WALK OF SHAME

Watchable. Fun to watch. Several people laughed out loud. I didn't. But I'm blonde and the story just range very true to me. Too short. I want more!

SACRO GRA

Watchable. A film for people who haven't seen much in their lives. It shows people from all walks of life but could have been shot anywhere in Europe.

SERENA

Watchable. An original but far-fetched story.

SHAUN THE SHEEP

Watchable. A film with very few words. Some funny bits, e.g. one of characters, dressed up as a surgeon in the operating room, looks at the patient's records and gets a vomiting reflex. But on the whole it's a sad story about how people treat animals.

WILD

Recommended. I was nearly half an hour late but the storyline was easy to get into. A backpacker's dream movie, showing the highs and lows of trekking. I found myself in many of Cheryl Strayed's travel experiences. Lucky me I've always had a padded rucksack which never gave me abrasions.

THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

Watchable. It's more about a woman who devoted her life to nurturing her disabled husband only to be betrayed by him with a nurse. It still shows Hawking's strong personality and will to survive. Altogether, in spite of superb acting, it's mediocre.

LA FORCE MAJEURE

Watchable. A quiet drama about how one little unsettling incident can grow into permanent fear.  A plus is a wide array of different lifestyles portrayed, a minus its slow pace and making a mountain out of a mole hill, as I see it.

CARTE BLANCHE

Watchable. Not as good as the trailer implied, with some protracted sequences, nevertheless altogether interesting in the way the protagonist managed to hide his blindness taking advantage of  others who often found it convenient to turn a blind eye.

P'TIT QUINQUIN

Watchable. Weird. The criminal intrigue is involving, crimes peculiar, characters even more so. It's a dark comedy which made me smile several times but not laugh out loud. It's too long for sure, those 197 minutes could have been shortened. At the same time I kind of miss the police chief with his ticks and the film's bizarre philosophical humour and would like to see part two, especially that the film lacks a clear-cut ending. The storyline and grotesque form are incomparable with any other film and while many people were laughing loud, many left too.

THE NIGHT OF CINEMA

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Walked out. A talking raccoon, a tea creature, a man listening to old rock and a green woman together with interesting scenography won't compensate for a downright stupid plot.

JESSABELLE

Watchable. I expected better. It was more annoying than scary. The local voodoo folklore and the birth mystery kept me till the end. Other than that it's skippable.

BOGOWIE

Watchable. Really good, almost a comedy, with brilliant dialogues and situational humour. Well-paced, it showed absurds of living under communism. Religa was an admirably strong personality. It ends all too suddenly.

JOHN WICK

Recommended. Music in film matters. I knew I was going to enjoy it already after watching a trailer. The movie doesn't disappoint either. But, while I imagined that it would be a mindless shootout, it far surpassed my expectations: the jargon, the cinematography, the plot, acting and the music of course were superb. Great idea with the hotel for hitmen. It was really fun.

THE IMITATION GAME

Watchable. The storyline is predictable: we've had war espionage, Asperger's syndrome and the discrimination of women and homosexuals in cinema before. At the same time it's interesting, very well acted on all parts, with a shocking ending which has nothing to do with Enigma.

If any of you happens to understand Polish, here's historical truth about the 3 Polish men who broke the Enigma code:
http://warszawawpigulce.pl/?p=2244

BIRDMAN

Watchable. "Black Swan" it isn't. For the first half an hour I seriously considered walking out - it was chaotic, full of cliches and about theatre. Later on it started becoming better and better with an excellent ending with obvious references to Aronofsky's "Black Swan". The main character's loud thoughts were annoying throughout. Brilliant music during final credits.

HISZPANKA

Walked out. I left half an hour into the movie, already after about a dozen others had gone out. The megaproduction is a total misunderstanding and a miserable dumping of the money into the project. Theatrical acting, poor cinematography, weird music between scenes, slow pace, ridiculous plot.

BIG EYES

Watchable. Not the best but not the worst of Tim Burton's. The main minus is Amy Adams acting like a sweet idiot rather than a downtrodden wife. Christopher Waltz is more convincing. The story is quite interesting showing how admirable work performance and selling it are two different things.

LOVE, ROSIE

Recommended. Two beautiful leads, distinctly portrayed characters, delightful British accent, perfect acting, a moving story with good twists, good music. I just loved every minute of it.

MORTDECAI

Watchable. The mix of sophistication and vulgarity does work out even if I disliked the vulgar part. The best thing about the movie is its playing stereotypes, especially Mortdecai's gentlemanly manner of speech and cultural clashes, e.g. the Englishman in California: "I miss out rain and indifference."

NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE BEST FILMS OF 2014

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

Watchable. What was the whole fuss about? I mean, why was everyone in Poland oh-so-delighted with it? Well, it's a clever film about living, dying and our attitude to the terminally ill, coming from the obnoxious character of the teenagers' beloved writer, but the whole cancer story is overly sweet. From what I know from a friend with a cancer, the brutal reality is a far cry from everyone making their dreams come true.

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

Watchable. I've never been a fan of Wes Anderson, having walked out from some of his films in the past, yet this one is interesting, well, weird, with no message behind the story, but involving. Remarkably well acted, especially by Tony Revolori as Zero Mustafa.

INTERSTELLAR

Watchable. I'm not a great fan of Christopher Nolan either and "Interstellar" does feel protracted, those 169' could easily be limited to around 120. Still, it's one of his better movies. A classical space opera, partly shot in Iceland, like every other movie of the genre, with deep psychology, like most of SF these days, some sociological observations and brand new concepts of the ocean planet or the curved habitat.

The fourth film was "Fury" from which I walked out previously so I didn't even attempt to start watching it again last time, at 5:30 am in that.

No nomination for "The Hunger Games" for Make-up and Hairstyling?! I can only hope they're waiting for the next year final.
http://oscar.go.com/blogs/oscar-news/oscars-2015-nominees-announcement-and-live-stream

LE MERAVIGLIE (THE WONDERS)

Watchable. A warm film about a dysfunctional family. It's relatively pleasing to watch but I've got no idea why anyone in Cannes found it moving or whatever. Bear in mind that Sophia Coppola, who voted for it, had failed to move me with her film before. Her taste is quite peculiar.

FOTOGRAF (THE PHOTOGRAPHER)

Recommended. The movie is just incredible. Worthy of an Oscar Russian-Polish coproduction released very early in the year. Marketing-wise it stands no chance. But the crime plot together with deep psychology gives it intensity as it questions our ethics. A puzzle follows a puzzle so you need to watch and listen to every scene and sentence carefully. Clearly a Poland-based sequel is coming and I'm looking forward to it already.

I wanted to see "Paddington" but I'm not paying for any dubbing!!! No original version means I can just as well wait till it's on telly.

A beautiful compilation summing up 149 movies of 2014 by Ben Zuk from Las Vegas, NV:


http://vimeo.com/115665606

DER 7TE ZWERG (THE 7TH DWARF)

Watchable. Some references to pop culture, a heart-warming tale, a cute lonely dragon. It just could be more amusing and more tongue-in-cheek.

HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES IN 3D

Watchable. It's really 3D, not flat but just run-of-the-mill 3D so I wouldn't pay extra for that.

DUMB AND DUMBER TO

Watchable. I don't know if the first part was funnier or just fresher. This one was by no means boring but it was just mildly amusing, not laugh-out-loud funny. The daughter's IQ level is one big surprise.

I was the only viewer who stayed till the very end after the credits and got to see... the trailer of "Dumb and Dumber for" coming out next summer. Looks like Harry and Lloyd stepped on two guys' toes...

FIVE FLAVOURS 8. FILM FESTIVAL

RANG ZI DAN FEI (LET THE BULLETS FLY)

Walked out. Looks like a mock version of very old westerns.

BAHAY BATA (BABY FACTORY)

Watchable. Even though it's about a maternity ward, the viewer is spared disgusting scenes. Sanitary conditions in the poorest hospital in the Philippines are surprisingly good. Still, I learnt little more than that from this documentary.

SERBUAN MAUT 2: BERANDAL (THE RAID 2: BERANDAL)

Walked out. Another mindless gangster movie.

BING DU (ICE POISON) 

Walked out. So slow I just couldn't keep track, made me too sleepy.


FOODIES

Watchable. It's interesting to find out that there is a group of people travelling specially to eat out in the world's best restaurants (including one who doesn't go below 3 Michelin stars, mind it, one star means a place well worth eating in, 2 stars are worth a detour, 3 are worth travelling the world). But the film is a mere tour of some 20 restaurants and silly chit-chat between the foodies and the famed chefs.


ENEMEF -THE NIGHT OF THE HUNGER GAMES

THE HUNGER GAMES
THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY - PART 1

Recommended. I'm just amazed at how many times I can watch it without getting bored. The cinematography, costumes and make-up, which I absolutely loved in the first two films, are subdued due to the more serious tone of the almost-ending. Still, the twists of action well make up for the loss in colour and it's the most gender-equal film ever. I just love all three parts and I'm definitely going to the next year four-film marathon of the whole series.


HANNAH ARENDT

Watchable. It feels weird to watch a lecturer smoking during classes and my overall impression of the film is that I'm happy to live in more enlightened times when I can be free of smoke in most places. Other than that, while her observations were groundbreaking and confirmed by Milgram's experiment (both in 1961), she was a philosopher which, in my eyes, makes her boring by definition. It was more interesting to hear others discussing her than listen to her own lecture.

DIE BELIEBTEN SCHWESTERN (BELOVED SISTERS)

Watchable. Psychologically implausible. Only a man, here Dominik Graf, could come up with a concept of sisters loving each other so much that they even share a man. Period details were fascinating though, including the chauvinism.

3 COEURS

Watchable. Another story of a love triangle involving sisters. More realistic, apart from both women being in love with a man at least 10 years older, showing that how our lives go depends on pure chance and coincidence. Painfully slow.

MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE

Watchable. A talking head which is not the most involving form. He predicts the crisis will spread to France next and highlights cases indicating that no single banker can be blamed because the whole system is faulty. It reminds me of Andre Brink's view of apartheid where investigating one crime led to the awareness that the whole system is constructed in a way precluding individuals from making the right choice. A bizarre fact about investment bankers is that you score points for "nights" - working a night or two nights in the office is essential (in Germany at least) to get promoted.

SAINT LAURENT

Watchable. Very similar to the previous film about the designer, with some scenes referring to the earlier or later period of his life. Altogether he had a boring life: drugs and sex orgies all the time. The view of his house full of artworks and his collections compensates for the dullish plot to some extent.

SAMBA

Watchable. I like Omar Sy, especially in comedies and this is one, even if mildly amusing ("I have problems sleeping. Especially at night.") The story is involving and the issues of illegal immigrants are important but it fails to truly move your heart and is not as hilarious as "The Intouchables".

KREUZWEG
 
Walked out. Religious, a multi-children family, static. Nothing to watch.

MACONDO

Watchable. The cultural differences between eastern and western family structure should be the pivot of this film while the tiny bits of the clash of cultures presented were nothing new to me which makes it more of a story of a naughty kid.

EL NINO

Recommended. Fast action, good suspense, hot actors, excellent music, especially the Arabic-style bit sung in Spanish. The motorboat looks just like the one of the smugglers I saw with my own eyes when in Gibraltar.

BLIND DATES

Watchable. The povertly, greyness, lifestyle and human relations of contemporary Georgia resemble those of communist Poland. Culture-wise it's weird to see all single women wear extremely short dresses and being treated with decency. The story isn't fascinating, the cultural part just enough.

SEN O WARSZAWIE

Watchable. I'm not a great fan of his music but the film makes you appreciate his talent. The pace is not fast but tells all his life story including his love affair and troubles with communist authorities. Most off all the film makes you grateful for living in market economy.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE NIGHT OF THE HOBBIT

AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG
THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES

Watchable. I had seen the first two installments before, obviously, so only the third part was new to me. It's a clear-cut series which is actually best seen all at one go. They are all in dark brownish tones due to co-operation with Guillermo del Toro who is not my style. Secondary to LOTR, it's similarly long and grandiose, while "Hobbit" was actually a book I first read in childhood so I'd prefer a lighter tone. The third part is the worst in the trilogy. Luckily the battle at least looks different than in LOTR. Still, I have some favourite scenes in all 3: the hedgehog and rabbits in the first one, the dragon in the second, the battle scenes in wintry scenery in the third. Plus the views of the Shire and its inhabitants.

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB

Watchable. It's fun, with some witty bits (e.g. Girl: "So I'll see you on Saturday", Boy's Father: "No way!", Boy: "Way!" - it's my translation from Polish as the movie was dubbed) but a number of silly scenes (like all with the female guard) as well. The British Museum in the film becomes a cross of the namesake and of the Natural History Museum. Great CGIs.

I've got two open tickets to use up by the end of the year in a mainstream cinema. I was horrified when I went through the repertoire - most of the films which I haven't seen yet are about children! Eventually I selected two films which I'm going to see in far away cinemas: "Dumb and Dumber To" and "Der 7bte Zwerg" so these reviews are coming next.

BLACK BEAR FILMFEST

COFFEE, CAKE & SHORTS

NIEBIESKI POKOJ (BLUE ROOM)

Watchable. Weird animation. Some intriguing images but I couldn't grasp what it was about.

FRAGMENTY (FRAGMENTS)

Watchable. No real plot. Very well acted scenes of the world where only money matters and other values are secondary.

DOM OPIEKI

Watchable. It's funny to watch an elderly lady lighting her way with a figure of a saint. The horror of the situation is not clear. Without the synopsis in the festival guide I wouldn't know why she's running.

SIERPIEN

Watchable. Children can be sophisticatedly cruel. But it's too slow-paced to outrage.

WILQ NEGOCJATOR (WILQ NEGOTIATOR)

Recommended. Wickedly twisted. Specific humour and animation, the kind of "Jez Jerzy".

14TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL WATCH DOCS

BROTHER'S KEEPER

Watchable. Very slow and American way full of talking heads. What's interesting is the clash of city and village lifestyles and perceptions.

DZIECI DZWONIA (CHILDREN CALLING)

Watchable. Most calls are pranks so while I was curious to hear why children need psychological support on the phone, not much was serious.

WEB JUNKIE

Watchable. The cinema was full of addicts. A good film showing how to treat such an addiction. I guess I'd like it better if it had more science, not just scenes from the boot camp.

The most chilling was a comment from the audience. Apparently nowadays parents give a computer even to a 2-year-old in a cot so that the child plays with it and parents have the kid off for a couple of hours. It seems to be a norm even in Poland.

GRINGO TRAILS

Watchable. A behind-the-scenes look at tourism and its impact on communities. Shows different issues from various perspectives. Lacks a bite.

THE ENGINEER

Watchable. A bit of CSI, a bit of social psychology. The film however doesn't say much about how gans work in El Salvador. In the 1.5 hour long Q&A the Guatemalan director explained what was missing in the film. I'm looking forward to his upcoming exploration of the roots of violence in the region (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras).

CROP

Watchable. It's an account of how a president wished to be shown in the media. Some tricks are revealed, still it's about one politician only.

NATIONAL DIPLOMA

Watchable. Truth about getting the school ending certificate in black Africa (the Congo) - corruption, magic etc. Nothing new for an africanist, yet highlighting vital cultural differences. A reason why their qualifications shouldn't be accepted as equal to ours.

A QUIET INQUISITION

Watchable. The film proves that several abortions are needed in order to save women's lives. A bit too much talking about the doctors' dilemmas. The election-driven law implementation is menacing. It was powerful but could be more if presented more dramatically, without talking about each day of a victim's dying.

WERKA

Watchable. It's uplifting to see how a person can change, yet doesn't fully explain the motives. Why is it children that have become the woman's vocation?

SOLIDARNOSC WEDLUG KOBIET (SOLIDARITY ACCORDING TO WOMEN)

Recommended. Michael Moore-style insight into the change of the society - how gender inequality was perceived as normal and how women were manipulated out of power by their male co-unionists.

WHITEY: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. JAMES J. BULGER

Watchable but I considered walking out. Scary how corrupted FBI in Boston was. Unfortunately the reason why Bulger couln't be captured for 3 decades gets revealed too soon so the film lacks suspense. It's also full of talkative talking heads so you fall asleep, wake up and they're still talking about the same. Each character has a full chance of expressing him/herself even it's going to bore you to death.

BAI RI YAN HUO (BLACK COAL, THIN ICE)

Watchable. Methodically slowly revealing secrets, well made, yet somehow deprived of emotions. Painstakingly portraited Chinese lifestyle - smoking, alcohol, sexual harassment are the norm. Not a place I'd like to live in.

Before the film I saw a trailer of the latest "Hunger Games" installment. I had thought it would be the last. Yet "Mockingjay, Part 1" implies the makers have followed the "Twilight" and "Harry Potter" suit to cash in twice on one book. It worked with the other two enterprises though so so be it. I'm looking forward to the film anyway.

SVECENIKOVA DJECA (THE PRIEST'S CHILDREN)

Watchable. Entertaining but not very funny. OK, the scene of following the teacher and the political commentary about the two lovers were amusing but the whole thing is a moral tale about the freedom to have or not to have children. Lovely views of a Croatian seaside town.

GUI RI ZI (SHADOW DAYS) - part of FIVE FLAVOURS 8. FILM FESTIVAL

Recommended. A harrowing story about how oppressive to women China is. The hardest-hitting are forced abortions but men's attitude to women is also scaringly chauvinistic.

ZAKLETE REWIRY (1975)

Recommended. Plausibly acted, with a story so involving that the depth of undertones won't overwhelm you. Nowadays it could additionally be read as a metaphor of the corporate world.

JESUS LIEBT MICH (JESUS LOVES ME)

Watchable. A warm movie about Jezus returning on Earth. With beautiful views of a lake and underwater takes. Unfortunately it's too crazy, as if the makers couldn't decide which genre it should be in.

QU'EST-CE QU'ON A FAIT AU BON DIEU (SERIAL (BAD) WEDDINGS)

Watchable. Funny - good lines e.g. "Regardez, qui est venu! La famille Benetton!" ("Look who's come! The Benetton family!) and situation humour e.g. a guy flicking an e-cigarette. A warm family movie. Still, I rarely laughed out loud.

PAULETTE

Watchable. Gently amusing, e.g. the racist granny serving tea and buiscits to the white cop only, even if not really laugh-out-loud funny. Quite uplifting though and something you can watch with your family.

WATCHERS OF THE SKY - part of WARSAW JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL 2014

Recommended. The film shows that genocide can take place anywhere in the world and therefore should be prevented at all costs yet how hard it is to make politicians commit to the cause. It also tells a yarn about Tycho - an astronomer who watched the sky night in night for 25 years with no immediate use for the knowledge but saying that his job would one day save 25 years of work of someone who would know what to do with it. Later his tables where used for the man's first landing on the moon.

SICK FUCK PEOPLE - part of HUMAN DOC FESTIVAL 2014

Walked out. Everyday lives of lowlifes are hardly interesting.

KICK

Watchable. After months of waiting for the release I got an invitation to the first night screening. What a treat! I had lots of fun before, after but also during the movie. Still, I've seen better Bollywood. The humour in "Kick" is entertaining but doesn't make you laugh. The main character is silly rather than manly. I don't understand why there's a red double-decker bus saying "King's Cross" in Warsaw. Lots of action gives the movie a good pace though. And the music rocks!

SINISTER (2012) - PART OF A HALLOWEEN MARATHON

Walked out. A jumble of run-down horror motifs and dumb police.

DZIEN DOBRY, KOCHAM CIE!

Recommended. Really light and funny. Lots of situation humour. With an endearing character similar to the flatmate from "Notting Hill". No deep concerns. Just a perfect, relaxing night out.

