Movie reviews

As I have a massive backlog in blogging, I'm (for the first time and exceptionally) posting a draft covering 51 movies I saw (or walked out from) in the last two months. All the titles are there, some reviews are missing yet.

MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT

Watchable. I liked 3 of numerous jokes: "I must say you're a lovely little scoundrel", "I don't understand it: I put the whole engine apart, I put it back in and I still have these two little pieces." and  the proposal (you just have to hear it with your own ears). Other than that it's typical Woody Allen: clever, ironic and sceptical - feels repetitive after so many of his movies.

THE GIVER

Watchable. A cross between "The Island", "Divergent" and "The Brave New World". Unfortunately not too clever, e.g. the protagonist escapes in one set of clothes and then passes through various climate zones each in a different outfit. But, as usual in science fiction, it's fun to watch the created world.

DARK STAR

Walked out. Cameron's first film is an attempt at slapstick in the outer space. And the props look really fake.

PI

Watchable. Even though not that revelatory after several years, Clint Mansell's music and the well-structured plot maintain a rhythm that stays with you.

HOTEL

Recommended. It's not easy to talk about traumatic issues and this film does it amazingly well. It's about coping with situations that overwhelm us.

COMPUTER CHESS

Walked out. It's full of geeks having their nerdy conversations.

KOMISARZ PUK I BROJLERY NIEUPRZEJMOSCI

Walked out. It's too stupid and absurd to be funny.

A MOST WANTED MAN

Recommended. Slowly and gently do you get entangled in a spy plot. Two terror suspects, two security agencies. Who's there to trust? A subtle rendition. A curiosity - Herbert Groenemeyer has a minor role.

OMAR

Recommended. Another excellent spy movie. A different country, another muslim enemy. The story's full of twists and turns. You never know who to trust.

MISSION SPUTNIK

Watchable. Silly, for children but quite heart-warming.

SERCE LWA

Watchable. Too PC. But the characters are lively and the male lead hot.


SIN CITY A DAME TO KILL FOR

Recommended. Visually stunning, the few 3D effects are superb. Two mesmerising stories.

BLUE RUIN

Walked out. Slow, with few words but with an early kill instead. I didn't wait for the obligatory final slaughter.

LES VACANCES DU PETIT NICOLAS

Recommended. Laugh-out-loud funny, very well acted, for all ages, with serious subtones made hilarious.

MALE STLUCZKI

Walked out. People boring, mundane and lacking sense in interiors I wouldn't like to visit acting in a way which would put me off such weirdos in real life too.

KAZE TACHINU (THE WIND RISES)

Recommended. An involving story of love, duty, career where animation doesn't distract you from the story.

NOAH

Watchable. The transformer-like fallen angels are off-putting and the story too children-oriented. But it's still Aronofsky with his ability to make you emotional. It's also a proof he's capable of making a blockbuster as much as he is of more intimate films.

WISH I WAS HERE

Walked out. It's about Jews, dying of cancer, children's schooling and having a weirdo in the family. If none of these issues concern you, neither will the film.

WHAT IF

Walked out. Friends, a couple and a would-be couple talking about physiology all the time.


L'ENLEVEMENT DE MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ (THE KIDNAPPING OF MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ)

Walked out. If you ever kidnap anyone, give them a book to read. Otherwise they're going to bore you with philosophical discussions.

JE FAIS LE MORT

Watchable. Moderately funny, partly predictable, partly surprising.

MAGYAR RAPSZODIA

Walked out. No plot. Pure chauvinism. Fully dressed soldiers and a naked woman. Disgusting.

THE MAZE RUNNER

Recommended. A story like no other, full of mystery and puzzles, with an intriguing ending.

BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP

Watchable. Psychologically absurd but with good suspense.

MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT

Watchable. "You only live once. Or two or three times, depending on your supply of ectoplasm.", "I don't understand it: I put the whole engine apart, I put it back in and I still have these two little pieces." and the proposal were most funny for me this time. I enjoyed it about the same as the first time.

SOUS  LES JUPES DES FILLES (FRENCH WOMEN)

Watchable. "I'm not a nanny!" "You're their father!"

