ROCKETMAN
Watchable. An old-school musical. Awfully shallow for the first half. From the 69th minute, it gains depth and you soon find yourself fully immersed in the tragic loneliness of yet another celebrity. The songs, performed not by Elton John but by Giles Martin, all sound the same and only the final (before the credits) "I'm Still Standing" is joyful. The story ends well too.
Sunday, 30 June 2019
Saturday, 29 June 2019
MY GENERATION
Recommended. An excellent documentary about social changes in the UK. I would have never thought Michael Caine is Cockney. But he is and he explains how in the early 60s movies didn't have any protagonists they could relate to and how music was a pass to riches for the uneducated and how grammar schools offering free education empowered the working class. Excellent editing, lots of the 60s music and stories about how they became the first generation which was shaped by the young. Shows history when it was being made.
Recommended. An excellent documentary about social changes in the UK. I would have never thought Michael Caine is Cockney. But he is and he explains how in the early 60s movies didn't have any protagonists they could relate to and how music was a pass to riches for the uneducated and how grammar schools offering free education empowered the working class. Excellent editing, lots of the 60s music and stories about how they became the first generation which was shaped by the young. Shows history when it was being made.
Thursday, 27 June 2019
JA TERAZ KLAMIE (I AM LYING NOW)
Recommended. Genius! Resembles Bodo Kox - at first, I thought it was his movie, especially since there's a bar called "Box". But no, it's scripted and directed by Pawel Borowski whose earlier films I haven't even seen. It's foremost amazing architecture, scenography, costumes, make-up and hairstyling stylised for futuristic 1960s, with extra bits of creative design e.g. when the door-bell is shaped like an ear and the spyhole like an eye. Even the clock face on telly resembles one from a few decades ago. But the presented celebrity world lacks no comfort. Even the drug they inhale comes in the form of gold powder. The plot is equally intriguing but not SF, more of a psychologic game. Most importantly, the film doesn't look Polish.
PUTIN'S WITNESSES
Watchable. FSB tried to plant explosives at a block of flats in Ryazan before the famous Chechen terrorist attacks where blocks of flats were blown up at night killing innocent people. Then Putin's ratings rose from 2% to 50% within 6 months. He gave a cold shoulder to Yeltsin after he had nominated him. And he's ruthless to the opposition. He brought Soviet-style dictatorship back. That's all you learn. The documentary extends for nearly 2 hours, most of it is unnecessary.
Recommended. Genius! Resembles Bodo Kox - at first, I thought it was his movie, especially since there's a bar called "Box". But no, it's scripted and directed by Pawel Borowski whose earlier films I haven't even seen. It's foremost amazing architecture, scenography, costumes, make-up and hairstyling stylised for futuristic 1960s, with extra bits of creative design e.g. when the door-bell is shaped like an ear and the spyhole like an eye. Even the clock face on telly resembles one from a few decades ago. But the presented celebrity world lacks no comfort. Even the drug they inhale comes in the form of gold powder. The plot is equally intriguing but not SF, more of a psychologic game. Most importantly, the film doesn't look Polish.
PUTIN'S WITNESSES
Watchable. FSB tried to plant explosives at a block of flats in Ryazan before the famous Chechen terrorist attacks where blocks of flats were blown up at night killing innocent people. Then Putin's ratings rose from 2% to 50% within 6 months. He gave a cold shoulder to Yeltsin after he had nominated him. And he's ruthless to the opposition. He brought Soviet-style dictatorship back. That's all you learn. The documentary extends for nearly 2 hours, most of it is unnecessary.
Update: on 12 September 2021 the director said the film had never been screened in Russia, not even once.
OFFLINE - DAS LEBEN IST KEIN BONUSLEVEL (OFFLINE: ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEXT LEVEL?)
Watchable. For and about teenage gamers. Very light entertainment which doesn't require thinking. Fully professional visuals and audio. The game features a tournament called Ragnarok and a character named Loki so it's a clear reference to the cinematic series "Thor".
DZIEN CZEKOLADY
Walked out. Totally amateurish, often looks like filmed theatre rather than a movie. Only the kids act naturally. It's a slow-paced series of disconnected events, with funeral music, for parents of children with problems, not for children.
MA
Watchable. A typical, predictable slasher movie. Some bits are more brutal than I expected but it's a high school flick regardless. Well scripted, with a clear structure and good music. Director Tate Taylor also acts as Office Grainger.
ANNA
Watchable. Well re-heated "La Femme Nikita". The bathroom scene with a gun gets a makeover. Eric Serra wrote the score again and Thierry Arbogast was responsible for cinematography here as well. I watched with great pleasure, it just lacked the novelty of its predecessor.
OFFLINE - DAS LEBEN IST KEIN BONUSLEVEL (OFFLINE: ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEXT LEVEL?)
Watchable. For and about teenage gamers. Very light entertainment which doesn't require thinking. Fully professional visuals and audio. The game features a tournament called Ragnarok and a character named Loki so it's a clear reference to the cinematic series "Thor".
DZIEN CZEKOLADY
Walked out. Totally amateurish, often looks like filmed theatre rather than a movie. Only the kids act naturally. It's a slow-paced series of disconnected events, with funeral music, for parents of children with problems, not for children.
MA
Watchable. A typical, predictable slasher movie. Some bits are more brutal than I expected but it's a high school flick regardless. Well scripted, with a clear structure and good music. Director Tate Taylor also acts as Office Grainger.
ANNA
Watchable. Well re-heated "La Femme Nikita". The bathroom scene with a gun gets a makeover. Eric Serra wrote the score again and Thierry Arbogast was responsible for cinematography here as well. I watched with great pleasure, it just lacked the novelty of its predecessor.
PRZEGLAD FILMOW WIETNAMSKICH (VIETNAM FILM WEEK IN POLAND)
DAO CUA DAN NGU CU (THE WAY STATION)
Watchable. All this domestic violence, including sex, drunkenness, animal slaughter and betrayed feelings are tolerable only because of attractive cinematography. The movie's chaotic and it takes long to start to understand the story.
