lamps

The main character is endearing, and the scenes depicting his intricately complex adaptation to the interior of his new London home are truly perfect. The humour will mostly please both the children's audience, who will jump with excitement at every stunt the confused bear pulls, as well as the parents, who will appreciate its accessibility and the solid moral message, which Paddington, as a classic family film, does not spare. But what is downright annoying, however, is Nicole Kidman's character and basically the whole plot arc in the second half, which is devoid of surprise and also fails. With a bit of hindsight, I have to downgrade it to three stars, because the memory of the film has faded surprisingly quickly. 65%

Few people can create quality slapstick entertainment completely free of meaningful dialogue and with a story on the level of a seven-year-old child, and the creators of Shaun the Sheep handle it almost perfectly. An inexhaustible geyser of great ideas, which in some cases spouts stuff we’ve seen hundreds of times before, but always in the next moment surprises with a joke or reference so well thought out and creative that it's hard to believe (the evil staring dog in the opposite cell was even funnier than funny:))..... Top it off with a dose of emotion, the necessary pathos and a super unlucky villain that I really enjoyed, and we have not only a great film, but also a great potential for future projects. 85%

The second part not only breaks down the imaginary expressive embargo, with the crude humour full of boorish sexual innuendos having lost all self control, but also the story itself, which, especially in the first half, imaginatively and humorously deals with many political and moral trends of today, stops working at times and by the end it’s clearly out of steam, and McFarlane, as usual, starts to rely only on a bunch of references towards popular and important films, some of which are admittedly brilliant (Jurassic Park), but are not enough on their own to support a full-fledged cinematic story. Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun, I mostly didn't mind the harsher dialogues and situations beyond the edge of bearability, and the trio of main characters became firmly attached to my heart again, because, let's face it, if I skipped smoking and drugs, I'd get along with such a cuddly toy as well as the great Marky Mark – and I'm really not ashamed of to admit it. 80%

This film is almost impossible to rate these days. A ruthless but likeable protagonist out to settle scores, a powerful crime syndicate ranging from a big boss to a young snotty troublemaker, a third person in the background who’s not sure whose side they’re on, and even a meaningful motive, that gives the whole plot concept a certain unmistakable stamp of conviction and empathy; all wrapped in the heady garb of John Woo's 90s action movies and spiced up with modern hyper-stylish action set in the grim colours and original locations of a luxury mafia hotel. Keanu Reeves is fine, but Denzel Washington would have been awesome here, and Michael Nyqvist should only play mafia bosses with a sense of humour and irony who are not afraid to go to their deaths in the pouring rain and with a smile on their lips alongside their former allies. A cool and pure action ride, definitely much better than the boring and wannabe smart Equalizer... 80%

An intimate thriller whose greatest asset is the perfect performance of the lead actor – we haven't had such an unreadable, dark character going on his own without firearms for a long time, and together with the dark atmosphere of nighttime, crime-ridden L.A., especially in the end, it brings the emotional experience of the story to the level of the best we could see in 2014. In the final analysis, the film feels more like a small intro into the sick soul of an obsessive careerist, and doesn't make much of an effort to link his immoral actions with the commentary on criminal justice (the ending almost feels like an ode to investigative "snooping"), but that doesn't detract from its quality. 80%

A sci-fi story full of temporal paradoxes, whose highlight is the first half marked by a retrospective narrative of an extraordinary human destiny. If the whole film were as gripping and atmospheric as this opening passage, which gave me pleasant chills just by the beautifully matched shots of the faces of the two discussing characters, it would be an absolute and unprecedented hit. But the last thirty minutes not only made my head too muddled with all the time shifts, but also completely disrupted the existing harmony of the narrative, which up until then had made me purr with unconcealed bliss. It's as if the Spierigs wanted to convey an awful lot, but while I bought and believed it at the beginning, by the end I was barely listening. Great shame. 70%

The irresistible Nordic humour strikes again with full intensity after a long time. Although the story, based in no small part on the Forrest Gump narrative model, is far crazier and lampoons several important 20th century characters in a style that makes the level of hyperbole seem limitless, everything from the dialogue to the development of the dim-witted protagonist comes across as completely natural, the humour is constantly surprising, and the script manages to combine the two storylines perfectly into a highly original and distinctive whole. Don't expect any deep ideas, moral lessons and let alone a believable portrayal of modern history, just laugh and relax over a film so crazy, but at the same time so beautiful and unique.... And then there’s the book :) 85%

Goodfellas has become a legend in its own right. Scorsese shows us the criminal world of the time without unnecessary exaggerations and believably, and, with a generous help of typologically perfect actors and a diverse soundtrack, he builds the period atmosphere and helps us understand almost perfectly the specific mood of the members and hangers-ons of the Italian mafia. All of this, of course, wrapped up in formal mastery, thanks to which the viewer has not the slightest chance to fall out of the perfectly matched rhythm, which conductor Scorsese expertly dictates with the aforementioned soundtrack (the music makes me want to experience that time so much), a fabulous cast (the central pair rock, with Pesci deserving the crown) and a great script that pits the protagonist against first his morals (his father), then his family life and finally against his own, while never ceasing to build and enthral with its psychological plausibility. And also, it's extremely funny and inventive (stop-motion, later inspired by Steven Soderbergh, for example; at times grotesque but always relevant violence; cool camera rides in interiors; shifting narrator positions to support complex story development). I like Casino better, but Goodfellas is very close to perfection. 90%

I don't yet know whether, given future trends, we should rejoice or rather mourn as the long-untouchable cinematic mood of the UK becomes increasingly blended with Hollywood enthusiasm, but as long as the result is at least half as nonchalant in its precisely measured performances and diabolical in its irresistibly entertaining action as Kingsman, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. Matthew Vaughn knows very well what he’s doing, he knows where he wants to take the viewer, and the story as a whole, with all the jokes, is built to satisfy the part of the audience that expects a pure parody of the formally diverse but exclusively British career of a certain James Bond (Colin Firth in a perfectly fitting suit and karate-style pose could replace Daniel Craig in the famous role in no time), as well as the rest of us, who hunger for the insane yet exaggerated details and individual action passages, and the concept of a criminal conspiracy whose mastermind is a rich nigga with a penchant for burgers who doesn't go far for fuck (and he's American, of course – specifically, one who plays nigga just about everywhere). And it all works really well, and, though the first half doesn't bring anything new and the originality stagnates, the ending crowned with the most humorous villain liquidation since Hot Fuzz to the sounds of “Give It Up” by KC&Sunshine Band brought me to a state of ecstasy. In addition to Firth and Jackson, thumbs up to the likeable Egerton, and Mark Strong, who here looks almost like Stanley Tucci. And the biggest praise, of course, for Matthey Vaughn. 80%

I don't know what went wrong. There's Stellan Skarsgard (who first decides to shoot himself in order to subsequently shoot half the Norwegian mafia), Bruno Ganz as an Albanian mafia boss, and as a bonus, a simple and straightforward story in an appealing and unadorned setting that promises not only an avalanche of corpses, but also a torrent of effective black humour. And though Skarsgard is flawless, the setting is used perfectly and the cinematographer is extremely good with it, the simplicity of the plot reaches such an overwhelming level that the script would have to be littered from top to bottom with jokes or references to famous gangster films to be forgiven as a successful parody. But that’s not the case because, except for a few moments when the corners of my mouth quivered slightly and one that actually made me laugh, the humour is desperately absent, and many plot "twists" that could be tolerated in a comedy seem downright distracting and silly here. For me a wasted potential; a film this formally interesting and with such brilliant performances should have turned out much better. 60%