The Dark Knight Rises

Good afternoon!

I hesitated before writing this article, because I absolutely do not want to ruin the surprise. But well, ok, Iwill manage to give my advice without any spoiler: promised!
I've been waiting for this movie since I saw The Dark Knight, a real masterpiece after the already awesome Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne's story and Batman's birth. Everybody knows that The Dark Night Rises was one of the most importante movie release in 2012: what an astonishing craze! Here we are: third and very last movie of Nolan's trilogy. And after the success of its  predecessor, useless to mention that it absolutely had to be equal to the task!

After watching it for the (already, I know) second time yesterday, I need to tell you that the mission is brilliantly accomplished by Christopher Nolan and his excellent crew.
To me, Nolan's strenght was to use that much the feelings of the different characters: that's how we discovered a Bruce Wayne / Batman tormented by his demons, that's how the Joker managed to be the awe-inspiring anarchist of The Dark Knight, and I could make the list longer but watch the movies so that you can make your own! We used to be attached to some figures, we used to hate the others: none of them made us feel indifferent. The Dark Knight Rises doesn't differ the rules (excepted Marion Cotillard, strangely hollow in Miranda Tate). The movies likes to play with our perceptions, our sensations, making us grind our teeth, feeling pain with some characters,... But the most amazing is when it surprises us feeling compassion, even sorrow, for someone we were expecting to hate.

Let's talk about the casting. We already know astonishing Christan Bale in Batman, and the excellent actors Gary Oldman (Inspector Jim Gordon), Michael Caine (Alfred Pennyworth) and Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox); now time has come to welcome awesome surprises. First of all, Tom Hardy, interpreting the villain, the muscular terrorist Bane. I sincerely feared not to like him at all, but his charisma purely amazed me! Ignominous, apalling and... human, he won't leave you unmoved. Then we have Anne Hathaway in Selina Kyle / Catwoman. I knew that the challenge was great, especially after Michelle Pfeiffer's performance in Batman Returns, realized by Tim Burton. Nevertheless Anne... how can I say? Nolan's Selina Kyle is thoughful, sexy-but-not-bitchy, wild and fierce. Bravo, bravo, bravo! No need to talk about the big disappointment Marion Cotillard, please! I mean... no, really. From lacking in character to bluntly mediocre, we regret not to have known a worth seeing Miranda Tate. The only mistake in the casting. Anyway I needed to had some words about Michael Caine: his performance touched me so much that I can't just mention it without adding more. Alfred had never been that deeply moving! Oh, I almost forgot to mention Joseph Gordon Lewitt in John Blake, a policeman more significant and helpful that we can believe at the beginning.

The longest movie of the trilogy really represents the long-awaited magnificent final.
Once again, Nolan managed to catch the eye, from A to Z, thanks to his aesthetics, the numerous new turns, some breathtaking scenes, the great work on every single character's personnality. Clichés always menace when we talk about superheros, but fortunately none has its place in this movie. After a very convincing Batman Begins and an outstanding The Dark Knight, the last episode had to set the bar high, very high! And it did.

The legend rised, and definitely left us with the best movies of its kind, nothing less!

Fiza

Good evening :)

Wow, this blog had never had so much visits previously: thank you so much!! Dears, I hope you enjoyed the reading! A priori I do not have time to write a new article today -student life and examinations- but as I need a break, I take advantage of these few minutes to talk about the latest movie I saw: Fiza.

Starring the famous Karisma Kapoor and the handsome Hritik Roshan, Fiza is a heartbreaking family drama. Here is the synopsis:

The film is about Fiza (Karisma Kapoor), whose brother, Aman (Hrithik Roshan), disappears during the 1993 Bombay Riots. Fiza and her mother Nishatbi (Jaya Bachchan) desperately hold on to the hope that one day he will return. However, six years after his disappearance, Fiza, fed up with living with uncertainty, resolves to go in search of her brother. Driven by her mother Nishatbi's fervent hope and her own determination, Fiza decides to use whatever means she can—the law, media, even politicians—to find her brother, which brings her into contact with various characters and situations.

I cut the story short not to reveal the whole intrigue.
I love Bollywood movies, even if I must confess that I mainly watched colourful, joyful films, which made me dream, even without happy endings. If you do not understand what I mean, don't you suddenly desire to become a courtesan if you are sure to be as classy as Madhuri Dixit in Devdas, with her brilliant interpretation of Chandramukhi? Well, Fiza could not be more different.
We follow the story of a muslim family suddenly destroyed after sanguinolent confrontations between Muslims and Hindus. When you believe that it couldn't be more difficult to live without a son and brother, without even knowing if he is alive, you reach the part of the movie where everything turns even worse. It is difficult to me not to divulgue more, but I really don't want to ruin the surprise.

Fiza is a very emotional realization, part thanks to the incredible actors: touching, strong, heartbreaking, determinated,... the characters are moving and particularly credible. Remember that it isn't always the case when you live in cloud-cuckoo land, in other words when you decide to relax with Bollywood.
Honestly, I watched Fiza with eyes filled with tears... at best! At worst, I just couldn't stop crying: when people are not able to recognize their own family, when a mother's hope is ruined, when you realize that the fiction is certainly very close to the reality,...

