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.

THE DEVIL INSIDE

Watchable. Better than "Paranormal Activity" but nowhere near "The Rite". It feels like doing pilates: tense-relase-tense-release.... Sadly, there's nothing more scary than a benign dog barking jumping on a fence when the exorcists walk down a street. The "Stay Alive" director had better stick to atmospheric fiction rather than risk another mockumentary in the future.

When I tried to take a bus home, the driver would drive away half a meter unsteadily whenever I tried to open the door. Eventually I failed to get on and had to wait for another 20 minutes for a night one. And then I realised he may had been under influence. And that was scary.

AVATAR: SPECIAL EDITION (2010)

Recommended. For "Avatar" fans it's like a whole new movie with the plot substantially changed and more views of Pandoran nature. It's an internalized memoir of the marine rather than a purely action movie this time round, yet still in line with the witty/moving/mesmerising original. Just a more thorough version of the same greatness.

THE HUNGER GAMES

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.

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS

Walked out. Traditional Sherlock movies required intelligence, watching a drug-fuelled Sherly's fights requires a lack of it.

BIR ZAMANLAR ANADOLU'DA

Watchable. Not much of a story which is why these 210 minutes felt particularly lengthy but at the same time its slow pace and vivid characters made their world strangely alluring.

NIGHT FILM MARATHON: OSCARS 2012

Several movies nominated this year hark back to times past and so did the four films with the highest number of nominations which were presented at the film marathon two nights before the Academy Awards Gala. As I had already seen "At Midnight In Paris" and hadn't found it Oscar-worthy, I skipped the film leaving myself more energy to stay up throughout the remaining three:

THE ARTIST

Recommended. Sometimes funny, often sad, all the time deeply emotional and humane, technologically impeccable and masterfully enacted by contemporary actors deserves all the Oscars it subsequently received.

MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

Watchable. Emotional and fantastically performed as well which doesn't defend the silly story. I spent most of the running time thinking whether Marilyn was really such a lost soul or truly a manipulative bitch or if all of it was just another man's wet dream.

TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY

Watchable. The title seems to refer to the cult "Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels" - another movie the British are proud of and no other nation remembers. I watched out of curiosity of internal workings of MI6 and was bitterly disappointed to find out that spies' job not only are difficult and dangerous but unspeakably boring as well. The film lasted 2 hours, 1.5 hours of which too long.

MAN ON A LEDGE

Recommended. This man on a ledge will keep you on the edge of your seat! A work of genius. Apart from its perfect structure reminiscent of "The Inside Man" it makes fun of sociological observations and has hilarious lines e.g. "Some people can't handle a 25-year sentence. Have you ever thought about hurting yourself?" "No." - the psychologist gladly puts it down - "Hurting - no. But killing myself - every goddam day."

GIUSEPPE W WARSZAWIE (GIUSEPPE IN WARSAW)

Watchable. The story doesn't make much sense but it has funny linguistic/cultural clash moments like "spierdalamento" or Polish attempts at eating spaghetti.

WATCH DOCS FESTIVAL 2011

BLOOD IN THE MOBILE

Watchable. One of several, recently, films highlighting the hypocrisy of gain-focused corporations. Nokia, just like any other mobile manufacturer, turns a blind eye to children slaving away in Congolese mineral mines and warlords exploiting their labour to fund wars waged for decades. Not that anyone cares. As soon as the lights went on, a girl sitting next to me, reached for her mobile.

I, on my humble part, solemnly pledge not to buy mobiles more often than absolutely necessary. As long as my old one keeps working...

VOL SPECIAL (SPECIAL FLIGHT)

Watchable. Another film confirming the all-known truth that the world is divided into the privileged and the deprived. Where you're born determines your fate as the rich will always protect themselves from an influx of the poor in order to maintain their standard of living. The film is very moving, I was sobbing throughout, still it offers no solution.

PROSECUTOR

Watchable. How to combat crime and prevent it at the same time? A film showing how the circle of violence keeps rolling and highlighting human inability to put an end to it.

