The Margin

La Marge; erotic romance, France, 1976; D: Walerian Borowczyk, S: Joe Dallesandro, Sylvia Kristel, André Falcon, Mireille Audibert

The couple Sigismond and Sergine are wildly passionate about each other and live in a rural area with their little son. Sigismond takes a business car trip to Paris, and meets and is fascinated by prostitute Diana. Sigismond has sex with Diana. He gets a letter from the maid, and reads only the ending, namely that Sergine committed suicide. Sigismond stays in Paris and has more sex with Diana in her apartment. He later reads the first part of the letter: his son drowned in an accident in the pool, and that is why Sergine took her life. Sigismond takes a car drive, stops in the middle of nowhere and shoots himself.

Following the huge success of her "Emmanuelle" movie, actress Sylvia Kristel became an erotic icon and made several films. She considered "The Margin" one of her favorite own movies, but looking at it today, one wonders why. "The Margin" has disappointingly thin and underdeveloped characters, to such an extent that we don't find out almost anything about Kristel's character, prostitute Diana, except that she gets in trouble when her pimp forbids her to fall in love with her customer. One wishes that Diana and Sigismond were given more time to develop, to talk, to interact, but sadly, except for their two tame sex sequences, there is too little between them for the viewers to buy into their infatuation. Polish director Walerian Borowczyk has some sense for good build up in the opening act, where Sigismond throws dozens of little yellow mimosa flowers on the face of a lying Sergine, almost simulating "facial" ejacualtion. Later, the little son enters the bathroom while Sergine is standing there naked, but none of them mind, as if it's all natural to them. Once Sigismond enters Paris, the movie slowly starts to dissolve. There are some neat ideas (a naked woman on stage, while her body is illuminated by light waves), but the main center, the relationship between Sigismond and Diana, and why he would cheat on his wife for her, remains sadly undeveloped, and thus unsatisfaying. The story meanders and is deliberately vague and unfocused, but it simply lacks that "chemistry" and charm when two people are attracted to each other. We get some (timid) sex sequences, yet even they cannot conjure up enough passion between Sigismond and Diana.

Grade:+

The Expanse (Season 2)

The Expanse; science-fiction series, USA, 2017; D: Breck Eisner, Jeff Woolnough, David Grossman, Ken Fink, S: Frankie Adams, Steven Strait, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Cas Anvar, Thomas Jane, Shawn Doyle

After the news that the entire population of Eros was eradicated by the mysterious protomolecule, Joe Miller and the Rocinante crew led by Jim Holden team up and decide to find out where it came from. They track it down to a space station and infiltrate it, finding scientists led by Dresden, who tells them that protomolecule is of alien origin, and that they infected Eros hoping it will combine with humans and help them evolve to a higher species. Miller, disgusted by such mass murder, kills Dresden. Miller and the others decide to blow up Eros, to eradicate the protomolecule on it, but it evolves into a spaceship with a collision course with Earth. On Eros, Miller finds Julie Mao alive, combined with the protomolecule, and persuades her to crash Eros to Venus. On Ganymede, Bobbie, a human Martian, is the only survivor when her military unit and Earth's unit get killed by a mysterious humanoid being without a spacesuit. On Earth, Bobbie is advised to cover up the incident, but she teams up with Avasarala, the UN Secretary-General. Prax is searching for his daughter, fearing she will be used in an experiment of hybrid humans-protomulecule.

