DaViD´82

There are six different forms of design introduced through portrait, opinions, creation, creative process and apprenticeship years of six leading innovative masters of their craft in six audiovisual refined episodes in terms of design. Yes, it's basically a Chef´s Table concept flipped from the culinary world to the design field. However, this can hardly be taken as a downside, as at present we cannot pay more tribute to the documentary series "on the creative craft with an overlap into art" then to put it on the same pedestal of top quality as the mentioned show.

The best space opera of recent years. Which might not mean that much, as there have not been/are not many shows like this lately, let alone the good ones. We must admit that even if they had been some good shows, this one would have been able to keep up, which can be taken as a compliment. This is the "Battlestar Galactic in the best period 2.0". Three sides of impending conflict, three levels of narrative from different perspectives across social strata, no good or bad sides, dirty looks, civility of it all, believable technologies, well-thought-out political and social environment, intrigue, hypocrisy and despite all the sci-fi aspects it´s based mainly and above all on ambivalent characters. On top of that, the plot is constantly nicely progressing (although it's true that sometimes in small steps), it's more holistic than episodic and… And it's just exactly what one wants from a successful black-and-white space opera in all respects. It has only two snags. While the underfunded expedition can still be accepted (it is the "Cimrman's Hamlet effect", where the characters talk about something, but there are no means to show it adequately or in the necessary numbers), because it is mainly about characters and political plots, but the cast is not acceptable. The main parties are fine, but all the "second-rate" characters are performed by C-rate non-actors you would expect from the SyFy production. Which is an even bigger issue because they are the type of "actors" who are tragic even in one-dimensional characters, let alone in such multi-layered segments. In other words, despite all the undeniable qualities, it is still impossible to get rid of the feeling "how much better it could have been if made by HBO / Netflix / god-knows-who". However, it is still a true sci-fi quality that has long been missing on screens. Sorry, I meant thanks to this series, it is fair to say that it was missing and not missing any long.

Everyone in the movie cinema was laughing all the time, that´s true, but in turns. Children laughter alternated adult laughter, adult laughter alternated with children laughter. And it kept repeating during the whole movie. There are cheap infantile gags for little ones (and there are many of them) as well as sophisticated pop-cultural references for the teenagers and adults (and there is perhaps even more of this kind). The problem is that there is no connecting humor "for the whole family", where all age groups could laugh at the same joke. The second problem is that humor is overused. Every second of the footage there are at least three jokes. And that makes you dull after some time. Yes, that was a snag already in the Lego story, but here it's much bigger problem. Nor will the super bad team, made up of bad guys from various fictional worlds, entertain you as their potential is not properly used. Otherwise, there is not much to complain about, it is just as crazy and entertaining an influx of pop-culturally parodying grotesque gags as in all LEGO® series/short films/games/movies, as one would expect from a film for preschool boys, their older brothers and companions, including some lessons children might learn. But while you can fully enjoy the Lego story even without children, this time it´s not the case.

During the seventies political conspiracy thrillers were popular and this one is one of the most successful (at least in terms of overseas production), however, it is unjustly forgotten today. At the same time, it has the advantage over many others since it is very straightforward and has many excellent action sequences, a conflicting stubborn hero going against everything, a beautiful shoots, a cynical conclusion (which, admittedly, could have gone a step further, as he was both on board of the ship and the airplane, right? ...) and the compelling paranoid atmosphere "you cannot trust anything/anyone", which should be one of the cornerstones of all movies of this subgenre. And yet so many of them forget that.

A comedy show of (ab) normal Polish family or in other words a movie that evokes and leaves a feeling for which there is no exact name, something between indescribable sadness, disarming truth, sincere joy, unspoken between the lines, existential loneliness, claustrophobic block of apartment genius loci, voyeur depressive tragicomedy, and elusive beauty of all this. Strong words, a strong movie and a redefinition of the biographical genre as such. Beksinski's disturbing surrealist images do not address this, and yet it says it all. It gets stuck under the skin in a way that will calm down only by indifferent observation of the night sky, when lit one cigarette after another. No matter you have never smoked before. It is beyond my comprehension where the above come from in such a young (and debuting!) creator. Just... Congratulations.

I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK meets No One Lives Forever. An audio-visual refine non-comic psychedelic trip, with no single flaw until the moment when it fully turns into a standard comic book movie and it turns out that the seemingly sophisticated craftiness just simply does not do the job. At that moment, my interest reached zero.

An unadorned night routine of ordinary police officers in the form of a raw police procedure, which is in many respects ahead of its time (this style will be followed by the Fort Apache the Bronx a decade later. Most similar movies are devoted to detectives and not to patrol / cavalry policemen). The plot is absent, these are purely stories from night shifts in a neglected neighborhood from a time when no one considered inappropriate that the LAPD was not being diplomatic, rules and regulations rather loose (or non-existent) and the role of Hispanics and African Americans in society was view by the police as not that important. Naturalistic, truly in the style of seventies, brilliant acting, with a love for the profession and the city, and in the second half, after all, noticeably lacking gradation or at least some development.

The slow-flowing mix of pulsation à la Jim Thompson with the existential drama about the Vietnamese southern (non) being of a returned marine. And it is the specific pace of storytelling that is its strongest point... And the weakest too. It's not boring nor lengthy, it has an impressive atmosphere thanks to the pace, but it's true that a similar style of storytelling in eight episodes, which rather than working independently work better as an eight-hour movie, is not entirely appropriate. Because of that it´s inadvertently tiring, however more than properly constructed, written and performed.

Lonergan is a slightly better screenwriter than a director and a way better director than a man with a feeling for choosing music. One of the best written and performed "classic American small - town dramas about unsolvable skeletons in closets" in recent years scores an own goal good with cheap targeted selection of classical string music. It is overused here and the most overplayed songs were chosen. It´s fishing for emotions, full of pathos, ingratiating and cheap solution. Which is in stark contrast to everything else, because Manchester does not offer anything that even remotely associated with pathos (let alone fishing for emotions) (and there are sequences that would clearly call for it) and there are not cheap ways out. As if the author did not believe that his own theme, actors he chose and dialogues he wrote, which phenomenally work with the unspoken "between the lines", will be enough for an emotionally overwhelming subtle drama, so he decided to make 100 % sure it happens but in a cheapest possible way. And it unnecessarily devalues an otherwise impressive experience.

A year later, Yates will make the most memorable car chase of the movie industry. With that being said, the car chase from the beginning of this movie can keep up with it in every respect: same style, only with a different iconic ride. And everything what makes Bullitt's case great, makes Robbery case great too. It´s just in a form of team heist genre movie and not a rough police crime movie. In other words, even here, the camera is intoxicated for long minutes by stubbornly silent professionals, who carefully perform their work step by step with icy calm and are damn good at it. Which results in one of the best (and definitely the most stylish) genre movies ever, which, however, is partially spoilt by too long footage. The opening diamond robbery and the iconic action on the railway are absolutely stunning. Even so stunning so that the local procedurally and even realistically documented "Greengrass event", for its intense subliminal nerve-racking tension and dynamics, could serve as a model for all genre movies of a similar kind. Unfortunately, there are also sequences "between the actions and after them", which are, after all, a bit more standard and lengthy than would be appropriate for a similarly exceptional film. In any case, (not only) a genre must watch. That´s for sure.