Lima

The idea of involving Kevin Bacon is great, but otherwise, and surprisingly for James Gunn, good comedy and pop culture references are scarce. That said, compared to the Star Wars Christmas Special from the 1970s that they reference to, this is a masterpiece. And The Pogues in the opening, and Gunn's caustic banter about the actors being fake scum, was fun.

Dwayne Johnson is beginning to look like Steven Seagal, at least in action movies. This is unwatchable. Tarantino is right, the last two decades of cinema, crammed with colourful comic book adaptations, is a dark era. Films made to order, without their own identity, creative passion and without a shred of originality. Thank goodness for exceptions like James Gunn (well, okay, the last Avengers and its emotional spark was pretty OK too, the one-eyed king among the blind).

As his excellent The Greasy Strangler showed, Jim Hosking is a master of awkwardness yet totally unpredictable in the way he layers scenes on top of each other. Unfortunately, here, in the middle part, it completely fell apart under his hands, the plot gets stuck and it doesn't know which way to go. All is explained towards the end, but it doesn't save the previous futility. Craig Robinson and his grumbling is a real slap in the face here, but Aubrey Plaza is lovely. She plays it seriously and fully committed, creating a funny contrast with all those freaks who deliberately play like amateurs. There were moments I felt sorry for her :)

George Méliès, one of my most beloved filmmakers, he will always be in my heart. Although the inventors of the film strip were the Lumiere brothers, it was Mélies who created film as spectacle and the pioneer of visual effects, as the Lumieres themselves said. He was the first person to set up a film studio. He was also a director, cinematographer, screenwriter, editor and actor, something unique in the history of cinema. Always on the go, he slept very little, but for him it was pleasure, not work, a true visionary. The bitter end of much of his work is such a shame, in a fit of despair he burned all his films in the garden of his house, and only thanks to collectors and the American Film Library about 200 of the 500 films he brought into the world have survived. I'd sign my soul to the devil for a Blu-ray edition of his work :)

Unforced natural performances, dialogues that don’t make you wince and are often so witty and funny that are a joy to listen to. I almost wouldn't hesitate to write that Capra was ahead of his time in his sensitivity. Some of the dialogue scenes, such as wading in the river carrying a girl on the shoulders, or the hitchhiking, were unexpected and excellent, except I would advise Gable that he really shouldn't smoke in haystack, especially when his girlfriend is huddled in it. The guys here complain about the ungracefulness of Claudette Colbert, and even say she’s ugly, I can't agree with that, I found her cute and relatable. Clark Gable is a straight-up stud, as always, no wonder women went crazy for him back then. But I won't give it 5 stars, because I found the ending contrived in relation to the rest of the film and the sudden epiphany of the father unbelievable, as well as his naively understanding nature, people like that exist only in movies :)

Jakl really needed the help of renowned historians for this action-packed tale of running around in the woods? Well, fuck me Žižka! It looks as dull as the American The Pagan Queen did 14 years ago. There are basically only four alternating locations: a forest, the chapel with Sigismund, a cave and the quarry of Great America, and the one (!!!) nice visual effect shot in the whole film (the arrival of Boreš in medieval Prague) doesn't save the overall cheapness of it all. I used to think that Jakl is at least a skilled producer who can generate bags of gold, but I'm starting to doubt that too. Ironically, I'll add that his highlight so far is the blood-curdling screaming in Pterodactyl, where at least he was fun. PS: Fuk can't be taken seriously anymore, he's getting more and more ridiculous.

The first half had me excited as perhaps no other recent film has. The mysterious atmosphere, supported by the perfectly chosen music and the sound and image tricks completely fascinated me and I was looking forward to what Garland would surprise me with next. Unfortunately, from the scene in the church it's just a solo for the main character and one actor in wig changes, and it becomes a very weird thing that goes nowhere. It's just Harper watching various body-horror scenes, and occasionally the parson, who I think us the weakest component of the film, utters some pearl of wisdom, and you get a sense of bewilderment and would-be art that wants so much to tempt your own interpretation, but without anything to grasp on. Alex, you’ve tried to get me drunk with a bun, but I prefer a proper black Guinness. Probably the weakest of the three films Garland has directed so far.

The hysteria around this film it’s pointless, I didn't find it any worse than Waititi's previous entry. It's almost heretically disrespectful to the comic book genre, it doesn't take itself seriously at all, and as someone bored to death with most Marvel movies who sees the whole of Phase 4 as a degradation of everything the entire Marvel universe stands for, this film actually made me happy. No one speaks seriously, no one delivers pathetic speeches, and if anything, you can feel Waititi's irony in it; Gun´n´Roses gives it the right note of rebellion, and the annoying goats that a lot of people complain about take up only minimal space. Bale's Gorr is great, he has a believable dramatic arc, and Russell Crowe and his lard-soaked character finally got a meaningful use, I enjoyed his Zeus a lot. Normally I'd give 3*, but I'm rooting for crazy nerds like Taika, cinema needs people like him.

Factual, incisive and free from cheap pathos in the tense moments. Ron Howard looks at the event through an almost documentary form. You have a bunch of guys, specialist divers, who just do their job as best they can and you won't hear any affective shouting or see them grabbing their heads and shedding crocodile tears. I guess that's how real pros behave, and I like this filmmaker's non-Hollywood approach. Moreover, the film looks beautiful, with the camera playing with all the colours, the believable Thai realities, the ubiquitous rain and mud, the hundreds of tents, the people around the scene and the locals actually speaking Thai. The cave scenes will make claustrophobics wet themselves at night for six months after watching it, you won't be able to tell what is a studio, a substitute and what is a real cave, simply excellent. And in the second half it's exciting as hell, even if you know beforehand how it's going to turn out. This should have been in the cinemas.

Self-centered assholes like the sociopathic and "biggest horror expert" Psycho are wanking again, the rest of us, for whom FilmBooster is not the only way to make ourselves visible, can enjoy very decent craftsmanship and well above average production values. Admittedly, I don't see the pop culture event of the year, we're still within the confines of TV, but if every TV product looked as professional as this, it would be great for series watchers. I attribute the lousy reviews here to people's disgust with today's violently pushed political correctness, and I get it, I also don't picture a black curly-haired boy as an elf, sometimes things don’t make much sense in that regard, but this is just a sign of the times, we move from one extreme to the other, while, as the classic saying goes, "the truth is always in the middle, as in the sting of the bee", and unfortunately this is not the case today. But I won't let that sway my judgment. PS: I like the lead actress very much, they chose well.