The second season of "The Expanse" is a bit better than the 1st one, yet still not enough to sway the viewers into accepting such a long stalling and endless exposition with only minimal pay-off. In the post-"Game of Thrones" era, numerous TV shows adopted its formula: cram in a dozen subplots, with fifty characters, aim for hypernarration to make the story seem more ambitious, yet many of these shows just left the viewers with the same sense of frustration that it takes 20 hours of set-up until the story becomes really good. Unfortunately, there is again too much set-up and exposition in this season. If you need so much explanations and annotations, at least make them fun or interesting, instead of dry, like here. The only truly excellent episodes are no. 2.4 and 2.5, when the story enters a truly fascinating subplot that intrigues on a higher level: the alien protomolecule evolves asteroid Eros into a spaceship, and moves it to avoid being destroyed, setting its course to Earth. Moeover, Miller finds Julie Mao has merged with the protomolecule, receiving a fluorsescent blue body. Other episodes fare less. There is an interesting detail in episode 2.9, where humans who have been living on Mars travel to Earth for the first time for a hearing, and thus they have to adapt by taking pills for bone density (since Mars has only 38% of Earth's gravity), one man gets sick from too bright Sun, whereas Bobbie (great Frankie Adams) walks awkwardly due to Earth's gravity, and wants to see the ocean; and one example of a visual style stands out: the one where the camera zooms in onto a star, all until it turns out to be a spaceship fyling in space. Some dialogue is interesting ("Bad men do things believing it's for the good of all mankind."; "All the old farts like me will be telling you this is how you do it, and this is the path you take, we're all going to be experts on how you should grow up..."), yet, conversely, many more are just too schematic and plain, and one has pitty for the actors having to recite such exhaustingly monotone lines. This 2nd season shows signs of improvement, yet only Bobbie stands out as a truly memorable character.

Grade:++

The Fabelmans

The Fabelmans; drama, USA, 2022; D: Steven Spielberg, S: Gabriel LaBelle, Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Julia Butters, Keeley Karsten, Seth Rogen, Sam Rechner, Chloe East, Judd Hirsch, Jeannie Berlin, David Lynch

New Jersey, 1 9 5 2. Parents Mitzi and Burt Fabelman take their 6-year old son Sam to watch "The Greatest Show on Earth" at the cinemas. A scene of a train crashing with a car is engraved into Sam's mind so much that he uses a small camera to film his toy train crashing with a toy car. Burt gets a new job as a computer engineer in Phoenix, so the Fabelmans move there, including Burt's friend Bennie. Sam uses his three sisters as actors for his short films. As a teenager, the Fabelmans move to Los Angeles, but it is revealed that Mitzi is in love with Bennie, so she divorces Burt. Sam is terrorized by bullies Logan and Chad, who mock him for being a Jew. Sam makes a movie about the high school "ditch day" on the beach, gaining fame and respect from Logan at prom night. However, Sam's crush Monica dumps him. Sam applies and is accepted for a job at CBS, and he talks with director John Ford in his office, who gives him tips about filmmaking. 

While many were sceptical when Steven Spielberg announced making a semi-autobiography about himself, "The Fabelmans" are a loving, gentle and honest little 'slice-of-life' movie that works almost as sort of a extended family home video of Spielberg's parents and sisters. The characters all ring true, while the story mixes nostalgia with bitter scars from youth, and it is surprising how balanced Spielberg is by presenting both his parents, Mitzi and Burt, as flawed, troubled, but kind human beings who all had their own dreams, disappointments and trials, so that the viewers can understand them. However, Spielberg isn't that inspired anymore as he once was, and thus only one image can truly be considered distinctively Spielbergesque, the iconic scene where the little Sam runs the screening of his film, and let's it play on the palms of his hands, symbolically showing how he "captured" the cinema and holds it in control. "The Fabelmans" remind of "Cinema Paradiso", also a movie about a kid who grew up to be a director, though it has less memorable moments. At a running time of 2.5 hours, it is definitely overlong and overstretched, since not every episode is equally as engaging, whereas one sequence near the end is a little bit too self-congratulatory, but it seems this time Spielberg allowed himself a personal movie that means more to him than to the viewers. Still, some episodes are excellent (Mitzi playing a piano with her long fingernails, so one of the family comments it's like she is "playing a typewriter"; the "fanatic" girl Monica who is only into the Jewish Sam because she wants to convert him to Christianity), whereas all the actors are great, especially the oustanding Michelle Williams as the tormented Mitzi. 

