netflic

Quite a mediocre movie about a misanthropic person and her relationships. At some point I thought it was a satire on all those who claim to be "feminists" but in reality are self-righteous **** and losers. But no, it seems that the director is proudly showing what he seems to be the right way to live.

This artsy black-and-white movie could be a textbook example of how good movies should be done. Everything is perfect here: dialogs, acting, music, visuals, casting, etc. Deliberately slow-moving, it is well nuanced and deep touching. Keeps me thinking about it for a long time after the movie has ended. I wish there were more films like this one.

Wow... I haven't seen a movie of this caliber for years. It's an instant classic. Everything is top-notch here: directing, the script, cinematography, music and, of course, acting. It's a slow but intense personal drama without any political nonsense so popular nowadays (unfortunately). What a debut for Celine Song! Brava! I will be looking forward to her future works.

To tell you the truth, I only lasted about half an hour into the movie. From the very beginning if felt fake and phony, way off key, to say in musical terms. I never read the book so I decided to give it some more time, and after half an hour I gave up. The book might be good but acting and directing... I believe it is ultimately the director's fault that all acting across the board is so drastically poor. Even a wonderful Kathy Bates is barely mediocre there. Do not waste your time and money.

The action part is solid and decent. Good acting, music, etc. The rest of the movie is, well, politically correct propaganda with a set of cliches. What else can you expect from a Hollywood movie?

Boring and pretentious nowadays politically correct propaganda. Don't waste your time and money.

A well-done movie with a disappointing ending. I was about to give it 8 out of 10. Pity...

This is not a good movie. Making it politically correct does not improve its quality. At best it is mediocre. That can be said about the script and performance. Directing is, I am afraid, even worse than that. Cinematography is excellent though.

Exceptionally well made piece of anti-Israeli propaganda. Which is not surprising from a director Samuel Moaz who made "Lebanon". I only wish this talent could be used for a better cause.

In my opinion this movie is by far the weakest one by Agneshka Holland, a very talented director. Everything about this movie is either mediocre or just poor: the plot, acting, even directing. Only cinematography is decent. As if it is made by a different person...

The movie is made quite professionally but the script is too improbable. Not too impressed.

The movie "The Father" could be easily one of the very best this year. An incredibly talented actor Anthony Hopkins plays an elderly man Anthony suffering from dementia. Not any less talented actress Olivia Colman plays his daughter Anne. Their performances are just outstanding. The subject of dementia or Alzheimer disease is definitely not new in movies but rarely it comes out so realistic, disturbing and emotional. What differs this movie from others on the same topic is that we see it from Anthony's perspective. Which *reality* is real and which is not? This film gut-wrenchingly depicts a man who not only forgot who people around him were, but he forgot who he was. We can see how infuriating it gets when your brain plays games with you. And how painful it is for loving ones to watch this process of mental deterioration. The movie is a "must see".

Glad I did not read reviews on this film. True, it is not for everyone. Young people will not get it, most probably. 3 college friends meet after so many years. They all have changed, of course. Some of them developed into talented professionals. Some descended into the misery of their lives. Can they see their common past similarly? I will be quite cautious to recommend it but I genuinely enjoyed it.

This is an emotional drama about the massacre in Srebrenica (Bosnia) in 1995, the worst genocide in Europe since WWII. The protagonist Aida is a UN translator who works at the UN base and tries to save her family from Serbian army that took over Srebrenica in spite of the UN designating it a "safe zone". The movie shows the complete inability of the UN to prevent a massacre on one hand and total helplessness of civilians to avoid it. Ethnic strife between three different groups of Bosnia's population (Serbs, Croatians and Bosnian Muslims), whose animosity goes back for centuries. Were they good neighbors who got swept by the conflict, or eternal enemies, prevented by a strong state from belligerence is hard to say. What becomes obvious is how thin is the veneer of civilization and how easy is to become both a victim and a perpetrator. It all depends whether one is on a winning or a losing side. Great directing and impressive acting. This is one of the best movies of this year. Must see.

