I'm back

After spending some time travelling through Old Europe, I'm back home ... just too late for most season premieres of series ... ooopsie !

Anyway, I recorded some of them and I'll watch them soon. It will obviously keep me occupied for some evenings. I'm also eager to watch premiere of some new series : Melrose Place (even if from what I heard, it's not that good), NCIS: Los Angeles (yes, those marines things are my guilty pleasure), Cougar Town (because of Courtney Cox) ...

See you soon with more about that.

The not so good idea of the day

OMG ! WTF ?!?

I'm totally shocked ! Why ? Why ? Why ?

Why do people are in need to do a remake of Dirty Dancing ????

Seriously ... of course the original movie wasn't perfect but who cares ? It was good enough to speak to an entire generation (or more) of girls/women and to become iconic for them.

So what's the point to a remake ? Money ? I'm not so sure ... you can never know how much you'll earn from a movie. Does Hollywood suffer from such a lack of inspiration that they can't produce any new story ? Is remaking classics their only solution ?

I think about it and I can't find any example where the remake of a classic movie (I'm not talking about remakes of movies that weren't very successful - different situation) is better than the original one.

Plus, in this case, when they try to make a sequel/spin off of the movie ... it gave us "Dirty Dancing : Havana Night" ... and well, it wasn't that good ... it didn't really compare to the original Dirty Dancing. Of course, it was decent summer entertainment but I didn't see the point to relate it to the original Dirty Dancing movie. I guess it was only some marketing trick.

Anyway, I don't like the idea. That's it.

And I just can't imagine that someone else than Patrick Swayze could be Johnny Castle.

Could you imagine someone else than Humphrey Bogart to be Rick Blaine in Casablanca ? No.

Could you imagine someone else than Vivien Leigh to be Scarlet O'Hara in Gone with the Wind ? No

Could you imagine someone else than Leonardo DiCaprio to be Jack Dawson in Titanic ? No.

Of course, Dirty Dancing didn't get as much awards than those examples and professional critics will probably tell you Dirty Dancing wasn't as good but still ...

That's just what it is. Some characters just can't be taken by someone else than the original actor/actress.

Please stop with those stupid remakes ideas.

Closing the Ring

On the other day, while looking for something to watch on tv, I saw the movie "Closing the Ring", starring Shirley McLaine, Christopher Plummer and Mischa Barton.

I had never heard about this movie before and, actually, I suspect it had a very limited distribution on big screen before it was released on DVD.

The Story

Right after the funeral of her husband, Ethel Ann remembers her past, a past unknown to her daughter who doesn't seem to understand her mother.

In the meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, a young guy discovers a wedding ring and wants to bring it back to its owner.

The movie will make us travel between Ireland and United States, but also between 2 periods : 1941 and 1991 to tell us the story of a lost love.

The Actors

Beside Shirley McLaine, Christopher Plummer and Mischa Barton, we'll also see Neve Campbell. Beside them, I didn't know any other actors and, after looking on IMDB, I do no really see names that I could have seen in something major (even if a lot of them did make a lot of other stuff).

What did I think ?

I think it would perfectly fit in a category called "chick flick for old ladies", if such film category ever exists. It has a lots of ingredients for a nice chick flick but the historical context gives it a flavor that would surely bring back lots of memories to a generation of woman who also lost a lover during World War II.

It's not a unforgettable movie but I found the story very moving. Even if, as far as I know, they didn't lived this kind of story, the movie made me think about my late grand parents who were young adults during World War II. It makes me think to my dear granny who loved her late husband (who wasn't old when he died, even if the war was over since several years) until her very last day. This probably was an important factor that made me enjoy the movie. For the rest, I looked for the old lady in me.

Beside the love story itself, the movie includes questions about the promises we make, about the secrets we keep, and all their consequences.

So, even if it isn't the best movie I've ever seen, I enjoyed it a lot. And I think anyone who like love stories or anyone who have an old lady inside would enjoy it.

And another trailer for House MD ...

Another promo video has been released for the sixth season of House MD. A little different from the previous one but a large part is the same.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

It's seems to me it's been a while since I saw it so my review comes a little late.



I've never been in any sort of Potter-mania, I haven't read the books (I'm always telling myself that I should ... it's definitively missing to my ... hem hem ... "culture") but I've enjoyed the movies.



That's my very own Harry Potter paradox ... I'm definitively not part of the basic fan base of Hogwarts people, and I know every single showtime is fully crowded during the first weeks so I'm always telling myself that I can wait to see it .... but when it's released I can't refrain myself to see it in the first week end.



So did I again this time.


