cyril1974

Adapted from a Jules Verne novel, this TV series : "Deux ans de vacances" is one that I saw when I was young on TV and that, more than 25 years after, I still remember with great nostalgia and great pleasure. The greatest about this show is the music : the intro sailer song and also all the ambient music. There is also something about childhood and pirate stories : some kids who have to fight against pirates, find themselves on a treasure island. As Jules Verne concludes in the novel : the kids started the adventure as kids and ended it as men. Some of them start as very competitive school fellows and become friends for life at the end. Great story about friendship. Saw it several times on french TV when I was young...that was a long time ago. I wish I had a DVD copy of it. To discover.

All the attendant of a wedding, including the pregnant bride (Uma Thurman), have been killed by an assassination squad. The sheriff and his son think that this has been done by professionals. Although she was shot in the head, the bride is not dead but is in a coma. Four years later, the bride wakes up. She realizes that she has lost her child but also the husband she was going to marry. Since she knows the name of all the murderers (they were former assassination squad fellows), she decides to seek revenge by killing them one after the other. The first is Vernita Green aka Copperhead who lives in a suburban house. The second is the terrible O-Ren Ishii, boss of the Japanese mafia, who is protected by the 17-year old Gogo Yubari and the crazy 88 bodyguards.

In fact, Kill Bill vol. 1 is not a movie but half of a movie as its title obviously indicates. You can't be satisfied watching this one only (especially since vol. 2 is much better and contains the entire plot). In this first part, Uma Thurman is taking her revenge on those who killed her baby, her husband and almost killed herself. This movie is a tribute to Samourai movies. It is very violent but very well directed. It is probably Kill Bill Vol 1 that is, to this date, the best technical achievement of Quentin Tarantino as a director. The manga sequence is great, even if it is hardly watchable for those who don't like to see blood on screen. The whole fight sequence in Japan is a masterpiece of action movie and a lesson of cinema. Among the two main components of Tarantino movies (that is: 1 violent fight scenes and 2 funny talkative scenes), this volume 1 contains 80% of component 1 and 20% of component 2 (it's the opposite in volume2). This first part is just an appetizer to the second. Don't miss volume 2. I give this one 8/10.

The bride continues to take her revenge on those who killed her baby, her husband and almost herself. After having killed Vernita Green and O-Ren Ishii in volume 1, she runs after Budd (Michael Madsen), Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah). And `she's gonna kill Bill'. To do that, she'll have to remember all the lessons of her master, Pai Mei. But a surprise is waiting for her before she accomplishes her revenge.

Kill Bill volume 1was just an appetizer. The whole plot is in the volume 2. Among the two main components of Tarantino movies (that is: 1 violent fight scenes and 2 funny talkative scenes), this volume 2 contains 20% of component 1 and 80% of component 2 (the opposite in volume1). This volume 2 is rich in funny scenes and dialogues, violence and –yes– emotion. Like in Jackie Brown, Tarantino is good at creating strong woman characters. The bride is determined to go to the end of her revenge, and she won't let go even if that includes resuscitating a second time (a tribute to the Night of the living dead). The soundtrack is great as usual, and as usual, you can try to find the influence of hundreds of directors and movies in this last Tarantino opus (the most obvious one being Sergio Leone). However, you can enjoy the movie (good plot, good dialogues) without any cinema culture. I give this one 8/10.

During the prohibition era, Tom (Gabriel Byrne) is the closest and loyal Lieutenant of Leo, a crime boss (Albert Finney). Rivalry and war between Leo and Johnny Caspar, another crime boss, starts when Leo refuses to kill Bernie, a small time crook (John Turturro). Leo could not kill Bernie because he has an affair with Verna (Marcia Gay Harden ) who has also an affair with Tom. When Tom says that to Leo, Leo ends violently their collaboration and Tom decides to work for Caspar. Things get complicated when Caspar orders Tom to kill Bernie. Does Tom have a heart not to execute this order?

