I, Tonya (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Craig Gillepsie
	Actors: Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janney, Juliane Nicholson, Paul Walter Hauser, Caitlin Carver
	Country: USA
	Genre: Comedy, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 05.02.2018, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English with German subtitle
Synopsis: Tonya Harding (Robbie) was never fully accepted in the figure skating community for not being part of a certain elite. Her talent is based on her natural athletical body being one in a few able to jump a triple Axel. Her husband Jeff Gillooly (Stan) organised with his friend Shawn Eckhardt (Hauser) an attack on Tonya's competitor Nancy Kerrigan (Carver). "The incident", the leg bashing on January 6, 1994 of the pretty and loved Nancy brought Tonya under media focus and led to Tonya being banned from competitive figure skating for life by the North American skating association.
Review: How a promising career and life can be destroyed by the people around you? Already Tonya's mother LaVona (Janney) abused her. Then her husband Gillooly. Then the obviously-clever Shawn abused the situation. Indeed only her trainer Diane Rawlinson (Nicholson) was ever supportive. After watching the movie, I watched also a documentary about The Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan saga. One scene of the movie that impressed me as it was reality can be seen in real here, in particular at t=30s!  Nevertheless I did not get really interested in the story, possibly because I am neither ice skater nor North American. Margot Robbie, whose role I did not liked in Tarzan as stupid beauty but liked in Suicide squad as crazy and exciting character, shows in I, Tonya that she can play difficult roles. Complexity of emotions and actions. She confirms my impression in Suicide squad that she has talent. For Margot Robbie's acting and the strong and humorous melodrama, the movie deserves to be watched.
Rating: 6 /10

Black Panther (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Ryan Coogler (Creed)
	Actors: Chadwick Boseman (Gods of Egypt, Captain America: Civil War), Michael B. Jordan (Fantastic Four, Creed), Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave, Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Martin Freeman (The Hobbit 1-3, Love Actually, Sherlock TV-series), Forrest Whitaker (Ghost Dog, Rogue One), Angela Bassett (Contact, Olympus has Fallen), Andy Serkis (King Kong)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 18.02.2018, Cineplanet Costanera Center
Synopsis: After his father's death, the prince of Wakanda T'Challa (Boseman), also the super-hero known as Black Panther, climbs on the throne and has to face the responsibilities that come with it.
Review: Ten years after Iron Man, and now that we are close to coming to a conclusion on that part of the huge Universe they have created for the big screen with Avengers: Infinity War this spring (and a final sequel next year), I am surprised that Marvel decided to launch his own movie for this character we have first seen in Captain America: Civil War. It is based on a comic book character created in 1968, half a decade after the other heroes in the same Universe, maybe to attract to buying comics some young afro-american kids that didn't identify to white blond gods or millionaires. Realizing that the movie may have the same purpose (attract afro-american audience) I started to count the non-white people in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) as you can find after this post. In summary, the movie has a full Black cast (including director and costume designer) except for Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis (maybe my favorite character in the movie). The story is a bit hard to swallow: this rich hidden African country possessing futuristic tech?!! Maybe it helped that the character was slowly introduced in Captain America. In the Marvel Cinematic tradition the movie looks good, is fluid, has rich special effects and this time the added touch of very colorful costumes and sets. But I didn't manage to get into the movie and stayed passive, maybe a bit tired of the classic succession of fist fights, highway car chases, gunfights, tech exposition (via the sister / princess / teenager / pseudo-Q from a James Bond movie)... What annoyed me more actively are the actions of some tribes that don't make any sense: good friends end up fighting to the death based on a quick decision, and enemies become you friend in the blink of an eye. Many deaths (off-screen of course) to no reason. Maybe the downside of have only two enemies in the movie (characters of Michael B. Jordan and Andy Serkis) and no evil army to display on-screen. At first glance one could also criticize that the stakes are not really important or interesting, but it becomes different if replaced in the whole Marvel Universe, and I would conclude that for me the interest of Black Panther is as (long and expensive) introduction to Avengers: Infinity War. To the question raised at the end of the first post-credit sequence: "what can a country of farmers have to offer?" I have an answer that also gives full sense to the trailer of that next Avengers movie: (possible spoiler, highlight to read): Vibranium weapons to fight against the armies of Thanos the conqueror.
Rating: 4 /10

