American Psycho — A murderer's violent trail, sure, but not just that — 7*/10

• Overall: Tense, violent and surprising. Not for a relax evening.
• Who is it for? Those looking for some psychological suspense and violence with a certain offbeat flair.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144084/
• Known actors: Christian Bale (one of his best role), Reese Witherspoon and Willem Dafoe.
• Setting: Produced in 2000 it is done as a period piece of the late 80s within the circles of rich investment bankers and socialites.
• Style: It is part parody and critique of the era and social strata, part psychotic episode and sociopathic killing spree without explicit visuals.
• Pacing: Very controlled. Gradual.
• Intro: Slowly meshes the audience with the main characters. Smooth.
• Story: It grows bit by bits until it culminates, so the viewer gets used to what's happening. The mental state of the main character and its incremental disintegration is done with obvious care.
• Ending: Quite a shock and a bit confusing until it sinks in. It is what makes the movie.
• Dialogs: A master piece of saying nothing with so many words representing the superficiality of that type of person.
• Characters: Solid and well built.
• Acting: Incredibly on the spot.
• Visuals: Showing their age. Combine that with the fact that it's a period piece and part parody, it feels older than it is. It wasn't so bad when I first saw it, but now, 16 years later, it's a combination that’s flawed. It's still possible to appreciate it, though.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas — An adorable depiction of a classic tale — 7*/10

How the Grinch Stole Christmas offers us a great performance by Jim Carrey. The story is goofy and well portrayed. The kids will love it and the adults will find it funny. The sentiments and morals are painted wide and difficult to miss, while some moments are touching, and others are totally silly. Overall it's great entertainment, just don't expect something delicate.

To put a smile on your face.
7*/10

The Way of the Gun - Get hooked by the story development - 9*/10

The Way of the Gun is a unemotional view of the modern gunslinger. Many violent, almost abject, firefights, solid characters, great acting, very interesting story with nice depth, and excellent ending.

Actors include: Ryan Phillippe, Benicio Del Toro, Juliette Lewis, Geoffrey Lewis, and James Caan.

If you don't mind violence, blood, and lack of morals, it's a must.
9*/10

Traffic — Gritty drama and action with a star studded cast — 9*/10

Traffic is a solid drama by Steven Soderbergh that's all about the drug war an its real life futility. The scenario is a nice mesh of stories that are captivating with lots of drama, some excellent action, a bit of intrigue, and some suspense.

The acting is uniformly great for this star studded cast. Here are those that truly distinguished themselves: Benicio Del Toro, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Erika Christensen, and Don Cheadle. They admirably portrayed the main characters.

In secondary roles, I also liked Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, and Luis Guzmán. In an uncredited and very small part, you can briefly see the beautiful Salma Hayek.

A must see, unless you don't like tough movies.
9*/10

The Beach — Very intense and gut wrenching at time — 9*/10

The Beach is about paradise, what we'll do for it and the consequences. Nothing is perfect, everything has a cost.

The good. Intensely dramatic scenes. A modern phantasmagoric mix. Superbly paced scenario with great cohesion and editing. Solid characters, very realistic actions and reactions. Nice score. Superb acting.

The actors. I'll just mention the two best ones: Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Carlyle.

The bad. That video game overlay. It's not necessarily a faux pas, because it's well tailored to the persona and his psychosis, but it just doesn't fit very nicely with the rest of the movie style.

The ugly. Nothing.

The result. A must see. Sensible souls should avoid for the drama, and a very gory scene.

9*/10

X-Men — Super powered humans battle it out — 8*/10

X-Men is the Marvel super hero movie that finally made it and launched them on a series of quality film. It made it because it was great.

The good. Lots of super action. Nice displays of powers. Interesting story. A bit of intrigue. Well done bantering. A few odd references to the comic books for the fans. Great battles.

The actors. Hugh Jackman is perfect as the Wolverine, he's just missing a bit of bulk, but the attitude is there. Patrick Stewart is also right on as professor X. Ian McKellen makes a great super villain as Magneto. At that point James Marsden wasn't well known and this role is a little bit weak for him, he can perform better. Although Halle Berry was already a star, and she fits her role to perfection, it didn't stretch her acting talent at all. Anna Paquin plays the sweet Rogue with a good sense of dramatic flair.

The bad. The CG are starting to show. They're not too old yet, but we can see them on the edge. The story is pretty basic compared to the intrigue we can find in the comics. And Cyclops never was such a twerp in the books.

The ugly. Nothing.

The result. Great super hero entertainment.

8*/10

Groove — The archetypical underground rave — 10*/10

Groove is the perfect rave in the sense that it's not commercial, it's from the fringe by locals, there's no alcohol, it's small, and everybody is having fun. However, nothing is perfect and so the night goes...

The good. Excellent music. You meet almost every kind of raver. The characters are nice, well developed, and acted just right. Each scene has something special and represent a usual occurrence in a rave. You can feel the ecstasy taking hold, and you can live the tracks as if you were dancing the floor. The dialogs, interactions, actions, reactions, settings, and costumes are very realistic.

