Malarkey

A strange piece of existentialism, where for the better part of the film nothing happens. You observe various characters who are supposed to make you feel that they are the genuine selection of the Polish characteristics of human thinking plus it is set in the typical Eastern setting, where there is a shortage of everything except vodka. It certainly is interesting when it comes to discovering the Polish socialist soul, however, from the filmmaking point of view, it is hard to finish the film without getting drunk just from the amount of vodka that is being consumed in it.

A typical romantic comedy with atypical premise. I think that is what every new romcom needs today to get the audience’s attention. However, for me it lacked the humor part. Although Franck Dubosc tried his best, and in some scenes, it is really apparent, I did not really get the humor. At least the film is partly saved by the romantic atmosphere, however, as the viewer knows it is created out of a horrible lie, I did not really have a reason to root for it.

It’s not really horribly bad. There is nothing entirely illogical, nor any extremely cheap effects. Rather it’s just an example of a badly filmed horror film. There is no atmosphere, it is boring, everything in it is extremely annoying. The only plus side is Joey King, who, as typical for horror films, completely overacts, but she at least manages to entertain.

This kind of dramedy can be filmed only by the Italians. Only they have the kind of personalities that I haven’t encountered anywhere else in Europe. Either shouting, aggressive men who get annoyed by a speck of dust on a windowsill, or shrieking, crazy, suntanned women, who have an opinion about everything and would fight you to death if you contradicted them. In this case, you won’t meet the men but as for the women… you have to get ready for that. One of them is exactly the type of Italian woman I have described and the other one would be as well, if she wasn’t mentally devastated. It took me a while to get used to those characters but in the end I have to admit that during the road trip drama I was not bored at all, quite the contrary. A typical Italian drama portraying the lives of the locals.

Over the course of eight years, I did not see this ending coming. I don’t know if I am more disappointed or angry. When I think about everything I have lived through with this show, I wish that at least one storyline had a better ending than that prepared by HBO scriptwriters. At the same time, I feel that this season is completely different from all the previous ones. Sure, when it comes to technologies, the best episode is the penultimate one and the last of the final battles. In contrary to that, the battle with the white walkers was quite a fiasco, I still cannot understand why it was so dark. Even the behavior of almost all characters is completely unreasonable. They reach some sort of catharsis only to go back to all the things they have spent the whole seven seasons learning from? Seriously? And the ending? I’m not sure if it was supposed to lighten the mood, but the angrier I got, the more I did not understand all those wannabe funny moments, which in the last episode made me want to punch the person who created them. It feels like they just spent eight years making fun of us. I remember that years ago I was really into Lost, which was as intricate and complicated as Game of Thrones. Even there the last episode was really stupid, but over the time I have grown to accept it. I doubt it will be the same with this one.

Sandra Bullock and Zoe Kazan have made this, at times mediocre, film into something that is fun to watch. I remember mostly Sandra’s bare butt plus nice views of Bolivia and La Paz.

I am not really aware of the number of biopics that appear like the usual biopic but simultaneously feature actors from the given background who actually play themselves. It is a strange combination of reality and filmmaking craft, which is possible because the story is still fairly topical. The authors made great casting choices so the film was a pleasure to watch. Florence Pugh was phenomenal in the leading role and her parents played by Lena Heady and Nick Frost were so amazing that their lines should be put in some Bible of catchphrases.

Jiří Strach chose a great psychological theme and together with the quality filmmaking it even overcame the fact that I am not really a fan of Jiřina Bohdalová after her political escapades, which would probably even involve shaking hands with Gustav Husák, if he were still alive. She performed excellently in this film and was complemented by Kryštof Hádek, although I have had higher expectations for his performance than for Bohdalová’s. The cute Kryštof has demonstrated what a great actor he is, and I have to admit that at times he was really scary. I have had a bit of an issue with how he, spoiler alert, in one scene suddenly changed into the good and mature one. Nevertheless, he left a great impression. A nice psychological small-scale film and another proof that this director can make even a TV film into a great experience.

Hats off, it takes guts to shoot a film like this one. While Will Smith is a great choice for this role, this world was so crazy that it took me a while to accept that elves, ogres and god-knows-what exist in our real world. Somehow, for me, the Middle Ages would be a better fit for that than our time. However, I have to pay tribute to the creators. To shoot a film like this and not fall among the B-listed is a real challenge.

I love these films where a character’s life turns upside down after discovering something new, undiscovered until then. Kelly Macdonald as Agnes is a total outsider, destroyed by herfamily life, who does not even want to live and just survives. She suddenly discovers puzzle and her life turns upside down, which is great, as she finally starts to realize that life isn’t just about making sacrifices for someone else. Agnes’s husband was an exemplary American boor. He was not really mean, but he always had his sixpack at hand and with that hisself-centered world views that there is nothing more important than that sixpack. The word redneck doesn’t even begin to cover it. It’s a pity that Agnes did not express emotions just a little bit more. I’ve spent the whole film thinking how happy I am for the turn in her life and that I would obviously award it 5 stars. Towards the end, however, I grew annoyed by her behavior, so we finished on nice 4 stars. A small-scale American film with a strong dramatic story that could happen to anyone of us.