The Addams Family (1991)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1991
	Director: Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black 1-3)
	Actors: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future 1-3, Piranha 3D)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Black Comedy, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 17.02.2018, VOD, 32" TV screen
Synopsis: In the eccentric Addams Family, the father Gomes (Julia) still mourns the disappearance of his brother 25 years ago. Pushed by greed, his lawyer organizes a scam in which the son of a friend (Lloyd) can pass for the lost brother and claim the family fortune.
Review: First movie by the director more known for the Men in Black series, I remembered The Addams Family to have been a success, leading to a sequel not two years later. I watched it expecting the quality of a Death Becomes Her recently reviewed on this blog, or the morbid poetry of any Tim Burton movie (like Corpse Bride), but I was disappointed by the continuous series of half-funny gags the movie only has to offer... The concept of this macabre family living in the midst of an otherwise normal contemporary society is appealing: the father madly in love with the vampiresque Morticia (furiously reminding of Vampira from Plan 9 from Outer Space), the two kids playing death games, the Frankensteinesque butler, the sorceress grand-ma, the ghoulish uncle, the disembodies hand... but in fact this concept originates from cartoon strips started in the 1940's by a Charles Addams and that were pretty famous in the USA. Then came a TV-series in the 60's and this cinema adaptation lands in fact many years after all that. Which explains the succession of gags and the visual extravaganza, but doesn't excuse the fact that the story is poor and the editing not very consistent. The visuals are generous, there are a few nice moments like with cousin Itt, and my favorite character is Fester played by Christopher Lloyd more clown than ever, but I found the whole thing very predictable and quite boring to watch in fact. Maybe a mix of bad aging, less resonance outside of the USA and inherent bad qualities.
Rating: 3 /10

Okja (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Joon-ho Bong (Memories of Murder, The Host, Snowpiercer)
	Actors: Tilda Swinton (Only Lovers left Alive, Doctor Strange), Paul Dano, Seo-Hyun Ahn, Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko, The Day after Tomorrow), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad TV-series)
	Country: USA, ROK
	Genre: Fantasy, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 12.02.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Looking to revive her multi-national corporation, Lucy Mirando (Swinton) entrusts the growing of super-pigs to a handful of farmers around the globe. Ten years later when time for ending the contest comes, the little Korean girl Mija (Ahn) has befriended the super-pig entrusted to her grand-father and named Okja.
Review: Okja belongs to this category of movies fully produced by the Netflix Video-On-Demand giant (growing full list available here on IMDb), of which we have reviewed Spectral and Bright in two different genres, although Fantasy or SF was always more or less present. And I am not even talking about series. The difference with Okja is that it is the first one for which I had heard it won awards, so I was quite curious to see what it looked like. I noticed it was a mix of genres that seemed designed to win awards: a bit of eco-conscience and despise for global corporations, a cute CGI beast and her funny relationship with a touching little girl, countryside, cities, action... a bit of everything. On top of that, it turned out to be a mix of Western and Korean movie-making styles: Korean for the character's barely believable reaction, American for the Action, even European for the Balkan soundtrack to such scenes, American for the Acting, Korean director (of which we loved Memories of Murder, The Host, his segment in Tokyo! and Mother, less so his other American endeavor Snowpiercer), American producers, lowest bidder for the special effects that sometimes are very poorly integrated to the live action (Joon-ho Bong should have stuck to the Kiwi Weta "The Lord of the Rings" Digital he used on The Host). Being accustomed to Asian movies I could live with the weird pace and characters, but not too much as I was expecting an award-winning American blockbuster. In fact I simply found it hard to watch in one go because of the messy rhythm. But paradoxically what I will remember from the movie was brought by the Korean influence: peaceful countryside landscapes, a little girl not behaving like her boring American counterpart would, and some image juxtapositions that put you ill-at-ease and would never have found their place in a Hollywood-produced family movie, like the meat-tasting, the parade organized for Okja, or the scenes leading to the ending that furiously remind of the Holocaust (spoiler, highlight to read: in particular the couple of super-pigs having the very human reaction of throwing their baby to freedom through electrified barbwire). Like somebody told me once: one day we will look at meet-eating like we do now at slavery. We are far from there yet, but Okja can take you a little bit of the way.
Rating: 4 /10

