gudaulin

This Václav Vorlíček masterpiece ages like wine with each passing year... I can't do anything else but add an extra star and round up my overall impression to 95%. It's not just a parody of Bond movies and action spy thrillers, but above all an extremely intelligent comedy directed by a talented director and performed by top actors of the 60s. It's a film from the happiest years of Czech film production, when a lot could already be done and the rules of the game were not dictated by commerce. Furthermore, it doesn't make sense to highlight individual actors, quotes or scenes, because it is an exceptionally balanced film. Overall impression: 95%.

I had considered The End of a Priest one of the most impressive films of Czechoslovak cinema of the 1960s. However, repeated viewing years later did not confirm my exceptional experience. From Schorm's film emerged only a solid, mediocre piece, which elevates the presence of two great actors - Vlastimil Brodský and Jan Libíček. Libíček excels in the role of a rural teacher and mayor. It is one of the most rewarding characters of his prematurely ended yet intense and successful acting career. His character of careerist, manipulator, and intriguer represents the face of state power, which the actor systematically parodies, ironizes, and mocks ideological clichés, phrases, and hypocrisy. His counterpart represents a sympathetic church custodian who, rather out of misunderstanding than ill intent, accepts the position of a priest in a village he passes through. The new role, secretly desiring it, gradually engulfs him, and the fake priest becomes a moral authority and counterbalance to secular power. This starting point is very interesting, but due to the potential remaining untapped, it falls short of what it deserves. The film is highly inconsistent - on the one hand, it aims for a relaxed comedy from the Czech countryside in a more refined style, characterized by characters like a stubborn hypochondriac grandmother. On the other hand, allegorical motifs appear in scenes with a traveling theater and strange supervisors-advisors, which would be more suited for intellectual reflection for a demanding viewer. Add to that the tragic ending, which clashes with the pleasant comedic atmosphere, and the result is a film that doesn't know what it wants to be. Overall impression: 65%.

A sympathetic game with the viewer, which provides a lot of funny situations and jokes in every episode. The Dada style, which was expected in the 90s mainly from the Sklep Theater and which the actors took right down to the bottom and compromised in the following two decades. The Dejvice team is incomparably more professional and has greater self-reflection and creative potential. I like this style and if the Dejvice team had avoided weaker moments in the script, it would deserve five stars. But even so, the series stands out in Czech productions like a lighthouse over the ocean. Overall impression: 85%.

A schematic crime drama about greed that deserves punishment, which can only be captivating today due to its strong cast. Especially Martin Růžek convincingly portrayed one of his typical rascals and schemers. Overall impression: 40%.

The third part in the series about the uncompromising policeman Callahan may not differ in quality from the first two parts in a significant way, but it still deserves only one star "as a reward" because even a relatively mild decline in the quality of the screenplay clearly exposes the problematic construction of the whole series. Besides being a gritty detective story, it also attempts to criticize the softened liberal administration, bureaucracy, and rampant protection of human rights, which later evolved into so-called political correctness. There is a rational foundation for such opinions, even if they don't resonate with me, but it's all presented so blatantly, half-heartedly, and naively that it's almost unpalatable. The screenplay contains a number of logical gaps and deficiencies, such as the old man in uniform by himself guarding a warehouse full of dangerous weapons, whose existence in the middle of the city doesn't make any sense, and logic is also lacking in the behavior of the criminals or the police officers who behave like a bunch of idiots, and only because both sides do so, the plot somewhat functions. And precisely because most of the characters behave like fools, they also lack the necessary charisma, so the film relies solely on traditionally macho Eastwood. However, he doesn't have as many memorable lines here that are the spice of the series, and his performance is rather routine. Overall impression: 25%.

