Take my Breath Away

I watched Top Gun for the first time recently. At the beginning of the movie, I was really skeptical. A lot of the elements of the movie could have turned me off: the scenes with unidentifiable jets, the fact that you couldn't recognize the actors most of the time because of their helmets... However, the movie really worked for me. It was also a surprisingly sad movie. It is a bit annoying that the same two songs keep on playing, though.

Turnip Farm

I went to see Jurassic World. There were some moments that made it seem promising. Some moments made me jump out of my seat a bit. However, the tame Velociraptors and the final fight are simply too ridiculous. The movie also definitely lacked a Jeff Goldblum-like character pondering on the meaning of life.

What Goes On

After our Mother's Day dinner, we all watched The Bicycle Thief. Weirdly enough, it felt as if we were watching a thriller. We all knew exactly what would happen, we just didn't know exactly when the events were going to happen. When they did, we felt miserable all the same. Some of the characters' actions felt so pointless. The story of the movie is so simple, and that must be why it stays with you so much. Fortunately, the little boy had some pretty funny moments which made the film a little bit less grim.

Can I Kick It?

I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron. In Quebec City, it is almost impossible to see a movie in the theater in English, so I saw it it French. I also saw Avengers in theaters in French, and I didn't like it much then. When I saw it again on DVD in English, though, I appreciated it more. Perhaps the same thing will happen for Avengers: Age of Ultron. It was okay, but it made me less emotional than most superhero movies do. I found Thor to be the funniest in this movie. The amount of comedy in Avengers: Age of Ultron was more satisfactory than in the first movie of the series. Avengers was a bit too Disneyesque. I liked the Maximoff twins a lot, and Captain America is still my favorite.

Plus dur, meilleur, plus rapide, plus fort

F and I went to the movies to see the latest Astérix movie, Astérix: Le domaine des dieux. We were expecting a lot from it because one of the directors, Alexandre Astier, is the creator of "Kaamelott", a show F and I both love. However, it was a pretty standard kids movie. We watched it in 3D, but the 3D didn't bring any added value to the movie. The character played by Astier, though, was pretty funny. I hope that one day I will finally get to see the movie he is supposed to do to complete the "Kaamelott" saga.

Grace

I watched Anna Karenina, the one with Keira Knightley in it. Anna Karenina is a book I enjoyed a lot, and I hadn't necessarily expected to. The other Russian classic I had read before that was Crime and Punishment, and I found it to be a bit over the top. In Anna Karenina, however, I loved the scenes with Levin, and found them even more interesting than the main storyline with the character of Anna Karenina. I was a bit disappointed to see that in the movie, not much attention is given to Levin, but I don't think his story could have been transposed to the screen effectively, so perhaps it was for the best.

A lot has been said about the way Anna Karenina was filmed. I personally found that filming the scenes af if they were going on in a theater worked well for the movie.

I only recently saw The Talented Mr Ripley and it has increased my interest for Jude Law as an actor a lot. I enjoyed his performance in Anna Karenina.  It is weird to see him cast as the severe Karenin, but it works, in a way.

In general, the movie was okay, but it wasn't spectacular. At least it makes me want to read the book again.

Nightcall

A little while ago, A and I watched Drive. I had been wanting to watch that movie for a long time, and I was not disappointed. I had heard that it was extremely violent. It takes a while before the violence begins, to the point that I was asking myself what all the fuss was about. However, once the violence starts, the movie becomes really intense. Drive has major star power: Ryan Gosling, of course, but also Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston and Christina Hendricks, who has a pretty memorable performance. The music is great, too: what they play is exactly the kind of music you expect there to be in a movie about a guy driving around in a lonely city. The same atmosphere can be found in TRON: Legacy, even though it is a completely different movie. I heard that the director's other movies weren't as successful. That's a shame, but I'll still be on the lookout for future projets of his, because I sure wouldn't mind watching more movies like Drive.

Love Me Again

I watched Jack Reacher, because as I have said before, I still love Tom Cruise. In this movie, he plays a badass detective. It is kind of funny to see his name on the credits as a producer and then you see his character being swooned over by any woman he meets. Perhaps the character is that way in the book. I have the impression that the book might be better than the movie, but it still is a pretty good movie. Rosamund Pike's American accent is a bit distracting, though. The movie includes one of the most awesome/ridiculous fight scenes I have ever seen. I wouldn't mind going to the theater to see a sequel of this movie.

Le Tourbillon

I watched Jules et Jim. I have only seen one other movie by François Truffaut, Les 400 coups, which I have not enjoyed that much, but there are a lot of other films by Truffaut that I want to see: Baisers volés, La nuit américaine, Le dernier métro... Jules et Jim is a movie that keeps you thinking for a long time after you have seen it. The characters in the movie seem to live a completely carefree life. Jeanne Moreau is incredible in this film. The three main characters try to live life differently from what is usually expected, and things don't turn out the way they thought they would. The end of the movie is a memorable scene. Throughout the movie, I liked the way the director decided to narrate some scenes, as the things that are described can only be perceived through the screen with difficulty.

