Pulp Fiction (1994)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1994
	Director: Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs, Inglorious Basterds)
	Actors: John Travolta (Face/Off, Saturday Night Fever), Uma Thurman (Kill Bill), Samuel L. Jackson (The Hateful Eight, The Avengers 1-4)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Thriller, Drama, Black Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 22.03.2019, VOD, 42" TV screen
Synopsis: PULP ( pulp ) n. 1. A soft, moist, shapeless mass of matter. 2. A magazine or book containing lurid subject matter and being characteristically printed on rough, unfinished paper.
Review: This expression may sound worse in English than in my native French but it does apply to this movie: "If it didn't exist, we'd have to invent it", and the same goes for its director Quentin Tarantino (I think that's also what he said about his lead actress Uma Thurman). It was so unique and refreshing in the 90's cinematographic landscape that people fell in love with Tarantino's style and the movie was internationally acclaimed. If you don't like his style, the movie will probably bore you because characteristically very little happens, and instead we follow people chatting endlessly about common matters that sometimes don't even relate to the story (it is getting even worse in his next movies, see Deathproof). Or at least you would think so. For me this is not a matter for boredom but on the contrary for delectation, given that those dialogs are delivered by actors inhabited by their character, and framed (visually and auditorily) in a definitely not-boring manner: Tarantino is known for his soundtracks selection and even though he does not use an extravagant shooting style, the scenes from his movie (including this one) are often shown to us in a refreshing, original manner that makes us pay more attention to them, like the whole one when kid Butch receives his father's watch (shot from his point of view), or when we follow Mia around at foot's height. I think he got all those ideas from watching tons of movies in the 70's, the close up on the actor's eyes definitely comes from Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns (like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly). I realized I haven't written yet anything about what the movie is about, assuming everybody knows it. It is showing us the incredible events happening during two days in the life of gangsters (and associates) in the Los Angeles area. Sounds boring? Sound... pulp? Well that's on purpose. To make it less so, you can rely on the visual and auditory framing I mentioned, the events themselves that make for an uncommon couple of days, the talented actors of course, and if that was not enough a non-linear story that deliciously comes full circle at the end. The movie features Tarantino's characteristic style of aestheticization of violence as I read it, which he had developed in From Dusk till Dawn and Reservoir Dogs (see that infographic as well). I also noticed an aestheticization of drug use which may not have played well with a conservative audience. In fact it almost shocked me to see those scenes that are borderline glorification of drugs, but that's probably because in the past years I became too brainwashed by watching too many Netflix and mainstream PG-13 movies. And what were my motivations to watch this 25-year old monument? First I though about it when seeing a 90's Samuel Jackson in Captain Marvel. Then I was tired of not being able to quote this review when writing posts about other movies because I haven't seen this one since the blog exists. And finally just because it is a motherf***ing good movie and it was a damn shame I hadn't seen it for so long.
Rating: 9 /10

Behind the Curve (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Daniel J. Clark
	Actors: Mark K. Sargent, Jeran Campanella, Robbie Davidson
	Country: USA
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 21.03.2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: About the growing community of people that actually believe the Earth is flat.
Review: I won't enter the debate of whether this is a valid opinion or not (I am working in Astronomy), to rather focus on the cinematographic qualities of this Documentary. It is well done, and draws an accurate portrait of what this story is all about (at least it looked like it), which is better than trying to get some information from a troll-flooded web. We get to know the facts, the history of the movement and the different factions: believers against scientists, but also believers among themselves (the comparison with the one scene from the Monty Python's Life of Brian is so relevant). But the best thing I found in Behind the Curve is that instead of trying to debunk one or the other opinion, we get to hear the analysis of people about the movement: psychologists, but also scientists how have given it a good amount of thought, and the most open-minded members of the movement as well when they manage to step back a little. Ah, sorry, I couldn't help, my review is not neutral anymore. Because I think there was no point for the Documentary in showing battles of theories and proofs (you can waste your time on tons of websites for that), but rather look at the psychology behind the movement, which in my opinion is what it is about. No coincidence either that many members (including Mark Sargent) have ended up there after a lifelong investigation of conspiracy theories. As I already lost my neutrality, I can add that one thing I found not cool in the movement is that members drag their children into it. Please leave children out of this and let them forge their own opinion when they grow up. We have enough obscurantism and religion wars in the world as it is without dragging more children into this one.
Rating: 7 /10

