DaViD´82

Facing the captivating depths of madness through the thunder in Ohio… Hard to say what to praise more. Whether an unprecedentedly magnificent tangible subliminal tension, Shannon's performance as a true family-based hard worker who realizes that he's almost certainly succumbing to schizophrenia, but "what if he doesn't". The result is the most disturbing, most realistic and, last but not least, by far the best film version of the biblical story of Noah. I have perhaps the only minor complaint related to the conclusion. This is a type of movie that can only end in two ways. And Nichols went the way of being more cinematic and stylish. However, I cannot shake the feeling that the latter would get even more under the skin and would be richer in terms of interpretation.

The more imperfect, the more urgent the movie is, which manages to get under your skin with its uncompromising rawness like few others. Together with Margin Call and Big Short, they form a free trilogy "Everything you ever wanted to know about the financial crisis, but were too afraid to ask." The former approaches events from the point of view of the chamber drama of one night in bank management, the approach of the second one is broad and based on economic perspective but in entertaining way and at the same time with a naturalistic "bottom-top" view of (future) Trump voters. Although it is clear who the creators are messing with, neither side is demonized (until the ending, but more on that later). It was a vicious circle, where the irresponsible people are to blame, people who naively (often for the sake of buying stupid things) pledged their houses in times of apparent prosperity, but financial institutions that lent irresponsibly beyond their / clients' possibilities having in mind only quick profit are to blame equally. One led to another and vice versa. So Shannon is not playing a black-and-white villain, but a pragmatic tempter (he will not strangle you, he will only offer you a noose and you will be able to strangle yourself), who did not hesitate to act. What spoils the movie to some extent is the already mentioned message of the whole movie. I mean, the final quarter hour, when the movie starts to moralize and denies everything before. Even in this engaged form about Sophia's choice the movie is good, that´s true, it just goes against the original message, which does not offer (and, after all, does not allow in principle) easy solutions. Shannon is excellent, Laura Dern is a makeweight and Garfield is much better than you would expect, although his character has so many layers that he doesn’t manage all of them equally good. So, in one role, he surprisingly proves that is a really good actor while with another role he is clearly struggling.

In the opening hour and a half, a lengthy pell-mell like a commedia dell'arte and a spy drama, where each of the many characters trying to play everyone. In order to turn it from a (graded) train journey to the final hour (abruptly, not gradually) into a serious and properly dense fateful resistance movie with everything, which tries (and with closing both eyes actually well) to be the "South Korean Black Book". From technical point of view, the camera and music the movie is simply top. In this regard, hardly anything else can be expected from director with Jee-woon Kim's reputation. The highlight of the "Tarantino scene" of settling account on the train and the party at the police embassy (which, of course, makes the ending of the Inglorious Bastards almost impossible to forget). As a result, an unnecessarily long movie, which was to some extent clearly spoiled by the South Korean trademark's mixing of incompatible genres. And as much as it contains many scenes that cannot be forgotten, the movie that centers about them, on the contrary, will be forgotten faster than would be appropriate.

Six-episode photo documentary mini-series a behind-the-scenes look at the origin of "National Geography like photos" that doesn’t have clear objective, in other words doesn’t now what to focus on. Within the time frame of twenty five minutes, each episode tries to cover to many aspects, so as a result most of them are not covered. Even though each of the episode is focused on a different top photographer (it is exclusively about natural history, travel and outdoor photography, not art), it is not so much about photographers themselves, nor about what shaped them or about their work. Maybe only a little bit. Although each of the episodes is filmed while they were working (swimming with cetaceans, photographing a fire festival in Bhutan, mountain gorillas, etc.), they try to squeeze in a bit about them, a bit about how to photograph that particular situation what photo techniques they apply (and technology), a bit about the particular place and their motivation "why are you taking photo of this", bit about the global ideas of the given photographer, a bit about the pitfalls of the given location and... A bit about this and about that. As a result, not many specific details mentioned, it's too hasty for that (three photoshoots in each episode, i.e. about eight minutes per segment), but we must admit that it´s really nice, even if the pompous soundtrack doesn’t match. The concept is unquestionably excellent, but what would be reasonable to do for the seasons to come would be to determine, whether it will focus on photographers as such and their work or on how the most breathtaking photos of nature are created, how much hard work is hidden behind all this and how the best photos are simply results of good luck and coincidence.

So far the weakest movie of the Black Mirror and not only of the third season. However, the weakest does not necessarily mean bad. Not that it lags behind in terms of ideas or impressiveness in any way. There is no problem with that. The movie just beats around the bush for too long. And even at the point when it is long clear what direction it will take, how it ends up and what it is trying to convey (especially if you saw its Wipe 2015). The hour-long footage is way too long this time. The original three-quarter-hour of the opening seasons would be more appropriate. However, a bigger problem is that the ending takes everything word for word and the creators have the need to explain everything in a sloppy way (surprisingly, in such a straightforward episode, where it is not necessary, not at all). That is, exactly what all the previous movie successfully avoided at all costs.

