Goldbeater

Renny Harlin did a good job and shot a very solid sequel that works like a fun consumer horror movie and offers new and diverse characters whose fate you can predict in advance. On the technical side and in terms of special effects, this Nightmare on Elm Street is certainly one of the best and, in all other respects, a totally satisfying horror show with a very strong 80s feeling. A film that makes you lose track of time.

Dream Warriors is definitely one of the best sequels to Nightmare on Elm Street. Firstly, the rules set by the initial movie are respected (not only the original creator Wes Craven, but also – among others – the newcomer Frank Darabont, worked on the script), but most of all, there’s a real effort to expand on interesting ideas related to the mechanisms of the dream world. However, over the viewings, I’ve always got the feeling that this film is mostly a chain of miscellaneous murders, dreamworld attractions and those extensive ideas, but less of a consistent and atmospheric storyline in which you would fear for the characters or become scared in general. Still, this picture is incredibly entertaining, has excellent practical effects as well as a bit of that classic Harryhausen-style stop-motion animation.

Freddy’s Revenge doesn’t have much in common with A Nightmare on Elm Street, apart from its name and the character of the killer. The rules set in the first movie by Wes Craven vanish for the most part, so almost anything can happen, be it in a dream or in reality. The flick opens on a really neat dreamy sequence with a school bus, which belongs to the series’ best horror scenes, but the rest of the film misses all the magic and logic. The latently homosexual hero spends his nights intuitively wandering in gay bars, gradually turning into a killer. Except in this film, Freddy can be defeated by the power of love, so a single clumsily uttered ‘I love you’ is enough to solve everything. Another disappointment of this picture is the way Freddy’s murders are presented: paradoxically, the most memorable ones are those insanely bizarre scenes including skipping rope, naked butt and whipping wet towel. When, towards the end, Freddy arrives at the pool party, you start looking forward to the final carnage, but the scene is interrupted before anything happens. A terribly frustrating sequel and a subpar horror.

As part of her thesis, a film school student puts together a depiction of the long-forgotten shock worker Mateusz Birkut. She then realises that, in the fifties, political icons were created effortlessly and, after a short period, destroyed with even smaller effort. An impressive mosaic about the personality of one man who tragically became a puppet of the regime, which is also both a fascinating testimony about the futility of rebellion against the system and also a compliment on those passionate efforts. Andrzej Wajda made a complex and daring drama, embellished by commited acting of the main protagonists as well as Andrzej Korzyński’s very eccentric music. One might wonder how such a piece could even come to existence—one more reason why it should be honoured. [LFŠ 2020]

With all of his previous movies, Christopher Nolan is far from having run out of his ideas, and with Tenet, he once again came up with something that is, in a way, previously unseen. Simple at first glance, the spy storyline is entwined with very playful directional ideas and, what’s more, filled with non-stop action and information-dense dialogues. So, the movie is constantly moving forward in a very dynamic fashion, without giving the viewer a chance to catch their breath, as well as seemingly lasting one third shorter than 150 minutes. Perhaps one in a million viewers will manage to absorb everything in a single viewing, since, simply by missing a few words or overlooking the meaning of something, one becomes clueless about what is happening for the following 30 minutes. Tenet obviously requires a second viewing, and I can’t wait for that. After a six-month break, here’s a cine-film which aspires to shake off the dust from the projectors, and I wish it every success it can get, because I’d be pleased to see more of Nolan’s visionary imagination on the big screen in the upcoming years.

Despite current Czech cinema failing miserably at catching up with European standards, a piece of work happens to stand out once in a while, with at least its own face and something to say. And Droneman is exactly one of them. The movie steps out on a risky slope (that is, anywhere but the mainstream) with Kryštof Hádek in a classic “out there” role and Jiří Mádl who has an amusing lisp, and features a bit of everything—be it social satire, quirky comedy or political thriller. How could I not let myself enjoy such a colourful combination of genres in our dull landscape? And what about you? [LFŠ 2020]

A bizarre satire. It might be seen as warlike, but it's not about war. In fact, I have to admit the only part I was really into was the middle third where I liked all the military irony going on, but the family aspect of the story was not my cup of tea. Besides, when the action follows a closed cycle, it becomes clear in advance for the viewer. All in all, it’s still a high quality effort to which I can’t reproach anything, except that I would have preferred to see more funky incidents from a nihilistic Israeli squad rather than this hyperdramatic story of a poor family locked in a flat, which is somewhat excessive. [LFŠ 2020]

A generally tolerable horror flick with some interesting visual ideas and, most of all, relatively sympathetic central characters (which similar movies often don’t have). It borrows various elements from Fright Night, Evil Dead and Disturbia, except The Wretched does not specify the powers and limitations of the witch, so that new things happen more or less all the time, as if the screenwriters had thrown in anything that came handy. For a while, I wondered if the story twist in the last third of the film made any sense. But I then concluded that it simply doesn’t matter, because the twist is completely irrelevant and futile, doesn’t take the movie anywhere nor does it redistribute the cards—it only creates that instant WTF effect, which dissolves as quick as it came. With a cohesive concept, it could have been very decent.

An opportunistic exploitation that consciously pretends to be a serious documentary. Although several interesting and burning topics of reflection are provided by The White World According to Daliborek, any message is undermined by its choice of creative approach which turns the movie into a made-up joke—a non-funny joke. It lies somewhere in between Cops and Wife Swap, so for me, watching this movie was a real torture. As for the fabricated ending, in which the director heroically throws himself into a self-staged clash, we’ve reached a new low in terms of creativity.

A monumental and epic piece of work which still massively impresses visually today, its technical quality being long decades ahead. A movie of which you wouldn’t have guessed the birth date. Four hours embellished with filmic splendour to the point one wouldn’t reasonably want to miss any minute of it. A genuine old Hollywood with everything this label can evoke!