Avengers: Endgame

(spoilers!)

Once upon a time comic book films were rare and mostly not very good. Once upon a time Robert Downey Jr. was unhirable. Once upon a time the idea that the movie based on a comic book will earn rave reviews and score nominations for major awards was unthinkable.

And then MCU happened.

Aquaman

(spoilers!)

When James Wan, acclaimed and successful director mostly known for his horror films, was asked which movie he wanted to make - The Flash or Aquaman - he decided on Aquaman because the character is "an underdog". And Wan was right - the character was ridiculed for a very long time, with jokes at his expense, appearing most notably in South Park and The Big Bang Theory, becoming the most famous thing about the character.

Well....who's laughing now?

Avengers: Infinity War

(spoilers!)

Annihilation

You dig in places till your fingers bleed 

Spread the infection, where you spill your seed 

I can't remember what she came here for 

I can't remember much of anything anymore 

 She's gone, she's gone, she's gone away 

She's gone, she's gone, she's gone away 

Away...*

(spoilers!)
Alex's Garland's wonderful new science fiction film Annihilation made headlines this year for quite strange reasons. The studio, Paramount - as in the studio that gave Daren Aronofsky 30 million dollars to make a movie based on a script he wrote after he, presumably, dropped acid and his eyes locked on the copy of the Bible on his bookstand - didn't have much faith in the movie. In the result, they sold the distribution rights for most of the markets to Netflix, forcing people like me to watch it at home instead of on the big cinema screen. The move proved to be misguided - the film opened to great reviews and made 3/4 of its budget in US theatrical distribution only.

Alien: Covenant

(spoilers!)

We need to stop giving the benefit of a doubt to Ridley Scott.

While the man deserves respect for his two masterpieces - Alien and Blade Runner Scott has now taken the turn that makes it very clear his Alien prequels aren't a thing of passion and certainly not necessity. Why is Scott at 79 years of age set on damaging his masterpiece? (Alien is forever tainted by the existence of the Covenant now). I'm saying this because there is no way anyone can tell me this rehashed, mangled product is the intended movie. This is reactionary.

Ant-Man

Marvel's reign over what seems to be the entire world - they have been getting our attention and our money for years now - has recently started to become a bit shaky. Age of Ultron, sequel to their most profitable movie yet, Avengers was disappointing. Not financially, of course, but the reception was underwhelming. And who can blame the people who were let down - Ultron repeated the sin of formulaic storyline, bland villain and frankly it was just bizarre. I mean what the hell was up with  the"hey kids, gather around and we will tell you about that time Black Widow's ovaries got removed!" thing?

Avengers: Age of Ultron

To make a fun and light superhero movie is a hard thing to pull off. But what's even harder? Making a follow up that at least matches the first film's quality. Three years ago almost everyone loved having fun with Avengers. The film was very entertaining, well done and featured terrific cast, great villain and a good balance between drama and comedy.

Now comes Age of Ultron which, sadly, is the worst kind of a sequel - not only is it nowhere near the greatness of the first movie, but it makes you the characters you enjoyed so much during the first adventure a little bit worse.

American Hustle

American Hustle, David O. Russell's follow up to hugely successful Silver Linings Playbook is an entertaining mess. It has moments of brilliance, moments of artistic confusion, scenes that are lovely and scenes that are completely misguided. While the cast is excellent, I'm only convinced of the greatness of one performance. Fortunately for the film, this ensemble's efforts are enough to entertain.

Anna Karenina

And when you are one of the characters in Joe Wright's Anna Karenina - you probably should. But apart from ridiculous tagline "You cannot ask 'why' about love" the actual movie has many more - and much more serious - problems. I generally like Joe Wright's films - in fact he made only one movie I despise - The Soloist. His Atonement and Hanna were in my top 15 of the respective years they were released in and I thought his Pride and Prejudice was very skillful and heartfelt adaptation of the famous novel. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about his Anna Karenina.

