Rate your stay at MotelX2013!

It was a pleasure to JoRafCinema to receive press accreditation as international press for  the MotelX2013, the Lisbon Horror Film Festival, taking place from September 11th to 15th 2013.

Welcome to MotelX 2013!

The getaway (1972)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1972
	Director: Sam Peckinpah
	Actors: Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw
	Country: USA
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 09.12.2013, DVD
Synopsis: Doc McCoy has been granted parole. The catch is that Sheriff Beynon expects a small favor from McCoy for his generosity: robbing another bank! Beynon does not really intend to let McCoy walk away after the heist and neither does co-robber Rudy Butler, but stopping Doc proves a trifle difficult.
Review: The story looks really like the legendary Bonnie and Clyde one. So it is told also a bit like road movie. Some scenes seem to be repeated and this slows the rythm of the movie. The acting of McQueen is perfect. He seems really authentic. McGraw also even if there is a kind of naivety in her acting and dialogues. This may be volontary to paint her role. The action scenes, as usual with McQueen as stunt man, are good but no so impressive even for that time (Bullitt was in 1968). So the movie used the talents of both actors and a plot typical of a good box office success in the 70s but is finally only entertaining.
Rating: 6 /10

Le Magnifique (1973)

	Also Known As: How to Destroy the Reputation of the Greatest Secret Agent
	Year of first release: 1973
	Director: Philippe de Broca (Cartouche)
	Actors: Jean-Paul Belmondo (Le Cerveau, L'As des As), Jacqueline Bisset (Bullitt), Vittorio Caprioli
	Country: F, I
	Genre: Action, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 06.01.2014, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: Bob Saint-Clar (Belmondo) is a super-secret agent, shooting bad guys out of trees without even looking. He is actually the hero of a series of novels written by François Merlin (Belmondo), struggling to make a living.
Review: This is the kind of movies I have seen many times on cathodic TV in my youth but never since. This DVD edition I purchased in a bazaar for 1.99 euros is quite allright, and a vast improvement compared to my past experience. The super agent scenes are ridiculous (they remind me now of Don't Mess with the Zohan), but this is done on purpose, as the real topic is actually the life of the writer François Merlin. As the movie goes, the events in his life influence more and more the fate of the secre tagent in the novel. This concept is interesting and I never fully grasped it when I was younger. However it is still done with a comedy tone, so a serious reflexion cannot really follow. Note that the ridiculous character of the secret agent inspired a famous DJ to get his stage name: Bob Sinclar.
Rating: 4 /10

Olympus has Fallen (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Antoine Fuqua (Shooter)
	Actors: Gerard Butler (300, Gamer), Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight), Morgan Freeman (Deep Impact, Oblivion)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 05.01.2013, HD VOD, Home cinema
Synopsis: The White House is invaded by a group of terrorist and the president (Eckhart) taken hostage. A security agent (Butler) that was not supposed to be here will disturb their plans.
Review: Back from holidays, looking for an easy-to-watch action movie, I decided to watch White House Down (see review here), followed by its copy Olympus has Fallen. I looked on the web to find out which copied which, but actually people are not surprised that movies based on the same idea are realeased at the same time. The most famous such duos are Armageddon/Deep Impact, Antz/A Bug's Life, Volcano/Dante's Peak or even the trio Mission to Mars/Red Planet/Ghosts of Mars. Of the two I slightly prefer Olympus has Fallen, partly because it is R-rated and not PG-13: the gunfights still look like a video game but you get to see real violence and blood in this one, the camera is not turning around when somebody gets killed. Also the characters are better developped, but this is underexploited. CGIs are less used which is better. Secondary characters like the General are as useless in both films. I may have given it a better rating (6/10) if I hadn't watched it just after White House Down and got the feeling to see the same scenes twice. In any case it is not a masterpiece.
Rating: 6 /10