A NAGY FUZET (THE NOTEBOOK)

Watchable. An Oscar contender?! All characters are so masochistic and sadistic at the same time that only morbid curiosity keeps you glued to the screen. Deep it's not.

JIMMY'S HALL

Watchable. Seemingly a casual story of a local folk club, it's a much more involving story about how the clergy was able to ruin people's lives - in Ireland a hundred years ago, or is it?

As I have a massive backlog in blogging, I'm (for the first time and exceptionally) posting a draft covering 51 movies I saw (or walked out from) in the last two months. All the titles are there, some reviews are missing yet.

MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT

Watchable. I liked 3 of numerous jokes: "I must say you're a lovely little scoundrel", "I don't understand it: I put the whole engine apart, I put it back in and I still have these two little pieces." and  the proposal (you just have to hear it with your own ears). Other than that it's typical Woody Allen: clever, ironic and sceptical - feels repetitive after so many of his movies.

THE GIVER

Watchable. A cross between "The Island", "Divergent" and "The Brave New World". Unfortunately not too clever, e.g. the protagonist escapes in one set of clothes and then passes through various climate zones each in a different outfit. But, as usual in science fiction, it's fun to watch the created world.

DARK STAR

Walked out. Cameron's first film is an attempt at slapstick in the outer space. And the props look really fake.

PI

Watchable. Even though not that revelatory after several years, Clint Mansell's music and the well-structured plot maintain a rhythm that stays with you.

HOTEL

Recommended. It's not easy to talk about traumatic issues and this film does it amazingly well. It's about coping with situations that overwhelm us.

COMPUTER CHESS

Walked out. It's full of geeks having their nerdy conversations.

KOMISARZ PUK I BROJLERY NIEUPRZEJMOSCI

Walked out. It's too stupid and absurd to be funny.

A MOST WANTED MAN

Recommended. Slowly and gently do you get entangled in a spy plot. Two terror suspects, two security agencies. Who's there to trust? A subtle rendition. A curiosity - Herbert Groenemeyer has a minor role.

OMAR

Recommended. Another excellent spy movie. A different country, another muslim enemy. The story's full of twists and turns. You never know who to trust.

MISSION SPUTNIK

Watchable. Silly, for children but quite heart-warming.

SERCE LWA

Watchable. Too PC. But the characters are lively and the male lead hot.


SIN CITY A DAME TO KILL FOR

Recommended. Visually stunning, the few 3D effects are superb. Two mesmerising stories.

BLUE RUIN

Walked out. Slow, with few words but with an early kill instead. I didn't wait for the obligatory final slaughter.

LES VACANCES DU PETIT NICOLAS

Recommended. Laugh-out-loud funny, very well acted, for all ages, with serious subtones made hilarious.

MALE STLUCZKI

Walked out. People boring, mundane and lacking sense in interiors I wouldn't like to visit acting in a way which would put me off such weirdos in real life too.

KAZE TACHINU (THE WIND RISES)

Recommended. An involving story of love, duty, career where animation doesn't distract you from the story.

NOAH

Watchable. The transformer-like fallen angels are off-putting and the story too children-oriented. But it's still Aronofsky with his ability to make you emotional. It's also a proof he's capable of making a blockbuster as much as he is of more intimate films.

WISH I WAS HERE

Walked out. It's about Jews, dying of cancer, children's schooling and having a weirdo in the family. If none of these issues concern you, neither will the film.

WHAT IF

Walked out. Friends, a couple and a would-be couple talking about physiology all the time.


L'ENLEVEMENT DE MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ (THE KIDNAPPING OF MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ)

Walked out. If you ever kidnap anyone, give them a book to read. Otherwise they're going to bore you with philosophical discussions.

JE FAIS LE MORT

Watchable. Moderately funny, partly predictable, partly surprising.

MAGYAR RAPSZODIA

Walked out. No plot. Pure chauvinism. Fully dressed soldiers and a naked woman. Disgusting.

THE MAZE RUNNER

Recommended. A story like no other, full of mystery and puzzles, with an intriguing ending.

BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP

Watchable. Psychologically absurd but with good suspense.

MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT

Watchable. "You only live once. Or two or three times, depending on your supply of ectoplasm.", "I don't understand it: I put the whole engine apart, I put it back in and I still have these two little pieces." and the proposal were most funny for me this time. I enjoyed it about the same as the first time.

SOUS  LES JUPES DES FILLES (FRENCH WOMEN)

Watchable. "I'm not a nanny!" "You're their father!"

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

Watchable. Fun on the whole but the jokes themselves weren't very amusing.

WELCOME TO NEW YORK

Watchable. It's not as much a crime case as it is a study of sex addiction. Quite realistic which is both good and bad for the movie. Becomes too philosophical towards the end. Starts with sex.

STAR WARS REBELS

Watchable. Very good animation. The story's fun too. It just took me too long to work out who was who and doing what.

RELATOS SALVAJES (WILD TALES)

Watchable. Six stories about people driven round the bend and losing it. Some are so ridiculous that they make you laugh, some are tongue-in-cheek (my fave is the explosion engineer's). Great acting throughout. Produced but not scripted or directed by Almodovar.

GEOGRAF GLOBUS PROPIL (THE GEOGRAPHER DRANK HIS GLOBE AWAY)

Walked out. It's about people wasting their lives, drinking, unruly teenagers at school, dysfunctional relationships.

GERONTOPHILIA

Watchable. Very tasteful taken the normally-disgusting subject, with a hot male lead (the young one, I mean), great music.

I only hope the film is not going to make old pricks pester young women even more than they do already.

LA STRADA

Recommended. Once upon a time a long time ago Italy was poor, people sexist without even knowing it, life simpler and final credits limited to the word "Il fine".

DIE VAMPIRSCHWESTERN (VAMPIER SISTERS)

Watchable. An interesting family movie about a mixed vampire-human family. Inspired by "Twilight" heavily and "Harry Potter" a little bit (mail comes in the form of a bat). Low-end humour and lousy CGIs.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON -THE NIGHT OF FINCHER

I skipped "The Social Network" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" as I had found them just watchable before and the remaining two films were long enough:

GONE GIRL

Watchable. The start is boringly slow and the ending over the top, especially the bloody part. But the portrayal of a psychopath and the complex detective story full of twists and turns are superb. Somebody taking care of a cat surely is a good person. Or is he?

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

Recommended again. "You're going to deal with thieves, misers, bullies - my family." or "I'm reading your notes." "They're encrypted." "Please." and "May I kill him?"


ZORAN, IL MIO NIPOTE SCEMO (ZORAN, MY NEPHEW THE IDIOT)

"E quante volte ti ho aiutato io?" "Mai."

MOMMY

Watchable. The story of a depraved mother who gets her unruly teenage son sectioned is involving action-wise, in spite of the running time of 140 minutes, but doesn't really evoke emotions.

FILTH

Watchable. "Trainspotting" it is not. Well, drugs are still there, good actors too (James McAvoy this time) but there's too much about crime-ridden police and about gays and the evil-to-the-core protagonist is attractive but the subject feels so run-of-the-mill years on.

THE DROP

Walked out. Left the cinema before my IQ lowered. Each and every character in the film is a moron - just listen to their dialogues. It's also protracted and deprived of emotions.

THE JUDGE

Recommended. Was it released in autumn on purpose? Because Robert Downey Jr. as a full-time cynic this time seems to be fighting for an Oscar. A gripping courtroom drama intertwined with a moving family story.


ADWOKAT W ROLI GLOWNEJ (ADVOCATE IN THE LEADING ROLE)

I skipped Kieslowski's "The short story of killing" as I'd seen it before and it's not the type of film I'd fancy watching again so I saw the remaining five:

REVERSAL OF FORTUNE (1991)

Watchable. An involving story slightly marred by the pointless narration of the comatose wife.

THE LINCOLN LAWYER (2011)

Recommended.

12 ANGRY MEN

Recommended.

LINCZ

Watchable.

ANATOMY OF A MURDER

Watchable.


VI AR BAST! (WE ARE THE BEST!)

Watchable.

10,000 DAYS ON EARTH

Walked out. An ugly, washed-out, obscure musician drones on about his life. Mine is luckily far more interesting.

FURY

Walked out. Mindless bullies in war.

THE GUEST

Recommended. Fun. What "Scream" did with the horror/slasher, this movie does with thriller/slashers. It has both suspense and intelligent humour (look how he defends the school boy in the principal's office) and the leading Dan Stevens is such hot. The film is so suggestive that spillt popcorn looked to me like bullet shells.

10.000 KM

Walked out. Go and find a relationship of your own - it will be more interesting than the one on the cinema screen + via Skype.

ENEMY

Watchable. It's not very comprehensible. From the beginning till the lookalikes' first contact it was hard to understand what was going on. As the story develops, it gets better and better. Architecture makes impression. I haven't read the book by Jose Saramago but it's said that the movie is flat in comparison to the book which makes for a great book recommendation.

LUCY

Watchable. Standard action and fiction fare with a hot kickass lady in a skimp dress. Based on the false premises that we use only 10% of our cerebral capacity, scientifically it's rubbish and nonsense. Lots of inconsistencies within the plot. The makers of the movie must have used less than the usual 100% capacity of their brains indeed.

VIOLETTE

Walked out. Slow, boring, about dysfunctional relationships and lesbians - ugly ones.

BANK LADY

Watchable. Involving and psychologically credible, with good suspense but it lacked something - I think the acting was too mundane, with little showmanship.

MISS KICKI

Watchable. I was curious of Taiwan and the ambiguous relationship of the two boys. The character of the mother didn't keep me glued to the screen. The pace of the film was too slow for me as well.

LE GRAND BLEU (THE BIG BLUE) - DIRECTOR'S CUT

Recommended. Probably the same version I saw in childhood as the ending and music score were changed for the US market only. A cult movie whose love of depths brought on a whole generation of divers. The film is perfect in all ways.

SABOTAGE

Watchable. Beautiful views of a bridge with forested isles in the background. Elderly Arnold Schwarzenegger and fat Sam Worthington. Standard action plot, low-end humour.

