The One Where You Turn Up 15 Minutes Late And Still Make It To The Trailers

Big Hero 6

Surprisingly good. Watching this animation was an experience quite opposite to watching Brave - which I had expected to be fabulous and magical, but which turned out a mother/daughter soap opera... I thought Big Hero 6 would be juvenile version of Avengers, but it is actually quite a funny movie. Very predictable and containing plenty of loopholes in the storyline - but since the narrative is fast and the film is visually stunning you do not have time to dwell over some minor inconsequences.

Stay tuned.

The One With The Chance Encounter

Obywatel (The Citizen)

My 6-year-old niece is great at the memo game and beats everybody at it.
The Citizen is like that game. The director shows you a piece and requires you to remember every little detail of it; then, some time later, you are given another piece and required to recall that previous one. If you fail, you won't get your prize, which is the satisfaction of getting the story - the connections, the true motivations - right, and instead of a coherent plot, you may end up with a set of ill-fitted, though still funny, puzzle elements. Moreover, it takes some national and personal self-distance to appreciate the film, since - while staying witty and humorous - it is often exaggerated, reflected in a distorting mirror, and I guess not everybody may like what they see in that mirror.

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You have probably heard that U2 published a new album. What you might not have heard is that the deluxe edition of that album contains bonus tracks and alternative versions of the original songs. And - as is always the case with U2's B-sides - it's a treasure.
This one is not my favourite from the set of Songs of Innocence - but it's the one that, in my opinion, gains most when listened to in the acoustic version:

Stay tuned.

The One With The Two Philosophers and The Psychopath

Boxtrolls

A visual eye-candy. Not a thing to criticise in that aspect. I even I wished that it had been in 3D (and I usually hate 3D, it gives me headache, but this time it felt like a way to emphasize the beauty of that incredible animation technique).
Warning: contains some black humour. And some witty remarks provided by two thugs, supporting characters, the minions of the main villain, who also happen to frequently comment on the narrative, and discuss the dichotomy of good and evil.
All in all - predictable, but, still, funny and entertaining.

Stay tuned.

The One With The Good Polish Movie

Gods (Bogowie)

No masterpiece, but still - a good Polish movie. Which is so rare that it always comes as a surprise.
Tomasz Kot is as brilliant portraying prof. Religa as they say. The story focuses on a period when he struggled to conduct one of the first heart transplantations in Poland, so it's not a complete biography - and that's a plus. Despite the fact that we all know the story, the movie is absorbing, gripping. Adequate balance of drama and humour. A good movie.

Stay tuned.

The One With The Raccoon

Guardians of the Galaxy

I only went to see the movie for the raccoon - knowing nothing about the film, the plot, the characters, the makers, or the cast - and it was totally worth it! I don't remember the last time I had such fun at the movies! Wait, I do remember - at the "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" screening. Both films were that kind of sheer entertainment where you do not have to think (moreover - you don't have time to think!) why it's actually so funny, you can simply relax and enjoy.
Ten times better then Avengers.
The only weak point were female characters. Both of them.

Stay tuned.

The One Once Upon A Time

Maleficent

Wasted potential. But a pretty wasted potential. Still, not worth the song:



Stay tuned.

The One Where Zero Must Equal 100%. Whatever That Means...

The Zero Theorem

No idea what to think.
The film is visually pleasing, the actors are convincing, the director shows some interesting ideas and asks important questions. Only, he doesn't give any answers...

Stay tuned.

The One With A Glimmer Of Civilization In The Barbaric Slaughterhouse We Know As Humanity

Grand Budapest Hotel

Fast-paced, nested narrative + a set of vibrant characters played by a cast of movie stars (each and every one of them brilliant!) + black humour, full of absurdities + colourful, characteristic shots.
And a story. The story of a man and a world where

There are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity... He was one of them. What more is there to say?
(...)
To be frank, I think his world had vanished long before he ever entered it - but, I will say: he certainly sustained the illusion with a marvelous grace!

The story of a world that had long been gone. Or had never existed. But agreed - the illusion was marvellous!
Music score - as usually with Wes Anderson's films - by Alexandre Desplat:

Stay tuned.

The One Where Life Happens

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.

John Lennon, Beautiful Boy

I'm still here. Not dead or anything. Just busy with life that has been happening to me recently.

And I have even found time to make it to the movies!

Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Fast-paced, sometimes extremely witty and stuffed with historical and cultural references (far beyond children's comprehension), sometimes a bit silly, but all in all - enjoyable.

Stay tuned.

The One With The Scarlett Johansson's Voice

I haven't been to the movies in ages. Why? I guess there was no titles that would catch my attention. Until recently.

Her

A regular story about a man and a woman, and how they discover each other and build their relationship.
Only... she is a bodiless AI.
Does it make the feeling less true? For him? For her?
The most unsettling part is that - with regard to our lifestyle and the currently available technology - the futuristic vision pictured in the movie seems to be within spitting distance, imminent, not faraway at all. Scary.
Beautiful shots, music and wonderfully cast actors.

Stay tuned.

The One Once Upon A Dream

It has been a second time I learnt at the exam almost as much as during the whole course. One adequate question seemed to be enough to force me to rethink what I thought I knew.
An instructive experience.

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I've had a dream. I dreamed that for a single moment, for just one perfect moment, everything was all right.
And then I woke up.

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Btw, Melficent is coming and it's coming with a thud!


Rumor has it Angelina Jolie handpicked Lana Del Rey to perform Once Upon a Dream cover for the movie - and I cannot imagine a better choice!


In case you are not familiar with Disney's classics and do not know them by heart as I do - a frame of reference:


Stay tuned.

The One With The Good Deed

Get a Horse!

