Dungeons And Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Jonathan Goldstein / John Francis Daley, 2023)

 

I have always been a fan of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, always liked role playing game that I used to play for many years like the kids from Stranger Things, only that I played in a rather later age and finally always adored Forgotten Realms novels with R. A. Salvatore being one of my all time favorite writers. When I heard that a Forgotten Realms movie is coming out I checked firstly the poster and the premise. And truth says that I was almost disappointed. I thought that this was not going to be a worthy movie, respectful of the atmosphere, characters, style and panache of the role playing game. And unfortunately I wasn't wrong. As a matter of fact I was more right than I ever thought I would be.

Honor Among Thieves is a lousy movie, hands down. And by lousy I don't mean that it's so particularly nasty when you watch it. But if you think the setting that was based upon, it's really a horrible movie and the people who envisioned that film paid absolutely no attention and respect to the source material. Honor Among Thieves is a childish, ridiculous movie with wooden characters, misfiring jokes, tedious and unexciting premise and finally a film that aims definitely to a younger audience, but without even being successful even to that. It's needless to say that I forgot the movie the minute it ended, it didn't leave me with anything and I thought that I mildly wasted my time. All the darkly style, the intriguing characters (both heroes and villains) and the sense that you are being transferred to a world of unspeakable charm are totally absent from the movie. The movie could be another installment to the superhero movie franchise and nothing more. It's unbelievably sad to see that Hollywood cannot even show the proper respect to a mesmerizing source material that has won the hearts of millions of people around the globe. Another huge misfire to the long list of shit films that we endure every fucking year.       

The Baader Meinhof Complex (Uli Edel, 2008)

 

Although my political beliefs are somewhere between anarchism and leftism I never endorsed or liked violence. Terrorist groups for me are nothing less than coward murderers who think that they have the authority, a clearly false one, to rob people from their lives. When I first heard though that Germany was making a movie about Baader Meinhof I was genuinely interested on one hand and skeptic on the other. I thought that if it was to make a sentimental film only to "pay respect" to the victims of Baader Meinhof then that would be a movie that I was not going to be interested in. This type of theme asks from the artist maturity and a realistic, objective glance. Otherwise the film would be something that doesn't present the truth, but a distorted view of the facts.

So I went to the theater and was been patient. The film got me pretty intensively from the first scene in that nudist beach. As the movie proceeded I was seeing with great joy that the movie was incredibly realistic, well read, exquisitely manufactured and it had the air of a movie that wants to state the facts and not win the audience by questionable methods. Finally The Baader Meinhof Complex is a truly courageous effort to picture that terrorist group, is both truthful and respectful to the victims and objective to the group itself. For me that movie represents the best way in treating a political matter like this one, it's a film that builds a tension and a suspense that many films would envy and stays clear and proud against the challenge of making a film like this one. I have said it before that Germany may not produce many worthy movies, but when it produces a worthy movie, then this movie is close to a masterpiece. Along with Das Experiment, Downfall, Wings Of Desire and Combat Girls, this German movie is an example that will leave you speechless. 

Funny Games (Michael Haneke, 2007)

 

As much as I hate that movie, and believe me I do hate that movie more than any other film that I have seen in my life, I must admit that is an extremely effective film. The nauseating, appalling, excruciating effect that it produces to the viewer is one that I have never felt in another film. Haneke has stated that his film is a criticism of the violence that is used in media. I didn't feel that I was watching a film that criticized or satirized the violence in media. And if violence in media is Indiana Jones killing Nazis or the Bride in Kill Bill killing Bill then I do dig that kind of violence and I don't consider it harmful, distasteful and dangerous in any way. On the other hand Haneke's movie goes so deep in violence and gruesome images that I really wonder why in the first place must I endure that movie and what did he expect to achieve with a film like this one?

Although Funny Games can be described in one sentence, a family is been tortured by two psychopaths, the detail and the sadism that the film features is something to be taught in film schools. There are numerous scenes where you wish that you hadn't rent that movie or that now is the time to press the fucking stop button and throw the fucking film out of the window. I never really got why that is interesting and effective in that movie. I never got what the movie was trying to say, I never liked the way the movie unfolds and I don't enjoy been butchered when I watch a movie. I understand to get disturbed for a reason that I understand, but making a horrid movie where there is no clear comment, message, reason and finally goal, is not my idea of a movie at all. I also never liked Haneke's movies in general, but with this one he really made me terribly angry. For all of his movies that I dislike this is by far his worst.  

Motherless Brooklyn (Edward Norton, 2019)

 I still remember the day that I saw this movie in the theater. It was that suspenseful opening scene and the captivating performance of Edward Norton that made say that this was going to be a great movie. Usually when movies begin with a loud bang they continue as brilliantly as they started. Motherless Brooklyn is a different neo-noir movie. A special one and unfortunately a highly underrated movie. When in most cases in neo-noir movies you have a captivating mystery to follow, in this case they mystery exists, but there is another, highly crucial, element of the movie that is the backbone of the movie. That visionary story of the movie that flows together with the mystery giving a gritty, substantial character to the film. 

