Lima

The more original the premise, the more stupid is the film's execution thereof. The whole second half is one big mess, with clichés piled on top of clichés. If you still enjoy watching the classic, old situation we’ve seen a thousand times – the final villain's final blow is about to come, and lo and behold, the last-minute rescue is here – help yourself here, you'll see it in about five cases, with slight variations depending on what weapon they happen to be holding. Not to mention that the main characters act like blithering idiots. And if you think about it a bit and take it to its conclusion, the premise is actually nonsense. I’m surprised someone as smart as Ethan Hawke went for it.

A similarly absurd spectacle to the Coen brothers' legendary Fargo. It's so bizarre, cynical and aptly ironic, so politically incorrect, so dehumanisingly testoste-packed, that in a perverse sort of way it's impossible not to like it. Moreover, it brutally kicks the ass of the notorious idea of the American dream of a land of unlimited possibilities, where everything can be achieved with diligence and ambition. The tragicomic figures with a dumbbell and a dollar sign for a brain, accurately portrayed by Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson, were a delight to watch. I’ve never been and I am not a fan of Michael Bay, he’s never known, and still doesn't know, moderation in his films, but here he actually turned this unfortunate trait into something unexpected: his best film.

I was not a very big fan of the action genre in my youth, so I didn’t fully appreciate this piece, even though I enjoyed it in the cinema. Now, after a 20-year hiatus, finally with adequate picture quality (Blu-ray), I can safely say, yes, this is one of the best, if not the best action film of all time, quoted and ripped off to this day. Everything came together here under the most auspicious stars. Most of all, an absolutely top-notch script that imaginatively works on several levels, rich with great twists and turns, at times with pleasantly self-deprecating humour (Willis's and Rickman's wisecracks), apt critical observations (the tabloid media's pursuit of sensationalist reporting) and even emotions. Willis's McClane is not the prototype of a true action hero, he's more of a guy next door in appearance and sense of humour and irony, the kind you could easily go for a beer with, and that makes him believable. Rickman's villain, Hans Gruber, is in turn a brilliant figure to watch with his stoic calmness and elegant casualness that hides relentlessness and coldness underneath. The technical aspects, including the few special effects, haven't aged much (legitimate Oscar nominations) and so the only really small complaint I would have is the fact that, especially on the sharp Blu-ray image, you can clearly see when Willis is Willis and when he's being replaced by a stunt double (and there are quite a few of those scenes). But that's really just a minor quibble that doesn't diminish the quality and importance of this immortal gem.

A very strongly anti-American film, with a sort of militantly hateful undertone, interspersed with shots of the Virgin Mary and shots of drawn Vietnamese women, American soldiers shooting defenseless Vietnamese children, and the last third consisting only of documentary footage of anti-war demonstrations, all accompanied by Schubert's “Ave, Maria”. The animation is not very attractive or inventive, which was probably the author's intention. The idea is too one-sided and, given the country of origin, somewhat questionable. And the way Ivanov-Vano juxtaposes the Statue of Liberty and the biblical icon of Mary in the final interlude is almost too much to bear.

An unintentionally very funny propaganda piece in the style of Walt Disney cartoons, colourful with Disney-styled animals. While the nightingale regales the ears of his fellow animals with the pleasing tones of Russian folk songs, the evil and pompous magpie, flown in from somewhere abroad, "terrorizes the ears" of his surroundings with jazz music, which, as we know, is the prerogative of the American imperialists. And so he gets what he deserves, he shouldn’t introduce some foreign novelties that nobody cares for :o)

Not very mature in animation and somewhat muddled in thought (at least from the sequence of unrelated black and white images, the central idea is somewhat lost), it’s a reflection on how black brothers across the sea are suffering under the whip of American slave traders and defiance can lead to the electric chair.

The beautiful images and music gradually fade away when they have nothing to fall back on. Without a story or actors, all that is left is fleeting poetry and a plethora of monologues that become tiresome as the runtime increases. Wandering from nowhere to nowhere. An experience that will fade into oblivion.

I’ve once read an ironic comment saying that actors are the best paid prostitutes in the world. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but this film is a clear example of it. What they say here in the second half with a stony face, completely serious and full of pathos, is enough to put down even a self-deprecating masochist. And most of all, I felt sorry for Morgan Freeman. His participation, pushed through by the producers just to tick off at least one famous name, is reduced to the one clueless, apathetic expression, when it's quite obvious that Morgan has nothing to play with, and one annoyed expression of a few seconds that doesn’t make any difference. The American president here is a paragon of honesty, bravery, and an awareness of the gravity of his position when you're just waiting for the shit to really hit the fan. All the lines that fly through the air between Butler, the military staff and the terrorist boss are the essence of idiocy, and the slow-motion scenes with an American flag riddled with bullet holes, the 'Cerberus code' and the heroic cry of "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America!" will strike you as a major infringement on the audience's taste. During the first 45 minutes or so things go well, thanks to the old-fashioned 80s style action, with terrorists and bodyguards falling like flies (I hereby salute Arnold), but then the ghost of Chuck Norris possessed all the actors and especially the writers, and everything goes to shit in the blink of an eye. Thanks God for Schwarzenegger’s Commando, compared to this film, it’s a funny easy-going comedy full of wisecracks.

All pleasant memories of this film in the future will only be connected with the first half, when Clark is finding his place in the world, discovering his abilities and some emotions are thrown in. The rest of the runtime can be described in two words: Digital mess. Nevertheless, Henry Cavill is a likeable guy and the real Superman, I wouldn't be opposed to a more sober sequel with him. The potential is there.

It starts as intoxicating kitsch, then it becomes a tiresome mess stumbling on both feet. As far as gimmicky camera tricks and image wizardry go, Luhrmann is confident, but he fails in simple meaningful storytelling and in trying to get under the skin of the characters. I've mentioned kitsch – all those lavish parties make you feel like you're looking at a big garden dwarf, festooned with colourful ribbons and flashing light bulbs. But when it comes to feelings, it's like a shallow story in a girlie magazine, kind of plucking the daisy "He likes you, he likes you not, he likes you, he likes you not, he'll leave with you, he won't leave with you.....". Thank goodness for at least two things: Edgerton's manly Buchanan, the only full-blooded character in the entire panopticon, and the reunion scene between Gatsby and Daisy – the only moment in the entire film where you can feel any emotion. Luhrmann is getting a little stale.