A tomb with a view (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Ryan J. Noth
	Actors: -
	Country: CDN, BR
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 30.03.2015, Air Canada, Original Brasilian version
Synopsis: Like any mega city, Sao Paulo's port skyline is densely packed with condo towers. However, Memorial Necropole Ecumenica is a tall cemetery installed in a tropical bird sanctuary. The tomb owners pay the best view for their eternal resting place.
Review: At the beginning, the movie seems to be a bit spleen with the idea of care of the dead and this is interesting. But finally the movie is a kind of advertisement for a cemetery for very rich people. If the owner would have been interviewed more shortly and the future tomb owner longer, this would have balanced this impression, I guess. Well, I have no luck with documentaries this year...
Rating: 3 /10

Sol (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Susan Avingaq
	Actors: -
	Country: CDN
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 01.04.2015, Air Canada, Original English/Inuktikut version
Synopsis: Sol is a feature documentary that explores the mysterious death of a young Inuit man, Solomon Uyurasuk, a musician/circus performer who died in police custody in Igloolik, Nunavut. The film questions the claims by the local police detachment that Uyarasuk hanged himself in his cell, and also explores the wider issue of Nunavut's youth suicide rate, one of the highest in the world.
Review: The story is touching one sensitive topicand considers this indigeneous village as part of Canada. The clash of the cultures shows a dramatic aspect. What I understand is that the sedentarity and comfort of consumption society turned many villagean into bored people and social activities help but do not solve the loss of cultural identity.  The focus of the directors to the life of the youthis questionning not only the behaviour of the police but also the effect of the consumption society on the Inuits. And these are topic that make the movie so interesting and touching. Sometimes the argumentation does not progress as the police is not really confronted to the court and no sociologist is interviewed to give a deep analysis of the suicide rate.
Rating: 6 /10

Bankilal (2014)

	Also Known As: Eldest brother
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: María Dolores Arias Martínez
	Actors: Manuel Jiménez
	Country: MEX
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 14.02.2015, Cubix7, Berlinale2015, Original Tsotsil version with English subtitles
Synopsis: Manuel Jiménez is the eldest brother of the village. He is respected as story teller and therefore tries to combine the local traditional stories with the national catholicism.
Review: This is the second indigeneous movie that I watch in the Berlinale 2015. In only 53 minutes we are introduced to the daily life in the village and to its contrasts. What surprises me is that the clash of religions (local traditional and catholicism) is presented as new, when the catholic Spanish occupied Mexico for 500 years. I would have understood to be amazed by the fusion of both religions as it is done in other Latin American countries. There are some events that are presented raw without cut and therefore look a bit boring. But there is an idea to show the fusioned culture and as such I support this movie more than Silvestre Pantaleon.
Rating: 4 /10

Silvestre Pantaléon (2011)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2011
	Director: Roberto Olivares, Jonathan Amith
	Actors: -
	Country: MEX
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 14.02.2015, Cubix 7, Berlinale2015, Nahuatl version with English subtitles
Synopsis: Silvestre Pantaleón is old and the local shaman ask him to  build a special rope for a procession as it is his job. He has to ask his family for help.
Review: I wanted absolutely to watch indigene movies in the Berlinale 2015. Especially after having missed the Bolivian one! The story of this old craftsman shows a nice tradition. As a documentary I would have expected that these traditions would be deeper described or the life of this old man would be told. Unfortunately the story is kept flat around the rope making and the different steps of making it. And this very slowly, at the rythm of the old man. The landscape is presented as hot and slow which fits to the story. Thus interesting movie but disappointing to me.
Rating: 3 /10