This movie is an official entry into Oscar 2020 from Russia. The director is quite famous: Andrei Konchalovsky. The movie is based on historic events. In 1962 there was a strike at an industrial plant in the Russian city of Novocherkassk. The authorities ruthlessly squashed it and then tried very hard that no one, neither abroad nor inside the country knew anything about it. People not intimately familiar with totalitarian regimes would have hard time to understand how it is possible. Well, it is, it was and it will be in a country like the USSR. I lived in that country, and I got to know about these events well after the Soviet Union collapsed. But back to the movie. The conflict is shown through the eyes of a woman, a typical "apparatchik", a functionary who has an unwavering belief in the righteousness of the Party and the cause of building communism. Then she becomes a witness to mass casualties among peaceful demonstrators at the hands of KGB and the Army. When her daughter becomes missing for several days, that unshakable belief of hers seems to be ****. Or does it? The movie is done quite professionally, one could feel the hand of a master. But it failed to impress me the way previous Russian Oscar entries did ("Beanpole" 2019, "Loveless", 2017, "Leviathan" 2014). Maybe my expectations were too high. Or maybe it was a totally different level of movie making. Who can tell?

There is a Russian joke that goes similar to this: A general returns from a military campaign and reports to his emperor: - "Your Highness, I defeated your enemies on the Southern border". - "But I do not have enemies on the Southern border", remarks the emperor. - "You do now", says the general. This movie is a philosophical drama that takes place on the border of a fictional empire somewhere in the beginning of the last century. A small outpost of the empirelives in harmony with peaceful nomads who some in the capital consider barbarians.That quickly changes when a police colonel comes to the outpost with an **** the time the movie ends one might think who are the barbarians, nomads or the army?The film is very slow yet it has lots of violence. Definitely not for **** my opinion the movie is quite good. Your mileage might vary.

There were very few movies that I liked in 2020. Almost none of them were American... "Another Round" comes from a famous Danish director Thomas Vinterberg. Not surprisingly, Mads Mikkelsen ("The Hunt", "Arctic" and many others) stars there. In my opinion, Mads is one of the best actors living and acting today. The movie starts as a comedy but then turns into a drama with a somewhat uplifting end. A group of four teacher friends decide to test an idea that alcohol blood level .05 and higher could improve work performance and overall quality of life. It is a well known fact that alcohol, as any recreational drug, is a double - edged sword. It could often be fun and often a disaster. The movie is also about midlife crisis, desire to live, love and staying young. Overall, a very good movie, not to be missed.

Finally a new movie that I could recommend! This film is about Ruben, a drummer from a heavy metal band. His hearing is deteriorating fast. If you are a musician and turning deaf, what are you going to do? Not an easy question. Especially if there is no good solution. Two protagonists, Ruben and his girlfriend Lou, perform **** ending of the movie is especially strong.

This is a historical fiction drama, it means that it is based on real events even though protagonists are fictitious. It is about Spanish Civil War and following years of General Franco rule. An anti-Franco guy escapes from arrest and possible execution and hides at home behind a false wall for more than 30 years. The movie is rich with dilemmas, psychological issues, merital, parental, moral difficult choices. Excellent direction and performances. The only negative point is that it is very long: 147 minutes. Still, I highly recommend it. Finally a more or less recent movie that I can recommend. Not a surprise that it is foregn: they stopped making good movies here.

Oh boy, oh boy. I don't know where to begin. They cannot make movies like this nowadays. One percent of what is there would be considered too politically incorrect. And that is a shame, because it is a masterpiece. I watched it 20 years ago when it just came out, in a theater. And I loved it. Since then I forgot what it was about, I just remembered that I loved it 20 years ago. Decided to watch it again. So happy I did. The movie is intensely packed. The script is enough to make at least three good dramas of Shakespearean quality. The ensemble of actors... All the best of the very best is there. Performances vary from very good to breathtaking. Some would say it is too intense, too intermingled. Maybe. The clear advantage of watching it at home is that one can take a break when it becomes unbearable, and it does. That is when you know it is not just a good movie. Plus you could read subtitles and not miss any word they sometimes mumble. 'Nough said. It is a must-see movie.

