TheRetroCritic

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Review Overview of all the live-action Astérix films.

In this new episode of Review Overview, I talk about the Astérix animated features.

Two years before Disney attempted remaking their own version of the classic fairy tale, there was a live-action Beauty And The Beast movie made in France. Since this is a French fairy-tale, this movie had the potential to show the Mouse House how it's done and tell the definitive story. That said, improving on Jean Cocteau's classic while attracting the Disney audience was always going to be tough but with Léa Seydoux and Vincent Cassel as Belle and The Beast along with inventive director Christophe Gans leading the way, there was a good chance we would get something at least worth seeing. Indeed, this take on the timeless tale is the most visually impressive out there: the art direction, production design and cinematography are beautiful throughout and even the CGI is pretty effective. This is, in short, a fantastic-looking movie and it's certainly worth a look for that alone. A good amount of time is spent introducing us to Belle's family, showing how their money

A 1984 remake of French comedy Pardon Mon Affaire , The Woman In Red was directed by and starred Gene Wilder as a man struggling with a mid-life crisis who is tempted to have an affair with Kelly LeBrock's young model despite being happily married. The Woman In Red is a comedic look at the difference between love and lust as everyman Teddy Pierce (Wilder) first encounters the woman of his dreams as she spontaneously re-enacts that iconic Marilyn Monroe flowing dress moment and, from then on, he finds himself spiralling down into a succession of clumsy, embarrassing and very funny misjudged attempts at wooing Charlotte (LeBrock). In the vein of some earlier Woody Allen comedies or Steve Martin's The Lonely Guy , the main character's story is told to us through his eyes but we also get to step back and witness the absurdity of his actions through some enjoyably silly sequences. Gilda Radner also appears in the film as Teddy's colleague who mistakenly believes he is

Here's the video version of my The Little Prince review.

French comedy legends Louis De Funes and Coluche co-star in L'Aile Ou La Cuisse (aka The Wing Or Thigh?), a 1976 film in which De Funes plays a gourmet food critic who suspects that a fast-food chain is plotting to somehow stamp out good restaurants throughout the country and overseas. On paper this one may not sound like much but the fact that Charles Duchemin (De Funes) is so cunning when it comes to reviewing restaurants that he goes as far as dressing up like little old ladies and carrying around a bunch of test tubes in his pockets to carry samples of food he thinks might not be that fresh makes for some pretty creative and funny moments. There's a subplot in which his son and only heir Gérard (Coluche) secretly wants to be a circus clown and the villain Jacques Tricatel (Julien Guiomar) is an amusingly animated slimeball. Unlike many other films in which Louis De Funes plays an angry, ebullient character, in L'Aile Ou La Cuisse he's much more of a good guy a

Taking another break from Hollywood filmmaking, director Michel Gondry follows Mood Indigo with Microbe Et Gasoil (Microbe & Gasoline), a coming-of-age story about two young boys building a makeshift car of sorts and travelling around France. Newcomers Ange Dargent and Théophile Baquet play the titular leads and the playful friendship their characters form is both real and touching. You're never quite sure where the film is going and, while it could have easily developed into a love story, it instead reveals itself to simply be a film about rebellion and growing-up. Gondry takes a step back this time and doesn't add in his own brand of surreal storytelling and practical effects. The only unusual part of the film being the house/car the teenagers drive throughout. Microbe Et Gasoil taps into a specific feeling most of us can probably relate to, that is the reluctance to be different, to grow-up and the dream of one day just setting off on an adventure with no plans of

Slapstick maestro Pierre Richard teams up with Gerard Depardieu in La Chevre (aka The Goat), a French comedy about a man plagued by relentless bad luck who is hired to find a missing person who is just as unlucky as he is. Campana (Depardieu) is the professional detective who is unfortunate enough to be tasked with assisting Francois Perrin (Richard) with his mission, the latter not realising that the only reason he's leading the investigation is because the father of the lost young woman is hoping his inherent bad luck will lead him to his daughter somehow. The adventure takes the unlikely duo to Mexico and, along the way, they encounter gangsters, prostitutes, dirty cops, gorillas, bees and countless other problems. Eventually, the initially sceptical Campana starts to realise that Perrin might just be as jinxed as his boss claimed he was. Pierre Richard and Gerard Depardieu teamed up in two other Francis Veber films, Les Comperes and Les Fugitifs , which were both remad

