Ant-Man (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Peyton Reed (The Break-Up)
	Actors: Paul Rudd (Knocked Up, The is the End), Michael Douglas (The Game), Corey Stoll (House of Cards TV-series), Evangeline Lilly (The Hobbit 2-3)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 14.10.2015, In-flight Entertainment system, 8" screen
Synopsis: Discoverer of a formula to shrink living beings to ant-size, Dr. Hank Pym (Douglas) leaves the company he founded in order to keep this potential weapon secret. Thirty years later his work is about to be replicated so he looks for a thief in the person of Scott (Rudd) to suit up and prevent chaos.
Review: I have seen the trailer of this movie too many times this summer and got sick of it. Furthermore I didn't read good critics about it, so I only watched it to complete my knowledge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and because it was available on-board a long flight. The visioning conditions were clearly not ideal for such a blockbuster but I got the gist anyway: as I feared, the movie is not much more than what is shown in the trailer and the story feels like nothing more than a direct-to-video spin-off of the other Marvel movies, maybe like the TV-series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (although I haven't seen it so I can't really say). So the story is not really enthralling and even sometimes confused, the actors just OK, the dialogs usually flat but sometimes delivering punchlines for the audience to remember, and the special effects are medium-good (special mention to the 30-years rejuvenation of Michael Douglas by the special effects company Lola VFX). But the worst is probably the humour, revolving mainly around the thief, and usually coming from the fact that he fails at training with the suit, or that he cracks a joke at the wrong moment (a similar tentative of humour as done in The Guardians of the Galaxy) For those who like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I would rather advise the excellent TV-series Daredevil produced by Netflix. Many wonder what could have the movie been if Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, The World's End) had stayed at its reins instead of leaving the executives "due to differences in their visions of the film", but this we will never know. He is credited as writer nonetheless.
Rating: 4 /10

Ted 2 (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Seth MacFarlane (Ted)
	Actors: Mark Wahlberg (Transformers 4, Pain & Gain), Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy TV-series), Amanda Seyfried (In Time), Giovanni Ribisi (Avatar), Morgan Freeman (Oblivion)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 14.10.2015, In-flight entertainment 8" screen
Synopsis: The magically alive bear Ted (McFarlane) is getting married while his best friend John (Wahlberg) keeps to himself after his divorce. Legal concerns about Ted's nature (person or object?) will unite them once more into new adventures.
Review: Sequel to the appreciated Ted and gathering the same cast and crew, Ted 2 doesn't commit the mistake of trying to surpass the original, but rather expand the character's story while delivering the right amount of dirty jokes, references and complicity between the two buddies that we liked. I was curious to see it since I recently started to watch the Family Guy TV-series from the same author Seth McFarlane and to appreciate his humour. Ted 2 (maybe even more than the first) is a movie for geeks and you need a certain amount of pop culture to understand the many references and jokes (I got maybe half of them, maximum one third). I appreciated in particular a reference to Jurassic Park that was hard to place. I laughed several times at the quick and stupid dialogs between the two buddies, actually quite true to real exchanges two such friends could have in real life. My favorite exchange was maybe when the lead female character Samantha Jackson (Seyfried) asks: Do I have "fuck me" eyes? and the bear replies No, you have "Give me the ring, my precious" eyes (which is kind of true, sadly for the actress). This is followed by another scene at the New-York Comicon. Good job for a sequel!
Rating: 6 /10

Feast (2005)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2005
	Director: John Gulager (Piranha 3DD)
	Actors: Navi Rawat, Krista Allen, Balthazar Getty
	Country: USA
	Genre: Horror, Black Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 11.10.2015, SD VOD, 22" TV
Synopsis: A bunch of colorful characters gets stranded in a bar when they become surrounded by flesh-eating monsters and try to survive in any way they can.
Review: What the hell is that movie?!? Produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, it is a cheap-looking horror survival reminding the second half of From Dusk till Dawn, but even more unpredictable (killing any member of the cast is not a problem), unrestrained in gore and disgusting scenes, and full of a crazy energy. The setting in a bar also reminded me of Scott Stewart's Legion in which Judgment Day is actually taking place around the bar. These is a good dose of macabre humour in Feast, the characters being not really willing to help each other, and each attempt to do so resulting in a ridiculous, predictable and fatal failure. Gore lovers will be pleased by the movie as it is very generous at it, not keeping the apparitions of its admittedly plastic-looking monsters for rare jumps scares but displaying them all the time. As in Bad Taste or The Evil Dead in their times, Feast shows blood and other liquids splattering all around at the first opportunity. Definitely for the strong-hearted and even then, I wouldn't recommend to watch right after a meal. The best splatter-movie I have seen in a while.
Rating: 7 /10

