Reviews

What can I say, I had a blast. Lawrence is, of course, perfect, but her co-lead has a lot of moments to shine too and was genuinely adorable.

The comedic timing of this movie is spot on and made me laugh out loud multiple times, i had to pause i was laughing so hard. The gags are varied, the conflict and plot felt surprisingly real and wasn't too contrived, the characters were genuine and layered...

A movie with heart, not dumbed down too much, sentimental but manages not to be cheesy. So yeah, big recommendation! One of the best romcoms i've seen in recent years. Lawrence is perfect in comedies!

Where to start? This show ravished my heart. I loved every single second of the 8 episodes and had difficulties thinking of anything else the entire week. To me, this TV show is an incredible accomplishment that makes the most out of the medium and excels on every single level.

Plot: Camille, a reporter with some serious problems, returns to her small Southern home town to report on the murder of two teen girls. She has to reckon with her own family bagage in doing so.

Rarely have I witnessed such an atmosphere in a movie or show. Incredibly heavy and oppressive (impeccable sound-design, watch with headphones for optimal experience), despite the visuals telling us an entire different story. A beautiful summer-sweetness (gorgeous young girls in pastel outfits, pristine interiors in soft lighting) that turns cloying, bloody and rotten in the blink of an eye. The show lives from those contrasts, from the rot beneath the beauty, the ugly and violent darkness hidden beneath velvety voices and beautiful appearances.

We experience all of this (the Southern culture, the progression of the intrigue, the lush Missouri nature) through Camille's eyes, a deeply damaged woman trapped in her past traumas. We follow her closely, her gaze guiding us through her journey. Late director Jean-Marc Vallée chooses an intuitive, almost expressionistic way of weaving Camille's thoughts and memories into the present, through flashbacks and associations that appear and disappear in the blink of an eye. In part confusing, in part deeply illuminating, and always requiring an attentive viewer.

Despite those unconventional editing choices, the dialogues and acting bring an almost naturalistic sensibility to the show. Amy Adams is excellent as Camille, her vulnerability and raw edges almost difficult to witness. She is FASCINATING and endearing as an adult still trapped in her teenage experiences. Patricia Clarkson and newcomer Eliza Scanlen are equally stellar in their roles and give frighteningly intense performances for their respective, enthralling characters.

After a first episode that is one of the best hours of television I've ever seen, rich in reveals and deeply intriguing, the show finds a rhythm in its reveals, its twists and turns, with very rare lulls but instead a steady increase in tension and darkness that is almost difficult to endure. I'm still reeling from the ending.

I'm deeply grateful for Gilian Flynn's writing that puts the focus on women, the darkness of the female condition and especially of that of teenage girls. The story feels almost allegorical in part, though people more clever than me would have to unweave that richly woven tapestry of meaning.

I know I will be thinking about this show for ages and rewatching it more than once.

(Also, bonus points for introducing me to a new musical discovery, "The Acid")

I have never felt so deeply moved and enthralled as I feel about Black Sails. First show that made me cry. First show that made me scream. First show that made me weep. This show is an absolute GEM, in so many respects.

The scenery and costumes? Splendid. The fights and action scenes? Brutal and efficient. The dialogues? Ciseled. The historical accuracy? Very compelling. The acting? varies from "very good" (Hanna New, Tom Hopper) to "absolutely MIND-BLOWING" (Toby Stephens, Luke Arnold).

And then, the story and the characters. Both are... probably my favorite story and characters of all time, all media types confunded. We follow Captain Flint, John Silver and the crew of the Walrus through the political upheavals on a rogue Bahamas island, in a fight for power and against colonial domination. Pirates and politics? Does this mix? Oh yes it does, and how it does. This is a show about revolution, about freedom and difference and the deep wish to find something true. This is a show that explores the depths of human psyche, plunging into the darkness and raising to the light. It's full of tragedy and violence and glory. It's full of characters so alive and flawed and mesmerizing, I can't believe they are fictional. It's deep and clever and bold and thrilling. In short, Black Sails just...pulverized everything I expected out of a TV series about pirates, and made something new and incredible.

