gudaulin

Considering it's a studio television play, the result is more than good. Ed McBain guarantees high quality, so the script based on his work is worth it. Compared to the average detective genre of the time, represented by a long series of stereotypically filmed TV movies about detectives watching over the people in socialist Czechoslovakia, this is a masterpiece. The production has a quality cast, with the traditionally excellent Josef Abrhám and the interesting casting of Jana Šulcová, who played a sadistic psychopath. This is probably the only outright villainous role I can recall for her. Miloš Kopecký is also very good - as expected - as one of the detectives. Svatopluk Skopal played an unstable, flawed member of the police team who causes serious problems for his colleague. And in a small role, Naďa Konvalinková appears as a flirtatious nymphomaniac. The play stands up to comparison with today's productions from, in many respects, surpasses them. Overall impression: 75%.

When I first saw this television play in the early 90s, it didn't make a particularly strong impression on me; I would have rated it an average three stars back then. Eighteen years later, I revisited it, and the result was slightly better, but I still don't share the general enthusiasm because my original reservations remain. It deserves full marks for its subject and theme, as we Czechs owe a great deal to the pilots from the Western Front, and the post-war political elite in Czechoslovakia treated them extremely unfairly. However, the execution has its flaws, especially the caricature-like portrayal, particularly noticeable in the negative characters who support the regime and members of the state apparatus. Sometimes it borders on grotesque, and I'm unsure if that was intentional. The character of the courier who eavesdrops through a pipe or the official of the national committee played with heavy theatrics by Rudolf Hrušínský Jr. are really just caricatures that don't fully capture the complexity and hardship of the situation at the time. Josef Dvořák saves the day, surprisingly portraying a civilian and likable in his role as a man who tries to integrate with the system for a long time, only to realize there are boundaries he doesn't want to cross. Overall impression: 70%.

This is not a movie, but a mess. You can react to such a spectacle either with laughter or tears. It's useful only for hardcore fans of action films. The propaganda dimension was also an obvious anachronism considering the time of its creation. Overall impression: 5% (for the military technology).

It's all here - action, corpses, Rambo's stone expressions, blood, of which there is much more than in the first one. Unfortunately, however, there is noticeably less quality filmmaking. The producers tested the audience's reaction with the first film and found that a significant part of moviegoers fall into the category of teenage boys, for whom this is simply enough. The film also had a strong propaganda dimension in the mid-80s, which today can only evoke an indulgent smile. Overall impression: 20%.

In my profile, I indicate that I don't like action movies, but that's not entirely true. There are quite a few exceptions that confirm the rule, especially those that don't take themselves seriously, like the Die Hard series. However, Rambo is a different case. The film embodies elements and genre clichés that I don't like in action movies. It is one of the first films in its subgenre and essentially defined this category of films, and is considered its symbol. I don't feel the need to argue with the cult, as I generally agree that it is the most valuable film in the series about the indestructible jungle fighter and also the only film in the series that can be taken at least somewhat seriously or has some value in terms of cinematic art. The script and direction still try to portray certain psychological aspects of the characters, and there are several decent supporting actors - by the way, Richard Crenna certainly isn't one of them, but Brian Dennehy deserves full recognition. However, in terms of the technical quality of today's action films, the high rating of the original Rambo is clearly influenced by nostalgia and the average age of users. Overall impression: 40%.

A quality, necessary, and I dare say, engaged documentary - one of the kind we could use more of in the Czech Republic. It's a film about a pressing issue that seeks to highlight the problems of people in need, regardless of whether they are "one of us." The director managed to obtain quite bold testimonies from Vietnamese guest workers who are being exploited by intermediaries and employers in the country. Unfortunately, many people have profited from this business. We know this happens in other countries too, and it's no different here. It would have been nice if the film included the opinions of Czech politicians and Vietnamese officials. Overall impression: 90%.

The Party may not have the intensity and intellectual depth of movies like Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, or the Pink Panther series with its burst of entertaining gags. However, it is essentially the same type of humor we know from Inspector Clouseau - a likable bungler who means well and tries hard, but usually ends up causing a disaster, only to miraculously emerge with honor at the end thanks to his famous luck. Here, the humor is set in a grotesque environment that clearly mocks the snobbish Hollywood elite. The film doesn't have an extraordinary screenplay, and at times the screenwriter seems a bit lost, so the humor is based on chaotic running around, falls, and props like a painted elephant. Nevertheless, it is still an above-average work. Overall impression: 75%.

I consider A Report on the Party and Guests to be the absolute peak of Němec's work, but this is also an exceptionally high-quality film, where the director achieves a depressive atmosphere with a minimum of dialogue and a stripped-down set design. He is able to work magic with black and white material and a hand-held camera, making an hour pass for the viewer without them even realizing it. Němec works with non-actors, but he can select excellent natural performers, so his portrayal of both escaped prisoners and elderly Germans who incite a witch hunt against them is incredibly suggestive. Overall impression: 80%. It's a shame that Němec wasn't able to build upon his successes from the 1960s with his post-revolutionary work...

Hats off - considering that Jan Němec made this film as a student project, it is an excellent piece that has no equal when compared to the projects of today's film school students, which I have the chance to see during the Night of Film Hopes. It is a brilliant minimalist study of human fear, the desire to survive, courage, and self-sacrifice. Ten minutes packed with such emotions are rarely seen. The black-and-white imagery only enhances the rawness of the setting and the depressing atmosphere. Overall impression: 90%.

An interesting but somewhat uneven film. It has several strengths, including its anti-war focus, a series of scenes in the style of magical realism a la Kusturica, a solid cast, and of course a subject set in a crazy time in a mad country. War films in general have tremendous potential, and if the director can work with emotions correctly, a very interesting work can be created. The problem is that Konchalovsky was past his prime, and this simply isn't Siberiade. His film is marked by a certain artistic mannerism, the characters are too stereotyped, I don't believe in some of the dialogues very much, and above all, the classic drawbacks of the Russian (Soviet) film school are apparent in House of Fools, meaning that there is too much tendency toward lyricism and an unwillingness to cut unnecessary scenes. I found the casting of truly disabled patients in the film unethical. At times, the director blatantly blackmails the audience with shots of the community of mentally ill patients. On the other hand, what works perfectly are, for example, the absurd scenes of trading between Russian soldiers and Chechen insurgents, or shots of stressed and exhausted soldiers. Overall impression: 60%.