The Lobster (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Yorgos Lanthimos (The Killing of a Scared Deer, The Favorite)
	Actors: Colin Farrell (Phone Booth, Horrible Bosses), Rachel Weisz (The Mummy 1-2, The Fountain), Jessica Barden, John C. Reilly (Guardians of the Galaxy), Ben Wishaw (Skyfall)
	Country: IRL, GB, GR, F, NL
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 21.03.2019, VOD, 32" TV screen
Synopsis: In a society where you get hunted and turned into an animal if you can't find a partner, David (Farrell) has to comply to this rule when his wife leaves him.
Review: The synopsis of the movie should be enough to tempt you to watch it. It was for me, together with the fact that several friends told me how bizarre it was, and that the known cast guaranteed a minimum quality. This was not going a badly done small independent movie that has only its story for him. Colin Farrell is perfect in his role, supported by other good actors that all seem to be victims of the extremist rules. The dialogs and cinematography are also awesome, somewhere between a Darren Aronofsky and a Wes Anderson movie. The story is weird but you quickly get used to it. What you don't get used to is how depressing are the characters and the situation they are stuck in. Stepping back, this movie is of course a hyperbole of the social pressure in the current society on single people to find their soulmate / partner. Reversely, there can be a pressure from one's entourage to get free from a partnership's constrains to get back to the freedom of a life as single. Both side are illustrated in the movie, as when David (spoiler, highlight to read) escapes from his match-making hotel, he ends up with a rebel group of singles who don't allow relationship, under heavy consequences. And both extremes are as exaggerated and ridiculous. It is pathetic how all the wannabe-partners look desperately for a mate with the same characteristic trait: short-sighting, a limp, a nosebleed, ... The curiosity around the movie holds for about three quarters of its length but then withers down. It may have gained from being shortened from this 2-hour version. Still, such a bizarre and refreshing experience.
Rating: 7 /10

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2008
	Director: Rob Cohen (Daylight, The Fast and the Furious, Stealth)
	Actors: Brendan Fraser (Encino Man, The Mummy 1-2), Jet Li (The One), Maria Bello (ER TV-series, A History of Violence),
	Country: USA, D, CDN, CN
	Genre: Adventure, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 19.03.2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: The O'Connell couple (Fraser & Bello) has settled down since their last adventure, in a comfortable way of life brought by their rich discoveries. A discovery by their son (Luke Ford) in China may lead them back to a more adventurous life.
Review: After the original tone in The Mummy in 1999 and the escalation in The Mummy Returns in 2001, this sequel took a while to set in motion. And as I could have predicted, it arrived too late to satisfy an expecting audience, and when the trend for this kind of Adventure Comedy had passed. Also exit Rachel Weiz too busy shooting more intellectual movies with her new husband Darren Aronofsky (like The Fountain), she is replaced by Maria Bello, not the worst in this movie. Also fast forward, their young kid from the first movie is now adult and following his parent's footsteps without them knowing. This movie is maybe the best sequel they could have done from the ageing concept. Moving to Asia is a good idea because Egypt would have felt too redundant, and this opens the door to a new fighting style practiced by veteran Actors Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh. It is alo nice to see Anthony Infernal Affairs Wong. Don't worry there are still Mummies to be awaken and put back to sleep, this time more in the shape of a terracotta army. The generous special effects (including massive CGI armies like was trendy in the 2000's) are still a trait of the franchise, and humor is still present (or at least attempts at it) around the main couple and Evelyn's brother played by John Hannah (I did burst into laughter at his delivery of the line "The Yack yacked"). But in spite of all that the story is not very enthralling, the action often confused, the motivation and reactions of the characters often irrational, and 90% of the dialog scenes poorly executed. I am glad I finally saw that movie for completeness but it is not really a good one.
Rating: 3 /10