It is a psychological thriller by a famous (some might say "infamous") director Roman Polanski. This movie is not new, he made it back in 1994 but I never saw it before. Most of it happens inside one room, with only three actors, so it could be quite a low budget film. For a thriller it is made remarkably well, it keeps you engaged almost to the end. Excellent performances from all three. Even though it lacks the depth of a real drama, it is still a very good piece of entertainment albeit dark.

Can a movie about a mental disorder not be dark and depressive? Hardly. So, it is a given that this film will not make you jump with joy. The protagonist of the movie Holly tries hard to keep delicate balance and lead a normal life of a high-school teacher, a wife and a mother of two, each of those could be quite challenging in itself. The problem is that this balance is so volatile that it can be ruined by an insignificant thing which in this case is a mouse. Holly is played by Azura Skye, and she steals the show, her performance is top-notch. Overall performances are quite good as well. If you do not mind dark well-made movies, this one's for you.

This is an action movie / police drama about a couple of street cops working in a dangerous area of Los Angeles. Two protagonists are played by great actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena. The movie is well directed and looks quite realistic. There are a couple of things I did not like. I generally do not like handheld camerawork. It was quite relevant in this particular case but I still did not like it. The other minus was a few clichés that were used in the script. Otherwise it was a good, solid movie that I recommend to watch.

A very slow Icelandic drama about an aging cop trying to cope with his personal loss. What I liked about the movie: cinematography, over-all directing, the style, but most of all, the performance of the cop's granddaughter Salka played by a very young rising star Ida Mekkin Hlinsdottir (do not even try to say it aloud :-) who happened to be the director's daughter. That was her debut and quite an impressive one. What I did not like: the music score. All in all: I would recommend this movie for those who can tolerate long films.

In Russian this expression means somebody who stands out of the **** movie is a biopic about an outstanding Soviet ballet dancer who fled to the West during the Cold War, Rudolf Nureyev. He came from a poor family in a medium size city of Ufa, a very talented kid who had to overcome so many obstacles first to be admitted to the best ballet school in the country, then to the famous Kirovsky ballet troupe. He did not have a pleasant personality but his bad temper was often forgiven due to his extraordinary talent as a dancer. The movie is made by Ralph Fiennes, a famous actor, who also stars there as Nureyev's art director and a fatherly person. Nureyev is played by a young ballet dancer Oleg Ivenko. Not only did he manage to convincingly dance as the protagonist but demonstrated Nureyev's controversial character, his desire for freedom and his escape from the oppressive Soviet regime.

This is an action movie that had a potential to be much better than it was. It has an interesting idea of a small group of warriors who are immortal; they fight across history and across the Globe for the good cause. Unfortunately, the script is mediocre even for this genre. Therefore the implementation of this cool idea is not as good as it might be. Pleasant visuals though. Fighting scenes are entertaining. Overall, the movie is watchable.

This is a movie about friendship between a cook and a Chinese traveler in Oregon territories some two hundred years ago. The plot is very simple, and the movie is more than two hours long. It is as engaging as watching paint dry. I was waiting for it because many praised it. Even though it is made well professionally, I would not recommend it. For those who love slow movies, it is available on Amazon Prime.

This is an absurd movie from a French director Quentin Dupieux.I sometimes like absurd movies if they are funny, and they, again, sometimes are. This one was not, unfortunately. A middle-aged man spent a lot of money on a deerskin jacket and became obsessed with it. He started talking to the jacket, and the jacket talked back. At first the movie was intriguing but then it became quite dark. That grim absurdity did not appeal to me.

This movie is too much in your face. Too loud, too many obscenities, too fast, too convoluted, seemingly chaotic and messy. Yet it is done so masterfully. If you can survive the energy for the first 10-15 minutes of it, you are going to enjoy probably the best performance by Adam Sandler who plays a bad guy so sympathetically (I am not a Sander's fan). A disclaimer: I watched the movie at home, not in a theater. I had to stop it more than once. I am glad I did it that way. This relentless excitement is definitely not for everyone. The protagonist Howard Ratner is a shady New York jeweller with so many sins (a liar, a cheat, a gambler, a scam, etc. etc.) yet so profoundly human, hoping to finally make it and win big. Directing by brothers Safdie is very original.

