Methanol - 2018 - Czech Republic

Methanol - 2018 - 7/10 
AKA - Metanol

 
Did you know, if you mix methanol with alcohol, the latter cancels out the former?
Creating a cheap, bootleg vodka or rum.  Which you can sell all over the region.
Well, Ruda read this on the internet, so it had to be true!
Leaving those who drink blind, dead, or brain damaged.
Based on actual events where 42 died in Poland and Czech Republic, more permanently damaged.
First part is the con men and hustlers, concocting and peddling, even after knowing the harm.
Second half, the police and prosecutors, following leads as far up and as far out, even to tiny stands.

Alien vs. Predator - 2004 - Czech Republic

Alien vs. Predator - 2004 - 6/10

 
Coulda, shoulda, or maybe shouldn’t have.
Viewed outside the chronological canon, this remains a spotty actioner.
Weyland Corp. heads to the frozen wastes, then deep into a hitherto unknown underground environment.
Why?  OK, forget that it’s a little vague here
With the party are armed mercenary types … whom Mick Taylor could snuff with a chuckle.
Once the two main characters get going (A & P), then this is solid hunt or kill mayhem.
The human representative is OK, and having Lance Henriksen is a shrewd nod.
Enjoyable, for me, although I realize none of the installments after Aliens has ever measured up.

Vodník - 2019 - Czech Republic

Vodník - 2019 - 7/10

 
The infant cries, and cries, and cries.  Morning, afternoon, night.  It will not shut up.
Family, relatives, neighbors, workmen, everyone has simply endured enough.
After the baby is murdered, grandma keels over with a heart attack, the accused baby’s mother is arrested and she hangs herself in jail that night.  Case closed.
Until, 30 years later, an inspector reopens the case, saying,  “A mother, any woman, would never kill an infant by cutting its head off with a circular saw.  Only a man would do this.”
Three part Czech series delves into petty village squabbles, resentments, adulteries, lies, cover-ups.
Much is shot in a washed out, sultry summer haze.  Handheld camera work adds to disorientation.
Horrid story, not for all tastes, though it will sink its hooks into you.

The Sleepers - 2019 - Czech Republic

The Sleepers - 2019 - 8/10
AKA - Bez Vědomí

 
Top notch espionage thriller set in Prague, 1989, as the revolution is imminent.
Maria wants to visit her sister in Czechoslovakia, husband Victor is less keen.
After all, they fled as dissidents years ago.  What could happen?  asks Maria.
A traffic accident could happen, with Maria waking up with no husband.
From there, she contacts the British embassy, Czech security, none with answers.
Clouding her search further are agents of the KGB and StB (Secret Police).
Narrative twists and turns, most characters are determinedly miserable.
Realpolitik predominates.

Lidice - 2011 - Czech Republic

Lidice - 2011 - 7/10

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Suitable companion film to 2016‘s Anthropoid shows the Czech village of Lidice before - and after - the assassination of SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich.
There is a mirror narrative of one of the villagers, in prison for murder.
Two murders, different punishments:  incarceration versus liquidation.
The massacre of Lidice became infamous.
Staging and cinematography is excellent, and enough time is allotted to many characters so one gets a feel for them as individuals.

Anthropoid - 2016 - Czech Republic

Anthropoid - 2016 - 7/10

 
Overlooked World War II thriller about Operation Anthropoid.
The plot to assassinate SS Obergruppenführer of Czechoslovakia, Reinhard Heydrich.
Told entirely from the Czech resistance point of view.
The “based on” elements are easy to identify and ignore (such as any love interests).
Measured pace spotlights planning, internal arguing, and constant fear of betrayal.
Unlike other films, this offers the buildup, the event, the aftermath.
Breathtaking cinematography, by the way.

Faust - 1994 - Czech-Republic

Faust - 1994 - 7/10
AKA - Lesson Faust

 
Paper flyers are pushed onto pedestrians, including our unnamed gentleman.
He sees a crude map, which he discards.  Once home, a copy of the map lies on his desk.
Curiosity wins out.
Following directions on the map, he finds a locked door, then a key, and he enters the rabbit hole.
Soon enough, he changes from ordinary soul to lead actor to Doktor Faustus.
Almost surreal interpretation of the Faust legend involves actors, marionettes, claymotion, cutouts.
This is a collision of theatre boards, pageant play, modern banalities.
Mephistopheles, and the “deal,” do not appear until a third of the way in.
Often confusing, never dull, multiple layers unroll simultaneously at times.