Toni Erdmann (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Maren Ade
	Actors: Peter Simonischek, Sandra Hüller
	Country: D, A
	Genre: Comedy, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 22.07.2016, Schauburg, German version
Synopsis: Ines (Hüller) works as executive consultant in Bucarest. Her father Winfried (Simonischek) visits her surprisingly. They do not have much to say. As Winfried mutes into his alter ego Toni Erdmann the visit turns weird for both. Toni tells he is personal coach and brings Ines into painful situations.
Review: The originality is to have no story, to last two and half hours, and not be boring! Reasons for that is that the identification works perfectly with anyone. Every body had painful moments because of their dad or mother, so has Ines with Toni Erdmann. And basically it is the story. A cumulation of painful moments. All of them are funny as such. Also surprisingly SPOILER where she becomes painful for herself. But through these scenes I did not see much evolution of characters, no real story neither.  Ines starts as executive consultant, finds out she has something else but SPOILER ends as executive consultant in Singapore. By luck the acting is excellently subtle especially by Peter Simonischek.  I absolutely wanted to watch this movie because I heard about a long standing ovation in Cannes not ending with any award. Indeed, the movie is special and awakes some feelings about one's parents. But it is not a great movie to me.
Rating: 5 /10

Genius (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Michael Grandage
	Actors: Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Guy Pearce, Dominic West
	Country: GB, USA
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 01.08.2016, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English version
Synopsis: When, one day of 1929, writer Thomas Wolfe (Law), decided to keep the appointment made by Max Perkins (Firth), editor at Scribner's, he had no illusions. But his novel, which was to become "Look Homeward, Angel", was accepted for publication. The only trouble was that it was overlong (5,000 pages) and had to be reduced. Although reluctant to see his poetic prose trimmed, Wolfe agreed. Helped by Perkins they did it and the book became instantly a favorite with the critics and best seller.
Review: One biopic about a man in the shadow of well-known writers such as Fitzgerald (Pierce) and Hemingway (West). The story is hesitating between a story on the friendship but does not go much in the private relationship; and a story on a best-seller. Nevertheless it is interesting. A few scenes show an emotion perfectly associated to one story aspect. But most them do not know exactly in which direction to go: friendship, work, narcissism. In this sense, I cannot even complain much on the acting of Colin Firth whose acting was not as impressive as in The railway man.  This continuous hesitation and not going full in any direction does not give me much confidence in the director for which it is the first director role.
Rating: 3 /10

Green Lantern (2011)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2011
	Director: Martin Campbell (GoldenEye, Casino Royale)
	Actors: Ryan Reynolds (Buried, Deadpool), Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 12.08.2016, VOD, 10" tablet
Synopsis: Reckless test pilot Hal Jordan (Reynolds) is chosen by an alien ring that gives him power and makes him part of an intergalactic police corps.
Review: The adaptation of the super hero comics book Green Lantern was not much loved by the public, and even its main actor Ryan Reynolds makes fun of it and himself in Deadpool. Indeed it is not a revolutionary super-hero movie but it is neutral to watch, a bit like the Fantastic 4 movies in their time (not the remake, that one was painful). I was not familiar with the mythology of the Green Lantern but it seems interesting for a comics, maybe less so for a cinema adaptation: the Green Lantern are a corps of intergalactic cops powered by the energy of Will, against the bad energy of Fear. The special effects are good. Blake Lively is too obviously an eye candy, while Peter Sarsgaard plays an average villain for a short while. Not much more to say...
Rating: 4 /10

House of Cards - Season 1 (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Creator: Beau Willimon
	Actors:  Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects, American Beauty), Michel Gill, Robin Wright (The Congress)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Thriller, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: August 2016, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: Francis Underwood (Spacey) has backed the right man in the race for presidency of the USA. When he is refused the position of Secretary of State he was coveting, he has to revise his plans.
Review: I had heard a lot of good things about this series, tried to start it once, was not in the mood, but this time started again and devoured the first season in ten days, rather quickly but not so quickly as to be saturated by it. The TV-series is about power, power within the American government. It is shocking how much time of the congressmen and other politicians is used to gain or retain power, rather than doing the best for the people that elected them. Fortunately the series is only a widely exaggerated view of the truth (is it?). It seems to be based if not on true events at least in the true range of possibilities offered to politicians in the USA. For example I found shocking that big companies openly finance the parties in return for favors, even though of course those favors are never agreed upon directly but through mutual relations. Kevin Spacey is the boss in the show, playing wonderfully the extremely clever and manipulative politician. His wife is played by a no-less-great Robin Wright, and I found the rules of their relationship to be unheard of in the movie world. Such excellent writing immediately gives an advantage to this series compared to others. Another particularity of the series is that Underwood constantly breaks the fourth wall (i.e. talks to the camera) in a very skillful way (not as obvious as the reality-TV style of Modern Family), which takes the audience in a special relationship with him. All of the other and many characters encountered in this first season are very believable. I like in particular the one of Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) who is the right-arm of Underwood and seems to never sleep, doing anything required by his boss and never getting any thanks. I hope that his motivations are further developed in the next seasons. The series revolves a lot around the USA presidency so it is easy to anticipate an increasing tension over the next four seasons. Tension there is already in the first season, reaching a semi-climax in Chapter 6, and Underwood reveals his true endgame and nature in Chapter 10. Another episode to mention is Chapter 8 which takes the opportunity of a relief in tension to take place far from the Washington usual business and tell us more about the background of Underwood. It is hard to find arguments against this excellent first season. Maybe a few reaction from the characters are exaggerated or unrealistic. Anyway highly recommended.
Rating: 8 /10