ALL WHITE IN BARKING

Watchable. A mildly amusing story of overcoming predjudices, yet with serious undertones - our race is being conquered.

COMPRAR, TIRAR, COMPRAR (LIGHT BULB CONSPIRACY)

Recommended. What some people know and many suspect is that modern devices have in-built faults shortening their lifespan the same way nylon thights have been made so prone to damage you're forced to keep buying new. What hardly anyone realises is that in the US there's a 100-year-old lightbulb shown 24/7 online which has outlived 3 cameras already and that in their beginnings nylon thights were advertised as strong enough to tow a car. At the same time the third world is becoming the planet's dumpster.

One more movie convincing me to stick to old stuff. No need to replace something as long as it works. You don't need a new mobile phone every 3 months, do you?

HONK!

Recommended. Death penalty is a perennial for documentarists. This film goes remarkably deep showing, among others, a wrongly accused man released from the death row, a family who's witnessed an execution, a preacher comparing the capital punishment to sending soldiers to the frontline. The ex-convict mentions an inmate who, refusing to get killed, overdosed drugs, was taken to hospital, got detox saving his life only in order to become forcefully executed a few hours later. Certainly some food for thought.

THE WAR GAME

Recommended. A based-in-science mockumentary about a nuclear attack on Britain. Clearly overlooked in 1960s.

CRIME AFTER CRIME

Watchable. If you thought it's easy for a murderer to get released from prison, this one's for you. A sex slavery victim kills her oppressor and ends up in the merciless penitentiary system. The film lacks a bite which would render the subject better.

ZAI YI QI (TOGETHER)

Watchable. About the stigma attached to the ill with AIDS. Shot in China, could be anywhere. Too philosophic for my taste, yet asking some unusual questions like: would you still love someone who has infected you?

AU BORD DU FLEUVE, A LA FRONTIERE SINO-COREENNE (RETURN TO THE BORDER)

Watchable. Nothing much is happening on the border. The best part of the movie is the final trip through North Korea: no cars, all people carrying some heavy packs, monumental architecture which may one day become a tourist attraction, provided the regime falls.

THE CARRIER

Watchable. The hypocrisy of male chauvinists can be truly astounding. In my opinion the film is too slow-paced which diminishes its impact.

WOMEN ARE HEROES

Watchable. An interesting artistic idea, especially the one with a train changing faces on the posters, comes combined with life stories of some incredible, strong women. An uplifting film which won't change anything long-term but may give some temporary strength to the underdog of the world - women.

BURZYNSKI. CANCER IS GREAT BUSINESS

Recommended again. It watches like a thriller.

Thankfully, as I learnt in the meeting with Dr. Burzynski, most of the presented problems are a thing of the past. Now, not only have survival rates increased, in case of some cancers, to 50 or 60%, the biggest challenge seems to be getting the life-saving medication registered in Poland. Good news is that the prerequisite genome tests are going to be getting cheaper and cheaper (now being at 5000 euros). Dr. Burzynski himself struck me as a perpetual optimist - surely that's how he's survived several decades of struggle against all sorts of authorities in both countries.

Since the time I saw this movie I've been having an impression that what's happening in the AIDS business is similar to cashing on cancer. If it's possible to keep the retrovirus in check by means of daily doses of medication taken till the end of one's life it must be possible to destroy it altogether just as well but for pharmaceutical companies it would mean a drastic drop in profits.

MANGROVE

Watchable. A slow-paced film made to help you unwind. Other than that, nothing new in the storyline or the visual form.

On the whole all the festival documentaries have made me appreciate everyday things we take for granted: a roof over my head, pure drinkable water, family, friends, freedom. I'm feeling so much better now that I know how privileged I am living in Poland.

HUMAN DOC FESTIVAL cont.:

THERE ONCE WAS AN ISLAND

Walked out. So bland I can barely remember what it was about.

SUN COME UP

Watchable. A moving story of inhabitants of a sinking island looking for a new home. Still, it's no more memorable than your own looking for a new place would be. I've done it 27 times myself so it doesn't excite me any more.

