Malarkey

Ananimated moviethat combines adult life with an animal life intended for children. Zootopia is cute, kind, funny and here and there, there’s a stellar joke for the adults watching, because the universe brings us true gifts every other day. I even think that the sloths at the DMV were probably the best scene I’ve ever seen in a 3D-animated movie. However, at the same time, it still maintains a pleasant, cute and childish wit that the even children will appreciate. Zootopia was simply a success.

When confronted with this family, you should put all sorts of four-leaf clovers, lucky horseshoes, rabbit’s feet or lucky coins into your pockets. You will need them. I haven’t ever seen a family with worse luck on Christmas Day than the one in this movie. Throughout the eighty minutes, I didn’t get to see any miraculous filmmaking, but on the other hand, I watched the whole thing and a few times, I even laughed from the bottom of my heart.

Cute, a little bit stupid, non-offensive. What more can I say about Tomorrowland? I can see that the movie had great ambitions; digitally, it was amazing and George Clooney wouldn’t take just any gig, but the overall story is so strange that it’s actually a good thing that they only ended up shooting one movie. The first time, it was okay with my eyes half-closed, but if I were to watch it again, I’d have to have a blindfold on.

After I watched this movie, I’ve got the feeling that Nicolas Winding Refn is drowning in his own filmmaking utopias. I get that the Neon Demon has a clear premise about modelling, but I don’t get the artistic pathos they’re using to get to the point. Sure, many of the scenes are very interesting and very pleasing to the eye, but as a whole, I feel like the movie’s just a concurrence of different scenes that don’t make much sense. The director’s lucky that he can choose the right music to his video. I fell for it with Drive, but it was a bit harder this time.

I’m always worried about excessive Christian propaganda when it comes to these kinds of movies. But this one was completely okay. Risen is a historical movies’ classic that I’d only hesitate to call an epic film because the viewer doesn’t get to see any big mass actions. The movie starts with the crucifixion of Jesus and as soon as he disappears, there comes the search. At that moment, I realized that I was watching the very first ancient-times crime investigation movie, which was a lot of fun. All that was missing was a few stylish CSI scenes of their medical capabilities at the time and the picture would’ve been complete. But as soon as Jesus appears, the movie shifts quite a bit and the main Roman character starts to ponder, not only about their own faith, but also about their whole life and the world in general. That part’s a little weaker because it points out some thoughts that unfortunately, a lot of people still don’t get today. Overall, I must say that it’s not at all shot as badly as the reviews make it seem.

A total filmmaking madness that attempts to document a techno/rave/hardcore party in the middle of the American music jungle at the turn of the millennium. What’s definitely interesting about this movie is the storytelling value which – quite exemplarily – points out a whole range of moments that have happened to everybody who has ever attended a similar event, whether as a DJ or as a visitor, whether they were high (majority), drunk (majority) or completely sober (minority). The music is quite rough, uncompromising and it doesn’t care about anybody. The entire movie is basically boasting about how edgy the music is, but in the end, John Digweed comes out to perform his best and also his only melodic song that’s on a completely different level than the rest of the movie. The underground isn’t as obvious in today’s events, but those who experienced that era will certainly find a certain fetish in it. I give it three stars. I didn’t get to see such a brutal underground, but I like that someone wanted to capture a certain time period that is worth reminiscing about.

An excellent civil science fiction that looks like Saw at first glance, only to turn into a distinctive and very interesting thriller over time. It’s a shame that this thriller gets a brutal bashing from other movie genres in the last 20 minutes and turns into an apocalyptic sci-fi. Hats off for that idea! Although the whole movie feelsvery intimate, I must say that thesemere three actors support the intimacy with great performances, especially John Goodman and then Mary Elizabeth Winstead brings a certain beauty into it. Overall, I have to say that this is a very nice surprise and at the same time a very interesting combination of two completely different ideas.

A wishy-washy, completely uninteresting French drama that bases the movie on these three female characters who have a closer relationship that might be apparent at first glance and who are played by three ultra-gorgeous French actresses (Adéle Exarchopoulos, Adéle Haenel and Soléne Rigot) and then there’s also one ultra-gorgeous French-speaking American (Gemma Arton). As far as the plot goes, I didn’t even manage to follow this atypically told story. Not only was I awfully bored, I also didn’t find it interesting at all. I kept getting lost and at the same time, I kept trying to figure out the meaning behind the scenes and their meaningfulness for the (non)story. It’s a shame. The casting of these actresses is A++, I’d watch that any time. The rest is a disappointment.

Finally, once again, there’s a movie where Eddie Murphy plays a serious, but also kind character. So kind, in fact, that Mr. Church makes you feel all warm and giddy during the entire movie and even afterwards. The movie tells an incredibly sweet human story and benefits form the fact that Eddie’s character is more mysterious than the Bermuda Triangle. The story slowly reveals the character and with each passing minute, the viewer finds out more and more interesting information about the life of a man that might as well be your neighbor. At the start, Mr. Church’s attitude took a lot of getting used to, but over time, this world of three people creates such an apparent and pleasant inkling to find out more about him that it stirs strange magical feelings within me. Plus, Mr. Church’s culinary skills are on par with genius, so the only issue was that after I watched the movie, I had to go raid my fridge.

I must admit that I have already seen extremely pleasant movies where the main character was blind. But that is not the case with this movie that tries to be nice and cool, but at the same time it is terribly boring in all respects. You don’t form a relationship with the actors, the environment is terribly sterile and uninteresting, especially the interior, and the dialogues are so terribly insanein that wannabe French way that it makes you feel like somebody’s tried very hard, and yet it’s one awkward situation after another. It wasn’t anything I’d like to see again, just one of the many French comedies I will gladly forget.