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Bill Condon (Mr Holmes, Beauty and the Beast)
	Actors: Kristen Stewart (Snow White and the Huntsman), Robert Pattinson (Cosmopolis), Taylor Lautner
	Country: USA
	Genre: Romance, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 06.02.2018, VOD, 11" tablet screen
Synopsis: Bella (Stewart), Edward (Pattinson), Jacob (Lautner) and the whole Cullen clan are getting ready to a final confrontation.
Review: Against the prejudice I had, this second part to the conclusion of the Twilight saga (see review of the first part) nicely wraps up the whole thing. But don't get me wrong: I still find the romance extremely cheesy (at least the menage-a-trois is over), the pace super-slow and the vampires too good-looking and full of good intentions. The special effects are also strangely used and badly incorporated in ever-so-unreadable action scenes. But at least after four movies of wandering, now the characters know themselves who they are and what they want, even though I had to rewind to the 30-second part where is explained why what is going to happen is going to happen. As usual, the logic behind it is vague enough so that whatever happens will fit the story. As in the previous movies, I was always surprised by how Bella is accepted by her family-in-law. Maybe we are too used to the same type of vampires who just stay by themselves, and that for one may be a refreshing look at the genre. I also realized that the interactions with the family, with the rest of the clan as well as the introduction and background story of those are probably much more interesting in the original novel that in the movie, where only a very limited time can be dedicated to such details. You would think that a 5-movie saga would have the time for such developments but it seems too much of it was used for romantic discussions and - like some say - pointless staring. Finally I liked how the final battle was depicted, even though I laughed at the drawing below, because it is a bit unfair. I was much less annoyed by the scale of the battle than by the confusing way in which is was shown in spite of its limited number of participants. Lessons could have been taken from The Return of the King at least to that regard.
Rating: 5 /10

Phantom thread (2017)

	Also Known As: Der seidene Faden
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
	Actors: Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps, Leslie Manville
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 29.01.2018, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English with German subtitle
Synopsis: Set in the glamour of 1950s post-war London, renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville) are at the center of British fashion, dressing royalty, movie stars and the elite with the style Woodcock. Women come and go through Woodcock's life, providing the confirmed bachelor with inspiration and companionship, until he comes across a young, strong-willed woman, Alma (Vicky Krieps), who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover. His controlled life is disrupted.
Review: I am a big fan of Daniel Day-Lewis until There will be blood. Because he has great roles and act them greatly! The role of Woodcock is quite boring to me and the acting is quite monotonous. His opening that we are expecting since the beginning happens very late and then is finished. There is no much evolution in the character of Alma apart that she becomes involved in several jobs of the Woodcock house. The most interesting role is Cyril, the omnipresent and potent sister. The only plot that is interesting is the mushroom one. Maybe one needs to like fashion or history of fashion to get into it, unfortunately I did not.  The acting is limited by the roles. I like Vicky Krieps' acting even her role does not says much.
Rating: 2 /10

Wonder (2017)

	Also Known As: Extraordinario, Wunder
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Stephen Chbosky
	Actors: Jacob Tremblay, Izabela Vidovic, Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson
	Country: USA, HK
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 08.01.2018, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English with German subtitle
Synopsis: Born with facial differences Auggie (Tremblay) has been kept isolated by his father Nate (Wilson) and tought at home by his mother Isabel (Roberts). By entering fifth grade, his classmates are either reluctant to be with him or curious about the lonely guy with the funny face. His sister Via (Vidovic) has never been in focus and suffers silently of it.
Review: The plot is really good for a children movie. And could be good for others as well. The children are discovering the compassion toward people who suffer because in the classroom there are the bullies and there is always one different character and friendship wins against hate. This is a very idealist vision and therefore the movie feels like a tale. The acceptance of difference is a slow but inalterable process in the movie. Therefore I count this movie in the basket for feel-good movies. I loved the idea of camera oscura as a nod to the cinema. The young Auggie is not really recognizable but it is the young Jack from Room. His acting is therefore only visible via his body language and hearable with his voice. The acting is in general fair in Wonder. From my point of view, the best acting is given by Izabela Vidovic as sister split between her love for the little brother and the need for visibility and recognition. Very promising actress!
Rating: 6 /10

