Marigold

The withdrawn absurdity with a sarcastic grin tells the story of an obsession that is the cause of the internal decay of withdrawn judge Mikael. His panicked fear of his children's incestuous relationship leads to an escalating sequence of absurd scenes which, under a crust of black Nordic humor, increasingly reveal a barricaded character and the seemingly bulletproof shell of his family life. The protagonists seem to move across the screen in icy carapaces, and the camera keeps the viewer at a distance with its slowness and by being static, ensuring that the sudden flashes of cynicism and absurdity stand out all the more with greater contrast. A wonderful experience leads to an inevitably disillusioning point, which only confirms that the director is lying when he claims that he knows nothing about making films. He knows enough to serve a delicate portion of Nordic family tragicomedy to the viewer with coldly raised eyebrows - the strange flight between latent cruelty and laughter in relief. [KVIFF 2010]

A very sympathetic "dirty fantasy", which falters due to the lousy choreography of the fights (they are disgustingly clumsy and mechanical) and especially to the lack of exaggeration, which was included in Conan the Barbarian, a film similar to Solomon Kane. Solomon Kane is essentially a variation of the tale of the tamed savage, despite the fact that instead of an erotic sparkle the film bears the white sheet of Catholic chastity and somewhat unappealing evocations of God's justice. Fortunately, Purefoy clearly enjoys the depravity, and Max von Sydow's face amounts to an experience in and of itself. By including a quality expedition to Czech meadows and groves, solid music and aspiring effects, Solomon Kane is a welcome alternative to raging fantasy dementia for immature children. Instead of hairy creatures, there is a rotting stench permeating the film, and here and there a head rolls down the stairs. Meat, blood and "proud toughness" are missing from modern fantasy films. However, Solomon Kane could and should have been a bit more agile. [65%]

The film consists of very disturbing moral implications of the war in Iraq on the basis of a rather interesting thriller, which takes advantage of all the qualities from Greengrass's tested abilities to set a hard pace. The wooden acting of Damon is just the tip of the iceberg of missed opportunities and issues that could and should have gone much deeper - to his detriment, Greengrass tried to find a gap between the non-participation and rawness of United 93 and Jason Bourne. Green Zone is not nearly as impressive as the former and not nearly as fun as the latter. It’s simply...green.

I sniff nostalgically. I grew up on it and Carnahan et comp. were able to modernize it very solidly without creating digital none-sense for young people. On the contrary, it may in fact be too nostalgic and laughs at the current mass conceptualization of blockbusters. I had a great time, if it wasn't for a few "over the line" attempts at making it more serious, it would be an almost perfect relaxing snort of amusement. Hats off to the wonderful chemistry in the central quartet and also to Carnahan, who managed to direct the action scenes with the sophistication of a gambler. Definitely the best blockbuster of the cucumber season; I'm just sorry that it won't continue...

Annila was able to perfectly capitalize on the environment of the raw Finnish landscape, which is literally full of mud and despair, although the visual of the film offers no distinctive vision or pictorial poetry. The camera is quite austere, but the overall styling was very pleasing to me with its moderation. The same is true of the speech of the Virtanen and Eronen duo in the main roles - it could not have been acted much more economically or more efficiently. As in Valhalla Rising, the problem is the plot component. Although it is based on interestingly non-literal dialogues and open symbols, the problem is that this ambivalence is completely interchangeable with absolute chaos and incompleteness. I'm sad to say that the film only makes sense if we consider the plot as a means of visual escalation - it really is done well, but not nearly enough for Evil Rising to offer something more than a few nice genre pictures and solid jump scares. This horror film obviously wants to be more than just another tale of a haunted place in the middle of nowhere, but it masks indecision and recklessness with three pseudo-intellectual dots behind just about everything that happens. However, the three dots are not enticing, but rather clueless.

A hypnotic visual gem where everything is so subordinated to the rigid metaphor of nature / stone human faces (mythical Mikkelsen!) / monotonous speeches, that any meaningful narrative structure and causality completely disappear from the film. Nicolas Winding Refn leads a pagan ritual with everything that it encompasses. There is no need to understand the spoken formula, because it has no logic in the modern sense of the word – it is simply an enchanting sequence of metaphors and precise compositions, long scenes without plot, and it is not worthwhile to look for a link between them. They are there due to the need for poetry. Sometimes, it is stronger than the need for a story. It’s too bad that people talk in the film – it's like the self-serving name "Valhalla Rising". The problem is that words completely unnecessarily introduce the need to give the scenes a more purposeful order. And it is simply not there. Honestly, that’s fine with me.

I'm trying to find adequate words for this repulsive and bloated screenwriting conglomerate, brought to total impotence by Ridley Scott's trembling hand. I am struck by words such as despair, embarrassment, lack of criticism, anachronism and ideological naivety bordering on simplicity. It can be roughly summarized as follows: Robin Hood was caught in the woods and sodomized with a loud reading of Marx's Capital. What was quite cute in Kingdom of Heaven is offensive and boring in this film. Only Max von Sydow stands out from the weak attempts at heroism. In a single scene, Max demonstrates what the rest of the film is hunting for in vain in the soulless theft from Shakespeare, The Lord of the Rings and about five thousand other films. One star out of sheer disrespect for Scott, who should either get bigger scissors, or leave history alone. It’s already taken a decent beating from him.

Thanks to the cast, this film is quite bearable, although most of the humor consists dealing with second-hand ideas of "time travel" and, of course, the use of body fluids of all kinds. I didn't truly laugh even once, but on the other hand, I never felt utterly awkward. Perhaps I only ground my teeth over the current notion of the 1980s as a time when metalheads and punks wore ironed creases. Uncritical trends of nostalgia are a terrible thing.

A brutally badass film with action scenes that kick the crap out of most "serious" competitors through their imaginativeness and artistic design. Yet, in a way, Kick-Ass is a serious film that may often rely on pure Tarantino brutality and pulp orgies, but at its core the film has a pure heart full of courage and civility. I could find a few things that do not seem completely kosher to me, but I refuse to spoil the joy of this pure film feast that Matthew Vaughn cooked up. Kick-Ass has balls like Jirka Lábus and, thanks to some of the scenes (strobe shootout, Big Daddy's purge, Kick-Ass's painful initiation) I rank this wild ride amongst the best comic book adaptations of all time. This is also because the creators were able to get a royal portion of comic book freedom and playfulness. Who will do better this year? OK, cunts, let’s see what you can do now!

A pleasant and nicely-pointed variation on touching films about retards and films about superheroes that are not touching. Stebbings dances on the edge of the incompatible and sometimes he slips into the imbalance between a serious drama and a crazy comedy, but the perfect Harrelson always returns the lost balance to the film. it is his creation on the edge between seriousness and parody that gives the improbable and, in fact, very childish world of Defendor, something that will force you to sigh with sentiment during the final "I love you". I agree that Defendor could have been better, but even the existing potential is still enough for very pleasant and specific enjoyment.