Daredevil - Season 3 (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Creator: Drew Goddard
	Actors: Charlie Cox (Stardust), Vincent D'Onofrio (Men in Black), Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood TV-series)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: March 2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: Matt Murdock (Cox), back from the dead, struggles in finding his place in the world, and decides to radically change who he is in order to protect his friends and defeat a returning old foe.
Review: I loved the first season of this show, less so the second because of a slower pace and in spite of some excellent new characters like Elektra. Note that this third season takes place after the events of The Defender, a cross-over show highly recommenced for its Avengers spirit. This season feels like it learned from some maybe negative feedback on the second, because it looks much more like the first in its story (Fisk is back) and pace (more fist fights), while keeping the characteristics that made the show a success: the friendship with Foggy and Karen (now in peril), the troubled Matt and his relationship with God (one of the best thing in this season), the all-powerful Fisk (D'Onofrio, still as masterful). For example the best episode in the season is without a doubt S3E4 Blindsided, and it is so partly because it borrows heavily from S1E2 Cut Man and its awesome corridor fight a-la-Old Boy. I watched that episode twice!  The manipulative Fisk is at the center of the story, and something new in this season is how he corrupts not only businesses, but now the law, i.e. the FBI that is supposed to guard him. The best addition to this season is the character of Dex, which from the moment he appears in S3E2 Please I knew was going to be a highlight of this season and he is, to the point that I could say this season belongs to him. Fans of the comics will have recognized him immediately but it took me until the post-credit scene of the last episode S3E13 A New Napkin (and a quick Googling) to recognize him as (spoiler, highlight to read) Bullseye, a character in fact also present in the infamous 2003 Daredevil movie with Ben Affleck. So in this season I loved to follow what Matt and Dex go through separately, and it was very nice to see Fisk again. Foggy evolves also, but I found Karen's arc to be a bit annoying as she was constantly a victim ; this is bearable for only so many episodes. Finally the biggest but maybe only reproach I can make to this season is that it looks cheap. I praised the well-choreographed long-shot fistfights in S3E4 Blindsided, but in all objectivity they could have been done much better, maybe with more time or more takes, something the series was probably not able to afford. Beyond the action, the story also feels cheap sometimes, especially the conclusion in S3E13 A New Napkin: in that episode the 3-way fight is an excellent original idea, but how Daredevil wins doesn't feel very satisfying. It is sad that the season 4 of the show has been cancelled by Netflix while it was fully written and ready to go. There is still a slim hope that it could be continued by another network, or as some rumors dream that some of its characters move up to the big screen MCU...
Rating: 6 /10

Captain Marvel (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson)
	Actors: Brie Larson (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Kong: Skull Island), Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, the Hateful Eight), Ben Mendelsohn (Ready Player One, Rogue One)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 11.03.2019, Cineplanet Costanera Center, Santiago
Synopsis: In the 1990's, Kree soldier Verse (Larson) crash lands on Earth after the failure of her first mission. There she will be looking for her origins.
Review: This is the long-awaited first MCU movie with a female lead, released between Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame (which Brie Larson shot before this one). And one of the rare super-hero movies with female lead in general (who said Elektra, Catwoman, Supergirl, Wonder Woman?). Thanks to that and other things it is a bit refreshing from the rest of the contemporary super-hero movies: it is set in a different time period (Captain America: The First Avenger was doing that too), the heroin slowly pieces up her past together a-la-Jason Bourne, it involves aliens but takes place on Earth... My general conclusion is that it was fine to watch and well-done, as you would now expect from any Marvel film, nicely introducing a new period in the MCU and showing us some beloved characters, but it otherwise left me feel slightly saturated by such movies (OK my bad I also watch them too many times) and it is not subtle with references and winks, to the 90's or to the rest of the MCU. In particular I felt the 90's soundtrack too forced on the action, not at all as organically merging with it like James Gunn's choices in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. But as a Marvel follower several things pleased me, or rather Marvel made me feel like I needed to see them to even more enjoy the rest of their Universe. That is in particularly true for the introduction of Captain Marvel character who will play a big role in the upcoming Endgame. How can seriously one await Endgame and not go see Captain Marvel??? Yes that's part of their strategy that makes us money-spending suckers. OK back to the movie, I loved of course Samuel L. Jackson's de-aged Nick Fury which interestingly doesn't look like his character in Pulp Fiction, shot in the 90's. The same goes for fan's favorite Agent Coulson (leader in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.). I liked the cat, the girl-friendship story was a bit... girly but OK, the ties to other MCU movies (for a detailed breakdown watch that video from NewRockstars) and I liked the Skrulls story although people complain it is different from the comics. Since Watchmen I realized that a good adaptation has to change major plot lines to a) be more than just an animated copy and b) surprise the audience. And for me the Kree do match what I knew from them from Guardians of the Galaxy and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Let's see how Captain Marvel incorporates in the Avengers. After all, many sequels are planned so she will likely be a big part of the MCU in the future.
Rating: 6 /10

