drz Reviews

Past Lives (2023)

Elegy about the paths we have not taken

[9/10 · 11 November 2023]

I watched this movie on a transatlantic flight and after it was over, I read the airline synopsis on the screen that was staring at me from the back of the seat in front of me (instead of wiping tears from my eyes in the darkness while the credits roll, as I would have done had I seen it in a movie theatre).

It is hard to summarize this movie better than what the often-shabby airline summary provided, so let me not ruin their succinct description by stretching this preamble any longer than necessary to reach the character limit for IMDB:

It's about two people as "they confront notions of destiny, love, and choices that make a life"

If you had a life shaped by choices (as I hope most of us do), go watch this movie as it is a heartfelt farewell to some beautiful roads we have not taken.

Canallas (2022)

Improbable yet authentic

[7/10 · 11 November 2023]

A far-stretched comedic story line that is entertaining even if a bit uneven, filled with characters whose each individual act comes across as improbable yet their overall conduct feels authentic. If you were blessed or cursed with people like these running their orbit near yours, you will find depth in this story - if not you should see it as an educational piece.

I gave it 6 stars, plus a bonus for the lead actor who is especially authentic and engaging: no wonder, he plays himself (meaning he is not a professional actor, but a professional con man - that twist almost propelled me to 8 stars, but I reserve that for true art which this movie falls a bit short of)

Chevalier (2022)

Mixed experience

[5/10 · 26 April 2023]

A fantastic life story, and great piece of history, that is relevant today, presented with impressive music, in nice sets (except CGI) and pleasant costumes. Should be great.

Yet a childish story and similarly childish storytelling, and the overwhelming abundance of barnstorming scenes removes this film from the realm of cinematic art. Uneven acting does not help and the anachronistic dialog (and make up) adds to the feeling of a B movie or propaganda piece, especially that what was meant to be character development is decisively cartoonish.

I am not sure what else to say to hit six hundred. I was not bored and neither I resent that we watched this movie but am not thinking back to it with appreciation.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Eye candy

[6/10 · 21 November 2022]

... that is passable as a movie, but feels more like a lost opportunity than a victory. The story is childish yet gory, the acting is mediocre, but action and visuals are pretty good. The thinly (if at all) veiled central theme appears to be the promotion of a race-based alliance against colonial powers, though its tribal and militaristic approach makes the message simply threatening rather than serving as a true counter-narrative to centuries-long wrongdoing. The movie lacks the originality, the uplifting message and the quality of acting of its prequel, and its end reduces the whole thing to being a bridge to a sequel. Yet it was entertaining and truly cringe-worthy moments are few and far in between.

Son of Saul (2015)

A masterpiece and so much more

[10/10 · 5 November 2022]

Having spent years waiting on my bucket list, I finally watched this movie last night. A day later I am still speechless and more tearful than last night, as I am irresistibly trying to peel off the events, visuals, feelings and meaning of what I just experienced. And it is not (just) PTSD - it is also deeply meaningful and harrowingly beautiful. This goes right back on the bucket list for another viewing.

Yes, it may not be for everyone as it's not a usual story-driven spectacle that most movies are, but anyone who seeks art or is just open to a new experience this is a must to see before too late. It's as unique and weird and powerful and perfect and well-acted and ... as cinema goes. And I did not even mention the cinematography that in itself could win over some cinephiles.

As for the negative reviews: I heard people saying this is a story of an unreasonable guy and/or there was no story between the opening and the end and so on. I would argue that this was the best movie that I have seen to show the merciless unreasonableness of the topic and the story powerfully underlined the same. One could write dissertations on both the topic and the movie (and I am sure many have done both), but let it suffice that in my opinion asking for rationale and rational acting in this situation misses the point of what the movie is about: and the movie does an incredible job to make us accept the unacceptable premise.

The movie's emotional impact is much more intense than Schindler's list or other run-of-the-mill concentration camp movies and more complex than even the bests', like Life is beautiful or Pan's Labyrinth (two movies that not only make it hard to leave the theatre after the credits roll but are also unforgettable in the days, weeks and decades that follow)

Fall (I) (2022)

I fled

[3/10 · 22 October 2022]

Thank goodness I began to watch this on an airplane, so I could switch away before the first scene even concluded.

That was more than enough: the climbing scene was executed poorly with zero technical credibility, and unconvincing repetitive near-accidents. More importantly, the dialogue and acting was so bad that I had to punch the escape button before more damage is being done to my psyche.

Henceforth I cannot comment on the plot (but must point out that even high-ranking reviewers rated that questionable and recycled) or the technical merits of the movie's entire set-up (that has been widely ridiculed). Yet, considering what I have seen I feel qualified to say this was not for me or anyone who seeks meaningful entertainment in a movie.

