Lima

Forgive the anal-retentive ranting of a true fan. I would sum up the representative cross-section of the entire Floyd output on the first disc as a great audiovisual spectacle, but where I fail to understand – "rant #1 " – is why the last 2 albums (which don't have the typical Floyd sound anymore, I rather see them as Gilmour's solo albums) cover more than half of the 11 tracks and the rest of the band’s rich output – from the Barrett beginnings, through the psychedelic period, the rock turn to the Waters era – is represented by only 5 tracks. The 2-disc set features a concert version of arguably their most famous album, “The Dark Side Of The Moon” (which still holds the Guinness Book of World Records as the album that remained in the top 200 best-selling albums in the United States for 741 weeks, sold over 40 million copies, and is, along with Michael Jackson's “Thriller”, the best-selling album of all time), in the exact track order as the album itself. Which brings me to “rant #2”: If only the backing vocalists hadn't struggled so hard in their only solo performance in “The Great Gig in the Sky”, if only there hadn't been that strangely hushed improvisational passage in “Money”, and if the distinctive hypnotic keyboard solo in “Any Colour You Like” hadn't mysteriously disappeared somewhere (Wright tried to do something there, but you could barely hear anything), it would have been a perfect experience. So this is just......98% :) Anyway, for Floyd fans, a hearty meal that – seen live – equals chicken medallions with caviar, chocolate cake and Chardonnay vintage 2003 :)

Without a doubt one of the best anti-war films ever to grace cinema screens. Eastwood is not playing "soldiers" or "good guys vs bad guys", his view of war is much more complex. His film is one of the few that looks at the soldiers of the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis from the human side (in this respect, of the few cases before him, I remember Vilsmaier's Stalingrad, or the emotional ending of Riders in the Sky) and demythicizes the conventional view of ordinary Japanese soldiers as heartless war creatures with heads full of kamikaze. No matter which side of the conflict you are on, talking to a friend about family, making jokes, fearing death and questioning the meaning of war are all human feelings that are the same for everyone, regardless of the uniform they wear. Eastwood tells the story sparingly, but every minute has its place, and some scenes – the mass suicide, Baron's conversation with the wounded American soldier, the shooting of the prisoners, even the scene with the dog – are very memorable. And why not admit it, reading a letter from the mother of a deceased prisoner of war brought tears to my eyes, and in Eastwood's masterful rendition such moments are simply hard to resist. And if you think they are all made up, you are a lost cause. It is quite clear from the film that the greatest enemy in a war conflict is not a combatant from the enemy side, but the nonsensical orders of a moron in a superior uniform. Otherwise, the fight scenes have verve, although Eastwood commendably doesn't try to be as spectacular as possible (unlike, for example, Spielberg in the final battle in Saving Private Ryan) and the charismatic Watanabe is growing into a great actor in my eyes from film to film. With all due respect to my favorite Marty and his The Departed, the clear Oscar winner in my eyes is once again "Iron Old Man" Clint and his sensitive, empathetic masterpiece. The average rating on IMDb, 8.3/10, says much more about its real value than here on FilmBooster. And I don’t think half the votes there come from Japan.

And on that day I beheld absolute evil, in the likeness of hell, as in the painting of Hieronymus Bosch, and there are two Lucifers on the throne, whose names are Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer.........No, really. This is a perfect example of how far loss of judgement can take filmmakers. On the other hand, I would be surprised if this doesn't become a popular item among fans of bad movies in the future. If, like me, you are one of them, this is exactly the kind of film that makes you feel ashamed of the filmmakers, but in some twisted way, you get a kick out of what's happening on screen :)

A near-perfect relationship drama, which stands above all on an excellent script, full of fresh and unexpected situations that unexpectedly build up in the end. The character of the sexual deviant Ronnie initially felt too forcefully shoehorned into the story, but in the end his fate became the most emotional element of the entire narrative, with one chilling moment at the end that made my blood run cold. In this context, I can't help but berate the Oscar academics for preferring Arkin's embarrassing grandfather in Little Miss Sunshine to Jackie Haley's impressive performance. The fact that, in the case of the two main characters, Field's conclusion doesn't try to make their relationship sound as fatal as possible is something I applaud. It is not always necessary to push too hard to evoke intense emotions. And for the first time ever, I must also highlight the brilliant trailer, which is such a small work of art thanks to the use of an unconventional minimalist soundtrack of an arriving train, perfectly matched with the editing of the shots (and thanks to it I was eagerly awaiting Little Children, despite the fact that I always take trailers with a grain of salt).

Elisha, not-Elisha (nothing against her, she's a beautiful woman), the charm of this little film lies in something else. I really wouldn't expect to ever use the adjectives “smart” and “witty” in the context of a teen comedy, but here I have no problem with it. And the final twist is utterly disarming in its unexpectedness and charmingly casual moral :)

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.