Malarkey

It's not as harsh and gloomy as the famous psychedelic Phantom of Paris from 2001, where the title song was composed by Apocalyptica and it always starts to play in my head whenever I remember it. It’s still harsh and gloomy enough for today’s audience. This is mainly due to Vincent Cassel, who’ll probably play these tough, disheveled characters until the day he dies. But I like this. For many people here it is probably too old school to give it good rating; otherwise I can’t explain why a period-set mystery like this would be rated under 70%. If you know something about Vidocq’s historical importance, the ending of the film cannot fail to bring you joy.

Sergeant Pfeiffer is the main suspect in this episode. And that is more than suspicious, especially as the murder is investigated in Berlin, four hundred kilometers away from Bad Tölz. The basic story, however, is typical Der Bulle von Tölz – fun, full of delightful squabbles between the inhabitants of Tölz and Berlin experts. Plus we’ll meet the love of Benno’s life, there’s even a sex scene and Benno gets interrogated about being a part of Stasi. I don’t know about you, but in my opinion that’s quite a lot of absurdities for one episode. So I find it entertaining enough for four stars.

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith seem to be a pair of very interesting English creators. Who else would have found the courage to make a series composed of short stories, inviting a great number of both famous and lesser known British actors? For me, this series was a great viewing experience. Some episodes are almost ingenious and a real joy to watch. The fun thing about this is that you never know in advance what to expect. The only certainty is the house number nine. What kind of story the boys come up with is completely up to them. So once it is a nice satire, then almost a murder mystery, next time a brutal psychological thriller and yet other time a horror with a decent atmosphere. Every time, however, it features a healthy dose of sarcasm, which makes you at least smile, if not laugh. I won’t give it the full number of stars because some episodes were worse than others. As a whole, however, this series was a very nice surprise I never heard of before and I only chose it from the number of other series on HBO Go at random.

I won’t lie and say that I was familiar with the topic of the series. However, as I still remember Richard Gere’s promotion of the series at the Karlovy Vary festival as one of my most powerful impressions from there, I said to myself why not and embarked on the journey into the world of journalism. The result, however, is rather disputable. You must be either very knowledgeable about this topic or a real fan of the actors involved. As for myself, I didn’t find this series entertaining at all.

The director comes from a France-based Polish family, so her film Crache couer has been partly inspired by her own life story. It’s actually a very typical European drama. It does, however, contain a few nice moments. For example the shots of the snow-bound scenery of Polish (formerly Czechoslovak) Międzylesie or watching the acting performances of Andrzej Chyra and Liv Henneguier; Andrzej is charismatic and Liv endowed with a very interesting type of beauty. Unfortunately, it’s the type of drama that asks questions without answering them. That’s why I’m rating this with three stars, but my overall impression was positive.

A very nicely made fantasy movie, the biggest fault of which is that it is too childish.

A beautiful guys’ story of Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby full of scenes I will probably never forget. Moreover it’s a story from automobile world so beautiful and tragic that I was surprised it wasn’t filmed earlier. After a long time, I felt like was watching something really unique. Matt Damon and Christian Bale absolutely excelled in their performances. Chris was maybe a tiny bit better, because his eccentric character Ken was entertaining due to his complex personality from beginning to the end. And when things came to a head, I had no idea what he would do. And that’s where the charm of this story lies. If you don’t know too many details, you will enjoy it. If you know the details, you will enjoy it too. The shots of beautiful cars with timeless design, absolutely faithful scenes with Henry Ford II. or Enzo Ferrari, as significant for this movie as they were at the time when they really happened, plus a ton of references to the automotive industry of the period (starting with assembly line production and ending with the shots from the Ferrari company in Modena) are the main but not only reasons to award this movie with the full number of stars. This is the kind of movie that will make filmmaking history. And it also portrays a beautifully conveyed true male friendship that knows no boundaries and in this case will live forever.

Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne are a pair of actors I’m very happy to see in movies. And when they are cast as leads in a chill-out family comedy, I cannot be dissatisfied. A naturally flowing fun, an interesting premise that is well conveyed, no vulgarity. I see no reason to rate this with less than four stars.

Who would have thought that such a good animated flick would come from Hungary of all places? A perfect music score, including a Radiohead cover, and a bazillion of references to the world of art are the two main reasons I enjoyed this movie so much. Of course I’m no art historian so a lot of those allusions were lost on me. On the other hand, it was clear that the makers were professionals who knew very well what they were doing. And they were doing it in a purposeful, entertaining fashion, which was sometimes too dynamic for my taste, but they managed to hold my attention for ninety minutes, for which I will reward them with solid four stars.

It’s been a long time I saw a movie that would mix genres as frantically as this one, but still managed to make sense in the end. When I saw it in the synopsis that one of the genres is sci-fi and moreover it was made in Brazil, I was ready for basically anything. I had no idea, however, that it will start as a standard social drama from near future, over time turn into a very decent Western (the scenes with the two bikers were awesome), and end up as no less decent brutal action flick. The masterfully shot atmosphere of a little town that the local government wiped from the world map to get rid of it seems almost fantasy-like. A mysterious, but also clearly amicable place where people like each other. At times there are hints of absurdity, which however fit so well into the overall context of the movie, that I find myself quite enjoying this phase of the Brazilian new wave, as the creators behind the Film Brasil festival call it. Had it not been for a few scenes that ran for too long, I might have given it five stars. Anyhow, my thanks go to the creators of the festival for introducing this film to me, as I really enjoyed it!