Movie reviews

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.