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Reviews
Kler (2018)
Sins of the Catholic Church
A film famous ahead of its release and obviously judged as well.
In Poland, there are 2 main extreme ways we are forced to think of this film:
either as a direct, unjustified and blunt attack of satan worshippers on the Catholic Church in Poland or as a just and the only true image of what is hidden from secular eyes, and oh boy it is a satan worshippers organization.
Where, to my mind, after just watching this in a theatre, neither of above is true.
Knowing Smarzowski's (the director) old films I was expecting more pessimistic and negatively shaped image of the Polish clergy. Of course, the film shows lots of sins of the priests but it also tries to understand the background of the situation. All of our priests-protagonists are built like humans who make errors but also are often tangled in the strings of the system that is a way stronger than them (apart from sexual abuse, this I cannot blame on anyone else than the offenders themselves). Often they show the will to do good deeds, but not always the intentions turn as they would wish. Some of the events seem a bit made up (the way the archibishop speaks his "true mind" is a bit cartoonish) and also implies that the higher we get in hierarchy, the worse the priests are. Which to me seems a little bit oversimplified.
To the things I could complain about I would add the fact that this film also lacks a really developed female characters (the part of Joanna Kulig is rather small, and yet being important character for the plot, she is barely present on the screen). Please, stop thinking I am some crazy SJW. I just think a woman perspective (for example a protagonist nun character) would also help to show the state of the Polish Clergy which I believe was the aim of the filmmakers.
An important note to add is that the film doesn't touch the topic of God/faith/religious matters. It is not about that. It shows the sins of the Catholic Church by showing its people, their stories and their method of coping with the fact that the system is far from being good. Also, sexual abuse in and out the clergy is thrown here as the subtopic but of course it takes the prominence due to its weight.
The films is well made (except for some live-footage bits which are a bit out of place) and actors work is superb. I highly recommend this film. It has its problems (oversimplification as in every other Smarzowski's film) but it is a very important voice in the discussion that, I believe, is aimed to heal the Polish Church, not to destroy it.
That's My Boy (2012)
You have been warned.
Never been Adam Sandler fan, but watched a few films with him that were somehow funny and watchable. This film, on the other hand, starts bad and then it gets worse. The whole premise with 13 year old boy banging his teacher is a great idea for opening of a comedy... for 12 year old, perhaps. Then we go to adult version of our protagonist and we get Redneck Sandler who, possibly to add more humour, speaks with a voice/tone/style/word choice of a kid. Here and there we see him confronted with 'normal' people and see how funny it is when, for example, he's masturbating to a photograph of some old grandma. Situations/jokes that are supposed to be funny are in most cases based on shocking/disgusting the viewer. Don't get me wrong, I know that there are different types of jokes, and I like crude/vulgar humour. But then I expect it to be added without contempt to a viewer's intelligence. In this film it looked as if the 12 year old boys made a film for themselves.
I felt dumber with every minute I spent watching and that's my final word on this production.
The Hunger Games (2012)
Pure nonsense
The movie is so bad I cannot even decide what to pick to begin with. Everything was wrong in it. Possibly one thing was good in the movie - that it finally ended. Although I heard they plan to make a whole franchise out of it. Back to the bad sides - the film is nonsense in every aspect - the very idea of holding people under control by forcing their kids to kill each other? What the...? The Capitol so rich and so big, yet all its residents being free people. Where are all servants, all people who provide services? In districts? But hey, someone needs to clean those streets or polish toilets. In the film only people seen in the Capitol are gay-like citizens and soldiers. Next, premise is set as if the film is a teen flick. Yet, it has quite disturbing idea behind - teens killing each other in picturesque fashion. Another thing - couple of kids teaming up to kill other kids, while there could be only one winner (putting aside slight change just before the end with 2 possible winners). Also, acting of young actors is wooden as hell. Last thing that comes to my mind - advancement of the Capitol is sick - cameras in every tree and creating(?) beasts and whatnot with some fancy interfaces in headquarters...What the...? Where are boundaries of their capabilities? And yet they have mines... for coal? Really guys, I wish I hadn't spent my money for this crap.
Avatar (2009)
CGI bubble
(this post is an extension of my own review I posted on other film related site)
Effects: Astounding technically, yes, but 3d experience was weird. I mean, first you get nice feel of new dimension, but with every second you get used to it and it doesn't make you "wow" later. Maybe the film was too long? Maybe number of 3d shots was too small? Or they were used badly?
Story: The film was painfully predictable, probably to make all 10-year olds capable of understanding the plot (alhough "the plot" is a way, way too big word). From the first minutes the main "plot" was like "connect 4 dots to form a square". Not that I expect "Usual Suspects" or "Primer" type of plot, but hey... James, you spent bazillion years on that story? How about some not good/bad cliché characters? How about casting not-wood-like-one-angry-face-actor as the main protagonist? How about adding more interesting features of "new" animals other than that idea they get extra pair of limbs? How about explaining why those marines even cared about waiting for scout mission, they had equipment to basically eradicate whomever they wanted. And I really miss wasted opportunity to develop (only slightly touched) idea of blending a person with one's avatar. That would possibly add some depth to this story of clichés.
Summing up - yeah, in terms of effects film is worth seeing, shows that CGI of the main female character plays better than main human male actor, but I expected story which is less "fairy tale/clichés-ful" or has characters I would care about. "Game-changer" James? Only if we assume that your technique will be used in the future for films like "Hulk" in which we will get an opportunity to add a bit of human emotions or actor's face features to animated version of himself. Otherwise the film is yet another overrated CGI bubble. Let me end with a quote I heard somewhere: "Nice that the film is made in three dimensions, but apart from effects, the film is one dimensional".
Numb3rs (2005)
Unrealistic, mundane, even former Dr Fleischman can't cure it
To cut the long story short: good idea of praising science in chase after crime completely spoiled by so-called "genius scientist(s)" that can infer, for instance, that it must be summer since sun is shining (it's exaggeration, of course, but it shows my point). It also adds some cops fitting into brainless muscles stereotype. Bad show, often unintentionally silly, almost always preposterous. The one and only bright side of the series is Rob Morrow, forever known as Dr Fleischman from old-school Northern Exposure series. Still, his brainless character doesn't fit him. At least, doesn't fit his former "doctor type". Maybe he should be the genius character and the script should be rewritten so that it had less "Gaussian distribution" along with other quasi-scientific babbling that is intended to cover scientific shallows of the show. "You may sit down, fail."