Lima

A probe into the mind of a member of a certain animal species from Wall Street who revels in expensive formal suits and designer goods, slaps on all sorts of menthol, moisturizing and peeling masks, regularly visits tanning salons, blathers about nothing in his circle of friends passing it off as serious deep musings. His measure of success is, among other things, the appearance of his business card, which he likes to compare with his equally afflicted friends, and to be free and cool, he goes to parties to snort coke. In fact, he is so bored with his emotional emptiness that he entertains himself in a quite "original" way, he kills. Those empty-minded suits sometimes make you so sick that the murders aren't even that disgusting in comparison. And to be honest, the murders are the least interesting thing about the whole movie.

I never thought that watching a car for 2 hours would be so enjoyable. But when there's a witty script with ornate dialogue, and even better, when it's all written by Jarmusch and scored by the brilliant madman Tom Waits, it's actually no wonder. Five short stories from different settings and with people of different mentalities and one is better than the other. From Los Angeles to Helsinki, people everywhere experience their own mini-dramas, and Jarmusch has a wonderful and warmly human way of talking about it.

A drama about a girl forced to live in foster care because her mother was convicted of murder. At times the film's very atmospheric mood is enhanced by a dreamy, ambient soundtrack, and Pfeiffer fits the role of a very strong woman to a tee. And by the way, what does that woman do to stay so beautiful? Alison Lohman as the daughter is also excellent. If this girl is lucky with her movies, I bet she'll become a great actor in the future.

The plot is slow and not very convincing at first, but then it turns out to be one of the best legal dramas I've ever seen. Just watching the performances of everyone involved is a treat in itself. Starting with the funny De Vito and ending with Mickey Rourke, who doesn't have much space, but is still unforgettable. And that Damon is a very good actor is something I've known for a long time, and this just confirmed it. PS: After a second viewing, I’m going to 5*.

Not very convincing in terms of the plot and the direction. Milius knows how to do fight scenes, but he doesn't show it here. And he also doesn’t avoid clichés, which is often annoying. If I hadn't seen similar films and couldn't compare, I would probably be more positive, but this is just mediocre.

A phenomenal McKellen as a gay directing legend and an intriguing script adorn this great film. Fraser does a good job, but as I say, McKellen is unmatched, he even got an Oscar nomination. But... people from the Academy, what else do you want?

Ice Cube takes over his deceased father's barbershop, where he employs his friends, and has a dilemma about whether to sell it or not. That's all you need to know, that's all there is to it. Cube calls the films from his production company "real nigger movies", and it’s true, The Barbershop features an all-black cast, from the lead to the extras on the street. The exception is one Indian shopkeeper and one of the white barbers, whom the other "brothers" distrust, and he only manages to break it when he skillfully cuts the hair of one of his black brothers with a razor. Sounds quite silly, right? Well, it is silly. Cube's buddies spend the whole movie quarreling and making jokes at each other. Fortunately, compared to Cube's previous film Next Friday, the fecal humour has been reduced to a minimum. Perhaps this film can only be appreciated in the States, where for a while it was on the top of the attendance chart.

The worst are not dwarfs, as the Czech classic Jára Cimrman believes, but a blindly in love and heart-broken erotomaniac, and Audrey Tautou in an unusual role will convince you of that. If you’ve seen Fatal Attraction with Michael Douglas, you know where you stand, the premise is similar. The opening credits are full of hearts and for the next 30 minutes or so it looks like a lovefest, but then it takes an interesting turn and the ending is more than satisfying.

I don't need to have everything served on a golden platter, but the unfinished ending annoyed me a bit. Still, it is an interesting film, with a strong and original story. I loved the performance of the child actor in the lead role, he is natural for his age and does not overact. I didn’t mind the digital camera, on the contrary, it enhances the authenticity of the story.

The Hughes brothers try to compensate for their narrative ineptitude with fast editing in tense scenes, and to achieve a gruesome effect, they spare no glimpse of dismembered bodies and splashes of blood. Johnny Depp is very bland, he must have been bored during the filming. The highlight of it all is the artificially grafted love story between the inspector and the prostitute played by Heather Graham. What comes out of it, it’s not worth commenting on. I just don't buy it, guys.