Dinner in America (2020)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2020
	Director: Adam Rehmeier
	Actors: Kyle Gallner, Emily Skeggs, Mary Anderson
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 10.07.2020, NIFFF2020, 14" computer screen.
Synopsis: A punk rocker (Gallner) and a young woman (Skeggs) unexpectedly meet and go on an epic journey together through America's decaying Midwestern suburbs.
Review: This movie is typical of why I love film Festivals, Genre ones in particular like the Neuchâtel Fantastic Film Festival. In the recent years I have often thought that Disney (including Marvel and Star Wars) is ruining the Cinema industry by being over-present and crushing all the other genres, even though I love some of their movies. But only at film Festivals do I get to discover independent movies like Dinner in America which remind me that there are still plenty of creative film-makers around, and they manage to get their projects done. Don't count on Netflix to recommend them to me. It reminds me of the excellent surprises that were Cheap thrills, Red, White and Blue, Cold in July or The Devil's Candy, all seen at Festivals. They all have in common (maybe less the last one) a strong American imagery in the colors and the flags but not in a patriotic way, more in a recognition of the faults of the American way of life. I couldn't find a trailer or even a poster for Dinner in America as it is so recent, but reading that it was a success at all Festivals (including Sundance) made me want to watch it, and I am so glad I did. In my head I usually define Genre movies as ones which can include but are not limited to the historical Drama, Romance and Comedy. Dinner in America is in fact nothing more than those three, it has no Thriller or Horror deviation like often in movies presented at Fantastic Film Festivals. So what is it doing there? Well I guess I will have to enlarge my definition to encompass those movies which merge the classic genres in a fresh and modern way: the comedy is borderline Dark, the Romance real-life and the Drama hidden behind the Comedy. It is in fact very hard to tell why I loved this movie. I could try by saying that it is a punk-rock real-life Dark Comedy with touching characters, but that wouldn't give it justice. It may also not be for everybody, but I know among my friends the ones who would appreciate it. Additional bonuses: the soundtrack is excellent (when the girl starts to sing!) and we get in the cast Lea Thompson (Back to the Future) and the very funny Pat Healy which is accustomed to original independent movies like Cheap Thrills, The Innkeepers or Compliance. Highly recommended.
Rating: 8 /10

Me & My Brother’s Mistress (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: Takashi HAGA, Sho SUZUKI
	Actors: Nanami KASAMATSU, Yui MURATA, Satoshi IWAGO
	Country: J
	Genre: Romance, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 11.06.2020, NCF2020, 14" computer screen
Synopsis: Yoko, a high school student, lives with her brother, Kenji.  Since they lost their parents early, they have been supported each other.  One night, Yoko witnesses Kenji, who is planning to get married, having an affair with Misa.
Review: A Romance/Drama is usually not the kind of movie I watch, in this one I was expecting some Comedy but didn't get much. Nonetheless, I re-adjusted my compass and enjoyed the movie anyway. It could have been a menage-a-trois Romantic Comedy but that is over-done. Our link to the characters is not in the trio but outside with the character of the sister. The mistress barely interacts at first with the main couple. And we get to wonder why does the man stick to the tradition of staying with a woman which agrees to give him a family, rather than with a woman he loves, or at least feels good with. As the movie goes, we also wonder about the motivation of the other characters: why is the mistress content with her position, and what does the bride has to say, her who seems very shy. The sister acts as a catalyst in a situation where the status-quo would have normally remained. I like the approach of showing us real-life couples under the pressure of society, instead of over-the-top romances or melodramas. Nicely done. We have done a video review of this movie seen at the Nippon Connection 2020 Festival, which can be found under this link.
Rating: 7 /10

