Underworld — A good dark vampire versus werewolves action film — 7*/10

• Overall: This is the kind of flick that's easy to like and be entertained by. Lots of good things, few weak ones.
• Who is it for? Anyone looking for some action, vampires or werewolves.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0320691/
• Known actors: Kate Beckinsale, Michael Sheen and Bill Nighy.
• Style: Dark vampire-werewolf action.
• Pacing: Quite fast with a few pauses. Very good.
• Intro: Good. Narrated monologue.
• Story: Lots of action, a nice little intrigue, some betrayals, a few reversals and romance. Everything you need to keep things interesting.
• Ending: Abrupt. Although it had been going on for a little while, the finishing touch kind of comes too easily.
• Epilogue: Short. A few words, a few images. Just right.
• Dialogs: Simple, but interesting.
• Characters: Well built, with nice complexities, but without enough depth.
• Acting: Surprisingly solid, although there are two exceptions. The character of Kraven is overplayed, I think, and the one of Michael Corvin is played too weakly, you can't really feel him.
• Visuals: Love the dark look. Grimy for the werewolves, sleek and chic for the vampires.
• Special Effects: Great, but you can see a few minor imperfections, now. It used to be amazing.
• Costumes: Great.
• Afterthoughts: Although it has a lot of strengths, with the exception of one actor, this film actually feels as good as it could have been and I'm not sure why. I think it's a combination of that actor, the characters and the ending.

Something's Gotta Give — Light and funny romantic comedy — 6*/10

• Scenario: It doesn't break the mold, but it does have its moments. Hilarity is its strong selling point. You'll have fun. It's not complicated and easy to laugh at without real embarrassment or silly antics, even the unceasing crying and writing, which was a bit much, was funny.
• Setting: Beautiful and nice to look at though. Rich. As usual, Hollywood is presenting an image of the American dream that the average citizen can't afford.
• Ending: Too easy, rosy and sweet. Cut it at the bridge before the taxi arrives and it would already be much better.
• Dialogs: Interesting, well articulated and pretty funny.
• Characters: Simple with nice details.
• Acting: Good, although the parts are easy to play.
• Known actors: Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Amanda Peet, Keanu Reeves, Jon Favreau and Paul Michael Glaser.
• Special Effects: Few, but well done to the exception of the Eiffel Tower.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337741/
• Entertainment value: Pretty good if you don't mind that it's using an age old recipe.
• Who is it for? Those looking for something easy, romantic and funny and any Keaton or Nicholson fans.

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle — A sequel not worth seeing — 6*/10

The first instalment (read review here) was highly improbable bordering on the impossible, this chapter is impossible overlapping the completely ridiculous. More over, the CGI are pretty bad.

I only recommend it to those who liked the first one and are not afraid of seeing its image tarnished as well as those die hard fans who just can't get enough of Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz. They're sexier than ever in this flick.

Holes — Good for the whole family but nothing spectacular — 6*/10

• Scenario: Very predictable, yet some twists were unexpected. The background story is well woven and the interactions between the kids are interesting, even they're overly simplistic at the beginning. The characters are simple and without any depth. Still, it's a nice distraction.
• Known actors: Sigourney Weaver, Shia LaBeouf, Patricia Arquette, Jon Voight, Tim Blake Nelson, Siobhan Fallon Hogan and Henry Winkler.
• Visual & sound: Acceptable, at times not so good especially for the lizards, but not to the point of being too distracting.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311289/
• Who is it for? Those looking for something light and nice, something the whole family can watch.

Freddy vs. Jason — As far as gory slasher movie goes you can't go wrong here — 6*/10

• Scenario: Inventive and interesting scenario for a gory slasher movie. There are a number of silly things that go with the style, but the worst are thankfully absent which gives us the opportunity to appreciate the work. I had fun watching it. More than once. It is what it is though.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0329101/
• Who is it for? Freddy and Jason fans as well as any slasher aficionados and those curious about this kind of flick, but usually don't the like the mindless idiocy that goes with it.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl — This is THE pirate movie — 10*/10

