Malarkey

So I’ve finished watching the most anticipated Czech series of 2019, and even though I’m not giving it all of five stars, I still enjoyed this series immensely. I’m aware that the HBO knew what it was doing here. The story features an elaborated spy plot, the problem of which, however, is that you must pay close attention to every second including the facial expressions of everyone who appear on the screen, otherwise you won’t be able to follow the story. That sometimes happened to me, when I missed why someone acted the way they did of why something happened. In terms of actors, however, it is the best-cast series of this year. I was very happy about David Nykl returning to the Czech Republic to play such an important character here. It’s hard to say which character is the most intriguing; they are almost all interesting and you always want to know what happened to them afterwards. However, as to me, I was impressed the most by the charisma of Jan Vlasák. I enjoyed The Sleepers from the beginning to the end, also thanks to the in places very inventive camera, which watches everything through the eye of an independent observer, but basically spies on everyone as only the State Security was capable of during the communist era. Thanks go to HBO for a great experience!

I was expecting a quiet, peaceful film dominated by picturesque scenery shots with a minimum amount of dialogues. However, when the German do-gooder pulled out of water the little black boy Bubu in a soccer dress with Ronaldo written on it, I started to feel rather vexed. A film for Angela Merkel.

It's not as harsh and gloomy as the famous psychedelic Phantom of Paris from 2001, where the title song was composed by Apocalyptica and it always starts to play in my head whenever I remember it. It’s still harsh and gloomy enough for today’s audience. This is mainly due to Vincent Cassel, who’ll probably play these tough, disheveled characters until the day he dies. But I like this. For many people here it is probably too old school to give it good rating; otherwise I can’t explain why a period-set mystery like this would be rated under 70%. If you know something about Vidocq’s historical importance, the ending of the film cannot fail to bring you joy.

Sergeant Pfeiffer is the main suspect in this episode. And that is more than suspicious, especially as the murder is investigated in Berlin, four hundred kilometers away from Bad Tölz. The basic story, however, is typical Der Bulle von Tölz – fun, full of delightful squabbles between the inhabitants of Tölz and Berlin experts. Plus we’ll meet the love of Benno’s life, there’s even a sex scene and Benno gets interrogated about being a part of Stasi. I don’t know about you, but in my opinion that’s quite a lot of absurdities for one episode. So I find it entertaining enough for four stars.

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith seem to be a pair of very interesting English creators. Who else would have found the courage to make a series composed of short stories, inviting a great number of both famous and lesser known British actors? For me, this series was a great viewing experience. Some episodes are almost ingenious and a real joy to watch. The fun thing about this is that you never know in advance what to expect. The only certainty is the house number nine. What kind of story the boys come up with is completely up to them. So once it is a nice satire, then almost a murder mystery, next time a brutal psychological thriller and yet other time a horror with a decent atmosphere. Every time, however, it features a healthy dose of sarcasm, which makes you at least smile, if not laugh. I won’t give it the full number of stars because some episodes were worse than others. As a whole, however, this series was a very nice surprise I never heard of before and I only chose it from the number of other series on HBO Go at random.

I won’t lie and say that I was familiar with the topic of the series. However, as I still remember Richard Gere’s promotion of the series at the Karlovy Vary festival as one of my most powerful impressions from there, I said to myself why not and embarked on the journey into the world of journalism. The result, however, is rather disputable. You must be either very knowledgeable about this topic or a real fan of the actors involved. As for myself, I didn’t find this series entertaining at all.

The director comes from a France-based Polish family, so her film Crache couer has been partly inspired by her own life story. It’s actually a very typical European drama. It does, however, contain a few nice moments. For example the shots of the snow-bound scenery of Polish (formerly Czechoslovak) Międzylesie or watching the acting performances of Andrzej Chyra and Liv Henneguier; Andrzej is charismatic and Liv endowed with a very interesting type of beauty. Unfortunately, it’s the type of drama that asks questions without answering them. That’s why I’m rating this with three stars, but my overall impression was positive.

A very nicely made fantasy movie, the biggest fault of which is that it is too childish.

A beautiful guys’ story of Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby full of scenes I will probably never forget. Moreover it’s a story from automobile world so beautiful and tragic that I was surprised it wasn’t filmed earlier. After a long time, I felt like was watching something really unique. Matt Damon and Christian Bale absolutely excelled in their performances. Chris was maybe a tiny bit better, because his eccentric character Ken was entertaining due to his complex personality from beginning to the end. And when things came to a head, I had no idea what he would do. And that’s where the charm of this story lies. If you don’t know too many details, you will enjoy it. If you know the details, you will enjoy it too. The shots of beautiful cars with timeless design, absolutely faithful scenes with Henry Ford II. or Enzo Ferrari, as significant for this movie as they were at the time when they really happened, plus a ton of references to the automotive industry of the period (starting with assembly line production and ending with the shots from the Ferrari company in Modena) are the main but not only reasons to award this movie with the full number of stars. This is the kind of movie that will make filmmaking history. And it also portrays a beautifully conveyed true male friendship that knows no boundaries and in this case will live forever.

Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne are a pair of actors I’m very happy to see in movies. And when they are cast as leads in a chill-out family comedy, I cannot be dissatisfied. A naturally flowing fun, an interesting premise that is well conveyed, no vulgarity. I see no reason to rate this with less than four stars.