Pearl Harbor (2001)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2001
	Director: Michael Bay (Transformers 1-5)
	Actors: Ben Affleck (Paycheck, Dogma), Kate Beckinsale (Underworld 1-5, Total Recall), Josh Hartnett (Sin City)
	Country: USA
	Genre: War, Romance, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 02.04.2019, VOD, 42" TV screen.
Synopsis: While the USA are not yet engaged in WWII, Rafe (Affleck) volunteers to go fight in Europe, leaving his best friend Danny (Hartnett) and new girlfriend Evelyn (Beckinsale) behind, on their way to serve in Pearl Harbor, the heavenly location of the USA's Pacific fleet.
Review: Believe it or not, Pearl Harbor may be the most serious movie directed by Michael Bay, right before The Rock and The Island, released between the two but surprisingly also around the same years as more goofy Action comedies like Armageddon and Bad Boys II. In fact he sticks to a rule that you may have verbal exchanges with smiles, make jokes for the ladies and be cocky, but not make fun of anything related to the War. But it doesn't mean that the movie has to be a boring Drama, and that's where Michael Bay did something quite unique, well if you consider the idea of inserting a fictional Dramatic Romance in the middle of a historic event not being a rip-off of James Cameron's Titanic. Bay combines naturally charming actors (Affleck & Hartnett plus others) with wartime romance stories (between nurse and pilots), values like friendship, family and honor, orchestral music and state-of-the-art special effects culminating with the breathtaking attack scene. Hell, he even managed to paint a positive image of the enemy. He sets himself the objective of refreshing a story not told on the big screen with such a magnitude since the 1970's more factual Tora! Tora! Tora!, or as background for The Final Countdown (1980), and I think he succeded. In passing he uses an ensemble cast of breadth reminding of the one of The Longest Day (1962) in its time (I will not link all the movies mentioned): Alec Baldwin (The Hunt for Red October), Mako (Conan the Barbarian, Sand Pebbles, Rising Sun), Jon Voight (National Treasure 1-2), Cuba Gooding Jr. (Men of Honor), Jennifer Garner (Elektra), Dan Aykroyd (Ghostbusters), William Fichtner (Elysium), Kim Coates (Sons of Anarchy TV-series), Ted McGinley (Married with Children TV-series), Sean Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy 1-2), Tom Sizemore (Red Planet, Black Hawk Down), Colm Feore (The Chronicles of Riddick, Thor), Tom Everett (Air Force One), Michael Shannon (Man of Steel), Leland Orser (Alien: Resurrection). I come now to mention the bi-polarity of the movie: on one hand it is very good-looking, in particular the flying scenes, and the central attack scene is so immersive when watched in good conditions (it was not the case for me this time but I remember the effect it had on my when seen on a good Home Cinema). The quality of that scene is I find underrated, maybe because interleaved with scenes showing our heroes, but I agree with Mickey in his YouTube review that it is a pity that the crew didn't receive more recognition for they work. On the other hand, the romance is sooo cheesy in its unraveling, serious tone, shooting, music... And everything has to be shot perfectly with sunset in the background and low angles and slow motions and camera flashes exploding and the president being so heroic and etc... It often feels overwhelming with feelings. And in the end it explains my rating for this movie, the average between 8/10 for the Action / War scenes and 4/10 for the Romance and cheesiness.
Rating: 6 /10

Gundermann (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Andreas Dresen
	Actors: Alexander Scheer, Anna Unterberger
	Country: D
	Genre: Drama, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 06.09.2018, Schauburg, German version
Synopsis: The East German singer and writer Gerhard Gundermann (Scheer) struggles with his passion for music, his life engagement as a coal miner, his love for Conny (Unterberger) and his dealings with the secret police of the German Democratic Republic, the STASI.
Review: I found the plot interesting. The inner conflict between wish and expression of real socialism and handling with Sovietism. Living in Germany and often confronted to people mixing socialism and Sovietism, to people full of prejudices with regard to East Germans, I definitely wanted to watch this movie. I heard about this singer only shortly before the movie got released because some East German friends mentioned it. Following Gundermann and his protests against the Soviet regime established in GDR shows strikingly what really makes the difference between the socialism, full of solidarity and humanism and care for the weaker and the Sovietism, full of suspicion and greed for power and lacking humanity. Like in Walesa, the main protagonist signs an agreement with the authorities because these aimed to damp them, but their personality remained the same and this speaks for Walesa and for Gundermann. The story may be a bit slow, but I believe this served my understanding of the mindset and the profound thoughts of the characters. On top of it, the acting itself was matching perfectly the characters. Alexander Scheer as man protesting for his people. Anna Unterberger as muse and balancing element for the Gundermann. They look very authentic.  The photography of the industrial and deserted landscape of the surface coal mining (in German Tagebau) in the Lausitz region, East of Germany, are amazing. It is actually a massive destruction of the environment and every now and then the news report of a village or a forest that will be destroyed in favour of such a surface mining in Germany. This has nevertheless a visual beauty.
Rating: 8 /10

The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society (2018)

