Filmmaniak

Petite maman is a very intimate, delicate and directorially solid affair whose screenplay comprises a not very sophisticated story on the subject of establishing intergenerational relationships with parents and grandparents, which lacks depth and a stronger emotional connection. The film is an endearing experiment on the ambiguously defined boundary between reality, dream and fantasy with a foundational concept that deserves a more complex and well-developed rendering.

Commitment Hasan is an old-world Turkish drama about the burden of a troubled conscience, the common and uncommon hardships associated with farming and the deeds that one cannot make amends for even with the strongest will to do so. The key aspects of this slow-burning portrait of a flawed man trying to cleanse himself of petty and more serious sins before his journey to Mecca are the lead actor’s performance and the camerawork, which helps to thoroughly depict the lifestyle of a successful farmer through frequent shots of nature’s gifts, lush orchards, vegetable patches and the surrounding scenery. The ending comes with an excellent cathartic point. Until then, however, the trudging pace of the narrative, in combination with the not very dramatic plot, makes it impossible for the film to captivate the viewer other than through a few visual compositions. That said, the consistent quality of what is being depicted is unquestionable. Not all of the storylines are tied together in the climax (the passages with the rejection of the embroidered tablecloth and the purchase of the neighbor’s failing fields are not brought to a conclusion). However, these minor dramaturgical shortcomings are offset by, among other things, the accurate casting of the supporting roles and the refreshing (though unfortunately only peripheral) storyline about the preparations for the holy pilgrimage, which apparently costs much more than many vacations.

The greatest chance of success that Free Guy has is with gamers around the age of ten, ideally those who play GTA and Fortnite, and who will surely grunt with delight. Otherwise, this is, in every respect, a half-hearted action comedy starring Ryan Reynolds with solid yet forgettable action, a below-average comedy element (pop-culture references and acting cameos are no guarantee that a joke will work and the attempt at striking one-liners misses the mark), and a formulaic story slapped together from motifs that have been seen many times before with better execution. Unlike The Truman Show, Free Guy doesn't work with any satirical level or deeper idea and it looks like Ready Player One’s much poorer and less imaginative cousin in terms of content; overall, its closer to the new Jumanji, with which it shares the inconsistency and ambiguity in the rules of its own fictional world and the ambition to entertain only casually without trying to have any kind of reach. In this respect, Free Guy works as light summer action entertainment thanks to, among other things, the professional technical aspect, an endearing subject about the lives of the game’s NPC characters and a likable cast. Nevertheless, it’s rendered in a way that doesn’t even come close to fully utilizing its strong potential. The result is that wherever Free Guy wants to be fateful, complex and absolutely thrilling, it remains only half-baked, superficial and generally mediocre.

All of the shortcomings that plague the first Now You See Me are repeated here and a few new ones are added in for good measure. Though Now You See Me 2 looks expensive, stylish and flashy like a Las Vegas casino, which corresponds to the megalomaniacal performances of the four protagonists/illusionists, it still has a rather weak and moronic story full of holes and nonsense. The protagonists are able to easily carry out robberies within ten minutes that even Danny’s crew in Oceans 11 couldn’t pull off with many hours of effort. And of course they can hypnotize or put anyone to sleep for several hours with just a snap of their fingers, so absolutely anything can happen in the film and then it will be explained by the fact that a number of the characters acted while under hypnosis. This enables the filmmakers to endlessly create surprising twists, totally pulled out of their asses and doctored up with dozens of feeble screenwriting crutches. The plot goes in ten different directions simultaneously, with everyone scamming everyone else and, in addition to apparently unlimited funds to carry out their unbelievable illusions, the quartet of protagonists have incredibly stupid adversaries (what sense does it make to get rid of a magician by dumping him in a lake in a locked safe that you know is a prop used for an escape act?). Watching Now You See Me 2 is like watching a recording of a magic show with the knowledge that the illusions and magic are done digitally, and the magician then cheekily explains how he did the trick, but in a way that it couldn’t have been done. P.S. I would really be interested in knowing how much the casting of Daniel Radcliffe is a result of the filmmakers finding it funny to have Harry Potter in a movie about magicians.

