3DD!3

When I was a kid, I really liked this. I know the plot lacked any logic and the movie was poorly shot overall, but it was fun and hilarious. That was enough for me as a little squirt. I sometimes think back with nostalgia to the muscle-bound Lou Ferrigno (who played a tougher Hercules than Arnold did a few years before him) and his journeys through space, though not as often as I would like.

This escape (of a prisoner?) from a futuristic dungeon (?) is not much fun, but I admit that it is definitely an interesting work. For example, this sort of environment might have served as an inspiration to the creators of the Dharma Initiative's videos in Lost. However, you can see Lucas's evolving signature and a lot of things (the final sunset, white, white, white) appear later too in Star Wars.

Pilot: A very promising start for one of the most anticipated series of this season. The characters are only barely sketched so far, but some already show great potential. John Cho's Demetri has impressed me the most so far, and Joseph Fiennes isn't bad either. Let’s see how it pans out from here. FlashForward definitely deserves attention. The first and probably the last season: The bastards. Canceling a series that was supposed to be a replacement for 'Lost' before it could actually replace it seems pretty weird. FF was slowly moving in a logical way because the future was quite distant and a lot had to be said before the plot could begin to escalate - the last episodes are clear examples of this. I secretly hope that fans will somehow, someday get a second season because this show had great potential and just when it started to take off and become popular, it was canceled.

A very nicely told story with excellent acting performances. No shortage of humor and Prot’s extra-terrestrial one-liners form a tasteful supplement to a classic story about the importance of family. Plus, you don’t know until the last moment whether or not K-PAX actually exists.

Only life itself can write a story like this. Then all you have to do is stuff it with one-liners and a good cast, like the Coens did.

Once I had got comfortable in my seat (seat no. 8, and I ceremoniously sat my backpack on seat no. 9) I was swallowed up by the perfect atmosphere balancing between cyberpunk and the second world war. The war got to me already in that ten minute piece. A gang of numbered figures, each of who is something special (junky no. 8, bossy no. one, etc...), are fighting against machines of genius erm... Machines that have awakened after years of sleep. The atmosphere is (I know I’m repeating myself) perfect, the action full-on + there’s lots of it and the characters are nice. But there is something wrong too. Acker’s vision and theme require a more developed story. Pamela Pettler’s screenplay is literally shoddy and full of plot holes. Everything is explained somehow too briefly and the heroes keep on walking backward and forward staying in the same place. While there’s a whole empty world waiting to be explored.

You see, in this world, there are two kinds of people, my friend. Those with loaded guns and those who dig. So dig. Three gunslingers, one treasure and maybe the best western that I’ve ever seen. This time it’s the ugly Eli Wallach, who accidentally gets involved with the American Civil War, who holds the story together. Lee Van Cleef’s Angel Eyes stands a little aside from the main story line, but he makes up for it with almost textbook villainy. And there’s Blondie Clint who, with Leone, thought up the climax to this dollar trilogy. Including the surreptitious return of the scruffy poncho to the game and the breathtaking three-way duel in the finale.

I used to watch this pretty regularly, but in German (I only understood about half of what was going on) on RTL, SAT 1 or PRO 7 when I was still a young boy. I understood the basic idea of traveling through time through other people’s bodies, but because I hadn’t seen the pilot I wasn’t sure why and mainly how. In the end it didn’t really matter, because it was sort of eye candy for me. Maybe some Czech TV channel will buy it and at last I can find out how it ended.

A memory: I’m about 13-14 years old and I’m resting on the sofa after a hearty lunch. Dad is watching a western on TV and I have half an eye on it too. Then that melody of the pocket watch began to chime and totally captivated me. I couldn’t get it out of my head for like ten years... For a few dollars more is a story about Lee Van Cleef’s Colonel Mortimer than about Clint’s Monk with the snappy lines, but they are given more or less the same amount of room. Leone raises his standard, develops the main characters more and offers a higher quality plot. Really, really good.

This is seriously gross. I grew up reading Asterix books, but this movie has nothing to do with the original, just the title, vaguely the plot and a couple of jokes that fell flat in this movie anyhow. Neither Depardieu nor Delon have any role to play and the new casting of Asterix himself is the peak of desperation. So why did I give it one star? Well, I was pleased to see Schumacher’s cameo.