D.Moore

Definitely weaker than the previous film. Fewer jokes, a very simple plot, the musical interlude is annoying and unnecessarily long (just like the ride in the mine cart)... But thanks at least for the perfect (final) part with the rodeo and for the train derailment and its subsequent frantic ride through the countryside. It was fun, but not too wild this time.

"Activate Kruger!" After The Lone Ranger, I got to see another new film this year that excited me. Fault-finders may argue that Elysium does not have a very original plot, and they will probably be right. They can criticize the film for anything, and they will certainly criticize it for anything, but that is probably their vagary. I was entertained, thrilled and surprised. There aren't so many action scenes that they get tiresome, there are plenty of ideas in the film and the whole messy future looks very believable again... And the mercenary Kruger, played by Sharlto Copley, must go down in film history!

A very nice, almost cute film. It’s just ticklish and funny enough, sensationally acted (Julie Hagerty is an absolutely charming creature). And I didn't even mind the lack of jazz, as Woody Allen sucked all the music out of Mendelssohn Bartholdy this time. What amused me as much as a lot of the jokes and pranks were the constant playing with the camera and its long shots.

A good spy spectacle that still has a decent edge and momentum after all these years. It may ooze American patriotism, but that can easily be excused by the year of its creation. James Cagney is a good tough guy, who has no problem tossing Japanese men from one end of the room to the other (except that in the final one-on-one battle he seems to have been replaced by a stuntman) while charismatically seducing a dangerous beauty. Everything is more than well filmed, there are very dramatic moments (harakiri)... I give it four and a half stars. It’s too bad about the last sentence about "forgiving the enemy only after you've made up", which was unnecessary and almost inappropriate. All they needed to do was not shake hands and walk away in silence.

Within the genre, it's quite good and inoffensive, but Roland Emmerich played with practically the same theme in White House Down in a much more ingenious way and... And above all, in a funnier way. Indeed, exaggeration or any lightening of Olympus Has Fallen is what is most lacking. It is very action-packed, the occupation of the White House is briskly filmed and it all happens so fast that you almost don't notice the classic "All those pros got shot like a herd of sheep" crap. But everything else is meant to be so deadly serious, the characters swearing allegiance to the stars and stripes with death on their tongues, that weaker people with an allergy to kitsch, clichés and patriotism simply can't enjoy it.

I didn't want to laugh at the fact that Karel Heřmánek's character lets himself be led around by a slimy manager, lies to his friends for money and his own selfishness, and simply behaves like a first-class bastard. Unfortunately, I have the nagging feeling that the script counted on the fact that these moments with the rehearsal of the coma, lying and so on would be successful and that Heřmánek's keyboard player would actually be a sympathetic character. He's not. If it weren't for Boleslav Polívka and Miroslav Krobot, who turned out to be an excellent duo, Revival would have lacked all the humanity, the nostalgic tears of remembering the old black and white times - that which I was waiting for the most. Otherwise, the film is unfortunately one big advertisement, and it probably promotes Vojtěch Dyk and his band the most, something that doesn't need promotion at all. There aren't many truly funny parts (and when there are, they are the responsibility of Polívka and Krobot), the character of the blind drummer is really annoying, and Zuzana Bydžovská is also quite over the top with her paraphrase of Yoko Ono (I'd rather not even mention her last scene). Two and a half stars, average. Quite a shame. And the best line (by Bolek Polívka) was: "I wouldn't go see us."

Jerry Goldsmith will always be the best (...better, ...more brilliant, ...more likeable) composer for me, so I have no problem with everyone singing his praises in this documentary. On the contrary. Goldsmith's modest wisdom contrasts beautifully with the statements of directors, musicians and others, and in fact underscores their words all the more. Just his opening monologue about the blank music paper and what he feels before he starts writing... These are words that most contemporary composers should write down. I'm glad that the 70-minute film managed to summarize almost all the highlights of Goldsmith's career (but not a word about the unfortunate Alien) and impressively show his professional style of work on the currently recorded music for The River Wild. Of all the stories, I liked best the one about the duduk instrument and the recollections of the inventor of the now legendary Star Trek beam instrument.

Boredom. Major and unexpected. John Malkovich entertained, Anthony Hopkins entertained... But otherwise, almost no one and nothing. Bruce Willis gives us his most interesting performance in the warehouse cleaning scene in the opening, Mary-Louise Parker is unbearable throughout, although she was likable in the first RED, the script didn't prepare anything interesting for Helen Mirren apart from the insane asylum scene, Catherine Zeta-Jones was unnecessary, and never-mind the Korean "commie". Halfway through the film I was yawning with boredom, and that's not just some sort of example. The action scenes are unimaginative, the humor rather situational and very strange, even Alan Silvestri's music disappointed me this time. After the unexpectedly breezy first film came an even more unexpectedly boring second film, and I fear that there will be a third film that won't interest or entertain me in the slightest unless they talk Michael Caine into it. Two and a half stars.

There's nothing to worry about here. I know the audio version by heart and although this video is lacking in many things, it is simply great, great and great again. The performance of “San Quentin" (including the water spectacle before it), the atmosphere, the roaring crowd - this is perhaps the strongest moment of Cash's entire career. And Dylan's “Wanted Man" is one of my favorite songs ever.

Quite a good film with the perfectly written and acted character of Samuel L. Jackson. I was disappointed that towards the end the plot started to repeat itself a bit and go in a circle that brought nothing new. i.e., "the bad neighbour does something - the good neighbour tells him not to do it - the bad neighbour doesn't give a damn and keeps doing it and invents something new". The fire motif is a good idea, and I liked the magical music. It's a shame that at the expense of the sophistication of Jackson's racist, stunted cop, the script did little to make Patrick Wilson's character even remotely sympathetic.