Tuesday Cinema: Sherlock: A case of evil

I am a huge fan of dectective stories, it started young with Agatha Christie and continued with Connan Doyle and over the year I read the complete adventure of Sherlock Holmes. I think it's only normal for me to watch the movies too. Today I'll talk about the movie from 2002, I'll talk about the TV series later too. 

The story: A Young Sherlock Holmes is looking for fame and at the very start of the movie, he gets it by killing the most dangerous criminal in England, Professor Moriarty, but the body is never found. After the incident, Sherlock starts to helps the police in the pursue of a serial killer and meet Dr. Watson. But everything is not as it seems and as the investigation continues things turn darker and darker.

My feelings: I liked this movie, it was really well done. In a way I think a passionate Sherlock Holmes with intense emotion running is a bit more convincing than the new trend where Sherlock behave like a sociopath. We have to remember that Sherlock Holmes is good with disguise and can certainly understand human nature very well. The movie makes him appear human. The plot is also very subtle and clear with a lot happening and every details are related to come to the same conclusion. Even though the signature on the arm part made me laugh. 

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Tuesday Cinema: The Hunger Games

My boyfriend forced me to see The Hunger Games. I wanted to read the book first, damn I even have all of them on my kindle already, but I didn't get around to read them yet. I'm reading "A court of thorns and roses" at the moment, I'm almost done with it. But my boyfriend wanted to watch the movie and it's kind of rare so I indulged him and here we go I broke the vow of reading the book first again. He doesn't want to see the next movies yet so maybe I have a chance to read the books first, fingers crossed.

The story: The world is divided into 12 districts under the rules of the capitols, every year a young couple between 12 and 18 years old, of each district participate to a really TV show called the Hunger Games where they have to fight each other to death. Primerose is called to be the participant for district 12 but her sister Katniss volunteers to go instead of her. The game begins with advertisement to get sponsors, then the 12 couples are sent to an isolated forest ground where they fight each others and the elements for survival.

My feelings: This is a "light" sort of battle royal. Of course there are violence and death because that's what the movie is about but it's not put in a way that makes the audience very emotional about it. We don't have time to get attached to the characters before they die. There isn't much interaction between the characters on the island either. We stay with Katniss at all time so we don't see a lot about the other people supposed to die there. The part when they are looking for sponsor is well done even though we don't actually see the sponsors themselves. The big question I had through all the movie was when is Peter going to die and how? I guess I'll have to continue thinking about it a bit longer.

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Tuesday cinema: Transcendence

This week's move is another science-fiction movie about artificial intelligence.

The story: Five years prior, a group of terrorist called R.I.F.T. killed many scientists specialized in artificial intelligence and destroyed about ten years of research. They also shot Dr. Will Caster with a poison bullet. He only has 5 weeks left to live. His wife decides to download his consciousness and to recreate him as an artificial intelligence. When she is about to give up, Will comes in control of the computer. Despite the fact that her friend warns her that it might not be the real Will, she decides to follow her instinct and believe in the A.I.

My feelings: People are really insane. I think one of the main quote of the movie is: “It just doesn't make sense. They're afraid of technology, because
of its threat to humanity...yet they don't flinch at taking a life. So obviously they're not big on logic. But there's no shortage of irony.” 

Because basically that summarize it all. Will stay alive as an A.I. which unlimited access to internet and all the knowledge of the world. He decides to use it for good but the only thing his friends and the government manages to see is that he wants power. They place their own believe and way of thinking with their individually limited information above and intelligence created from one single human being with a definite sense of right or wrong (he wouldn't kill anyone) and the infinite information of the entire human race. 

The thing is, even if there was really a golden bullet to save the planet, eradicate poverty, disease, hunger, make all the river water drinkable, we wouldn't take it. Because people are afraid of what they don't know and also because most of the world wants to make profit. The critic said that his movie lack in logic, not really, it certainly show people's destroy button right in their face.

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Tuesday cinema: Ex machina

This week's movie is a science fiction movie about artificial intelligence.

The story: Caleb wins a contest to go visit the CEO of his company, Nathan's research facility complex in the middle of the mountains. When he arrives, the place is really strange with a lot of access restriction and he has to sign a confidentiality contract. Then Nathan introduce Caleb to Ava, his humanoid artificial intelligence and wants him to run a Turing test on her, that means, Caleb has to interact with Ava to determine if he can forget that she is a robot and has in fact reached consciousness. The game begins with Ava being sneaky, Caleb being mentally unbalanced and Nathan getting drunk.