From the beginning to the end, this movie is lacking energy in the direction. As it is usually the case in movies by the Coen Brothers, humor is present by appears only in small and secondary scenes. These moments of comedy seems to come at some points where the directors were probably bored by what they were showing. This story of loyalty and betrayal (between Tom and Leo and Tom and Verna) doesn't go straight to our hearts because we have no sympathy for the characters. Gabriel Byrne with his beaten-dog eyes is good but his performance has nothing exciting. Only Albert Finney and John Turturro are above the rest of the cast. This movie was inspired by the `Glass Key', an excellent movie by Stuart Heisler with Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake (and also an adaptation of a novel by Dashiell Hammett). Some scenes are similar in both movies, but overall, the story and the ending are different. I was clearly disappointed by this one. The Coen Brothers should not attempt to do dramas but keep up the good work with comedies. Clearly overrated 7/10.

Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) recently divorced her husband (Patrick Bauchau) because he had a relationship with another woman (Nicole Kidman, but you won't see her on screen). With her daughter, Sarah (Kristen Stewart), she finds a new home in a wealthy neighborhood of New York City. The apartment has a panic room, i. e. an armored shelter where people can hide and survive for a long time, in case the mansion being besieged by strangers. As Meg and Sarah spend their first night in the apartment, three men step inside the apartment looking for a missing fortune. Burnham (Forest Whitaker), the most human of the three, spent his life building panic rooms and knows all their secrets; he's only there to get the money. Junior is a spontaneous crazy and stupid young kid, and the masked and enigmatic Raoul is the head of all this and the most cruel of the criminals. When Meg and Sarah realize that strangers are in the house, they take refuge in the panic room. And this is exactly where the three guys want to have a look. They start playing a cat and mouse game.

The panic room is probably the most classic David Fincher movie so far. This movie bears some similarity with William Wyler's `The desperate hours' (1955). In this respect, Jodie Foster has the exact same line as Fredric March in that movie: `Get out of my house' (except that, following the advice of her daughter, she adds:'Get the f*** out of my house!', obviously times have changed, we are some fifty years later). And I must say that Panic room holds pretty well the comparison with Wyler's movie. Much of the interest that we get is in what will be the new ideas developed by the criminals to get into the room and the creative reaction of Meg and Sarah to counter their efforts. It also strongly lies in the characters. The determination of Meg to protect her daughter and her house is equal to the determination of the three criminals to get into the room. It gives a suspenseful thriller till the last sequence. You can be a cool director making great shots, and there are a few interesting ones in this movie. But you are nothing without a good script. This movie is here to prove it again. 8/10.

Ruben, a talented but shy risk assessment expert, is getting married with his long time girlfriend Lisa (Debra Messing). At his wedding, his best friend, Sandy (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a has-been and bad wannabe actor, is his best man and his boss, Stan Indursky (Alec Baldwin), the master of ceremony. However, during the honeymoon in the Caribbean islands, he surprises his wife having sex with the French scuba diving instructor, Claude (Hank Azaria). Back in town where everybody seems to be aware of his wife's infidelity, Ruben meets an old classmate from junior high, Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston) at a party where she's a waitress. After many hesitations and against the advice from his friend Sandy, he decides to invite her for a date. But there seems to be a great opposition in the life style of the cautious and stable Ruben and the outgoing, spontaneous and risk-taker Polly Prince.

Having seen the trailer and clips from this movie and being familiar with those before being actually able to see it, I must admit that I had a wrong idea of the movie. The difference is probably an example of American Puritanism. In the trailer, when Claude talks to Lisa and Ruben on the beach, he wears a bathing suit, which is absent in the movie and the cause of Ruben's problems. The writer and director of the movie did not bother to exert a scatological sense of humor (i. e. the conversation between Ruben and his boss in the lavatory, the toast from his boss at his wedding, Ruben in the bathroom of Polly after the exotic restaurant). But I must admit that the movie is really funny. It also reveals what most of the young occidental people are experiencing now. In the time where AIDS is a big concern for everybody, the cautious attitude of Ruben is that of millions of young adults today, too shy to live their life fully not only with their body but also with their feelings. In this respect, this theme resembles that of Amelie except that, when J.-P. Jeunet added some poetry in his movie, Along came Polly is more on the American comedy side (the most basic one). But it's fair entertainment, 6/10.