This is a police crime comedy made in Romania, or at least they claim it is a comedy. The protagonist policeman Cristi is a member of a team uncovering a drug money mafia trail. Yet he works on both sides, so he has to be very cautious to outsmart both police and mafia. It is a good piece of entertainment. The plot does not matter but it is fun to watch. Excellent soundtrack. Directing is quite original and elegant which makes the movie stick out of similar films of the same genre. The ending was a bit disappointing but overall I liked the movie.

This is a love story from Swedish director Levan Akin who is ethnically Georgian. The whole action takes place in Tbilisi, the capitol of Georgia. The protagonist Merab is a young dancer for whom dancing is his whole life. He practices to join National Georgian Ensemble, the highest level of traditional Georgian folk dancing. His aspirations hit a wall of intolerance in Georgian society of today. Levan Akin masterfully exposes orthodoxy of all levels of society in Georgia: honor marriages, honor fighting, homophobia. Every detail of life is realistic and believable. Highly recommend.

As the name suggests, there is nothing extraordinary about this film. A realistically-looking drama about an elderly married couple fighting the wife's cancer. How do you deal with potentially terminal desease? Are you strong enough to face hard times? At which point do you accept the inevitable? And IF the dreadful thing does happen, what would the other do? The movie is slow, with plenty of close-ups but good performances of Liam Neeson and Leslie Manville turn it into an advantage. The creators of the movie managed to avoid unnecessary and fake Hollywood-style dramatics and instead presented us with a thoughtful and truthful film.

A movie about a young woman losing her memory after a car crash somewhere in Sahara desert. Even with a serious trauma to her head, she manages to get out of the wreck of her car, and tries to get help. A middle-aged architect find her unconscious and rescues her. For himself. Since the woman did not remember anything that happened before the crash, even her own name, he wants to start a new life for both of them. The idea of the movie was interesting but the implementation could be much better. The weakest point was the script: too many details did not make sense, and there was too little substance. Beautiful cinematography, and atrocious music track.

I would characterize this movie as a cinematic erotic poem about life and death. Very convincingly staged and performed. Not too realistic, not too abstract. Willem Dafoe deserves an Oscar for his performance. Highly recommend. My score: 8 out of 10.

The latest movie from a talented director Sam Mendes, who made "American Beauty", one of my most favorite movies. Nominated for 10 Oscars, it just won Golden Globe award. Our expectations were high, obviously. How could Sam Mendes, after "American Beauty", make a film like "1917"? A question comes to my mind, Did the director watch that movie? It only made sense when comparing to Nikita Mikhalkov. A film that was supposed to be a serious war drama turned out to be a video game filled with all kinds of cliches. "Saving Private Ryan" - 2 it is not. To begin with the episode inside German bunker which made me think something like "WTF?!" Two protagonists enter it, notice it is rigged with explosives, and immediately there is an explosion. Half of the bunker falls on top of one of the two, with pieces up to two feet each. He lied there, trapped under those rocks, not breathing. The other one starts digging him out. The way he was handling those rocks, their weight had to be a pound or two, with density of a pillow. When the first guy was finally completely out, he could not either move or see. In a few minutes his vision was back, and he could even run. As a person with first-hand knowledge what falling rocks do to a human body, my suspicion was more that justified. Closer to the end of the movie, the same protagonist jumps into a river that looked like a calm small city river that after the jump turned into a white water torrent. Not every experienced rafter would be able to get out of it, not even mentioning wearing a backpack and high boots. Then the guy gets into a waterfall, falls 100 or so feet down and then quietly swims ashore in a nice freestyle stroke. Even corpses of soldiers here and there cause laughter instead of horror. I do not think it was intended. A movie about WWI, a horrific and senseless slaughterhouse, that gobbled the whole generation, deserves better than a-la Indiana Jones style flick. If you want to see what WWI really looked like, there is a documentary "They shall never grow old" made completely out of restored reels of that times.

Do not waste your time and money. Fake, fake, fake. A huge waste of many good actors' talent as well.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This is a third film by a young and very talented director Trey Edward Shults. Shultz not only directs his movies but writes the scripts for them as well. I loved his previous two movies "Krysha" and "It Comes At Night". This film is about love, forgiveness, family relations, living through difficult times (not necessarily financially difficult but hard nevertheless). Two protagonists are a brother and a sister, both teenagers close to high school graduation. First part of the movie is mostly about Tyler, the second one is about Emily. The film is sincere, psychologically deep and profound, rich with undertones. Great performances allow characters to be believable and realistic. I would highly recommend this film.