Argo

In 1979, the American embassy in Iran was invaded by Iranian revolutionaries - 56 Americans were taken hostage. Six others managed to escape to the official residence of the Canadian Ambassador and the CIA is ordered to get them out of the country. With few options, exfiltration expert Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) devises a daring plan: to create a phony Canadian film project looking to shoot in Iran and smuggle the Americans out as its production crew. With the help of some trusted Hollywood contacts, Mendez creates the ruse and proceeds to Iran as its associate producer. However, time is running out with the Iranian security forces closing in on the truth while both his charges and the White House have grave doubts about the operation themselves.

Avengers

82/100 (142 min, 2012)
Plot: Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. brings together a team of super humans to form The Avengers to help save the Earth from Loki and his army.
Director: Joss Whedon
Writers: Zak Penn (story), Joss Whedon (story)
Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson

I still believe in heroes

In the last 10 years or so there was a surge of movies based on comic books. Superman, Batman, Iron Man, Spiderman, you name it - it probably find its way on the big screen. But what casual movie goers or people who aren't familiar with the comic books don't know is that there are two universes - one of DC Comics where we have Superman and Batman and another one of Marvel - where we have the heroes of Avengers.

The film is the final stage of bringing in beloved heroes from one medium to another. We had two movies about eccentric billionaire and genius Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) who saves the world as Iron Man, two films about Bruce Banner aka Hulk - though in this version played by the newcomer to the series Mark Ruffalo, a film about Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and introduction to the characters of Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) in Iron Man 2 and Hawkeye (Jeremy  Renner) in Thor. All of them plus Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) the man who runs the show, are the Avengers.

All Good Things

75/100 (101 min, 2010)
Plot: Mr. David Marks was suspected but never tried for killing his wife Katie who disappeared in 1982, but the truth is eventually revealed.
Director:Andrew Jarecki
Writers: Marcus Hinchey, Marc Smerling
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella

The Disappearance of Katie Marks

Ironically entitled "All Good Things" is a fascinating and peculiar movie - inspired by true events it begins as if it was a standard romantic comedy, then it becomes family drama only to transform into thriller and then changes into something that would probably be one of Norman Bates's favorite movies. This transformation never feels too bizarre because the film does good job in immersing the story with odd feelings and nuances throughout, but the real story the film revolves around at the very least deserved much better script.

David is a young man, who comes from a wealthy home and he wants nothing to do with family business or becoming his father's heir. One day,during a "meet cute" he meets Katie, lively, lovely and sweet girl who isn't a match for his social or financial status. Nonetheless, or perhaps because of that since it fits into his quiet rebellion against his father, he immediately asks her out and brings her to his house. The girl, though astonished, can totally hold her own, while David remains very shy and puzzlingly quiet as his father throws disapproving looks and scathing remarks his way.

Alien

98/100 (117 min, 1979)
Plot: A mining ship, investigating a suspected SOS, lands on a distant planet. The crew discovers some strange creatures and investigates.
Director: Ridley Scott
Writers: Dan O'Bannon (story), Ronald Shusett (story)
Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt and John Hurt

In space no one can hear you scream

With the fast approaching "Prometheus" Ridley Scott's return to the world of "Alien" for the first time in 33 years now it's the perfect time to revisit his masterpiece of space horror, one that's yet to be beaten as the scariest movie ever taking place in space. We follow the events concerning the crew of Nostromo and the mysterious monster whose only agenda seems to be slaughtering them with excitement and with true horror. I wasn't yet born when the movie premiered in 1979 and I was too young to see it when it was re-released in theatres in 2003. But I remember the first time I saw "Alien" as if it was yesterday, in broad daylight, in a house filled with people, the movie still managed to scare me, turning my blood cold many times and sustaining the almost unbearable tension from the opening scene to the very end.

There are so many things that worked brilliantly in the movie - first the setting. We are always with the crew, whether they are on Nostromo or on a bizarre planet. We know as much as they do - we have no idea what the strange eggs on the planet are, what is the facehugger creature that attaches itself to Kane's face and finally we have no idea what is Alien, where does it come from or what does it want. It's almost like it's punishing the crew with its brutality and viciousness, for whatever reason. Or it's much more simple - it simply needs a host to reproduce.

