Agent Carter - Season 2 (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Creators: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
	Actors: Hayley Atwell (Captain America: The First Avenger), James D'Arcy, Enver Gjokaj
	Country: USA
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: September 2017, VOD, 40" TV screen
Synopsis: Agent Peggy Carter (Atwell) travels to the new S.S.R. branch on the West Coast to help solve a mysterious case which will have unexpected ramifications and unveil a secret organization and a dangerous alien substance.
Review: As much as the first season was short and easy to watch, this one (although only two episodes longer) felt much slower and I had trouble keeping the motivation to watch it completely. Peggy moves to the West coast which makes for a welcome change in surroundings from grey city streets and docks to more sunny open spaces. The story also shows her more independent and not constantly fighting prejudice against women in her line of work. I also appreciated that after my criticism of not enough "extra-ordinary action" in the first season, this one revolves around new technology, particle accelerators and the so-called Zero Matter. Furthermore, Hydra-style conspiracy is more present and fans of the Universe will recognize from the first three minutes of Episode 1 a symbol rich of meaning for who has seen the Episode 8 Many Heads, One Tale of the third season of the show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. taking place in the same Universe but 60 years later. That kept me going for a while. The characters we know from the first season are back: Sousa, Jarvis (now we get to meet his wife) and a Howard Stark more discreet as busy adapting Comics Books stories for Hollywood with Peggy making fun of the concept (!). What I didn't like about this season? Too many dialogs and love stories that slowed the pace down. So nothing really in particular but a feeling that I wasted too much time watching the show. There will not be a third season which doesn't sadden me, expect for the fact that the decision was taken after the season was over so that it doesn't conclude satisfactorily on a link to the future of the Universe, like the creation of S.H.I.E.L.D.. That leaves me even more with a feeling of time wasted, but I guess this was bound to happen when one watched too many TV-series, especially not only because they are supposed to be good but mainly because they complete a Universe known from other series and movies.
Rating: 3 /10

Life (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Daniel Espinosa
	Actors: Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko, The Day after Tomorrow), Rebecca Ferguson (MI5: Ghost Protocol), Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Horror
	Conditions of visioning: 02.09.2017, in-flight entertainment 10" screen
Synopsis: A space probe bringing back Martian soil is intercepted by the team on board the International Space Station, acting as a quarantine unit for the unlikely case where living organisms would be discovered. The impossible happens and the team will face an unexpectedly active life form.
Review: The recent years have seen an increasing number of fictional series and movies depicting the exploration of the solar system in a realistic way: Europa Report, Gravity, Interstellar, The Martian, Ascension, the Expanse, MARS... and to a certain extend Avatar or Passengers. Life is particular in that it diverts from pure Exploration to broader Science Fiction with a strong emphasis on Thriller and even Horror. This mix of genres translates into the different flavours of movie poster shown at the end of this post. But it does it while maintaining a highly realistic environment (in the current ISS) and in particular zero gravity at all times. A property of Space costly to put in images and that most series/movies usually avoid thanks to rotating wheels (Interstellar, The Martian), constant acceleration (Ascension) or magnetic boots (The Expanse). Some events and character's reactions are unrealistic, but that's normal is such a movie and most of the physics makes sense. From this movie I will remember a group of actors delivering a good performance in an enclosed space, and as already mentioned a spirit of Exploration and discovery that rapidly (but not too rapidly) turns into Horror in the full sense of it. I am tempted to compare my anxiety level in watching some scenes (even though they take place in broad daylight) with the feeling of watching the first Alien, which is a noble reference. In fact I wouldn't recommend this movie to a young audience as it could have on them the effect Alien had on me and lead to a lifetime of watching Genre movies. Another reference that comes to mind is the underrated Sphere with Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone and Samuel L. Jackson. Life was for me a tense experience until the very end.
Rating: 6 /10

