Movie reviews

DNEVNIK MASINOVODJE (TRAIN DRIVER'S DIARY)

Watchable. Ordinary and with a superfluous love affair of the young guy but very pleasant and relaxing. Exudes warmth, the screen is filled with light. It also makes light of the biggest traumas you can have in this profession. Analysed deeper, especially the character of the cute blonde trainee (pun intended), it manifests our fears becoming greater than the actual occurences we dread. The moral problem of killing somebody while performing your work duties gets a satirical take. I was laughing my head off at all the conversations about running someone over. What would constitute black humour elsewhere is so light here I found it thoroughly entertaining. The satire extends on other aspects of the job, e.g. a wife asks her train driver husband: "What time will you be back?" "21:16"

MARLINA SI PEMBUNUH EMPAT BABAK (MARLINA THE MURDERER IN FOUR ACTS)

Watchable. Involving but slightly disturbing and quite brutal. Still, the story's unusual - it's an Indonesian... western. Vivid colours of the landscape and clothes contrast with the dark plot. The social undertones emphasize the inefficiency of law enforcement and women's predicament when they become clogs in the system of male domination. One is reclaiming her worth. The movie's quiet and slow-paced.

BLACK PANTHER 3D

Watchable. The start is confusing, for quite a while I couldn't make out the plot. The beginning is also totally PC: pro-refugee propaganda, blacks only, women only strong and clever, fluent even in Korean but speaking with hard African accents in English. Some conversations are spoken in a local language sounding like a Bantu one with added glottalizations. Luckily little Kendrick Lamar in the score, unlike on the official soundtrack album. Amazing African music, with ear-catching vocals dominates the sound layer of the film. Deserves an Oscar nomination for make-up and hairstyling: inspired by the black continent traditions, like scarifications, or creative, e.g. a snake-like hair-do. Hottie Michael B. Jordan with his stylie hair excels also in his acting as a villain. Stan Lee, in his obligatory cameo, nicks tokens in the Korean casino "for safekeeping". My fave character is the king's sister who's a scientist making the world a better place. Wakanda is high-tech, even hospital stretchers hover along corridors. Having said that, the movie's high-tech too: very good 3D, the sound certainly worth Dolby Atmos. There's one mid-credit and one post-credit - both announce a sequel, probably the next upcoming superhero flick "Avengers: Infinity War". This film serves mostly as the introduction of characters.