HUNGER IN A WORLD OF PLENTY

Watchable. So much economic information will satisfy anyone's curiosity. However, it's no more exciting than an average uni lecture.

THE POSTCARD FROM JAPAN

Recommended. Have you heard of employees so devoted that they will go to work even with a heart attack?

BELARUSSIAN WALTZ

Watchable. While it promises to reveal the soul of Belarussian people, it tells you more about the protagonist's sex exploits than about the country.

HUMAN DOC FESTIVAL:

FOLLOWING KETTLY

Watchable. I'm not a great supporter of artistic projects but it was nice to see the guys dance - talented they truly are.

MOBILE CINEMA

Watchable. The makers' earlier movie about rape was more interesting. There's nothing new in this one, at least not for an africanist.

AFTER THE APOCALYPSE

Watchable. It's just shocking to become enlightened by an Englishman that between 1949 and 1991 456 nuclear bombs were tested in the Semipalatinsk region of Kazakhstan and the USSR authorities didn't evacuate the inhabitants as they wanted to see the radiation effects on humans in preparation for a possible nuclear war. What detracts from the film is the doctor droning on and on about eugenics. Not that the subject wasnt' interesting. His viewpoint was the essence of the movie but due to his manner of speech - slow and repetitive - felt like preaching.

What I found surprising and comforting at the same time was how little effect such radiation actual had on humans. Man will survive anything.

WELCOME TO NORWAY

Watchable. A touching story showing how racism hinders refugees' integration. Still, nothing new, it was exactly what I had expected.

ROSLING'S WORLD

Watchable. A funny film telling you that the Swedish Academy's professors' knowledge of the world is on the par with chimpanzees'. But the scenes of the scientist preparing for lectures should be limited to his jokes. The rest is dispensible.

BURZYNSKI. CANCER IS SERIOUS BUSINESS

Recommended. I've known for years that neither chemiotherapy nor radiation cure cancer, yet the ostentatious way drug companies force those treatments for purely financial gain goes beyond my worst fears and suspicions. And as if deliberate killing of patients wasn't enough, the FDA, the National Cancer Institute and the Patent Office prove to be corrupt beyond belief. An eye-opening courtroom drama with a grain of hope - antineoplastons are out there after all.

LAST SUPPER FOR MALTHUS

Watchable. A revision of vital data on world trade and agricultural methods but nothing new for an educated viewer.

MAMMA LIMA

Watchable. Uplifting missionary propaganda but why don't they do such work here in Poland instead? The protagonists also don't say anything other than expected.

ON THE EQUATOR

Watchable. Not many facts about circumcision, the word itself is mispronounced by the woman reporter. The major value of the film lies in a question asked: "Circumcision helps control women. But why do you have to control them?"

SLUMGIRL$

Watchable. Again, having been to Sub-Saharan Africa, I know that prostitution there is a norm and not seen as a social pathology but the film may be as enlightening to others as the news was to me years ago in Ghana.

ONE-WAY ROUND TRIP

Watchable. Another uplifting movie about how your success in life often depends on the kindness of strangers and about the thin line between becoming a criminal or succeeding. Unfortunately it's a typical French doc in which nothing much happens over 90 minutes. Why do the French always insist on showing everything minute by minute?

TICKET TO PARADISE

Watchable. An enlightening film about how popular working in sex business is among Thai women and how they don't care whether their husband is old or ugly as long as he provides for her. It's sad how they prey on lonely foreigners but not as revelatory as to blow me away as a film.

THE CASTLE

Watchable. The first behind-the-scenes look at Malpensa Airport. It was interesting to see the security guys at work but the rest didn't involve much action.

JODAEIYE NADER AZ SIMIN (A SEPARATION)

Watchable. It's advertised as a thriller ending with a twist. In reality it's an involving drama with an open ending.

