angel74

Troška's fairy tale Enchanted Feather put me reliably to sleep, which could mean that it is good. Three stars, then? But I really can't because I would strongly overrate this nonsense with a somewhat worn-out plot and strange special effects. A beautiful setting and decent cinematography are not enough to make a good film. (35%)

Melissa McCarthy hasn't particularly impressed me so far, but I have to admit that the role of writer Lee Israel, who deals with a debt and creative crisis illegally, suited her incredibly well. Richard E. Grant as her friend Jack, however, was also on full display. The story kind of flowed naturally and comfortably, which was helped in no small part by the very pleasant music, so I quite liked the film. (75%)

"Nature is a patient sculptor. Each day she carves another piece, slowly, over thousands of years, to create this incredible beauty. What a shame, what a tremendous shame..." +++ In the context of what's been happening to our planet in recent years, I consider Downsizing to be a very underrated film. Just the central idea that the whole problem of global warming, for which humans are clearly the main culprits, could be solved by shrinking humanity, is endlessly intriguing. Moreover, the creators succeeded in perfectly outlining the difficulties this would probably bring on a global scale. They drew on infamous realities, from which they projected into the story mainly the current consumerist way of life of most people (oriented toward the tendency to "have", not "be"), the class division between rich and poor, and illegal migration and smuggling. There were a lot of themes that they covered, and I felt just like the main character Paul Safranek in Matt Damon's pleasantly civil performance, so lost and excited at the same time. Payne's film is thought-provoking, but he goes about it in a considerably lighter way, which just worked for me. (90%)

Louis Garrel serves the audience a rather banal love story in which he opens several thought-provoking relationship themes. The fundamental problem, however, is that the behavior and reactions of the individual characters in the more tense situations are hardly believable, as is the strangely amicable ending of the whole narrative. (65%)

This parade of artificial models probably didn't escape anyone who was navigating through American TV series at that time. The endless number of episodes says a lot about the superficiality of not only the creators themselves but also the consumers of their masterpiece. (15%)

There is probably no point in going into a long discussion of what Krzysztof Kieślowski wanted to point out with this film about filmmaking. This has been discussed in some detail by many others before me. I was most struck by the depiction of the fact that when a person's hobby goes over his head and becomes an obsession, he may unwittingly lose everything that mattered in his life up to that point. I also had unpleasant feelings of anxiety about the pervasive socialist way of thinking and acting. (85%)

Even though the adventure film Alpha is an overly digitized fairy tale about the origins of the friendship between man and wolf (or dog), I quite liked the story. Except I could have done without the initial time loops. However, I'm sure the child audiences must be absolutely thrilled with this film. (75%)

Through the emotionally neutral story of a fanatic teenage boy, the creators vividly showed how essentially any religion can be easily abused. Just by brainwashing sufficiently malleable individuals, who can quickly turn into dangerous criminals under the guise of faith. I was really amused by the one person’s suggestion that this wasn't even in Europe during the Dark Ages. I wish such a person could experience this infamous period of history for himself. I think he'd be running back to the present very quickly. Europeans then, under the auspices of God, committed far more massive and brutal atrocities than the people here, wherever they are originally from, resort to today. (70%)

Warren Beatty has reportedly been flirting with the idea of making a film about Howard Hughes for decades. The problem is that it is not very noticeable in the result. His film Rules Don't Apply doesn't reveal much about the eccentric billionaire. So there's nothing left but to focus on the romantic storyline in the form of the budding relationship between the aspiring actress and her driver, whose lives are significantly influenced by Howard Hughes. I more or less understand all that; it's just that it could have been wrapped up without a bunch of unnecessary baggage in a significantly shorter time. (55%)

Giovanni Veronesi made a relaxing summer relationship film that doesn't require much thinking and at the same time manages to make one’s evening more enjoyable. I was absolutely fascinated by Fabio De Luigi, whom I had never seen before. He fully unleashed his undeniable comedic talent, especially in moments when he lost his voice due to minor psychological traumas. I really laughed a lot. (75%)