Grade:++

Asterix and the Vikings

Asterix og Vikingerne; animated comedy, Denmark, 2006, D: Stefan Fjeldmark, Jesper Møller, S: Lorànt Deutsch, Roger Carel, Jacques Frantz, Sara Forestier

A small Gaul village, 50 BC. Asterix and Obelix get the assignment to train the teenager Justforkix from another village, who is the nephew of the village chief. Justforkix is spoiled and conceited, and confuses Asterix and Obelix by claiming to be a vegetarian. One day, a Viking ship kidnaps Justforkix because they think he can fly and can teach them this ability, which was misinterpretation of an advisor's words. In Scandinavia, Justforkix falls in love Abba, the teenage daughter of the Viking chief, but she is planned for a forced marriage to a warrior. Luckily, Justforkix uses Asterix' magic potion to save Abba and return back to the Gaul village, where the couple marries.

The 8th and last classically animated "Asterix" film took the longest break since the last one, "Asterix Conquers America", a full 12 years, yet this long wait wasn't worth it, since "Asterix and the Vikings" is little more than a solid film running on autopilot. Ever since other countries took over the franchize from the French, it hasn't been going that well. "Vikings" has wonderful animation and cinematography, but lacks witty dialogue and ingenious ideas from some of the best "Asterix" animated movies, like "Asterix in Britain" or "Asterix Versus Caesar". All of the jokes are just puns and references on modern names (the daughter of the Viking chief is called Abba; her mother is called Vikea; the teenage Justforkix has a pigeon that is used for SmS communication...), which can only go so far. Sadly, as it was the frequent trend in the last few films, the protagonists Asterix and Obelix are marginalized in the background, while the supporting character Justforkix practically became the lead, which leaves the title character underused. The subplot about a misunderstanding that Justforkix can fly (?) and is thus kidnapped by the Vikings feels lame, whereas the interaction between Asterix and Obelix with the Scandinavian people hasn't got some high inspiration, save for the amusing idea that they realize everyone's name ends with a suffix "af", so they introduce themselves as "Asteraf and Obelaf". One rare good joke has the Viking chief explain how here men drag women by their hair when they are about to get married, upon which his wife lovingly reminisces how she was almost "scalped". Maybe more was expected after such a long pause from the animated film series, yet the movie is overall easily watchable and dynamic enough.

Grade:+

Cold Prey

Fritt Vilt; horror-thriller, Norway, 2006; D: Roar Uthaug, S: Ingrid Bolsø, Berdal Rolf, Kristian Larsen Viktoria Winge, Endre Martin Midtstigen, Tomas Alf Larsen

Three men and two women—Jannicke, Tobias, Ingunn, Eirik and Mikal—drive with a car to a desolate Norwegian mountain for a ski trip. Tobias breaks his leg during skiing, so the others drag him to a nearby abandoned cottage. However, a serial killer is there, and he starts killing them one by one with a pickaxe. At the end, the killer drags them all to a cliff and throws them down, but Jannicke survived and pushed the killer down, who remembers how his parents burried him in snow when he was a kid. 

"Halloween" in Norway—Roar Uthaug's film is an attempt to translate the American slasher-horror thriller into Norwegian cinema, and while everything here is conventional, it is still a well made amalgamation of it thanks to a modern style and fast editing. All the characters are one-dimensional, the dialogue is almost always banal, the storyline seems as if it is on autopilot, the clichees are all there (no signal on mobile phones; a character is attacked, but nobody hears her screams because they are playing too loud music in the other room; false alarms), yet by setting it all in an isolated location of a cottage surrounded by snow, everything is somehow effective and fluently directed. Aesthetic images and camera angles enhance the experience and minimize the flaws, slowly creating suspense, and yet, one somehow feels that more could have been made than this outcome which looks like dictated by committee. 

Grade:++

Rambo: Last Blood

Rambo: Last Blood; action, USA, 2019; D: Adrian Grünberg, S: Sylvester Stallone, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Adriana Barraza, Yvette Monreal, Paz Vega

Rambo lives on a ranch in Arizona. One day, Gabriele, the daughter of Rambo's maid, travels to a Mexican town to meet her absent father, but he rejects her. Gabriele is kidnapped by a prostitution cartel. Rambo goes to that town, rescues Gabriele, but she dies from a drug overdose by the cartel criminals. Rambo kills a few of the cartel members, and then flees back to his ranch in Arizona. Rambo sets up several traps in his underground tunnel and ambushes and kills dozens of cartel criminals who places his home under siege. Rambo kills Hugo, the criminal boss, by carving out his heart. A wounded Rambo sits on a bench.

