gudaulin

After The Icicle Thief, I think this is Nichetti's second-best film. It doesn't have as top-notch a script as The Icicle Thief, but it's still an interesting concept, and, above all, this film placed the highest demands on Nichetti as an actor. He appears in several completely different roles as an alternative development of his character, and among other things, he presents himself as a professional member of the underworld, which I think is the only negative role I've had the opportunity to see him in so far. This is a comedy that, as is usual for Nichetti, goes beyond the mainstream and is a pleasant addition to Italian cinema. Overall impression: 75%.

In this film, Nichetti was still searching for how to direct and write, and it is a sort of tribute to the film style and works of Jacques Tati. The dialogue-free film is shot as a poetic slapstick, and the opening scene of the interview stuck in my memory the most. In the scene, a group of applicants is tasked with drawing a tree. Then, a series of ugly stumps without leaves appear, and only the main character played by Nichetti draws a beautiful, lush tree and is the only one who doesn't succeed in the interview. After all, the multinational company doesn't need ecological activists... Overall impression: 60%.

Maurizio Nichetti is an eccentric maverick who repeatedly comes up with unique projects that, while they may be quite outlandish from the mainstream perspective, are nonetheless original. The great thing is that they are usually comedies. This film is one of his more average works. It's not a film that changes the view of film history or that could end up in the top rankings, but it contains several funny scenes that stick in the memory more than the film as a whole. The screenplay is weaker than the direction itself. Nevertheless, the idea of placing one unlucky man in a village inhabited only by women is interesting, and I think many male viewers genuinely envy Nichetti for it. The smaller role of Jean Rochefort as a sexually overwhelmed resident of the settlement is a delight. Overall impression: 60%.

I really like animated films and I appreciate their well-crafted visual side, and for this reason alone, One Night in a City receives a 55% overall impression from me, because someone who is not a fan of animation can safely deduct 20-30%. It's neither fresh nor original at all, the dramaturgy failed and it's visible that there was probably no screenplay. The film simply falls apart, and I agree with most reviews that only the story about Ploutviček and Větvička is functional, while the rest consists of visually impressive images with well-made puppets, but they lack a meaningful point and atmosphere. The animation is on the level of a Czech bedtime story Doings of the Hippopotamus Family by the same director. That means it's adequate but not captivating. I simply didn't have the feeling that I should revisit this film in the future...

I finally watched the horror movie Rec, which is praised by horror fans, and I must admit that I am somewhat disappointed with the result given the high ratings and the enthusiastic reviews. Partially, it may be due to my exaggerated expectations because it is certainly not a bad movie. I just expected that a movie with an 80% rating would have an original theme, story, or truly quality execution. I was disappointed by the subject because the mystery turned out to be yet another version of a zombie horror, and I have mentioned in my reviews before that zombies simply do not scare me, or rather I am not interested in them as a horror theme. I was also disappointed by the execution because Rec does not significantly innovate the theme, it only slightly modifies it with a pseudo-documentary style, which already appeared some time ago in The Blair Witch Project. Although Rec surpasses that movie by several orders of magnitude in terms of professionalism, it is evident that the crew shot it with enthusiasm, there is a lot of energy in it, and considering what it offers to the viewers, there are no dull moments. However, that is not enough for the fourth star. There are simply too many clichés in it. Because I have seen something similar already, I essentially know exactly when someone will jump at someone else and which one of the characters will scream next. I would have liked it if the creators had taken a different path because to incite fear, isolation in an surrounded house is more than enough - fear of unknown danger, uncertainty, claustrophobia, and rapidly spreading paranoia. As it is well known, people are most afraid of what they do not see. The most atmospheric shots for me were from the attic laboratory, and I got startled once when the bulkhead doors fell... Rec has a likable cast - not that obvious acting talents appear in it, as this type of movie does not allow for that, but it is pleasant to see unknown faces instead of constantly looking at the same faces of several acting stars. I was specifically annoyed by the handheld camera, which, of course, played a crucial role in the story, but most of the footage was unnecessarily shaky and ruined my impression. The cameraman was supposed to be a professional, and if he showed me in real life something similar in the style of a seizure combined with the withdrawal of an advanced addict, I wouldn't fire him, because I would just kill him right away... Overall impression: 55%.

