Smashbomb

"In general, I’m not a big fan of French New Wave films, and Touki bouki is clearly inspired by their characteristic fragmented, slow-moving, alienating quality. But the world of Touki bouki is so beautiful and engrossing that it sucks you right in. When the cows come toward the camera in the opening shot, you know immediately that these cows have been color-coordinated to within an inch of their lives. I love this kind of super-deliberate film where each frame could stand on its own. Even the piles of garbage are perfectly composed. Mambéty’s visual sense of humor is terrific: the man trying to break up a fight between two women only to get beaten up himself, the taxi driver running away in his yellow socks, Mory in the paddleboat with the lecherous Charlie. The main characters, Mory and Anta, never ask for our sympathy, because they are too cool for us."

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Kudos

Still Running: The Seven Lives of a Glasgow Phenomenon

Jamie Stuart

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

The irrepressible Jamie Stuart is a phenomenon. This is the story of an extraordinary life that...

Soul of Discretion

Susan Mac Nicol and M. Tasia

8.0 (2 Ratings) Rate It

Book

CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET Simon Bridgeworth believes in loyalty, and keeping things in-house. When he...

M_M Contemporary Romance Suspense

David McK (3623 KP) rated Superman: Birthright in Books

Jan 30, 2019

It's funny, but while - like, I'm sure, most people out there - I may know (of) the origin of the Man of Steel, I've never actually seeing it written down anywhere.

Thinking about it, I think that knowledge comes from the Christopher Reeve Superman films, and the more recent TV series Smallville.

That TV series was still running when this graphic novel series was released.

This goes back to Superman's earliest days in Metropolis, with a brief flash-back to his high school Smallville days, to present a new take on the origin of the character - Jimmy Olsen? Check. Ma and Pa Kent? Check. Perry White? Check. Lois Lane? Check. Lex Luthor? Also check!

As such, I found this an interesting take on the character, with some dynamic action sequences and some stand-out visuals (Clark Kent soaring over a herd of stampeding Zebra's, for instance).

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) in Movies

Mar 1, 2018 (Updated Mar 2, 2018)

Valerian and the Unnecessarily Long Title, more like

Another lavishly imaginative and somewhat incoherently scripted sci-fi movie from Luc Besson, somewhat in the same vein as The Fifth Element. Plot mainly consists of running about in spectacular costumes in front of CGI backgrounds; exactly what is going on is frequently unclear.

The script is certainly baffling and doesn't feel like the work of a man credited as writer or co-writer of fifty other movies; the whole section with Rihanna and Ethan Hawke is just filler, in terms of the actual plot. Or is the plot itself only of secondary concern with this movie? It seems that way. DeHaan is arguably badly miscast as Valerian; however, Delevingne is something of a revelation in this movie (very good hair, too). And it definitely has its moments and always looks interesting. If only Besson could keep the script under control for his sci-fi films...