3DD!3

A cynical comedy, subversive and bloody, thanks to Wirkola. After years of marriage, a married couple can’t stand being together after all these years and so each of them invites the other to their country cottage with the aim of killing them. Rapace is splendidly two-faced and Hennie’s transformation over the course of the second half is worthy of praise. The occasional explanatory asides that this movie is peppered with don’t seem to be cheap helpers, but carry a large portion of typical Norwegian humor inside them. The ending is a perfect reflection of today’s society.

The audiovisual experience of the year. A regular movie theater is too small. Any imperfection on the screen and the weak sound are painfully obvious. Putting this book onto the movie screen at this moment in time makes perfect sense and creates the necessary counterbalance to most of today’s movie production. Civilization as a relic that needs to be cleansed of the lives of unbelievers in a holy war made to thrill the fighters of ISIS and their supporters. And the indication that men aren’t so absolutely useless as we first thought is also very audacious. Underneath the traditional western-geared topics, we sense Herbert’s fascination with the Middle East. Villeneuve does his very best at depicting the world and its mechanisms. The movie is bristling with ideas, e.g. technical details, Harkonnen songs or the Scottish bagpipes. Comparison to Star Wars is relevant only in terms of scale, and in this respect ⊃∪∩⪽ is much more realistic. The acting is top-notch from all of them. Emotions bubble under the surface and aren’t needlessly displayed. The only trouble is that it’s terribly short, even though what takes place in the first part covers material that fills more than half of the original book. Zimmer is darkly thundering.

A special conversation thriller with an almost absurd multiple ending. The grandson of a Nazi against all sorts of swines... It’s as if Carnahan is paying a twisted homage to Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13. Buttler is excellent, Grillo slightly outside his comfort zone and the awesome Toby Huss as a twisted psychopath balloon vendor, Antony Lamb. It has its moments, but overall it’s only got enough to score a high average.

Excellently written... How to quit gambling easily and fast with the help of kids’ games. In addition to having a great screenplay which grabs you and doesn’t let go, despite the slow opening and superfluous epilog, Squid Game can rely on precise directing and perfectly chosen actors. Hae-soo Park clearly rules the screen. Each game points at a different aspect of what it is to be human, and lots of people won’t like what they see. I sincerely don’t know if we need another season. As it is, it’s great, if you forget about that epilog. So leave it be.

I was always more of a fan of Häkkinen, but Schumacher was also a great driver, no doubt about that. The documentary nicely presents his arrogant excesses, his stubbornness and the way he would risk his life. It shows him as a good dad, a miserable singer and presents him as a pretty great guy, instead of a cold, stone statue. No inspiration, no recruitment drive for future Formula 1 drivers. In some cases (e.g. Jean Todt) it seems to me that it holds back a little in describing Schumacher’s reactions, and that’s a shame. The lesson of this movie is, maybe... don’t ski... it can be lethal.

I was one of those people who never believed in Craig before Casino, thanks to the media hate campaign with no factual basis, but now I have learned my lesson. Never believe the media and look into everything myself, then make up my mind. I suppose this isn’t anything more than summing up the last five Bond movies, but even so, we learn a lot of interesting stuff and see some interesting stills from shooting. I also liked the explanations for why some of the Bond movies didn’t work. Craig saying farewell to the crew is a real tear-jerker.

Sprint. Everything falls into place, but it’s like taking a high-speed train through a magnificent city, not able to get off and take it all in properly. Putting together the Guardians of the Multiverse, the conflict with Ultron and the final twist and the solution are wonderfully sketched out, but it’s a great shame that the last episode wasn’t half an hour longer. Also an episode with Stark on Saakar is sorely missing, even though aparently we can look forward to seeing him in season two. Even so, this has a whirlwind of ideas that are a pleasure to watch.

A Bond for moms. An excellent farewell to Daniel Craig as the agent in Her Majesty’s Secret Service, breaking the last pillars on which 007 stood. Ana de Armas is fantastic. The action is even a bit more spectacular than last time, but at times it is also fairly down to earth. The chase in the Norwegian wood is like out of a different movie. Stylish killing and catchy, ambiguous quips and at the same time emotional draining together with musing about the reason to live. Rami Malek (cast thanks to his strange face) plays a typical Bond baddie with a handicap and even though a bit sidelined, he does alright. And the plot with the picky virus reveals that the fairytales we hear about the origin of Covid could be delivered by the government in far better style. Wanna to know if 007 ends up in bed with Bond? Wait and see. P.S.: Zimmmer is living his dream and is in his element!

A thriller... and a cheap one. Gyllenhall savors the ambiguous character of an emergency line operator who gets a call from an abducted woman. With a computer and head set in the supporting roles. I haven’t seen the original and don’t know how much Pizzolatto changed, but the dialogs and twists are very good with the suffocating Covid atmosphere. Calling over the phone and face to face contact just aren’t the same! One day I might watch the original Danish version.

Peace in our time... Ultron’s (Tony) vision, thanks to Thanos’s visit, stretching out across the whole universe, finally reveals the potential of the character. The creators of What If...? finally broke loose and are pushing back the borders of a universe. The whole series seems to be a prep for a big showdown that awaits us the next time. Hopefully they’ll come up with some kind of other message than mere carnage.