"The limits of control" ~ 9/10

Ten days ago, I had a dream which led to the idea of a film a bit similar to what Jim Jarmusch did in his new dreamy movie.
As he said himself prior to the projection, it's something to watch as if we were under the influence of hallucination mushrooms, which, seconded by Christopher Doyle's mad cinematography, proves to be the best way to appreciate this wonderful flick.
This international cast of actors is all good, and Rabinowitz's editing sometimes astounding.
An excellent movie, according to the way I love dreams and cinema joined together.

"The Box" ~ 9/10

This movie Richard Kelly has been working on for years is finally done, adapted from a short story ("Button, Button") written by the science-fiction master Richard Matheson - to whom Kelly bought the rights in person, with his own money, a long time ago.
So the film starts on a cruel dilemma (very few dilemma are not...), and soon we discover there was something bigger underneath the very dilemma.
The way the period is described takes us back in time as if the movie itself had actually been _made_ in some creepy part of the american seventies. The subject of Cold War is never approached, yet this movie talks a lot about "fear" and "fears" (something Richard Kelly likes to do) as it was all over America then. This time it is not about teenager fears like in his two previous movies, but something more adult, and more intimate.
Frank Langella is a huge actor and proves it here once again ; Cameron Diaz is not that bad either...
As always with Matheson, this story here is more psychological rather than purely "science-fictive", but that's exactly what Richard Kelly needed as a "draft", to make another great movie full of implications and references.
The music was also great for the fears it conveyed, but not in the same way the "Donnie Darko" soundtrack did. Maybe that's what I miss the most.

"(500) Days of Summer" [fr="(500) jours ensemble"] ~ 9/10

Over recent years, pop-culture references in romantic comedy dramas have been developing so much that they have become a good way for young artists to compile what they love among things made by other popular artists... People such as Zach Braff or Jason Reitman (and now Marc Webb) write and/or direct movies, but they also use a lot of great songs for their soundtracks, soundtracks which often look like compilations one would make for their lover, to share their taste and happiness.
This movie is no exception to the rule, and proves it from the very beginning, featuring one of the best songs written in the past ten years : Regina Spektor's "Us". The rest of the movie follows this huge example of "pop mood", probably influenced by director Marc Webb's skills in music videos.
The only thing one would perhaps blame in this movie is the falsely-happy-but-in-fact-only-hopeful-ending. Apart from that, it is indeed a beautiful/pretty/intelligent/feelful "not love" story.

PS : it seems that in France, Carla Bruni's reputation did not stand the singer's marriage with our loathsome-loathful president Nicolas Sarkozy ; while I was watching the movie in one of Paris' largest theatres, on one of the biggest screens there, the audience suddenly reacted a bit coldly to the scene that featured the song "Quelqu'un m'a dit"... One like me may add an evil laugh here. Mwahahahaha ! So there.

"District 9" ~ 9/10

Neumann as well as Cronenberg's "The Fly", the "Half-Life" videogames, Verhoeven's "Starship Troopers" and "RoboCop", some Sam Raimi style, some japanese "mecha anime", and even "The Dark Knight" (for the music)... This movie is a wonderful mix of so many good references, mostly taken from the world of science-fiction.
The plot is a bit original for an "alien" flick, and the humor not inappropriate.

"My sister's keeper" [fr="Ma vie pour la tienne"] ~ 9/10

The actors are all so very good, the music so great, it makes you forget how obvious the plot of this movie was. An excellent movie about a subject as difficult as child cancer.
Moreover, like several movies in the recent months, this one gets onto the subject of stem cells. May the obscurantist conservatives stop guiding the ignorants...

"Humpday" ~ 9/10

This movie explores sexuality like very few do. It is pure truth. I cannot say more as the movie SHOWS what it means without words, and it is absolutely worth the watch in any way.

"Los abrazos rotos" [fr="Étreintes brisées"] ~ 9/10

Almodóvar claims his love of cinema in this wonderful movie. Of course, it's not the best of what Pedro Almodóvar can do, as an important director with his own style, but it is still a beautiful declaration of love to the very art he's been nourishing so well for years now. The story is very good, but it seems that the director's first idea of another longer edition might have let some little flaws happen in this yet very good movie.

"Let's make money" ~ 9/10

Erwin Wagenhofer presents a terribly cynical view of the economic world in which we're living (and dying a lot, too). Author of "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" John Perkins' part might well be my favorite, for it explains every recent deprived-of-any-ideal wars which were lead by the USA (and the others who had not enough balls to say no).
It seems this movie won't let us any chance of salvation...

"Le roi de l'évasion" ~ 9/10

Guiraudie's first attempt of making a comedy film is a complete success. Everything from the use of music to wonderful characters sharing great dialogs, the form is flawless.
The (not that much) complicated subjects of everybody's homosexuality and heterosexuality , and of midlife crisis, are perfectly handled by a beautiful direction. Even the use of the french south-western accent can be counted as an outstanding quality here. The actors, particularly Hafsia Herzi and Ludovic Berthillot are full of charm, excellent in their roles.
Guiraudie might be some new kind of Godard, and certainly a pioneer in today's french cinema.
This film is pure and intelligent fun.

"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" [fr = "Vol au-dessus d'un nid de coucou"] ~ 9/10

After Antonín Dvořák, here's another famous Czech gone to America, where he's made one of his best works (by saying that I'm just talking about what the first and last image of the movie makes me think about). Milos Forman's adaptation of Dale Wasserman's play does not only feature a pretty good cast (Danny De Vito, Christopher Lloyd, Brad Dourif, and of course Nicholson), it also gives a lot to think about freedom and resistance. The last scene is full of beauty, hope, and symbolism altogether, and has been written in my memory since childhood.

"Brüno" ~ 9/10

After "Borat" and "Religulous", Larry Charles's new masterpiece of comedy/documentary goes way beyond any of Michael Moore's works, in any way (and I do like Michael Moore, at least a little).
Brüno is an outrageously provoking (Provost-King ?) character impersonated by an inspired Sacha Baron Cohen. The grandeur of such a movie is to make us laugh with the scariest extremisms America can possibly produce. Particularly scary/funny were the scenes with the "gay to straight converter". Also, the last wrestling scene truely is one of pure beauty. I liked a lot seeing this poor wrestling fan cry, he who perhaps ignored his own homosexuality until seeing two men kiss with his own eyes...

"Watchmen" [fr="Watchmen - Les Gardiens"]~ 9/10

A very stylish superhero movie with beautiful visuals and a pretty good use of music.