gudaulin

The film features a quality cast. Mads Mikkelsen has rightfully gained recognition among viewers worldwide. The direction is decent, albeit conservative, but the weakness of the film is the screenplay, which cannot avoid excessive melodrama and black-and-white characters, as well as the schematic and simplistic depiction of historical processes. It's a 3-and-a-half-star rating, but considering the subject matter and my connection to enlightenment, this time I lean toward a higher rating. Overall impression: 70%.

A sympathetic film about a boy who grows up without parents and replaces their absence and overall mediocre prospects with an overblown fantasy. His mother died, his father is a criminal, and he hardly finds any work in the local village, so he achieves values that we only know from the portrayal of the Roma minority, along with traditional boys' rivalry, where the one without a family background is simply more unlucky. But one day, a car with several arrogant gentlemen appears, who obviously did not come to listen to serious music or admire the beauties of the local countryside. One of them is the father of the main protagonist. However, what follows does not correspond to what our boy dreamed of. Whether it is a sad comedy or a cheerful drama, the director manages to view the struggles of his little protagonist with detachment. A pleasant film, but with the drawback that it lacks the power to stay permanently in one's memory. It is simply one of those films that you are likely to forget in a year or two. Overall impression: 70%.

A quality crime thriller in the style of the neo-noir genre, which relies mainly on a sophisticated script and the attractive face of femme fatale Kathleen Turner. It has perhaps one major flaw, and that is its pace, which at times resembles a snail on a stroll. Nevertheless, Kathleen truly looks like a textbook vamp in her film debut and thus foreshadows the huge wave of popularity she gained in the United States and around the world in the 80s. It is precisely for her and for the final scene of the film, which deviates from the usual Hollywood happy endings, that I give it 4 stars. Overall impression: 70%.

The story only lightly touches on the French Foreign Legion. Savior is about the destructive influence of war on the human character, depicting it as a continuous series of stress, violence, despair, and hatred that transforms human nature and turns ordinary people into ruins and criminals. A professional soldier, whose family perished in a terrorist attack, yearns for revenge and throws himself into further war adventures. At one point, he has had enough and tries to do the right thing. Although the film does not avoid certain clichés and its ending particularly reeks of Hollywood, it is a strong emotional drama with an anti-war nature. Moreover, it is very well-acted and carries the stamp of authenticity of the Balkan wars. Overall impression: 80%.

Star Trek shattered the traditional concept of space opera with all its naivety and old rituals and boldly stepped toward the younger generation and those who had remained outside the world created by Gene Roddenberry. It resulted in an entertaining blockbuster that is modern, dynamic, and full of action, battles, memorable lines, and tension - simply a likable popcorn movie for mass audiences. The sequel follows a similar spirit, although it reduced the number of memorable lines and humor, replacing them with pathos and, in some cases, pure sentiment (yes, brave space heroes are not ashamed of shedding tears), and overall the film slightly lost the lightness of its predecessor. On the other hand, it is by no means a failure; many sequels struggle to even come close to the original film's quality (Guy Ritchie could tell you all about that). The film's generous production, breathtaking special effects scenes, the action following one after another, and the fast pace prevent viewers from noticing the gaps in logic and the simplicity of the story. This type of blockbuster is not meant for contemplation or reflection, but for quick consumption, and it fulfills this role more than adequately. Overall impression: 80%.

When watching Gallipoli, I recalled the Czech film Tobruk and realized the difference between someone who tries and wants to do something, and someone who knows how and has the resources. Gallipoli is an epic film about a not-so-well-known episode of World War I when, thanks to Churchill's idea to eliminate Turkey from the war with an unexpected landing near Istanbul and a decisive attack on the main center of the Ottoman Empire, Australian soldiers found themselves in the center of the war turmoil and learned a lesson from trench warfare, as the original plans of Churchill quickly became obsolete due to Atatürk's tenacious defense. The first half of the film introduces us to the main hero and his romanticized youthful ideas about a military career and the emergence of friendship with his sports rival played by Mel Gibson. The film does not rush, but that does not harm the story. Weir knows how to convey the atmosphere and tell the story in a way that imprints it on the viewer's mind. In the second half, tension builds after the first combat experience, leading to an unparalleled massacre in the final scene. Overall impression: 80%. It's not a film I would put in the absolute genre peak, but I can't criticize anything essential about it either.

From the comments, it is evident that some movie fans would prefer to watch Rambo or Ozerov's epic films full of gigantic war scenes, where heroic Soviet soldiers crush German divisions in grand style. However, I find Zwick's film to not be a top-notch, but likable above-average spectacle that dignifies and accurately portrays a very dark period of World War II, namely the Belarusian genocide. These massacres did not spare the non-Jewish population, so even several decades after the end of World War II, the population of Belarus was significantly lower than before the war. Zwick is skilled at navigating between commercial entertainment and film with artistic depth. As for the ratio of war scenes, I have no problem with a significant portion of the film consisting of dialogues and descriptions of Jewish refugees' survival in the Belarusian forests. In fact, Zwick tends to exaggerate, as the majority of the actions of this partisan group involved obtaining provisions since they had a substantial number of women and elderly people, unlike other groups. However, the script does not achieve the rawness that probably corresponds to the reality of people surviving in insane conditions, which cannot be expected from a mainstream film of this kind. The only things that significantly bothered me were the noble phrases from the camp leader's mouth and the general poor dialogue, which ultimately cost the film one star. As for Daniel Craig, he acts very well, as is customary for him, however, type-wise, he didn't completely suit his role. On the other hand, Liev Schreiber perfectly embodied the character of his partisan and avenger. Overall impression: 80%.

Jean-Pierre Melville represented the peak of commercial cinema in the 1950s and belonged to the top ranks of post-war French cinema. He admired American genre films, especially film noir and gangster films, and that is strongly evident in Bob the Gambler. Long shots, the atmosphere of nighttime Paris, and strange figures from the underworld, criminals who feel each other out and contemplate their next career moves. The film definitely does not fit into the action category, as it rather focuses on the psychology of its characters and the final heist is certainly not the climax of the film, where it's more about the characters and style. Although cinema today has a completely different pace and is accustomed to much more bombastic and sophisticated genre pieces, at the time, Bob the Gambler was very much an above-average European genre film. It's quite nice to watch a director with a strong and distinct signature, who knows what he wants to shoot and in what way. Overall impression: 75%.

Hemlock, as is typical for this type of short animation, cannot rely on a plot, because four minutes of runtime simply do not provide enough space for it. Instead, it focuses on atmosphere and style. Hemlock draws inspiration from urban legends and is influenced by clock-punk. The animation is of high quality, with tension and an albeit predictable, but effective twist. This type of short film is made to showcase its creator and serve as a stepping stone for obtaining larger projects, as well as a starting point for a career in animation. Overall impression: 70%.

This is a British production in the spirit of the best traditions of their TV series. Partner relationships are explored from all possible angles and perspectives and feature stories of several modern couples with purely contemporary problems. Coming together, conflicts, breakups, and reconciliations are presented attractively in terms of both the script and the cast. Each of these characters have their strengths and flaws, but in their own way, they are all likable, and they were chosen in such a way that you can probably identify with one of them. With exaggeration, it can be said that they are the characters from Friends who have grown up and have rid themselves of the exhausting endless form of sitcoms diluted into countless series. It is a series about middle-aged people for viewers of the same age category. These characters rarely have wild parties anymore and have to share their time with their offspring. They know the value of passing time and unfortunately, also of human life. Overall impression: 80%.