few years ago, at about the same time of the movie in fact. Good things in this movie are the solid introduction, the acting by Fassbender as immersed in his role as ever, and the presence of Jeremy Irons. I didn't find the action scenes, special effects and story to be very original. The movie plays on a special dark tone, I guess inherited from the video game, and reflects on questions like the heredity of violence thanks to its anti-hero main character, which is also a good point. But at some point I found it dove too deep into this reflection and lost itself to the point that I didn't get the last half hour. Not only I didn't get the motivation of the characters, but I really didn't get what the hell happened. Video games cinema adaptations have known better days (see the recent Tomb Raider which received the same rating).
Rating: 3 /10

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Dan Trachtenberg (one episode of Black Mirror)
	Actors:  John Goodman (The Big Lebowski), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (The Thing), John Gallagher Jr.
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama, Thriller, Horror
	Conditions of visioning: 25.07.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Michelle (Winstead) has a car accident while she leaves her couple behind. She wakes up in an underground shelter where her host (Goodman) tells her the world outside is not safe.
Review: I watched the movies in the "Cloververse" in the wrong order but it doesn't matter. After a found-footage surprising Cloverfield discovered 10 years ago and the recent space-horror visually rich The Cloverfield Paradox, this 10, Cloverfield Lane that was released in 2016 belongs to a yet totally different genre: intimistic horror-drama. And that's in fact why it took me so long to finally watch it: the trailer showed that it was indeed a kind of kidnapping / torture / sequestration movie, a genre that I am not found of (except for The Disappearance of Alice Creed with Gemma Arterton). But that was without counting on the "charming" personality of John Goodman who immediately gives credibility and depth to his character. Moreover, one of the characteristic of this series of movies is that they end up not going the direction you thought they were, and this one is no different: just when I was starting to get bored by a story that was going nowhere (OK she's stuck there, she is trying to escape...), new elements start to make you doubt of everything. Other elements attach this movie to this atypical series, like the tension in a couple occurring just before the events. I found the ending not as negative as I would have expected from a movie in the series, but a nice opening nonetheless. I rank it third in the series, but it is still easily watchable.
Rating: 5 /10

Searching (2018)

	Also Known As: Buscando
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Aneesh Chaganty
	Actors: John Cho, Michelle La, Debra Messing
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 06.08.2018, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English version
Synopsis: After David Kim (Cho)'s 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a local investigation is opened and detective Vick (Messing) is assigned to the case. David decides to search the one place no one has looked yet, where all secrets are kept today: his daughter's laptop. David traces his daughter's digital footprints.
Review: The idea sounds boring but the way it is realised is excellent! Most of the movie is indeed as if the screen of David Kim is projected in the movie theater. And without the reflections on the screen! From the old Windows to the iMac screen resolution. From Facetime by Apple to  Facebook, Youcast etc. The story is very complex and follows more or less what the father believes. I guess therefore it is complex and working like a brainstorming, because the disappearance of his daughter is a storm in his brain. Sometimes we see messages on our screen at the same time and sometimes before he sees them. This allows to adjust the rythm of the drama and open or close a climax.  John Cho never made any breakthrough after his acting in Star Treks (as Star Trek by JJ Abrams or Into darkness). With this role, he shows that he can give depth to a role, emotions, dilemmas. This might be finally the springboard for him.  The art of directing is very well mastered via the changes of pace, of drama, of emotions through the different types of medias presented: written messages, voice messages, youcast videos, internet search results, family videos, news. I liked it a lot. A good start for a first movie.  There are several poster available and they are quite different and original.
Rating: 7 /10 Poster patchwork   Sober poster

Thoroughbreds (2017)

	Also Known As: Vollblüter
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Cory Finley
	Actors: Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy, Anton Yelchin, Paul Sparks
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 23.07.2018, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English version with German subtitle
Synopsis: Amanda (Cooke) is known in her highschool for having killed her horse. Actually it was rational and because he suffered and her mother wanted to keep him alive. Lily (Taylor-Joy) hates her step-father Mark (Sparks). Both are upper-class teenage girls living in suburban Connecticut. When Lily decides to kill her step-father because he does not give her the choice for college, both build a plan.
Review: A bit like in The Bling ring by Sofia Coppola, teenagers have money and are bored in life. These are Lily (Taylor-Joy) and Amanda (Cooke). Actually since the first appearance of the step-father, it is clear how the movie will end for him and Lily. They have emotion-free discussions or better said cruel discussions without any sign of emotion as if both were disconnected from the reality. This makes the charm of the movie because in parallel Lily feels a lot of emotions and talk about them. This is a big contrast giving some drama to the storyline. Moreover Amanda is indeed emotionless but unlike the characters of Sofia Coppola she wants to work on that. She is the main source of humour, very black humour, in the movie as she throws her statements without wanting to be rude. And she reads very well the psychology of Lily. Therefore their dialogues are weird funny.  Their acting is well matching their characters. Olivia Cooke, already seen in both amazing Me and Earl and the dying girl and in Ready player one can play many characters even if her role of Amanda is quite constant. She is a promising actress.  The camera is focusing on the actors, especially on the two main actresses with close-ups. It gives more depth to their character and allows to see their slightest movement. The other characters never are in close-up. This enhances the fact that they do not understand the two girls.  Good movie limited by its predictable story.
Rating: 6 /10