The Jungle Book (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Jon Favreau (Iron Man 1-3)
	Actors: Neel Sethi + voices: Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Christopher Walken,
	Country: USA
	Genre: Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 27.08.2016, in-flight entertainment 10" screen
Synopsis: Mowgli (Sethi) is a young boy that has been raised in the jungle by a pack of wolves. After being threatened by the tiger Sher-Khan, he decides to leave.
Review: A strange idea for Disney to produce a remake of its classic animated film The Jungle Book form 1961, this time with a live young boy playing Mowgly surrounded but photo-realistic CGI animals. I loved the animated movie in my childhood (who didn't?), but I immediately had a problem with the CGI animals. Oh they look very good and well-done, but maybe for that reason it looks even stranger to have them talking, in lip-sync furthermore. And the voices used, although from recognizable actors, didn't always fit the characters. On top of that bad first impression, I found that the realism of the animals prevented the animators from giving them much character through facial expressions. The movie follows the same storyline as the original (except I think less involvement from the elephants), and maybe as the 1894 book from Rudyard Kipling which I haven't read. In fact its main impact on me was to make me want to watch the cartoon again to see if the magic still operates. I seem to remember that there were more songs in the cartoon, but in this version only two are kept: the upbeat The Bare Necessities from Baloo and the jazzy I Wan'na be like you from King Louis, also repeated during the end credits for our pleasure. The discomfort I felt throughout the movie was a bit forgotten during the spectacular and emotional ending.
Rating: 4 /10

The Losers (2010)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2010
	Director: Sylvain White (I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, Hawaii Five-0 TV-series)
	Actors: Idris Elba (Thor, Pacific Rim), Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Guardians of the Galaxy), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action
	Conditions of visioning: 27.08.2016, in-flight entertainment 10" screen
Synopsis: In Bolivia, a specialized military team disobeys orders to save children, and are thus disavowed and almost killed by a character called Max.They are contacted by Aisha (Zaldana) who promises to give them back their life in exchange for the head of the same Max.
Review: Even if like me you have never heard about this movie, you can tell from the opening credits that it is adapted from a comics book series. Badly adapted I would add. From the beginning it looks like a music video, which turns quickly quite annoying to watch. The dialogs and poses of the characters that may have seemed cool on paper are often too much. The bunch of known faces (Elba, Evans, Jeffrey Dean Morgan) barely do their job. The story of a band of bad guys double-crossed by a James Bond villain and left for dead is nothing new and the too obvious added feminine element (Zaldana) slightly out of place. So is the music half of the time (opening the movie with "Black Betty", seriously?). Those opening 10 minutes are totally ridiculous (the lack of emotion during the helicopter crash is laughable), but it fortunately gets better as the movie goes. Best avoided.
Rating: 2 /10

Wrath of the Titans (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Jonathan Liebesman (Battle: Los Angeles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
	Actors: Sam Worthington (Avatar), Liam Neeson (Taken 1-3), Rosamund Pike (Die Another Day, Gone Girl), Ralph Fiennes (Skyfall)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Epic, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 27.08.2016, in-flight entertainment 10 screen
Synopsis: After his wife Io passed, Perseus (Worthington) lives a fisherman life with his son. Until his father Zeus (Neeson) announces him the end of the World.
Review: I already found Clash of the Titans to be a useless remake of a Classic (even though very dated) so I watched this sequel out of curiosity. There are more titans, monsters and Gods for Perseus to fight with or against, but it is all so badly put together. The story seems to be following a recipe used many times already (the path of the hero) but the studios producing such movies don't even make the effort of doing it right anymore. It is just a succession of scenes alternating action and supposed character development but none make you really feel involved in the stakes. The only thing to be saved from that movie, like from others similar, is the quality of the special effects. They really did a very good job, although some designs may look borrowed from The Lord of the Rings (the Titan = the Balrog). I also found the opening action scene well shot, with the inclusion of long sequence-shots. I liked the reference to the original Clash of the Titans in the form of the mechanical owl that we glimpse at some point. But the movie suffers from a terrible lack of interest and embarrassing holes in the editing, making it look like a patchwork of elements re-shot after catastrophic test projections.
Rating: 2 /10