It's true that I haven't seen another neo-noir movie with so much brains. I haven't seen another neo-noir movie combining so heavenly the cliches of the genre with the genius of the project. Edward Norton chose a story that is much more than an entertaining movie, it goes much deeper than the average movie that you watch just to get high with the plot twists and the secrets. In Motherless Brooklyn you feel that you are entering a world that it has all the elements of the underworld, but it talks about powerful people, totally legal and respected. It's another type of movie that uses the suspense in order to make a comment about power and influence. It's a another type of movie that moves away from the zillion stories about corrupt policemen and drunk, stoned gangsters and talks about things that concern us much more substantially. It's without thinking it, a shame that this movie didn't get what it deserved it's one of the best movies of recent years. I still have vivid in my mind that plot of the movie that went deeper and deeper to the secrets, lies and deceit of the people in power, it went deeper to a state that instead of wanting to help its inhabitants, it exploited them with a ruthlessness and a rudeness that you are going to witness and be socked by it. I sincerely hope that there were more movies coming out with the same sensitivity and similar comment, but unfortunately we are living in times that fucking craps are the king and the queen at the same time.   

Back To The Future Part III (Robert Zemeckis, 1990)

 

You know fun is the guiltiest pleasure in art. There are uncountable people who think that fun is some kind of anathema for the artistic creation and take everything about art only and deadly serious. There is only one feeling for those people and that is pity. I pity them because they rob themselves from the heavenly pleasure of having a good time. When I decided to write about Back To The Future Part III, I was searching eagerly what was the thing that I wanted to write and how would I make my review look nice and daring. After some thought and some serious ambivalence I realized that the only thing that I have to write is the fun that I get from the movie. No matter how shallow that may sound to some of you, that's the only true thing that I have to say for the movie.

The third part of Back To The Future moves away from the future and the past and goes to western genre. And what more can you ask from a film that is a western-comedy? Any type of second thoughts simply vanish after you have watched the first half hour of the film. There is so much excitement blend with brainy humor that you get more than you have paid for. Many said that this part of Back To The Future was the most disappointing of the three. I found that it was simply hilarious and for a lighthearted film that you want to watch on a Sunday noon when the heat is fucking you big time, is simply brilliant. I don't know what others expected from the movie and what other thing would want in the film, but I assure you that if you are in the mood for something fantasizing and altogether funny, that film will please you immensely. (Whenever I think of one of the scenes and moments of the movie, a stupid smile appears on my face. And that is proof that the movie is really worth the cause and the time spent to watch it).  

Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan, 2023)

 

You know I get depressed when I see such movies get that kind of recognition and appreciation. Normally I don't even watch films like this one, they bare no interest for me at all. The only reason that I watched Oppenheimer was Christopher Nolan. But I think that eventually I lose interest even in Christopher Nolan. The Nolan of The Prestige or Inception seems to have gone away from us completely. Oppenheimer is a boring, by-the-book, heartless, grandioso production that was meant to win many Oscars. If you think of how conservative the Academy members are, then you understand why this film got all these awards. It's not a lie that there were times during the movie that I wasn't even paying attention to the screen. I was even wondering at times why am I losing my precious time with this movie?

There is a huge issue nowadays that has to do with the heart of the movies. 9 out of 10 movies that come out are totally dead. Oppenheimer is not only no exception to the rule but is the fundamental example of what I'm talking about. Great cast, non linear storyline, explosions, black-and-white interventions, brief, non daring nudity, the film has fucking everything, but mostly has nothing. It's a well-polished production there is no doubt about that, but when it comes to really feeling what you are watching then the movie gets zero mark. It's like Titanic that movie. It's big and impressive, that doesn't mean that is also beautiful and intriguing. Christopher Nolan went from the rebelliousness of Inception to the certainty of Oppenheimer. Many would love him for that. I on the other hand am totally disappointed by him.  

Danger: Diabolik (Mario Bava, 1968)

 

Some call it piracy, I call it file sharing. And if it wasn't for file sharing I wouldn't be able to find that mesmerizing film by the great Mario Bava. Danger: Diabolik was the first film from the Italian filmmaker that I saw. And it stays 100% true that I was really taken by huge surprise. I was never a fan of Italian cinema meaning Fellini, Visconti and all the others. When I saw this film I changed my mind completely and I understood that I was watching the wrong films and searching the wrong directors. Danger: Diabolik is a movie that you can drink as a refreshing shot after a cold beer. The visuals of the movie are to say the least spectacular and if you think about when was the film shot, they are quite unbelievable. 

The movie has an aroma and an aura that have miraculous class written all over them. This is the typical movie to say "it's not what it pictures but how." The only time that I saw the movie (yes I've been always planning to watch it again and always something happens and I don't) I felt that if superhero movies of today were shot with the same "hunger", passion and craziness as this one here we would be talking about heaven and not the crap that we are been served. Danger: Diabolik has without the slightest doubt the ultimate style. A style that goes beyond the phrase "nicely shot movie" and goes closer to the word "brilliant." If you think about a handsome man walking in the street with his classy fedora hat and his shinny spectator shoes and you realize that it's his energy that makes him handsome and not the way nature made him, you then think about Danger: Diabolik. In this movie the beauty derives from the frame, from the direction, from the production design, from the objects, the style, the hair, the costumes, the goddamn spirit of that movie that really and totally thrives here. If I was a thief in my life or wanted to be one, I would definitely have that film for a guide and a holy book.