The first season still struggles to find its footing, and then Black Sails lets go of any wish for conformity and soars high, becoming the most heart-breaking, glorious thing I've ever witnessed. It's been months since I finished it and I still think about it every day.

Truly, the best gift you can make yourself.

This show changed the way I see television and series as a medium. Masterful story-telling, character-driven, deep and complex, full of details and fascinating characters. The acting performances were mind-blowing. It's the first time a show made me cry out in anguish, and even sob at one point. It is so intense I had to take breaks from it from time to time. Wonderful series.

Ever seen a movie so bad, you just can't stop thinking about it? Valerian is like that for me. So much potential: good source material. Great visuals. A director famous enough to get Hollywood's best of the best to work with him. A huuuuge budget. And yet, and yet, and yet.

That movie was impossibly insipid, didn't take any risk, had a scenario so unimaginative and dialogues so stilted and predictable I could almost recite them along with the characters. It's been three months since I went to the cinema and I'm still baffled. That movie had every preconditions one could dream off to make an awesome movie, or at least a decent one. The creative team was obviously invested, they were some very beautiful sceneries and character designs, a few nice ideas here and there, but damn was it forgettable.

A completely transparent plot held together by a thread. Two main characters without backstories, without chemistry, without any motivation to speak off, completely interchangeable. Mean ugly dark villains and noble elegant victims. A "romance" so heavy on gender roles it made me want to barf.

It feels like such a waste. I just don't get it. How could it all go so wrong?

The cinematography is magnificent. The setting is marvelous. The acting is excellent. The storyline is amazing. The themes are ambitious. The score is incredible. The idea is perfectly executed. The brutality is grueling. The suspense is agonizing.

This series BLEW MY MIND. I was left reeling in shock and awe after each episode. It's intense, scary, unsettling, and is overall the best and most compelling series I've ever watched.

Everything I could say on the plot would spoil your fun. Go find out for yourself if it's something for you - I bet it is, and that you won't regret any second you spent watching this series. Also, there's Anthony Hopkins in it, and if that's not a final selling argument, I don't know what is. Westworld, man. WESTWORLD!

Family relationships are often messy, confusing, and heartbreaking. This movie acknowledges that. Family relationships are also honest, tender, central to one's identity. This movie recognizes that, too.

"The Judge" is a mature movie that takes all the time it needs to establish its characters, their relationships with each other, and to show off their thought processes and evolution. It is in no hurry to enforce opinions on you, doesn't take the easy way out, and lets the viewer draw his own conclusions.

The story follows a middle-aged man lawyer who is still struggling in his relationship with his authoritative father, because those are not issues that go away all of a sudden when you're a father yourself; a man full of contradictions and stuck in an eternal defensive attitude. Robert Duvall and Robert Downey Jr. are both outstanding as father as son. Their explosive arguments and the entire dynamic of their relationship feels extremely genuine. All these unspoken resentments, all those little and bigger wounds that never really heal but fester over time are explored. The rest of the family dynamic, from the brothers with whom Hank (Downey) has a rather peaceful and tender relationship to the ex-girlfriend who seems to know him better than anyone, are interesting and authentic. No one is made too likable or given easy forgiveness; the character are nuanced and balanced.

The courtroom drama was taken really seriously, too; it was thrilling to me and seemed very authentic. I loved the two other lawyers we encountered, and how different understandings of the law converge in one intense testimony scene. Nothing very Hollywoodesque to the courtroom narrative for me; it almost seemed European in its serious and professional tone (then I'm biased). No big reveal or unnecessary drama, just serious prosecution.

Yes, this movie could have been shorter; yes, the story-line is neither original nor mind-blowing. Watch it for Robert Duvall and Robert Downey Jr. and an outstanding supporting cast setting the screen ablaze with emotions; watch it because with all its random elements and bittersweetness and ambivalences, it feels a lot like real life.

The struggles and rebellion of the employees of a highly efficiency-oriented supermarket. When faced with an imminent "technical restructuring" of their working place that will leave most of them jobless, a group of employees decides to delve into illegal actions to milk the supermarket for all it's worth. They don't know yet that they'll start a little social revolution.

