Space Adventure Cobra

Space Adventure Cobra; animated science-fiction action series, Japan, 1982; D: Osamu Dezaki, S: Nachi Nozawa, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Gara Takashima, Reiko Tajima, Hidekatsu Shibata

Somewhere in the future, Johnson has a steady, but routine desk job in the city. Out of boredom, he decides to go to a company that implants people with 3D adventure dreams. However, after returning back home, he realizes that was not a fictional dream, but his own erased memory, since he was once Cobra, a daredevil guy who underwent plastic surgery to hide from the notorious Space Guild with whom he clashed. Now awakened, his female-robot, Lady, follows suit and they embark on new adventures. In the first, after two sisters were killed, Cobra helps save the third one, Dominique, who is persecuted by Crystal Boy from the Guild because he wants to find the map of the treasure tattooed on her back. In later episodes, Cobra investigates drug trafficking on a planet while posing as a rug-ball player; goes to battle Swordians from the planet of the sea of sand; assembles a team of four aliens to battle and defeat Salamander, who took over the Guild and wanted to rule the galaxy.

A wide ranging amalgamation of several unusual and often contradictory genres, from Spaghetti-Westerns up to Sci-Fi and secret agent action films, Buichi Terasawa's manga "Cobra" gained instant cult status, as well as its eponymous anime series from 1982 that announced all the daring traits of anime to the world. The first arc, which encompasses the first 12 episodes, is excellent, and really gives the viewers a run for their money: it has one consistent storyline (Cobra fighting against Crystal Boy, one of the most bizarre villains ever created on the screen, who looks like Skeletor with a transparent body made out of glass that reveals his skeleton underneath) and a pure rush of imagination, displaying several brilliant Sci-Fi ideas that reach their full potential (a flying prison hovering over a city, as a ominous warning sign to the people below; Cobra shoots from his "Hordak-style" hand-gun at Crystal Boy's back, but the laser is deflected by three drones who were flying above him, immediately forming a triangle force field...), as well as an suspenseful duel with a lot of humor and irony (Cobra breaks a glass cup in his hand, slyly implying that the glass Crystal Boy "will be next"; Crystal Boy tackles and throws Cobra several feet away, after which he jokes that "he should play rugby"...) which is spiced up by a further "addendum" finale reaching epic proportions (an alien tank that can bury itself into the sand with its gun peeking up like a periscope; Sandra transforming into a giant, chasing Cobra at the top of the pyramid).

Unfortunately, once that highlight is over, "Cobra" should have stopped, yet it continued with a further 19 episodes which are of irregular success: some of them are throw-away one-episode fillers (a genie that captures Cobra in space; a robot that stops a robot rebellion by turning back time - sounds bad, is bad), while some build up better episodic stories that last longer (the 4-episode rug-ball plot, which seems to spoof brutal sports just like "Rollerball"). Still, they never reach the heights of the first 12 episodes and seem arbitrary. Also, "Cobra's" exploitative tone can be felt, obvious in the too many 'fan service' moments of half-naked girls, whereas the finale turned just a tiny bit too much like James Bond. "Cobra" is patchwork, blending in more genres than it can handle, and its episodic tone aggravates that feeling as well, since Cobra is basically the only character in the story (his sidekick, female-robot Lady, is basically just an extra), which changes its setting every a couple of episodes, anyway, starting from episode 13 onwards, leaving little of room to link all of these adventures into one whole, yet it still has some traces of that 80s charm and fragments of a future prototype of a cool hero, which will be later improved in several animes, such as "Cowboy Bebop".

Grade;++

White Heat

White Heat; crime film, USA, 1949; D: Raoul Walsh, S: James Cagney, Edmond O'Brien, Virginia Mayo, Margaret Wycherly

Gangster Cody Jarrett and his gang, among them Ed, rob a train and then hide in a cottage in the hills until things calm down. Cody is married to Verna, but his love and attention belongs all to his mother, who helps him in his crime. When the police are tightening the ring around them, Cody has the brilliant idea to confess a lesser crime of a robbery in Springfield, committed at the same time during the train heist, and thus establishing a fake alibi. He is sentenced to two years in prison, but the police infiltrate their agent, Fallon, in Cody's cell, who slowly gains the gangsters confidence. Upon hearing that his mother was killed by fellow Ed, who is now with Verna, Cody escapes from prison with Fallon and kills Ed. Cody plans a robbery of a oil refinery, but dies when Fallon and the police raid the place.