The best Michel Gondry films are tough acts to follow, which is why for every brilliant Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind there's a lukewarm Be Kind Rewind . Luckily, even at his worst, Gondry's work is creative and inventive enough to keep you intrigued throughout. Sadly, his new effort Mood Indigo (aka L'Écume Des Jours) is yet another not bad but not great flick with tons and tons of charm and mind-bending DIY effects but unfortunately nowhere near the level of intricate dark, surreal wit you'd find in a Charlie Kaufman script. The French film, based on a novel by Boris Vian, sees Romain Duris fall in love with Audrey Tautou's character and get married before she becomes sick and their relationship slowly but surely starts crumbling. The cast also includes Omar Sy as Duris' verbose friend/butler, Gad Elmaleh as his troubled pal and Gondry himself as Tautou's doctor. Also look out for a fun cameo appearance by Alain Chabat as a TV cook. From t

Whoever said that the French couldn't do medieval-themed time-travel comedies? Probably very few, granted. Still, cult comedy Les Visiteurs certainly proved that there was definitely room for more out-of-the-box efforts in the genre. Jean-Marie Poiré, king of blink-and-you'll-miss-em shots, brings his fast-paced, manic style to an absurd story involving knight Godefroy De Montmirail (a career-best Jean Reno) and vassal Jacqouille La Fripouille (Christian Clavier) somehow going forwards in time after a bad run-in with a devious witch. They are propelled into present-day (well, 90's) France after a wizard's potion backfires and they eventually meet their descendants who amusingly look exactly the same but find themselves more than confused by this knight and his disciple's sudden arrival. On paper, Les Visiteurs is nothing special: a typical, rather old-fashioned goofy fish-out-of-water farce. On top of that, Hollywood has its share of great time-travel movies

Here's an old anime series I used to watch back in the day: Growing up in France, I knew Yume Senshi Wingman as, simply, Wingman and, just like most Japanese anime series shown in France in the 90's, it had its own France-ified opening title sequence! Brace yourselves, here it is: So good lol Review coming soon.

After all the hype, The Artist was a film I almost wanted to dislike, even if it did star Best Frenchman Ever Jean Dujardin and dared to be a black & white silent film at a time when 3D, CGI and superheroes are kind of a given. I resisted but, like it or not, The Artist is a good film: a very good film, in fact. Not the masterpiece the critics unanimously agreed upon but definitely one to watch. For those who actually do watch old movies on a regular basis this is a tough movie to warm up to at first seeing how shamelessly derivative it is but most will love it instantly. For a while, frankly I reallycouldn't figure out what was actually original about The Artist in any way... You've got the plot of Singin' In The Rain , characters straight out of All About Eve , The Red Shoes or Sunset Boulevard and a dog straight out of... Beverly Hills Chihuahua ? Seriously, people need to stop raving on about that blasted mutt! Is everyone 5 years old?! I like that he saves

Something of a cult classic in France, this nasty little black comedy is very simple but effective. An evil, manipulative (and possibly clinically insane) old lady treats everyone around her like crap in order to either get her own way or just have her sadistic fun with them. Everything goes fine for her as she tortures her family until she finally meets her match. Worth seeing if only for this one scene where she gets slapped in the face, which is MONUMENTALLY amazing on so many levels, Tatie Danielle is a dark and fun treat for those with a slightly twisted sense of humour. 

Based on the 1932 film, Boudu is also not unlike 80's Bette Midler/Richard Dreyfuss effort Down and Out in Beverly Hills which was also about a charming homeless man who is recued from certain death and given a room in a well-off couple's home. Interestingly Nolte played the Depardieu role in Three Fugitives (a US remake of Les Fugitifs ) and here Depardieu plays the Nolte role. I'm not sure what this all means but it FEELS significant somehow... (It's not) Boudu is directed by and stars French comedy veteran Gerard Jugnot and the film does feel like the kind of farce he would have done in the 80's, unfortunately the film was made in 2005 after about a million comedies were made with pretty much exactly the same story/structure/jokes. Better late than never? Not in this case. This is really the film's main flaw: it's about 20 years too late. And to be honest, even back then it would have been a bit naff. Acting-wise, everyone does their best but D

Another year, another extended Chanel advert. Unfortunately, unlike Coco Before Chanel , this doesn't have much to work with. What we get is not so much a Chanel biopic as a vague Stravinski biopic awkwardly stuck inside a sexy Chanel bubble. The main problem is that, really, the film has nothing interesting to say: Chanel and Stravinski had an affair...they had sex...buy our perfume! This is literally it. Having said that, Jan Kounen does a remarkable job making such an empty narrative interesting. The cinematography is stylish and well crafted and the score is beautiful. A terrific scene involving a Stravinski concert going awry is definitely a highlight. There's good performances here. Anna Mouglalis' over-cool but genuinely manipulative and really pretty dislikable Chanel is a lot of fun and Mads Mikkelsen conveys a lot with the shameful 5 lines he was given to work with (!). His performance, although practically silent, is nevertheless the most compelling in the e