The Magnificent Seven (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Antoine Fuqua (Olympus has Fallen, Shooter)
	Actors: Denzel Washington (The Book of Eli, Crimson Tide), Chris Pratt (The Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World), Ethan Hawke (Gattaca), Vincent d'Onofrio (Men in Black, Daredevil TV-series), Byung-hun Lee (I Saw the Devil, G.I.Joe 1-2)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Western
	Conditions of visioning: 02.01.2017, in-flight entertainment system 10" screen
Synopsis: Oppressed villagers hire a bounty hunter (Washington) to help them. On their way home they will gather an eclectic bunch of men willing to join.
Review: This is a remake of the classic 1960 The Magnificent Seven with among others Yul Brunner, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson, itself a western transposition of the 1954 Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa. Unfortunately, as many remake nowadays, a useless one. I feared the worst from director Antoine Fuqua to whom we owe Olympus has Fallen, while in fact the movie is not totally bad, it is quite well shot, the actors are good and the dialogs not stupid, but it can never ever reach the dramatic level of its model. The assortment of characters that tries to be universal makes it in fact totally unbelievable: imagine an afro-American, a native American and an Asian roaming freely the old west! That doesn't make any sense, no more than the character of Will Smith did in Wild Wild West. I also didn't like the gunfights, not very believable either. What's left from the movie? Denzel Washington as good as usual and well assuming the role of leader, Ethan Hawke hard to recognize (although his come-back in the movie is as predictable as weak in emotion) and most of all, Vincent d'Onofrio who after his role of Kingpin in the first season of Daredevil, delivers again an incredible performance in a totally different register. You can say Denzel Washington is good but he plays like the usual Denzel Wachington, while d'Onofrio plays totally differently from the other roles I know him for. Thinking about it, I don't know which other actors give me the same feeling: Johnny Depp, Leonardo di Caprio? The last time I mentioned this feeling was about Colin Farrel in Horrible Bosses, Jim Carrey in Kick-Ass 2 or Brad Pitt in Fight Club. I should definitely see more of Vincent d'Onofrio.
Rating: 4 /10

Les tontons flingueurs (1963)

	Also Known As: Mein Onkel der Gangster
	Year of first release: 1963
	Director: Georges Lautner
	Actors: Lino Ventura, Bernard Blier, Francis Blanche, Sabine Sinjen, Claude Rich
	Country: F, D, I
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 30.12.2016, Bluray, French version
Synopsis: Living quietly on the countryside, Fernand Naudin (Ventura) gets a telegram from Paris. Le Mexicain, an old friend, leaves the guard of his daughter Patricia (Sinjen) and his criminal business to him. The colleagues of the Mexican do not accept it that easily.
Review: I got a pack of blu-rays including Les tontons flingueurs, Ne nous fâchons pas and Les Barbouzes because I wanted to listen to the dialogues of Michel Audiard. I remembered these as very rich, funny and clear.  When the movie was released, all polars were very serious and the goal was to show a suspenseful story (e.g. Hitchcock). It became a great success as Pulp Fiction by Tarantino via bringing the gangsters to be funny without making a slapstick comedy.  We know Lino Ventura more for his classical polar movies. Bernard Blier and Francis Blanche had more acting aspects with respectively secondary and main roles in comedies, polars and drama. Even if they keep their standard roles, these are enriched by the comedy/polar sides of the story and of the dialogues. Actually all secondary roles bring something both fun and serious to this polar. We meet the complete family, the real one and the criminal one, as we would meet a family member, with his emotions, his defects. And this was really innovative.
Rating: 8 /10

Marie Curie (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Marie Noelle
	Actors: Karolina Gruszka, Charles Berling, Arieh Worthalter
	Country: F, D, PL
	Genre: Drama, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 03.12.2016, Schauburg, German version
Synopsis: Marie Curie (Gruszka) and her husband Pierre Curie (Berling) win in 1903 the Nobel Prize for physics for their work on radioactivity. Her story is then punctuated by discussions and developments with the rest of the scientific community, as well as by the death of Pierre Curie and her affair with Paul Langevin (Worthalter). Until her second Nobel Prize, for Chemistry. She struggled for recognition in the male-dominated science community in early 20th century Europe.
Review: I wanted to watch this movie because of the aura around the image of Marie Curie. An intelligent woman which intelligence could be confronted to men's intelligence. And what is nowadays almost obvious, was quite difficult back then in the 1910s. Unfortunately to me, the movie focuses more on the romances in the life of Marie Curie, first with husband Pierre Curie then with lover Paul Langevin. And several scenes are like in Walt Disney (e.g. Aladin hugging Sherazade) movies with nice abstract images, in this case blue lights of the radiating radium, behind Marie Curie kissing a man. Director Marie Noelle was present and eloquent in discussing about Marie Curie's life and the inspiration given by Marie Curie to her and women in general.Actually, this is what I expected also from the movie and did not find.  The acting of the scientists is nice. We see also internationally known faces, such as Albert Einstein, so that even the large public can get the situation.
Rating: 5 /10

