Remedy

A frighteningly impressive display of the total privatization of state power under the false pretense of protecting all Americans, or the entire "free" world. It lacks the playfulness and audience appeal of McKay's previous opus The Big Short, yet this portrait of perhaps the most dangerous vice president in American history is sufficiently searing, satirical, and brutally cynical. Manipulation of public opinion, tens of thousands of dead civilians, and at least two failed states. Dick Cheney's legacy in modern history is truly irrevocable. Acting-wise, of course, it's a fine affair, but I feel that the ultra-flesh-and-blood and sometimes spasmodic performance from Bale slowly wears out.

The narrative structure is a bit inconsistent, as after a strangely rushed and overstuffed first half, the story basically "starts from scratch". Anyway, with the arrival of Forest Whitaker on the scene, Southpaw spills into its better half. It's not necessarily his acting (he's playing his standard), rather that he has an extremely audience-rewarding "mentor" role here. Perhaps the only thing worth mentioning from the first half of the film is the opening fight, which is beautifully and evocatively shot. Everything else in the first hour felt too superficial and overwrought. The second half is a lot more believable and elevates the final impression to slightly above average.

I imagined this to be more of an action flick, but I still enjoyed Triple Frontier a lot. It's kind of a multi-genre guy movie, which after the heist part flips into a (slightly) psychological survival thriller. The sudden slowing down of the tempo might not be to everyone's taste, but the filmmakers clearly didn't intend to follow the current trend of ultra-fast and bombastic action movies. They decided to go slightly against the crowd and instead of a flashy testosterone ride, they serve up a film that is slightly personal, slightly psychological, slightly action-packed, and actually quite daring in its concept, a film that is difficult to put into a universally known box. The fantastic cast and Metallica are also a delight.

A compelling relationship drama. The gradual evolution of the central couple's life together is a very unpleasant picture of years of repressed emotions and gradually bubbling anger, which will inevitably come to a head sooner or later. The plot is terribly simple in essence, yet extremely engaging and intense, especially in the brilliant dialogue. The strongest link in the chain is undoubtedly Glenn Close, whose performance as the outwardly perfect yet inwardly brutally suffering wife is both breathtaking and hellishly authentic.

Let's be honest, the "Oscar quality" of Green Book is drawing to a great extent from contemporary socio-political discourse. I don't mean to diminish the film's qualities at all, but one has to consider that in the 90s, perhaps, Green Book probably wouldn't have so much as breached the Oscars. It also kind of seems to me that Peter Farrelly chose this theme quite superficially with a view to that contemporary social climate, where any similarly themed film is automatically sold as something special and important for today's society. In other words, the theme of segregation and racism is interpreted in this film in an incredibly shallow way, which in the end takes a heavy toll on its value. In terms of the filmmaking and acting, however, it is a very stylish affair, which the filmmakers certainly relied on, and the overall impression actually rises and falls on the interaction and mutual "character enrichment" of the central duo. Rather than being a film about racism, Green Book is a kind of a feel-good (road) movie, in which the subject of racism is handled with kid gloves, lest anyone happen to be too offended. A bit of an embarrassing 4 stars.

It was a great experience just to see Lady Gaga in civilian status alone, without all the outlandish costumes and tons of makeup. Indeed, the strength of this film is in the presentation of her character as a perfectly ordinary "woman of the people" who has talent and finds herself in the right place at the right time. Bradley Cooper's character is, of course, a walking advertisement for clichés (a boozed-up artist with a tortured soul who finds inspiration in a young tadpole, along with the healing of the wounds in his soul), but thanks to his endearing performance and a very strong finish, this version of A Star is Born paradoxically breaks free of the clichés. A huge part of this is the wonderful music (the Oscar for "Shallow" is well deserved), which here makes up a good fifty percent of the overall experience.

An excellent crime drama from post-Franco Spain, its atmosphere reminiscent of the first series of True Detective or the 90s film Se7en. It is pushed above the genre average by well-written characters and the bold incorporation of the political/social level, which is bolted onto the central criminal plot in an interesting way.

A fascinating audiovisual presentation of Queen that is reprehensible in how extremely flat the psychology of the characters is. In any case, I doff my cap to the marketing strategy, since few people probably expected a such a mainstream success in the cinema. As long as you let yourself get carried away by the atmosphere and those timeless songs, it's a grandiose spectacle. In fact, the opening almost lured me beyond my expectations, as the first 30 minutes are simply perfect. The problem comes when the characters are supposed to acquire some more serious definition. The key facts are presented is very offhand way, which of course impacts the believability of the central characters. The depiction of Mercury's promiscuous homosexuality (while I understand the limitations of Singer and Fletcher as far as keeping an accessible rating) comes across as "obligatory" in Bohemian Rhapsody, as does the announcement to the other band members that Freddie has AIDS. Maybe I'm being demanding, but both of these facts must have had a very significant impact on the functioning of the band, as well as a significant impact on Mercury's mental state. There have been words exchanged about it here where some venture the "obligatory" and others distance themselves from it. I understand the desire to avoid wider controversy (this is supposed to be a film for the whole family, after all), but unfortunately the result of such a half-hearted approach is the brutal emasculation of any serious narrative.

A cool apéritif before the fourth Avengers. If I'm being a bit critical, this original about the strongest heroine in the Marvel universe isn't really that surprising and thoroughly relies on the MCU's universally repetitive creative practices. On the other hand, it still works (in the 21st film in this universe!) and I still enjoy it a lot. A little more could have been squeezed out of the 90s vibe, but all the jokes based on the contrast with modern times worked great (the file loading speed in units of percent – that was nostalgia like crazy). I like that there's no misguided feminism oozing from Captain Marvel, and that the motif of a strong female heroine is handled with the utmost conscientiousness the entire time, and much more likably than that of rival DC. Brie Larson is another casting bullseye (maybe not the best phrase to use) and Kevin Feige is perhaps the best-planning big-screen producer in history.

A strange genre crossover that ultimately wants to end up a social drama rather than a mystery crime thriller. While the two major twists do move the story somewhere (the question is where), I'm convinced that if the whole narrative had been reduced to "search for a Mystery Man who kidnaps children" (without the twists and spasmodic social themes), the whole thing could have turned out noticeably better. The first half an hour lures you in with its mysterious atmosphere, but after that it's unfortunately pretty pathetic. The kind of film that sort of slipped through the fingers of a fairly ambitious filmmaker (Martyrs certainly didn't leave me calm).