Our Brand is Crisis (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: David Gordon Green
	Actors:  Sandra Bullock (Speed, Gravity), Billy Bob Thornton (Armageddon, The Man who wasn't There, Fargo TV-series season 1), Anthony Mackie (Captain America 2&3), Joaquim de Almeida (Clear and Present Danger)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 27.08.2016, in-flight entertainment 10" screen
Synopsis: A group of american consultants, tasked with getting an unpopular Bolivian president re-elected, track down a maverick political consultant (Bullock) and persuade her to lead the team.
Review: A bit like in the TV-series House of Cards, this movie is about getting a president elected. Except that the action doesn't take place in the USA but in Bolivia so that the way to proceed is quite different, and less powers are involved. Also the American teams of consultants will take no benefit in who wins, they are just hired to do a job. But to give them more motivation there is a backstory between the characters played by Bullock and a Billy Bob Thornton as good as usual. The movie is also played with a comedy tone, but most of all, one should watch it to see how Bullock manages to turn a losing campaign around. Not very deep but an entertaining movie.
Rating: 5 /10

The 33 (2015)

	Also Known As: Los 33
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Patricia Riggen
	Actors: Antonio Banderas (Desperado, The Mask of Zorro, The 13th Warrior), Rodrigo Santoro, Juliette Binoche (Godzilla), Lou Diamond Phillips (Bats), Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects)
	Country: RCH, USA
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 16.08.2016, in-flight entertainment 10" screen.
Synopsis: After their mine collapses, a group of 33 miners gets trapped underground. The Chilean government has to take part in a costly and risky operation to rescue them.
Review: This drama is based on the accident that occurred in Chile in 2010 and that left 33 minors stranded underground for 70 days, until they finally got rescued with the whole world watching. It didn't take much time for a book to be published (Deep Down Dark by Héctor Tobar) and its rights sold to Hollywood. It is a pity that the movie is not Chilean, or at least American but with Chilean actors and in Spanish language. But it is likely that a Chilean smaller production would not have had the same impact. I found ridiculous that American actors like Antonio Banderas or Gabriel Byrne play in English with a faked strong Spanish accent... it doesn't make much sense. At least they throw a couple of 'huevon' throughout the movie, but for example the prejudice against the Bolivian minor would have had more impact if suggested by Chileans rather than spelled out loud by Americans. Other noticeable actors are Bob Gunton as president Piñera, Juliette Binoche that I barely recognized and the B-movie star Lou Diamond Philips (famous from La Bamba) that I hadn't seen since Bats. My first surprise was to see that the minors had some room to move around. For some reason I always thought they were more restricted. You can see in the movie the things that really happened (like the one minor with both wife and mistress waiting for him) in contrast with the obviously dramatization: the pseudo-romance between the sister and the ministry of mining, him having the idea that finally saves the day... Such exaggerations spoiled a bit the authenticity of the enterprise, but in the end the memory of the true events and the emotion at the final deliverance make it alright.
Rating: 5 /10

Mahana (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Lee Tamahori
	Actors: Temuera Morrison, Akuhata Keefe
	Country: NZ
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 08.08.2016, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview
Synopsis: A piece in the life of the Mahana Maori family in New-Zealand, ruled by the patriarch (Morrison) in the 60s. The family is torn by rivalry with the neighbour Poata family. When the young Simeon (Keefe) starts questionning the life in the farm, the patriarch's anger collides against his wife's kindness. The family understands then slowly the story of the family and of the rivalry.
Review: The charism and power of submission of the patriarch is impressive and settled from the first scene, also having peaks of humour. The first scene settles also the characters of the family that we will follow. In general the construction of the book and scenes is very efficient to explain the family story and the big changes appearing within 103 minutes.  I liked the tensions in that family and the fresh questions of Simeon. Even if the white landlords are depicted as nice persons, the scene in the court shows that the discrimation that is nowadays discussed in the USA or in European countries, that the colonial-like behaviour of white people is not new. And with an example from the antipodes.One big negative point to the movie is that the Maori dialogues were not subtitled! I found the acting very good for the roles.  The whole movie gives some interesting views in the Maori culture, how the families or clans are built, how the communication within the clan works, and also between clans. And also on the way colons and in general white people treated the Maoris in the past. What is the situation now? Is this movie aims at giving a parallel with the current Maori situation? If anybody knows, please comment this post.
Rating: 6 /10

