Malarkey

I finally got to see an action movie that brought me everything that I wanted and expected from a good American action movie. A good duo who like one another in the beginning, then they don’t and then they do once again. Great action, amazing one-liners, a good story and some ironic humor that the movie wouldn’t be half as good without. It’s just a shame (for the Americans, that is) that it was filmed by an Icelander. On the other hand, I must congratulate him for being able to establish himself in Hollywood this well. If he goes on shooting movies like this, I won’t be the one complaining. I felt like I did when I watched Lethal Weapon, which is something I haven’t felt in five years or so.

The French Julie Delpy shot a relationship chill-out movie where dialogues have the most power. However, it also features some pretty weird people and sometimes also pretty weird artists. Oddly enough, in this movie, Chris Rock is the most normal person walking around New York at that time. It’s a nice chill-out flick. Nothing special, but the crazy French family is flawless. If nothing else, that makes it worth watching.

If there is a movie that is outright political, it’s this flick called 3000 Nights. I would personally really love to know what the Israelis themselves would have to say about the things that this film narrates. I would personally feel pretty ashamed of my own nation. You see this movie thell the story of a Palestinian teacher who not only, but mainly because of her faith ends up in prison with murderers and violent felons and she is literally trying to survive there. What makes it even worse is that her sentence is not lawful, but that it is purely politically motivated, which is the most disgusting thing that shows what kind of people still live among us. The movie made me feel incredibly sad because it shows what is happening on the Palestinian border. And even though I believe that the Israelis will have a thousand arguments to explain why things are the way they are, I don’t think this is a story they would like the world to know.

If it weren’t for Eva Green, there would barely be a third of the movie. Her charm has breathed life into this adaptation which is far more like a comic book movie than the first 300. It all stands or falls on whether she appears on the screen. Anyways, I was sort of sick and tired of this comic book feel. The first 300 was stylish and raw. But I’d compare this one to Sin City. Everything is purposely fake and wannabe cool. I’m not saying that it was disappointing, I’m really not. But it practically has just a single ace up its sleeve – Eva Green. Everything else is awfully fleeting.

The main character of this film is a young, naïve girl, who finds herself in Dublin in the late 1970s. The female part of the audience will probably understand Maeve’s behavior better, but this mild drama was still alright to watch. It was very obvious that the director of this film used her own memories… and these are often the best there is to make a movie authentic.

An unusually industrial French drama full of gloom and depression. I’m calling it industrial because the director serves us many shots of a huge harbor, which is definitely not nice and enhances the grim feel of the already very sad story.

You can smell Luc Besson’s influence in this piece from miles away. It is cool, action-packed, funny, and most importantly, the main character is so world-weary that nothing can surprise him anymore. Maybe only the fact that he is going to die soon because of some brain tumor. Kevin Costner is doing an excellent job and it is a pleasure to watch him act. The action scenes are great, and it is pretty clear that people are quite used to seeing filmmakers in the middle of Paris. What I was annoyed with is the timing of Ethan’s symptoms. They conveniently occurred in the beginning of the movie, so the villain could run away, and also in the finale when he quite enjoyed this advantage it gave him over the protagonist. It all looks pretty set up in order to allow the story to run smoothly. Another annoying thing is that you have no idea what this movie aspires to be. There is great action but also some family drama, where Kevin Costner, portraying Ethan Renner, deals with his family and acts like a good guy for twenty minutes straight. This inconsistency is damaging to the film and it doesn’t have to be. If only it was done a bit differently. But then the director couldn’t be McG, who makes good movies in a way that everyone can find something in it.

I got a recommendation for this Bollywood movie that it may not disappoint me, so I was hoping there won’t be any Indian happy dances and… They were. However, I have to admit that as a comedy it was not so bad. It just made me realize that even the best comedies should not last for more than two hours. And even the two hours are often beyond the line. But if you skip the endless dreaming connected with dances and survive the great Indian absurdity and beautiful locations without a single piece of trash or the high number of happy people smiling like Ashtar Sheran on the poster of the Universe People cult, you will get a fairly traditional comedy, which is at times even entertaining. But I never want to see another three hours long Bollywood movie ever again.

A very pleasant biopic with great actors, who are dominated mainly by Chadwick Boseman and also by Harrison Ford. The plot may not be the most original story ever, but on the other hand, the drive to change things, the positive atmosphere and the will to win simply overshadow the average nature of the story itself. You see the story follows the usual scheme: a talent gets discovered – initial success – misunderstanding – fall – rise from the ashes – perfect victory. But I didn’t mind it at all. It’s really pleasantly made and I’m glad that I finally know that somebody in the USA back then was trying to go against the rules and change something. And that’s worth appreciating.

A movie that’s based solely on the acting performance of Charlotte Rampling. I was basically only watching her, and only because I would have fallen asleep otherwise. The slow storytelling style didn’t work for me, especially since Charlotte could say anything that she needed to say with her eyes alone. Unlike the movie itself, which didn’t say anything at all.