"Zombieland" [fr="Bienvenue à Zombieland"] ~ 7/10

Contrarily to the strange poster of this flick, "Zombieland" came out to be a very good comedy. The best part is when a secret guest star enters the film...

"Inglourious Basterds" ~ 7/10

It seems that Quentin Tarantino is trying to alternate between *good-good* and *blockbuster-good* movies. A few years ago, as "Jackie Brown" was his best movie (a good-good one), he made "Kill Bill", which was only blockbuster-good - according to me, "but I am not the only one", as would say some bearded man with little round glasses.
Then came "Death Proof", which is - still - according to me, his best movie, for it was his most intimate, and his most audacious.
And now, the director had to follow this "alternation" rule by making this blockbuster (or blockbasterd ?). It still is a good movie, but probably the worst he directed. It lacks diversity in the music choice, nonetheless a thing we got used to, each time we discovered one of Tarantino's movies. This time, except for Moroder and Bowie's song from "Cat people", heard in a purely beautiful scene featuring Mélanie Laurent in a gorgeous red dress, the rest of the soundtrack is mostly an accumulation of Ennio Morricone, Charles Bernstein and Jacques Loussier's scores - beautiful pieces, but finally way too much of the same genre, and not always fitting the World War II period film, either because of the redundancy, or because of the tastelessness it brought to some scenes.

Apart from that, there are some very very good points.
Firstly, the dialogs. The language of the film is changing so often that it should be an dreadful nightmare for the mainstream American audience (and therefore a great pleasure for us European moviegoers !), and Tarantino teases us by making his characters speak english every now and then, without regards to their widely spread origins.
Secondly, Mélanie Laurent gives in this film her best performance ever, and proves to be currently the best young french actress (and also one of the most beautiful, according to me ^^).
And finally, Christoph Waltz himself is a reason good enough to watch this movie, bringing life to the real bastard of the (hi)story.

"36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup" ~ 7/10

If this movie had to be summed up by a phrase, it would be the ambiguous sentence Jane Birkin says to Sergio Castellito : "I broke down" ("J'étais en panne.")... One might wonder whether she was talking about her car, or about herself.
As always with Rivette, a perfect direction of wonderful actors (such as Birkin, Castellito, Julie-Marie Parmentier, Jacques Bonnaffé...).

"Les derniers jours du monde" ~ 7/10

There's not much in this movie. The plot may or may not be that much original. Anyway, its point of view is french, that is to say (or is that ?) intimist. And therefore rather exceptional for a science fiction flick.
The actors (Mathieu Amalric, Catherine Frot, Karin Viard, Sergi López...) are great - and sometimes naked, which might be added as a good point, since being naked is probably one huge difficulty when performing in front of the camera.

This film gave me the feeling that there might be a way of making "french" science fiction, a thing that might not have been done since the greatest masterpiece of this very restricted genre : "La jetée". Too bad it is so rare...

"Madre e Ossa" [fr="L'amour caché"] ~ 7/10

This film gives the impression it was made in the eighties, for its style and for the story it tells. It has the same qualities as many good 80's french movies, plus a good visual aesthetic (they did not always have that back then).
The actresses are excellent, and the language is beautiful. Plus, the music takes a very special part in the psychic mood of the film.

Had it actually been done in the eighties, it would now be considered a masterpiece, maybe.

"Up" [fr="Là-haut"] ~ 7/10

Until their 2 last movies, Pixar's productions had always got better and better. According to me, "Ratatouille" and "WALL-E" had both reached the highest level that the studio could offer. But now for the first time, their new film is a little under what I would have expected from Pixar.
Not that the movie is bad, it actually is still better than the large majority of today's 3d animation movies, and the characters are not as manichean as those shown in so many american movies ; yet, the story was a little less interesting (even if we do not have many stories featuring an old retired man) and such gags are seen a bit too frequently in recent children movies.
Anyway, the beginning scene where the Fredricksen couple's whole life is shown is really beautiful, and I liked the fact that this movie shows a dirigeable balloon, too...