CONTAGION

Watchable. Finally a movie about a disease after which people don't turn into vampires or zombies. The story is thorougly realistic and involving but less inspiring than the trailer would imply. Bags with dead bodies are shown only in one scene. It's a drama, not a thriller and that's what disappointed me. Marion Cotillard is a plus though.

LA PIEL QUE HABITO (THE SKIN I LIVE IN)

Recommended. A medical thriller by Almodovar sounds weird enough, still it comprises the best of both genres (Almodovar being in a league of his own), the storyline is clear-cut, gripping, ground-breaking and strangely outrageous without being disturbing. Certainly memorable and unique.

BITWA WARSZAWSKA 1920 3D (BATTLE OF WARSAW 1920 IN 3D)

Watchable. Truly 3D - you see dead men's limbs dangling right in front of you, presenting the history of Eastern Europe comprehensibly even to a foreigner, lively and surprisingly humorous (e.g. "I demand satisfaction! A uniform of a Polish soldier has been stained." "Waiter! Was it pure vodka? Pure vodka staines neither an honour nor a uniform.") What detracts from it is scenography looking fake for the first hour of the movie.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

Watchable. While it's not too funny and I hoped to be in stitches at Woody Allen's comedy, other aspects of the movie don't disappoint. Most remarkably Owen Wilson's Alenesque manner of speech blew me away. As I'm a great fan of time travel both in film and in literature, I enjoyed that part of the plot. And typical for Allen statements like: "The present is always unsatisfying" and hence making people dream of the Golden Age are worth thinking over.

CRAZY STUPID LOVE

Watchable. A feelgood movie for anyone after a breakup. Some funny lines (e.g. parents of a naughty kid: "Thanks God we switched babies in hospital") But whoever casts Julianne Moore in comedies?! She's such a bore.

INSIDIOUS

Recommended. Scary like hell! It cleverly mixes the horror styles of "Saw", "Paranormal Activity" and "The Exorcist" with a never-seen-before storyline.

Well, good my own out-of-body experiences never went too far.

The movie also sheds sinister light on my recent nightmare dream in which some people tried to get into my flat and I was pressing hard on the door while their hands were reaching out to me. Did I "see dead people"?

HORRIBLE BOSSES

Watchable. It has some funny bits (e.g. "It's a line from a movie." -"No, it wasn't in any movie." - "Now it is.") but the whole thing is mostly "Hangover"-type.

FINAL DESTINATION 5 3D

Recommended. As entertaining as ever. Reasonably 3D. The final twist is a great joke.

I loved a line from the trailer of Woody Allen's latest movie: "The detective's missing. I called the detective agency and they don't know where he is."

DO WIDZENIA, DO JUTRA

Watchable. The digitally remastered 1960 Polish movie visually is satisfactory. Still, the plot is far-fetched and the hero too poetic to be truly romantic.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 (3D)

Watchable. The final film is tear-jerking, true to the book, very dark. Unfortunately it's flat, well, OK, it has some depth but doesn't come forward to the viewer. Feels very theatrical as well.

RIEN A DECLARER

Watchable. I loved "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" and its makers' latest is hilarious as well, the same kind of humour however tasted like a reheated meal.

LARRY CROWNE

Watchable. A feelgood movie for teachers, possibly for students and for no one else.

HANGOVER PART II

Watchable. While it's still far from hilarious, it's less vulgar than the first instalment, is equally crazy, has good, well-selected music matching the action and, last but not least, throws in the scenic landscapes of Thailand. It deserves extra credit for a cover of my long-time- favourite "One Night In Bangkok".

THE NIGHT OF CINEMA

Another film marathon. I picked the following three movies:

INCENDIES

Watchable. The first half an hour made me understand why it didn't get an Oscar, the rest made me aware why it was nominated. It started so slow I considered walking out. But then I quickly warmed up to the character of the Palestinian woman. Her opposition to cultural values and strength of character felt like she was a close friend. Her severely troubled fate and the investigative thread of the plot are hard to forget.

LET ME IN

Watchable only to compare with the Swedish original. What was mysterious in the European version, in the American got stupefied to the point of transforming the horror into a comedy.

