Marigold

Czech audiences love their informants. Those cheerful informants that come from the people, with a kind face and the proper attitude and explanation of all the major historical events in the difficult times of 1948. Czech audiences cannot live without their informants. Because the world of informants is one big fairy tale – there is clear good and there is clear evil. Evil are all those who are not informants of the people. Repulsive intellectuals. True peasants. Rich peasants. Artists. Then there are even less perfect individuals, not evil per se, but simply not from the Public Security. Together, they form a world ruled by our informants from the people. Jiří Sequens filmed the embodied normalization, both in terms of shape and content. Beneath the thin crust of would-be detective stories (are they detective stories at all, dear experts?) lies well-formulated propaganda, served with boorish charm and uncommon pander. Was it good in terms of craft? Don't let anyone laugh at you. Terrible! Sparse! Artificial! Perhaps the musical accompaniment is worth giving credit to... However, Czech audiences love their informants and do not care that Thirty Cases of Major Zeman is first-class propaganda shit, and when we take a closer look at it, the film seems to have a perverse systematic tendency to overturn reality. Enjoy yourselves, fans of comrade Major Zeman of the people… Did you actually notice what the famous Well is all about? Murder? But! Try again... How about the wrong attitude of a part of the socialist nation in regards to 1968? It's burning!!!!!

A nice partner test with the adorable and unrestrained Libuška Šafránková and the disgustingly hairy and systematic Josef Abrhám. In principle, it’s sort of a copy of Ball Lightning (Abrhám as a starchy intellectual with silent inner monologues), but despite the presence of the duo Svěrák-Smoljak and a few typical gags (the one with losing and finding is particularly great) it is not anywhere near the level of the top creations of the Smoljak-Podskalský duo. But it's still a quality comedy in every way, about how, just before their wedding, whilst travelling, two people try find out whether they're going to be able to stand each other. They are also accompanied by pleasant music, which is probably the work of someone from the Mišík-Hrubý duo (if I'm not mistaken, hehe).

Yeah, when the phone rings in the booth nearby again, I can't even imagine going to pick it up... or can I? Joel Schumacher's film meets all the criteria of an "intelligent" thriller. Minimalist design, great acting (especially the rebirth of narcissist Farella is a delicacy!), interesting work with images (the twisting of shots increases the tension and gradient), decent music and especially a solidly written screenplay which, with a minimum of resources, escalates the absurdity and horror of the situation in which the hostage of the voice on the phone finds himself. I could probably do without tacky and theatrical ending. All in all, it's not a movie that I get overly excited about, but I certainly recommend watching it on movie night for sure...

With all my dislike for the musical muse in the film, I simply have to label this treatment of the immortal classic by Lloyd and Weber an excellent experience. I don’t particularly like the hippie pathos, but musically and cinematically, everything is presented in a completely convincing way, and a decent visual experience accompanies the soundtrack. Of the film musicals that I have had the honor of watching, Jesus Christ Superstar is the absolute best... The film does have very simple and economical decor, but therein lies a big portion of its film power...

This was the beginning of the cult... Treasure of Silver Lake is the best film of the entire "basic" four Winnetou films, but the subsequent trilogy offers true identification with the heroes. Even so, I probably enjoy this captivating journey to find the treacherous treasure the most to this day... Herbert Lom as the cunning Cornel is as good of a villain as they come, Lord Castlepool is once again a clown that you can’t forget, and the conquest of the ranch... it's just a great and amazing "bang bang" scene. Even if I take away the ubiquitous nostalgia, Treasure of Silver Lake is part of the golden fund of adventure films...

If you succumbed to the beautiful and almost childish pathos of fearless heroes – the enlightened white man Old Shatterhand and the still-enlightened Apache chief Winnetou – then you have certainly always watched Winnetou: The Last Shot with a strange chill and bated breath, just like me... Because you knew what was coming. It's probably a little bastardized, but Winnetou's sacrifice will forever remain one of the most beautiful and sad movie moments for me, and the retrospective that follows it... I shed so many tears that they could fill the Rio Grande to the brim with them: o)). The last shot is not only good thanks to the ending. It is an adventure film that has everything and the last blow to the chest is just the touching culmination of a memorable series. I applaud.

The Red Gentleman has always been the third best for me in the film trilogy because it falls far short of the tension of the first film and the overwhelming emotional offensive of The Last Shot. This is definitely the weakest link. Yet this three-part cinematic epic would not be complete without "DDRibanna".

Winnetou, Old Shatterhand, Sam Hawkens, Karel May... The heroes of my childhood. All the characters in the book had the faces of their film counterparts - at least in my head the "Winnetous" were able to beat even the excellent illustrations by Zdeněk Burian. Of course, from the point of view of a faultfinding analyst, it's a very naive and slightly artificial imitation of a western, but nostalgia is a powerful thing, and to this day I still can't praise this co-production gem enough. Compared to the book, it is a bit less lyrical, but it still captures its spirit and I will always be happy to return to it, even though I grew out of boy's moccasins a long time ago and my silver rifle (made of high-quality polystyrene) was carried away by ruthless time...

The difference between a Sylvain Chomet film and prefabricates from the Walt Disney workshop? The Triplets of Belleville has soul, charm, incredibly deep poetics, and the characters are not just a pile of template coloring books, but really vivid and soulful caricatures. Perhaps it is this contradiction that is encoded in the strange and magical story of the Triplets, which is sometimes irresistibly funny (but unobtrusively and always intelligently), and sometimes dark and sad. Chomet complimented the imagination of all of the animators whilst creating something that proves that cartoons can be as vivid as "real" films. Forgive me, Shrek, Ice Age, Finding Nemo and you others who are "just" very good fun, but THIS is a real masterpiece. Humanly warm and riveting. Grotesque and drama. Life.

Pergaud's classic is a beloved book from my childhood... The theme of boy "wars" with everything that they encompass will probably never be done better by anyone. The film disappointed me a little at the time because I found it a lot more serious and less mischievous, but with hindsight I sportingly admit that it has its (considerable) charm and poetics, which I appreciate mainly because the fairy tale of youth will never return... sniff... And he finally explained to me why I can never be the leader of the “pack". If I'd known... And I don't give a damn about the dick anyway, because honor is important!