Appleseed: Ex-Machina (2007)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2007
	Director: Shinji Aramaki (Starship Troopers: Invasion, Space Pirate Captain Harlock)
	Actors (voices): Ai Kobayashi, Kôichi Yamadera, Yûji Kishi
	Country: J
	Genre: Animation, SF, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 14.04.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: In a post-apocalyptic future, the new state of Olympus is the most advanced and part of its inhabitants are cyborgs. We follow a couple of police officers in charge of maintaining order around a peace conference.
Review: I hadn't watched this movie in quite some time and I can now tell that the animation is ten years old. It is indeed not photo-realistic, but actually half-way to a traditional 2D animated film, i.e. we can sometimes see the contour of the characters as a black line. But this gives it a certain style which can be appreciated. It is noticeable that the same director is responsible for Starship Troopers: Invasion (2012) that I liked, and Space Pirate Captain Harlock (2013) that I didn't. There is a lot of action in this movie which is good because then you don't have time to get bored by the otherwise very classical Japanese Animation story of Mechas, world war and virus infecting the Cyborgs, reminding of Ghost in the Shell for the story if not at all for the style. A bit annoying also is the very manga design of the characters (big eyes, long legs, big breast for women...) and the cheesy romance, but I guess this is what one should expect when watching such a movie. On the other hand some Mechas, ships and city design are very innovating (probably coming from the manga from which the movie is adapted). At some point I may watch the two other movies Appleseed (2004) and Appleseed Alpha (2014) or the OAV Appleseed XIII (2011).
Rating: 5 /10

Stardust (2007)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2007
	Director: Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, X-men First Class)
	Actors: Charlie Cox, Claire Danes (Terminator 3), Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings), Michele Pfeiffer (Scarface), Robert de Niro (Heat), Mark Strong (John Carter)
	Country: USA, GB, IS
	Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 13.04.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Tristan (Cox) promises the girl of his dreams to bring her back a star fallen in the forbidden region beyond the Wall near his native village.
Review: After watching Kingsman: the Secret Service and Layer Cake, I was motivated to watch that other movie by Matthew Vaughn without really knowing what it was about. And I find that it is a good and original Fantasy movie, especially since it is not trying to copy either The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, it is not aimed at children and it is not a Superhero movie. And you can understand that in the past ten years it is hard to find such a movie. It reminds me more of movies like Willow and Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits or The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. In fact Gilliam was briefly interested at some point in making Stardust. The digital special effects are not perfect (the practical effects are better) but good enough to bring life to a magic kingdom. The characters encountered during Tristan's Odyssey are all interesting and funny in some way, providing some offbeat humour (especially the dead princes) throughout the movie. I like in particular the act of de Niro as Captain Shakespeare, a pirate who is not what he seems. I found that there was a bit too much Romance to my taste, but it actually fits well in the story and the couple Tristan / Yvaine is touching, especially when her emotions are shown as she glows. Stardust is very different from all other Matthew Vaughn movies, so it is interesting to see that he can be good at many genres.
Rating: 6 /10

Welcome to the Jungle (2003)

	Also Known As: The Rundown
	Year of first release: 2003
	Director: Peter Berg (Very Bad Things, Hancock, Battleship)
	Actors: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (G.I.Joe: Retaliation), Seann William Scott (Dude Where is my Car?), Christopher Walken (The Dead Zone, Wayne's World 2), Rosario Dawson (Deathproof)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 11.04.2015, SD VOD, 14" computer screen
Synopsis: A tough aspiring chef (Johnson) is hired to bring home a mobster's son (Scott) from the Amazon but becomes involved in the fight against an oppressive town operator (Walken) and the search for a legendary treasure.
Review: When I read reviews of this film in 2004 they were basically saying: "The Rock goes around in the Jungle with his side-kick, the Stifler guy from American Pie", and that is basically it. The Rock is tough as usual, and Scott brings the comedy side. Rosario Dawson is the strong female character, and Christopher Walken the bad guy making money on the poor. All of this is very simplistic and kind of works. But the reactions of the characters don't always make sense, and sometimes look just like transitions between action scenes: car chases, fist fights, "Indiana Jones" moments, and some more fist fights. And the comedy in not always appropriate. One fun cameo: at the very beginning of the movie The Rock crosses Arnold Schwarzenegger who tells him: "Have Fun!". This was understood by the audience as a kind of hand-over from the former action-hero (starting in politics at the time of the movie) and the candidate new one. But the Rock never became what Arnold was at his peak.
Rating: 4 /10

