rikitiki

Pretty average. The animation didn't impress, the story was average, the way some of the villains making good at the end was unconvincing and there was far too little humor. IN A NUTSHELL: This is a bit of a blast from the past, and now it’s gone a bit stale.

Beautiful and confident women, masculine men, exotic landscapes, ancient monuments, guns and gunfights, espionage and explosions, betrayals and love entanglements. You'll see it all here. But this is not a soap opera, but a fact-based account of the work of the Israeli secret services. Sometimes it's clichéd, the emphasis on relationships is too heavy (there's always somebody sleeping with someone else's wife), the acting is sometimes rather hammy (in almost every episode Gabi overcomes tears or stares into the distance in anguish). The protagonist is clearly immortal and his mental breakdowns are more frequent than roller coaster rides. Members of the anti-terrorist squad seem to manage their raids as they wish, without consulting anyone or even announcing them. ____ But the raids tend to be great viewing. The psychological portrayal of the characters - especially the Palestinians, who are not always murderers and rapists - is also good here and there. But what made the greatest impression on me is the depiction of the desperate situation of the generations-old blood feud between Palestinians and Israelis without any chance of reconciliation or at least a cease-fire. Season 4

She lived in seclusion, socialized very little, painted in her own way. Finns pay tribute to their painter and the beautiful landscapte of Finland. Her life was not easy and must have been exhausting, but her work endures. A nice biopic where nothing much happens except for one disappointment in love, bickering with her mother and the struggle to get recognition for her work, even within her family. She wasn't a secret service agent, she was an artist painting intimate pictures - so the movie is quiet and brooding, about an art worker.

The truth is that money and power make Justice blind. Not in the sense that it applies to everybody equally, but that it overlooks the crimes of the rich and powerful. This documentary is very descriptive and far-reaching precisely because it shows that the privileged can get away with anything. The only thing that amazed me was how such an ugly family could have so many admirers. I guess the money blinded them, too. Otherwise, it's about rich rednecks; about how money can't buy you taste and class. And about how everyone likes to look the other way when the wealthy do something wrong.

It takes a while for the viewer to get over the fact that here the otherwise fragile, etheric Timothée playing a proficient drinker and invincible warrior... I also had trouble believing him being a womanizer....  So if you manage to get over that, you will enjoy a black and grey medieval period full of dirt, mud and cruel massacres. It's not bad, just depressing.

OK, so this sci-fi horror movie has a nice, solid atmosphere, carefully building tension. The monster is only hinted at most of the time, it is only revealed at the end and the artwork on it is pretty good. The high-quality, but not well-known actors are a joy to watch. The flashbacks affording glimpses into the past, leading back to one similar incident, were carefully rationed, appearing at just the right times, giving away only what was absolutely essential. So the viewer is clear about what happened back then, and is just left wondering how much will be revealed in the next flashback. I give a big plus point for the fact that there is no love interest in the film. _____ However, I was annoyed by the music, as well as the hero's whiny, selfish sister, and I got a bit bored at times during some of the waiting. IN A NUTSHELL: Sentence: "He must be watching us from the cloud...," may have a completely different meaning than you think.

Excellent yet reserved performances by famous actors, a simple yet multi-layered story about one (or two) women's misery that gets an unexpected boost in the shape of a visit from a man who behaves differently from all the redneck machos in the backwater of a village, make for a somber movie that is nevertheless full of life and hope. Whatever ends up happening to her. When a director has actors and a script like this, words are superfluous: in the clothes washing scene with the widow with the other villagers, Simone Signoret manages to celebrate her triumphant victory just by scrubbing a man's shirt. SUMMARY WITH SPOILER: Everything would have gone wrong anyhow, even if the gendarmes hadn't shown up. But those few moments of happiness were wonderful.

This modern day film-noir boasts an exceptionally a dark atmosphere, dark characters and gloomy comments by the central protagonist. It has sex, money and danger. It works quite well until the final denouement. Noir movies frequently had convoluted and sexually deviant endings. The way this one ends, however, is just dumb. The protagonist promises a cruel revenge - which, in his situation, is not surprising - but then he forgets all about it. He is so terribly enamored of this seductive femme fatale, who he succumbs to, intoxicated with passion, to the sound of a saxophone, only to almost totally erase her from his mind. The main mystery around which everything revolves should have remained unrevealed and so it leaves viewer confused at just why it saw the light of day at all, and in such unlikely circumstances. IN A NUTSHELL: Playing at film-noir in sunny suburbia.

Robert Redford, that blond hunk, the prototype of the all-American boy and such a creative and inspiring man! However, the French documentary - not surprisingly - places an overwhelming emphasis on his political activism.

A cheap costume parade that was already a dud at the time of its release: the sets are poor, Jan Marais over the hill and you couldn't get any wit or esprit out of it if you stuck a sword in it. The whole thing is terribly naive and dumb, the maid becomes a rich duchess just because someone heard somewhere that she might be the bastard daughter of the recently-deceased duke - and everyone immediately believes it. That must have been a wonderfully gullible time. La Toure and his theatrical squadron perform the most boring incomprehensible mime on stage, which is supposed to be funny but instead is simply overlong. And the only reason why the girl finally falls into La Toure's arms must be that she suffered a severe psychological shock. IN A NUTSHELL: A worn-out troubadour can no longer squeeze a tune out of his decrepit mandolin.