Kaka

Something between Take Shelter and War of the Worlds. Interesting in the characters and their confrontations and development. Also atmospheric, suffocating and immersive. But I'm not sure whether not know what the hell is going in inside or outside is for the better. All the while, though, you pray that they mostly don't get both at once and mentally beg for a sophisticated denouement. But it ends in such a way that it looks like there’d be at least five more episodes. John Goodman is by far the best thing about the whole film.

A film that will make your head spin with its temporal paradoxes and atypical sequence of scenes. But I’m not sure how much of this was the intention of the people behind the film and how much was purely failed experimentation. But the beginning has everything, gripping immersion, the camera raids, the dark filters – an atmosphere like in Watchmen. The middle is better thanks to Sarah Snook, who steals all for herself. But the revealing ending is chaotic already. After it's over, it leaves some uncomfortable question marks here and there, and that's not good.

Similar to the first one, except that Olympus Has Fallen was shot by a proven action director and the second one by no-name Babak Najafi, though it should be noted that he certainly didn't disgrace himself. Admittedly, the visuals are weaker, which clearly indicates that the budget wasn't the biggest and the director probably wasn't that trusted, but the ensemble cast handles it well and it doesn't take itself nearly as seriously as the first installment or even Air Force One. Harrison Ford was a more believable president than Aaron Eckhart, of course, but the banter between the main tandem is OK, and as long as you doesn't look for anything there, don't worry about realism, and don't get carried away by the decent action (the last big, approximately five-minute steadicam shootout with no cuts is great), it's impossible not to enjoy it in a fairly decent way. Plus, the subject of international terrorism is again more topical than ever.

Seemingly perfect, because at first glance everything looks as it should to be a proper crime drama. It has nice covers, a stellar cast in atypical roles (Chiwetel Ejiofo, Kate Winslet), and a well-known director of cruelty behind the camera. But in the end, it only looks like that, because this heist story like The Town is just a conundrum of who survives the longest. There’s no tangible plot, and the little there is punishingly quickly wrapped up. Watching 115 minutes of mobsters, junkies, Nazis, tattooed Mexicans, etc. who's going to hit who first, a raw probe into the criminal rabble of a big American city population, it’s not bad, especially when the demon Atticus Ross plays along and that out-of-focus, volatile camera makes you feel like Ayer assisted. But script-wise, it's a complete piece of shit.

Steven Soderbergh's surgically precise direction dominates this cold, seemingly pharmaceutical fraud. A standard set-up, a brilliantly tangled in the middle and a worthy finale. A film with a plethora of perfectly cast roles, tight reins and an unpredictable plot. I wouldn't be afraid to call it one of the best thrillers of the year. It's not as atmospheric and emotionally charged like Prisoners, but here everyone is evil, which is a very interesting cinematic twist. Usually when Soderbergh makes movies, it's not about good and evil characters, it's about who knows how to walk the walk.

Good Will Hunting shows how good he is at poker. Once again he reveals his genius in an unassuming and humble way and struggles with his evil self and his life goals. This was all here a year before, but without the chips. Edward Norton plays the main troublemaker (if he weren't here, nothing would happen at all) and John Malkovich is a genius KGB mobster. Otherwise it's a bland and transparent borefest. If you don't think about the script or what it's actually about and focus on the individual matches, it's pretty good. Unfortunately, as soon as the main character walks through the door in the first scene, it's clear how it all starts and also how it all ends, something that doesn't usually happen in Texas hold'em poker.

Before shooting this film, Louis Malle probab ly had a chat with his neighbour Paul Verhoeven, who gave him a few tips and tricks from Basic Instinct, because otherwise it might not have been possible to get such a brilliant femme fatale, Juliette Binoche, who has the unique gift of being able to play with her eyes, and such a brilliantly evoked, escalating atmosphere of inevitable disaster, in such a subtle and ultimately searing and fatal film. The finale is an explosion of emotion that contrasts brilliantly with the raw, purely physical beginning. A little-known film, but a first-class affair nonetheless, a kind of hidden gem. Basic Instinct, however, is more flamboyant, more vulgar, rawer and even a little better.

American football a little differently? Why not, especially when Will Smith is so good at playing an antisocial and cutely African babbling doctor who wants to take on the empire and the money machine with the power of will. No need to address the veracity of the data and the figures, the message is clear, likeable and, even if not as dramatic in the end (or in the real world), certainly thought-provoking. The whole thing is presented for the viewer in a clear, concise manner and without unnecessary mind-numbing technicalities. The ending is rather reprehensible, but the dramatic line is solid. More or less a film about the lead actor on which it stands and falls, but it succeeds admirably.

For a moment you have the feeling that it will resemble the best of Minghella in its innocence and precise direction, sometimes the main trio's Atonement winks at us with its atmosphere and fatefulness, and in the end you will recognize only a modern, subtly made, sometimes emotional romance for not completely stupid viewers who want something more, but mainly nothing inventive, beyond their perception. A punishingly mediocre film, with an excellent performance by Saoirse Ronan, who is wasted here for such a normal story with such a lacklustre denouement.

A weird experiment and a mixture of all sorts of things with an impressive cinematography by Lubezki, whose exhibition is more entertaining and interesting than the the Woody Allen-like satirical story that lacks a touch of insight and lightness. The whole thing is overly theatrical, long, stuffy with allegorical overlays that often aren't even very readable and blur the core plot like hell. It has its positives besides the cinematography (almost all the actors), but it's hard to say, because now they are giving Oscars for something new instead of something really good.