Lima

Nice, yeah, but what is it really about? The whole film passes uneventfully, slowly, probably like the life of a lonely, withdrawn old man, which wouldn't have been a bad thing in principle, but I kept waiting in vain for the plot to move, for a twist or a memorable situation, some emotion. There was nothing nothing of the sort, except for a few good moments (but they were few!). About Schmidt is really about nothing. It only reassured me that Nicholson is a great actor and can play anything, but we all know that by now. If you want anything from Alexander Payne, I definitely recommend his brilliant Sideways, released two years later.

There are a couple of funny moments, but I was bored for most of the 100 minutes of the film. I didn't mind the hackneyed "the bad guys stole our plane and we, the US government, want it back" scheme, but rather that many scenes want to be terribly funny, but aren't, and many times miss the point. Eddie Murphy has once again squandered his rare comedic talent and I'm afraid this film will not be his return to the limelight.

Well, to be honest, it wasn't so bad that it could be compared to soap operas, which is not to say that it wasn't plot-wise so stupid and logically leaky. At the beginning it looked like a romantic flick, then there are some interesting twists and turns, and in the scene at the end I was cynically amused, its absurdity made me feel like I was watching a Monthy Python sketch, and the beautifully silly scene with the poison reminded me of Marysha and her coffee. I was cynically entertained and I can’t say I was disappointed.

After the brilliant Memento, Nolan reached for someone else’s script and once again he didn't go wrong. A great thriller that has more to offer than other similar genre films. The magical atmosphere of the Alaskan setting, the tired and circumstantially depressed Al Pacino, and Williams in an unconventional role (and he's good at it!), it's simply worth watching. The ambiguity of the behaviour of Detective Dormer, investigator and accomplice at the same time, adds a new, unusual dimension to the narrative. And if you happen to suffer from insomnia, add another star :)

A young rookie police officer is the victim of a mugging, then accidentally gets into trouble, triggering in a merry-go-round of violence from which there is no escape. An action B-movie with a promising beginning and some Tarantino-style wisecracks. The good introduction soon takes its toll and boredom sets in, the plot becomes completely stupid, but that wouldn't have mattered. What's worse is that the whole film takes itself terribly seriously, in places it looks like an existential drama, and yet there is no shortage of jokes in the action scenes to lighten it. The result is somewhat schizophrenic bollocks.

Well, it was terrible bullshit and the final "shocking" surprise was rather funny. But that is not the what that matters here, it’s the how. I was very much entertained by the gratuitous cinematography, and the distorted optics and various effects make Vidocq a bizarre spectacle that is not to be missed. But one time was enough.

The creators confidently claimed that this film would be the hit of the summer season. And yet, it's a poor, dull B-movie that doesn't impress, doesn't entertain and you won't enjoy the digital dragons much either. The worst thing is that the film takes itself too seriously, it lacks insight, on the contrary, there is no lack of long glances, warm embraces and "profound" proclamations. Awfully boring and a big flop.

I wonder what Goscinny would say about this. On the one hand, the filmmakers stuck quite closely to the brilliant comic book, on the other hand, there are flukes like the final aerial fight, pirates on the Nile and Asterix's love story, which have nothing to do with the source material and degrade it a bit. On top of that, Chadat also added references to famous films like Star Wars and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and they are quite ridiculous. As for the Asterix adaptations: the animated ones aren't very good, the first live-action film is a weird hodgepodge of several books, and this one, though not a hodgepodge, it’s literally overstuffed and a lot of crazy fun. If you are a fan of the Asterix cartoons (which I count myself among), you won’t enjoy this much, but if you like silly nonsense, you’ll probably be satisfied. I chose to compromise :)

For the first half I enjoyed how briskly and insightfully it was filmed. But then I got bored with it and even the great Farrell couldn't save it. The fight scenes have pizzazz, Daredevil's perception was well presented, but the rest wasn't worth much. It needed more action and less posing and pathos. Bullseye had very little space and Affleck doesn’t fit in the role of a super-hero, although he wasn’t that bad.

I saw it in the darkness of an empty cinema, and I was scared. The last time something like this happened was two years ago with Raimi's The Gift. Zemeckis is a great director who plays with the viewer like a cat with a mouse and although I don't like ghost stories, I enjoyed this likeable horror film, including the final half hour, which blew me away. Just when you expected the climax, there was another and another, and surprisingly I didn't feel like I was being set up at all. Whether it's an homage to Hitchcock, or a rip-off of Hitchcock and all that blah blah blah, I don't care. PS: Years later I watched it a second time and it didn't have the same power. But still, very good job Mr Zemeckis!