French movie, French review.

RRRrrr !!! (France, 2004)

Un film d’Alain Chabat, plus connu ici pour son rôle de Jules César et la réalisation de Astérix : Mission Cléopâtre. RRRrrr!!! est beaucoup plus absurde qu’Astérix, et beaucoup plus près de ce qu’Alain Chabat faisait avec son groupe d’humoriste Les Nuls.

On se situe à la pré-histoire, à l’âge de pierre. On peut même comprendre en voyant le film pourquoi on dit l’âge de pierre. Il y a la tribu des cheveux propres et celle des cheveux sales, qui veut voler le secret du shampoing à la première depuis des centaines d’années. Mais sans succès.

Cette comédie peut être visionnée plusieurs fois, et devient étrangement de plus en plus drôle. On s’attache aux personnages, et apprend vite leur répliques par-coeur. C’est, pour vous situez, un humour qu’on pourrait qualifier d’humour Simpsons. Louche et absurde, avec un fond de bon sens.

Vrai, beaucoup n’ont pas aimé.

Mais pour les fans de comédies françaises et ceux qui recherchent la différence et la surprise, c’est un bijou.

“Je m’appelle Pierre!!! B-L-O-N-D !!! Pierre!!!!”
-Le Blond

Hehehehe, bonne blague!

Gog the Great

French movie, French critic!

Les Triplettes de Bellevilles (France, Belgique, Canada et Grande-Bretagne, 2003)

Peut importe ce à quoi on s’attend pour ce film, ce n’est pas du tout ce qui va se passer.

Une animation inspirée beaucoup de l’époque à laquelle le film prend place, les années 40. En partie en France et en contre-partie à Belleville.

Belleville est un genre de New York où les gens y parle français avec un accent québécois et où tout le monde est obèse. Le nom Belleville est probablement inspiré de la chanson du même nom par Django Reinhardt, quoiqu’il y a une Belleville en Ontario et une au Michigan.

Le film contient très peu de dialogue, mais l’histoire y est racontée de façon merveilleuse! Beaucoup de musique avec une influence de swing manouche (pas de lien, parce qu’il n’y a rien d’intelligent!), qui se veut un hommage au genre.

Plusieurs ont détesté. Ce film a cependant plu à la critique, aux amateurs d’animation et aux spectateurs qui recherchent quelques chose de différent. C’est en effet différent de ce à quoi nous sommes habitués en frais d’animation, mais combien divertissant et rafraichissant!

Des personages fabuleux, ayant chacun une personalité différent et ce avec très peu de dialogue. C’est du génis, un tour de force!

Bizarre, certe. Un peu absurde aussi.

C’est ce qui en fait un bijou.

Gog

The Dukes of Hazzard (USA, 2005)

Another TV show turned into a movie.

Not really original, but entertaining nonetheless!

As a kid, I was a fan of the original series, I even have a picture of myself with the General Lee!

I felt very anxious about going to see the movie. All the critics had been so bad and I am in no way a Johnny Knoxville, nor a Sean William Scott fan at all.

Well, I finally made the move and I am very happy with it.

Maybe my expectations were low due due to the bad critics, but I had a very good time. The car chases are enjoyable and the movie is mostly that. There’s even the voice-over, known as the Balladeer, and freeze-frames as in the original show.

Of course, there is a lot of Jessica Simpsons displaying her curves on the screen as what has been criticized by some people. But, the fact is, many female singers show off a lot more in a single music video than she does in an entire movie. If there is one thing people should complain about, it is the flag on General Lee’s roof, nothing else. Now that is something that could have been left out, for obvious reasons.

You are not looking at an Oscar movie, that’s for sure. But it is worth a movie ticket and your time. Just keep in mind what it used to be as a TV show : two guys driving around in a 1969 Dodge Charger chased by the police. Nothing more, nothing less.

And maybe you’ll enjoy yourself, who knows?

HEEEEE-HAAAAAW!!!

Gog

At last!

The Muppet Show‘s first season on DVD!

And it was about time too.

Jim Henson was a genius.

He was a visionary.

Sesame Street and the Muppets are two of his creations we are most familiar with. But he has done so much more, like Fraggle Rock, theDark Crystal and he is also the guy that told George Lucas that it was possible to have a puppet as a main character for his second Star Wars movie.

Anyway, enough history and back to serious matters.

At last we have the full-length version of all the episodes. What was shown here on television was a shorter version, the US version. The original show was aired in UK with an additional number every episode. So, even if you have seen all of the episodes aired here, you haven’t seen everything.

