Après un premier film dont nous ne dirons jamais assez de bien (Maléfique), Eric Valette semblait s’être perdu au cœur du système, rattrapé par l’envie, légitime, de percer dans le genre de l’autre côté de l’Atlantique, mais contraint d’abandonner aux mains des producteurs du remake de La Mort en ligne, ses velléités de réalisateur à personnalité prometteuse, offensive. Une mauvaise expérience suivie par la formalisation d’une série B (Hybrid) sous petite influence Cameron / Carpenter – si l’on se réfère en tout cas à sa bande-annonce aux tonalités volontairement eighties et marquée par l’empreinte fantastique de ces deux grands (une voiture « possédée » par le diable s’en prend aux résidents de nuit du garage d’un poste de police). En attendant la sortie de cet opus a priori un peu fauché mais sans doute très roboratif, le spectateur se réjouira du retour aux affaires du toulousain en Hexagone. Désireux de renouer avec une tendance disparue du cinéma français (le thriller politique engagé façon Le juge Fayard d’Yves Boisset ; 1977, tout de même !) tout en intégrant les archétypes jouissifs du polar américain, Eric Valette signe avec Une Affaire d’État le meilleur film de sa carrière mais aussi de l’année voire de la décennie dans nos frontières sclérosées par une cinématographie de fiction nombriliste et peu concernée par l’état du monde. Si l’on vous dit qu’en plus il est adapté du roman (Nos Fantastiques années fric) écrit par une auteure (Dominique Manotti) revendiquant clairement une construction à la James Ellroy et bien connue pour son traitement sans concession de la corruption de certains milieux d’affaires et politiques ; que Valette lui-même réinjecte cette appréhension mouvementée, composée d’une infinité de nuances dans la noirceur, d’un univers violent, décadent et fortement dénonciateur ; qu’il n’a pas été produit par les chaînes hertziennes nationales (le fléau de notre production cinématographique : quand le petit écran formate et décide du grand, voyez ce que ça donne toute l’année), il ne vous reste en principe aucune excuse pour ne pas courir le voir dès sa sortie.

Une Affaire d’État ne ressemble à aucun autre film français récent et, bien qu’exploitant une caractérisation typiquement hardboiled, ne se complaît jamais dans l’imitation décadrée du film noir américain mâtiné de thriller paranoïaque et violent : il intègre ces genres tout en restant lui-même et vous vous surprendrez à trouver qu’à travers la vision particulière de Valette, Paris la nuit puisse paraître aussi vénéneuse, nébuleuse, comploteuse qu’une Washington en pleine malversation chez Pakula ou qu’une San Francisco criminelle chez Don Siegel.
Le film tisse une toile de corruption, de meurtres et de trahisons politiques autour de deux événements que des milliers de kilomètres séparent : l’explosion d’un avion transportant des armes de fabrication française au-dessus du Golfe de Guinée, et l’assassinat dans un parking parisien d’une escort girl / indic d’un photographe people en quête de révélations de secrets d’État. Autour de ces intrigues qui n’en formeront bientôt qu’une, gravitent l’inspectrice nerveuse Nora Chayd (Rachida Brakni, efficace et juste), le Monsieur Afrique officieux du gouvernement Victor Bornand (André Dussolier, terrifiant de réalisme étatique) et son homme de main Michel Fernandez (Thierry Frémont, magnétique, crépusculaire, glaçant), un ancien des services de renseignements.

En s’attelant à un sujet aux ramifications internationales, Eric Valette insuffle à son film la vision universelle du genre qu’il sert, vision qu’il manque à la majorité de nos productions même volontaristes. Le réalisateur rejette toute idée de film-débat à thèse et au rayonnement documentaire pour privilégier le divertissement solide où s’imbriquent realpolitik et ténébreuses actualités, scandales en général (mercenaires et sociétés écrans), dessous de la Françafrique en particulier : le sous-texte d’Une Affaire d’État convoque ainsi dans un climat très barbouzard les figures compromises de la société civile et affairiste française voire internationale. Derrière Bornand / Dussolier se profile l’image du tutélaire et grand ordonnateur Jacques Foccart (secrétaire d’Etat aux affaires africaines et malgaches du Général de Gaulle), référence à laquelle s’ajoutent les échos de l’Angolagate, des influences exercées par les services secrets et de contre-espionnage sur des marchands de mort comme Jacques Monsieur ou Pierre Falcone, des négociations / triturations mercantiles de sociétés comme la Sofremi (une entité dépendante du Ministère de l’Intérieur, d’ailleurs dirigé par Charles Pasqua au moment de l’affaire du trafic d’armes vers l’Angola) que n’hésitait pas à saisir la DST (devenue depuis la DCRI) ; sans oublier les réminiscences de la guerre civile du Congo Brazzaville en 1997, au cours de laquelle la compagnie Elf accepta de prêter de l’argent destiné à payer des armes (grâce à des contrats de préfinancement) au gouvernement de Pascal Lissouba dans sa lutte contre l’ancien Président Denis Sassou N’Guesso. Ce sont aussi des trafics d’influence plus étendus encore (drogue, réseaux de prostitution huppés, guerre des services de renseignements) que pointe en fligrane le film de Valette, suspendant toute démonstration géopolitique péremptoire pour conduire un récit flamboyant à l’équilibre parfait entre action et conversations secrètes.