My feelings: That movie was pretty easy to follow. It seemed that it wouldn't have turned quite that way if Nathan had been a friendly likeable guy but in a way he did sound like a sociopath, a drunk sociopath. The only other person is Kyoko and she is unable to speak English and he is an ass to her most of the time. I'm kind of sorry for Caleb because he really meant well and was just a pawn to be manipulated. But in the end isn't it was people are about, manipulating others to get what they really want. I guess the fundamental question is on the poster: "What happens to me if I fail your test?" first because if someone can ask that, they are already worried about the outcome which is a real human feeling and second because people are also tested all the time, not about our humanity but about knowledge and everything else and what really happens to us when we fail the tests?

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Tuesday Cinema: Jurassic World

Today's movie is Jurassic World which I finally saw at the cinema last week.

The story: Jurassic World is now open on the island. After the multiple failing of Jurassic Park, they finally managed to get a huge viable park open with a lot of attraction for people to get close to dinosaurs. They even have a petting zoo with baby triceratops. 

Zack and Gray are sent by their parents to meet their aunt, Claire, at the park, she is one of the people in charge and got them VIP passes but is not really available to take care of them. She is sent by her boss to ask for Owen Grady, who is specialized in taming raptors (he is the raptors Alpha) to look at their soon to be attraction, a T-rex dinosaurs mixed with well classified stuff, which is particularly dangerous because he isn't socialized with other animals and because every one knows that when they mix DNA, the worse always happens. Then the dinosaur escapes...

My feelings: I was really excited to see this movie and it only came out last week in Japan so in the month between the rest of the world having access to it and actually seeing it myself. I heard a lot of bad stuff about it, like it wasn't worth watching and going to the cinema for. Well, I went anyway and I definitely don't regret. It was actually really fun. I liked the fact that they didn't dwell on the relationship between the characters too much but instead introduced new aspect of the park. That was really the cool part. The taming part was also a lot of fun and the special effect were pretty awesome. Yes, Clair never break her heals and she managed to change hair cut while looking for her nephews but I mean it doesn't really make her helpless either. It is a nice and entertaining action movie.

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Tuesday cineme: Walk the line

Today's movie is the biographic movie of Johnny Cash: Walk the line. 

The Story: J.R. Cash always loved music. He was able to learn all of his mother's song very young while his brother, Jack, is training to become a pastor. One day while sawing wood, Jack has an accident and die from the injury. J.R.'s father start blaming him for the death of the "better" son.

Fast forward a few years and J.R. is in the army in Germany, he buys his first guitar and writes his first song. He also wants to marry Vivian.

When he comes back he marries her and become a failing saleman until one day he manages to grab a deal for a record. Soon is song is everywhere on the radio and J.R. know now as Johnny is touring the country with other artist from the label, Jerry Lee, Elvis and June Carter. 

My Feelings: I first watch this movie at the cinema when I was a student in Paris and they were giving students free tickets. I have watched his movie many time. I find it motivating to build confidence against trauma and adversity. It is the life of Johnny Cash but it is turned toward his love story with June Carter who was an exceptional woman. The two let actors are also exceptional and on the top of that, there is the music. 

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Tuesday Cinema : Desert Dancer

Desert Dancer is a film from 2014 based on the life of Afshin Ghaffarian, self taught dancer from Iran.

The story: Afshin wants to dance but in Iran, dance even if not illegal is forbidden. After being beaten at school by a teacher for dancing in front of the class, the head master direct him toward an Art school. The Art school looks like a safe place but it is vandalized by the morality police. Growing up, Afshin doesn't forget his dream of dancing and built an underground dance performance group. They go to the desert to perform safely, giving their location at the last moment. But when the Iranian vote for a better government is stolen, Afshin is arrested in a riot.

My feeling: This movie was all about emotion, especially the constant fear. I was telling myself all the way how could it be possible to leave like this to have to face this every time you walk in the street. There are so many things we take for granted. I don't know how people do not realized that by taking other people's right away they are also taking away their own.

“In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.” ___Rumi

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Tuesday Cinema: My Mad Fat Diary

This week we are also looking at a series instead of a movie, the British series "My Mad Fat Diary" in two seasons, from the Novel by Rae Earl: "My teenage Mad Fat Diary."

The Story: Rae Earl is just out of the mental hospital after four months of treatment. We follow her in her daily life and struggle with friends, family, psychologist and friend from back at the mental hospital. She is still deep into her hatred for herself, trying to get better and having some love interest.

