Kaka

Refined, confident, sophisticated, with a lot of threads finally coming together in a big way.

After a stronger episode, we get a weaker one again. Watchable, actually quite OK in a wider context, the mighty Watchmen universe covers it without any problems, but it lacks the wow effect of an alternate world, stronger character development and climactic scenes. The only things worth mention are probably Jeremy Irons and his WTF world.

Slowly, little by little, more and more characters are revealed and story lines and flashbacks start to fall into place like a well-oiled machine. The series so far doesn’t put the film to shame.

Weaker. Not much of a Watchmen universe (except maybe the great ending), with lots of flashbacks. I'm hoping hard that this is the necessary coupling to a third episode that will move us forward dramatically.

It may not have the visual balls of Snyder's opus, nor the polished aesthetic and dark fictional world with its own rules, but it’s not that far. The seemingly impossible feat of picking up where Snyder left off with his film succeeded, and it's not bad at all. In places it's a nice mix of retro and modern just like a decade earlier, the effects serve the story and not the other way around, and it's quite obvious that the main building blocks of this colossus are being honoured as much as possible. It’ll be very interesting to watch the coming episodes.

Basically nothing new that we haven't seen or heard before, but repetition is the mother of wisdom, so there you have it. And it's only good that the creators have done it in such a way that it is comprehensible and clear even for complete morons, while also thematically rich, informatively relatively varied and visually appealing for the rest.

Those were the days when they didn't know how to do comic book stuff yet. If it had the aesthetic of a darker Marvel or normal DC today, it could be a blast. But The Boondock Saints has a bit of a blowhard Ritchie and a bit of a whiny Tarantino, with some solid screenwriting in places, but nothing more. The few interesting moments cannot overcome the utter aesthetic chaos and confusing directorial style. I’d be interested in a remake, because the material does have potential.

A film that defines growing up in the same way like, for instance, Eyes Wide Shut defines human sexuality. All the looks, the spoken and unspoken emotions, the relationships, the break-ups, the moves, the tears – this is the daily routine of most people in the world, and it's good that Linklater handled Boyhood the way he did. That is, 12 years in 150 minutes and with the same actors, this gives the whole a completely different charge that leaves a mark far beyond cinema.

Too scientific and not mainstream enough, or perhaps not graspable enough for classic laypeople. Even so, one cannot but praise the enthusiasm of the creators and the even greater enthusiasm of the scientists who are willing to devote virtually their entire lives to learning about the universe.

Misconstrued. I drowned in the jumble of dialogue, the insanely edited flashbacks and the amount of water everywhere. One star for the unusually depressing Morricone, the other for Depardieu and Polanski.