Just to put the scale of Vietnamese cinematography in context - 40 films were shot in Vietnam in 2018.
POKEMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU 3D
Watchable. Decent 3D but not a must, I've seen better. Opening credit typography is stylised for katakana. Polish dubbing in dialogues sounds superb. Top-notch CGIs: Pokémons have a wide array of facial expressions and the dragon changes eye colour. The whole thing is cute and enjoyable. Outstanding music by Henry Jackman extends till the end of the credits. Available in Atmos too.
PRZEGLAD FILMOW WIETNAMSKICH (VIETNAM FILM WEEK IN POLAND)
TOI THAY HOA VANG TREN CO XANH (YELLOW FLOWERS ON THE GREEN GRASS)
Recommended. Beautiful cinematography matches the enchanting story where the world's seen from children perspective. Set in an obscure Vietnamese village. Ends in mesmerising music over end credits.
TRUNG SO (JACKPOT)
Watchable. A silly but cheerful comedy at which I didn't laugh. Vivid characters and an implausible plot.
There was one more movie but the air-con at Kultura cinema wasn't working properly and I got up with the Vietnamese who would talk during the movies or bring little noisy kids to adult screenings. It's a shame because the films had really good cinematography and interesting plots.
BIG BOOK FESTIVAL
ANTHROPOCENE: THE HUMAN EPOCH
Recommended. Stunning imagery of gigantic mines, landfills, multimillion metropolises, a church built for one million people, bleached coral reefs all serve one purpose - they show the scale of man-made devastation of the earth.
DAO CUA DAN NGU CU (THE WAY STATION)
Watchable. All this domestic violence, including sex, drunkenness, animal slaughter and betrayed feelings are tolerable only because of attractive cinematography. The movie's chaotic and it takes long to start to understand the story.
Just to put the scale of Vietnamese cinematography in context - 40 films were shot in Vietnam in 2018.
POKEMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU 3D
Watchable. Decent 3D but not a must, I've seen better. Opening credit typography is stylised for katakana. Polish dubbing in dialogues sounds superb. Top-notch CGIs: Pokémons have a wide array of facial expressions and the dragon changes eye colour. The whole thing is cute and enjoyable. Outstanding music by Henry Jackman extends till the end of the credits. Available in Atmos too.
PRZEGLAD FILMOW WIETNAMSKICH (VIETNAM FILM WEEK IN POLAND)
TOI THAY HOA VANG TREN CO XANH (YELLOW FLOWERS ON THE GREEN GRASS)
Recommended. Beautiful cinematography matches the enchanting story where the world's seen from children perspective. Set in an obscure Vietnamese village. Ends in mesmerising music over end credits.
TRUNG SO (JACKPOT)
Watchable. A silly but cheerful comedy at which I didn't laugh. Vivid characters and an implausible plot.
There was one more movie but the air-con at Kultura cinema wasn't working properly and I got up with the Vietnamese who would talk during the movies or bring little noisy kids to adult screenings. It's a shame because the films had really good cinematography and interesting plots.
BIG BOOK FESTIVAL
ANTHROPOCENE: THE HUMAN EPOCH
Recommended. Stunning imagery of gigantic mines, landfills, multimillion metropolises, a church built for one million people, bleached coral reefs all serve one purpose - they show the scale of man-made devastation of the earth.
Wednesday, 26 June 2019
MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL
Watchable. Fun. People are a bit worse but aliens better than before. There are plenty of fantastic aliens - some are cuter, all more colourful and none as revolting as in previous parts. Tessa Thompson passes the exam, Chris Hemsworth is so-so, acts a bit over the top. And there's no real banter between them, they act parallel to each other, not together. Other than that, the plot's much in line with the rest of the series, with the addition of mind-blowing inventions like intercontinental trains. No mid- or post-credit.
Watchable. Fun. People are a bit worse but aliens better than before. There are plenty of fantastic aliens - some are cuter, all more colourful and none as revolting as in previous parts. Tessa Thompson passes the exam, Chris Hemsworth is so-so, acts a bit over the top. And there's no real banter between them, they act parallel to each other, not together. Other than that, the plot's much in line with the rest of the series, with the addition of mind-blowing inventions like intercontinental trains. No mid- or post-credit.
Monday, 24 June 2019
KREW BOGA (THE MUTE)
Walked out. I've heard from somebody deciding about movie financing in the Polish Film Insititute that what determines if a movie is bankrolled is how cheap it is. This one looks like such a movie. Amateurs with dreadlocks perform experimental theatre, probably not knowing what they act, and with bad lighting. The light is always too something: overlit, underlit, too blue etc. Nerve-wracking music and shrieks were just other unbearable elements of this work. No script or directing to speak of. It's all pathetically unprofessional. And odd. Ah, and bad sound: the shrieks are too loud, dialogues unintelligible, just some mumbling.
X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX IN DOLBY ATMOS
Watchable when seen for the 3rd time. I noticed further details, e.g. that she's resurrected and goes to heaven, but felt overwhelmed with psychology this time. Atmos is audible mostly in sound effects but, of course, the music and dialogue are much clearer too.
GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS 2D VS. 3D
Watchable. I enjoyed only the end credits. They looked good, had great music and made sense. Unlike all the rest before and after (the post-credit). It's a class B movie about gigantic monsters, some of them looking like insects, with amateurish acting, wooden dialogues and, worst of all, poor CGIs: for a larger part you see just the silhouettes of the monsters, with no detail. And all this nonsense lasts long. Barely managed to sit through it. I did only because the predictable plot indicated there would be several monsters. There were 4 shown. And then I waited till the very end to see what might happen in a sequel. Unfortunately, I was right - it looks set for another rubbish film. Shame, after an exquisite part one. Blurred in 2D so 3D is better just for clarity of the picture.
The trailers of "Joker" and "Annabelle Comes Home" looked uninviting too.
