The grand seduction (2013)

	Also Known As: Lügen bis der Arzt kommt
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Don McKellar
	Actors: Brendan Gleeson, Taylor Kitsch, Gordon Pinsent
	Country: CND
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 09.06.2014, Schauburg, OV sneak preview
Synopsis: The small harbor of Tickle Cove is in need of a doctor so that the town can win a contract for a factory which would save the town from financial ruin. Village resident Murray French (Gleeson) leads the search, and when he finds Dr. Paul Lewis (Kitsch) he employs - along with the whole town - tactics to seduce the doctor to stay permanently. As new mayor he does the same with the company in order to get the contract.
Review: The story of continuous lying is fine. But the end is not only surprising but is so illogical that it breaks the order of the story. Some scenes are kind of sketches full of humour such as the image of happiness over the roofs of the harbour, the cricket game, when the doctor catches a fish and plenty of the reactions of the harbour people. Rough, ingenuous and authentic. The character of Murray is attaching as a kind of old bear. But the doctor is not so good in a kind of intelligent playboy role. The outdoor images are impressive because I did not expect Newfoundland being a region of light and colours.
Rating: 4 /10

Zoran, il mio nipote scemo (2013)

	Also Known As: Zoran, mein Neffe der Idiot
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Matteo Oleotto
	Actors: Giuseppe Battiston, Rok Prasnikar
	Country: I
	Genre: Black Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 02.06.2014, Schauburg, OV sneak preview
Synopsis: Paolo (Battiston) is living out of small jobs in his town in Friul. When his aunt dies, he inherits small stuff and a nephew called Zoran (Prasnikar) for five days. At the beginning he is not willing much until he discovers that Zoran is talented for dart as he never misses the bullseye. Seing money in the nephew he finds motivation to keep him. From egocentric and bad guy, Paolo will be changed by the ingenuity and simplicity of Zoran.
Review: At the beginning, I thought Paolo would be a kind of Big Lebowski. But the guy is really bad against everyone around him and just thinks about his benefits while he has nothing to get any, no talent, no education, no friends. And he is not funny. And finally this character does not evolve much. I was surprised to see him continuously mean. In the opposite, Zoran evolves greatly. His talent and his strangely polite manners inspire confidence and even affection. He got a girlfirend and he learns freedom and social life.  Both characters are caricatures. I liked the atmosphere in the bars. This sounds really like bars you find everywhere on the countryside. Very authentic. What I foudn also very fun is the landscape of the Friul, the region where the FEFF takes place. I believe having recognized one road we took on the way to Slovenia and these landscapes are beautiful.
Rating: 4 /10

Les Invasions Barbares (2003)

	Also Known As: The Barbarian Invasions
	Year of first release: 2003
	Director: Denys Arcand (Le Déclin de l'Empire Américain)
	Actors:  Rémy Girard, Dorothée Berryman, Stéphane Rousseau
	Country: CDN
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 10.06.2014, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: When one of them is dying, a group of friends gather again from around the world to keep him compan, while his own son he barely knows is arranging a better end of life for him.
Review: Here is the long-awaited sequel to The Decline of the American Empire. In my case I watched them only a few days apart. Unlike the first movie, I cannot add the Comedy genre to Drama to describe this one. Indeed there are a few relaxed moments when the friends talk together and remind of their earlier life, but mostly the movie deals with a man facing his approaching death, and his son trying to find his place in this context. I don't often watch this kind of movie, but I fould the reactions of the man facing his end very well reproduced: Anger, Confusion, Loneliness, Fear. (I got this list from Star Trek Into Darkness). I could add Denial: the man does not understand why he has to die. Another interesting aspect is the behavior of the son who hasn't interacted much with his father since he left home. He is now very rich, and the only way he knows how to help his father is by spending money to buy things (and people) to make him suffer less. Towards the end he will learn of free things he can offer as well. If The Decline of the American Empire was about sex and the couple, The Barbarian Invasions is about getting old, facing your children and your legacy, and eventually death.
Rating: 7 /10

Le Déclin de l'Empire Américain (1986)

	Also Known As: The Decline of the American Empire
	Year of first release: 1986
	Director: Denys Arcand (Les Invasions Barbares)
	Actors: Dominique Michel, Dorothée Berryman, Louise Portal
	Country: CDN
	Genre: Drama, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 06.06.2014, DVD, 11" computer screen
Synopsis: Sexual revelations emerge when a group of academics and their partners spend a weekend at a country retreat.
Review: I took the opportunity of a long train ride to watch this movie I have been hearing about for so long. It is sold as a movie about sex, and if I can't deny they talk about it a lot, I find that it is also a movie about relationships. By the way it is funny that it might be 30 years-old, the preoccupations of men and women are still the same. It reminds me of the more recent French Le Coeur des Hommes (both 1 & 2), but on a more serious tone. Like said in the movie, when you put intellectuals together they talk, and indeed they do that a lot. It is quite interesting to hear their theories and anecdotes about the couple, sex, and the world (thus the title of the movie). I found it nicely done that during the first half of the movie we see separately the men cooking dinner and the women at the gym. Both group talk about their relationships and their sexual adventures. During the second half they meet in a nice lake house for dinner, but their topic of discussion doesn't change much. The introduction of the different characters is well done thanks to short flashbacks. Although it is not my usual genre of movies,  I can easily understand how it gained its status of cult, mainly thanks to three elements: good director, good dialogs and natural actors.
Rating: 7 /10

