Marigold

Dear God, well that sure was something! A bleak postmodern trip movie, which fortunately is not as "cool" as Ondříček's concoctions, but nevertheless reduces all the obscurity of the subject to the onslaught of the words “shit, dick and cunt" that fly from the mouth in a civilian spasm the writhing actors and actresses. Michálek is spewing events and trying to make a FILM out of them. There postmodern effort in everything, the form is broken into disjointed pulp, the digital camera flutters uncertainly, the color filters change... There is truly no plot to be found. After all, this is a scathing postmodern statement. Beautiful, but it all masks the great emptiness and nothingness behind the words and the deeds. It's hard to say where this colorful spray is going, because it doesn't have the emotional potential of Trainspotting, and it doesn't try to achieve the obscurity of Cronenberg's Naked Lunch. The only value I see in Angel Exit is that it captures the vanishing world around the Angel intersection. Otherwise, I saw only a strange drugged-up and annoyingly tormented mishmash speaking to me in flowing Tatar language.

Nicholas Meyer turned the first-generation death knell into a pretty decent detective story, set in a time when the Klingons are forced by circumstances to negotiate peace with the Federation. And that there is no need to emphasize to insiders that they are not particularly rearing to get it done... However, will is also lacking on the other side - Captain Kirk has a very painful experience with the Klingons that he does not abandon. Klingon negotiator Gorkon eventually falls victim to the conspiracies and manipulations, and Captain Kirk and ship McCoy are convicted of his murder by the Klingon authorities. Everything testifies against them and the Enterprise, and the key to the case are two lost uniforms and two pairs of magnetic boots. Mr. Spock takes on the role of the man with the pipe, while the convicts try to escape from a ruthless prison. It’s definitely not a bad spectacle, it's just a bit lengthy and sometimes too forthcoming. Nevertheless, everything is exciting and in the end properly touching and typically funny (Spock's final message is definitely worth it). It’s not nearly as good as The Wrath of Khan, but The Undiscovered Country is one of the better Star Trek film productions.

The conclusion of the Generation Saga could not have been better! True, the story lacks the monumentality and fatality of the Borg episodes of the series, but Captain Pickard's duel with himself in another body is worth it. The Romulans have not been seen much in the series so far, so it's good that they're finally getting some screen time. Although I probably don't have to emphasize the fact that they are not in a particularly friendly mood and that they have truly evil plans concerning the Federation. The story does have a touch of seriality, but thanks to the conflict between the two main brains on both sides, it has the right feature film spirit. In addition, director Stuart Baird has not forgotten what we, ST+, love so much – light humor and exaggeration for the "invited", a spectacular starship duel (the battle between the Enterprise and the Scimitar is one of the best in the history of Star trek) and a great escalation of intergalactic tension... He has also added a revolutionary novelty in the form of a dropping of paratroops, carried out not on foot, as I am used to in Star Trek, but through futuristic Off-road. And the fact that it is more than just driving is definitely clear. One of the last Mohicans of the old school soundtrack, Jerry Goldsmith, contributed really great music to it all. It’s quite unfortunate that the previous episode of Insurrection failed quite deservedly, and thereby our fellow countryman didn't have a chance to enjoy a delicious Star Trek Generations film on the silver screen. I would give it 4 or 5 stars, but out of respect for what the Generations has accomplished, I’m rounding up... Unfortunately, the bonus material on the DVD clearly shows how much the Paramount studio was involved in the film, which (as director Baird conspicuously suggests) forced the creator to cut out certain important scenes. The alternative ending in the cut-out scenes is also interesting, clearly suggesting that Nemesis should not have been the certain ending of the Next Generation. Unlike the ending which was used.

A Shot In The Dark is the rightful beginning of the Pink Panther series. It’s true that Blake Edwards made The Pink Panther a year before this gem, but there, officially executive idiot Clouseau only played the role of a supporting character, which was one of the few bright sides of an otherwise rather shabby detective conversation film. This film bears all the distinguishing marks on which the series is based. Above all - the colossal exhibition of Peter Sellers, who had one of the most complex comedy performances in history. His Clouseau is built to the last detail (just listen to his stupid "acsant") and it's Sellers' famous acting that makes some scenes absolute classics - I can't help but notice the legendary billiard destruction, in which it truly pays to watch Sellers' movement and facial expressions. Then there is the humor - based on typical grotesque elements (falls, blunders, destruction, etc.), and also on Clouseau's intelligent verbal humor (I suspect everyone and no one at the same time). Then there is the detective plot, which gives way to the above, but still has an original resolution. Everything taken together? Brilliant fun with some unforgettable and unsurpassed ideas (a more original character than Kato is hard to find), the excellent Herbert Lom in the role of the nascent psychotic Dreyfus and a few dead spots that remind me of the dryness of the original Pink Panther. Fortunately, there are very few of them.

When you watch The Haunted Mansion, you will laugh and shake in fear at the same time. So says the packaging. The problem is that there is nothing to laugh at and the fear is limited to a few predictable "very spooky" jump scares, which can be predicted even by a beginner viewer. In addition, the story is so worn and frayed that it cannot be sewn back together. Perhaps the actors could help, but led by Eddie Murphy, they fail through their geeky and unconvincing acting on all fronts. The rest? The effects... decent, fair. The music... decent, Disney opulent. The directing... average, lifeless, unimaginative. This film needed a handful of good ideas, but instead only got a few hand-fulls of sparse ghosts stories, embarrassing jokes and disgustingly cheesy moments. So, at best you'll shake with disgust, and if that makes you laugh... well, may the devil be with you. Below average.