This miniseries can be viewed in two ways. The first can be presented as a memory of my first love when I saw her at a party five years later and she was truly beautiful, incredibly sexy, and the star of the evening. However, I was looking around in disappointment and futilely searching for the fifteen-year-old girl with braids in her hair. In other words, you can't step into the same river twice. Those who seek the same as the original series must realize the number of years that separates the actors and writers from the original Red Dwarf, and if the viewers watched in the 90s, also themselves. People simply keep evolving. Back to Earth is rather a nostalgic look back by the crew at the original project and a gift to the numerous group of fans. It is therefore wiser to look at it from a different perspective - like when old friends meet after years, reminisce about old times, joke, are happy to have had a chat, and move on. Humor is present in the miniseries in a decent dose, but it's more of a slightly sentimental humor meant to evoke the times of former glory. The passage of time has probably had the least effect on the portrayal of Rimmer, to whom the writer prescribed behavior and a posture very similar to the original character. On the other hand, I might believe in Craig Charles' detoxification that he mentioned in one joke. Chloë Annett is still charming, but naturally different than years ago. In this context, it's only good that the producer didn't attempt to resurrect the project in full, but it's also regrettable that there was no big film ever made, which had been planned for a long time. Overall impression: 75%.

I was deciding between two and three stars because, from my subjective point of view, it's more like 2 and a half. In its time, it would definitely be three strong stars, but the quality of special effects, as expected, became outdated from the first half of the 80s, and this type of film partly relies on them. The first Terminator was made practically at the same time, but unlike it, The Keep is just a weak B-movie. Genre-wise, this film can be described as dark fantasy with some horror elements, but to today's horror fans, it will probably seem too bloodless, and for fantasy lovers, not spectacular enough. The atmosphere in some moments cannot be denied because Michael Mann is simply too talented of a director. However, the screenplay dilutes in the second half of the film, and the finale is too digital and fades into nothing. Throughout most of the runtime, I had the feeling that much more could have been achieved from this idea with a little goodwill from the producer and crew. I also prefer when stories like this are set within a functional historical framework. Film viewers are usually not experts in history, but in the late summer of 1941, Romanian Jews were certainly not being sent to concentration camps; Romania was a respected ally of Germany with several units on the Eastern Front, and while the Romanian government was conservative and monarchist, it was certainly not fascist, and if not for the conflict over today's Moldavia, Romania would definitely not go to war against the Soviet Union. Therefore, German soldiers had no reason to patrol a Romanian pass thousands of kilometers away from the front... Overall impression: 40%.

After the calculated and overrated Slumdog Millionaire, Sita Sings the Blues brought me great joy and rehabilitated the world of Indian culture in my eyes. We are used to high-quality animation using various techniques, but besides several animation styles, Sita Sings the Blues features five artistic techniques, precision in execution, a humorous perspective, and an imaginative confrontation with the Western world. On one hand, Sita sings jazz songs from the 1920s in one storyline, and on the other hand, through a parallel story of an American married couple in the present, the director shows us that women have not had it easy with men in the past and do not have it easy today. It may be a small satisfaction for them that it works perfectly the other way around as well. The film itself tells the story of Sita's wife and her husband Rama simply, based on the classic Indian literature "Ramayana." One can also appreciate the exotic visual concept based on Indian cultural traditions. Sita Sings the Blues is imaginative, colorful, and simply has a swing. Overall impression: 95%.

Fans of action movies can of course give it any number of stars, but I don't have the time or nerves for this. It's not a B-movie, as this spectacle belongs somewhere at the end of the alphabet....Overall impression: 5% for the pyrotechnics.

Miyazaki's films usually present an original world and an original story, it is not the usual squeezing of classic fairy tale motifs that everyone knows by heart. Howl's Moving Castle is a geyser of visual fantasy, a peculiar kind of fairy tale fantasy with a distinctly anti-war message. Excellent drawings, obviously inspired by classical Japanese manga, careful animation, and above all a colorful plot where the world of magic, demons, and wizards comes to life. The first half is reliably worth five stars, but in the last third, the script becomes unnecessarily overcomplicated, and the adventurous story turns into a romance that dangerously plays with kitsch at the end with the arrival of the rescued prince, happy smiles, and kisses. The wizard's castle, as a strange combination of a hut on chicken legs and an industrial complex, which seems to have come out of Terry Gilliam's creative workshop, remains most vividly in my memory. Overall impression: 80%.