To summarize: if you like Bollywood cute and naive, get off on your way ; if you are searching for a movie with a real substance, check this out as soon as possible! Personally, I am delighted by the powerful discovery.

Talk to you soon! :)

Battle Royale

Hi everybody!

I don't know if it is the same everywhere, but in my town, people are totally excited about "Hunger Games", currently in our cinemas. So excited that I needed to know more, curious as I am. This is what I read: in this dystopia which takes place in an destroyed America, the Capitol, an inquisitorial government, organizes every year a game, "Hunger Games", where teenagers between 12 and 18 years old are in confrontation until only one of them is left.

I won't go further: it doesn't interest me, and the reason is simple. If I pronounce the name "Battle Royale", does it evoke something?

Battle Royale is a 2000 Japanese action-drama-thriller film based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Koushun Takami. [...] The film tells the story of Shuya Nanahara, a high-school student struggling with the death of his father who is forced by the government to compete in a deadly game, where the students must kill each other in order to win. The film aroused both domestic and international controversy, and was either banned or excluded from distribution in several countries. *

I won't lie to you: you are talking to a huge fan of both the book and the movie.

I discovered this movie when I was 14, and I was immediatly amazed by the foolishness of this "game", organized by a government which fears its teens. How could you imagine your friends and acquaintances fighting to death during three days?

Every student receives a bag with some food and water plus a weapon (from the knife to the submachine gun). And then begins the violence: cruelty, trick, fear, suicides, but also kindness, friendship, love and some kind of innocence, because of the few people who hope to God to find a better solution, for better or for worse. This movie could actually be worth watching only for the fantastic performance of Takeshi Kitano as the cynical and desperate teacher. But there is more to discover beside him, so do not hesitate if you do not know it yet!
Oh, I just want to add something, ladies and gentlemen: as a French-speaking person, I beg my French-speaking readers to watch the movie in Japanese with the French (or whatever) subtitles. Trust me, the French dubbing is a pain in the neck, too far -even sometimes opposite to- the original dialogs.

Souma Mitsuko, interpreted by Shibasaki Kou

And if I already loved the movie, what could I say about the book? A pleasure! We sink into the darkness of the game itself, with the inhuman bets of its investigators about the potential winner, the circumstances which motivated them to set up the "battle royale", the image of a devastated country, and a criticism about the way of thinking: "every man for himself". We also discover deeper characters (in
the movie, I regretted that the main character was seen as a "saint" while almost all the others were becoming madder and madder) -even if they still are big clichés, as Kiriyama Kasuo, the brilliant young man but whose indifference makes him particularly cruel and awfully dangerous-, their thoughts and reactions which are suddenly easier to understand, but nevertheless disconcerting. And of course, if the violence of the images were already alarming, there is nothing compared to the violence of the words!

Masanobu Ando as Kiriyama Kasuo

But what I loved the most in the book was the black humour. Even in the worst situation, when for instance a student is in danger of death, Koushun Takami uses the right words, the special phrases which makes you bursting out laughing at the moment you didn't expected at all!

Let me remind you once again that "Battle Royale", the book, was released in 1999, the movie in 2000, and both of them had an international success, a decade before "Hunger Games".

By the way if you want a detailed advice about the differences between "Battle Royale" and "Hunger Games", please follow this link: http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/165895-the-hunger-games-vs-battle-royale-similarities-and-differences As I told you, I didn't see the movie, and I don't know the books, so I wouldn't be able to give my opinion.

Have a nice Sunday!

What a glorious feeling!...

Hi there!

Sometimes, I feel like I won't have enough to tell to bring my blog up to date. Sometimes, it is the contrary: I don't know where I can begin! But today, it was completely obvious!
I just finished to watch my favorite movie of all time, I named Singin' In The Rain!

Can I guess that the name sounds familiar? I think so! Everybody should already have heard about this masterpiece, starring Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor and last but not least, my dear, dear, dear Gene Kelly!
The script is very simple: this is the story of two movie stars, Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), at the end of the silent films. Due to the success of the talking pictures, the couple -sweethearts in their movies, haters in the real life- records its first talking movie, The Dueling Cavalier. It turns to a total mess, and to cup it all, Lina is equipped with a shrill voice! Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor) suggests to dub this unbearable voice with the one of Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), a novice stage actress.

Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds & Gene Kelly in "Good Morning"

To be honest, this movie is the one par excellence which will always make me smile and laugh, which will always make me sing along at the rate of the numerous and memorable songs! Three particularly deserve to be mentioned : "Good Morning", the lucky day, when hope comes back, when ideas flood in; "Make 'Em Laugh", thanks to Donald O'Connor who made the best of this moment (I am used to tell that it would have been the best moment of the movie without the title track); and of course "Singin' In The Rain"! Who could watch Don Lockwood singing his happiness, under the pouring rain, with this touching innocence, without suddenly feeling the need to smile? This is a pure hymn of joy, nothing else, trust me! No need to wonder why this performance became iconic. Just watch Gene Kelly dancing, and let your feelings guide you how they guided the loving Don Lockwood!

Gene Kelly in "Singin' In The Rain"

Between the fabulous tap-dancing, the colourful spectacles, a matchless energy and the hilarious scenes, it is difficult to select a scene rather than another.  98 minutes which are always going by too quickly for the spectator!

Brilliant, my friends!