The beauty of the Muppets is their different characters and their strangeness. The thing is, it was weird when it first aired and it still is by today’s standards. Many times we get the reaction : “What were they thinking?” But thatis why it is still entertaining.

And the music, ah the music, real music, with real instruments. It always played an important part in the show. Always done with professionalism and the care of a genuine music lover. Marvellous and surprising, considering it was being done at a time when disco was at the peak of its second life and that the keyboard was replacing many instruments.

Too bad the recent Muppets’ Wizard of Oz wasn’t that good. Well you can’t win ’em all.

Be sure that you haven’t seen nor heard the last of the Muppets. Disney bought them In February 2004, and the marketing machine has been set in motion: the season 1 DVD, the Wizard of Oz film, Miss Piggy in Prada and everything around Kermit’s fiftieth anniversary.

Is it a good thing?

Only time will tell. Meawhile we can enjoy the DVD episodes.

And lon live the Electric Mayhem!!!

Gog

Bride & Prejudice (UK/USA, 2004)

Bollywood meets Hollywood.

Even if India is the biggest movie producer in the world (yep, USA is second!), it isn’t very easy to come by an indian film around here. So I said to myself :”This is your chance to finally see a real Indian movie!”

The Guru doesn’t count.

Well I was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wroung, wrong.

It looked like it was going to be interesting. Subtitles, songs that actually don’t sound like what we hear in romantic comedies here and very good dance numbers. I believe that would be the Bollywood part. The problems began when it met Hollywood.

Now the characters go to the beach for a party. Nothing wrong with that, I concur. But the treatment of the subject is another matter. That is where we feel the break in the movie, where it becomes just another unnecessary romantic comedy.

It was almost as bad as the rave scene in the Matrix Reloaded. Almost but not quite. Still, that is saying a lot.

Yes the girls are beautiful, yes the story is cute and yes it ends up in a happily ever after moment. Aren’t there thousands of movies exactly like that?

A waste of time, except maybe for the first fifteen or twenty minutes.

The Guru does actually count and is still the most Bollywood you will get. Sorry.

Gog

-French film, French review-

L’humour français pour un canadien-français, c’est parfois inaccesible. Il s’agit de donner un chance et de regarder quelques films pour y piger quelque chose. Même parfois y peut y trouver quelqu’un comme Benoît Poelvoorde.

Le Podium n’est pas son premier film, loin de là. Mais c’est le plus récent disponible en DVD depuis le 2 août 2005.

Dans cette comédie, Poelvoorde interprète Bernard Frédéric dont la profession est d’être le sosie de Claude François (Pour ceux qui ne le connaisse pas, imaginez ce qu’est Elvis aux américains, et ça donnera une bonne idée de l’impact de Claude Fraçois chez les français). Biensûr, sa profession est une obsession et cause certains problèmes.

Dit comme ça, c’est sûr que ce n’est pas drôle. Tout est dans le traitement, la réalisation et le jeu de Benoît Poelvoorde. Et surtout il ne faudrait pas oubiler la photographie du film qui est superbe : les compositions de couleurs sont incroyables tout en restant dans les limites du monde réels. Pas donné à tout le monde de réussir un tour pareil.

En tant que comédie, il ne faut pas s’attendre à rire aux éclats du début à la fin. C’est un humour plus français, moins in your face… Bon j’vois bien que c’est pas clair ce que j’essaie de dire et que je suis pas capable de le verbaliser, donc j’vais laisser faire.

Pas nécessairementle film à présenter à un non-initié du cinéma français.

Mais pour quelqu’un qui aime la différence ou qui apprécie les films musicaux (ce n’est PAS une comédie musicale!) ce serait du temps très bien investi. Pour ceux qui ont aimé le personage de Reggio (interprété par Poelvoorde) dans Le Boulet c’est absoluement à ne pas manquer!

Alexandrie!
Alexandra!

Barracuda!

Hehehehehe

Gog

In this third Police Story film, Jackie Chan plays the buddy-cop movie card by introducing a co-star. Filling this part is Malasian action star Michelle Yeoh (credited as Michelle Khan).

In this installment, Chan and Yeoh’s characters, both being police, they go after a big time drug dealer by going undercover. They help a prisoner escape to get into the gang, and get close to the big boss. Of course it doesn’t go as planned and their clover is blown, but in the end the good guys win.