Big Man Japan (2007)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2007
	Director: Hitoshi Matsumoto (Symbol)
	Actors: Hitoshi Matsumoto (Symbol), Riki Takeuchi
	Country: J
	Genre: Documentary, Comedy, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 11.10.2015, DVD, 22" TV
Synopsis: Masaru Daisatô (Matsumoto) undergoes an interview, during which we slowly realise that he can at any time be called upon to transform into a giant man protecting Japan against monsters.
Review: I have tried to watch this movie some years ago but fell asleep after the first hour. It does last twice longer and is extremely slow to start, but it is worth watching until the end. The main character is funny in a way only the Japanese could have though about: it is a kind of super-hero from a gone age, under the pressure of doing as good as his much more renowned grandfather, and living a very simply life, suffering constant mockery and disdain, when he is not on duty. The mockumentary style (fake documentary, like What we do in the Shadows) fits well the story that alternates somehow boring interviews in various surroundings with monster fights. The digital effects used for those look very cheap and dated, but it doesn't matter as the important is that we see the Big Man in action, often defeating its enemies by pure chance. Mix into that his ex-wife, his decrepit apartment, the publicity agent selling his actions to TV and advertisers, the semi-official ceremonies proceeding his transformation and the final 15 minutes of total insanity, and you get a bizarre movie that will please the fans of the genre like me. I also liked a lot the next movie by the same director/actor: Symbol.
Rating: 6 /10

Three Years and a Thousand Movies

After three years of sharing with you our movie reviews, we would like to make a balance with some statistics. In our last two yearly articles, we reported about the history of the blog and the trade-off between blog providers, in addition to statistics about the number of movies seen, their country of production, their genre and rating, the list of visited film festivals, and finally a short list of recommended movies of the year.

This year we will try to give an overview on the work we have done from July 20th 2012 to July 20th 2015.

Bleeder (1999)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1999
	Director: Nicolas Winding Refn (Pusher 1-3, Drive)
	Actors: Kim Bodnia (Old Men in New Cars), Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal TV-series), Rikke Louise Andersson, Levino Jensen
	Country: DK
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 05.10.2015, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: Leo (Bodnia) has just learned that his girlfriend Lousie (Andersson) got pregnant. He is trying to accept it while living a miserable life in a poor area of Copenhagen, surrounded nby his brother-in-law Louis (Jensen) and his buddy Lenny (Mikkelsen)
Review: Second movie from the now-famous director NWR, Bleeder takes place right after the story of the revelation Pusher, and uses the same characters. I loved the first movie and have watched the trilogy many years ago, and after watching Drive I wanted to deepen my knowledge of NWR's filmography. There is actually not too much gangster action in Bleeder, but more about the life of people trying to survive in unfavorable conditions. I could appreciate once more the talent of NWR for telling such stories: hand-held camera, long shots, grey colors, scarce dialogs, and many many situations uncomfortable to watch, like scenes of gratuitous racial insults or flirting between two very shy people. And as in all his movies that I know, the tension is very high because you just know that at some point things are going to go west. The music already plays a great role in Bleeder, twelve years before Drive's loud soundtrack. Small technical note: as in many DVDs I bought from UK, the image quality on this one is very poor, but it seems more likely due to a interlacing problem than really to encoding.  I have seen that NWR's third movie Fear X is available on Netflix...
Rating: 7 /10

The Incredibles (2004)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2004
	Director: Brad Bird (The Iron Giant, Ratatouille, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol)
	Actors (voices): Craig T. Nelson, Samuel L. Jackson, Holly Hunter
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, Comedy, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 14.09.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Famous Super-heroes, Mr Incredible and Elastigirl get married shortly before their hero actions become illegal. Years later they have founded a family but the man is not really happy in his new life and cannot let go of his past, until he is contacted by a mysterious organization.
Review: I have loved this movie from the first time I saw it, and the reason is not obvious. Why would I like it better than the other Pixar productions of the same period, like Monsters Inc or Finding Nemo? My best explanation is that The Incredibles can be seen at many levels; it is not targeted purely to a young audience like animated movies usually are, especially in the USA. Indeed some elements can speak to adults like me: the struggle of man to build a family and maintain his couple active in spite of massive changes in his life (like a new job...), and in general daily activities like working for an obnoxious boss, commuting, doing the daily chores, going out with old friends... Other aspects I cannot relate with but borrow from genres that I like, namely Super-heroes and James Bond movies. In fact The Incredibles follows the guidelines of both genres perfectly (if you don't count the family comedy which is also well done), which is something I have never seen in any other movie: on one side the villain has been created by the hero and is jealous of his powers (typical super-hero Nemesis) and on the other there is the remote island, the henchmen, the doomsday weapon... so typical of a James Bond movie like Moonraker for example. Other reasons to love this movie: the jazzy soundtrack (including a scene in which the hero hums his own theme) and the story-telling and energetic editing that I find just perfect. I believe that The Incredibles should be used in cinema schools as editing example to the same level as Back to the Future or Casablanca.
Rating: 10 /10

