Babine — Fantastique conte d'un petit village du Québec — 8*/10

Un conte, une légende, une belle histoire de nos arrières pays. Peu importe l'angle sous lequel on regarde ce film, il a de quoi fasciner. Le visuel est superbe (à l'exception du taureau), le script est captivant et les détails, incluant les beaux costumes donne toutes ses lettres à l'intrigante narration. De plus, toutes les interprétations, mis à part celle du prêtre neuf, sont à la hauteur de la légende, et même si la fin moderne laisse un certain arrière-gout peu plaisant, le résultat est un fort divertissement. Conseillé à tous.

Information et synopsis: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1275521/

Afternoon Delight — A frank look at the standard model of living — 8*/10

• Scenario: This is not about action, this is not about drama, this is a critique of the golden standard for the successful living in the upper middle class of America, done from the point of view of women. It's slow, but the characters have a strong presence. Sex work is not misrepresented, although psychotherapy is. While I'll praise the "find your true yourself" idea, I found that "look into the eye" kind of mentality a bit sickening at the end.
• Known actors: Kathryn Hahn, Jane Lynch, Michaela Watkins, Jessica St. Clair and Juno Temple.
• Visual & sound: Well done. Captures our attention in a very solid manner.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2312890/
• Who is it for? Those who don't mind thinking and won't miss action or do not need laughter to get through a movie.

Divergent — Another teen oriented movie — 6*/10

• Scenario: The story itself is interesting, even though the intrigue is minimal and the characters roughly sketched, simple. It lacks substance where it could have made a full meal. Everything was there for it, but the script contained logical flaws, the acting was below par, the action lousy, the hand to hand combat scenes lacked credibility and the conclusion was too quick, almost anti-climactic.
• Known actors: Kate Winslet, Ashley Judd, Jai Courtney, Zoë Kravitz and Miles Teller.
• Visual & sound: Good.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1840309/
• Who is it for? Teens and other lovers of such fan fiction or those in need of an apocalyptish sci-fi.

I didn't see when it came out on the big screen because I feared it would be just one more teen saga and I was right. I don't think it's worth spending money on this, unless you're the target audience.

La guerre des tuques — Même les nostalgiques comme moi l'apprécieront — 7*/10

Le scénario est plus saccadé que l'original. Les dialogues coulent moins bien, et sonnent donc moins authentiques. Le château est malheureusement exagéré sans que ce soit nécessaire. Toutefois, le film demeure intéressant, pouvant soutenir aisément l'attention des parents, très divertissant et bien fait, avec un style visuel très joli. Personnellement, j'aurais utilisé la bande sonore originale et mis une animation par dessus pour le moderniser sans le refaire. Cela dit, même les nostalgiques comme moi l'apprécieront.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 — For those who want to see the end — 6*/10

• Scenario: It contains so many logical flaws it's astounding. Only the end is logical if overdone. They went for something like LOTR, but messed it up bad. The action is not too bad. The sequence of events is confusing because of the lack of logic sprinkled everywhere. The first chapter was great, entertaining and something to discover with joy. However, the other movies should just have been combined and made into a single good one.
• Known actors: Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Elizabeth Banks, Mahershala Ali, Jeffrey Wright and Stanley Tucci.
• Visual & sound: Well done.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1951266/
• Who is it for? Those who want to see the end.

Krampus — A dark side to Christmas can also easily entertain — 7*/10

• Scenario: Yes it's somewhat silly and the characters are exaggerated in the intro as any Hollywood movie is prone to do, but there's a nice kind of humour to this darker tale of Christmas. You'll cross path with some bits of horror and drama. You'll visit action and one liners. However, I assure you, you'll be entertained to a nicely warm degree. I love the ending!
• Known actors: Adam Scott, Toni Collette and David Koechner.
• Visual & sound: Pretty good. Very nice visual style.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3850590/
• Who is it for? Those looking for a different kind of Holliday movie and who don't mind a bit of darkness.

Rocky II — An honest, credible and good sequel — 6*/10

• Scenario: Yes, it does still contain some cheesy elements and it is still a poor example of boxing techniques, but the storyline of this sequel couldn't be more inline with its predecessor to the point of even stealing the whole end scene from the first chapter and make it the intro. It's not as novel in its development as the original and it's more predictable, but it's still interesting and good entertainment.
• Known actors: Sylvester Stallone, Carl Weathers and Burgess Meredith.
• Visual & sound: Slightly better than the first one. Obviously more budget.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079817/
• Who is it for? Stallone fans and those who want to see how the story goes on.

