Malarkey

The Italians once again came with a brilliant subject matter. In my opinion, they have a talent for it. I watch a dozen of mediocre Italian movies (often with a lot shouting on top of it), and then they hit me with something I can’t get out of my head even if I hit a wall with it. And there’s nothing wrong with the fact that they’re exploiting time travel here. This is a film about family tradition, about some sort of family spirituality, which is what I liked so much about it. Plus I immediately noticed the Slavia Prague soccer scarf in the living room, belonging to the father with Buffon’s hairstyle, which made me feel even more enthusiastic about the film. Plus, the casting of actresses is also very fortunate – Vittoria Puccini’s acting performance was brilliant and Benedetta Porcaroli was also not bad given her youth. 18 Presents is a sensitive family film that won’t make you cry, but in the end it you will feel so incredibly strange that you will not want to forget it.

Immigrants are one of the favorite topics of European filmmakers. And the countries that have the most to say about it are of course those countries that are affected the most. For example France, quite commonly Italy and now as I can see Spain as well. But there are two stories told in this movie. One story is told from the Spanish point of view and another from the immigrants’ point of view and even though there is a qualitative difference between the two, I watched this movie slack-jawed and humbled by the fact that I live in a country where similar problems don’t affect me at all.

A modern American thriller in the vein of Fifty Shades of Grey; add a mystical dimension and take away the eroticism. A Fall from Grace will immediately draw you in the story, but all the time, I couldn’t get rid of the impression I was watching a TV flick. It contains some logical lapses here and there, but in the second half it starts to escalate after a rather chatty first half and there was even some kind of plot twist, which was definitely very nice.

This particular female influencer deserves a few slaps. Brazil knows how to pick a topical premise that might resonate with today youngsters, but for me, I just feel as if I don’t understand these modern times at all.

A decent black drama, where you have to forget about the usual story templates for similar films and accept the fact that the life in a ghetto is a bit different. I think that I wouldn’t survive five minutes in there. For me, those were shots from another planet, with everything totally alien.

In many respects, this movie looks like your average romantic drama. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the film’s melancholic atmosphere and the fact that the story revolves around two people brought together by fate and working on a school project – to visit all the interesting places in Indiana.

The premise is unbelievably bizarre but it’s a nice chill-out comedy for these COVID-19 times. You will rest while watching it, enjoy it and Seth Rogen even adds a few Jewish jokes which are not hard to get, all the while an enjoyable soundtrack is playing at the background as if from some Pesach celebration.

Without Branagh this movie would be a total failure. Now it is just a failure. The action scenes are alright. The CGI is OK, it makes sense. What is worse is the fact that even though I read the Artemis Fowl books as a child, in this movie I wasn’t able to stand the arrogance of the 12 year old idiot of the main character. Already in the first scene I would really like to slap him and from that point it just goes on. It is an attempt to create a new fantasy series like Harry Potter, but while Chris Columbus was able to make all the children characters likable, Kenneth Branagh made Artemis into a boy you hate and wish him all the worst already in the first minute.

Well, I have to say that Avenue 5 isn’t as bad as it seems. Quite the opposite. Hugh Laurie nicely delivers some nicely dry British humor and Josh Gad on the other hand points at American stupidity. These two kinds of humor are combined here and create what we could on one hand call simple entertainment but on the other, it has some slight Red Dwarf vibes. But don’t worry, I mean really slight – so no one would crucify me for this comparison. Nevertheless I have to say that user cinefob was right as well. I really was surprised in a good way. I’ve missed similar kind of series lately.

I had no idea that such a great premise about colonization of Mars can be screwed up so royally. Just sending a group of people that have more unresolved issues than nice moments of smooth cooperation into space is more than extreme. Moreover, to prolong the series, creators made main characters experience flashbacks, which didn’t help the series at all. It results in a notion that if it were monkeys that were sent into space the outcome would be better. I didn’t enjoy watching it at all, the only really nice moment of the whole 10 episode long series is the end of the last episode.