My feelings: It started really well going through Rae's life issues. I liked the first season as it seemed real. She had her problem and was working toward fixing them. It is true that toward the end of season 1 she was already starting to act like a selfish bitch. But in season two it was totally worse. I know how it feels to be bullied and have people constantly talking behind your back. At some point you have to realize that it's not everyone and that some people just don't matter. Somehow Rae never does. She has been talking about it for 4 months and she still have weekly counseling, I mean how long is it going to take to sink in. At some point she seemed to be very complaisant in her sorry life. The second season was just too much of that. It was all about how other people in her life make her miserable and she never really took any responsibilities. The behavior of sixteen years olds thinking that adults only party and can do whatever they want was sickening. They are going to college with no thought what-so-ever toward their future. The parenting and people not knowing where there children are was also a huge turn down. It started good and could have continued well I don't know why it had to turn into just another Hollyoaks.

You can find my review of the novel here on Goodreads. The novel is way better than the drama.

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Tuesday Cinema: The Mentalist

This Tuesday cinema is not about a movie but about a series called "The Mentalist" in seven seasons.

The story: Patrick Jane is a mentalist. He uses cold reading and tricks to read people and solve cases as a consultant for the CBI (California Bureau of Investigation). He is particularly interested in the Red John case. Red John is a serial killer who torture and kills woman. During a TV interview, Patrick Jane bad mouthed REd John drawing to him Red John's revenge. Patrick came home to find his wife and daughter dead ad Red John's smiley face on the wall. In his investigation he is helped by Teresa Lisbon, the boss of their group of investigation, Kimball Cho a rather taciturn agent, Wayne Rigsby and Grace van Pelt who start of with a strong connection.

My feelings: I liked the show. The Mentalist abilities are well played at least for the first seasons then it becomes a bit repetitive, like they couldn't invent new trick for the murder or for Patrick. As long as they were working on the Red John case, there was a lot of tension. I wished there would have been more murders by Red John to feed the investigation.Red John was obviously the master mind behind a lot of things going on but it was a bit unclear how everything worked, then he didn't appear so smart in the end. I also like the part after Red John. It was a bit lighter and more into the relationship between Jane and Lisbon. It was a fun show but I would have liked to see more Mentalist trick after the first few seasons.

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Tuesday Cinema: Flashdance

Flashdance is a movie from 1983 (the year I was born). I have watched it many times and rewatched it again recently, danced to the music at school, I find it very inspirational. 

  

The story: Alex is an 18 years old welder, but all she really cares about is dancing. She has an old lady friend who was once a ballet dancer encouraging her but having no proper school training, she is afraid to go through the audition process, especially that they might not even give her a chance to audition. During the entire movie her friends are also going through the difficult path of either reaching for their dreams or staying behind with an unfulfilled dream.

My feelings: I really like this movie for the music and poetry and also because it all tends toward personal goal. Even with Alex as the main character everyone around can try and do their best for what they really want in life. I also love the music. It's the sort of music that can been listen too when you feel down.

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Tuesday Cinema: Into the wood

I wanted to watch Jurassic world this week-end but it goes out only on August 7th in Japan so instead, this week, we have Into the Woods this week. 

The story: Little red wood, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, The baker's story and maybe some I did not recognize are all mixed together in a fairy tale world. The Baker and his wife want a baby but they are cursed and to leave the curse they need to bring a cap red as blood, a sliver like gold, a cow white as milk and golden hair to the witch so that the witch can break the curse plaguing her. Then when everything seems to be over, it all begins all over again.

My feelings: I thought this movie was hilarious, first there was the singing, then there were the characters being a bit shaddy, like the prince who is supposed to be charming only, the indecisive Cinderella, the thief little red wood. All the character had a sort of different feels about them. Then the entire story was following the tales on one hand but mixing them so much on the other hand that it all became different. It was fun and entertaining. 

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Tuesday Cinema: The Frame

Hello and welcome to a new Tuesday Cinema. This week, we are also going to watch a science-fiction movie but one that runs more into the fiction part: Frame.

The story: Sam, a paramedic trying to same life is watching a TV series where Alex, a cargo thief leading a dangerous life is the hero every week. Then on the other side of the screen Alex is watching a series where Sam is the hero. One day, Alex and Sam interact with each other through the TV. At first, they believe they are spied on, that they are crazy and try to find any possible way to deny the truth rationally. Alex try to meet Sam but when he goes find her, she isn't there. At the same time Sam waits for Alex but he never shows up. Then, Sam discover that they are terminated Alex's series and that he is going to die in the last episode. She refuses to accept it and try to help him.