The Artist

99/100 (100 min, 2011)
Plot: Hollywood, 1927: As silent movie star George Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he sparks with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break.
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Writer: Michel Hazanavicius (scenario and dialogue)
Stars: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo and John Goodman

The Golden Silence

If you told me few weeks ago that I will see a movie from 2011 that will be my number 1 of the year and it's not going to be "Shame" I would not believe it. The more plausible thing to happen would be for Charlie Sheen to admit that he has a problem or for David Lynch to stop meditating and announce he is making season 3 of "Twin Peaks". And yet it happened.

I forgot about a certain enchanting kind of films. My favorite movies usually deal with dark and tragic things, they tell stories of insanity, psychosis, suffering and solitude. They are filled with screaming, crying, despair and happy endings occur there very rarely. But sometimes a movie comes along that doesn't need cracks suddenly appearing on the walls and feathers being pulled out of heroine's arms. The kind of movie that instead of messing with your head, shoots straight to your heart. No matter how cheesy I'm always moved by "Big Fish". "Amelie" always makes me feel happy. And now there is "The Artist".

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

(160 min, 2007)

Plot: Robert Ford, who's idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the reforming gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader.
Director: Andrew Dominik
Writers: Andrew Dominik (screenplay), Ron Hansen (novel)
Stars: Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell
 

What must be done

"Making "James" was a long and arduous process. There was a well-publicized tug-of-war between director Andrew Dominik, who caught Hollywood's attention with indie title "Chopper" and Warners over the editing of the film. Warners' wasn't entirely in sync with the pacing of the movie, or the length. Dominik was thinking more like 'Terence Malick' in examining the relationship between the famous outlaw and his eventual assassin, Robert Ford, played by Casey Affleck. Warners was in favor of having at least a bit more action. Ultimately, Warners went with Dominik's version, even though Dominik didn't have final cut as part of his contract. Part of the reason was that Pitt, who produced the movie through his Plan B shingle, backed Dominik. At one point along the way, Pitt and exec producer Ridley Scott had put together their own cut. When it tested to only so-so results, they went back to Dominik's. The original cut of "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" was nearly four hours long. It was edited down to two hours and forty minutes, its current run time, at the studio's request. However, it did play at least once at its original 4-hour length, most notably at the Venice Film Festival, where Brad Pitt picked up the Best Actor Award. After the viewing, critics at the festival called the film "majestic.""
- imdb.com

It's funny that Mallick was actually an influence on this movie - unlike horribly boring "The Tree of Life", "The assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" enchants from the very first moments and cinematic magic never fades away from the scenes. Unlike Mallick's pointless drivel this movie has actual story and full blooded characters we care for. Brad Pitt presumably wanted to repeat the artistic success of "James", which he claims is his favorite movie he starred in and that's why he wandered off to Mallick. Well now Mr Pitt has two movies I can't stand in his filmography. The other one being "Troy".

Alice in Wonderland

(108 min, 2010)
Director: Tim Burton
Writers: Linda Woolverton (screenplay), Lewis Carroll (books)
Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter

Rescued by rabbits, cats and queens. 

What a disappointment. I've always said "Alice in Wonderland" is a dream material for Burton. Lately it seems that balls are falling off the great directors - first Jackson did "The Lovely Bones", so sweet it made me want tovomit with candies and pink ponies and now this. Burton clearly was not thinking a lot about his own movie or he suffered some major head trauma because his Alice bounces from usual grotesque and morbid scenes to completely childish resolutions and cartoonish, silly sequences. In the effect it is a movie....for nobody. Adults will find it too silly, kids will find it too scary, Burton's fans won't like the art direction which is so tacky and vulgar my eyes were hurting - and since it was in 3D used maybe in 5 scenes, my eyes were REALLY hurting.