James Cagney's spectacular return to the role the audience desired him the most, the one of the tough gangster, "White Heat" is today considered one of his ultimate achievements by the critics, and it is indeed an excellent film of "old school", though Wellman's "The Public Enemy" is still superior and may deserve the "ultimate" title just a tiny bit more than this. "White Heat" seems like a culmination and apex of Cagney's previous gangster roles, naturally resulting in the character of Cody Jarrett who has no positive emotions whatsoever, except for his mother - but even that is distorted, since she taught him a misguided concept that the only way to feel "important" is to be violent, and the only way to be "successful" is to be successful in crime. Congruently, the whole story is basically Cody's suicide path, leading to its inevitable dead end. The film has several clever moments (the "Departed" subplot is especially noteworthy, when Cody tests his new cellmate, Fallon - who is actually a police agent - by taking out the photo of Fallon's alleged wife, and putting it on his table, while Fallon does not react or recognize her; the anthological sequence of Cody in the prison kitchen, asking about his mother by having his neighbors "pass on" the question to the others sitting on the bench, until he gets the reply that she is dead, causing his mental breakdown) and flows very fluently, though a couple of minimal flaws are still there, such as a couple of erratic side characters or useless plot points. When one watches a movie, you may never know what part of it will stay in you memories. That will only become apparent with the flow of time. When the people first saw "White Heat", they had no idea which part of it will "stand out", or any, at all. But as decades went on, one moment kept turning up again and again, and went deep into the subsconscious of the popular culture: it is the expressionistic finale, that contains that spark of timeless energy in the dialogue "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!".

Grade;+++

Krakatit

Krakatit; science-fiction drama, Czech Republic, 1948; D: Otakar Vávra, S: Karel Höger, Florence Marly, Eduard Linkers, Jiří Plachý, Nataša Tanská

An injured man is in the operating room in the hospital. Delirious, the man recounts his life: he is Prokop, a scientist who invented "Krakatit", a new kind of devastating explosive in the form of dust. Just one gram can trigger a lethal explosion. Injured after an experiment with it, Prokop is healed by Dr. Tomeš and his daughter, Anči, in their home. Prokop gets an offer to sell the formula for Krakatit, but he refuses wealth in fear that the explosive might be used as a weapon in wars. He is persuaded to work in a laboratory for a royal family, and is even seduced by Princess Wilhelmina, but runs away and refuses to reveal the formula. Prokop looks at an explosion in the distance, caused by Tomeš experimenting with Krakatit in the laboratory. Finally, Prokop awakens in the hospital.

An adaptation of Karel Čapek's eponymous novel, Otakar Varva's (Sci-Fi) drama film "Krakatit" seems like a forerunner to the dilemma that awaited the world in modern times, since Čapek's hypothetical, obscure weapon of mass destruction in the 20s became an allegory of the nuclear weapons by the time of the film's premiere in 1948, exploring the doubts and fears of its inventor, Prokop, who fears it might lead to the destruction of humanity. This is exacerbated the most in the dark sequence of a secret gathering of various shady people in a basement, chanting how "democracy is corrupt and dead" and how they should force the smaller nation of the world into subjugation, mirroring the fears of what all this could lead to when Totalitarian dictatorships get weapons of mass destruction. Varva directs the film as a nightmarish, expressionistic film, with some scenes even wondering off into the abstract, making the viewers wonder what is real and what not (most obvious when Prokop strangles evil d'Hemon, who suddenly just disappears, revealing it to only be his own selfish self), yet it is way too long and overstretched, with several scenes that are heavy, lax and slow, or overburdened with symbolism. Some colors are brought by the lively supporting character of Dr. Tomeš (a great humorous sequence when he awakens the unconscious Prokop in bed, jokingly adding he already feared that Prokop was the "sleeping beauty" for sleeping so long), and the film needed more of these refreshing and spirited moments.