Green Street Hooligans (2005)

	Also Known As: Hooligans
	Year of first release: 2005
	Director: Lexi Alexander (Punisher: War Zone)
	Actors: Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings 1-3, Maniac, Sin City), Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy TV-series, Pacific Rim), Claire Forlani (Mallrats, Meet Joe Black)
	Country: GB, USA
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 09.06.2014, DVD, 11" computer screen
Synopsis: After being expelled from Harvard, a young journalist student (Wood) ends up hanging around with his sister's brother-in-law (Hunnam) in London and discovers the football frenzy.
Review: I have had this DVD for years and only now watch it. I think I bought it because I had liked the other movie about hooligans entitled I.D. (a.k.a. Undercover a.k.a. Hooligans in some countries) with Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty, 28 Weeks Later), and another rather violent movie Romper Stomper starring a young Russel Crowe. The story is similar to other "undercover cop" movies, but there are many differences: the character played by Wood is a journalist and doesn't even want to write a story, and it is a family relationship that led him to enter a world new to him. His motivations are not always clear (how can this guy end up part of a gang??), but if you accept that the movie is OK. Hooliganism is also shown differently: the football teams they are supporting are not very good, but the most important is the reputation of your Firm, half-way between a brotherhood, a supporter's club and a gang. And Charlie Hunnam is very good at playing the leader of this gang. No surprise that he was then spotted by Kurt Sutter to play a similar role in the Sons of Anarchy successful TV-series. Elijah Wood also plays naturally and has no trouble making you forget his Frodo side.
Rating: 6 /10

Boyhood (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Richard Linklater
	Actors: Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke
	Country: USA
	Genre: Comedy, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 26.05.2014, Schauburg, OV sneak preview
Synopsis: Mason (Coltrane) is 5 years old and his parents (Arquette and Hawke) just got separated. He has a sister Samantha (Linklater). It is the story of his child and teenager life until he enters the university.
Review: The plot is amazing. All the actors shot scenes every year during 12 years. This way we get much closer from the daily life and what makes the education in the mutual game of being parent and being a child and then a teenager (communication, eating hamburger, camping, birthday, graduation, development of passion, girlfriend, sex, drugs, alcohol). In this sense it is unique, as this can be possible only by letting the boy grow until being a young adult. The parent story is rather typically modern with divorced parents, step fathers, patchwork family, woman emancipation. But it is what makes the story interesting and emotionally binding. As an adult, we recognize lots of these steps. As parents, I guess so as well.  The movie is composed of daily-life scenes so that the acting needs to be authentic. And it is. From the four main family members. The picture and the visual rythm enhance the authenticity taking the time to make close-ups, letting short silences, letting the people talking normally and showing their reactions. A beautiful movie.
Rating: 8 /10

X-men: Days of Future Past (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-men 1-2, Valkyrie)
	Actors: Patrick Stewart (Star Trek VII-X), Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings 1-3), Hugh Jackman (The Prestige, The Fountain)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 04.06.2014, CINEMA theater, 3D
Synopsis: In the near Future, mechanical sentinels built to eliminate mutants have almost eradicated the whole of humanity. In this war they cannot win, the only choice of the last remainig mutants is to send one of them in the past (Wolverine - Jackman) to stop this from ever happening.
Review: After a pretty good X-men: First Class, I was eager to watch Days of a Future Past, supposedly adapted from one of the best recent comics book of the series, and one of the most daring ones. Indeed the stakes are high: we see what the future will be and that it is worst than the worst predictions by Magneto. No wonder that he is forced to ally with Professor X. So the basic story is interesting, and the enemies (The Sentinels) are scary and invincible. For once we do see a real threat to the Mutants. So much that going back to the past is the only way out. Finally their creator Bolivar Trask (played very well by Peter Game of Thrones Dinklage with a moustache) is not even the bad guy. But I was not really excited by the largest chunk of the story taking place in the 70's (except for the funny scenes with the ultra-fast mutant Quicksilver). Also I found that the technology displayed was not matching the period (the first sentinels). And emotionally, I only liked the confrontation between the Xavier of the two periods. The rest is not unpleasant to watch, but the motivations of the characters don't always make sense. A slight dissapointement.
Rating: 6 /10