Une Affaire d’État peut ainsi se prévaloir d’un formalisme sec et soigné, dénué d’ostentation et de surcharge : l’action domine le récit sans sacrifier au chaos des sens ni au brouillage visuel ; tout est frontal, donc d’autant plus brutal. Les personnages et situations s’avèrent bien trempés dans un univers ambigü aux éclairages marqués : entre l’inspectrice en quête de vérité (mention spéciale également à son chef interprété par l’excellent Gérald Laroche, dont Valette, Xavier Durringer et Olivier Marchal sont les seuls à avoir appréhendé tout le talent) et le corrompu Bornand s’étend ainsi toute une zone de gris, représentée par Fernandez, un anti-héros violent pris dans un engrenage de jeux de pouvoir, caractère tout droit sorti d’un roman d’Ellroy. À cet égard, Valette gère les incursions de ses protagonistes comme le Maître du polar US, déambulant entre les existences jusqu’à les faire se croiser (mise en scène que renforce ici l’utilisation de thèmes musicaux spécifiques à des personnages), s’affronter, s’équilibrer dans le bien et le mal, dans la pureté et la manipulation. Fernandez s’impose ici comme le point nodal de l’intrigue, le mal nécessaire d’un monde corrompu dont les héros ne sont plus les figures droites de l’âge d’or. À l’instar des mauvais garçons Kemper Boyd et Pete Bondurand dans American Tabloïd, Fernandez (incroyable Frémont, on le répète) attire à lui toute l’attention et l’empathie du spectateur, pourtant révulsé par la noirceur et l’incontrôlable violence de son personnage. C’est la force du film de Valette : nous faire basculer dans l’ère du soupçon, la véritable identité du thriller moderne, la raison d’être d’un cinéma tel que le conçoivent les meilleures productions du monde. Et la France fait partie du monde – ce que semblent avoir oublié les départements « cinéma » de nos chaînes de télévision, qui refusèrent de financer le film parce qu’il s’attardait trop sur Fernandez. À croire qu’il s’agit aussi, côté 7e Art, d’une affaire d’État…

Stéphane Ledien

> Sortie en salles le 25 novembre 2009

> Lire aussi notre article sur Maléfique dans VERSUS n° 4 et notre article sur les intrigues du complexe militaro-industriel dans VERSUS n° 17, actuellement en vente.

Bande-annonce de Une Affaire d’État

Trailer de Hybrid, sortie prévue au printemps en France

After work, I met Farrah for the most awesome workout!

First, we got on the treadmill and did 2+ miles in 28:00 minutes, alternating walking with running each quarter-mile. We got to where we were running at 6.5 mph and walking at 4.0 so I can see where we’ll get even faster and perhaps start walking less.

Afterwards, we did a killer weight routine, doing each exercise for 25 reps:

• Chest presses (12.5 lb dumbbells)
• Seated row machine (30 lbs)
• Upright rows (12 lb bar)
• Bicep curls (12 lb bar)
• Tricep extensions (12 lb bar)
• Seated shoulder press (7.5 lb dumbbells)
• Front raises (5 lb dumbbells)
• Lateral raises (2.5 lb dumbbells)

You can tell I was getting worn out by the end there! We also did a great abs routine, utilizing our legs, which reminded me a lot of pilates. We’re going to be hurting tomorrow

Now, onto the food…

The other night, I declared the pumpkin pie pancakes I made to be the best pancakes ever. Well now I have a new place holder for Best Burger Ever!

Introducing Five Star Foodies artichoke burger:

I saw these burgers on Heather’s blog and immediately contacted the company for more information. Valerie at Five Star Foodies got back with me so fast and offered to send me a FREE SAMPLE of the burgers to try out.

She also told me more about the company, the best method to use in cooking the burgers and where I can find the products at stores near where I live. I was also impressed by how quickly they arrived!

What’s not too like: I love artichokes and the burgers are vegan too. But how did they taste?

I used the method Valerie suggested (pan frying) and took a little nibble before I dressed it up to get a good idea of what it would taste like. I could definitely taste the artichokes and it was even a little bit spicy!

