Malarkey

After watching this movie I realized how hard modern romantic movies have it. Then, all it took was one smile of Audrey Hepburn and you were on your way to the movie of the year. Nowadays, the more original the movie with a punchline larger than Beverly Hills, the fewer reasons we have to immediately forget it. But here, I enjoyed more Audreyʼs cat than Audrey herself and since she acted like a douche towards it near the end of the movie, I give Breakfast at Tiffanyʼs three stars.

It is clear to me what the creators wanted to build the whole story on. James White was supposed to disgust us with his behavior initially, so that we would feel sorry for him in the end. And he got away with it. The story is about him, but the main point of the story is his sick mom. Furthermore, there are very solid acting performances but also a series of nonsensical acts from James who copes with his mother’s illness in his own way. An interesting movie that proves mainly that Christopher Abbott is a very skillful actor and we can probably expect a lot from him.

A Spanish director decided to introduce us to one very difficult day in the Balkans and he got an international cast that is actually flawless. On top of that, all of the Balkans were immortalized in his native Spain and you cannot tell at all. A Perfect Day is simply a great movie. It shows again how meaningless the war in the Balkans was. Watching it reminded me of the movie No Mans Land, which has a similar message. The difference is that this movie approaches the situation from the point of view of the UN. I wonder if it is a coincidence that Benicio Del Toro managed to surprise me so nicely twice in the same year. You will not see such ordinary, genuine, but at the same time strongly human performances just anywhere. The Balkans are probably a magnet for similar stories.

Another French small-scale movie that took inspiration from Amélie but at the same time, it is holding itself back a bit. Everything else is compensated by the idea which a normally thinking person could never come up with. And all that is left is for Benoît Poelvoorde to finish the rest, and suddenly you have sowed the seeds of the most interesting and original French comedy of the modern time. Personally, I have to say that Benoît convinced me after a series of movies that he is one of the best European actors of today. It’s a pity that his character here is bad rather than funny. In any case, the film itself is definitely worth watching. The Brand New Testament is capable of surprising you more than once and of captivating you with its world.

“This one can do this, that one can do that and all together they are doing much.” – The Czech Christmas classic.

The Finnish have a gift among their Scandinavian brothers. To write uncompromising, cynic comedies that contain absolutely brilliant humor, and on top of that, a bit of truth. The Grump is one of those and I have to say that the music of Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson only added to its uniqueness and thus created a really great movie, from which I would maybe cut a few scenes so that it wouldn’t be so long. But otherwise it‘s a great movie.

What if we… hahaha… played… hahaha… for souls?!

A model of current American comedy capitalizing on humor that is based on alcohol and drugs 90% of the time. Some scenes are definitely great, but we have seen most a thousand times before. Nothing groundbreaking. However, I have a feeling that when one day somebody evaluates these comedies, the scene of a completely wasted Seth Rogen in a church will end up in the first place. I have a feeling that I will never see something similar again and I will have to wait God knows how long until somebody comes up with something even more terrible… if at all.

I contemplated why I shouldn’t give this movie five stars. It may give you the feeling of being seen a hundred times but if it keeps you in suspense for almost the whole movie, it is proof of quality. I would certainly also praise the premise, which appeared to be another one of the hyper-modern techno thrillers from the world of money initially only for it to become a completely simple and straightforward suspenseful movie that reminded me for the full one hour and a half of Phone Booth by Joel Schumacher. But it reminded me of it only because I couldn’t tear myself away from the TV. And if that’s the case, what other thriller deserves a better rating than this one?

Under different circumstances, this would be an absolutely solid thriller that kills the good premise by actually taking place in Nicole Kidmanʼs head and everyone else looks as if they were some extras. At the same time, you keep hoping that the movie will not be futile and will at least offer a solid set. But after watching, you realize that wasn’t really the case. Rather it will seem to you that the whole story actually selfishly took place on the sofa in Nicoleʼs flat. However, it deserves the fourth star for the final scene, which keeps you on tenterhooks, and mainly for Sean Penn. That’s mainly thanks to the finale which showed once again how great and honest actor he is.