Kaka

Brian Helgeland should stick to writing scripts, because when he's behind the camera, his films have no drive and the result is bland. And that is doubly unfortunate for a retro gangster movie like this, as the form is OK, there aren’t life wisdom and truths, and there’s even less Chazz Palminteri, and the film's plot structure is just there because it has to be. Otherwise, it's Tom Hardy's one-man-show, and a very brilliant one at that. If I wanted to watch an appetiser and a main course in one night, I'd go with Legend and maybe Goodfellas.

An interesting post apocalyptic relationship drama where Margot Robbie acts as if for dear life and the director makes do with a minimalist atmosphere, a few shots of wooded mountains, and a script that has a lot to offer and thankfully doesn't half-ass any of its plot premises. This approach to the viewer is not usual and is certainly worth appreciating. Pity about the slower pace and a few unnecessarily dead passages.

A pretty decent production by Czech standards, but lacking a clearer script, a more vigorous directorial hand and drive. At times, the attempt to be as naturally cool as possible and throw one thing after another at the viewer is too obvious and doesn't work. And it also feels too much like a TV movie. But all things considered, it's a quite entertaining parody and Hynek Čermák downright enjoys the lead role. But only Vlastina Svátková reminds us of Hollywood with her charm.

In Rush, it doesn't really matter which character you sympathise with, because you understand the attitudes, opinions and motivations of both, they just take different paths. With Man on a Rope, you sympathise with no one, or rather you don't understand the motivations of the main or secondary characters (comparissons are warranted given the strong will of the protagonists to prove "something" at any cost). Thus, the viewer cannot get into them and finds them completely flat and uninteresting. With the film's concept and cheap means of expression (for today's times), Robert Zemeckis is stuck somewhere 20 years back, only he didn't understand that times are moving inexorably forward and there have been plenty of attempts like this, though in a less visually sophisticated way. So much untapped acting potential (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Kingsley), and so many unnecessarily obvious screenwriting crutches and underdevelopment – the biggest failure of A-list Hollywood this year. Forrest Gump was heartfelt, this may be just about heartfelt for the Yanks, but for the normally minded viewer it's just a showcase for effects masters. Otherwise it's a load of bullshit, unnecessary tears and pathos.

A duel of filmmaking aces and a terrific portrayal of the relationship entanglements of a lower-middle-class family with all the downsides you can imagine. Fortunately, Michael Caton-Jones is also a solid craftsman, but that's not really the point here. He works with the actors on a couple of meters, and handles that admirably. As the film progresses, the characters become more and more likeable and emotional; they are are unusually plastic and not only the main ones!

Here we can compare the work of Atom Egoyan and Denis Villeneuve. An underdeveloped screenplay that, while offering plenty of interesting scenes and passages of dialogue, oddly jumps around in the timelines and doesn't allow the viewer to improvise and make assumptions, or even to leaf through the exuberant content, as it's opaque. And, unfortunately, it is also not half as atmospheric (lacking camera work, music, lighting) as Prisoners, an element that accounted for 50 percent of the success that film last year. All in all, Captive is a class below, but still decent filmmaking. The most enjoyable is again the expressive Ryan Reynolds, who just knows how to put himself in these roles.

This is exactly the kind of directness without digressions and unnecessary puffing, solutions and polemics over bullshit I wanted from Interstellar, and didn't get. As brilliant a filmmaker as Christopher Nolan is, he still has a lot to learn from Ridley Scott's sophistication and experience over all these years. My only complaint is the downplaying, or perhaps neglecting, of pretty crucial things – the drastic cuts across the timeline – probably necessary to prevent the running time from swelling. Associated to that is the lack of dramatic personal transformation, the suspiciously consistent mental and physical state of the protagonist, the very sporadic depiction of climatic hell on the planet, etc. The protagonist commands most the attention from beginning to end, but the charisma is there, in the tried and tested sky crew (Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain).

The street brawls are a bit too wild and out of touch with reality, but those British gangs and rowdy youths are evil, and Daniel Barber manages to capture it quite atmospherically and believably in the smaller passages. Michael Caine doesn't fail either, appearing on the surface more affable than the morose Clint Eastwood, but either one or the other suits the viewer. They aren’t bad, but the explicit and uncompromising violence is more entertaining, and its highlight is the terrific scene in the drug den, which is downright chilling, well shot and acted. Too bad about the overacting characterful policewoman and the sentimentality, but it's bearable, and it does say said what it wanted to say.

The biggest advantage is that you will definitely like several characters during the initial introduction. It could be the charismatic Jason Clarke, who finally steps into a proper role and may he be forgiven for failing as the Terminator. It could be Jake Gyllenhaal, or perhaps the confident Josh Brolin. And Emily Watson and others are certainly worth mentioning. In short, Baltasar Kormákur starts with an interesting conversation in the camp, which has some great scenes that he subtly crosses with panoramas of the highest massifs. The climb itself is not nearly as popcorn-y as it might seem. Death is quick, quiet and with almost no music. The emotion is mostly due to the intimate scenes and the audiovisually captivating shots of the mountains in all sorts of styles from all sorts of angles – at times it feels like a rip-off of the best of National Geographic. Surprisingly, this makes for a nice departure from the likes of Vertical Limit. Everything is sober, very realistic within limits and visually captivating.

Heavy paranoia in a film completely different from the mainstream, both in the management of the actors, the grouping of the mise-en-scene and the concept of the script (the unpredictability!). The calm before the storm is impressive though extremely viewer-unfriendly (I would compare it to something along the lines of nails scratching a blackboard). It’s completely out of time and space, and thanks to the small-town redneck feel at every turn, you don't know if the film is set in the present day or 20 years ago. An interesting low-budget film and Michael Shannon is a first-rate psychopath.