DUE DATE

Watchable. The humour is gross ("What's that sound?" "It's just me masturbating." is typical) and the gags as outrageous as in "Hangover" (they even hired one of the cast). But it's fast-paced and its level doesn't bother you much at the end of a night when your brain isn't up for much thinking anyway.

KVINDEN DER DROEMTE OM EN MAND

Watchable. An unfaithfulness case study which is involving, well-paced and toned down. Its only fault is predictability. The woman inevitably falls in love, the man doesn't. What I really liked was the language plausability - you here authentic Dutch, English and Polish where appropriate

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

Watchable. For true fans only. Of course I was curious of the genesis of the characters and Magneto's story turned out particularly plausible. But, with little interest in history, the Cold War struggle was utterly boring for me and the 140 minutes proved to be lengthy rather than packed with action and fun. In addition James McAvoy was fat.

KYNODONTAS (DOGTOOTH)

Watchable. While the film shows how limited cognition leads to perverting character it's not anywhere near as shocking as "Enter The Void" was. While the story captivates, the editing is quite austere and monotonous, practically dogma style.

3D NIGHT

or where my love of visual effects brought me.

TRON

Saw the beginning again. The only remarkable scene was the opening one. I felt like on a rollercoaster ride. Then I left.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Walked out as soon as I realized it was dubbed. A 3D night was supposed to be for adults after all.

FINAL DESTINATION 4

Recommended again. Fascinating action with great twists in a movie showcasing what 3D has been invented for.

CLASH OF THE TITANS

Watchable. Sam Worthington was difficult to take eyes off. All the rest was quite run-of-the-mill. The colours could vary more.

SANCTUM

Only managed to see the ending - completely flat.

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS

Walked out. A boring film inspired by French dokumentary making - showing every minute of the expedition, as if it made it more philosophical.

STEP UP

Watchable second time round. Cheerful and makes you feel like dancing. It really does.

ANIMATIONS

Mostly promoting the Euro 2012 and merits of Polish regions, with an emphasis on extreme sports, very artistic, I'd personally prefer something more realistic.

COMMERCIALS

Better of worse. Some would just show a flat picture pointing in your direction. Still, Australian ads looked reasonably good and I loved the property one - your eyes get a chance to walk through houses.

TRAILERS

"1920 - The Battle of Warsaw" was fully 3D - puts you right in the middle of the battlefield. "Final Destination 5" looked mediocre - I'm afraid the storyline may be over the top, the cliffhanging moments on a collapsed bridge seemed farfetched.

Can't wait to attend the Classic Night of the Cinema in 3 weeks.

THOR 3D AT IMAX

Watchable. If a 3D film is flatish even at IMAX it puts the whole idea under a question mark. What saves the movie are spectacular visual effects full of colour and an imaginative creation of the Kingdom of Asgard. The plot is stereotypical but involving and fun. A sequel ("The Avengers") is coming and I'm going to see it.

Btw, have you noticed that Natalie Portman is becoming more and more similar to Demi Moore - in appearance and roles enacted?

PRIEST 3D

Watchable. As usual recently, the "3D" movie is flat, no need to pick up the 3D glasses on entry at all. Visually - it has a dark hue throughout, presumably imitating the comic book it's based on. The plot is stereotypical but fun - there's certainly more of it than the trailer indicates. I liked the train idea.

SOURCE CODE

Watchable. The SF bits were fantastic - old good hardcore science fiction with a soldier hero, the timeless question of what makes us human and a space travel motif. The story itself is recounted carefully - scraps of information are being dripped to the viewer at the same time as to the protagonist with whose eyes we follow the developments. The story stays clear and comprehensible throughout and yet there are a few surprises along the way. While the plot is centred around explosions, we're spared watching them any more than necessary, in fact an average action movie has more, whether it makes sense or not. What detracts from the enjoyment is the cheesiness of the realistic layer, especially the romantic bit.

I felt a bit weird afterwards - the same route home by the same mode of transport as a couple of months ago which made it "the same but a little different" and there was a white van parked outside my place...

