Malarkey

At the start, this movie’s a little difficult to grasp – specifically the storytelling and the two main characters Mr. and Mrs. Adelman. But as the movie goes on, a debutant Nicolas Bedos blows his life story into such epic proportions that you wouldn’t want to miss a single second of this couple’s life. I was overjoyed that they still make these kinds of movies and by the end, it was hard not to cry. This movie is a perfect storytelling of two individuals’ lives. It shows their most emotional moments, and somehow, it manages to all fall into place and not feel episodic at all. And when the movie reveals quite a shocking twist at the end, it makes you want to pull out the five-star sticker; however, the start was too slow to deserve it. But if I ever decide to rewatch this, it will be with great pleasure. It’s a movie which describes life like it truly is – good, but also often bad.

It’s quite obvious that Hollywood producers want to squeeze as much as possible out of the Insidious brand. Ghost movies are currently in, so why not. It’s nice that they kept all the actors so it doesn’t feel as if they were merely borrowing the brand name. As far as reviews go, I must give it a lower rating because it’s still the same old stuff all over again. There’s an interesting story that shows the very beginnings of the main character’s journey. There’s a whole lot of good jump-scares and the atmosphere is very decent. The “funny” bits in the form of the main character’s two minions are more of a shortcoming, but if you enjoy these kinds of movies, this one won’t disappoint you.

This must be the best show Stream’s ever shot. There’s a crew in Australia who hosts foreigners in a Czechoslovakian restaurant and serves them Czech or Slovak specialties to taste and review. It’s not always just about the food, but that makes it so much more interesting. Of course, we could argue how much I personally know about Ghana, Zimbabwe, Trinidad or Tobago, for example, but some of the answers can really be surprising and it’s interesting to watch the foreigners answer questions about the Czech Republic. When I meet foreigners, I ask a lot of questions as well, expecting all kinds of answers. The only downside of this show are the awkward moments when the crew fails to explain certain things and makes the foreigners look and feel like idiots. For example, the episode with the steak tartare. But I think it’s slowly getting better and in the most recent episodes, they even added the foreigners’ reactions to learning about the food they’ve been served and why it’s so popular in our country. I hope that this stays on Stream for as long as possible.

Produced very strangely, this American drama reveals the problems of the American lower class, but it’s shot in such a way that makes it feel like a documentary with real people. I wasn’t sure about whether I was watching a movie or some footage of the American social work clients. Whatever it was, the result was extremely boring to me.

There are not that many movies shot for geeks by geeks. And even though I’m only giving it three stars, I’m still glad I watched it. It’s crazy, which is to be expected, but because of some moments I thought were illogical, I can’t rate it any higher. Even for me, this movie was far too quirky and weird. And even though it’s got its moments and a very strong ending, Brigsby Bear didn’t manage to grow on me.

There’s already been quite enough plane crashes into American mountains in Hollywood. But when you add a high-quality filmmaking craft to the premise, it can’t be disappointing. Even though it’s only a three-star (therefore mediocre) movie, the overall impression isn’t bad at all. The camera work offers some gorgeous shots of the Canadian Panorama Mountain Village and the acting is worth it, too.

The Bulgarian cinematography keeps on amazing me, one movie after another. The Lesson is the perfect human drama with a problem that any one of us could run into. However, they don’t narrate it with an aggressively depressing tone like the Scandinavians often tend to, but gently and with emotion. It doesn’t make you sick to the stomach and you’re excited to see the plot unravelling. I felt bad for Nadezhda, but life can be painful sometimes and it’s up to us to get up, accept it and move on.

A very interesting ticket to a museum and its nooks and crannies you normally wouldn’t get to visit. The documentary offers some interesting shots, moments and situation that would otherwise be lost on you, which is its biggest upside and technically, most likely the reason why it was made at all. It’s interesting, of course, but I’m not exactly sure if I’m the kind of person jumping in joy over something like that. Though I usually love museums. The user ABLABLABLA’s wonderful review reminded of me of the best moments which I’d already forgotten. Except for one – the discussion about the ticket font. The absurdity of that situation was limitless. But it assured me that idiocracy can be found everywhere… even in art.

The giants of this era Ingrid Bergman and Anna Magnani have not left their mark on me yet, even though I’ve been familiar with them. So now I was curious about what this documentary would come up with. And it didn’t come up with anything at all. A random assortment of footages and movie clips is complemented by a dull narrative, which most certainly doesn’t provide me with any reason to start being interested in these actresses.

Liam Neeson and Jaume Collet-Serra have met on the screen for the fourth time already and yet again, I can’t get enough of it. A perfect small-scale film with an inventive script that uses a train the good old Agatha Christie way and offers a gripping plot with a solid unravelling. And since Liam is a champ for his age and Jaume can work well with CGI, you’re up for a rollercoaster full of adrenaline. It might reek of special effects, but I didn’t mind that one bit. Great camera angles brilliantly capture the action scenes and doesn’t start shaking as soon as Liam look at it the wrong way. It created so much adrenaline that it was hard for me to lower my blood pressure back to normal after watching the movie.