Grade;++

Sailor Moon Crystal (Season 3)

Sailor Moon Crystal: Season III; animated fantasy series, Japan, 2016; D: Chiaki Kon, S: Kotono Mitsuishi, Ami Koshimizu, Hisako Kanemoto, Junko Minagawa, Rina Satou, Sayaka Ohara, Shizuka Itou, Yukiyo Fujii

After the last events, Usagi, Rei, Ami, Makoto and Minako are faced with another threat for the world, in the form of Pharaoh 90, a mysterious alien entity from the Tau star system that took control over Dr. Tomoe's body and made him the chief of Death Busters, an organisation that seeks the Holy Grail in order to start a colonisation of Earth. Usagi transforms into Sailor Moon and manages to save Earth, with the help of two new Sailor Senshi, Sailor Uranus and Neptune, as well as dr. Tomoe's daughter Hotaru, who is Senshi no 3., Sailor Saturn.

Season III of the "Sailor Moon Crystal" reboot anime is an improvement compared to the first two seasons: it was given a more 'animesque' character design that suits them more than the manga look, and they were given more room for character development as well, most noticeable in a couple of refreshing and welcomed humorous moments that reminded them of their best days, with at least two moments reaching the creative Zenith that are so genuine that they seem almost as if they came from some lost scene from the original 90s anime (in episode 2, where Usagi transforms into a Mugen Academy student with glasses to sneak into the building, but is then caught by a girl from the "Discipline Committee", who asks her to identify with her name, rank and class; and episode 5 where Usagi and Mamoru's relationship is strained, they sit quietly on the couch with the comic-book subtitle adding the word "Silence", until Chibiusa manages to make them up by asking them to help her with her homework).

Unfortunately, this strong start is not able to reach the threshold potential that would initiate a complete rejuvenation of this anime version, since episode 5 is followed by inferior 8 episodes that again return to the standard, dry or monotone level of the previous seasons, featuring again too many grey moments of the Sailor Senshi only speaking stale speeches or presenting the mythology that takes up way too much time. The female villains drop dead like flies, and their life span is one episode - further complicated by the manga notion that they are outright "killed" by the Sailor Senshi, who act too much like extras. The 90s anime demonstrated a remarkable sixth sense for epic, unrelenting, cathartic battles with an 'inner directing' skill that managed to engages viewers with ease, yet here the 5 episode finale seems strangely monotone and colorless, as the viewers are left with a feeling that they just want to skip it for its obligatory tone. One cannot also simply escape from the bigger picture here, namely the impression that this is by default a proxy war between the classic 90s anime style vs. the high-tech, CGI 2010s anime style, leaving the aforementioned as an easy winner. The iconic (lesbian) Senshi, Haruka and Michiru are simply greater characters in the 90s version, since they seem too one dimensional and abridged in this edition, which did not leave too much room for them to develop. Still, season III shows a remarkable progression, and it seems the creative "spillover" from the 4th season, obvious in the final minutes of the last episode, announce a 'delayed momentum' which just waits to happen.

Grade;++

Romeo, Juliet and Darkness

Romeo, Julie a tma; war drama, Czech Republic, 1959; D: Jiří Weiss, S: Ivan Mistrík, Daniela Smutná, Jirina Sejbalova, Frantisek Smolík, Blanka Bohdanová

Prague, World War II. In the plan of the Nazis to create a Greater Germany, Jews are deported from the city. Pavel is a young student living in an apartment complex who meets a young Jewish girl, Hanka, and hides her from the authorities in his attic. He has a lot of trouble, since he has to take food from his home to feed her, which causes suspicion from his mother. After the assassination of Nazi chief Reinhard Heydrich, numerous raids sweep the city and one student from Pavel's class is taken away by the authorities. Pavel and Hanka fall in love. However, since the risk gets too high, after being discovered, Hanka voluntarily hands herself in to the Nazis, and gets executed, despite Pavel's plea to save her life.