For a few dollars more (1965)

	Also Known As: Et pour quelques dollars de plus
	Year of first release: 1965
	Director: Sergio Leone
	Actors: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volontè
	Country: I, E, D
	Genre: Western
	Conditions of visioning: 16.11.2016, Bluray, English version
Synopsis: Monco (Eastwood) is a bounty killer chasing El Indio (Voltonè) and his gang. During his hunting, he meets Col. Douglas Mortimer (Van Cleef), another bounty killer, and they decide to make a partnership, chase the bad guys together and split the reward.
Review: As for A Fistful of Dollars Sergio Leone uses a similar style. Several landscape scenes are exactly at the same location as in A Fistful of Dollars. There are again many close-ups on the characters faces, these faces having something to say. Clint Eastwood is again greedy but shows some respect to loyalty and justice. The cast is again similar to the Fistful having Eastwood, Volontè and Mario Brega as brutal bad guy. The music is composed by Ennio Morricone with dedicated themes that are also part of the movie, with the music box as main object of the story. The viewer notices that the story is not only greedy when we learn more about the main characters. SPOILER The final duel is again a kind of fair duel to reach some justice. The cut is again done very well in accordance to the amazing music by Morricone.  If you like western, spectacle and great music, you will enjoy this movie!
Rating: 8 /10

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla)
	Actors: Felicity Jones (The Amazing Spider-man 2), Diego Luna (The Terminal, Elysium), Alan Tudyk (Dodgeball, Firefly TV-series), Forest Whitaker (Platoon, Ghost Dog, Arrival), Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal TV-series, Pusher)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Adventure, Epic
	Conditions of visioning: 26.12.2016, French version, 2D, Cinéma A L'affiche, Chaumont
Synopsis: The father (Mikkelsen) of Jyn Erso (Jones) abandoned her at a young age to work on a massive new weapon for the Galactic Empire. Once adult she is contacted by the Rebellion to help contact her father.
Review: Forget about Georges Lucas' embarrassing vision in the Episodes 1, 2 and 3 and J. J. Abrams' referential Episode 7: The Force Awakens, Rogue One is the Star Wars movie you have been waiting to see since Return of the Jedi. The concept of a spin-off is not new in this Universe, do you remember the 1984 TV-movie Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure seen on TV or the 1985 Ewoks: The Battle for Endor that I have no memory of? The TV-series The Clone Wars is more of a filling between two movies of the saga using the same main characters. I couldn't have missed watching the movie in theaters (in 2D as intended by the director, not in a useless quickly post-converted 3D) but I was not very optimistic about it for several reasons. First, since Disney bought the franchise, the movies have to obviously be children-friendly. Not that the original trilogy was forbidden to them but that was a limitation I would have preferred didn't exist. Then Episode 7 left me with mixed feelings, and although I like the work from Gareth Edwards, he is known from Monsters and Godzilla to show battles off-screen, which is definitely what I don't want in a Star Wars. I also read that there had been some re-shoots after principal photography of the movie, which could indicate creative differences between the director and the studio. Last but not least I didn't know what to expect from a story with limited stakes and of which we already know the ending, but movies like Titanic have proved me wrong on such a point. And in the end Rogue One did it as well. It took me about half an hour to replace exactly the movie in the saga and overcome the disturbance of watching it dubbed in French (I will watch it again in Original version as soon as possible), but then I started to fully appreciate the stakes which were not as small as I thought. I was also a bit confused with the role of some characters but came to appreciate them all in the end, in particular the "illuminated" played by Donnie Yen. I found Diego Luna at ease in his role, but Felicity Jones less charismatic, in particular less than Daisy Ridley as Rey in Episode 7.  One thing I appreciated a lot in Rogue One are the reference to A New Hope and the original trilogy, usually more subtle than the too obvious revival of the old characters in Episode 7. For example C3PO and R2D2 are only briefly seen and not for a stupid joke (oh the new trilogy...). Names of planets and people and ships can be related to the ones we know, and a few key characters can also be glimpsed for our greatest pleasure (one even linking the movie to the new trilogy). I will not mention them to avoid spoiling, except for Grand Moff Tarkin playing in A New Hope by Peter Cushing and chronologically first mentioned in the Star Wars Universe during the third season of The Clone Wars. This great actor died in 1994 but an agreement was concluded with his Estate to digitally resuscitate him in Rogue One. I find it to be a great idea, given the importance of this characters at this moment in time of the Star Wars story. Unfortunately I found his digital face a bit too stiff, giving away the trick. Contrarily to what I feared, Rogue One does contain fully blown space battles that gave me shivers and reminded me of my favorite one in Return of the Jedi, in a good way and not with the feeling of watching a copy like in Episode 7. And I was pleased with the few touches of humour present in the movie, not in the J.J. Abrams style of "you go first, I go first" I criticized about Episode 7. A quick word about the sets: the original trilogy contains classic landscapes that defined the look of the Universe, and the new trilogy contains impressive ones as well, but for some reason the tropical beach of Rogue One is maybe my second favorite one after the ice planet Hoth. I loved watching the scenes in that setting. Like to eliminate my last critics, the movie increased in intensity to reach a climax that simply made me jump from my seat in exclamation and applause. In fact I am tempted to watch Episodes 3 and 4 to better bracket the time period of Rogue One before seeing it again.
Rating: 8 /10

