salambo: high priestess of ancient carthage (gustave flaubert)

"the best historical novel of all time", says the dust jacket. well, if it's by flaubert, and it's "the best historical novel of all time", then i think it's only fair i gave it a chance. i couldn't finish it. not long after i started reading it i remembered why i don't like historical novels that much: it always seems like the story itself is an excuse in order for the author to show us how much research he has conducted. the rather lengthy and numerous descriptions of buildings, tools or garments seem to be the main focus of the book, and not the story itself. maybe historians  marvel at the accuracy of the data, but for me this is just dull academic wank.if at least it was interesting academic wank... but no, it's dull, dull, dull!!! maybe the second part is really exciting. i will never know.

Rating: 2/10

mysterious skin (greg araki)

it doesn't matter how many times i watch this movie, i always love it. the way it's filmed, the music, the acting, the storyline itself, everything is five stars. my favourite bits are definitely the dreamy sequences (the rain of candy, the snow in the open-air cinema, the flying saucer...) and, of course, brian's ufo stories and obsessions, but i also love neil's relationship with his best friend... and elisabeth shue! she's amazing. i don't know, i can't find a flaw. i love how brutal and sensitive it can be at the same time. the scene when neil's sick punter asks him to simply stroke his back is one of the sweetest moments i've ever seen in a movie.  and, yes, mr simonotron, i even like the americanism in the plot of having a traumatic event in childhood that haunts people as adults :-p

Rating: 10/10

agnosia (eugenio mira)

jeeeeeeeeesus, mary and joseph this was tedious. booooooring! yaaaaaaawn! it looks really slick and the clothes are actually amazing (make actors sport moustaches and 19th century suits and even eduardo noriega looks good), but that's about it. the story is really predictable (and boring). i can't understand why this is marketed as sci-fi and spooky, when it's actually neither one nor the other. it's a (boring) period  drama trying very hard to be steam-punk and not really getting there. at all. oh, and did i mentioned it was boring?

Rating: 4/10

greybeard (brian aldiss)

i really enjoyed the first half, it was really fun, with all the stoats and the village and the rafts and the risk of an attack from the north... and the idea itself, i loved the concept of a humanity with no more children. but then it all kind of lost momentum. i think my biggest disappointment was that i wanted it to move forwards and the story actually moved backwards. it kind of picked up at the end again, i really enjoyed the scene when the two main characters actually meet and play hide and seek... and then the wee girl tells the boy's mum he has drowned, that was awesome! but, as a whole, just a so-so.

animal kingdom (david michod)

i really enjoyed this. i love the gangster family and the relationships between their members, especially the more extreme ones, like the unhinged brother or the big mamma (i love how she unsheaths her claws and protects her cubs in the second half), but every single one of them is important in order to obtain a balanced family portrait. both the photography and the score are really moody, my favourite shots being the scenes filmed almost in slow motion with the important thing happening in the background (i.e. when the police storm in the house). and the end... the end is awesome!! perfect for the story it wants to tell.oh, and on a more shallow level, the blond bearded brother is really hot.... and guy pierce sports a moustache!

Rating: 8.5/10

the kids are alright (lisa chodolenko)

the best thing i can say about this film is that i have nothing against it: it's highly enjoyable, it's well acted (julianne moore is, as usual, incredible), well directed, the story is entertaining... however, i don't think its biggest triumphs reside in any of this. in fact, the script is rather predictable. for me the best thing is that it portrays a gay couple... and their homosexuality is not an issue at ANY point of the film (neither for them nor for the people around them). its other asset is julianne moore's conception of sexuality as something fluid and not monolithic (don't forget we are talking hollywood here, it's an indie movie, but not that underground, it's still appealing to a general, if discerning, public). so yeah, top marks for that. and, as i said before, i actually enjoyed the story itself, too.

Rating: 8/10

house (nobuhiko obayashi)

crazy like only japanese films can be. i really like some bits, but in general i was put off by the 'kids tv' feel the whole thing oozes. i love the painted animated effects, though, like some of the blood and skeletons, as well as the gory bits and the fact that each of the girls had one defining characteristic. but as a whole the film didn't live up to my expectations. glad i watched it, though, it's enjoyable, but i expected more.

Rating: 6/10