grin Reviews

The Witcher: Blood Origin (2022)

It is not the Witcher, it's a budget prequel between seasons

[8/10 · 25 December 2022]

Maybe people had too high expectations, maybe you all waited for the next Witcher... well, this isn't one.

This is a completely different world, different situations and very different goal: it tells the story of how the Witcher Universe have started.

I think it is a fair intermezzo between two Witcher seasons, if I take it as that: we have a story (actually I think based on the original concepts), we have various heroes and a lot of fights in various styles. And plenty of background of the mysteriously repeatedly mentioned historical events from the Witcher.

I had no problem following the story, I had no problem seeing where it have laid down the base of the Witcher present, and had a bit of fun trying to guess who'll turn into what. The story is not that simple to make guessing boring.

Both acting and the camera handling was imperfect, and the actors weren't always good, but since I have seen bad reviews I have expected much, much worse than it was. I actually enjoyed multiple characters doing their (sometimes awkward) lines and moves, I don't think actors were that bad at all, and I do not have the aftertaste of "bad series". Sorry.

Maybe if you don't expect another Lord of the Rings but some stories from the Silmarils it'd be less stressful to watch this. :-) These stories are slower, longer, and possibly way less adventurous, but they are the reason why the Witcher and his company does what they are.

(Oh, and I'd probably stop watching the series without Cavill. That's an unfortunate move, slightly unrelated to BO.)

Equilibrium (2002)

Action fans' dream?

[4/10 · 26 November 2012]

I was very disappointed watching the movie and this is one of my lowest rated ever, and it's pretty rare that I feel it was a complete waste of time.

Many people mentioned elsewhere all the factual problems, the inconsistencies, the unexplainable actions and generally all the errors in the story and they highlighted the quality of action scenes. I cannot really say anything else, the problem is that I do not need movies with 100% action and 0% storyline, and this storyline has so few originality, and all of these originality is so illogical that it is completely worthless. Watching the film I kept asking myself "why this" and "why that", and kept thinking "they must be kidding". If this is a parody then I missed the laughs. Maybe it's me: I need some minimal consistency, some base to be believable which supports all the fiction built on it, but there's more in Cinderella than here.

The actors (and the post production) did a fair job to make it possible to watch the movie at all.

Lora (2007)

Much better than its trailer

[7/10 · 25 February 2007]

We've seen the trailer of this movie and said "no way". A friend told us to watch it anyway, so we tried.

It is completely unlike its trailer. It's good. What I expect from a drama: contains sad moments, happy moments, jokes and deep thoughts; it was not a completely dark, depressing movie at all. It is understandable why they didn't force the fact that this movie "is about the love life a blind person", because in reality it was not really, and I acknowledge that it would be very hard to make a trailer which could suggest the overall feeling of the movie.

The chronology is interesting, as we gradually get to know what already have happened, and it is rarely distracting. The acting is good (with lots of good supporting characters), the characters all felt real, but not overacted and exaggerated, as most of todays Hungarian movies do.

This one was well above the other Hungarian releases of nowadays, free of mindless jokes and funny acting but still not being overly heavy and depressing. (And maybe the best thing was about it the lack of the popcorn-munching people, so I suppose the movie is not for those people expecting an average Saturday evening light waste of time.)

Serenity (2005)

Unfortunately different from the series

[7/10 · 24 December 2005]

I accept that it is hard to make a movie, and I can guess a studio may press something the creator/writer does not like, but still, this move performed well below my expectations. I do not know whose fault it is, nor do I really care.

To be honest: I have never heard about Firefly or Serenity, it was mentioned somewhere, so I borrowed the series from a friend and watched it, thinking I better know the story in the movie. I liked it (Firefly, the series, and especially since it was the DVD which contained all the episodes) very much, but it is not our topic here; so after watching the abruptly canceled series I guessed that the people behind it knew it was over, and they would have created a mighty, finishing final episode for the movie, with full of everything they would have liked to tell but cannot. I expected a good story, good acting and creative looks.