Le Cerveau (1969)

	Also Known As: The Brain
	Year of first release: 1969
	Director: Gérard Oury (La Grande Vadrouille, Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob)
	Actors: Jean-Paul Belmondo (Flic ou Voyou), Bourvil (La Grande Vadrouille), David Niven (The Pink Panther, The Guns of Navarone), Eli Wallach (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly)
	Country: F, I
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 25.12.2016, 42" TV
Synopsis: The thief known as The Brain (Niven) plans to rob a train containing money from NATO. Anatole and Arthur (Bourvil & Belmondo), the latter freshly out of jail, have the same plan.
Review: Another classic French comedy I have seen many times in my youth, directed by one of the masters of the genre Gérard Oury, and starring the classic aging comedian Bourvil and the young action-comedian Belmondo. The story is pretty ambitious, but peppered with situations prone to humour and characters like Frankie (Wallach) over-protecting his sister, the impassable British David Niven and the naive Bourvil. That story is also well shot and not shy on stunts and large sets. The production may be a Franco-Italian one, I found that the movie contains an original mix of French (Cartesian) humour and British (absurd, second degree) one, a difference that I mentioned when reviewing the French TV-series Kaamelott. The movie is thus a succession of comic dialogs in French (Anatole and Arthur arguing), obviously staged comedy (the Italian Wallach loosing his woolen sweater) and more subtle British notes like the difference between the perfect robbery shown by The Brain in an elaborate cartoon and the actual robbery. That aspect is in fact what I appreciated and made me laugh most. The rest I found often over-exaggerated.
Rating: 5 /10

Designated Survivor - Season 1 (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Creator: David Guggenheim
	Actors: Kiefer Sutherland (Flatliners, 24 TV-series), Natascha McElhone (The Truman Show), Adan Canto (Narcos TV-series), Italia Ricci (Supergirl TV-series), Maggie Q (Naked Weapon), Kal Penn (Superman Returns)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Polar, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: December 2016, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: After a terrorist bombing decimates the whole government, a planned survivor is revealed in the person of Tom Kirkman (Sutherland) that has now to assume the function of President of the USA.
Review: It was easy for me to decide to start watching this series as it contains some part of political life in the White House (that I like since watching House of Cards), a disastrous terrorist attack (as in White House Down, Olympus has Fallen and London has Fallen, although not the best quality examples) and a Kiefer Sutherland under a lot of pressure like he played so well in the 24 TV-series. All the ingredients to produce a TV-series if not revolutionary, at least watchable and entertaining, with the hope of some reflection on terrorism. That hope you can forget. Designated Survivor turns out to be a good Thriller series, and various characters well played by good actors, but little more than a designated series of challenges for the FBI (nice to see Maggie Q play there) and the presidential couple, including familial ones, a couple that would by the way get eaten for breakfast by the Underwoods of House of Cards. The Kirkmans are just not built for it. It is not what is asked of them in fact, in a TV-series that focuses more on suspense that on power games. And suspense you have with twists at almost every episode, catastrophes happening at the worst times, security breaches, internal and external political tension, and suspicion and conspiracy all around, although likely less well rendered as in the other TV-series Homeland that I haven't seen but was recommended to me for its paranoid component. Note that it is the first series in many years (15?) that I have been watching episode by episode as they were released. Funny that Netflix decided to release it that way and not in one shot as usual. The waiting between episodes made me more eager to watch the series, but I am not sure I would repeat the experiment. Also I learned only after 10 episodes that the first season will contain 22 Episodes, the 12 remaining to be released after march 2017. A bit disappointing as the Episode 10: The Oath ends with a cliffhanger barely more tense than in any other episode. I will update this article after watching the whole season but wanted to publish this part at least while it is fresh in memory.
Rating: 4 /10

