3DD!3

An energetic romp until the overweight, stoned ending. Baz Luhrmann piles up opulent shots, attractive camera fly-overs and the remixed and reimagined Elvis hits in the background pull you into the story immediately. Hanks’ unreliable narrator, denying any responsibility for the King’s stagnation and eventual decay, is an unlikeable, calculating bastard. His typical economic dodging, the merchandise scene and the corporate over-emphasis on security are the essence of everything that is bad about today’s world and Tom "America’s boy next door" Hanks lays it on us with great verve. Austin Butler is uncompromising and dedicated as Elvis, very faithfully copying his expressive dancing style; Feyd-Rautha is in good hands. The story follows a classic rise and fall pattern, while also going up interesting side roads, whether it is the luck of a white kid who was lucky enough to grow up in a better and all-round righter (black) environment. The timing of the premiere of this movie at the end of a PROUD month is a master stroke straight out of the Colonel’s textbook, the parallels are crystal clear. And Parker’s efforts to keep the King away from politics, family rows, disintegration of marriage, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But it never runs on the spot. A most quality memorial to a legend.

I saw this once as a young boy, so it’s heavily nostalgic for me. Sheen and Douglas give very mediocre performances, but luckily the theme is sufficiently sturdy, so it doesn’t matter. The idea of a modern (modern in those days) aircraft carrier on the eve of the Second World War gives you goose bumps. In comparison to Marvel’s alternative universes, this perhaps doesn’t seem so shocking, but back when it came out, it really was something. I’m surprised that they never made a remake or an upgrade using the 9/11 theme.

At the beginning, Obi is a bit of a jerk, but in the last episode he is the good old Wan Kenobi we all know and love. It’s written pretty poorly and Chow’s directing is a bit lackadaisical, the action is pretty weak, with a couple of exceptions, some scenes don’t make any sense and some are there just for effect. And again we get mentor variations where a surrogate father cares for a child, saves it, loses it again, then saves it again.  Of course, it’s great that we get to know a bit more about Leia, but it’s just fan service, especially since we know that in fact there is no real danger, because we know she survives at least until A New Hope. The existence of a third sister character is interesting to know, but Moses Ingram’s acting is rather bland. Rupert Friend’s makeup is more on the dumb side, rather than being horrifying. Criminal underuse of John Williams’ original score. But when Christensen and McGregor are exchanging views in the last episode, at last it has a shout. I think they should have made this a movie, rather than a half-baked miniseries.

The very relevant topic of human submissiveness and what controls us, but in inconsistent packaging and, unfortunately, with rather a bland ending. The screenplay chose a cheap, escaping ending, instead of trying anything bolder. Which is strange - it was so promising for so long. Hemsworth really enjoys this, for him untraditional, role. Kosinski has made an attractive movie here, with a wonderfully designed jail and surrounding countryside. Beautiful. Rather naively, I had originally thought that he would experiment more in this minor production for Netflix, but no.

I really rate this shorter format, which means that I don’t have enough time to fall asleep and so I watch each episode from start to finish. I’ve always liked Scrat’s antics and my daughter’s reaction to them is also always positive. The Disney mentoring concept has found a way into this too, but at least it works. Scrat Jr. is a cute little bugger who makes no end of problems for Scrat Sr. The last episode in particular is full of mischief. This is maybe the best thing to come out of choking 20th Century Fox with Mickey. Goodbye Blue Sky...

Nothing happens. Everybody managed to overcome the obstacles without any great trouble and it all ended up fine in the end. Rowling can tell a good story, but now she has nothing to tell, or else she’s saving up the entertaining stuff for her next two books. When will the wizards have to zig-zag between tanks on a Second World War battlefield? To make matters worse, Yates has no invention and has been humming the same tune since the fifth Potter. Dumbledore’s great secret is just a confirmation of what we long since suspected and Law has no material to work with. Mikkelsen has almost nothing to act and spends most of the time stroking a Chinese fawn. The rest of the gang traipse from place to place, sorry, relocate themselves according to Dumbledore’s secret plan which is so secret that nobody, including the viewer, understands it. Not even Dan Fogler makes it any better. Part four has to be tanks vs. wizards with a new director. Otherwise there’s no point in filming it.

The Wire inside out. But I had trouble with the inconsistent and often confusing narration which jumps from one incident involving the main suspects to another completely with complete disregard for chronology. A gradual transformation would have come across better. Green didn’t get that right. What remains in the head is the very good, but rather rushed final episode. Bernthal does far too much oscillation between good cop and bad cop, but still he carries the entire series on his shoulders. The way Treat Williams sums up the situation regarding drug wars, loss of trust and the senseless quest for growth should be carved into stone. It applies everywhere. And there’s no money for things that make sense. The final explanatory texts listing the sentences that those involved received, ending with a dry statement saying that after the case was concluded and after reorganization of the police department (replacing white officers with black), the crime rate rose sharply just says it all. Baltimore is one of the most dangerous cities on Earth.

Great individual scenes (the lake!) stuck together with very cheap glue full of cliché, homages to this (politically) hyper-correct time we are living in, frequent illogical behavior by the characters and dumb dialogs. All the same, this is a solid popcorn affair and pure fan service for lovers of the first Jurassic Park, but it’s worth a watch. It’s nice that the main powerhouse is made up of oldsters Sam Neill and Laura Dern and their hinted at love story from part one. Again this is about the classic struggle between evil corporation and mistakes made in the quest for profit by a miserable boss with the face of Tim Cook. This time round again, the story isn’t so much about dinosaurs as their clones, the genes of prehistoric locusts and good old whistleblowing. Dinos keep more to the sidelines, occasionally tripping up the main protagonists while they are trying to save the world from locusts and some sort of strange motivation driving them. A metaphor for wildlife protection (we have to act now, we should have done something...), but nothing else. In the end, it all boils down to quality, inventive action - the sequence on Malta is marvelous (will it be the new attraction in Universal Park?) - and who gets got by the T-Rex + who will help in the duel with the Giganotosaurus. The best thing here is Goldblum’s Malcolm who keeps on coming out with one-liners, going on and on about a dog that humped his leg so hard that he had blisters from it. P.S.: You made a promise to a dinosaur?

A succinct summary of Elon's life and, above all, a celebration of his genius, with talking heads taking a relatively uncontroversial and kind view of his past. The dirty laundry stayed home. It doesn't impress, but it doesn't offend either.

A powerful series full of bold narrative experiments. A moralizing work from Fincher about unfathomable sailors throws out the bait and the viewer is hooked until the end. The homage to Lovecraft almost sighs (shame about little glitches - robots instead of Shoggoth and the truncated ending) and the frenetic ending about a deaf miser and the siren had my jaw dropped to the floor. And no shortage of witty moments. Although the return of the Three Robots is no longer such a wow as first time round, but it is still very well-done and Mason’s Rats is an absurdly bloody massacre. Night of the Mini Dead shows the huge scale that the miniatures have to offer and gives the destruction of the earth an even wittier slant. The best season so far.