Movie reviews

I'm clearing part of the backlog reaching... summer. I've finally put my notes together.

TERMINATOR: GENISYS 3D

Watchable. Actors are getting fatter and fatter - the fattest Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese ever. Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn were slender! The film plays with the famous scene of landing in 1984 and with the "I'll be back" line. The highlight is 2 Arnies: the young one and the old one fighting against each other. A contemporary twist is Skynet which, in this installment, is due to be released as a new operating system, widely awaited as it's to connect and master all.

PIXELS 3D

Recommended. Very funny, e.g. the power struggle between the gamer and the smart lady on entering the White House and perfectly 80s. Great light entertainment.

TRAINWRECK

Watchable. Not very funny. The whole film is based on a gender swap: women act like men ("It was only sex. Why is he calling me now?" and her girlfriend: "I'll call the police.") and men act like women ("I have to watch 'Downtown Abbey', all my mates will be talking about it tomorrow.") which is interesting but not very amusing.

AMY

Recommended. A great film even if you're not a great fan of Amy Winehouse's voice. It clearly shows how love killed her. A beautiful tragic story of her love for a wrong guy.


NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE NIGHT OF BOOKS

There was only one film I hadn's seen before:

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD

Watchable. Old English literature has its charm even if the story is hardy plausible, at least nowadays, and the acting is second rate.


A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT

Watchable. Too western. Promoted as an Iranian horror, it's neither Iranian nor a horror. Arash Marandi looks good playing Arash and I liked the vengeance for abused women ideology. Other than that, it's slow, weird and how westerners imagine Iran. With needless nudity.

DANNY COLLINS

Recommended. Having read the synopsis I thought the story might be sombre. Luckily it's all told in jest. Dialogues are a delight, e.g. "You were married to Mary-Ann? Really? What was she like?" "I don't remember." or "I'm here as your friend, not your manager." "I want to cancel the whole tour." "Sorry?!". It's all so cheerful, optimistic and funny. Great acting too.

EFTERSKALV (THE HERE AFTER)

Recommended. A quiet film with no music and few words. It shows how one crime leads to a series of other crimes - this time aimed at the perpetrator. A powerful yet sad story of harassment.

EN DUVA SATT PA EN GREN OCH FUNDERADE PA TILLVARON (A PIDGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE)

Watchable. More like a theatre of absurd than a film. Consists of separate scenes and you never know how each of them will develop. Well acted.

KRAFTIDIOTEN (IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE)

Watchable. A gangster comedy which is not very funny but has some amusing bits, e.g. "You'll go to hell!" "See you then.", in a wintry Norwegian scenery


NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE NIGHT OF MUSIC

SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN

Watchable. Not a worldwide phenomenon, nevertheless a fascinating story of an investigation - looking for a musician who changed South Africa without ever being there and without knowing it. A curious local thing.

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS

Watchable. You can feel the Coen brothers' work here - the action forms a loop. Other than that you just follow a musician's miserable life. The lead actor could look better too.

I skipped "Amy" and "Begin Again" which I had seen before.


MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION

Watchable. The ending is funny - combined with the beginning ot the film. Unfortunately Simon Pegg is not in the only comic scene. Actually his part, however significant, is not comic. A great talent wasted. In addition the whole movie plot is rubbish. I spent most of the film considering walking out.

MIA MADRE (MY MOTHER)

Watchable. The strength of the film is its weakness at the same time. It's very down to earth in how it shows our daily problems.

FANTASTIC FOUR

Watchable. It's never completely lousy due to the superpowers the characters manifest but never fascinating either as the powers are weird rather than useful: extendable body, body armour, invisibility (better, but not used in any eye-catching or surprising way) and self-inflammable body. X-men they aren't.

LOVE 3D

Watchable. Finally someone says the truth - that no one likes children, including their parents. The film isn't shocking, taken the amount of porn on the internet. I'd rather say cinema has reached the level of the internet. It's about a guy who's fallen in love in his own way. None of the threesome looks hot enough to deserve 3D nudity. But, like all Gaspar Noe's films, it's got its rhythm. You just enter his disturbed world and sit there till the final credits.

SINISTER 2

Watchable. Scary from scene one but in fleeting moments. Interesting casual family story background. Chaotic, especially in the beginning. Maintains suspense. Full of atrocities which one of the kids is forced to watch.

LA GIOVINEZZA (YOUTH)

Recommended. Smart, tongue-in-cheek, beautiful visually and musically. I'll happily see it again.


NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE NIGHT OF HORROR WITH SINISTER 2

I have seen all the films already but as I quite enjoyed "Sinister 2" and I had walked out from "Sinister" I decided to give the first part another chance.