	Also Known As: Deine Juliet
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Mike Newell
	Actors: Lily James, Matthew Goode, Michiel Huisman
	Country: GB, F, USA
	Genre: Drama, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 30.07.2018, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English versioon with German subtitle
Synopsis: After WWII a correspondence begins between the writer Juliet Ashton (James) and members of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, with them sharing their experiences of Nazi Occupied Guernsey. When an idea for a book catches Juliet she goes to visit the island. Juliet comes to feel for each of the Islanders; Dawsey, Amelia, Isola, Eben, Kit and Elizabeth. A beautiful story of love, friendship and the sadness of friends lost.
Review: The story is different than The bookshop, nevertheless the atmosphere is very similar. A literary person comes to an isolated town, is confronted to the conflicts and secrets within this town and builds strong ties with some villagers. Major difference is that Guernsey society explains a bit what are these secrets, what are and why are these conflicts. We go deep in the history of some villagers, in their trauma. And this makes definitely the step that was fully missing in the bookshop.  We follow this inquiry in a nice atmosphere. Almost too nice. In a slow pace. I liked the scenes with Matthew Goode as Juliet's publisher because his character and his acting bring some pepper in the dialogues and in the action. The other characters are just nice and may lack of personality, to me.
Rating: 3 /10

Eye on Juliet (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Kim Nguyen
	Actors: Joe Cole, Lina El Arabi
	Country: CND, F, MA
	Genre: Romance, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 02.07.2018, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English version with German subtitle
Synopsis: Eye on Juliet tells the story of an unlikely encounter between Gordon (Joe Cole), a hexapod operator, and Ayusha (Lina El Arabi), a young woman from the Middle East. Gordon, guardian of a pipeline in this desert region, becomes fascinated by Ayusha, while piloting his robotic spider from the other side of the world, in America. Ayusha is promised to an older man she doesn't love. Despite the distance, their mutual fear and their imperfect interaction, he will do everything in his power to help her escape her fate.
Review: The story looks at the beginning quite interesting. A bored North American living in a kind of virtual world (driving robots in the desert, meeting people only via Tinder) set in opposition to a couple of Moroccan having no access to technology and having a unfolded love story hidden from their tradition parents. Real life vs virtual life. When the twist appears that he tries to help her, the story becomes a very pathetic romance lacking of authenticity. The acting of Lina El Arabi was very convincing until she meets the robot. The two robots walking around the pipeline and chatting with dialogues as Le big Mac from Pulp Fiction was really good. Nevertheless I am pretty sure there are some good stories to write with this kind of robots making the link between two worlds.
Rating: 4 /10

Love, Simon (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Greg Berlanti
	Actors: Nick Robinson, Katherine Langford, Alexandra Shipp, Jorge Lendeborg Jr, Logan Miller
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama, Romance, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 18.06.2018, Schauburg, OVE Sneak PReview, English version with German subtitle
Synopsis: Simon Spier (Robinson) keeps a huge secret from his family, his friends, and all of his classmates: he's gay. When one gay declaration pops up in the highschool blog by a guy called Blue, he feels attracted and starts opening up. But this secret is threatened by a classmate (Miller) who is blackmailing him.
Review: How to make a highschool comedy deal with the difficult homosexual coming out drama. The introduction of the characters, most of the interactions between characters and of the side stories remind the few series I have seen. The main story on the black-mailing, the coming out is a bit classical but well done. The improbable happy end does not make the movie better but ok, the movie is North American.  The acting of Nick Robinson is excellent. He is able to make his role very realistic, when he looks at all the men searching for Blue, when he is chatting, when he hang around with his friends, when he is both disturbed of being in the spotlight. Looking at his filmography other of his films seem quite interesting and demanding (Everything everything, Kings of Summer) for the acting and may end up on JoRafCinema soon.
Rating: 5 /10

The Shape of water (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Guillermo del Toro
	Actors: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer, Michael Stuhlbarg
	Country: USA
	Genre: Romance, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 12.02.2018, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English/Russian with German subtitle
Synopsis: In the hidden high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa (Hawkins) is trapped in a life of isolation. Elisa's life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda (Spencer) discover a secret classified experiment. The security officer Richard Strickland (Shannon) takes care that the experiment is not discovered. While Dr Robert Hoffstetler (Stuhlbarg) is the scientist who wants to take care about the experiment.
Review: Because I love some works by Guillermo del Toro such as Pacific Rim and Pan's labyrinth, I had to watch this new creation. In order not to expect too much, I did not read anything about it. Which surprise when the movie starts with the arrival of a monster. Ok Del Toro likes monsters, so this was anyway to expect. Then the encounter of Sally Hawkins with the monster and her fascination for it looks like the fascination of the child for the faun in Pan's labyrinth. The story is rather a sequence of nice scenes. Either for the visuals (e.g. the first scene, the bathroom full of water), for the image composition (e.g. two women in the corridor, Strickland´s office) or for the combination of sound and image (e.g. the eggs given by Elisa). The fact of having the main character mute helps a lot not only for the relationship to the monster but also to the viewer as she needs to communicate and to keep the attention. Her communication is slow and sure.  The acting of Michael Shannon is great. Sally Hawkins is unusual as she uses to speak a lot. Her body language, especially of her hands is very good. I do not know whether it is a side effect of learning the sign language but it looks great.
Rating: 6 /10