Now, let's talk about this movie. It is full of actions, full of mighty scenes, fights, lots of beautifully animated flying whatevers. The fighting is remarkable, especially the martial arts parts. But the story is weak, and short, and mostly consists filling dialogs between the fights. I missed the story most, and felt that fighting have stolen the time from it. (Granted, they shared _some_ of the secrets people were waiting for, but even that felt a bit weak to me.) I know that the actors can act, since they did in the series, so I guess they were asked not to. I have missed the personalities: the members communicate almost none, nothing personal, they have no emotional relations, bonds, nothing; they just seem to do their task. To be fair they had no time to show emotions since most of the time someone was fighting with someone else. The beauty of the personalities, and their personal problems and emotional fights in the series were missing in the movie.

The visuals were good. I like good CGI, but I like it best when it does not show, or when it is creatively done to _look_ like it was not CGI. I felt most (space) scenes were packed with "objects", everything's moving, shooting, making lights or fire, but I was missing the feeling that it is "real". Again, if you've seen the series it was evident that most of its scenes were not in space, were not in very high-tech environment either, which made it look more natural, more believable. Serenity is much more like that everyday sci-fi movie: lots of high-tech environments, lots of space scenes... but then again I have seen lots of everyday sci-fi movies and I was expecting not to see another one, but something more special, something more...personal, more believable, more human.

Yeah, granted, I prefer story to fighting and visuals (while I'd choose to have all of them if possible), don't need to tell me. If you liked the Firefly series because it was different then you may not like this movie so much. Don't misunderstood: the movie is an above average sci-fi action movie. It is good, but it is not THAT good. Worths a look, but I believe one is enough.

The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

Could have been worse, but not easily.

[7/10 · 31 December 2003]

People told me that the (hopefully!) last episode of the Matrix series is the worst thing since atomic bomb. With that advice beforehand I found the movie not bad at all. Just an average, almost senseless, inconsistent, illogical and good looking high-action movie. Worth one look. I've seen worse movies. Some. (Too bad that Gloria Foster died, her replacement doesn't work.)

Üvegtigris (2001)

Refreshing humour

[9/10 · 27 October 2003]

I don't know whether this movie runs in non-Hungarian countries, but it's probably the kind of movie which is best when you know the country, or at least the "eastern-european life". The center of the movie is a food shop in a caravan in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in Hungary, and the locals who live their life, do their business there or just hang around to spend the days, and where every day is just the same... but different. Everybody is real and fighting for survival... and they're unreal as much as the world is. (I've just seen "Clerks" and the movie reminded me of "that day" there, when "everything just happens".) This is one of the best Hungarian movies nowadays (doesn't contain politics and doesn't revolve around sex, truly an exception). Watch it.

Mattie the Goose-Boy (1977)

Old tale about the poor boy and the rich lord

[10/10 · 1 July 2003]

This is one of the most well-known children's story in the Hungarian literature, the original goes back to 1816 by Mihály Fazekas. It's not just a well drawn, cute story of the poor boy who suffers great unjust from the rich lord, and gets big (and funny) revenge, but the whole movie flows on beautifully selected music which really gives a special feel to it. Unfortunately, as almost always happens with animated movies, it's only best when listening to the original voices, so non-Hungarians lose here some of the beauty. (DVD release did a fair job on translating the voices to English.) If you want to break free from the Hollywood-style "flashy tricks, simple story, pop music" animations then check this by all means. Recommended.

Egészséges erotika (1986)

very different looking

[1 July 2003]

This movie not just different because of its story, which tells us about a wooden box factory in the 50s of Hungary and the little tricks the leaders do with their power. This movie is different because it is filmed in a very special way (the speed of the movie is varying) and the actors talk in a very surrealistic way, using non-existent, twisted words very similar to real ones, like using an extreme accent. The movie is funny, sometimes a little too much of it, which made me feel that it's overplayed and the situations are exaggerated to infinity. Still, it gives a good touch of the "communist" era of eastern europe. Oh, and don't expect erotic shots. There are almost no naked bodies in the movie. But we all _know_ they are there!

