The Hateful Eight by Quentin Tarantino, 2015 (R)

with Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kurt Russell, Walton Goggins, Demián Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, James Parks, Dana Gourrier, Channing Tatum

While racing toward the town of Red Rock in post-Civil War Wyoming, bounty hunter John "The Hangman" Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his fugitive prisoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh) encounter another bounty hunter (Samuel L. Jackson) and a man who claims to be a sheriff. Hoping to find shelter from a blizzard, the group travels to a stagecoach stopover located on a mountain pass. Greeted there by four strangers, the eight travelers soon learn that they may not make it to their destination after all.

Djanjo Unchained had perhaps a more elaborated purpose. This is revenge, this is vanity, and this is cold blooded madness. I mean, in some way, the Revenant and the Hateful Eight have a lot in common. I don't wish to elaborate too much on that, but outburst of violence, slow rhythm, landscapes, humanity (or the lack of), vengeance... Except I really did enjoy watching the Revenant.
The lines Jackson delivers are priceless, the layers Leigh gets on her face are quite mesmerizing, the rest is fine, not memorable. You also have to sit yourself for 3 hours and 7 minutes which is a little intense, specially if for one hour and a half, nothing actually happen.
I know the only movie that I really love from Tarantino wasn't actually written by Tarantino (Jackie Brown, one of my favorite movie of all time), but come on, there has to be a way his movies don't end up is such a random bloodbath, with no mean to its end. At least, there could be a more elaborated bloodbath where not everything is being mixed, some sort of intelligible way to understand death, or perhaps just understand the meaning of killing.

The Danish Girl by Tom Hooper, 2015 (R)

with Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Amber Heard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ben Whishaw, Sebastian Koch

With support from his loving wife Gerda (Alicia Vikander), artist Einar Wegener/Lili (Eddie Redmayne) prepares to undergo one of the first sex-change operations.

It is sad that the frailty of Lili is performed with too much similarities with Hawking by Redmayne. There was therefor no way to believe that he was Lili and not just another performance of Redmayne. On the other hand, Alicia Vikander (who is everywhere: Ex Machina, U.N.C.L.E., Burnt, The Fifth Estate...) is amazing as a woman who has to evolve ahead of her time in a men's world and has to go through the emotional journey of see her husband transforming into a woman and supporting him through, despite the social convention of the time. 

Carol by Todd Haynes, 2015 (R)

with Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Jake Lacy, Kyle Chandler

Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) spots the beautiful, elegant Carol (Cate Blanchett) perusing the doll displays in a 1950s Manhattan department store. The two women develop a fast bond that becomes a love with complicated consequences. Adapted from The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith.

This is a beautiful romantic comedy, where two women fall in love. The simplicity of it, and the almost awkwardness they showcase, their natural bound make us forget for a moment this is the 50s and homosexuality is prohibited, specially if you are a mother fighting for the custody of your child. But the movie is also a road movie, a portrait of winter, and of the two worlds Therese and Carol come from. The cinematography is perfect, (the lack of) dialogues exquisite, the performance so subtle it feels like everything might shatter at any second. Of course, there is the question of why it wasn't nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, perhaps it is too much to see a beautiful couple that is not following the convention of heterosexuality. Pity, I do wish they receive the awards for Best Actress in Leading and Supporting role, and best adapted Screenplay...

Penny Dreadful by John Logan - Showtime, 2014- (TV-MA)

with Reeve Carney, Timothy Dalton (James Bond), Eva Green (300: Rise of an Empire, Dark Shadows, Perfect Sense - The Last Word), Josh Hartnett (The Virgin Suicides), Rory Kinnear (Wild Target, Skyfall), Billie Piper (Secret Diary of a Call Girl), Danny Sapani (Trance), Harry Treadaway (Fish Tank)

The classic tales of Dracula, Frankenstein, Dorian Gray and more are woven together in this horror series set on the dark streets of Victorian London.
 
To be honest, aside from the aesthetic, the series isn't very interesting. It is pulling all the strings of the masterpieces of British literature and culture, piecing it like doctor Frankenstein, and the result is a little scattered, with intense scenes, no sense of humor and a heavy weight story that now has all the strings interlaced and stuck together in a huge mess. Could have worked still, but the characters are not interesting enough, and Eva Green is too much Eva Green in any movie, which tends to be tiresome. My only curiosity now is to see where the Egyptian lead of the very beginning is going, with the unleashing of a combination of gods, and the last tale of vampire that has been released just before the end of the season.

