DaViD´82

An unrepeatable cast, an experienced director and very good screenplay based on a remarkable book - this all promised a refreshing and mainly an extremely high quality spectacle. Which in the end it isn’t. The acting in The Shipping News is perfect, well-directed and nicely written... But it runs on all cylinders only during the introduction and then it falls into the old rut of other similar movies. Unarguably, this is a higher than average quality picture. But it had the potential to achieve a quality considerably higher than in the end result. Which is a huge shame.

In this small British movie, Ron Weasl... oh, sorry, Rupert Grint proves that he can do other things than just grin into the camera. A movie like dozens of the same. Driving Lessons neither stands out among them nor does it sink below their level. It is simply average in all respects, although I must admit that I found it quite cute.

One room and twelve white men from different walks of life, with different personalities and each with absolutely different origins. Their twelve different perspectives on one court case. Truth isn’t the issue here. It’s about whether the evidence is convincing enough to find somebody guilty on the basis of it, and send him to the gallows. Perfect dialogs, actors and rising tension in the atmosphere. But mainly the screenplay. Twelve Angry Men isn’t just one of many good court movies; it is one of the very best. A feature film debut not equaled by many.

Absurd genius or idiocy unbounded? Hard to say, but David Lynch’s work can hardly surprise anybody anymore. Three actors in costume, an apartment, a long static shot, atmospheric music, frenetic laughter from the audience, a minimum of dialogs and a couple of sounds in the background. And that's all. The main thing is, though, that this is more “entertaining" than most regular comedy shows. And Naomi Watts is especially delicious here.

An unimaginative, mundane B-movie where the best acting performance is from a pack of dogs who you can’t help rooting for in their commendable efforts to eat the bothersome main characters. Even their barking contains more thought than the dialogs full of lines like “They were playing at being God!". The biggest problem is that it has not the slightest hint of atmosphere. If it were at least funny and the viewer weren’t just laughing at the expense of the creators, then this would have been just about acceptable. But not even this can be said of The Breed; this is simply ninety minutes of boredom.

August 1997, Virginia Beach. Dead young killer whales beached. Without any apparent external injuries, but inside their bodies were completely minced up and broken. How did they die and who killed them and could this be avoided next time? Is this the work of men or does the solution to the mystery lie elsewhere? Time is of the essence, because dead whales are piling up. The excellent idea to make a documentary about this case is made even better by the fact that it is filmed like an episode of CSI. The build up in tension is better than in the vast majority of thrillers. Yes, Dolphin Murders is an original piece, but primarily a quality, unusual documentary.

A foursome of mutated, phosphorous green turtles named after artists, who are great at kung fu. Along with them we get a rat (also mutated), a sexy reporter (unmutated), tons of pizza (mostly unmutated) and against them masses of mutants (mutated) and evil creatures (mostly mutated). It all takes place in and under New York. Unbelievable trash that however was a cult for a generation and a reason for being in front of the TV every early evening on Tuesdays, “whatever happens". Nostalgia is very strong in this case, but I have to admit it still has guilty pleasure qualities and even years later, I still find these turtles entertaining.

The renowned passing of the hat from the left hand to right. Unforgettable? Well, no, but in historical terms a very valuable second of film material that contains a deeper message than most feature movies. Perhaps it’s enough just to notice that the hat is thrown from the right hand to the left. What did the author want to say by that? Is it something about his political allegiance or something completely different?

This slant on Lewis Carrol’s classic work, deformed by Švankmajer’s surrealism, proved to be the best possible. Its all-round flawless genius that will probably remain sorely unappreciated in the Czech Republic, while abroad, especially in Japan, it is praised to the heavens. And they are quite right because this is Švankmajer’s best work of all. Five * for the unforgettable rabbit alone.

"Shoe Issue! “ A magically playful narrative piece that is full of surprises at every turn. And I should add that the surprises are highly pleasant and original, although sometimes they are “at all costs". From the very first shots after the opening credits when the scene quoted above like something out of The Draughtsman’s Contract happens, it is obvious that Tristram Shandy and the story of his conception is not going to be too serious. However, the shower of intelligent make-believe fun afterward in places borders on genius. Especially the author of the screenplay, Frank C. Boyle, and the director, Michael Winterbottom, absolutely excel. A prime example of how to adapt an un-filmable book... In its own special way, mind you.