Lost in Space (1998)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1998
	Director: Stephen Hopkins (Predator 2, Blown Away)
	Actors: Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight, Darkest Hour), William Hurt (Dark City, A History of Violence), Matt LeBlanc (Friends TV-series)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 06.03.2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: Looking for a place where to escape from a dying Earth, the Robinson family embarks on a 10-year trip in cryo-sleep. But from the start it will not go as expected.
Review: This is the cinema adaptation of a beloved 1960's TV-show, well at least in the US, I never heard of it being shown in Europe (only much later). A series that was recently remade under the Netflix banner, which shows that its story has something, and I think it is the family-concept. Aptly named the Robinson, they are accompanied by a robot and a cold soldier, but remain a family and in the 60's series at least, this meant that the audience could connect to them as they would face similar trials, but in an exotic setting. This was true at that time when the television was the weekly rallying point for the whole family, this is not the same for a one-off movie, or for a web series to watch alone on your mobile device. So the movie has that disadvantage. Also, it is obvious that it was too ambitious for its time (only five years after Jurassic Park), especially regarding special effects which go from acceptable for the opening space battle to poor for most of the movie to awful (the monkey, oh my god!). Shove that aside (if you can) and I was left with the same impression as when I first saw it: a moderately nice little Space conquest SF movie which were too rare at that time with a few nice elements to it: Matt Leblanc trying to distance himself from his Friends character, a relatively complex time-travel story,  a sense of dream and exploration, William Hurt does his best, and a really cool design for the final monster (it probably haunted my dreams at the time of release) at least until it removes its clothes and shows its hideous CGIs. OK I am grasping at straws, the movie is difficult to defend, the latex costumes are so 90's, the family members are ultra-caricatural, the physics and reactions of the characters often don't make any sense, and the special effects are really, really difficult to watch.
Rating: 4 /10

House of Cards - Season 6 (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Creator: Beau Willimon
	Actors: Robin Wright (The Congress), Michael Kelly, Diane Lane
	Country: USA
	Genre: Thriller, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: February 2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: The start of this new presidency is not easy, and it is ever so difficult to know the motivations behind the country's first woman.
Review: I concluded my review of the season 5 with the sentence "I fear the series will have to find a totally new angle to keep being attractive in the future". It turned out that events forced the series to an angle. Indeed the multiple scandals around Kevin Spacey's sexual harassments ejected him from the cast while he was obviously the central member of it together with Robin Wright. We may be thankful that a last (short) season was nonetheless produced, in order to try and bring the series to some sort of closure, this is appreciable. But given the conditions in which it was done, major rewriting in a short amount of time, one can wonder whether it has any interest at all. It IS nice to see a story come to an end, but that end is bittersweet. Maybe something like that was intended all along. I would love to know what were the original plans for concluding the series. You can notice the will to make several storylines converge (the reporters, the president, her entourage, Doug) but it feels a bit rushed (it probably was), short on ideas and cast (the sets do feel empty). The President's motives are often fuzzy, even when you see the ending. Oh Robin Wright still depicts very well the cold Claire, but she does seem lost without her husband to rely on or fight against. The magic of the show really was in this pair. An nice original addition to the season, which we haven't seen in the previous ones, is the influence of rich powerful families on politics. I guess that was a plan all along for that season. Really too bad this successful show had to end that way.
Rating: 3 /10

Io (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: Jonathan Helpert
	Actors: Margaret Qualley, Anthony Mackie (Captain America 2-3), Danny Huston (Frankenstein, Wonder Woman)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 23.02.2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: After the atmosphere on Earth becomes toxic, most of the survivors flee to a space station near Jupiter, but a few stay to continue the fight to regain our home world.
Review: This Netflix production reminds me of that other one The Titan not only because both their titles are names of satellites of giant gaseous planets in our Solar system, but also because they deal with space exploration (somehow) but take place almost exclusively on Earth, which has the combined advantages of providing a large scope and large stakes to the story, while keeping it intimist and cheap to produce as well, I don't know which matters most to the entertainment giant producing it. Another satellite name was used up in Europa Report, that one taking place in space. And the TV-series The Expanse mentions many of them in particular Jupiter's Ganymede and Saturn's Phoebe but also Io, Europa, Callisto, Titan... So this movie is much more of a (melo-)drama with a SF / post-apocalyptic backdrop. Going in this direction is also the fact that two actors are dominating the whole thing, plus some voices, TV extracts and flashbacks. Knowing that, you won't be surprised that the movie is very slow, and the actors speak slowly and react sometimes unexpectedly, trying to convey the feeling of isolation they themselves feel. Or just a lack of ideas from the movie. It is nice to see Anthony Mackie showing a different side of his action than the one most moviegoers know from his role as Falcon in Captain America and Avengers movies. Anyway the philosophical topics raised are worth the mention, and the movie is not badly done, but if you were looking for pure Science Fiction you will be disappointed.
Rating: 4 /10