The Hours is a classic film about which you can’t form a clear opinion during a single watch. Not only because the film is divided in a postmodern way into three time-spaces, connected both motivically and through characters. From this perspective, this is one of those simpler jigsaw puzzles, the principle of which you can unveil very easily, because Stephen Daldry's goal is not to confuse the viewer... In the first space-time, Virginia Woolf experiences a difficult struggle with illness and misunderstanding (phenomenal performance by Nicole Kidman!). Her novel Mrs Dalloway grows out of feelings of misunderstanding, loneliness and uprooting. This book was read in the 1950s by Laura Brown (the fragile and closed-off Julianne Moore), a mother living in the illusion of a happy family but struggling inside with similar feelings of misunderstanding as Virginia. In 2001, Clarissa Vaughan (suggestively played by Meryl Streep) gets the name of the heroine of the novel half jokingly... it's probably not worth emphasizing that she too struggles with life disillusionment, misfortune and the fateful man she loves, who threw her away long ago... All of the protagonists are connected by Woolf's novel, a similar emotional state and lesbian tendencies. All of this is intertwined in a difficult complex of relationships and emotions, and they go through a painful catharsis during a single "film" day. On one fateful day, the three levels of the story intertwine into a relatively coherent film ensemble, which at first lacks gradation and drowns in big words (the intellectual patheticity still holds on to it at a tolerable level), but at crucial moments it always has a great emotional charge and the gift to grab on to the viewer and make us think. A bit of an obstacle for me is the gender filter in seeing men as a) submissive and effeminate intellectuals (Leonard Woolf), b) wrecked and aimlessly wandering artists (Richard Brown), c) dull and inattentive domestic animals (Richie Brown). Despite the partial antipathies, however, I admit that The Hours has great inner strength and considerable stylistic maturity. Thanks to which, and also thanks to the sensitive directing and excellent music of Philip Glass, they amount to a great spectator experience...

A whip-sharp satire, or is the film really as stupidly militant as it looks? I vote for the first option. Because if my other extreme is true, Verhoeven is not capable, which contradicts his nature. If you watch Starship Troopers with exaggeration and relate it to fictional models of individual genres (a war film, a teen series from “high-school", an action sci-fi, a propaganda documentary), then you just can't help but bow down, because Starship Troopers works great. On the one hand, the film is able to captivate through mass combat scenes and tension on the battlefield, and on the other hand it can entertain with satirical whisks, especially during the inserted sequences from the "period media". Paul Verhoeven cannot be considered anything other than one of the greatest deviants of the silver screen, and the contradictory reception of his works is the best proof that he is doing his job amazingly. In this case, however, it’s a little less amazing, because what it parodies it also absorbs dangerously in places.

... and the potential opened by the first film is fulfilled in the second film. Bryan Singer is truly the master of masters and quite brave in terms of action sci-fi (fortunately, the number of these people is increasing), so he is not afraid to take his foot off the gas and let the story flow more slowly, but this means that he models the characters all the more thoroughly. Good (X-men) and "evil" (the torso of the Magneto group) unite in the fight against the unpredictable General Styler, who intends to abruptly end the mutant issue. The contradiction of Professor Xavier's opinion is even more problematic and the points go to the radical Magneto. Again, I have no choice but to praise the great actors – Stewart, who is not at the forefront as much this time, the charismatic and tough Jackman and, of course, the incredibly charming villain/non-villain played by Ian McKellen. Let's add points for great tricks, improved fights, great music and an ending that is not afraid to hand out surprising losses (unlike the first film). I really enjoy tensely watching how Singer builds a great film world that is adventurous, intelligent, immersive, and reasonably mirrors our world today. In addition, their world is inhabited by well-characterized heroes (newcomer Kurt Wagner is a true master!), with whom one can identify. Yes, this is what modern sci-fi action should be.

Quite a pleasant relaxing film about the difficult acquaintance of a young man with the somewhat quirky family of his future wife. In fact, life can't be easy for an idiot like Gaylord Jebal... especially when he's facing a creature that is so demanding, i.e., his father, who is also a CIA agent. A couple of decent (though not dizzyingly intelligent) gags somewhat kill the typical heat of passion and "loving" pathos. And the decent comedian Stiller and the really large-format father Robert DeNiro are victorious over the typical heat of passion and pathos. No threat to the diaphragm, or to good taste...

Surprisingly excellent comic science fiction, which works not only as a trick and action affair, but also on the level of the characters and the story. Professor Xavier's (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto's (Ian McKellen) gambit is truly electrifying and is certainly not a traditional battle between good and evil in pure form. The experiences from the concentration camp that have marked Magneto, who perceives the conflict between mutants and humans as a possible repetition of the events of the Second World War, adds tension to the otherwise slightly worn plot. Of course, it doesn't dig too deep and remains, as tends to be the case in Hollywood, only with hints of ethics, but even X-men couldn't handle anymore than that. Mainly thanks to excellent actors and decent tricks, this film is one of the best comic book adaptations ever. And I haven’t even mentioned the open potential for the future films...