Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

"Zahrada" jeb "Dārzs" ir viena no ievērojamākajām neatkarīgās Slovākijas kino filmām. Par tās galveno plusu var nosaukt savdabīgo stāstījuma manieri un visai simbolisko sižetu, bet ir arī viens mīnuss - attēla kvalitāte, kas laikam ir saistīta ar to, ka man pieejamās filmas versijas izcelsme šķiet ar televizoru un nevis DVD saistīta. Tās galvenais varonis ir Jēkabs, kas ir sava tēva dārza sargs (vairāk vai mazāk). Tiesa, viņa tēvs principā nav vis Dievs, bet gan šuvējs. Jēkaba dzīvē ir arī divas sievietes - precētā un vecākā par viņu Terēza, kas to vien domā, kā pārgulēt ar Jēkabu, un visai jaunā un skaistā Helēna, kurai ir raksturīgas kaut kādas dīvainības. Vēl filmā parādās tādi personāži kā filosofs Žans-Žaks Ruso, kas pārliecina Jēkabu, ka dzīvē nav nozīmes materiālām lietām (un pie reizes konfiscē Jēkabam viņa mašīnu, iedodot pretī savu pusizjukušo "vaboli"), kā arī kāds aitu gans, kurš izlēmis kļūt par svēto. Filma, gluži kā tas raksturīgs grāmatām, ir sadalīta nodaļās, kuru sākumā tiek paziņots, kas šajā nodaļā notiks. Lielākoties gan paziņotais un reāli pieredzētais ievērojami atšķiras, vai - precīzāk - pieredzētais ir paziņotā mazāk prognozējamā versija. Kā lai arī nebūtu, šī filma ir kārtējais "nepieradinātā" kino paraugs un, ja vien tās ieraksta kvalitāte būtu labāka, es būtu to labprāt noskatījies vēl kādu reizi.

"Night fever - night fever!" No, it`s not the film where you could hit the dance floor like a maniac to the sound of the Bee Gees. But it`s a film where you can see a young John Travolta. He`s a sound engineer for porn movies, but his life plays out an unexpected twist when he saves the life of a girl who was trapped in a car that fell into a river where a dude going to be elected for senator died. And what`s the coolest - Jack (that`s Travolta) was recording some sounds for a film and recorded how the car fell into the river and found out that it was an assassination and not an accident. So he wants to find out from Sally (that`s the chick) what happened. She acts as if she was a hooker but she was indeed just a silly little girl working at creating pictures for blackmail. But there`s a maniac on the loose - the guy who shot the car and who starts killing young women. What I liked about the film was that he did kill Sally in the end - at least there was no happy ending, this stupid chick wasn`t a particulary lovable character anyway. Oh, I almost forgot - this film was directed by Brian da Palma. Who`s the cat? - you`ll ask. I have no idea - I`ll answer, but he seems to be a really cool director that hasn`t made any really good films.

The film "Almost Famous" is probably responsible for me ever listening to this record. Yet I don`t really get why it`s supposed to be as good as it`s supposed to be. Ok, there are some brilliant songs on the record - tracks like "America" and "Mrs Robinson" are just top level. "A hazy shade of winter" is very good as well, I also like "Fakin` It" and, maybe, "At the zoo" as well. But some of the tracks make so little sense that it`s hard to make less sense than they do. For instance who would care to listen to "Voice of old people" - a track on which you hear... voices of old people. Man is it amazing to listen to some old farts! The record may have its positive aspects but some songs on it would never allow it to be an instant classic.

"Mājas uz ezera" (nejaukt ar "Ezera sonāti) ir argentīniešu režisora Agresti pirmais mēģinājums iekarot Holivudas plašās masas. Savu mērķu sasniegšanai viņš ir pieaicinājis miljoniem meiteņu mīluli Kianu Rīvsu (galvenokārt pazīstamu kā Matriksa Neo), kam par pretspēlētāju kalpo vēl viena īsta Holivudas zvaigzne - Sandra Buloka. Šis ir stāsts par vīrieti un sievieti, kurus vieno pasta kastīte, bet kurus šķir laiks. Kianu ir nupat ievācies mājā pie ezera, kad viņš atklāj tās pastkastē vēstījumu no sievietes, kas apgalvo, ka ir tur mitinājusies pirms viņa. Taču viņam ir zināms, ka pirms viņa neviens tur nav mitinājies jau labu laiku un tikai ar laiku viņš sāk saprast, ka Sandras Bulokas personāžs šajā mājā mitināsies pēc viņa. Tā viņiem arī izveidojas laikā nobīdīta mīlestība. Grūti paskaidrot, kā tas ir iespējams, un patiesībā jau tas nemaz nav iespējams, filmas beigas ir vēl neloģiskākas (tradicionālā izpratnē), nekā viss iepriekš tajā notikušais, taču patiesībā "Lake House" ir vienkārši ļoti skaista filma un vai nav vienalga, kāpēc Kianu nenotriec autobuss, ja beigās viņam un Sandrai tāpat ir jābūt kopā. Protams, es kā nežēlīgs cilvēks būtu labāk gribējis skumjās un prognozējamās beigas, bet tā ir Holivudas un nevis Eiropas filmā, tālab gaidīt savādāku risinājumu būtu pilnīgi naivi. Līdz ar to vērtējums ir "tikai` 8 un ne vairāk, jo skaistuma ziņā filma ir nenovērtējama.