Sei Donne per l'Assassino (1964)

	Also Known As: Seis mujeres para el asesino
	Year of first release: 1964
	Director: Mario Bava
	Actors: Francesca Ungaro, Cameron Mitchell, Eva Bartok, Franco Ressel
	Country: I, F, CH
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 27.09.2015, DVD, English version with Spanish subtitles
Synopsis: Isabella (Ungaro), a young model is murdered by a mysterious masked figure at a boarding house run by Max Morlacchi (Ressel) and his lover Countess Cristiana Como (Bartok). When Isabella's boyfriend, Max (Mitchell) is suspected of the killing, her diary, which apparently has some incriminating evidence linking her to the killer and to many others, dissapears, the masked killer begins killing off all the models in and around the house to find the diary.
Review: In the serie of Gialli that I wanted to discover, this is the next one. Mario Bava again introduces some basis for the genre of Giallo. In particular the killer with black-gloved hands, allusions to sexuality and even to provocative sexuality (for that time) and use of colourful palette.  The acting is quite good. This time I watched it in English as a few actors were anyway not speaking in Italian. This way I avoided the surprises of the last Giallo La ragazza che sapeva troppo.  The movie is visually a pleasure especially because each murder is done differently with different sceneries but with the common pride for colours. The directing by Mario Bava is even more creative than in La ragazza.
Rating: 7 /10 As often with the style Giallo, the posters are very creative and graphically beautiful.

Sicario (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Denis Villeneuve
	Actors: Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin
	Country: USA
	Genre: Polar, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 21.09.2015, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, Original English version
Synopsis: Kate Macer (Blunt), an idealistic FBI agent, is enlisted by an elected government task force led by Matt Graver (Brolin) to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S.A. and Mexico. The mysterious Alejandro (del Toro) has many insights in the network of the Cartels.
Review: Since Traffic most of the movies I have watched on the drug cartels were focused in showing the extreme violence. This one goes beyond. The violence is presented on the side as part of the scenery. But the focus is on the hypocrisy of the war against drugcartels. This is not new. It had been already demonstrated by journalists in an excellent documentary À qui profite la cocaine. This fact had never been really considered by the North Americans. Thanks to a Canadian director, this might be the case now!  Josh Brolin is very credible as mercenary, careless of laws and strong convictions. Emily Blunt is also very credible as newcomer discovering a world with astonishment, anger and certain belief in law. Being a fan of Benicio del Toro, I have not been disappointed. Great actor!  Recently I digged a bit in the early movies done by Denis Villeneuve after I had been impressed by Prisoners. He manages to get the best effect of the acting of the three main characters by having the camera at the right place at the right moment. There is nothing special, no arty effect. The directing is very good to enhance the acting and the subject of the movie.
Rating: 8 /10 Another nice poster.

Vexille (2007)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2007
	Director: Fumihiko Sori
	Actors (voices): Meisa Kuroki, Shôsuke Tanihara, Yasuko Matsuyuki
	Country: J
	Genre: Animation, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 27.09.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: After Japan becomes leader in robotics, it isolates itself from the rest of the World. Ten years later, not knowing what happens in that country, an elite SWAT team tries to infiltrate it.
Review: Released on the same year as Appleseed: Ex Machina, Vexille contains the same elements of futuristic technology, androids and Mechas, and a SWAT team with a strong woman character, I thought because both are adapted from Mangas popular with the young generation, but after some search it turned out that Vexille is original material. A different choice was made for the look of the animation, not photo-realistic 3D in this movie but half-way towards traditional animation with black contour lines around the drawings, not too bad-looking. The Rock-electro soundtrack fits quite well the action scenes. But besides that I was disturbed by the lack of coherence in many scenes, often looking like they had to be placed there because they look good. There is also a love triangle that doesn't bring much to the story. By the way Vexille is the name of the female lead character, where does that come from? The movie is apparently supposed to be remade live in Hollywood this year, but information on that subject is scarce.
Rating: 3 /10