Love, Simon (2018)

The perfect movie for this year’s pride month.

It’s the story of a young adult that keeps living in the shadows of his secret. Today, being homosexual is common but let us not forget how much courage it takes for someone to declare his sexual orientation. Specially when many LGBTQ+ communities are getting attacked by both society and authority in so many countries. Teenagers have many mixed feelings and are always thinking about future consequences that are not always optimistic. They keep feeling left out or marginalized, many thoughts will go through their heads: “what if my parents got mad? What would my friends do if they found out? how would my exes react after this? Everyone at school will start mocking me…” The fear of losing your family and friends makes the secret you carry that much more of a burden.

Being gay or lesbian or anything else is not something to be ashamed of anymore. It is hard to declare it and we all know why. Saying you are gay does not change who you are. You are still the same person you were before telling your parents or friends you liked men. You should always remember that if your friends stopped talking to you because of something like your sexual orientation then they are and were never really your friends. Be who you want to be and do what makes you happy. It is your life no matter what your family or friends think. No matter what happens, it will be alright.

I’ve never read the book this movie is based on so my review will only be about the making of the movie itself. The characters are all well-thought out and the story is very funny, interesting, and emotional. I personally love many of the actors: Jennifer Garner is stunning as always. Katherine Langford is the new young revelation of “13 reasons why”. Nick Robinson was the perfect choice for Simon.

All i can say is that it’s a fun, refreshing, funny and simple movie. You could just enjoy watching it at any time of the day with anyone and you wouldn’t be bored. You could even watch it multiple times and still enjoy that light humor and remember those high school days.

little fun crazy fact out of nowhere: At the end of the closing credits, on the right side of the screen, it reads “#gtfo”. This is an internet initialism for “get the fuck out.” It is, in effect, telling audience members to leave the theater. I personally think this is very cool! but whatever… who cares what i think.

Metascore: 72/100 (good)

IMDb: 7.9/10

 

 

Ready player one (2018)

Directed by Steven Spielberg. This phrase alone would make you wanna see it. The creator of jurassic park and artificial intelligence did another masterpiece. In an interview, Spielberg said this was the third most difficult movie he has made in his career. This movie is based on a book which i, unfortunately, haven’t read.

In year 2045, everyone plays this virtual reality game and its creator challenges all of the players to win 3 keys in order to become the owner of the game. I have to say the plot is quite normal. The events are expected before they happen. Yet, the visual effects and the presentation of the players is quite fascinating.

The movie is already about a very advanced futuristic world where virtual reality takes a huge part in everyone’s lives. Adults, kids, teens, everyone plays and even loses money on this game. They live more in the game than in real life. Now let me say if we ever come near to this, which we probably will very soon, it sucks for humanity cause we will no longer have any… we will party, have friends and find love in the game, no face to face meetings and no real conversations. Basically we will be really developed robots with feelings.

We have made some huge improvements in the cinematic universe with the graphics. After avatar and everything, we’re really taking this to a higher level. The characters seem soooo real and detailed its just incredible. Of course this movie is all about technological advancements, which makes sense. And this really makes us realize how much we’ve improved in this domain, and have a sight of what will probably happen in the future. I mean most of the ideas presented in those futuristic movies have been developed in real life, and virtual reality just happens to he the latest creation so i’m sure we’ll improve it so much that we will eventually have the virtual world in this movie.

Plus i really liked the oldies soundtrack of the movie. This 80s vibe is totally killing it in a movie set in 2045.

 

 

Quote of the day

The pursuit of happyness (2006)

One of my favorite movies of all time. What’s better than a Will Smith movie? A Will and Jaden Smith film (Jaden is Will’s real son in real life).

A struggling salesman, Chris, takes care of his son, Christopher, as he’s trying to start a life-changing professional career. Based on a true story about a man named Christopher Gardner. At the end of the movie, the real Chris Gardner walks past Chris and Christopher.

The phrase “the pursuit of happyness” is an alteration of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” phrase in the United States Declaration of Independance.

Chris is shown running throughout the movie. Remember the title of the movie: “The PURSUIT of Happiness.” Chris places emphasis on “pursuit”. Jefferson, when he penned the Declaration of Independence, did not promise Americans happiness, but only the right to pursue it. Chris says, at one point in the movie, paraphrase, “I am happy right now. It is a fleeting moment.” We experience happiness in eyeblinks. The rest of the time we, like Chris, are chasing after it.

It’s real, it’s heavy, and it’s inspirational, but NOT AT ALL cheesy. It’s very funny at parts, but be prepared for some serious drama. In no ways is it cliché or contrived or boring. To say “I laughed, I cried” would be really lame. It is the truth, though. The movie is very accurate, but can be painful to watch for people who have been in the same situation.

“If you want something, go get it. Period.”

Quote of the day

The shawshank redemption (1994)

One of the greatest American movies of all times. It’s even Morgan Freeman’s favorite film of his own.