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Jumper)
	Actors: Tom Cruise (Oblivion), Emily Blunt (The Wolfman, Looper), Bill Paxton (Aliens)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, War
	Conditions of visioning: 03.06.2014, CINEMA theater, 3D
Synopsis: The whole of Europe has been taken over by alien invaders. On the day before the largest and last attempts to recover the continent, Major Cage (Cruise) is sent to the front. He quickly dies, and wakes up at the beginning of the previous day.
Review: Similarly to what I said last year about Oblivion, I like this concept of global war against aliens. The daily time loop in which the hero is stuck reminds me of Groundhog Day that I have recently seen, and of an excellent episode of the Stargate SG-1 TV-series: Window of Opportunity (season 4, episode 6). And the whole movie also made me think of Starship Troopers, actually more the novel than the movie (see this post on the Starship Troopers saga). The endless repetitions of the same war scene feel like playing a video game that you can't beat: after a while you know every move you have to do at the exact time to progress a few seconds further. I know this to be very frustrating, and the character of Tom Cruise should have gone crazy after 100 repetitions of the same day. Edge of Tomorrow is adapted from a Japanese novel entitled All you Need is Kill (the title was changed because of the word kill...). You see this influence in the Mechas (armored suits) and in the design of the sword the heroin carries (see the poster). Like for Oblivion, the story is obviously formatted for mega(lomaniac)-star, but this is maybe actually a good thing. Indeed in other "war against large threats" movies like Pacific Rim, Godzilla, War of the Worlds or Avengers, I found the attempts to show the desperation of the population poorly done. The same goes for the usual family story around the main character(s). Comparing several movies of this type, it seems to me that it is better to stick with your hero and keep the emphasis on the war and on how to defeat the enemy, maybe taking the risk of less pleasing the female viewers. This is what I already liked in World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles. You may have understood: I liked Edge of Tomorrow. Not the best SF movie of all time, but built around a solid concept, visually stunning (the design of the aliens is nice, although at times it reminds of the sentinels in Matrix 2-3) and containing small touches of humour when it is needed to relax the atmosphere. I also found the growing relationship between Cruise and Blunt well brought. In retrospect, I liked Oblivion but I am tempted to lower its rating from 8/10 to 7/10, because I liked Edge of Tomorrow better, and I will have no problem watching it again on Blu-ray, it being less based on a final twist.
Rating: 8 /10

Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Jonas Pate
	Actors: Luke Pasqualino (Snowpiercer), Ben Cotton (The Chronicles of Riddick), Lili Bordán
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 03.06.2014, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Fresh out of the academy, young Bill Adama (Pasqualino) is eager to enter the fight engaging humanity against the mechanical Cylons.
Review:  It is commonly accepted that Battlestar Galactica (2003 version) is the best SF TV-series of the past decade. I own the Blu-rays of the whole series and took a great pleasure watching them. As part of the same universe, Blood & Chrome was broadcasted as ten episodes of 12 minutes and was supposed to launch a new spin-off series but actually never did. It deals with the adventures of the young Bill Adama (the commander of the Battlestar Galactica in the main series) during the first Cylon War. Note that we have already seen flashbacks of those adventures in the main series, during the episode entitled Razor. Blood & Chrome is actually his first adventure. At first it looks uninteresting to the arrogant young Adama, but events will take an unexpected turn and there will be encounters with the Cylons, space battles, visits on a foreign world, and finally the seed for the whole mythology of the second Cylon War. It is interesting to see the young version of this character, and to imaging what his life has been to change him so much from arrogance to the wisdom he possesses in his late years. The TV-film Blood & Chrome is shot in a similar way as the main series but is displaying much more special affects for a smaller budget, so the quality is definitely lower, especially when looking at large spaceships or explosions that are just orange bursts of pixels, not so good-looking. A final word: Blood & Chrome takes place chronologically before the main Battlestar Galactica series, and after the Caprica one (another spin-off that lasted only one season). I have been tempted to watch Caprica to complete my experience of this universe for some years. I may finally do it soon.
Rating: 5 /10

This Means War (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: McG (Charlie's Angels 1-2, Terminator Salvation)
	Actors: Reese Witherspoon (Pleasantville), Chris Pine (Star Trek 1-2, Unstoppable), Tom Hardy (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Romance, Action, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 01.06.2014, SD VOD, Home cinema
Synopsis: Franklin (Pine) and Tuck (Hardy) are extremely good secret agents. But their private life is not fulfilled, so Tuck subscribes to an dating website on which he will meet Lauren (Witherspoon), looking for the perfect guy. Shortly after she also meets Franklin. Follows a war of spy against spy to win the girl.
Review: This movie is built like a Romance that women can watch with their man. Indeed there are two guys fighting for the same girl, in the middle of a useless spy story and of action scenes accurately placed every 30 minutes. So everybody should be happy! The problem is that this trick is too obvious and the mix of genres not well done at all. I could accept the incredible schemes the two guys set in place (being spies) to beat the other, but their first meeting with the girl (which should be the motivation for the whole movie) is not believable at all. This was a bad start. The direction of the movie by McG is good, but the problem is really the patchwork story and the lack of credibility, leading to a lack of involvement from the viewer. I take this opportunity to invite you to read the review of This Means War by the late Roger Ebert. It shows the same opinion as mine on the movie, but makes me realize that I am far from posting as well written reviews as this Pulitzer winner.
Rating: 4 /10