3DD!3

Maybe it’s because meanwhile I’ve read the comic book original, but the sequel is much weaker than part one. For one thing, Jeff Wadlow comes nowhere near Vaughn. His directing is erratic and lacks invention. The story diverges from the comic book in the most interesting passages, while it sticks quite faithfully to the less interesting parts. Chloë Moretz is fine, unfortunately she’s grown a little too old and I simply can’t see the well-behaved, sweet little girl in her anymore. Most of the time the poor girl is hanging around in High School Musical mode and not only is it boring, it doesn’t lead anywhere. Christopher Mintz-Plasse is annoying, completely inappropriate as a bad guy and even Iain Glen who appeared on screen only for about a minute easily outplayed him. And the best characters - Carrey and Leguizamo are given too little space. The action is decent, but in places more distasteful than plain bloody entertainment. The cuts between dramatic and entertaining scenes are about as smooth as a slap in the face. Why am I even giving it 3 stars?

It’s fine to see Hanks acting again, even though in the second half he is more like an extra. Although this nerve-racking voyage loses tension a little in the slower, middle section, this is a minor flaw on an otherwise thrilling depiction of past events. This time Greengrass makes excellent use of the camera - shaky Somali vs. calm Yankee-Irish style. Wonderfully heated confrontations, the Somalis are great to a man and the movie is just dripping with authenticity. The finale where the US Navy arrive is a heavy-caliber military display (even my better half acknowledged the majestic beauty of the warships). Greengrass has certainly made more charged and even better movies, but it didn’t receive that stamp of humanity until Hanks got involved. If it weren’t for United 93, I would give it full marks.

Machete is back and making fun of old Bond movies. The motivation of the main protagonist is basically the same as in the first movie, the same goes for the locations. Even Danny Trejo is the same. Rodriguez follows loosely on the first movie and prepares the ground for the grand finale that we see at the end. The array of stars is colorful, but the one that stands out the most is the schizo dictator Demián Bichir who is responsible for most of the twists in the movie. Mel Gibson rather strangely underplays his role of the megalomaniac bad guy and Carlos Estevez as President Rathcock goes down in history as one of the most capable presidents of the silver screen. The action keeps on coming, even though in places it’s a bit repetitive, but mainly it has the unmistakable atmosphere of total mayhem. Bring on the part three!

Pilot: I mainly have positive feelings about this. A dream come true for Asimov robot book fans. AH bases it on “The Caves of Steel", regurgitating it in his own way. Then he adds a bit of Blade Runner, then some Judge Dredd, then a bit of Smith’s I, Robot and we have a lovely cocktail for TV to thrill the sci-fi lover’s heart. With any luck it will maintain the quality of the first episode and not be afraid to go further than the competition. This team certainly has it in it.

A tense, heavy drama and also a perfect detective movie about searching for two kidnapped girls. Villeneuve directs with a sure hand, squeezing the maximum out of the actors. The atmosphere is perfect, almost like the Scandinavian detective series that are so popular right now, but it has that American abnormality and disregard in it. Jackman has never acted better, Gyllenhaal is just awesome and even Paul Dano who just plays a swollen, blood-shot eye for the second half of the movie, is excellent. The viewer has no idea till almost the very end, the twists mount up, decisions are ever more desperate and the clock is ticking. If it weren’t for a couple of places where the movie starts running on the spot the fill time, I would give full marks.

Taylor doesn’t manage to balance the dramatic and comedy levels and so the viewer goes from the brink of tears to dumb giggling in the course of a minute. I know this because I was sitting next to a zitty nerd and I saw moments of total fascination alternate with obscene whooping. It lacks a sense of gradation because the picture gets to its peak in the middle, the beginning is a little slow and the ending is simply too cursory (after the battle in London). Otherwise, the second Thor is meant to sell the wider Marvel universe, to explain, introduce and amaze, which it does. It has no hesitation in piling on sweeping scenes where nothing less than the fate of that universe is at stake. Between its annihilation and the villain stand a bunch of incompetent scientists, a muscleman with a hammer and a pathological liar/fraudster/mass murderer. The most entertaining of those is the last named. Yes, Loki rules again (literally) and steals the scenes he appears in. Asgard is presented in its full glory at last, as well as others of the nine worlds on that tree or whatever it is. Evil elves are great baddies, with very novel firearms and effective grenades. Fights galore, even if a firmer hand and more ideas would have been great. Poor Natalie ended up with definitely the dumbest character (probably as the antithesis of God) and however much her dress suits her, that is the only upside that can be claimed. The post credits scene is linked strongly to The Collector, especially in the remarks appearing in discussions. Great things are planned and the world of the Guardians of the Galaxy looks really weird and even inviting. I’m sincerely curious. P.S.: The Capo’s cameo is one of his best. God bless Ameri...

A crying shame that the movie poster spills the beans about finale. A pleasant feet-up movie with a needlessly complicated screenplay, slightly above-average. Nothing more, nothing less. I did find myself nodding off at times. P.S.: And I did forget one thing about this, the most important thing in fact: Paula Patton topless.

Wright, Pegg and Frost are back and in excellent form, this time in a beer-drinkers’ sci-fi about the threat of technology taking over. Almost non-stop situation gags, the action looks like a typical bar fight, crossed with kung-fu. The special effects are excellent, the story gets you thinking. Welcome to the end of the world!

The expression "laying cable" gains a completely new dimension. :D An excellent documentary on a topic that always fascinated me. A pleasant hour in the company of World Information Systems. ...up to ten dollars a word. Remember that next time you pay your phone bill!

They filmed it right. It could have been done a tad better - more desolate, but even so it’s a breath of fresh air among the sci-fi fantasies of recent times. The spirit of Card’s book was maintained, meaning some truncation and slight speeding up, but this helps the story. Hood is clearly a fan and does his very best. Visually, Ender’s Game glitters like an A-movie blockbuster, but the plot is more profound than theater audiences are used to and a lot of them will leave the theater feeling they’ve been robbed. They won’t understand the ingenious ending or they won’t like it. Perfect build-up in battles, not a boring movie and gallons of emotion can be squeezed out of the graduation. The casting is marvelous, especially the kids and Asa Butterfield has no problem selling her character to the viewer. Maybe they should have chosen a bigger fanatic than Ford. Jablonsky again serves up marvelous themes. I wonder if he record furniture.