Remedy

Although the concept of the film is a thousand times warmed-over from perhaps every possible point of view, the story itself is told in a rather appealing way. Megan Fox is downright delectable (though unfortunately it works just the opposite), and together with Amanda Seyfried they have created the quintessential beautiful/ugly girl archetype. After the excellent Juno, Diablo Cody has strayed into slightly more "primitive" but all the more fun and darker waters, giving rise to a typical popcorn film that delights and works really well as an unpretentious diversion. A weaker 4 stars.

A skillfully directed and superbly acted (mainly due to the once again fantastic Al Pacino) crime drama that is tripped up by an (at times) erratic script. There's nothing to fault regarding the atmosphere and fairly well-developed characters.

Darren Aronofsky's fourth feature is the director's most intimate and human piece of his near-perfect filmography to date. Whereas in Pi Aronofsky relied on a detailed, at times harrowing study of the psyche of a mathematical genius, in Requiem for a Dream on breathtaking invention, and in The Fountain on poetry and visual beauty, in his fourth film all the attention is focused on the character of an aging and tormented man who, in his old age, learns the flip side of fame and shows that he needs love, affection, and understanding just that much more. Proof for all Mickey Rourke haters that he is not yet an old man, and also that even a tough and pugnacious man can shed more than one tear. A very good 4.5 stars.

A perfect 98 minutes of depression, fear, and madness. An extremely emaciated Christian Bale gives one of his most remarkable performances to date in this unconventional thriller. The whole film had me thinking "what would a David Fincher do with this kind of material"? 85%

Even if my 5 stars were only for the incredibly gradual and at times literally refined atmosphere, technical perfection, and magical music (the "stupidity" of the story is overlooked; after all, I didn't find the story stupid at all, just reacting to some of the reviews here, hence the quotation marks), this film deserves them. I watch every other Shyamalan effort with anticipation and expectation of a greater or lesser dose of the mystery I found satisfying to say the least in The Village. It should also be noted that the film as such has a rather interesting idea and the moment the viewer gets the point and the pieces of the puzzle are connected, he/she sees the whole film from a completely different angle and perceives the individual characters differently as well (at least it felt that way to me).

Ang Lee has made a superb relationship drama that abounds with a host of excellently written and acted characters – the sexually emboldened but also cold and empty Christina Ricci, the helpless and frustrated Tobey Maguire, the calculating but also extremely fragile Sigourney Weaver, and the love- and emotion-hungry Joan Allen. Overall, there is nothing to fault in the choice of actors, and when you add Ang Lee's sensitive yet matter-of-fact direction, you get a film that is profound, sad, and beautiful all at the same time.

Tim Burton's dreamlike and magical world at its best. Visual excellence backed by the traditionally great Depp and the gorgeous Christina Ricci.

A beautiful film, albeit in the saddest possible way. For the third time, this time across the planet, A.G.I. tells, through incredibly fragile and gritty stories, the hardships, but also the "occasional" joys of life, the prejudices stemming from fear and unwillingness to accept anything that breaks out of the so-called norm, but mainly about the impermanence of life, about how in a mere second, one ill-considered, even unintentional act can overturn and destroy everything we have believed in so far. I have no doubt that Iñárritu has been able (and I hope he will continue to be able) to reach a remarkable number of people from different cultures around the world with his sensitive storytelling and precise direction. Babel is a very worthy conclusion to a loose trilogy, not inferior to Amores Perros or 21 Grams; on the contrary, the way in which the individual stories are connected is, in my opinion, the most mature and cultivated of the three films.

The first and most personal message from the pen of Guillermo Arriaga and the perspective of A.G. Iñárritu. The individual stories are captured and presented in a manner so tremendously experienced and substantive that together they form something quite extraordinary. They are an incredibly true and painful confession about the transience of life, happiness, love, joy, confidence, trust... The viewer has the opportunity to watch Iñárritu's mosaic toy with the unbalanced Octavio, who is desperately in love with his brother's wife and begins to make money for their future together in a less than humane and honest way, which he ends up paying for badly, or in another part, the complete emotional and physical deformation of a woman who is forced to reassess her previous priorities and, eventually, her seemingly perfect relationship with a married man, which is put to a very severe test. In the last piece of the mosaic, we follow the efforts of an old, unhappy, and emotionally empty man to rebuild his relationship with his daughter, while at the same time re-evaluating his previous life and desperately trying to make amends and reconcile two brothers who wanted to have each other murdered. Money, hatred, calculation, and desperation figure in everything here. Iñárritu tells a beautiful but ruthless and hard-hitting story of human emotion, love, and betrayal. Amores Perros is, for me, one of the most sophisticated and satisfying dramas ever made.

Shyamalan, with his visionary and novel directorial style, has made a unique and compelling film about an encounter with "evil" aliens. Perhaps what got me the most was the camera work – so many chilling and seemingly single-layer shots combined with magical music and a solid script create a very dense atmosphere at times, which is the main plus of Signs. 90%