Remedy

Oliver Stone, even at his advanced age, still stuns with his creativity (this time, once again, extremely dynamic direction is also supported by a properly punchy "pulp screenplay") and very emphatically sends a raised middle finger to those who might want to clap him into the irons of old. I haven't seen so much energy, so many ideas, so many great actors, so much spontaneity, and actually a very (un)viewer-friendly ending to this extent anywhere lately. This is the Stone I've always enjoyed the most, whether in Natural Born Killers or U-Turn. A little bit the Coen brothers, a little our old pal Quentin, but in a lot of ways the master is still very original. Plus it’s all highly addictive :))))

An extremely disturbing and highly suggestive vision of a global epidemic. It's both astonishing and fascinating how Soderbergh, even with all the ace actors, still maintains his cool distance, is once again very impersonal, and allows most of his stars only really minimal space. He is rewarded for this with "small" acting performances par excellence, which together with Martinez's brilliant score, sculpt an extremely intelligent film that, though it won't appeal to a wider audience, very emphatically confirms Soderbergh's quality and, above all, that he simply can and does do things his own way. There are very few filmmakers like that nowadays, so we should deeply appreciate them.

It's almost as if this Soderbergh guy has something against the pharmaceutical industry. He follows Contagion with the more intimate Side Effects, whose tone once again casts the very principle of pharmacy in a less than favorable light. The problem isn't just with the pharmaceutical industry, of course (which makes it all the worse); indeed, where there's opportunity, there's a human being. I loved the initially slow, almost unnerving pace, which builds up brutally, and perhaps a little forcefully, in the last act, only to have the great Steven eventually convince you that some things really may not be as they first appear. Brilliant camerawork that perfectly underscores the main character's feelings *SPOILER ALERT* (it does gets a bit ridiculous with those feelings, and anyone who's seen it knows what I mean:)) *END SPOILER*, Soderbergh's focused and once again very evocative direction combined with the unsettling soundtrack for me made this one of Soderbergh's best films in recent years.

Christopher Nolan's second feature clearly demonstrates his screenwriting genius and proves once again, unequivocally, that even the early works of this now great filmmaker are of great value. What’s more, I consider Memento unique out of Nolan's entire oeuvre, as it places considerable demands on the viewer, offers perfectly nuanced acting performances, and showcases highly suggestive direction. The pressure on the grey matter is immense and at times it took all I had to keep from completely unraveling all those cerebral threads; and yet the final impression (or rather the initial one?:)) is indescribable and I certainly cannot say that I was fascinated "only by the visual aspect and due to the difficulty of the script I gave up on any deeper understanding". The interpretation here is definitely not straightforward, but I think that was kind of the intention from the start. Maybe I'll see it from a different perspective the second time around, who knows. But it certainly won't affect my rating.

It's beyond clear that the filmmakers were trying to ride the wave of success of the truly ingenious first film, but the result is a mess bordering on the catastrophic that not even the flashbacks or any references to the first installment can save (even though I uncritically admit that it was probably the only thing that raised a certain amount of hope in me... ah yes, nostalgia:)) And as far as any purely serious criticism, the second film is lacking in everything that was so unique and original about the first. There’s no psychology to speak of behind any of the characters here; it's a very mediocre, rather below average affair with a tragically impassable soundtrack. The absence of David Slade and Sam Raimi, the architects of the original film's success, speaks volumes. In all respects a textbook bad sequel, made only because of the undeniable quality of the first (and for me, only!) installment.

Actually, this could have been a very good retro detective film with stunning visuals and imaginative intermingling of music and image (Ondříček successfully followed in the traditions of Protector and Walking Too Fast, which started this "phenomenon" in Czech cinema). Nonetheless, this is a story from the 1950s, so any rationalization of the investigation is only favorable until the point when it appeals to the comrades themselves. And great praise is due to Mr. Ondříček for managing to suitably balance the share of mystery and for the fact that, when all’s said and done, this is really a "political detective thriller" that uses all of its "mystery" solely for the purpose of portraying the nervous and dark atmosphere of the 1950s as faithfully as possible.

One of the most intense cinematic experiences ever and undoubtedly the most intense Noé. Irreversible was OK but offered nothing deeper than those two shocking scenes, Enter the Void was visually transcendent and overall terribly immersive, but out of all Noé's work, I Stand Alone wins out for me. Few films can make me sit up in my seat in such a way and few films inspire in me such disgust for the main character (I can take a lot, really, but I can say quite bluntly that I wasn’t far from throwing up during one internal monologue). The main question is to what extent the main anti-hero is "abnormal" and out of touch with the reality of "decent people", because as much as I hate to speak for anyone else, I can't shake the feeling that just about everyone has such peppery inner monologues from time to time. There are a few extremes that (thankfully!) stray from anything that can be considered normal and human (I swear on my dying breath now that I would never shag my own daughter), plus this film convinced me that even French can sound really nasty (as pure and beautiful a language as I had previously thought it was). I'm fascinated by the intensity, the explicitness, and the fact that Noé doesn't pull his punches even a little bit. But the experience was revolting and painful.

Of course this formula scheme is soooooo tired and the ripoff of the greatest classics so obvious that it won’t be missed even by an average cinephile viewer. Still, there remains the fact that it's pretty nicely shot and that the million times warmed-over "high school" stereotype, as far as the characters are concerned, keeps you entertained with its predictability and infinite stupidity (the jock, the blonde b*tch, the geek/stoner, the naive virgin...). As much as I hate to admit it, I give a big plus for the elevator scene, because there was some semblance of originality there and it was filmed very impressively indeed. All in all, quite a delectable one-time treat. Even so, history will not be rewritten and Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead can rest in peace (in my opinion, at least until death).

Antal's unequivocal triumph is his divine ability to portray the atmosphere you submerge into as you descend the escalators (sometimes even as you're descending or heading "down below"). It's a world of dubious existences symbolizing distance, isolation, danger, distrust, and general unhappiness, if only because there is simply no escape from these people at that given moment. It's actually quite logical that if you do such a fine job as a ticket inspector with dedication and intensity, it can gradually give your psyche quite a solid workout and it’s a very short road to madness and an inability to tell what’s real. The psychedelic scenes were absolutely magnificent and perfectly underlined the psychological depth of the film. The environment was utilized to the last millimeter, several impressive action scenes, the incredible ability to create and, above all, maintain a perfectly psycho atmosphere throughout, plus the de facto multi-genre entertainment put Control in the category of very remarkable debuts.

Honestly, if it weren't for the always coolly beautiful Emily Blunt in the lead role and Lasse Hallström in the director's chair, I probably wouldn't have cared about Salmon Fishing in the Yemen in the slightest. It's a bare fact that Hallström has long since ceased to be what he used to be and he's undeniably past his prime (I'd bet my apartment that he will go to his grave before he ever makes anything better than Gilbert Grape). But here, quite exceptionally, he scored and gave rise to an enjoyable story that works quite well as a relatively tasteful romance. I don't know if it was the intention of the filmmakers to show that apart from the fanatical Arabs there are also nice ones with ambitions to build lakes for catching salmon in the middle of the desert, but the fact is that the character of the sheikh is actually quite appealing (in the film, of course; in real life, however...). Partly a kind of clumsy political satire, partly a bit of philosophy about finding oneself, and a bit of an attempt at the agitprop that there are good Arabs too. But without the politics, it works best as a slightly romantic drama.