This movie feels real, looks real, sounds real. The brutality of poverty, the "everyday" kind of desperation, the resentful solidarity of those who are being f*cked over the same way. But also friendship, and warmth, and the deep generosity of misery. This movie is deep, and hurts, all the main characters have been broken and hurt in some way, and their gleeful joy of "sticking it to them" stands out all the more through it. But this movie doesn't indulge in angst, or manicheism. It's not a "social fairy tale". It shows the pettiness and the heroism of the little people, the gray outskirts of modern French society, the consequences of unforgiving meritocracy, all those unglamorous things one likes to ignore. It's harsh, and executed brilliantly.

The actors are outstanding, the dialogues so genuine my jaw dropped, the cinematography brilliant. Every character is fleshed out, the supporting cast is all kind of perfect. I clapped at my TV when the movie ended.

I first watched and loved Soul Eater, my first shonen anime, as a teen, and have been coming back at it out of pure nostalgia. Here's my impression as an adult:

In a universe in which some persons can transform to weapons, Death himself has created an Academy where Meisters and Weapons team up to learn to fight evil and madness. This is the setting for a wild ride full of electric action scenes, creepy enemies and slapstick comedy.

The teenage cast fulfills the clichés of the shonen genre: there's the ambitious, hard-working girl, the pretentious idiot, the too cool for school-kid, etc. In a sense they are all very caricatural and over the top, but so unashamedly and stubbornly so that I quickly grew fond of everyone. There's also a whole set of secondary adult characters that I really like, and even the villains hold a special place in my heart. All characters have very strong personalities, which are reinforced by the stellar voice acting (of the Japanese version) and by the great character designs.

The animation is colorful and vibrant (although gloomy and gore at times), with very interesting hallucinatory sequences when Madness strikes, and a lot of signature notes that just scream "Soul Eater!". The music has a very cool flair, never pushing itself to the foreground but always adding the special touch.

This show is clearly aimed at a (presumably male) teenage audience, and the humor is often way too childish for my taste. But it also sometimes indulges in totally absurd humor I found uproariously funny (especially the Excalibur "troll episodes"), but then that's my personal taste. There's also a lot of clichés in the narration. But you can overlook this flaws in part thanks to darker themes like madness v.s. order, progress v.s stability, and in part because of the compelling character dynamics.

Because it's the intensity of the relationships between the main pairings of the cast (usually Meister and Weapon) that make me go fan-girl over it. There's no romance, but deep friendship and such amounts of mutual trust and loyalty that it makes for deeply human and relatable relationships.

So if you can generously overlook the pubescent humor and the clichés in the storyline, and can warm up to energetic and goofy teenagers fighting Demons with cool weapons, give Soul Eater a try. It most certainly has a lot of feelings and joy to share with its audience.

In a future not that far away, Japan is administered by "Sibyl", a presumably inerrable system that monitors the population according to their mental health, which can be instantaneously determined by "cymatic scans". Persons whose potential for crime exceeds regulation values ("latent criminals") are taken in preventive isolation from society, where they can get treatment or be executed if their "Crime Coefficient", in short psycho-pass, oversteps a threshold.

The series follows the Public Safety Bureau that is in charge of carrying out Sybil's order and taking care of rogue latent criminals, making this a sci-fi, noiresque detective story.

Throughout the episodes the flaws and limitations of the Sibyl System and this hyper-controlling society are explored in depth, fostering cunning philosophical debates on freedom, human nature, justice and the optimal workings of society. This is made possible by clever, educated characters who throw political theory and literary quotes at each other's head like its their hobby. The whole idea of dividing society according to mental health is like a dark twist on "the value of inner beauty": here characters compliment each other on the "beautiful hue" of their psycho-pass. The story never indulges in manicheanism, thanks to a charismatic and highly intelligent antagonist, and also thanks to the varied moralities of the main cast that are all equally justified.

I love this series because of its very consistent and clever world-building, never deviating too far from our world but rather increasing worrying tendencies that already exists. The people that inhabit it have values and attitudes that in part differ wildly from our own but that are the logical consequence of the way their society works, so much that some viewers apparently have trouble considering their behaviors "realistic". Still, people are people, and "Psycho-Pass" manages to convey a very humane story in a setting that many would consider sterile, and show off many facets of that entrancing world.

