imichelet Reviews

Straight for the Heart (1988)

When photography is no more used to witness, but to explore...

[8/10 · 14 January 2006]

Montreal -80s. A Pulitzer-winning reporter comes back home to Montreal, profoundly shocked by the horrors he has seen in Central America and doubting the values of a job that is powerless to change the realities it witnesses. The only thing that kept him afloat through this ordeal was the idea of home, and the man and the woman whom he loves dearly and with whom he has been sharing his life for the last 10 years. But they are gone. 'At the beginning, explains the man, we were three even when you were not physically here. Then we realized that we were two even when you were actually with us'. The reporter then starts a photographic report on his city. Click click click, each photo shows us an aspect of Montreal, a mood of the photographer, who goes deeper and deeper in the city, in his own heart, until he finds himself… Profoundly genuine and moving, this double journey within a city and within a man's soul using still photographs is a fantastic idea. A great movie.

Alien: Resurrection (1997)

A good surprise

[6/10 · 14 January 2006]

Somewhere in Space -3000+. Humans have by now mastered the art of engineering a being from a few cells. On a secret military space station, they apply this knowledge on Sigourney's cells rescued from the Prison planet's disaster (see Alien 3) and resurrect her to get hold of the Alien she carried in her womb. The operation is so successful that they keep the mother as well for study. They soon realize that the cells have been slightly mixed up, and while resurrected Sigourney has inherited some very Alien traits, the Alien queen she delivered also mutated. And once again, the humans will learn fast enough that they are no match to the Aliens. This unexpected sequel of the famous trilogy might be the best of all, with all the elements of the previous three, but a lot of new surprises, and ever more enticing glimpses on fantastic creatures.

Aliens (1986)

The creatures start taking on the role they deserve

[5/10 · 14 January 2006]

Somewhere in Space -2000++. The mining corporation forgot to declare the planet where aliens had been discovered as an 'off-limit' place, and colonists have been sent there. Now they launch a distress signal and a bunch of ultra-macho Marines (accompanied with the first expedition's sole survivor) is sent for rescue. The only survivor they find upon arrival is a little girl, and their objective quickly turns towards the extermination of the Aliens. Faster said than done… Actually, this sequel of the first Alien is better done, faring less stupidities if not less improbabilities. The creatures are seen more clearly and their extraordinary design deserves it.

Alien (1979)

Unwittingly comical

[4/10 · 14 January 2006]

Somewhere in Space -2000++. A mining spacecraft is asked to stop by on a planet which was emitting life signals. The exploration of an alien craft found there reveals strange eggs, from one of which bursts a creature that sticks on one human's face then spawns through his body. The creature fast grows into an enormous monster that kills all on board except one. Typical horror scenario, with such an large number of impossibilities and stupidities that it can easily turn to comical (when Waever leaves her gun behind to go and look for her cat, for example). However, the creature is so incredible that it nearly makes up for all the film's weaknesses.

Aladdin (1992)

Where does humanity hide behind all these special effects?

[5/10 · 14 January 2006]

Middle East -once upon a time. Aladdin and his little monkey friend are having a penniless but fun life, playing seek and hide with the Sultan's Guards. But one day, they give a hand to a lovely young person who happens to be Princess Jasmine. Love at first sight, but with not much hope: Princess Jasmine refused so many potential husbands that her father has decided to marry her to the devilish Jafar, his counselor. And anyway, a Princess cannot marry a commoner. Fortunately, Aladdin finds a magic lamp, in which there is a Genie. That will definitely change the situation. Walt Disney features, mirrors of our times, are losing in humanity what they gain in high tech effects. In the case of this so much revised version of the 1001 nights legends, the result is impressive for sure and Robin Williams is a treat. One just feels a little melancholic when comparing with the great classics of the 50's, so much purer, richer, lovable in a word

The Lover (1992)

A sensual journey to Vietnam

[8/10 · 14 January 2006]

Saigon -20's. She is 18 and was born in Saigon. Her father died and her mother, ruined and desperate, became schoolteacher in a village on the Mekong to survive. She considers her being sent to Saigon for high school as an escape to freedom from the heavy atmosphere at home. On the way to Saigon, she meets the son of a rich Chinese. A strange, harsh, sensual love develops, where none of them really dares acknowledging their love because it would be hopeless: he has to marry the rich and virgin Chinese chosen by his father. They transfer their passion on to sensuality, enhanced by the colors and scents of the tropical Saigon. A beautiful film, where the story, adapted from Marguerite Duras' book, is less important than the perfect pictures and colors.