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2003
	Director: Jan de Bont (Speed 1-2, Twister, The Haunting)
	Actors: Angelina Jolie (Wanted, Beowulf), Gerard Butler (Gamer, 300), Ciarán Hinds (The Woman in Black, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance)
	Country: USA, D, J, GB
	Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 03.02.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: Looking for Alexander the Great's Luna Temple, Adventurer and Lady Lara Croft (Jolie) is put on the trail to a much greater and dangerous treasure, also pursued by weapon manufacturer Jonathan Reiss (Hinds).
Review: After a decent Lara Croft: Tomb Raider that I rather enjoyed when simply taken as a video game adaptation, I find this sequel very embarrassing on many aspects. You just have to look at that ugly poster of Lara in her less-than-flattering grey outfit. I have the feeling that we see her too much in that one, from close up, and maybe she speaks too much and also has some romantic entanglements (haha Gerald Butler) while for me she should just be that unattainable goddess. Although at first I thought that she was more acrobatic in this movie, jumping off ledges and so on, being closer to the game and showing more of what was a bit missing in the first, but quickly I saw that she is spending more time shooting people and using Panasonic gadgets (good product placement shown in full-frame and slow motion) that solving puzzles. I found the action confused (the helicopter scene) and the stakes unclear (what the hell is this story of current at the beginning?). I also realized something that I could overlook in the first movie, in this one Lara Croft fully embraces her title of Tomb RAIDER by massacring corral, destroying temples, driving through flocks of flamingos and dumping her parachute in the middle of the savanna. And of course she cannot help herself but helping the enemy for the sake of her own curiosity. Well I cannot complain too much about that because the original character is written so, and even the model of the genre Indiana Jones does it (in at least Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade). Still, why going through all this to just say in the end "Nah, I'm leaving it here" and kill your lover with that decision. In contrast to Speed and Twister, not the best from cinematographer-turned-director Jan de Bont. He was not seen much more afterward.
Rating: 2 /10

The Maze Runner (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Wes Ball
	Actors: Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Will Poulter (We're The Millers), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Game of Thrones TV-series)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Fantasy, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 02.02.2018, in-flight entertainment system, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Thomas (O'Brien) wakes up in an elevator that leads to a clearing in a middle of a giant maze. He meets the other boys that have arrived there before him, but he is more curious than many.
Review: Yet another pseudo-SF movie with teenagers, for teenagers, in which a post-apocalyptic scenario gives the right to the screenplay writers (well, bestseller book writer before them) to invent any possible Universe with unexplained rules that just fit the story. The closest comparison that comes to mind is The Hunger Games but there are others. Fitting the environment to what you want your characters to become is so much easier than working out how to make them evolve in the set of rules present in our world. That would be my main criticism of that movie: that the Universe created is not believable and just a pretense (and a help) to see teenagers struggle for their life. This is pretty obvious and embarrassing during the closing revelation. Besides that, the movie is well-done and the characters easy to follow, although not as strong and memorable as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games. It may help to watch this Action movie on a (home) cinema screen. The ideas about what happens in the maze are not too bad although predictable, and the strength of the movie is how it accelerates in its third act to quickly take you to a resolution, although partial, that is not something given in the case of pre-programmed sagas like this one. Another good point for this movie is that it was successful enough to finance the two planned sequels. This is also not always given (see The 5th Wave). Not what I would call an adult SF story like I would prefer, but I may watch those sequels after a while for more of the same thing.
Rating: 4 /10

Ninja Assassin (2009)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: James McTeigue (V for Vendetta)
	Actors: Rain, Rick Yune, Naomie Harris (Skyfall)
	Country: USA, D
	Genre: Action
	Conditions of visioning: 01.02.2018, VOD, 40" TV screen
Synopsis: A stubborn Europol agent (Harris) is convinced of the existence of an ancient secret society of assassins.
Review: "Which of these doesn't belong: laptops, space shuttles, nanotechnology, ninjas?" asks her boss to the character of Naomie Harris dead-set on explaining unsolved assassination by the existence of the aforementioned Asian warriors. And that's the whole spirit of the movie! I find it to be the best 80's Action film released in the 2000's. A bit in the spirit of Transformers or G.I.Joe: The Rise of Cobra but without the Hasbro or Michael Bay humor. Instead, orphans that have become skilled assassins after years of harsh training (seen via over-abundant flashbacks) in body control and martial Arts. The training part is a mandatory exercise in any Martial Arts movie, like in The 36th Chamber of Shaolin to quote only one. The smooth incorporation of those - let's say the word - ninjas in modern times reminds of how natural the sword fights felt in Kill Bill. I love the ever-so-slight supra-natural touch in the movie, and how the ninjas blend into shadows. This fighting style is embodied by the main character played excellently by the rather unknown actor Rain seen in Park Chan-wook's I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK and heard in Speed Racer. He is just perfect in this role, accompanied by the no-less-perfect Shô Kosugi (could have been Taheshi Kitano but Kosugi has apparently a long history in the ninja movie sub-genre, I should see some more) and Naomie Harris that provides a fresh and disbelieving external eye to this whole tradition. The shock of cultures culminates with the extraordinary awesome (spoiler, highlight to read) attack of the temple by marines in SUVs and helicopters, and the final battle among fire. Those scenes are pure pleasure for fans of such movies, and reminded me of the generous extravaganza displayed in that other UFO Dragon Wars. Probably not for everybody, but for me an a pure pleasure.
Rating: 7 /10