There is no atmosphere - nothing is fascinating, everything is just...fake. Jabberwocky was embarrassingly poorly done, the creatures were animated in a very rookie way and the whole thing was just...painful to witness.

Having said that, the dialogues are sublime and the tea party sequence is the most insane and fantastic thing since 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. The entire audience went nuts along with the characters - nobody could comprehend what the characters are talking about and what is going on.

The actors were great too - Rickman made fantastic caterpillar, Michael Sheen was absolutely adorable as the white rabbit - god, I could just hold him and never let go, Depp was fine, but the whole weird romantic tension between Mad Hatter and Alice - Burton was never good in portraying chemistry - even in 'Big Fish' we sorta have to believe the words the characters are saying - we don't see their love, Depp on the other hand never has chemistry with women - maybe this will change next year when we see him alongside Angelina dynamite Jolie in 'The Tourist'. However he is very suggestive and there was something incredibly eerie and disturbing in Alice/Hatter relation. But apart from that his make up is awesome, but by the end of the film...well clearly Disney holds Depp very close to money chest and he will do anything for the studio. That dance reminded me of Slumdog's ending and that's never a good thing. Mia Wasikowski was good as Alice, but there is not a single drop of passion, energy or charisma in that girl. But her looks were ok and she did interesting job.

The best ones in the show are the queens - Red one, played with a lot of force by director's muse and always lovely Helena Bonham Carter and the best one in the whole movie - Anne Hathaway as the white one. She stole the show, she was absolutely fantastic and hilarious. She played crazy vegetarian, not so much walkiing as floating, dealing with disgusting things and showing her disgust but underneath all of that her love and compasion for all things on Earth. She looked incredible and created one of the most memorable characters to appear in Burton's film. I also loved Stephen Fry as the floating, disappearing Cheshire Cat.
The music by the always terrific Danny Elfman is memorable and main theme is very good. The movie is lovely, but it could have been so much more. But the actors...ah, it's a real treat to see their performances here.

 68/100

August Rush

(114 min, 2007)
Director: Kirsten Sheridan
Writers: Nick Castle (screenplay), James V. Hart (screenplay)
Stars: Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Saccharine sounds

As a romantic, I love heartwarming movies and fairy tales - I believe in soapy stuff like soul mates, destiny, love at first sight - it's rare, but one can't be sure it doesn't happen. But I hate too much sugar and sweetness and there is such thing as too much sentimentality in a film - „August Rush” is an example of the sentimentality and sweet lovey dovey moments in such concentration it will make you nauseous, maybe even sick to the point you fast forward.

The story goes like that – Lyla, violinist and Louis, singer for rock band spend the night together and fall in love. The boy is not right for her according to her dad, so their ways part. But a child is born some time later and because of lies and intrigue Lyla doesn't know it is alive. 11 years later that child uses music to find his parents.

The child, named Evan has a wondrous music gift and can create symphonies out of nowhere – too bad that, except for the last few moments in the movie, those symphonies of his sounded more like irritating noise to me. I never thought I'm going to say that but „The Soloist” puts this movie to shame in this area. And „The Soloist” is an awful movie. Plus the amazing gift to create music subplot doesn't even work here - it's too absurd. When you are watching a movie like this you are supposed to automatically buy the things you see. When I was watching "Perfume" I didn't have to wonder why Grenouille had this amazing gift of hightened scent, I just kept watching the movie without any "but how?". Here not only I couldn't listen to that "music" without cringing, its origin - which basically was, what? God, magic, unicorns and rainbows? - puzzled me throughout the film.

Amelie

(122 min, 2001)
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Writers: Guillaume Laurant (scenario), Jean-Pierre Jeunet (scenario)
Stars: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz and Rufus

The pursuit of happiness

It is 18 June 2010, 13:59:35
In this very second, somewhere, A fly reacts to something it sees and changes direction in 30 milliseconds
A cat purrs at 26 cycles per second, the same as an idling diesel engine
At least 100,000 different chemical reactions occur in your brain
Every person has nearly 400,000 radioactive atoms disintegrating into other atoms in his or her body
Between four and five people are born
And other two people die
Somebody is falling in love.
Someone else makes other person miserable
And someone brings joy to the world.