MARNIES WELT (MARNIE'S WORLD)
Watchable. Still fun even though the part of the plot in the air doesn't make much sense. But it's such a crazy story that who cares. Looks very pleasant too.
PRZEGLAD FILMOW WIETNAMSKICH (VIETNAM FILM WEEK IN POLAND)
CO BA SAI GON (THE TAILOR) (2017)
Recommended. Uplifting music and lots of fabulous colourful outfits from the start. A Western-style family comedy about fashion with fantasy elements. Moving at times. Ah, and with the best: time travel. Wonderfully acted too. There's a funny post-credit.
Walked out. I've heard from somebody deciding about movie financing in the Polish Film Insititute that what determines if a movie is bankrolled is how cheap it is. This one looks like such a movie. Amateurs with dreadlocks perform experimental theatre, probably not knowing what they act, and with bad lighting. The light is always too something: overlit, underlit, too blue etc. Nerve-wracking music and shrieks were just other unbearable elements of this work. No script or directing to speak of. It's all pathetically unprofessional. And odd. Ah, and bad sound: the shrieks are too loud, dialogues unintelligible, just some mumbling.
X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX IN DOLBY ATMOS
Watchable when seen for the 3rd time. I noticed further details, e.g. that she's resurrected and goes to heaven, but felt overwhelmed with psychology this time. Atmos is audible mostly in sound effects but, of course, the music and dialogue are much clearer too.
GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS 2D VS. 3D
Watchable. I enjoyed only the end credits. They looked good, had great music and made sense. Unlike all the rest before and after (the post-credit). It's a class B movie about gigantic monsters, some of them looking like insects, with amateurish acting, wooden dialogues and, worst of all, poor CGIs: for a larger part you see just the silhouettes of the monsters, with no detail. And all this nonsense lasts long. Barely managed to sit through it. I did only because the predictable plot indicated there would be several monsters. There were 4 shown. And then I waited till the very end to see what might happen in a sequel. Unfortunately, I was right - it looks set for another rubbish film. Shame, after an exquisite part one. Blurred in 2D so 3D is better just for clarity of the picture.
The trailers of "Joker" and "Annabelle Comes Home" looked uninviting too.
MARNIES WELT (MARNIE'S WORLD)
Watchable. Still fun even though the part of the plot in the air doesn't make much sense. But it's such a crazy story that who cares. Looks very pleasant too.
PRZEGLAD FILMOW WIETNAMSKICH (VIETNAM FILM WEEK IN POLAND)
CO BA SAI GON (THE TAILOR) (2017)
Recommended. Uplifting music and lots of fabulous colourful outfits from the start. A Western-style family comedy about fashion with fantasy elements. Moving at times. Ah, and with the best: time travel. Wonderfully acted too. There's a funny post-credit.
Wednesday, 19 June 2019
QU'EST-CE QU'ON FAIT A ENCORE FAIT AU BON DIEU? (SERIAL (BAD) WEDDINGS 2)
Recommended. I laughed quite a few times. Further predjudices are added to the ones from part 1. But the well-known protagonists still have their adorable foibles. The scene of meeting a daughter's fiance in a restaurant is recreated with different protagonists. Great music till the end of the credits. Now I feel like seeing the first part again.
X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX IMAX 3D
Recommended. I much prefer 4DX. 3D at Imax is just satisfactory and the huge screen lets you spot more wrinkles on Magneto's face or a hand sticking out of a shield in one of the combat scenes but the crash and flares of light made a bigger impression in 4DX. Still, the movie's worth seeing again. It was only at the second time that I noticed Christian inspirations in the picture. Jean is coaxed by the alien woman on the high floor of a building the way the Christ was tempted on a mountain, next she makes a cripple walk and then she gets crucified (with safety belts). The movie's deeper than it seems.
The "Men in Black: International" trailer at Imax looked little short of spectacular.
ALADDIN
Recommended. The old oriental tale (shot in Jordan) gets a modern social twist but retains the opulence associated with the Orient, lavish costumes, naturally looking CGIs, dancing and singing incl. songs by Will Smith and the actor in the leading role Mena Massoud - looking hot and dashing in the movie. Beautiful and magical. You can even forgive them for making it into a musical. The story alterations mean everyone has a mind of their own: the princess, the genie and even the magic carpet.
ALADDIN 3D
Recommended. This version is only dubbed in Polish but the songs in Polish are even better than in the original. It's still witty at times, especially the dating bits, even with changed dialogues. And I discovered further items in this detail-rich movie.
Recommended. I laughed quite a few times. Further predjudices are added to the ones from part 1. But the well-known protagonists still have their adorable foibles. The scene of meeting a daughter's fiance in a restaurant is recreated with different protagonists. Great music till the end of the credits. Now I feel like seeing the first part again.
X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX IMAX 3D
Recommended. I much prefer 4DX. 3D at Imax is just satisfactory and the huge screen lets you spot more wrinkles on Magneto's face or a hand sticking out of a shield in one of the combat scenes but the crash and flares of light made a bigger impression in 4DX. Still, the movie's worth seeing again. It was only at the second time that I noticed Christian inspirations in the picture. Jean is coaxed by the alien woman on the high floor of a building the way the Christ was tempted on a mountain, next she makes a cripple walk and then she gets crucified (with safety belts). The movie's deeper than it seems.
The "Men in Black: International" trailer at Imax looked little short of spectacular.
ALADDIN
Recommended. The old oriental tale (shot in Jordan) gets a modern social twist but retains the opulence associated with the Orient, lavish costumes, naturally looking CGIs, dancing and singing incl. songs by Will Smith and the actor in the leading role Mena Massoud - looking hot and dashing in the movie. Beautiful and magical. You can even forgive them for making it into a musical. The story alterations mean everyone has a mind of their own: the princess, the genie and even the magic carpet.
ALADDIN 3D
Recommended. This version is only dubbed in Polish but the songs in Polish are even better than in the original. It's still witty at times, especially the dating bits, even with changed dialogues. And I discovered further items in this detail-rich movie.