This fictionalized documentary shows the migration of birds throughout the world. During several months, birds fly thousands and thousands of miles to get to new latitudes for the new season. Particularly, we follow the goose during their migration across Europe. During their trip, hunters shot them down, they get stuck in industrial sludge. But they continue their flight because it is in their own nature.

First, let's say that this movie is a great technical accomplishment. We are so close to the birds that we really feel that we are flying with them. I was impress by the scene when the gooses fly over Paris. Since I lived their, I felt like a mystery was revealed, i. e. the miracle of migration happening in front of us every year without being able to notice it, being too busy with our lives. Setting aside the technical accomplishments, this documentary is a huge pleasure to watch. Being so close to the birds, we adopt their point of view. We see a planet with no humans, except at the beginning and at the end of the movie where we see a little boy watching the birds commencing and ending the migration. From the sky, human cities look hostile, mean and dangerous, an impression strengthened during the scene of the shooting and that of the industrial sludge: not very flattering for our species. It is probably not a coincidence if the movie end at the location where it begun. It represents the cycle of life, that of migration and seasons, that of death and birth. Truly a great emotional experience 10/10.

After the war in Somalia, thousands of Somali refugees come in America. They are first welcomed to Philadelphia, in a dangerous neighborhood where fights between gangs are common. In a hope to find a better place to raise their children, they relocate to Lewiston, Maine. This city, predominantly and traditionally white has a hard time to accept the Somalis in their community. One day, the mayor writes a letter to the Somalis to ask them to tell other Somalis not to move to the city. The terms of this letter, taken as racist statements, are fought by many Somali and American groups defending democracy and liberty. It becomes also a public alibi for pro-white and nazis extremists to express their hate against black (and more generally non-white and non-Christian) people.

The greatest quality of this documentary is to be informative. All the events are displayed in their chronological order so that it is easy to figure out what it is about, even if you are not familiar with the matter. The pace of the editing is very fast. As I am not a natural born English speaker, I had a hard time to follow everybody's words, especially those from people with a strong accent (not necessary the Somalis but in fact some deep Americans). The quality of the image and the sound – the last being more problematic for me – are very poor. I found the visual, the sound effects and the music unnecessary as the music often covers the voice of the speakers and adds to the confusion. I must acknowledge that the documentary remains objective, taking into account everybody's opinions. However, the documentary does not go beyond the recount of the events. Maybe that a thorough investigation of the consequences of the events on the life of all the people of Lewiston would have been more interesting. We don't learn more than as if we were watching the news. Interestingly, the last part of the movie, does not focuses that much on the problem caused by the Somalis and the Lewiston people living together but on the strong reaction of the pro-white groups. At the end, we learn (as I could understand) that the mayor wrote this letter only with economic worries in mind and that at that time, while he was adopting black children, being accused of being a racist was a big pain to him. Despite some –minor – flaws, I recommend that everybody watch this movie.

Philip Raven (Alan Ladd) is a gun for hire. He lives alone in a small room and gives milk to a lonely cat every morning. But he doesn't seem to appreciate the company of humans. He never smiles and he won't trust anybody. He is asked by Willard Gates to kill a man and steal documents from him. After Gates paid Raven with hot money, Raven decided to find Gates to settle a score with him. In the meanwhile, a cabaret performer Ellen Graham (Veronica Lake), the girl friend of a Police lieutenant, is secretly charged by a senator to infiltrate a company – Nitro – that is suspected to sell army secrets to the Japanese. For this, she goes to an audition to be hired by Willard Gates, owner of a cabaret, but also an employee of Nitro. In the train on her way to Los Angeles, Ellen Graham meets Philip Raven, both unaware that they are involved in the same case. When they arrive in Los Angeles, the Police is after him and he has to kidnap Ellen to get away from it. Realizing they have the same enemy Ellen convinces Raven to forget his own interest and start to fight the people of Nitro in the interest of the country.