BOBRY

Watchable. Wooden acting. Good script. Crime in the afterlife is the best description. It's also the best idea in the plot. Humour exists but, due to poor acting, is not as prominent as it should. My fave bits were: "Myślelismy, ze wino mu nie wszedło" ("We thought the wine didn't went down with him"), "Gwiazdy tańczą po lodzie" (a pun meaning either: "Celebrity Dancing On Ice" or "Celebrity Dancing After A Blow Job"), "Szalet damsko-męski U Damiana" ("Male-female Toilet At Damian's") and on a store: "Artykuły monopolowe, budowlane, AGD i inne" ("Off-licence, building, household and other products"), the hanging and the final scene.

THE EVIL DEAD (1981)

Watchable if you want to compare the versions. Trashy though a bit less trashy than the new one. A cross between "The Exorcist" and "Psycho" - demons run with daggers.

Screening open-air leads to funny effects, e.g. the protagonists hear a noise from the cellar. One of them dismisses it as "It must be some animal.". They go into the cellar, search it in silence for a few minutes and then... a dog in the audience barks.

TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM

Recommended. Beautiful, beautiful voices, curiosities (did you know that the backup singers who had worked, among others, with Whitney Houston, made flying animals voices for "Avatar"?) and touching stories about how some people become stars and others, though even more talented, never make it. A well deserved Oscar.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER

Watchable. Very good 3D, an involving story with a twisted ending. Only the You-know-who inspired noseless, here additionally red, face of the villain is too tacky.

IL ROSSO E IL BLU

Watchable. An ordinary school drama with a funny character of an extravagant elderly teacher. Watch him throwing books out the window ("That old crazy prick again!").

SONG FROM THE FOREST

Watchable. Being an africanist I was curious to see how an American got into the Balaka culture. I liked the typically African ethnic music but it's a typically American documentary full of talking heads which leaves the topic of intercultural relations underexplored.

AMBASSADA

Recommended. It has everything I love in science fiction the most: time travel creating an ingenious alternative reality. It's also funny and very uplifting for the Polish folk ("Don't tell me we border China!"). All the fun lasted for me till after the movie. A handful of us stayed till the end of the credits which was close to midnight and finally someone remarked: "We'd better leave. We don't know what was here before the war."

BEGIN AGAIN

Watchable. Interesting relationships of all dimensions but the music is lousy and it's about musicians.

KERTU

Watchable. It's weird and disturbing which can be either a plus or a minus but the story feels forced either way.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY - THE 17-MINUTE IMAX TRAILER

Watchable. Silly storyline. Interesting characters, e.g. an animal-looking guy who doesn't consider himself an animal, a green woman otherwise resembling Angelina Jolie, a LOTR-inspired walking tree.

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

Watchable. Interesting, moving but with too much fighting (a proper war).

SUPERCONDRIAQUE

Watchable. While not wholly hilarious, I did laugh out loud a number of times, e.g. seeing him with a befriended rat on his shoulder. It also conceals a second story after a twist of action which doesn't get revealed in the trailer.

BLOOD TIES

Walked out. Life after leaving prison appears to be boring. Better to stay in. Also, aging Clive Owen having an affair with young and beautiful Mila Kunis?! Hardly plausible.

UNDERBAR OCH ALSKAD AV ALLA (WONDERFUL AND LOVED BY ALL)

Walked out. The comedy is not funny and it's about theatre which isn't my cup of tea anyway.

THE PURGE: ANARCHY

Watchable. Gripping social fiction. But in real life if one night a year you could commit any crime you liked, would there be so many murders? I believe robberies and sexual offences to be more likely.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON: THE STEP UP NIGHT

STEP UP 2: THE STREETS

STEP UP 3D

Watchable. Fun to watch, great dancing, silly storylines, lots of hip-hop.

STEP UP REVOLUTION 3D

Recommended. It just blew me away. Amazing plot, music including my fave techno, mind-blowing choreography.

STEP UP: ALL IN 3D

Recommended. Music and choreography like above. Lots of good fun. Alexa's attire drawing on "Hunger Games" costumes.

EL MARIACHI (1992)

Watchable. A perfectly acted, apparently by amateurs, movie with lots of style. A bit too slow at times.

THE NUT JOB

Watchable. It's boringly full of chases and explosions with infrequent funny bits, "Gangnam Style" makes for a good soundtrack to one scene. Other than that the film is entirely skippable. I wonder if Polish children undestand that one grey animal is a rat and the other a squirrel.

EDGE OF TOMORROW

Recommended. Excellent, hard-core hardware SF. And the time manipulation is brilliant. Fantastic visual and sound effects. Commonly compared to "Groundhog Day" it's more of a computer game inspiration rather - Live. Die. Repeat.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2

Watchable. The film shows how reaction times vary between generations. For me the first half an hour is at the gamers' speed. Then it slows down a little bit and you can appreciate the occasional humour, e.g. the threat: "The boat is flammable, we're in the ocean. How's your swimming?" "Very poor." The middle part is an "Avatar" rip-off and towards the end it heavily draws on "LOTR". The best thing though is that it's full of love for animals. Kids should see it for educational purposes.

GRACE OF MONACO

Watchable. An inspiring story told in a cheesy and dull way.

CHENNAI EXPRESS

Watchable. A comedy which is funny but silly.

GOLIYON KI RAASLEELA RAM-LEELA

Watchable. First I went through the ludicrous film to see Priyanka Chopra and then I continued to see the non-standard ending.

HUNDRAARINGEN SOM KLEV UT GENOM FONSTRET OCH FORSVANN (THE 100-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED)

Watchable. Slow and painfully boring with a handful of funny scenes in between. I liked the one with a hammer on a construction site best. But most of the story is like Forrest Gump in a dark comedy way.

JASKOLKA

Walked out. Why would anyone sit watching some degenerate weirdoes?

NIGHT FILM MARATHON: THE X-MEN NIGHT

X-MEN 2
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS
THE WOLVERINE (2013)
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

Watchable. Seen for the umpteenth time all earlier parts were still fun you didn't want to sleep through even if a little tacky. The new Bryan Singer film brings nothing you haven't seen in the cinema before, yet delightfully mocks some good oldies - the spoofs of "Terminator" and "Inception" are just disarming.

The trailer at the end of the latest instalment shows a cult in ancient Egypt. I wonder what that is going to be...

FADING GIGOLO

Watchable. Fading Woody Allen lacks energy but some lines were funny, e.g. "Have you got any children?" "Six. I wanted to have more but I took a while to get pregnant."

BELLE ET SEBASTIEN

Recommended. A beautiful fairy-tale-like story about the love of nature, animals and fellow humans.

LA VENUS A LA FOURRURE

Recommended. Two actors completely steal the show. You become engulfed in the ambiguities of their relation.

YVES SAINT LAURENT

Watchable. An interesting personality. Sadly, the film covers only a short excerpt of his life skipping  both his growing up and upbringing and his death, we only see him young and successful. The French, as usual, focus on sex life.

POSTMAN PAT: THE MOVIE - YOU KNOW YOU'RE THE ONE

Recommended. An endearing tale of a nice neighbourly chap and a crazed corporate psycho with lots of hints at pop culture. The cat is cute.

THE NIGHT OF CINEMA

WALESA. CZLOWIEK Z NADZIEI (WALESA. MAN OF HOPE)

Recommended. Accurately and convincingly recreated communist-time reality togehter with suspense worthy of a crime story. Walesa is portrayed as a people's man, fearless, active, with lots of common man's common sense.

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

Recommended. A masterpiece in a league of its own. The storyline is unique, the acting superb. The costumes play with the bowler hat gentlemanly stereotype. And movie psychos rarely get as good as Alex.

The comparison of Poland and the UK of the 70s in the above movies leads to two conclusions: In those dark ages smoking was ubiquitous Europe-wise. The differences in the working class standard of living were drastic.

LAST VEGAS

Watchable. Not really funny but truly warm and light-hearted, showing there is life on retirement. All grumpy old people should see it.


WARSZAWA 1935

Watchable. Most of the film is too dark for already-darkening 3D glasses. Otherwise it's an interesting recreation of my home city at times when it was different beyond recognition.

GODZILLA

Recommended. Original Gojira movies climate with state-of-art CGIs. A nice surprise was that it actually has a plot.  Some scenes are reminiscent of famous disasters like the nuclear leak in Fukushima or the tsunami of a few years ago. There are also symbolic scenes like the view of a Chinatown gate with dragons in the foreground while the monsters fight in the background and at least one iconic scene which you'll have to see for yourself.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON - PSYCHONIGHT

TRANSCENDENCE

Watchable. The film is unequal. The beginning and ending are boring - protracted and silly. The middle part however, from the moment he takes over the world until he loses the power, is great - proper science-fiction with some ingenious ideas.

On a different note, every woman dreams of a man who'll understand her. This one had all her dreams made true. And she was upset.

BLACK SWAN

Recommended. Still great. Ambiguous and full of suspense. Great acting.

INCEPTION

Watchable. Felt silly re-seen after years. Still, the visuals are impressive and the sound effects unforgettable.

THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

Recommended. Full of suspense and such good twists of action that I had forgotten some and enjoyed them again. A unique story.

OVER GADEN UNDER VANDET (ABOVE THE STREET AND BELOW THE WATER)

Watchable. Perfect acing, involving script, good directing all in a far-fetched story about relationships.

BABAM VE OGLUM (MY FATHER AND MY SON)

Recommended. Turkish Almodovar.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

Watchable. Amazing are the CGIs, the soundtrack is very good too, the acting is lousy and the dialogues just pathetic.

The trailer at the end (in the middle of credits) shows Mystique from "X-Men". Strange but promising. I'm a great "X-Men" fan.

JEWISH MOTIFS FILM FESTIVAL

A PLACE IN HEAVEN

Watchable. You can learn what forms the basis of Jewish patriarchy but the film itself is so protracted you're just aching to leave. The cast includes Michael Alonso but he only appears in a cameo as a wounded soldier who dies quickly.