Story of an American banker who finds himself to be an inmate at the Shawshank prison for a crime he says he didn’t commit, the murder of his wife and her lover. The movie revolves around  his journey as an inmate in the prison during which he befriends a fellow inmate as well as gains the respect of his friends.

The movie is based on a Stephen King novel, “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”, published as a collection of four short stories.

The film’s initial gross of eighteen million dollars could not even cover the cost of its production. It did another ten million dollars in the wake of the Oscars and became one of the highest-grossing video rentals of all time, but the film was still deemed to be a box-office failure. Despite being widely considered as one of the greatest movies of all time, it didn’t receive a single Oscar win, though it was nominated for seven.

Even though it’s set in prison, there is no action, no special effects – just men in prison uniforms talking to each other. It’s just a simple and eloquent depiction of hope, friendship and redemption. nd what is so great about the movie is that it moves you, it gives you hope. Even though the circumstances between the characters and the viewers are quite different, you don’t feel that far removed from what the characters are going through.

“Get busy living, or get busy dying.”

Quote of the day

Tomboy (2011) -review in French and English-

Tomboy is a 2011 French drama film. The story follows a 10-year-old tomboy, Laure, who moves with her family to a new neighborhood. At that time of life, she experiments with her gender identity and presents herself as “Micheal”.

It’s a movie about children where the children are dealing with their own problems without the parents interference. We watch and we imagine remembering what it was like to feel protected and loved by two tall and wonderful beings. What it was like to come home to dinner. What it was like not knowing who you were.

Plus it’s a movie about gender identity and it’s a rarely explored theme in a movie with young actors.

Zoé Héran is probably the young revelation of this movie. Incredible performance. She won the Jury Award for Best Performance at the 2011 NewFest Film Festival and was nominated for the Young Artist Award as Best Leading Young Performer in an International Feature Film.

The thing about this young actress is that she probably has more lines than anyone else in the movie, yet they seem ephemeral compared to the great work that silently goes on in her mind. The camera watches her think with such intensity and expression, that it captures the whole meaning of the movie.

I would recommend watching Call me by your name after this one.

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Tomboy est un film dramatique français réalisé en 2011. L’histoire suit un garçon manqué de 10 ans, Laure, qui déménage avec sa famille dans un nouveau quartier. À ce moment de la vie, elle expérimente avec son identité sexuelle et se présente sous le nom “Micheal”.

C’est un film sur les enfants, où les enfants font face à leurs propres problèmes sans l’intervention des parents. Nous regardons et nous imaginons comment on se sentait protéger et aimer par deux êtres grands et merveilleux, de rentrer à la maison pour dîner. Comment nous n’avions même pas notre propre identité ?

De plus, c’est un film sur l’identité sexuelle et c’est un thème rarement exploré dans un film avec de jeunes acteurs.

Zoé Héran est probablement la jeune révélation de ce film. Performance incroyable. Elle a remporté le prix du jury pour la meilleure performance au Festival du film NewFest 2011 et a été nominée en tant que meilleure jeune artiste dans un long métrage international.

La chose à propos de cette jeune actrice est qu’elle a probablement plus de lignes que n’importe qui d’autre dans le film, mais elles semblent éphémères comparées au grand travail qui se passe silencieusement dans son esprit. La caméra la regarde avec une telle intensité et expression, qu’elle capte toute la signification du film.

Je vous recommande de regarder Call me by your name après celui-ci.

Quote of the day

The book of Henry (2017)

A genius Child writes a plan in order to save the girl living next door from her abusive stepfather. This movie has the potential to become a cult classic.

“Our legacy isn’t what we write on our resume or how many commas we have in our bank account. It’s who we’re lucky enough to have in our lives.”

“The book of Henry” is definitely not for people who like coherent, logical plots devoid of standard cliché. It’s a fun touching movie with a message… Movies don’t have to be huge and out of the ordinary in order to be good and enjoyable. Plus, i’m sure kids would love it.

This movie is a mix of silly comedy and tear-jerker tragedy (I cried 3 times). If you enjoy films that are simply different experiences and emotionally stirring even if they require you to heavily suspend disbelief, you may really love this movie.

It’s a story, it doesn’t have to be a 100% realistic. As long as there is a plot, development, good performances by the actors, it can be a worth-seeing movie. I mean it is well filmed and the actors do amazing jobs. Naomi Watts is radiant as always and the child actors are very good for their age. In the first half of the movie, Christina played by Maddie Ziegler said no other words than “I’m fine”, and yet you felt all this fear and pain in her eyes. Do you how hard it is to share your emotions with your facial expression instead of words? Imagine a 14 years old doing that with a room full of cameras and people expecting so much of you. Plus it was the big screen debut of Maddie Ziegler so even more pressure on that child and yet i think her performance was incredible.

If you would like to watch something more realistic, more scientific… I recommend “the gifted”