Yann Muller
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by Yann Muller |
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| A Better Tomorrow |  
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This is not usual but A Better Tomorrow is not as good as its sequel.
Even though the motivation of the characters seems a bit shallow at time, it
is still a brilliant action film with an outstanding style. It is a shame that
the DVD is of so poor quality. The picture is very bad at the beginning and is
then average at best. Even worse the format is cut to approximately 14:9 and is
not anamorphic. (07.2000)
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| A Better Tomorrow II |
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Oh, Mark had a twin brother! It really doesn't matter that it is a rather poor
excuse to bring back Chow Yun-Fat. Everyone wanted him back! The story doesn't
seem to have any other aim than slowly building towards the final shooting
mayhem. (10.2000)
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| Alien |
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The best of all space-monster movies. It doesn't sacrifice the story to the
action (like the sequel Aliens for exemple). Terribly effective.
(03.2001)
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| Aliens |
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This sequel is very much action oriented and also it is a quite different style
from the first film it is very good.
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| Avalon |
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Avalon is Mamoru Oshii's first non-animated film. Some of the themes
are recognisable from Ghost in the Shell. The film explores the
realms of virtual reality games. The story is set in a depressive futuristic
Poland. It is slow paced with long silences and a few long dialogs (in Polish).
The DVD has reasonable quality English subtitles and also a version dubbed in
Japanese.
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| Bound |
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Almost all the camera tricks that made the success of The Matrix were
already used in Bound. The two actresses are wonderful. A truly enjoyable
crime film. (04.2001)
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| Brassed Off |
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The music of the brass band is one of the things the makes this film so
powerful. But the great acting and a good story bring those struggling
miners to life. (05.2001)
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| Brazil |
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This is Terry Gilliam's masterpiece. A nightmarish dystopian future that somehow
manages to be funny. (07.2000)
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| Buffalo 66 |
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This is definitely a weird film. Buffalo 66 is completely
character driven. Vincent Gallo is as crazy in real life as on the
screen so it is a bit like he is playing himself. Christina Ricci is
surprising in this unusual role. I was a bit annoyed by the comedy
bits. (01.2001)
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| Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon |
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Beautifully shot, some exciting swordplay but the story is not really
interesting.
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| Cube |
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Cube is a low budget Sci-Fi film with only one set but lots of ideas.
Nothing in the story tries to explain anything, there is no background. This
concentrate the action to here and now. The commentary by the filmmakers and
one of the actors is very interesting. (06.2000)
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| Dark City |
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| Das Boot |
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Das Boot is without any doubt the ultimate submarine film and one of the
best war movies. This is the director's cut with restored picture and
a completely recreated soundtrack in Dolby Digital. Not everything is perfect
though on this DVD: the English subtitles are total bollocks! On many occasion
there is more in the subtitles than in the actual spoken dialogs. The changes
are obviously deliberate as they have a great impact on the perception of the
film. Mostly they make the story softer and more bearable for the casual
viewer. (10.2000)
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| Dr No |
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This is my favorite Bond movie. In my opinion it is the only one in the series
of films where James Bond is the same kind of person as in the books by Ian
Fleming: he his a spy, a killer, not some kind of gentleman. It is a shame that
the makers of the DVD didn't think it was worth preserving the original ratio.
The picture is zoomed to 16:9. The documentaries are extremely bad even though
they contain some good information. (06.2000)
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| Drunken Master |
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Filmed after Snake in the Eagle's shadow with the same casting Drunken
Master has a storyline a bit more developed but sadly it didn't find it as
enjoyable as the simplicity of its predecessor. This is still a classic in the
martial arts film genre with the mix of fights and comedy. The picture is 16:9.
(06.2000)
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| eXistenZ |
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Interesting to say the least. A bit disturbing too with some of the scenes
being quite gruesome.
I haven't been able to seen this film is good conditions because my TV doesn't
display real widescreen signal properly! (06.2000)
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| Face/Off |
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This is the best movie from John Woo since is directing Hollywood films.
Unfortunately this DVD is a flipper and I really hate this kind of crap!
They could have done a two layer disc. Otherwise the sound is excellent with
enough bass to shake the house. Too bad the picture is not as good: there are
annoying white lines at the top and bottom. (04.2000)
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| First Strike |
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A James Bond style adventure with Jackie Chan. The story is extremely poor and
relies entirely on Chan's action scenes which are unfortunately a bit rare in
this film. The ladder fight is fantastic though. Entertaining if not truly
great. The picture is letterboxed. (07.2000)
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| Fong Sai-Yuk |
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This is a very fast and intense movie. The comedy parts often go too far but the
action sequences are just amazing: Wire-fu at its most extravagant! Jet Li is
just amazing. There is some excellent Dolby Digital effects in some of the
fights. This DVD is not region encoded, it is letterboxed in approximate
14:9 format. (09.2000)
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| Fong Sai-Yuk II |
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I was really disapointed by this sequel. The muddled story doesn't seem to
go anywhere. Here Fong Sai-Yuk's naïvety soon becomes annoying. (11.2000)
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| Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai |
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| Ghost in the Shell |
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Ghost in the Shell is a complex story about about machines vs humans,
personality and reality. The scenario is exceptionaly detailled and in depth for
this kind of film. I am not an expert in japanimation but this is by far
the best in this genre that I've seen. The animation, with the help of computer
graphic, is very nice. The backgrounds are extremely realistic -- the "guided
tour" of the City (Hong Kong) is in my opinion one of the best part of the film.