KORCZAK

Recommended. A truly great film about a great man.

JEWISH MOTIFS FILM FESTIVAL

OUT IN THE DARK

Recommended. Having seen pictures of the lead actors, especially Michael Alonso, I went to see a hot gay flick. It was much more than that. Both leads are hot indeed but it's a subtle love story, a political drama and a thriller all in one. Unforgettable.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON - HIGH-OCTANE CINEMA

BRICK MANSIONS

Watchable. "Banlieue 13" ("District 13") it isn't. The tongue-in-cheek money laundering scene, numerous puns and some good action scenes are a plus. Unfortunately the two lead actors and slow English lines pale in comparison to energetic acting and machine gun speed French conversations of the original.

RUSH

Watchable. Casting an Australian actor speaking American English to pretend to be British was a big mistake. Still, it's fun for linguists as, apart from a mixture of English varieties, you get German and Italian. Some scenes are funny, e.g. hitching a ride after a car breakdown. Hans Zimmer's music is marvellous, including the credits score. The psychology of characters and their rivalry appears genuine. Last but not least that's how history of sport is made.

LONE SURVIVOR

Watchable. On the one hand it's yet another war movie and yet another Seals appraisal. On the other a chance to see a real war and real Afghanistan. Demystifies the local population.

JACK STRONG

Recommended. Another linguistic attraction. Plus perfectly drawn characters and the Cold War atmosphere. Excellent suspense. Convincing acting. And the real life mystery of Kuklinski's sons deaths.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE NIGHT OF ADAPTATIONS

DIVERGENT
VAMPIRE ACADEMY
ENDER'S GAME

Watchable. All of them (the first two seen for the first time, the last one for the second) this time were quite fun but standard fare, nothing you wouldn't have seen before. And all of them talk about teenagers/school and teach you that practise of martial arts makes perfect.

THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES 

Walked out. I had found it watchable the first time but it seemed too silly to see it again.

THE OSCARS 2014 ACADEMY AWARD CEREMONY

"The Dallas Buyers Club" hasn't been shown in Poland yet. Neither has "The Great Beauty".

I wanted "Star Trek: Into Darkness" to win the Visual Effects but it all seems to go to "Gravity" this year. At least the Sound Mixing and Sound Editing deservedly. Cinematography less so. Not sure about Film Editing. Oh, no! Even Directing?! I walked out from the movie! Remember!

Kenyan Lupita Nyong'o the Best Supporting Actress - it would be unjust to give the award to anyone else.

Not only is this year's show full of usual inside jokes but also a pizza delivery: "Tip him whatever you feel is right. No pressure of a billion people watching."

Paul Walker dead?! How come? Oh dear, how eponymous when a star of "The Fast And The Furious" dies in a car crash!

Where are Oscars for "The Wolf Of Wall Street"?! I'm still waiting!!! Oh no, not even for Leonardo... or the movie... The Most Overlooked Film Of The Year Award??

NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE OSCARS NIGHT

12 YEARS A SLAVE

Watchable. A very good film which, however, doesn't rise above a regular slave film. It does its best to show varying points of view and attitudes of both slaves and their owners, just like the original book by Solomon Northup did, but on the whole it's a brutal account of atrocities everyone associates with slavery already. Brad Pitt doesn't sound even remotely Canadian in his cameo unfortunately. It's worth noticing, that although the film is predominantly black, including the director, it comes out shortly after revelations about Cleveland abductions and several cases involving enslaving white women worldwide.

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

Recommended. Whatever I said about the film previously, still holds true after the second watching. I loved every minute of it from the beginning to the end. It deserves Oscars in all the five categories it has been nominated for, especially for Leonardo di Caprio as the lead actor.

PHILOMENA

Recommended. A moving story of the evil brought about by those who believed their moral standards applied to everyone. The third true story nominated this year. And rightly so.

GRAVITY 3D

Walked out. Couldn't stand that bore again. While the music and sound categories deserve Academy Awards, it's too little to sit through something so deprived of emotions.

THE LUNCHBOX

Watchable. A serene film about... life. Just life. Nothing revelatory about it but pleasing to watch, makes for a nice, quiet evening out.

THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG IN 3D AT IMAX

Watchable. I hate Guillermo del Toro - his grim cinematography style ruins every film. As for Peter Jackson, he exaggerated with extending the relatively short novel into 3 long films. While I enjoyed the added characters and scenes on their own, they protracted the film beyond the limits of my patience. This part is also less funny or cheerful than the first one but the dragon is impeccable, you can see its every scale.

NEW YEAR'S EVE FILM MARATHON 2013

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

Recommended. American dream as seen by a psychopath. The scene of between the phone call from the casino up to the arrest in its own right should earn Leonardo di Caprio an Oscar. True to the book by John Belfort which in turn is quite honest, according to the investigator, especially the most unbelievable bits check out, it's more than just a lively story of life and crimes of the Wolf of Wall Street. Most importantly it shows, known to me from London, drug-fuelled traders at work and play. No wonder such people have ruined the world's economy. Another tasty bit is the impersonification of his second wife (Nadine - Naomi in the film) - looking just like the original but with bigger curves.

You have to admit money helps in preserving good looks - JB being 51 looks much better than many guys around my age (a recent date from the internet just made me cringe and the guy was 44). And that's after a good few years of substance abuse.

CASSE-TETE CHINOIS

Watchable. Audrey Tautou speaking Chinese is a gem. I was curious of the lead character's issues with settling in New York but I'm not sure for what other reason one might watch it.

ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE

Walked out. Vampires for retired people.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON: THE NIGHT OF THRILLERS

OLDBOY (2013)

Watchable. The memorable teeth pulling scene is gone in the American version which makes the film just a little bit less violent. Or maybe it's just me who's become desentisized as the younger part of the audience seemed as shocked and disturbed as I was watching the Korean original 10 years ago. On the whole it is really good, even if not groundbreaking for me, in fact nowadays some brawls seemed like too long and just too much.

PRISONERS

Recommended. A perfect thriller.

STOKER

Watchable. Too fantastical for a thriller but with a gripping plot anyway.

SIDE EFFECTS

Recommended. An excellent, full of twists of action, story of deception.

WATCH DOCS 2013

FIRE IN THE BLOOD

Recommended. An eye-opener. It turns out most drug research and development is government funded and only 12% comes from pharmaceutical corporations which benefit from it financially. A clever depiction of inner workings of pharmaceutical companies under different jurisdictions.

GOD LOVES UGANDA

Watchable. That's how I found out about killings of homosexuals in a number of African countries but in a typically American documentary style it's full of talking heads with little data provided and shortlisting it for an Oscar is a bit over the top.

NOCES ROUGES

Watchable. Reveals little known aspects of the Khmer Rouge regime, unfortunately in a typical French documentary style where the camera follows the protagonists everywhere without editing.

LONDON - THE MODERN BABYLON

Recommended. A punk-style social history of London covering racial tensions, poverty, sexual revolution and the core of London lifestyle - partying throughout decades - with great music background. The funniest bits are racial though, e.g. a black guy saying: "London used to be a paradise, but then came Russians, Czechs, Poles, Somalis and other Africans."

HOW TO MAKE MONEY SELLING DRUGS

Recommended. I'm against liberalisation of drug laws but the film fantastically explains the economics of drug dealing and fighting this crime.

NO FIRE ZONE: THE KILLING FIELDS OF SRI LANKA

Walked out. It's more like a news broadcast than a documentary film.

BANAZ: A LOVE STORY

Recommended. I had heard of honour killings several times before but it was only this full-length account of one that made me realise the horror of being cornered, stalked and murdered by your own family. Just compare it to an American thriller in which the protagonist is stalked by just one character. Here, it's a real life, organised crime committed by people you normally trust.

MEA MAXIMA CULPA: SILENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD

Watchable. It starts off as innocently as church seems to be. Then you learn about paedophilia on a local scale and then about its wider and wider circles leading as high as the Pope's immediate environment. Unlike regular paedophiles, priests don't record and share child porn. They just perpetrate the crime as they please while their non-abusing colleagues sweep it all under the carpet. Everyone is implicated this way or another, including "our" pope John Paul II. In the film only the number of, typical for US docs, talking heads becomes annoying - everything has been said already and you still get more and more people commenting on the same to ensure no one's freedom of speech gets breached.

ONVERWACHT (UNEXPECTED)

Watchable. Nothing in this film convinces you of the woman's need to abort. It's just quite peculiar to see how many women are able to discuss the issue in quite a detached manner.

GOOGLE AND THE WORLD BRAIN

Watchable. Have you heard of Google stealing people's wifi passwords and search histories while shooting Street View images? While scary enough to be fascinating, this is as far as the film goes in its allegations against Google. The rest is just about copyright.

AFTER TILLER

Recommended. I used to see abortion as evil and conducting it in the third trimester as unspeakable. The film has turned my views upside down. Most of the women portrayed wanted to have a baby but hearing of inborn diseases the child would cope with all its life, they choose the lesser evil. And the moral dilemmas involved are just as hard for the few doctors determined to help them out in spite of violent attacks on their clinics and themselves.

THE NIGHT OF CINEMA

WOLVERINE

Watchable. Every X-Men fan will want to see it so no surprise I have. Unfortunately it's the weakest film of the series - barely two mutants and a lousy shoot & run plot.

THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES

Watchable.  It's fun, some guys look hot, the music's good but it's just another teenage demon hunter movie.

THE HEAT

Recommended. A comedy which makes you laugh out loud. Most of the humour is situational but some lines are brilliant as well, e.g. a cop browsing a wallet of a guy she's caught soliciting a prostitute finds his family photograph: "I was worried you didn't have a wife or children."

ENDER'S GAME

Recommended. I had been waiting for the movie since childhood, then I heard that instead of Wolfgang Petersen (memorable "Enemy Mine") Gavin Hood (annoying "Tsotsi") would direct it, then it did come out and I was too busy to go to the cinema. Today, around noon, when I had a break, I finally saw it. And I loved it. The film is just spotless, very true to the book, with elements of strategy and deep humanity retained, with excellent cast and mind-blowing cinematography.

