novoten

Tom Hooper has failed to hang on to the status of a clear favorite. After the accessible The King's Speech and all the overflowing emotions of Les Misérables, yet another story is told of a man requiring a sympathetic posture to understand him. Yet this time it fails because it is told all too clumsily. It lacks lightness and, above all, the element of surprise, as every plot twist can be seen long in advance. Often, it doesn't matter, because Alicia Vikander plays like her life depends on it and Eddie Redmayne fascinates with every (albeit again perhaps too specific and almost disruptive) gesture. As a whole, however, The Danish Girl speaks a language that doesn't tell me anything new.

A film just like its main protagonist: a gray mouse carving a path between more attractive and prominent ones. And thanks to the fact that the role of Eilis is custom tailored for Saoirse Ronan, I feel her desire to make her own decisions at life's crossroads very closely. However, if the last act had taken a slightly more mature direction, I would have believed all of Brooklyn. The questions around relationships and bridges that can't be burned, either towards each other or away from each other, were painful for all of us. To wrap them up with a rich harlequin romance was, therefore, a cheap shot.

When I was small, I only knew small things. But now I'm five, I know everything! About two main characters and two big twists. Nevertheless (or precisely because of it, thanks to having sufficient space) this is about everything important in life. For some, Room will be full of pathos; for others, it will be an exaggerated depression. However, for those especially empathetic, it is a perfectly balanced spectacle that moves and chills them beyond their own abilities.

So intensely destructive that at the very end, I felt like Glass himself. Broken, torn apart, utterly ruined, down to the marrow and bone. But unlike him, I would give up practically instantly and just wait for death. He crawls, struggles, and in various croaky ways tries to reach his archetypal goal through Leonardo DiCaprio's thrilling interpretation, to the point where even the winter wind on the way back from the cinema felt like the most pleasant spring breeze. I love the classic concept of the western genre, but this turning of traditions upside down needs to happen once in a while in every genre. Especially when the key scenes (the she-bear, the river, the bisons) are already iconic images from the moment of their debut. A magnificent epic and the most intimate rebirth in one.

An origin story like crazy, that could never find a favorable reception with the audience. It contains so many separate films that it remains almost untenable as a whole. In the first layer, it goes through the exploration of other worlds, in the second it explores oneself when trying to succeed in your field despite unfavorable circumstances. And in the third layer, a military dilemma is projected, and ultimately also the predictable realm of an action comic. To fit all of this into one blockbuster would take three hours, and even then it wouldn't be easy. Josh Trank attempts to master it in ninety minutes, which is complete folly, but it's so appealing to me because of the fight with the windmills. Also because he knew how to lead the viewer to the characters – primarily through the boyish charm of Miles Teller and the closeups on Kate Mara's eyes. That's why it's a pity that the birth of an iconic villain comes across completely empty and doesn't create a craving for a potential (however unlikely) sequel.

With such perfect cinematography and the wonderful old-fashioned Ennio Morricone soundtrack, this simply can't go completely wrong; but I was still expecting something more. Quentin Tarantino's repeated love for the Wild West promised to rid itself of all the small flaws that afflicted the otherwise wonderful Django Unchained, but this is a step backwards. The never-ending dialogues about nothing surprisingly often remain never-ending dialogues about nothing, and it is only when the reveals start coming in the second half that the film finally succeeds. The pace never drops, every shot has fatal consequences, and the resolution of the last plot twists even manages to nail you to your seat despite its bloody black humor, proving that this ride was worth it. Still, I would be happy if Quentin moved on from Western-themed stories (or, in this case, half-bred cowgirls) and went somewhere else. Because in the stagecoach chapters, his previously commonplace sins against the audience have started to creep back in, and instead of a symbiosis of the creator and the viewer, his fetish for reference and drawing things out are appearing again after all these years.

Drowned in their own ambitions. The creators want so much to be the authors of a gripping wake-up call that they are almost unwatchable at their core. All the economic ranting lacks the bigger dramatic arc that propelled, for example, The Wolf of Wall Street, which the screenwriters obviously adore (evidenced not least by the ubiquitous and overly aggressive satire). Some personal stories make brief appearances here too, but due to the dilution of attention among the dozens involved, they vanish into oblivion. I understand that if you're going to discuss economics and mortgages for over two hours in a hundred and one different ways, we will have to immerse ourselves in professional terminology, but we still didn't really need that many. The constant dissection of more and more future financial catastrophes is downright tiring in the final act, it doesn't move the plot forward and merely redirects it into a screenwriter's twist it has already taken several times before. It's been a while since I was last this bothered over actors (in this case, the chameleonic Christian Bale and explosive Steve Carell) performing at full steam without managing to interest me in the consequences of their characters' actions.

Questions of life and death can be approached in various ways. Through unexpected twists, moving scenes set to a touching soundtrack, or casual dialogue about both trivial and all-encompassing matters. Death Parade excels in all of these aspects, bringing a flood of thoughts about life, death, and everything in between, while also presenting the viewer with a perfectly contrasting main duo. While Decim is a puppet and puppeteer without emotions, primarily focused on doing his job well, the beautiful stranger by his side keeps her story hidden for a long time. However, it is precisely because of the feelings concealed within her that the series resonates profoundly and lingers for a long time. When the time comes for me to enter somewhere without memories, I hope it will be into Queen Decim's bar.

It's like loving the stars themselves. Comedy occasionally adventurous, occasionally romantic, occasionally situational, and quite often unashamedly crazy - while constantly covering up an undeniable fact. Namely, that the meeting of the Twelfth Doctor and River is the most sincere sweet treat, whose true power lies in nostalgia and in everything these two have experienced together, whether they played together or against each other. Quite possibly the best episode with Alex Kingston, which Steven Moffat resisted writing for all demanding fans for a long time, but I still don't believe that he didn't have it planned out in his head for many years in advance.

Awakening. The eighth season was full of hints of possibilities of a twelfth, but at the last moment, it always flinched and Peter Capaldi remained in the position of a bigger or smaller grump whom it is not difficult to like, but not exactly with a loved regeneration. Only at Christmas, he becomes the Doctor I need, and thanks to a few sincere laughs, he remains the second-favorite face of the beloved traveler, right after David Tennant. That it happens in a very clever spectacle spiced with graduated surprises for the viewer and with the assistance of pleasantly frosty enemies, is just another reason for the highest rating. This was surely not the last Christmas, but if it actually was, I could hardly be more fulfilled.