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Reviews
Scandale (1982)
Controversial, at the time...
In the late seventies or early eighties, news broke that some employees of the television network that broadcast the Parliament House of Commons debates had been using the equipment to film some porno films in their free time. This movie was based on those news reports.
At the time of its release, it caused a controversy because the mainstream actors were under the impression that they were part of a soft-core erotic comedy, playing a film crew involved in the filming of adult or porn films. Alledgedly, they were unaware that the producers and/or director had filmed some more explicit scenes which were later inserted in the film. Some of the actors were embarrassed at being in what they considered a "dirty" movie.
Although the more sexual "inserts" did not feature the kind of explicit depictions of actual sex that we see today in adult films, they did show some erect penises, something which had not been done before in mainstream Quebecois (French-Canadian) film.
Les colombes (1972)
Poor girl marries rich boy but yearns to become a singer.
This film is about two families, one working class family living in the east end of Montreal, the other a more affluent family from the west end.
A young woman from the working class family, played by Lise Thouin, marries a rich man but still yearns for a career as a professional singer. Her new in-laws do everything they can to help her succeed but, in the process, the husband grows apart from his aspiring singer-wife.
The husband then turns to an eccentric relative, the "crazy uncle", who is the only family member who seems to understand his plight of being left out and feeling alone - something with which the "crazy uncle" is all too familiar.
The actress Lise Thouin also had a career as a singer, writer, and activist fighting for causes such as child suffering and death, and she sings the title track for this film, "Les enfants sont comme des colombes" (Children are like doves).
**** SPOILER WARNING: I saw this film more than 30 years ago but I remember a sad ending - the crazy uncle accidentally causes the death of a child by smothering him while trying to keep him quiet. SPOILER END *****
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
Three stars out of five
As others have stated, the visual effects are extremely well done but then these days most science-fiction films have well done effects. I still don't find that Vin Diesel is that good an actor, but since I said the same about Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger when they started out, I guess Vin might still become a mega-star. As for the movie itself, while the premise is interesting, I was disappointed by the music - I did not think the style suited the mood of the film, and I also found the editing of the fight scenes too jumpy - not only are there fast cuts from one shot to the next, which is expected in action films, but too often the camera jumps so much that I couldn't get a clear view of what was happening and ended up leaving the theater with a headache. If this is supposed to be the first film of a trilogy of Pitch Black sequels, then I hope they do a better job in the next two films. If I had to make a prediction on box office, I would bet that Harry Potter and The Prisoner Of Azkhaban will retain the number one spot for the weekend even though it is in it's second weekend. I don't see Riddick as capable of drawing more people than Harry Potter.