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Generation War (Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter) by Philipp Kadelbach, 2013 (NR)

Generation War vividly depicts the lives of five young German friends forced to navigate the unconscionable moral compromises of life under Hitler. Level-headed, highly decorated officer Wilhelm (Volker Bruch) goes off to the eastern front with his sensitive younger brother Friedhelm (Tom Schilling). Deeply in love with Wilhelm is Charlotte (Miriam Stein), a young nurse who looks forward to serving in the Red Cross. Greta (Katherina Schüttler) is a talented singer who longs to become another Marlene Dietrich, while her Jewish boyfriend Viktor (Ludwig Trepte) fights for his life while hiding among members of the Polish Resistance.

This is a very singular viewpoint on the war from a German view, but also from the very particular viewpoint of five people experiencing it, not bad people initially, relatively open-minded, liking everything the youth of this generation liked, meaning parties, ideas, music, and somehow too, their country. Except that the context sends two to the front, one to be a nurse, one to the concentration camps, and the last one to be the cheer-up singer for the troops. The actions they are to make is going to define who they are and their survival. Because you have sufficient time to understand who they are and the context of things, it allows you to have more patience, an understanding of why they have to do what they do, sometimes decide to do what they do. They are somehow powerful and victims, irresponsible and desperate. Of course, the movie is not (and I am sure it doesn't pretend to be) a portrayal of the war and the Nazis, nor it tries to justify the Germans for having done all the horrors of the Nazism. I believe as the original name says ("Our Mothers, Our Fathers" in English), that it is about understanding what that generation had to go through, and allows the next ones to see them as human too, at least some of them. The issue with this movie is that it is so focused on one story that it omits to nuance it (which is not its role), and therefore seen individually, it creates statements that are not acceptable. On the other hand, there has been so many movies that depicted all Germans as evil that I find it ok for once to try and dig in what was going on in the lives of some.

with Volker Bruch (The Reader, The Red Baron - Der rote Baron), Tom Schilling, Katharina Schüttler, Miriam Stein, Ludwig Trepte, Henriette Richter-Röhl, Götz Schubert, Hildegard Schroedter

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300: Rise of an Empire by Noam Murro, 2014 (R)

with Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green (Dark Shadows, Penny Dreadful, Perfect Sense - The Last Word), Lena Headey (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, The man with rain in his shoes, Game of Thrones, 300), Hans Matheson, Rodrigo Santoro (I Love You Phillip Morris, Love Actually, 300), Callan Mulvey, Andrew Tiernan, David Wenham, Jack O'Connell, Andrew Pleavin
Sequel of 300

Rodrigo Santoro is back leading the Persian forces in their invasion of Greece as mortal-turned-god Xerxes. Determined to thwart him is Greek general Themistokles, who takes to the sea in his quest to unite his country.

The first one had the effect of surprise in terms of style (yes, Sin City came first, but this one was in color, and pretty cool with its own aesthetic and slow motion). This one is darker at the image of pretty much every role of Eva Green, which turned out to be the only interesting thing about the sequel, but also for somebody who has seen a lot of what she does, another more of the same... So, I guess this is not a very interesting movie. And another one where Lena Headey is symbolic... By the way, now that Sin City: A Dame to Kill For came out, it would be interesting to see where they innovated too.

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300 by Zack Snyder, 2007 (R)

300 is a 2007 American fantasy action film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley. In a conflict pitting the ancient Greeks against the Persians in 480 B.C., Spartan King Leonidas leads his small band of 300 soldiers against an army of more than 1 million during the Battle of Thermopylae.

