Stanislaus

At first glance, Hádek Family is reminiscent of Carnage, but while Polanski manages to use the genre of the intimate conversational tragicomedy almost to perfection, Moravec's film glides more on the surface. The actors and actresses were perfectly suited to their roles, so I commend the casting, but it was all spoiled by a shallow script that didn't even half exploit the potential of the original premise. I was expecting to laugh and/or get chills from the character interactions, but those expectations weren’t fulfilled, except for a few smirks.

Ghost Dog is my third encounter with Jim Jarmusch's work, and I still haven't managed to come around to his directorial (and screenwriting) approach. Forest Whitaker was convincing as the unconventional samurai and won my sympathy, despite his "profession". The biggest problem I had was with the overly slow build-up of the plot, which, while corresponding with the "clean and quiet work of the samurai", I found it unrewarding in places. I liked the snippets about the samurai and was intrigued by the ice cream man and his interaction with the main character (EN vs. FR). I believe that if I were a hip hop fan, I would have enjoyed the film more.

Taika Waititi's first Thor film (the third) was quite different from its predecessors thanks to its distinctive and unmistakable directorial approach, and Love and Thunder is no different. The lover of vampires or alternative Hitler gets creatively unleashed again and serves us a two-hour dose of wacky humour, sweet romance and heroic adventure. It has many references to previous MCU films, pop culture and mythology, all wrapped in the director’s typical style of parody. In some places, the humour was perhaps too much and missed the mark, but in the end I had a great time in the cinema. There were also some touching emotions, mainly due to the line with Jane, but also with Gorr, who was indeed a multi-layered villain. You could sense that everyone involved must have thoroughly enjoyed the filming. The Guardians of the Galaxy were more of an afterthought, but at least we could focus on the main Thor-Jane and Thor-Gorr storylines. Love and Thunder has, as I mentioned, many wonderful ideas like the bawling goats, the spawning of "little Korg", the dramatization of Ragnarok (Melissa McCarthy as Hela killed it), or the gods’ assembly with a horny Zeus. I also liked the art of the duel in Shadowland and the visuals of Gorr's monsters. The first end-credit scene teased a possible sequel, so I'm curious to see if Thor will see another film.

Trouble tries to ride the wave of popular animal animated films, but it is drowning in its own mediocrity. It has a formulaic premise, few funny scenes and unlikeable characters. Also, I honestly don't think that Trouble could entertain much of the children's audience for whom the film is primarily intended. The best sequences were the dog pound and the intro with the old lady. The squirrel gang was very bizarre, and the sniffer-hunter was totally out of place.

Anyone who saw the trailer Minions 2 will know pretty well what happens in the film, which is not good. This sequel relies again on the great potential of the wacky banana lovers, but, as with possibly the first film, I felt that they kept a pretty tight rein. They serve some nicely done animation, but the story itself, although full of action, lacked a larger dose of humour and a memorable villain. The airplane sequence was was flawless, and the scenes blatantly (and literally) ripping off Shrek 2 (or Puss in Boots) were good, but I expected more – like the sparingly laughing audience of children in the theatre.

After Freddie Mercury and Elton John, the King of Rock 'n' Roll and his (in)famous story also found its way to the big screen. Baz Luhrmann's films stand out audiovisually, with unmistakable soundtracks, lavish production design and gorgeous costumes, and Elvis also bears a strong directorial signature. I was intrigued that Elvis's story was told from the perspective of his controversial manager, who tried to keep him in a golden but exceedingly toxic cage. From an acting standpoint, I have nothing to criticize, Austin Butler and Tom Hanks are superb, and they are wonderfully seconded by Olivia DeJonge. For me, the strongest scenes were the dialogue with the mothers, Elvis and Priscilla's conversation in the car, and of course the performance with “Unchained Melody”. While I'm not a huge Elvis fan, the film managed to keep me on my toes despite its longer running time. PS: "When things are too dangerous to say, sing."

Moonbound reminded me a lot of Arthur and the Invisibles, but later I learned that it is an adaptation of a more than a hundred-year-old story, namely the stage play “Little Peter's Journey to the Moon”, which was later published as an illustrated fairy tale. The premise (which for today’s jaded viewers is quite generic) is the biggest draw film, but it is the execution and the script that undermines it. Some of the ideas were really nice (like the Little and Big Bear), but they stumbled over not entirely likeable characters and a sometimes unnecessarily roundabout script. While the (child) viewer does get a lesson in the end, I personally missed a greater dose of light-hearted humour and likeable adventure action. Two and a quarter stars.

The Toy Story tetralogy captivated me with its mature yet child-friendly narrative style, which nicely blended fun, action and light melodrama. Lightyear is a spin-off of the aforementioned series, but it shrewdly distances itself from it already in the opening credits. While watching it, several films – most notably Interstellar, Star Wars and The Martian – came to mind in various sequences, from which Lightyear (un)intentionally borrows some plot motifs. The catbot was amazing, as were the hyperspace travel scenes (the character of Alisha was touching while also bringing LGBT themes into the film in a non-violent way). Buzz was similarly "off" as in Toy Story, and the supporting characters were fine at first, but after a while they got awkward and tiresome. The Zorg line left me with mixed feelings. All in all, better three stars!

Thanks to the pervasive absurdity and tragicomic nature of the "little people" Somewhere Over the Chemtrails pokes fun at, it (blatantly) reminds of Forman's films from the 1960s, and even though it is set in the present day with all its modern conspiracies, it portrays equally limited people with their flaws and strong tendency to believe in all kinds of bullshit – the dumber the better. Rybanský manages to portray the world of a small village and its inhabitants who suddenly have to deal with the threat of "terrorism" in a quite faithful way. Next time, the director could easily go more to the heart of the tragicomic, but this is still a noteworthy film from a domestic production.

I love the original "Jurassic Trilogy", especially the first part, so I was delighted when the opening part of the new trilogy hit the big screen seven years ago. While the first Jurassic World didn't have the magic of Jurassic Park, it was a beautifully nostalgic throwback. However, with the second, and also with the third Jurassic World, I felt that the magic and "childlike" excitement of the dinosaurs had faded at the expense of a story that wasn’t always solid due to the script. After screening Dominion, I had really mixed feelings: on the one hand, I was glad to see the old trio together in action after many years, while enjoying the many references to the original trilogy and the many new dinosaurs; on the other hand, I was sorry that that nostalgic touch was often precipitated by shallow lines, while at the same time you could feel the untapped potential of the aforementioned trio and some crucial scenes (like the final dinosaur battle). But the first sequence with the "lizard with a scythe" was absolutely fabulous, as was the massive action set-piece in Malta. I understand that global disaster scenarios are fashionable these days, but I simply enjoyed the adventurous and "family" Jurassic Parks more.