Othello

The fourth star was squeezed out by the camera, because otherwise this family drama, which you can totally decode within an hour and you know exactly where it's going, has little to do with the mafia theme. Sadly, it's the takeover of the reins from the initially uncouth redneck Andy Garcia that makes it clear that the Corleone family corporation is effectively dead, because even distinguished behavior, an expensive jacket, and four liters of motor oil in his hair can't hide his true origins and violent nature.

The young Coens are doing what they do best, demythologizing organizations and parodying established genre practices. This is particularly visible in the way they give every bone-breaker from the mafia families a certain personality, past and all. They readily let these deviations of theirs shine through with more classic than classic scenes like Albert Finney's shooting party with a tommy gun, with opera in the background, a cigar in his mouth, and a car exploding out front. Gabriel Byrne has everything in this role except a character, and his motivations completely escaped me, which means bye for now, fifth star.

Just a little statistic by way of introduction: As of 02 March 2012, the reviews of Syriana contain the word "boring" 13 times, the adjective "derivative" 22 times, the label "complex" 14 times, 10 users call this film "incomprehensible", and 6 users call it "confusing", thus enabling me in my elitist sensibilities. Not in the sense that I would just eat it all up and fully understand it, but in the fact that the film made me read the extensive breakdown and simplified explanation of the plot on IMDb, not to mention the six cigarettes smoked over Wikipedia, which was probably the point. Syriana is challenging. It doesn't introduce the issues, it doesn't explain the terms and connections, and the characters don't have a backstory but only paint one behind them as the film progresses. The audience-identifying element, George Clooney's anachronistic agent, gets his ass handed to him (figuratively and literally) in every other scene throughout the film, and though he was once an ace in clearly divided Middle Eastern politics, he painfully discovers that the tightrope of the Middle East as he knows it has been shredded into hundreds of tiny threads. In the 80s, the parties to the conflict were divided into A, B, and C, only to nowadays use the entire alphabet, even with accents. _____Syriana tends to be depressingly cyclical, but this is disrupted by the storyline of the Pakistani boys and their great Arab buddy with the bomb and the ball, who is the only one clearly oriented to his goal, but also the most understandable in his portrayal, and thus the motivations of the suicide bombers are the clearest thing about the film. They have a clear start and goal, which turns them toward the viewer. The purpose of the film, then, IS to be at first glance an incomprehensible mix of subterfuge, corruption, insiders, and interventions so as to grasp the sad reality of the Arabian peninsula and the unpredictable power of an exploited and terror-prone Arab nation (albeit in this case, Pakistan). ____ In terms of form, Syriana is practically perfect, which is mainly due to Elswit's cinematography (one of the best cinematographers at present), excellent performances, and perfect casting. Mark Strong gives you goosebumps, even when he's not ripping anyone's fingernails out, and in general I consider the whole torture scene to be the highlight of the film. Matt Damon, on the other hand, is a classic suburban careerist with a family, shedding his illusions, which suited him perfectly typologically (the dialogue with his wife at the fountain is simply brilliant). Syriana is perfect, and will be particularly appreciated by people who watch movies and don't nibble at their ears, do the ironing, and wait for George Clooney to shoot the cunt to shit in the finale.

A beautiful briefing on how sick society is. The bad thing is that I lived under Strahov Stadium for a while, where similar mecha wanking actually took place.

A sensitive probe into the wet dream of city police officers who were raped as children by a red-haired uncle. Still, it strikes me as a bit hypocritical to film a fictional genocide when there's surely something real to draw from.

I didn't know how to approach it for the first 30 minutes, or for the remaining 48. I give a star for every pop culture reference and throwaway joke I recognized that made me laugh. Minus 311, that gives it five stars.

Jeffrey Combs is just a demon, I totally remember when we used to bully dudes like him mercilessly in high school. If I saw Re-Animator at that time I'd probably change my mind, having a house full of pissed off dead people must be really hard to explain to the neighbors. Re-Animator thankfully reawakened my delight in those proper gore masks that you can see the hours of work on just for six seconds of total running time. Add in the humor here and there, the cuddly cat on his back, the proper B-movie feel, and Barbara Crampton's tits, which imho also deserve their own series, and I can understand the cult around this film.

To bury such a beautifully anti-chauvinist theme with such lethargic and perhaps universally flawed direction is a feat. For example, if you listen at the door during a screening, you can't help but feel that you’re watching not a film, but a cut from a 60s dance school reunion, as the film drops one oldies song after another, which fits like whipped cream on chili con carne. The encounter with the eponymous woman takes place in slow motion, where the girl dapperly dons a leather jacket (?), and it practically looks exactly the same, even with the background music, as when Bay introduces us to Megan Fox. There are more of those points of contact – the wild lady here may have her armpits bare enough to take supporting roles in Wilkinson commercials, but the film doesn't bother to introduce us to the doe who's been chewing her pits clean. The editing between scenes is practically constantly resolved by intercutting, which imho is also a pretty passé thing to do, and almost no one in this movie can act. The highlight is the absolutely incomprehensible pair of teachers, who not only both look about 17, but their importance in the film is minimal and they completely take away from the plot with their problems. Actor Sean Bridgers, an unspoken parody of Colin Firth, does everything he can to make you not take the film seriously, and the final stage is the violence, which isn't there. Or rather, it wants to be, but just as it's happening, someone moves the camera so we can imagine everything... like in the new Seagal movies. What's left? The great story, the strong finale, and especially the absolutely fabulous scene of the marital squabble, which in the current context is the best I've seen in a long time.

Apparently the filmmakers have been neglecting their geography classes for the sake of Call of Duty parties; they deserve a globe in the eye for putting the Giant Mountains in Ukraine. And the shooting down of the AC-130 by the RPG guy was probably a dream sequence; still, Call of Duty: Operation Kingfishis a classic modern fan film with a hard-working special effects studio and craft in its eye. Nothing less, NOTHING MORE.

That Cronenberg is in there. It lies concealed in Keira Knightley's nipple crawling out of her corset, Vincet Cassel's face, the subversive dialogue, and especially the character of Jung (who has a lot of points of contact with James Woods' character from Videodrome), but it's littered with tons of costumes and understated studio work, and somehow lacks a significant personal investment. Otherwise, Viggo Mortensen is incredible! PS: Keira Knightley is cast brilliantly and Cronenberg takes advantage of all her physical imperfections (breasts, British-sharp physiognomy, arched forehead, prominent chin, a figure that generally begs for professional help) and makes the actress accentuate them