One of the early Holocaust dramas of European cinema, Jiri Weiss' "Romeo, Juliet and Darkness" is a very good, though a little bit "too safe" played film that hits all the right notes, yet one wishes it was just a tiny bit more daring or unconventional. Setting Shakespeare's eponymous play during World War II, Weiss crafted an ambitious, elegant and emotional drama that is carried both by its tragic plot as well as by its two energetic lead actors, Ivan Mistrik and Daniela Smutna, as well as several distinct supporting characters, such as Blanka Bohdanova who plays the blond vamp girl who is surprised as to why Pavel suddenly does not want to see her anymore. Weiss surges to creative heights the most when he conjures up a genuine feel of 'slice-of-life' of that era, mostly in scarce humorous moments (for instance, during class, the professor notices that Pavel gave a paper note to a student. When the professor asks what he gave him, the student replies with "Nothing" and puts the note in his mouth. The professor asks him to open his mouth, the student swallows and then open his mouth, revealing its is empty, which causes a chuckle among the class; in another moment, Pavel secretly browses through the grandfather's jacket for the keys of the attic at night, despite his mother forbidding him to leave the apartment. Grandfather suddenly enters the room - and tells him to look in the jacket's right pocket, before he leaves, slyly pretending of not knowing anything). It is a fine film, though one wishes the conclusion would have been just a tiny bit more circled out, since the abrupt ending feels somewhat rushed.

Grade;+++

Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters; fantasy comedy, USA, 2016; D: Paul Feig, S: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth, Neil Casey, Cecily Strong, Andy Garcia, Charles Dance, Ed Begley Jr., Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts

Erin Gilbert is trying to build up a serious reputation in academic circles, but, unfortunately for her, the people haven't forgotten a book about ghosts she wrote with friend Abby. These paranormal things start to become real, though, when bizarre ghosts start appearing and attacking people in town. Erin, Abby, Jillian Holtzman and Patty team up to become Ghostbusters that will fight the menace. It turns out that the ghosts originate from Rowan, an angry hotel employee who is sick of bullying and thus decided to destroy the world. Luckily, the Ghostbusters manage to stop him and save the day.

The 2016 reboot of the famed '84 film is decent, though one has to openly admit one thing: even at its best, this film is still "Ghostbusters", "Ghostbusters II" and "The Real Ghostbusters" at their weakest level. 27 years after the last film, and two years after its co-creator Harold Ramis passed away, Paul Feig decided to reboot the franchise with an all female cast, which caused a certain anger among fans, though the impression would not have been a lot better even if the original cast were playing these roles, anyway, since the film "expanded" its repertoire with some crude and vulgar jokes, some of which clash terribly with the original "Ghostbusters" humor that was an intellectual comedy, as well as with too much empty walk and Feig's trademark endless 'small-chat-humor' that is thin: several bad jokes could have been easily cut out, which would have improved the film, especially in the bizarrely pointless running gag of the girls hiring the dumb Kevin as their secretary just because he is handsome, which seems as if it came from one weak "iCarly" episode.

For instance, the moment where Abby asks if there is sugar in the coffee, and Kevin takes a sip and then spits it out in the cup before giving her back, just screams for a 'deleted scene'. Even the cameos from the original cast are meagre, including Bill Murray who usually always delivered a great cameo role. Still, as it is, there are a few good laughs here, mostly when the film puts some effort in dialogues ("The fourth apocalypse? Sounds like a franchise nobody wanted"; "Don't be like the mayor from "Jaws"!" - "Erghh!... Don't ever compare me to the "Jaws"-mayor!"; after Holtzman defeats the ghouls with her karate moves, she says this cute line: "You've been Holtzman-ed!") and some of the cast manages to be charming, such as Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon. The film tries too hard to be likable to the audience, yet works the best when it just simply let's go and tries to be a natural, genuine fun. Overall, a rather solid reboot, though in the shadow of the original two films: it has more ghosts, but less spirit.

Grade;+

The Player

The Player; satire, USA, 1992; D: Robert Altman, S: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Gallagher, Brion James, Cynthia Stevenson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Dean Stockwell, Richard E. Grant, Burt Reynolds, Sydney Pollack, Jeremy Piven, Gina Gershon, Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis, Andie MacDowell, Malcolm McDowell, Cher, John Cusack, Peter Falk, Elliott Gould, Anjelica Huston, Rod Steiger, Lily Tomlin, Susan Sarandon, Teri Garr

Griffin Mill is a successful Hollywood executive, and decides if a certain script is going to be made into a film or not. One day, he starts getting threats through postcards, and figures it must be from a screenwriter he rejected, but there is a whole pile of them. He thinks it is David, and kills him in an alley. Griffin then seduces David's girlfriend, June. He also allows Larry Levi to make a film out of a dark topic - with a happy ending, of course. Due to lack of evidence, the police drop the investigation against Griffin, and he accepts to make a movie about a Hollywood executive who gets away with murdering a screenwriter.