The grand finish to the "Rambo" film series ended with a far from grand, unimpressive "Rambo V", a cheap and exploitative action revenge flick that was not worth the long wait. While Sylvester Stallone is still in a surprisingly fit and agile shape as the title hero, one wonders at what the point was to drag out the film series for 37 years. Even though it was only a solid film, "Rambo III" was still the last true Rambo film that ended the series nicely, and Stallone should have stopped at that. "Rambo V" is a banal film, to such an extent that everything in it is one-dimensional: the dialogue, the villains, even the lame plot points that lead to the obligatory finale. The cliches are too much, especially the old one "make the viewers hate the bad guys no matter how cheap", which includes the Mexican cartel kidnapping and torturing girls for their forced prostitution ring. There are some traces of Rambo-style in the finale where the hero sets up several traps for the villains in his underground tunnel, almost like "Home Alone" for grown ups, yet the movie ends up almost in a glorification of violence, losing any measure in bloody murders and mutilations of the criminals there. In the first three movies, murders had weight to them. In this movie, murders are a dime a dozen, and feel like a gore fest.

Grade:+

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues; comedy, USA, 2013, D: Adam McKay, S: Will  Ferrell, Steve Carell, Meagan Good, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Dylan Baker, Christina Applegate, James Marsden, Fred Willard, Greg Kinnear, Kristen Wiig, Harrison Ford  

1 9 8 0. TV News anchor Ron Burgundy is fired, so he leaves his wife Veronica and 6-year old son. However, Ron is offered a job at a new, 24-hour network, GNN, so he assembles his team of friends to support him: Champ, Brian and Brick. They are given the worst time slot, from 2 AM to 5 AM, yet they broadcast patriotic news promoting a biased, flattering portrayal of America, earning them huge success. Ron is initially apprehensive towards his boss, Linda Jackson, because she is black, but they eventually have an affair. During an victory ice skating parade, Ron falls on his head and is left blind. Victoria returns to nurture him, and Ron becomes humble. After a surgery gives Ron his eyesight back, he is offered his news anchor job back, but he refuses to be with his family.  

This sequel to “Anchorman”, filmed 9 years after the original, is a peculiar experience: equally as funny as the 1st film, less quotable, less coherent, yet more attentive. The dumb hero Ron Burgundy actually grows as a character in the last 30 minutes, obtaining almost a sort of new dimension of humbleness, compassion and wisdom, whereas the director Adam McKay for the first time showed a more ambitious approach in the satirical subplot of journalism showing only what the viewers want to hear for the sake of ratings, reminiscent of “patriotic news” of Fox News and RT, which already hinted at his socially critical greater later films “The Big Short” and “Vice”. The disparate jokes are scattered throughout the film, with hundreds of puns and wacky dialogues tickling the viewers until they will burst out laughing at a certain point. Everything is improvised and episodic, and some of these concoctions are so ridiculously over-the-top or stupid that even the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker trio would tell McKay to tone it down a notch. Some of the most hilarious jokes "out-of-nowhere" include Brick's funeral until Brick shows up, so everyone tries to persuade him he is not dead ("Brick is dead!" - "He's not dead. You're Brick!" - "Brick, it's you!"); TV commercial where Brick leans forward to a table to actually bite as much butter as he can; Ron's comical singng the sweet, innocent song "Dobbie" while the titular shark emerges its head from the sea; Sacha Baron Cohen giving a stand-out theatrical line as a BBC News reporter ("In the name of Margaret Thatcher, I sentence you to death!"). Not all gags work (the final bizarre fight involving cameos from Jim Carrey to Will Smith just doesn't ignite), since some are just too stupid or poorly thought out, yet even some of the weakest jokes still sound better than some other comedies. 

Grade:++