D.Moore

There are few historical films that you watch and think, "Yeah, it must have really been like that back then." The Last Valley is one of them. It depicts the Thirty Years' War as a conflict that managed to divide the continent into two camps plus several smaller ones, pitting against each other people who until then had cared for nothing but their own houses and fields. Anyone could have doubted the meaning of it all. At the same time, he had to be prepared for the simple fact that if someone wanted to slit his throat, nothing would stop him. This is probably the mindset of Michael Caine, who may seem an odd choice for the role of the Captain, but his first scene banishes all fears (not to mention the last scene). But in addition to Cain, Last Valley has a big advantage in his opposite/teammate Omar Sharif and the accurate Nigel Davenport aka Gruber. I was definitely surprised by Clavell's direction - the battles are uncompromisingly rough and dirty, and scenes like the plague pit or the burning of the witch (the best scene of this kind I've seen since Witchhammer) are unforgettable. And then, of course, there's John Barry. Without his top-notch music, the film would have missed out on much of its amazing atmosphere. So, if you like Barry's Lion In The Winter or Mary, Queen Of The Scots, definitely pick up this soundtrack. In its genre, it is unquestionable perfection. Last Valley deserves full marks.

Confirmed: This movie moves me every time. My fascination with airplanes (the "Cadillac of the skies" scene always gives me the chills, and the imaginary air battle in the crashed plane is absolutely perfect) is certainly responsible for the tremendous experience that Empire of the Sun gives me every time.... etc.), but the biggest contributors are still Spielberg's precision, Williams' score and Bale and Malkovich. Few films are as suited to the adjective "beautiful" as this one.

A biopic with stunning aerial shots, without exception excellent actors, haunting music that recalls John Barry's classics... And, unfortunately, with an ordinary story with a minimum of surprises. That's what we get with Amelia. It’s not bad at all, but also not astounding in any way. As far as the direction is concerned, I have reservations about the constant repetition of the same processes (the two Atlantic crossings look - except for the storm - practically the same, the film is constantly interspersed with news captions in order to make it as vivid as possible, and the director seems to have taken a great liking to the "archival black-and-white footage suddenly becomes a color film"), yet the great insert of shooting and photographing commercials is to be commended. There should have been more such livening in Amelia.

Splitting Heirs is as clever as it is funny: not very. If it weren't for a few of Idle's scenes (and a "few" is really few, considering Eric virtually never disappears from the screen), the always great John Cleese, and the appreciable effort with which the script made fun of soap operas, I probably wouldn't have been impressed with anything about it. I give it two stars and a bit of a third, but I can't really round it up. I wasn't expecting a comedy of the century, but just a good laugh. That’s too bad.

I enjoyed this old-school film in all ways. Maybe it was the fact that I still haven't had the pleasure of seeing The Departed, which many people compare We Own the Night to, but basically I saw a good film with a simple story that the director wrapped in a suitably rough and fitting coat. The actors were all great and I enjoyed Kilar's music and tastefully chosen songs. The atmosphere of some of the scenes (the "feather", the transfer - especially that - and the ending) was incredibly realistic, and for a film that lasts less than two hours, it went by very quickly. It’s too bad that it had no logic at times, though.

I appreciate the idea of making a horror film for a change, in which people are not being hunted by supernatural freaks, but by ordinary mortals. Along with Liv Tyler's character, however, this was the only thing that ultimately attracted me to The Strangers. The film was boring, I wasn't scared during it, although I like to be scared in horror films, often if I have a reason to be, and the only thing the story made me do was marvel at the stupidity of the screenwriters. One example of idiotic character behavior - the main character's thought process, loosely paraphrased by me: "Gee, look honey, someone's trying to chop through our front door with an axe. Then I'll shoot them from the inside with a shotgun. So what if I punch a huge hole in the door? Maybe he will get scared and run back to the neighbors and kill them for a while." As I said - a waste of an hour and a half (it was still quite long for a short film), during which I just got the urge to watch Peckinpah's perfect Straw Dogs.___P.S. By "Liv Tyler's character" I really don't mean her role.___P.P.S. The only thing that really creeped me out was a terrible country song playing from the record player. Ugh, I'm gonna dream about it, I know it.

If I wanted to compare it to the five-star Body of Lies (and that's a hell of a comparison), I'd say that Damon is a bit worse than DiCaprio, Gleeson is a bit worse than Crowe, Greengrass is on par with Scott in terms of action, but in the moments when there is no shooting the film, it gets a bit lame. But Green Zone is lucky that I don't want to compare the two films. I have to admit that the film is one of the top in its genre and it surprised me with a pleasantly conspiratorial and quite intelligent script (Helgeland, of course), realistic action scenes that draw you into the plot perfectly, and a monstrously built-up ending with one great chase. I believed everything about Matt Damon's Miller (thankfully no flashy superman type like from The Hurt Locker), and I liked Kinnear's Rat and Jason Isaacs' awesome character. A bit weaker five stars, but still five stars.

Except for the exaggerated runtime and the rather unsympathetic main character, I have practically nothing to complain about regarding The Sorcerer's Apprentice. The film was exactly what I expected it to be. Entertaining, digitally spectacular, funny (sometimes a lot ---> quotes from Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, the line "Are you someone from Depeche mode?"), well acted for easy family entertainment (except for the aforementioned apprentice), and sometimes even action-packed (the car chase) and harmless. Cage and Molina won't disappoint their fans, and Monica Bellucci certainly won't either, although she isn’t on screen for very long. Turteltaub directs skillfully and briskly, helped a lot by Rabin's music (but it doesn't impress when listened to on its own). If you want Hollywood popcorn entertainment, you'll get it. He who spits in anger can only curse himself. Nobody was expecting The Prestige 2, were they?

Well, rather than a film with a coherent plot, this very good film should be seen as a colorful mosaic of stories that are connected by one big, terrible fast food theme. That is exactly how the book is written, so it's no wonder that the film is what it is. Fast Food Nation starts out much like Thank You for Smoking, but over time it stops being a satirical (almost) comedy and becomes a multiple warning - to customers/eaters, for employees and employers... Yet the film (as one might expect) does not abound in shots of slaughtered and butchered animals. We "see" the visit to the meat cutting plant at the end, which is only good. Richard Linklater obviously knew what he was doing, and I think he managed to make this “film burger" almost perfectly. Thumbs up for the soundtrack, which I would like to listen to separately. Fast Food Nation certainly won't please everyone who watches it. Well, maybe not even most people. But that's perfectly fine. As one of the characters in this film says, "We all have to eat a little shit from time to time" (Bruce Willis says this in one of the best scenes, by the way).___P.S. I've never gone to McDonald’s for a burger, and that's not going to change.

I'd like to give it four stars, I really would. For how exciting Centurion is, for how something is (almost) always going on, for how it's (almost) never boring and full of likeable characters, for how uncompromisingly it chops, stabs, cuts, slices, and God knows what else, for Marshall's ferocious direction, for Eshkeri's music, for the (to me) surprising Olga Kurylenko.... But I can't, because of the final confrontation, the witch and the more or less stupid ending. That’s too bad. Really too bad. So I give it a better three stars, knowing that I won't have a problem watching Centurion again sometime, which is definitely also a plus point.