Amsterdamned (1988)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1988
	Director: Dick Maas (The Lift, Down, Saint)
	Actors: Huub Stapel (The Lift, Saint), Monique van de Ven, Serge-Henri Valcke
	Country: NL
	Genre: Horror, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 07.01.2014, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: A prostitute is murdered and hung in Amsterdam, The police starts to investigate while more murders occur.
Review: Let me start with a bit of background story. I know about Dick Maas since I watched The Lift maybe 20 years ago. It is a good minimalist horror thriller with an original concept. I have also seen the remake the director made himself 18 years later (Down) which is fun as well. I have recently seen Saint (reviewed here) and didn't like it so much. But I couldn't resist buying Amsterdamned (what a brillant title) when I found it for 99 cents in a bazaar. Also I have visited Amsterdam 1.5 years ago so I am now familiar with its canals and steets geometry. I was not dissapointed by the movie! As I have read on the web, it is a good thriller but with enough blood to satisfy the horror fans as well. No wonder that it won a price at the Avoriaz film festival (now replaced by Gerardmer). The movie was shot in the English language to attract more audience, so sometimes the dialogs feel misplaced, but it fits with the 80's atmosphere. The famous 6-minute boat chase in the canals deserves its reputation. I was impressed by the quality of the cinematography (framing, editing, composition) throughout the whole movie. I only regret not having bought the recent re-edition by Shameless Films (covers below, DVD only, as there seems to be no film allowing a proper Blu-ray transfer), the company that brought me Four Flies of Green Velvet and Cannibal Holocaust, as the video quality would have been much better (my DVD almost looked like a VHS).
Rating: 7 /10

White House Down (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Roland Emmerich (Independance Day, Stargate, Godzilla)
	Actors: Channing Tatum (G.I.Joe, Magic Mike), Jamie Foxx (Collateral, Django Unchained), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko, The Dark Knight, Secretary)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action
	Conditions of visioning: 05.01.2014, HD VOD, Home cinema
Synopsis: The White House is invaded by a group of terrorist and the president (Foxx) taken hostage. A security agent (Tatum) that was not supposed to be here will disturb their plans.
Review: Back from holidays, looking for an easy-to-watch action movie, I decided to watch White House Down, followed by its copy Olympus has Fallen (see review here). I don't know which one copied the other but they are too obviously similar for it to be a coincidence. Both movies where planned ten years after 9/11, maybe enough time for people to accept a movie about terrorists blowing up american iconic buildings. Well, Die Hard IV dealt with terrorists on american soil, as the remake of Red Dawn, but not with as much patriotism as White House Down, and I am not surprised to see Roland Emmerich directing it. He may be German but he shows American patriotism like no other (maybe except for his countryman Wolfgang Air Force One Petersen). Just remember Independence Day... White House Down is worse than you could expect: flags, guns, heroes, slow motion, bombs, the military, high tech gadgets, father/daughter relationship... It is only saved by known actors pleasant to watch, like James Woods. The movie seems to be a relic from the 90's or early 2000's. Even the digital special effects look outdated. The handgun combats in the White House are largely inspired from video games, but it is too obvious that violence has been attenuated to get the authorisation to show to 12 years olds. Recommended if you feel like watching a 90's action flick, not if you want a modern thriller.
Rating: 4 /10

Kvinden i buret (2013)

	Also Known As: Erbarmen, The keeper of lost causes
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Mikkel Nørgaard
	Actors: Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Fares Fares
	Country: DK
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 06.01.2014, Schauburg, OV sneak preview
Synopsis: Police inspector Carl Mørck is put in charge of a department of cold cases (Q), joined only by his assistant, Assad. They dig into a case about a disappeared woman.
Review: The story is a kind of classical one. The experienced and arrogant cop who lost his buddy and the new fresh and friendly cop. The scenario would be perfect as pilot for a series like X-Files. But there is not the funny touch of X-Files. Technically the movie is good, especially the lights, very dark and unhappy except in some happy flash backs. The acting of Fares Fares is good in the role of the new cop Assad. The rest is ... entertaining only but does not light anything. I guess, this is the start of a nice series on the Danish TV that will stop in a couple of years.
Rating: 2 /10

