Un Prophete.

It feels great to see the French cinema industry give birth to such a movie.

It's the kind of movie I'd have so many things to say about that it would just be too long to describe here and incredibly unsatisfactory, as I wouldn't be able to express it in the true sense.

It's got something of Scarface (the ascent of a nobody in the crime hierarchy) & The Godfather (the lamb becoming a lion). I don't think this is exagerated.
Filmed close to the people, you can't help but to root for the main character, as the misery surrounding him make all those "bad" choices he makes pretty much the only ones to survive. Also, by not glorifying the violence in anyway, it doesn't promote the way of life either. Anyone willing to go to prison after this would be truly out of his mind...

Visually, narratively, emotionnally, it's so rich & layered it just made my head spin. And the tension throughout is incredible.

Brilliantly told, brilliantly acted, it's quite simply the best "polar" (something close to crime fiction) I've seen since 36 Quai des Orfevres.

The Book Of Eli.

Here's a movie that reminded me how I missed the post-apocalytic genre.

From the very 1st shots, you know you're in for some awe-inspiring visuals and the movie doesn't disappoint. The desolated wasteland have that kind of feel that just lingers in your mind after you've gone home.
As an action movie, it also stands its ground, with some very cool action scenes and an unflinching violence that sticks close to the harsh "western" world the characters live in.

The Hughes brothers, however, have a bigger vision than just that. Some people will no doubt complain about the religious subtext and I would think they're wrong. This is not a religious movie, it's a movie about religion. The tone and the very nature of the main character make it quite clear: it's more about faith, about being driven. What a person would be able to overcome, given a goal.
As such I see it as a very good companion piece to Man On Fire (with a similarly tough Denzel Washington).

Eli doesn't even want to teach what he knows he doesn't want to "use" his book, unlike his "nemesis" Carnegie. His goal is to preserve a bit of culture that is most important to him, although he doesn't even live by it.
That makes the movie steer clear of any judgement on the content of the book. Beliefs are just part of us. Any other context could carry the same idea.

So what was a difficult subject, screwed up by many movies before it, just make sense in that context & tone.
And it brings in this extra dimension, takes it beyond its own genre.

Being delivered with such a moody, bad-ass & epic SciFi movie will certainly be one of the nicest things to happen this year...

Daybreakers.

I'm among those who think that there isn't something cooler as a vampire (although I don't care about Twilight, too old for this shit ;) ). Throw vampires somewhere and at least you got me listening. There's something interesting in the concept and it has given over time an awful lot of great movies.
The great thing about a "vampire movie" is that it could be anything. Action romp, straight horror, western, even a teenage romantic thing...

Knowing that the Spierig brothers, coming from the low budget gore (they did Undead which I heard was a lot of fun), had the gig for Daybreakers was another point of interest.
Unfortunately, this one doesn't quite know what it is either. Tempted by a serious line but also by action and gore, it made me wonder what I was supposed to make of it at points. Maybe it was just that the story was quite predictable.

However, on the plus side, it's wonderfully shot, with 1st class actors (Ethan Hawke, Sam Neil & Willem Dafoe, no less!) who do their thing just right.
Also the story might be predictable, it still brings some memorable scenes and images. And lets not forget to bring the vampires on the "winning" side also brings something fresh to the table. And strangely they waste their resources just like us! It brings up another dimension of the myth: they may be immortal, they're still not immune to decay...

Overall though I missed that little spark that makes a movie more than the sum of its parts (liek it did for me with Equilibrium, which I think is similar in quality, only with that spark). As I said at the beginning, I think it's a tone problem. Bottomline though: I didn't connect with it. I could think through it.

So not another definitive vampire movie, a sort of B+ series that is well crafted and nice to watch and that I will certainly keep in my good book.

Death Metal Rooster

No comment required. :D

New Super Mario Bros Wii.

There are actually a few games I've played during the year I wanted to talk about here, but I never get to do it. The difficult point I guess is: when?
1st impressions? Well it's a bit early isn't it?
When it's finished? It usually takes me a lot of time to do that.
So somewhere in the middle.
So I delay...
I picked up momentum talking about Braid and since those 2 are somewhat linked in my mind, let's do this.

I think it's a kind of punk statement Nintendo has made with New Super Mario Bros Wii (they could have found a better title). Back to basics.
And just the original formula still works like a charm. Only here, it's also been refined with the lastest tricks. Mario's move set has been expanded vastly, building on previous iterations of the series. Walljumps, triple jumps, hovering are new feats that need to be mastered.
And the fully 3D graphics (although used only in 2D) allow lots of cool effects and devious obstacles. Revolving platforms, clouds hindering the vision, moving lights... Each level adds something new, a twist that gives it it's own feel.
The difficulty is also just fine, not too frustrating, but not too easy (some hidden stars do require skill).