Vesper (2022)

Dreadful

[5/10 · 10 October 2022]

My son said after a half hour or so: "I don't really like this movie. It feels like there is too much happening and not enough".

He was spot on and that feeling just kept intensifying for hours. As others stated: great world building and cinematography and pretty decent acting.

But the lack of story and/or character development was painful. And if I say so, take that warning seriously. Look at my very high rating of dystopian movies that have no dialogue at all (last combat) or last for 7 hours in black and white (satantango), etc. Etc.

This is somehow different: with the ominous emotion building, the series of increasingly senseless conflicts and their reliably anticlimactic resolutions creates only a slight confusion and pretty dreadful boredom.

Nobody (I) (2021)

Fun

[8/10 · 14 November 2021]

No original ideas in this movie, but:

• it has Bob Odenkirk and he is great
• it's very well done: story, action, soundtrack...
• it's everything John Wick wanted to be
• but it's also funny and whimsical
• with almost real characters and plot
• and most importantly it's pure FUN.

The Blacklist (2013–2023)

A claptrap spy story devoid of intelligence

[3/10 · 12 October 2021]

Rating based on episode one, I will never make it to S1/E2.

This is a show entirely built on cheap mindless dramatic effects that lack any plausibility. And I mean any. Laughable attempts to create some connection to the protagonist, senseless and trite overdramatization of situations and characters (if you can call them such)

Here is the spoiler, just to demonstrate the amount of stupidity they managed to cram into a single minute of the show. The general's daughter is kidnapped by terrorists while federal agents that learned about the plot are taking her from her ballet lesson to safety. Instead of walking into the ballet school and picking her up, the bad guys chose to kidnap her from the heavily armed convoy in a deadly gunfight. They guess in advance when the convoy will cross which bridge as they just closed it down dressed as clean-up crew. They turn the convoy around and t-bone the kid's car with a dumper truck (how they guessed which car to hit?). This could have easily killed the child but served no rational purpose (it separated that car from the rest, but they killed all the commando members anyhow, so it did not matter). Well, except the lightly armed office-worker main characters, they of course survived and killed some terrorists. The terrorists they handed a gas mask into the wrecked vehicle for the heroine to put it on the kid (how they predicted that there will be one survivor with her?) then dropped in a tear gas cannister in a very dramatic manner in the car (again it is entirely unclear what purpose that served to get the kid) and then they tried to shoot our hero (yet again, not clear why since they had the kid and heroine was supposedly incapacitated) that cost villain his life as hero B killed the other terrorists by then (that this villain apparently failed to notice) and got to the car. And this was just one minute of the movie. There were many more. Way too many.

Oh, and did I mention that there is absolutely no reason for the kidnapping in the first place. The alleged purpose is so that they deliver a bomb with her, but that does not happen. They just put a bomb on the kid's back in the zoo but no one should guess that she was even in the zoo (how the heroine figures that out is by far the most implausible brainfart cacophony I have ever witnessed in a film and man have I seen senseless garbage before or what). So if the bomb blows up, no one could have gotten the message that it was on the kid an how bad boys they were. And surely they could have delivered the bomb there without the kiddo and without the count-down clock visible on her backpack from a mile away). How he is saved from the bomb would also rank high on my implausiblo-meter but in the context of this movie it was barely a blip on the radar: here one main character pokes a pencil in the other's carotid artery based on some sudden inspiration that remains unexplained to the unsuspecting viewer, apparently as a warning to have a constructive conversation and also to build trust between them (after the antihero similarly treated hubby's femoral artery for similarly unexplained reasons).

Anyhow, if you are tripping or just sufficiently high and dull, you may want to give it a careful try. For the rest of us, I would strongly recommend that you avoid this turkey at all cost. Watch the trailer and you get all the joy out of this series without paying the heavy price of watching a full episode.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Epic in its duration

[5/10 · 7 September 2021]

Nicely filmed and eventful but I got bored on both occasions I watched it: two decade apart.

This is basically some eye candy for the fans of the book.

The events and characters are not played out deeply enough for one to care. There are way too many things happening that are superficially depicted, barely make sense, or display reverence to unexplained places or events - all that keeps the viewer unengaged. The dialogue is childish, the emotions are slow-motion molasses, the fight scenes overdramatized, the movie is long. Very long. And the end is not the end: you gotta watch another workday's worth of time to get there.

Stray (I) (2020)

An original idea

[5/10 · 1 April 2021]

... but not much more. A documentary with interesting facts about dogs' lives in Istanbul, some insight into the long canine-human history, a little cautious commentary on refugees and politics. Is it really a movie? I am not sure.

There Will Be Blood (2007)

There was blood. So what?

