3DD!3

Great - a combination of humor, action and great ideas that places MiB far above the average. Will Smith in the role of agent Jay at last has found his place amongst the Hollywood elite and of course Tommy Lee Jones in the role of agent Kay has reinforced his position. The best part of the story is probably the first half hour when Edwards (Smith) is subjected to a series of “simple" tests. I must mention the excellent villain, Vincent D'Onofrio, who really seems like he’s trapped inside an Edgar suit under layers of make-up and latex. When I was younger, MiB (also thanks to the wonderful dubbing) immediately became my favorite movie. I can recite lines from the movie to this day. So therefore 5*. Jeebs: Hiya, Kay. How are you? Kay: Show him the imports right now! Jeebs: Yeah... I got out of that business a long time ago. Kay: Why do you lie to me Jeebs? I hate it when you lie. Jeebs: Now, just hold on a second... Kay: I'm gonna count to three. Edwards: He'll do it, Jeebs. Kay: One. Edwards: I'm telling you, that man does not look stable. Kay: Two. Edwards You know what? Talk to me; he... he’s just crazy when he's like this. Jeebs: He's always crazy. Why don't you get a massage? Take a cruise. Kay: Three.

But there’s almost no story. Without the funny scenes, that excellent pair Jones & Smith, Frank and the worms, it would be a complete crock. In terms of special effects, MIIBis of course perfect (Spielberg made sure of that), but no amount of tricks can make up for a screenplay full of plotholes. And MiB had so much potential after part one. I’m disappointed. So I rather hope that someone will write an ingenious screenplay and make everything right in MIIIB. But for that, someone would have to want to see a number three.

Lucky Number Slevin's story isn't revolutionary, but what screenwriter and then director Paul McGuigan did with it “is worth taking my hat off to, that is, if I had one on my head." Of course he had the support of outstanding actors: Bruce Willis, Ben Kingsley, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freeman and, most importantly, the excellent (I'm surprised at myself using the word in context with him) Josh Hartnett (Slevin Kelevra), whom I never really liked. And Bruce in the role of the hitman, Mr. Goodcat, shows that he doesn't belong on the scrapheap, and after Sin City and 16 Blocks, it's another successful notch in his career. So if you want a suspenseful, entertaining, and dark thriller, you shouldn’t miss Slevin. In addition, you will learn a number of interesting lessons from the film. The main lesson that stuck in my head was: Don't wear a towel longer than necessary :)

Excellent. X-Men 2 is undoubtedly better than the first movie and is perhaps the best comic book movie adaptation ever. Singer perfectly handles the psychology of the characters, and the action is also impressive (the White House introduction, the attack on the school, the X-Jet in a tornado, and Wolverine vs. Deathstrike). He’s a brilliant storyteller who knows when to push hard and when to slow down. He handles everything with feeling, bravura and love for the original comic book. Sadly, he ran off to Superman, where, for all his undeniable virtues, he couldn't succeed the way he did with X-Men. Too bad, Bryan.

A laid-back action ride disrupted by only a few slow moving "family" scenes. It was an excellent idea to bring Sam Neill's character back into the game, because if it weren't for Dr. Grant and the flying lizards (after a long wait, the pterosaurs from Crichton's original reappear) it would have ultimately been a much weaker movie. However, Joe Johnston didn't disgrace the previous Jurassic Parks, and considering he's taking the reins from one of the best film directors, much more could have gone wrong. As far as the music side is concerned, John Williams is missing, and in places it is quite evident.

Rebecca is the first Hitchcock film I’ve ever seen. I am impressed with the director's genius because his use of light and music is amazing. Moreover, he manages the atmosphere perfectly (of course, this is not uncommon with Hitchcock, as I had already read somewhere). Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine are great cast members and give great performances. Anyway, I'm certainly going to start looking for more of his masterpieces very soon. The Birds and Vertigo are on my list. :)

Superman is back at last... But Singer didn’t manage to take his dream project up to the very peak. You can see how meticulous he is throughout the movie, lots of things and shots are references to Donner’s movie, which is really nice to see, but still falls a little short of perfection. God knows what it is, but somehow it spoils the overall watching experience. Maybe my standards are a little too high after seeing Spider-Man and X-Men , but Superman simply isn’t such an interesting character and part of his fame is based on nostalgia (at the beginning I had difficulty holding back my tears when I heard Williams’ “Superman Theme" thundering away ;) But in any case, Superman Returns is a great movie, with superb special effects and excellent acting performances (Brandon Routh is a flawless Superman and an even better Clark Kent, Kate Bosworth as Lois wasn’t nearly as disruptive as I had expected and Kevin Spacey makes an even better Luthor than Hackman), but it just isn’t as good as it could have been.

In Silent Hill, Christophe Gans didn’t set off down a path to a regular horror movie and at the beginning it turns in the direction of a psychological drama about a mother and her adoptive daughter and only later shows us hell in the real sense. At last somebody has given up on traditional (dumb) frights and Silent Hill relies on the bizarreness of deformed people - creatures (the walking...um, acid-spitting blob, Pyramid Head and the nurses). But the main thing this movie has is ATMOSPHERE in block letters and in bold. And in addition we are given a chillingly intelligent story (especially the very end will resound in your head long after) and excellent acting performances (particularly Radha Mitchell is breathtaking). I hope that the horror genre turns more this direction in the future, because this movie had me pinned to my seat with fear and sometimes I was using just one eye to watch, ostensibly using the other to read the subtitles. And that’s what horrors are meant to be.

In terms of special effects, The Lost World is much more sophisticated than the first Jurassic Park. Spielberg took advantage of all available technology to be able to film a spectacular sequel to the more than excellent part one. You can see that he embarked on this project not to create a copy of the first Park, but something completely different, something new. And he did a good job. An new island, more species (as a dinosaur lover I was overjoyed), a different team (just Ian Malcolm played by Jeff Goldblum remained from the original movie). Although he has changed a lot since the events of part one, but his lines are just as snappy. I have three favorites :). One: “The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle." Two: “It’s so important to your future that you do not finish that sentence." Three: "Taking dinosaurs off this island is the worst idea in the long, sad history of bad ideas." I just loved that when I was little. Despite all of its good points and lots of excellent scenes (hunting dinosaurs, the scene in the bus, the Tyrannosaurus attack on the camp, the Velociraptors, the finale in San Diego), The Lost World wasn’t as well-received as you might expect. Not that it didn’t pay for itself, but neither the public or the critics were satisfied. What mattered to me was how the finale was somehow disjointed from the rest of the movie - the move from the island to the city was too fast. Nonetheless, The Lost World: Jurassic Park is certainly worth watching.

A fine, not ground-breaking documentary about endangered animals in Africa, enriched by 3D tricks. Absolutely wonderful landscapes alternate with a crazy ride in a jeep (the juddering camera really bugged me) and excellent views from above à la Google Maps. The best of the animals shown was without a doubt the rhino, with the elephant in second place close behind. Simply a classic offering for IMAX, so don’t expect anything more of it.