En kongelig affære (2012)

	Also Known As: A Royal affair, Die Königin und der Leibarzt
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Nikolaj Arcel
	Actors: Alicia Vikander, Mads Mikkelsen, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard
	Country: DK, S, CZ
	Genre: Drama, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 10.06.2015, DVD, Original Danish with German subtitles
Synopsis: In 1767, the British Princess Caroline (Vikander) is betrothed to the mad King Christian VII of Denmark (Følsgaard), but her life with the erratic monarch in the oppressive country becomes an isolating misery. However, Christian soon gains a fast companion with the German Dr. Johann Struensee (Mikkelsen), a quietly idealistic man of the Enlightenment. As the only one who can influence the King, Struensee is able to begin sweeping enlightened reforms of Denmark through Christian even as Caroline falls for the doctor.
Review: Based on the true story and history of Denmark, the movie is a good show for the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment and a good movie to show how revolutions can arrive without violence. Even if actually Denmark adopted definitely the progressist ideas slowly from 1784 to 1815. The dramaturgy is well done, but for that the History did a good job. The romanced story is also well done and shows directly the game of intrigues and the pressure on all parties. It makes a nice change from the usual British royalty movies and from the few somptuous royal French movies. And the dialogues are direct one another, not much protocol.  The acting of the three main protagonists is very good. I was surprised by Vikander. And the role of Mikkelsen fits to his usual face. The acting of Følsgaard is excellent, various and realistic for the mental unstability.   The scenery (furniture, paintings, etc.) is quite sparse so that the light and the scenery enhance both the focus on the actors. But maybe it reflects also the reality, the frugality of that time in Denmark. Well actually, a very good movie, although I do not like much the royalty movies. But this one gives a real insight in the History of a modern country.
Rating: 7 /10

Jurassic World (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Colin Trevorrow
	Actors: Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy), Bryce Dallas Howard (The Village, Spider-Man 3), Ty Simpkins, Irrfan Khan (Hisss), Vincent d'Onofrio (Daredevil TV-series), Nick Robinson (Melissa & Joey TV-series)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 12.06.2015, Mathaeser Kino, German version, 3D
Synopsis: Jurassic World is an amusement park attracting thousands of visitors every day. Claire (Howard) is managing its operation and the preparations for the display of a new genetically-engineered species, when her nephews visit her on the island.
Review: It will come to no surprise to people who know me that I wanted to become paleontologist. Thus Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park had a profound influence on my cinema-lover life, its VHS is the first I ever bought for myself and it may be the movie I have seen the most in my life. I also liked a lot its sequel The Lost World, while I found Jurassic Park 3 entertaining but nothing more. I can't believe that this was fourteen years ago already. I was disappointed when I learned that Spielberg would not direct this new episode, only him could have made it something worthy of the original. As a consequence, Jurassic World is unfortunately closer to the third movie than to the first, although with a few good ideas, slightly less simplistic characters and vastly improved special effects. They have a special significance in the franchise when you remember that in 1993 no one had ever animated realistic living creatures in a live-action movie. I liked the generous display of dinosaurs and the link made with Jurassic Park thanks to the homage to John Hammond (played in 1993 by the regretted Richard Attenborough), the character of Dr. Henry Wu (played by BD Wong in both movies) and some other details borrowed from the original idea of an entertainment park. The story is however not very new, it almost feels like a reboot of the first three movies, and if you watch the trailer you actually learn all about it. A typical example of why one should not watch movie trailers, they are often too revealing (also you shouldn't watch the trailer of Terminator Genisys that is shown before Jurassic World). I guess I was not the only one looking forward to this movie as I learned today that it smashed the record for biggest opening week-end in the USA (and in the World), previously held by The Avengers.
Rating: 6 /10

