D.Moore

It seems that it can be done without dead bodies. The Coens excel again, both in terms of script and direction. Raising Arizona is a typically quirky spectacle by them, full of amazing crazy characters and memorable scenes. Apart from the big diaper robbery, I will particularly remember for a long time John Goodman and his buddy escaping from prison, the hellish biker who probably came from some post-apocalyptic spaghetti western, the fight in the caravan, the wonderful ending... Heck, I'll remember the whole movie!__P.S. I saw the dubbed TV version, but it didn't ruin the experience for me. I'm sure it was also thanks to the fact that Nicolas Cage spoke in Ondřej Vetchý's voice.

Very catchy songs, a reasonable runtime and, not only by fairy tale standards, a really disgustingly slimy Josef Kemr. These are probably the biggest pros. Otherwise, I was surprised how much was missing in the tale (the first escape from the old man, his punishment...) - almost as if it was the fault of the senile grandfather narrator, unmistakably played by František Kovářík.

A similar case to the Klitschko documentary. I don't normally have much interest in formula racing, but the story of Ayrton Senna is a legend that is bound to catch your eye even if you only know it in broad strokes. And this excellent film deepens those traits considerably, perfectly portraying the somewhat strange nature of a man who lived only for victory, showing him as a living legend... It is, without exaggeration, absolutely great. The most emotional moment, however, comes not at the end, when the expected crash occurs, but after Senna's first victory in Brazil, when, despite the immense pain of perhaps every muscle in his body, he struggles to lift the cup, drinking champagne... Amazing. But that doesn't mean tears don't come to your eyes at the end or during other scenes, or that it doesn't chill you.

Neither Veronika Kubařová's beautiful princess nor the traditionally great Viktor Preiss, who could have played Baron Prášil on the spot, were able to save this new Czech Christmas fairy tale. There’s a stupid script, most of the characters stupid, the main character acts like a soulless dummy, the other acting performances are poor (an unbearable Jan Hrušínský, a very similarly "sympathetic" Jiřina Bohdalová), no humor to be found... That was a long ninety minutes.

At first it seemed to be a relaxing adventure film. Then a gritty modern western. Then suddenly a drama about a friendship between two men who may have done something to each other in the past. And then again a relaxing adventure film, which in the end it stayed with. It’s too bad about the screenplay, which did a very poor job with the storyline of the vengeful Indians (how Aldo was tracked down, etc., not to mention the ending), and it’s particularly unfortunate about the finale on the boat, which is so dramatic that it’s unintentionally ridiculous. All credit goes to Lino Ventura, who does not know how to act badly, to Master Morricone, of whom the same is true, to the whole "western" part, and to the portrayal of friendship, which was believable in every way (thanks again to Mr. V. and Mr. M.).

It reminded me of Game of Death, Bruce Lee's posthumous film where the fight scenes were performed by doubles and the actor only showed his face. This film is basically the same, but with the difference that Steven Seagal is still alive.

Occasionally, I find that the movie I'm watching is so incredibly stupid and repulsive to the point of festering that I don't care not only what happens in it and how it ends, but whether I even make it to the end. I couldn't do it with Gulliver's Travels. After half an hour I fell asleep in a rather awkward position, then I woke up during the end credits... And I didn't mind at all.

Terribly stupid, but (again) unfortunately not in a funny way. That makes it even worse than the first film, which made me laugh a few times. This time all the bonus points were taken care of by Mel Gibson (Star Wars fan), but otherwise it’s a really terrible boring mess. And the third installment will most likely be the same thing, but with light machetes, clones... etc. Nevermind.

Tender Waves is essentially a strange mishmash of various scenes grafted onto a not very interesting main storyline. It may not look like it from the official distributor's text, which you can see here, but consider that the departure of the classmate to her dream Paris occurs sometime in the last quarter of the film (if at all), and logically you have to ask: "What's been going on for an hour and a half?" Well, a lot of things. The biggest mistake is that I probably have a completely different sense of humor than Jiří Vejdělek. In addition to directing, he also wrote the script, partly based on his own memories, partly letting his imagination run wild, and I'm sure he finds all the stories extremely funny. The conservatory entrance exam and the tennis elbow, as well as what precedes the brawl in the projection booth, the punishment of the informer, and more. But I didn’t find them funny. I consider the best moments to be most of the scenes of the choleric father (perfectly played by the precise Hynek Čermák) and then a few moments of the kindly doctor Jan Hartl and the beautiful mother Tania Pauhofová (although I liked her mostly to look at). The rest of it, which hinges on the main character being played by an incredibly unsympathetic man (and it doesn't matter if he's older or younger, both boys are very similar in their unsympathetic nature), is terrible. For every good joke (there are about four in the film) there are ten bad ones, characters appear and disappear without any sense (the congregation)... Yes, it looks good (Vladimír Smutný's movie cinematography is always beautiful), many of the scenes have swing thanks to skillful direction, and it's not as endlessly stupid as Men in Hope, but I would like to ask Mr Vejdělek to stop writing scripts.

A battle of acting titans. Both men in full force, Peter O'Toole on screen two years after Lawrence of Arabia, Richard Burton in a year that saw him star in three more big movies. Which of the two is better? It's a tie, of course. When you see Burton's Becket excommunicating an enemy of the church with a demonic look in his eyes, you tend to think he's the only one who could play someone like that. It's the same when watching O'Toole's remarkable Henry, an explosive monarch who can be loathed one moment and loved the next. A certain theatricality and more modest production design do not harm the film at all, and the dialogues are razor sharp and still have something to say about how a cornered friendship can turn out.