Chasing Coral (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Jeff Orlowski
	Actors: Andrew Ackerman, Pim Bongaerts, Neal Cantin
	Country: USA
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 05.08.2017, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: The coral reefs of the world are disappearing because of Global warming. How to make to public aware of that tragic fact?
Review: The Documentary starts a bit like an investigation: gathering testimonies of people that directly observed their sub-marine environment change in the past few years and how it affected their life (especially in the fishing communities). Then on to documenting coral death and discovering a prelude to it: coral bleaching, that has been proven to be directly linked to an increase in water temperature cause by Global warming. And then for the main protagonists the revelation of watching Chasing Ice that gave them the idea of contacting its director and of attempting a similar visual approach for their project: taking photos (or in their case short films) at regular intervals in the same locations across 6-12 months to emphasize the rapid deterioration of corals. In the same spirit as in Chasing Ice, difficulties are encountered: technical, financial, schedule, organizational, with the added one that the team had to predict were warm current would trigger coral bleaching. In the end we get to see some dramatic time-lapses of entire coral fields dying, but the impact is not that strong because the whole Documentary is less thought-through. A remarkable attempt anyway.
Rating: 4 /10

Emmanuel Macron: les coulisses d'une victoire (2017)

	Also Known As: Emmanuel Macron: Behind the Rise
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Yann L'Hénoret
	Actors: Emmanuel Macron, Pierre Arditi, François Bayrou
	Country: F
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 30.07.2017, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: Following the candidate to the French 2017 presidential election until victory day.
Review: I was curious to know more about how our new president reached this position, as I didn't follow closely his rise when it happened. This Documentary produced by the French channel TF1 fills this gap. It is made of footage shot within the close circle of the then-candidate, put together in chronological order without any narration, only some written indication of time, place and current events. This makes the Documentary seem more partial, although the editing choices guide the audience. I felt the Documentary to be quite informative about the main events in the campaign, and showing interesting behind-the-scenes reactions that shed a bit of light on the character of the man and his entourage, although in the end it is more a collection of footage than a Documentary based on research (thus my relatively low rating). I wonder if the Macron team had any say in the final cut. I also wonder if TF1 followed other candidates and only released a Documentary with the footage from the winning team.
Rating: 5 /10

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 4 (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Creators: Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon, Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly)
	Actors: Clark Gregg (Iron Man 1-3, The Avengers), Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, John Hannah (The Mummy)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: July-August 2017, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: New challenges await the team led by Phil Coulson (Gregg): a revenge-driven killer with a flaming skull, ghosts, mad scientists, alternate universes, ...
Review: For those of you not familiar with the concept: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is taking place in the same Universe and in parallel to the events in cinema blockbuster movies like Iron Man, Thor and The Avengers, but no recent movie is occurring in parallel to the fourth season (we only feel the ripple effects of what we saw in Captain America: Civil War). When watching this season you realize how much the three first ones constitute a whole story that reached its ending with the last episode. Indeed it feels like a new start with a new team: Daisy Johnson is not anymore looking for a meaning in her life and Phil Coulson has delegated the role of Director. The season 3 version of the team is also present: Fitz-Simmons, May, Yoyo (note the free webseries around her, complementary to this season) and the Dwayne Johnson ersatz Mack. The season however follows on the events initiated in the previous one with the character of Holden Radcliffe (played by John Hannah) and his cybernetic experiments. At first I was not so found of the way the character of Ghost Rider was introduced, a revenge-driven killer not unlike The Punisher in the season 2 of Daredevil. But then he is linked to one of the great threats in this season, that will itself be eliminated during a mid-season climax and lead to the one great idea: a virtual reality world shamelessly borrowed to The Matrix (a reference is even explicitly made) that I thought at first was just a distraction, but that in fact allowed the series a second life by showing us an alternate reality to the fall of Hydra in season 3. The opening credits were even changed as well as the poster (see below) to reflect this. This brilliant idea saves a season that started for me as relatively weak and with no contribution to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It does not bring anything new to that Universe but allows us to re-live some events under a different angle and meet again some characters we thought we would never see again. The question is now: where can it go from there? Will the next season link with what happens in New York (in the TV-series Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders) or to The Avengers: Infinity War due in cinemas in May 2018?
Rating: 5 /10

Their finest (2016)