I also had some sugar snap peas that I got at the store on the way home. I was craving some warm veggies since it’s so cold today! I swear, I thought it was December for a moment today.

I topped the burger with avocado, organic ketchup and placed it between two slices of whole wheat toast. Awesome dinner!

I…will…never…buy…Boca…again.

Now I’m about to devour the snack that never gets old, only this time I’m using some of the leftover bread from last night’s dinner.

Josh is at a concert tonight so I’m at home watching scary movies by myself, ahhh! I just watched “One Missed Call” and it was okay…more creepy than scary. But I did turn a few extra lights on just incase!

Now I’m going to watch “Shutter” in an attempt to stay up and wait for Josh to get home. I hope he’s having a good time, poor guy. He’s been coughing and not sleeping a lot lately

Anyway, thanks for stopping by. Good night!

O site especialista em críticas de filmes, RottenTomatoes.com acaba de divulgar a lista dos 100 piores filmes da última década.

Tenho que confessar que há algumas grandes porcarias dos cinemas e algumas delas são tão ruíns que nunca ouvi falar antes!!!

Abaixo os 10 piores da década:

10. Witless Protection (2008) :

Xerife de uma cidadezinha do interior americano testemunha o que ele considera o rapto de uma bela mulher. Decidido a cumprir a lei, ela faz de tudo para resgatá-la, mas descobre que os tais sequestradores são na verdade agentes do FBI cuja missão é proteger a moça para que ela deponha no tribunal num caso de corrupção em Chicago. O xerife, no entanto, não está plenamente convencido disso e aposta que os homens querem mesmo matá-la.

9. Redline (2007) -Velocidade sem Limites:

Filme de ação que serve apenas para apresentar a exótica coleção particular de carros do bilionário investidor (e produtor) Daniel Sadek. Ele gastou 26 milhões de dólares na produção e ainda colocou à disposição alguns de seus carros mais caros – Phantom Rolls Royce, Lamborghini Murcielago, Enzo Ferrari, Ferrari F430, Ferrari Scaglietti e duas Mercedes SLR McLarens. Seu Porsche Carrera GT, avaliado em US$ 450, realmente é destruído no filme. Eddie Griffin também destruiu em cena uma Enzo Ferrari – uma das 400 produzidas no mundo.

8. 3 Strikes (2000) – Na Terceira Você Dança:

Rob Douglas já cometeu dois delitos em um estado dos EUA, onde o terceiro garante no mínimo 25 anos de prisão. Por isso, Rob só tem uma coisa em mente: manter-se do lado de fora para sempre. No dia em que ele é libertado, o amigo que combinara ir buscá-lo teve um imprevisto sexual e por isso delega a outro amigo, JJ, a tal missão. No caminho, a polícia os intercepta e, para azar de Rob, JJ estava armado, num carro roubado e por isso decide disparar fogo contra os policiais. Para evitar seu terceiro delito e uma condenação de 25 anos, Rob foge a pé, sem saber que fora filmado. Agora a polícia acha que ele também é culpado. Já seus amigos acham que ele abandonou JJ na pior e sua namorada pensa que ele aprontou com ela. Rob encontra-se em uma encruzilhada: limpar seu nome ou ir direto para cadeia!

7. Strange Wilderness (2008):

Quando a audiência do aloprado programa de TV “Strange Wilderness” começa a cair, os dois apresentadores armam um plano para evitar que a série seja tirada do ar. Eles viajam até os Andes em busca do lendário Pé Grande.

6. Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004):

Lendário super-herói bebê ajuda um grupo de crianças que está passando por apuros nas mãos de um ganancioso magnata.

5. National Lampoon’s Gold Diggers (2004):

Dois jovens amigos e fracassados armam um plano: se casarem com duas irmãs, mais velhas que eles, com o objetivo de herdarem a fortuna delas em Beverly Hills.

4. King’s Ransom (2005)

Homem de negócios desconfia que sua mulher está interessada apenas em seu dinheiro. Para certificar-se, planeja seu próprio sequestro e acaba descobrindo que há muito mais gente na família igualmente interessada na sua fortuna.

3. Pinocchio (2002)

Versão filmada do conto de Pinóquio, boneco de madeira que ganha vida.

2. One Missed Call (2008) - Uma Chamada Perdida

Remake do filme de horror japonês ”Chakushin Ari” (2003), no qual uma série de pessoas começa a receber mensagens no celular delas mesmas. O problema é que as mensagens incluem data, hora e todos os detalhes de como essas pessoas irão morrer.

1. Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002) – Dupla Explosiva

Agente do FBI precisa se unir a inimiga para juntos enfrentarem vilão que possui arma mortal.

CLICK AQUI para ver a lista completa de filmes!

Leonardo Portela injuriado por que o filme Swept Away (Destino Insólito) da Rainha está na lista.

