POMO

Death Proof is a cool flick full of boring girl talk and AMAZING, visceral car chases and stunts. I would expect more in the dialogue department from my beloved Tarantino; however, he (once again) pleasantly surprised me with the dynamic action of the car scenes. Kurt Russell is great and the director’s inside jokes for those familiar with his work are even better (the two policemen, the ring tone of Abernathy’s cell phone, Kurt winking at the camera, etc.) Maybe, however, Quentin should have followed Russ Meyer’s example and cast some bustier ladies so that the movie would be the “perfect” representative of the feminist exploitation genre. Let’s see what the 110-minute version will bring, but because of the dumb dialogue, I’m not willing to forgive, so I’m sticking with three stars. P.S.: Rosario Dawson is very pretty.

August the First is a technically semi-amateur (the unintentionally blurred image even in banal dialogue scenes!) film about a family who deals with their dysfunction in their home and garden. The idea is not bad - one of the main characters turns out to be someone other than we thought, which completes the story -, but it’s not done well. The chemistry between the characters works, but the director doesn’t know how to emphasize important moments and the film, which has the same length as, for example, The Naked Gun, is boring in places. It’s a somewhat negligible, small-scale indie affair.

These dice have been thrown so elegantly that, even though the same number appears on every side, it is still a pleasure to watch them fly to the end. Ocean’s Thirteen is an entertaining and charismatic flick that pleased me with Brad Pitt’s perfect suits, the sensually attractive MILF Ellen Barkin (doesn’t anyone have the recipe for that perfume?) and the skyscraper-hotel tycoon Al Pacino. Add in the perfect roles for Andy Garcia, Vincent Cassel and David Paymer, and of course Clooney’s smiling, cool-as-a-cucumber Danny Ocean. Steven Soderbergh did a great job with being in charge of a dozen stars, milking the potential of each one of them to the last drop, and even managed to chill while doing it. It’s not as amazing as the first installment (i.e. it’s easily forgettable and it’s enough to watch it once), but on the other hand, it’s easier to follow and more relaxed than the controversial second instalment.

A ghost thriller about youngsters for youngsters, where absolutely nothing works as intended. David Goyer’s half-witted direction was still bearable in Blade: Trinity, which did not pretend to be anything more than dumb fun. The Invisible, however, wants to be a serious, tense and emotionally devastating drama, and it fails on all counts, arousing only bitterness, disbelief and sometimes a condescending smile. The film’s production values are solid; it’s no cheap B-movie and Justin Chatwin is full of youthful charm (he also gets much more space than in the “technical” War of the Worlds), but Goyer buries it all. It’s movies like these that make one appreciate the art of good direction... Instead of this, go watch the emotionally effective Butterfly Effect or the atmospheric and intriguing Donnie Darko.

The story is fast-paced, the action scenes are perfectly shot and sometimes even inventive (the tunnel scene), and the old boy Bruce Willis is – surprisingly – still the same great John McClane, who holds the film together and provides it with the right ironic wit. I would edit the last third of the film a bit and shorten the whole thing by some five minutes, but otherwise I have no complaints, apart from the fallen Capitol in the trailer.

Old masters Jerry Bruckheimer and Tony Scott created a hybrid of Van Damme’s Timecop and Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys. The great Denzel Washington heroically shoots his way through the film, which can boast precise filmmaking and a great number of screenwriting ideas, but unfortunately suffers from just as many lapses in logic, including the biggest one, connected to the excessively romantic (but emotionally pleasant) happy ending. Déjà Vu is a pleasant, relaxing film that you shouldn’t overthink.

The action in Pathfinder is so chaotic that you don’t know what’s happening, and you’ll only find out who killed whom when you see who leaves the fight alive. That this happened in the age of poetic and easy-to-follow fights à la 300 makes this failing inexcusable, especially in a movie based on action. And telling a story and guiding the characters are also beyond Marcus Nispel’s power. One must ask what is in this filmmaker’s power. In this case, just covering the screen with emotionally flat darkness. Pathfinder is a terrible film based on a script with the intelligence level of the worst video-game adaptations. Moreover, it is completely butchered by the final random scenes, reminiscent of Ed Wood’s filmmaking methods (long shots of an avalanche, taken from God knows where). After some hesitation, I’m awarding this one star. It has no place in cinemas.

Paradise Now is a surprisingly not only a pensive, but also tense thriller fueled by unexpected twists and dynamically conveying a very intimate and sensitive topic. I’d say its premise is just as attractive as that of Greengrass’s United 93, just presenting the opposite side of the barricade. The film is dominated by the great performances of the two leading actors. Merely the gaze of one of them is the film’s most powerful weapon, and it’s no accident that those eyes are the last thing you see in the movie. I won’t comment on the political attitudes, as those are outside my interest, but the parts dealing with the relationships between the characters (best friend, beloved wife, mother, dead father) work perfectly. Too bad that logic sometimes gives way to the drive of the story. If it weren’t for those lapses in logic, I’d give it five stars.

In the first half of The Painted Veil, the director unfortunately doesn’t let us get closer to the characters and succumb to the emotions of the story, which makes him as immature as the heroine. This handicap, however, disappears over time and when Naomi Watts’ character grows more mature, the picture turns into a powerful intimate drama about two very different people growing close at the end of the world. It’s a pity that the ending is cut short, once again not allowing for deeper emotions on the audience’s part. However, it’s a nice film postcard from faraway lands, and though it is kind of forgettable and doesn’t attain the epic qualities of the biggest Hollywood period films, it has a kind heart and a unique creative touch. Similar uniqueness can be found in the recent film by the Australian Phillip Noyce dealing with his homeland (Rabbit-Proof Fence). Naomi turns in a fine performance, but the driving force behind the film is (once again) Edward Norton, even though he gets much less screen time than his female counterpart. P.S. Another beautiful score by Hollywood newcomer Alexandre Desplat.

Stranger than Fiction is a fresh, inspiring and on-point comedy for an intelligent audience. It offers a deluge of great ideas and cute moments we know from real life but have never seen in a movie. Will Ferrell’s serious acting is a bit too minimalist, but he has great help in the form of the eccentric performances by Maggie Gyllenhaal and Dustin Hoffman. I recommend taking a cookie with delicious chocolate icing to the cinema with you.