The Predator (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3)
	Actors: Boyd Holbrook (Narcos TV-series, Logan), Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay (Room, Wonder), Thomas Jane (The Expanse TV-series)
	Country: USA, CDN
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 15.02.2018, in-flight entertainment 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: When an alien race of sport hunters takes a fight down to Earth, a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers led by McKenna (Holbrook) as well as his son (Tremblay) get involved.
Review: I love the muscular original Predator with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and should watch again its sequel with Danny Glover which also had its qualities, but I would ignore the pitiful 2010 Predators even though director by Nimród Kontroll Antal, and let's not talk about the two Alien vs. Predator cross-overs. I totally agree with the statement that the movie "succeeds at being the never-made 1992 sequel to Predator 2" as phrased by YouTuber Mike on his 2018 Fave5 video (list to which this movie does not belong). But then the movie touched us differently: I enjoyed it! I find that it does give us what we liked in the first two movies while expanding the Universe but not in a too exaggerated way (just a little), and in particular it refrains from over-using the aliens hunter's characteristic thermal vision and sound effects, which I found was the worst in Predators. The crew of soldiers has been revisited, matching more the style of the A-Team rather than the original brutal one. The gifted kid a-la Mercury Rising makes the fight more personal for our hero McKenna. The casting talks to the audience by mixing TV-series stars (Holbrook, Jane), a cinema wonder kid (Tremblay) and 90's favorites (Jake Busey). In the end I think my favorite thing in this movie is how well it is wrapped-up, showing to me for the first time the famed story-teller talent of Shane Black (I gotta watch again Kiss Kiss Bang Bang). And a few jokes hit the mark (like the debate between the naming predator vs. spot hunter). All in all a nice experience for me.
Rating: 7 /10

Air Force One (1997)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1997
	Director: Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot, The NeverEnding Story)
	Actors: Harrison Ford (Star Wars 4-7), Gary Oldman (The Fifth Element, Darkest Hour), Glenn Close (Mars Attacks!)
	Country: USA, D
	Genre: Action, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 10.02.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: On his way back from Moscow where he made a memorable anti-terrorism speech, US President James Marshall (Ford) sees his plane hijacked.
Review: Sixteen years before White House Down and Olympus Has Fallen, Air Force One is the prototype of those over-the-top action movies involving a POTUS taken hostage in his own house (the big plane is considered as such) and taking part of the action. The synopsis sound all too exaggerated and it is. In this movie you get everything you could wish for: Russian bad guys, the president's wife and daughter onboard the plane, a vice-president (played by Glenn Close) facing hard decisions on the ground, a traitor, plane fights, and a whole lot of heroism including from the main character. Still, I take a guilty pleasure watching it every time, except that this time and in spite of poor viewing conditions, I couldn't help but notice annoying things like the special effects (digital and composite) that have really aged, and the ease with which the president always manage to surprise or overpower his enemies in a confined space that is the plane. This is disturbing until the last two fights, when you think "waw, he really is cornered, how ingenuously is he going to get out of this?" and the answer is unfortunately that he kicks the enemy's gun and then fist-fights him until victory, or something like that. Almost as lazy writing as "Look behind you!". Just watch it for some nostalgia of the 90's generosity.
Rating: 5 /10

My take on the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Since the release of Avengers: Infinity War, I have been thinking that it would be a good pivot point to write an article about what I think about the biggest grossing movie franchise of all times: The  Marvel Cinematic Universe. But it is more than that, what is it exactly? I wouldn't try to spell it out better that the ones who wrote the description for Wikipedia:
"The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe that is centered on a series of superhero films, independently produced by Marvel Studios and based on characters that appear in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The franchise has expanded to include comic books, short films, television series, and digital series. The shared universe, much like the original Marvel Universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters."