	Also Known As: Ihre beste Stunde
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Lone Scherfig
	Actors: Gemma Arterton, Bill Nighy, Sam Claflin, Jack Huston
	Country: GB, S
	Genre: Comedy, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 26.06.2017, Schauburg, Sneak Preview, English with German subtitle
Synopsis: During the London Blitz of World War II, Catrin Cole (Arterton) is recruited by the British Ministry of Information to write scripts for propaganda films that the public will actually watch without scoffing. In the line of her new duties, Cole investigates the story of two young women who supposedly piloted a boat in the Dunkirk Evacuation. Although it proved a complete misapprehension, the story becomes the basis for a fictional film with some possible appeal. As Cole labors to write the script with her new colleagues such as Tom Buckley (Claflin), veteran actor Ambrose Hilliard (Nighy) must accept that his days as a leading man are over as he joins the project. Together, this disparate trio must struggle against such complications such as sexism against Cole, jealous relatives, and political interference in their artistic decisions even as London endures the bombs of the enemy. In the face of those challenges, they share a hope to contribute something meaningful in this time of war and in their own lives.
Review: The story is nice. In times of adversity, this movie-making team believes to do something not only for their own ego or for art but also for their country. The most interesting in the story is the daily clashes of Catrin with her husband Ellis (Huston) believing he is the one who should bring the money home and with Ambrose Hilliard believing he is still a big star. Exactly like the modern woman, she understands how to handle these guys to take the best of them. Even if the ego of her husband is at the end too large. Unfortunately for the feminist, Catrin becomes very traditionalist with Tom Buckley. Well, the movie takes place in the 40s, thus it might be normal.  The acting of Bill Nighy is particularly good and hilarious as it is not a second clear whether he is serious or not. A lot of black humour is coming out from his scenes.  As if everything was shot in a studio, the lights, the scenery, the camera are very clean and classical, missing some space.
Rating: 5 /10

Passengers (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Morten Tyldum (Headhunters, The Imitation Game)
	Actors: Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games 1-3, X-men: First Class), Chris Pratt (Jurassic World, Guardians of the Galaxy 1-2), Michael Sheen
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama, SF, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 24.07.2017, in-flight entertainment 10" screen.
Synopsis: Among the thousands of passengers hibernating in a spaceship on a 120-year journey, Jim (Pratt) is the only one to wake up far too early. Stuck in that position, he will go through various mental phases until he falls in love with Aurora (Lawrence), still asleep.
Review: Nowadays Science Fiction is so mainstream and Special Effects so common in Cinema that they can be used as (expensive) backdrop for a relatively simple Romance story like the one in Passengers (this is not The Matrix or Star Wars in which they are central). As I mentioned about Oblivion or The Island among others, the pitch of this movie could come from The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits TV-series but pumped-up to be a big Hollywood modern blockbuster. Not that I complain, because it allows watching a futuristic Universe in a different context than a War or Action story. The story in Passengers progresses on a pleasant slow pace and is relying heavily on the comic performance of Pratt in a first time and on the charm of Lawrence later. In addition to two good actors, it was thus important to have a good-looking and well-though spaceship for them to evolve in as it is almost a character in itself. Drama unavoidably punctuates the second act before the heroic actions and "happy" ending of the third. Quite a predictable structure but the movie doesn't try to hide it, so the audience can take pleasure in anticipating the unavoidable. The slow pace again helps with that, and leaves room for dialogs and reflections about life and where we are going, and a 120-year journey to a new life on a new planet is not a bad place for such reflections.
Rating: 6 /10

Marseille - Season 1 (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Creator: Dan Franck
	Actors: Gérard Depardieu (Les Anges Gardiens), Benoît Magimel (La Haine, La Vie est un long Fleuve tranquille), Géraldine Pailhas, Nadia Farès (Les démons de Jésus, Les rivières pourpres)
	Country: F
	Genre: Polar, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: July 2017, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: The Mayor of Marseille Robert Taro (Depardieu) is planning on retiring and leaving the town hall to his protege Lucas Barres (Magimel), until he gets betrayed by this one.
Review: Following the trend observed in the US, in France as well big movie stars are nowadays very present in modern TV-series, some produced by Netflix like this one. The political games in Marseille remind me of House of Cards, but scaled down from the US presidency to the mayorship of France's second biggest city, and adapted to match its people / climate / history / interests... I never liked French Polar or Thriller TV-series, always finding them too staged, with theatrical actors out of the Academy and/or with too limited ambition. I was glad to see that Marseille is quite different, probably partially thanks to the showrunner and director of five episodes: the acclaimed Florent-Emilio Siri of whom I liked Nid de guêpes in 2002, an action thriller in enclosed space homage to John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, his first Hollywood movie Hostage with Bruce Willis, the polemic L'ennemi intime about the Franco-Algerian war, but not so much his first comedy Pension Complète. He also directed the story of a video game series (Splinter Cell). In fact from him I miss only his first movie Une minute de silence and the recent biopic on French pop star Claude François Cloclo. Note that Benoît Magimel stars in most of his movies. Marseille contains just enough characters and sub-plots to stay interesting (and tense) through the eight episodes of its first season: treason, power games, love and life stories, corruption... Even Depardieu that can be antipathetic has the right place here, and in fact turns out to play a character at the opposite of what I was expecting after last seeing him in 36 Quai des Orfèvres.
Rating: 6 /10

