Lima

Nirvana was a revelation in its day. After “Nevermind”, probably everyone who was interested in rock music across genres and bands listened to them, or at least heard of them. I was introduced to it by a friend who was a die-hard Depeche Mode fan, who said, "Mate, this is awesome, you have to see it!" He was very excited and played me the clip of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on TV. One music critic wrote that Nirvana "kicked open the doors of perception", and I think that’s accurate. They were a band from Seattle, not much was expected from them, their second album Nevermind was somewhere near the bottom of the sales charts when it was released, only to unseat the unwavering symbol of the 80s Michael Jackson from the top about 10 months later, opening the door for other rock bands (not only grunge bands from Seattle, such as Alice in Chains or Pearl Jam). This unplugged concert proves what made Nirvana so popular: they managed to combine uncombed, raw expression with very strong melodic lines that sound very good even on a simple Spanish song. And even today, when I listen to their songs years later, I have to nod my head in approval: "Yeah, mate, you were right. This is bloody awesome!”

A complex philosophical allegory? Only in appeareance. An easy key to understanding it is Aronofsky's experiences in recent years and his fears about the death of loved ones. The Fountain is a powerful account of coming to terms with mortality, nicely mixed with a powerful love story. And for viewers who don't give a damn about a statement, The Fountain is an almost meditative and visually sophisticated piece of work, and to fully appreciate it, you need to be in a meditative mood, watch it in peace, in the shadows of a cinema, or at home after sunset. Certainly not in full light, with flash reflections on the screen, while ironing or as a soundtrack while working with the occasional "informative" look (I've been known to do that). I had somewhat overlooked Hugh Jackman until today, but here he impressed me with his heartfelt performance, I believed his every emotion. And thank God for the – forced by circumstances and limited budget – intimate mood of the whole film. The originally intended battles of armies of several thousand men and space ships would have made this fragile film a complete travesty.

Iron Maiden is one of the few bands (maybe even the only one) from the "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" that can withstand the more stringent standards even today, despite the fact that the quality of their albums, compared to what they did, especially in the 80s, is somewhat declining. But this video for their second live album, “Live After Death”, shows them in full force, at one of their four sold-out shows in Florida in 1985. The video was taken on a different night than the album itself, but there are no differences. So in both cases, the order of the songs is the same, some songs sound much more powerful live than in the studio performance (especially noticeable in the opening “Aces High”) and the band shows that they have never really bothered with the concept of improvisation (except for the brilliantly built up “Running Free”, interspersed with Dickinson's speaking and screaming). And then there’s a screaming, three-metre tall Eddie, and the boundless energy, the ancient Egyptian-themed stage setting and the catchy songs, especially from their two best albums “Number of the Beast” and “Powerslave” – well, shit, can I give any other rating than five stars? Especially when I remember when I was a young "metalhead" in the second half of the 80s and I used to go to concerts with a denim jacket full of patches?

I remember this well. A colleague at work said “something’s going on in America.” At home we were shocked to see the devastation and in the evening we went to the pub for a drink, and the guys were talking hysterically that there would be a war. In short, it affected every person with an ounce of empathy, even if they were thousands of kilometres away; let alone the Americans, for whom it was a hit right on the trigeminal nerve. And, I believe, also for the provocateur by nature Oliver Stone, who, for once, put the boisterousness behind him, because – frankly – here it would have been like a punch in the face. He took up the subject with reverence, I understand him and will not join the herd and their criticisms. Am I supposed to laugh – despite my perspective as a heavy atheist – at those two brief appearances of Jesus, knowing how important faith in God is to Americans? Our Central European atheism may be equally incomprehensible to Americans, so I give up all mockery on this subject, typical of the Czech nature to ridicule everything. I know it's easy to be swept away by the crowd and "he who wants to beat a dog will always find a stick", but frankly, I was searching in vain for the "unprecedented stupidity" or "tastelessness" throughout the film. The tear-jerking scenes were within the norm, although the scenes with Gyllenhall and Bello left me cold and were, I think, the only weakness of the story. I digested sentences like "tell my wife that I love her", uttered several times in the anticipation of death, with understanding and I didn't feel any emotional cynicism from them (should they have said "Tell that bitch that she pissed me off this morning when she burnt my toast!"?). Moreover, after a few years I was able to believe Nicolas Cage in a role again, and the first half of the film – the crashes, the general chaos, the collapse – were an example of perfect "Stone" filmmaking. This film is simply a celebration of human bravery and selflessness, without the chest-pounding and shots where you can count the stripes on the United States flag in detail. I don't think Stone has anything to be ashamed of.