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

Watchable. Fun on the whole but the jokes themselves weren't very amusing.

WELCOME TO NEW YORK

Watchable. It's not as much a crime case as it is a study of sex addiction. Quite realistic which is both good and bad for the movie. Becomes too philosophical towards the end. Starts with sex.

STAR WARS REBELS

Watchable. Very good animation. The story's fun too. It just took me too long to work out who was who and doing what.

RELATOS SALVAJES (WILD TALES)

Watchable. Six stories about people driven round the bend and losing it. Some are so ridiculous that they make you laugh, some are tongue-in-cheek (my fave is the explosion engineer's). Great acting throughout. Produced but not scripted or directed by Almodovar.

GEOGRAF GLOBUS PROPIL (THE GEOGRAPHER DRANK HIS GLOBE AWAY)

Walked out. It's about people wasting their lives, drinking, unruly teenagers at school, dysfunctional relationships.

GERONTOPHILIA

Watchable. Very tasteful taken the normally-disgusting subject, with a hot male lead (the young one, I mean), great music.

I only hope the film is not going to make old pricks pester young women even more than they do already.

LA STRADA

Recommended. Once upon a time a long time ago Italy was poor, people sexist without even knowing it, life simpler and final credits limited to the word "Il fine".

DIE VAMPIRSCHWESTERN (VAMPIER SISTERS)

Watchable. An interesting family movie about a mixed vampire-human family. Inspired by "Twilight" heavily and "Harry Potter" a little bit (mail comes in the form of a bat). Low-end humour and lousy CGIs.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON -THE NIGHT OF FINCHER

I skipped "The Social Network" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" as I had found them just watchable before and the remaining two films were long enough:

GONE GIRL

Watchable. The start is boringly slow and the ending over the top, especially the bloody part. But the portrayal of a psychopath and the complex detective story full of twists and turns are superb. Somebody taking care of a cat surely is a good person. Or is he?

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

Recommended again. "You're going to deal with thieves, misers, bullies - my family." or "I'm reading your notes." "They're encrypted." "Please." and "May I kill him?"


ZORAN, IL MIO NIPOTE SCEMO (ZORAN, MY NEPHEW THE IDIOT)

"E quante volte ti ho aiutato io?" "Mai."

MOMMY

Watchable. The story of a depraved mother who gets her unruly teenage son sectioned is involving action-wise, in spite of the running time of 140 minutes, but doesn't really evoke emotions.

FILTH

Watchable. "Trainspotting" it is not. Well, drugs are still there, good actors too (James McAvoy this time) but there's too much about crime-ridden police and about gays and the evil-to-the-core protagonist is attractive but the subject feels so run-of-the-mill years on.

THE DROP

Walked out. Left the cinema before my IQ lowered. Each and every character in the film is a moron - just listen to their dialogues. It's also protracted and deprived of emotions.

THE JUDGE

Recommended. Was it released in autumn on purpose? Because Robert Downey Jr. as a full-time cynic this time seems to be fighting for an Oscar. A gripping courtroom drama intertwined with a moving family story.


ADWOKAT W ROLI GLOWNEJ (ADVOCATE IN THE LEADING ROLE)

I skipped Kieslowski's "The short story of killing" as I'd seen it before and it's not the type of film I'd fancy watching again so I saw the remaining five:

REVERSAL OF FORTUNE (1991)

Watchable. An involving story slightly marred by the pointless narration of the comatose wife.

THE LINCOLN LAWYER (2011)

Recommended.

12 ANGRY MEN

Recommended.

LINCZ

Watchable.

ANATOMY OF A MURDER

Watchable.


VI AR BAST! (WE ARE THE BEST!)

Watchable.

10,000 DAYS ON EARTH

Walked out. An ugly, washed-out, obscure musician drones on about his life. Mine is luckily far more interesting.

FURY

Walked out. Mindless bullies in war.

THE GUEST

Recommended. Fun. What "Scream" did with the horror/slasher, this movie does with thriller/slashers. It has both suspense and intelligent humour (look how he defends the school boy in the principal's office) and the leading Dan Stevens is such hot. The film is so suggestive that spillt popcorn looked to me like bullet shells.