D.Moore

Turns out I fell in love with a movie again. This time with this wacky, nymphomaniac crazy comedy, whose main heroes and heroines should all be in straitjackets and locked up in a mental institution. The very funny Peter Sellers, swashbuckling Peter O'Toole, Woody Allen, an army of beautiful women, Bacharach's music and the title song performed by Tom Jones, a screenplay in which wacky situations are interspersed with utter none-sense and absurdities so funny that it's hard to guess how they could have all fit into one movie, and which also happens to look like a real movie and not one long episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Unfortunately, the comedic swing I expected from the film came only during the night scene in the house, when people were climbing from window to window, from room to room, locking themselves in, running away from the Doberman, falling from balconies, etc. Otherwise, not great, but Bruce Willis was good (and about halfway through the film set up almost as well as John McClane at the end of any given Die Hard).

If Franz Kafka had written a humorous novel, it might well have been just like Shadows and Fog. The strangler hunt idea is simply brilliant. Like the protagonist, we don't really know anything from beginning to end, only sometimes we learn that the killer has eliminated someone, and sometimes that the hunters split into factions may soon start killing each other... That's all. There are only two islands of normality in this gloomy, absurd world - the circus and the brothel. Woody Allen (or rather one of the characters) says in the end that man needs illusions to live. And I can sign off on that.

The countryside does not suit Pierre Richard at all - at least not in this film. A promising subject, but a very poor script, boring and cheap entertainment, and in my opinion that doesn't fit a film starring him. I was looking forward to the brother's arrival and him lending a helping hand to cause some incredible inferno that would destroy everyone and everything. In the end, it only destroyed me.

I am about as familiar with stock market events, selling, buying, rising or falling stock prices as a chamois is with driving a steam locomotive. And that's probably why I didn't really enjoy Wall Street, since I had absolutely no idea what was going on during many of the scenes. Fortunately, the basic story was understandable despite this fact, the actors were excellent and Oliver Stone managed to produce a number of memorable scenes (the arrest was the best in my view). Wall Street isn't one of his best films, but it's certainly one of his very good ones.

Three and a half stars because Jack Ryan is above average, although not by much. It's actually an old Bond movie. In a new coat. And without James Bond. The fact that it looks so ordinary, mundane and unoriginal, and that not much surprising happens in it, can be a plus for some as much as a minus for others. Personally, I was most annoyed by the (next) bomb, which again had that necessary timer with a digital display... It's become such a cliché that I can't help but laugh whenever I see it (especially when remembering the excellent The Sum of All Fears). However, Branagh's meticulous direction and Doyle's excellent music, the acting performances, and the dialogue scenes that are perhaps more interesting than the action scenes (not that the fight in the apartment isn't awesome) are unquestionable.

I think this is one of those films that is perfect in every way. The perfect blend of romance, humor and drama, the perfect interplay of the central couple (even though they are both so different), the perfect Christmas atmosphere, plenty of memorable moments and especially the pleasant unpredictability of whether it will turn out well or not. After the closing credits, I had to see for myself that The Apartment really lasted two hours. I went by so fast.

In the first film, Django was dragging a coffin behind him, here he's driving a funereal car. In the first film he had a Colt, here he's got a sawed-off shotgun. In the first film he beat and shot the bad guys, here he shoots, shoots, shoots, beats, chokes, beheads them with a scythe, impales them on a candlestick, throws axes at them, blows them up with dynamite that he makes them hold in their teeth... None-sense, essentially. Today, Danny Trejo would probably be the lead in such a film. Then one might feel that it is not taking itself so deadly seriously.

I hadn’t seen The Troubles of Alfred and I'm more than surprised - I'm downright thrilled! Pierre Richard plays more or less the same character as in my beloved La Chevre, but the mood of this film is completely different. Especially at the beginning, the film is very quiet and one could perhaps say sensitive (by Richard’s standards of course). However, it gradually picks up, introduces more characters (the great Mario David as a non-champion boxing champion) and culminates in a TV competition that at times brought me to tears (especially during the "the country people are watching TV, whatever they are doing" scenes). The romantic line works very well and there is certainly enough humor. However, I can't agree with those who are not satisfied with the dubbing - Eduard Cupák suits Pierre Richard as well as Petr Oliva (if not more).

When Kabir Bedi, eyes blazing on the darkened deck, challenges Satan, it almost sends a chill down the spine. The Black Corsair is a very decent adventure film, but if I had memories of it from my childhood, I would probably like it even more. Seeing Sollima's "western" direction in a film from a completely different setting was the most interesting of all.