DaViD´82

A family fairytale that lacks any hint of inner "magic". The kids are so unlikeable it hurts, the witches are incredibly over the top and it's all so annoying. The only really good thing in Hocus Pocus is the soundtrack, and that  is not enough for a kids film.

Everything is connected. The problem with Syriana lies not in the topic, nor in the actors, nor in it the fact that it is so uninteresting. And definitely not in the fact that Stephen Gaghan demands from his viewers a certain amount of knowledge and desire to get right inside this movie. The only, unfortunately fundamental, problem with Syriana is that it doesn’t seem like a movie. Gaghan couldn’t define his priorities and tries to put everything into this. Which is very damaging for the movie, because despite how outstanding some of the storylines are, others are simply boring. On the other hand, these rather mixed feelings about the movie are made up for by the perfect ending. As a screenwriter, Stephen Gaghan has a lot to say, but as a director he doesn’t (yet) know how to present things like a regular movie experience with all the trimmings.

What takes others ten minutes of film to put across, Tony Scott can do in five minutes flat. Agent Orange or a rather untraditional romance in the subway, wrapped in a “Domino" style robe. This is on the very edge of orientation. I wouldn’t be at all surprised it this turned out to have more editing than the vast majority of regular feature-length movies. An offering by Tony Scott that proves that he a complete madman. However, he is a very talented and likeable madman.

Quite near the beginning there is a perfectly directed scene that whets your appetite and... and then nothing. 16 Blocks is a solid, old-school crime movie, but don’t expect anything more of it than a variation on what we have already seen a hundred times before. You would be needlessly disappointed, which would be a shame because this picture certainly has slightly above-average qualities.

Although this isn’t completely up to Kachyňa’s normal standard, it is still much better than most other Czech productions. The TV-standard production design doesn’t matter, nor does the fact that Lubor Tokoš finds no support in the other actors. What matters a real lot is the screenplay which is simply collage of random scenes. An attempt to make an untraditional road movie which, despite not working completely, is definitely a respectable farewell from Mister Director to his career and life.

Dave McKean is a genius and a phenomenal artist with a very idiosyncratic style. Unfortunately this doesn’t apply to when his job is director. Visually, Mirrormask is unarguably an original work, but the limited budget is all too obvious and prevented McKean from letting loose his creative spirit. It’s not that he hasn’t got ideas, but without being able to rely either on the actors or the screenplay, written together with the big man Neil Gaiman, he hasn’t got many options open to him. The result is therefore a glut of more or less good scenes which occasionally lack atmosphere, but together do not form a consistent whole that is interesting, let alone something that would suck you into this fantasy movie.

On the trail of more than eighty-year-old photos of the Prague quarter of Smíchov. If you don’t know this part of the city, around the main road to Plzen, then this fascinating documentary won’t mean much to you. But if you do happen to know this area as it is today, then this makes excellent watching for (amateur) historians. However, there simply isn’t enough material here to fill the running time and so, especially toward the end, it begins prattling on about nothing.

A solid B-movie thriller with a committed Joshua Jackson, a predictable plot and good pacing. It’s not great, but it’s a pleasant watch.

Production design like out of a Czech TV play, horrendous actors, zero entertainment and absolute bottom of the barrel from the formerly funny David Zucker. The beginning doesn’t look all that bad. Until about five minutes in, when the “screenwriters" think up a supposedly hilarious way of getting rid of Charlie Sheen. That is the moment when it becomes crystal clear what wavelength Scary Movie 4 is on. If only that dumb toilet humor worked, but here we don’t even get one single gag that is at least slightly funny. Where are those good old parodies where the makers understood that simply re-filming a scene from a famous movie with somebody falling on their ass just isn’t enough to make a good one. And they’re even making a part five...

This movie does contain a couple (literally) of dumb jokes that work and, thanks to the shortish running time, this is surprisingly bearable. In places. And this is the only reason for me giving it so many stars, because despite clearly being well-versed in this genre, the creators just don’t have a sense of humor. And it’s up to you whether or not you think this is important with a parody.