Rambo: Last Blood (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: Adrian Grunberg
	Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Paz Vega, Sergio Peris-Mencheta
	Country: USA, HK, F, BG, E, S
	Genre: Action, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 24.07.2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: Leaving peacefully on his father's ranch, John Rambo (Stallone) considers Gabriela like his daughter. When she wants to go to Mexico to look for her father, he advises against it.
Review: I thought Stallone had said goodbye to the franchise in 2008 with the powerful fourth movie soberly entitled Rambo, but he had to do one more and this one looks like the real goodbye, between the title which calls back to the first movie of the franchise First Blood (no, the name Rambo was not in the title of the first movie), and the end credits which shows scenes from all past movies. Looking at the list of Countries that co-financed the movie, it looks like the producers had to search everywhere to find the money to make this one which is to me a sign that it was maybe not much wanted. I hope they stop there but you never know... The movie is not too bad but doesn't rival with the first or fourth, and the second and third are dated but may be better as well when looked today with nostalgia. I wondered which enemy they would find for the Vietnam War veteran, and was slightly disappointed to see the story go the way of Taken or Death Wish but in Mexico. I was however pleased to see Stallone not play the confident killer like he does in The Expendables series for example, but sometimes nuance his acting to better match the traumatized Veteran we know him to be. I immediately caught 2-3 moments like that but they were unfortunately fleeting. Like in all movies in the franchise, Rambo goes through the usual defeat before rising again, and this time his motivation is stronger than ever, although I wondered if it had to be so. As the previous movie, this one is (very) generous with blood splatter and violent killings, but they look too much like fan-service and Rambo is not even in danger at any point. Still, those were the fun parts. For me, a fun addition to the series but one which was not needed.
Rating: 4 /10

The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Patrick Hughes (The Expendables 3)
	Actors: Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool), Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction), Gary Oldman (1984, The Fifth Element), Elodie Yung (Daredevil TV-series)
	Country: USA, CN, NL, BG
	Genre: Action, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 20.01.2018, in-flight entertainment system 10" screen.
Synopsis: Former triple-A bodyguard Michael Bryce (Reynolds) is trying to recover his grade when his ex working at Interpol Amelia (Yung) asks for his help in protecting the hitman Marius Kincaid (Jackson) about to testify against the dictator Vladislav Dukhovich (Oldman).
Review: This movie relies on the often-used comedy recipe of forcing together two characters that everything opposes. In that case the world's best bodyguard played by the serious and involuntarily funny Ryan Reynolds (reminding me of his role in Deadpool and Green Lantern, so I guess this is close to the actor's own character) and the world' best hitman played by the unavoidable Sam L. Jackson who also sticks to his image (since Pulp Fiction for instance) and says about a hundred time the word motherf***er. Those two are antagonists in their line of work as much as in their approach to life, which leads to a few interesting discussions in the middle of a movie otherwise very oriented towards Action and buddy-film comedy. They are complemented by the presence on screen of Salma Hayek (From Dusk till Dawn, Frida), Gary Oldman and the lovely Elodie Yung that I discovered in the TV-series Daredevil followed by The Defenders. Nothing really remarkable about this movie but I was looking for an easy Action Comedy and that's exactly what I got.
Rating: 5 /10

Autómata (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Gabe Ibáñez (participated to Visual Effects on The Day of the Beast)
	Actors: Antonio Banderas (The 13th Warrior), Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Dylan McDermott
	Country: E, USA, CDN, BG
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 28.03.2015, CINEMA theater, MFFFN15
Synopsis: In a Future when only few humans survive in enclosed cities helped by robots, insurance agent Jacq Vaucan (Banderas) investigates some units that present peculiar malfunctions.
Review: Shot in Bulgaria for a modest budget by a Spanish director and resting on the shoulders of its main actor, this is an atypical and ambitious production. The robots are very realistic, I was often expecting them to jump and do incredible stunts like in I Robot but they in fact always follow the rules of simple mechanics. The two fundamental behavioral rules to which the robots obey are of course inspired by Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics, and we spend the movie with the insurance agent trying to understand if some robots really were tempered with and by whom. It raises some interesting questions about the future of mankind and the definition of life/consciousness, the desertic landscape and futuristic city are well rendered and the robots visual effects very realistic. On the down side, the pace of the movie may be a bit slow especially in the second half. An interesting endeavour nevertheless.
Rating: 6 /10

Nadie quiere la noche (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Isabel Coixet
	Actors: Juliette Binoche, Kinko Kikuchi, Gabriel Byrne
	Country: E, F, BG
	Genre: Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 15.02.2015, Cinemaxx 7, Berlinale2015, Original English/Inuktikut version
Synopsis: Robert Peary, a polar explorer from the USA, is again on expedition to the North Pole. His wife, Josephine (Binoche), convinced to be able to follow him tries it and forces Robert Peary's colleagues to a dangerous journey as the winter is coming fast. One of them, Bram Trevor (Byrne) dies. On a base camp in Greenland she stops and decides to stay over the winter alone. But the young Inuit Allaka (Kikuchi) is also in the camp. Both women will then slowly come close to each other.
Review:  I wanted to watch this movie, incited by my polar friends, both the adventurers and the passionated. I just knew the plot and this sounds good. The story is dramatic, especially when both women understand that they are both waiting for the same man for the same reason of love. Additional steps enhance this drama that is solved for Allaka very fast and that is apparently solved for Josephine at the end only. The small things of the daily life of both women show that they are just not prepared especially Josephine. Unfortunately almost all the movie is shot in studios in Bulgaria. This damps substantially my enthusiasm. The acting is correct but sounds strange. Maybe the fact of not really living in the cold North. The few images taken from Norway to simulate Greenland are of relatively bad quality so that the beauty of the snow did not explode in my face as other documentaries. Maybe I had too many expectations because I saw already several movies, documentaries or not, on the polar regions, like Inuk and Chasing ice.
Rating: 4 /10