Call me by your name (2017)

	Also Known As: Llámame por tu nombre
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Luca Guadagnino
	Actors: Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar, Esther Garrel
	Country: I, F, BR, USA
	Genre: Romance, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 26.02.2018, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English/Italian/French version with German subtitle
Synopsis: In summer 1983 in the north of Italy, Elio Perlman (Chalamet) spends his days in his family's 17th century villa transcribing and playing classical music, reading, and flirting with his friend Marzia (Garrel). Elio enjoys a close relationship with his father (Stuhlbarg), an eminent professor specializing in Greco-Roman culture, and his mother Annella (Casar), a translator, who favor him with the fruits of high culture in a setting that overflows with natural delights. While Elio's sophistication and intellectual gifts suggest he is already a fully-fledged adult, there is much that yet remains innocent and unformed about him. One day arrives Oliver (Armie Hammer), a 24-year-old American college graduate student working for his father as research assistant, that everyone seem to like.
Review: The intellectual atmosphere gives some charm to the story. On the other side it seems to set a distance between the intellectual family and Oliver and the rest of the people who are just there around, that is a rather arrogant perspective. Possibly the book is more balanced and less arrogant.  The intellectual lifestyle and the lascivious double meaning of words, music and behaviours are delightful for instance the dialogues about the statue recovered from the lake. The atmosphere of lazy holidays full of intellectual activities (reading books, talking about music, talking about history) and of idyllic spots (secret bath spot of Elio, garden, empty village with kiosk) is given all along the movie. There are some evolutions typical of a coming-of-age story but suggested with originality for instance the peaches and apricots seen as symbol of holidays and lazyness and then of lust. The extremely open minded parents are there like mentors for Elio and may match with the end of 70s beginning of 80s. The way Elio tries out his sexuality (SPOILER with both Marzia and Oliver) and discovers love for the first time is acted very authentically. Esther Garrel has a small role but acts also very naturally. She does not neglect the scenes with no dialogue in which her look and gesture provide her thoughts and emotions.  Luca Guadagnino is already planning a sequel! I would rather recommend to enjoy this romance even if its elitist flair can annoy a lot.
Rating: 6 /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

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

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2010
	Director: David Slade (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night, 1 episode of Black Mirror)
	Actors: Kristen Stewart (Snow White and the Huntsman), Robert Pattinson (Cosmopolis), Taylor Lautner
	Country: USA
	Genre: Romance, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 23.01.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: As Bella (Stewart) is the target of an army of vampires created by Victoria who hates her, her lover Edward (Pattinson) and contender Jacob (Lautner) may have to unite to protect her.
Review: More young adolescent romance in this third movie from the saga initiated by Twilight, but it is fortunately not as bad as New Moon. At least I got the feeling that the story progresses, takes some scale (more enemies are involved) and takes more time to develop its characters which was about time. Thus we are treated with flashbacks about the oldest characters, which gives them a little bit more interest, although Alice is the only one that is slightly noticeable. The "arch-enemy" Victoria is so discreet that I hadn't even notice the change of actress from Rachelle Lefèvre to Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World, the Black Mirror season 3 episode Nosedive). If the first movie was about Bella and Edward and the second about her and Jacob, in this one they live a kind of Ménage à trois so that at some point the two boys event have to talk about their feelings together. But for me the most annoying in Eclipse is the character of Bella. I think she is written so that every teenage girl can identify with her and her romantic troubles. She is a compendium of all that one can do bad as a teenager: she is just 17, virgin, believes in love at first sight with a very mysterious guy who is by the way 103 years old so what about a pervert, and thinks that she was different "all her life", justifying her decision to want to become a vampire, and get married at the same time. Meanwhile when she briefly asks her father, he is more like: "a second marriage, yeah why not without doing the mistakes of the first" and as to do the total opposite she takes a life-changing decision far more binding than marriage or children. That probably makes a lot of (non)sense in the head of a 17 years old teenager at the end of puberty, but not much to a 40-year old that has lived a little. But maybe that's the purpose of those movies, to take us to a voyage back to our young and crazy years, ignoring the facts of life. Let's see how this will end...
Rating: 4 /10

