Hallåhallå (2013)

	Also Known As: Hallohallo
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Maria Blom
	Actors: Maria Sid, Johan Holmberg, Carl Jacobson
	Country: S
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 29.10.2014, Kolloseum, NFDL2014, OV Swedish with German subtitles
Synopsis: Disa (Sid) and Laban (Jacobson) were a happy couple with two children. But now Laban seems to have found not only a new love but also a new life. He looks good; his new style suits him. Disa, on the other hand, is still the same old Disa, stuck in their old apartment, always helpful and self-sacrificing, ordered around by her boss at the hospital and by her mother. But then one day, when she’s handing over the kids to her ex in the library, she meets unconventional Kent (Holmberg).
Review: Maria Blom comes back nine years after the good Masjävlar (aka Zurück nach Dalarna). Actually she did two other movies in the meanwhile (Nina Frisk and Fishy). I liked a lot Masjävlar at its release and therefore I had to watch this movie. The poster of both movies are similar. Same blue background, similar flowers and the main character face.  The story is authentic and also interesting as turning points for people in their 30's. The message in most of the stories told in the movies, the main one and secondary stories, is that it is good to see what is wrong in one's life, then to make something to change it is actually even better!  The directing is well done, with the movements of camera at the right time and place to generate a comical effect. There are a lot of daily objects and situations but the way to react on these situations makes the comedy in this movie. I do not know whether I was in a special good mood nine zears ago but this new movie does not let the same impression on me.
Rating: 5 /10

Miss Julie (2014)

	Also Known As: Fräulein Julie
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Liv Ullmann
	Actors: Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton
	Country: N
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 29.10.2014, CineStar5, NFDL2014, OV English without subtitles
Synopsis: On Midsummer’s Eve of 1890, the young aristocrat Julie (Chastain) dances with her father’s house servant John (Farrell). In the estate kitchen, Julie meets John, a valet. She invites him to another dance and, despite their class difference, perseveres in seeking out this educated, experienced man. The servant’s formal reticence soon gives way to the couple’s mutual attraction. During the course of the night, Julie and John circle around.
Review: The story has been written for the theater and this becomes clear as we mostly see one room, the kitchen  and seldomly the bedroom of Kathleen (Morton) or the stairs close to the kitchen and at the beginning and the end the beautiful park around the castle. The story is quite simple even if the evolution of the characters is not simple. The dialogues are very good and bring a lot of drama that Chastain manages to communicate subtly covering herewith many feelings along the movie. Colin Farrell's gestures are sometimes well mastered as well, but for several scenes completely and very exaggeratedly shaky when he should show an inner dilemma.  The light was well mastered but the focus not at all. Or I misunderstood something. For instance, during a dialogue between Julie and John the focus is done on a cup on the table and the rest is slightly blurred. And this happened often, that the focus is done on something during the whole scene and not on the one or the other character.
Rating: 4 /10