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1&2 (2014-2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014, 2015
	Director: Francis Lawrence (Constantine, I am Legend)
	Actors: Jennifer Lawrence (X-men: Days of Future Past), Liam Hemsworth (The Expendables 2), Woody Harrelson (EdTV, Zombieland), Josh Hutcherson (Detention, Voyage to the Center of the Earth), Julianne Moore (Jurassic Park: The Lost World, The Big Lebowski)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 08.05.2016, in-flight entertainment 10" screen.
Synopsis: Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) is in District 13 after she shatters the games forever. Under the leadership of President Coin (Moore) and the advice of her trusted friends, Katniss spreads her wings as she fights to save Peeta (Hutcherson) and a nation moved by her courage.
Review: For this successful trilogy the studio also played the game of releasing the last episode in two parts for more revenue. Despising such practice, I will review the two movies as one. Our reviews of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire were not positive and watching the third one on a plane entertainment system was fitting. It is not that the movies are badly done, but it is rather that we see them as mass entertainment disguised as a philosophical journey and abusing of the taste of people for reality-TV. We are way past the comparison with the Japanese classic Battle Royale. Mockingjay uses the same elements as the first movies, including surviving games even when there s no real justification to. We get to see the same characters, all of them played rather well by good actors in fact, and some die but I didn't feel any empathy for them as I didn't feel attached to any of them in the first place, even the one played by Woody Harrelson to whom I could have related (he may even be in the story with the purpose of attracting an older audience). On a positive note, I found the ending suitingly dark as any anticipation movie ending should be. All of the Hunger Games movies make me question my taste in movies, and wonder whether those are really bad, or if I am getting to detached from the evolution of Cinema and starting to say "It was better in my time" like my grandfather used to say to me.
Rating: 4 /10

Ash vs. Evil Dead - Season 1 (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Directors: Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Spider-man 1-3, Drag me to Hell), Rick Jacobson, Michael J. Bassett (Wilderness, Salomon Kane, Silent Hill: Revelation 3D), David Frazee, Michael Hurst, Tony Tilse
	Actors: Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead 1-3, Bubba Ho-Tep, My Name is Bruce), Ray Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo
	Country: USA
	Genre: Comedy, Horror, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 29-31.07.2016, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: 30 years after awakening and defeating evil forces, Ash (Campbell) is living a simple life between a work at the supermarket and one-night female conquests. But inside, he always knew Evil would come back for him.
Review: Bruce Campbell is some icon of Horror and SF thanks to the cult The Evil Dead directed by his buddy Sam Raimi, and which they released at a very young age. Followed Evil Dead 2 (a disguised remake) and the very different Army of Darkness. His fans were expecting for a long time new adventures for this anti-hero, and they finally came in the shape of this TV-series produced by the American online channel Starz. This is probably the best that could have been done because an Evil Dead 4 would not have succeeded in the current cinematographic landscape. Just see how the spirit of the movie was changed when producing the remake Evil Dead (2013) to fit the expectations of the new young audience that goes to watch such movies. I can tell it was a pleasure to see Ash getting beaten up by the Forces of Evil once more, and taking his revenge with a shotgun and a chainsaw-hand. In the first episode El Jefe we get quickly introduced to the couple of characters (co-workers at the supermarket) that will accompany him in his adventures. In this pilot and throughout the season there are a couple of moments that are really excellent, like when he steps on a button in his trailer that propels his shotgun into his hand, or when action and camera shots getting crazy remind us very much of the original movies we love. Episodes that contain memorable gore moments are Ep2 Bait with the family scene, Ep3 Books from Beyond, and Ep9 Bound in Flesh taking place (spoiler, highlight to read) in the famous Cabin, but in fact most episodes deliver the expected quota of blood and/or reference (even extracts) from the original movies. Storywise, the two sidekicks are OK and we get to meet other strong character like the policewoman, the witch and the Uncle, all leaving a mild impression. The series is definitely more focused on Bruce Campbell showing off (a lot!) as Ash. But in spite of being a good idea, I found one fatal flaw to the series: it is too slow. Each episode runs 30 minutes which is better than 40 for this kind of series but would have been more efficient being 20, or being packed with more action and crazy ideas. I found this slowness to really kill the mood sometimes. On top of that the end-of-season cliffhanger is really poor and unsatisfactoy. This will not prevent me from watching the second season currently in the making...
Rating: 5 /10

