NinadeL

Glorious Technicolor. That's all that matters. :) Fairbanks’ Robin Hood from 1922 needed major updating in the late 1930s, so Errol Flynn stepped in and it was all done. Still, Una O'Connor is the best actress, leaving all those classics by Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, and Claude Rains far behind in the dust.

The king of Universal's monster movies of the 1940s. Beautiful Technicolor, great music and even better design, Susanna Foster's perfect face, comic interactions between two suitors, one of whom is Nelson Eddy... need I say more?. And it's also got the great Claude Rains. I have to also finally let myself enjoy the almost identical The Climax (1944), in which Boris Karloff drools over Susanna.

Lamač and his English years are something that still seems to be nonexistent, but when a projection comes around once in a while, it's followed by a collision with the ignorance of the work he had already made at the time. So how about embracing They Met in the Dark as another feel-good movie that works exactly as dozens of movies have worked before? Why make things difficult for ourselves by looking for noir at a time when it didn't exist yet, and making arguments about cosmopolitanism, which was already known before 1925, etc.? Lamač, on the other hand, is only completely non-violently reuniting what he has been doing all these decades. He simply coaxed a chatty blonde into the lead role, let her take a train ride under the pretext of a detective plot, walk through the environment of a dance café and enjoy the sight of an illusionist’s performance. Still not familiar to you? For twenty years, Lamač's headstrong blonde was Anny Ondra (and if she wasn't available, she had a whole cohort of substitutes to take her place). Lamač himself spent half his life on the train, having worked all over Europe (Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, France, Holland, Belgium... after the war, the USA and West Germany) and he aspired to become a prestidigitator before he fully embraced film. It’s nothing new under the sun. Just another piece of the popular Lamač puzzle.

Overall, this is a fairly enjoyable film from my favorite backstage milieu of the spicy revue. The story is about two little girls who each cope differently with their desire for fame and fortune. Virginia Valli is the moderate one who denies herself due to the illusion of modest happiness and Carmelita Geraghty is the one who is quite sure of her charm and thus becomes rich but unhappy quite quickly. You can imagine how these stories play out, but if you're interested in the events of The Pleasure Garden, the mid-1920s are the perfect setting for them.

Charlotte Gainsbourg puts on her rose-tinted glasses and leads Omar Sy all the way to... go ahead and add your own take on what you like to think of as a happy ending. In this film, the options are a) to bed, b) to the sunset, or c) to the Eiffel Tower. Or the untouchable useless encounter between a nymphomaniac and a refugee. French romances of today are in fact quite similar to this. What is the world coming to?

A charming parody with a whiff of novella adventures. It would have been interesting to see which direction Hrušínský would have taken as a director, but we didn’t get to. But both of his projects are among the more interesting from the end of the war. The whole project ideally revolves around the relationships between Pedro and Rosita, or Pancho, Manuel, and others. The adjective "getting married" refers, among other things, to a popular motif from comedies of all kinds. If I ignore the bland performance of Vlasta Matulová in the lead role, I am satisfied with the gags, partial scenes, and the overall tone. The connection between the world read from an adventure book and the classic Czech smallness was excellent. Special praise must be given as usual to Ela Šárková as the most seductive being on the wide plains of Mexico.

With a trio of successful albums to their credit, No Doubt was at the peak of a breakthrough decade. The band members were now consummate professionals who had not yet lost their zest and energy and were in fact still drawing inspiration from the crowds of their admirers. At such a moment, it was impossible to create a show that wouldn't give you chills. The dark parts with the tough Gwen turn into an absolute orgy of the senses and hype enhanced by her playing with the masses. Want to see this goddess do some push-ups? You got it. Do you want to see her hit rock bottom again like she does every time she sings "Don't Speak" to Tony’s face? You'll get that and more. A great concert, and a great show. A must for all No Doubt fans.

The development is fascinating. Today, No Doubt puts on a completely different show. In the 90s the band members were predatory, young, like animals that first stepped out of a cage. They played together for years and their success was a long time coming. The moment it came, they were completely let loose on the world. It's hard to believe that this year marks 20 years since the release of "Tragic Kingdom."

These videos are perfection, and I have been watching them regularly for several years. I've actually been living my life to the No Doubt soundtrack since elementary school, so this collection is a clear must for me. The complete clips cover the first decade of their fame, including a naive prologue that they never actually played anywhere - "Trapped in a Box." But even then, in 1992, it was clear that Gwen set the style and the boys were only there to complement her. In 1995 came a revelation called "Tragic Kingdom" and "Just a Girl Gwen" - a platinum blonde in sportswear with an Indian flair, and the combination worked and totally charmed audiences. The final revelation was the iconic ballad about Gwen and Tony's break-up, "Don't Speak." "You and me / We used to be together / Everyday together always / I really feel / That I'm losing my best friend / I can't believe / This could be the end / It looks as though you're letting go / And if it's real / Well I don't want to know..." It was a ride - Gwen was both Pearl White and an Indian temple dancer all in one. With the new album "Return of Saturn" in 2000 came the era of pink Gwen, who dreamed of "Simple Kind of Life" and together with the Pussycat Dolls showed new, and again breathtaking, tricks. The speed of those years was irreversible and the next album, "Rock Steady", was released the following year in 2001. This time it was Bounty Killer thing and looking back we had to trot along in "Running." That was when it was necessary to pause for the first time. But only for a little while. A decade of solo careers passed like the wave of a magic wand and the "Push and Shove" reunion was upon us, reminding us why we fell in love with No Doubt, no doubt.

Movies about boxing and boxers are only good if they deal with Max Schmeling or Rocky Balboa. This is an example of a film that doesn't work in every possible way. It doesn't appeal, and it doesn't impress. I really only appreciated the final song by Eminem and Gwen Stefani.