Rebel Yell

I watched National Treasure not too long ago and I enjoyed it fairly well. I don't think I have ever watched another treasure quest movie, and the concept is pretty exciting. However, the acting was far from good and the whole movie felt a little bit too Disneyesque. The quality of the action scenes also varied.

La vallée des réputations

Sunday night, A and I went to the movies to see a Québécois movie that came out last Friday, L'amour au temps de la guerre civile. It was a dark, dark movie. In the first part, the main character, Alex, drives around a drug dealer. The whole thing seems mind-numbingly dull. After getting caught by the police, Alex ends up in some guy's apartment and spends his time watching porn and dealing with a crazy chick who is almost always high. He then reunites with a more serious lover but they waste time getting high and trying to get money for drugs. During the whole movie, it seems like the characters are completely unable to get out of their miserable life. Some scenes were confusing. There was a lot of mumbling and it was sometimes hard to know who was talking in the same-sex love scenes. The despair conveyed by the movie, added to the frequent confusion, made for a weird experience.

Let Go

I watched Two Lovers, a movie directed by James Gray and starring Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow. I watched  a few movies with Joaquin Phoenix in the past year: The Immigrant, also by James Gray, The Master, and Her. I find him a fascinating actor to watch. His performance is the main event in Two Lovers. The movie itself is a fairly ordinary romantic drama.

The Way You Look Tonight

Yet another old movie. Love with the Proper Stranger, with Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen. I had been curious to know what Natalie Wood looked like, because Lorelai Gilmore gets compared to her at one point. Well, Natalie Wood is so beautiful, she literally made me look twice at the screen the first time I saw her. She's got incredible eyes. I think she looks more like Amy Acker than Lauren Graham, though. Steve McQueen is supposed to be the prince of cool or something. Physically, he is not really my type, but he does have some attitude. The movie is about Natalie Wood getting pregnant with Steve McQueen out of wedlock. It gives us a look at Italian inmigrants in New York and at how difficult it must have been to get an abortion in the 60s. We also see gow chaotic Macy's seems to be in that time. I've never been to the one in New York, but as I recall, Macy's is kind of on the down low. The music of the movie is pretty wonderful: I found it really old-timey. Natalie Wood has a crazy breakdown just when she is about to get the abortion. It also gets pretty dramatic in one scene where Natalie Wood invites Steve McQueen to dinner. Just before that scene, there is a weird moment where Natalie Wood tries to cover her cleavage. The end of the movie is pretty cute.

Rock And Roll Music

I watched another old movie recently: Teacher's Pet. It is with Clark Gable and Doris Day. I had only seen Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind, and I had never seen Doris Day. Clark Gable makes a lot of funny faces in Teacher's Pet. The movie is a romantic comedy, but it manages to talk about serious topics, such as education and journalism. I enjoyed this movie more than Houseboat.

Almost In Your Arms

I watched Houseboat a few days ago. I like watching old movies, especially ones with Cary Grant. I find him incredibly charming and surprisingly funny. With this movie, though, he didn't have much to work with. The premise of the movie is a bit ridiculous: the character played by Cary Grant, Tom Winters, and his kids decide to move into a guesthouse next to Winters' deceased wife's sister. The guesthouse gets moved around by a truck, and the truck stops right smack in the middle of some train tracks because the truck driver is mesmerized by Sophia Loren's beauty. A train wrecks the guesthouse, and so the Winters family moves into a houseboat. Every character in the movie has a weird tan. The movie is cute enough, but I look forward to some better Cary Grant movies.

Search and Destroy

I watched Vi är bäst!, a Swedish movie about three young girls starting a punk band in the 80s. Nothing much happens in the first half of the movie. Things pick up when two of the girls decide to cut the third girl's hair. I don't watch movies in Scandinavian languages very often, so hearing some Swedish was fun. Throughout the movie, we hear old Swedish punk, and some of it sounds pretty good.

Go Hard

This weekend, I watched The Man with the Iron Fists. It was entertaining enough, but it had quite a few flaws. The action starts to slow down when the movie starts to show where the character played by RZA comes from. The directing gets weird at the end, with the screen separating itself. The concept of mixing martial arts and hip-hop together could have been pushed further. In the first half of the movie, a lot of battle scenes are acted out to hip-hop music, but in the second half, there are fewer battle scenes, and the ones remaining are acted out to an anonymous score. The portrayal of women in this movie is pretty bad. It was also bizarre to hear Asian actors speak with such strong American accents. The bloody scenes can get really gross. So, quite a few flaws.

