Bridge of Spies

Lemonade Steven, or craft certainty. Yet even that can't deny the fact that Spielberg is stealing from himself, and as much as he wants to talk about strong ideas, he still comes out with kitsch that transgresses his "self-genre" boundaries. It's a great watch, and likely a few conservatives who will seem to step out of their conformist zone will give it a few awards, but the next day all I remember is the sheer coldness. What literally sticks out in some of the dialogue is the fact that the Coen brothers would have loved to have made it with a much greater degree of cynicism. (14/12/2015)

"Frankly, everyone else wants to put you in the electric chair." - "Ok." - "You don't look worried." - "Would that help?" Nobody makes movies like Steven Spielberg. The feeling of each shot being so eerily elaborate, yet looking so simple. The combining of ordinary human stories with extraordinary ones. The art of lightening dramatic moments with subtle humor without in any way demeaning them. In short, precision, perfection. And those memorable scenes (of all kinds) - the opening surveillance and arrest, the judge tying his bow tie, Powers' shooting down, the building of the Berlin Wall, the bargaining at the Soviet embassy, the breathtaking handover on the Glienitz Bridge... But, of course, all this is also a credit to the Coen brothers' script, Janusz Kamiński's cinematography and the actors. The fantastic Tom Hanks properly enjoys his "hardy man", and the unassuming Mark Rylance is no worse. I also really liked Thomas Newman's score - if he blew off Spectre for Bridge of Spies, I'm happy to forgive him for the bland Bond film. (15/12/2015)

The most characteristic Steven Spielberg film in decades. No side is black and white, the main character played by the perfect Tom Hanks has increasingly clear human motivations amidst a thickening plot, and the technical aspects of the pivotal scenes (the plane, the wall, and ultimately all of Berlin) is so close and formally perfect that it takes your breath away. Despite the generous running time, you never get a moment to catch your breath, and every plot twist or complication forces me to spin my brain over and over again and think about how to maneuver out of the situation at hand. And that's where my only, yet all-encompassing, criticism is directed. Everything turns out exactly as I expected without knowledge of the given historical events. The painfully contemporary message reaches the viewer impressively, but there remains a feeling of being a bit shortchanged, which Steven brought on himself. In his hands, such a topic could not go wrong, but despite its formal perfection, it could have turned out even more sincerely. (01/12/2015)

I must admit that I was a little sceptic about this movie. Personally, I don’t find the topic of espionage in the 1950s particularly suspenseful, but I was keeping in mind that Spielberg and Hanks were responsible for this and I shouldn’t have doubted them in the first place. I couldn’t have been happier after watching this and I must add that it’s one of the best movies that made it to Oscars this year. The story is absolutely natural and it’s really befitting the Cold War. Tom Hanks is a classic, but everybody is outshined by Mark Rylance whom I didn’t even known before, but now I know that I won’t forget about him. The only issue was the music, which was too American and it could do without all those emotions. The ending is a little too exaggerated, which doesn’t have to suit anyone. I was pissed, but it still didn’t make me take away a star; I’ve enjoyed this movie way too much for that over these two hours and a half. (28/02/2016)

As soon as I saw only old people in the cinema, I knew I wouldn't be the target audience. It's nicely directed and fairly intelligently written, Tom Hanks is excellent and occasionally pulls off a joke, but I can't speak more highly of it. What bothered me was that we don’t get any courtroom stuff, the running is excessive and it’s not very entertaining. Catch Me If You Can, for example, was also just a long conversation, but it had a better paced and a much more powerful and entertaining effect on the viewer. With Bridge of Spies, I was more interested in when the ending would be than how the film would end, and I suppose that's wrong. I don't regret going to the cinema, it had its light moments (the plane crash, the conversation in Berlin), but it didn't pull me in. Strong three stars. 70%. (08/12/2015)