Kaka

A classic American sports movie. Conservative, with an emphasis on diverse characters, with a strong personality in the form of the head coach, who puts together a talented but properly cheeky bunch of high school kids into one of the most successful cross-country teams of the 1980s and 90s. Thanks to the novel "Mexican" setting, which itself represents some pretty interesting views and attitudes on life, it's a surprisingly self-aware affair that unfortunately loses its breath punishingly towards the end and becomes full of clichés and typical "made in USA" saccharine predictability. The absence of any major twist or heartbreaking moral dilemma it’s a shame, and the potential was there!

There are two reasons to check out these spiritual odysseys like Wild or Into The Wild: the haunting scenery and spiritual cleansing, or at least the psychological nitty-gritty of a main character full of opinions, attitudes and experiences that come into direct confrontation with the question of whether this or that decision is good or bad. With a little imagination, everyone will find themselves, at least for a while in some passages. They have done it cleverly and for good measure put in basically all the negative model situations that can happen to a person from an early age (a bully father, illness, poverty, drugs, etc.). Wild is less psychedelic and puts more emphasis on family, relationships and the formation of what one should have, or not have in life and what one should prioritise. Reese Witherspoon is convincing and solid, but doesn't, as it tends to do, get under the skin as she should, as despite all the blood and sweat it's still just a bedtime story, or rather a good morning one.

Aaron Sorkin's vividly deft dialogue passages are great, as are the minimum of showy gestures and the absence of unnecessary overload of pathetic emotions in a story about a brilliant man who worked with them like a god and expressed them very sporadically (or sophistically). However, the subliminal wisecracks and subtle business hints in this "live" staged story are monstrously spoiled by the fact that there's terribly little of the broader story, and virtually nothing much going on. If this were a 10-minute cut from the trailer for the first Mac, the narrative value would be quite similar and the experience even more intense than watching a similar variation for 122 minutes.

Neon LA at night vs. a phenomenal Jake Gyllenhaal, who could convince a corpse that he can play almost any kind of character and emotional creation with utter brilliancy. The pacing is slower in both the plot and the formation of the protagonist's persona. Gradually, however, it gains steam and the escalating finale boldly ranks among the most thrilling moments of the year, and the whole thing is utterly unpredictable.

A raw and bleak hypnotic film that will forever remain out of the mainstream. Audience-averse and psychedelic, the film lyrically tells the story of Shakepeare's warrior exclusively through breathtaking cinematography, lighting and period music. Forget about a wartime historical spectacle or crowd scenes, the Kurzel brothers have gone all out. There are only a few action scenes, and most of them are shrouded in a mysterious misty shroud, or thanks to the aforementioned lighting work that creates countless breathtaking shots. The individuality of this film is impossible to deny. What is debatable, however, is to what extent this is an appropriate form of presentation of Shakespeare's legend, as in many aspects of the plot and in terms of the flow of the story, it is questionable to say the least and difficult to digest.

Skyfall was already a precise reflection of our times and an homage to the current intelligent high-budget blockbuster. It didn't have the pull, emotion and inner strength of Casino Royale or Quantum of Solace, but it's clear why; there was something going on there. But the Vesper references are very much evident in this fourth mashing of the plot, which was fully capitalized on in Daniel Craig's very first Bond, and it became a complex and full-bodied film that took the story of Agent 007 a level further in the film industry. It became a mass appeal, not a fan thing, thanks to its means of expression. Logically, there are not many ways they can go without taking it in a completely different direction, which Spectre fails to do, and it even wasn't intended to, unfortunately. Fans will try to "find it there" for the entire 150 minutes, but they won't. The few iconic scenes that warm the heart or dazzle with their sophistication are just carbon copies of previous episodes (most of the train scenes, the base in the desert). It's clear that filming the same thing twice in a row the result will not be the same. After a second viewing, the rating has to go up. Essential and visually incredibly lavish and sophisticated filmmaking. Emotionally, it's not the ride that Casino Royale was, and Léa Seydoux is no Eva Green, but Spectre assaults the other senses and does so excellently as well.

This is exactly what a Woody Allen film looks like without his wit, sophisticated insight and creativity. A bunch of stilted dialogue, not even Scarlett Johansson in a swimsuit can save the wtf story and the feeling that this film was actually pointless and about nothing. The ending is like a copy of Match Point, which was still a much better film as a whole

A not very engaging story full of good actors and an attractive Mexican touch. What at the beginning looks like a decent desert survival chase turns into a scripted crime drama with a number of characters that are well sketched and solidly acted. Surprisingly, this makes for a well-balanced rest where all the basic film components are of a decent standard, but it has nothing to stand out from the average except perhaps the great music, which sounds like from a big pirate movie.

It's not the film of the year, but it's still the best combat or military thing since Miami Vice, which, by the way, also had a mafia bosses, drugs, money and fights for territory, but thanks to the masterfully crafted and incorporated love story it said something more; it was closer to the viewer, more tangible, more fateful. Sicario, in contrast is cold, almost emotionless – at times its nature is more like a documentary. Fantastically filmed, of course, but it won't be a legend.

Testament of Youth is, as the posters suggest, a typically romantic (big) film that assaults all the viewer's senses. It is not as sophisticated and emotional as Atonement, nor as classically old-school raw as Cold Mountain. But cinematographer Rob Hardy does some pretty decent magic (truly impressive shots of nature, lighting, editing, details, etc.), and Alicia Vikander is a very talented actress. It's not going to pick up Oscars or make millions, it's ironically more of an intimate film that doesn't have a single war scene. It is, however, interesting in its portrayal of the characters and especially in the key and rather devastating role war plays in this melodramatic story. Subliminal, emotional, without a direct display of expressive violence. Definitely a major surprise that is worth watching.