ROUGH NIGHT
Watchable. Lots of product placement,
including even diapers for adults, and PC stuff: gays, fat people,
colour - everyone. Hard drugs get a green light which I find disturbingly common in American productions. Is it really OK to market them in movies? But the rest is really
good. Kate McKinnon, Scarlett Johansson, Demi Moore appear in a comedy of errors with great music. Some hilarious scenes like the one with "How many strippers did you order?" or "I think it's the stress of killing the guy and trying to dispose of his body." "Like what?!" The mid-credit is essential as the presented event is the continuation of the story and features a hilarious song. The post-credit is less important.
Seen in the comfort of my regular Cinema City.
GAME OF THRONES - SEASON 7 EPISODE 1
Watchable. Made for telly so the big cinema screen didn't make it look any better. The blurred contours of the background looked fake while on TV they must be just fine. No cruelty, one multiple death, no nudity in the episode. Looks like women will have a lot to say this season. A number of jokes I didn't find funny. Only one was so-so: a rider overhears a group of men singing: "I don't know this song. Is it a new one?" and Ed Sheeran replies: "Yes, a new one." All in all, I'm not very curious what's going to happen next. Can live without it.
ALIBI.COM
Watchable. The idea of and the working procedures of the company are ingenious and some gags are good fun but most are silly. Over the credits there's a stupid song, nothing more.
21 X NOWY JORK
Watchable. In spite of good music this docu-drama is tiring, often feels protracted. It presents plenty of average people preoccupied with trying to build relationships. New York, which is the background to the people stories, appears as multiethnic and multicultural as London with the difference that London is less deranged and far more prudish. I mean my London, couldn't help comparing, the city doesn't appear here.
NOMA, MY PERFECT STORM
Watchable. Good to watch for the behind-the-stage look at the world's No. 1 restaurant, purely for the informative value. You also hear of the racism the Macedonian owner experiences in Denmark. Still, no tension or emotion accompanies this documentary so as a film it's just OK.
Thursday 27 July 2017
Saturday 22 July 2017
ATOMIC BLONDE
Recommended. If you've ever thought true espionage ended together with the Cold War, you're in for a treat. The story harks back to the last days before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The intrigue has been thought throughout. What rings wrong in the beginning, makes full sense in the ending. The soundtrack spans 43 years (from 1974 to 2017). Only one song comes from 1989 but all sound like they do.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENICE
Watchable. Neither Tarantinoesque nor a comedy. The Polish translation of Lewdy Jew has little to do with the original. But the characters are likeable, even the gangster and I'm waiting for a sequel, just like the final scene implies as there's still one bunch of bad guys after our detective. There's a little mid-credit.
DESPICABLE ME 3
Watchable. Nena, A-ha, Madonna, Van Halen, Dire Straits, name it - great music forms the background for the baddie. I don't know why the villain is a frustrated ex-celebrity from the 80s but at least it sounds good. Decent 3D but not a must. In the Polish dubbing popular comedians: Mikolaj Cieslak as Dru i Robert Gorski as Bratt are a special attraction. One character sports Star Trek's Captain Kirk's hairstyle and a "Finding Nemo"-like clownfish makes a cameo, there's a mum of three who's "still learning the ropes" of motherhood. No more attractions than these.
GOING IN STYLE
Watchable. Gone are the days when robbing banks was a way to get rich quick. Nowadays it's a means to beat the system. Three elderly chaps are fighting for their pensions. In style. What's the worst thing that could happen? If they fail, at least they'll get 3 meals a day and better healthcare than they get at large. The heist story comes a full circle. There's decent humour, e.g. "He's thinking. Looks painful." Alan Arkin, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman with the addition of Christopher Lloyd in a minor part ensure quality. Still, I think it's not exactly for ny audience below 60.
The last 3 movies seen in the comfort of Cinema City.
Recommended. If you've ever thought true espionage ended together with the Cold War, you're in for a treat. The story harks back to the last days before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The intrigue has been thought throughout. What rings wrong in the beginning, makes full sense in the ending. The soundtrack spans 43 years (from 1974 to 2017). Only one song comes from 1989 but all sound like they do.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENICE
Watchable. Neither Tarantinoesque nor a comedy. The Polish translation of Lewdy Jew has little to do with the original. But the characters are likeable, even the gangster and I'm waiting for a sequel, just like the final scene implies as there's still one bunch of bad guys after our detective. There's a little mid-credit.