The railway man (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Jonathan Teplitzky
	Actors: Colin Firth, Jeremy Irvine, Stellan Skarsgard, Sam Reid, Tanroh Ishida, Hiroyuki Sanada, Nicole Kidman
	Country: AUS, GB, CH
	Genre: War, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 08.06.2015, Schauburg, OV sneak preview, English
Synopsis: Eric Lomax (young/Irvine; old/Firth) was one of thousands of Allied prisoners of war forced to work on the construction of the Thai/Burma railway during WW2. His experiences, after the secret radio he built to bring news and hope to his colleagues was discovered, left him traumatised and shut off from the world. Years later, he met Patti (Kidman) on a train and fell in love. Patti was determined to rid Eric of his demons. One colleague Finlay (young/Reid; old/Skarsgard) discovers that the young Japanese officer Nagase (young/Ishida; old/Sanada) who haunted her husband is still alive.
Review: The story is based on true events with recent pictures of the protagonists at the end of the movie. The topic of the torture is presented via the feelings of the tortured people, of their friends and wife, not via the justification nor the explaination of the historical context or call for violence (5 Jahre Leben, Zero dark thirty) and not via the show for heroism (Unbroken). This opens the door to redemption. In that sense, the goal of the movie is reached. Especially because these emotions are actually independent from the war.  The acting of Colin Firth is excellent. The soldiers (Irvine, Reid and Ishida) are good also. Colin Firth succeeds in sharing the ambivalent emotion of being stuck in the past and willing to move on.  The camera movements and image composition are excellent and immerse even more in the torn feelings of Lomax, Finlay and Nagase.
Rating: 8 /10

Trash (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Stephen Daldry, Christian Duurvoort
	Actors: Wagner Moura, Rickson Tevez, Eduardo Luis, Gabriel Weinstein, Martin Sheen, Rooney Mara, Selton Mello
	Country: GB, BR
	Genre: Polar, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 01.06.2015, Schauburg, Original Brasilian version with German subtitles
Synopsis: Raphael (Tevez) finds in the garbage hill he is working in a wallet. The wallet belongs to José Angelo (Moura). Together with his friends Gardo (Luis) and Rato (Weinstein) Raphael tries to find the secret of the wallet. But the police led by Frederico (Mello) is looking for that wallet too. José Angelo worked for Santos, the major of a big city.
Review: The story sounds a bit classical for a Brasilian movie: corruption, favelas, brutal police. The strength of this one is to connect all this showing a lot of the Brasilian society. The classical views of the favelas, that are the daily life for millions of Brasilians. Remember that 11.4 million of the 190 million people that lived in Brasil in 2010 resided in areas of irregular occupation definable by lack of public services or urbanization according to Brasilian statistics (reference). The view on the corruption. The view on the different middle class people, looking for justice like José Angelo or for money like Frederico. And because the kids are in this quest "because it is right", and because they see that José Angelo as an example, the movie is full of hope for the country because it is full of hope for the children. This is a great illustration of the song by Damien Saez "Et puis y a ce gamin/ Qui a le sourire aux lèvres/ Mais c'est ça l'avenir". The acting of the three kids is good to excellent. It is really authentic of childhood, poverty, will of justice and will of peace. It is also nice to see again Wagner Moura discovered in the great Action/Polar Tropa de elite (Elite squad) by José Padilha. I am pretty sure he could be a great actor if people let him do something else than action movies. The cinematography, composition and lights are good and support the story adequately. It was also a pleasure to listen to the Brasilian language. When it is not in a telenovela, it sounds really good.
Rating: 8 /10 I added another poster because I found the difference enormous. On the top, it is a conflict between two guys, two concepts of Brasil. On the bottom, it is a picture of happiness. I find the top one closer from the movie. Even if the second has also a certain message of hope.   Poster focused on the kids

