They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Peter Jackson (Bad Taste, The Lord of the Ring 1-3)
	Actors: -
	Country: GB, NZ
	Genre: War, Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 15.06.2019, in-flight entertainment system 10" screen.
Synopsis: Original footage from WWI combined with vocal testimonies of surviving soldiers bring to life what it was to be on the front lines 100 years ago.
Review: As of 2019 this is the only movie directed by World-famous director Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Ring trilogy) since the Hobbit trilogy that ended in 2014. Well, he deserved a break. I have recently watched and praised the colorized WWII Documentaries Bombing War and WWII in Colour, and I have to say that this one is a notch above. First of all, it is directed by someone who wanted to tell a story instead of being factual about events and you can feel it when watching the movie: the images guide you from recruitment to a day in the life of a conscript to the front line and the horror of a frontal assault. The audience is guided all along by audio recordings of more than 100 soldiers who gave testimony. Those recordings were extracted from archives as well as 100 hours of never-seen-before footage that were restored and colorized by Jackson's team. And you can tell the difference with respect to what was done by commercial companies for the aforementioned TV-documentaries, and this time based on much older footage. In fact since I knew Jackson directed it, I though he had mixed original footage with re-created scenes shot with actors in High Definition. Remember that he was behind the Mock-umentary Forgotten Silver and a recreation of a lost scene from 1933's King Kong. But it was not the case: all images are original except from the colors, the added sound effects and for a very few awesome shots, voice acting matching the soldier's lips. I found that Jackson gave the best justification for colorization: "[The men] saw a war in colour, they certainly didn’t see it in black and white. I wanted to reach through the fog of time and pull these men into the modern world, so they can regain their humanity once more – rather than be seen only as Charlie Chaplin-type figures in the vintage archive film." Deeply researched, technically wonderful but at the same time humane and telling a story as only such a talented director with a vision could do. In fact all that I noticed was missing from the WWII in Colour Documentary. Well done.
Rating: 8 /10

Hunter Killer (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Donovan Marsh
	Actors: Gerard Butler (300, Olympus has Fallen), Gary Oldman (Lost in Space, Darkest Hour), Common
	Country: USA, CN, GB
	Genre: War, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 14.06.2019, in-flight entertainment system 10" screen.
Synopsis: After an incident between a Russian and American submarines and the subsequent threat of escalation, Joe Glass (Butler) is tasked with the investigation for his first mission as submarine captain.
Review: I didn't have to think twice about watching this movie: nuclear submarines, USA-Russia tensions, Gerald Butler and the promise of a decent budget... I just hoped it would be less stupid than Olympus has Fallen. For one thing the president of the USA is not the hero of the story so that helps. Gary Oldman is prominent on the poster but doesn't have such a big role, in fact apart from Butler nobody has and the dialogs are more evenly spread between Linda Cardellini (nice to see her outside of The Avengers: Age of Ultron where she plays Hawkeye's wife), Common (yes that's the rapper/actor's name) and many other protagonists. Of course The Hunt for Red October and Crimson Tide (How come I haven't seen it in seven years?!?) come to mind (Das Boot belongs to another age and style). Hunter Killer can't compete with them as the story is weaker, its Actors are not as strong and it relies more on Action and high-tech weapons than pure suspense to keep the audience on edge. But I have to say that in that category, it does pretty well and I was not disappointed by the Action and the role given to Gerald Butler. I didn't feel any timeout in this dense story, but I must admit that several characters are too caricatural, like the captain's XO or the bad guy who is just evil. Other aspects could be criticized but didn't bother me: the fact that it is an ode to the American military (why did the watch the movie if you don't like to see that??), that it seems too easy to start a military escalation or to convince an enemy captain to help you, the unrealistic submarine maneuvers (zig-zagging between icebergs) and weapons (like drone torpedos). Hunter Killer may fall in the category of movie that I like to watch once a year for fun.
Rating: 6 /10