The Story

As for the other ones, the movies starts as Harry is about to start a new year (that makes six now) at Hogwarts. The school welcomes Professor Slughorn, a friend of Dumbeldore's but also someone with heavy memories. Love is the in the air for lots of the students but in the meanwhile, Voldemort's threat is increasing and Harry understand it might already be in Hogwart's walls.

The Actors

I know the whole main cast is already well known .... Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint don't need more introduction. Neither do Michael Gambon (Professor Dumbeldore), Alan Rickman (Professor Snape) or Helena Bonham-Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange).
Most of the secondary characters are back too.
For this movie some other faces join the cast : the great Jim Broadbent is Professor Horace Slughorn, Jessie Cave as Lavender Brown. Also Frank Dillane and Hero Fiennes-Tiffin (who also happens to be Ralph Fiennes' nephew) share the task to be the young (respectively at the ages of 16 and 11) Tom Riddle who'll later become Lord Voldemort.

What did I think ?


I'm sure it will not be my favorite episode at all ('til know I'm shared between giving my preference to the Goblet of Fire or to the Order of the Phoenix). Don't misunderstand, I enjoyed it but I felt like it was missing something.

I saw it more like a transition to the final parts (as the last book will be split in 2 movies).

I found the movie focused too much on the love interests of the different character and it has too much of a teenager movie. I guess the idea behind that is to clearly show us Harry and his friends are no more the little kids of the first movie. But that was a little too much in my opinion.
I felt like the sorcellery side was put more in the background and some secondary character became almost inexistant. I'm thinking about Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, Luna Lovegood. And in this area I was particularly disappointed about Neville Longbottom. His character became interresting in the Order of The Phoenix but he almost disappeared here, to be in almost only one scene, playing the waiter at Professor Slughorn's party.

It seemed to me the whole film was only a long introduction to its dramatic end (as we know, a main character dies in the end). I regret that some aspect were almost ignored, like the identity of The Half-Blood Prince, which is revealed in 2 seconds between other scenes.

BUT ... as I said, I enjoyed it anyway ... because it still have the ingredients that makes movies of the franchise what they are ... great movies. I mean great movies for entertainment (we do not always need a masterpiece to enjoy a movie and think its great). The scenery is, as usual, amazing ... should I dare to say, magical ? Quidditch scenes are as always very impressive, as well as the "fighting" scenes. The introductory scene is really really great (Am I the only one to see a reference to the Tacoma Bridge ?!?). I liked to know more about Voldemort's past. Professor Slughorn is a very interesting character and Jim Broadbent is just great to play it. It also was interresting that even if Draco Malfoy is obviously attracted by the "dark side of the force", his conscience sometimes seems to tell him he might not be ready for that yet. Plus, even for the "bad ones", a mother is still a mother, fearing for her child. And Helena Bonham-Carter is equal to herself while playing Bellatrix Lestrange, crazy just the way I like it.

So, even if I don't think this one is the best of the serie, it's still good enough and I guess that most of the audience will like like it.

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland trailer

It was supposedly released yesterday but was finally able to watch it today. As some people didn't respected the embargo date and published it a little earlier, most links were sending me to places were the video had been removed or disabled.

Anyway ... here it is ...



I'm a huge fan of Tim Burton's work and I already told how much I enjoy to see Johnny Depp on a big screen. Plus, Alice in Wonderland is probably my favorite Disney classic. So, I have gigantic expectations for this movie.

And this first trailer let me hope that I won't be disappointed. I already can imagine how mad the Mad Hatter will be.

Oh God ... more than 7 months to wait !

A Summer in the City

As I decided to travel back to Europe in the fall, I spend the whole summer in the city. And you know what ? I like it !

No doubt that one reason why I enjoy so much living here in Montreal. There's so much to do with all festivals during the whole summer. And the good part of it is that in all those festivals, there's always a lot of really great things to do for free.
Where else could you you see a great show of Stevie Wonder for free ??
Of course, not everything is free but there's so much choice !

And that's such a great way to discover new thing. For instance, I'm not a huge fan of jazz. Not at all. But, I go to the jazz fest anyway. I pick up (mostly randomly as I don't know well the subject) some shows among the free ones and that's how I learn to open my ears to that kind of music. Of course, there are show that I preferred but I've never been disappointed enough to leave a show (easy when the show are outside) before its end.

Same thing with "Just for laughs/Juste pour rire". I wouldn't pay to see a stand up comic show but I like to go and see what's happening around, all the external activities. On the other day, there was that really amazing show featuring a choir called Scala, which covers hits of pop/rock music.

I already picked up some shows for the coming Francofolies festival and ended with at least one for each day !

Those are major festivals but there's also so much others (Osheaga, Nuits d'Afrique, DiversCité, Piknic Electronik ...) that's almost impossible to find something that you'll like.

And I didn't even mention the fireworks competition every Saturday.