Only lovers left alive (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Jim Jarmush
	Actors: Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska
	Country: GB, F, D, USA, CY
	Genre: Drama, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 05.01.2014, Schauburg
Synopsis: Adam, an underground musician reunites with his lover for centuries after he becomes depressed and tired with the direction human society has taken. Their love is interrupted and tested by her wild and uncontrollable little sister.
Review: The story is told quite slowly and full of meaningful and great music, so that the few dialogues are supported by the music. The dialogues are few and focus either on the practical part (How to find food) and on the comments done by these Vampires on the human society. Very funny, but actually very pertinent, they call humans Zombies. The picture of the society and the comments are very true, without mercy and would be depressing if the music and the nice things happening would not be linked to the concept of love, not only of one person, but love to the humanity, to the world. The storyline is tortuous and touches very deep thoughts about goal in life, self-destruction of the current human society, art trade. Besides the soundtrack, the picture was also great and fine, especially the way we follow the characters in the darkness and the rotations used (LP, rooms, Vampires dancing, etc). The light is everytime perfect. As usual Tilda Swinton does not look good but acts very well. I do not know why all Vampires in this movie have so awful haircuts.  This motivates me to make a serie of Jim Jarmush movies this winter...
Rating: 8 /10

Carambolages (1963)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1963
	Director: Marcel Bluwal
	Actors: Louis de Funès (Le Gendarme 1-4, Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob), Jean-Claude Brialy (La Reine Margot), Michel Serrault (La Cage aux Folles, Le bonheur est dans le pré)
	Country: F
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 22.12.2013, HD, 32" TV
Synopsis: Paul Martin (Brialy) is a young ambitious employee in a travel agency. He is ready to do anything for the CEO Norbert Charolais (De Funès) in order to succeed, and be able to pay for his wedding and new house.
Review: I was about to watch one of the Lino Ventura movies I just bought in DVD when I saw this old movie with Louis de Funès on the ARTE channel, movie that I had never seen before. It is rather well done, and described as a satirical view of the enterprise structure, which is a good summary. In passing, the movie also criticizes the police force via the character played by Michel Serrault, officer nostalgic of the methods employed during the war. The classic actors are good, the story just enough exagerated and overplayed, and the comedy ramping up until the final brillant 20 minutes. The movie was followed by a very interesting documentary on the life of Louis de Funès. I was glad to learn more about this peculiar actor, and his worldwide success.
Rating: 6 /10

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Peter Jackson (Bad Taste, The Lord of the Rings 1-3, King Kong)
	Actors: Martin Freeman (Hot Fuzz, The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy), Ian McKellen (X-men 1-3, The Lord of the Rings 1-3), Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek Into Darkness)
	Country: USA, NZ
	Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 16.12.2013, CINEMA theater, 3D, High Frame Rate
Synopsis: The company of thirteen Dwarves led by Thorin (Armitage), one Hobbit (Freeman) and a Magician (McKellen) continue their journey towards the Lonely Mountain where the Dragon Smaug (Cumberbatch) stands guard.
Review: After watching twice An Unexpected Journey on Blu-ray and liking it more and more, I was really eager to see this second part of the trilogy. In the second movie of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (The Two Towers), not much was happening while we were introduced many new characters, which was a difficult exercise to show. On the contrary in The Hobbit trilogy, all the introductions were done in the first movie and quite some action happens in the second, including the first encounter with Smaug the Dragon. As we are used to with Peter Jackson movies, everything is visually perfect and the scenes at the Lonely Mountain are great, but the way the movie ends makes it really frustrating to have to wait one full year to see the conclusion. The rest of the movie is good as well, but sometimes feels like only a succession of action scenes and encounters with particular characters whom role you don't really understand if you are not a hard-core Tolkien fan. This feeling was reinforced by the HFR 3D which as in the first movie put me ill at ease (I had the feeling to watch TV), especially since the cinema in which I was has a problem of cross-talk between the left and right images of the 3D (the already disturbed me when watching Gravity). Some characters are also annoying like Legolas (Orlando Bloom is back) and his father Thranduil, although I like his looks, and some scenes are a bit out of place (with Tauriel the female Elf). The Dwarves are very pleasant to watch now that I knew well all of them. In spite of my reservations, The Desolation of Smaug is still a great show and contains some memorable scenes (in the Lonely Mountain, the escape in the barrels...). I currently like it less than the first movie but I guess I need to wait to see all three before making my final rating of the trilogy.
Rating: 7 /10