Girls with baggy pants and garishly colored perms, and Michal David were intrinsic to the 1980s, "the decade of weird taste", and this Goddard mess is another one of that era’s unmissable representatives. Mythology as if from the pen of a ten-year-old fantasist, a tragically shallow Dolph Lundgren and shameless rip-offs of everything from Star Wars to Superman – well, yes, there are few worse combinations. But here, more than anywhere else we can say that "it's so stupid it's beautiful". When we send an informative probe to alien civilizations in distant galaxies, this piece should definitely not be missing in the attached chapter "80s movies" :) Pleasant guilty pleasure.

Forget Auguste's film with Liam Neeson, forget the legendary version with the amazing Jean Gabin, or the mediocre series with Gérard Depardieu....The best Les Misérables was made by Robert Hossein: raw, unembellished, almost cruel in places, fantastically directed and masterfully acted, led by the charismatic Lino Ventura, who was probably born to play Jean Valjean. Hossein, you don't have to worry, de Peyrac is forgotten, movie heaven awaits you for this masterpiece.

It’s impossible not to compare it with the more recent Bounty from 1984, which emerges as the winner of the imaginary duel. Milestone's classic is indeed more verbose (although the newer version is no slouch in this respect either), but that's about it. In Donaldson's version, the characters are much more complex and psychologically believable – Hopkins's Bligh is a very strict but also fair captain, driven to repression by circumstances where it was obvious that the crew's morale and respect for him as the highest authority was declining and the situation was getting out of hand, but thanks to some of his very questionable decisions, he was partly to blame for the situation. Here, in the earlier classic, Howard's Bligh is so evil that his character descends into ridiculous caricature. Mel Gibson's Fletcher is part idealist, but even more so an irresponsible jerk who in many ways is not very "in touch" with the concept of discipline, while Brand's Fletcher is like a choirboy but in a sailor's uniform. And I could go on. Moreover, in Donaldson's version some scenes come out much more impressively (the daughter leaving her father the chief, the floggings, etc.) and it also has a much better ending, which on the one hand sticks much closer to the historical realities, but especially in the conflict of Fletcher looking for a new place to live vs. the ungrateful rebellious crew gives the film a new dimension. There is simply nothing black and white in life, which Donaldson's film shows beautifully, while Milestone's old classic sticks to the Hollywood idealisation typical of the time. Giving it high ratings just because it stars one of the greatest acting giants in history just doesn't appeal to me :)

It took me a long, long time to get into this film, because I felt that Eastwood was emotionally blackmailing me in the end. If only! This is one of the best films about human desire, courage without boundaries and especially the right to deal with one's life according to one's best knowledge and conscience. In the words of Piergiorgio Welby: "man has a right to life, but does not mean that man must live it at all costs", and I would see this as the main mission of Eastwood's work (and I would recommend it to all Catholics). Bravo Clint, bravo Hilary!

Motto: KLAATU BARADA NIKTO. If you'd expect, even from the poster, that this is some kind of sci-fi B-movie in which a hostile alien walks around, butchers everything it comes across and kidnaps pretty girls, you'd be wrong. This, now a classic sci-fi flick, is exceptional. It is an exceptional story, with strongly political and anti-war overtones, which shows that it was written in the time of the raging Cold War and in the era of atomic weapons and the uncertainty of the days to come. This uncertainty is to be resolved by Klaatu, an emissary of an advanced alien civilization, who wants to convey a message to the representatives of all states that if they do not live in peace, Earth will be punished by Gort, a kind of "space cop", a guardian of peace on the planets and an invincible robot with the power to melt an entire tank artillery in a few seconds with its beams. The very attempt to make peace under the threat of violence is a clear indication of what the filmmaker thought about humanity's (in)ability to come to a peaceful agreement, and it is evident throughout the plot. The countries refuse to meet, Moscow argues with London, Washington with both, etc. Thanks to the screenplay, well-written dialogues and solid performances (especially by the charismatic Klaatu), one can forgive the fact that the special effects are few. Except for the opening ten minutes, in which an alien spaceship lands in Washington and Gort performs a few "macho" tricks, the entire film is conversational. Which doesn't detract from the film's impact......And as for the motto at the beginning of my comment, it's one of Gort's orders towards the end of the film. If it sounds familiar, you're not wrong, it was used humorously (or cheekily, as the case may be) a couple of decades later by Sam Raimi in his iconic Army of Darkness, and is mentioned on one of the zombie movie websites as one of the essential catchphrases of the horror genre. Quite a paradox, right?

People with no relation to motoring (of which I’m one), don't be fooled by the poster with Al Pacino in a racing outfit, or Rady's comment here, this is in no way a "look behind the scenes of motorsport", the main character could be a skier or a cyclist and it would come out the same. It's not about cars, 95% of the time it's about an untypical romance, beautifully acted, without annoying clichés, not emotionally draining in the fateful ending and with one amazing love confession on top. However, those who like to rush through films and often use words like "boring" and "I'd cut it by half an hour" in their reviews, should avoid this slow-moving melodrama.