lamps

A bland feeding of deadly predators that won’t offend any connoisseur of the genre, but may cause some harmless grumble in their bellies if they think about Alexandre Aja’s early and very uncompromising stuff. Piranha 3D, albeit a colossal insanity, was a lot more fun and bold as a movie. Crawl sticks to its characters and manages to bring the viewer close, but it’s unable to sell the threat of the alligator in a naturalistic or tense enough way. But it’s a fine flick nevertheless, with pretty good actors and a good director that used to be great, which in this case is a real shame.

A narrative that relies on the viewer establishing a bond with each of the characters and, in particular, the soundtrack, which is one of the 10 best ever. Unfortunately, the characters are too many and there’s hardly any cliffhanger that would bring them together, which means that we don’t have much of a chance to live the story with them in any significant way. American Graffiti had a much more complex development of the protagonists and a strong ending, Dazed and Confused, in contrast, is just an easygoing and pretty superficial portrayal of the adolescence of the time – other than the music, the most memorable things are the bully played by Ben Affleck and the playboy with a weakness for redheads played by Matthew McConaughey, who here started honing his trademark “Alright”. 65%

Two words of opposite meaning: if genius loci means mental harmony with the places we like to return to, Jaromír Soukup means the mental defilement of the nematode that only makes us vomit.

During the first half hour I looked forward to giving it five stars. Anderson sucked me into a world full of quirky characters, real feelings and delicate quips, and, smiling from ear to ear, I listened to every retort and watched every expression of the greatly cast actors (Bill Murray in particular, with another over-the-top role). But the humour gradually decreases, both in the dialogues and the development of the characters and their confrontations, yet the film never ceases being one of the most adorable genre contributions from the 90s, with a romantic line that works wonderfully in its own absurdity and unique world, and characters that are guaranteed to be etched in your memory. And the low-key but solid soundtrack adds to the colour. Let yourselves be drawn in and you are sure to have fun, though not all the way to 5*.

Flawless piece of work, really. Its only weakness is the way it forces to the viewer the interpretation that good guy Diego was a victim of the glory-hungry Maradona and the chaotic Neapolitan society. Otherwise, it’s another example of gripping documentary filmmaking for the masses, which through the core motif of the internal struggle of Maradona’s personalities presents both a credible psychological portrait of a man glorified by fame and the controversial story of a genius footballer whose origins and position were bound to the nature of the hated, crime-ridden city of Naples in an almost terrifying way (and that’s why it skips most of his previous career and his retirement). Football is the core, but Kapadia compares the development of Maradona’s career with various personal, political and social factors, resulting in a valuable and ultimately emotional documentary mostly about Maradona, a man under the influence of his environment and his own uncompromising nature. And although it idealises a little the image of the controversial hell-raiser, the power of the argument and the formal art remain at a very high level, to the point that even someone untouched by football should have no problem to fully relate to this life’s journey. 85%

A likeable conversational comedy ornamented by very civil and precise performances (thanks to its male ensemble, in particular, it’s one of the most impressive casts of the 80s), several very funny dialogues, and a powerful and very memorable soundtrack. But I feel that Kazdan could have used those great songs to let his hair down a little as a director (as in the opening sequence) and that he could have anchored that easygoing charade of relationships with a stronger and deeper twist. It should get 3*, but those actors, the dramatic feeling, the nice humour, and Meg Tilly and her flexible hot character pull it to a weak 4*.

Many will say that Threads is amateur garbage, they couldn’t be further from the truth. The combination of naturalistic images, documentary elements, complex structure and deliberate emotional detachment results in a valuable masterpiece that is painful to watch, but at the same time impossible to look away from. The film is neutral about the dreaded issue and uses the characters as tools to manipulate the viewer, as a point of contact in the recapitulation of "real events". The plot is nothing but a pretext for a statement, which itself is a means of formal self-awareness (commentary and subtitles with data and statistics) and to generate a response from the viewer through everyday realistic motivations (the introductory information about the escalating conflict through TV news and radio). With the enemy and the possibility of salvation remaining absent and the afflicted humanity and the devastated environment coming to the fore, it is also a piece of work that is both timeless and current. And the sequence of the nuclear attack is very smartly and effectively staged, it will make your blood clot.

An easygoing piece that after the dramatic Endgame wanted to remind fans that Marvel is first and foremost a fun realm of blockbuster filmmaking. The first half is a lot of fun, actually, and it was surprising to see a superhero movie with a teenage romance line being far better than most thoroughbred teenage comedies – Peter’s troubles with his love interest and the subsequent dilemma about his own self work great, both in terms of humour and as an important causal element for the fundamental villain twist. And actually, overall, it’s a very nice spectacle that you will surely enjoy if you like Spider-Man and the Marvel universe, which allows for a rather sophisticated incorporation of illusory motifs and original antagonists. Unfortunately, it’s brought down by the shabby second half, which numbs the viewer with unnecessarily long illusory sequences and delivers a comedic finale where the characters, though they are truly putting their necks on the line, run to the Crown Jewels and share their secret weaknesses. The action is nothing great, either, and the final fate of the villain is quite inadequate given his potential. Also, the concept of travelling through well-known European locations has hardly any value and the interesting post-credit scenes underscores Sony’s stupid decision not to continue with this promising story. 70%

An intimate and honest account of the youth of the author of the most famous novels of the century. The story is not about “The Lord of the Rings” or “The Hobbit”, it’s about Tolkien, his love, his loss, his friendships and the major experiences and encounters that gave form to his imagination, his views over the question of good and evil and his relationship to language. If you don’t expect Hollywood celebratory chorals and grandiose artificial sequences, you’ll get a deeply felt and realistic portrayal of a commonly uncommon man that in a likeable manner represents the first figments of his famous works, the familiarity with which the creators expect in advance. Some of the emptier scenes made me realise that I would also like to see this biopic in those grandiose Hollywood hands, but I’m convinced Tolkien himself wouldn’t be offended by it. Nicholas Hoult is precise and Thomas Newman is fully charming again.

A slightly unfortunate combination of two creative approaches that allow neither for a full connection to the psychological level of the premise, nor for the film to be a gripping dark thriller. The material, however, is promising; there are parts where the film irradiates hopelessness and we root for the female lead, but the last act only telegraphs the main ideas of the story, which can’t develop in an interesting way and ultimately lead to a trivial finale. The previous versions managed to give this smart material a far more subtle and distinctive touch.