SINISTER

Watchable. Silly and boring. But when you have learnt the story from part 2 and have taken to the Deputy So And So's character it's bearable. Only the final sudden Bughuul's appearance was scary.


THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

Watchable. The American, Russian (acted by hottie Armie Hammer) and British spies are endearing and so is the ending of the main plot (the warhead) and of the whole film. The rest is just fine. David Beckham has a cameo as a projectionist and is unrecognisable and quite good.

ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING

Watchable. It's really funny but the humour is often of more vulgar quality e.g. "I want a penis all women admire. Make it white." or based on the 'be careful what you wish for' rule. Simon Pegg as good as ever. The film's very British too.

THE TRANSPORTER REFUELED

Recommended. Really good entertainment: great views of the St. Raphael area, especially the road along the coast, club music, action is fun, good looking actors of both sexes. The transporter shows his more human face too. Simply a well made film.

OBCE NIEBO (STRANGE HEAVEN)

Recommended. A great film: based on true events, full of suspense, very well acted, showing cultural differences as well as surreptitious racism, a deeply moving story. Swedes should see it.

ZYC NIE UMIERAC  (LIFE MUST GO ON)

Watchable. A story of a terminally ill sober alcoholic won't exactly glue you to the screen unless it's enacted by Tomasz Kot. He's the biggest asset of the film.

KARBALA

Watchable. A fascinating story, great music, incredible scenography (I just couldn't believe that Iraq was recreated in Zeran, Warsaw, Poland). Unfortunately the main actor is barely plausible acting like an undecided army commander - when he says "Zachowac spokoj" ("Remain calm") looking nervous himself it's hardly convincing, also some of the Polish utterances are so muddled I couldn't make out a word.


BOLLYWOOD FILM FESTIVAL

ENGLISH VINGLISH

Recommended. A pleasing to watch family movie with language issues. I obviously loved the English class subplot as much as the romantic and family side of the film.

ROCKSTAR

Watchable. The story is not too clever and is partly set in Prague but it's typically Bollywood meaning it evokes emotions and has lots of music. Gets better and better as the film develops.


MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS

Watchable. Being a great fan after part one I managed to see the disappointing part two full of annoying zombies. A plus is that now the mystery of what's going on is finally resolved. Now the viewer knows what the factions are and what they're fighting for.

GIOVINEZZA (YOUTH)

Recommended. Visually impressive. Some scenes, like the one with the Venetian St. Mark's Basilica or with Miss World, are breathtaking. It's funny at times and full of peculiar characters.

SICARIO

Recommended. It raises brutality to a whole new level, like "Old Boy" did years ago. The open ending implies a sequel. But how will they beat the brutality of part one?

SAUL FIA (SON OF SAUL)

Recommended. Harrowing, brutal reality of concentration camps.

MISS JULIE

Walked out. A far-fetched story, pretentious, theatrical acting, slow pace, an ugly head star.

THE INTERN

Recommended. The digital generation gap is shown in a humorous way by great actors. The story is moderately funny, e.g. snoring scenes, very heart-warming and deeply involving. Great light entertainment. There's a fantastic scene mocking "The Taxi Driver" too.

CHEMIA (CHEMO)

Watchable. Starts with two infantile adults doing silly things and talking jibberish like 5-year-olds. Then you get sarcastic doctors and are able to follow the hero's journey through breast cancer which are the only reasons not to walk out. Most ridiculously, it's a musical about a deadly disease. Just add the ghastly costumes and scenography.

RICKI AND THE FLASH

Watchable. "Danny Collins" it isn't but it's an interesting broken family story and well acted too. Shame it wasn't funnier. Very American-rock.

SOUTHPAW

Watchable. Very good and involving. Predictable at the same time. Good music by Eminem but just twice.

VACATION

Recommended. Laugh-out-loud funny throughout. Chris Hemsworth showing off his six-pack, car adventures, the rollercoaster - all are gems of comedy.

THE MARTIAN IN 3D

Recommended. "Gravity" was nothing. Here the views of space and the survival struggle are breathtaking. Humorous comments on the situation enliven the film.

SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE

Watchable. Well acted by beautiful main acts. Sometimes funny like the mother holding her kid and telling the couple not to get themselves a baby, sometimes clever like the lines about commitment: "Then I get all that 'you're scared of commitment!' No, I don't want to commit to you!" and cheating on a girl in order not to tell her that in her face or on a casual, sex-based relationship: "To him you're like cocaine or crack. Nobody wonders 'how is my crack feeling'."