Silly, ridiculous and ultimately harmless, One Missed Call is a throwaway horror flick that provides nothing by way of scares and quite a few unintentional laughs. It is a completely harmless motion picture, save for that the fact that it was made and cost money in the first place, so it’s a little hard to get too steamed about its lack of coherence and decent chills.

As yet another American remake of a Japanese horror film, One Missed Call takes many of the elements from Takashi Miike’s 2004 version and creates a palatable softcore horror movie that relies on creepy visuals and a cell phone ringtone that is supposed to signify impending doom. The usual trappings of American remakes of J-Horror are all here, including creepy children, strange sounds, funny-looking eyeballs and strange objects coming out of peoples’ mouths.

Directed by Eric Valette (who?), One Missed Call stars Shannyn Sossamon as Beth Raymond. Beth is a girl who is disturbed by the deaths of four friends after learning that they’d each received cell phone calls from themselves in the future prior to their untimely deaths. In each case, the victim sees strange apparitions shortly before they die. Beth reports the problem to the cops, who essentially treat her like some kind of nut.

The heroic and dashing Detective Jack Andrews (Edward “What Am I Doing In This Movie?” Burns) is the only one to believe her and he takes Beth at her word. Jack’s sister died in similar fashion, so he’s got a vested interest in the case. The two of them take to solving the case, only to discover that Beth’s cell phone soon delivers that same eerie ringtone and that she might be next. It’s a race against time and awful special effects as Beth and Jack must discover who is placing these death calls and why.

To say that One Missed Call was disliked by critics would be an understatement. It scooped a whopping 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, which I think is slightly too low but may have a lot to do with the fact that it wasn’t screened for critics ahead of time. That’s never a good sign. One Missed Call is a bad movie, don’t get me wrong, and there’s no way I can recommend it to people who actually enjoy good horror or good films, but it wasn’t the most terrible movie of 2008.

It’s actually a fair shade better then this year’s brutally awful The Haunting in Connecticut, as it doesn’t waste time setting up any characters or giving us stupid moments of development or overly dramatic nonsense. One Missed Call is silly the whole way through and its payoff is about on par for how Valette has set the whole thing up. Sure, it’s a ludicrous mess of a movie with uninteresting acting and bad effects, but it’s relatively undisruptive and doesn’t take too much attention to get through.

Like most American remakes of J-Horror, One Missed Call is an exercise in “dark” atmospherics and not plot and character development. These characters are essentially worthless objects, with no spark and no energy whatsoever. There’s nothing to them and the performers behind them do nothing to bring any sort of force or significance to their existence. They seemingly exist just as observers of the smoggy sort of world Valette wants us to find creepy.

Of course, I was at least grateful that the film didn’t contain countless time-wasting meanderings about the significance of this person or that person. I was relieved that the silliness didn’t seem to get in the way of something and I was glad that Valette didn’t force-feed the audience a ridiculously long runtime or an overabundance of “meaning.” One Missed Call is ultimately meaningless, a waste of time and money entirely but far from the worst horror movie in recent years.

1.2/10

Trailer:

Don’t answer the phone with the creepy ring-tone! Regardless of whether your phone is smashed, dead or turned off this spirit will call and then collect.

Weird things start happening when a circle of friends begin receiving weird voice messages of their own last moments alive.  Dated in the near future, they try and avoid death while seeing weird people with burnt and mangled faces everywhere they go.  After their untimely demise, the spirit uses their phone to update its own contact list.

Its the usual ghost in the phone scenario, with limited gore and a surprisingly detailed plot .  Stand-out is when Beth has an encounter with a corpse in an air vent. 

Once the identity of the spirit is revealed, its all downhill- so enjoy the suspense while it lasts.

This movie is best watched at night but will make you think twice before using the door peephole again.

4/5

-Mrs Ford

It is currently 10:23 and AC, MJ, and MQ are preparing dinner for us. We will have popcorn (I believe), miso noodle soup or something like that, sushi, onion rings, preztels and DEATHHHH BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH XD

Haa haa no.
I have eaten SOOOO much today it is actually funny.
Plus the fact that I have nothing to do other than blog for the time being.
I am waiting for midnight when we will watch One Missed Call and kill ourselves scared.

