rikitiki

Considering I’m not into soccer, I quite enjoyed this movie. The character of the big-mouthed, rage-shaking coach was also given subtle shades of hidden insecurity in M. Sheen's performance (just facial expressions, but not embodied in words). I also liked the editing concept and especially the fleeting glimpses of matches (often just the score is shown). That was more than enough, and many times it was more effective than trying to recreate games long-since played. Because, even though it was mainly about soccer, the movie was mainly about the self-centeredness of one pretty unpleasant guy who clearly knew a lot about soccer. IN A NUTSHELL: Would they let him train in this authoritative and individualistic way today? I doubt it. Soccer is all about money now and I'd say it constrains the sport a lot, concentrating more on the money pipeline and less on entertainment and hard work.

The artwork of the characters was rather mediocre, but the "discovered" world depicted was beautifully imaginative. I also liked the message it brought, including the fact that there is no villain in the film. Which some review saw as a shortcoming. For me, on the other hand, this was a big plus, because even though there really is no villain, even good or normal people behave in ways that can be villainous. And not necessarily out of hatred or other intent, but perhaps out of ignorance or misdirected good intentions. Which is probably more likely in real life than meeting some interstellar hooded killer. ____ I also like the fact that the main character is young and gay and especially the fact that no one is bothered, no one considers it a problem, that’s just the way it is. The only thing we see is that he’s too shy to declare his love. Not shy about who he fell in love with. Which is very important. Because I've seen lots of movies about coming out, about coming to terms with homosexuality, about acceptance by family or friends. Okay, fine. But maybe it’s time to stop that and time to approach this topic like in this movie: it's not a problem, you don't have to come to terms with anything, it's normal and therefore you don't have to behave in any special way because of it. ______ The lesson of the story is expectable and quite obvious long before the end of the movie, but it doesn't matter because it's nice and true even in this "strange world." SUMMARY: The movie carries a simple message. People usually like simple messages. But not this. Because that would mean that they would have to start acting complicatedly.

It's one of those cute British pictures, like a porcelain dog with a pipe, sitting in a rocking chair. Lovely for the mantlepiece, makes for a good mood and a feeling of home for a while, but forgettable. They made the main character and his family too slick for my taste. A bunch of cute little creatures, local goofballs, friendly fools who are like children. Their purity sheds light on our distorted and hard world. It's clichéd, it's trite, and I don't think the protagonist's image of himself as a local hero would agree with such a portrayal. Or at least, I hope so. I hope he get a restraining order forbidding them to portray him as an impractical knucklehead who might be right about something, but otherwise we have every right to look down on him. IN A NUTSHELL: How to fight the system when no one even notices you're fighting.

I welcome any biopic that doesn't take the simplest route, and this one at least lived up to it by showing only part of the author's life, her childhood/youth, before she really started writing. In fact, if it hadn't been about a famous writer, it could easily have been a film depicting hard times in the Swedish countryside before the war. There's probably nothing more to write, except that Astrid messed up her life a lot right from the start, but she managed to cope with it very bravely, with the help of a fairly understanding family (for the time and circumstances) and the happiness of the people around her (caregiver Marie and her new boss). IN A NUTSHELL: Independence was the writer's big theme and, as you can see, she had to learn it very early on.

This period crime movie boasts a really heavy atmosphere; a true crime story that shows police work and period background rather than chasing sensation. Several times the viewer gets confused about who the perpetrator really is and, frankly, I wouldn't want to judge this case. And I wouldn't even want to live in a country where guilt or innocence is decided by a lay jury influenced by the tabloids (even sole judges aren’t great, but at least they do their job professionally and are hopefully more resistant to newspaper headlines). IN A NUTSHELL: When someone's life is on the line, never blindly believing what seems so obvious.

A movie that quite deliberately and repeatedly tries to break your heart with every flash sad beady eyes and every pant of wet snout. The story of a wandering dog soul recounts the stories of the people he meets along the way, but in the end he sticks to the first story, which had the most potential. They made a sickly-sweet tearjerker that will have dog lovers crying their hearts out. Granted, this is a high quality tearjerker, and such are sometimes needed, but... IN A NUTSHELL: ... sorry, I prefer cats!

Pretty average. The animation didn't impress, the story was average, the way some of the villains making good at the end was unconvincing and there was far too little humor. IN A NUTSHELL: This is a bit of a blast from the past, and now it’s gone a bit stale.

This theme isn’t suited to this kind of animation. If you want to film a dark story, the animation shouldn't be so childish. And if it is, it should at least look like that was the intention. Here, however, it seemed as if the appearance of the characters was determined by Buzz and nobody else, jumping on the Toy Story bandwagon, while the overall feel of this animated movie is completely different. It would have been better if they had broken away from Toy Story and taken their own path. It is so absolutely unlikely that such a hero would become the archetype of children's toys, and even if he did, that any child would like or even love it. And the attempts to bring it closer to a child audience (whom the movie somewhat falsely entices) in turn prevent the dark story of Lightyear from descending into the despair that would be more appropriate for such a narrative.

Beautiful and confident women, masculine men, exotic landscapes, ancient monuments, guns and gunfights, espionage and explosions, betrayals and love entanglements. You'll see it all here. But this is not a soap opera, but a fact-based account of the work of the Israeli secret services. Sometimes it's clichéd, the emphasis on relationships is too heavy (there's always somebody sleeping with someone else's wife), the acting is sometimes rather hammy (in almost every episode Gabi overcomes tears or stares into the distance in anguish). The protagonist is clearly immortal and his mental breakdowns are more frequent than roller coaster rides. Members of the anti-terrorist squad seem to manage their raids as they wish, without consulting anyone or even announcing them. ____ But the raids tend to be great viewing. The psychological portrayal of the characters - especially the Palestinians, who are not always murderers and rapists - is also good here and there. But what made the greatest impression on me is the depiction of the desperate situation of the generations-old blood feud between Palestinians and Israelis without any chance of reconciliation or at least a cease-fire. Season 4

Several commentators point to Langmajer's singing performance as the humorous highlight of the film. When I reached this obelisk of awkwardness, it was clear I wasn't going to finish watching. So this will be one of the few movies I rate without seeing the whole thing. I made myself watch it a bit longer, but then it got to the point where I couldn't go on anymore. Same old same old: awkward acting, a hysterical story, exaggerated slapstick - even that could be carried off if it had been just a little, just a smidgen, funny. It wasn’t. IN A NUTSHELL Clichéd characters in a strained story.