DaViD´82

Tony Scott is back in form at last. He didn’t hesitate to incorporate epileptic editing, violence and outstanding actors into a raw story about a girl being kidnapped. With a different cast, this might have collapsed like a house of cards, but when the main protagonist is played by Denzel Washington as a devotee of the “dark side", this clearly leaves no room for any humor. Especially when revenge tastes best when it’s cold blooded, isn’t that right?

“It’s payback time for a miserable Christmas!" Just another Christmas special, or: Lobo as we know him best versus Santa... Too bad that despite being both cruel and funny, it still doesn’t manage to be quite so deranged as the comic book that it’s based on. As a treat to be watched once, it’s certainly worth seeing, especially if you a fan of this aggressive and mentally unbalanced macho pile of muscles.

Excellent Diesel, some decent ideas and a few solid scenes. Against that, an obvious attempt at a grand Star Wars-style saga, which the filmmakers failed badly. Especially the attempts to create a mythology of the universe are at times downright embarrassing; they unnecessarily relegate the film to the rank of guilty pleasure.

Perhaps the fourth adaptation and again approached completely differently in terms of both plot and overall tone. This time it is a very low-key story that takes place in bad weather in the Italian countryside. This time Tom Ripley is played by John Malkovich and they probably couldn’t have found anybody better to play the role of the ascetic, self-important, arrogant genius of a killer who feels no remorse and has no conscience, keeps out of the public eye and himself to himself, while pulling strings and manipulates people just for fun. And he is wonderfully seconded by Dougray Scott in the role of the manipulated party. The scene in the train and Ripley’s killer performance with the piano string is absolutely flawless... Completely different from Black Sun or The Talented Mr. Ripley, but still comparable in terms of quality.

This is like Rodriguez filmed a much longer picture, but used just half of it and also arranged it in an order that has no head or tail to it. As a result, scenes that were evidently supposed to be a tribute to or “quote" from Leone turn come across like they are making fun of him and are incredibly embarrassing. Better to watch Desperado for the umpteenth time, rather than this.

I give you an offer you cannot refuse. Either you watch The Godfather and get to see the zenith of filmmaking craft or... No comment. But in that case, don’t be surprised if you find a part of a horse in your bed this evening. As an adaptation of the book, I give this “only" four stars, but as a movie in its own right, it must get a full five.

A lively spy thriller and, despite being the second adaptation (the first was a two-part adaptation with Richard Chamberlain), it has a certain charm. Certainly better than a lot of action/spy movies I have seen lately (and I’ve seen perhaps too many). Just a shame that the theme has been rather over-used and so you know exactly what to expect and when to expect it. Damon is absolutely convincing and it is easy to “be fooled into thinking" that he is just a harmless young man with a pleasant face and his subsequent rebirth into a killer is just perfect. Too bad that in the second half the movie becomes loses a little of the atmospheric and pace of the first half. It is a crying shame that the director didn’t give Powell’s great soundtrack more of a chance to make a mark. The entire movie is spoiled by the final over the top jump; this belongs more in “triple-x" movies than in anything trying to be a little serious. Simply a good attempt at a genre piece that walks its own original path. Until the finale, that is.

I absolutely love this to death. Literally. A masterfully mixed absurd and, at the same time, very real cocktail by Alan Ball, full of black humor, cynicism, pessimism and optimism and, mainly, real living protagonists who you’ll love in spite of their many character defects (or maybe because of them?). There is no other series which has been so much and so pertinently about life as this one and only a few audiovisual works of art fits the well-worn description that it "holds up mirrors", which helps it to withstand even the weaker (in the context of the whole of the series - otherwise very high standard) third season. Simply an unforgettable five years spent in the company of the Fisher family. And honestly, if you experience their ups and downs together with them (in this case there can’t be any talk about mere watching) only then you can really appreciate and fully understand why the last ten minutes are rightly considered to be the one of the most emotional scenes ever.

It started One Night at McCool's and ended in a good film with a narrative structure similar to Kurosawa’s Rashomon. Funny, original and superbly cast. Even Liv Tyler is believable in her fateful beauty.

Leaving aside the fact that Hauer has been stripped of all charisma, it's watchable. The whole thing flies by and two scenes almost contain a trace amount of chilling atmosphere.