POMO

The 1980s didn’t give us only naively oversimplified action flicks of the Rambo kind, but also naively oversimplified “realistic” thrillers with Jack Nicholson, at least when we’re talking about the ending. Moreover, can you believe Jack when he plays such a humanistic, good character? But Harvey Keitel and the atmosphere of the scorching frontier prairie are excellent.

After the second viewing on the big screen, I’m giving this the full rating and putting the DVD on the shelf with my favorites. Himalaya is more than just pretty pictures and beautiful music, more than visual and musical meditation. It’s also a spiritual film about pride, persistence, family and learning (the cute final shot). Its expression is humble, modest and quiet, in the language of its protagonists. Himalaya is a film from regions where wisdom does not come with diplomas, but with age. “Always choose the hard way.”

An extremely strong shot of espresso brewed by Cronenberg, without a grain of sugar or a drop of cream. The level of filmmaking reaches surgical precision. But the meaning of the film remains impenetrable upon first viewing. I need to come back to this later.

Even though I didn’t find Smoke overly interesting, its sequel, which lacks any kind of consistent plot, was surprisingly more entertaining. It works not only as a postcard-like portrayal of Brooklyn as a city within city, but also as a collage of witty and likable conversations that sound like a mix between Smoke and Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes. The curious joys and worries of the comical characters are spiced up with dry humor... It is a pleasure for those who like to listen. The most amusing thing for me was Lou Reed’s depiction of Sweden.

No matter what you expect from it, you will get something different from this unusual documentary about an unusual man. Werner Herzog doesn’t adore animals or glorify Treadwell, who put himself in the position of their protector. He wasn’t one. When the park visitors threw stones at his “beloved” bears, he cowardly watched from behind some bushes. Treadwell was just a nutjob who lost his sense of self- preservation and contact with reality, deluding himself that he understood the wilderness better than the human world. Herzog chose him as material for a psychological study, in which he confronts Treadwell’s personality with his own opinions and those of other people. Grizzly Man is a thoughtful documentary that will stay in your memory for a long time thanks to its uniqueness.

This dime-a-dozen “drama” tells us that sex, and specially the best kind there is – sex with strangers – is a hard-to-control drug. Addiction is an unoriginal film suitable for television on a weekday night. But there’s at least a lot of sex (in hotels, bathrooms, on a yacht, in an office, etc.), and the main nymphomaniac character is okay.

Filmed in a surprisingly banal way, this bit of ecological agit-prop will introduce you to a few big aquatic mammals, reminding you about a dozen times that they’re on the brink of extinction. There is not a single scene or shot for which we would go to an IMAX theatre. There is almost no hunting, mating or water dancing, and the little that is there is over and done with in a few seconds. The film is somehow salvaged only by the likability of some of the mammals, which the filmmakers however cannot claim credit for. I’m only giving this three stars as a nature lover.

The Messengers is a weak version of a hackneyed story, with an ending totally botched up by major lapses in logic.

Unlike such films that were produced on a massive scale in the 1950s, this is no self-serving attraction relying only on tricks. The Incredible Shrinking Man is an incredibly original and exciting adventure with a completely unpredictable script and an existential message. It is an engaging drama about a man whose life undergoes a fundamental change and he has to deal with an irreversible descent into complete isolation, fighting for food and his life. It is one of the pillars of the sci-fi genre, and one that few contemporary films can match.

The first film didn’t deserve this. John Cho and Kal Penn are equally great, and the buddy chemistry still works perfectly, but the humor is mostly a level below that of the original. The plotline with government agents is particularly tacky and lame. I did have a few laughs, and the “bottomless” party and the final postcard from Amsterdam were nice. But if it weren’t for those things, this sequel wouldn’t merit even these two stars.