This is the first Alan Ladd Veronica Lake movie but it is also probably the best. The plot, the acting, the dialogue and the direction are so great that these make ‘This gun for hire' a classic film noir. At the beginning, the credits mention: introducing Alan Ladd. For his first leading role, the least we can say is that Ladd gives a great performance. It is obvious that his character inspired the character of Jeff in ‘Le samourai' by Jean-Pierre Melville with Alain Delon. Both characters have the same attitude and the same clothes. They live alone a small room. They never get involve in any relationship and both are very professional. They are only kind to animals and children (in `Le samourai', Delon had a bird in his room). Also, the sequence on the pedestrian bridge of the railroad has clearly its equivalent in ‘Le Samourai'. I was really impressed by the first sequence, when Ladd execute his contract and also by the sequence where Ladd and Lake are running across the city to escape from the Police (which is much of the movie). How breath-taking! This is truly great cinema, quiet a good surprise for a director (Frank Tuttle) who is not that well known. I've seen ‘The Blue Dahlia', `the Glass key' and `this gun for hire' these last three days (film noir retrospective in Oak Street Cinema, Minneapolis) in this order (reverse of the chronological one) but I must say that the quality increase in this order. ‘This gun for hire' is much darker and less funny than the movie they made together after that but it is a better film noir. Definitely a masterpiece. High recommended 9/10.

Paul Madvig (Brian Donlevy), a crooked politician has decided to give up his corrupted past to team up with the respectable candidate Ralph Henry for the ongoing election. As an example of his new ethics, he refuses to protect the clandestine place of Nick Varna by giving a call to the Police in the presence of Nick Varna and Paul's personal hired man Ed Beaumont telling the cops to prepare a visit to this gambling place. Things get complicated when Ralph Henry's son is discovered dead by Ed Beaumont probably murdered in front of Paul Madvig's place. Taylor had a gambling problem and was in love with Paul Madvig's young sister Opal ‘Snip' Madvig. Paul is a first choice suspect, at least to the local journal but did Paul really do it? Who is he protecting? And who is writing these nasty anonymous letters?

This is truly a classic Hollywood film noir. The plot is harder to follow than in the Blue Dahlia, but this is nonetheless a high standard movie. The acting, the dialogues and the directing are all good and playful. This is one of the movies where Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake chemistry first exploded. Just have a look at the first scene when they meet: she gives Ladd sultry looks when Paul Madvig is doing all the talking. I had a hard time concentrating on the discussion at this point. You know that these two will go a long way, even when at some point in the movie, she becomes engaged to Paul and that their relationship becomes more difficult. Veronica Lake is absolutely beautiful in this movie. Her looks are very suggestive and her husky voice is the sweetest. During this movie, you will see Lake kissing Ladd, but it's only a one way kiss. I just saw this movie last night in Oak Street Cinema (Minneapolis) and the audience enjoyed it very much until the very end, and so shall everybody. A classic film noir. Highly recommended 8/10.

Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd) and his two friends (including a good and funny William Bendix) are coming back in town after serving in the navy during WWII. While his two friends find a place for themselves, Johnny returns to his home to see his wife and his son he hasn't seen for years. There, his wife is having a party with a dozen of friends in which her lover, Eddie Harwood, is also invited. After an argument, during which Johnny threatens his wife with his gun (after learning that she is unfaithful, alcoholic and that their son is dead by her fault), he leaves the place and his gun, judging that she is not worth a killing, to find a hotel for the night. That same rainy night, she is killed with Johnny's gun. For the Police, he becomes the first suspect of this crime.

I've heard a lot about this movie (a classic of film noir with the legendary couple Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake) without being able to see it for years. I just saw this movie tonight at the Oak Street Cinema in Minneapolis. Overall the movie is good thanks to a good plot (the scenario is signed Raymond Chandler, not quiet a coincidence). At first, I found the acting very poor and dated. Especially during the argument between Alan Ladd and his wife (played Doris Dowling). This was quiet a surprise for me because I met this actress in Othello (in which she has a small part) directed by Orson Welles, a director who generally hires only good actors. But as soon as you get into the story, the acting and the dialogues get better and you really want to know the name of the murderer (really I could not guess it!). After the plot, the scenes between Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake are what make the movie worth to remember. Frustrating enough for the most romantic of us, you won't see them kiss each other during this movie, even at the end (this was probably not allowed on screen at the time when the movie was made). It is also hard to tell if the Dahlias in the movie were actually blue since it was filmed in black and white. Finally, yes, Veronica Lake is very beautiful.