I wasn`t expecting too much of this film for usually I`m in for a different kind of films, I`m not sure what kind exactly that is but not this kind of films for sure. Anyway, "Inside Man" is a movie about a perfect bank robbery commited by Clive Owen (whom I keep mixing up with the goofball Owen Wilson) on the one side and a cop with a peculiar kind of logic by Denzel Washington on the other side. Owen and his gang rob a bank and take hostages inside the bank, but their plan isn`t getting something from the cops but having more time to do what they intend to do. And what do they intend to do? They want to be indistinguishable from the rest of their hostages when the police comes in. And so they do it. Some scenes in the film are comedic, like the one when a sikh hostage is taken by the police as an arab terrorist and his turban is taken away from him, so he can`t talk to people anymore, for he`s too ashamed. The ending has some twists, and although it doesn`t come particulary unexpected the film kept us all interested from the first minute until the very end. If entertainment is there, you can never say that a film is bad.

Back in 1963 grass was green and sex was bad (although the Searchers don`t sing about it, it`s the Kinks who do that). What the Searchers were is a bubblegum pop band. They never made a transition from teeny idols into mature musicians and aren`t particulary highly rated nowadays. That doesn`t say that this Liverpool quartet didn`t have its share of charme. Of course, they never wrote their songs because it wasn`t a typical thing to do for a bubblegum band. This record is considered a collection of songs to go with the hit single "Sugar&Spice" - a very sugary love song. Most of the songs sound as if they were the same song, but that`s certainly a thing you could expect from a band like the Searchers. There are no real flaws on this record - but it`s just not particulary good, with the songs having about zero diversity, zero surprise rating and zero resonance to me (just because its teeny bubblegum shite).

"Precošās jaunava" ir grupas "Ir skaista diena" (vispār - unikāls grupas nosaukums) otrais albūms, taču pirmā šīs grupas ieraksta manā krājumā nemaz nav. Salīdzinoši ar citām sava laikmeta psihodēliskajām grupām "Beautiful Day" ir visnotaļ pozitīvi un dzīvespriecīgi noskaņota blice, kas lielu uzsvaru līdzās "ērģeļsintezatoram" liek uz visādām vijolēm, bandžo un citiem mazāk popmūzikā notrulinātiem štrumentiem. Albūmu ievadošais "Don and Dewey", kā apgalvo G.Starostin, esot nosperta kaut kāda "Deep Purple" instrumentāla kompozīcija, tikai ar saviem instrumentiem, bet vismaz man pret šādu mūziku iebildumu nav. Arī tam sekojošās dziesmas lielākoties ir baudāmas, tādas kompozīcijas kā "Dolphins", "Hoedown", "Soapstone mountain" un "Good Lovin`" allaž var cerēt uz vietu manā disku atskaņotājā, lai gan skaņa šai grupai ir vairāk retro, nekā psihodēliska, bet tai nekādi netrūkst enerģijas un brīžiem tā spēj līdzināties Dženisas Džoplinas un viņas pavadošā ansambļa sniegumam, apvienojot vienā lielā katlā dažādus foršus mūzikas stilus.

Not so bad, actually. I wouldn`t say that I feel completely changed or anything like that, but nevertheless at some moments the impression of the read was quite strong.

Do you know why guys with puppets get chicks? Because they are totally cool. And how cool is a cartoon full of puppets? Way cooler than a cooler you would require for a 3GHz processor. So, this is brought to me by the guys who also brought "Southpark" to the bigger and smaller screens of the world. There`s Gary, this Broadway actor, who likes singing about people having AIDS, and he gets drafted by "Team America" - an organisation specialising in fighting terrorism and destroying everything in their way (Paris, for example). The North-Korean leader Kim (I have forgotten his last name) is planning a world wide terrorist attack, 9/11 times 2000 or something like that. Gary wouldn`t normally participate, for his idol Alec Baldwin is on the other side, but for his love to Lisa he does. And he saves the day. The film is a spoof, of course, and it has all the cliches you want to see in an action film. Oh, and there`s a funny sex scene in the film. Dolls having sex? You bet! The humor is quite crude, and there`s quite a lot of explicit texts in here, but there`s also a hero`s speech which I`ll give in the end as a quote. What`s my opinion? Those guys are trully daring, and their take is an interesting one, but a) I don`t like to look at dolls for this long; and b) huge parts are not funny.

The full title of this album is "Arthur or the decline and fall of the British empire" but I`m too lazy to use that as a title. In case you wonder, Arthur isn`t king Arthur of the round table but an old British man who slowly approaches the end of his life in 1960s. I really don`t get how it happened that the Kinks aren`t revered as big as some of their contemporaries - such as the Beatles, the Stones and Engelbert Humpeldink. At least this album of theirs ranks up to the best rock music ever put out. It ranges a whole bunch of genres from slow and quiet romance like "Young and Innocent days" to the fast and furious "Victoria", from rag-timey "She Bought a hat like princess Marina`s" to avantgarde of "Australia". It has a majestic war epic "Some mother`s son" which concludes "Yes Sir, No Sir" army nonsense. It has great lyrics about whatever you want, excellent singing by the Davies brothers, untrivial melodies and everything else you`ll ever want from a rock opera (in case you call this a rock opera).