Basket Case (1982)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1982
	Director: Frank Henenlotter (Frankenhooker)
	Actors: Kevin Van Hentenryck, Terri Susan Smith, Beverly Bonner
	Country: USA
	Genre: Horror
	Conditions of visioning: 30.10.2014, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: 20-years old Duane Bradley settles in a hotel downtown New-York, always carrying a large basket. In it, his monstrous Siamese brother from which he was separated at the age of 12.
Review: This is the kind of movie I was watching in VHS when I was a big Horror fan 15-20 years ago. When I found out about this Steelbook limited edition (distributed by Second Sight, cover displayed at the end of this review), I bought it more for collection than for the will to watch the trilogy again. I have now watched the first of the three, the more cult one. The first third of an excellent 1h20 documentary confirmed what I suspected after watching the movie: the director Frank Henenlotter was young and very enthusiastic about making movies for the thrill of making them, not thinking that anybody would ever see them. Basket Case was shot in 8 mm film during a year for a  cost 35000 dollars, a very modest sum even at that time. You can see it in the quality of the settings, lighting, actors, special effects... The director, who supervised the Blu-ray edition, said the renovation was not supposed to make the movie look much better, but to make it look like it was on the first copy they printed back in 1982, and he says he succeeded. Indeed the images are not beautiful but quite sharp anyway, and I think true to the original film. The HD format reveals even more the "amateur" quality of the project. But this is one thing I like about the Blu-ray format: directors take it seriously and use it to release versions of their movies that look like they did when originally released. Then when you watch a movie like Basket Case, you have to be able to set aside the cheap aspects (the stop-motion animated sequences for example), project yourself into a cinema room of 1982 and appreciate the movie for what it was then: a gore comedy, as the director likes to present it. There are indeed splatter moments but they are never to be taken seriously. Also take the name of the doctors: Kutter, Needleman! One thing I didn't like on this Blu-ray is the sound mixing. OK the recording methods used at the time were likely poor (few bass, saturated screams), but what bothered me is that I had to continuously increase the volume to hear the dialogs, and decrease it when there were screams so as not to awake the whole neighbourhood! I found the balance not well done, and it is also the case in the documentary: the movie excerpts are much louder than the interviews. Following this good experience, I have ordered the "ultimate" Blu-ray edition of other classics of that period: Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988, Arrow Entertainment), The Blob (1988, Twilight Time) and Street Trash (1987, Synapse Films).
Rating: 6 /10

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2005
	Director: Ang Lee (Hulk, Life of Pi)
	Actors: Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko), Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight), Michelle Williams, Randy Quaid (Independence Day), Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama, Romance, Western
	Conditions of visioning: 28.10.2014, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Unknown to each other, Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal) and Ennis Del Mar (Ledger) are hired to protect a flock of sheep from wolves high in Brokeback Mountain. A strong friendship will be born.
Review: It surprises me that this movie is already nine years old. I heard about its critical success, bought the Blu-ray some years ago and watch it only now. I was curious to see if it was the story of the strong friendship between two friends, or really a movie about "two homosexual cowboys eating pudding" like they say in South Park. Well, they indeed enter a romantic and physical relationship, in a quite abrupt way I would say, so it may startle you if you watch the movie without knowing anything about it. But void of the usual clichés about gay couples, Brokeback Mountain focuses on the troubled and contradictory feelings of our main characters. If the story was about a gay couple in a modern European big city, it wouldn't be remarkable. But the setting is very different: the Texan countryside of the 60's, in which there was no other path than the traditional one of getting married and founding a family with a different sex partner. Anything else was so badly seen that it could be punishable by death. Our characters try to fit into that tradition with different levels of success, but the movie is very well done in that it conveys extremely well the feelings the two young men have for each other. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the actors are very good and amazingly natural. Besides, the landscapes are beautiful, the music scarce but sufficient, and I like how we follow the evolution of society around our characters from 1963 to the late 1970's: we see clothes changing, cars, habits, and their social situation that influences the furniture in their house (at some point a TV appears in the living-room). In particular when the two friends meet when they are older, they are better equipped and can enjoy a better comfort during their excursions (real tent, chairs, kitchen tools, better food...). This seems like a detail but it is what makes the movie look so real. One could criticize that the story is a bit elliptic and that we witness only some critical key moments (snapshots) in their lives, without enough continuity, but it is the price to pay to have a movie that spans 20 years without lasting 3 hours. It is hard for me to rate this movie as Dramas are not a genre I watch too often, but there is no doubt that it deserves a high rating.
Rating: 9 /10

