D.Moore

The film starts with ten minutes of boring babbling by Miloš Kopecký and Jiří Pleskot, continues with a forty-minute flawless Kopecký + Sovák + Hanzlík + dead shark concert, which is a top-notch demonstration of their comedy skills, and ends with another useless five minutes of babbling with Jiří Pleskot. In short, if the script had been without the character of Jaroslav Hašek, it could have been flawless.

A completely different take on Verne's work than we are used to from Karel Zeman's films, but still - or maybe because of it - this is a very good, believable-looking film with an eternal, ageless message, an excellent cast and impressive music by Fischer. Jaromír Hanzlík, Martin Růžek and Josef Vinklář were great. I was also looking forward to seeing my favorite actor Josef Větrovec, but he only appeared at the beginning and at the end.... And he didn't even say a word (that voice!).

The people who cannot stand Luděk Sobota will probably not be satisfied, but the rest of us will be. Especially if they also like Svěrák and Smoljak. This film is actually a theatrical minigame, the first half of which, set in a prison, has a nice Cimrman atmosphere full of puns and all sorts of verbal shootouts, and the second half of which becomes genuine Burian-type merriment. Actually, I could well imagine that this film would have been made some fifty years earlier and Sobota's role would have been played (probably in exactly the same way) by Vlasta Burian and Císler's part would have been played by, say, Jaroslav Marvan. It was very nice. I don't think I'll ever forget the story about the mill.

I was very surprised by this film, which I had never heard of before. On the one hand, the excellent civil performance of Josef Hlinomaz, the medical cast, the fascinating real shots of the operation and Dietl's "mosaic" script, which, in addition to the traditionally accurately drawn characters, gave the actors a number of funny lines not unlike those from M*A*S*H*. It's true that I could have done without some of the dream sequences and that Jan Klusák's cheerful musical motif, which could be heard mainly during the scenes with Vlastimil Brodský and the car, didn't quite fit either. However, in the end I was satisfied with the result and I cared about all of the characters or their stories. Three and a half stars.

During the first fifty minutes I had a very good time with the parade of all the characters and their verbal shoot-outs, but after arriving at the wedding I was screaming with laughter. Vladimir "What, what, what?" Pucholt and Jan Vostrčil as SNB officers posing as friends of the desperately collapsing Jiří Hrzán, František Filipovský as a father with (self-)homicidal tendencies, the flawless Iva Janžurová, who was also very pretty, small and larger characters brilliantly portrayed by Pavel Landovský, Josef Hlinomaz, Jan Libíček, Ilja Prachař, Jiří Lír and others... In addition, Mahler's and Krejčík's cleverly witty script (they were not afraid of poking fun at the state apparatus - well, such was the time), literally relaxed direction, Liška's exuberant music... Three and a half stars.

I have seen Arnošt Lustig live three times and in each case it was a lecture / discussion that I will never forget. Most often, of course (leaving aside his anecdotes), he spoke about the Holocaust (and well he should), his memories always had an extremely authentic feel, and the way he presented them (for example, when he would say with a stony face how the experience had strengthened him enormously, and then add with a smirk that it didn't mean he wanted to repeat it) was quite unique. No, there was no old-fashioned "Yeah, back then..." chatter, but rather engaging, humorous and admirably vital talk by the narrator enhanced by very chilling episodes that always led to reflection. Each story contained Lustig's tirelessly promoted message about the value of life, the desire to live, hope and human will. I am glad that all of that has been preserved in this documentary. It is a worthy monument to the writer and I just hope that as many people as possible see it and, most importantly, that it will be shown in as many schools as possible. Elementary, middle, high, whatever. Especially if such wonderful personalities are not forgotten and do not become just a chapter in a literature textbook.

The first half of the interview is a great look at a lonely, principled man who is so committed to his work that he doesn't even realize how paranoid he is becoming and how distant he is becoming from his surroundings. The second half is in the spirit of a gripping psychological thriller. I was completely absorbed by both of them. Gene Hackman proved once again why he is one of my favorite actors. And Francis Ford Coppola again confirmed his reputation as an exceptional director - I really liked, for example, how he shot almost the entire film as if with hidden cameras, which culminated in the very last shot. I'm glad that this masterpiece, still relevant after almost forty years (unfortunately?), has finally appeared on DVD - with bonus features that are really rich by today's poor standards (and by the standards of such "old" films).

This incredibly crazy film is one of those that should be the envy of the whole world and for which our little republic should be known as one of the most productive and original hatcheries of comedy and parody films on Earth. Every actor, every line of the script, every film window, every Saudek drawing, every Hála note... Everything is just SO perfect and it doesn't get boring even after the thousandth viewing.

A very engaging and humorously written, and above all well acted "detective" story. The perpetrator may be easy to detect, but let's face it, he's not the point. It's about aunts, about Jiří Hrzán, who is gradually losing his mind, but still singing his way through, about Iva Janžurová, about a lot of actors who will definitely please in supporting roles, about imaginative aunt parodies of well-known songs, about (without exaggeration) funny music by Václav Hybš... In short, it's about having fun.__P.S. Jan Kraus's few-second, yet unforgettable role is more than worth noticing!

I could count the moments I really enjoyed on one hand (the opening and closing talk show, the clever tyrannosaurus, the mosquito scene...), but otherwise this is a weak Ferrell film, with a lot of disgusting (I simply don't like anything with expletives) and a lot of simply awkward jokes. The special effects aren't bad and the film is very nicely colored and overall better than, say, Journey to the Center of the Earth with Brendan Fraser, but that's not high praise. Two and a bit.