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I give it a weak three stars basically only for highly above-average cast, location, wherein shots of Nordic landscapes, glaciers, and overall extraordinary environment naturally play a positive role, and ultimately for directing skill, when Bille August is able to keep the viewer in suspense for a long time and evoke greater expectations than the cliché ending brings. I never read the book, so the revelation of this promising mysterious spectacle disappointed me a lot. The last 15 minutes of the film simply sink it. It needed more work on the script and avoid predictable scenes at the end, which seemed to come out of a movie parody. Overall impression: 50%.

Michael Haneke's good creativity, provocativeness, and knowledge of directing craft cannot be denied. Funny Games can be evaluated from two perspectives. From a craftsmanship point of view, it is a highly above-average film that is excellently cast and performed, capable of creating atmosphere and tension - long shots, precise editing, and camera work. However, from a content perspective, it is significantly worse. For a long time, the film pretends to be a suspenseful thriller, but it gradually becomes apparent that it is just an effective and perverse game, not so much with the middle-class family on vacation, but rather with the audience. At least from the key scene with the TV remote control, it is clear that the audience is not watching a crime thriller where the outcome is unknown, but that the victims' chances of escape were zero from the beginning and there is no escape from the bloody game. Haneke ultimately fails as a provocateur because, after the big reveal, there is nothing to address and the brutal game becomes boring. Other films have already spoken about violence and were significantly more critical and deeply affected the viewers. The fact that violence is cruel is banal. Haneke did not make a critical film as much as a game for sadists. The truth is that thanks to the slow pace, certain sophistication, and refinement, when terror is not depicted realistically, but "modestly" only shows the consequences or sound of violence, it appeals to a more intellectual audience rather than ordinary popcorn viewers. Terror in the film rather hypnotically attracts and fascinates, the feeling of superiority over helpless victims is absolute, and there is no catharsis. Overall impression: 35% for the solid craftsmanship.

Gorodok is a sympathetic trip for humor to other cultural and social realms. Like many other series of this kind, it suffers from unevenness. Some scenes are brilliant, others only average, and some simply don't work, but overall it is an above-average production, at least in the case of the first episodes of the cycle. Overall impression: 70%.

City of Women is exactly the kind of movie that cannot be reviewed in one sentence, and it is possible to accept any rating according to the viewer's nature and current mood. A grotesque whim about the flirtation of an aging seducer with an unknown woman from a train turns into a typically Felliniesque journey of the main character confronted with self-confident men contemptuous of women. This colorful spectacle that contains several decadent elements and extravagant scenes, where the viewer does not know until the very end where reality ends and hallucination or dream begins, is the director's sarcastic account of the modern feminist movement. For myself, I can say that, for example, I was very entertained by the manneristic Satyricon, and I consider this one of Fellini's best films, although in the second half, the film unnecessarily drags on and some images are burdened by the author's self-centeredness. Overall impression: 85%. Even though some viewers may criticize the film for its lack of plot and excessive abstraction or exaggeration, it is in any case a great piece of filmmaking that has influenced modern cinema.

Mamma Roma is a more mature film compared to Pier Paolo Pasolini's debut, Accattone, which expressed a too great fascination with the world of prostitutes and pimps. In this film, Pasolini shows more of the flip side of life on the outskirts of the city and society. His characters are examples of naive dreams and the painful inability to cross the boundaries of their social class and position. The film is depressing not only because it shows the housing estates without proper infrastructure beyond the borders of better districts, worn-out prostitutes, arrogant pimps, and poor peripheral residents, but also because of the story itself, which ends tragically. Overall impression: 75%. Pasolini once again does not deny his left-wing beliefs as he sympathizes with his characters from the bottom of human society, despite their imperfections, and does no unnecessarily moralize their actions.

If you're going to visit Japan, do it with an expert on Japanese society and culture like Martin Vačkář and an excellent documentarian like Jan Špáta. Vačkář managed to select the most interesting aspects of Japan, and Špáta appropriately assembled and edited his selections, resulting in an impressive and information-rich documentary about what modern Japan and today's Japanese society represent. The only criticism I have of the film is its overly admiring and uncritical view of life in Japan. It needed to reveal more of the dark side of Japanese success and show the lives of the less fortunate inhabitants. Overall impression: 85%.

To be honest, I prefer Belle de Jour over Tristana - it is more playful and at the same time much more sarcastic than the relatively depressing Tristana, whose central theme is bitterness and resulting hatred. However, both films feature the wonderful Catherine Deneuve and the film works primarily thanks to her presence and excellent performance. It is not just a film about the relationship between an older man and an immature girl, but also a reflection of the society of its time, the dependent position of women, and the clash of the modern world with old orders and value systems. When Don Lope confronts a young artist and challenges him to a duel, he receives a punch in the nose instead of acceptance. This is how the world changes, where there is no longer room for old patriarchal nobility. Luis Buñuel is a sharp critic of the hypocrisy of old bourgeois and aristocratic rules, and his disdain for the world of so-called "better" people is evident in many dialogues. Overall impression: 85%.

While The Office is a deviation from the usual sitcom productions, The Thick of It goes incomparably further in denying the rules of the sitcom genre, basically forming its opposite - emphasis on the realism of the environment, almost documentary camera work, and the absence of artificial lines and dramatizing situations. Honestly speaking, there isn't much for straightforward laughter in the series, although countless absurd situations can be found within it. It's more of an insight into the workings of various manipulators and other government lackeys in the British rendition. At times, their actions and thinking even make you feel the way you do after consuming highly indigestible food. Overall impression: 60%.

When watching Eastern Promises, many film fans probably thought, "Thank God that Cronenberg has gained some common sense in his old age and started making understandable genre films accessible to a wider audience." I prefer the old "perverse" Cronenberg, who experimented and came up with original stories beyond the mainstream of cinema. Eastern Promises is not bad at all, although the script is definitely not original and an experienced viewer can guess where the story is heading after a while. For example, the scriptwriter lacked the courage to cross the genre taboo of the death of a child character. What makes this thriller stand out and surpass average productions is the excellent cast and great performances, far from typical B-movies. The atmosphere of the foreign Russian mafia with its secret rituals, tattoos, and "mythology" is naturally attractive. Overall impression: 75%. The depiction of several overly naturalistic shots, such as the stabbing of a human eye in a fight or the mutilation of a corpse, disturbed me, but many fans will probably appreciate it. :-)

I assume that it did not take a long time to find a suicide victim who was tough enough to direct such a despicable film. The screenwriter was probably tasked with writing a screenplay where absolutely everything happens, and with a large dose of hallucinogens in his blood, he more or less succeeded, resulting in a strange, unbelievably stupid film where characters from Dumas' novels, drug dealers, and pseudo-heroes with various sexual perversions appear side by side. The dialogues are incredibly stupid, and I'm surprised the actors didn't get red in the face during them. The actors are the only interesting thing that Blanche has, but Jean Rochefort was probably so old that senility was starting to affect him, or he foolishly lost his lifelong savings and couldn't make ends meet with his pension... Gérard Depardieu probably needed to pay for one of his stays in rehab or weight loss, so their presence serves as a cover for this embarrassment, which is a waste of time even for lovers of the cheapest forms of entertainment... Overall impression: 5%.