The bad. Nothing.

The ugly. Nothing.

The result. If you've ever experienced a rave, after seeing this, you'll be looking for your next one.

10*/10

Requiem for a Dream — Human beings exposed in their weakest state — 10*/10

Requiem for a Dream is about losing a battle against your inner demons, and putting them to sleep with an artificial dream machine.

The good. Masterful editing and camera shots giving an incredible inside perspective. A score that plunges us rapidly into that world and its sad story and keeps us there. A well built scenario revolving around weak, but very human characters.

The actors. Great performance by the our four protagonist. Jared Leto as the focus point. Ellen Burstyn as his mother. Jennifer Connelly as his girlfriend. Marlon Wayans as his friend and partner.

The bad. Tough to watch.

The ugly. Things you might not want to think about.

The result. A gritty perspective on how fragile humans are, and to what extreme they will go to bury their angst. A must see if you're ready for it.

10*/10

Charlie's Angels — See them in a modern action packed format — 7*/10

Charlie's Angels is an excellent modernization of the old TV series.

The good. Beautiful sexy women. Lots of action, fights and wirework. Nice car chases and wrecks. Good funny dialogs. Interesting story. Great score and music.

The actors. Cameron Diaz is at her most adorable and charming in a very innocent and clueless way. She's just perfect. Drew Barrymore is obviously living a dream job, and it shows she's having fun. Lucy Liu is more impish than we've ever seen her before, in a very serious manner, which is a strange combination. There's no denying it, all three angels had a blast doing this flick and gave us a excellent performance. Bill Murray is very funny, and a great complement to the girls. Crispin Glover is the star of the villains, we just can't get enough of him. Sam Rockwell over does it a bit, but nicely. Finally, I'll just mention some other good performance in decreasing order of magnitude: Luke Wilson, Kelly Lynch, Tim Curry, Matt LeBlanc, and LL Cool J.

The bad. Very simple villain. More over, his awkwardly social cover is creepy.

The ugly. The mainframe. If you know anything about computer, and security, this is very lame.

The result. Excellent entertainment with fun and action.

7*/10

Chocolat — The tale of a mother and her will to help using cocoa — 8*/10

Chocolat is about the oddball in the village, the outsider bringing new perspective. It's presented to us as a tale told from mother to daughter, almost like a legend.

The photography is beautiful. The sets are very immersive and realistic, with fitting wardrobe. The story is interesting and light hearted, with some hit of drama and laughters. The characters are well built and very well played.

The most annoying thing about this film is the mix of accent, real or false. I admit it's probably because French is my mother tongue, but still. You eventually get used to it though. Also, the ending is just too perfect, especially concerning the mayor. I know the whole story has a fairy-tale undertone, but he completely reverse not only his view on the stranger, but also his demeanor and his religious views on the sanctity of marriage. It's too much.

Still, I recommend to everyone, especially if you like a bit of romance and tall tales.

8*/10

Under Suspicion — How twisted can a case get without calling it insanity — 9*/10

Under Suspicion is a total mind fuck of an investigation. The story and intrigue are powerful, and extremely well choreographed. It's so twisted and tight, with the right score, a good photography, and smooth editing, that by end you get to hate just about every character.

Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, Thomas Jane, and Monica Bellucci are just perfect for their role, playing their assigned persona just right and on the edge.

It's not for everybody, since its a harsh subject matter and no psychological punches are pulled as Hackman's character is harassed. Also beware, very little happen in this film, the game is all mental.

I highly recommend it for the maddening asinine trip you'll get on.

9*/10

Unbreakable — A super hero on a more realistic human scale — 8*/10

Unbreakable by M. Night Shyamalan is about making super heroes into realistic human figures instead of modern gods. The idea is interesting, and well exploited. You have a good intrigue, if a slow story, a sprinkle of romance, a bit of action, and good dose of drama. A nice mix with good visuals.

Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson deliver each a pretty good performance. Robin Wright has a small but well played part. However, the rest of the cast is giving us only an acceptable performance.

The dialogs are correct, but they do not bear scrutiny. The score is nice, but repetitive. Finally, a couple of logical flaws can be spotted when attentive to the story. Overall, it makes the whole flick unsubstantial, diminishing our enjoyment on subsequent viewing.

It is a nice hero tale and is a recommendable film especially on first viewing.

8*/10

Cast Away — A lone survivor on a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific — 9*/10

Cast Away shows you what life would be for a lucky shipwreck or plane crash survivor on a deserted island in the Pacific. It's tough, and very lonely.

The movie does an excellent job of showing us that, and also of setting up the character's life, and what would happen after he returns home. It is a drama, but it's not something designed to upset the viewer. Everything is done right: the editing, the soundtrack, the camera shots, the sets, the costumes, the accessories, the scenario, the dialogs, and the story.

Tom Hanks is perfect, a high note in his career, without a doubt. He brings excellent dramatic emotions to the screen, as well as incredible poise in the loneliness of his character and his defeated look, not to mention going to incredible dietary length to get really emaciated.