This is good entertainment, I recommend it with a 7/10.

The everyday life of Paul Braconnier (played by the famous Michel Simon) and his wife Blandine (Germaine Reuver) is far from what one would describe as a marital bliss. Paul Braconnier reproaches her that she's old and ugly and that she drinks too much. They hate each other as much as they possibly can - to the point that they want to murder each other. One day, Paul Braconnier hears about the champion lawyer Maitre Aubanel (played by Jean Debucourt) who just won his 100th case. Paul decided to promptly visit him to know how he can kill his wife without going to jail. Delighted to hear that murder without consequences is possible, he decides to stab his wife when she is about to poison him. With a lawyer like Aubanel, he is certain to get away with his crime. What follows is probably the funniest trial sequence in film history.

'La poison' is the funniest movie that Sacha Guitry made after WWII. As always in the work of Sacha Guitry, this story is a satire of marriage. This black comedy is delightful due to the performance of Michel Simon (once more!) in this role of a colorful rogue and to the high standard comical writing of Sacha Guitry. The name of the main character (Braconnier, which is the French word for poacher) was not chosen randomly: it is a description of the attitude that the main character has throughout the movie, i.e. that of a character behaving against the law. The tone of the movie is definitively anarchist and the character played by Michel Simon is not far from that of Boudu (another great performance by Michel Simon in 'Boudu sauve des eaux by Jean Renoir, 1932).

Guitry adds to our pleasure by introducing the complete credited cast during the opening sequence (much alike Orson Welles introducing his actors in the movie Othello and in the trailer of Citizen Kane) congratulating Michel Simon for his acting. Louis de Funes (at this time not as popular as he would be more than a decade later) can be seen in a small role. Pauline Carton (who played in most of Sacha Guitry movies) is present as well.

This movie is a gem. Highly recommended. 10/10.

In the 30s, a small village in the South of France (Provence) is losing its inhabitants (and so its life) because young people prefer to go to the city to find easy jobs and escape from being farmers living in relative poverty. Only a few old people and the poacher Panturle (Gabriel Gabrio) remain. Panturle dreams of bringing the village back to life, finding a wife, founding a family and work as a farmer. One day, the village is visited by a traveling knife-grinder, Urbain Gedemus (the famous French comedian Fernandel, playing for the first time a mean character) and a young (and beautiful) woman, Arsule (played by the wonderful Orane Demazis). Gedemus treats Arsule like a slave, but Arsule accept this because she has nowhere to go and -we guess- her 'work' with Gedemus is the last thing that saves her from being a prostitute. When she meets Panturle and knows about his dreams, she escapes from Gedemus and decides to stay with him. Together, they start a new life, made of hard farming work but mostly of happiness to have each other - fulfilling the earlier dreams of Panturle. Can anything break the happiness of their new life?

Regain (which means renewed in French) is a wonderful movie by its simplicity and generosity. It glorifies modesty in life, the love for the land and honest work. As always in the work of Jean Giono (the writer of the novel on which the film is based), the story is a hymn to nature and ordinary people. The plot of the movie is reduced to its simplest form. It is the story of two people finding their right place on Earth and the right person to spend their life with. Marcel Pagnol shows that this simple story is enough to make a good movie.

The whole movie is built on the theme of a counter-stream movement. Panturle and Arsule have chosen to go counter mainstream as they decide to stay in the village while all the people leave it to escape the relatively poor living conditions of the countryside. This film can also be viewed as the reverse of the legend of Adam and Eve, i.e. Adam and Eve being evicted from the Garden of Eden whereas Panturle and Arsule reach it. Even Fernandel is employed here counter to his usual type of role. However, such considerations are not important to appreciate the movie.

