Necrotongue

I didn't expect this film to be groundbreaking, and it wasn’t. I got a film with a fairly predictable ending, but luckily it wasn’t drowning in pathos and had a relaxed atmosphere. I even had a few good laughs, so I was satisfied. It wasn’t the usual Simon Pegg goofiness, the film was much calmer, but I still had a good time.

What a weird film. The story is actually told backwards, so I got to know how everything was going to end right in the beginning, and yet I was entertained all along as it was gradually revealed to me why all those things happened. The filmmakers managed to create a somewhat paranoid atmosphere and bring suspense and the effect of deja-vu to an already resolved story. I even had a decent laugh in the moments before the main character realized what was going on.

I never have high expectations of romantic comedies (good thing I don’t), but I was pleasantly surprised this time. Sure, the film did have those sappy moments that I was counting on, but it didn't go overboard with them. It was funny, it had its dramatic line and didn’t pull any punches towards either men or women. A lot of blockbusters don't have such a great cast, although Ben Affleck... The two hours just flew by, and I was decently entertained all along, so there you have it.

The Coen brothers pulled off another great movie. True, I lowered my original rating by one star, but that was mostly because I'm getting spoiled these days and maybe I nitpick too much. Anyway, I did enjoy the film and I rank it among my favorite classics.

I'm giving the second season four stars in the end, even though I had a number of issues concerning each episode. The biggest problem was that the creators forgot about humor at times, and the plot was getting boring in places. I don't know what went wrong. Some episodes were good quality. I even enjoyed moments when humor was downplayed in favor of drama, I only had a problem with the episodes that had nothing to offer.

For the entire double episode, I decided to give four stars because the whole thing didn't bore me and I especially enjoyed the second part, but I was terribly annoyed by the illogical behavior of all the characters throughout the attack or kidnapping, or whatever it was. Only Richard Ayoade is missing and IT Crowd is complete. 4*.

I rank Carter as one of Stallone's weaker efforts. I can totally hear the director's instructions before shooting, "Keep that tough look, Sly. Mickey, don’t be afraid to show some emotion." I didn't really get the plot. The basic story line was clear, but everything around it was drowned in chaos. Who was supposed to be the bad guy? Michael Caine? Then why did he act so illogically? How did Mickey Rourke's character end up? Why was Carter's Las Vegas romance even part of the story? The biggest problem for me was that the creators were trying to pretend the story was deep. If they had focused more on making an action movie, it would have turned out much better.

I wasn’t able to enjoy the film as much as I did before. What I still liked was Michael Keaton's performance, but I was disappointed with the level of special effects. What annoyed me were the badly executed sand snakes. Had they been better, I would have kept my original rating, but I take it down to a 3*+.

I found the sequel (?) to the original film confusing. Nikita Mikhalkov, as a co-writer of the screenplay, would risk having his ankles broken if he had to defend the weird continuation of the story to Annie Wilkes. General Kotov was shot dead in 1936 (original information), in 1941 (new information), not shot at all (latest information). Don’t even get me started on his family. The war scenes sometimes felt like a parody (defecation, being hit by a flare, Ju 87 equipped with a bombshell, etc.). On the other hand, I have to appreciate the extremely realistic scene that showed what a typical man is willing to go through to persuade a woman to reveal her charms.

This film won me over years ago. What I enjoy most about it is the brutal contrast of the relaxed summer idyll with the harsh reality of Stalin's purges, the perfect atmosphere, and the three outstanding performances by Oleg Menshikov, Nikita Mikhalkov, and Nadezhda Mikhalkova. I've said many times how I feel about children in film, but Nadia gave a truly excellent performance as Nadia, albeit mightily supported by her daddy/co-actor/director/screenwriter.