Bedazzled (2000)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2000
	Director: Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day, Multiplicity)
	Actors: Brendan Fraser (Encino Man, The Mummy), Elizabeth Hurley (Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery), Frances O'Connor
	Country: USA
	Genre: Comedy, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 20.01.2018, VOD, 32" TV screen.
Synopsis: Elliot (Fraser) has a meaningless life, bullied or avoided by work colleagues, and unsuccessful with women. That is until the Devil grants him seven wishes against his soul.
Review: This light comedy is in fact a remake of a 1967 movie with the same title, with I guess humor adapted to the new century. It features a goofy Brendan Fraser that I discovered in the 1992 Encino Man with Sean Astin (The Goonies, The Lord of the Rings), and right between the two  box-office hits The Mummy and its sequel by Stephen Sommers. Two years after Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, one of my favorite movies at the time, the Sexy British Elizabeth Hurley plays nicely the temptress Devil. The movie starts and ends like a classic Romantic Comedy, with in the middle seven comedy episodes that everybody is waiting for. Because as in the 1997 Wishmaster, that devilish genie interprets for you the wishes that you have not specified well enough: you want to be rich and famous? you become a druglord! And the contract signatory is bad at doing that and it takes him six trials to get it right (sort of), which is what makes the anticipated comedy in that movie (while it was doing the anticipated Horror effect in Wishmaster). The situations in which Fraser acts are exaggerated but as we move on pretty quickly to interludes with Elizabeth Hurley in swimming suit, the movie is easy to watch. Note that it was directed by Harold Ramis who played Spengler in Ghostbusters and directed classic American comedies in the 90's like Multiplicity and Groundhog Day.
Rating: 5 /10

I Origins (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Mark Cahill (Another Earth)
	Actors: Michael Pitt, Steven Yeun, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 06.01.2018, in-flight entertainment system, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Molecular biologist Ian (Pitt) has always been fascinated by the human eye. While his work is progressing in an unexpected way, he meets Sofi (Bergès-Frisbey) at a party and they fall madly in love.
Review: I mistook this movie for a biopic on the real discovery of the eye evolution process and expected something like The Theory of Everything, so I spent its first half focusing on the many events that seemed exaggerated compared to reality which gave me a bad impression of it. Only then did I realize that the story was a fiction so I could start to relax and enjoy it as such. Independently of my state of mind, I found the movie a bit "arty" and not really knowing where it was going, probably because the love story is at the foreground and the research in the back. I like that the scientist is not shown like in other movies as the cliche of the distracted genius, but he is more depicted like a normal person. I found nevertheless the common theme that Science is associated with the search to disprove God. Events keep unfolding including a dramatic one that made me question even more the sense of the movie, until it takes a striking turn towards another dimension in its third act. It is amazing how it then caught my attention back while I was oozing, and then I was back into it. That's remarkable. Maybe I would have liked the whole movie better if I had not been disturbed by the first part, because my current feeling is that it is only saved by the twist. Maybe I should watch it a second time. Looking up the director I see that his previous movie was Another Earth, which peaked my interest when it went out with its story of a planet parallel to ours with opposite people. Twilight Zone Science Fiction serving as background for dramatic romantic stories seems to be his trademark, and that makes him one to follow.
Rating: 7 /10

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: Chris Weitz
	Actors: Kristen Stewart (Snow White and the Huntsman), Robert Pattinson (Cosmopolis), Taylor Lautner
	Country: USA
	Genre: Romance, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 17.01.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: After Edward (Pattinson) and his family skips town, Bella (Stewart) will heal by getting closer to her childhood friend Jacob (Lautner) who also hides a paranormal secret.
Review: Sequel to the hit Twilight that I liked better than expected, New Moon can be summarized in two words: Love triangle, which not much to fill in 2h15 of film. Apart from a few action scenes (shot in the unexciting slow-motion style proper to the saga) and the new characters of werewolves (Oh what a surprise, one of the most predictable twists ever), the movie basically consists in Bella talking about her feelings for Edward by email, her feelings for Jacob to Jacob, her feeling for Edward to Jacob also, and so on and so forth. We learn only a little more about the Universe introduced in the first movie, via a ridiculous trip to Italy, but there is nothing in this movie to be remembered. Or maybe the playfulness of the werewolf teenagers that may have inspired Taika Waititi for his awesome What we do in the shadows. Will I find the courage to go through the three remaining movies?
Rating: 2 /10