Malarkey

A series made by a Spanish director, which is similar to Richard Linklater’s trilogy (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight). With the difference of the premise of a single meeting being divided into eight episodes, running from 30 to 45 minutes. The problem of this series then lies in the length. It is called Foodie Love, so when the camera focuses on food, I’m literally drooling. However, the second half of the series shows the transmission between a budding relationship into asexual one, which I disliked so much I wanted to stop watching it. The last episode, however, brought a surprising conclusion to a story of two people and resolved some issues I had with it. In the end, I was happy that I kept watching. An original premise, a few scenes I would rather omit and a lot of beautiful food shots I couldn’t help appreciating. Especially the shots of Japanese ramen were gorgeous. And when the cook said that the quality of the ramen stew is affected even by the type of socks she wears to work on the given day, I was struck speechless.

It’s Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film and nothing changed in his storytelling. It’s true that he tuned his hubris down a bit so we don’t see any 40-minute scenes with zero content, as was the case with The Hateful Eight.  But it's still exactly the kind of movie you can expect from Tarantino. It‘s three hours long, with nothing happening for the first two hours, and the last 40 minutes are so full of suspense you will watch it with bated breath. Quentin strategically chose a new topic – Hollywood, but it’s actually just Pulp Fiction in a new coat. This movie seems likes Quentin Tarantino’s opus magnum. He portrays a period he obviously likes the most from Hollywood history – the Western era – and makes allusions to everything that comes to his mind. And he doesn’t care a bit if you like that era, have seen those movies or are their fan at all. He just does what he wants, and it fascinates me how much time and effort he had to invest in shooting scenes from various imaginary films, creating their posters and names. If nothing else, this makes Once Upon a Time in Hollywood a remarkable movie. Plus Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt are a pair of cool guys who can’t let Tarantino’s fans down. It still, however, seems just like a film where a group of actors meet to have some fun together, most of all Leo and Brad. You feel like you went to grab a beer with them, took a peek into their lives, and in the last part of the film you got to see some traditional Tarantino action, which is just as wild and brutal as we’re used to. In short, nothing new under the sun.

Pierre Richard was a sufficient reason to watch this comedy. After work, I was looking forward to some fun, and Tricky Old Dogs seemed like just the thing. Even though it’s a comedy, it also has some drama elements. And Pierre’s character was simply marvelous. As an eccentric with Niki Lauda‘s driving skills, he was the perfect driving force behind the entire film. The ending, however, was in the spirit of classical French drama, that is as a properly done fateful meeting.

I could rate this film with four stars and say it’s a very entertaining, witty and funny detective movie. But Rian Johnson not only directed his film, but also wrote its script. And he wrote it as a homage to Agatha Christie, who conceived her detective stories in a similar spirit. Form the beginning, you have to pay close attention to what is going on in the film. Even the tiniest detail might be of importance in the investigation. If I said anything more, it might be a spoiler, so I’ll just say that if you like Hercule Poirot and his investigations, try to watch this with as little knowledge of the plot as possible, and look forward to Daniel Craig’s performance. Even though everyone’s performances are perfect, listening to Daniel’s ingeniously eccentric English was just divine. I enjoyed this greatly, that’s why I’m giving this five stars. Knives Out are a detective story you don’t get to see today, offering an original plot hardly anyone would write these days (except for book-based films). For me, it was an absolute film orgy.

It’s incredible that I’m watching a hundred-year-old movie and laughing like a maniac. The best scene is definitely the one with the fighter. There are even film effects that you definitely wouldn’t expect. It’s no wonder that Kid is one of the best rated films in the database.

I’m glad that the creators decided to shoot a sequel to Maria Theresa’s story, conceived similarly to the first film but starring a different actress, which was a good fit for the role. I’m not saying she was better than the previous one, but in the context of the development of the story and the main character growing more mature she was simply a good choice. The films also benefits from the collaboration of several countries. There was enough money to make it epic, as evident by the casting, set designs and even costumes of everyone in front of the camera. The script might be a little TV-like, and I didn’t really discern any strong story in either of the two films. It looks just like a slice of life at a noble court, showing a little bit of everything. It, however, remains a great project and I’m hoping for another sequel.

If you see Tolkien as the architect of all the fantasy worlds you love so much, then you will think that this film is exactly for you. This is what I thought, at least. That’s why I was looking forward so much to this film. But what did I get? In my opinion, the most boring biographical film I have seen in a very long time. A total disappointment. The acting performances are good, Nicholas Hoult as the young Tolkien is alright, and Dome Karukoski is not a bad choice for this type of story either, as he has some experience under his belt. The problem, however, lies in the script. There are some interesting moments throwing some light on author’s books, but the result is incredibly boring. The story takes place during Tolkien’s studies. He met friends who influenced his fate. In the beginning, their club seems like the gathering of young elite of that time. It didn’t sit well with me. Over the time, the story began to focus on WWI and the battlefield shots didn’t look bad, but I didn’t want to watch a war movie but a biopic, so it didn’t sit well with me either. Tolkien didn’t deserve this, and it’s no wonder that his family washed their hands of this film.

If any of Stephen King’s books are made into a movie, usually, the result cannot be bad. Except, maybe, when the filming is made by a bungler, the result can be quite a screw-up. What sometimes happens is that an average movie is made from a quality theme, but that depends on the abilities of the makers – or the lack thereof. Pet Sematary, for example, was not filmed for the first time, but I cannot say that there is anything different or unique about it. I think that it is a standard horror movie, which does not even make you scared, because the thought of fear is somewhat turned upside down. Also, it is kind of boring and without the last half an hour, I would probably rate it with even less stars.

Let’s compare Enemy at the Gates directed by a renowned European director with Battle for Sevastopol directed by an unknown Russian. The story is similar, situated during WWII, in fact with a rather epic character, but the difference is just huge, with way too much patriotism and pathos in the story, and on the other hand great action scenes. It is a shame. I do not know if I have a problem with Russian cinematography, but usually I came across a problem, not understanding. Although understanding was experienced as well. But not in this case.

Not to fall behind, the Finnish also had to film a depressive detective movie with an original detective character, which takes place in their world. Almost everyone from Scandinavia had already done so, therefore Sorjonen was next in line. Personally I must admit that I was satisfied. The detective is weird in a good sense of the word, the setting is gloomy, industrial, wooded, frozen... in short, good, Finnish. And that is what I appreciate and I like getting back to that world. For example precisely with this detective story.