The only negative things I've found, are not that noticeable. First, the Christmas family dinner is a bit over done in true Hollywood fashion. Second, the "sea" during the crash is obviously set in a large artificial basin and the huge waves are CG. Third, the night time scenes on the island don't look real.

That being said, it's a must see.

9*/10

Keeping the Faith — About a priest, a rabbi, and a girl for romance and comedy — 8*/10

Keeping the Faith is unforgettable and unusual twist on the love triangle story. You know that joke about the priest and the rabbi? Well, that's not it, this is something else, something new.

This movie is a sensible blend of comedy and romance. There's no exaggerations (well, maybe excepting that one weird date) and everything has a sense or realism, including the dialogs.

Ben Stiller plays it straight. Jenna Elfman is an adorable power business woman. Edward Norton complete the trio with a good performance in a slightly lesser role.

There's a nice soundtrack attached to this interesting script with a number of cute twists. You will not be bored, you will definitively be charmed, and have a number of chuckles.

See it, for some simply enjoyable entertainment.

8*/10

Gladiator — A violent and grandiose clash of titans in the ancient grimy world or Rome — 10*/10

Gladiator has it all. A great story that, even with the old revenge idea, will pick you up and plunge you right in. Gloriously grandiose shots that will fill your eyes and your imagination. Acting that will never take you for granted and just give you real emotions. Dialogs that are well thought, and will only be simple if it fits the scene or the character. Smooth editing and excellent score to be bettered only by the best. And, finally, action with grimy characters that gives this movie the heartbeat of a titan.

The opening scene is particularly exceptional. The intrigue gets going pretty quickly putting our unwilling hero in a real and fatal mess. Each piece of the drama is put in place carefully, until everything comes together and the clash happens. It's one of Ridley Scott's great movies.

Russel Crowe is the perfect hero, Joaquin Phoenix is truly mad, and both are irresistibly aimed at each other. Connie Nielsen play a very frightened sister that's at the same time courageous, yet worried about her son.

This time, I tried listening to it with a very critical eye and I found only the last moment of clarity of Maximus, when he gives his last order, to be a weak and somewhat artificial moment. Beyond that, unlike him, I would have bent my neck right away, and plotted after, but that's a personal decision. It would have killed the whole paradigm right away and made me less of righteous a hero than him.

Anyway you dice it or slice it, it's a must see, unless you have difficulty with violence.

10*/10

Pitch Black — Space monsters with original set ideas, but only for sci-fi fans — 5*/10

Pitch Black is science-fiction movie with space monsters, and as with every other such flick, it's a bad rip-off of Alien. That being said, it has some strong feature that makes it impossible to ignore. Its flaws make it barely watchable.

Let's start with the bad for a change. The creatures are poorly designed with bad CGI to boot. The lighting is wrong most of the time. The characters are at best unidimensional. The "natural outdoor" set pieces obviously fake when it comes to rock formations. The story is extremely simple, and finally, the scenario as well as its implementation have a number of logical flaws.

Then, what has it going for itself? Well, the mood for one is excellent, its strange and tight. The main ideas about the setup, how the characters go there, and the environment, are refreshingly interesting. The fact that the action takes place in the dark and mostly without sets is a stroke of pure. genius. Now, if only they could have made the lighting "real", to correspond with the light sources available, it would have been perfect, and the mood entrancing.

If you're a sci-fi lover, it would be worth a watch, it's different. If you're a real fan of Vin Diesel, then go for it.

5*/10

Bedazzled — Your basic comedy about the devil and wishes gone awry — 6*/10

Bedazzled has a very simple premise and deliver a very simple comedy full of chuckles. Mix a sexy devil, a clueless anti-hero, some wishes gone terribly wrong, and voilà!

It's funny, with each wish and consequences well devised. The dialogs are good and the script well thought out.

Unfortunately, the movie over all feels a little cheap when you see it for the second time. It's not enough to stop me, but... What create that impression is that they reuse the same 5 actors to do different secondary characters. Also, some special effects are not as good as they could have been, and most scenes feel a bit empty. Lastly, Brendan Fraser's character is a bit too geeky at the beginning, but over doing it is a common flaw in Hollywood movies (as I've said many times).

Still, it's worth seeing, especially if you like devil related comedies.

6*/10

High Fidelity — A movie about a breakup with humor and lots of intelligent inner monologues — 10*/10

High Fidelity is another of my all time favorite. John Cusack excels at brooding philosophical monologs loaded with sarcastic humor, and this movie really makes him shine.

He plays a sort of half-decent asshole which he admits being. However, the jokes and the situation makes it hard to see and kind of love him, which in turn enables you to really appreciate the whole story.

The characters are well played, Jack Black is his exuberant early self, and even the other sales clerk provides us with a lovable quiet self-effaced persona (a great balance to Cusack and Black). John Cusack himself is great, if a tiny bit over the top (which makes the movie, I must say), and his sister, Joan, is particularly well casted.

The dialogs are near perfect, the montage is without reproach (I especially like the one live mental alternate possibilities), and the soundtrack amazing.

See it, especially if you like lots of smart text.

10*/10