Assassin's Creed (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Justin Kurzel (The Snowtown Murders)
	Actors:  Michael Fassbender (Prometheus, Inglorious Basterds), Marion Cotillard (Inception), Jeremy Irons (Die Hard 3)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Thriller, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 30.07.2018, in-flight entertainment, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Callum Lynch (Fassbender) explores the memories of his ancestor Aguilar de Nerha and gains the skills of a Master Assassin, before taking on the secret Templar society.
Review: A big budget and known actors for the adaptation of a famed video game known for its open universe and across-time historical sets. I have never played the game myself, I just saw some demos of the episode released with great publicity a few years ago, at about the same time of the movie in fact. Good things in this movie are the solid introduction, the acting by Fassbender as immersed in his role as ever, and the presence of Jeremy Irons. I didn't find the action scenes, special effects and story to be very original. The movie plays on a special dark tone, I guess inherited from the video game, and reflects on questions like the heredity of violence thanks to its anti-hero main character, which is also a good point. But at some point I found it dove too deep into this reflection and lost itself to the point that I didn't get the last half hour. Not only I didn't get the motivation of the characters, but I really didn't get what the hell happened. Video games cinema adaptations have known better days (see the recent Tomb Raider which received the same rating).
Rating: 3 /10

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Dan Trachtenberg (one episode of Black Mirror)
	Actors:  John Goodman (The Big Lebowski), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (The Thing), John Gallagher Jr.
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama, Thriller, Horror
	Conditions of visioning: 25.07.2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Michelle (Winstead) has a car accident while she leaves her couple behind. She wakes up in an underground shelter where her host (Goodman) tells her the world outside is not safe.
Review: I watched the movies in the "Cloververse" in the wrong order but it doesn't matter. After a found-footage surprising Cloverfield discovered 10 years ago and the recent space-horror visually rich The Cloverfield Paradox, this 10, Cloverfield Lane that was released in 2016 belongs to a yet totally different genre: intimistic horror-drama. And that's in fact why it took me so long to finally watch it: the trailer showed that it was indeed a kind of kidnapping / torture / sequestration movie, a genre that I am not found of (except for The Disappearance of Alice Creed with Gemma Arterton). But that was without counting on the "charming" personality of John Goodman who immediately gives credibility and depth to his character. Moreover, one of the characteristic of this series of movies is that they end up not going the direction you thought they were, and this one is no different: just when I was starting to get bored by a story that was going nowhere (OK she's stuck there, she is trying to escape...), new elements start to make you doubt of everything. Other elements attach this movie to this atypical series, like the tension in a couple occurring just before the events. I found the ending not as negative as I would have expected from a movie in the series, but a nice opening nonetheless. I rank it third in the series, but it is still easily watchable.
Rating: 5 /10

Searching (2018)

	Also Known As: Buscando
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Aneesh Chaganty
	Actors: John Cho, Michelle La, Debra Messing
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 06.08.2018, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English version
Synopsis: After David Kim (Cho)'s 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a local investigation is opened and detective Vick (Messing) is assigned to the case. David decides to search the one place no one has looked yet, where all secrets are kept today: his daughter's laptop. David traces his daughter's digital footprints.
Review: The idea sounds boring but the way it is realised is excellent! Most of the movie is indeed as if the screen of David Kim is projected in the movie theater. And without the reflections on the screen! From the old Windows to the iMac screen resolution. From Facetime by Apple to  Facebook, Youcast etc. The story is very complex and follows more or less what the father believes. I guess therefore it is complex and working like a brainstorming, because the disappearance of his daughter is a storm in his brain. Sometimes we see messages on our screen at the same time and sometimes before he sees them. This allows to adjust the rythm of the drama and open or close a climax.  John Cho never made any breakthrough after his acting in Star Treks (as Star Trek by JJ Abrams or Into darkness). With this role, he shows that he can give depth to a role, emotions, dilemmas. This might be finally the springboard for him.  The art of directing is very well mastered via the changes of pace, of drama, of emotions through the different types of medias presented: written messages, voice messages, youcast videos, internet search results, family videos, news. I liked it a lot. A good start for a first movie.  There are several poster available and they are quite different and original.
Rating: 7 /10 Poster patchwork   Sober poster