A little later than Sin City, they came up with this very cool epic movie, in color this time, but that would precede a whole series of stylized film, with amazing choreography, special effect, cinematography, in a very comic book style. Of course, most of it is completely surreal, but Gerard Butler holds it so it keeps the story going, as the action unfolds. 

with Gerard Butler (Playing for keeps, How to train your dragon), Lena Headey (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, The man with rain in his shoes, Game of Thrones), Dominic West, David Wenham, Vincent Regan, Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave, Trance, Prometheus, Haywire, A Dangerous Method, Shame, X-Men: First Class, Fish Tank), Tom Wisdom, Andrew Pleavin, Andrew Tiernan, Rodrigo Santoro (I Love You Phillip Morris, Love Actually), Stephen McHattie (Immortals), Alex Ivanovici
From the director of Man of Steel followed by 300: Rise of an Empire

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The Immigrant by James Gray, 2013 (R)

with Jeremy Renner (The Bourne Legacy, Avengers, The Hurt Locker, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol), Marion Cotillard (Little White Lies, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Contagion, Midnight in Paris), Joaquin Phoenix (Her, The Master), Dagmara Dominczyk, Angela Sarafyan, Antoni Corone (I Love You Phillip Morris), Ilia Volok, Dylan Hartigan

After arriving in New York, Polish immigrant Ewa must provide for her ill sister -- and soon falls under the thumb of charming thug Bruno, who forces her into a life of prostitution. But when she falls for a magician, her fortunes may turn.

Consider it a romantic drama with pieces of American history, and you will be served... Nothing of a masterpiece, the characters are very obvious, the roles are very define, and even Marion Cotillard who tries hard to play the role of a woman with major ethical contradictions is simplified to a victim determined only for the sake of her sister. The discontinuity of her behavior makes it quite unbelievable, and the story becomes irrelevant, sad.

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Ray by Taylor Hackford, 2004 (PG-13)

Jamie Foxx portrays rhythm and blues legend Ray Charles, who rose from obscurity to become world famous despite losing his eyesight at age 6, a hardscrabble upbringing, repeated struggles with racism, romantic letdowns and his own heroin abuse.

What I love about the movie is the combination of amazing music, and the incredible journey that has been the life of Ray Charles. If is filled with choices, definition of right and wrong over the course of a century, how someone can define his own existence, and somehow change the life of so many other, become a symbol of what a man can overcome, without ever making it a cliché or a perfect American story. It follows him in a way that is human, and never looses this perspective. Beautiful. And Jamie Foxx has in it the performance of his life.

with Jamie Foxx (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Django Unchained, Valentine's Day), Kerry Washington (Django Unchained), Regina King (Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, Enemy of the State), Clifton Powell, Harry Lennix (The Matrix Revolutions, Man of Steel), Bokeem Woodbine (Total Recall), Aunjanue Ellis, Sharon Warren, C.J. Sanders, Curtis Armstrong, Richard Schiff (Man of Steel, Solitary Man), Larenz Tate, Terrence Howard (Lee Daniels' The Butler, The Company You Keep, The Princess and the Frog, Dead Man Down), David Krumholtz, Wendell Pierce

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Pompeii by Paul W. S. Anderson, 2014 (PG-13)

with Emily Browning (Sleeping Beauty), Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), Carrie-Anne Moss (Fireflies in the Garden, Chocolat, The Matrix, Snow Cake), Kiefer Sutherland (Melancholia), Jessica Lucas, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Thor 2: The Dark World, Killer Elite), Jared Harris (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Lincoln, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Mad Men), Sasha Roiz, Currie Graham

Set in 79 A.D., this is the epic story of Milo, a slave turned invincible gladiator who finds himself in a race against time to save his true love Cassia, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy merchant who has been unwillingly betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator. As Mount Vesuvius erupts in a torrent of blazing lava, Milo must fight his way out of the arena in order to save his beloved as the once magnificent Pompeii crumbles around him.

Besides the interesting detachment from any biblical or religion, making mother nature the ultimate power with no existential reason, and us human really futile whether good or bad, the story told before the volcano takes over is terribly told, with no real political or social content, Emily Browning is as cheesy and you can get (sad, she was so interesting in Sleeping Beauty), the bad characters are really bad, the good ones are really good people, there is no psychology, what you see is what you'll get for the rest of the movie. How sad considering how interesting the culture of Pompeii was, and the relationship between Rome and them.

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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom by Steven Spielberg, 1984 (PG)

with Harrison Ford (Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strike Back, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Morning Glory, Blade Runner), Kate Capshaw, Jonathan Ke Quan, Amrish Puri, Roshan Seth, Philip Stone, Roy Chiao, Ric Young, David Yip, Philip Tan, Dan Aykroyd, Michael Yama, Chua Kah Joo, Rex Ngui, Akio Mitamura, D.R. Nanayakkara, Dharmadasa Kuruppu, Stany De Silva

Following Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark and followed by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
The second film in the Indiana Jones series takes Indy, young sidekick Short Round and spoiled songbird Willie Scott to a remote fortress in India to find a missing magical stone. In the process, the trio stumbles upon a pagan cult.