[6/10 · 21 March 2021]

Good production value: nice sets, costumes, atmosphere and acting. The story starts promising (if choppy) then suddenly unexplained violence begins and it all goes nowhere from there. Since this is supposed to be a character-driven drama, the lack of complexity (or even credibility) of the main characters completely undermined this movie for me. After seeing it and even sleeping on it, I can't figure out was this was about (and not in a good senses that it keeps me guessing). The film obviously wanted to make a strong statement, but it is really unclear what it was about: demonizing atheism (and while at it, evangelism as well) or was it supposed to be a verdict on alcoholism or sociopathy? Nothing fits and nothing inspires me to think deeper than guessing what target they missed.

Ran (1985)

Not a masterpiece

[6/10 · 21 March 2021]

I like long movies (Satantango is in my top 10). I like Kurosawa (Seven samurai is in my top ten). I have no issue with his idiosyncrasies. Yet this movie was too long, tried imagery too hard and did not engage me either with the King Lear story (and the characters' stupidity), nor the acting (with the exception of a few supportive actors), and even the cinematography (ok, the opening and the closing shots are impressive, and so are the colors in the fight scenes). The war scenes (and man, are there a lot of them) are particularly bad with endless repetition of the same implausible actions. On balance, watching it is not a waste of time, but don't build much expectation as I did, because you end up hungry at the end of the promised feast.

Knives Out (2019)

Entertainingly overplayed whodunit

[6/10 · 23 May 2020]

Exaggerated yet engaging acting and story in the vein of old crime stories. Nice ambience and Daniel Craig's entrance is impressive. It is overcomplicated (even for this genre) and the social message (while not unjustified) is a bit heavy handed.

Sherlock (2010–2017)

Eye candy for altered mental state

[4/10 · 23 May 2020]

Well-acted and filmed series that turns into an increasingly annoying pointless confusion. An atmosphere even if well-crafted cannot sustain a series through years.

It glamorizes drug addiction and is like a drug habit itself: early on exciting in its flashy and disorienting novelty, but its lack of coherence and purpose gets boring and depressing.

I hit rock bottom with it and am quitting.

Three Days of the Condor (1975)

Classic and classy thriller

[8/10 · 21 May 2020]

This movie is both timeless and a great 70-s period picture.

It has a tense storyline, clever plot, and engaging atmosphere that feels real and timeless.

The remarkable acting, some of the politics, the romance and the technology is very 1970-s but in a really pleasant way.

Entertaining and satisfying even in light of the disillusionment that it brings.

There is much much more to it than that: read the critics. Or better just watch it. And watch it again. It's worth it.

Unforgiven (1992)

Uncomfortable yet unforgettable

[7/10 · 21 May 2020]

Epic movie with good acting and a big dose of rawness: about the West, about the US and about us. If you are ready for that, take it away. It even makes an attempt to address some existential questions and has some humor.

The Revenant (I) (2015)

Thank you, but no, thank you

[5/10 · 21 May 2020]

A hard one to rate. If I could relive las night I would not watch this movie (ever). That is a judgment I, as a cinephile, rarely utter and that normally results in really low rating. Still, it's hard to rate this lower than 5/10 because of the effort that went into it (and my love to Inarratu for Biutiful and Babel and even Birdman)

This movie is a mixture or 'Aguirre, wrath of god' and maybe 'Unforgiven' but not in a good way. Its hyperrealistic execution magnifies the implausibility of the details (many many many details and the entire storyline), the lack of an actual story (this movie is really boring despite all the brutality) and even the lack of real characters (with some exceptions). Acting is ok, but really nothing to brag about when it comes to DiCaprio: I can't imagine that any acting student would have trouble playing the huffing and puffing that his role can be summed up as.

L.A. Confidential (1997)

Flawless masterpiece that is entertaining like no other

[10/10 · 21 May 2020]

Just rewatched it after like 20 years (on VHS as it's not available on Prime?!) When I watch old favorites, I often downgrade my ratings (you know, there is more to love than first sights)

This one I upgraded from 9/10 to 10/10. This movie is flawless. The story alone would make this a standout film: it is complex enough that it requires the viewer's full attention, with turns of events that are deeply entertaining even on repeated watching. But the movie more than just a great story: it is action packed entertainment that is long but fast paced (you may need to strain your brain to follow the full story, but it's all there, no shortcuts, plot holes or leaps of faith), and also beautifully crafted cinema (glamorously produced and shot, with great music and cast). It is also a piece of art: its characters are deep enough to engage the viewer, they evolve with the story and the acting is absolutely flawless.

This is a great film no matter how you classify it: as a crime story, or an action flick, or a period gangster movie, or drama or other genres that I will not mention to avoid spoilers. But put it altogether, this is a masterpiece. It is peerless.