My feelings: This was a very good movie. I loved the concept to have two different apparently fictional worlds interacting with each other through their supportive media but not really be able to reach out until they decide to go very deep. There are a lot of idea treated in this movie like love, forgiveness, destiny and choices. It was not only a science-fiction movie with only machines, instead it was a science-fiction movie with none of the futuristic element we can generally imagine for that sort of movie. It deal with an impossible love story and the need for the characters to rewrite their own lifes when they decide the screen writers were not good enough. It was very interesting. 

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Tuesday Cinema: K-pax

Hello and welcome to a new Tuesday cinema. This week we are going to talk about a science fiction movie: K-pax.

The story: Prot appeared out of nowhere. He is arrested by mistake and after claiming to be from the planet K-pax, he is send to a psychiatric institute. Dr. Powell believes he is hiding behind this delusion and is determined to break through his game and to discover who he really is. He introduce him to a team of Astrophysicist in order to disprove the fact that he is from another planet but it fails. At the same time, there is a contest in the psychiatric institute to determine who Prot will take with him to K-pax when he leaves. The time is coming close.

My feelings: This movie was really interesting because it shows the way people would react if we really had a visit from another planet in human form. The rule is to take the simplest explanation as the true one. The fact is Prot explains everything about his planet in a very easy way and the only reason why sane people don't believe him is because it's easier for them to think he is crazy. Even when he can show what his solar system looks like, people still chose to believe in what they know instead of really digging deeper. It is a lot easier for the "insane" to go and believe him, in fact they are all already crazy so, why not be also more opened to to possibility which is something we also find in "Veronika decides to die". I really enjoyed this movie.

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Tuesday Cinema: Abduction

Hello and welcome to a new Tuesday cinema. This week we will be talking about a movie for teens. I guess we can say that's the equivalent of YA literature as a movie even though is is called an action Thriller. 

The story: Nathan Harper doesn't feel like he belongs. He has a repetitive dreams that looks more like an horrible memory. He finally discovers a picture of himself as a child on a website for people who disappeared. When he is ready to confront his parents about it, they are attacked by mysterious people and killed in the process. Nathan run away to protect himself, his neighbor and try to discover what's going on with his life.

My feelings: With the story going this way and with the film classed as action Thriller, I was expected more something of the line of the Bourne ultimatum. Instead it's a nice action movie with a mystery but still a bit too childish and designed for a younger public, after all, the main character is only 18 and can't really be a super top spy. However he still manage to pull it off which means it was more design like a young adult book that like a thriller. It was not a bad movie but it didn't mean my expectation and I was a bit disappointed about the turn of even when the adoptive parents die.

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Tuesday cinema: Veronika decides to die

Hello and welcome to a new Tuesday cinema. Today's movie: "Veronika decides to die" is taken from a book by Paulo Coehlo with the same tittle and this time, I was a good girl and read the book first (see book review). 

The story: Veronika decides to die and she takes a bunch of pills to do so. When half passed out from them, to kill time until her death, she send a venomous message to a fashion magazine. However, Veronika doesn't die from pills overdose, she is rescued and wakes up in a mental hospital where she discover that she only has a few days left to live as the pills had a terrible effect on her heart. Then start Veronika's struggles about the meaning of life and death.

My feelings: Even if there is a lot more explanation in the book as usual, somehow I think I like the movie better. I think they are somehow complementary though because there are a lot of things that aren't really explained in the movie and there are important things that I didn't perceive with the same sensitivity in the book. There are a lot of things in this movie as well as in the book, a lot to learn about life and death as well as about the relationship we have with ourselves and everything we normally take for granted.

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Tuesday cinema: Guardians of the galaxy

Hello and welcome to a new Tuesday cinema. As much as last week's movie was had a high artistic quality, this week's movie is more like the type you watch once without thinking too much but it has a talking raccoon, can't beat that.

The story: Peter Quill is abducted from Earth by space pirates: The Ravagers and becomes a thief himself. He steal an orb coveted by a lot of people and ends up being chased by bounty hunters, Rocket, an genetically engineered raccoon and Groot, the tree-like humanoid. He attempts to sell the orb to the Nova Empire but the orb is something powerful with a great power of destruction and he has to make a choice between fortune and doing the right thing.

My feelings: This was a sort of funny galactic super hero movie but there was a bit too much plot twist to make it believable. But of course having a talking raccoon did help a lot. For the rest, it had a lot of nice special effect. It's an entertaining movie but not one of my favorite. I certainly prefer the iron man type.

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Tuesday cinema: Avalon

Hello and welcome to a new Tuesday cinema. This week we will talk about Avalon, a pretty weird movie is you ask me. Avalon is a Japanese-Polish movie, directed by Mamoru Oshii who also directed Ghost in the shell.