This one is cute, the comic element being centered on the little boy and his funny comic of situation. The action is easy to follow, and they journey enjoyable. The story is a little less scientifically realistic, and perhaps the relationship between the characters less believable... Oh well... I was told each new Indiana Jones were better than the previous one (excluding the alien of 2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). So the expectation kept rising...

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Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark by Steven Spielberg, 1981 (PG)

When Dr. Indiana Jones -- the tweed-suited professor who just happens to be a celebrated archaeologist and adventurer -- is hired by the government to locate the legendary Ark of the Covenant, he finds himself up against the entire Nazi regime.

This was a classic everyone had seen, and I didn't. I was expecting to love it right away, but the movie has aged, and not only that, the references to this movie are numerous, so I felt everything was quite predictable. Still, I got to enjoy it, Karen Allen is definitely my favorite girlfriend of Dr. Jones, and Alfred Molina is a baby, which is quite funny.

with Harrison Ford (Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strike Back, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Morning Glory, Blade Runner), Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, Alfred Molina (An Education, Chocolat, Rango), Wolf Kahler (The Girl in the Cafe), Anthony Higgins
Followed by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

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Sense and Sensibility by Ang Lee, 1995 (PG)

Jane Austen's classic tale of 19th-century etiquette and ethics chronicles the troubles and triumphs of the marriage-minded Dashwood sisters -- sensible oldest sibling Elinor (Emma Thompson) and her romantic younger sister, Marianne (Kate Winslet). While Marianne deftly charms two suitors (Alan Rickman and Greg Wise), Elinor must weather a circuitous courtship with an aspiring clergyman (Hugh Grant) of considerable reserve.

I love Elinor, and for years, she was my summum of proper behavior. To masochism... But so classy anyway it didn't matter, she was suffering properly, following the rules of her upbringing, and not creating drama where there could be if only she were to say what she felt. And Marianne as her opposite was not to be judged but nevertheless quite the irritating counterpart. But she becomes secondary, somehow, because her behavior in a way was more common. Anyway, Emma Thompson is perfect for Elinor, her sensibility is right on, and whether you believe the story is cheesy or not, she has to affect you somehow. The rest of the cast is perfectly directed by Ang Lee, to me the expert in romantic drama.
PS: Emma Thompson won for Best Writing - Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 1996 Oscars.

with Emma Thompson (Beautiful Creatures, Brave, Men in Black 3, An Education, Love Actually), Kate Winslet (The Reader, Titanic, Mildred Pierce, Contagion), Alan Rickman (Lee Daniels' The Butler, Galaxy Quest, Love Actually, Alice In Wonderland, Snow Cake, Harry Potter), Hugh Grant (Love Actually, Did You Hear About The Morgans?, Two Weeks Notice, Cloud Atlas), James Fleet, Tom Wilkinson (The Debt, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Michael Clayton, Duplicity, The Ghost Writer, The Conspirator, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol), Harriet Walter, Gemma Jones, Emilie François, Elizabeth Spriggs, Robert Hardy, Ian Brimble, Greg Wise, Imelda Staunton (The Girl, Another Year, Harry Potter), Imogen Stubbs, Hugh Laurie
From the director of Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Life of Pi
 
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Farewell My Concubine (Ba Wang Bie Ji) by Chen Kaige, 1993 (R)

with Leslie Cheung, Fengyi Zhang, Li Gong, Qi Lü, Da Ying, You Ge, Chun Li, Han Lei

A seemingly unshakable friendship between two Chinese opera stars gets put to the test in the face of war, a communist takeover, the Cultural Revolution and the intrusion of a woman who tempts both of them. In a plot that captures 50 years of Chinese history, the once-inseparable Duan Xiaolou (Zhang Fengyi) and Cheng Dieyi (Leslie Cheung) find themselves increasingly at odds after Xiaolou weds a lovely courtesan (Li Gong). Palme D'Or, Cannes Film Festival. Farewell My Concubine is one of the central works of the Fifth Generation movement that brought Chinese film directors to world attention.

