Hromino

This is an enjoyable and relaxing movie that is perfect for kids. It is just a shame about the drawn-out ending.

I am awarding this one star for the fact that I was pretty well entertained as a very young kid. Now I am actually pretty much embarrassed by that. ;)

I am more (or less) at a bit of a loss with Bathory. On the one hand there is finally a bit of a revival of Czech cinema with at least a slightly better and more monumental movie, however, there are also a bunch of stupid mistakes in Bathory that should never have been there in the first place. This makes Bathory just an average movie. The biggest stumbling block is undoubtedly the screenplay, which at a certain point, jumps and changes its tune from one moment to the next, and the rest of the plot whizzes past you like a high-speed Bullet train. The tension in me rose only momentarily, when Erzsebet stabbed the maid Sara with a pair of scissors just as the courtier were passing by the hall. This was really the only scene that affected me. The actors do make the movie seem less messy (especially Anna Friel, who is really the highlight of the movie), but unfortunately, it is not worth awarding the movie more than three stars. I am awarding it a clean 50%.

I know that objectively speaking this movie probably does not deserve that one star, but since I am so disgusted by this movie, l am going to take the liberty of rating it subjectively for once and award it the one star rating for Dakota Blue Richards, who was the only asset to this movie and managed to portray the character of Lyra mostly successfully. I have never been particularly opposed to changes in adapting books to the screen, so long as they make sense, are not arbitrary, and are beneficial to the movie. However, what the screenwriter and probably the producers have done here is downright worth a few hard slaps. To turn such a promising book series, which becomes more sophisticated and more thought-provoking with each installment, into an utterly pointless mishmash, which is clearly aimed at children and where a bunch of interesting ideas are buried or desperately underdeveloped – it is not worth anything but a good smack in the face. Especially the idea of the soul dwelling outside the body in the form of an animal – a daemon – is presented in a completely tragic way, the pace of the movie is downright deathly slow, most of the actors just recite their lines idly, the nonsensical changes compared to the original (why did they cut it off so awkwardly at the end?) and the already rather truncated plot is just tedious. No, I had better not go on listing everything that was wrong here, because it would go on for days.

This is exactly the kind of comedy I dislike. I had to suffer my way through so many unfunny scenes. Seriously!

No matter what anyone else says, I surprisingly liked Burton's Planet of the Apes. It is a decent remake, both in terms of the stunning visuals and also the plot. In addition to that, seeing Helena Bonham-Carter as an ape provided a memorable experience ;)

This is a lovely, funny, and imaginative movie that I really enjoyed, and although I am not familiar with the book, I think it sticks to the book quite well and where it did deviate, it did so in a witty, original, and playful way. The actors are excellent – both the adults (Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka, in particular, gives a terrific performance) and the child actors. The child actors portray the little bastards superbly, but best of all are AnnaSophia Robb and Jordan Fry; of the "good" ones there is only one – Charlie – played, of course, by Freddie Highmore. The soundtrack (as with most of Tim's movies) is, as always, excellent, the sets are a little garish and over the top, however, that is just something that simply belongs to Tim’s world, and only adds to the movie’s uniqueness. This is therefore a great movie that has left me impressed for a long time after seeing it.

I more or less cannot get my head around the ratings in this web. I liked the second installment in The Mummy franchise, and I do not think there was any significant drop in quality compared to the first one.

"Proletarians of all countries, fuck you!" ––  I think this is undoubtedly the best movie in the history of Czech cinema ever. Just the fact that its perfect portrayal of the then atmosphere managed to pull at my heartstrings so much with its perfect charm that I even wanted to be able to travel back to the past, if only for a short while, speaks volumes. However, if we add to that the performance of a lifetime of Jiri Kodet (may he rest in peace), and the great acting performances in general, the brilliant screenplay full of memorable lines dropping out one after another, and Hrebejk's excellent direction, for me, Cosy Dens is a movie I can watch over and over again and still have an admiration for it. In addition to all that, the scene where Kodet plays the Czech national anthem gives me goosebumps every time.

This movie was quite a disappointment. I was expecting at least a somewhat balanced sequel to the first movie, but unfortunately, I got a weaker sequel that failed mainly due to the screenplay, and a proper plot. So that – especially with a big project like the sequel to Ice Age – is a somewhat bigger problem. The one thing that is great about this movie is the mammoth-possum Ellie, whose "performance" (can you even call it that?) is destroyed by a pair of annoying possums. So, I am leniently awarding this movie three stars with a wink.