Though Now You See Me tries to give the impression of being a clever and sophisticated crime-thriller with illusionists, it is actually a rather dull and half-baked tale full of holes, narrative nonsense and moronic twists dressed up in a superficially attractive and maximally spectacular coat in the form of action-oriented editing, flashy visuals, a lot of famous actors and thumping music, which is apparently meant to lull viewers to sleep so that they don’t start thinking about the plot. Of course, it would perhaps be possible to make an entertaining and high-quality film about how four extravagant showmen commit entirely absurd robberies and disguise them as magic shows. But then it wouldn’t have been possible for the plot of Now You See Me to include a completely serious storyline involving a Secret Service who is trying to investigate their case in a factual way and the character of the expert on magic who tries to somehow logically explain the bizarre illusions to him, but ends up explaining them in a way that would be completely impracticable in real life. The atmosphere of the magic performances is thus completely ruined by the film, because while you can certainly admire the magicians for their nimble hands and the precision of their staging, both of these elements were unfortunately replaced with megalomaniacal computer tricks and editing. Which definitely produces the desired “wow” effect for a brief moment, but it takes a lot away from the believability of the overall magical stylization.

This time the Three Stooges rather kept their usual grimacing, capering and horsing around on the leash, and maybe that’s the problem. This film is pretty much a disaster with clumsy directing, a complete lack of humor, extraordinarily banal dialogue and a number of awkward and boring passages. The story is based on the classic fairy tale Snow White, but with the difference that instead of the seven dwarves, the cottage is occupied by the aforementioned trio of comedians (the cottage actually belongs to the seven dwarves, but it just so happens that they aren’t at home). And the prince, who has been raised by the three dolts since that time they saved his life, suffers from memory loss, so he isn’t aware that he was promised to Snow White as a young boy. The film is also partly a musical, so there is occasional singing and even ice skating (Olympic figure-skating champion Carol Heiss was cast in the role of Snow White). However, these scenes rarely push the plot forward and are often boring. The runtime exceeding one hundred minutes is inexcusable, mainly because nothing at all happens in most of the film. At the same time, the film works in a completely irrational and random way with unspecified spells and magical props (e.g. a magical sword that grants wishes), which don’t do much to serve the story and, in the case of many of them, it is impossible to understand how they are supposed to work. This film is neither entertaining nor exciting, and you would search in vain for something resembling acting. In particular, the performance of the brutally overacting evil queen is unbearable and, what’s more, her complicated witchcraft makes no sense. When Snow White is supposed to wake up from her deathly sleep, you wait in vain the whole time for her to spit out the piece of apple that she had eaten; the film is packed with such lapses and for the most part, there’s really no humorous intent. This is one of the worst adaptations of Snow White ever. EDIT: I found an even worse adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, namely the Czechoslovak version from 1933.

The Three Stooges became famous for their moronic humor based on making silly faces, goofing around and physically assaulting each other to the accompaniment of various noises and shrieks. However, you won’t see this type of humor in Soup to Nuts, which involves a few characters working in a costume shop. At the beginning, the shop’s old owner declares bankruptcy and a new owner comes in to take over the business and immediately falls in love with his daughter. And that’s pretty much all there is to the story (firefighters somehow figure into it, but that’s not important). The film isn’t so much about the plot and the characters as it is about a linear string of more or less humorous gags, which do not in any way advance the plot; rather, the filmmakers simply just threw them in wherever they seemed to fit, and due to the age of the film, most of them come across as corny from today’s perspective. Furthermore, they are often predictable (when the shop owner points out an ingenious trap for the thief, it is obvious that he will get caught in it himself in the course of the plot). In spite of that, the gags serve a purpose thanks to their endearing naïveté. Overall, Soup to Nuts is a relatively pleasant and amusing comedy, which is aided by several playful directorial ideas, flowing dialogue and a modest runtime.

This is a fragile and completely unique documentary about an unexpected friendship between a curious cephalopod and a burnt-out filmmaker who spent most of his life with him while daily diving. The film is an original, emotional and sometimes thrilling connection between the world of people and the world of animals, finding unifying parallels in the lives of both protagonists and casually encouraging understanding of nature from a completely different point of view.

This film is a comedic drama about the night shift of several police patrols in the Bulgarian capital. The genre-rich mixture of intertwined stories, which are part chilling and tragic and part funny, or even anecdotal, will stand up as a glimpse into a freak show of different characters and as a socio-political critique of society.

David Attenborough talks about his life and provides, against the background of the changes that have taken place on Earth in recent decades, a clear and plainly understandable appeal about environmental topics. The film thus serves not only as a perfect recapitulation of the career of this famous documentary filmmaker, but also as an important message about the state of the environment. However, instead of looking for culprits, the film provides constructive proposals and visions.