gudaulin

Jane Fonda was once a respected top female film star, but the film business is cruel to actresses, and the overwhelming majority of them end their careers prematurely. After a long break, she attempted to return to acting and had to settle for playing the role of a hysterical and unpleasant mother-in-law, which she would have considered an insult during her heyday. During some of her scenes, I had to feel sorry for her. Once again, it is an undemanding and predictable spectacle without clever humor, the kind of film that you will forget after a few hours. Overall impression: 35%.

Undemanding entertainment that relies on Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. Cruise has played a decent number of similar invulnerable and indestructible agents, and here he can take advantage of his acting routine and audience expectations. Similarly, Cameron Diaz has played countless similar naive characters in her career. My problem with these types of films is that they are desperately predictable and have a terribly formulaic and simple script. In the airplane scene, Cruise takes down ten opponents without breaking a sweat, but the audience knows very well that if the plane were fully occupied and he faced 150 enemy agents, the outcome would inevitably be the same. A few decent lines and two or three interesting scenes where the story momentarily deviates from the template, like the scene where our hero shoots his enemy in the leg, can't save it. Knight and Day is exactly the kind of film where a fraction of a second after a new character appears, you can identify them as the main villain, even though this "surprise" is saved for the end by the screenwriter. Overall impression: 40%.

I have not read the book and honestly, I do not even want to familiarize myself with it after watching Silberling's film. The film had an exclusive cast with a whole pleiad of well-known Hollywood names. It also had a magnificent production with a variety of special effects and a scene that indicates that the crew did not have to make any compromises regarding the budget. However, from my point of view, the result is very poor and my one star is only for the set design, which sometimes does its own thing regardless of the plot. The Victorian gloom of the film sets and costumes is more effective than the grimaces of the main villain played by Jim Carrey. I have no problem with his performance, he is simply an actor who adapts to the requirements of the script and the director, but the level of stylized exaggeration was dysfunctional and unbearable for me. Even a three-year-old child would realize in his uncle Olaf's disgusting grimace and vocabulary after three-tenths of a second that something is not right, and here all the adults pretend to believe even his least probable charity. It's simply too overexposed and for me, it would work if at least half of the actor's performance was toned down. I haven't even mentioned ingredients such as the youngest member of the Baudelaire family, that typical American innocent angel type, who already disgusts me with the first smile and whom I would dispatch without hesitation. Overall impression: 25%.

When I saw the American remake, I assumed that the original had avoided its flaws, and almost automatically wanted to give it a higher rating. However, surprisingly I can give the original the same 3 stars and percentage. Even the criticisms would be similar, although they would relate to different scenes and movie locations. The basic scheme of the original is identical - it is an intimate psychological drama of the clash of two personalities dissatisfied with their position and self-realization. However, there are several significant differences. The original is more credible in its foundations, so the actual meeting, emergence, and escalation of the conflict appear more natural. But appearing more natural does not mean that it is truly believable in all respects because there is still too much sparking and affectation here. However, Theo van Gogh loses to the remake when it comes to the finale, where the confession from the perspective of a journalist is highly unlikely and the ending with the wailing of police sirens is much more American than the civilian ending of Buscemi's film, where the point is much more effective in its sarcastic tone. Overall impression: 60%. The potential of van Gogh's film was even greater considering the Dutch origin of the journalist and his work in Bosnia, which could be combined with the infamous actions of the Dutch battalion in Srebrenica and elsewhere.

Habana Blues is primarily a musical film full of songs and melodies that don't really appeal to me and have a significantly more modern or different sound than what I consider classic Cuban music in the style of Buena Vista Social Club. Your relationship with the music is crucial when evaluating a musical film. Additionally, the story didn't really captivate me, although it didn't bother me either. If Habana Blues deserves an honest 3 stars from me, it's because of the relatively authentic portrayal of the decaying atmosphere of old Havana, where not even a peso has been invested in the maintenance of once luxurious neighborhoods in half a century, and the authentic representation of poverty and disillusionment of the young Cuban generation in the film. Although the film was undoubtedly made with the permission and involvement of the Cuban authorities, it goes much further than the perestroika films of the late Soviet era or Czech films from the second half of the 80s. Oversight of Cuban culture was never as strict as in Eastern and Central European countries, but even so, I was pleasantly surprised by the level of openness. Overall impression: 60%. I didn't completely believe the main character's gesture of refusing to emigrate and choosing to stay in Cuba, but everyone has the right to make their own choice...