• Story: Well told with laughter, dark magic and a nice sound intrigue. It will captivate everyone.
• Characters: Archetypical, but each is very interesting, unique, and well developed.
• Dialogs: Glib, solid, funny.
• Scenario: A roller coaster. Fast paced action mixed with nice moody scenes. Amazing battle scenes, with great sword fighting of high caliber and realism.
• Actors: This is where Johnny Depp created his famous character Jack Sparrow who is now the default standard in any pirate world. Personally, I don't think Orlando Bloom is a good actor, but he did give here his best performance ever, and credible one, that he has yet to equal. All cast members did and great job and they include Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush and Jonathan Pryce.
• Photography: Good action camera work. Amazingly beautiful sets and decors with loads of details, as were the impeccable costumes.
• Sound: Absolutely stupendous music and score that bring out alternatively dread or fun, but mostly a great urge to shout, yell and join in the action.
• Special effects: Marvellous. Great attention to details and perfect rendering which can still amaze today, more than 10 years later.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325980/
• Who is it for? Anyone who doesn't mind action. A must see.

This is the best of the series without a doubt. The novelty and attention to details make it paramount.

Bruce Almighty — Funny, even hilarious, if a little simple — 7*/10

• Story: The basic idea is very interesting. The finished product is funny, often hilarious. However, it's a bit easy and at times predictable. Je jokes are mostly juvenile.
• Characters: Easy to relate to, funny, if a bit stereotypical.
• Dialogs: Well done, most of the time very funny.
• Scenario: Good pacing, with a few obvious plot hooks.
• Actors: Jim Carrey is his funny self, just a hair from over-exaggeration; he was just starting to rein himself in. Jennifer Aniston is good as is Morgan Freeman, both of whom got simple roles for their talent. Mention for hilarity: Steve Carell.
• Photography: Well done.
• Special effects: Good, but getting old. Green screen technology wasn't as effective then as it is now.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0315327/
• Who is it for? If you're looking for something funny and light.

View from the Top — It can be entertaining if you're willing to suspend your disbelief — 6*/10

View from the Top is rather wacky romantic comedy. If you don't take it seriously you'll have fun. The only really bad thing about it, is the end. How emotionally dependent is that? Yuk.

For some silly fun.
6*/10

Les invasions barbares - Soyez prêt à affronter la tristesse - 9*/10

Les invasions barbares dans cette suite au classique Le déclin de l'empire américain, bien peu de moments comiques et beaucoup de larmes à verser. La qualité est tout aussi grande, mais le ton est assez sombre.

À voir.
9*/10

Mona Lisa Smile - Very interesting characters and scenario - 8*/10

Mona Lisa Smile presents very interesting characters at a time when feminism had yet to be born. However its strong point, beyond excellent acting, is the story line that twists and turns in unpredictable ways. Captivating.

For everyone, especially those who like strong female voices.
8*/10

The Station Agent - A very appreciable slow burn - 8*/10

The Station Agent is an extremely low key movie, there's barely a trace of a story, the events simply unfolding as life would. It's touching, at times funny, with bits of sadness, very attaching characters, and a scenario at anyone's reach. You don't need your brain on to appreciate it, that's how easy it is, but you need patience to settle yourself in.

For tender souls and those who can appreciate slow beats.
8*/10

Bad Santa - Bad language, heavy sarcasm: hilarious! - 7*/10

Bad Santa is, to say the least, irreverent. It's funny, not for kids, and very enjoyable. I never thought I'd have this much pleasure watching this trashy flick.

I dare you to see it.
7*/10

Kill Bill - A long tale of violence - 8*/10

Kill Bill: Vol.1 and Vol.2 are the brainchild of Quentin Tarantino and as such are great creations. However, these are not for everybody. They are masterpieces of photography, style, the story is captivating and well told with solid dialogs and characters, but it's a lot of fighting and blood in the first one and lots of story telling in the second one.

It might be an acquired taste, but you'll never know until you try it. A must for every Tarantino fan.
8*/10

Runaway Jury — A movie not to miss — 9*/10

Runaway Jury is not well known by the general public, but a gem nonetheless.

The good. Engrossing story with nice twists to the plot. Great suspense with a slow developing intrigue. Imaginative and smart scenario. The main characters have a lot of depth. Solid photography, camera work, editing, and score.

The actors. John Cusack and Rachel Weisz both are just right as the young intelligent and dedicated puppeteers. Gene Hackman once again plays a despicable persona and manages not to over do it making the result very believable. Dustin Hoffman plays brilliantly the lawyer with a social conscience, one of his best, if very simple, role. Playing secondary characters, Bruce McGill, Jeremy Piven, and Bruce Davison have given us very commendable performance.