Thoroughbreds (2017)

	Also Known As: Vollblüter
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Cory Finley
	Actors: Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy, Anton Yelchin, Paul Sparks
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 23.07.2018, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English version with German subtitle
Synopsis: Amanda (Cooke) is known in her highschool for having killed her horse. Actually it was rational and because he suffered and her mother wanted to keep him alive. Lily (Taylor-Joy) hates her step-father Mark (Sparks). Both are upper-class teenage girls living in suburban Connecticut. When Lily decides to kill her step-father because he does not give her the choice for college, both build a plan.
Review: A bit like in The Bling ring by Sofia Coppola, teenagers have money and are bored in life. These are Lily (Taylor-Joy) and Amanda (Cooke). Actually since the first appearance of the step-father, it is clear how the movie will end for him and Lily. They have emotion-free discussions or better said cruel discussions without any sign of emotion as if both were disconnected from the reality. This makes the charm of the movie because in parallel Lily feels a lot of emotions and talk about them. This is a big contrast giving some drama to the storyline. Moreover Amanda is indeed emotionless but unlike the characters of Sofia Coppola she wants to work on that. She is the main source of humour, very black humour, in the movie as she throws her statements without wanting to be rude. And she reads very well the psychology of Lily. Therefore their dialogues are weird funny.  Their acting is well matching their characters. Olivia Cooke, already seen in both amazing Me and Earl and the dying girl and in Ready player one can play many characters even if her role of Amanda is quite constant. She is a promising actress.  The camera is focusing on the actors, especially on the two main actresses with close-ups. It gives more depth to their character and allows to see their slightest movement. The other characters never are in close-up. This enhances the fact that they do not understand the two girls.  Good movie limited by its predictable story.
Rating: 6 /10

Coexister (2017)

	Also Known As: Ein Lied in Gottes Ohr
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Fabrice Éboué
	Actors: Fabrice Éboué, Jonathan Cohen, Guillaume de Tonquédec, Ramzy Bedia, Audrey Lamy, Mathilde Seigner
	Country: F
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 29.07.2018, Schauburg, French version with German subtitle
Synopsis: The music production company of Nicolas Lejeune (Éboué) belongs to the group Demanche ruled by Sophie Demanche (Seigner) and the shareholders. To keep his job he has make a success band within 6 months. His idea, to make rabbi Samuel (Cohen), priest Benoît (de Tonquédec) and an Imam (Bedia) sing together.
Review: Basically the challenge taken by Nicolas Lejeune with the band Coexister is like the challenge taken by Fabrice Éboué with the homonymous movie. Mix up three religions with their stereotypes, try to force them work together and film what is coming out of it. To make the religious people or pseudo-religious people more friendly for the mortals Éboué give them some sins or weaknesses that are coming every now and then via recurring jokes.  The Muslim drunkard and womanizer. The Jewish sleepless depressed drug-addict. The Catholic abstinent innocent. All notice that they need to make this band together and manage to find what each one does good and put it together. All the disputes are then taken and wiped out with humour. Time to time the disputes and egos prevail and bring mess. But they all see then that it was stupid and say it and apologize. This is the good message of both Coexister, the band and the movie.  The caricatural acting is sometimes heavy to digest especially when the character has only one face, like priest Benoît. Therefore I had the impression to see some scenes and dialogues repeatedly and this is quite annoying to me.
Rating: 5 /10