SCREAM 4

Watchable. The makers of the fourth instalment do their best to send up slasher movie sequels and the eponymous celebrity victim webcasting murders makes fun of how you become famous nowadays and how no one reads books any more. I couldn't guess the killers' identities till the end and the red herring was misleading indeed. Still, the subject is treated so lightly that the whole story washes off quickly. It lacks the thrill, the creepiness and the physical attractiveness of the characters of the original "Scream". Of course most sequels are doomed by definition.

JUST GO WITH IT

Watchable. The silly and far-fetched story, interspersed with Adam Sandler droning on and on about his relationship problems, is fast-paced and provides good situation humour every now and then.

INCEPTION

Seen again. The Oscar-awarded visual effects are few and far between. The characteristic music in the whole movie sounds too repetitive. The plot is much easier to grasp the second time round though.

BLACK SWAN

Recommended again. Brilliant editing, script, acting (especially by underrated Mila Kunis). Left me shaken again.

THE KING'S SPEECH

Watchable. A disappointing, superficial film telling you that it's hard to stand the pressure of belonging to the royal family and that it can make you stammer. The speeches are just as lengthy and boring as irl. Good acting prevents viewers from falling asleep.

FIGHTER

Walked out. For boxing enthusiasts only. Made in a way that should appeal to the working class.

LIMITLESS

Recommended. I didn't expect I'd enjoy it so much but it was exactly the kind of movie I like: good twists of action, witty lines (e.g. "What have we got here? A dodgy guy I haven't seen in years is offering me a potentially dangerous untested drug... Yes, I want it."), fast-paced editing, an inventive story, references to other films (e.g. "Don't wear the same suits - it's not Matrix" or "If I worked for you, it would make you my bitch"). First-class entertainment.

THE RITE

Recommended. The movie's powerful, it thrusts you into the seat. I'm still recovering.

POTICHE

Watchable. Boring to the point where I considered walking out but with some really good laughs here and there. No funny lines, just situation humour so if you endure the movie you get rewarded occasionally.

SUCKER PUNCH

Watchable. "Mortal Kombat" for naughty girls.

JEZ JERZY

Watchable. Marvellous satire on celebrities (a hedgehog becomes a star because he farts on youtube), politicians, PR, criminal underworld, skinheads, catholics. Good animation and well-matched music. Sharp humour, eg. "Jak cos pojdzie nie tak, to leb upierdole przy samej dupie!" ("If anything goes wrong, I'll fuck off your head right at your ass!" or the promising politician: "that what did I promise? did you record it?!" Only some scenes felt lengthy.

YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER

Watchable. Nothing new whatsoever but easy to watch and entertaining. Takes your mind off things.

SALA SAMOBOJCOW (SUICIDE ROOM)

Watchable. Whatever the trailer might suggest the film's not as much about cyberbullying as it is about communication failures on several levels. What "Babel" claimed to tackle "Sala samobojcow" really does. Jakub Gierszal as Dominik did one hell of acting and there are some funny lines, e.g. "Ilu psychiatrow potrzeba do wkrecenia zarowki? Jeden, ale zajmie to duzo czasu, bedzie duzo kosztowac i zarowka musi tego bardzo chciec." ("How many shrinks are needed to change a lightbulb? Just one but it will take plenty of time, plenty of money and the bulb has to really want it.") but altogether the movie fails to get its message across. Communication failure?

SKYLINE and I AM NUMBER FOUR

Watchable. Both are class B movies with perfectly standard visual effects and predictable plots more enjoyable for kids than a grown-up. "I Am Number Four" was made by the guy responsible for "Transformers" - I should have listened.

THE ACADEMY AWARDS 2011 CEREMONY

The beginning was so much fun - mostly "Inception"-based but with my all-time-fave "Back To The Future" included in the movie compilation.

Anne Hathaway, who has recently taken her gear off in "Love And Other Drugs", joked: "I'm not nominated this year. It's how it worked - you get naked, you get nominated. Not any more, not any more."

