lamps

American Sniper is not about physical suffering in the middle of a battle zone, but rather about the diametrically opposed perspectives that the war in Iraq is subjected to, both from the unsuspecting American public and the direct participants in the bloody conflict, as well as the questionable motivations that drive many young Americans toward their dream of "serving the country”. Eastwood works with a very generic cinematic equation, with his protagonist coming into the war full of enthusiasm and patriotic oaths, only to leave as a broken man who has lost his illusions of honour and the existence of goodness. But what elevates the film to above average is its undisguised aversion to jingoism, which is a flimsy band-aid for doing or perhaps returning to evil, the natural civility of emotion that makes the war and psychological levels blend beautifully, and of course Clint's formal genius, which he still retains even in his 80s. Given the many Oscar nominations, one might think that Americans have a soft spot for Eastwood, but watching American Sniper, as with Gran Torino or Million Dollar Baby, I realized that the popularity is well deserved. 80%

Dull and unimaginative, merely blindly and shamelessly recycling the genius of Asterix in Britain. Apart from the traditionally effective atmosphere and the charming scenery, the only thing worth mentioning is the peculiar Czech dubbing, which I personally liked and it didn't disturb me in any way. I wonder if it wasn't because there wasn't much to disturb. 40%

Not bad at all. The plot and its approach as an adventure fantasy against the backdrop of the psychological coexistence of a group of "chosen ones" manages to keep the attention alert at all times, and though the subject matter represents a typical, ambitious "big movie for the young" of our times, the visually stylized form is often overshadowed by intimate scenes in which the conflicts between the characters escalate and the mysterious labyrinth is only descriptively presented. And that's a good thing, as neither the ideas nor the action inside the maze have enough potential to provide a great and unusual experience. The film fades from your mind very soon, but the little it leaves behind is positive. 65%

The character of Caligula has immeasurable narrative potential, which this movie successfully and very brutally kills. One look at the cast and the bushes and it’s clear what Brass’s intentions were when shooting the film. A pointless orgy that may boast a certain questionable historical basis, but ultimately it’s almost devoid of any higher meaning. Two stars only for the music, the actors (but for God's sake not the bushes) and for the courage to portray the famous bohemian emperor from a slightly different, maybe more realistic perspective. 45%

A true masterpiece that describes with great veracity and naturalism every aspect of the lives of "brothers in arms" in the face of their enemies. The battle scenes are without exception visually and aurally breathtaking, while all the scenes where the rifles remain lowered are absolutely stunning in their emotional authenticity and their naturalness, which is downright chilling. I have always shuddered at the thought of war, how I would die a painful death amidst the filth and blood; after watching this series, I fear I will survive it in physical, but not mental health. This is the true face of war. 100%

If the first episode was an innocent first date with a slightly peculiar partner, I would call the second one an outright fuckfest with the most disgusting sexual deviant imaginable. And if the first film – intimate, psychologically believable and emotionally quite intense – gave me the impression that Tom Six can weave stories, the second convincingly disabused me of that belief. The Second Human Centipede is admittedly brilliantly atmospheric, optimally morbid in its setting and main characters, even in the scenes free of physical violence, and boasts an extremely realistic psychopath whose daily life alone would make for quite a few horror films. But all the promising themes merge into a mindless carnage of such a disgusting and exaggerated nature that the only real emotion that remains is utter disgust, not at the actions of the "hero" (which was clearly the purpose), but at the actions of the director, who has the audacity to serve us civilized people such cheap and mindless filth. In addition to being supremely ugly, the film is also unimaginably nonsensical in terms of narrative logic – even a film primarily built on brutality shouldn’t have so many flaws and logical holes – and even Six's hilarious attempt to enrich the narrative with a noble twist fails to cover those flaws up. I finished watching it out of pure curiosity as to how far the filmmakers were willing to go in their visual openness, and I can honestly say that they went so far as to make the film worthy of being banned. This is not normal, really.

From pervert to perverts. Ethically, an unwatchable atrocity, but from a horror fan's perspective, a strange date with a creepy deviant who masks his filmmaking ineptitude with the absolute sickest subject matter imaginable. I finished watching it out of curiosity about how far one can go in the pursuit of controversial fame, and I have to admit that one can certainly go much lower – for example, Human Centipede II. And I rather not speak about the third one.

The only problem with Derrickson's film is that it presents exactly the type of horror that any experienced viewer is currently oversaturated with: ghosts, strange noises under the bed, a peculiar priest, exorcisms. This template is so tired that despite the director's enormous skill, which holds the viewer's attention throughout and searches for themes beyond all James Wan's ghost stories, the film doesn't have much chance to break through. Big plus points just for pushing an interesting detective storyline, for the music by The Doors, and for Eric Bana, who's still got it. But even that is not enough to satisfy me this time... 70%

A movie that is unique and exceptional only because of the way it was shot. Everything shown in its more than 160-minute runtime is stale (and not only because we experienced it ourselves in adolescence), likewise with some parts of the story, which, without a strong message, clumsily passes by the viewer without leaving a single even slightly significant emotional trace. My hat is off to Linklater for taking on something like this in the first place, but Boyhood lacks so many essentials, starting with more interesting character development and ending with at least one surprising "life" twist, that I'm tempted to talk about a waste of potential and creative time. My thoughts seemed to be summed up at the end by a weeping Patricia Arquette with the words: I was expecting something more... 70%

A piece of crap whose frantic pace would wake up Snow White from her enchanted sleep, but in terms of content, it fails miserably to keep up with itself. The basic plot may be trivial and the premise of an adventurous quest for a historical artefact suits it quite well, but all the horror elements are either completely unoriginal and underdeveloped (who was the mysterious woman outside the bar?) or try so hard to be cool that they become ridiculous (the feet sticking out of the ground was the funniest moment). And as usual, I was not at all satisfied with the ending, which compared to the previous 80 minutes or so, which worked hard to maintain a decent psycho-terror atmosphere and the curiosity about what will happen next, seems terribly sloppy and bland. The overall feel in the cinema wasn't bad at all, but I wouldn't have missed anything if I had passed this film. 50%