The bad. One or two minor logical flaws, but that's it.

The ugly. Nothing.

The result. A surprisingly entertaining legal battle. For everyone.

9*/10

Pieces of April — Get a dose of reality and oddity to think a little — 9*/10

Pieces of April is about being the black sheep. It's a critique of family life.

The good. A sweet, yet starkly realistic, family story, sometime touching, often surprising, with a few laughs and oddity to soften the drama. A solidly paced scenario well rendered by the editing and the camera work. Soft music and score. Complex and very varied characters with nice depth. Hard hitting dialogs that reflect the harshness that sometime life can have. Great acting on the part of all the cast.

The actors. The most notables are definitively Katie Holmes, Oliver Platt, and Patricia Clarkson.

The bad. Nothing.

The ugly. Nothing.

The result. Not everyone will appreciate this film, but I still recommend it to those willing to see life for what it is.

9*/10

Intolerable Cruelty — The gloves are off and every blow counts — 8*/10

Intolerable Cruelty is an offbeat comedy that shows in a very twisted way how to make best with what you have and that what you want might not be what you really desire.

The good. The strongly skewed acting creates an incredible cooky mood. Strong dialogs. Very interesting twists in a well paced scenario. The story plot and characters show a nice imagination and an off-center view of the world. Slick photography and finish.

The actors. George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones make an incredible team with their characters playing off each other. Richard Jenkins balances them well by playing an almost sensible persona by comparison. Billy Bob Thornton does his extravagant best in a singularly caricatural performance. Cedric the Entertainer plays his role well even if it means he's a bit of an oddball in the lot and somewhat annoying.

The bad. This off kilter production is not for everyone.

The ugly. Nothing.

The result. A cooky comedy that will please some immensely while boring others.

8*/10

X-Men 2 — A great super powered sequel — 7*/10

X-Men 2 is what should be expected of a sequel, something the fan of the original X-Men can be proud of. It helps that it was the same director, Bryan Singer.

The good. The same action packed super battle, with bantering, a bit of intrigue, and an interesting story. Incredible attack on the White House. As a bonus, we're introduced to new super heroes.

The actors. About the same performance.

The bad. The CG doesn't show as much as in X1, but there's a bunch of logical flaws in the scenario. Not too bad, but slightly distracting. The Wolverine's hairdo is messed up in the intro and conclusion.

The ugly. Nothing.

The result. Yet an other good super powered action flick.

7*/10

Thirteen — A broken situation all too common in life — 10*/10

Thirteen is a teenage nightmare where parents get lost and where a life can be easily consumed.

The good. An incredibly dramatic rendition of things going out of control. A simple story, mesmerizing by its truthful reflection of reality. Perfect acting. Powerful scenes. Dialogs that are so well built they could escape the lips of any parent or teen.

The actors. Stellar performance by everyone. I'll just mention the main characters. Evan Rachel Wood as our main girl. Nikki Reed as her best friend. Holly Hunter as her mother.

The bad. Nothing.

The ugly. Nothing.

The result. A troubling film that should be watched by everyone, but beware the drama, be ready for it.

10*/10

Finding Nemo — A great animation adventure to be enjoyed by all — 10*/10

Finding Nemo is the heroic tale of fishes, and it's excellent. It opens up with a tragedy and quickly leads us to a great adventure and multiple acts of courage. Who would have thought that such a simple idea could result in such a great production?


The animation is extremely colorful, brought to us in great details for a breathtaking look at the life under the sea. The dialogs are funny. The script is very inventive and doesn't call on evil or songs. The story is riveting, with each scene a novelty in itself. Voices are chosen to perfection, and the reactions realistic.

A great movie for both adults and kids.


10*/10

Lost in Translation — Nothing happens, yet you understand how it feels — 9*/10

Lost in Translation is one of those rare movie that doesn't need lots of word to make sense. It's all in the mood, the images, and, in this case, the misunderstandings, the confusion. Nothing happens in this film, and that's exactly the point. Nothing goes right, you get literally and metaphorically lost in translation.

Sophia Coppola does an incredible job of making us feel exactly how lost and confused the characters are. The script, the story and the few dialogs are just perfect. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson's delivery is impeccable, just as are the camera shots and the soundtrack.

Get lost, and think a bit about life, see this movie.

9*/10