gudaulin

This modern fairy tale story set in the backdrop of an American small town in the late 1950s and early 1960s is a perfect example of Tim Burton's work. As he originally started as an animator, the inspiration from animated films is more than evident. His Edward is a living puppet in the style of Pinocchio, to which he adapted Johnny Depp and his character's performance - his facial expressions are minimal, and his movements are jerky - at least until his time among the town's residents humanizes him. The method of animated film is also used to construct and bring to life a mysterious house of a genius scientist with plenty of absurd inventions. Even the brightly colored facades of the endlessly stretching family houses resemble the animated film's drawn backgrounds. Edward Scissorhands is also a touching story about unfulfilled love, which is strong enough to overcome the character's different appearance, behavior, and physical deformities, but powerless against societal prejudices, manipulations, and human hatred. Finally, Burton's film is a bitter satire on the small-town American society that is easily manipulated and excessively conformist. Edward Scissorhands has a refined visual style, a strong story, an excellent cast, and great direction. It is a film that doesn't age. Overall impression: 95%.

Unfortunately, I am disappointed, although thanks to the generous budget and the resulting set design, there is still something to see here. Given the choice of exteriors, lighting, and music motifs, there can still be talk of a mysterious atmosphere, but anyone who knows the comic book source material must necessarily be disappointed. Due to shortcomings in the script, problematic portrayal of some characters, and mediocre direction, only an average film was created, which originally had greater ambitions. Although Johnny Depp is an excellent actor, this time he had a weaker moment, and even his presence could not mask the failure of the overall concept of the film. There is no need to elaborate further, as my arguments would only repeat the criticisms of others. Overall impression 50%.

A studio fairy tale that lacks absolutely everything, including a fairy tale atmosphere. Director Troška (and I agree with this gentleman very rarely) correctly points out that for a classic fairy tale to work, it should be set at least in Rococo settings (with the exception of a few, mostly comedic fairy tales). A modern fairy tale, on the other hand, requires a truly imaginative and clever screenplay, which this film seriously lacks. Overall impression: 25%.

A very decent, significantly above-average action crime film, which narrowly missed out on earning five stars. Charismatic characters, a thrilling story with intense scenes and unexpected twists, and an excellent cast led by Al Pacino and Robert De Niro with the corresponding performances. Unlike many genre-related films, Heat stands out with a decent script that reveals and develops the psychology of its characters. The wild shootout during the bank heist is a premature climax of the film. What bothered me was the ending, where the experienced gang leader McCauley makes a rookie mistake completely contrary to the thinking and actions of his character. Overall impression: 85%.

The way I like Woody Allen best, i.e., by giving us a conversational tragicomedy dissecting family and romantic relationships. He writes and directs about love, jealousy, rivalry, infidelity, ambitions, regrets, and many other feelings and phenomena that surround us. He relies on excellent actors, to whom he gives believable and high-quality dialogues. His characters are not mere templates and are flesh and blood people who can hold the viewer's interest until the end. The screenplay is lightened with a long series of jokes, Allen traditionally undermines all possible authorities and values ("Child molestation is a touchy subject..., We nev-- We don't name names! We say the Pope."). He doesn't spare himself either, as his hypochondriac television director Mickey is a perfect parody of himself. The positive tone of the film is important - its characters find their way to each other despite all the mishaps and can maintain and expand their family without an overload of pathos, cheap sentiment, and moral speeches so common in American family films. It is a seemingly inconspicuous but all the more impressive film about people and their values. As he has done several times before, Allen divided his film into a series of chapters, separated by headings. And just like before, he couldn't resist framing his two great loves - jazz and New York - in the film. Overall impression: 95%.

Pavel Koutský is probably a follower of the proverb that if you don't do it yourself, you simply DON'T HAVE it, so he embarked on a personal film project on a topic that everyone comes into contact with, everyone has an opinion on, and everyone thinks they understand - school and education. Given the above, he wrote the screenplay himself, drew, animated, and directed it himself. The result is a dynamic and imaginative film that laid the foundation for Koutský's current position in the field of Czech animation. Koutský works magic with letters, numbers, chemical formulas, and artifacts from other subjects, amusingly conveying that all of this may come in handy when you sit down at the table and start crafting your own resume. Overall impression: 90%.

A studio fairy tale that, despite its simple sets, black-and-white picture, and lack of special effects, remains watchable today thanks to its humor and the cast's performances. Overall impression: 55%.

This, probably the most famous film by the top Estonian animator and artist Priit Pärn, bears all the typical characteristics of his work - influenced by surrealism, a combination of artistic styles, experimentation with techniques, and an ironic to sarcastic tone in the message. Two hotel rooms represent a saturated Western society and a communist society experiencing scarcity. They are separated by a door, which one day opens. When the visitors from the dark neighboring room start to overwhelm the occupants of the colorful, luxury room, they give its occupants a worthless trinket and simply lock the door... Due to the fast pace, switching of images, and abstract expression used in experimental animation, it is recommended to see Hotel E several times. It is one of the fundamental works of modern animation, more suitable for animation enthusiasts rather than average consumers of animated family films. Overall impression: 100%.

This is proof that the Russians have not forgotten about animation and can produce feature-length animated films at a very decent craftsmanship level. The world of medieval German Hanseatic cities, where Wilhelm Hauff placed his stories, romantic nature, dark witches, is all beautifully drawn and animated. The creators played with the script, added a number of small jokes, so that for children, the time will fly by with a very reasonable runtime for the film. I just have to sigh about the issue of......... globalization - unfortunately, the whole thing strongly resembles an American Disney production, not only in terms of artistry but also with sentimental songs that interrupt the storytelling. Overall impression 75%.

An archival matter today, this is a television studio fairy tale based on a folk legend about a fearless vagabond, starring Pavel Landovský in the lead role. His robust acting has its limits, the quality of the black-and-white material is mediocre, and the set design is modest. Overall impression: 35%.