DESPICABLE ME 3
Watchable. Nena, A-ha, Madonna, Van Halen, Dire Straits, name it - great music forms the background for the baddie. I don't know why the villain is a frustrated ex-celebrity from the 80s but at least it sounds good. Decent 3D but not a must. In the Polish dubbing popular comedians: Mikolaj Cieslak as Dru i Robert Gorski as Bratt are a special attraction. One character sports Star Trek's Captain Kirk's hairstyle and a "Finding Nemo"-like clownfish makes a cameo, there's a mum of three who's "still learning the ropes" of motherhood. No more attractions than these.
GOING IN STYLE
Watchable. Gone are the days when robbing banks was a way to get rich quick. Nowadays it's a means to beat the system. Three elderly chaps are fighting for their pensions. In style. What's the worst thing that could happen? If they fail, at least they'll get 3 meals a day and better healthcare than they get at large. The heist story comes a full circle. There's decent humour, e.g. "He's thinking. Looks painful." Alan Arkin, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman with the addition of Christopher Lloyd in a minor part ensure quality. Still, I think it's not exactly for ny audience below 60.
The last 3 movies seen in the comfort of Cinema City.
Thursday 13 July 2017
L'AMANT DOUBLE (THE DOUBLE LOVER)
Recommended. The first few minutes are absurd. The very first scene exceeds the limits of intimacy and nudity showing... the inside of a vagina. Just after that the woman hears she's got a mild infection but instead of treating the condition medically she goes to a shrink. From the first psychiatrist appointment it makes more sense. The surreal is much better than the real. You never know if what she sees and feels are figments of her imagination or authentic. Some scenes are SF-inspired: "Alien" or as carnal as in Cronenberg's movies, one fragment reminded me of the corporeal pistol in "eXistenZ". The final scene makes a bang.
MON POUSSIN (HONEY BUNNY)
Watchable. In spite of it being gross and vulgar (it's French, you know), it's very funny. The broken-hearted teenager wails, another couple warns the parents of a similar case when a boy ran away and "Interpol found him in Belgium", the parents go to extreme lengths to relieve him of his agony, the teenager's sister wants to move to an orphanage so that a normal family can adopt her and there's a blender scene with brilliant music.
Recommended. The first few minutes are absurd. The very first scene exceeds the limits of intimacy and nudity showing... the inside of a vagina. Just after that the woman hears she's got a mild infection but instead of treating the condition medically she goes to a shrink. From the first psychiatrist appointment it makes more sense. The surreal is much better than the real. You never know if what she sees and feels are figments of her imagination or authentic. Some scenes are SF-inspired: "Alien" or as carnal as in Cronenberg's movies, one fragment reminded me of the corporeal pistol in "eXistenZ". The final scene makes a bang.
MON POUSSIN (HONEY BUNNY)
Watchable. In spite of it being gross and vulgar (it's French, you know), it's very funny. The broken-hearted teenager wails, another couple warns the parents of a similar case when a boy ran away and "Interpol found him in Belgium", the parents go to extreme lengths to relieve him of his agony, the teenager's sister wants to move to an orphanage so that a normal family can adopt her and there's a blender scene with brilliant music.
Thursday 6 July 2017
MUMMY
Walked out. All elements of a class B horror: plenty of zombies (out of one mummy) crawling on all fours or jumping at a running car, a curse victim having visions and all scares starting early on. They startle rather than frighten. Only for die hard (pun intended) zombie fans.
Service at Cinema City doesn't stop to amaze me. The cleaning lady in the toilet was concerned she might cause me nuisance refilling soap containers when I was trying to get the clearest reflection of myself in the mirror.
ENKLAVA (ENCLAVE)
Watchable. Sad and depressing. Questions the boundaries between good and evil along with the boundaries between childhood and adulthood. In the beginning nothing much happens, later there's some local folklore - a Muslim wedding and an Orthodox Christian funeral and only after the lengthy intro something actually happens. This and the aftermath of the deed are truly chilling.
Walked out. All elements of a class B horror: plenty of zombies (out of one mummy) crawling on all fours or jumping at a running car, a curse victim having visions and all scares starting early on. They startle rather than frighten. Only for die hard (pun intended) zombie fans.