MQ is currently dancing the GEE dance when she should be cooking noodles for me. ;D

I have an evil pan planned for tonight ;D
If you were here I would suggest you run away.
Before two am.
(YAY 2AM!!!!!!! Jo Kwon <3)

OHHHH I found the Guyver opening and ending songs, FULL VERSIONNNNN
I still can’t believe sometimea how good old JPop is =O

My friend (phoebe, check her wordpress too) got the DIM cd and it is SOOOO COOOOLLLL~~~~
I like how I’m an old dead man XD (don’t worry you don’t have to get this XD)
OMGSH the cd is soooo goood I’ve bee listening to it for the past few days YAYYYYY

I love canelle gum. Do you love canelle gum? I love canelle gum. I also love the One Missed Call ringtone that is part of my evil plan >D

AC’s little sister is adorbale beyond infinity. MJ’s little sister is adorable beyond infinity times infinity (no offense AC XD)

Don’t do an Anna POzzie at Buffet King – EVAR.
You will die and have to stay at the gym all day the next day to satsify your mother – but you know you can’t, especially when you have to finish making notes for an in-class essay on Monday and your chapter questions are due the same day and you have one more chapter left PLUS the fact that you still need to get some sleep cause you know that at sleepovers you never get ANY sleep. Refer to Maggie’s blog for the last sleepover report. Just get permission from her first ;D XD

I’m so unbelievely full that I feel like blogging yayyyyyyy
YAY I made my name (Anna [yes the capital is important[) equal 143 on my calculator. Same with F*CK (no the star isn;t there my I feel like censoring it XDD XD) = 3.141592653….. XD XD Yes I enjoy doing that and I am an extreme nerd XD

Anyways, I think I’m gonna end this post and go join ACMJMQ XD XD XD XD 8D 8D 8D 8D

Hahahahahahahahahaha did you actaully think that I was gonna leave you???????? NEVARRRRRRR D:
I love you guys who read my blog but don”t comment >D
I feel like being nice to you – I will give you a download link for DIm because I love you so much and I have nothing else to do for the time being until the guys finish eating and then we will go kill ourselves screaming vecause One Missed call is realllllyyyy freaky at midnightttt XDDDDD

Here is the Nigihana link for the download.

If you cannot see the above, use these MF links:
Part 1
Part 2

I hope those links work for you. They are 320kbps and they are beautiful songs and I can’t stop listening to them and I hope I pass the virus onto you and I hope you die of the GazettE overdose.

Ha ha ha jokes jokes I don’t really want you to die because then I will lose my precious readers.
XD

KK now I’m really gonna go join ACMJMQ nowwwwwwwwww ;D
BYE BYEEE

I’ll see if I can blog later tonight XD

coronelpurria

Remakes en sequels. Alsof we er nog geen genoeg hebben. Binnen dit en enkele maanden verschijnen er nog verschillende. Een vervolg op Donnie Darko met in de hoofdrol Donnie’s jongere zusje Samantha. Een remake van de cultfilm Battle Royale staat in de stijgers. Ook Korea’s paradepardje Old Boy wordt niet met rust gelaten door de Amerikaanse markt en staat in het lijstje van te verschijnen films. Iemand zelfs al gehoord van de real-life Akira, of de ver-amerikaansing van Detroit Metal City en Death Note? Nog zo een paar films en verhalen waar ze in principe af zouden moeten blijven. Aziatische pareltjes versus Westerse blockbusters. Maar eerlijk: hoeveel van die films zijn nu eigenlijk te doen?

Rottentomatoes geeft de meeste remakes een armzalige score en prijst de originele werken de hoogte in. Mensen die blockbusters gewoon zijn hebben dan weer een hekel aan de verfijnde kunst van het aziatische filmen. Het fenomeen startte enkele jaren geleden met de Amerikaanse versie van de Japanse cult-film Ring, gebaseerd op het boek van Koji Suzuki met dezelfde naam. De Amerikaanse versie deed veel stof opwaaien en zorgde voor een hele nieuwe sfeer doorheen Hollywood. Maar waar films als Ring en The Departed (Infernal Affairs) lof kregen voor wat ze verwezenlijkt hadden, verdwenen films als Pulse en One Missed Call zonder schroom van de radar nog voor ze goed en wel op DVD uitkwamen.  Waarom lukt het de ene keer wel en de andere keer niet?

The Departed had een cast met heel wat grote namen. Onder leiding van Martin Scorcese en productiehuis Warner Bros kon er niet veel mislopen. ‘Aan de meeste remakes wordt teweinig aandacht besteed. Aziatische thrillers zijn vaak dieper en psychologisch terwijl de meeste Amerikaanse versies gewoon een simpele tienermovie worden.’ Maar hoe verklaart men dan het verschil op beide Bangkok Dangerous films waarbij zowel de Thaise als de Amerikaanse film geregisseerd en geschreven werden door de Pang Brothers.