Monday, 17 June 2019
HBO PLANS FOR SUMMER AND AUTUMN 2019
What after "Game of Thrones" and "Chernobyl"? An HBO representative who's been a fan of both recommends "Years and Years". What else is coming up this summer? I've noted down the potentially interesting titles:
I'm mostly looking forward to "Beforeigners", "The Righteous Gemstones" and "The New Pope". In the meantime "Euphoria" starts today:
EUPHORIA EPISODE 1
Watchable. By Sam Levinson and similar to "Assassination Nation" in the way he sexualizes teenage girls. I repeat, this guy is disgustingly pervy. It's just ridiculous how the girl protagonists act exactly like guys do. The serial also glamorizes drug use. It doesn't change the fact the story's engaging. I wonder what's going to happen next to the drug-abusing narrator and her sex-crazed peers.
What after "Game of Thrones" and "Chernobyl"? An HBO representative who's been a fan of both recommends "Years and Years". What else is coming up this summer? I've noted down the potentially interesting titles:
- "Big Little Lies" season 2 with a different director than season 1.
- "Krypton" season 2 - about Superman's grandfather, has superb music.
- Spanish "Los Espookys" - about horror fans who've turned their passion into a business, the trailer implies black humour.
- "The Loudest Voice" - about the Fox News founder.
- "Divorce" season 3 with Sarah Jessica Parker.
- "The Magicians" - about people who discover magic exists and is addictive, the trailer didn't convince me but the concept is intriguing.
- Spanish documentary series "El Pionero" - about Jesús Gil, a populist politician.
- "Pico da Neblina" - by the director of "Cidade de Deus" ("City of God"), about a drug dealer at the time when marijuana becomes legal.
- "Beforeigners" - people from the past, e.g. Stone Age, 19th century, Viking times turn up on the coast of Oslo and no one knows why.
- "Succession 2" - media, power, politics.
- "The Handmaid's Tale".
- "The Righteous Gemstones" - about deviant televangelists.
- "Catherine the Great".
- "Discovery of Witches" season 2.
- "Watchmen" - based on the graphic novel, by the director of "Leftovers".
- "His Dark Materials" - based on the novel by Philip Pullman, with James McAvoy, 6 episodes.
- "The "New Pope" with Jude Law, John Malkovich, Sharon Stone, Marilyn Manson.
- Czech "Bez vedomi" aka "The Sleepers" - late communism, a woman's dissident fugitive husband disappears when she's in hospital after a car crash they both were in.
- Romanian "Umbre" - about a taxi driver's double life, with dark humour.
- Polish "Wataha" season 3, 6 episodes - season 1 was autumn, season 2 winter and this one is spring, probably early judging from the snow in the trailer, this time the action includes Lviv and Odessa.
I'm mostly looking forward to "Beforeigners", "The Righteous Gemstones" and "The New Pope". In the meantime "Euphoria" starts today:
EUPHORIA EPISODE 1
Watchable. By Sam Levinson and similar to "Assassination Nation" in the way he sexualizes teenage girls. I repeat, this guy is disgustingly pervy. It's just ridiculous how the girl protagonists act exactly like guys do. The serial also glamorizes drug use. It doesn't change the fact the story's engaging. I wonder what's going to happen next to the drug-abusing narrator and her sex-crazed peers.
Sunday, 9 June 2019
POKEMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU
Watchable. A pleasant tale for teenagers and older kids with cute Pokémons and top-notch CGIs. Starts with a teenager trying to catch a Pokémon and with several mentions of Pokémon training. Apart from the popular mobile game, there are numerous references to movies, e.g. the old detective movie footage in Tim's room is the same Kevin used in "Home Alone", Pikachu wears a Sherlock Holmes hat, some Pokémons have faces like the dragons in "How to Train Your Dragon" and they take Pikachu to a sacred place to heal with shiny jellyfish hovering in dark blue air reminiscent of "Avatar". The whole plot is predictable and fights protracted. Early end credits are comic book style and fun to watch, the second part of credits is accompanied by nice and light pop songs in English and Japanese.
Saturday, 8 June 2019
BRIGHTBURN
Recommended. First comes a sex scene with Elizabeth Banks. It's not what you're thinking! You don't get to see anything up from her toned thigh. The genre quickly changes. What stays the same is Elizabeth Banks - perfect in each kind of film. Even in a science fiction horror. And bloodcurdling it is. Especially the extra info in the scenes along with early end credits. Maybe not that much during watching, when the gruesome murders are intertwined with a story like no other before only your adrenaline levels go up. But I was looking back over my shoulder constantly as I was leaving the cinema late at night.
The "Men In Black International" trailer looks totally enticing. I bet it'll look awesome at Imax.
Recommended. First comes a sex scene with Elizabeth Banks. It's not what you're thinking! You don't get to see anything up from her toned thigh. The genre quickly changes. What stays the same is Elizabeth Banks - perfect in each kind of film. Even in a science fiction horror. And bloodcurdling it is. Especially the extra info in the scenes along with early end credits. Maybe not that much during watching, when the gruesome murders are intertwined with a story like no other before only your adrenaline levels go up. But I was looking back over my shoulder constantly as I was leaving the cinema late at night.
The "Men In Black International" trailer looks totally enticing. I bet it'll look awesome at Imax.
X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX 3D 4DX
Recommended. While 3D enhances the movie to a point, it does not stand out. 4DX does. Out of all the films I've seen in this technology, this one applies it the best. Gusts of wind match the directions of blows received by the heroes. Flares of light take up not just the screen but the entire room. Both fragrances are released once each and water's sprayed twice in one scene. The shakes make full sense too and let you experience a crash more realistically. Other than that, Quicksilver looks a few years older and works at the school where he tells a kid to "slow down". An "X-Women" joke has made its way into the plot too. But most of the story's tear-jerking, a popular superhero dies. Hans Zimmer's score makes an impression, especially the partly vocal bit in the outer space. Having said that, the action starts before the opening credits and then gets hot right after again. No Stan Lee cameo even though he was one of the executive producers. No mid- or post-credit either.