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2008
	Director: Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose)
	Actors: Keanu Reeves (Speed, 47 Ronin), Jennifer Connelly (Requiem for a Dream, Noah), Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith (After Earth)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 07.04.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: An alien sphere lands in New York. A team of specialists is gathered to study the object. A being and a giant robot come out of the sphere.
Review: I have never seen the original 1951 movie from which this one is a remake but I know it has gained cult status. I should probably see it, I know it exists in Blu-ray. A modern remake will allow today's audience to experience this nice SF story as well. Remember that the original is in Black&White and the supposedly terrifying robot is actually a guy in a robot suit. I can understand that one could prefer watching Keanu Reeves as Klaatu and a giant robot in CGI.  This remake is not badly done and Reeves fits the role, but something is missing to make it as captivating as the original did in its time. The story between the character played by Jennifer Connelly and her step-son (played by the son of Will Smith) seems a bit out of place and here only for the audience to have an emotional link to the action. Some elements of the story and visuals are borrowed from the forgotten Sphere (1998) with Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone and Samuel L. Jackson which I find was better focusing on the characters in the middle of a similar SF / military / political story.
Rating: 5 /10

The Terminal (2004)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2004
	Director: Steven Spielberg (E.T., Jaws, Jurassic Park)
	Actors: Tom Hanks (Could Atlas), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Traffic), Stanley Tucci (Transformers 4), Zoe Saldana (Avatar)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 08.04.2015, SD VOD, Home cinema
Synopsis: Viktor Navorski (Hanks) lands at JFK airport while his country is undergoing a revolution. He is thus not allowed to enter the USA nor to return home.
Review: I was surprised to learn that this movie is loosely inspired from the story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri who lived for almost 18 years (!) in the Paris airport, and that this kind of adventure has happened to others as well (see this Wikipedia page). I had a hard time getting into the movie, first because of the choice of the very American Tom Hanks to play a citizen from the fictional country of  Krakozhia, then because of the way this man is handled by the airport authorities. The man clearly doesn't speak a word of English and the airport manager keeps on explaining him (actually he does that to the audience) his situation, before dropping him in the international zone for an undetermined duration. I don't think that someone in that situation would be handled like that without the chance for him to understand the situation thanks to a translator. And if yes, then some Americans just can't understand that some people in the world don't speak their language, and that's very sad. Once this feeling passed, I could better appreciate the story and the not-so-bad acting by Tom Hanks. But then I found the chain of events too exaggerated: him learning English, falling in love with a flight attendant, the side story with Zoe Saldana (by the way it is funny to see her young as a Star Trek fan)... and not believable. Definitely not the best of Spielberg.
Rating: 4 /10

2012 (2009)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, Stargate)
	Actors: John Cusack (Being John Malkovich), Thandie Newton (Mission: Impossible II), Chiwetel Ejiofor, Woody Harrelson (Ed-TV), Danny Glover (Leathal Weapon), Oliver Plat (A Time to Kill, Fargo TV-series)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action
	Conditions of visioning: 07.04.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Scientists discover solar anomalies that will announce a major cataclysm. When things go wrong, divorced unsuccessful writer Jackson Curtis (Cusack) does everything he can to save his family.
Review: A disaster movie of epic proportion that fits well in the filmography of the most American of German directors, surfing on the trendy story of the Mayan calendar that predicted the end of the world for the year 2012. One should watch this movie only for the impressive destruction scenes, because otherwise you can be disappointed. Indeed I appreciate the talent of the director for showing the destruction of cities, a talent largely improved since the famous mock-up of the White House in Independence Day. In 2012 we get to see gigantic volcanoes, entire cities sinking in the ocean or in the ground, kilometer-high tsunamis, all thanks to the magic of digital effects. Around those scenes the scientific credibility is very low (the Earth crust shifting by 2000 kilometers in a matter of hours), the characters development ultra-simplistic (the ex-husband still in love with his wife, the president sacrificing himself, the father not talking to his son, the forgetful scientist, Chinese monks...), like in World War Z the main character is always at the wrong place when a unique event occurs and survives it all, and towards the end the hurdles this guy has to cross are just too much, and the image quality even gets poor during the last half hour in the ships. A half hour too long.
Rating: 3 /10