Malarkey

Everyone here behaved like nutjobs. First, there are terrorists, then there are tenors, suddenly it’s a friendly tea party and finally, it ends in a brutal shootout. I understood the idea behind the movie, but it was conveyed as if a bunch of losers came together and wanted to make fools out of everybody, so they shot whatever they wanted. But I was intrigued by the ending. Even though the opera voice wasn’t coming out of Julianne Moore’s mouth, at least I found out that there is an American opera singer Renée Fleming, who also learned to sing Rusalka in beautiful Czech. Hats off.

Not so long ago, I saw the movie Goodbye Christopher Robin, so I was a little anxious that this movie will be in a similar vein. Nowadays, there is a Hollywood trend to make films dealing with the same topic in the span of one or several years. I don’t really get it, but whatever. However, Christopher Robin worked. You could say that it is even more playful than its predecessor. Besides, the casting of Ewan McGregor was a relatively good choice. A heart-warming family movie that found its place in my heart. Just like Winnie the Pooh.

I admit that if I knew that this movie was a remake of the strange Scandinavian movie In Order of Disappearance, I would think long and hard about whether or not I would even watch it. Especially since it was done by the same director. This way I was lured in by Liam Neeson, from whom I was expecting a classic action ride, which he has providedin abundance in recent years. However, it was a little different here. The funny moments weren’t funny. The absurdity was rather ridiculously awkward. All in all, I didn’t find anything that would entertain me during the two hours. What’s more, it is a fairly faithful copy of the Swedish original, which renders it just as useless as, for example, Funny Games. It is a shame that Liam Neeson wasted his time here.

Sometimes you work hard in your garden, your whole body hurts and so you feel like kicking back with a movie after lunch, even if the movie is stupid. This was more than stupid. Under normal circumstances, I would rate it as trash, but since I genuinely laughed from the heart in certain moments, I would feel awkward if I didn’t bestow one star upon this movie.

I must admit, the movie can thank Léa Seydoux for participating in the film. Her role managed to put me under such a spell that I had no problem watching this otherwise quite dreamily boring sci-fi romantic flick to the end. Otherwise, it was quite boring, but at times it caught your attention with visions of the near future, but not in a way that would make me burst with joy and enthusiasm.

A Jewish comedy full of Jewish themes, Jewish practices, and and different Jewish jokes from those that we, as non-Jews, are used to. It’s teeming with Pesachs, Sabbats, and god knows what else, and a number of well-known actors took part in the film. While it is a little incomprehensible to me, this movie will probably have its fans. I am not one of them, though. It was quite boring.

Did you play computer games? Does the sequel to the legendary Wolfenstein 3D called Return to Castle Wolfenstein sound familiar to you? That’s exactly what this film evoked in me. A completely crazy filmmaking trip, a bit nasty in the style of The Thing but otherwise a solid small-scale film which is by no means perfect, but it can entertain fans of this type of movies. Under normal circumstances, I would rate it even higher, but I was missing a bit more catchphrases that would entertain me. It seems as if writing quality catchphrases nowadays is more difficult than during the 1980s and 1990s.

I’ve been thinking about watching the series Dark, produced by the Netflix Internet television, for quite some time. The theme looked nicely mysterious. But the result is not entirely what I imagined it would be. The first episode of the first season looked as if it was shot by lovers of Twin Peaks. I was never sure about what was going on in the series, but I was constantly fascinated by the locations and especially fascinated by the cinematography, which was oozing with an atmosphere as harsh as Indiana Jones’s whip. Until about the sixth episode I didn’t know why I should be excited about a series that I don’t really understand, which has a great premise but totally sloppy characters and otherwise looks wannabe cool and stylish. From the seventh episode, the plot thickened and everything started to somehow fit together. But since I didn’t actually care about the flat characters, even when there was seemingly interesting stuff happening, I couldn’t really get up to speed with the series. The Dark series maybe has an interesting plot, but otherwise, it’s hollow, like an empty swallows’ nest. For me personally, a great pity and it just confirms the fact that it is not easy to film something that is mysterious from both a technical and spiritual stand point.

Finally, once again something I can call a completely crazy film-making trip. And after a long while, something directed by the Finns, who, when they express themselves in a comedy, are simply worth it. Dark humor is intertwined with absurd humor and everything is under the rule of a brutal death pagan folk black metal band from a place near Oulu, which plays as if Odin himself sent them to Earth, but nobody has really heard them play yet. There is a ton of references, some of them are pop culture ones, so you have to know the metal subculture a bit; at least in terms of music choices, which create an absolutely magnificent soundtrack. But there is also a number of scenes that are universal and can entertain even those not fond of metal music. They are just a little bit darker than would be desirable. But what can you do, that’s the Finns for you. When they do something, they do it until they are sweating blood, and either it doesn’t work or it’s brutally entertaining. And here it worked perfectly; an A+ movie.

Not bad at all for a debut. I really enjoyed the scenes in the taxi. They had suspense, great acting and atmosphere. But once the creators jumped out of the cab, it was as if the quality of the film lowered drastically. I literally felt embarrassed when watching one of the scenes from the police station. I don’t know, I am not a filmmaker, but I admit that I can’t understand how a film can at one moment seem like a pro thriller and then you are confronted with a soap-opera-like scene. Well, what can you do? As a whole, Taxi 121 may be inconsistent, but it still intrigued me in many ways. And that’s definitely something when it comes to a debut.