gudaulin

Julio Medem has incredible luck. Usually, his films catch me in an exceptionally positive mood, which makes me give them a greater number of stars than they deserve. Chaotic Ana, according to the standards I commonly apply to cinema, deserves to be discarded, and I, an embarrassing softie, gave it one star, probably out of inappropriate conformism. Lovers of the Arctic Circle is much better off, and I really like Medem's film language and choice of actors, but the way he handles his characters, and all those unbelievable coincidences, missed encounters, all those constructs that accumulated in the screenplay, sometimes slip into self-parody. This film was not supposed to be a comedy and yet titles like The Poacher's Foster Daughter or Noble Millionaire or Lemonade Joe often come to mind when watching it. It simply cannot be taken seriously and my three stars are rather for what the film could be if Medem wasn't so self-centered. Overall impression: 50%.

Please do not be offended, but in this case, in my opinion, the king is completely naked, and his amazing self-confidence and the laughter of those who need to confirm their intellectual status do not change anything about it. The collection of festival awards is just proof for me that members of festival juries are sometimes quite peculiar...

I grew up on Sheridan le Fanu's book, and his collection of short stories, "In a Glass Darkly," still holds a place in my library. After all, the story that served as the basis for Bohumila Zelenková's screenplay is part of this book. Le Fanu is one of the founders, or rather predecessors, of modern horror, and his mysterious stories full of ominous premonitions derived from the gothic novel are ideal material for film adaptation. Eva Sadková relied on experienced actors who do a good job, and the television adaptation also rests on their performances. The set design is modest, but it doesn't detract from the impression of the production. However, I feel that the director could have worked with surprises, as it is too literal and the viewer sees everything before they should. In the story, the narrator describes the story from the perspective of the main character, who is manipulated and until the last moment does not suspect the trouble he is maneuvered into. Overall impression: 70%.

I'm only reviewing the pilot. I will skip any further episodes because the series is just another piece of the puzzle of the poor quality of Czech productions. It's cearly below average, even in the small and underdeveloped conditions of the Czech Republic, and if I were to consider a second weaker star for a moment of weakness, the motivation of horoscopes as "serious" criminal investigation made me so angry that I seriously thought about giving up on it. The presence of the reliable Trojan doesn't improve my hesitant impression. The fumbling of Czech Television continues. Overall impression: 20%.

Yes, exceptional films of the past should be approached with respect and consideration for the era in which they were made. However, even with the best intentions, in my view, Bigger Than Life does not come off as exceptional, but rather as a very average melodrama with all the vices that this genre and the conditions in the large American studios of the 1950s brought with them. The theme is interesting, but the film is made very conventionally, with a predictable ending and unremarkable acting performances. A minor curiosity for me was Walter Matthau from a time when he had not yet been made a star by American studios, but rather cast in a suitable acting type placed in a certain category. Drugs and dependency on them were portrayed much better and more realistically in later decades in American and world cinema. This film has the primacy of being one of the first, but that's too little for me to give it a higher rating. Overall impression: 40%.

Polanski ranks very high on my list of favorite directors, and I have never felt the need to rate his movies lower than 3 stars. However, when I look at his filmography, I must admit that I consider Frantic not necessarily the weakest, but personally the least interesting film from his creative workshop. The problem is not in the direction, although I don't find an atmosphere in the true sense of the word, and I only see Polanski's virtuosity in a few shots from the rooftops of houses, but it is still very decent and above-average craftsmanship. However, I do have a problem with the screenplay, which seems somewhat routine, not surprising, and unfinished to me. Polanski the screenwriter simply does not reach the level of Polanski the director. The most interesting part of the film is Harrison Ford's professional performance, who is at home in this kind of thriller and effortlessly handles both the role of a settled, serious bourgeois, and a man who jumps on rooftops and is willing to face professional killers. And I must not forget the charms of Emmanuelle Seigner, although I have the feeling that the interaction between Ford's character and hers is a bit forced, and Polanski simply wanted to please his life partner. Overall impression: 55%.

I can say for myself that I really enjoyed The Box, and if the director and screenwriter in-one had waited a little longer with the point and the tension had increased, my satisfaction would have been maximum. I realize that even many famous films often don't work at their core. Here, the mysterious atmosphere and omnipresent tension work very well. Actually, the only significant criticism I would have is towards Cameron Diaz's casting. Sweet Cameron, may she not be mad at me, has always been and remains just a typecast actress with limited range. In a film like The Box, the viewer's impression primarily depends on the performances, and it requires someone from among the best character actresses. I don't know, maybe Cameron Diaz was involved in the film as a co-producer, or the production demanded a famous face, but in any case, it was a mistake. Overall impression: 75%.

I already understood beforehand that the film suffers from every imaginable flaw from films from the end of the 1940s, starting with schematism, through the black and white characters, pathetic music, and ending with melodramatic moments. What is worse is that it has a silly screenplay, where the story heavily lags behind and the plot jumps forward by leaps and bounds, and that it would have such a small budget, and that the action scenes would turn into absolute farce thanks to toy tanks borrowed from a child's room of a prominent family. These things can simply not be excused. The film undoubtedly had a propaganda dimension, which I can tolerate (or can I really?) in a film such as Kachyňa's Smugglers of Death, but here the formal qualities of the film do not lead to anything like that. The film's higher review score is simply due to nostalgia and the awareness that it is a film with an anti-fascist and national-liberation theme. Overall impression: 25%.

This is a comedy about redneck heroes sent into space has a somewhat redneck humor and doesn't hold back on juicy expressions, but on the other hand, it also has a number of decent gags and is pleasantly incorrect, playful, and entertaining. The Danish also take shots at their social state and national character. It's not anything significant, more like a bite-sized relaxation, but it's not a film that is outright stupid, although it's not particularly clever either. Overall impression: 60%.

When watching this film, I gradually fell into melancholy and eventually genuine despair with each passing minute because it was such a stale, horribly conservative film with a dysfunctional screenplay, lousy editing, ear-tearing dialogues, and rarely any decent camera work. I managed to finish it with all my might. I partially perceive the positive reviews as the desperate desire of Czech cinema fans for a genre film. Overall impression: 25%.