This is a very loooooong movie. Yes, poetic, touching, but god damn long. I really loved Leslie Cheung and Fengyi Zhang, but Gong Li was overacting (or was I the only one feeling that way?). Perhaps the masterpiece tags all over the film poster built the expectations too high. How sad, for a story that was so beautiful and a tragedy so important to tell...

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Portrait of a Marriage by Stephen Whittaker - BBC, 1990

With Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs), David Haig (Two Weeks Notice), Cathryn Harrison, Diana Fairfax, Peter Birch, Alexander Pearce, Kathleen Byron

Melodrama detailing the real-life love affair between feminist writer Vita Sackville-West (Janet McTeer) and novelist Violet Keppel (Cathryn Harrison) against the backdrop of post-World War I England and opposition by Vita's politican husband Harold Nicolson (David Haig). Vita and Violet's romantic relationship becomes increasingly obsessive which spawns destructive feelings of possessiveness and jealousy between them. Originally broadcast in four episodes on BBC in September and October 1990.

This is the third movie I watch with Janet McTeer, and the third one in which she is a lesbian. Do we tend to profile the actors into doing the same roles over and over again? The series very TV 90s, despite the fact that this is a period piece. And to tell you the truth, it was interesting. After all, Vita was the woman who inspired one of the reference in literature, Orlando by Virginia Woolf, so she had to have been someone fascinating. The series is a little slow and perhaps over-dramatizes the relationships, but still showcases the impressive choice of two women in a time where no much choices where approved by society.

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Augustine by Alice Winocour, 2012 (NR)

with Soko, Vincent Lindon (Bastards), Chiara Mastroianni (Bastards), Olivier Rabourdin, Roxane Duran, Lise Lamétrie, Sophie Cattani, Grégoire Colin (Bastards), Ange Ruze, Stéphan Wojtowicz

When beautiful kitchen maid Augustine (French recording artist Soko) suffers an inexplicable, violent seizure, she is sent to a psychiatric hospital specializing in the treatment of feminine "hysteria" and presided over by Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot (a founding father of modern neurology and a mentor to Sigmund Freud). Fascinated by his new patient, Charcot (Vincent Lindon) quickly makes Augustine the star attraction in a series of hysteria presentations, hypnotizing her to induce spectacular fits for crowded lecture halls. As the full nature of Augustine's affliction begins to emerge, the relationship between doctor and patient becomes more complicated and personal power dynamics start to shift. Based on a true story from late 19th century Paris, Augustine is a lush, darkly sensuous tale of romance, psychology, and sexual politics.

Another movie with Vincent Lindon and Chiara Mastroianni. A strange one. I was told to pay attention, since it was so much connected to the play "Some Historic Some Hysteric" and a demonstration of how ignorant people were, comparing to the time of Masters of Sex, who still had so much to discover. The movie has a strange curve, with no real climax, no real contradiction, no real drama, it feels like documented from a blind point of view, which missed half of the story. Wouldn't it have been fascinating to know more about Augustine's emotional journey, or Dr. Charcot's struggle to get his discoveries to another level, or the political game of the people of research and science... Everything is there, and still nothing gets deep, so, when the movie ends, it feels incomplete, in suspense.

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Forrest Gump by Robert Zemeckis, 1994 (PG-13)

Tom Hanks (Cloud Atlas, Larry Crowne, Captain Phillips), Robin Wright (House of Cards, Breaking and Entering, The Conspirator, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Moneyball, Adore), Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, Sally Field (Lincoln), Rebecca Williams, Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense, Pay It Forward, A.I.), Sam Anderson, Geoffrey Blake, Michael Conner Humphreys
From the director of Flight

Forrest Gump, a simpleminded man, finds himself in the middle of nearly every major event of the 1960s and '70s. Along the way, he makes friends, changes lives and yearns for his childhood sweetheart, Jenny. Based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom.

Here's an old one, a classic of course. Funnily, because it relates to so many historical moments of the 60s and 70s, I also feel like an even older classic. It is definitely all-American patriotic, but because the character is so genuine, it makes us forgive it. It is a fairy tale that makes us all wish it were true. Tom Hanks is mesmerizing, impossible to look at him and think of the actor.
Side-story: the reason why I came to watch it again, after more than ten years, was the visit of friends from France who specifically wanted to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co (which surprised me about how marketing pushed to even create a restaurant as part as the merchandizing...), and then this article "The 50 Most Heart-Wrenching Movies of All Time"which made me wonder about how much I cried the first time around... and realize Robin Wright was The Girl.

