3DD!3

Pilot: Very promising. Despite a couple of illogicalities, the plot still has a lot to give and it was up to the screenwriters to seize the potential or not. The actors, headed by Elizabeth Mitchell, give fairly solid performances, and let’s hope it stays that way. We’ll see how things pan out...

Cinema and theatre intertwine in this intriguing drama about change, manipulation and art. Rudd’s acting is great and his transformation from shy loser to the Paul Russ we all know today comes about convincingly and naturally. Oh, and Rachel Weisz... is simply amazing. Her approach would probably change me, too.

Season one: It took a while, but Mad Men got to me in the end. I normally reject these office series right away (I have some bad experiences with them), but this one held me in front of the screen and in the end I grew fond of it. It’s really well written and the acting is great. January Jones is scrumptious and in my opinion the as yet unknown Jon Hamm really shines out. His Draper is captivating and the flashbacks are some of the high points of the series. And you get to learn something about advertising too. And that could come in handy one day. Season two: More powerful every minute. Where Draper’s story was the main attraction of season one, other characters that were more in the background before are joining in. Betty’s story is gaining speed and is very compelling, the same as what’s going on around Peggy. The Marylin Monroe lookalike Joan, who is simply enchanting, is becoming more significant. Also excellent was the inclusion of real events and their effect on the staff of Sterling Cooper. A brilliant idea. Season three: It could have the alternative title half-life and that isn’t usually necessary. If you watch the episodes like me, to the end of the credits, maybe you’ve noticed that the last thing we see is the words - AMC: Story matters here, and that’s the most important thing. A series that beats one competitor after the other just with its story doesn’t need shocking twists and cliffhangers. Simply good honest work. Not only did this season surpass both of the forerunners, it also closes one chapter in a way almost never seen these days. As for the actors, there’s nothing to criticize, but I’d like to single out Abigail Spencer as the teacher of my dreams. Season four: The mad advertisers from New York are hit by changes. Not only at the beginning of the season, but at the end too. The last episode was seriously surprising, but isn’t the best of the season. Season four brought two episodes that were so dazzling that they blotted out everything else. I’m talking about the episode where Don and Peggy are given some room to themselves and it’s a wonderful demonstration of their acting skills, good to excellent writing and a magic that only the Mad Men can boast. The second episode I want to mention is almost film noire style, interspersed with excerpts from Draper’s diary. A very refreshing insight into the thoughts of a character who is famed for not opening herself to others. I’m a little worried that season five might lose that aura, but if I trust anybody to do their work right, its the guys from AMC. Season five: After a long pause, the Mad Men have returned with fairly slow tempo and the first double-episode was “just" good. But the tension build-up works excellently and the nearer we get to the end, the better it is. All of the characters are moved to greater depression and Draper is showing signs of tiredness. Satisfaction and happiness are even more fleeting here than in real life (and that’s saying something). The endeavor to land Jaguar, the situation with Peggy and the finale are the high points of the series. I can’t wait for the coming episodes. Season six: Going Down? This time, most of the staff of SCDP had a good year in terms of stories (just Roger was a little in the background) and the new old friends and the merger made for some interesting moments. But all the same, the powerhouse is still the main character. All the years that the Mad Men have occupied my life, I might easily think that there is nothing more to be told. We already know everything about the characters. Nothing can surprise us. Even so, it’s these familiar characters who draw our attention with their stories and the time that is going by changes them as much as us. The care that the screenwriters devote to this, the twists that they gradually construct and the endings that grab you by the heart. Draper overdid it this season, but it wasn’t his fault. He was trying to start a new life, but he should really have tried to fix the old one. People are fragile, easily excitable and he loomed over them (esp. in season one) like God. Unerring and eternal. Bad decisions caught up with him in season three and he’s still paying for them. That makes the point of departure of the final season even more intriguing. It really needs balls, don’t you think? To admit that your work is based on lies and is superfluous because if a product is actually high quality... it sells itself. The final season has the atmosphere of a sort of melancholic farewell, although very inconspicuous at the beginning. All characters are appropriately looked after and the finale is powerful, although still pleasantly ordinary and realistic. I was really glad to spend my time with these people and I’m gonna miss them. I say farewell with a smile. We’ll meet again soon in season one.

Borat was still rather normal, Bruno, on the other hand, is a total, self-indulgent pervert who has lost one but important advantage over his Kazakh brother: the moment of surprise.

Well thought out, cynical, sad, cheerful, suspenseful, funny, clever. The main theme of this series is death, but life simply oozes from Six Feet Under. Realistically written and acted characters fearlessly grab hold of the time that we have on this earth and that is slipping away in front of our eyes. R.I.P.

Now that’s exactly what it should look like. A good sci-fi, I mean. A really captivating story, superb atmosphere, decent specially effects (in fact, for the money, wonderful) and the peerless performance by Sam “Bell" Rockwell. And to add to things, the whole time your eardrums are being stroked by the highbrow soundtrack for which Clint Mansell is responsible. It gives the whole picture a soul. Oh, and I want to have a GERTY at home too!

Such a stylish twist occurred to me long ago and I’m glad that somebody (Twohy) finally managed to get it into such a well-cast movie. That foxy Milla got to me again, back in great form after having a baby and the snappy-tongued Timothy “American Jedi" Olyphant who surprisingly often grabs all the attention for himself. Kiele Sanchez from Lost was just made for this type of movie and it was good to see tough guy Chris Hemsworth, who convinced me that he really does have the balls for Thor. And otherwise... wonderful landscapes, but that is somehow expected from this kind of movie.

I felt like I was on a roller coaster. Excellent and funny scenes alternate with truly weird and kitsch moments. Even so, I have mainly positive impressions from watching The Ugly Truth. Someone who bears great responsibility for that is Gerard Butler who led the movie to a satisfying conclusion, despite his strange, but predictable character development. On closer consideration, I was forced to reduce the stars to just 2.

A cheesy B-movie made according to a screenplay that a fan must have found in the drawer he hadn’t opened since the 80s. Bum-style Robert Carlyle is nicely complemented by the foxy Kelly Hu (at last she gets a leading role) and mega-killer Harlow played by Ving Rhames. It’s full of perfect moments with sometimes completely original ideas. Scenes like the one in the bar must bring out a smile on the lips of every action B-movie fan. Otherwise, the screenplay stinks, but we all expected that, didn’t we? P.S.: Ian Somerhalder gives the performance of his career here. I haven’t seen such a crazy, twisted and goddamn nice psycho since Brad Pitt in Kalifornia, and that was a long time ago. A very much enjoyed 3*.

If you’re goin’ to San Francisco... Another classic that Stephen King definitely inspired Stephen King when writing Shawshank (and the Mile) (the story is different, but the yard is absolutely the same). Of course, everybody roots for Clint from the moment he arrives at the prison. The atmosphere starts really getting under your skin as the end nears and doesn’t leave you until during the credits.