I've never liked "Toy Story" so not happy about its victory in an animated category.

Shame "Inception" didn't win Best Original Score, well at least Sound and Sound Editing - well deserved of course.

Brilliant - Cate Blanchett watching a scene from soon-to-win Best Make-Up "Wolfman": "It's gross." It had no competitors anyway. Well-deserved Costumes award for "Alice In Wonderland" as well as for Set Decoration before.

Jake Gyllenhaal has dark eyes so must have worn contacts in "Love And Other Drugs".

Billy Crystal was and is so much better a host than Anne Hathaway and what-is-his-name.

"Inception" had no competitors to speak of for Visual Effects. No Oscar for "Black Swan" for Film Editing?!

Jennifer Hudson with a lisp as a presenter?!

No Oscar for Darren Aronofsky?! Well, at least one for Natalie Portman. But can't they see he directs actresses into their best?

So after all Colin Firth didn't stutter accepting his reward. Still, he acted out the acceptance part masterfully.

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

Watchable. It's not about lesbians, it's about family. And what makes or breaks it has nothing to do with gender. Consequently the film is an ordinary family movie, nothing Oscar-worthy in it. Or are they going to start awarding people for their sexual orientation?

127 HOURS

Watchable. While a based-on-facts movie about a hiker trapped literally between a rock and a hard place was irresistable to my backpacking soul, the movie lacked a nerve. The struggling protagonist deserves better than Danny Boyle, Darren Aronofsky for one.

LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS

Watchable. The story is sad, totally implausible and overloaded with commercialism. Ever-hot blue-eyed Jake Gyllenhaal makes it quite palatable though.

AN EDUCATION

Watchable second time round. Of course when you remember the plot nothing can surprise you but I still enjoyed the faux-posh English accent and the education versus ignoration clash.

WOJNA ZENSKO-MESKA (FEMALE-MALE WAR)

Recommended. It's Polish so I doubt it will ever be shown abroad. Still it is the best sex com since "Sexmission". A laugh-out-loud funny satire on relations between men and women, job market ("Education?" "University degree" "So how am I to know you can do cleaning?"), corporate culture, fashion, agism (make-up artists about a 41-year-old presenter: "Next they're going to make us mummify bodies"), mass media and politics. Visually - Warsaw has never looked so glossy while the protagonist's ponderings stylistically remind "Grindhouse", just without blood and violence. Music's great too. A feast to the eye and the ear.

REMEMBER ME

Walked out. You don't need to go to the cinema to see Robert Pattinson getting wasted -he's all over tabloids already. And the plot with a pretty girl making love to the alcoholic is hardly plausible. So, having made sure my companion was as bored as I was, I walked out. We weren't the first to leave either.

The Valentine Movie Marathon didn't sell well. Not enough couples in a central location on a Friday night. Weird.

ENTER THE VOID

Watchable. Assault on your senses right from the start. Not from the first scene. From the opening credits. Crosses boundaries of cinematic showability breaking quite a few taboos. On the whole it's a well-composed psychedelic trip through the Tokyo dumpster with naturalistic scenes of an abortion, porn-style sex, children splattered with blood of their killed parents, flushing down someone's ashes etc. Lengthy at times but rewarding with some powerful shocks. One startling scene gets repeated three times!

BLACK SWAN

Recommended. Natalie Portman is a surefire Oscar winner. The movie and the director should be awarded as well. Aronofsky's back at his best. "Wrestler" was just a warm-up.
No wonder screenings sell out.

As the example of "Requiem for a dream" and "Wrestler" shows, Aronofsky's actresses are bound to be nominated to an Academy Award while he isn't exactly that successful himself. Imho he deserves the award for his uncanning ability to push actors to the limit. I'm also happy that this time, unlike in the films mentioned above, he manages to show erotica without nudity. Or was Natalie Portman less desperate than her lesser known counterparts?

