DaViD´82

Bekmambetov knows no bounds, and that’s good. Most of the time, not always. Yet the connection to the literary source escapes me. Or rather, it doesn’t escape me, because there’s none.

The events in a small town and its surroundings during the clean-up in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane... Although Invasion grabs your attention right from the start, it has a significant ascending tendency — thus while it starts slowly, it gains unstoppable momentum. It is relatively calm and it isn’t the kind of series where each episode is overflowing with twists and revelations, but it can surprise, manage to captivate, and, above all, it gradually builds up the atmosphere perfectly. The characters here are quite typical in terms of characterization, but there are a few very pleasing exceptions - especially the ambiguous Sheriff Underlay, played by William Fichtner, who carries some of the relatively weaker episodes. Invasion takes its own specific yet definitely high quality path. And that's a good thing.

An interesting combination of elements typical of "made by HBO" series with excellent sets and historical trappings. inspiration by I, Claudius (whether by the magnificent books or the unsurpassed TV series) is obvious, but it certainly doesn't hurt. The depiction of the political intrigues during the life of Gaius Caesar, as well as the usually unseen side of the lives of plebeians and legionnaires, is well done. It is not strictly necessary to orient yourself in the events of the time, but it pays off knowing something, because there are a lot of references for the knowledgeable - sometimes they are purely fun allusions, and sometimes they are interesting takes on different events. The acting is precise; the production design is spectacular, and from about episode three it is really excellent as a whole (the initial episodes only serve as a relatively uninteresting beginning); yet something is missing - something its older brother I, Claudius (even though it was shot in a studio) had in abundance.

Robert S. McNamara and his near confession and meditation on the events of his life. It is attractive and interesting, simply because there are not many personalities like McNamara. It's not so much about resolving the question of whether or not he really was responsible for everything; whether he was (or wasn’t) a war criminal; whether he could (or couldn’t) have prevented certain things from happening - instead it's a fascinating overview of his life (and given that he was the Secretary of Defense during the Cuban Crisis and during the Vietnam War, that he was the director of the World Bank and Ford, and that he also played an interesting role during World War 2, there is definitely a lot to reflect on). Moreover, Morris, as an experienced documentarian, knows how to pose questions; can use period footage at the right time, and edits it perfectly; and when you add Philip Glass' magnificent soundtrack as the icing on the cake, it is definitely worth taking some time to see this piece - it pays off.

Join up! Uncle Sam wants you! You’ll have a great time with us, get to do some shooting, kill some non-American bastards, protect your country and three meals a day... Or not? Boredom in the desert or Sam Mendes’ third attempt. And again it’s something completely different from his previous movies. This time he brings us a provocative and raw insight into the life of a young marine during the Gulf War. First he undergoes training and then, keen to fight, he is posted to a war where nothing happens and the action he was dreaming about never comes, and all he does is stand on watch amongst sand dunes, waiting and waiting... And waiting. The movie is more a patchwork of individual scenes (especially the one when the soldiers are watching Apocalypse Now I can’t shake out of my head, like many other scenes too), but despite that, or maybe because of that, the movie is really powerful. And we get good elephant doses of sarcasm and satire. In technical terms it is precise (that’s right, the camerawork is almost unreal; the scene with the horse in the middle of the burning oil fields is the peak of perfection), as is the soundtrack. Every one of the actors is great, as they tend to be in Mendes’ movies. Mendes’ directing is again flawless, inventive and seething with ideas. And Jake “Donnie Darko" Gyllenhaal is a chapter in himself, proving again that he is one of the biggest talents of contemporary transatlantic cinema. This picture of boredom in the middle of a modern military conflict and the impact it leaves on its protagonists is even more interesting and chilling because the movie manages to impart this feeling to the viewer too.

If you like the “inoffensive" style humor typical American sitcom, you might like this. But I don’t. And here it’s just a matter of recycled jokes from other family series that we’ve all seen on TV already. Just presented even worse. It’s true that there is one priceless idea where we hear the separate characters saying in their minds (but not out loud) what they actually think. A simple idea playing with mind’s eyes that could have been taken to incredible extremes in the sitcom. Unfortunately in practice the result is sad and embarrassingly unfunny. Plus we get Michael Rapaport as a bonus. That man has not even a hint of talent for comedy and here he is meant to be the central point of this sitcom. Now that is daring.

Mediocre in all respects and, at a time when we have Invasion, Prison Break and Lost to choose from, why waste time watching this? The story is terribly predictable, the characters badly written and the acting is even worse. The characters are perhaps the biggest stumbling block here; there is just no powerhouse here to tide things over in weaker episodes (of which there are a lot!). It has an interesting storyline about water creatures, but that is often sidelined and the space is devoted to the trials of the little boy and his “monster" chum or some similarly “compelling" adventures. All together this makes a series that has potential on paper, but loses it in the “family" approach to the story. Although it improves drastically as of episode eight, but still remains within the mediocre bracket, and so it is no surprise that it was canned after fifteen episodes.

Excellent cinematography, good cast, and slow-moving nothing. Considering that nothing happens in the entire film except for the last few minutes and it has almost no atmosphere, it's surprising that I actually quite enjoyed it, even though it's the purest possible average.

Up to half way through, this is a terribly amateur attempt at a movie, but in the second half it turns into a hilarious screwball that makes you laugh your head off. Of course it is nowhere near as good as the previous parts, but it does have a couple of good ideas here and there. I give it one star for Peter Coyote’s “performance"; that poor guy just has no idea about acting.

The only reason the third star is there is because of Alyson Hannigan. And her figure. I mean her physique. She’s as sweet as a cute lollypop. And of course that has nothing to do with Whedon. That is the work of those who conceived her. Otherwise, this is a cult series that somehow passed me by. There are several outstanding and ingenious episodes, but the vast majority of episodes are barely tolerable. And that applies to the first, the second and the beginning of the third season. Then I just gave up. I only have one set of nerves.