3DD!3

Man, that Amanda Peet is foxy... but back to the movie, it’s a fairly original idea to tell a story about a neighbour who’s a serial killer. It’s also nicely thought-through and the actors enjoy their roles. Perry of course is standard Chandler, but Bruce really savors it. Natasha Henstridge is nice to look at and I’ve already talked about Amanda. A pleasant surprise.

A good fairy tale where The Rock does more yapping than punching people. The visual effects are mediocre, but the kids will love this film. 60%

When the X-Files were running on TV, I missed more episodes than I saw and so I decided to right the situation. After season one I am utterly thrilled and I will definitely continue watching. The alien episodes are simply delicious. Now I understand why such a cult has built up around it. Season two continues in the footsteps of season one and the first few episodes are the high points of the series so far. A bit of a shame that Mulder wasn’t left without Scully for a little longer. The episodes with the little green men are still my favorites. Season three is already a little creaky. Here and there a lame episode, one is a parody of itself, but there are many that are jam packed with really nice snappy lines (the phone calls in the episode with the cockroaches were priceless). But the mythology is still very strong and the important episodes are always worth watching. THE SURGEON GENERAL WARNS: SMOKING CAUSES LUNG CANCER. Season four offers a couple of fascinating answers, including one episode about a smoker. Otherwise it retains its quality overall, but the “we’ve been here already" syndrome is beginning to set in unpleasantly. But I am still enjoying myself immensely. Season five has several key mythological episodes that are really good to watch, on the other hand there are more lame episodes than I would like. But I was pleased with the episode that Stephen King was involved with and the episode with several viewpoints of the same case. The ending prepared the ground nicely for the movie that I completely missed in the day and that I am very intrigued about now. So we’ll see... Season six is about the same as the one before in terms of quality. I gave myself a good rest between the movie and the first episode of season six, because the movie made for a nice ending, but hunger for more cases with Mulder and Scully won in the end. What’s with these move-along episodes that are crowned by the final episode. The other episodes are there just to fill space, sometimes they’re entertaining, sometimes scary, sometimes superbly surprising. And the reference to Homer Simpson was also nice to hear. Season seven is one big ending of a chapter. Although the episodes have less and less substance to them, the last episode is superb. A classic example of creators having ideas, but not many, so they have to be frugal with them. I wonder if I’ll ever get round to watching another season. I want to leave this “ending" to mature inside me.

I wonder if anybody will understand this without reading the book. Kubrick created something really weird from Clarke’s pure-blooded sci-fi. OK, it starts more or less the same, then it sort of jumps chapters and the ending of the book that I had considered important is somehow missing in this movie. The movie lacks the purpose that is quite well described in the book. The journey through space is presented differently. Instead of Saturn’s moons, we fly toward Jupiter instead. There are lots of differences that annoy me, but lots of things that exceeded my expectations. The black monolith and the nice-guy computer HAL 9000 remained the same. I have more or less arrived at the conclusion that it’s almost impossible to compare them due to certain characteristics that each media has. I think that what bothered me in places was the unnecessary drawn-outness, probably due to Kubrick’s fascination with the emptiness of space. It loses a star for a certain vividness in the first half that is due to the fact that the “future" occasionally comes across like the 1970s, on the other hand the movie is incredibly advanced and well-thought out. This is my purely subjective view of the movie and oldsters probably won’t share my view, but I’m just rather particular about this sort of thing. This is because the movie was years before its time. But this then meant that it set certain standards for the genre, so there you go... hrmph.

Quite unusual to see Jackie in a movie like this. You’ll find no jokes nor stunts and not even one-to-one fights. Xin Su shi jian is a thoroughbred drama about a Chinese immigrant in Japan. Similar movies (or games; GTA IV) of the same genre have been made in the US or the UK, but it’s the Asian environment that in places changes the familiar clichés. Moreover, Jackie gives a full-on performance but in a completely different way than usual. Just because of his transformation and the brilliantly escalated ending this movie is worth watching.

The first episode really set the bar very high. Great atmosphere, mystery and even a little bit more intricate solution of the case. Excellent.

I don’t know if it makes any sense to play a trailer to an audience about the movie they are about to watch, but since it’s a well-made trailer, no harm's done. The fact that Mann is a perfectionist and shot the movie precisely in the locations where the events took place probably doesn’t need a further explanation, but because of this Public Enemies gains an indescribable atmosphere, that captured me from the beginning and didn’t let me go until the door closes, which happens to be the ending shot of the movie. The digital camera was able to squeeze something different from a “retro" gangster movie than I’m used to. On top of that, Mike knows how to surprise in very unexpected places and sometimes he creates something memorable from a very ordinary scene. And I haven’t even started about the action sequences. To put a movie about bank robbers into hands of a man responsible for the best ever scene about robbing a bank was a golden move. Mostly, they are presented in a “matter of fact" kind a way, but executed with an absolute virtuosity and the icing on the cake is a shoot out in (hands up, patriots ;-) Little Bohemia. Depp and Bale are both awesome, Depp maybe a bit more, but also maybe because he gets more space in the story. The music, as usual with Mann, is perfectly selected and Elliot Goldenthal almost like he’s picking up on his previous collaboration with Mann. I hope there’ll be a purely orchestral soundtrack too. Despite having a lot of common, another Heat isn’t happening, but that’s logical. Every good movie should be unique.

The last 15 minutes was the first thing I saw of the Alien saga and now, after all those years the circle finally closes. Fincher’s (probably) depressed soul made its rather significant mark on this part and even though the story is a little slow in places, there is no shortage of nerve-wracking moments. P.S.: I have never had a bigger jump-scare moment than I did during the final credits.

First of all, this isn't the “Max Payne" as we know it, it's an average crime B-movie with a big budget for the scenes with the Valkyrie which aren’t even in the game! If I had to judge by what kind of movie it could have been, I'd have to trash it, but I tried to be unbiased, and this deserve those two stars. There are a few solidly filmed scenes (which you could count on the fingers of one hand) and the stylization, which goes completely outside the original noir atmosphere, is quite interesting. Wahlberg not only didn't fit into the role of Max but he seemed strangely fat throughout the movie (but ok, he was normal again in the post-credits scene) and his acting was uneven at best. This movie is just one big disappointment, and I can only hope that in a few years, when everyone forgets about this mess, someone with respect for the original game will make a reboot.

Incredible. Proyas is an expert at bleak atmospheres, and this strange city hides a truly depressing secret. Almost all the actors are excellent but Kiefer Sutherland clearly reigns over them, and his doctor is very ambiguous throughout. Jennifer Connelly is again incredibly magical here. And yes, Dark City is quite similar to The Matrix.