Othello

Five metalheads lead four hobbits through Middle-earth. Extended version, of course. I was going to slap the first half of the tome with 4 stars because the brevity and abbreviation of the various installments bothered me a bit, I mean when you think about how much work must have gone into it. Jackson surprisingly handles the action scenes very well (both of them) and they work better than the dialogue due to the aforementioned disappointment. The film especially has some memorable parts for me, such as (in the extended version) the introduction to the Shire and the arrival of Gandalf, or the shot of the eponymous character falling into the depths of Moria. The music needs no commentary, it's incredible and one of the best soundtracks ever. Otherwise I highly recommend the heavily extended version, it really makes the film even better and especially clarifies some of the motivations of the characters (especially the relationship between Aragorn and Boromir). Moreover, it adds my favorite part, which is Galadriel's farewell to Gimli, where I really laughed. Finally, it's just a pity that due to the brevity of the scenes, the performances of the actors involved don't stand out too much, but of course it is plenty enough for Sean Bean to give a perfect performance. Just a fantasy movie as it should be.

A smaller and grittier The Shawshank Redemption. I haven't liked Defoe since I was a kid, but he was perfect here, Danny Trejo is my secret crush, and I like Rourke too, even though I didn't recognize him at all here. The direction is decent and tries not to take your eyes off the camera, so scenes like the razor in the shower, or the close-up of the slashing of the vein, for example, will make the weaker characters turn away with a guffaw. Some of the glimpses of prison life are hard to believe and I didn't really buy them, but what the hell... It was a hell of a good watch, and the last line of the film, "Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven," pretty much sums up what this is all about.

The duty of every respected Jew to show people how horrible the Holocaust was, using the resources at that person's disposal, led Maestro Polanski to come to terms with the past with The Pianist. And it does indeed fulfill the agreed assignment. Throughout the film, the Nazis are disgusting, stupid, narrow-minded pigs, while the Jewish community suffers and despairs unjustly. What we all know, and anyone who doesn't know it or denies it is an asshole. Meanwhile, the story of Władysław Szpilman unfolds (the similarity to Vladek Spiegelman from the Maus comics purely coincidental?), a brilliant pianist who finds it increasingly difficult to escape deportation. He is actually behind one of the few innovations compared to other war films, and that is the beautiful piano solos that the main character creates (and playing the piano without being able to touch the keys is definitely one of the most beautiful scenes in the film). Otherwise, the film does not bring anything new, which would perhaps not have mattered so much and I might have reached five stars if it were not for the fact that English is spoken in Poland and I can never get over these things.

Oh, come on. I recently saw an episode where Chuck Norris fought a bunch of Nazis listening to Manowar and burning churches. So they burned down a church and everyone was very very unhappy, but for some reason neither Chuck nor Trivet (the obligatory token black guy on American TV shows) could get at them, even though the way the Nazis were moving they were wearing fascist jerseys and swastikas on their shoulders. The US is an incredibly democratic country. Fortunately, however, a famous country music star is passing through Chuck's neighborhood on tour (one who looks like a born pedophile), and he willingly disposes of all the money he makes from the concert in favor of rebuilding a Christian sanctuary. Everyone is so happy and before you know it the concert is underway. Everyone is laughing, Chuck is laughing, and they would all be smiling to death if not for the burning cross and a good four dozen Hitler Youth baseball bats blazing in front of the tent. Chuck tells the hero he's going to get help and disappears. Nobody thinks it's weird, so they start a dialogue with the leader of the far-right. The moment he gives the order to kill them all, Chuck bursts into the frame (I guess his phone didn't work) and together with Trivet, they demonstrate what the Holocaust is with their bare hands. Immediately afterwards, the three dudes kneel down in front of the burning cross and start praying with the others watching. The wind blows and there is not even a flame on the cross. Trivet says: "How can this be, Walker?" and Walker says to him: "You're asking the right man." The episode ends with a shot of the church cross.... AND YOU'RE GONNA GIVE THIS ONE A PASS? :-DDD

Well, wonderful. The leader of the space Love Boat fleet, Ashtar Sheran, must have been squirming contentedly in his seat watching this... weirdness. A disgustingly fractured film in terms of genre, a typical emasculated PG-13 movie where after a monstrous car crash the unrestrained female driver of a passenger car has only a small scratch on her forehead when she collides with a truck, hyper-intelligent American brats running around everywhere (just like in real life), and those albinos... oh my god those albinos. The last shot is of the surreal variety, and it boggles my mind how the director of a film with one of the best endings (Dark City) could create something like that. To be honest, I'm of the opinion that Proyas didn't finish revising it. There are a few scenes that are genuinely good – the disgustingly digital but still quite impressive subway, the overwrought one-take plane scene (the effort was there, but it sounds almost theatrical compared to the perfectionism of Children of Men), the aforementioned car crash, and the final ride through the city accompanied by Beethoven, which just brought to mind its far more impressive use in Irreversible anyway. All in all, I'm sick of these emasculated wannabe-dark and wannabe-adult blockbusters, but the target market is just crammed full of morons, and so the divine Watchmen will flop and this fucker will be all the rage. I wanna live in magic land...

A sad and depressing film. The beautiful and thorough scene structure and the amount of detail in the film convey the atmosphere of the time to the viewer (they say it's called neorealism -) ) and the ending is downright surprising.

Well that was a cess pool. A copycat of Saw (more like a weak sequel), tons of logical errors, absolutely incomprehensible and deranged character actions. If I hadn't at least been a little tense during the clown scene, a definite "boo!"

I rarely get the urge for any of that older comedy because I'm simply a modern person. One day it happened, and I put on The King of Comedy. Although the real jokes that made me laugh out loud didn't come until halfway through the movie, I was entertained the entire time. Finally, I have to give extra credit to Robert De Niro's great stand up act, which is surprisingly genuinely funny, and give this laid-back, sometimes tragic comedy a four.

Aaaaand I need Hoffman drops like this more often. The man is a super actor, a movie god, a demon. Luckily Before… doesn't just rest on his shoulders, and apart from the successful script, it's also worth mentioning the amazing music. Moreover, Lumet, at his age, doesn't make grinding philosophical dramas like other deserving directors and sticks to his hoof.

If you're ashamed of your childhood days when you thought you could get pregnant with a kiss, licked your friend's pubes, rolled your foreskin in front of your mates, and ate live earthworms for fun, don't be. Gilliam still does it today ;)