Just like Pirandello's "Six Characters in Search for an Author" was a sly play-within-a-play, "The Player" is a grand metafilm satire on Hollywood that 'breaks the fourth wall' on several occasions, the key star being, of course, the screenplay by Michael Tolkin that abounds with clever self-referential and auto-ironic moments, which are evident already in the famed opening 7.5 minute long scene filmed in one take: not only is this opening fascinating to watch, but also offers 'inner-directing' skills in the form of quietly genius dialogues, from two people lamenting how modern movies are full of cuts instead of being filmed in one long take like Welles' opening in "A Touch of Evil", up to a screenwriter - in all seriousness - trying to sell his screenplay, a story about "The Graduate" 25 years later, to protagonist Griffin in his office.

Tolkin's script is highly literate and cultured, and thus the viewers will have to have some kind of prior knowledge of cinema or will be faced with "not getting the joke" from so many insider and pop culture references ("Who was the villain in "Ghostbusters"?", asks one party guest, for instance), yet some jokes are just plain funny, anyway (for instance, after the screening of the classic "The Bicycle Thieves" in cinema, some 'out of touch' viewers lament: "What was all that fuss about a stolen bicycle?"; after Griffin kills David, an off screen quote from the producers' room is heard, saying how the happy ending in "Fatal Attraction" was dictated by the preview audiences, which foreshadows "The Player's" own ending, which is incredibly sarcastic and cynical). A couple of flaws are minimal - an occasional clumsy scene; the rather overstretched second act; the somewhat unnecessary tendency to insists on too many cameos from Hollywood stars, some of which are "throw away" 30 seconds episodes, anyway - yet the movie sets and achieves its goal of becoming a sly case study in movie making, as well as society in general, equipped with all of its flaws and compromises, and thus rightfully announced the 'silver age' in Robert Altman's career, which would last over a decade, until his death 14 years later.

Grade;+++

Top Gun

Top Gun; action, USA, 1986; D: Tony Scott, S: Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, Tom Skerritt, Michael Ironside, John Stockwell, James Tolkan, Meg Ryan

Pete "Maverick" and his partner "Goose" are pilots in the US Air Force. At a bar, Maverick tries to seduce a blond girl in a bet - only to find out the next day that she is their Top Gun instructor, Charlotte "Charlie". The pilots spend their days training in the military fighter planes, whereas Maverick falls in love with Charlotte. However, during a routine assignment, Maverick's plane malfunctions and crashes, killing his friend, Goose. Traumatized, Maverick contemplates abandoning the post, but returns and completes it with flying colors when he intercepts and destroys several unidentified enemy war planes while saving a communication ship in the Indian ocean.

Jokingly referred to as the most expensive or longest promotional video for the US Air Force, "Top Gun" is indeed too flat and simplistic in its storyline development, yet still has that 80s flair that gives it a certain charm even today. Director Tony Scott dresses the film in aesthetic images and wonderful, modern, crystal clear cinematography, yet they all seem to just be a camouflage for the fact that there is very little in the most crucial part of the film, its story and characters, who - except in the marvellous aerial shots of fighter planes in the sky - spend too much time on bland or schematic interaction, ranging from playing volleyball on the beach or driving in a motorcycle. Such a disparity between content and style would eventually become an all too familiar trait in later Jerry Bruckheimer produced films. Even the story build up is cliche, following the typical prototype of such films: the hero starts as a newbie, gets into a crisis and self-doubt, only to save the day at the end. The best moments are the ones that add some spice into "Top Gun", mostly humorous ones, especially in the sequence where Maverick tries to seduce a blond woman in a bar - only to find out she is his unit's instructor the next day.

Grade;++

Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die!