Amadeus (1984)

A masterpiece, worthy of the genius it describes

[10/10 · 14 January 2006]

Vienna -18th Century. The life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, from the angle of his relationships with Hapsburg Emperor Joseph II's Court Composer, Antonio Sallieri. Mozart is here described as a naughty spoiled brat, misbehaving with ladies, disrespectful of authority, wasting the money he really does not have. Overall, a man yearning for the youth he had been denied, a genius laughing at the inability of common people, a human being tortured by the music he cannot live without. Sallieri on the other hand, second-rate musician but true lover of music, probably understands Mozart better than anybody else. "Here was the very voice of God", he says of Mozart's music. "I was staring through the cage of meticulous ink stokes at an absolute beauty". But he cannot bring himself to help the genius he is so jealous of. Indeed, he will destroy him ("I will ruin your incarnation", says he to God) and destroy himself in the process. A masterpiece, powerful, beautiful, enhanced by Mozart's music. Brilliant.

All the President's Men (1976)

Good historical chronicles

[6/10 · 14 January 2006]

Washington DC –1972. Strange burglars are arrested in the Watergate building. With an apparently insignificant story begins the biggest scandal ever in the American politics, which led to President Nixon's resignation. Two men are at the heart of the scandal, two hungry reporters without whom not much would have happened –Woodword and Bernstein. As Chief Editor Ben Bradley summarizes, "Now hold it, hold it. We're about to accuse Haldeman, who only happens to be the second most important man in this country, of conducting a criminal conspiracy from inside the White House. It would be nice if we were right." The story of their investigation is here told soberly, step by step. It is not that easy to follow, and like in 'J.F.K', you'd better have a quick and good memory of names. But it shows quite well why the press is called 'the fourth power'… Says Ben Bradlee again: "Nothing's riding on this except the, uh, first amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys f... up again, I'm going to get mad. Goodnight"… Of course, while watching this movie, one should be careful to dissociate it from more recent events. Woodword and Bernstein would be much less credible if we were to remember that they have been conspicuously absent from the scene these last few years, even though the Watergate looks like a kiddie joke compared with what has been going on lately at the White House

Tous les matins du monde (1991)

Melancholically beautiful

[7/10 · 14 January 2006]

France -17th Century. Little known 17th Century viol player and composer Monsieur de Sainte Colombe regarded public performance as an act that corrupted the purity of music. Since his wife's death, he had lived in isolation with his two daughters Madeleine and Toinette –until a young musician, Marin Marais, convinces him to teach him viol. The ambitious pupil, aware of the unique quality of his master's music, will stop at nothing to get hold of the scores. The entire movie is played in rhythm with the viol -slow, melancholic, pure, beautiful. Action addicts should not even try to watch. But art lovers will have a delightful time.

All Quiet on the Western Front (1979 TV Movie)

A remake fed by all in-between wars

[5/10 · 14 January 2006]

Germany -1914. Paul Baumer belongs to the generation of young enthusiasts who, well stimulated by their leaders, went to fight the enemy without yet knowing that it would be called the 'first world war'. He will soon realize how unfair, stupid and horrible the war is, though. But by the time he can go back home, it is too late –he has changed forever and can only find a reason to live in going back there… and die. What does it matter that Paul was German? The experience was the same on the other side, the same for any young guy going to kill others over muddy pieces of land. Erich Maria Remarque's classic novel had already been exploited on screen in 1930. This remake is not bad, probably slightly influenced by more recent experiences such as the infamous Vietnam war.

All Over Me (1997)

When reality threatens to be much more horrible than fiction

[5/10 · 14 January 2006]

New York -1990s. Claude is a teenager of our time, daughter of a divorced mother who let her face the challenges of teenage alone. Not quite alone though, since her best friend Hellen is never very far. As different in temperament as they are in appearance, sturdy, self-effacing Claude and fragile, volatile Ellen have long been at the center of each other's universe. In fact, Claude loves Hellen but does not know quite yet how to express her homosexuality. Anyway, Hellen is not gay. But with school almost over and summer in the air, Claude and Ellen have begun to discover more of the world outside Claude's room. Claude has met people like Jesse, Luke and Lucy, who seem to understand her much better than Ellen does. Meanwhile, Ellen has a new boyfriend, a macho neighborhood guy who shows signs of being violent. So much so that he participates in the murder of Luke. Over the course of a few days, events lead Claude to question, for the first time ever, her friendship with Ellen. Will she have to let go of the person she loves most in order to be happy and true to herself? Tough times, where urban teenagers become adults if they are lucky, or else end up in drugs, in prison, or dead… The type of movie we would like to believe is a horror fiction, rather than a picture of our nice so-called 'civilized' society.