Ashes to Ashes

It has been a bit more than four years since I wrote my last blog post. I won't be going to school for this winter semester, and so I have decided to start blogging again. As my old readers know (if there are any of them left), the subjects I used to cover were books, CDs, movies, TV shows, and restaurants/bars. Since my last blog post, I have had less and less time to read books, my music listening goes in phases (there are phases where I am listening to a lot of new music, and phases where I am listening to anything much), Netflix has become a fixture in my life, and I have moved to Quebec City where I try to convince my boyfriend F to try out new restaurants with me. I will continue to cover the same subjects, although the proportions in which they are covered in my blog might vary from their previous proportions.

For my first blog post of 2015, I have decided to talk about the movies I have watched in 2014. I used to feel guilty about watching so many movies, as I could be doing better things with my time, but I watched "Mad Men"'s second season over again this year and when some woman asks Don Draper what he likes in life, he answers "Movies". So now I don't feel guilty about matching so many movies, because it is something I truly love to do (yes, Don Draper has that much influence on me). Here are the movies I watched this year that have left a strong impression on me. Some were seen in theaters, others not. They are listed in the order in which I watched them:

Edge of Tomorrow: A good action/sci-fi movie, with just enough romance. I still love Tom Cruise, even though everybody hates him.

Starship Troopers: F made me watch this cult movie. I wasn't expecting much, but I liked it a lot. A lot of meaning can be given to this movie, but I enjoyed it as a simple action movie... my bad.

Boyhood: I was born a bit earlier than the protagonist, but this movie still made me incredibly nostalgic. The soundtrack is perfect: for every year depicted, the one hit of the year was chosen. I laughed out loud alone when "Soulja Boy" came on. We can also see the evolution of technology, which is pretty interesting.

Lars and the Real Girl: This movie made me long for a community.

La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2: Probably overhyped, but the reunion scene made me cry, it looked so real.

Mommy: Our own Quebec genius' last movie. His directing didn't make me cringe anymore, and I was genuinely troubled at the end of the movie. The only movie of his that I haven't watched yet is Tom à la ferme. He really gets better with each movie. He's like Sangoku in that way (I am reading all of the Dragonball series currently. It was my Christmas gift from F. So romantic, haha. I will probably be doing a blog post on that subject when I am done).

Superbad: A great comedy.

On the Road: I am probably losing all credibility as a girl who likes books here. At least, the movie made me want to get back to reading Beats books. It is a very classical movie, nothing earth-shattering. Diarios de Motocicleta by the same director is one of my favorite movies. I also like Garrett Hedlund a lot, mainly because of TRON: Legacy.

Gone Girl: I am including this movie because it was one of the hyped movies of the year, but I mainly enjoyed it as a thriller, nothing more, really. The movie is pretty pessimistic about couples.

Zoolander: Another great comedy.

Interstellar: This movie had me watching with mouth agape and made me want to watch it again immediately with subtitles to better understand the parts where they talk about physics. I liked it better than Inception. Some people say that the love theory in the movie is ridiculous, but it perfectly appeals to sentimental girls like me.

Dazed and Confused: At first, I was thinking "Ok, yet another early Richard Linklater movie with a lack of structure". However, the movie got better as it went on and at the end, I was completely charmed by Linklater's portrayal of youth. This is the third movie of his to make it into my pretty exclusive list of favorite movies (mainly movies I could watch over and over again), along with Before Sunset and The School of Rock.

The Rock: Another cult movie F made me watch, another time where I didn't have much expectations. In the end, a very enjoyable thriller, with Nicolas Cage making you wonder whether he is a good actor or a completely ridiculous one.

Laurence Anyways: The third movie by Quebec genius Xavier Dolan. I didn't like the first part much, the directing was really hectic, but I guess that matched one of the characters' state of mind. It is a very long movie, but it didn't make me cringe as much as his two first movies, and it made me even more convinced of the importance of subventions for culture. We need subventions, so that movies like these can be made, so that people can feel less alone. Namely, the movie makes you realize that when some of the most important relationships in your life go awry, you are not the only person to whom this happens.

Appassionata

I saw a great German movie yesterday called Das Leben der Anderen. The English title is "The Lives of Others" and it won the Oscar for best foreign movie in 2007. But that's not important. What's important is that this is a pretty good story. It is not even a very complex story, it can be pretty hollywoodian if you want. The movie is kind of stressful. It is very insightful on the rampant paranoia that was going on in the DDR. I'm not sure I should base my impressions of life in the DDR on this movie, but it certainly strikes the imagination. I'm really glad I got to see this movie.

This Mess We're In

I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I... and it wasn't that good. The actors just looked stressed all the time. The best part was seeing Kreattur poke Mondingus Fletcher with a fork during Harry's interrogation. There weren't really any big action scenes, and I didn't really see the point of showing Harry and Hermione half-naked. What Bellatrix did to Hermione was pretty awful.

That's all I have to say, I guess.