Maggie's plan (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Rebecca Miller
	Actors: Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore
	Country: USA
	Genre: Comedy, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 21.08.2016, Cinema am Ostertor, German version
Synopsis: Maggie (Gerwig) plans to have a baby on her own via insemination. Problem is that she casually falls in love with John (Hawke), a married man, destroying his volatile marriage to the brilliant and impossible Georgette (Moore). But one daughter and three years later, Maggie is out of love. By suspecting John and Georgette are actually perfect for each other, she has a new plan.
Review: The originality of Gerwig acting is a bomb of emotions and a montain of decisions to take in life. This actress gets back her aura from Frances Ha. She is absolutely wonderful. Her role, her dialogues, her facial and body expressions, her emotions in the voice, her confrontation to life as a whole is the new Eve, the modern woman. To me. Even if only few women would (by luck!) react as Gerwig in this movie, her situations are typical from the women I see around me. The modernity of women is caught and this is just beautiful.  Apart from that the story is quite strange as the synopsis explains but by watching the movie it seems quite natural. Especially because everyone talks as an adult. The only character that gets the childish card is the man. He is so easy to manipulate and so easy to manipulate after he finds out that he has been manipulated! And the worse: men are like this! Hilarious.  The other actors are bluffed by Maggie's plans but finally accept them as these look first rather crazy but finally quite logical. Their reactions and dialogues are nice and natural.  The director managed to take the best of the obvious influence of the actors. Thus the tram was good.
Rating: 7 /10

Toni Erdmann (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Maren Ade
	Actors: Peter Simonischek, Sandra Hüller
	Country: D, A
	Genre: Comedy, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 22.07.2016, Schauburg, German version
Synopsis: Ines (Hüller) works as executive consultant in Bucarest. Her father Winfried (Simonischek) visits her surprisingly. They do not have much to say. As Winfried mutes into his alter ego Toni Erdmann the visit turns weird for both. Toni tells he is personal coach and brings Ines into painful situations.
Review: The originality is to have no story, to last two and half hours, and not be boring! Reasons for that is that the identification works perfectly with anyone. Every body had painful moments because of their dad or mother, so has Ines with Toni Erdmann. And basically it is the story. A cumulation of painful moments. All of them are funny as such. Also surprisingly SPOILER where she becomes painful for herself. But through these scenes I did not see much evolution of characters, no real story neither.  Ines starts as executive consultant, finds out she has something else but SPOILER ends as executive consultant in Singapore. By luck the acting is excellently subtle especially by Peter Simonischek.  I absolutely wanted to watch this movie because I heard about a long standing ovation in Cannes not ending with any award. Indeed, the movie is special and awakes some feelings about one's parents. But it is not a great movie to me.
Rating: 5 /10

Genius (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Michael Grandage
	Actors: Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Guy Pearce, Dominic West
	Country: GB, USA
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 01.08.2016, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English version
Synopsis: When, one day of 1929, writer Thomas Wolfe (Law), decided to keep the appointment made by Max Perkins (Firth), editor at Scribner's, he had no illusions. But his novel, which was to become "Look Homeward, Angel", was accepted for publication. The only trouble was that it was overlong (5,000 pages) and had to be reduced. Although reluctant to see his poetic prose trimmed, Wolfe agreed. Helped by Perkins they did it and the book became instantly a favorite with the critics and best seller.
Review: One biopic about a man in the shadow of well-known writers such as Fitzgerald (Pierce) and Hemingway (West). The story is hesitating between a story on the friendship but does not go much in the private relationship; and a story on a best-seller. Nevertheless it is interesting. A few scenes show an emotion perfectly associated to one story aspect. But most them do not know exactly in which direction to go: friendship, work, narcissism. In this sense, I cannot even complain much on the acting of Colin Firth whose acting was not as impressive as in The railway man.  This continuous hesitation and not going full in any direction does not give me much confidence in the director for which it is the first director role.
Rating: 3 /10

Green Lantern (2011)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2011
	Director: Martin Campbell (GoldenEye, Casino Royale)
	Actors: Ryan Reynolds (Buried, Deadpool), Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 12.08.2016, VOD, 10" tablet
Synopsis: Reckless test pilot Hal Jordan (Reynolds) is chosen by an alien ring that gives him power and makes him part of an intergalactic police corps.
Review: The adaptation of the super hero comics book Green Lantern was not much loved by the public, and even its main actor Ryan Reynolds makes fun of it and himself in Deadpool. Indeed it is not a revolutionary super-hero movie but it is neutral to watch, a bit like the Fantastic 4 movies in their time (not the remake, that one was painful). I was not familiar with the mythology of the Green Lantern but it seems interesting for a comics, maybe less so for a cinema adaptation: the Green Lantern are a corps of intergalactic cops powered by the energy of Will, against the bad energy of Fear. The special effects are good. Blake Lively is too obviously an eye candy, while Peter Sarsgaard plays an average villain for a short while. Not much more to say...
Rating: 4 /10