DaViD´82

An annoyingly eager wannabe modern western set in the rainforest that somehow works when it doesn't weave overused wisdoms or cheap mystical parallels pulled out thin air and focuses on the genre line, which is present only in the final twenty minutes.

By far the best Asterix movie in the last thirty years; which may lead to a conclusion that it is "one-eyed king in the land of blind", but this time it is so good that I would not be afraid to put it right behind Asterix vs. Caesar and the twelve Tasks of Asterix. It has the charm and humor of good old animated movies. It is playful, crazy in a nice way, it is decent, well-paced and moreover it is wonderfully balanced so the whole family can watch it. (not only) Children will have fun watching all those adventures and adults will not get bored also thanks to the satirical assimilation-immigration aspect. The highlight is the Gaul integration scene accompanied by the song from the 80's guilty pleasure "classics" Ricchi e Poveri.

I'd much rather see the more famous one of the McDonaghs to make it as a theater performance, since although the other one nicely tries to take the biggest Irish skeleton out of the closet using reasonable means, but he is not very successful in doing so at the end of the day. On the one hand, it seems subversive, but it still has too much respect for the seriousness of the topic. That wouldn't happen to the "more famous" one. In any case, it can often be impressive in detail, but as a whole it is basically exactly what you would expect.

The Godfather IV: The Golden Eighties, or an intimate (non-)gangster variation of the “Book of Job” built on an unusually carefully constructed (and wonderfully escalated) disturbing subliminal tension.

A movie that, with regard to its setting and style, should be based primarily on retro cheap poetics, which, however, is sadly not present here. The rest is a typical product of the Marvel production line, with no plot, basically nothing is at stake and the whole thing holds together only thanks to the rapid popcorn pace and the fact that Peggy and Jarvis are messing with each other all the time.

Picturesque Victorian farm melodrama in a style "she is alone and there are three of them" with all the good and bad, what you would expect from a slushy romance. The problem is definitely not in the genre or performances (although Christie overplays in a theatrical way sometimes), but in an inappropriate directing, when Schlesinger tends to devote too short time to abbreviated plot and behavior of characters and at the same time he devotes almost three hours of footage to treading water. Thanks to that it is rather slow and sometime not that interesting. What is surprising is that the movies is far better at the details of everyday life on a large farm than during the emotional challenges of the main characters.

What is nice that this movie does not follow the well-known path of the more famous feature-film but it strives to find its own way how to adapt the original instead. What is not nice, however, is the selected, because Ellroy's books do not have such a straightforward, direct and "too polite" structure free of complexity of motives, ambitions and richness. Don't get me wrong, Ellroy undoubtedly belongs on television screens, whether with his criminal quadrilogy about LA or the trilogy about the averted face of "spy" America; but it would have to be under the wings of some cable or streaming station. Just someone who has the resources and a willingness not to dodge Ellroy's uncompromising controversy. On the other hand, we can clearly see how the quality television production has evolved in the last fifteen years (it was filmed in 1999), because this "hot goods" at the time would not have the slightest chance to attract anyone today and the question is whether it was interesting in this form even back then. In other words, yes, I think someone in the management was smart enough not to approve it and did not make a regular series from generic thing. Or he simply liked Ellroy.