Achja, ik heb het al lang opgegeven om tussen al die remakes te zoeken in de hoop een deftige tegen te komen. Ik was aangenaam verrast met The Departed, maar tot op de dag heb ik er nog geen enkele andere gezien die het origineel kan tippen. Ik verschuil me dus liever achter mijn heuse Asiamanie collectie en hoop dat de Amerikanen het niet eens aandurven om pareltjes als Red Shoes, The Exiled, City of Violence en Casshern aan te raken. Ze hebben al enkele van mijn absolute toppers verbrod. Blijf alsjeblieft van de andere af, en herzie de Amerikaanse versies van Death Note, Battle Royale en Old Boy. Please? *smeekt op blote knietjes*

As I’ve mentioned previously, something about summertime makes me want to go to the movies. Maybe it’s the extreme air conditioning that is a welcome change from the heat (at least for the first 15 minutes), the notion that the summer was meant for blockbusters, or even just that with minimal work to do after quitting time, wasting 2 hours in a movies theatre is a welcome activity. I’m going to see “The Taking of Pelham 123” tonight and am slightly apprehensive; the Travolta-Washington double team sounds too good to be true. I’ve come across a lot of skeptical media but am too nervous to read it; I already bought the tickets and I want to see for myself.

I’ve been frequenting the local cinemas, but have also been burning through my Netflix queue; with a 4-at-a-time Unlimited monthly plan and basic cable as my only other option, I’ve been watching a lot of movies.

Marley & Me: A-
It’s funny, and sad, and heartwarming simultaneously. I suggest locking yourself in your room with a family size box of Kleenex and planning on wearing sunglasses to work the next day.

(480): The producers of Marley and Me owe me about $5 million. That’s the dollar amount of embarrassment compensation required for making a 24-year-old male cry publicly on an airplane while sitting in the middle seat between a gorgeous babe and a guy with a do-rag

Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian: B-
So disappointing in comparison to the first one, but I did enjoy the ending.

Failure to Launch: B
I’ve seen it before, and I’ll probably see it again; Matthew McConaughey, Justin Bartha, Bradley Cooper and Zooey Deschanel round out the cast in an easy to watch romcom. SJP; I love you in Sex & the City, but why must you act like Carrie in every role?!

Paula: Hey, hey.
Kit: Hey, Paula. Good news. It’s Champagne Thursday.
Paula: It’s Friday.
Kit: Uh, yeah, Thursday came twice this week.
Paula: For the third straight week.
Kit: There’s talk of making it permanent.
Paula: Oh, kind of like Daylight Saving’s Time?
Kit: Right, but for booze.

Friday After Next: C
I watched it to appease my boyfriend after a long day at work. I fell asleep somewhere between Ice Cube’s fat cheeks and Katt Williams overdone “big pimpin’.” Not for me

Bride Wars: B
Let me begin by admitting that although I love Kate Hudson, I am NOT an Anne Hathaway fan. She lost a ton of weight and now looks all skinny and pouty and pinched. I was resisting this movie for the first 45 minutes, but it won me over in the second half. It was predictable, and I wouldn’t see it again, but I enjoyed it. For a quality Hathaway film also involving marriage, see Rachel Getting Married. Seriously awesome.

Emma: [to Liv] Your wedding’s gonna be huge, just like your ass at prom.
Liv: Your wedding can suck it.

One Missed Call: C+
Amazing concept, must you sh*t all over it? This movie got real weird, real fast…and stupidly so. I don’t mean to be cliche but…FAIL.

The Bucket List: B+
This was a moving story about the last chapter of two men’s lives. If you’re in a pensive mood, pop this into your DVD player and snuggle up under a blanket.

Edward Cole: We live, we die, and the wheels on the bus go round and round.

Valkyrie: B-
I was enticed by the cinematography and the feeling of it….enter Tom Cruise. Need I say more?

Paul Blart: Mall Cop: B-
People raved about this movie, but I just didn’t get it. I’m a huge fan of Kevin james, and his performance was solid, but the material was rather lackluster. If you want to laugh, watch the previews or go see the Hangover. Leave this at the movie store.

Paul Blart: This lemonade is insane!
Vijay: That’s because it’s a Margarita, Paul.

The Day the Earth Stood Still: B
Say what you want about Keanu Reeves, but he is a modern day king of Sci-Fi. His creepy robotic-ness lent perfectly to this role. Bonus: Will Smith’s adorable sun is in it

Doubt: A-
This was an intense and well acted movie. I’m not always one for drama, but I enjoyed the simplicity of it, and the overarching theme. I’m not a huge fan of Amy Adams, but Hoffman, Streep, and Davis were fantastic.

Father Brendan Flynn: You haven’t the slightest proof of anything!
Sister Aloysius Beauvier: But I have my certainty!

Transformers: B+
I realize that it is a little ridiculous that I hadn’t seen this movie until about a month ago, but I refused to see it when everyone was jizzing in their pants in wonder summer 2007. I am glad I saw it so I’m ready for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen June 24th.

Notorious: A-
I realize that giving this movie the same rating that I’m giving Doubt seems like blasphemy, but I truly enjoyed this movie. I had it for a couple of weeks before I finally consented to watching it, and I was pleasantly surprised by how well done and moving the biopic was.