Michelle Yeoh might not have Chan experience, but can give a good run for his money. The fight scenes are especially well done, and from what we see during the end credits, there were quite a few serious injuries.

There are two memorable stunts in the film. One by Chan and one by Yeoh.

Pursuing the bad guys, Jackie jumps off a building to catch a rope ladder hanging from a fleeing helicopter. With no safety nets or lines or whatever safeties sane stunt people use. It even made the front page on newspapers in Hong Kong the day it was filmed. Great publicity stunt.

As for Michelle Yeoh, pursuing the bad guys (also), she picks up a dirt bike and jumps unto a moving train. Literally. Did I mention she had never ridden a motorcycle before shooting that movie?

These people have a weird and insane way of making a living. Not that I am complaining, mind you. I love it, when the succeed and when they break something.

A very good Jackie Chan film. A must-see. Also if you are a Michelle Yeoh’s, she is very good.

Gog

A sequel to the very successful Police Story released three years previously, Police Story II doesn’t live up to its predecessor. It is not a bad movie in itself. One could say it is an okay film, but something is missing to make it good.

There are fine action sequences and lots of explosions. In this installment of the franchise, Ka Kui (Chan‘s character has to deal with terrorists blackmailing a group of business men into giving them millions. One of these terrorists is an incredibly annoying deaf-mute explosive expert. Once you hear him mumbling : “Ah-paah! Ah-paah!”, you’ll understand. He’s also a martial arts expert and his kicks are amazing!

Something is definitely lacking, but it isn’t exactly clear what. As far as stories go, it is fairly good by Hong Kong cinema’s standards, so it must be something else. Chan directed this one just as he did the first one, and has proven he can direct time and time again, so it’s him. It’s something else. Maybe production problems?

I just don’t know. It just doesn’t take off.
It happens.

Don’t make it a priority on your must-see films list, unless seeing everything by Jackie Chan is your priority. And believe me, there is worse.

Gog

The first of five Police Story movies. Directed by Jackie Chan himself it was a chance for him to show his audience he was capable of doing far more than just kung fu comedy. The movie was a great success and is considered his best by many fans of the genre.

I must have seen the film a dozen times, but only the last was the uncut version. Very often when we get videos in North America, coming from Asia (and possibly from other places too), we are treated to our own version. Meaning it is shorter, not necessarely better. Whose idea is this? Executives who know better than we, as an audience, really want. I suppose.
Lucky for me, I purchased the Hong Kong version of the DVD boxed-set containing the first three Police Stories. I have only watched the first one, so I don’t know about the difference between the North America and Hong Kong versions of the other two.

As a Jackie Chan movie, it is an excellent movie. There is a ton of action and really amazing stunts. And believe or not, credible acting (okay, not all of the acting). Also, in the not so flambyoant role of the lead’s girlfriend is a very young Maggie Cheung.

It is a good introduction to the genre for first-timers. If they can get over the 1985 hairdoes and gigantic portable phones. In itself the movie doesn’t look really dated. The camera work and the directing are as efficient as what we are used to see today. And Jackie as at the peak of his physical shape! No one can move like that, and it all seems so simple. As graceful as Fred Astaire dancing.

Okay, okay, I admit that’s pushing it a bit. But you get the picture.

For Jackie Chan fans it’s a must own film. For the standard jaded movie goer, it is a must see.

Go ahead, you’ll like it. And if you don’t, well you’ll know not to beleive everything you read now, won’t you?

Enjoy!

French movie, French critic. That’s how it is.

L’adaptation de la BD est bien réussie. On y retrouve beaucoup d’éléments tirés du dessin animé aussi. Les fréres Dalton, Ma Dalton, Lucky Luke et Rantamplan sont visuellement très prêts de ce à quoi on a été habitué. La plus grosse déception c’est l’ombre de Lucky Luke qui fait beaucoup trop de conneries qui ne mènent nulle part. Oui il est plus vite que son ombre, mais son n’est pas supposée faire des bétises pour autant!

De bonnes blagues à saveurs françaises et même un caméo pour les fans de l’humeur français récent. Il y a une faiblesse au niveau du scénario au milieu du film, lorsqu’on tente d’icorporer un élément de magie qui n’a pas sa place cet l’univers. Ainsi que plusieurs références à d’autres films qui nuisent au ton et au rythme du récit.

Donc pas variment décevant, intéressant, mais loin de l’adaptation d‘Astérix : Mission Cléopâtre. À voir si on est fan du genre.