Jacques Tati: timeless comedy and satire with Mr Hulot

Jacques Tati was born in October 1907, and 2007 is the 100th anniversary of his birth. We are now in December, and it is not too late (yet) to celebrate this anniversary and mention some of his movies. A few days ago, I had the opportunity to meet with Tati’s niece, Macha Makeieff. She manages Tati’s artistic patrimony and she created Les Films ... More

From Scarface to Smokin’ Aces: the art of the gun scene

I love gunfight scenes in movies, but very few directors have truly mastered the art of the gun scene. I was young when I first saw Tony’s death scene in Scarface (1983), and it was both shocking and thrilling (read more about my Scarface experience here). Tony knows he’s going to die, but he goes out firing, hurling insults as if he’s invincible. ... More

Hotel Rwanda, Syriana, Blood Diamond… Not only entertainment

Reading your comments about my posts: Davis, Flynn, Dietrich… They did it their way, Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned The Power Of Satire and Scarface: first and second impact showed your interest into movies addressing real issues. The movies I like the most watching are the ones with strong themes, whether they are political or about social trends, so ... More

Davis, Flynn, Dietrich… They did it their way

The period between the Great Depression and World War II, from the 1920s through the late 1940s, is known as Hollywood’s Golden Age. I’m a huge fan of films from the 1930s and ’40s—the era when Bette Davis captivated audiences as Mildred Rogers in Of Human Bondage (1934), battled with Jack Warner, and worked with Cary Grant to run the Hollywood ... More

Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned The Power Of Satire

Subtleties of satire can be powerful and I discovered that with Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. In this film, Kubick gives us an insight about Cold War (and ‘Mutually Assured Destruction‘ with the Doomsday Machine) in a satirical way. When it comes to talk about very serious topics, using satire or black ... More

Scarface: First and second impact

Some movies have fueled my creativity and inspired me to write my first short stories, and Scarface is definitely one of those life-changing films. I first saw it as a young teenager, and it hit me hard—maybe I was too young to fully handle a movie like that, which might be why it’s so vivid in my memory. I’ve rewatched it a few times since then, and ... More