Legend of Tarzan (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: David Yates
	Actors: Alexander Skarsgård, Margot Robbie, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson
	Country: USA, GB, CDN
	Genre: Adventure, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 24.07.2016, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English version
Synopsis: John Clayton (Skarsgård) left Africa a long time ago and sees himself as a Lord who should stay in England. He has the opportunity to go back to Congo as observer of Belgian activities. He would be accompanied by Georges Washington Williams (Jackson). Jane (Robbie) invites herself to the journey. She will be kidnapped by Leon Rom (Waltz) and Tarzan wakes up inside John Clayton.
Review: I did not choose to watch that and I would have rather avoid this movie. It is really bad. Not only the story is poor, but also the actingis ridiculous. Even Waltz and Jackson. Margot Robbie looks very good in the movie but she plays a stupid role of the continuously hot girlfriend. The usage of many many special effects gives the impression to watch an anime of Tarzan rather than a movie, especially with the way gorillas are depicted or the flights through the forest or the calls for animals.  Often the scenes are so ridiculous that it is funny. But at the end I lost two hours of my life.
Rating: 1 /10

Race (2016)

	Also Known As: Zeit für Legenden
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Stephen Hopkins
	Actors: Stephan James, Jason Sudeiki, Barnaby Metschurat
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 11.07.2016, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English with German subtitles
Synopsis: In the 1930s, Jesse Owens (James) is a young man who is the first in his family to go to college. Going to Ohio State to train under its track and field coach, Larry Snyder (Sudeikis), the young African American athlete quickly impresses with his tremendous potential that suggests Olympic material. However, as Owens struggles both with the obligations of his life and the virulent racism against him, the question of whether America would compete at all at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany is being debated vigorously.
Review: It was interesting to get some from the history of this symbol. Most of the story is already known apart from the pressures from the Black community in his country. The movie shows a supposed complete overview on the history of Jesse Owens at that time and is therefore quite impressive. The acting is fine even if sometimes quite naive. The acting of Metschurat as Goebbels is quite strait and might be more symbolic as realistic but it is good.
Rating: 5 /10

JoRafCinema is four years old!

CHANGE. JoRafCinema's fourth year was definitely one of change. After three pretty constant years, you may have noticed a difference in our blog, the most visible clue being a smaller number of reviews. But be sure that it is not a sign of death, merely an evolution, as you will see from the few plots and analyses we have prepared for you in this article.

A Million Ways to die in the West (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy TV-series, Ted 1-2)
	Actors: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron (Prometheus, Mad Max: Fury Road), Liam Neeson (Taken, Star Wars Episode I), Giovani Ribisi (Avatar), Neil Patrick Harris (Starship Troopers)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Comedy, Western, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 29.07.2016, VOD, 32" TV
Synopsis: As a cowardly farmer (MacFarlane) begins to fall for the mysterious new woman in town (Theron), he must put his new-found courage to the test when her husband, a notorious gun-slinger (Neeson), announces his arrival.
Review: I had seen the trailer for this movie some time ago and remembered it when looking for an easy comedy. I usually like the humour of Seth MacFarlane in Ted or the Family Guy TV-series, albeit in small doses. For those who don't know this humour is quite crude and vulgar sometimes, but with an acute regard on society, so I was quite curious to see how he would apply it to a Western. And in fact he does it by putting in perspective the awfully hard life people had in the West with observations and remarks that only a man from this century would have formulated. Example: when he is talking about germs or health or this kind of concerns that nobody had at the time, or when he is making fun of gun duels. But the movie is not just a succession of crude dialogs, anachronic gags and violent deaths. All along is inserted a Romance story that anchors the movie in reality and in the present in fact, as the trouble the man goes through and his questionings after his girlfriend dumps him are contemporary to us.
Rating: 5 /10