3DD!3

Pixar has a knack for making movies for all people of any nationality, age, and gender. Finding Nemo is just such a movie. It will awaken in you the love of fish small and large. It can make you laugh, but it can also make you cry. The story of a clownfish named Marlin looking for his young son, Nemo, hides an incredible string of surprises, jokes, and emotions. The journey from the coral reef to Sydney leads through a lot of breathtaking obstacles and even more sea creatures, each of which is unique. Whether they’re sharks, turtles, or gulls, they all have an irreplaceable place in the story. Thomas Newman's excellent music adds depth to all this and fits beautifully into the blue world beneath the surface. And the animation is the proverbial icing on the cake that makes you watch and marvel at the precision of every detail. All we have to do is put this DVD/VHS in the player and go on a long pilgrimage, getting carried away by a stream of good fun, together with Marlin, Dory, Nemo, Bruce, Gill, Star, Nigel, Crasher and many others. "Fish are friends, not food."

Emmerich is a megalomaniac and I must admit that I rather enjoy watching his destruction of our Mother Earth. Because this usually concerns the USA (very satisfying), and this time round more precisely it was New York where he let that famous lizard reap havoc. But what is the point of all that destruction and breathtaking special effects if the picture doesn’t come out with anything new? Nick Tatopoulos is the spitting image of Daniel Jackson from Emmerich’s previous work, Stargate, and we even come across O'Neill here, now demoted to sergeant, but I think you know what I’m getting at. And it’s the same with the entire story which, despite being nice to look at, continues in the same old rut that we have seen a million times before. So, thanks to the excellent special effects and Jean Reno, Godzilla is a relaxing movie where you can see another of Emmerich’s many ways of “How to Destroy America". Nothing more, nothing less. And what about the end? I’m sincerely intrigued to see if anybody lets themselves be talked into filming Godzilla 2. They should jump at the opportunity. Or rather not? ;)

Great - a combination of humor, action and great ideas that places MiB far above the average. Will Smith in the role of agent Jay at last has found his place amongst the Hollywood elite and of course Tommy Lee Jones in the role of agent Kay has reinforced his position. The best part of the story is probably the first half hour when Edwards (Smith) is subjected to a series of “simple" tests. I must mention the excellent villain, Vincent D'Onofrio, who really seems like he’s trapped inside an Edgar suit under layers of make-up and latex. When I was younger, MiB (also thanks to the wonderful dubbing) immediately became my favorite movie. I can recite lines from the movie to this day. So therefore 5*. Jeebs: Hiya, Kay. How are you? Kay: Show him the imports right now! Jeebs: Yeah... I got out of that business a long time ago. Kay: Why do you lie to me Jeebs? I hate it when you lie. Jeebs: Now, just hold on a second... Kay: I'm gonna count to three. Edwards: He'll do it, Jeebs. Kay: One. Edwards: I'm telling you, that man does not look stable. Kay: Two. Edwards You know what? Talk to me; he... he’s just crazy when he's like this. Jeebs: He's always crazy. Why don't you get a massage? Take a cruise. Kay: Three.

But there’s almost no story. Without the funny scenes, that excellent pair Jones & Smith, Frank and the worms, it would be a complete crock. In terms of special effects, MIIBis of course perfect (Spielberg made sure of that), but no amount of tricks can make up for a screenplay full of plotholes. And MiB had so much potential after part one. I’m disappointed. So I rather hope that someone will write an ingenious screenplay and make everything right in MIIIB. But for that, someone would have to want to see a number three.

Lucky Number Slevin's story isn't revolutionary, but what screenwriter and then director Paul McGuigan did with it “is worth taking my hat off to, that is, if I had one on my head." Of course he had the support of outstanding actors: Bruce Willis, Ben Kingsley, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freeman and, most importantly, the excellent (I'm surprised at myself using the word in context with him) Josh Hartnett (Slevin Kelevra), whom I never really liked. And Bruce in the role of the hitman, Mr. Goodcat, shows that he doesn't belong on the scrapheap, and after Sin City and 16 Blocks, it's another successful notch in his career. So if you want a suspenseful, entertaining, and dark thriller, you shouldn’t miss Slevin. In addition, you will learn a number of interesting lessons from the film. The main lesson that stuck in my head was: Don't wear a towel longer than necessary :)

Excellent. X-Men 2 is undoubtedly better than the first movie and is perhaps the best comic book movie adaptation ever. Singer perfectly handles the psychology of the characters, and the action is also impressive (the White House introduction, the attack on the school, the X-Jet in a tornado, and Wolverine vs. Deathstrike). He’s a brilliant storyteller who knows when to push hard and when to slow down. He handles everything with feeling, bravura and love for the original comic book. Sadly, he ran off to Superman, where, for all his undeniable virtues, he couldn't succeed the way he did with X-Men. Too bad, Bryan.

A laid-back action ride disrupted by only a few slow moving "family" scenes. It was an excellent idea to bring Sam Neill's character back into the game, because if it weren't for Dr. Grant and the flying lizards (after a long wait, the pterosaurs from Crichton's original reappear) it would have ultimately been a much weaker movie. However, Joe Johnston didn't disgrace the previous Jurassic Parks, and considering he's taking the reins from one of the best film directors, much more could have gone wrong. As far as the music side is concerned, John Williams is missing, and in places it is quite evident.

Rebecca is the first Hitchcock film I’ve ever seen. I am impressed with the director's genius because his use of light and music is amazing. Moreover, he manages the atmosphere perfectly (of course, this is not uncommon with Hitchcock, as I had already read somewhere). Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine are great cast members and give great performances. Anyway, I'm certainly going to start looking for more of his masterpieces very soon. The Birds and Vertigo are on my list. :)

Superman is back at last... But Singer didn’t manage to take his dream project up to the very peak. You can see how meticulous he is throughout the movie, lots of things and shots are references to Donner’s movie, which is really nice to see, but still falls a little short of perfection. God knows what it is, but somehow it spoils the overall watching experience. Maybe my standards are a little too high after seeing Spider-Man and X-Men , but Superman simply isn’t such an interesting character and part of his fame is based on nostalgia (at the beginning I had difficulty holding back my tears when I heard Williams’ “Superman Theme" thundering away ;) But in any case, Superman Returns is a great movie, with superb special effects and excellent acting performances (Brandon Routh is a flawless Superman and an even better Clark Kent, Kate Bosworth as Lois wasn’t nearly as disruptive as I had expected and Kevin Spacey makes an even better Luthor than Hackman), but it just isn’t as good as it could have been.

In Silent Hill, Christophe Gans didn’t set off down a path to a regular horror movie and at the beginning it turns in the direction of a psychological drama about a mother and her adoptive daughter and only later shows us hell in the real sense. At last somebody has given up on traditional (dumb) frights and Silent Hill relies on the bizarreness of deformed people - creatures (the walking...um, acid-spitting blob, Pyramid Head and the nurses). But the main thing this movie has is ATMOSPHERE in block letters and in bold. And in addition we are given a chillingly intelligent story (especially the very end will resound in your head long after) and excellent acting performances (particularly Radha Mitchell is breathtaking). I hope that the horror genre turns more this direction in the future, because this movie had me pinned to my seat with fear and sometimes I was using just one eye to watch, ostensibly using the other to read the subtitles. And that’s what horrors are meant to be.