HEAVY WATER
Watchable. The first half of the documentary is overtalked and chaotic, I couldn't see where it was headed. But the second half is more focused, finally shows the waves, not just talking heads and the acid drop attempts are thrilling. The surfers, especially teenage, look like in "Breath".
CATALINA
Watchable. Don't let the director's Bosnian name fool you. It's very Polish. In a bad sense. Starts hard with a disturbing scene of a strip-search and then a series of other mistreatments Catalina experiences. You begin to wonder what mystery of her past has made her accept all the humiliation with humility. And then the story gets diluted. And diluted again till it becomes so watery you no longer know what it was supposed to be. The producer introduced the movie talking about identity issues and having it imposed on you and rejected and how it shows when you're threatened. But I found none of it in the film. To me, it's about people with no clear goal in life. None of them seems to know what they want for themselves, let alone how to achieve it. Does the director know?
MARNIES WELT (MARNIE'S WORLD)
Watchable. Very pleasant mostly due to good, witty dialogues. I laughed when the woman at the police saw her cat as a criminal. But Marnie has become Roxy in the Polish version for some reason, even though she gets a cake with letter M, not R. And some motivations of characters are inexplicable, e.g. the gangster's sudden confession.
FIVE FLAVOURS FILM FESTIVAL
From the summing up of the 2018 edition I learnt about the typical viewer profile: mostly educated women attracted to Asian cinema. As for 2019, Fruit Chan, "Dumplings" director's retrospective is going to be one of the festival sections and chances are he'll come to Poland to meet viewers.
BIG LITTLE LIES SEASON 2 EPISODE 1
Watchable. It's still not my favourite. Although I like the actresses, I can't find a connection with any character since I'm not a mother, not a housewife and not rich. Also, my favourite Reese Witherspoon overacts, especially astonishment. On the other hand, Nicole Kidman is surprisingly convincing. The crime part of the plot is engaging and the episode ends with such a cliffhanger you immediately want to see episode 2.
Recommended. While 3D enhances the movie to a point, it does not stand out. 4DX does. Out of all the films I've seen in this technology, this one applies it the best. Gusts of wind match the directions of blows received by the heroes. Flares of light take up not just the screen but the entire room. Both fragrances are released once each and water's sprayed twice in one scene. The shakes make full sense too and let you experience a crash more realistically. Other than that, Quicksilver looks a few years older and works at the school where he tells a kid to "slow down". An "X-Women" joke has made its way into the plot too. But most of the story's tear-jerking, a popular superhero dies. Hans Zimmer's score makes an impression, especially the partly vocal bit in the outer space. Having said that, the action starts before the opening credits and then gets hot right after again. No Stan Lee cameo even though he was one of the executive producers. No mid- or post-credit either.
HEAVY WATER
Watchable. The first half of the documentary is overtalked and chaotic, I couldn't see where it was headed. But the second half is more focused, finally shows the waves, not just talking heads and the acid drop attempts are thrilling. The surfers, especially teenage, look like in "Breath".
CATALINA
Watchable. Don't let the director's Bosnian name fool you. It's very Polish. In a bad sense. Starts hard with a disturbing scene of a strip-search and then a series of other mistreatments Catalina experiences. You begin to wonder what mystery of her past has made her accept all the humiliation with humility. And then the story gets diluted. And diluted again till it becomes so watery you no longer know what it was supposed to be. The producer introduced the movie talking about identity issues and having it imposed on you and rejected and how it shows when you're threatened. But I found none of it in the film. To me, it's about people with no clear goal in life. None of them seems to know what they want for themselves, let alone how to achieve it. Does the director know?
MARNIES WELT (MARNIE'S WORLD)
Watchable. Very pleasant mostly due to good, witty dialogues. I laughed when the woman at the police saw her cat as a criminal. But Marnie has become Roxy in the Polish version for some reason, even though she gets a cake with letter M, not R. And some motivations of characters are inexplicable, e.g. the gangster's sudden confession.
FIVE FLAVOURS FILM FESTIVAL
From the summing up of the 2018 edition I learnt about the typical viewer profile: mostly educated women attracted to Asian cinema. As for 2019, Fruit Chan, "Dumplings" director's retrospective is going to be one of the festival sections and chances are he'll come to Poland to meet viewers.
BIG LITTLE LIES SEASON 2 EPISODE 1
Watchable. It's still not my favourite. Although I like the actresses, I can't find a connection with any character since I'm not a mother, not a housewife and not rich. Also, my favourite Reese Witherspoon overacts, especially astonishment. On the other hand, Nicole Kidman is surprisingly convincing. The crime part of the plot is engaging and the episode ends with such a cliffhanger you immediately want to see episode 2.
Tuesday, 4 June 2019
NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE MARATHON OF JOHN WICK
JOHN WICK
Watchable when seen for the 2nd time. The bottle next to John Wick in Aurelio's garage says "peligroso" ("dangerous"). Air views of NYC add space. The casual remarks exchanged between the hitmen are highlights. Pounding techno and guitar riffs enrich the climate. And both pups are cute. As for "a man of focus" his missing targets a few times is annoying and his swerving the car stands in contradiction to the focus too. His tattoo says "Fortis fortuna adiuvat" ("Fortune favours the bold").
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2
Recommended this time. Visually stunning. The soundtrack and plot quality like in part 1. I was dying to see how it ends. Chapter 2 and 3 enjoy Atmos sound.
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 - PARABELLUM
Watchable. This part is tongue-in-cheek. Music has got even better, there are also some spectacular visuals, e.g. combat accompanied by Vivaldi's "Winter". Judo and karate aplenty. Apart from martial arts, it's a bit more brutal than previous parts. My fave joke was: "He killed my dog!" "I get it." Though the irony and combat are overdone at times.