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Robert Rodriguez (Planet Terror, From Dusk till Dawn)
	Actors: Josh Brolin (Men in Black 3), Mickey Rourke (Iron Man 2), Clive Owen (Children of Men), Bruce Willis (Looper), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Dark Knight Rises), Jessica Alba (The Fantastic Four 1-2, Machete), Rosario Dawson (Death Proof), Eva Green (300: Rise of an Empire)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Polar, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 11.06.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Dwight (Brolin) meets a former lover (Green) and will unwillingly get involved in her married life story.
Review: I think I liked this movie better than the first Sin City. I have changed its rating accordingly. Reading again my review of it, I realize that all the elements I was criticizing have been corrected: better-looking images and special effects, less narration and more adaptation, while we still get to appreciate many known faces... and other body parts. Indeed Eva Green, at the heart of the main story, is deadly sexy in this movie (like she already was in 300: Rise of an Empire) and spends most of the time very lightly dressed, when dressed at all. I am not one to complain about such things, but her curves were responsible for the rejection by the MPAA of one poster of the movie in the USA (see at the end of this post), "for nudity -- curve of under breast and dark nipple/areola circle visible through sheer gown." So the movie focuses mainly on one story (about 80%) in which Josh Brolin plays nicely a similar role as Clive Owen in Sin City, while the other story is more a continuation to what we have already seen, and includes useless flashbacks involving Bruce Willis. I found the last twenty minutes to be weaker, maybe the movie would have gained from a better editing placing the conclusion of the main story at the very end.
Rating: 6 /10

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Francis Lawrence (Constantine, I am Legend)
	Actors: Jennifer Lawrence (X-men: Days of Future Past), Liam Hemsworth (The Expendables 2), Woody Harrelson (EdTV, Zombieland), Josh Hutcherson (Detention, Voyage to the Center of the Earth)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 08.06.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: After winning the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) is back with her family in relative comfort, but her duties to the Capitol city are not over.
Review: I am not a big fan of the first Hunger Games movie, but after seeing the trailer for the third one (Mocking Jay part 1), I thought that the story of the second movie could lead somewhere interesting and introduce the long-awaited global rebellion from the Districts against the Capitol. As in the first movie the beginning is quite intriguing, the contrast between the life in the Districts and in the Capitol shocking, and the Hunger Games an extreme version of nowadays Reality TV. However I didn't like the love triangle which seem to be mandatory in all such movies (Twilight, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones).  I have now to talk about what happens after the first hour so you SHOULDN'T CONTINUE READING MY SPOILERS. So after one hour, the characters go back for a new season of Games, not very original compared to the first movie, but maybe to be expected. And I was also very disappointed at the ending. It is already a rip-off that the third movie is in two parts (to make more money), the second one is not even self-contained and there is no interesting stopping point at the end. I am glad I didn't pay too much for this Blu-ray, found at the closing sale of a rental DVD shop.
Rating: 3 /10

La Vénus à la fourrure (2013)

	Also Known As: Venus in fur, Venus im Pelz
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Roman Polanski
	Actors: Emmanuele Seigner, Mathieu Amalric
	Country: F, PL
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 23.05.2015, Bluray, German version and French version
Synopsis: An actress called Wanda (Seigner) attempts to convince a director (Amalric) how she's perfect for a role in his upcoming production.
Review: I had this movie to watch and some German friends wanted to watch it but not in French. I had to put my chauvinism under the carpet and I accepted it.  The story is really good, full of surprises that make me build up many different connections so that at the end the story keeps open. It is not clear why it ends as it does. There are many solutions, like in the movies of David Lynch. And this makes it very interesting and exciting. Then the topics itself, the masochism. It is brought up in a sneaky way that presents subtly and crescendo the neurosis. The crescendo was enhanced by the few contacts with the external world (phone calls) as the reaction in front of this external world drifts crazy. Even if we do not feel the same, at least it makes this understandable.  The cinematography is good as well as the choregraphy of both actors, their directing. The slight change of voice in German is not easy to track to me. When I saw the movie in French, it felt much easier and the tone much more authentic and credible. For the German friends, the German version sounded very credible as well. A few scenes are a bit arty and could have been removed from my point of view.
Rating: 7 /10