TRON: LEGACY 3D AT IMAX

Watchable at IMAX, not sure about elsewhere. The visual effects would have impressed 20 years ago but after Matrix, The Clone Wars, let alone Avatar, they look silly. As far as I remember the original was full of colour as well while the sequel is either all blue or orange. What's really worth seeing though is the beginning - the airview of the city, puts you right in the middle of the film and induces parachute-jumping sensations. Jeff Bridges sounds like a chain smoker. No plot to talk about.

TAMARA DREWE

Watchable. A perfectly mediocre story. Good music and acting, very clearly structured therefore easy to watch but lacking in substance. Two days on I can barely remember what it was about.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1

Recommended. Previous Harry Potter movies failed trying to extract the core of the plot. Now the makers have slowed down - half a book per movie is just the pace. Acting has also reached its peak. Everything else is just perfect as well.

MR. NOBODY

Watchable. The scientific (the theory of chaos) and science-fiction (immortality through telemerisation, gene-compatible pigs kept as pets, trips to Mars) bits are the best elements of the film. The rest is quite philosophic and depressingly romantic.
When you have lived all your alternative lives and have been heartbroken in each, immortality isn't enticing. But then, when you think of the misfortunes that happen to everyone in life, would anyone really crave immortality if it were feasible?

Another night marathon so the movies are a tad old:

SEX AND THE CITY 2

Recommended. While Carrie and Big are working on regaining their sparkle (2 days weekly off work or marriage), the movie sparkles in all possible ways: slick haute couture outfits and luxurious decor provide the usual Sex And The City glamour and shine, sparkling humour held me in stitches (e.g. about Liza Minelli singing at a gay wedding: "Why has Liza Minelli signed up for this?!" "It's pure physics. Where there's so much gay energy, she just materialises.") and infallible Samantha sends off enough sparkles to start a fire.

THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE

Recommended. Full of marvellous special effects, fast action, fantastic humour (e.g. "I'm a sorcerer." "And I thought my last boyfriend was different because he wore a scarf.") I seriously considered seeing it again straight after the screening ended.

PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME

Watchable. I liked the going back in time idea (didn't have enough of that) but the trailer promised more special effects - these were far and few between and of poor quality and there were too many brawls and dagger fights, it also completely lacked humour or even irony.

I have to say that Warsaw Multikino with freshly squeezed juice to buy is so much better than London Cineworld that only sold the worst of fast food.

SAW VII 3D

Watchable. You, producers of "Saw" have ruthlessly milked the classic up to the point of marketing the latest as-gorey-as-usual instalment as 3D while in fact it's flat. Now, Hollywood bloodsuckers, I want to play a game with you.

and some movies seen at a night film marathon a few weeks ago:

GET LOW

Watchable. The funeral preparations turn out to be surprisingly amusing and involving. The self-imposed prison deepens the story but the film seems to keep a distance. Too reserved to get my accolades.

CRAZY HEART

Watchable. Very realistic and human but you have to feel the blues to enjoy it properly.

A SINGLE MAN

Walked out. Actually, sleepwalked out.

When out on the concourse, I heard a fascinating true story from a girl whose manager at a games salon tried to rape her. His superior then threatened to kill her if she testifies against the manager. He caught her by the throat while the police were there. She had begged them not to leave. Luckily, as corrupt as they were, they didn't want her blood on their hands so they stayed and she got to live to tell the story to a random girl. Life is stranger than fiction.

WHATEVER WORKS

Recommended. Deserves an Oscar. Genius Woody Allen winks to the audience saying the viewers shouldn't be interested in strangers' lives and that the tickets are going to fund another Hollywood swimming pool. A masterpiece from the very beginning to the very end.

and a really old film (yes, got lazy) I haven't mentioned yet:

STEP UP 3D

Watchable. While the visual effects are impressive and the music rocks, the movie fails to show the blood, sweat and tears of dance training that was a strong point of the previous two instalments.

Gosh, do I miss London! In the UK I used to dance 2-4 times a week. Here the smoking ban has only been issued recently and no implementing orders are in force. Still scared of suffocating if I go out.