Lil Kim: Whatever you say, Big Poppa.

The Haunting of Molly Hartley: F
If someone tries to pop this in at a slumber party/during date night/whaever…RUN. Or better yet, burn the movie in its case. Worthless.

Adoro il cinema americano, secondo me sono i primi al mondo nel settore cinematografico. Devo dire, però, che altri paesi si sono contraddistinti in generi differenti; per esempio noi italiani abbiamo senz’altro lasciato un segno importante nella commedia, Totò, Fabrizzi, Sordi, Mastroianni, sono solo alcuni dei nomi che brillano nel firmamento del cinema mondiale. Ultimamente ho scoperto che il giappone ha un suo genere in cui è il re incontrastato, si tratta del genere horror/thriller, faccio dei nomi per farvi capire, “Ringu” (The ring), “Jun On” (The grudge), “The Call”. E’ proprio quest’ultimo titolo che oggi ispira questo articolo. Ieri ho avuto modo di vedere un film americano chiamato “Chiamata senza risposta” che sarebbe il remake proprio di “The Call”. Il film in se non è stato male, anche se comunque lo stacco fra le due regie era veramente netto. L’originale “The Call” è stato fatto con un budget limitatissimo, ma il regista ha saputo sfruttare le inquadrature, le luci, i volti degli attori, tirando fuori un film veramente eccellente, che coinvolge lo spettatore fino alla fine. Come dicevo, la sua controparte americana non è stata male, ma alcune cose mi hanno fatto capire che il regista arrancava faticosamente per arrivare alla fine del film senza sfigurare troppo rispetto alla versione giapponese. Prima di tutto, effetti speciali a non finire; nell’originale è bastata una bambina con i capelli che le coprivano il viso e delle inquadrature fatte ad arte per catturare lo spettatore; nella versione americana, invece, è stato usato massicciamente (immagino con un grosso dispendio di denaro anche) il CGI per ricreare i fantasmi e gli eventi paranormali ma questo ha avuto un contro effetto. Prima di tutto non stupisce lo spettatore, perchè la tecnica usata è sempre la stessa e questo fa si che i personaggi si assomiglino un pò tutti, perciò ormai lo spettatore si è “assuefatto” e le fattezze dei mostri non lo spaventano più; questo è provato dalle grossissime difficoltà che incontrano gli artisti che creano i mostri per qualsiasi film, ricordiamo il tremendo flop di “Cloverfield”. Poi, diciamoci la verità, lo stacco fra un personaggio in CGI e un attore reale è ancora troppo netto e questo conferisce una distorsione nella sequenza che contribuisce a far perdere interesse nel film. Tutto quello che ho scritto fino ad ora sono semplicemente estestismi perchè il film risulta, tutto sommato, fatto bene. Ho notato però, purtroppo che, anche in questo film, ci sono le classiche “costanti da film americano” che purtroppo stiamo assimiliando anche noi. – La festa di liceali mezzi sbronzi. Dove trombano tutti contro tutti, una specie di Royal Rumble del sesso, dove sistematicamente c’è una persona che è triste e viene consolata in cucina dalla/dal padrona/pradrone di casa in solitudine. Qua addirittura è entrata alla festa una ragazza che era triste perchè era appena stata al funerale di una sua cara amica; non mi pare molto normale che dopo un funerale di un caro amico, una persona vada ad una festa di quel genere. – La scena di sesso. Devo dire, pensavo peggio. Generalmente infarciscono i film con scene di sesso molto esplicite, roba che non si nota la linea tra il thriller ed il porno. In questo film invece c’era giusto un accenno; quando la padrona di casa entra in una camera e ci sono due giovani che stanno “armeggiando”, niente di spinto però. – Il James Dean della situazione. C’è sempre il ragazzo bullo, spavaldo, che fa il duro e non crede mai alla storia del fantasma di turno, deridendola anche. Questa figura era bella all’inizio, ma persistendo in ogni film è diventata abbastanza fastidiosa, anche perchè si intuisce che morirà presto, ormai è un cliche. – La tresca fra i due protagonisti. Sinceramente è veramente una nota stonata; una persona che è appena scampata ad un fenomeno paranormale terribile, mai verificatosi nella storia, l’ultima cosa che fa è ammiccare al suo compagno come se non fosse successo niente. Questi sono solo alcuni esempi. La cosa che ha tenuto nei binari il film, secondo me, sono i numerosi richiami al film originale. Devo dire che sono stato abbastanza sfortunato perchè già avevo visto varie volte “The Call” perciò ho subìto il grande divario che c’è tra i due film. Il fatto di dover inserire, frequentemente, scene riprese dal film originale ha fatto si che il regista non “uscisse dal seminato” trasformandolo in un film ridicolo. Tuttavia, le scene riprese, non avevano enfasi, sembrava che chi le avesse scritte non avesse visto il film originale ma glie lo avessero semplicemente raccontato. In conclusione, è un buon film, non da comprare magari, ma da noleggiare sicuramente.