Service at Cinema City doesn't stop to amaze me. The cleaning lady in the toilet was concerned she might cause me nuisance refilling soap containers when I was trying to get the clearest reflection of myself in the mirror.
ENKLAVA (ENCLAVE)
Watchable. Sad and depressing. Questions the boundaries between good and evil along with the boundaries between childhood and adulthood. In the beginning nothing much happens, later there's some local folklore - a Muslim wedding and an Orthodox Christian funeral and only after the lengthy intro something actually happens. This and the aftermath of the deed are truly chilling.
Wednesday 5 July 2017
The screen adaptation of the graphic novel "The Coldest City" is coming out soon. I've just drafted my review which will appear here on the 22nd of July.
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING AT IMAX 3D
Recommended. The very beginning was so lousy I was seriously worried whether I'd tolerate the whole: Captain America reduced to lecturing schoolkids on how they should behave, Spider-Man having a crush on an, undoubtedly PC, mixed-race girl (half-black) and running a video diary of shaky quality made me want to run. But it was just the first few minutes. Later it gets better and better and the tension keeps growing. The result of the whole is fantastic. There are some funny lines, e.g. a teacher talking right after a life-threatening situation about how he'd hate to lose a student on a school trip, as well as references to earlier Spider-Man movies and to the infamous beginnings of Iron Man. They're straightforward so it's enough to have seen the films, no need to remember them in detail. Michael Keaton is superb. He has clearly benefited from his Birdman image now impersonating Vulture and having a black bird-like costume. There's an obligatory Stan Lee cameo, a mid-credit announcing a sequel and a post-credit joke. I think the movie will be still OK in 2D on a regular size screen.
TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT AT IMAX 3D
Watchable. This one is worth seeing in 3D as these effects are pretty good throughout the movie. The amazing landscapes in the beginning will certainly gain in IMAX. The location is probably Scotland and it much resembles takes from "Prometheus". In the plot, however, geography gets mixed up, placing Trinity Library in Oxford. In reality Oxford has Trinity College with the Old Library while the Trinity Library is located in Dublin, Ireland. Usually peaceful and often pedestrianized Pall Mall in London is a scene of a car/transformer chase. The rest of the film takes the viewer all over the world as the globe is facing destruction. History-wise it starts in legendary Merlin times and ends "today". I still find machines tiring and... heavy but at least in this installment they come in various shapes, including dragons, men with beards like those belonging to Caribbean dead pirates or a fairy-like flying robot in a wiry dress. They are kept as pets like one in "Chappie" with the difference that here one looks like Wall-E and several are mechanic dinos (dinobots). A male scientist fights superstition: "I'm relying on physics and mathematics, not mysteries, fairies or some Hobgoblins." At the same time a female Oxford professor fights sexism in the form of her aunts persuading her to find a man and ignoring her meteoric career as well as hearing from a guy she's wearing "a stripper dress". Butler Cogman and the Lord (by brilliant Anthony Hopkins) are a delight, especially the Lord silencing the Prime Minister who, in turn, has David Cameron's hairstyle.
Cinema City had excellent service again, very nice people work there.
DARKLAND
Watchable. A standard brother revenge plot is well enacted and gets a social-cultural twist as it's set in the second generation (people around 20 and 30, with their parents living) of Iraqi refugees in Denmark. They have penetrated the white world. White Danes, including one "white" Iraqi - working as a surgeon and living with his Danish wife, can't penetrate theirs. Subtly, the finger of blame is pointed at immigrant families sitting on the couch instead of preventing their children becoming criminals.
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING AT IMAX 3D
Recommended. The very beginning was so lousy I was seriously worried whether I'd tolerate the whole: Captain America reduced to lecturing schoolkids on how they should behave, Spider-Man having a crush on an, undoubtedly PC, mixed-race girl (half-black) and running a video diary of shaky quality made me want to run. But it was just the first few minutes. Later it gets better and better and the tension keeps growing. The result of the whole is fantastic. There are some funny lines, e.g. a teacher talking right after a life-threatening situation about how he'd hate to lose a student on a school trip, as well as references to earlier Spider-Man movies and to the infamous beginnings of Iron Man. They're straightforward so it's enough to have seen the films, no need to remember them in detail. Michael Keaton is superb. He has clearly benefited from his Birdman image now impersonating Vulture and having a black bird-like costume. There's an obligatory Stan Lee cameo, a mid-credit announcing a sequel and a post-credit joke. I think the movie will be still OK in 2D on a regular size screen.
TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT AT IMAX 3D
Watchable. This one is worth seeing in 3D as these effects are pretty good throughout the movie. The amazing landscapes in the beginning will certainly gain in IMAX. The location is probably Scotland and it much resembles takes from "Prometheus". In the plot, however, geography gets mixed up, placing Trinity Library in Oxford. In reality Oxford has Trinity College with the Old Library while the Trinity Library is located in Dublin, Ireland. Usually peaceful and often pedestrianized Pall Mall in London is a scene of a car/transformer chase. The rest of the film takes the viewer all over the world as the globe is facing destruction. History-wise it starts in legendary Merlin times and ends "today". I still find machines tiring and... heavy but at least in this installment they come in various shapes, including dragons, men with beards like those belonging to Caribbean dead pirates or a fairy-like flying robot in a wiry dress. They are kept as pets like one in "Chappie" with the difference that here one looks like Wall-E and several are mechanic dinos (dinobots). A male scientist fights superstition: "I'm relying on physics and mathematics, not mysteries, fairies or some Hobgoblins." At the same time a female Oxford professor fights sexism in the form of her aunts persuading her to find a man and ignoring her meteoric career as well as hearing from a guy she's wearing "a stripper dress". Butler Cogman and the Lord (by brilliant Anthony Hopkins) are a delight, especially the Lord silencing the Prime Minister who, in turn, has David Cameron's hairstyle.
Cinema City had excellent service again, very nice people work there.
DARKLAND
Watchable. A standard brother revenge plot is well enacted and gets a social-cultural twist as it's set in the second generation (people around 20 and 30, with their parents living) of Iraqi refugees in Denmark. They have penetrated the white world. White Danes, including one "white" Iraqi - working as a surgeon and living with his Danish wife, can't penetrate theirs. Subtly, the finger of blame is pointed at immigrant families sitting on the couch instead of preventing their children becoming criminals.
Tuesday 4 July 2017
HYMYILEVA MIES (THE HAPPIEST DAY IN THE LIFE OF OLLI MAKI)
Watchable. Painfully slow. You just see them pouring each cup of coffee. The whole thing is about how distracting love is when you're supposed to be doing something important and instead you keep thinking about that person. Nothing unusual. Can serve only as a wake-up call for people experiencing the same.
SMURFS: THE LOST VILLAGE
Watchable. Latest Smurfs are up-to-date with tech gadgets so they snap pictures with a mobile... ladybird and use firefly torches. Some ideas are taken from other films and tales, e.g. slow mo in the air like in "Inception", a bluish forest with flowers glowing in the dark reminiscent of "Avatar", lines from "Little Red Riding Hood" and they look and sound tacky. A delightful original concept is a colourful, translucent river reflecting the rich and vivid vegetation and changing hues with the current. A number of pop songs are featured, including famous "I'm Blue" by Eiffel 69, here gaining a new cute meaning. There's a mid-credit scene with Gargamel. Earlier on I heard a child imitating Azrael's meowing so the movie's fun for kids too.
Seen courtesy of my favourite Cinema City.
IT COMES AT NIGHT
Walked out. Chit-chat in a cabin and a deadly epidemic in a forest.
I heard from my movie companion that in Pakistan there was just one one-screen cinema in a one-million city. The country's deprived of entertainment. I clearly wouldn't survive there.
Watchable. Painfully slow. You just see them pouring each cup of coffee. The whole thing is about how distracting love is when you're supposed to be doing something important and instead you keep thinking about that person. Nothing unusual. Can serve only as a wake-up call for people experiencing the same.
SMURFS: THE LOST VILLAGE
Watchable. Latest Smurfs are up-to-date with tech gadgets so they snap pictures with a mobile... ladybird and use firefly torches. Some ideas are taken from other films and tales, e.g. slow mo in the air like in "Inception", a bluish forest with flowers glowing in the dark reminiscent of "Avatar", lines from "Little Red Riding Hood" and they look and sound tacky. A delightful original concept is a colourful, translucent river reflecting the rich and vivid vegetation and changing hues with the current. A number of pop songs are featured, including famous "I'm Blue" by Eiffel 69, here gaining a new cute meaning. There's a mid-credit scene with Gargamel. Earlier on I heard a child imitating Azrael's meowing so the movie's fun for kids too.
