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La beauté du diable (1950)
An old time french masterpiece
Though I'm french, I am not a fan of french movies which I usually find boring or too intellectual ( in a pejorative way ).
This being said, I've always liked this movie, greatly because of the incredible performance of Michel Simon, undoubtedly one of the greatest french actors ever. His portrayal of Mephistopheles is delightful in every way. He leaves but little place to the other actors ( mostly Gerard Philippe the avatar of the romantic actor, playing young Faust having sold his soul to the devil ).
In an era where special effects where about non existent, Rene Clair managed to make a really witty comedy about the meaning of life.
Astonishing to see how certain movies, no matter how old they are, remain entertaining. This is definitely one of them.
A must see ! Should you like it, try Belles de Jour from Rene Clair too, another witty romantic old times french comedy. You'll be pleased.
Man of the Year (2006)
Exquisite
In this movie, Robin Williams lights the screen as a comedian from a satirical politic show who runs for president and gets elected. Only problem seems to be that the new computer system used for calculating the votes had a bug.
I'm not usually a fan of Robin Williams. I've seen much of his movies from Good Morning Vietnam to nowadays and tend to find him overacting in most of his movies. But sometimes he's cast in particular movies where his comedy can just work out perfectly. This movie is one of those.
Seeing the quite mediocre rating of this movie made me think : most of the reviewers expected a very different movie and somewhat I believe they were disappointed. I found in this movie exactly what I like in movies : it's intelligent, wise and certainly has wits.
If you liked it, run for Bulworth with Warren Beaty. Both movies look alike and will make you laugh out loud for almost 2 hours of pure enchantment ( at least if you have my type of humor ).
Definitely 9* out of 10 !
Batman Begins (2005)
One of the few Super-Hero movies worth seeing
As the title states, Batman Begins unfolds the reasons which pushed Bruce Wayne into becoming Batman.
I'm not a huge fan of Batman himself and though I have seen the previous attempts to render this epic on celluloid, I must admit I found all rather disappointing.
This movie made me change my mind about Batman : it rocks in every way ! From the all-leading cast including a remarkable Christian Bale and both Michael Caine and Liam Needon lighting the scene to the cinematography itself, through an excellent score, Batman Begins has earned the right to stand amongst the other few from this category in my DVD collection : X-Men and Matrix 1 & 2.
Respects to Mr Nolan who proves again ( after Memento before The Prestige ) that he has the stuff of great directors.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Has Peter Jackson even read the book ?
There is too much to say about the flaws in this movie and it could go on and on until readers would simply dismiss it before even viewing it so I will not make a catalog of these flaws...
Instead let's just summarize : Great rendition of the visual aspects of Middle Earth : glorious landscapes and well used CGI make Peter Jackson's vision quite right about this aspect of the movie ( although i find his Lorien much like Ewok town, and far from what could be Laurelindorenan ).
An unconvincing cast of actors, some terrible ( Aragorn, Elrond, Frodo ), others much better ( Sam, Pippin, Merry and Orlando Bloom whom I find quite convincing in his attitude ) but none lighting the screen.
The terrible part in these movies is that Jackson simply does not get the point of the books : be it for scenaristic reasons or simply because he did not like it ( or even read it ? ), his vision of Men, Dwarfs and Elves is just completely wrong... Tolkien's world is quite simple in fact, Good and Evil being clearly defined trough the books. A simple example of how far Jackson is could be Aragorn who in the book is a man who knows perfectly where he comes from, where he is going, what it will take him to get there and thus supports the consequences of his fate with an astounding will that nothing can hardly shake. So why in hell did Jackson make him a total looser in the movie, wondering and pitying himself about everything up to the color of his boots...
As a real Fan of Tolkien's masterpiece, I could bring down this movie to pieces. But instead, I'd simply say this : If you've seen the movie and if it has made you want to read the book, then it has achieved enough for me... The rest is in Tolkien's pages.
For the rest, if you want a far more credible approach to Tolkien's world, you should try Ralph Bakshi's anime dating from early 80's ( or late 70's ). If it doesn't have the visuals, at least it has the spirit !
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Undoubtedly the weakest in the series
Unfortunately, there are so many wrong things in this movie that I don't know where to start from...
The movie starts with what is said to be a "desperate attempt to rescue the chancellor", followed by a skirmish sequence where we see Anakin having fun battling droids in orbit of Coruscant... Nothing desperate in the acting here...
Passing through the coughing villain robot ( use ? ), the wookie sequence that has nothing to do in the movie, we get from a mediocre movie to a really bad one in the sequences involving Mace Windu and the Chancellor : their Lighsaber duel is a farce, and so is the ending of the shot.
Need we speak of the annihilation of the Jedi ? How come none of them ( except Yoda of course ) don't have a clue about what is happening, and get whacked without even a fight... Where are the Jedi of the first episode ( and more from the Animated where they fight armies alone ) ? We also have a frantic combat scene between the new emperor and Yoda, which adds nothing to the drama, and is quite laughable compared to the lightsaber duel between Qui-Gon, Obiwan and Darth Maul from Episode 1.
The movie finally starts at the very end when we are presented the facts which lead to the beginning of A New Hope, but until then, Lucas struggles to give meaning to the movie...
In resume, we have here the avatar of modern movies : full CGI everywhere trying to mask the fact that the actual scenario of the movie has been totally left out of the project... Problem is nowadays every movie company can make great CGI but fewer and fewer can come with a really good scenario...
What a shame ! Need I say that I was at the premiere of A New Hope in France (1977) and that I waited more than 20 years to see that coming ? Such a disappointment... I'll stick to Episodes IV, V & VI and maybe to Episode I which is probably the best of the newer ones.