Mobilen ringer och du hör dig själv strax innan du förespås ska dö några dagar senare. Lite langen-går då offrets mobil sedan ringer upp någon i adressboken och denne då blir nästa offer. Shannyn Sossamon befinner sig i vänkretsen och ser vad som händer med kompisarna och involveras i händelserna tillsammans med polisen spelad av Edward Burns. Ska man hitta orsaken till mysteriet och hindra dödskedjan innan den når dem?

En amerikansk remake på japanska filmen Chakushin ari (som jag inte sett ännu). Rätt hygglig dussinskräckis a la Hollywood, men samtidigt för spretigt och ibland för långsökt för sitt eget bästa. När Ray Wise (Laura Palmers pappa i Twin Peaks) dyker upp ökar förväntningarna, men hans otäcka utstrålning slarvas tyvärr helt bort. Inte speciellt otäck, inte speciellt bra… inget speciellt!

Betyg: 2

People begin to recieve phone calls from themselves from three days in the future at the moment of their deaths. Yumi begins to investigate the cause of the strange phone calls after her friends start dying one by one until she gets a call of her own. Can she solve the mystery before she meets her own death?

Directed by – Takashi Miike

Written by – Yasushi Akimoto, Minako Daira

Starring – Kou, Shibasaki, Shin’ichi Tsutsumi, Kazue Fukiishi, Anna Nagata, Atsushi Ida, Mariko Tsutsui, Kumiko Imai, Keiko Tomita, Kayoko Fujii, Yoshiko Noda, Azusa, Tetsushi Tanaka, Mitsuhiro Sato, Kaoru Hanaki, Hassei Takano

Alright, first of all, why can I never understand the ending of Asian movies? They’re great movies and I typically enjoy every one that I see but I just don’t get it. It is nice to be able to kind of decide for yourself what the ending means but sometimes I just want it to be told to me. This was one of those times.

I’m a big fan of Takashi Miike and while this was a good film, it wasn’t a great film. Maybe I tainted it by seeing the American remake first but it seemed like the original didn’t have much more to offer. You’re treated to the typical pale skinned, long black hair female ghosts that contort their bodies in weird ways. There are a few creepy moments but nothing that really stood out.

I do really like the story though. It’s a great mystery with an intelligent conclusion that gives you a little twist.  However, the open ending left me a little puzzled and I would have preferred a more precise end. After browsing a few forums and discussions about it I was able to come to a suitable conclusion for myself but I’m not sure how many people are up for that. That’s just something that I’m always interested in doing after a film. Of course I could just be slow and everyone else will just get it while I didn’t. Hey, my kids are sick so my brain is clogged with sniffling sounds and cough medicine stains on my shirt.

It’s a good movie with a great story that will satisfy the ghost desire for fans of the genre but if you’re tired of seeing the same old tricks with the same old creepy Japanese ghost girls than steer clear.

Under the marquee – Will

I have been sick for a week now. I could have already been better… but I decided to go out at night. Oops!

So yesterday I watched movies on TV. Yay for movie channels! I hate commercials.

#1 The Lookout.  I enjoyed this movie. The unpopular kid from 10 Things I Hate About You was in it. In The Lookout he was a popular hockey player that got in a major accident that gave him some brain damage. Lived with a blind guy, who was the guy who owned the diner in Pleasantville. So the kid is a janitor at a bank… and it’s a small town so security is limited. Bad guys decided to get him to help them rob the bank. The kid decides to do it because he wants friends… and money is power. The kid then decides he doesnt want to do it anymore but he gets stuck doing it. His sheriff friend get killed and the kid runs off. Takes the money and makes a plan to make everything right.

#2 Zodiac. This movie dragged but i still had to watch it. I missed some good parts… but i watched most of the movie. I liked it… but i dont want to watch it again since it dragged on forever. Crazy though that it was set in areas im familiar with… and it’s based on a true story. The Zodiac ended up in Santa Rosa! Scary!

#3 One Missed Call. I watched this right before i went to sleep. Creepiest part was the zombie baby in the crib. Other than that it was a cheesy horror flick. I like the main girl better when she has weird chopped hair, like in 40 days and 40 nights. I enjoyed watching this movie though… not that scary though. Still i was interested in finishing the movie.

today…

#4 Premonition. I love Sandra Bullock… but i prefer her in romantic comedies. This movie confused me. She was like living two lives, not just having visions of the future. I wouldn’t watch that movie again.