Seen courtesy of my favourite Cinema City.
IT COMES AT NIGHT
Walked out. Chit-chat in a cabin and a deadly epidemic in a forest.
I heard from my movie companion that in Pakistan there was just one one-screen cinema in a one-million city. The country's deprived of entertainment. I clearly wouldn't survive there.
Monday 3 July 2017
KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD
Watchable. Guy Ritchie should stick to the gangster genre. His King Arthur is a bandit, a liar and probably a pimp too, with an ultra-modern hair-cut and a beard giving him a hipster look. The film has got great music but so modern that, apart from the main song, it's completely incongruous with the story located in Londinium of the 4th or 5th century AD. Curiously, the term graffiti is used and while it gives a present-day feel, it's in fact ancient. Also, a Chinese teaching kung fu may seem out of place, yet it has some grounds in facts. As recently as in 2016, Chinese skeletons from Roman times were discovered on the site of Londinium. While no one knows what the Chinese were doing there, it gives a wide field for interpretation and triggers imagination. The movie got its release in 2017 so the discovery must have come up during research for the production.
BAYWATCH
Watchable. Good fun for this time of year, beautifully shot. Plenty of summer and enough entertainment to forgive its flaws. I love Priyanka Chopra and I've stated many times she's the most beautiful Bollywood actress. However, now at the age of 34 and starring in Hollywood, she's had botox injected in her face - you just can't mistake this disfigurement with anything else. Most of humour is of primitive variety, like somebody's balls getting stuck in a deck-chair or someone else throwing up. Well, I know vomiting in water is realistic as I've heard it from a professional diver who had done it. Still, it doesn't amuse me. Luckily, a number of jokes are based on references to the previous "Baywatch" series as well as to other movies. So there are David Hasselhoff' and Pamela Anderson's cameos, busty girls run in slow motion and the bustier the girl, the slower mo it is and Mitch calls a new recruit, by Zach Effron, "Hey, High School Musical!" Matt Brady is pretty and as daft as a brush. Great summer music by the Americanoes, With the Quickness and plenty of others.
The "Blade Runner 2049" trailer looks superb - I can't wait to see the movie.
TUBELIGHT
Recommended. Looks like the version shown in Poland is half an hour shorter than the original. Anyway, it was just over two hours, nothing close to three. From the credits I can see that digital de-aging has inevitably reached Bollywood too. Better this than botox. The movie is family type but with lots of action, you just never get bored. Salman Khan in a comedy role playing also with his image - you never know if he has a superpower or just believes to have: "Is he going to stir up another earthquake? Hold on to the railing!" Very uplifting, full of warmth but touches your heart as well. True, first-class Bollywood.
The last two movies in super-comfy seats of Cinema City. Luckily, apart from one screen in Arkadia, other Warsaw cinemas of the chain have retained their comfort I like so much.
개를 훔치는 완벽한 방법 (HOW TO STEAL A DOG)
Recommended. The children are disarmingly silly. There's a crime plot, dogs, obviously, plenty of family warmth, serious undertones about families falling apart for different reasons and on various lines, seeking fulfillment in life, personal freedom, whether money brings happiness or just fills a void, funny police pursuit scenes and scheming to steal a living animal. Both funny and sad. I just wished it lasted longer. The one mid-credit completing the story didn't quench my thirst for more.
Watchable. Guy Ritchie should stick to the gangster genre. His King Arthur is a bandit, a liar and probably a pimp too, with an ultra-modern hair-cut and a beard giving him a hipster look. The film has got great music but so modern that, apart from the main song, it's completely incongruous with the story located in Londinium of the 4th or 5th century AD. Curiously, the term graffiti is used and while it gives a present-day feel, it's in fact ancient. Also, a Chinese teaching kung fu may seem out of place, yet it has some grounds in facts. As recently as in 2016, Chinese skeletons from Roman times were discovered on the site of Londinium. While no one knows what the Chinese were doing there, it gives a wide field for interpretation and triggers imagination. The movie got its release in 2017 so the discovery must have come up during research for the production.