Jet Lag (2002)

Not another lousy "airport-love" movie

[8/10 · 22 May 2003]

I was a little bit afraid, I can't really take yet another sugar-filled love story on the airplane, but this movie was really different. What I liked best was that unhollywoodish feeling when the movie don't try to tell me "they love one another very much" for 10 heavy minutes, or "it's really sweet that they meet again" for another 10 minutes, they just flash 10-20 seconds of nicely shot moments which is just enough for a moviegoer with above minimal intelligence to get the point. I don't like things over-explained.

I liked the acting as well, I almost smell the lack of comfort when Felix meet the girl from time to time, and lots of closeups made me always feel that these persons are in fact real, and not acting on an average story thread. There were funny moments (flushing the phone made everyone 'AWWW!') but overall the film was rather serious.

It was very interesting to see the "low-budgetness" of the movie: there wasn't really anything more than acting, dialogs; if that's good, it makes a really good movie. And the acting is good.

After the last horrible piece of this genre I've seen - Bounce(2000) - this was a relieving experience.

Little Buddha (1993)

Dive deep into the Tibetian Buddhist culture

[8/10 · 17 November 2002]

This is definitely not an action movie, and nothing adventurous or romantic. I'd say people with distaste for movies requiring emotions and thinking should avoid that.

The movie is a rich introduction to Buddhism, the life of Buddha and the Tibetian culture, with very realistic scenes about the historical events. We meet the way they choose their next 'lama', or religious/cultural leader by following reincarnated souls. (The movie actually made me look for info about Tibet and the lamas, and I had to realise how dark their fate became, having the actual lama-child kidnapped from Tibet.)

We see this culture challenging an average western family, which gives another great perspective to explain Tibetian culture to us, and how important for these people their beliefs is.

I think the cast was excellent, I liked the Tibetians communicate with the unbeliever western people, their infinite calm and understanding; and the children are good (and pretty annoying where they have to be).

The end was a bit hollywoodish but it didn't wreck the movie since the "story" it tells have no end at all, and without getting into politics probably this was the best the screenplay could have done.

Some people may go and watch the film seeing star Keanu Reeves and end up being disappointed by not seeing a usual carcrash-shoot-run-kill-love movie. If you see movies for the stars, forget this one (except if you're a teenage girl obsessed with the male star - he's extremely perfect looking Siddhartha :-) ); if you like to see a movie to meet interesting cultures, seek out the alternate meanings of life, don't miss this one.

Ice Age (2002)

Fun for the children

[7/10 · 21 October 2002]

No day passes without a new released computer animated movie, so we now really have chances to see more than some nice effects. After watching Ice Age I felt that's it was not that big impact on me than some other films of this genre.

But it's because I am a Big Guy now, and I am pretty sure that this is a very enjoyable movie for children (maybe up to 14). The story is quite simple, and the "actors" are funny in a cute way, without any crude or complex humour. Even the "evil" is lovely, fluffy big cat with those funny teeth. And the story has a happy end, which was a small disappointment for me (knowing that most of the main characters are doomed to extinction in a sad way) but a great thing for children. And apart from some fights nobody dies (not even when he gets stomped on by a mammoth, several times), which made a cartoony feeling.

The computer animation part is nice but nothing special, apart from some really nice cartoony feeling scenes, when you feel like walking in a nice painting or pages of a comics. [Which means lots of work nevertheless!]

There were some gags which made me smile - I accept, the creators tried to satisfy those grownups - but they are hard to spot and (in my opinion) better left unnoticed, since it does not feel to fit into the story.

Overall it's a nice movie, but it's rather in the ideal-world-and-fluffy-animals-for-children disney cliche. If you don't hate cute animals making funny things, watch it at least once.

Savage (1996)

Gods are famous of senseless actions, but this one went too far

[1/10 · 18 July 1999]

When I watched the film I wondered, how the plot could reveal the reason behind the first massacre, since all the events were based on that. I wondered till the end. And beyond. I still wonder. Maybe part II contains something which could give this plot some sense... I hardly can imagine, but who knows... If you look for visuality without any logic or reason, don't miss this film. Your brains won't overheat of thinking. If you need a plot, avoid like plague. It doesn't have any.