Time Bandits (1981)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1981
	Director: Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Twelve Monkeys)
	Actors: Sean Connery (Highlander), Shelley Duvall, John Cleese (Life of Brian, Die Another Day), Ian Holm (The Lord of the Rings)
	Country: GB
	Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 26.10.2014, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: In the near future, a boy is forced to join with a bunch of time-travelling dwarves in their attempts at becoming rich.
Review: I have seen a few Terry Gilliam movies, but I only heard about this one recently in an article entitled "The Best Dwarf Movies That Are Not Willow" that I found after watching For Y'ur Height Only, and already knowing Willow. In this movie one can feel the touch of the director at a crossroads between the pure parodies like Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) or The Meaning of Life (1983), and more personal movies that however share some similar topics: time-travel in Twelve Monkeys (1995), anticipation in Brazil (1985), fantastic medieval times in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) and the aborted The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.  As often with his movies, the story is crazy and he obviously tried to put on screen some visions he had, with more or less success. So the movie is a succession of (sometimes abstract) scenes that look interesting, but this variety makes that rhythm is missing, and I had a hard time watching the movie until its end. Examples of such scenes are: the future family obsessed with kitchen-ware, the ogre living on a boat, itself located on the head of a giant, the meeting with Napoleon obsessed with his height, Evil fascinated by technology... It could look like a movie for children if it were not for some violent or disturbing scenes that would give them nightmares. A very special movie indeed, I am glad to have seen it but cannot really recommend it. As for the recently reviewed Knightriders, the Blu-ray edition of Time Bandits by Arrow is beautiful (see newly commissioned cover below), the image quality very good, and it contains many interviews, making-of documentaries and a booklet.
Rating: 3 /10

In the mood for love (2000)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2000
	Director: Wong Kar-wai
	Actors: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung
	Country: HK, F
	Genre: Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 28.10.2014, DVD,
Synopsis: Set in Hong Kong, 1962, Chow Mo-Wan (Leung) is a newspaper editor who moves into a new building with his wife. At the same time, Su Li-zhen (Cheung), a beautiful secretary and her executive husband also move in to the crowded building. With their spouses often away, Chow and Li-zhen spend most of their time together as friends. They have everything in common from noodle shops to martial arts. Soon, they are shocked to discover that their spouses are having an affair. Hurt and angry, they agree to keep their bond platonic not to commit similar wrongs.
Review: The story is moving and sounds like Cyrano de Bergerac story about a love that is not realised. The main originality of the movie is the directing as a whole. The picture composition focuses on both main characters and uses mostly warm colours. The camera often starts at the feet of the character and then goes to the face or the face enters in the field of view. The scenery is very common (HK appartments, street corner) but the way to take it is very special. If the half is blurred or not in the light, it is on purpose to enhance the romance. The spouses are never shown because Wong Kar-wai wanted even to remove them completely from the picture. Instead we listen to them a couple of times. The selection of old songs (Nat King Cole) and new compositions (by Japanese componist Shigeru Umebayashi) emphasises the dramatic romance. And the scenes taken in slow motion enhance the romantic feeling and sensuality of both partners.  After the release of the movie in 2000, papers claimed the style being "Chinese school" although it was definitely the Wong Kar-wai style. And the movie is from Hong-Kong. I guess that nowadays with the efforts done in Europe via Asian festivals like FEFF there is no much chance to read this kind of thing.
Rating: 9 /10

Fading gigolo (2013)

	Also Known As: Apprenti gigolo
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: John Turturro
	Actors: Woody Allen, John Turturro, Sharon Stone, Sofía Vergara, Vanessa Paradis, Liev Schreiber
	Country: USA
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 27.10.2014, Schauburg, OV sneak preview
Synopsis: In Brooklyn, the bankrupted owner of a book store Murray (Allen) is forced to close his family business. His dermatologist Dr. Parker (Stone) dreams of having a threesome and would pay a thousand dollars to have one with her friend Selima (Vergara). Murray tries to convince his friend florist Fioravante (Turturro) to consummate the deal. While Fioravante is at first hesitant at the prospect of being Murray’s “hore,” he also needs the cash. When Fioravante meets the Jewish Avigal (Paradis), who is the widow of a rabbi, they fall in love with each other. But the Jewish Dovi (Schreiber) loves Avigal and will make life difficult for Murray.
Review: The comedy looks like the good Woody Allen comedies of the 80s-90s taking characters slightly stereotyped of New-York in a web of relationships. The actors played their stereotypes very well. Sharon Stone almost repeated her famous leg gesture of Basic Instinct. The casting fits to the stereotpyes, having Sofía Vergara as gorgeous threesome friend for Stone, and Vanessa Paradis as fragile woman. Many dialogues are extremely funny. In this I had the impression at the end that Turturro was intending to become the new Woody Allen. The humour made also fun of the segregationist of any kind, such as the NY Jewish society here but in a way reminding dialogues from The Godfather and affecting then Italian-Amercian and all these groups.
Rating: 7 /10