Trespassing against us (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Adam Smith
	Actors: Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson, Lyndsay Marshal
	Country: GB
	Genre: Drama, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 03.07.2017, Schauburg, Sneak Preview, English with German subtitle
Synopsis: Living as pariahs on the outskirts of Gloucestershire, three generations of Cutlers, the infamous family of professional criminals, spend their time planning the next heist and mocking the Police. Under Colby's wing, the family's patriarch (Gleeson), the one who pulls all the strings and the source of all evil, Chad (Fassbender) the eldest son, finds himself wavering from his desire to live a quiet life with his wife Kelly (Marshal) and son away from crime and his fearful respect to his father. When Colby devises a plan targeting Lord Lieutenant's inestimable private collection of art, the Police will come after them hard and a life of bad decisions, violence and crime will begin to collapse, underlining the fact that Chad, his father's worthy son and heir needs to make his decisions fast. Will he attempt to oppose and break up the family, or will he spread wings and begin to live his new life? After all, you've only got one family
Review: The family story dealing with the difficulty for sons (and actually also daughters) to cut with their fathers (and also mothers) is told in a very silent way. Chad never talks about it. But his reactions, his actions reflect all the time the allmighty power of the father. The father forces his son to act as he wants, by ingenuous pressure on the grandson or on Kelly. This is something that I have seen around me, by luck not directly experienced. This psychological pressure is really disgusting. Chad even feels remorse of leaving his disgusting and threatening family for his own wife and son. Time to time there is some action or some comedy to disrupt the heavy family atmosphere and bring some rythm in the story. The acting of Fassbender is intense as the role is. The main roles, Chad and Colby, the main characters are intense and therefore very interesting. The character of Chad's brother is so stupidly funny that it also quite marked my mind.  The ideas of robbery are quite good and the car races with the police are well shot.
Rating: 6 /10

Viceroy's house (2017)

	Also Known As: Der Stern von Indien
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Gurinder Chadha
	Actors: Gillian Anderson, Hugh Bonneville, Manish Dayal, Huma Qureshi, Simon Callow, Lily Travers
	Country: GB, S
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 31.07.2017, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, English version with German subtitles
Synopsis: New Dehli in March 1947. The huge and stately Viceroy's Palace is like a beehive. Its five hundred employees are busy preparing the coming of Lord Louis Mountbatten (Bonneville), who has just been appointed new (and last) viceroy of India by prime minister Clement Attlee (Callow). Mountbatten, whose difficult task consists in overseeing the transition of British India to independence, arrives at the Palace, accompanied by his Edwina (Anderson), his liberal-minded wife and by his eighteen-year-old daughter Pamela (Travers). Meanwhile, in the staff quarters, a love story is born between Jeet (Daval), a Hindu, and Aalia (Qureshi), a Muslim beauty. Things will prove difficult - not to say very difficult - both on the geopolitical and personal level.
Review: The story starts in an interesting way as if we would experience two stories. But in fact we only see the story of the heroic viceroy who is able to handle with all parties and is betrayed by his own colleagues. The love story of Aalia and Jeet is fully secondary. The story of the good wife pushing diplomatic and progressive agreements between the British crown and India is as secondary as the daughter Pamela helping poor Indians after getting the finest lunch.At the end it looks like the Viceroy has been fooled by a bunch of Indian and British traitors. How naive is the viewer supposed to be? At least some key points of the Indian history are correctly rendered that may not be so commonly known. The split of India and Pakistan, its rationale, its colonial and economical context. The acting of the British characters is very stuck while the Indian characters are all passionate and dramatic. What kind of stereotypes are we supposed to swallow?  The light in any circumstance, bright Sun outside and dark appartment, is well mastered.  I suppose that the intention of the movie was not to pull down Indians, but for sure to excuse the Viceroy and the British crown. Who would believ this tale? Not me.
Rating: 3 /10