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The Scarlet Letter by Roland Joffé, 1995 (R)

with Demi Moore (G.I. Jane), Gary Oldman (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, The Dark Knight Rises, Lawless), Robert Duvall (Thank you for smoking, Jack Reacher), Lisa Joliffe-Andoh, Edward Hardwicke, Robert Prosky, Roy Dotrice, Joan Plowright, Malcolm Storry, James Bearden

In this adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, Puritan settler Hester Prynne (Demi Moore) is accused of adultery in a Massachusetts settlement in the 1660s. Although she's attracted to the town's pastor (Gary Oldman), the two resist temptation. But only a whiff of scandal is enough for the town's morality police to sentence Prynne to live as an outcast and wear a shameful scarlet A for adultery.

That was a flashback. I stumbled upon the movie changing randomly the channels. As very few French people but many Americans, I read that book when I was young. It was one of the first that ended well, since French literature is not about happy ending. I remember a decade later watching the movie for the first time, and hum, not finding Gary Oldman sufficiently handsome to be convincing, and remembering how cheesy sounded the end. Not much has changed, it is overacted, over dramatic, and the narration that over-explain the story is breaking the little charm the movie has, the ending is quite unsettling, the only good point of the movie is basically to highlight how miserable the condition of the women was.

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Lawless by John Hillcoat, 2012 (R)

with Shia LaBeouf (The Company You Keep, Constantine), Tom Hardy (This Means War, Warrior, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Larry Crowne, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception), Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty, The Great Gatsby), Guy Pearce (Mildred Pierce, The King's Speech, The Hurt Locker, Prometheus, Iron Man 3), Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty, The Debt, The Help, The Tree of Life, Take Shelter), The Debt, The Help, The Tree of Life, Take Shelter), Mia Wasikowska (Albert Nobbs, Alice in Wonderland, The Kids Are All Right), Dane DeHaan (Jack & Diane), Chris McGarry, Tim Tolin, Gary Oldman (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, The Dark Knight Rises), Lew Temple (Unstoppable)

This true-to-life action saga profiles Virginia's bootlegging Bondurant gang, whose exploits during the Prohibition era made them outlaw heroes. The three Bondurant brothers tussle with the law and each other as they try to survive changing times.

This is not a genre I am familiar with. Prohibition time in the countryside, gangster movie. And perhaps because it doesn't generally appeal to me. My curiosity for this one was the cast, with Jessica Chastain and Tom Hardy who I really like in general. Anyway, the story is good, the rhythm keeps you hanging in there, good guys are bad guys and bad guys are really freaky. The movie is about men, and how their humanity is defined through the changes of the society. It is intelligent, not sophisticated, there are no crazy pursuits, everything feels like it should have been back then, and somehow that feels right. (Tired of special effect action movies...)

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The Legend of Bagger Vance by Robert Redford, 2000 (PG-13)

with Will Smith (Men In Black 1, MIB 2, MIB 3, Enemy of the State), Matt Damon (Invictus, Margaret, True Grit, We Brought a Zoo, The Informant!, Herafter, Inside Job, The Adjustment Bureau, Promised Land), Charlize Theron (The Italian Job, Young Adult, Prometheus), Bruce McGill (Fair Game, Lincoln), Joel Gretsch (4400, V), Jack Lemmon, J. Michael Moncrief, Lane Smith, Peter Gerety, Michael O'Neill (Dallas Buyers Club), Thomas Jay Ryan, Dermot Crowley, Harve Presnell (Face/Off), Danny Nelson
From the director of The Conspirator and The Horse Whisperer

Devastated by his experiences during World War I, once-promising golfer Rannulph Junuh has become a poker-playing alcoholic whose perfect swing is gone — until mysterious caddy Bagger Vance enters the picture to help Junuh make a comeback.

Ok, tearjerker, but still, the pacing of the editing, the contemplation mixed with the suspense of the game, the tranquil voice-over of Will Smith making you feel the elements and the serenity of control, convincing Matt Damon as an eternally surprised golfer, this flows in a pleasant way, sometimes going overboard with sentimental violins, the feel-good spirit of the town, this is a movie about hope and dreams. Convincing portrayal of the passion for golf, makes you want to go out on the green and feel it for yourself.

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