Amelie Poulain is a waitress in Montmartre. She is 23 years old, lives alone with her cat and she visits her widowed father often. And that's her life – little, sheltered, ordinary. Except is any life ordinary?
One day, the day princess Diana dies, in the day of great sadness and tragedy, Amelie accidentally finds a box filled with childhood souvenirs of a little boy. In this one moment outside world ceases to exist for Amelie, all that matters is that box and Amelie's plan to bring it back to its owner.

When Amelie returns the box to the man, of course still remaining invisible, she is convinced that this is what she has to do. The man, Dominic Bretodeau, remembers everything when he opens that little box – his childhood, all the good and bad memories, which because of the time passing by now turned into nostalgia. All the years, all the moments hit him and convince him to live his life the best he can, as long as he is alive. In the ending scenes we see him reunited with his daughter and grandson. None of that would have happened if it wasn't for Amelie.

American History X

(119 min, 1998)
Plot: A former neo-nazi skinhead tries to prevent his younger brother from going down the same wrong path that he did.
Director: Tony Kaye
Writer: David McKenna
Stars: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong and Beverly D'Angelo
 

Heading Towards Redemption

I have to say, from some time now I despised Edward Norton. After I saw his, what can I call it....work in "The Incredible Hulk", "Italian Job" and "Pride and Glory" where he was so bad he actualy made Colin Farrell look amazing and Farrell is nowhere near 'old' Norton (I mean from „Fight Club” times) league, it was impossible for me to recall why this man is a good actor. I mean sure, he was good in "Fight Club", but the character of the Narrator and the writing in this film is so incredible, it would actually take a real talent to screw this up. Then I saw "Painted Veil" and he was very good, but still the vivid image of his performance in "Pride and Glory" wasn't gone. But tonight I finally saw "American History X" for which Norton was nominated for Oscar and whilst the movie is from 1998 and what Norton does now is far from perfection I certainly cannot call his performance in "P&G" proof he isn't that good anymore. It was simply a bad judgment on his part, because clearly he is a great actor.

The movie is definitely not easy nor pleasant to watch - but it is gripping from the first moment. The story of former skinhead who is redeemed after spending 3 years in prison reminded me of "A Clockwork Orange" in terms this is also, from what I gathered, a cult movie for many and in both cases it shows incredibly troubled individual with certain ideology and his transformation. But as much as I appreciate “A Clockwork Orange" and there is no doubt that it is a good film, I was never a fan. It said a lot of things but I think statements shown in "American History X" are far more powerful, perhaps because they are so skillfully presented on screen.

After.Life

(109 min, 2009)
Director: Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo
Writers: Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo, Paul Vosloo
Stars: Christina Ricci, Liam Neeson and Justin Long

Dead or alive?

(spoilers)


“You can laugh
A spineless laugh
We hope your rules and wisdom choke you
Now we are one in everlasting peace”
- Radiohead, “Exit Music (For a Film)

“After.Life” deals with a subject that is very popular and I'm sure all of you sometimes wondered about it. What happens after we die? Is there nothing or something,
basically unimaginable for human mind? Each religion has a view on afterlife, because it offers a promise – the ultimate promise of continuity. No, you won't cease to exist. There is something more. But the movie goes beyond that, maybe even not focuses on it, whilst touching the subject. Despite its title “After.Life” is more like one of the episodes of HBO hit and absolutely superb series “Six Feet Under” where the morticians were able to talk to the deceased.

After a horrific car accident, Anna (Ricci) wakes up to find the local funeral director Eliot Deacon (Neeson) preparing her body for her funeral. Confused, terrified and feeling still very much alive, Anna doesn't believe she's dead, despite the funeral director's reassurances that she is merely in transition to the afterlife. Eliot convinces her he has the ability to communicate with the dead and is the only one who can help her.