16TH DOCS AGAINST GRAVITY FILM FESTIVAL
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
Recommended. About the position of women in Hollywood. Directed by a man but made by a team consisting of women in 75%. A female director of a high-grossing film with 2 Oscar nominations couldn't land a job for 9 years afterwards. The most terrifying though is the visualisation of movie funding. Normally 99,5% of movie funding goes to men. It's like having 100 cookies on a plate where men grab 99,5 cookies and women fight for the remaining half a cookie. No horror recently has scared me that badly.
The audience at the screening was over 90% female.
Letizia Battaglia's photography exhibition at Iluzjon was interesting though not as striking as what she said about living in Palermo when people were murdered daily and she received death threats and was spat on. Also, a curious fact is that heads of the mafia "were bossy at the time" meaning: they're not any more, "they acted like they ruled the court" and instigated great fear in her.
BELLINGCAT: TRUTH IN A POST-TRUTH WORLD
Watchable. I didn't understand who or what certain people and some organisations were or what the cases were about but all the more I'm strongly impressed with those citizen journalists' skills. They often solve complex high profile cases faster than specialized agencies. The documentary proves Russians were the ones behind shooting down MH17 and shows how fake news is used by that same country, e.g. video game footage presented as real or when people lied down after a staged explosion. Social media, personal posts, Google Earth and other publicly available websites turn out to be more credible than what politicians spin.
SOYALISM
Watchable. A depressing documentary about international devastation brought on by offshore hog-growing and soybean plantations both resulting from the Chinese eating increasingly more meat. Also on how smelly it is to grow animals in large numbers. More detail than necessary, too long interviews. And the final message nearly goes missed since it's only said briefly that we can feed the world only if we go vegetarian.
I went to the meeting with the director and a protagonist of "Diagnosis". Making the film took 6 years from research till the end and was distressing till the last day of editing. The director only felt relieved when she passed it on to the sound technician. Then he got depressed.
WIATR.THRILLER DOKUMENTALNY (THE WIND. A DOCUMENTARY THRILLER)
Watchable. Nothing special. Just everyday lives of a handful of people in Podhale (Zakopane and around). Meant to be limited to those who feel some connection to the halny wind so the topic is forced. Shot with small Sony Alpha - easy to carry around. But it has resulted in the pictures being dark. Feels lengthy so I don't really recommend it.
ZLOGONYE (THE WITCH HUNTERS)
Watchable. It's not fantasy! It's slow and mundane in the first part. Later it gains some psychology. All in the movie world where all adults are kind and caring to all children. But even within this genre, I've seen better films.
GLORIA BELL
Watchable. Pleasant, cheerful, uplifting. Follows in the footsteps of "Roma" in the way it tells about a strong woman and an irresponsible man. With light 80s and 70s pop music and in colour. Set among people in their fifties burdened with families so the setting is like a different world to me. Julianne Moore often appears naked in it and she produced it so I guess she wanted to show off her young-looking body. And mostly for that reason, it feels a bit sad she needs a movie to feel better about herself.
ALL IS TRUE
Watchable. More form than substance. Kenneth Branagh has slowed down recently. His previous film, "Murder on the Orient Express", was bland. Here, with the same pace and scarce contents, the first hour is terribly boring. On the other hand, the scenography and costumes render details of the period and a peculiar kind of cinematography makes each shot look like an old painting. The director impersonates Shakespeare. Amazing acting, also by the young: Kathryn Wilder and Lydia Wilson, attracts you to the screen and compensates for the directorial and plot shortcomings. The plot, in the second hour, when it becomes clear the movie's onto something, under the guise of Shakespeare times, tackles the widely discussed contemporaneously issue of women's value in the society and in the family. Or at least such was my first impression. The 58-year-old director and the 60-year-old scriptwriter claim to have made a film about one's creative heritage, the passage of time and the place of the family in an author's life. They probably don't realise themselves how feminist a message it conveys.
UGLY DOLLS
Watchable. A heartfelt tale about lovely monsters and loving ugly dolls and about the loneliness of the world of the pretty. It's cute when it needs to be and suitable for nursery and primary school children. Pitbull and Ice-T dub the English version, songs are by the likes of Nick Jonas in English and by nobodies in Polish.
10. PRZEGLAD NOWEGO KINA FRANCUSKIEGO (10TH SCREENING OF NEW FRENCH CINEMA)
LA DOULEUR (MEMOIR OF WAR)
Watchable. The topics of a relationship with someone first incarcerated, then severely changed by a concentration camp and of psychologic consequences of the loss of loved ones in the result of an ideologic purge are fascinating but here get nearly ruined because the movie drags and the philosophic commentary, presumably taken from the book it's based on, dissipates the emotional part through overintellectualizing it.
THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR
Watchable. A sappy teenage love story set in picture-perfect New York and with excellent music. On a (slightly) deeper level it deals with destiny versus creating your life history, preserving traditions after emigration and making the most of a day. A tear-jerking flick.
HERETIKS (THE CONVENT)
Watching. First, due to an error, I arrived half an hour late. I thought the movie had just started and was surprised to see spooks straightaway. After finding out I missed 1/3, I went to see the beginning again. To my amusement, scary images appear already in between opening credits. Lisping whispers, gore, gouged eyeballs and colour lights in eye sockets, including in the post-credit. Nearly all nuns get slain one by one. Next, even their corpses are slain. It's an engaging story in spite of all. And set in England in 1619. The lead's name is Persephone - like the goddess of nature abducted to the underworld.
RED JOAN
Recommended again. Gripping again all the same. Great attention is given to detail, e.g. Tom Hughes as Russian Leo pronounces "think" like "sink".
DE DE PYAAR DE
Watchable. A very pleasant romantic comedy mixed with a comedy of errors. I did not laugh but I was smiling all the time. Well-paced, you can't take your eyes off the screen. Pleasant music, lavish residences and beautiful garments typical for Western-targeted Bollywood which I enjoy the most. What detracted from the pleasure was the sexism of the script: a man's betrayal is forgiven.
CAVAD XAN (JAVAD KHAN) (2009)
Walked out. This Azerbaijan picture looks and sounds as if it had been shot 50 or more years ago. Poor cinematographic quality and official speeches.