Mortal Engines (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Christian Rivers
	Actors: Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, Hugo Weaving (The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix 1-3)
	Country: USA, NZ
	Genre: SF, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 09.01.2018, Cine Hoyt Puerto Montt
Synopsis: In a post-apocalyptic future, the survivors have put their whole cities on wheels to avoid annihilation. What has become of London captures smaller cities, while Thaddeus Valentine (Weaving) is planning something ominous.
Review: The trailer released long before the movie looked very exciting, particularly thanks to good special effects well-rendering massive rolling cities. Those effects also show in the full movie, but unfortunately they are juxtaposed with some other of much more mediocre quality, which really spoils this kind of movie. The concept reminds a lot of Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's moving Castle, but in fact the novel from which this movie is adapted pre-dates the Japanese anime (2001 vs. 2004) so I don't know what to think... The advertisement around the movie banks a lot on the name of its producer - not director - Peter Jackson who may have had an relative influence on the project. One may also link him to it via the actor Hugo Weaving who was playing Elrond in The Lord of the Ring's trilogy (and The Hobbit). In the end, apart from several nice Special Effects scenes, I didn't find too much excitement in that movie, in particular the story is quite unsound, and sometimes doesn't make much sense apart from taking us to nice new places (wow, a flying city!..). Worst of all I found was the relationship between Hester and her mentor Shrike (although he is well incarnated by Stephen Avatar Lang), including his motivation and its anti-climactic revelation. And as I said the Effects are not always the best, especially towards the ending, an ending which is not very satisfying either.
Rating: 4 /10

Rock and Morty - Seasons 1-3 (2013-2015-2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Creators: Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland
	Actors (voices): Justin Roiland, Chris Parnell, Spencer Grammer
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, SF, Black Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: December 2018, VOD, 10" tablet.
Synopsis: Teenager Morty is constantly embarked on crazy Sci-Fi adventures by his genius alcoholic grand-pa Rick, and it is not easy on their family under which roof they live.
Review: I was about to review this series season by season and my original ratings were more 6/10, but as since then I have watched the whole three first seasons at least three times, I must admit that I love it all. I am always looking for animated TV-series for adults and Rick and Morty seems to be the pinnacle of them all: the SF futuristic aspect of Final Space and Futurama, the geek side of the latter, the borderline graphic violence, gore and humor between Family Guy and Paradise PD, some Fantasy like in Disenchantment...  When watching the kind of pilot to the series: The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti, you get that it is strongly inspired by the successful duo from Back to the Future. Fortunately the concept (and character names) have evolved on the way to the first season, although the voices and main traits of the characters are recognizable. There are many things that I love about the series, starting with the characters: not only the two main ones but also their family (Jerry, Summer and Beth). Even when facing out-of-this-world adventures, they are still grounded to reactions we can identify with: love, drama, shame, divorce, separation, sickness, loneliness... Of course I love the wild adventures, which I thought after watching the first episode would remain bounded to some reality close to ours, but I was wrong and it gets very quickly very wild. The animation is also pretty nice, I was for a long time baffled by the how the character's lips do the F's and V's and how they express puzzlement or surprise like on the picture below. And the animation is very detailed as well, there are tons of details in the background, so much that the YouTube channel NewRockstars did breakdowns of the Season 3 episodes and more stuff. Knowing the series so well I can even attempt at listing my favorite episodes: S1E2: Lawnmower Dog, includes many references, to Inception among others S1E3: Anatomy Park, reference to Jurassic Park and to the 1966 Fantastic Voyage S1E10: Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind, an introduction to the Citadel of Ricks S2E1: A Rickle in Time, a mind-twisting season start S3E1: The Rickshank Rickdemption, where Rick unleashes his full genius S3E3: Pickle Rick, for the crazy concept S3E6: Rest and Ricklaxation, for the story S3E7: The Ricklantis Mixup, diving deeper into the Citadel of Ricks S3E10: The Rickchurian Mortydate, for the battle against the President of the USA and my least favorites, even though I could also watch them with pleasure because of some good part or another: S1E5: Meeseeks and Destroy, because the voice of the Meeseeks gets annoying S1E7: Raising Gazorpazorp, a fatherhood story that should talk to me but doesn't S2E4: Total Rickall, maybe because it all takes place in the Smiths residence S2E9: Look Who's Purging Now, referencing the movie The Purge, but maybe not original enough S3E2: Rickmancing the Stone, referencing Mad Max but not getting many laughs from me Really, the only bad thing about this series is that there is so much waiting time between the seasons. I hope for one in 2019.
Rating: 8 /10