Airplane! (1980)

90-minute long laughter

[7/10 · 14 January 2006]

New York to Chicago -1950s. A plane takes off with its load of various passengers, a representative sample of the American society of the 50s. But one of the two meals served on board is infected, and soon half of the passengers – and all pilots, fall severely sick. Only one person can land the plane – a passenger, who used to pilot a jet fighter during the war and was so traumatized by the experience that he had refused to even approach a plane until that night. Interesting situations arise, both on board and in the control tower. An ironical mixture of 'Airport' and '727 calls Vancouver', with bits and pieces of classics just to make fun of them, this movie is just hilarious. The best humorous movie made so far about aviation.

The Air Up There (1994)

Light and really entertaining

[5/10 · 14 January 2006]

Kenya -1990s. St Joe's basketball team is famous but runs into a double crisis. For one, the acclaimed coach is going to retire and must name his successor. Moreover, the team is in dire need of a hoop star. Jimmy Dolan, ex-player and deputy coach, has therefore no choice but to find the star: his career is at stake. On a short video of a mission in Winabi (Kenya), he sees the star he needs. How to get there, to identify the player and to convince him to go back to the USA with him will however be quite a challenge! The spectator should not expect anything remotely intellectual or an even slightly probable description of Africa. But Kevin Bacon is good and the movie hilarious at times. A very entertaining, light movie, which beyond the classical story of friendship between two young men of different cultures (for once not too patronizing), shows quite interesting scenes of beautiful basketball and demonstrates a bit the incredible cult Americans make of sports in the environment of what is supposed to be tertiary education.

Ugly, Dirty and Bad (1976)

Horribly cruel and one-sided

[2/10 · 14 January 2006]

Italy -1970s. A miserable house built in the poor suburbs of the city. The whole family lives there, and the only one who has money is the father, jealous and weary guardian of his treasure. No values, no morality other than envy and greed. No lost love either -the father lives in the constant fear of being robbed by his own children, until he falls in love with a stranger and imposes her in the over-crowded house, in his wife's very bed. A terrible, cruel picture of the life of the poor, who are refused here the most basic human dignity. Uncomfortable and unfair, this movie cannot been watched without revolt against the one-sided film maker who just painted the dark side of a more subtle reality. What exactly has Ettore Scola tried to achieve with such manicheism???

Air Force One (1997)

Good action movie.. and that's about it

[5/10 · 14 January 2006]

In the sky over Eastern Europe -1990s. After a joint-operation between Russia and the USA to arrest General Radek, a Communist dictator who had started a genocide in Kajasthan, American President James Marshall goes to Moscow and gives a stirring speech outlining the USA's new "Zero-tolerance" policy with respect to terrorism. "Peace isn't merely the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice", he says. On the flight home, terrorists take over Air Force One and keep the passengers (including the President's wife and daughter) hostage. Their leader Yvan Korshunov plans to execute one hostage every half-hour unless/until General Radek is released. However, the President is a former Medal of Honor winner, so the terrorists may be in for a surprise... After 'The American President', here comes another President-loving movie –but this time, the President does not have the time or the inclination for romance. He is the perfect symbol of Great America and its values –family, invincibility, power. Interestingly, there is to a certain extent just a little objectivity ("You murdered 100,000 Iraqis to save a nickel a gallon on gas. Don't lecture me on the rules of war", says Korshunov). But mind you, these words of truth are said by the bad guy… Ah well, this and the technical mistakes aside, it is a good action movie.

The Age of Innocence (1993)

New York's High Society at its best (!)

[7/10 · 14 January 2006]

New York –1870s. New York's 'good' society, revolving around the few founding families, is a caricature of its European cousins. Amidst fossilized social customs, etiquette and religious rites mixed with hardly disguised money-based power struggles, freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom to control one's own life are not an option. Newland Archer will have no choice but to marry May Welland even though he is desperately in love with the beautiful Countess Olenska. But to break an engagement between two influential families would be a fight Newland does not feel the courage to start. Especially since Countess Olenska would have to divorce first! "We advocate democracy and freedom, we don't practice them", says Newland. Child of this society, he will bear with his suffering and will never change his course even when Fortune gives him other chances. Incredible as it may seem, it must have been true. And in fact, has it changed so much in one century? It rather seems to have spread over the whole American society!… The movie is well done, the actors excellent.