Pure (2002)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2002
	Director: Gillies MacKinnon
	Actors: Harry Eden, Molly Parker, David Wenham, Keira Knightley
	Country: GB
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 27.10.2014, DVD, English version
Synopsis: Paul's mother Mel (Parker) comes to rely on an old friend, Lenny (Wenham), who is also a dealer. Soon Paul (Eden) must take care of both his mother and his younger brother. When Mel's friend and fellow user dies, Paul must confront the fear that has been gathering in the pit of his stomach: having lost his father, his mother too may abandon him. Paul befriends a waitress Louise (Knightley) who helps him cope with the tough situation
Review: The story is very touching. The lies of the mother about her medicine, the trial for desintoxication, the confrontation of Paul with Lenny, the death of Mel's friend. In this only comes the light of friendship between Paul and Louise until an impressive U-turn.  From the directing it looks like a Ken Loach movie, with realistic lead of camera, realistic lights. But unlike Ken Loach there is not much of a political or social message. Just the facts of the story. The author of the story, Alison Hume has been working exclusively for TV series since this promising debut. The acting of Molly Parker is remarkable and Harry Eden is impressive in a couple of scene.
Rating: 6 /10

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2003
	Director: Patrick Gilmore, Tim Johnson (Antz, Over the Hedge)
	Actors (voices): Brad Pitt (Fight Club), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Entrapment), Joseph Fiennes
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, Adventure, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 26.10.2014, SD VOD, Home cinema
Synopsis: Manipulated by Eris the goddess of Chaos, the thief and pirate Sinbad (Pitt) is wrongly accused of stealing the book ensuring peace in the twelve Kingdoms. He will face many perils to get it back.
Review: I have seen many Sinbad movies in DVD, usually attracted by the wonderful and revolutionary special effects by the master of stop-motion Ray Harryhausen: The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1977), and I still have to watch Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977). So I was curious to see what a Dreamworks animated production could do of this universe. The movie incorporates the expected elements like sea battles, mythical monsters, wrath of the gods and mixes them with a little humour and some romance to deliver a never-boring story quite nicely illustrated. The only bad-looking part is the first attack by a Kraken-looking creature made in CGI, poorly integrated in the rest of the 2D drawn scene. The movie is otherwise entertaining, even if completely unrealistic (what can one do with a boat: race through the waves at incredible speed, go down waterfalls and even fly!) which removes part of its interest. Also the love story is a bit too much and the ending very predictable. At least and unlike in The Road to El Dorado, there are no songs, some jokes are destined to adults, and the mythical universe and original inspiration belongs to an adult genre.
Rating: 6 /10

The Road to El Dorado (2000)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2000
	Director: Bibo Bergeron, Will Finn, Don Paul, David Silverman
	Actors (voices): Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda), Kenneth Branagh (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit), Rosie Perez
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 26.10.2014, SD VOD, Home cinema
Synopsis: Petty thieves Miguel &Tulio (Kline & Branagh) accidentally board a ship en route to the new world with Cortez. To their advantage, they possess a map leading to the legendary golden city.
Review: Looking for an easy-to-watch animated film, I selected this Dreamworks production. It disturbed me a little that all characters speak English, and that no mention is made of the massacre of the local population by the conquistadors. But OK, this is a movie for children and this is almost the only thing it is: I was disappointed that there is no second level of meaning so that adults could enjoy it differently. The movie is nicely done (I am sure kids love it) and a good mix of adventure, humour and animal action, but I will quickly forget it.
Rating: 5 /10