Rocky — Boxing with a lot of heart and guts but little technique — 7*/10

• Scenario: It has a few cheesy moments, especially in the beginning, but slowly you see the heart and soul of the characters appear and you get to really feel the movie. Great ambiance and well portrayed personas if sometimes a bit overdone in the secondary roles. There's little real boxing technique showed. Solid dialogs. Entertaining flick. A classic that shows its decrepitude while still sustaining the test of time and becoming a period piece.
• Known actors: Sylvester Stallone, Carl Weathers and Burgess Meredith.
• Visual & sound: The visual is mostly crappy, especially the stock footage, but it adds to the ambiance.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075148/
• Who is it for? Stallone fans and those who want to see his beginning.

I've got to give it to Stallone for writing this script. Great job.

The Jane Austen Book Club — A little on the light and easy side — 6*/10

• Scenario: The story itself is captivating with lots of nice turns, even if none of them are really surprising or even novel. The unfortunate thing is the way the old marriage or must-be-with-someone-at-all-cost mentality is explained (the worst part being the first third of the film). It feels like we're reading a For Dummies book. Because of that, it seems antiquated, like Austen movies rarely do or at least are given the benefit of being a period piece. The acting is good, except for the philandering husband who is pretty bad as well as being an extremely annoying character. Beyond that, it's light and entertaining.
• Known actors: Emily Blunt.
• Visual & sound: Nice.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0866437/
• Who is it for? For Austen fans or those looking for something light and vaguely romantic.

Creed — A surprisingly good member of the Rocky boxing family — 7*/10

• Scenario: Not as much depth as the trailer would suggest with a romance that's too fast and light, but it's definitely one of the best of the Rocky series. Solid acting and interesting story, although you don't really feel the youth's difficulties and this leads the viewer to not really understand the full depth of his later motivations. Action and boxing is tight. Nice entertainment and great followup.
• Known actors: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone (who delivered a very good performance, one of his best) and Tessa Thompson.
• Visual & sound: Nice visual. Music was good, but did not fit the English boxer.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3076658/
• Who is it for? Rocky and Stallone fans as well as those who like a good boxing movie.

The Night Before — Cool easy and funny silly comedy — 6*/10

• Scenario: It's funny, just as the trailer suggested, lots of silly things in the air and some interesting ideas. Unfortunately, it doesn't always keep our attention, it sorts of wanes and waxes. That being said, it's still a cool film and easy laughter material.
• Known actors: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie, Jillian Bell, Lizzy Caplan, Michael Shannon, Tracy Morgan, James Franco and Miley Cyrus.
• Visual & sound: Nice.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3530002/
• Who is it for? Anyone looking to turn their brain off with a nice slightly silly Christmas comedy.

Spanglish — A very touching comedy with a little crazy — 7*/10

• Scenario: Touching, a little crazy, very funny, full of emotions with an excellent and truly courageous ending. Totally entertaining and the few tears we encounter just make it better. Sandler is the only one that doesn't totally fit in the picture. He's not really believable as a chef and his kitchen doesn't feel like a real one. However, he is the perfect doormat type husband who accepts everything.
• Known actors: Adam Sandler, Téa Leoni, Paz Vega and Cloris Leachman.
• Visual & sound: Nice.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371246/
• Who is it for? Those looking for something vaguely romantic, totally funny with a touch of crazy.

Danny Collins — Best seen without paying too much like on Netflix — 6*/10

• Scenario: There's no real flaw, or at least no big ones, in this flick. However, Many things are missing. Substance for one. It has some, but not enough to have a good meal. Novelty is another. I mean, it takes a few jabs at bringing something new to the table, but otherwise fails. The dialogs are overly predictable or simple. The story is barely interesting. The characters have few things to talk about and are barely kept alive by the quality of the actors. Finally, the end just missed being perfect by a few extra seconds that gave too much away. That being said, the Pacino did a believable burnt out star.
• Known actors: Al Pacino, Annette Bening, Jennifer Garner, Bobby Cannavale, Christopher Plummer and Nick Offerman.
• Visual & sound: Nice.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772288/
• Who is it for? Those who really need to see Al Pacino.

Grudge Match — Some good things but not enough — 6*/10

• Scenario: There are some nice elements to the story, but too often it takes the easy road and in some occasions, it even stumbles on, missing its mark and not letting the viewer make the emotional connection in the sequence of events. It's funny, with nice acting here or there, but it's too sweet. It's entertaining yet you shouldn't have any high expectations.
• Known actors: Kim Basinger, Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Hart, Alan Arkin, Jon Bernthal, LL Cool J, Ireland Basinger Baldwin, Anthony Anderson, Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson.
• Visual & sound: Nice, nothing special. The CG work is pretty bad.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1661382/
• Who is it for? Just those who really must.