The story: People are addicted to an illegal virtual reality game called Avalon. Ash likes to play it solo. She was member of a team before and never found a better one since it broke down. The leader of that team, Murphi, ended up at the hospital in a coma after following a ghost created by the nine sister. The little girl's ghost only appears to really skilled players and Ash also saw her. She decided to risk following the ghost and complete this quest too.

My feelings: If the world around sucked as bad as it seems it does in this world. I would probably be playing this video game alone with every one else. The world describe outside seems empty and the colors are of. I pretty much like the fact that it is all in sepia, that gave a really look effect to the game environment then I was surprised when it was also all sepia out of the game. It is a pretty weird movie and it has lots of lessons about life and I would recommend watching it. It was however really slow moving which made it a bit hard to go through. This movie has an ending left for interpretation, so here I was trying to give you clue about what I think but I'm not sure if it makes sense.

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Tuesday Cinema: ただ、君を愛してる

Yes, that's right, this week for Tuesday Cinema, we are watching a Japanese movie ただ、君を愛してる (Tada, Kimi o Aishiteru) called in English Heavenly Forest. 

It has been a long time since I had a Japanese movie to write about. I hope you'll enjoy the change. 

The story: Makoto is in love with Miyuki, because she is cute and beautiful. One day he mets Shizuru who wants to be friend with him and starts following him until he teaches her photography. Shizuru is not really like every one else and she doesn't seem to fit with the university environment and Makoto's other friends. As time passes and their relationship deepens, Makoto realizes that there might be more than friendship between him and the strange girl.

My feelings: If you want to watch this, prepare a box of tissues. I mean it's a Japanese love story so there isn't really much you can do about it, you'll have to cry.

This movie is nicely movie toward it's goal of leaving you with a half empty feeling of loss. Everything is going fine until everything goes wrong and even if you should have seen it coming, you know you didn't. 

The scenery is really beautiful too I guess that's the reason why it's translated in English as Heavenly Forest as most of the key scenes in the movie happen in a forbidden forest or take you there.

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Tuesday Cinema: The bling ring

Welcome to a new Tuesday Cinema. Were we actually having an Emma Watson series lately? I think so. This one is a bit different though as it was inspired by a true story, I know what's pretty scary.

The story: A group of teenagers totally into clothes and fashion decides to stalk celebrities on internet to figure out when they were out of town. Then they sneaked into their home and rob whatever they wanted. It first started with one couple then more and more joined the trips. And they weren't afraid of bragging about it. 

My feelings: I several time asked myself if I should actually finished to watch this. The story even based on real fact seemed pretty unrealistic. I mean they could enter because the door was open in a celebrity house. The second point that put the movie down for me was the way it was filmed like a documentary at time, also with surveillance camera tapes. I know it was probably to make it more realistic as it's based on facts but I don't think it brought anything to the movie, at the contrary. It made it jumpy and more difficult to follow. 

Then the dialogues were also pretty bad. 

I'm not even going to talk about the almost nonexistent parents. Hello, who the hell was rising those kids. Give them some decent values to life or something!

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Tuesday Cinema: The perk of being a wallflower

Welcome to a new Tuesdays Cinema. This week we have a movie that really puzzled me. It can somehow be classified here as a Writer Movie since the main character is an aspiring writer. It can also be a romantic comedy, but I think it's more of a drama type of high school story without the high school stupidity (I mean not all of it). Seeing I don't like putting things in boxes, I was doomed to love this movie.

The story: Charlie is writing letters to someone to explain about his miserable life. He doesn't feel right about going to high school after having spent a lot of time at the hospital, as he says it himself, high school is worse than no school. That's until he starts talking to Patrick and Sam, who he almost immediately falls in love with. But the world continues moving around him and Charlie, wanting everyone to be happy has a lot of problems going around to discuss his emotion. The reality is Charlie is traumatized from childhood and the more people get close to him, the more it triggers his remembrance of what happened to him. 

My feelings: This movie was awesome. All the characters were really deep and had a background story of their own that lead to the interaction and friendship they had with each other. The fact that Charlie managed on the side to be friend with a teacher when it seemed that everyone in his class, and later his temporary girlfriend made him think he was a loser for it was really impressive and courageous and his love for writing surpassed the typical high school boundary. On the other side there was the relationship he had with other people, especially Sam and Patrick that leaded him to understand their story and their battles and their fight for survival in a world that didn't want them or was only hurting them. Charlie was not an overly emotional character on the outside but we could feel all the way his feelings running inside as he personalized all the pain of his friends until breaking down.

Quote: “We accept the love we think we deserve.”

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