I just came back from the cinema from watching Zootropolis, (as Zootopia is called in the UK). I am impressed. Zootropolis presents us with a world in which animals forget their old enmities and live together in peace. Yet prejudice is still rife: it is tough for a bunny to do anything other than carrot farming, and it is unthinkable to trust a fox. The … Continue reading Zootropolis
Hail, Caesar! is a flippant, tongue-in-cheek comedy about Hollywood in the 1950s. Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) tries to do his best to keep the actors and directors of Capitol Studios in check. But when the main star of the studio, Baird Whitlock (George Clooney), is kidnapped, everything begins to fall into pieces and the gossip columnists begin to circle threateningly… It’s up to Eddie and … Continue reading Hail, Caesar!
I had a plan of reviewing The Iron Man films as a trilogy. The only problem with such an approach is that, after seeing them, I started doubting if they really were a trilogy. The stitching was a bit too loose, the trilogy was coming apart at the seams. The first Iron Man film definitely works well as a stand-alone, and I think it was … Continue reading Iron Man, or why you need to be a vulnerable millionaire.
‘You say emotions are overrated. Emotions are all we’ve got.’ Mick Boyle. I visited the hotel Schatzalp in Davos yesterday. It is a truly magical place. It was built in the 1890s as a sanatorium for TB sufferers, and now, as a hotel, it has an aura of both nostalgia and luxury. It is said to be extremely similar to the hotel that inspired Thomas … Continue reading Youth
Today’s Golden Globe for best animated picture went to Inside Out. I am going to take this opportunity to talk about a film which truly deserves it. I didn’t rush to see it. I thought that Inside Out was a bit too overthought a concept. There are so many places in which a film about personified emotions could go wrong. I liked the trailer, but … Continue reading Inside Out Excitement
Before we start, I have not seen the previous Steve Jobs film with Ashton Kutcher. I have seen only this latest one with Danny Boyle directing, and Aaron Sorkin screenwriting. And this Steve Jobs is not a simple biopic. It is a polished work of art. Let me try to describe the difference. A typical biopic starts with the beginning of our hero’s genius; it … Continue reading Steve Jobs: A biography as a work of art.
As a teenager, I was enchanted by both the ambition and the sexual decadence the songs written for James Bond expressed. A beautiful woman sang of her unrequited love for Goldfinger. Nobody could do it better (than Bond, I assumed). Ingrained in the singers’ desire for powerful men was the desire not only to be in a man’s power, but also to be part of … Continue reading Why Lana Del Rey should write the next Bond song.
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