I got a feeling that I can't let go. The same thing applies to the series as it does about its book preview. It's nothing that would move the genre forward in any way, set the direction or come to mind when naming the best movies in the field of thriller-like dark crime movies, but at the same time it's a long way from the author being relegated among countless mediocre routine authors whose books only collect dust in bookstores. It's just damn good genre literature and a very well done craft. And the series is like that too. Decent, high-quality and well-executed craft with a retro approach that got stuck in the 1990s during the time of "one hundred and one variation on The Silence of the Lambs/Se7en". Whether you take it as a good or bad thing is entirely up to you. It is therefore necessary to take into account that it will inevitably resort to genre-justifiable, not entirely logical, behavior of the characters in favor of increasing tension. To some extent, it is surprising that it is more procedural than the original and it leads nowhere. The biggest strong point is (apart from the style theme song) the cast of Harry Bosch by Welliver. He is simply perfect at portraying this very specific detective. This strong point is even more important, because the show is completely dependent on him. You can count the scenes where he does not appear on fingers of one hand of a clumsy carpenter (with occasional exceptions confirming the rule from Waits' point of view). And rather than his fellow actors from flesh and bones, he is backed by Los Angeles and its genius loci. The only thing that sometimes seems inappropriate is that the plot is continuous but sometimes the used (sub) plots from various unrelated originals (especially the dark thriller-like Echo Park and the purely detective City of Bones) seem somewhat clumsy incorporated into a single storyline. The second season deals with that noticeably better and the transitions between the individual story lines from various books (especially Trunk Music, The Drop and a bit of The Last Coyote) are no longer so striking. After all, this series is not clearly better, but it looks more dynamic (apart from the mentioned beveled edge of individual lines, partly because this time it's not just about Harry, but the others get some space too) and it is even one level more old school than before. And already the first season was nostalgic tribute to the style and pace of the thrillers and crime movies of the 90s. The only drawback is that the final episode follows significantly different direction, at the expense of the story lines of the previous nine episodes. The third season suffers from a slower start, where there is a noticeably conflict of the “trademark" mixing of multiple lines from several originals into one (this time The Black Echo in combination with A Darkness More Than Night) and because of that there is a discrepancy between the story line about revenge of megalomaniac director and the one about strange games played by members of special forces. As soon as it starts, however, it contains some of the best sequences in the entire series. Otherwise, it follows the same path as the second season; which is good, because in the second one, unlike the first season, it already has its unique style, which at first glance may look only like numerous police clichés, but the result is that the masters of the genre hit the target. In other words, it is really hard to find a better "old" crime movie. And Santiago needs his own spin off! The fourth season is the best so far. It combines the most personal case Nine Dragons with one of the best Angel´s Flight. What is true that the personal line is kind of obviously incorporated and is undoubtedly sidelined, but it works emotionally and thus forms an excellent counterweight to the search within own department during the impending civil unrest and the behind-the-scenes plotting. The fifth season seems to deliver flawless genre experience for a long time. But many well-developed story lines end far too early and too straightforwardly. Which is not bad, but at the same time it's kind of "not enough". Paradoxically, in the final two episodes, more attention is paid to starting three to four new story lines for the next series than ending the existing ones. The climax doesn't seem unfinished. No, that is not the case but kind of... Usual. The sixth series is a return to the top, which cleverly connects and closes the lines of the previous series. It could have been done without the expected explosive finale though. | S1: 4/5 | S2: 4/5 | S3: 4/5 | S4: 5/5 | S5: 4/5 | S6: 5/5 |

Adaptation of a better original, because while Mantel often pays too much attention to descriptions, wordy sentences and chatter, Straughan's screenplay takes full advantage of the original. And the original has a large potential. That is for sure. In any case, for both the original and the adaption it is true that there is nether introduction nor explanation of anything. It is hard to find more incomprehensible historical topic for the "general public". Find out for yourself what was done of duty, and what does or does not look hopeless. While the "CVs" of the main characters and the fundamental events around them are well known in the Czech republic, the procession of dozens of nobles from god knows where might be a problem for Czechs. A general picture obtained from Wikipedia is definitely not enough. And although it is about seemingly the same as the recent Tudors show, the result could not have been more different. I can only say the well-known saying "when two do the same thing, it is not the same thing ". The two approaches/series do not compete in anything; if anything at all, on the contrary, they complement each other. After all, here the time, events, characters and behind-the-scenes plotting are basically sidelined, because everything here no matter what revolves only around Cromwell´s career, spiritual and personal life. And if you don't consider Cromwell to be one of the most prominent political figures (not only) in British history, there's no reason for you to start watching this successful (and deliberately lengthy; this must be taken into account) and controversial show (Cromwell is usually portrayed as a charismatic statesman, but here he is portrayed rather as a pen pusher that is hard to understand).

When you cheat and take drugs, you become a prostitute... What is surprising is that the Wild is also good in terms of the intimate and chamber line "lonesome Witherspoon - inhospitable nature - endless purifying walk - the eternal self-question of the heroine". On the contrary, on this level, it does the job really well. To the extent that it makes you want to take a bag pack, go on a solitary hike and at the same time clear your head. The only drawback are the unnatural flashbacks, which at first can do with only hints/flashes in a nice way, but the closer Cheryl's journey comes to an end, the more literal and didactic they are. But what it only takes is one alpaca and everything what should be said becomes instantly clear.