Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

This is the best american film of all times. I should immediately add it to my A list. But I won`t. What is really all the fuss about? I seriously don`t know. The film is all right, I must admit to that but certainly not more than that. Ok, the ending was good, but let`s face it - every good film has a strong ending because otherwise it wouldn`t be that good. No, I don`t say that it is worthless or something of that kind but I`m not really interested in the meaning of `Rosebud` THAT much.

Now this is a bit complicated. One can certainly feel George Orwell influences in this film but it is somewhat special. Not a comedy though, contrary to the information provided in IMDB. I don`t really know how to rate it or what to think about. It`s good I suppose. The burreacrats are good, so is the ending which I found to be stronger than in Citizen Kane but overall - I don`t know. Perhaps it would be a good idea to watch the film once again. Maybe not, I shall think about it some time.

I don`t think that it`s gonna be a surprise to anyone if I told that the film is made after the novel by Ray Bradbury. I liked the book but the film was a huge dissapointment - people who appear to be living in the sixties but act as if they were not, terrible (at least what I think) acting and lots of changes in the plot don`t make a great film for me. No, no, no that`s no way to treat a classic.

A film by Tom Stoppard. Does it say anything to you? Well, for me it does. Tom Stoppard being my favourite modern playwriter I knew the film should be good. I had actually seen it a few years ago but neither my knowledge of English neither the overall capabilities of my brain could tell back then how good the movie actually is. And I really don`t care that it isn`t a critics favourite. A few quotes coming up for the film is full of those. And what else would you expect from a piece of art where Hamlet himself plays just a secondary role? B list quality guaranteed, A list not out of sight.

A hard work has been completed - I managed to find my way through the seven hundred pages of this document of its time. Rewarding? Maybe. At least it was good for my German, not that I didn`t like it at all but as a whole this book is a bit too German for me. I can`t tell what it is in German literature I often dislike but it is present here. Possibly it takes itself too seriously and is a bit too edgy, I don`t know the right words for it. The entertainment level is not high enough for me, despite that fact that subjects brought up in this book are worthy. It seems that Mr. Grass is just not my author. Well, so be it.

From a movie for children one should not expect very much - a few jokes, nice music - that`s basically it. Sadly the film here doesn`t offer enough even for a category pretty low standarts. Most of the songs are terrible, dialogue could be written by any six year old. What does the positive side have? The rats were cool, and the frogs (except the leading one).

I didn`t start watching it with very high expectations, despite the high level of praise I heard on the film lately. Basically it`s about a drug dealer (quite a major one) that finds out that money can`t buy love and happiness and discovers that despite his money he has become a worse father than his own dad. What did I like about the film? When Jung and Martha are having their personals problems in the front of their daughter just the way it was beween Jung`s parents, it was good. But on the negative side - I don`t get why should anyone say "oh that poor, poor guy" after watching the movie. Just because Johnny Depp is so sweet and innocent and that it is highly unlikely that one can reach that much in the drug business with hands as clean as his? Or is the film good because of the hair styles and a whole lot of non-aging people?

At last I have seen my first Tarkovsky movie. I liked the ideas about the true goal in a man`s life, how nobody cares about the meaning of life when he`s happy, etc, etc. Visually the film also was strong, much more than you could expect from a Soviet film. What was not so good was the length - it was even more of a problem than in the case of Space Odyssey. What else? The dialogue was pretty crazy, most of the time it seemed that nobody spoke in full sentences, as if something was cut out. I also liked the scene with the rain both inside and outside the house. I should watch the Soderberg version to be able to compare which one I like most. And there`s also the book by Stanislav Lem. Therefore it`s not the final word you hear from `Solyaris` on this page.

After having read `The Collector` I expected this one not to be much worse. The first and the longest of the stories entitled just like the book was a major disapointment - I don`t really like books about the life of visual artists, and this one is no exception. Some sort of a senseless love story and a few naked girls is all this book can offer. "Elinduk" is even worse - some romantic medieval nonsense. The last two stories managed to improve the impression on the whole book - "Poor Coco" is a story about a writer that doesn`t stand for himself and suffers because of that. "The Riddle" tells us a story about a man that disapears - but it is not a true detective, it`s too postmodern for that.

A island somewhere in the ocean gets partly destroyed and some of the celebrities of the music world participate in a benefit concert for the already mentioned island. Featuring are Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Mark Knopfler, Phil Collins, Elton John and Carl Perkins. What is my impression of that? First, the concert is a bit boring - not that it is such a surprise that a benefit concert lacks real energy. About the participators: Clapton is technically advanced as usually but the way he treats `Layla` can not be approved by me. Macca has never been a good live musician and he hasn`t become better while getting old. Mr. Knopfler is just not my kinda of musician, which can be also said about Phil Collins. Elton John does his usual piano stuff and is not too bad with it. Last but not least - Carl Perkins performs - guess what! - `Blue Suede Shoes` and is surely better that I expected him to be.