Malarkey

After I watched this movie, I’ve got the feeling that Nicolas Winding Refn is drowning in his own filmmaking utopias. I get that the Neon Demon has a clear premise about modelling, but I don’t get the artistic pathos they’re using to get to the point. Sure, many of the scenes are very interesting and very pleasing to the eye, but as a whole, I feel like the movie’s just a concurrence of different scenes that don’t make much sense. The director’s lucky that he can choose the right music to his video. I fell for it with Drive, but it was a bit harder this time.

I’m always worried about excessive Christian propaganda when it comes to these kinds of movies. But this one was completely okay. Risen is a historical movies’ classic that I’d only hesitate to call an epic film because the viewer doesn’t get to see any big mass actions. The movie starts with the crucifixion of Jesus and as soon as he disappears, there comes the search. At that moment, I realized that I was watching the very first ancient-times crime investigation movie, which was a lot of fun. All that was missing was a few stylish CSI scenes of their medical capabilities at the time and the picture would’ve been complete. But as soon as Jesus appears, the movie shifts quite a bit and the main Roman character starts to ponder, not only about their own faith, but also about their whole life and the world in general. That part’s a little weaker because it points out some thoughts that unfortunately, a lot of people still don’t get today. Overall, I must say that it’s not at all shot as badly as the reviews make it seem.

A total filmmaking madness that attempts to document a techno/rave/hardcore party in the middle of the American music jungle at the turn of the millennium. What’s definitely interesting about this movie is the storytelling value which – quite exemplarily – points out a whole range of moments that have happened to everybody who has ever attended a similar event, whether as a DJ or as a visitor, whether they were high (majority), drunk (majority) or completely sober (minority). The music is quite rough, uncompromising and it doesn’t care about anybody. The entire movie is basically boasting about how edgy the music is, but in the end, John Digweed comes out to perform his best and also his only melodic song that’s on a completely different level than the rest of the movie. The underground isn’t as obvious in today’s events, but those who experienced that era will certainly find a certain fetish in it. I give it three stars. I didn’t get to see such a brutal underground, but I like that someone wanted to capture a certain time period that is worth reminiscing about.

An excellent civil science fiction that looks like Saw at first glance, only to turn into a distinctive and very interesting thriller over time. It’s a shame that this thriller gets a brutal bashing from other movie genres in the last 20 minutes and turns into an apocalyptic sci-fi. Hats off for that idea! Although the whole movie feelsvery intimate, I must say that thesemere three actors support the intimacy with great performances, especially John Goodman and then Mary Elizabeth Winstead brings a certain beauty into it. Overall, I have to say that this is a very nice surprise and at the same time a very interesting combination of two completely different ideas.

A wishy-washy, completely uninteresting French drama that bases the movie on these three female characters who have a closer relationship that might be apparent at first glance and who are played by three ultra-gorgeous French actresses (Adéle Exarchopoulos, Adéle Haenel and Soléne Rigot) and then there’s also one ultra-gorgeous French-speaking American (Gemma Arton). As far as the plot goes, I didn’t even manage to follow this atypically told story. Not only was I awfully bored, I also didn’t find it interesting at all. I kept getting lost and at the same time, I kept trying to figure out the meaning behind the scenes and their meaningfulness for the (non)story. It’s a shame. The casting of these actresses is A++, I’d watch that any time. The rest is a disappointment.

Finally, once again, there’s a movie where Eddie Murphy plays a serious, but also kind character. So kind, in fact, that Mr. Church makes you feel all warm and giddy during the entire movie and even afterwards. The movie tells an incredibly sweet human story and benefits form the fact that Eddie’s character is more mysterious than the Bermuda Triangle. The story slowly reveals the character and with each passing minute, the viewer finds out more and more interesting information about the life of a man that might as well be your neighbor. At the start, Mr. Church’s attitude took a lot of getting used to, but over time, this world of three people creates such an apparent and pleasant inkling to find out more about him that it stirs strange magical feelings within me. Plus, Mr. Church’s culinary skills are on par with genius, so the only issue was that after I watched the movie, I had to go raid my fridge.

I must admit that I have already seen extremely pleasant movies where the main character was blind. But that is not the case with this movie that tries to be nice and cool, but at the same time it is terribly boring in all respects. You don’t form a relationship with the actors, the environment is terribly sterile and uninteresting, especially the interior, and the dialogues are so terribly insanein that wannabe French way that it makes you feel like somebody’s tried very hard, and yet it’s one awkward situation after another. It wasn’t anything I’d like to see again, just one of the many French comedies I will gladly forget.

I can’t deny that there’s an atmosphere to this movie. It’s properly dark and it almost makes you feel a sense of doom. But the atmosphere is the only upside of this movie that makes it worth watching. Otherwise, it’s basically a hotchpotch of various scenes in various strange situations with equally strange people who don’t manage to grow on you and you’ll constantly marvel at their behavior. Demon might have a good director who has paid extra attention to the technical adaptation, but if the movie leaves a sour taste in your mouth, then not even holy water could help.

I’m quite lucky with French war movies. Each time, I’m surprised by an interesting story from the World War II that I wouldn’t ever manage to think of. Here, for example, I thought it was interesting that they are telling the life stories of farmers from the north of France who are fleeing to the south, and since the north is closer to Germany and Belgium, beer is drunk quite a lot throughout the movie. For example, the Scottish soldier didn’t even hesitate, it was clear that he likes to wet his whistle from time to time. You generally don’t get to see these sorts of moments in French movies and so I found it really charming. Later, I was quite sad about what war does to people, but that could have been expected. I was also surprised by how much adults are willing to do for children. To sum up, I must say that I got another solid French denouement, which the French can’t seem to manage without.

The only upside of this movie are the shots from space. Otherwise, it makes it seem like space is awfully boring and like there’s nothing to do…