D.Moore

Fantastic filmmaking, beautiful. If I had to pick one of Machatý's films I've seen so far that appealed to me the most, I'd pick From Saturday to Sunday, but that doesn't detract from Ecstasy's impact. It's a cinematic poem, one implied and literal metaphor after another, a meaning here, another there… Hedy Lamarr is magical and Machatý's beautiful shots, along with Becce's music, make even the simple act of waking up and opening the blinds an experience. Lastly, the finale with František Halas reciting... Yes, it's a strange finale, but it's again so well shot and gripping that it just belongs to the whole story, and anyone who wishes to can find cautionary tales as well (work shouldn't stand still = wife shouldn't go unnoticed?).

If it weren't for the completely unnecessary digital shenanigans with the drone and helicopter at the end, it would have been even better, because otherwise, everything in the seventh Fast & Furious is probably better than last time. The characters have something to say, the action is mostly very over the top but at least entertaining, and the man-on-man (and woman-on-woman) battles are just as interesting as the parachuting cars. Especially Vin Diesel versus Jason Statham... Now that's what I call a proper finale! Otherwise, I also have to bow to the tricksters, because I thought Paul Walker was digital only at the very end, before that damn touching cut; and yet I saw in the "making of" that he was digital much earlier – and it had never even occurred to me.

Clooney's Hitchcockian take on the Coens, even down to the music by Bernard Herrmann... I mean, Alexandre Desplat. I knew absolutely nothing about the plot and thoroughly enjoyed all its twists and turns and surprising moments, waiting to see what would come of it all in the end. It turned out to be a great film. Definitely less comedic than I expected, but great.

Topaz isn't a completely bad film, but it's not a completely good film either. It's a strange film. Actually, it's such an honest-to-goodness spy flick that you can tell it's based on a novel, and it's crammed with so many characters that the main character frequently disappears from the film entirely for long stretches of time and you don't even find it weird. But the worst thing is that the film has no proper finale, climax, nothing at all. Hitchcock's direction saves the day, though, and the way he shoots all those scenes in which there is little or no talking, his imaginative shots, the chilling torture chamber scene, and Maurice Jarre's score make it quite watchable.

The more you like space and its conquest, the more you'll enjoy this series. It's a comedy first and foremost with a great cast (Steve Carell and John Malkovich are a pair I could watch for hours and hours), but on the other hand I was pleased to see that it's not all fun, that the characters have their more serious human moments as well, and that in addition to the laughs it also offers a story that develops nicely over time. As far as comedy goes, the second episode clearly stands out, which had me laughing from start to finish, but that doesn't mean I didn't have fun with the others. I'd ask for a second season as soon as possible.

It drags a bit, but the atmosphere is great, the viewers literally immerse themselves in the mind of the protagonist, and along with him are taken aback by what happens and dread what comes next. Clint Eastwood's typical cool directorial style was already evident in his debut, and I really resent him for the few jump scares because I was jumping in my seat.

By the end, when you think about what you've seen, you will realize it’s nothing more than a dozen crime stories in front of you. However, you will admire the delivery of it, the way the script plays with you and how thoroughly it confuses you. A little Agatha Christie, a little Hitchcock, sly fun... And perhaps a little longer than necessary.

It must be challenging to play Morricone, especially the best pieces that most people know from the original recordings, which can be hurt by even a slightly clumsy performance. Just like singing Morricone, whistling Morricone... But the Danes can do it. The music has the right swing in their performance, it sounds very authentic, you can see that the whole orchestra is having fun, and although it's quite the spectacle for the audience (there are gunshots, howling wind, etc.), it's definitely not an overblown show-off. It's still that great music that really sounds like the original, except perhaps in the mix of Once Upon a Time in the West, where mezzo-soprano Tuva Semmingsen just doesn't live up to the original Edda Dell'Orso. Then again, no one does. The song selection is fine, apart from the ones you might expect, I was pleased with The Untouchables and especially The Sicilian Clan, and the interspersing of Morricone with the works of other composers is also successful – Bernard Herrmann's Taxi Driver, Nino Rota's The Godfather, and, somewhat surprisingly, the song Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) are heard. I enjoyed the concert.

The episodes are few, and so it directly invites you to watch them all in quick succession. But this might be a mistake, as Catherine the Great will then quite possibly lack the pacing with which it has been split up. Indeed, each episode is pretty much about the same thing, all leading up to the final thought, and as a four-hour film it will probably drag. However, the series is very good, the excellent cast (the downright incredible Helen Mirren was a sure thing for me, and Jason Clarke once again surprised, delighted, and entertained me beyond belief) and the stylish production design. The accusations of historical inaccuracies regarding the ages of the representatives of Catherine and Potemkin are, fortunately, beyond me.

I could have imagined that the Ypsilon Theater and Kafka would go well together. But that even tricks like Karel Zeman's, fantastic sets by Jaroslav Róna combined with all sorts of real interiors, and the orchestral-electronic music by Michal Dvořák and David Koller would suit the subject so well... let’s just say I was more than pleasantly surprised. The film is almost amazing; it does drag a bit in places, but the slower pace is always saved by the actors, led by the impeccable Jiří Lábus (when his character disappears from the plot, America starts missing something important). Unlike some fellow viewers, however, I don't think the ending is a happy ending at all. But maybe I'm wrong. Who knows – after all, it's Ypsilon's Kafka.