Malarkey

Netflix tried its hand at Christmas comedies, making a chill-out piece where Santa Claus is portrayed by Kurt Russell. And I don’t know what more should I say, because this means that the quality of such a movie is guaranteed. For an American comedy, it’s quite a Christmas experience I haven’t had in a while, and I was happy to have it this year. The whole time I was wondering whether Kurt’s beard was real or fake… they masked him so well that he was indistinguishable from a real Santa :-).

It’s good that there are still screenwriters in American who are not afraid to write one action buddy comedy after another. Stuber is no wild ride, but it works alright as a comedy. Dave Bautista is a cool actor I wouldn’t mind seeing more often, Kumail Nanijani has stand-up comedy roots, and is able to surprise the audience. Together, they work as a good team, with cool catchphrases. What more would you want? It’s true that the golden days of Top Gun are long past, but it’s totally okay as a chill-out movie.

The Portuguese bit off more than they could chew here. They decided to show us the rise of the Mozambican black pearl – the soccer legend Eusébio. The problem, however, lies in the totally boring screenplay. The Portuguese conceived this film as an intimate drama so don’t expect anything spectacular. They could have saved it with dialogues, but those unfortunately seem like those of two hustlers squabbling in some back alley. A real pity.

Can the Chucky doll be taken seriously? I don’t think so. And even though the film tries to milk the audience’s emotions and convey some sort of moral message, it is still a remake of a horror classics that doesn’t deserve more than three stars. On the contrary, three stars might be more than enough here. Moreover, the movie tries to copy the atmosphere of Stranger Things or It, but doesn’t really succeed in doing so.

After seeing a few of his comedies, Eugenio Derbez is for me a guarantee of unique and quality humor. And I didn’t know that he was behind the idea that the French made into the film Two Is a Family three years later. And even though I found the European version more relatable to, I definitely wasn’t bored while watching this comedy. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.

The problem with the second part of It lies in the fact that the director wants to make it in the same way as the first part. The adults, however, cannot work as well as kids in the similar world, because that world was created with kids in mind. The mysterious and fantasy atmosphere stems from the fact that we perceived the world exactly the same when we were kids. That’s why the first It and Stranger Things turned out so well and are so popular. In It: Chapter Two, there’s no reason to believe the craziness on the screen; it just seems like the screenwriter got high and wrote down anything that came to his mind.

The first instalment was crazy enough, so there’s no reason to expect the second one to be better. Naturally, it’s a bit worse, but the difference is not so big. The plot is nuts, the effects okay and acting performances mediocre. If there was no Jack Black, who moreover only has a cameo role here, there would be no reason to watch this movie.

I like beer, I am interested in the history of breweries in our country and I am fascinated by the process of beer production. So who else could appreciate such a series but me? Plus Zdeněk Susa is a brilliant narrator. He’s talking just like an educated enthusiast would talk over beer in a pub, so sometimes he twists history a little to make his talking about beer a bit more colorful, but on the other hand – who would be able to tell you today where a certain composer created some of his masterpieces? No one can know for sure about beer…. moreover, the series contains, at least in my opinion, a load of interesting information I soaked up like a sponge. I won’t give ti the full number of stars only because certain episodes lacked conception. Sometimes they focused on breweries, sometimes on Czech history in general. Moreover, in some districts there was too much of the general history so history of some breweries was cut short, which was a pity. I think that the creators could follow up with a second season, which would include the districts they didn’t have time for here. I think they would find there’s still a lot to say. Plus meeting Mr. Susa was a balm for my soul, which is an experience I’d like to repeat.

Had the children not been so terribly aware and quoting famous philosophers, this series might have made it to five stars. It features great acting performances and even though I don’t know the source book, I think that Alaska must be a femme fatale for every adolescent boy. The perfect theme revolves around a field trip, throws a bit of youthful recklessness into the mix and completes it with the punchline you have been waiting for the entire time. So I admit to binge-watching this. Afterwards, it took me a while to get the blood in my legs flowing again, but it was definitely worth it.

It’s not exactly a comedy that would make you laugh from beginning to the end. Especially as, in a true English fashion, it makes fun of something a normal person probably wouldn’t. However, the film still breathes the pleasant atmosphere of English countryside, gentle yet sincere cynicism and has such a pleasant positive vibe to it that you simply cannot be angry at it.