As far as I'm concerned, the pinnacle of 2D Marios has to be Yoshi's Island and I didn't expected NSMBW to top it. It didn't, I think mainly because the Yoshi's egg throwing dynamic enabled a lot more freedom, especially on boss fights.

However it still makes for a amazing game, extremely addictive and with great replay value.
1 proof of this is that, 3 levels from the end, I'm already longing for more, because with all those crazy concepts I've seen, they could have used them in twice the amount of levels and I wouldn't have got bored...
Never mind, revisiting the ones that are there will be more than enough.

And there's multiplayer. Here you get to an entirely other dimension: whether you play cooperatively or against each other, there's so much potential...
And the useful example videos that you can unlock playing the game show some incredible gaming wizardry that just show how far it can go.

It's a bit of a disappointment that it can't be played online, as it limits the fun to local but then again there's nothing like a slight elbow movement to make an opponent miss a jump... :)

So not the best, but by all means not minor either and by Mario standards, that says a lot.

Braid.

I love Steam, because it gives me the opportunity to discover some truly great games, that will never have a retail version.

World Of Goo was one of them, now Braid is.

What starts like a sort of tribute to Super Mario Bros quickly shows some groundbreaking concepts, taking it closer to a puzzle game that a platformer. I remember being stunned when I saw the "image scratching" transitions in Samurai Champloo. Here, you time scratch! You're the time DJ.
The puzzles are quite twisted but always rewarding, even when you're given the solution, because you still have to pull it out yourself. I'm actually quite happy that I only relied on external help for a few pieces of the puzzle.

And then there's the atmosphere. The impressionist backgrounds, the music. And the story. How things can change depending if you look at them backwards or forward. Where's forward anyway?

Again (like World Of Goo) it's a game that adds up to more than the sum of its part.
It becomes an experience.
Also it will stay unique. I'll cherish that memory.

Sherlock Holmes

Starting 2010 with a 2009 movie.

Well the ever entertaining Guy Ritchie managed to start a new action franchise here. There's a lot to like in this movie, although there's a little something missing, can't put my finger on it but that prevents it to reach "Ironman quality" (my yardstick for clever, outstanding blockbusters).
But that doesn't say it's bad, far from it and just for the play between Robert Downey Jr's Holmes and Jude Law's Watson, it's worth the ticket.

I like Ritchie's style, which is apparent here although more restrained than in Snatch for example (a good thing ;) ). Also, I'd think that it doesn't betray the Conan Doyle's character while pimping it up to today's action standards. The near steam punk often associated to Victorian England is well handled.

The inevitable setup for the sequel promises a better movie, which I'll look forward to.

2009 cinema round up.

So a decade of cinema has past.
To be perfectly honest I was surprised when I looked back at 2008 to see that I gave 5 films 5 stars. Looking back they did deserve it as well. And I did say in last year's summary that 2009 would have to work hard to do as well as 2008...
Well it did: I gave 7 movies 5 stars this year.

I give scores to movies just to remember exactly what was my main impression just after seeing it. Globally I can remember what the movie was, of course, but it's that general feeling, that can go away later, when you think things over. Here it's to capture the moment. 5 is awesome, 4 is excellent, 3 good, 2 disappointing, 1 crap.
I haven't given any 1s, not because I'm a softie (although I am) but because I select what I see. I still get disappointed, like this year with Wolverine and Transformers 2.
Anyway 7 movies blew me away and those which didn't quite aren't bad either... :)

01- Where The Wild Things Are (2009)
02- Avatar (2009)
03- Watchmen (2009)
04- Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The (2008)
05- Up (2009)
06- District 9 (2009)
07- Inglourious Basterds (2009)
08- The Box (2009/I)
09- Harry Brown (2009)
10- Star Trek (2009)

Wild Things was an obvious 1st, Avatar had therefore to be 2nd. Then I thought about Up, but realised Watchmen was this year. 3rd then. And Benjamin Button? I can't forget it just because it was ages ago... So Up & District 9 have to end up 5th & 6th (those where I cried tend to come 1st). That may seem low, but looking at the opposition, it's not bad... Among all, the Basterds could seem a bit more minor to some, but QT's too gifted and I had too much joy not to place it next (beside it's the last of the 5 stars and I have to order by score). Then The Box's SciFi mystery, the grits of Harry Brown and Star Trek, this year's sleeper blockbuster (like Ironman last year).

There's a nice mix here, between massive Hollywood entertainment, "Oscar movies", Comics adaptation and also more independant movies... Quite biaised towards Hollywood though. I also depend on what's shown.

So... Better in 2010? Who knows...

Vu sur Les Cahiers du Football...

Les Cahiers du Football || mensuel de foot et d'eau fra�che: "POSTE POUR POSTE
'Zidane sur un timbre' (lequipe.fr). On n'a pas fini de lui lecher le cul."


C'est bien vu... :D