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It's been a long, long wait. Back in the summer 2017 we were delighted by Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman. It had thrills, laughs, emotions and most of all - so much heart. Now Jenkins returns with a highly ambitious sequel, which is very, very different from the original film. The saddening and dark setting of the World War I has been replaced with vibrant colors of the 80's, the serious background is now a fantastical tale and Williams' gentle, lovely score made way for Zimmer's music which sounds as if he did few lines of coke on a rolllercoaster. But it still feels like a familiar Wonder Woman story because Gal Gadot's Diana is back. And she is the same as we remember her - both an inspiring goddess and a highly relatable person with hopes, fears and desires. We know her, we like her, we admire her. We want to follow her on her journey. And the heroes we see ourselves in are those who end up inspiring us the most.
The Handmaiden is based on the novel "Fingersmith" by Sarah Waters The novel is set in London during the 19th century, but
the film is set in Korea in the 1930s, under Japanese colonial rule. The pickpocket Sook-Hee (Tae-ri Kim) is hired by the Japanese heiress Lady
Hideko to be her personal servant. Hideko is supported by her Uncle
Kouzuki and the gold-digger "Count Fujiwara", who is indeed son of
peasants, wants to marry her to steal her inheritance. Sook-Hee is a
small-time thief of the ring of the conman "Count Fujiwara" and is sent
to help him in the confidence game. But soon Hideko and Sook-Hee get
close to each other and become lovers.
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Meet Dan (Mark Ruffalo). Dan's life is not going well at the moment - his marriage collapsed, he can't connect with his teenage daughter, he drinks way too much and he hadn't had a professional success - in his job as a music producer - in 5 years. One evening, after a particularly shitty day, Dan goes to a bar to get drunk. As he is drinking he hears a song. A song sang by a girl named Gretta (Keira Knightley) on the stage. Immediately Dan wants to sing Gretta up. But as things don't go as they planned, the two decide to record a live album in different locations in NYC. As they do that, they start getting closer to each other and finding something that they didn't have in their lives in a long time - joy.
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I rarely review older movies here on the site. When I make an exception and do so, it's either because I really like the movie or because it's very underseen and I want to spread the word about it. Fugitive Pieces is a wonderful example of both of these reasons. 
There seems to be at last few additions to Vampire movies subgenre every year nowadays. There are big, loud, obnoxious blockbusters with vampire mythos thrown in there just to attract more audiences and there are small, contemplative movies that won't make big money and won't win any awards (horror genre and everything connected to it is notoriously overlooked when awards are handed out) but they have a chance of becoming cult classic in the future.
There is a fairly new pattern in the world. Every two years Woody Allen makes a good movie. Between that his movies are either really, really bad or truly acquired taste. After an unholy abomination that was From Rome with Love, truly one of Allen's worst, comes delightful, mature, insightful and surprisingly dark Blue Jasmine.
American Hustle, David O. Russell's follow up to hugely successful Silver Linings Playbook is an entertaining mess. It has moments of brilliance, moments of artistic confusion, scenes that are lovely and scenes that are completely misguided. While the cast is excellent, I'm only convinced of the greatness of one performance. Fortunately for the film, this ensemble's efforts are enough to entertain.
I like Joseph Godon-Levitt. I wouldn't go as far as to call myself a fan of his, but he is a talented guy and he seems to be a likable, cool person. He has given us a lot of good performances in many great films - just recently in Looper, The Dark Knight Rises and 50/50. And now he is trying his efforts in a new endeavor - writing and directing.
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Let me just begin by saying Mud has the most heart I've seen in any movie this year. It's incredible that a story that is mostly based on characters talking and interacting, a story that unfolds so slowly and patiently on the screen, can be so gripping and affecting. But this is what Jeff Nichols does. His last film, Take Shelter, was also a slow-paced, very character driven tale. And while both films have many elements in common and I give a slight edge to Take Shelter, Mud is still among the best movies I've seen this year.
We are in the middle of vampire craze in cinema. Ever since Twilight, there was a bit of a renaissance when it comes to vampire films - there seem to be at least three new big productions every year. From television shows like True Blood and The Vampire Diaries through European flicks like Livide and Let the Right One in to the big productions like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Underworld series, vampires are everywhere these days.
And when you are one of the characters in Joe Wright's Anna Karenina - you probably should. But apart from ridiculous tagline "You cannot ask 'why' about love" the actual movie has many more - and much more serious - problems. I generally like Joe Wright's films - in fact he made only one movie I despise - The Soloist. His Atonement and Hanna were in my top 15 of the respective years they were released in and I thought his Pride and Prejudice was very skillful and heartfelt adaptation of the famous novel. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about his Anna Karenina.
I remember the day my beloved hamster died. It was terrible - he was my first pet, well, excluding the fishes in aquarium, and though I couldn't walk him and I almost never let him out of his cage, I really loved him. I cried for days. Now I have a beautiful Yorkie, my first dog ever. He is one year old, I've known him for 10 months and I love him so much - he wiggles his tail and jumps whenever I get back home, he wakes me up in the morning and he brings toys and drops them next to me when he wants to play. He is my friend.