NinadeL

Another meeting between Margarethe von Trotta and Barbara Sukowa (or Lola, Berlin Alexanderplatz). This time in a masterful dialogue about the nature of evil. The film focuses on the period in the early 1960s when Arendt was reporting for "The New Yorker" on "Eichmann in Jerusalem: a Report on the Banality of Evil."

Siegfried Kracauer wrote two key texts in American exile in the 1940s: "Propaganda and the Nazi War Film" (1942) and "From Caligari to Hitler" (1947). This documentary is based on the latter study. In addition to numerous examples, the commentary is supplemented by the likes of Thomas Elsaesser and Volker Schlöndorff. Today, we know that although Kracauer was a contemporary of the German film miracle of the Weimar years, he had by no means seen everything and at the time of writing had not even had the opportunity to refresh his memory of some of the major films years later. Yet (or perhaps because of this) his text became so fundamental in its time that its legacy must be reckoned with to this day.  There is no need to dramatically agree or disagree; with today's possibilities, we can consider this documentary as one of the tools that can direct us to further study.

While The New World finally suited me in its poetics, in its spiritualism, I perceive The Tree of Life differently. It's really odd to watch it for Sean Penn or Brad Pitt, as they are definitely not the lead actors. The main protagonist is Malick's vision and the main attraction is the editing.

"Bécassine" was first published on February 2, 1905, in the pages of "La Semaine de Suzette" and thus had the first female protagonist of a francophone comic strip. The comic was drawn in the ligne claire style, which was later made very popular by "Tintin." Bécassine’s parents were Jacqueline Rivière and Joseph Pinchon. The comic continued to be published until 1939, after which the war forced an early end to her adventures. But fortunately, instead of new sequels, we got the film Bécassine (1940), so it was impossible to forget this cute little person. At the turn of 1959-1962, there was a tendency to revive Bécassine in the pages of new comics, but it turned out that her charm was conserved in the past. In the 1970s and 1980s, Bécassine became a popular icon of Chantal Goya's children's songs. That's why new films made after 2000 are pure retro - the animated film Becassine: The Wackiest Nanny Ever (2001) sets an anachronistic character in contemporary Paris, and this new Bécassine! (2018) set in the interwar timelessness.

Robert Zemeckis likes to dwell on the past, and all his famous films from the late 80s and early 90s are full of adventure, passion and joy that only the medium of cinema itself can convey. Romancing the Stone, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Death Becomes Her... They always had a touch of the good old days. And Allied is indeed the good old days, referencing Casablanca, serving up action, espionage, romance, not even parodying the scenes with the Nazis, just nostalgically remembering the time we romantically idealize.

By the Sea became an artistic punctuation mark for the Pitt marriage, just as Eyes Wide Shut was for the Cruise marriage. Angelina found herself in the slow European films of the 70s and tried to make one of them. And that's it. The end.

The 9th Monster High movie. I've long liked the idea of MH in Hollywood, and this theme really worked. Everything is there, and Frights, Camera, Action! has it all: a love of classic vampire horror on the silver screen, a penchant for mysterious castles, a fondness for stylish New Orleans and the filmmaker Honey Swamp... The whole thing is cleverly grafted onto the premise of MH and supplemented with wannabe scary novelties. There are some interesting new ideas among the supporting characters, including one for Operetta, the daughter of the Phantom of the Opera. A magical experience.

The concept of Ever After High isn't bad. It’s a spin-off of Monster High. And this time the descendants of classic fairy tale characters are the focus. At a time when new approaches to "Fables" (not just in the comics) or "Once Upon a Time" (not just in the series) are very popular, this series from Mattel is the next logical step. The two worlds even meet in the book "Monster High/Ever After High: The Legend of Shadow High".

According to Max Brooks, World War Z became more serious after the experiences of the past years. It used to be just a different, smarter zombie movie with Brad Pitt produced by his company Plan B. The main asset was Pitt's classic hero, the ultimate likable guy, who looks good no matter what, and of course, it's him and no one else who can save humanity... with his cuteness. Today, the sight of a global pandemic is somewhat more chilling.

Of the Gal Gadot films that premiered between Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Wonder Woman, Keeping Up with the Joneses is a very big fail. Yes, she's statuesque, and she's funny and sexy when paired with Isla Fisher, but she didn't start getting real acting roles until much later... This is just a bit of a cross between Fast and Furious and testing the audience to see if they'll accept an action protagonist in a comedy.