DaViD´82

A mediocre comedy in almost every conceivable way, with one big advantage: the actors. The Ref, fortunately, is saved by its perfect cast, who put it in the category of quickly forgettable but pleasantly relaxing generic comedies.

The Last Temptation of Christ is Scorsese’s best non-Mafia picture. Need I say more? Need I emphasize Dafoe and Keitel’s performances of their lives? Or the atmospheric soundtrack? Do I really have to mention the theological level of this picture and its philosophical aspects that will remain troubling you long after? Describe the wave of outrage of the general public (I recommend the book Banned Films)? No, I think that there isn’t much point and it would be like taking coals to Newcastle... And anyway, this is one of those rare examples where the movie adaptation is better than the (already excellent) book it’s based on.

I gave this French TV miniseries more than one chance to reveal its qualities. But it was a waste of time because there simply are none to be found. The characters are unbelievable, the dialogs awkward, most of the time the actors spend most of their time overacting, the costumes aren’t too bad, the interiors are indescribably disgustingly kitsch, not to speak of the director’s obsession with killing every exterior scene with some intense color filter. And the horrendous Czech dubbing is just the proverbial “icing on the cake". The only thing about A Cursed Monarchy that could be seen as positive. A series that gives the otherwise the usually high quality French miniseries a bad name.

Although they murder the original story, luckily The Last of the Mohicans works primarily as a romantic adventure movie in itself. And very well at that. Plus, all negative impressions are pushed out of the mind by the unforgettable final sequence. If the whole movie had been like that, I wouldn’t have lost for words. Just forget about seeing anything that resembles the book. ♫ OST score: 4/5

The quality drops and drops after episode one. So much this time that it is no longer possible to find anything that it might have in common with part one. Rambo’s third movie adventure is no longer an entertaining B-movie like part two, but more of a comic-bookish over the top ridiculous C-movie. This time, the heroic John Rambo takes on the Russians in Afghanistan and primarily he “finally" fight a duel with a helicopter. And how does he do it? You really don’t want to see. On the other hand, you really ought to want to see it.

Where the John Rambo sequels degenerated into crystalized totally uninventive B-movies where the fearless American hero takes out dozens, if not hundreds of enemies of the good American people, First Blood puts its money on low-key, inventive and raw presentation of his fight for survival. Where the sequels are ridiculous, part one is full of suspense. The biggest mistake of First Blood is that the writers eventually abandoned their idea for an ending where the central character died, thereby opening the way for unworthy sequels...

A regular village girl and her fairytale rise to fame? Not quite. Hníková proved with her debut that she is good at choice of topic. But she also showed that (at least for the time being) she doesn’t know how to grasp it so that it had some sense of direction and a focus. Zuzana’s story in The Beauty Exchange is basically identical but the result is slightly superior.

Awfully amateurishly handled interesting theme. Technically and in terms of form and message. It is almost unbelievably naive - it doesn’t go into depth, but just tiresomely skims over the surface of the topic. It jumps from one subject to the next and then all storylines apart from one somehow fizzle out... Especially the opening story with the women’s magazines disappears into thin air without any conclusion. It supposedly addresses some problem for fifteen minutes and then goes on to a completely different topic. This theme could have been used to make a hugely powerful documentary. Instead, we get to watch some randomly edited together interviews with no head or tail, not to speak of a common concept, with sound engineers running about in the background and the microphone comes into shot more often than the separate women. It isn’t at all clear who this documentary is aimed at and what the director wanted to achieve by it. She touched on this and that, but in the end she says nothing about anything. Women who live their live according to Cosmo (and other similar mags) will continue doing so. This documentary is equally superfluous as the “Model for the New Millennium" contest that appears in it which takes place twice a year. Do you get that? Nor do I.

The afterlife is full of paperwork. When you are eighteen and living a miserable life deep in depression, then a toilet seat from the MIR space station that kills you is a release in a way. Especially when you find out that “life" after death can be pretty fun but at the same time you have become a grim reaper full of sarcastic comments without a place to live and a regular wage. An unconventional series with a theme tune that reliably puts you in a good mood. Even with a mere two seasons it managed to build a cult status and was canceled in its prime (it’s up to you if you think that’s positive or not). It has lots of excellent ideas on its side, but it must be said that almost every episode has a section that could have been cut, thus stepping up the pace a little. And the genuinely promising potential is not exploited fully. But still, a very original and unarguably quality series.

Nobody disputes that Robert De Niro is a great actor; but there is some doubt in my mind about his being a great director. He proved himself in A Bronx Tale, but that could have been just beginner’s luck. But he didn’t confirm his talent in his second movie, The Score. But now, eight years after his debut there is no even the slightest doubt. He chose interesting and attractive subject matter, brought in lots of outstanding actors and made an almost faultless picture. OK, he has a slightly old-fashioned way of storytelling and the pace is pretty darn peculiar, but if you manage to get on his wavelength then The Good Shepherd will totally engross you. The one blemish on its beauty is perhaps the way that the characters just don’t age over the entire twenty-five years that the movie covers. One of the movie high points of last year and a movie that will achieve deserved recognition sooner or later. Because this is a good piece of craftsmanship that he put not just his talent but his heart into. In other words, something that unfortunately we do not see too often in movies today.