Big (1988)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1988
	Director: Penny Marshall (Jumpin' Jack Flash)
	Actors: Tom Hanks (Cast Away, Forrest Gump), Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, John Heard (Home Alone 1-2), Jon Lovitz (Loaded Weapon 1)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 08.06.2019, in-flight entertainment system 10" screen.
Synopsis: 13-year old Josh wishes to be a grown-up and this turns true overnight. Now 30 (Hanks), he is trying to blend into adults' life while looking for a way to turn back.
Review: I had never seen this classic, dating from a pre-Philadelphia time when Tom Hanks was not yet a huge star. And it is indeed funny to see him so young. The Fantasy argument that leads to comedy situations reminds of movies like Groundhog Day, and the infantile humor of Home Alone, all from the same time period. I find that Big has a much deeper meaning that the two other examples. Past the surprise of the situation, and the many funny misunderstandings and mismatch between the character's physical and mental ages, the message that slowly emerges from that movie is: must we loose our innocence and funny side when we grow out of childhood? The director subtly and cleverly takes us to that question by showing some absurdities of the adult's life. It seems to me that the movie benefits a lot from female director (Penny Marshall) and screenplay writer in the person of Anne Spielberg (sister of Steven). It probably sounds cliché but they bring a sensitivity to a story that could have otherwise been too slapstick. For example there are a few moments that feel weird: the boy leaving his mom for an extended amount of time, his whole relationship with Susan. And by weird I mean that pedophilia is on the mind of the audience. But it is all sweet in this movie and well-done, so that it is acceptable. At least for a movie of the 80's. Nowadays this movie couldn't be done, however sweet. Fortunately the goofy start of the movie evolves to this more mature reflection, for the best. So a weird movie with not-so-funny 80's jokes, saved by a good direction and a deeper message.
Rating: 7 /10

Venom (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland)
	Actors: Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Returns, Dunkirk), Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain, Shutter Island), Riz Ahmed
	Country: USA, CN
	Genre: Action, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 03.06.2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: Eddie Brock (Hardy) is an engaged reporter but he goes too far and looses everything. Looking for a second chance, he gets infected by an alien parasite.
Review: Let me start with a bit of background. Sony owns the rights to make movies base on characters from the Spider-Man comic books. It thus produced Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy in the 2000's and The Amazing Spider-Man two movies in the 2010's. The character of Venom is part of that world and in fact appears in Spider-Man 3 in 2007. Since 2015 Marvel Studios are allowed to use their own Spider-Man (played by Tom Holland) as part of the MCU and he is thus shown in Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, The Avengers: Infinity War and the upcoming Spider-Man: Far from Home. But Sony still can and did produce this movie about Venom, not part of Marvel's Cinematic Universe. and Spider-Man doesn't appear in that movie and is not even mentioned. Now that all is clear, what is this movie worth in the current super-hero movies landscape? Well I found it not too bad, thanks to two key components: the extravagant character of the Symbiote named Venom (in its shape, character, behavior, reactions...) and a great acting by Tom Hardy. Had he not put so much effort in creating a likeable anti-hero, the movie would have been a total flop. The special effects are decent, the bad guy is not exceptional, but the main interested of the movie really is the internal conflicts within Eddie, and between Venom and himself. The rest of the movie is composed of side-stories, sometimes interesting, sometimes not. The mid-credit end scene hints at a sequel but I am not convince it will ever happen... For Venom to be incorporated into the MCU would make more sense to me and is tonally not impossible (easier than for Deadpool for sure).
Rating: 5 /10

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2000
	Director: Joel & Ethan Coen (Fargo, The Big Lebowski)
	Actors: George Clooney (Up in the Air), John Turturro (Transformers), Tim Blake Nelson
	Country: USA, F, GB
	Genre: Comedy, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 01.06.2019, VOD, 14" computer screen.
Synopsis: In the deep south during the 1930s, three escaped convicts search for hidden treasure while a relentless lawman pursues them.
Review: I loved this movie when I first saw it in the theaters back in 2000 already. It was and still is one of the best movies directed by the Coen brothers, and was released after two other masterpieces: Fargo and The Big Lebowski. In particular I loved the omnipresent music, so much that soon after I bought the soundtrack, and kept listening to it year after year. It thus felt a bit weird now to see again the movie after many years, and focusing unwillingly my attention on the music, that I now found too omnipresent and not well matching the action. But as I wrote, I am biased. The movie's events are based on Ulysses' Odyssey as written by Homer almost three millennia ago. Even though I never read it (but am now tempted to), I was able to recognize key characters and events featuring in it like the Cyclops, the Devil, the Oracle, the quest, sirens... thanks to their impact on general culture. I may also have been helped by the animated free adaptation I was watching as kid on TV: Ulysses 31. I find George Clooney to be at his best in his movie, displaying a rarely seen facet of his acting talent, for the best comedic effect. Turturro and Nelson are not bad either. As the long Odyssey is condensed into less than two hours, the events feel a bit rushed and happening like a series of coincidence in fact. But omitting that, the movie is beautifully shot, very funny and as already said, carried by a soundtrack that is a character in itself.
Rating: 7 /10

Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Phil Johnston, Rich Moore (Wreck-It Ralph, Zootopia)
	Actors (voices): John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Gal Gadot
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, Fantasy, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 28.05.2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Video-games characters Ralph and Vanellope will discover a whole new world when their arcades get connected to the Internet.
Review: This sequel to the 2012 Wreck-It Ralph will not take you as a surprise like the first one did. Instead and as an expected sequel does, it expands the Universe from the original for the main characters to live more adventures. While the first movie was abundant with references to the world of video games (Sonic, Street Fighter, Pacman etc... to quote only a few), this one does the same but for internet giants like Ebay, Amazon, Google... but instead of making me feel nostalgic, it felt more like every one of those companies paid big bucks to get the best possible advertisement in the movie. That's the difference between an epoch when video games were for entertainment, while now everything revolves around money. Nevertheless, I liked to see Ralph and Vanellope again as the movie is successful at delivering some punchy jokes. Also as expected, while the first movie was about making friends, this one is about keeping them. This pattern reminds me of the Toy Story saga. Within this internet World our heroes stumble upon Disney's Universe where the product placement is so outrageous that it is funny again. The company having recently bought about everything (in particular Marvel Studios and the rights to the Star Wars franchise), we get to see cameos to those other Universes, like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2's Groot answering questions, X-Wings ships flying around, Iron Man... and the movie spends then quite some time in a room with all Disney's animated princesses to which Vanellope now belongs. This scene is pretty packed with references so I invite you to watch that YouTube breakdown for more details. In the end not revolutionary in the landscape of animated movies but reaches the objective of fostering multiple viewings for kids and adults alike.
Rating: 5 /10

Aquaman (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: James Wan (Saw, Death Sentence, The Conjuring)
	Actors: Jason Momoa (Conan, Game of Thrones TV-series), Amber Heard (Zombieland), Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man, The Grand Budapest Hotel), Patrick Wilson (Watchmen, The Conjuring), Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge, Eyes Wide Shut), Dolph Lundgren (Rocky IV, The Punisher), Temuera Morrison (Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action
	Conditions of visioning:  20.05.2019, in-flight entertainment, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: Born of the love between an Atlantean (Kidman) and a human (Morrison), Arthur (Momoa) who lived recluse is forced to take part of the action when the underwater world threatens the surface.
Review: This character from DC comics gets his solo movie after being introduced to the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) in Justice League. It always reminds me of how the geeks in The Big Bang Theory make fun of this character for being the weakest and most unloved character from the League, while I think that this cinematic depiction (and the stature of Momoa) takes him out of the shadows to a level on par to the more famous Batman and Superman, Wonder Woman and The Flash. Also DC takes the opportunity to make a lighter movie than the grim and gritty style that characterizes the others. Again Momoa does that well. Watching this movie is yet another opportunity to try and understand why DC fails where Marvel thrives. One reason that I noticed this time is how Marvel heroes are often starting as normal men (even scientists, geeks) while DC ones are more often than not demi-Gods to which it is harder for the audience to relate. The movie is watchable, but in the DC tradition it is sometimes confused, and the story doesn't find a place in the World we live in. That's another difference with Marvel. Indeed I could believe man can build an iron suit or a super-serum, but not for a single second that advanced civilizations roam the oceans and wage wars without us noticing. A few good things in this movie: I liked how the underwater world uprising starts with them dumping back all of our garbage to us. Also the final battle is impressive in its display of beasts, although I was too detached (and confused) by the stakes and motivation of the different races involved. A sequel is planned for 2022.
Rating: 4 /10

The Mummy (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Alex Kurtzman
	Actors: Tom Cruise (Top Gun, Mission: Impossible 1-6), Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Star Trek Beyond), Annabelle Wallis, Russell Crowe (Gladiator)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 04.06.2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: While scouting during a military operation in Iraq, Nick (Cruise) stumbles upon an Egyptian tomb, or rather as he later discovers: the prison of a cursed undead princess.
Review: After the huge money-making success of Marvel, other studios try their chance at building a Cinematic Universe, like DC Comics, the Kaiju/Godzilla/Monarch franchise and, as I learned only after watching this movie, Universal Studios with their so-called "Dark Universe". It is supposed to assemble many classic "monsters" from the studio like Frankenstein's bride, the invisible man, the Wolfman... and should have been kick-started by The Mummy after the tepid results of the 2014 Dracula Untold which belonging to the Universe is yet unclear. All those guys could ultimately have teamed up "Avengers-style" to fight a greater evil, but not under the denomination of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as the rights apparently belong to somebody else. Unfortunately for Universal, The Mummy was only saved by the Chinese box-office in spite of the presence of mega-star Tom Cruise and has thus put on hold future projects involving Angelina Jolie as the Bride or Johnny Depp as the Invisible Man (that would have been fun). Following in the footsteps of classic Hammer and Universal movies, this movie is however in fact more like a remake of the 1999 The Mummy with Brendan Fraser, especially in the attempt to include humor, but not as exaggerated. Like in other of his movies Cruise is not the classic hero but still saves the day in the end. I found the movie in itself not too bad, the little twist in the end welcome, and in particular I loved the addition of Dr. Jekyll played by Russell Crowe. However my appreciation or the movie is limited by some story points that fall flat or don't make much sense. It is even worse when you think that this is an attempt at building a coherent Universe. For example I find that it is always hard for the MCU and DCEU to include the general Earth population in their stories but they somehow manage (especially the former) while in The Mummy half of London is destroyed with the population as simple by-standers...  I am not sure this was a useful remake, especially if it doesn't lead to a sequel or a larger Universe.
Rating: 5 /10