The half an hour long documentary deals at length with the painstaking creation of the
soundtrack so I find quite disapointing that the Japanese version on this DVD
has such a poor Dolby surround sound that sounds almost flat. The English
dubbing on the other hand sounds wonderfull in Dolby Digital 5.1. But you will
loose a lot from the original voices, and there is a lot of differences between
the subtitles and the dubbed version (unfortunately my Japanese is much too basic
for me to understand the original dialogs). I encourage you to watch it first
in Japanese to fully understand the story and then in English for the quality
of the sound. more. (06.2000)
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| Godzilla King of Monsters |
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Crap! This is the US version of Godzilla with Raymond Burr explaining
what's going on and some dubbing in the important places. Next time I'll be more
carefull when I order a DVD that it is the correct version. It is still quite good
but I'm most interested in the original version by Honda. (05.2000)
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| Godzilla versus Monster Zero |
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The story about those aliens on the newly discovered Planet X is most
ridiculous, but so what? It just doesn't matter. The destruction sequences when
the three monsters are let loose on the city are truly amazing. And that's what
monster movies are all about. Good fun. (07.2000)
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| Godzilla versus Mothra |
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This is unfortunately dubbed in English but the film doesn't seem to have been
edited for the American market. This is a good monster movie even though the two
songs didn't really have their place in it. (05.2000)
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| Godzilla's Revenge |
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This is bad. This is Godzilla for five year olds. Ichoro is a little boy who
meets in his dreams Minya, the son of Godzilla. Minya talks and is annoying.
There is no such thing as a story here! (07.2000)
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| High Plains Drifter |
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High Plains Drifter is an off-beat, surreal western. The film looks
absolutely fantastic. The weird sceneries of Lake Mono with its amazing
lights and colors contribute to the atmosphere. (05.2002)
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| Last Hero in China |
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This Wong Fei Hung film is not directed by Tsui Hark but still features Jet Li.
The story is limited to a very thin thread and is hardly entertaining. The good
fight are not quite enough to turn this into a good film. (12.2000)
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| Le Salaire de la Peur |
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In French with no subtitles.
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| Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot |
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| Mon Oncle |
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| My Dying Bride - For Darkest Eyes |
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My Dying Bride in concert in Poland. The sound is very good. The picture
is 4:3. There is also hours of low quality material.
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| Mr Nice Guy |
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This is another of Jackie Chan's action comedies. This is great fun but the film
generaly suffers from bad acting. (07.2000)
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| Nightmare Before Christmas |
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The story is written by Tim Burton and the film is made in stop motion with the
strangest looking puppets ever. I usually can't stand songs in films (Disney
style) but in Nightmare Before Christmas they are part of the story and
quite hilarious. (05.2000)
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| Nightwish - From Wishes to Eternity |
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A fantastic concert of Nightwish. The picture is widescreen and the sound
is amazingly good. A delight for the ears and eyes (Tarja sings so well
and she is really beautiful).
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| North by Northwest |
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North by Northwest is my favorite Hitchcock film. I like most of his
movies but this one is the most entertaining. After having seen it so many
times I still find the story fascinating. It is also quite funny. The DVD
is of excellent quality. The picture is perfect with vivid colors. Also
of interest is a good documentary about the film and a trailer with Hitch
himself presenting his movie. (11.2000)
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| Once a Thief |
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In an unusual fashion for director John Woo, this film is in truly a comedy.
There is some nice action too, but it is definitely a comedy. (10.2000)
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| Once Upon a Time in China |
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On a background of colonisation of China, this is a story about the
legendary hero Wong Fei Hung, played here by Jet Li. The ladder sequence is
simply one of the best fights I have seen on film. Unfortunately the DVD is not
as good as the film. The picture is properly letterboxed (I haven't seen any
anamorphic DVD from Hong Kong yet) but the subtitles are out of the screen if I
zoom to 16:9. (10.2000)
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| Once Upon a Time in China II |
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Wong Fei Hung travels to Shanghai and finds himself involutarily involved in
the political turmoil. As in the first film, the historical background gives
some credibility to a story that doesn't really seem to know where to go. The
martial arts sequences are not as frequent but they are just as good. All the
English dialogs seem to have been dubbed (extremely badly) by the same person;
I found this to be very disturbing. The DVD suffers from the same problems as
the previous one. (10.2000)
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| Once Upon a Time in China III |
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Unfortunately the story of this third episode is a bit thin. Most of the
film seems to concentrate on Fei Hung's eternal inability to admit that
he is in love: this becomes boring after a while (this is much the same as
with Fong Sai-Yuk). Otherwise the DVD quality is the same as the
previous two. (11.2000)
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| Once Upon a Time in China and America |
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The film is OK, but the DVD is a disaster. There is two version of the film
on the disc. The first one has a very nice picture quality (anamorphic) with
an horrible English soundtrack. As most of the humour of the film lies in
the language difficulties between Chinese and American there is nothing left
of it when all of the dialog is adapted to English. The other version has
the original soundtrack with a very bad picture and burnt in subtitles.
