Van Helsing (2004)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2004
	Director: Stephen Sommers (The Mummy 1-2, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)
	Actors: Hugh Jackman (The Fountain, Real Steel), Kate Beckinsale (Underworld 1-5, Total Recall), Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham (The Lord of the Rings 2-3, 300)
	Country: USA, CZ, RO
	Genre: Adventure, Horror
	Conditions of visioning: September 2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: The notorious monster hunter is sent to Transylvania to stop Count Dracula who is using Dr. Frankenstein's research and a werewolf for some sinister purpose.
Review: It took me four attempts to go through the two hours of the movie. I hadn't seen it since its cinema release and all I remembered was the funny side: anachronisms, Van Helsing action hero played by Hugh Jackman with a terrible wig, upbeat Flamenco music supposed to illustrate the European setting and the ridiculous side-kick played by David Wenham fresh out of The Return of the King where he played Faramir. I didn't remember how much of a melting pot the movie was and how annoying to watch that made it. 13 years before Universal studios tried to launch their 'Dark Universe' with The Mummy, Van Helsing was already combining the vampire hunter and his nemesis, ghouls, Frankenstein and his monster, Dr Jekyll &Mr. Hyde and werewolves, plus the religion background origin story borrowed from Dracula 2000!!! Nothing less.  The necessary digital effects are generous and watchable most of the time although not of the best quality. And on paper the concept is attractive, but for some reason the movie is annoying. Maybe too many unbelievable action scenes and twists. Director Stephen Sommers was trendy at the time after the success of his Indiana Jones-style humorous Mummy reboot with Brendan Fraser, but Van Helsing ended this.
Rating: 3 /10

Mirrors (2008)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2008
	Director: Alexandre Aja (The Hills have eyes)
	Actors: Kiefer Sutherland (24 TV-series), Paula Patton (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol), Amy Smart
	Country: USA, F, D, E, RO
	Genre: Horror, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 15.02.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: An ex-cop (Sutherland) and his family are the target of an evil force that is using mirrors as a gateway into their home.
Review: I didn't like so much Alexandre Aja's The Hills have Eyes, partly because I thought desertic landscapes didn't fit the survival genre, but then I have seen Wolf Creek that worked. I haven't seen the Asian original version of Mirrors from which this one was remade, but I guess that as often in this process the Westernisation, the movie has removed some length and non-credible characters. Indeed I liked the simplicity of this Mirrors revolving around the character of the former cop, well-played by Kiefer Sutherland at his best, although he reminds too much of Jack 24 Bauer at times (taking a Nun hostage!). The movie abuses a bit of jump-scared and ultra-graphical deaths, but that is what those kind of horror films are for. Maybe the best Horror Thriller I have seen recently.
Rating: 6 /10

The zero theorem (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Terry Gilliam
	Actors: Christoph Waltz, Mélanie Thierry, Lucas Hedges
	Country: GB, F, USA, RO
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 24.11.2014, Schauburg, VO sneak preview
Synopsis: Qohen Leth (Waltz) is a computer scientist living in an ancient monastery whose goal is to discover the reason for his existence continually finds his work interrupted thanks to the unreachable Management. Bob (Hedges), a teenager being a computer crack and Bainsley (Thierry), a pretty call-girl.
Review: I was excited when it was clear in the sneak preview that the "surprise" movie was this one, as I was excited by the plot. But I did not see in the story the search for a sense in life. Qohen is actually just waiting for a phone call that will never come, for an illusion. I understood Bob as the son of the Management, the son of God, and he tells the good words to Qohen, about freedom, love and social life; and Bainsley as the call-girl actually looking for being loved by Qohen and encountering only a wall of indifference. Here the Manager is a kind of God observing Qohen and everybody in order to make him work for his goals. The parties are like today in a café where people meet physically but each one is connected to anything via the Smartphone and pays attention only to it.  The photography is dark and very colourful at the same time. The futuristic view of the world is a kind of translation of what already happens via Internet (e.g. social networks, games, violation of privacy, user-adapted advertisement) on the complete world, on the street. The costumes are beautiful of colours and originality except Qohen's. It is also full of elements having connotations (to Christian religion, to unreachability, omniscience of God/Management, to workaholism). This was interesting. Unlike other movies of Gilliam I liked (Brazil, Fisher King, Twelve monkeys, The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus), I do not see a strong sense nor a mystery in this movie. As this surprises me, I wonder whether I missed something as I had difficulties to understand Waltz talking in the first 30 minutes.
Rating: 5 /10

Le Concert (2009)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: Radu Mihaileanu (Train of Life)
	Actors: Aleksey Guskov, Dmitriy Nazarov, Mélanie Laurent (Inglorious Basterds), Miou-Miou
	Country: F, I, RO, B, RUS
	Genre: Comedy, Drama, Music
	Conditions of visioning: 10.08.2013, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Andrey (Guskov) was a world-famous maestro when the soviet regime dismantled his orchester thirty years ago. He finds today the opportunity to re-unite the band and go play in Paris.
Review: I wanted to watch something different in this intense Star Trek period, so I remembered this Blu-ray I bought some time ago on the advice of my co-blogger. One could see the story as quite classical (the gifted exile will meet glory again) but the soviet background and the world of classical music sets it apart. The comedy in the movie lies exclusively in the tricks the group has to play to make believe they are the Bolshoi while they have just been poor and not an orchester in the last thirty years. Being French you also smile at the funny way the Russians speak your tongue. You could think that everything is said after one hour, but then the group arrives in Paris and new problems arise, new characters appear, and the second hour is quite different and complementary. Guskov plays beautifully the frustated russian genius in love with music but that is not allowed to conduct anymore. He helps a lot making the movie realistic, together with the fact that everybody speaks their own language and you have to read sub-titles half of the times. Not like in many other movies in which foreigners speak English even when between themselves.  And then you have the music, in background during all the movie when people have flashbacks or when they talk about music, and then in full during the last twenty minutes (with almost no dialog). Don't you dare watching the movie on a computer screen or even on TV with its built-in speakers; you would miss all the intensity of the final concert. I found it a brilliant idea to show the epilogue of the movie while the band plays so that the flow of the melody is not interrupted, and end the movie right after the last note so that you conclude the viewing with a nice feeling. The only bad comment I could make about the movie is that it contains all the clichés of the Jew looking for business everywhere, the resourceful Gypsy, and the band of drunk Russians but is is all quite funny or 'uplifting' as the poster says
Rating: 8 /10