Eraser (1996)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1996
	Director: Chuck Russell (The Blob, The Mask, The Scorpion King)
	Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator, Predator), Vanessa Williams (Shaft), James Caan (Elf, Misery, The Godfather), James Coburn (The Great Escape)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action
	Conditions of visioning: 23.12.2016, VOD, 42" TV
Synopsis: John Kruger (Schwarzenegger) is a US Marshall helping people under witness protection program to relocate, and protecting them. He is assigned Lee Cullen (Williams) who just helped the FBI get information from a company that is suspected of selling arms to foreign countries.
Review: For me that last good Action movie by Schwarzenegger, released after James Cameron's True Lies and before End of Days, The 6th Day and the cursed Collateral Damage. Even though it was released after the Genre's golden period of the 80's, it contains all the ingredients for that: Arnie as irreproachable (and indestructible) cop, crooked partners, a conspiracy, a woman to protect, semi-futuristic weapons, and a bunch of bad guys henchmen around for arm twisting, neck breaking, throwing to crocodiles or just shoot at. Many death are by the way pretty brutal to loook at. This chase is just fun to look at although the characters and situations are sometimes (very) far-fetched, and the special effects in some scenes are too poorly done (the parachute and crocodiles scenes). But hey, one cannot ask too much from a movie in which our favorite Action hero at the top of his shape shoot at cars that go flying over his head while everything else around explodes as well. Action you wanted, Action you have.
Rating: 6 /10

The Arrival (1996)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1996
	Director: David Twohy (Pitch Black, Riddick)
	Actors: Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men TV-series), Lindsay Crouse, Richard Schiff
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 23.12.2016, VOD, 42" TV
Synopsis: Zane Zaminsky (Sheen) is a radio-astronomer looking for extra-terrestrial life. He looses his job after detecting something, and then becomes obsessed with finding answers, an obsession that will lead him to Mexico.
Review: Not to be confused with the recent release Arrival, this movie is 20 years old and features Charlie Sheen, but probably the title and main actor motivated me to watch it, on top of the fact that it is an Alien Invasion story, a sub-genre that I like. Indeed even though the story sounds at first like the one of Robert Zemeckis' Contact with Jodie Foster, it is treated very differently, more like an Action Thriller than a mystical quest. In 1996 Charlie Sheen was far from his debuts in Red Dawn and his very serious role in Platoon, but not yet the comedy monster of Two and a Half Men although he had already starred in the two Hot Shot! movies. I have been watching a lot of his TV-series lately so I found it hard to take him seriously in the movie at first, but then his convincing acting made it work. He is in fact quite at ease in this semi-serious role. As already mentioned, the story approach is a kind of Action-SF Thriller, meaning not much reflexion about our place in the Universe but more investigation and plenty of discoveries and twists that keep you well entertained through the almost two hours of the movie. A bit like John Carpenter's 1992 Big Trouble in Little China but with more outdoors and less ass-kicking. After all Sheen plays a scientist. Screenplay writer / director David Thowy is probably more than partly responsible for a movie well put together. Four years later he went on to deliver the cult B Pitch Black and create the action hero Riddick at the same time (embodied by Vin Diesel). I have yet to watch his directing debut Timescape (1992).
Rating: 6 /10

Frida (2002)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2002
	Director: Julie Taymor
	Actors: Salma Hayek, Alfredo Molina, Geoffrey Rush
	Country: USA, CDN, MEX
	Genre: Drama, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 08.12.2016, DVD, German version
Synopsis: Frida Kahlo (Hayek) is an art student when she meets Diego Rivera (Molina) and astonishes him with her intelligence and emancipated way of life.
Review: The life of Frida Kahlo is interesting as emancipated woman in a rather machist country of Mexico. The artistical view is focused on her self-portraits and therefore focused on pain, to quote Frida "My painting carries with it the message of pain". While all other still life and portraits are not shown at all in the movie. This choice is adequate to show her dramatical life. The encounter with Leon Trotski (Rush) is surprising. The charm of a woman's intelligence is confirmed to be great.  The acting of Salma Hayek and Alfredo Molina is good. Geoffrey Rush's role is short but very right. The directing had some good ideas like the motionless transition of paintings into persons.  Even if the movie does not reach an excellent rating, I would recommend it not only for fans of art but also for people interested in feminism history.
Rating: 6 /10