Apparently Orson Scott Card is writing a sequel - "The Fleet School".

THE HUNGER GAMES - CATCHING FIRE AT IMAX

Recommended. Worth seeing at least, although not only, for the sake of futuristic fashion - the costumes, the make-ups and other visual aspects of the future are mind-blowingly ingenious. The special effects make e.g. a dress on fire look downright realistic. The plot provides enough twists to keep you on the edge your seat.- OK, that's copied and pasted from my review of the first instalment. Now I'll just add that hair-dos look stunning as well and eyelash make-up has got even better. Can't wait to see part 3 next year.

And in the meantime, if someone gets me the books for my birthday, I want them in the English original;)

MIELE

Recommended. A movie incredible yet realistic, a deeply moving story not only about euthanasia but also about how many people live double lives.

TUI SHOU (PUSHING HANDS)

Watchable. Ang Lee's first movie is a quiet family drama with questions about one's place in life. It supposed to be about intercultural tensions while there was nothing more than issues which would occur in monocultural families all the same.

THE FIFTH ESTATE

Recommended. Fast-paced action takes you round the globe. You get a rundown on the WikiLeaks success story + lively depicted insight into the downfall of traditional institutions (banks, goverments) as much as of Assange himself - in both cases torn from within. Humour is sparse but good, e.g. after sex: "It's the first time I see a guy sneaking out of his own apartment." "Have you got a cripto-phone?" "No, but it's the best excuse if you never call again."

YIN SHI NAN NU (EAT, DRINK, MAN, WOMAN)

Watchable. While it's a predominantly serene movie about family and love, it would have been better as a pure comedy. The number of unexpected marriages and faintings is the movie's biggest asset.

AVATAR 4D

Watchable. My 1st time at 4D but my 4th time at "Avatar" is no doubt reflected in my impressions. The 4D effects are really good: blasts of cold wind, scents of the Pandoran forest and of fruit, water sprinkled on you and gusts of wind above your head when a hero gets hit in the head, all of that on top of regular motion simulation. The screen is of regular size, no match for Imax but with proper 3D depth. It's only the story that has worn off for me. Altogether it was good fun which should feel even better at a brand new movie.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON: A NIGHT OF HORRORS

EVIL DEAD (2013)

Watchable. A class B movie where the demon rises a ridiculous number of times. Once you start, adrenaline keeps you watching but it's so stupid it's better not to start at all.

THE CONJURING

Recommended. The first time ever I shrieked out of fear at the cinema. And no one laughed at me.

WORLD WAR Z

Watchable. An interesting concept, fast action moving across the world, lots of suspense and a puzzle to resolve. One of the best zombie movies. Only the cheesy family bits spoil the effect.

MAMA

Watchable. Fascinating at the beginning, interesting in the middle, with a totally ludicrous ending.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON: A NIGHT OF LOTR DIRECTOR'S CUT

Watchable. While the extra bits are beautiful and glorious, 12 hours in the Middle-earth is far too long. Each part is so protracted it should be cut into two halves. I drank a sea of overpriced Coke, tried to spot all elements copied by J.K. Rowling in "Harry Potter" later on, gently practised belly-dancing moves in my seat and I still dozed off for a while watching the last installment.


THE CONGRESS

Recommended. If not for Ari Folman, responsible for "Vals Im Bashir" ("Waltz With Bashir"), then for the grand vision and psychological insight by Stanislaw Lem, on whose book it's based, this multi-level science-fiction is a league of its own.


ADWOKAT W ROLI GLOWNEJ (ADVOCATE IN THE LEADING ROLE):

BEZ KONCA (1984)

Watchable. You've got two main characters: one female and one male. The woman's story is unusual enough to keep one interested, the man's is too political and ideological for my taste.

THE VERDICT (1982)

Recommended. A realistic trial and its backstage with truly Hollywood-style truth prevailing in the end.

TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD (1962)

Watchable. The trial is shown too superficially and a bigger part of the film is about children, not the crime. I guess I kept watching because of mysterious props placed here and there in the plot.


GRAVITY 3D

Watchable. Back to SF. Well, taken recent technological developments, more of a space-located drama than fantasy. First you get the message that nice views of the Earth (I had a feeling I was watching my business card or fanpage for over an hour - www.facebook.com/apteacher1) won't compensate for problems with the equipment and vehicles (which reminded me of my first and last attempt at diving). Then you get to admire Sandra Bullock's impressive muscles. Then it gets cheesy. Later you see some action again. And finally the saviour emerges out of water like a prehistoric reptile hence symbolising evolution. It's all not deep enough to sway me off my feet but nothing shallow. More like a docudrama about what could happen to someone working out there. I guess it may look better at Imax but I'm happy I didn't go for 4D - it would have been a bumpy ride, a giroscope last year was fine but enough.

ERASERHEAD

Walked out. Why does anyone watch this? I guess you could go and watch people in a real life mental hospital with the same effect. And in colour.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON: THE NIGHT OF WOODY ALLEN

JASMINE BLUE

Watchable. I'm not a fan of watching mentally derailed people and Cate Blanchet seems to act the same whether acting sane or disturbed. But both plots are involving and so realistic that it's easy to empathise with the characters.

ANNIE HALL

Watchable. Quite entertaining but not memorably so.

WHATEVER WORKS

Watchable the second time round. An upgraded variation on "Annie Hall". Seeing it the first time I loved the dry humour, e.g. "You're going to pass out here or go in the living room?", and the unpredictability of the story. It's also extremely well acted. What I found detracting this time is the lousy gay joke and the cheesy happy ending.

TRISHNA

Watchable. British Bollywood? Well, in this case it's a heart-wrenching storyline with Bollywood music enacted with a stiff upper lip.

TULPAN

Watchable. Interesting ethnographically but slow and silly otherwise.

TRON

Walked out. I loved it in childhood but it's too archaic nowadays.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON: THE SF NIGHT

ELYSIUM

Watchable. Much better than "District 9". Great acting, cinematography, CGIs, interesting plot. A standard Hollywood chase and idealistic ending spoil the effect.

DISTRICT 9

Skipped. I hadn't liked it much the first time round.

AFTER EARTH

Watchable. Great acting, CGIs, cinematography, action. Just a bit too cheesy.

LOOPER

Watchable. The best film of the night. Twisted, unpredictable, innovatively transforming old American motifs (corn fields, telekinesis, the mob), with great music. Some minor inconsistencies in the plot and the overall psychological implausibility (I can't imagine hating my future self) detract from otherwise great fun.

And from a different venue and event:

ALTERED STATES

Walked out. I left the weed-smelling junkies in the audience. The story doesn't make any sense to a sober person.

STRANDED

Recommended. A harrowing account of survival. Very informative as well. If you get stranded high in the mountains, first make yourself visible for the rescue helicopter. Failing that, make your way down to greener areas as soon as you can. They waited too long and only 16 survived.

REBELLE (WAR WITCH)

Recommended. An involving and moving story which is incredibly true to African culture (even the phantoms are white).

THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS (1962)

Watchable. Finally a "Day Of The Triffids" which I managed to watch till the end. Less naff than more modern versions. Still, a catastrophe followed by a mayhem is such a standard cinematic fare that it would be hard to make it any more than watchable.

ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD

Watchable. A profound source of information on what's it like to live and work in Antarctica. Yet, it's little revelatory.

KIRSCHBLUETEN - HANAMI

Watchable. An involving and moving story about grieving and modern families, cleverly showing a clash of different perspectives, just a bit silly and over the top for me but my family is quite traditional.

ALAMAR

Watchable. Beautiful cinematography and little plot. Purely for watching, the only depth in it is in the sea.

THE FLY (1958)

Recommended. I've never managed to get through the 80s version. This one amazed me. It's like an old-fashioned detective story with science fiction bits sprinkled on top. Very atmospheric and frightening in the message it conveys.

FROM BEYOND (1986)

Watchable. Gratuitous nudity among monsters looking like plastic toys. It somehow has a style though.

STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS 3D

Recommended. I was only hoping the movie wouldn't end too soon. Not only do you get beautiful visions of London in 2259, vegetation on another planet + standard neat all-familiar spacecraft, but the plot is full of twists of action, dialogues bringing home cultural differences in a deeply involving humane way and superb comic acting by Simon Pegg (just listen for his gasp as he's running through a spaceship).

THE NIGHT OF CINEMA

This time I saw:

FLIGHT

Watchable. Too much alcoholism and too little suspense. Actually the only nerve-racking scene is about whether he'll grab the bottle or not. The crash scene has some impact. For a moment you feel as if you've been on the plane yourself. Some hospital jokes are really funny, e.g. a patient lighting up: "My cancer might get cancer from it."

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

Watchable. I didn't find it amusing. The final "She doesn't love you now." is hardly revelatory - first she betrays her husband, then gets a restraining order against him. Lively characters and good acting make it bearable. And the whole thing puts you at ease of the feeling of superiority of being normal.

I had persuaded my movie companion to see "The Host" at the same time. So, how did you find it?

DJANGO UNCHAINED

Recommended. In 2009 Tarantino made the incomparable "Inglourious Basterds". Well, since then his form has gone up. He stays true to his gangster movie roots, adds the contrived plot (with a good  German this time) and loads of sarcasm. While many bits are just hilarious any example of the humour would be a spoiler.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON - 4 X GOSLING

ONLY GOD FORGIVES

Recommended. Violence stylish like in "Kill Bill" (the mother even looks and behaves like Black Mamba would in older age), fantastic music, captivating characters, poetic.

THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

Recommended. When you think the movie's over, it actually starts. Clearly depicted characters, involving action.

DRIVE

Watchable. Good criminal intrigue but the film plods along and the girl (whose husband's in prison) is far too gullible and far too cute to be a plausible character.