Addicted to Love (1997)

Enjoyable in the 'heart-warming' category

[5/10 · 14 January 2006]

New York –1990s. Sam is a brilliant astronomer, who has two passions -the sky and Linda, his first and only love, a schoolteacher in the little Midwest town they live in. But all hell breaks loose when Linda has the opportunity to spend two months in New York, and falls in love with Antoine, a French guy who owns a restaurant and knows how to talk to ladies. Sam cannot accept to be dumped just like that. He goes to New York, settles in a ruined building facing the two lovebirds' apartment, and records every detail of their life, hoping to find a pattern that would indicate the end of the relationship and therefore his chance to get Linda back. This could have gone on for a while but Maggie appears. Ex-girlfriend of Antoine, she is as unwilling as Sam to let go of her love, but her approach is somewhat more active. You would not want her as an enemy –that's for sure! Poor Antoine will have plenty opportunities to test the strength of his love. So will Sam and Maggie, who are in for a few surprises… With no more ambition than to offer a good moment to spectators, 'Addicted to Love' belongs to the 'Only You', 'French Kiss', and other 'While you were Sleeping', funny, light and heart-warming. Meg Ryan is really good at it.

The Accompanist (1992)

War and other evils at work

[6/10 · 14 January 2006]

Paris –1943. Paris is going through one of the hardest winters of its history -occupied and tortured by the Germans, freezing and starving, the City of Light hardly deserves its name. But Sophie Vasseur only just witnesses that misery. She has been recruited as the accompanist of Irene Brice, an opera singer, one of the few 'lights' still shining in Paris. Her husband Charles, a brilliant and rich businessman who loves her passionately, efficiently supports her agents and sponsors in protecting her from the unbearable reality, and Sophie, the shadow, cuddles in the shelter. Through all the ordeals that cost the life of so many, Charles carries Irene and Sophie, not even surprised to find themselves safe in London. But untouched by the universal suffering, Irene will create her own. Sophie could do something, but, unable to get out of her role of passive shadow and to understand she has power on her own, will she? A fascinating picture of destiny and how it affects human beings, whether they try to control it or not. Beautiful classical music too.

The Abyss (1989)

When science fiction goes under-water

[6/10 · 14 January 2006]

Somewhere deep in the Pacific Ocean, sometime. Bud Brigman and his team of professional divers are exploring the depths of the ocean for their mining company when they are suddenly required to look for a lost nuclear submarine and its weapons. Bud's estranged wife, Lindsey, who designed their submarine platform, joins them with a team of Navy Seals. Soon, everything combines to stop them and endanger their lives – from a storm that isolates them from the surface to the Seal captain's depth sickness that makes him dangerously mad. Bud finds it quite hard to impose his views ("When it comes to the safety of these people, there's me and then there's God, understand?"). But their ordeal leads them to discover something much greater, much more awe-inspiring than a mere nuclear submarine… Let's ignore the infantile morals and typical American values (although one has to admire how they determinedly strive to find every way to shoot their weapons and kill each other in the most unlikely places). The movie is well made, the creatures are beautiful, the underwater scenes are quite skillfully shot… and there even are some attempts at humor – Ed Harris style.

Absolute Power (1997)

An enjoyable Clint Eastwood

[6/10 · 14 January 2006]

Washington DC -1990s. Luther Whitney, reputed one the very best thieves of the country but supposedly retired, is in the process of executing his greatest robbery –the private vault of a powerful billionaire, Walter Sullivan. But he is disturbed by the billionaire's young wife. Christy takes advantage of her husband's absence to receive her lover –the US President himself. President Richmond is a sick pervert, and the love affair turns sour. In front of hidden Whitney, the lady is murdered. Before escaping, Whitney secures the murder weapon, but he will need all his experience and skills to manipulate the secret services and the very competent police investigator Seth Frank. Not only must he protect himself but also his estranged daughter Kate. Not to worry however –Luther Whitney is Clint Eastwood, after all! And since the suspense in this respect is minimal, we can just relax and enjoy watching one of our coolest supermen smoothly make his way through a nicely structured scenario. Although the action itself is ageless, one sign definitely links the movie to the 90s –the blatant lack of respect for the person of the US President and the undisguised criticism of political corruption. Maybe a way to exorcise the scandals that have been plaguing the White House over the last decades