Since the release of Shrek, there hasn't been an animated film that systematically parodies pop culture and established production schemes of the entertainment industry. While Shrek parodied traditional Disney movies, which were based on a universally known fairy tale world, Megamind satirizes superhero comics, specifically Superman, which somewhat limits its impact. There is another fundamental difference in that Shrek was full of effective jokes and characters, each of which resonated with different viewers. Megamind has a much simpler basic structure and fewer effective gags. It is certainly a smart film, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is the most entertaining or commercially successful. Although I consider it better than the recent Despicable Me, and also more daring, Despicable Me will most likely be significantly more successful because it is much more conventional and less demanding in terms of thinking. Megamind, despite having the form of a classic family animated film, can be appreciated more by older viewers who can apply their perspective and genre knowledge. Megamind takes aim at genre conventions, precisely those that Despicable Me strictly adheres to. While the older The Incredibles only used and built upon superheroes, Megamind works with the genre more creatively and turns it upside down. Overall impression: 75%.

Paul Greengrass tried out the style he applied in Green Zone in two parts of the Borneo series, thus creating a prototype of a modern action hero set in a realistic environment and using top combat techniques, but one that is far from the action superheroes of comic or game adaptations and routine thrillers. Moreover, he moved from pure entertainment to a deeper reflection on a specific political problem currently affecting America. His Green Zone is an excellent war action film that also perfectly functions as a mapping of the roots of war against Saddam and the subsequent civil war in Iraq. The film is a synthesis of all the motifs that played a role in creating today's complex situation, namely amateurism on the part of strategists, manipulated information from secret services and the American government, underestimation of the watchdog function of the press and media in general, unpreparedness for long-term occupation, and logistical failure. Of course, the film has its flaws and the five stars I'm giving it are not flawless, but in this case, I am happy to add them because the film stands very high above the genre average. The fictional hero of the story, Miller, has too much initiative and is too independent in his thinking for a lower-ranking army officer (possible members of the armed forces will forgive me), and above all, he does not hesitate to disobey orders and defy authority in a significant way. Also, the handheld camera, which plays a dominant role in Greengrass's films, is unnecessary in some cases, and the film contains some minor logical lapses. I doubt, for example, that a wanted war criminal, whose likeness is on every American soldier's playing card, would be driving around the streets of Baghdad in a car registered in his name several weeks after the occupation. But the action sequences, be it shootouts, wild chases, or fights, are filmed in the highest quality, and the entire story is set in a functional environment and corresponds to what actually happened in Iraq despite the fictionality of the main character. Matt Damon has already tried out a similar type of hero in the character of Jason Bourne, and his work with the director is top-notch. The entire film is incredibly dynamic and captivating. Overall impression: 90%.

No, this is not my cup of tea, even though the film does not take itself that seriously and it's not tear-inducing. Yet it's still a piece of filmmaking that wasn't modern even in the year of its creation, let alone today, and it's aimed at a completely different target audience. It's very naive and clichéd. Overall impression: 30%.

Yes, this is a cute short that is a variation of the horror genre legend named Frankenstein. At the same time, it is a film from the beginning of the career of the famous director and animator Tim Burton, who clearly indicated the direction of his work, i.e., comically tuned fantastic stories, where he can unleash his artistic talents and creatively utilize his animator's craft. However, when compared to his more mature works, such as Sleepy Hollow, it still has its flaws. It simply isn't as well-developed, despite a few clever ideas. Furthermore, if I compare this film to his Alice in Wonderland, which is frequently criticized for its excessive friendliness toward Disney Studios in every other review, the influence of the producer is even more pronounced here, and there is no trace of the darkness and fate of the horror source material. It is simply a cute little film treat for the whole family. Overall impression: 65%.

Running Scared is significantly influenced by music video aesthetics and if I wanted to be sarcastic, I would say that the title of the film captures the fact that it must frantically rush forward so that the viewer doesn't notice that the sequence of images and action-packed scenes is just a purposefully connected hybrid that doesn't hide anything deeper. It is true that, for example, the character of the sadistic villain seems to have escaped from the pages of Frank Miller's comics or even more so from Garth Ennis' "Preacher," and there are certainly more eccentric characters or entertaining situations, but it is exactly the type of film where I appreciate the details, but the whole thing doesn't hold together and ends with a crucial revelation that I consider too cheap and one that would be more suitable for a parody. I perceive it rather as a joke from the screenwriter at my expense. Overall impression: 45%.