I would rather call this move "Divorce Story": it is more about marriage falling apart that about marriage per se. I was looking forward to watching this film as both critics and audience seem to love it. Plus I like Scarlet Johansson and Adam Driver. Maybe my expectations were a bit too high. Or maybe one to have to live though a diverse themselves to have an empathy. Because I did not have much. I enjoyed a few episodes but not the movie as a whole. It felt like director-writer's own experience which I am not sure was true. Performance-wise I liked Scarlet's and Laura Dern's but not as much Adam Driver's. His singing was better than his playing but I don't think it was his fault. Not to say that the movie was not good but the hype is definitely not justified.

It's a movie with a capital "F". Ford vs. Ferrari, with Fiat thrown in the mix. The movie features Fantastic and Fabulous performances. The leading actor, Ford-the-car deserves nothing but a praise, while Ferrari-the-car truly shines as a supporting actor. As to the real people, well, that's a different story. The movie director managed to do what no other director could - have a great Christopher Bale act poorly, with the rest of the actors not Fairing any better. It's is a Feel good, inspirational, one-dimensional Flick, with performances Forced and Fake (again, except the race cars). My score: Four out of ten (trying to be Forgiving).

The name of the movie refers to a car Ford Crown Victoria, famous for police patrolling. So, the movie is about one night of LAPD patrol crew. The idea is far from being new. There are many stereotypes in the script: it's a veteran policeman plus a rookie, and it's his first patrol shift. Actually, there are almost all possible stereotypes there except two. One being they did not eat donuts (but that maybe because donut places were closed at night). Two: unlike in the majority of Hollywood films, police were not trigger-happy. I don't want to waste your time listing those which *were* in the movie. There were so many co-incidents for one night that the script looked highly improbable to me. Performances were decent but nothing breath-taking. Overall, the movie was not bad, quite watchable as a piece of entertainment. Do not expect to be wow'ed.

This movie is a self-serving experiment when an actor and a script writer Shia Labeouf is court-marshaled into a rehab and writes a script about his own childhood and his abusive father. In his script Shia has a name of Otis who is played by Oscar-nominated Lucas Hedges when Otis is in his twenties and a rising star Noah Jupe who plays 12-year old Otis. The interesting part is that Shia plays his own father, ex-con, ex-rodeo clown, ex-sex offender and many other exes. I assume it must be **** for him. I enjoyed Noah's performance but that was the only part of the movie that I really liked. The script was way too twisted from fragments of the rehab's present, flashes from childhood years and recent past. I have a feeling that Shia inherited self-pity from his father. I am glad that he managed to make it after all these years with a jerk of a father. Overall the movie did not make a great impression on me.

The idea of making an absurd movie about WWII is not new. "Life is Beautiful" comes to mind. But a comedy? Really? Of WWII? In theory I think everything is possible but it would require tremendous talent. I haven't seen it in this movie. The director is definitely not without talent but it's not nearly enough to turn a farce into a drama. Or may be I am too old. There were a few amusing episodes and a few funny jokes. Overall the movie felt flat and somewhat ridiculous, as if you come to an amusement park. I guess horrors of World Wars are being erased from our minds as a society. Amusement parks are immensely popular. I am sure many people will find this movie great.

This is South Korean movie from a famous Korean director Bong Joon Ho. I saw a few movies made by him, a drama "Mother" and a SciFi "Snowpiercer" and I liked both of them. This latest movie "Parasite" won the most prestigious prize at Cannes festival, Palme d'Or this year. My expectations were mixed: on one hand, both critics and audience *loved* the movie. On the other hand, it's a black comedy: not my thing. So I went to see it. What can I say? Maybe I am missing something here. I found it not funny at all. Performances were poor. The script - ridiculous. The movie is long: more than two hours. I felt an urge to leave after one hour but I fought it. After an hour and a half I finally left, I could not stand it any longer. I feel like I am not supposed to rate it since I haven't seen it in its entirety but if I had to, it would be 3 out of 10. Once again, I am probably missing something here since it is not my genre. If you usually like black comedies, you may enjoy it as so many people do.