Phantasm (1979)

	Also Known As: Das Böse
	Year of first release: 1979
	Director: Don Coscarelli
	Actors: Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Reggie Bannister, Angus Scrimm, Kathy Lester
	Country: USA
	Genre: Horror, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 14.01.2018, Cinema am Ostertor, English without subtitle
Synopsis: Mike (Baldwin) is 13 years old and has just lost his parents. He is afraid to lose his brother Judy (Thornbury) and follows him to a funeral, after which Mike witnesses the Tall Man (Scrimm) lifting the full coffin on his own. Mike decides to investigate and discovers that the Tall Man, protected by flying spheres, is shrinking dead bodies down to strange dwarves. It is then up to Mike, Judy, and Reggie (Bannister) the ice cream man to stop the Tall man.
Review: This is the January movie of the series Weird Xperience. The story is really disturbing as it drives you in one direction then another about what kind of evil is around. Is the Tall man a kind of crazy professor collecting corpses and building new ones out of it (inspired by Frankenstein)? Is he the devil getting inside your thoughts and dreams? Is he a vampire?  The casting is quite good. Angus Scrimm is scary and always at the limit of the human with his weird look. The same with Kathy Lester in her role of attractive devil. The originality is that none of them says a word during the movie. As Hitchcock said to Truffaut, "the better the villain the better the picture". And these villains are damn good! The flying ball is quite superfluous in the story and does not bring any scary effect, to me.
Rating: 6 /10

Wind river (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Taylor Sheridan
	Actors: Jeremy Renner, Elisabeth Olsen, Kesley Asbille
	Country: GB, CDN, USA
	Genre: Thriller, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 11.12.2017, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English with German subtitle
Synopsis: Cory Lambert (Renner) is a veteran tracker with the Fish and Wildlife Service in a remote region of Wyoming. He helps FBI agent Jane Banner (Olsen) to investigate the murder of a young Native American woman Natalie (Asbille).
Review: The fact that the story shows a bit of the discrimination from white people against native people in North America is a major originality. On the other side, Natives are presented as passive when not fully drunk and not active to solve their problem. Few white people are kind with them and really help them. Jeremy Renner's character and indirectly Olsen's character, probably because she is supposed to be kind of enloved in Cory Lambert. I wish a cathartic story and movie for the Native Americans! I liked the usage of snow-mobil, the hunting scenes in the middle of the snow and I loved the snowy scenery in the mountains. The camera following the snow-mobil in the valley is amazing. Thanks to the drones! Because the image is good, some posters are also great. The acting is ok. I learned afterwards that both actors are also together in some Avengers movies.
Rating: 5 /10

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2011
	Director: Bill Condon (Mr Holmes, Beauty and the Beast)
	Actors: Kristen Stewart (Snow White and the Huntsman), Robert Pattinson (Cosmopolis), Taylor Lautner
	Country: USA
	Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Horror
	Conditions of visioning: 31.01.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Bella and Edward (Stewart & Pattinson) can't be set apart, while the frustrated lover Jacob (Lautner) can only witness their love grow. But their closeness will lead to the genesis of an unexpected new player.
Review: As the first movie in the two-part conclusion of the saga initiated in 2008 by Twilight followed by two mediocre episodes, I was watching this movie with suspicion, knowing that such methods are usually stretching thin a story into two cinema releases in order to make more cash before the saga runs out (remember Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?). I was glad that it is not the case although there are some lengths in the movie but they just follow the usual slow languorous romance that characterizes the saga. I was glad also that the movie gets straight to the point at the beginning with (spoiler if you haven't seen the previous episodes) the wedding. This opening also made me realize the weird timescale of the saga: all of it is supposed to happen within a school semester! It is hard to keep consistency in the actor's look as they age five years across the five movies. I liked that my realization was echoed by the reactions Bella's father, seemingly in shock by what happens so fast to his little daughter. Then came the super-romantic super-boring part that I had to endure, but after that a change occurred which I hadn't expected. I can't spoil too much for the few who haven't seen the movie and still wish to, but it takes a welcome more adult turn in its third act, including some disturbing horror and gore tones that shouldn't surprise in a vampire movie but could do so in the midst of some cheesy romance like the saga accustomed us to. And the last scene takes us to a satisfying moment that then feels unavoidable, while until then it only seemed like the result of poor judgment by the heroin. So close to the end I am now almost looking forward to what it will bring.
Rating: 5 /10

Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2007
	Director: Tim Story
	Actors: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba (Sin City 1-2, The Beach, Machete 1-2, The Killer inside me), Chris Evans (Avengers 1-3), Julian McMahon (Charmed TV-series)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 28.01.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: While two of the Fantastic 4 are about to get married, slight tensions arise in the group and mysterious energy surges around the world will draw their attention.
Review: I liked this pop-corn sequel of an already pop-corn super-hero movie (both released before the advent of the Marvel Cinematic Universe started in 2008 with Iron Man) better that its 2015 remake Fantastic Four (more like a new adaptation of the comic book in fact) that was not even successful enough to generate a sequel. It follows the light spirit of the first Fantastic 4 with The Thing and Torch (strange to see there Chris Evans who is now Captain America) arguing, Mr Fantastic playing with his stretchable appendages and the Invisible Girl (Alba) ending up naked on the pavement, again. I like the characters of the Silver Surfer, the destroyer of Worlds and the Baron von Doom (what a name!) and how they integrate in fact pretty well into an unpretentious story. What is however painful to watch in this movie is the Science that doesn't make any sense and is not consistent even within the movie: traveling across the world in no time on-board a kind of drone, watching with a telescope planets exploding around distant stars... This is even more annoying that the main characters are supposed to be scientists in a parallel version of our Universe. But if you forget about that, it can be pretty easy to watch the movie especially since it packs its action in a short 92 minutes which doesn't leave much time for repetitive multiple confrontations or questioning. That is appreciated.
Rating: 5 /10

Death Becomes Her (1992)

	Also Known As: La Mort vous va si bien (french)
	Year of first release: 1992
	Director: Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future 1-3, Cast Away)
	Actors: Meryl Streep (The Deer Hunter, The Manchurian Candidate), Bruce Willis (Die Hard 1-6, The 6th Sense), Goldie Hawn, Isabella Rossellini
	Country: USA
	Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 25.01.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Madeline Ashton (Streep) manages to win over the fiance (Willis) from her long-time rival Helen (Hawn). Years later things have turned sour and Madeline, stage actress, is ever looking for new ways to stay young.
Review: Released between Back to the Future Part III and Forrest Gump, Death Becomes Her is a quite forgotten movie in the career of Robert Zemeckis. I vaguely remembered watching it in my youth and wanted to have a fresher look at it. It is an odd movie, almost cartoonesque (may not come as a surprise from the director of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) with its two extremely jealous, competitive and rival characters, and a hilarious Bruce Willis stuck in the middle. Probably one of his best and unexpected roles. The story-telling is also different, with some large time gaps and roller-coaster life careers. And after the encounter with the mysterious Lisle (unforgettable Isabella Rossellini), the movie veers towards a slightly more Fantasy and horrific tone as one poster suggests (not so much the other one below this post). But this kind of 90's family horror like in The Addams Family or Beetlejuice. Even then, the movie never stops being a Comedy first and I enjoyed it as such all along. I love in particular the long dialog scenes, very theatrical, and the close-up shots on the main characters and their slightly over-done make up: Hawn's eyes or Willis' mustache. In fact I realized that there is a lot of talking in that movie and it does give it a kind of theater play feeling, but I didn't get bored by them once, probably thanks to the writing talent of Martin Donovan and David Koepp, the latter known for his work on Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, Sam Raimi's Spider-man, Stir of Echoes and many other good movies. Death Becomes Her comes highly recommended, and I only regret not watching it with pristine sound and image quality on a decent home cinema.
Rating: 8 /10