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: Michael Dougherty (Trick 'r Treat)
	Actors: Kyle Chandler (Super 8, Argo, King Kong), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air, The Conjuring), Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things TV-series)
	Country: USA, J
	Genre: Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 05.06.2019, Cineplanet Costanera center.
Synopsis: Years after the devastation of San Fransisco by a battle between giant monsters, the company Monarch keeps on finding new dormant specimen around the globe, closely supervised by the military in order to avoid future catastrophes.
Review: Both Pacific Rim and the first Godzilla (in 2014, not the 1998 Roland Emmerich version) marked the beginning of a small trend of blockbuster Hollywood movies featuring Kaijus (= titans = giant monsters), and there are even some in Spielberg's Ready Player One. They have been present and popular in Japan for 60 years (see for example Godzilla -Attack all Monsters from 1969) but only those two films finally managed to adapt the style and message of those stories to the Occident, maybe thanks to a new generation of filmmakers that grew up ready mangas. I found the first Godzilla to be a good blending between human scale and stakes (a family) that have to stay at the center of the story to get the audience to feel more than just entertainment in front of massive battles, and those battles often cleverly shown off-screen (at that time a specialty of director Gareth Edwards). In a nutshell, if this sequel delivers 100% on the front of new Kaiju and massive battles, it completely fails on the human side although it tries very hard. The three members of the main family and the bad guy all have disappointing story arcs (hard to follow), only the character played by Ken Watanabe gets a satisfyingly concluded arc. I watched a YouTube breakdown of the movie afterwards, and then noticed even more how weak the movie was on the character's side because I failed to register one major character's death, and that one other character were on fact twin sisters! As I said, the subtle balance was not achieved with this movie. So you are just left (and that's already something) with watching it on the biggest screen possible for the scenes with the Kaijus, their discovery (and very nice designs), their awakening, their battles, culminating with a teaming up between (spoiler, highlight to read) Godzilla and the Army that I found was going the right direction in this franchise, but was under-used. Also like I criticized in Kong: Skull Island, it is hard to find any of the battle involving humans realistic when they are so under-gunned and insist on flying so close to the monsters. By the way, you may notice the slow but steady building up of a shared Universe with those three movies, to be continued in 2020 with Godzilla vs. Kong (I hope they come up with a good story). And what will then be next? Will they go all crazy with Mecha-Godzilla vs. Mecha-Ghidorah?
Rating: 5 /10

Iron Sky: The Coming Race (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: Timo Vuorensola (Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning, Iron Sky)
	Actors: Lara Rossi, Vladimir Burlakov, Kit Dale, Udo Kier (Blade, Downsizing)
	Country: FIN, DE, B
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 07.06.2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: After a nuclear holocaust on Earth, what's left of humanity is living on the former Nazi moon-base. But they are not as alone as they thought.
Review: It took a while to finally release this sequel to one of the first crowd-funded full-length feature films: Iron Sky from 2012. JoRafCinema was part of that funding, and for the second movie I considered paying 5000 euros to play the part of getting eating by a Hilter-ridden T-rex in close-up. That would have been fun. Instead I got to watch somebody else doing that in the movie. The crazy concept of Moon Nazis that made the success of the first movie is a thing of the past, this sequel is more about a post-apocalyptic world, Atlanteans and a Hollow Earth that of course harbors dinosaurs (that's the theory also pursued in Jules Verne's Voyage to the Center of the Earth, I wonder what the flat-Earthers say about it...). As the first Iron Sky, this one contains a bunch of outrageous geek ideas as the aforementioned Hitler riding a T-rex (even funnier in the promo scene that didn't make it to the movie), the Jobists religion, some puns against current World leaders, and they come with fan service for the followers of the first movie, and the same passionate team that have been able to sometime produce magnificent SF shots. Unfortunately, it also comes with a shabby story (even though the actors are professionals, not like in the director's first Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning), a weak direction of the actors, an uneven score and some cheap digital and practical special effects. It seems to me that the long wait for this sequel has ensured the serious look of it, but I can't help but being disappointed in the end by a lack of punch. That was a tough challenge indeed.
Rating: 4 /10