I also love the underlying grim and sad tone of this anime; there's a sense of tragedy to see the characters struggle to find sense and dignity in a very cold and impersonal system, and it is rendered beautifully. Also, the connection between cops and criminals way of thinking is explored, which I found very interesting.

My main reservations concerning this anime is that I didn't really empathize with the characters, at least not in the first half of the series. The more likable characters have secondary roles, while it took me quite a long while to warm up to Akane and Kogami, the main dudes. But I did in the end, so be patient! Also, the story-line of the first episodes isn't particularly compelling; I went on watching because I saw the potential in it, and wasn't disappointed since it really takes flight and soars high in the second half of the series.

The animation is ambitious, with gorgeous scenery and lightning, although the characters feel a bit stiff at time and some of the faces lack diversity (I'm especially thinking of the episode at an all-girl boarding school). The voice acting is excellent. The fight scenes are dynamic (but beware the gore, especially aimed at women), the music is great.

Verdict: this anime rewards the patient viewer in many ways, and gives more food for thoughts than anything I've seen or read lately, and that's a big deal for me. If you like it when a media takes its audience seriously and doesn't spoon feed you everything, than this is for you.

P.S: haven't seen season 2, don't intend to either, so this review only is about Psycho-Pass Season 1

Wow - as I was watching the movie, I had the feeling of a miracle unfolding in front of my eyes.

A movie about male sex workers that depicts the profession, the performers, the audience and relationships in a serious, respectful, realistic and non-judgmental way?

Well written dialogues, quite original issues, an all-to realistic plot, good acting, a teenager that is actually as awkward and stupid as most teenagers are (despite being smoking hot)?

A movie that actually avoids objectification, clichés, plot twists and lazy written endings?

And a movie that includes incredible dancing, top notch stage performances, a bunch of incredibly hot guys, and doesn't leave me drooling (much) but rather in awe for the whole stripping business?

Every single character, be they male or female, multi-dimensional, complex and well-written?

Yes, such a gem does exist out there in the world. And it's Magik Mike. I'm so happy it exists, and it leaves me hoping for more movies of that intensity, depth and compassion. Kind of film that makes the world a bit brighter. Go see it!

Fury Road, oh Fury Road. Eye-popping, adrenaline pumping, best action movie I've ever seen, I think.

I wasn't expecting much of it, as I'm not fond of remakes and really love the old trilogy (I wasn't aware it was the same director). I'm not fond of brainless blockbusters either, and already the trailer told this wasn't gonna be a brainy or profound story. I went to the cinema more out of curiosity, and boy that was one god decision. That is a movie that ONLY works on a giant screen with a blaster sound system. And the thing is - this movie doesn't need a scenario. It is BEYOND scenarios. And it's amazing how you stop looking for things to make sense after two minutes of movie.

The aesthetics are gorgeous, the characters have style, the music is beyond the mind. This movie starts extremely fast, and then it just goes faster and faster and faster, and if you let it reach you, you just tag along and it works and you just get dragged through the heated desert. The film is one huge action scene, everything goes in one fast-forwarding flow, probably thanks to Miller's wife, Margaret Sixel, doing an awesome job at editing it. I would just stare at the screen with wide opened eyes, gaping to not miss a thing, almost falling from my seat, mouth opened in a crooked smile that stammered " ... -what?the?F***???"

There are a lot of thing that are weird, feel weird, possibly ridiculous in this movie, that literally scream "Let's do this, I want to, we'll just do this, because I can". It's so over-the-top that I burst out in laughter a few times. But the rhythm is so intense, the car chase so fast and everything so bizarre and absurd that you just shake your head laughing incredulously in admiration at such spunk. It's bad ass, it's rock'n'roll, it's exhilarating and galvanizing, it's nonsensical and furious and extreme. This movie is like playing Need for Speed on ecstasy. It's like surfing on a raving wave of fire while blasting a fully loaded Kalaschnikov. It's awesome. I absolutely loved it.