Class of 1984 (1982)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1982
	Director: Mark Lester
	Actors: Perry King, Roddy McDowall, Timothy van Patten, Lisa Langlois
	Country: CDN
	Genre: Action, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 28.07.2018, Streaming, English version
Synopsis: Andrew Norris (King) is a new teacher in an downtown high school that is like nothing he has ever seen before. This school is so dangerous that the students have to go through a metal detector at the front door and almost everything is run by a punk gang lead by a delinquent named Peter Stegman (van Patten). On the first day of music course, Norris and Stegman clash and Stegman will stop at nothing to protect his turf and drug dealing business.
Review: I came to that movie after President El Trumpo came to the idea to train teachers at school on weapons (New-York Times article). I reminded some movie seen on TV as a kid and found it on youtube here.  The story is well built with an ever increasing violence and tension. All because none of the two sides accept to give up and to loose the face. And between these two self exited parties the few who just wanted peace and did not want to participate finish badly. This reflects the fear of the conservative American society toward its children and their music, the punk in the early 80s. Mark Lester even introduces an association to Neo-nazi mentality by letting the Stegman gang make the nazi sign, wearing tshirts with the Swastika. The main message that I understood is about the justice failing at arresting criminals if no evidence and no testimony is given. One dramatic sentence is given a the end of the movie SPOILER Andy Norris was not prosecuted because the police could not find anyone who actually saw this happen.  The acting of Perry King does not really make it. His role in Riptide matched better. By luck the bad guys and especially Timothy van Patten and Lisa Langlois are convincing and have charisma on the scene. And the teacher Terry (McDowall) is very convincing in avoiding conflicts and in the way he is affected by the murder of his cat. By the way Michael J. Fox has a good role in times before Back to the Future.
Rating: 6 /10

Swimming with men (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Oliver Parker
	Actors: Rob Brydon
	Country: GB
	Genre: Comedy, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 04.06.2018, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English with German subtitle
Synopsis: Eric (Brydon) suffers a mid-life crisis. Boring work, boring family life. He needs some impulse. By casualty he answers to a loud question from a sync swimming men team with his mathematical skills. And he is invited to join.
Review: In each of the stories there are weird and thus funny characters. Each character's story remains also dramatic once we know about them. And this is spread all along the movie giving a well-balanced rythm alternating comedy and drama. All the dramatic and funny moments are linked to the self-esteem of these men. As in their favourite sport they all know that are not the best men, but they support each other, they accept each other whatever is their drama. The contrast of world championship for which we imagine athletic and standardised men and the real team is the source of the major comedy effect.  The actors play their weird roles quite well even if they mostly look caricatured.
Rating: 5 /10

Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon (2011)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2011
	Director: Andrew Eastel
	Actors: David Gest, Katherine Jackson, Tito Jackson
	Country: USA
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 23.07.2018, VOD, 14" computer screen
Synopsis: As the title says.
Review: Nine years (already) after the disappearing of the King of Pop of whom I used to be fan, why not watching a 2.5-hour Documentary on his life and career, produced 2 years after he was gone? The Life of an Icon promised never-seen-before footage, photos and interviews and it delivers for a while. I even learned a few things, especially about the early years, even though I thought I knew it all. The memories of interviewed family members, neighbors and friends of the time add a nice touch. Then came my first problem with the Documentary: after having played heavily (and out of order) the Jackson 5 tubes during the first 45 minutes, it then stops playing Michael and his brother's music as soundtrack to rather use a boring monotonous score as any TV-Documentary would do. I guess it is a stupid question of rights that were not granted, but that does spoil the show. The rise of Michael as solo artist is shown under a slightly new light which is interesting, but I was so disappointed not to see an extract of his performance at the Motown 25 show where he introduced the world to the Moonwalk. Again probably a question of rights but that starts to be annoying. This omission made me remember the TV-series The Jacksons: An American Dream that depicts the life of the Family until the 80's, that is an Americans favorite and that I had watched many times. The Motown 25 re-enactment in this series used to give me shivers as well as the real one. Then the Documentary introduces very honestly the accident that pushed Michael Jackson into painkillers, as well as the plastic surgery issue that was briefly but finally clarified by people close to him. And then third strike against the Documentary: it spends the last hour focusing on the pedophilia trials, in particular the last one that took a heavy tool on the superstar. It also gossips on Family issues and the naive trust of Michael towards others, which made him the target for many abuses. And it does so with many shortcuts that assume the viewer already knows the context because he has followed this charade at the time. Even thought it taught me about those difficult times in the life of the artist, it is done in a way that goes against what he always fought against (in songs from Leave me Alone to Tabloid Junkie). Meanwhile not a word is said about his work since the album Bad in the 80's! Bad turn for a Documentary that had well started.
Rating: 4 /10