Oggi a me... domani a te!; western, Italy, 1968; D: Tonino Cervi, S: Brett Halsey, Bud Spencer, Tatsuya Nakadai, William Berger, Wayde Preston

After spending five years innocently in prison, Bill is released and immediately goes to his savings to gather a gang of the fastest gun drawers in the area: O'Bannion, Jeff, Greenhorn and Francis. They each get 5,000$, which will doubled if they finish his job: namely, Bill's wife, an Indian, was raped an killed by criminal Elfego, who also framed him with a prison sentence. Bill and O'Bannion are captured by Elfego's gang, but their friends manages to free them. Hiding in the forest, Bill and his accomplice stage an ambush at Elfego's gang, and ultimately manages to kill him.

In the 60s, Italian 'Spaghetti Westerns' grew like mushrooms after rain and left an imprint on the entire era, yet few directors truly managed to make something extraordinary out of that genre, such as Leone or Clucher, who delivered a first spoof of it with "Trinity". Even though it was written by Dario Argento, "Today We Kill..." is a good, yet standard example of the genre, with several typical storylines revolving around a revenge story, told in a rather too straight forward manner, though certain elements of surprise can be found in a couple of humorous moments (for instance, when Sheriff Jeff is offered 5,000 $ by protagonist Bill to immediately follow him on his task, he accepts - and releases a prison inmate from jail, giving him the Sheriff's badge (!) to run the office while he is away) and the fact that the protagonist's first helper becomes none other than Bud Spencer, here still in a serious edition. The villain is a typical example of a bad guy who is evil just so that the viewers can hate him, even when some of his actions do not make much sense (in a flashback filmed in black and white, Elfego is seen raping Bill's wife, calling her an "Indian whore", which alludes that he is racist, but since this is all we find out about him, his actions are left rather unintelligible), yet the compact story leads to a proportionally well made finale in the forest, with several gritty, brutal showdowns (such as when Spencer's character has to use a log to fight with Elfego who has a sabre).

Grade;++

Pandora's Box

Die Büchse der Pandora; silent drama, Germany, 1929; D: Georg Wilhelm Pabst, S: Louise Brooks, Francis Lederer, Fritz Kortner

Lulu is an attractive, but promiscuous woman who has many lovers. One of them, the respectful newspaper publisher Schön, has had enough of sharing her with so many men and announces he is to get married to the daughter of a Minister. However, during a stage rehearsal where she was about to perform, Lulu manages to seduce Schön again, who gives in and decides to marry her instead. However, even during the wedding, Lulu is flirting with other men, and thus Schön gets a pistol - in the ensuing chaos, he is shot and dies. Lulu is sentenced to five years in prison, but manages to escape together with Schön's son, Alwa. They hide in a ship used for gambling, but have to escape once again when the owner intends to sell Lulu in a brothel. In London, working as a prostitute, Lulu gets killed by Jack the Ripper.

One of G. W. Pabst's most famous and acclaimed films seems almost like a cynical-bitter upside restructuring of the "Odyssey", where - unlike the heroine, Penelope, who is annoyed by the intrusive suitors and only longs for one man, her Odysseus - here the heroine, Lulu, actually treats every suitor the same and never wants to love only one person, but to live in constant state of admiration by men, even after her wedding. "Pandora's Box" caused quite a controversy during its premiere for tackling several taboo topics (promiscuity; a femme fatale; a gold digger...), yet is overall an overhyped film, a too straight-forward melodrama with little exceptions or interventions either in style or storyline to compensate for the rather standard, conventional build up with too much over-reliance on the sole topic which was daring back in those days, but seems normal today. The most was achieved from the expressionistic actress Louise Brooks, whose Lulu became her "trademark" performance of some sort, thanks to her modern hair due and erratic, adamant behavior. The tragedy stems from the ever growing rift between what Alwa and his father want from Lulu (a mature, loyal wife who will love only one man) and what Lulu actually is (an immature woman who does not want to grow up or to ever get attached to only one man), leading to several love triangles which nullify and destroy each other in the end. It is a dark and uncompromising film, yet it is a pity it was not enriched with more spice or director's intervention since it is very simplistic.

Grade;++