Pompeii (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil, Death Race)
	Actors: Kit Harington (Game of Thrones TV-series), Emily Browning (Sucker Punch), Kiefer Sutherland (Mirrors), Jared Harris (Sherlock Holmes 2), Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrxi 1-3)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Epic, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 03.06.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: The people of Milo (Harington) are exterminated by Roman forces when he is a kid. Enslaved, grown-up and now a gladiator, he travels to Pompeii where he will entertain the local festivities and meet an old foe.
Review: This Epic forbidden love story taking place at the same time as a catastrophic event reminds me of Titanic, the very first scenes are basic copies of Conan the Barbarian and at some point the story of Romeo & Juliet also comes to mind. And of course the shadow of Ridley Scott's Gladiator is never far. The main actors (Sutherland, Harris, Browning) are playing well. Kit Harington, the Jon Snow of Game of Thrones is a good cast, he is well-built enough to make a serious gladiator, quiet to be mysterious and cute to make the love story believable, but he should be careful of not getting entrapped into those kind of medieval roles. It is nice to see some aerial views of such lost Roman city (I appreciate especially since I recently travelled to Rome), which gives you a good feeling of the architecture and life at that time. The special effects for the climactic eruption of the Vesuvio are well-done and realistic, although I think I prefer the look of Mount Doom's eruption in The Return of the King, even if more fantasist. Not at all the worst Peplum I have seen made since Gladiator.
Rating: 6 /10

Robocop (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: José Padilha (Elite Squad 1-2)
	Actors: Joel Kinnaman (The Darkest Hour), Gary Oldman (Lost in Space), Michael Keaton (Batman, Birdman), Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen), Jay Baruchel (This is the End, The Sorcerer's Apprentice), Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 01.06.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: In the near future, the corporation Omnicorp is trying to lift the ban on peace-keeping robots on American soil. Their idea to go this way: a man-machine.
Review: From what I read, José Padilha's first movie Elite Squad played a big role in the decision taken to hire him to direct this remake of the 1987 violent satire by Paul Verhoeven which I like a lot. I have already acquired the Blu-ray of that first film and am eager to watch it and its sequel. I was not really in favor of a remake and feared it would be as bad and useless as Total Recall, also remake of Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall. It is in fact better than that (I have adjusted the rating of Total Recall in light of that comparison) although for me a remake was still not justified. I liked the special effects in the opening scene of urban warfare for example. The black armor is a big change but didn't disturb me too much, a difference had to be made with the original movie. The actors are not bad, the story makes sense and the motivation of the characters clear and strong, and I liked the references to the original movie (The ED 209, "I wouldn't buy that for a dollar") and the attempts at satire although not as corrosive as Verhoeven's. Those satirical moments are almost all concentrated in the talk-show hosted by the character of Samuel L. Jackson and quotes like "What is more important than the safety of the American people", or "Some of you even believe that the use of these drones overseas makes us the same kind of bullying imperialists that our forefathers were trying to escape. To you, I say... Stop whining! America is now and always will be the greatest country on the face of the Earth!" with a huge waving flag in the background. But in spite of those positive points Robocop will never reach the cult status of its predecessor. I just learned that its most recent release contains the even more violent Paul Verhoeven director's cut. A reason enough for me to upgrade the current Blu-ray version I already own, which is something I rarely do.
Rating: 6 /10

Starsky & Hutch (2004)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2004
	Director: Todd Phillips (The Hangover 1-3)
	Actors: Ben Stiller (Mystery Men), Owen Wilson (Zoolander), Snoop Dogg, Fred Wiliamson (The Inglorious Bastards, From Dusk till Dawn), Vince Vaughn (Dodgeball), Juliette Lewis (From Dusk till Dawn), Jason Bateman (Horrible Bosses 1-2)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 27.05.2015, HD VOD, Home cinema
Synopsis: David Starsky (Stiller) and Ken Hutchinson (Wilson) are two cops with opposite characters who will become partner and investigate a drug deal.
Review: Adapted from the TV-series that became famous for showing for the first time "buddy cops" and that remained known thanks to its inimitable 70's style, including of course the red Ford Grand Torino with the white stripe. I had seen the movie when it went out and I remembered it to be closer to the series, while it is in fact a "Ben Stiller parody" in the line of Zoolander or Dodgeball. The investigation is not really the heart of the story, more of an excuse to place our duo in different situations that will turn funny. Anyway who could take seriously a bad guy played by Vince Vaughn with moustache, a snitch played by Snoop Dogg or a police commissioner played by the exploitation icon Fred Williamson? Without forgetting Will Ferrell (Elf) as dragon-fetishist inmate. And when you put in the middle of that the extreme characters of the two partners (one strictly applying the law to the letter, the other going around it to make profit), you get a slightly stupid comedy that will get a few laughs out of you if it is your kind of movie, like it did for me.
Rating: 6 /10