A recently discovered short film from Disney, newly restored and tweaked using modern animation techniques. As a result, we get a classic episode tuned-up and twisted in a clever way.
All in all, nice job (I just hate the present-day Mickey version, though).

Frozen

Unbalanced - the first half of the movie seems to be a musical: there is just like one never-ending song.

Daddy, there is only one jellybean left...^*

The story lacks logic sometimes. However, it is engaging and really funny.

Slurp, slurp, slurp... (right behind my ear)^*

Characters are strong and stand out one from another. The sisters are not at all alike (and, by the way, none of them reminds Rapuntzel from Tangled when you see them live i.e. animated and not just on a poster).

[While the scene fading out] Daddy, it is over!^*

As for the animation: wonderful winter wonderland! And that holds for both close-ups and far-away landscapes; wherever the snow is involved in any form - which is pretty much everywhere - it looks amazing.
Main characters look very good, background characters not so much.

Daddy...^*

Music score by Christophe Beck is fine, pleasant and fitting, not memorable, though.
All in all, the film is very good at some aspects, but not a masterpiece.

Oh, and I do like the idea that the Frozen teaser trailer contains the scene you actually won't find in the movie:




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^* The only two really small kids in the whole screening room had to sit right behind me, grrr.

Stay tuned.

The One That Is Definitely NOT A Comedy

Blue Jasmine

A very serious (and very good) film about a very sad woman. Not the kind of serious like in Woody Allen's Match Point; I would rather compare it to Annie Hall.
Cate Blanchett as Jasmine - brilliant!

Stay tuned.

The One With The Humanoid Clockwork Robot Automaton.

The Best Offer

A story centred on an eccentric art auctioneer and his obsession with a young, agoraphobic heiress/collector. A not-so-complicated film about complicated people and relations. The suspense level does not climax at any point - it fluctuates, goes up and down, and I am not certain if that is intended or just an unintentional effect. Anyway, it works for me - makes the movie more unpredictable.
Geoffrey Rush at his best. Jim Sturgess and Sylvia Hoeks keep up.
Scored by Ennio Morricone, whom, so far, I mosty associated with westerns.

(Oh, and there is an android in there! Sorry - a humanoid clockwork robot automaton.)

Stay tuned.

The One Whith Snow White And Ebony Black (No Red. Or Any Other Colour For That Matter)

Blancanieves

The fourth Snow White in the last couple of years (after two motion pictures - Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsman - and a tv series - Once Upon a Time).
The least faithful to the convention: set in 1920s, Seville, and picturing Snow as a female bullfighter; and to top it all, made as a silent movie. Is it only me or it does sound like a joke? (especially when they wear monteras, which make them look like Mickey Mouse to me...)
So I feared the film would be grotesque, weird; but instead found it the most intense, the most touching, the most real and purposeful. Beautiful.

Stay tuned.

The One In The World Of Ivory Towers

The Blue Umbrella

Photorealism to a degree where you would not be able to notice it was not real if they did not want you to i.e. if the rain gutter did not smile, the mailbox did not clatter by itself, and if the umbrellas did not have their eyes painted and animated. Everything else, well, looked like shot with a camera on a rainy day in a big city. A real eye-candy in terms of animation and details. Oh, and I loved how they played with the depth of field, which increased the illusion of realism all the more.
As for the story, there is hardly any. Or you can summarise it by comparing to the first scene from 101 Dalmatians, where Pongo chases Perdita bringing Roger and Anita together. But that is a good thing here: the content being modest allows you to fully appreciate the form.

Monsters University

Monsters University refers to Monsters Inc. like Cars to Cars 2 - same characters, totally different type of movie.
Quite funny - not for children, I imagine, since they would not get most of the jokes or references.
Fast and full of action and stunts straight from the academia world. Very predictable, though.
Beautiful - the word 'Pixar' says everything, as always.

Stay tuned.

The One Where You Realise Summer Has Finally Arrived In The City

And you know Summer has come when you get to watch your favourite movie outdoors - namely at the yard of Collegium Maius. Awesome.

The Three Musketeers (1973)

Alredy here.
(The only thing I can add is that it makes one of the best Michel Legrand's works in terms of movie scores.)

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Moreover, the screening was interrupted - by a fencing show. So cool.

I love Summer in the city. And I love the fact that I finally have time to notice and enjoy it.

Stay tuned.

The One After Sunset

Before Midnight

If you have seen Before Sunrise and Before Sunset you know what to expect. And you will not be disappointed - the story of Celine and Jesse continues and lives up to your expectations.

Stay tuned.

The One In The Red Cape

Man of Steel

Of all the superheroes, Superman has been the least lucky when it came to movies... And he still is.

The film seems undecided: not enough pompous to enjoy camp-watching, too pompous to take it seriously.
A few nice characters: Russell Crowe as Jor-El; or Michael Shannon as general Zod; plus Amy Adams playing Lois Lane (big character's potential but squandered). However, the Man of Seel himself seems bland - nothing intriguing about him.
In details, the movie reminds me of Star Trek or even Matrix (terraforming?? seriously?! now that Into Darkness has just premiered...?)
All in all: neat, but tiring. Too many special effects and too sentimental in the retrospective parts.

Music by Hans Zimmer, which suggests it should be good, but, frankly, it did not catch my ear.

Stay tuned.

The One Where All Detective Story Character Archetypes Meet For The Very First Time On A Big Screen

Fantômas

I liked it - the phantom, the police inspector (and, especially, his growing obsession with the thief), the storyline.
I did not love it - the heroine character, or some blatant plot inconsistencies.

Technically quite similar to Nosferatu - lighting, colours, transitions, setting arrangement etc.

The first film where the perfect gentleman thief appears.
Probably the first ever movie series - there were sequels.

Stay tuned.