JOHN WICK
Watchable when seen for the 2nd time. The bottle next to John Wick in Aurelio's garage says "peligroso" ("dangerous"). Air views of NYC add space. The casual remarks exchanged between the hitmen are highlights. Pounding techno and guitar riffs enrich the climate. And both pups are cute. As for "a man of focus" his missing targets a few times is annoying and his swerving the car stands in contradiction to the focus too. His tattoo says "Fortis fortuna adiuvat" ("Fortune favours the bold").
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2
Recommended this time. Visually stunning. The soundtrack and plot quality like in part 1. I was dying to see how it ends. Chapter 2 and 3 enjoy Atmos sound.
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 - PARABELLUM
Watchable. This part is tongue-in-cheek. Music has got even better, there are also some spectacular visuals, e.g. combat accompanied by Vivaldi's "Winter". Judo and karate aplenty. Apart from martial arts, it's a bit more brutal than previous parts. My fave joke was: "He killed my dog!" "I get it." Though the irony and combat are overdone at times.
16TH DOCS AGAINST GRAVITY FILM FESTIVAL
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
Recommended. About the position of women in Hollywood. Directed by a man but made by a team consisting of women in 75%. A female director of a high-grossing film with 2 Oscar nominations couldn't land a job for 9 years afterwards. The most terrifying though is the visualisation of movie funding. Normally 99,5% of movie funding goes to men. It's like having 100 cookies on a plate where men grab 99,5 cookies and women fight for the remaining half a cookie. No horror recently has scared me that badly.
The audience at the screening was over 90% female.
Letizia Battaglia's photography exhibition at Iluzjon was interesting though not as striking as what she said about living in Palermo when people were murdered daily and she received death threats and was spat on. Also, a curious fact is that heads of the mafia "were bossy at the time" meaning: they're not any more, "they acted like they ruled the court" and instigated great fear in her.
BELLINGCAT: TRUTH IN A POST-TRUTH WORLD
Watchable. I didn't understand who or what certain people and some organisations were or what the cases were about but all the more I'm strongly impressed with those citizen journalists' skills. They often solve complex high profile cases faster than specialized agencies. The documentary proves Russians were the ones behind shooting down MH17 and shows how fake news is used by that same country, e.g. video game footage presented as real or when people lied down after a staged explosion. Social media, personal posts, Google Earth and other publicly available websites turn out to be more credible than what politicians spin.
SOYALISM
Watchable. A depressing documentary about international devastation brought on by offshore hog-growing and soybean plantations both resulting from the Chinese eating increasingly more meat. Also on how smelly it is to grow animals in large numbers. More detail than necessary, too long interviews. And the final message nearly goes missed since it's only said briefly that we can feed the world only if we go vegetarian.
I went to the meeting with the director and a protagonist of "Diagnosis". Making the film took 6 years from research till the end and was distressing till the last day of editing. The director only felt relieved when she passed it on to the sound technician. Then he got depressed.
WIATR.THRILLER DOKUMENTALNY (THE WIND. A DOCUMENTARY THRILLER)
Watchable. Nothing special. Just everyday lives of a handful of people in Podhale (Zakopane and around). Meant to be limited to those who feel some connection to the halny wind so the topic is forced. Shot with small Sony Alpha - easy to carry around. But it has resulted in the pictures being dark. Feels lengthy so I don't really recommend it.
ZLOGONYE (THE WITCH HUNTERS)
Watchable. It's not fantasy! It's slow and mundane in the first part. Later it gains some psychology. All in the movie world where all adults are kind and caring to all children. But even within this genre, I've seen better films.
GLORIA BELL
Watchable. Pleasant, cheerful, uplifting. Follows in the footsteps of "Roma" in the way it tells about a strong woman and an irresponsible man. With light 80s and 70s pop music and in colour. Set among people in their fifties burdened with families so the setting is like a different world to me. Julianne Moore often appears naked in it and she produced it so I guess she wanted to show off her young-looking body. And mostly for that reason, it feels a bit sad she needs a movie to feel better about herself.
ALL IS TRUE
Watchable. More form than substance. Kenneth Branagh has slowed down recently. His previous film, "Murder on the Orient Express", was bland. Here, with the same pace and scarce contents, the first hour is terribly boring. On the other hand, the scenography and costumes render details of the period and a peculiar kind of cinematography makes each shot look like an old painting. The director impersonates Shakespeare. Amazing acting, also by the young: Kathryn Wilder and Lydia Wilson, attracts you to the screen and compensates for the directorial and plot shortcomings. The plot, in the second hour, when it becomes clear the movie's onto something, under the guise of Shakespeare times, tackles the widely discussed contemporaneously issue of women's value in the society and in the family. Or at least such was my first impression. The 58-year-old director and the 60-year-old scriptwriter claim to have made a film about one's creative heritage, the passage of time and the place of the family in an author's life. They probably don't realise themselves how feminist a message it conveys.
UGLY DOLLS
Watchable. A heartfelt tale about lovely monsters and loving ugly dolls and about the loneliness of the world of the pretty. It's cute when it needs to be and suitable for nursery and primary school children. Pitbull and Ice-T dub the English version, songs are by the likes of Nick Jonas in English and by nobodies in Polish.
10. PRZEGLAD NOWEGO KINA FRANCUSKIEGO (10TH SCREENING OF NEW FRENCH CINEMA)
LA DOULEUR (MEMOIR OF WAR)
Watchable. The topics of a relationship with someone first incarcerated, then severely changed by a concentration camp and of psychologic consequences of the loss of loved ones in the result of an ideologic purge are fascinating but here get nearly ruined because the movie drags and the philosophic commentary, presumably taken from the book it's based on, dissipates the emotional part through overintellectualizing it.
THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR
Watchable. A sappy teenage love story set in picture-perfect New York and with excellent music. On a (slightly) deeper level it deals with destiny versus creating your life history, preserving traditions after emigration and making the most of a day. A tear-jerking flick.
