POMO

A woman with a child appears in front of the camera only so that Sandra Bullock can hear the child crying from the other end of the transmitter. And it was supposed to be a single shot. However, it’s a pleasant little film whose message is nicely connected to Gravity.

You won’t worry much about the life of Phillips, the hostage portrayed by Tom Hanks, because every character in the film knows that killing him would be of no benefit to anyone. This certainty, which diminishes the film’s level of suspense, weakens only in the final minutes. Apart from this, Captain Phillips is an interesting case of “how can he get out of this”. In this respect, United 93 allowed Paul Greengrass to make a stronger emotional impact on the viewer. Hiding the US NAVY propaganda behind the camouflage of stunning action filmmaking, which will satisfy even the more discerning viewer, however, is something no other contemporary director could do better. And Hanks rules.

Catching Fire is more mature and bearable than the first installment, which I had to suffer through. It’s too long and brings no satisfying conclusion (it only compels you to watch the next part), but it’s entertaining enough. It’s not a bad adventure fun for young audiences, and Francis Lawrence’s directorial craftsmanship shows no flaws. The best part of the movie is the epic scenes à la Cleopatra on the Capitol square.

About Time is a nice movie, but we’ve seen it all before. And if you’re satisfied with your life, realizing that every seemingly bad decision will eventually take you to some greater happiness, it doesn’t have much to say to you.

Chapter 2 has a good script that richly and cleverly develops the story of the first instalment. However, a quarter of the film is shot with a cheap home-video camera, which is an extremely bad fit with James Wan’s visuals, which are attractive and original as usual (and made the first installment, as well as the recent delicious The Conjuring, so appealing). The film follows three sophisticated interlacing storylines. If the “handicam” was used purposefully, to differentiate one of the lines to make it easier to follow the plot, it would’ve been alright. But it is not. And it completely ruined my impression of the movie. I’m at the cinema, not watching videos on YouTube!

On paper, this movie must have looked more promising than what Alan Taylor wound up doing with it. Kenneth Branagh and his more serious note, as well as the sense of a dramatic arc of the film as a whole, are missing from the second Thor. The biggest weakness (even on paper) is the hasty ending. Nevertheless, it is still a nice chill-out movie, with some nice acting, a pretty Natalie Portman, the feel of a fantasy, epicness and some great scenes, both comic and dramatic. I don’t recommend watching this in 3D, as the colors are faded and it does not have a single scene that would justify its use.

The funniest moment of This Is the End is when Michael Cera smacks Rihanna's ass. The boys had fun with this one. Laughing with them in their “real” presence at dick jokes and sincere critical self-reflection has potential to be cool entertainment, but it would need a more sophisticated screenplay. This seems slapped together spontaneously in one evening and revisited only on the set. Casting is not everything. The penis-demon in the climax and the final song are good.

The first half of the film, in which the Lady begins to provoke the big shots of the Burmese government, is too simplistic and somewhat mechanically staged and edited. In the second half, the story comes alive by looking into the characters’ feelings and motivations, but relies on lengthy milking of emotion (separation from the husband). The emotional connection of the two halves of the film is not very smooth. The filmmaking aspect is (surprisingly) only routine. Michelle Yeoh’s good. As far as movies taking place in Burma are concerned, I prefer the fourth Rambo.

Don Jon does not have nice characters, nor does it offer anything that dazzles or inspires. But it is distinctive, it knows what it wants to say and says it honestly and aptly. I applaud Gordon-Levitt for choosing to make this for Sundance festivalgoers and not for the much more numerous (and big-spending) consumers of dime-a-dozen Hollywood romances.

A screenplay for a decent TV detective film adapted to the big screen by adding attractive visuals and a stellar cast. However, the film is merely average due to the absence of moments of surprise, its simple story and the presence of genre clichés. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was more sophisticated and multilayered.