A Pendragon legenda (1974)

Maybe for people who read the book

[5/10 · 24 March 2020]

There is an amazing lineup of the best Hungarian actors of the 70s and 80s, a good story, meaningful message, and some funny scenes. Still not a good movie: it feels rushed from beginning to end and it lost me early on.

The dialogue (sound quality is not good) and story are hard to follow (beyond intended), the raciness that must have been daring in the communist era is funny (beyond intended), the camerawork is shaky (almost unheard of in Hungarian cinema) and some of the special effects are cheap (even for a 1970-s Hungarian movie). But the real downer is rushing the story: feels like budget was shoestring and that included the amount of film they could use.

Not bad, but I expected much more.

Drive (I) (2011)

Steady decline over 100 minutes

[4/10 · 6 February 2020]

The Driver starts fairly well, a mysterious hero, a promising plot, suspense, action, and an atmosphere that could make it noteworthy (maybe a bit Light Sleeper like).

As the story slows, we get warning signs that this film will be bad (I do like many movies that are slow with little or even no dialogue as long as they explore something meaningful - this one one is sadly not one of those): the annoying pauses get longer, the acting is getting worse, the chemistry is getting lost and the melodrama just grows and grows and grows: silent movie stars did not exaggerate their acting to this extent. That would still make it an acceptable movie: what do you expect from Hollywood, after all.

But things get worse than expected: the 5-minutes getaway warning gets repeated (word by word, though it still does not make sense), our hero gets violent (not in a believable way), the music is getting bad (do we need to learn from the lyrics that our hero is a great "human being" - repeatedly?) and the nonsense gets unleashed. ***SPOILERS from here - but really there is nothing to spoil***

Senseless graphic violence (gangsters get serially killed by a single person armed with a hammer, a shoe or bare hands - and what about the fork in the eye, really?), long faux-artistic meaningless shots (e.g. scorpion on his back - let's not forget the insult to injury committed by the misplaced scorpoin-frog tale), idiotic lines of action from almost all characters (and the plot in general, like the mob calling Blanche seconds before shooting her?), completely random scenes that are neither believable nor seem to be part of the plot (e.g. kissing and killing scene in the elevator)... all the expectations from the beginning are lost: this is no film noir, no crime movie, not an action movie, not a thriller and not a parody of either of those. Just bad.

And the climax: how come the main villain is completely unprotected during the scene at the beach? And why on earth was Gosling wearing the mask then (when no one can see him: he only covers his face from his victim whom he kills in revenge - how does that make sense?) And how did his car's headlight made the dramatic backlight after the frontal crash when it T-boned the other car off the cliff? And the final scenes with the other bad boss? He lets him stab him in the stomach because...? And then leaves the million bucks there because ...? Is this supposed to be art? Some big raison d'etre statement about ...? What? Well. Forget it. Rather: skip it.

Ronin (1998)

A belated 80s' flick without evolution

[6/10 · 5 August 2019]

Great cast, decent atmosphere, classic (but waaaay too long) car chase scenes. The story is more unbaked than mysterious and there are multiple weak links, shaky scenes and frayed storylines that encroach on the chemistry between Reno and DeNiro.

The Highwaymen (2019)

Strong performances

[7/10 · 2 May 2019]

... of the leads carry this fairly predictable yet entertaining movie. Even Kevin Costner managed to act believably (a first in my limited experience). The movie is slow but has sustained tension and relatively few kitschy or irrational scenes. While I would not classify this film as art, I found it fairly enjoyable and entertaining.

The Aftermath (2019)

Decent story, indecent film

[5/10 · 1 May 2019]

... and not the right way. There is some indecency in there, but no passion or other driving force to lead to it (and not even well written or acted) No believable situations or behaviors, mostly wooden acting, and they managed to make even costumes and background images cringeworthy. Very little in the way of rewards, but before I convince myself that 5/10 starts is way too generous, let me say that the photography and the overarching story can be considered redeeming qualities.

Stargate (1994)

MST 3000 material

[3/10 · 23 March 2019]

The movie starts as a potential 6: somewhat promising plot, weakish acting, yet nice visuals. As we approach the stargate, it quickly degenerates into a stinking potpourri of incoherent and exaggerated cliches but even the painfully over-acted moment of crossing the stargate cannot prepare us for the intellectual deep dive that awaits on the other side. It becomes a cavalcade of mindless plot-fragments, kitschy music, ridiculous fight scenes, moronic acting and cringeworthy scenes: any one of which could ruin an otherwise perfectly sufferable B movie. Even the visuals suffer a set-back by the end. One cannot even give a taste of how bad this is: it would be a treasure trove for MST 3000 - did they miss such a slam dunk or have I missed the episode?