I am not a big fan of comic book movies or superhero vs. super-villain ones. Even though the action happens in the imaginary City of Gotham, this film does not fit properly into that category. There is no hero in the movie, and the Joker is hardly THE villain. Without spoiling the movie I would like to mention that I do not agree with all the hype about it. Especially with its moral and political message. The movie is done extremely well technically. Joaquin Phoenix is a great actor (what a surprise!). Is it his best role? I don't think so. For an actor of his caliber it is not that difficult to play a mentally disturbed person. No doubt, he carries the whole film. I did not like the script except the very end of it that puts the whole content into a question. Did it ALL happen? Or was it just a hallucination of a sick mind? As a serious movie it is not working. But you cannot expect if from Marvel series. As piece of entertainment, it definitely found huge audience. Me excluded. I do not regret that I saw it. But I will not want to see it the second time. Your mileage might vary.

This is the latest movie from a famous Spanish director Pedro Almadovar. Disclaimer: I never liked his movies in the past but I keep trying. This film is semi-autobiographical. I have a feeling that type of movies becomes a fashion. Last year it was Cuaron's "Roma", this year it's Almadovar's turn. This movie has everything: great actors (Antonio Benderas, Penelope Cruz to name just a few), excellent sound track, pleasant cinematography. But I never felt any empathy toward any character in the film. For the most part of it I was bored. I respect the craftsmanship but I did not enjoy it much. If you liked Almadovar's movies in the past, you will most likely enjoy this one as well. But it is definitely not my piece of cake. Consistently...

It is a Colombian movie about a group of teenage guerrilla soldiers keeping a woman hostage who they call “Doctora”. They are boys and girls, children by age, but their toys are real guns and they use them every day. These young soldiers belong to a group very vaguely named “Organization”. It is so vague it could be in Colombia or any other country. They do speak Spanish though. Nothing is known about their Organization’s plight or how these young soldiers were recruited. The whole plot is quite punctured with many things left to imagine. This is not a movie that I would recommend for everyone but I enjoyed it. Especially outstanding were cinematography and casting. All performances were quite remarkable as well.

This is a movie about one day in a life of Vic, a medical van driver in Milwaukee. Vic is of Russian origin. His duty is to take disabled people to their destination. His problem is though that he has a big heart of gold and cannot say NO. The movie is a mixture of different genres; it is simultaneously funny, sad, profound and a bit surreal. Creators of the film employed a lot of non-professional actors, many of them disabled, who play themselves. There was not a single moment in the movie that felt fake. Maybe because I am from former Soviet Union myself, I could relate to events in this film more than an average movie goer. But I think the movie is universal and very American deep inside. After all, United States is the country of immigrants. People come to this country for better life, freedom, happiness, opportunities, you name it. Watching this movie was quite an experience. It is a unique, thought-provoking film. Highly recommend.

This is Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie. It is a very long nostalgic love letter to Hollywood, the way it was and looked 50 years ago. The movie is more than two and a half hours long, full of references that (I am sure) are very meaningful to movie aficionados but for regular audience are a bit annoying. One can feel the hand of a master in every aspect of a movie making. Both lead actors, Leonardo di Caprio and Brad Pitt, give the top notch performances. Last half an hour of the movie somewhat reminded me of Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” series in terms of art of violence. I do not regret that I saw but I doubt that I will want to see it again. If watching old movies is you main hobby, then this film is for you.

The movie takes place in Tasmania in 19th century. This is a story about vengeance, about dark pages in history of Tasmania and Australia, unusual (at that time) relationship between an Irish convict woman and an aboriginal man who she hired to lead the way in the jungles, and many other things. Warning: the film is not for every one. It is honest, brutal and violent but not needlessly so. Film’s director does not shy away from atrocities of colonization. It is not a horror movie but rather nuanced psychological drama masterfully made. Superb acting, costumes and cinematography. If you could stomach watching intensely uncomfortable episodes, you will be rewarded.