Extremely disapointing. (04.2002)
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| Pearl Harbour |
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| Psycho |
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Another of Hitchcock masterpieces! The superbe direction is brilliantly seconded
by the music of Bernard Herman that gives its strength to the shower scene for
example. (06.2000)
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| Quai des Orfèvres |
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| Raining Stones |
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| Run Lola Run (Lola rennt) |
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Run Lola Run is like a video games where the hero has three lives to win.
Filmed like a video clip it has an incredible pace (with technoid music). This
is an experiment on time and reality or so it feels! There is 35 mm film, video
and animation mixed together with the best split screens I've seen. This the the
DVD I watch the most often. And I like it even more each time. (05.2000)
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| Rush Hour |
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An entertaining action-comedy where almost every shot is stolen from another
film. Jackie Chan is great and Chris Tucker is only a little irritating.
(05.2000)
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| Sleepy Hollow |
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Sleepy Hollow is all about the visual experience. Burton creates a very
nice gothic atmosphere but averall the film is rather... hollow. The DVD
transfer is of very high quality but the misty landscapes suffer greatly
from being reduced from the big screen to the TV. (03.2001)
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| Spellbound |
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| Terror of Mechagodzilla |
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Another incoherent story about spacemen who plan to take over the world by
unleashing monsters on Tokio. This wouldn't matter except that Godzilla,
Titanosaurus and Mechagodzilla are not really at their best in this movie. Even
the final confrontation is a bit disapointing. As for the others films in this
series it is dubbed but there isn't a widescreen version this time. (08.2000)
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| The Art of Illusion |
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A documentary about special effects in cinema. Part of the Godzilla Collection.
(07.2000)
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| The Big Lebowski |
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The Big Lebowski is probably the funniest film by the Coen brothers. The
story doesn't make a whole lot of sense so the film is very much character
driven. Jeff Bridges is perfect as the Dude and John Goodman is larger than life
in his role as a complete nutter who sticks to his insane principles. The end
doesn't explain much but maybe it all comes together after watching it several
times. Well, "sometimes there's a man...". (08.2000)
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| The Blade |
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| The Executioners |
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The Heroic Trio is reunited a few years later after a nuclear explosion
has made water a precious resource. The three women are still as beautiful
but the story is a bit deficient. But it is still a lot of fun to watch.
The picture format is about 16:9. As with many of the Hong Kong DVDs the
subtitles are not very good. (10.2000)
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| The Exorcist |
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What's so special about this film? Maybe I shouldn't have bought it.
(04.2000)
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| The Good, The Bad and The Ugly |
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One of the best spaghetti westerns; Sergio Leone at his best. With an amazing
soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. I love it! (04.2000)
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| The Heroic Trio |
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Fun, fun, fun. Granted, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But who cares?
Certainly not me. This is a mix of fantasy, sci-fi, romance, crime, police
story...
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| The Killer |
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| The Lady Vanishes |
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There is more than a hint of comedy in The Lady Vanishes. In turn funny
then chilling, this is a pleasure to watch. (06.2000)
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| The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) |
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This first version is more simple than the remake of 1956 but the characters are
more likeable. (06.2000)
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| The Matrix |
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Arguably there is nothing really new in "The Matrix" but it is put together in
a breathtaking way. I really like this film and I still enjoy each repeated
viewing. Great storytelling and cinematography from the Wachowski brothers,
brilliant special effects and sound. The Oracle is completely irrelevant and
seems to have been added to the story to make a break from the special effects.
But this doesn't really matter. (04.2000)
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| The Nutty Professor |
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The original version with Jerry Lewis.
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| The Shawshank Redemption |
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Adapting a Stephen King story for the big screen is something that usually
results in a complete failure. Not this time though. This is a slow paced
prison film. The violence of the carceral world is everywhere but the humanity
of the characters is what makes the story so compelling. Tim Robbins and Morgan
Freeman are fantastic in the lead roles but Bob Gunton's performance as the
warden is remarquable: he created here one of the creepiest characters I have
seen on film. The extras on the DVD are not very interesting. (04.2000)
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| The Tai-Chi Master |
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Jet Li stars in the story of two friends who after being expelled from the
Shaolin Temple choose different paths and will eventually become enemies. Lots
of wire-fu :-) (09.2000)
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| Vertigo |
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Hitchcock masterpiece has never looked so good. This is a completely restored
version in widescreen with perfect picture quality. The sound has also been
reworked. As fascinating as ever. There is also a good documentary on the
restoration and an additional scene (forget about the hundred of still
photographs and unreadable pages of text). (06.2000)
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| Walking with Dinosaurs |
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Documentary.
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