HERETIKS (THE CONVENT)
Watching. First, due to an error, I arrived half an hour late. I thought the movie had just started and was surprised to see spooks straightaway. After finding out I missed 1/3, I went to see the beginning again. To my amusement, scary images appear already in between opening credits. Lisping whispers, gore, gouged eyeballs and colour lights in eye sockets, including in the post-credit. Nearly all nuns get slain one by one. Next, even their corpses are slain. It's an engaging story in spite of all. And set in England in 1619. The lead's name is Persephone - like the goddess of nature abducted to the underworld.
RED JOAN
Recommended again. Gripping again all the same. Great attention is given to detail, e.g. Tom Hughes as Russian Leo pronounces "think" like "sink".
DE DE PYAAR DE
Watchable. A very pleasant romantic comedy mixed with a comedy of errors. I did not laugh but I was smiling all the time. Well-paced, you can't take your eyes off the screen. Pleasant music, lavish residences and beautiful garments typical for Western-targeted Bollywood which I enjoy the most. What detracted from the pleasure was the sexism of the script: a man's betrayal is forgiven.
CAVAD XAN (JAVAD KHAN) (2009)
Walked out. This Azerbaijan picture looks and sounds as if it had been shot 50 or more years ago. Poor cinematographic quality and official speeches.
Sunday, 2 June 2019
SAUVAGE
Watchable. The topic of male prostitution is less unusual in cinema than the director imagines but here it's rendered engagingly, with a wide range of situations the whores encounter and the silver lining of a love story. And with occasional great techno music. It's predominantly an intimate portrait of a homeless/squatting youngster, gay, benevolent to clients and in love with a colleague. It's presented through his social caste, e.g. he feels uncomfortable on a couch and in (new) clothes. It's an insight into a world a viewer can't get to know otherwise. The film also shows how intrinsic the human need for love is.
Camille Vidal-Naquette explained a lot after the screening. The director's convinced he's explored a topic non-existent in cinema. Even if the film reality appears brutal, there's more violence in the community than in the movie. For the protagonist getting beaten is the only chance of contact with the one he loves. Later he's battered but then feels better, it's like a resurrection. And he still gives love. Camille Vidal-Naquette first wrote the script, then spent a few hours with homeless prostitutes working on the street. The hours turned into days, months, finally years. The street ones are the very bottom. Others work online. The director met around a hundred men working on the street, made friends with 10. 90% of gay prostitutes are straight men. They stop feeding and washing their bodies but still have affections. In real life, they take cash upfront. They live close to nature - in the Bois de Boulogne. Sometimes a whore would disappear for a few months to live comfortably with an older guy but always returned on the street because "he told me for the 10th time to put on slippers so as not to ruin his wooden floor". They're often immigrants so have no protection from the police or any other institutions. One Romanian guy walked through Europe. When the director observed the group, once a female psychologist from the foundation aiding the homeless stopped him from intervening. Their world is ruled by different rules. A normally calm boy was beating another one nearly to death. What was it about? He beat him because the other guy had stolen his tent and the boy faced the menace of freezing to death so he beat him so that that guy never steals it again.
Watchable. The topic of male prostitution is less unusual in cinema than the director imagines but here it's rendered engagingly, with a wide range of situations the whores encounter and the silver lining of a love story. And with occasional great techno music. It's predominantly an intimate portrait of a homeless/squatting youngster, gay, benevolent to clients and in love with a colleague. It's presented through his social caste, e.g. he feels uncomfortable on a couch and in (new) clothes. It's an insight into a world a viewer can't get to know otherwise. The film also shows how intrinsic the human need for love is.
Camille Vidal-Naquette explained a lot after the screening. The director's convinced he's explored a topic non-existent in cinema. Even if the film reality appears brutal, there's more violence in the community than in the movie. For the protagonist getting beaten is the only chance of contact with the one he loves. Later he's battered but then feels better, it's like a resurrection. And he still gives love. Camille Vidal-Naquette first wrote the script, then spent a few hours with homeless prostitutes working on the street. The hours turned into days, months, finally years. The street ones are the very bottom. Others work online. The director met around a hundred men working on the street, made friends with 10. 90% of gay prostitutes are straight men. They stop feeding and washing their bodies but still have affections. In real life, they take cash upfront. They live close to nature - in the Bois de Boulogne. Sometimes a whore would disappear for a few months to live comfortably with an older guy but always returned on the street because "he told me for the 10th time to put on slippers so as not to ruin his wooden floor". They're often immigrants so have no protection from the police or any other institutions. One Romanian guy walked through Europe. When the director observed the group, once a female psychologist from the foundation aiding the homeless stopped him from intervening. Their world is ruled by different rules. A normally calm boy was beating another one nearly to death. What was it about? He beat him because the other guy had stolen his tent and the boy faced the menace of freezing to death so he beat him so that that guy never steals it again.
Saturday, 1 June 2019
16TH DOCS AGAINST GRAVITY FILM FESTIVAL
A DOG CALLED MONEY
Watchable. A social + music documentary. It starts with stories. One took me aback - I'd never expect racial segregation in the US to be so deep that even the Washington metro won't reach a black neighbourhood so as to prevent them from going to the white posh "DC". Then, music and pictures take over the narration. Lyrics first, rhythms next. The music definitely gets better as the film rolls on, incorporating more sounds of Kosovo, Washington and Kabul. Unexpectedly to me, since it's not my kind of music, it becomes quite captivating.
A DOG CALLED MONEY
Watchable. A social + music documentary. It starts with stories. One took me aback - I'd never expect racial segregation in the US to be so deep that even the Washington metro won't reach a black neighbourhood so as to prevent them from going to the white posh "DC". Then, music and pictures take over the narration. Lyrics first, rhythms next. The music definitely gets better as the film rolls on, incorporating more sounds of Kosovo, Washington and Kabul. Unexpectedly to me, since it's not my kind of music, it becomes quite captivating.
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