DaViD´82

A movie unworthy of Austin Powers’ quality and potential... The beginning is excellent, takes of well, but then old jokes from the preceding parts begin to get recycled and that just isn’t funny anymore. Proof that you can’t make an entire movie with just two or three hilarious sketches as a foundation. Unfortunately, not the usually charismatic Mike Myers has any chance of pulling this off.

A feeling of déjà vu over and over again. A great idea of combining a criminal thriller about a detective caught in a time loop, when one day repeats itself over and over, again and again and... again and again. It’s hard not to compare the result to a mixture of The Fugitive and Groundhog Day. This series has solid pace, the time games are pretty well thought-out, but the whole thing lacks suspense. It just sort of “happens", it’s good to watch, but not to enthuse about. Thanks to not being successful with viewers, they stopped broadcasting this series sooner than planned and the rest played out on ABC’s website.

A run-of-the-mill movie with an uninteresting story. If it weren’t for that phenomenal creature Miranda Priestly - played by Meryl Streep who obviously really enjoyed herself - then you would most likely forget everything you see in this movie immediately. A harmless and inoffensive movie that, thanks to Streep, gives the impression of being something a little more than a mere romantic comedy about how an American girl learns the right moral values. If the picture had been all about Miranda instead, it could have been excellent.

In all respects an average picture for young kids which, thanks to the “action" scenes and it being relatively short, can be lived through relatively problem free. Only the parts with the wasps are any good. The rest is a harmless or even uninteresting kids’ movie with a very forced lesson at the end. The third * is for the experience I had with the IMAX 3D version which clearly demonstrates what potential the future of movies holds in store.

If Children of Men didn’t have such a simple plot, there wouldn’t be anything to reproach it for. The plot wouldn’t even be a problem, but the end result is merely a patchwork of a bunch of incredibly intense scenes that don't seem particularly consistent as a whole. Even without the long takes, Children of Men would be worth seeing. However, the scenes are there, and they constitute the proverbial icing on the cake, which elevates Children to a clear "must see" affair that we haven’t been treated to in our movie theaters for a long time. And probably won't for a long time to come.

Journey to the West seemed rather weird to me (or, even, very weird) when I saw it as a child. It is complete nonsense, but for some mysterious reason I liked to watch it, over and over. It wasn't until years later that I figured out what the magic of Journey to the West consisted of. It gave me the realization that it's better to watch something outrageously stupid which you enjoy (even at the creators' expense) than a thousand and one uninterestingly mediocre variations of the same thing.

Funny, intelligent, pleasantly paced, well acted, and scored with a magnificent soundtrack. While being an indie, it is accessible to everyone. In addition, it has a large dose of gradually built up sympathy for the individual characters, so in the end you care about them and have a hard time saying goodbye to them... Everything is as it should be and, moreover, in above-standard quality. UPDATE: After Little Miss Sunshine, you will be left with such a great feeling of well-being for much longer than after seeing any other picture recently, and the second viewing has the same effect. That's why I'm adding another *.

Aslan, a witch, a bunch of rascals, some animals, and Santa Claus dealing out weapons... The old TV series adaptation is much better. Unfortunately, this is well-made only in technical terms (but not excellent), without a hint of ideas or invention. It’s boring, and if it weren't for the soundtrack and Tilda Swinton, it would be hard to watch to the end. The naivety of the story can hardly be blamed on the filmmakers, because it is already present to a much greater extent in the original book. But they can be reproached for the casting of the child actors. The children are absolutely unbearable, and some of them (or all?) you truly want to kill. The whole thing looks like perfectly standard consumerist and harmless family-friendly (in the bad sense of the term) Hallmark entertainment.

A very well-made picture, brought down mainly by the actors. Not that their acting is bad, quite the opposite, most of the performances are above their usual standard, but the casting could certainly have been better. Mainly Lestat (but I have almost nothing against Cruise) completely lacks the aura of charisma that the book gives him. The only one who manages to get under your skin with her acting is “young" Claudia, played by the splendid Kirsten Dunst. The adaptation went well, but all that remains are nice illustrations of the book, because they left out its philosophical level. Absolutely completely. Which, considering the whole story, atmosphere and message is founded on it, is rather a serious shortcoming.

This movie follows the fates of nine hostages who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The series focuses mainly on the characters after a failed robbery, therefore primarily on how this experience changed them and what it has meant for their hitherto lives. Amongst the mass of shocking, adrenaline series where each episode contains one twist after another, The Nine is a pleasant, old fashioned glint of refreshing light and a return to traditional television form. The problem is that of the nine main protagonists, barely half of them are at all interesting and the actors themselves are not overly convincing. Solid TV average which, unlike other series from ABC, certainly hasn’t got the ingredients to help it become a household name.