The Entity tempted me with its high percentage for a horror film, but then sobriety arrived. I think this is one of those cases where the reviews are influenced by nostalgia. The processing and performances are on the level of a television production and it is only average. Moreover, in my eyes, The Entity also harms itself by trying to sell the plot as a real-life story, and unfortunately, the lustful spirit does not evoke horror in me but rather annoys me. For me to take this film seriously, it would have to take itself much less seriously. Horror is a game with human imagination, and the moment someone tries to present parapsychology as a serious science, it's over for me. Overall impression: 25%.

When I saw this legend of B-movie horror films in 1990 for the first time, to this day a functional genre cult, I was perplexed. Now that I have repeated this experience, my doubts are still there. I consider Evil Dead to be an amateur film that fails fatefully in all the aspects that are important to me. Terrible acting performances, a nonexistent script, cheapness, the idiocy of the film characters - should I continue? Even that one star I'm giving it is not for any merits because the film is bad and is taken seriously to the extent that it is somewhat amusing in its twisted way. Nevertheless, Sam Raimi showed here (at least in his camera work) that he has filmmaking in his blood, and when he adds enough perspective (which he already demonstrated in the sequel of the same title) and gains some experience, he can shoot in a grand style. Overall impression: 10%.

Within the genre, this is quite an atypical, one could even say original, horror thanks to the combination of a classic theme of demonic possession with a courtroom drama, where the scriptwriter and director provocatively work with the possibility of the existence of irrational supernatural evil in our material world within the framework of the trial. Flashbacks, editing, and music help create a truly oppressive atmosphere, and the excellent cast helped create an above-average genre film. I admit that I had a bit of a problem with the irrational level embedded in our modern world when the film does not appear as a stylized horror fairy tale, but as a story from reality, due to my enlightenment and modernity as a child. Overall impression: 75%.

The Exorcist was obviously directed by someone who understood the film industry, the audience, and the market. At the time of filming, there was a peak of interest in the trendy satanic theme, and the audience was already accustomed to many things. One of the few remaining taboos was the connection of satanism with a child as a symbol of innocence. Within a short period, three genre films were created that successfully attempted this and gained cult film status. Alongside The Omen and Rosemary's Baby was The Exorcist. Shocked viewers held their breath as they watched the fragile girl transform into a vulgar monster full of anger. Unfortunately, for me, The Exorcist has always been a film where the prologue and the final scene work. What comes in between, which logically makes up the majority, goes over my head due to its excessive literalness. The prologue, which is unrelated to the rest of the story, is filled with sinister anticipation, tension, and a menacing premonition. Something is not right, but you still don't know where the blow will come from. In the final scene of the film, the camera focuses on the stairs in front of the house where someone had died shortly before. Through that shot, you feel an unspoken question - will the horror continue? The rest of the film plays with such open cards and is so descriptive that it simply becomes uninteresting to me. The director wants to emotionally manipulate me, but it doesn't work anymore because we don't live in the early 70s. For me, it still holds true that fear and tension are best evoked by what you cannot see and do not know. A film is the most powerful when it leaves you to wander in uncertainty. A film like The Exorcism of Emily Rose is much more attractive and impactful to me. Overall impression: 40%.

I was absolutely sure that I wouldn't like it, but from time to time one must endure mental torture in order to appreciate even more the movies that are truly worth watching. Half of the members of the cast I categorize as "My Least Favorite Nightmares," and some of them, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, I don't consider actors, but rather stereotypical figures, while others, like Sylvester Stallone, as below-average actors, and it is characteristic that if a quality action actor like Bruce Willis appears in something like this, they just briefly show up on the screen. The Expendables pay homage to violent action films from the 80s with muscle-bound heroes and these sorts of productions didn't make the slightest impression on me even at 15 years old, let alone today. Action productions that I appreciate include titles such as Indiana Jones, Die Hard, or the Bourne series, in general, movies that rely on a quality screenplay and top-notch acting. The Expendables is just as dim-witted as its genre predecessors and the scene of the contract negotiation in a church, which has humor, can't save it. For me, The Expendables is the same as a really strong cigar for a devoted non-smoker. Overall impression: 15%.