This movie reminds us that Marcel Pagnol also was a Panturle in his own way. At a time when all movies (in France) were made in Paris studios by big companies, Marcel Pagnol was the first independent director of the talking movie era, founding his own studios in the south of France and controlling all the process of filmmaking (writing, producing and filming on location). For his style as a director, it has been said that he had inspired the Italian neo-realist movement. 'Regain' is one of the four novels by Jean Giono that Marcel Pagnol adapted for the cinema (the others being Jofroi, 1933; Angele, 1934; La femme du boulanger, 1938), most of these movies being classic French movies of the 30s.

Wonderful. Highly recommended 10/10.

-Contains some spoilers-

This is the only movie the great French actor Charles Vanel ('The wages of Fear' by H. G. Clouzot) wrote and directed (he also directed a short film 'Affaire classee' in 1931) during his long career (the longest career of any film actor from 1908 to 1988).

A man (played by Vanel) who is working in a mine has recently married a beautiful young woman (Sandra Milovanoff, an actress who have worked with Sacha Guitry and Rene Clair among others). They strongly love each other but everyday they have to live separated because he has to go to work. One day, three children decide to make some tricks nearby the mine. Their 'games' have a very dramatic ending because part of the mine collapse and the man is injured and trapped under the rocks. After the rescue, the man survives but he is completely disfigured to the point that he has to wear a mask when he is in public and even in front of his wife. The happiness he and his wife were living in their everyday life starts to fade.

I've seen this movie only once, more than 10 years ago but I won't forget this powerful and dramatic story. It is probably because the man and his wife are so happy together at the beginning of the movie that their fate appears so unfair. The narration constantly focuses on the human relationship between the man and his wife, their happiness and their sadness, a point of view that make the viewer feel very close to the characters. Based on this review, one can think that it is the most dramatic story ever. Those who have seen the end (that I won't reveal) know that it is a little bit more cheerful and light. Charles Vanel - the director - is definitively an optimist.

Everybody would regret that Charles Vanel didn't direct more movies. With the simple drama 'Dans la nuit', he directed one of the most powerful (and almost forgotten) movie of the silent period. Thank you, Mr. Vanel, for this excellent piece of work. No more words. 10/10.

Contains minor spoilers

This movie is an adaptation of a book the famous Hollywood writer Ben Hetch wrote about Hollywood. This comedy is actually a very funny movie that is now almost forgotten by most French viewers. Although quiet different, this movie can be regarded as being as good as 'Le pere Noel est une ordure' or 'Les bronzes'. Potential French viewers will look at this movie as a gem. Foreign viewers will only consider it as being a good movie because most of the pleasure we get from it comes from the French actors who play in it.

We follow the agent Orlando Higgins (played by an excellent Jean Poiret) and the daily problems he has to deals with, i.e. the actors who hired him. The actors are generally bad and 'has been' (like the character of Michel Galabru) and think as themselves as geniuses which complicates Orlando's task to get them good jobs,even in B-series movies. On the set of the movie where his 'protege' (Pauline Lafont, two years before her tragic death) is acting, strange murders happen. A journalist (Jean-Francois Stevenin, perfect as always) and a writer (Patrick Floersheim, better known for his voice, which French viewers will easily recognize because of his huge dubbing work, than for his acting) try to find the murderer and its motivations. Orlando is suspected, but things are not as easy as they seem to be.

This movie is great by the description of the Hollywood microcosm and by the memorable quotes. It is easy to be impressed by the list of actors who play in it: Michel Blanc (Monsieur Albert), Gerard Depardieu (small cameo appearance), Guy Marchand (playing the dumb inspector), Dominique Lavanant, Sophie Duez, Patrick Braoude (original writer and director of the French 'Nine months'), Claude Chabrol (the famous director!), Benoit Ferreux (already seen as the lead young actor in 'Le souffle au coeur' by Louis Malle), Marcel Gotlieb (famous French cartoonist), Claire Nadeau, Jean-Paul Lilienfeld (the director of 'Genial mes parents divorcent! 1991), Alexandre Mnouchkine (father of the great stage and movie director Ariane Mnouhkine) and last but not least Bernard Blier in the role of J B Cobb perfect in this parody of studio director (probably inspired from some Mayer or some Goldwin). Even the director (Gerard Krawczyk, director of Taxi 2 and 3) might be seen in one scene.

Wonderful.highly recommended.9/10