POMO

Despite their stunning performances and perfect filmmaking craftsmanship, biographical films about the rise of famous musicians or athletes usually do not get anyone too excited and quickly fade into oblivion. The real stories of the personalities portrayed usually lack the attractive plot twists and climax that a proper film experience requires. Body and Soul is constructed like a biopic, but it is not based on a real story, thanks to which it can contain the necessary genre twists and a bold climax that lends it the grandeur of Hollywood classics and makes it full-fledged movie hit. Nice.

The Big Heat is a delicate crime film about a cop who dares to destroy the leaders of a mafia syndicate linked to politics. It is intelligently written, superbly cast, fast and dynamic, even using narrative shortcuts in places. No wonder the film made Glenn Ford a star. His likable but strict and uncompromising avenging hero is a balanced counterpart to the repulsive, anxiety-inducing gangsters. The clash of their worlds pins the viewers to their seats. Putting diverse female characters in the story – from a nice wife, through a gold-digging widow to martyr-like “companions” (one of whom plays a key role in the story) – is also surgically accurate. It is a Hollywood masterpiece that, among recent movies, is thematically closest to Brian Helgeland’s Payback, for example.

Panic in the Streets is a decent thriller in which time is of crucial importance and everyone screams at everyone else – even the one who doesn’t yet know what a disaster he has at his door. Jack Palance’s bad guy attracts more attention than the main character, a doctor fulfilling family ideals. Palance’s twisted gangster is a clever allegory of the pursuit of gold, which actually means unsuspectedly getting closer to a deadly plague. The occasional witty dialogue works well to lighten up the dark atmosphere of the film.

Though not very original by today’s standards, 99 River Street is still cleverly narrated, with a fast pace and characters that are easy to navigate despite not being played by more distinctive actors (which is a pity). The best scene, which is truly great, though unrelated to the central plot, is the rehearsal in the theater. It reminds of Naomi Watts’s similar performance in Mulholland Drive.

Formally brilliant, but without any driving force or tension. I plan to give it another chance one day.

A textbook example of poor film direction. Though the movie is visually captivating, the casting and dialogue are simply bad. It’s as if it was filmed by the second crew, which normally works only on the supporting technical scenes without any acting and doesn’t care the slightest bit about the dramaturgy of the story (the last Transformers suffered from the same failing).

The movie’s characters are a bunch of unconventional heroes with believable team chemistry, who do not take themselves too seriously and are played with gusto. Chris Pratt, whose star is on the rise, is a super cool guy, Zoe Saldana would be sexy in any color and Groot is too cute for words. The plot is a total cliché, but the relaxed mood of the film, which shows that nothing is meant seriously, makes that fact less grating. However, I was unpleasantly surprised by the lameness of most of the jokes. Hilarious, imaginative catchphrases with a lot of pop-culture references, were supposed to be the main attraction of the film, and there are almost none of those. Even Seth MacFarlane had more in his recent, rather inane A Million Ways to Die in the West. The crucial scene is foiled by Tyler Bates’ inability to compose an escalating melodic musical theme. The technical aspect is, however, perfect.

The elements of ghost horror movies set in an A-rated thriller a la Se7en – a tough cop with a flashlight finds his way through the darkness. The script is not exactly inventive, but the craftsmanship is perfect. Scott Derrickson knows what he’s doing. The main character is not a one-dimensional good guy; he has his own skeleton in the closet he has to deal with. The atypical priest becomes an important sidekick. The film is aided by its fast pace, the hellish make-up of the main bad guy (Sean Harris, who plays him, also deserves praise) and the instrumentally varied music by Christopher Young, which is monumental bordering on frightening. The slow start escalates into an intense horror experience. The use of music by The Doors is strange, but it gives the film a certain cool feel and individuality. “Vengeance always destroys the avenger.”

The Purge: Anarchy is much better than the first instalment; I considered giving it a fourth star. It is more sensitive in the treatment of characters, with more suspense, a cleverer script and more plot development, as well as more poignant in its provocative criticism of American capitalism. Dark and brutal, depressing due to the unpleasantly realistic subject and entertaining with its thriller pace with a lot of shootouts, Anarchy looks a bit like a video game in which you have to shoot your way to safety through a crowded, damn dangerous city at night.

The Prestige in Woody Allen style. Woody, however, does not delve deeply enough into the characters to make it work between them. The sparks between Colin Firth and Emma Stone work perfectly only in a single scene (the observatory) and do not work at all in the crucial last quarter of the film (after the point has been made). The two are incompatible by nature. If Woody himself played the rational wet blanket, the film would at least not be unrealistic and would not strive for an impossible romantic dimension, but it would be a pure cheerful comedy. Poor three stars.