Kaka

Highly romantic. From the first shots you can't help but notice that it was shot by a woman. It's emotional, touching and heartfelt; very personal. The melodramatic interweaving of two time planes is interesting, distinctively crafted, including the final subtle blending and realisation. Perhaps too dreamy and out of touch with reality (visually, however, incredibly opulent), but I get the feeling that this is exactly how Madonna wanted to make it. Timeless, iconic; these stories never get old.

It was quite a likeable thing that passed through the cinemas only in foreign countries and very quickly. We don't really learn much about why it all happened, so we don't have a broader view, but the depicted survival story of an American family amidst the hell of civil war is atmospheric and suitably unvarnished, plus surprisingly technically proficient. I enjoyed Pierce Brosnan in the typical role he does best (ex-military) and no beating around the bush. Owen Wilson acts as if his life depended on it. Again, a very topical subject.

A silly family story about a moron following his dream. It's hard to see what this is actually doing in A-list filmmaking, because you're not going to get a more clichéd story this year. Hugh Jackman's character is utterly predictable and, more importantly, severely boring and uninteresting. Taron Egerton plays someone that is supposed to be endearing and we are supposed to sympathise with him, but it doesn't happen. The attempt to recreate the non-confrontational attitude and lightweight drama of Cool Runnings is eye-rolling and annoying, because this patchwork has neither charm nor a interesting story. The only thing that saves it from a total collapse are a few good moments and a really novel ski jumping theme.

Something between Take Shelter and War of the Worlds. Interesting in the characters and their confrontations and development. Also atmospheric, suffocating and immersive. But I'm not sure whether not know what the hell is going in inside or outside is for the better. All the while, though, you pray that they mostly don't get both at once and mentally beg for a sophisticated denouement. But it ends in such a way that it looks like there’d be at least five more episodes. John Goodman is by far the best thing about the whole film.

A film that will make your head spin with its temporal paradoxes and atypical sequence of scenes. But I’m not sure how much of this was the intention of the people behind the film and how much was purely failed experimentation. But the beginning has everything, gripping immersion, the camera raids, the dark filters – an atmosphere like in Watchmen. The middle is better thanks to Sarah Snook, who steals all for herself. But the revealing ending is chaotic already. After it's over, it leaves some uncomfortable question marks here and there, and that's not good.

Similar to the first one, except that Olympus Has Fallen was shot by a proven action director and the second one by no-name Babak Najafi, though it should be noted that he certainly didn't disgrace himself. Admittedly, the visuals are weaker, which clearly indicates that the budget wasn't the biggest and the director probably wasn't that trusted, but the ensemble cast handles it well and it doesn't take itself nearly as seriously as the first installment or even Air Force One. Harrison Ford was a more believable president than Aaron Eckhart, of course, but the banter between the main tandem is OK, and as long as you doesn't look for anything there, don't worry about realism, and don't get carried away by the decent action (the last big, approximately five-minute steadicam shootout with no cuts is great), it's impossible not to enjoy it in a fairly decent way. Plus, the subject of international terrorism is again more topical than ever.

Seemingly perfect, because at first glance everything looks as it should to be a proper crime drama. It has nice covers, a stellar cast in atypical roles (Chiwetel Ejiofo, Kate Winslet), and a well-known director of cruelty behind the camera. But in the end, it only looks like that, because this heist story like The Town is just a conundrum of who survives the longest. There’s no tangible plot, and the little there is punishingly quickly wrapped up. Watching 115 minutes of mobsters, junkies, Nazis, tattooed Mexicans, etc. who's going to hit who first, a raw probe into the criminal rabble of a big American city population, it’s not bad, especially when the demon Atticus Ross plays along and that out-of-focus, volatile camera makes you feel like Ayer assisted. But script-wise, it's a complete piece of shit.

Steven Soderbergh's surgically precise direction dominates this cold, seemingly pharmaceutical fraud. A standard set-up, a brilliantly tangled in the middle and a worthy finale. A film with a plethora of perfectly cast roles, tight reins and an unpredictable plot. I wouldn't be afraid to call it one of the best thrillers of the year. It's not as atmospheric and emotionally charged like Prisoners, but here everyone is evil, which is a very interesting cinematic twist. Usually when Soderbergh makes movies, it's not about good and evil characters, it's about who knows how to walk the walk.

Good Will Hunting shows how good he is at poker. Once again he reveals his genius in an unassuming and humble way and struggles with his evil self and his life goals. This was all here a year before, but without the chips. Edward Norton plays the main troublemaker (if he weren't here, nothing would happen at all) and John Malkovich is a genius KGB mobster. Otherwise it's a bland and transparent borefest. If you don't think about the script or what it's actually about and focus on the individual matches, it's pretty good. Unfortunately, as soon as the main character walks through the door in the first scene, it's clear how it all starts and also how it all ends, something that doesn't usually happen in Texas hold'em poker.

Before shooting this film, Louis Malle probab ly had a chat with his neighbour Paul Verhoeven, who gave him a few tips and tricks from Basic Instinct, because otherwise it might not have been possible to get such a brilliant femme fatale, Juliette Binoche, who has the unique gift of being able to play with her eyes, and such a brilliantly evoked, escalating atmosphere of inevitable disaster, in such a subtle and ultimately searing and fatal film. The finale is an explosion of emotion that contrasts brilliantly with the raw, purely physical beginning. A little-known film, but a first-class affair nonetheless, a kind of hidden gem. Basic Instinct, however, is more flamboyant, more vulgar, rawer and even a little better.