THE IDES OF MARCH

Recommended. Gripping intrigue, with lots of suspense and some political humour ("You broke the only rule in politics. You want to be president? You can start a war, you can lie, you can cheat, you can bankrupt the country... but you can't fuck the interns.")

And a totally different screening from the Congress of Women:

DZIEN KOBIET (WOMEN'S DAY)

Watchable. Nothing new in the storyline after well-known revelations about work conditions of real-life supermarket employees, yet the film's naturally humane and well-structured which makes it quite appealing.

PINA

Walked out. Boooring.

BATES MOTEL ep. 1 & 2 of the TV series

Watchable. Involving but the sheer number of sick crimes in two short episodes is just sickening.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE NIGHT OF ADAPTATIONS

THE HOST

Watchable. As cheesy as all of the "Twilight" series, with several elements copied (the girl having to choose between two guys, the issue of saving souls,  choosing between immortality or dying) but visually very pleasing thanks to three hot male actors as much as CGIs and with funny scenes like the one in which Melanie/Wanderer needs a car.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

Recommended. A perfect crime story, full of suspense, surprises and very well acted out.

THE HUNGER GAMES

Watchable the second time round. Having loved it the first time I saw it again with much gusto but without the first-time thrill. The make up, scenography, costumes and CGIs are stunning. Only the action part wanes when you remember the events.

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES

Skipped this time. Once was enough. Didn't want to torture myself again.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE OSCAR NIGHT

LINCOLN

Watchable. Involving, at times funny (e.g. faces the Congressmen make) political intrigues which won't be very comprehensible unless you're proficient in American history.

At least it became clear why Michele Obama presented the Best Picture Award. After all it was "Lincoln" that was expected to win, not "Argo".

ARGO

Watchable. Really funny (e.g. "You need somebody who's a somebody to put their name on it. Somebody respectable. With credits. Who you can trust with classified information. Who will produce a fake movie. For free.") and involving. The ending suspense is a bit over the top, holding up the protagonists in a different way every minute is plain Hollywood cheese.


AMOUR


Slept through. What a bore. Another viewer's loud snoring woke me towards the end.

THE LIFE OF PI 3D

Watchable. Lovely, cutesy animal tale with no depth and completely flat - don't even bother to take the 3D glasses.

ACADEMY AWARDS 2013

Whatever this year's host says isn't a bit funny. No, I've got a joke:

Captain Kirk is telling Seth MacFarlane he's the worst host ever. Seth is surprised: "The show's going fine." Kirk: "No, it's not."

And shortly after you get that distasteful "I saw your boobies" song which clearly insults several actresses.

Other than "Skyfall", "The Hobbit", "Prometheus" and the last half an hour of "Amour" I haven't seen the movies yet so I'm not commenting on winners this time.

And now some unfanny teddy bear. Mercy!

It's already 2 hours 30 minutes in the show and I'm bored.

And Michelle Obama announcing an Oscar - why do they politicize it?

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES

Watchable by genre buffs. A lousy "Twilight" rip-off with elements of a "Harry Potter" rip-off. If you know the two movies, you just stalk the stolen bits. If you don't know either, there's nothing to watch. And the lead Alden Ehrenreich seriously needs acting lessons.

DROGOWKA (TRAFFIC DEPARTMENT)

Wanted to walk out but didn't want to be impolite to my movie companion. Polish people in Britain have an opinion of tough guys. And rightly so. Several of them endure such movies which shapes character and makes them believe they'll survive anything. You have to listen carefully to put the swear words in the context. And there's nothing more than "inserted words" in the film. The plot might be comprehensible to true blue Poles.

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY 3D AT IMAX

Recommended. Are they going, like in the case of LOTR, wait with the Academy Awards till the last installment? This one deserves several, and there should be a special category for the cutest hedgehogs and the fastest rabbits! While darker than the book, it's more humorous than LOTR, e.g. Bilbo reading his contract.

It's also clearly visible J. K. Rowling drew her "Harry Potter" inspiration from Tolkien.

WATCH DOCS FESTIVAL 2012 (in alphabetical order)

AGNUS DEI (LAMB OF GOD) 
Watchable. A typical philosophical French documentary but this one is very atmospheric at least.

BAD BOY - CELA DLA NIEBEZPIECZNYCH (BAD BOY HIGH SECURITY CELL)
Watchable. Fun to watch, the main protagonist has a contagious sense of humour e.g. "Patrzcie, jaki mam widok! Palmy, panienki..." ("Look, what view I've got! Palm trees, chicks...") pointing at the bars of his cell. It fails, however, to convey the message the director had in mind, as I heard him say later, that prisoners are humans like us (this prisoner used so many "shits" and "fuckings" that his language itself set him apart from an average Joe).

CAMP 14 - TOTAL CONTROL ZONE
Recommended. Hard-hitting as expected: a life story of a man born, yes - born, in a North Korean concentration camp. A horrifying film about a closed world where even family ties are thinner than water.

COMPACTA Y REVOLUCIONARIA (COMPACT AND REVOLUTIONARY)
Walked out. Watching the preparation of tiles for a labour day parade is about as interesting as watching wet paint dry.

DAYEREH (A CIRCLE)
Watchable. Exotic but hardly comprehensible for someone who doesn't know much about Iran.

DUCH, LE MAITRE DES FORGES DE L'ENFER (DUCH, MASTER OF THE FORGES OF HELL)
Watchable. Poor translations (a different version in every language) detracted a lot from this otherwise powerful movie. The detached way the Khmer Rouge time Cambodian prison commendant talks about tortures is juxtaposed with his account of how he got entwined in the murderous system. About the only film where the French documentary style (no editing, everything shown minute by minute indiscriminately and without the change of scene) helps emphasize the message.

DURGA
Watchable. An important topic of Indian men's ambivalent attitude to women deserves more than this artistic impression.

ERA UMA VEZ UM ARRASTAO (THE BEACH RAMPAGE THAT NEVER WAS)
Watchable. Boring as a film but makes you question all media coverage you'll ever going to see.

ETRE LA (BEING THERE)
Walked out. Why do the French always have to ruin a promising topic with such a boring rendition? The camera follows the same people on different days recording them minute by minute. Even in real life you don't watch the same thing/person continuously. A film should be more exciting than reality to make you sit through it, isn't it?

FRAMING THE OTHER
Watchable. Revealing about the true nature of "local traditions" presented to tourists in Ethiopia but without depth.

FREEDOM FOR BIRTH
Watchable. An important film about rights of birth-giving women which unfortunately lacks a wider context.

A GIRL LIKE HER
Recommended. A set of disturbing reminiscences of inhuman experiences of women who got pregnant as teenagers in the 50s and 60s and were forced to abandon their babies. Unbelievable such a short time ago this unspeakable abuse happened to 1.5 million women.

JOINING THE DOTS
Watchable. A quick glance at lives of people who lost sight and how they cope. Uplifting but lacking depth.

LE KHMER ROUGE ET LE NON-VIOLENT (THE KHMER ROUGE AND THE MAN OF NON-VIOLENCE)
Watchable. French equals boring again. Towards the end the litigation becomes incendiary enough to suddenly raise suspense.

MANQUE DE PREUVES (LACK OF EVIDENCE)
Watchable. An important question of how to prove to European immigration authorities the threat of becoming killed for witchcraft back in Nigeria gets diluted through monotonous story-telling.

MIRAGE
Watchable. I was curious of Dubai and the movie showed more than I bargained for - the dullness of life there. Unfortunately it makes the film equally dull.

MY ENEMY'S ENEMY
Watchable. The remorseless Klaus Barbie is a fascinating person and so should be the story of the international chase after him. Sadly the film is too slow to prove fascinating.

NOS JOURS, ABSOLUMENT, DOIVENT ETRE ILLUMINES (OUR DAYS, ABSOLUTELY, HAVE TO BE ENLIGHTENED)
Walked out. People standing and singing unknown songs for God knows what reason.

PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY
Watchable. It starts too slowly but as you learn more and more about the forensics of the crime and legal hitches it becomes truly gripping.

POSLEDNATA LINEIKA NA SOFIA (SOFIA'S LAST AMBULANCE)
Watchable. It quickly endears you to the ambulance staff, showing them as ordinary people with their own minor financial problems. Still, the way it's filmed - each scene minute by minute without cutting- isn't the most interesting form.

SECRETS OF THE TRIBE
Watchable. Too much focus on personal arguments between scientists but important in the sense it reveals a famous anthropologist was a pedophile and actually created prostitution in a remote communities in total impunity.

SEEKING REFUGE
Watchable. Diverse stories of child refugees told monotonously.

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE
Recommended. "When I was in prison, each and every woman there was there because of a man - this way or another" sounds disturbing but proves true in this behind-the-scenes Abu Ghraib scandal documentary. While the whole film highlights the injustice of the system where the orders clearly came from above but only the lowest rank soldiers got sentenced, what shocks the most is the ending. A photography forensic expert with a military past marks each picture with "SOP" (standard operating procedure) or "criminal act". The gap between what it takes for mental torture and humiliating a person to constitute a criminal act in everyday civil life and at war is enormous.

THE WAVE
Walked out. The storyline is bureaucracy in action. The pictures show the same heap of earth all the time. The political context gets lost.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE NIGHT OF THE BEST MOVIES OF 2012

SKYFALL

Watchable. Finally a Bond with a plot. I loved the special effects like the hotel wall in Shanghai or the Tube train disaster in London. The ending looks like dedicated to pyromaniacs though, which I'm not.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

Watchable. Very slow and lenghthy - only the Catwoman enlivens it.

INTOUCHABLES

Watchable for the second time. I loved it the first time round and still enjoyed a repetition of this feel-good movie.

JESTES BOGIEM (YOU ARE GOD)

Watchable. I'm really not into hip-hop. The only thing that kept me watching was morbid curiosity of what the lowlives would become.

THE NIGHT OF CINEMA

A perfectly organized film event on state-of-the-art Multikino screens. I picked the following 3 movies:

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING

Watchable. Star-studded light entertainment but not laugh-out-loud funny.