BAYWATCH
Watchable. Good fun for this time of year, beautifully shot. Plenty of summer and enough entertainment to forgive its flaws. I love Priyanka Chopra and I've stated many times she's the most beautiful Bollywood actress. However, now at the age of 34 and starring in Hollywood, she's had botox injected in her face - you just can't mistake this disfigurement with anything else. Most of humour is of primitive variety, like somebody's balls getting stuck in a deck-chair or someone else throwing up. Well, I know vomiting in water is realistic as I've heard it from a professional diver who had done it. Still, it doesn't amuse me. Luckily, a number of jokes are based on references to the previous "Baywatch" series as well as to other movies. So there are David Hasselhoff' and Pamela Anderson's cameos, busty girls run in slow motion and the bustier the girl, the slower mo it is and Mitch calls a new recruit, by Zach Effron, "Hey, High School Musical!" Matt Brady is pretty and as daft as a brush. Great summer music by the Americanoes, With the Quickness and plenty of others.
The "Blade Runner 2049" trailer looks superb - I can't wait to see the movie.
TUBELIGHT
Recommended. Looks like the version shown in Poland is half an hour shorter than the original. Anyway, it was just over two hours, nothing close to three. From the credits I can see that digital de-aging has inevitably reached Bollywood too. Better this than botox. The movie is family type but with lots of action, you just never get bored. Salman Khan in a comedy role playing also with his image - you never know if he has a superpower or just believes to have: "Is he going to stir up another earthquake? Hold on to the railing!" Very uplifting, full of warmth but touches your heart as well. True, first-class Bollywood.
The last two movies in super-comfy seats of Cinema City. Luckily, apart from one screen in Arkadia, other Warsaw cinemas of the chain have retained their comfort I like so much.
개를 훔치는 완벽한 방법 (HOW TO STEAL A DOG)
Recommended. The children are disarmingly silly. There's a crime plot, dogs, obviously, plenty of family warmth, serious undertones about families falling apart for different reasons and on various lines, seeking fulfillment in life, personal freedom, whether money brings happiness or just fills a void, funny police pursuit scenes and scheming to steal a living animal. Both funny and sad. I just wished it lasted longer. The one mid-credit completing the story didn't quench my thirst for more.
Sunday 2 July 2017
OLD FASHIONED
Watchable. It's not so much about chastity as it is about disillusionment with earlier relationships with sex which ended badly. Well, which ended. And while Clay "doesn't want dating", this is exactly what they both end up doing. Boring and predictable. Not very religious. About paralysis by analysis and fear of failure.
摇滚藏獒 (ROCK DOG)
Watchable. Made in Hong Kong. Based on the graphic novel "Tibetan Rock Dog" created by Chinese rock star Zheng Jun from Xi'an on the mainland. With music by Foo Fighters and several others. So predictable only children will buy it. And they will - some were dancing after the movie. To adults the Chinese wolves controlling the mountainous village will be a clear reference to the Chinese occupation of Tibet. And that's all there is on the serious part. The only part I liked was the rock star's house and garden with a hedge that could be moved underground or a doormat litterally throwing unwanted visitors out of the residence.
VOLTA
Watchable. Intelligent, based on Polish politics, language and craze for historical treasures. Plenty of references to the Polish currently ruling party will be adorable to the left of the political scene. The heist is smart as well so this part will be comprehensible even to foreigners. I didn't laugh at this crime comedy though. Lack of comedians in the cast.
In the trailer Luc Besson's new SF flick "Valerian" looks like it's going to be another "Fifth Element" - good visuals, a standard (alien invasion here) plot.
CHOPIN - THE SPACE CONCERT
Recommended. "From space I saw no borders" comes at the beginning of an astronaut's commentary. Chopin's music forming the soundtrack will be probably handed in to Donald Trump during a visit. Views from space and the cabin like I've never seen before. It's these views that merit watching it, on a big screen if possible.
JOUR J (WEDDING UNPLANNED)
Watchable. "Thanks for hosting me, guys" - to the police when leaving a custody is one of few instances when the (Polish at least) translation is better than the original. Some gags are hilarious. The rom-com plot is standard. Deleted scenes are shown over the credits, a group photograph is shown at the very end.
THE LADY VANISHES (1938)
Recommended this time. Watching it for the second time I found it so delightfully witty at first and gripping in the second half, I managed to stand the nightmarish Polish voiceover it was screened with. Hitchcock was truly the master of suspense.