Each episode itself is playful and imaginative and refers to legacy of classic silent animated grotesques. The problem is that all those five-minute episodes are to similar to each other. Thieves escape from prison in a particularly surprising way, commit bad things, have a "brilliant" plan for the bank robbery, but eventually they get outsmarted by the police which chase them down. You can't tell one episode from another. You can object that many animated movie (especially Coyote and the ground "mig mig" cuckoo) were based on the fact and work with the expectation that it is still the same. Here, however, it is rather to the detriment. However, if the viewer is a small child, who has a weakness for Lego and cops, thieves, firefighters, divers, etc., then it´s completely fine, because you will not find a better and more fun combination of above mentioned.

A fragmented Christmas special, which, despite all the considerable strong points, looks like these two (or three if you like) current, apt and (not only) morally very disturbing themes were originally intended rather as independent short stories. And each one would handle their own story even better than if they were so forcibly connected (read glued) together. In any case, the strong points of this movie clearly outshine this, let´s say snag, not a problem, so... Merry Christmas to everyone.

Beautifully shot and stylized, outstanding music and magnificently performed, bombastic and snobbish nothing. The worst thing is that the final unraveling scene (and it doesn't matter which of the two or three possible interpretations you chose) does not justify the would-be ingenious formal construction as a mindfuck. It rather fully shows that instead of three different story line layers, one main story line would be more than enough to achieve the same effect and convey the same message (for all three possible messages). However, introductory hardcore subtitles should be kept as they are the best and most subversive part of it.

Hynek! Vilém! Jarmi... Um, Clarksson!!! At the beginning, it is not a completely clean ride (no complaints about the prologue, though, the bombastic concert stage is annoying). The last season of Top Gear no longer reached the qualities of "golden seasons" (except for the specials, of course), so I actually welcomed that 3 commentators left to Amazon. I secretly hoped that it would provide new driving force and that they will play with that slavishly observed and binding unchanging format that had become Top Gear's biggest limitation over the years. Well, the result is that they haven't changed anything except the show/segment names. They really changed nothing. Some people will like it, while others not that much. I belong to the second group, because due to the fact it's almost identical, the biggest drawback of their last seasons at Top Gear hasn't disappeared. I feel only use inertia instead of bringing new ideas taking advantage of not yet lost glory and their cult of personality. We cannot say it's a parody of itself (except for the horrible "kind of Stig"), the three of them are still too much fun and have an insanely large budget and therefore limitless possibilities, but this is actually quite a daily routine for them. Funny and high quality, but already seen, when you know exactly what to expect from one of each of them (which is an even bigger problem when we admit that it has always been much more about them than about cars). There is no moment of surprise. However, the biggest disappointment comes paradoxically in the form of the technical side, as some hipster intellectual came with and idea of processing each sequence by different shitty "Instagram" filter. The result is a excessive nonsense without a unified concept not only as the whole but also in individual parts, because thanks to the cut-ins into cockpits (these are not processed by filters), it is so striking in a way that even striking amateur music on Youtube looks professional. Not to mention a show with a budget that would cover the state budget deficit of many smaller European countries. The result is the funniest and the most excessive routine by far. The question is whether that is enough. And this one (added years later) I will answer myself. Yes, it is. Already during the introductory season, it improves significantly (I mean really a lot). As if they said to each other, look, we don't have to do it just for the money, let's enjoy it. It's clear that they enjoyed it themselves and that, thanks to the Amazon super budget, they can do whatever they want and anywhere in the world (we should pay tribute to the invisible fourth one who is behind the scene, Andy Wilman). On top of that, the (un) novelties are beginning to be sidelined from the beginning and then they fade away (only in the second season it takes a step back in the form of the return of the celebrity segment, the tempo is ruined and it´s no that interesting anymore), only in the third season it gets back on track and gets rid of nonsense. It simply starts to be enjoyable and thanks to that viewers enjoy it too. Undoubtedly the best ever travel-adventure-car show for the real man being on a high wire with hosts constantly messing and competing with each other. Nothing more, nothing less; just #amazonshitcarshow.S1: 5/5 | S2: 5/5 | S3: 5/5 |

The pure essence of Cormack McCarthy, about which regular adaptations of his works can just dream about. Without exaggeration, the best film neo-western, watching which you will be astonished on how many levels it works, without any possible "but". It works smoothly as a genre movie, as a study of magnificently written (and without exception equally magnificently played) characters, as a hypnotic movie that raises emotions benefiting from Cave and endless Texas distances, as well as a camera that does them justice as a reflection of time and a social insight into the soul of the had-working Republican class, which has nothing, banks are bullying them and circumstances force them to take one credit after another and who get from one debt to another (no other film will show you in such an illustrative and nonviolent way why America chose Trump), as a textbook of minimalist dialogs "about something", even if seemingly "about nothing", like... Well, I could continue for hours and hours in the same way. For many years, I have not seen a movie that would so skillfully blur the line between pure genre pleasure and existential festival movie. For me, it's simply an instant classic, and not just within the "Peckinpah" genre.