WEEKEND

Watchable. People were leaving in droves. Am I the only one who finds man on man action hot? (It included hottie Chris New.) If you ignore the constant  gay coming out chatter, what stays is a beautiful film about beginnings of love.

PROMETHEUS 3D

Recommended. Space opera like from my childhood. Quite good 3D which made it so convincing that when Charlie's eyes turned red mine started watering and from the moment Shaw had a cesarean, I was gripped in tommy pain till I went to sleep in my own bed. Old good Giger's scenography and plenty of references to other films (fast-developing foetus like in "Twilight", "Alien" born, artificial intelligence taking over control of the starship like in "Space Odyssey" etc.). I loved the beginning as I recognised one of my fave holiday spots.

Why do guys always first chat me up and then suddenly disappear after a couple of minutes? Even at the cinema...

LAWLESS

Watchable. The accent was so harsh that for the first quarter I had to read subtitles but it quickly became music to my ears as I took to the characters when the gripping story based on facts developed. It's so brutal you can nearly smell the blood off the screen. But it maintains plenty of charm of its own and leads to a hilarious ending which I'm not going to spoil.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON: THE TWILIGHT SAGA
TWILIGHT
NEW MOON
ECLIPSE
BREAKING DAWN PART I
BREAKING DAWN PART II

Watchable. Having seen the first movie at least 5 times, the 2nd and the 3rd once and having read all the books (the 4th volume being my fave) I asked the Enemef organizers for a "Twilight" marathon and here it came. It's a perfect series for a night film marathon - just look at the titles. And you can feel like a vampire who never sleeps. It's also very convenient with sequels as you remember all previous parts easily. On the whole all 5 movies made me laugh (my all-time fave being "I kissed Bella. And she broke her arm. When she punched me in the face.") and cry in turns. The 2nd movie had the lousiest CGIs and music, other than that both got better and better with every installment. In retrospect it was all cheesy yet entertaining.

CONCERT OF FILM MUSIC - JOHN WILLIAMS

While everyone knows music from his films, the most fascinating for me was the fact that his music was immediately recognisable yet distinct in every film. It seems that he's been re-working the same motif for 40 years! It was fun to have one's way on the concourse blocked by an R2D2. Less impressive was the presentation of the Star Wars characters during the concert - the extras didn't march and didn't even stand straight which detracted from the troopers effect.

Still, what was the most appalling was that the Sala Kongresowa in Warsaw wasn't accessible. I've never used a wheelchair but it's clear to me that the adjustments were carried out without any consultation with the disabled (who, obviously, didn't attend the concert) whatsoever. The outside access ramp was cobbled, curved and narrow. The little one inside was ridiculously steep - how can anyone drive up such a slope? Even if you roll down it, you'll have to break very hard so as not to crash against the wall in front. There's also no lift to the first floor and the stairs look like Mount Everest. I wonder if all that would be legal in the UK.

EK THA TIGER

Recommended. A spy movie with proper doses of everything: action, humour, suspense and something to cry after. And great Bollywood music and dancing of course.

JOKER

Watchable. A genuinely funny comedy Bollywood style where even an alien has learnt to dance. Maybe a bit too PC but who cares when it's so much fun.

THE NIGHT OF CINEMA

DRIVE

Watchable. A beautifully shot, acted through Ryan Gosling's facial expressions standard slow-paced gangster fare served with great music and sound effects.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

Watchable. Kevin is a textbook psycho which would be fascinating to watch if only it wasn't so protracted.

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE

Walked out. Inner thougts of a depressed tarnished celebrity were supposed to be funny in the very least.

THE IRON LADY

Recommended. A rich, multi-layer biography of an extraordinarily strong woman which puts you right inside her mind and leaves the judgement to yourself. Acted by equally extraordinary Meryl Streep.

ZIDANE, UN PORTRAIT DU 21E SIECLE (ZIDANE: A 21ST CENTURY PORTRAIT)

Walked out. For me football can be fascinating but only when you support one of the teams and watch it live. A foreign match in retrospect with a player's not-too-deep thoughts displayed on the screen didn't raise my adrenaline levels.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE CINEMA OF FEAR

THE AWAKENING
THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
HELL
THE GREY

Watchable. I'll talk about all 4 jointly as there's little difference between them. The characters are chased by: ghosts and the living/zombies and other mythological creatures/canibals/wolves and you keep watching out of morbid curiosity who'll survive and who won't.

There was a hilarious line in "The Awakening" about the woman who throughout the film was praised for being educated (in 1919): "There was something strange about her anyway. I've read a study recently - apparently a woman's mind can't cope with further education."

PROJECT NIM

Recommended. A harrowing account of unspeakable human cruelty to animals which I found just physically painful to bear. A must-see for all humans. How come I was the only person in the audience crying (from scene one)? What's wrong with our kind?

AVENGERS

Watchable. My favourite Iron Man enlivens the otherwise non-inspiring story with his sharp remarks. If you survive to the final hour of the 155-minute long movie, you'll be rewarded with a battle full of truly 3D CGIs.

MEN IN BLACK 3 IN 3D AT IMAX

Recommended. Mind-blowing 3D effects from the very first scene where you immediately find yourself in an overwhelmingly long high corridor include a vertiginous jump off a skyscraper and several, several others. Packed with hilarious lines, e.g. after a turbulent time trip Agent J enters a bar and finds Agent K. Agent K remarks: "You're late" to which Agent J responds: "I've lost the track of time." Unusually for the series though, this time it's not purely a series of gags. There are serious subtones to the story and part of the film is so moving that I cried. Definitely the best of all 3 parts. I'm going to see it again.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON - CINEMA OF CONOISSEURS

HODEJEGERNE (HEADHUNTERS)

Watchable. A bit too morbid, especially the dog carcass being carried on the front of the tractor, but the criminal intrigue is perfect, a beautifully entagled loop.

INTOUCHABLES

Recommended. Lots of situation humour, e.g. the carer tells a teenage girl's ex-boyfriend to apologise and bring her croissants every day and the boy asks: "Butter ones or ordinary?", intertwined with such astonishing sadness of pragmatism. A very clever film worthy of an Oscar.

LEK WYSOKOSCI (FEAR OF FALLING)

Walked out. Kind-of - I stayed in the screen but dozed off determined not to drink coffee for the sake of a film so slow and full of disconnected visions that if I hadn't waited for the next one I would have gone home to sleep in my own bed.

SHAME

Watchable. A bit like "American Psycho" but with more sex and only self-inflicted violence, just reversed proportions of the same.

DARK SHADOWS

Watchable. While I'm normally a great fan of spoofs and this movie cleverly mocks my beloved "Twilight" as well as "Death Becomes Her" and several separate scenes re-enacted by American cinema over and over again none of the lines or gags is funny. What's more I was upset with how unfair it was to present the clever, proactive, beautiful, sexy witch in love as a villain. She was the only perfect match for the immortal. And he spurned her to chase a characterless virgin and at the same to let a third one suck on his dick. The slutty vampire was clearly unworthy of the witch's undying love.

NIGHT WITH ORANGE

A perfectly well organized marathon where you could pick your own 3 movies (or 4 if you walked out just like me). I decided to see:

W CIEMNOSCI (IN DARKNESS)

Watchable. Too lengthy to be eligible for an Oscar but with an interesting plot. Unexpectedly lots of sex scenes and other nudity. Would be more realistic if the people were slimmer though.

ELLES

Watchable. Another film which turned out to involve lots of sex scenes yet here justified by the subject. Interesting stories and life observations but somehow without an ending which the dream scene failed to replace.

LISTY DO M. (LETTERS TO SANTA)

Walked out. Seems like a few separate stories all of which are silly and none is funny.

CARNAGE

Walked out. Witnessing a quarrel is rarely fun and vomiting Kate Winslet put me off the movie completely.

JEWISH MOTIFS FESTIVAL

PARTLY PRIVATE

Recommended. A Michael Moore style documentary following the maker's own decision-making process regarding whether to circumcise her sons brings the subject home even to a non-Jew. Did you know that nearly all Americans are circumcised and the veiled reason behind this trend having been created is that foreskin cells are used in anti-ageing creams? The film is revealing, thoroughly researched, culturally enlightening, watches like a good feature, mixes humour with thought-out reflections and leaves no stone unturned.

SCHLIMAZELTOV!

Watchable. A short movie which looks like a prelude to a full-length research into whether we create our own luck or whether it's pre-determined. An interesting multi-level topic which should be continued.

AUTOMATION and AUDITION

Walked out. Or at least would have - I only stayed because the films were short but at some point I just drifted away. Overdone animation and no plot or if there was one the film(s) failed to get the message accross.

THE DEBT

Recommended. A full of tension drama about Mossad agents hunting down a Nazi criminal who's playing his own game. "The Birkenau surgeon" is a model psychopath manipulating everyone around and taking advantage of any foible he notices in others.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON: EUROPEAN HORRORS

REC 3: GENESIS

Watchable. Full of humour, e.g. when running away from zombies: "I can't get through the door because of  this Johnny the Sponge costume." "So why don't you take it off?" "Because I've got nothing underneath." or "I wasn't going to come to your wedding but we hadn't seen each other for so long." "I only invited you ouf of courtesy. I didn't think you'd come." "I found a cheap ticket on the internet." It also enlivens the genre with a religious motive. Other than that it's just a bunch of people chased by a crowd of zombies.

LOS OJOS DE JULIA (JULIA'S EYES)

Watchable. Full of suspense and good twists of action ruined by a run-of-the-mill slasher ending.

THE WOMAN IN BLACK

Recommended. Reminiscent of "Insidious" and just as scary.

TROLLHUNTER

Watchable. I'm not really into mockumentaries but the troll superstitions gave it a rarely seen folklore feel.

TITANIC 3D AT IMAX

Watchable. As usual with the movie, I couldn't wait for the ship to sink and I still believe it should do away with the contemporary story. I was mostly happy to hear the original English dialogues, which were really fun, while my biggest complaint is that it was flat, even at Imax it rarely had the 3rd dimension.