STAGE FRIGHT (1950)
Watchable. All of the above applies. With even more dress-ups. Very Agatha Christie-like. So fails to make the same impact.
LAST MEN IN ALEPPO
Recommended. Assad's regime's and Russian bombings are everyday, literally everyday reality for the 250 000 people still living in Aleppo and 1 million living in other places of the ongoing war. You see them up close excavating people, living or dead, from the ruins. The bodies and body parts are not shown which doesn't lessen the impact in the least. For survivors there are 3 ways to live: right there, safe but still far from normal life in Turkey or in Germany (other countries don't even come up in the film - only a regret that other muslim states have abandoned them). Several of the men who appeared in the film are already dead. It's almost post-apocalyptic there.
50% of the children living in the war-torn territories were born during the armed conflict. They don't know life other than the war. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs finances only aid in Ukraine. The UN is the greatest funder of humanitarian aid organizations working on reconstruction, providing water and electricity supply.
GOSFORD PARK (2001)
Walked out. So many characters that half-way through the movie I still hardly understood who was who. A murder didn't help understand the plot.
Watchable. It's not so much about chastity as it is about disillusionment with earlier relationships with sex which ended badly. Well, which ended. And while Clay "doesn't want dating", this is exactly what they both end up doing. Boring and predictable. Not very religious. About paralysis by analysis and fear of failure.
摇滚藏獒 (ROCK DOG)
Watchable. Made in Hong Kong. Based on the graphic novel "Tibetan Rock Dog" created by Chinese rock star Zheng Jun from Xi'an on the mainland. With music by Foo Fighters and several others. So predictable only children will buy it. And they will - some were dancing after the movie. To adults the Chinese wolves controlling the mountainous village will be a clear reference to the Chinese occupation of Tibet. And that's all there is on the serious part. The only part I liked was the rock star's house and garden with a hedge that could be moved underground or a doormat litterally throwing unwanted visitors out of the residence.
VOLTA
Watchable. Intelligent, based on Polish politics, language and craze for historical treasures. Plenty of references to the Polish currently ruling party will be adorable to the left of the political scene. The heist is smart as well so this part will be comprehensible even to foreigners. I didn't laugh at this crime comedy though. Lack of comedians in the cast.
In the trailer Luc Besson's new SF flick "Valerian" looks like it's going to be another "Fifth Element" - good visuals, a standard (alien invasion here) plot.
CHOPIN - THE SPACE CONCERT
Recommended. "From space I saw no borders" comes at the beginning of an astronaut's commentary. Chopin's music forming the soundtrack will be probably handed in to Donald Trump during a visit. Views from space and the cabin like I've never seen before. It's these views that merit watching it, on a big screen if possible.
JOUR J (WEDDING UNPLANNED)
Watchable. "Thanks for hosting me, guys" - to the police when leaving a custody is one of few instances when the (Polish at least) translation is better than the original. Some gags are hilarious. The rom-com plot is standard. Deleted scenes are shown over the credits, a group photograph is shown at the very end.
THE LADY VANISHES (1938)
Recommended this time. Watching it for the second time I found it so delightfully witty at first and gripping in the second half, I managed to stand the nightmarish Polish voiceover it was screened with. Hitchcock was truly the master of suspense.
STAGE FRIGHT (1950)
Watchable. All of the above applies. With even more dress-ups. Very Agatha Christie-like. So fails to make the same impact.
LAST MEN IN ALEPPO
Recommended. Assad's regime's and Russian bombings are everyday, literally everyday reality for the 250 000 people still living in Aleppo and 1 million living in other places of the ongoing war. You see them up close excavating people, living or dead, from the ruins. The bodies and body parts are not shown which doesn't lessen the impact in the least. For survivors there are 3 ways to live: right there, safe but still far from normal life in Turkey or in Germany (other countries don't even come up in the film - only a regret that other muslim states have abandoned them). Several of the men who appeared in the film are already dead. It's almost post-apocalyptic there.
50% of the children living in the war-torn territories were born during the armed conflict. They don't know life other than the war. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs finances only aid in Ukraine. The UN is the greatest funder of humanitarian aid organizations working on reconstruction, providing water and electricity supply.
GOSFORD PARK (2001)
Walked out. So many characters that half-way through the movie I still hardly understood who was who. A murder didn't help understand the plot.
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