"Wendy and Lucy" ~ 7/10

This 'non-road movie' about a young woman trying to go to Alaska is simply beautiful. Stopped in a small town in Oregon because her car broke, then stopped again as she got busted for shoplifting, then stopped anew when her dog was caught by the pound, this movie is all about being stopped in every attempt to move on with one's life, and about the love between Wendy and her dog.

"Aruite mo aruite mo" [fr = "Still walking"] ~ 7/10

Koreeda gives his version of the "japanese nuclear family movie", mixed with his recurrent themes of life and death, and memories. Every part of it is simple and good.

"Sans rancune !" ~ 7/10

A good plot and a well chosen cast of young actors. The way the misteries about Matagne's father are progressively unveiled was also interesting.
The opening credits cloudy scene was funny, too.

"Fais-moi plaisir" ~ 7/10

Emmanuel Mouret's great use of light classical music in this comedy drama (or drama comedy) is once again one of the best points in watching his movies. Yet the actors are not at all bad, either, and the screenplay too. The most original thing was perhaps the two doors flat and what it let Mouret do with the lighting and direction.

"Public Enemies" ~ 7/10

Like the images themselves, this movie actually is beautiful but lacks just the little something which could have brought it to the rank of masterpiece. Using digital video cameras is truely a challenge at such of level of production, though ; then, "Public Enemies" is worth watching, and the lighting crew hence deserves congratulations such as those for "Barry Lyndon".
Goldenthal's music has something of a "Last of the Mohicans" but also lacks Trevor Jones' vitality.
The entire cast is great, Cotillard is completely bearable (unlike many of her appearances in movies...).
Maybe the subject of torture against criminals perpetrated by the FBI should be considered a good point for this movie, as Hollywood is always trying to keep up with the political trends of the USA...
Concerning the story itself, this movie is more about men being "publicly enemies" (the FBI agents against the bankrobbers) than about the search of public enemies. Although it shows a pursuit between the two biggest current Hollywood actors (Christian Bale and Johnny Depp), this movie cannot surpass the legendary and obsessive pursuit between Pacino and De Niro in "Heat", even if the latters weren't historical characters.

"Chi bi" [fr = "Les 3 Royaumes", aka "Red Cliff"] ~ 7/10

I usually don't like John Woo's melodrama very much but this epic story was simply of amazing beauty. Tony Leung is still handsome at nearly 50, and Kaneshiro is still funny.
I just regret that I only saw the occidental-oriented version - rather than the oriental-oriented version, huhu, smart pun...
Can't wait to see the sequel.

"Venkovský ucitel" [fr = "Country teacher"] ~ 7/10

A beautifully shaped and directed movie with real characters, played by inspired actors, leading to a realistic view of humanity. Some great choices of music too !

"Boy A" ~ 7/10

A beautiful story about an ex tormented boy.

"Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" [fr="Miss Pettigrew"] ~ 7/10

A good romantic movie with a great cast.

"Last Chance Harvey" [fr = "Last chance for love"] ~ 7/10

A good romantic movie with two great actors (who were also great at the Césars' Ceremony).

"Whatever Works" ~ 7/10

I didn't even pay attention to the fact that I was starting this cinema blog the very same day Woody Allen would attend for the first time a movie premiere with a "normal audience" (meaning we paid our tickets like any other normal show).

So this funny little guy came before the film and told us (in french, please ! ^^) how grateful he was to France, and how hungry he was (totally normal for an American in Paris !). That wasn't much, but there merely wasn't much to say as we hadn't seen his new film yet. ^^
He was accompanied by the freshly returned from a masterpiece (Aronofsky's "The Wrestler") actress Evan Rachel Wood, for the first time in a leading role of a comedy. It's the second time she's been playing in a movie about the Myth of Pygmalion (after Andrew Niccol's "S1m0ne"), might it be linked to her character ?

The movie itself was a good "regular" Woody Allen movie, with very funny sarcastic scenes about misanthropy and entropy. As far as I remember it's the first time, since he was elected, that I hear a joke in an american movie about Barack Obama being president. It was good to see Jessica Hecht which we in France know only thanks to TV series like "Friends" and the movie "Dan in real life" which was on screen last year here.