Geostorm (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Dean Devlin
	Actors: Gerard Butler (300, Olympus has Fallen), Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Andy Garcia (The Untouchables, Black Rain), Ed Harris (A History of Violence, The Truman Show)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 14.07.2018, in-flight entertainment 8" screen
Synopsis: When the network of satellites designed to control the global climate starts to attack Earth, it's a race against the clock for its creator to uncover the real threat before a worldwide Geostorm wipes out everything and everyone.
Review: Just the title and the poster made me though this movie was a cheap rip-off of trendy disaster movies like Ice Twisters, Sharknado or Polar Storms. But Gerard Butler as lead actor made me doubt so I watched it. And then the name of the director ticked: Dean Devlin has been close producer on the Roland Emmerich movies Stargate, Godzilla, Independence Day, The Patriot... and is now directing his own movie, trying to imitate the same style as his buddy. Too bad that it arrived after The Day after Tomorrow and 2012. As a good SF movie shouldn't do, it mixes too many genres: weather disaster, high-tech space stations (totally unrealistic) and political thriller. Just missing aliens and dinosaurs and it would be an Asylum or Syfy production... or Iron Sky. The difference with the aforementioned productions was the larger budget available for decent actors (they do their part), crew (the movie looks good) and Special Effects: they often look artificial but given the generosity with which they are displayed I will accept that, if you don't watch the movie on too large a screen. Well, it was fun to watch and I will probably do it again in the future when looking for easy entertainment.
Rating: 4 /10

Game of Thrones - Season 7 (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Creators: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, George R. R. Martin
	Actors: Peter Dinklage (X-men: Days of a Future Past), Lena Headey (300, Dredd), Emilia Clarke (Terminator: Genesis), Kit Harington (Pompeii)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: June 2018, inflight entertainment 12" screen
Synopsis: The several families fighting for years around the Iron Throne have to form alliances around the two main contestants, and decide whether the fight against the armies of the Winter King is not more important.
Review: I did not watch this season in the best conditions. First I should have re-watched the previous one just before, like I did for that one, as not only it helps remembering the vast cast but it also puts you right in the mood for more. And then that is the second seasons that I don't watch on a Home Cinema and although it doesn't matter much for most of the scenes, it does for the ones that show landscapes or massive battles, and in general a better image and sound quality would help appreciating better the work on costumes, sets and the work of the actors. I may have complained for many seasons that the pace was slow and the stories disconnected, this season follows the footsteps of the previous ones and shows the hint of the conclusion to come in the next and final season 8, which will be composed of seven episodes as this one because they are in fact a season split in two. As the poster says, Winter is here, and Westeros tired after already many battles is getting ready for the final one. This season renews with the forgotten tradition of killing members of its main cast like it used to do so well at the beginning, and I guess in season 8 there will be blood. I found this season to be well-written (the work of George R. R. Martin among the others): not only the dialogs but the relationship between characters, their reaction making us hate more the ones we hate and love more the ones we love, and some monumental Fantasy moments (waw the last two episodes) that ascend straight to the Pantheon of memorable Fantasy moments in Cinema next to scenes of Conan the Barbarian, even though we are talking about a TV-series. That would have been unimaginable before Game of Thrones. Feeling the series coming to an end (well, the last season is planned for the first half of 2019 so there is still time) slowly makes me want to re-watch the whole of it, and in good conditions. I will be waiting for the blu-ray box-set in 2020.
Rating: 7 /10