Kaka

An aesthetically bland gangster flick with boring characters and a generic script, where you basically don't care about anything, not even the order of who's going to kill who. And just when you're looking forward to at least some action, you find out that despite the digital effects like from the first half of the 90s, there's not even any proper action to be seen. It's a shame, because it’s not too long and it could have been a relatively clean, well-paced affair. But that would have required the cast to be put together a little differently. And the Irish machismo of the protagonist doesn't really work.

Interesting opinions and attitudes, well sketched characters and an even deeper study of Mesrine than the opening volume, which was much more engaging and plot-driven. The only thing that really grips and resonates in the epilogue is the finale itself, but we know the basics of that from the second minute of the first episode.

An amazing French creation. Fresh, incisive and precise in craft. Never mind that we don't really get to know the characters due to the stilted script. Vince Cassel is riveting whenever he's on screen, the action is top-notch, and this whole story about the French Public Enemy #1 is told with the refinement of the best that France has given to cinema – gritty old crime dramas.

Brian Helgeland should stick to writing scripts, because when he's behind the camera, his films have no drive and the result is bland. And that is doubly unfortunate for a retro gangster movie like this, as the form is OK, there aren’t life wisdom and truths, and there’s even less Chazz Palminteri, and the film's plot structure is just there because it has to be. Otherwise, it's Tom Hardy's one-man-show, and a very brilliant one at that. If I wanted to watch an appetiser and a main course in one night, I'd go with Legend and maybe Goodfellas.

An interesting post apocalyptic relationship drama where Margot Robbie acts as if for dear life and the director makes do with a minimalist atmosphere, a few shots of wooded mountains, and a script that has a lot to offer and thankfully doesn't half-ass any of its plot premises. This approach to the viewer is not usual and is certainly worth appreciating. Pity about the slower pace and a few unnecessarily dead passages.

A pretty decent production by Czech standards, but lacking a clearer script, a more vigorous directorial hand and drive. At times, the attempt to be as naturally cool as possible and throw one thing after another at the viewer is too obvious and doesn't work. And it also feels too much like a TV movie. But all things considered, it's a quite entertaining parody and Hynek Čermák downright enjoys the lead role. But only Vlastina Svátková reminds us of Hollywood with her charm.

In Rush, it doesn't really matter which character you sympathise with, because you understand the attitudes, opinions and motivations of both, they just take different paths. With Man on a Rope, you sympathise with no one, or rather you don't understand the motivations of the main or secondary characters (comparissons are warranted given the strong will of the protagonists to prove "something" at any cost). Thus, the viewer cannot get into them and finds them completely flat and uninteresting. With the film's concept and cheap means of expression (for today's times), Robert Zemeckis is stuck somewhere 20 years back, only he didn't understand that times are moving inexorably forward and there have been plenty of attempts like this, though in a less visually sophisticated way. So much untapped acting potential (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Kingsley), and so many unnecessarily obvious screenwriting crutches and underdevelopment – the biggest failure of A-list Hollywood this year. Forrest Gump was heartfelt, this may be just about heartfelt for the Yanks, but for the normally minded viewer it's just a showcase for effects masters. Otherwise it's a load of bullshit, unnecessary tears and pathos.

A duel of filmmaking aces and a terrific portrayal of the relationship entanglements of a lower-middle-class family with all the downsides you can imagine. Fortunately, Michael Caton-Jones is also a solid craftsman, but that's not really the point here. He works with the actors on a couple of meters, and handles that admirably. As the film progresses, the characters become more and more likeable and emotional; they are are unusually plastic and not only the main ones!

Here we can compare the work of Atom Egoyan and Denis Villeneuve. An underdeveloped screenplay that, while offering plenty of interesting scenes and passages of dialogue, oddly jumps around in the timelines and doesn't allow the viewer to improvise and make assumptions, or even to leaf through the exuberant content, as it's opaque. And, unfortunately, it is also not half as atmospheric (lacking camera work, music, lighting) as Prisoners, an element that accounted for 50 percent of the success that film last year. All in all, Captive is a class below, but still decent filmmaking. The most enjoyable is again the expressive Ryan Reynolds, who just knows how to put himself in these roles.

This is exactly the kind of directness without digressions and unnecessary puffing, solutions and polemics over bullshit I wanted from Interstellar, and didn't get. As brilliant a filmmaker as Christopher Nolan is, he still has a lot to learn from Ridley Scott's sophistication and experience over all these years. My only complaint is the downplaying, or perhaps neglecting, of pretty crucial things – the drastic cuts across the timeline – probably necessary to prevent the running time from swelling. Associated to that is the lack of dramatic personal transformation, the suspiciously consistent mental and physical state of the protagonist, the very sporadic depiction of climatic hell on the planet, etc. The protagonist commands most the attention from beginning to end, but the charisma is there, in the tried and tested sky crew (Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain).