D.Moore

An atmospheric treat that is really hard to comment on. In any case, The Wicker Man is original through and through, and probably the strangest and most poetic "whodunit" I've ever seen. With the best soundtrack. Genre classification? Who cares! Christopher Lee had me wrapped around his finger once again.

A nice animated surprise, funny and action-packed, for both young and old viewers. Sinbad does act like Jack Sparrow and also fights a “kraken", but the film was made before the second Pirates of the Caribbean, so we can't accuse it of ripping off anything. The dubbing of the characters was absolutely excellent, and I liked the mean goddess with Michelle Pfeiffer's voice the most, because the animators did a really good job with her form and her changes. The only blemish is that the classic cartoon graphics were, in my opinion, too much in conflict with the computer graphics, which was especially blatant in the mentioned introduction with the sea monster.

It looked so interesting at the beginning that I naively thought that this time I would see Snow White's story told from the perspective of the Queen, whom Julia Roberts played perfectly, and I would have no problem keeping my fingers crossed for her. Sadly, I was wrong. There was no "we'll fool you with the trailer" subterfuge, the Queen got less and less space as time went on and infantile jokes, utterly insufferable dwarves and other unnecessary weirdness came to the fore. By the end of it all, I was so incredulously dumbfounded that I liked the video clip finale. I give two stars for them, for Julia Roberts and for Menken's music, but no more. What the film does to the character of the Queen, by the way, is perfectly captured by the scene where Julia Roberts gets her face painted with bird... er... droppings. Then it only gets worse.

Somehow it's not clear to me why this film was made, why Tarsem Singh decided to waste his visual talent on such a stupid story, why it so blatantly ripped off 300 (creative invention = the skirmish in a gorge was replaced by a skirmish in a tunnel)... And so on. Mickey Rourke isn't all bad, and the main character is also likable (a very appropriate choice for Superman, I'd say), but what about the creepy-looking deity? In short, it's a weak film, which the bloody effects definitely can't save.

I liked the whole thing better (although it wasn't so much inspired by Dalí, which is again a huge plus for The Fall), probably mainly because it didn't feel so long. The Fall begins literally with a stunning (and best of all) black and white scene underscored by the second movement of Beethoven's “Seventh Symphony", and continues very promisingly, interspersing amazing dream sequences with quite sympathetic hospital episodes, gradually revealing the stuntman's story. The film is not lacking in drama or wit, little Catinca Untaru is half cute and half annoying, Lee Pace reminds me of Nicolas Cage (which I didn't think of even once while watching Pushing Daisies). Before the end, however, the whole thing started to drag on, so before I got to the emotional and impressive finale, I was slightly bored. The positives clearly prevail, but it is not perfect.

A superbly stylized and, in my opinion, deliberately trashy comic spectacle, which also boasts some very good special effects and a reliably great score by Jerry Goldsmith (who was obviously "preparing" for the upcoming Kong, Mummy, etc. soundtracks when composing The Shadow theme). I was perhaps only concerned about Alec Baldwin in the lead role, but in the end I have to say that his acting fit the film as well as Tim Curry's crazy expressions or Mongolian warriors running around New York.__P.S. It seemed to me that the whole Tibetan opening and the first New York scene were borrowed and filmed in their own way by the Nolan brothers for Batman Begins.

Spielberg's Lincoln and Redford's The Conspirator - the perfect double feature. The Conspirator may be a slightly weaker brother in terms of directorial imagination, cinematographic magnificence, musical accompaniment or generous-looking sets, but that doesn't detract from its brilliance. It captivates above all with a gripping, in all cases superbly acted story that quite unexpectedly digs into everything typically American, juggles truth and lies, justice and injustice like a skilled circus performer and in the end thrills, shocks and moves the audience. And it's not just for the audience "in the know", it's understandable for everyone.

From time to time I am in the mood for these true American stories, where everything turns out good and the main character is so likable and good-looking that he could be played by none other than Tom Hanks. And when he is joined (unlike his role in Charlie Wilson's War) by the very likeable Julia Roberts, we get a sweet, funny and reassuring romance. Plus great music by Tom Petty and others.

A horror film for beginners or those slightly advanced, for Kristen Stewart fans, for those who don't mind films that rip off better known and better works, and last but not least, for Sam Raimi fans who are curious to see what he has done with his name this time. I have to say that I generally liked The Messengers, in a safe sort of way. It looks decent, LoDuca's music is reliably atmospheric, Kristen Stewart can be sympathetically frightening when she needs to be... Don't expect anything surprising, "only" a new take on something you've seen before, which (hopefully) won't lull you to sleep thanks to its reasonable runtime.

Will Ferrell plays the same character for the umpteenth time, but this time in such a charmingly goofy movie! I was amazed at how much I enjoyed Semi-Pro. Moments like the fight during the commercial break or the revolver scene, Woody Harelson's performance ("If you see a possum, try to kill it. It's not a pet!"), the sensational jibing of two sports commentators, a hippie whose check they won't cash... It was all (except for a minimum amount of awkwardness) very fresh and funny. It was definitely a good move not to write the script so that only Ferrell would make jokes, but to give a generous portion of them to the other characters. Add to that Shapiro's excellent music and lovely period atmosphere. Great.