Petr Vanek Movies
- 2008
A handful of young soldiers find their courage and fighting skills put to the test in this wartime drama from director Vaclav Marhoul. Pospichal (Jan Meduna) and Lieberman (Petr Vanek) are a pair of new recruits to the Czech army who are shipped off to Egypt for training as their unit prepares to defend Allied-controlled harbors in Libya. After being whipped into shape by no-nonsense drill instructor Corporal Kohak (Robert Nebrensky), Pospichal, Lieberman and their comrades in arms prepare for battle under their commander Sergeant Borny (Martin Nahalka). While the young warriors are confident as they arrive in Libya, they soon discover that the Axis forces mean business, and German artillery rains down upon them with ceaseless fury. Pospichal is soon cut off from him unit, and believing most of them are dead, he finds himself stranded in the desert sands as he's torn between his fear of the heat of battle and his devotion to duty and his friends. Freely adapted from Stephen Crane's classic novel The Red Badge of Courage (which was set during the American Civil War), Tobruk was nominated for nine Czech Lion Awards (the Czech Republic's Academy Awards), and received prizes for cinematography, musical score and sound recording. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
His wife left flattened by a falling statue as the couple make their way through Eastern Europe on holiday, a grieving British tourist attempts to stage an early reunion with his beloved departed to little avail in director Steen Agro's pitch black comedy. When Colin's (Andy Nyman) wife Maggie (Klára Low) meets an untimely demise under a particularly unstable statue, the pain of his loss is too powerful to bear. After failing to snuff it by taking an electric bath, Colin meets hen-pecked handyman Pavel (Karel Roden) - a pushover whose high-maintenance wife has forced him to accept a series of odd jobs just to keep up with department store payments. Pavel has been assigned the task of driving Colin to the morge so that the visiting Brit can claim his wife's ashes, but Colin quickly offers his wheelman a large sum of money if he will simply end his suffering in the most painless manner possible. Unfortunately death doesn't come as easy for some as it does for others, and as the hapless pair become caught-up in the criminal exploits of hulking hoodlum Karel (Robert Polo) it begins to appear as if the suicidal widower may be death proof. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Karel Roden, Andy Nyman, (more)
- 2005
- R
Her memory stripped and her thoughts filled with only unthinkably nightmares, a woman wandering the streets of Prague places her trust in a man who also has no memory in this dark thriller from first-time writer/director Dan Turner. Anna (Georgina French) is a woman consumed by pain, and desperately searching for an escape from her misery. Once day, while drifting through the streets of Prague, Anna comes into contact with fellow amnesiatic Morgan (John Hopkins). While neither Anna nor Morgan can make sense of their past, they each feel bonded together my some mysterious force beyond their comprehension. Little does this clueless pair realize just how right they really are, because somewhere in the underground shadows of the city lurks a force that guides their every move. There's no use trying to resist the power that propels them towards their ultimate fate, and as the experiment gets underway every moment grows more agonizing than the last. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Hopkins, Georgina French, (more)
Television director Andy Cadiff turns toward feature films to direct the romantic comedy Chasing Liberty, which appears to be loosely based on the 1953 Audrey Hepburn classic Roman Holiday. Mandy Moore stars as Anna Foster, the 18-year-old daughter of President of the United States James Foster (Mark Harmon). Anna has led quite a privileged life, but she has grown to resist the constant presence of Secret Service agents getting in the way of her independence. While on a family trip to Europe, Anna manages to get away from security for a brief time. She inevitably falls into the romantic arms of British boy Ben Calder (Matthew Goode), with whom she enjoys a fresh and clean European vacation. Not wanting to ruin her fun, she doesn't tell him about her upper-class social status. But, alas, Ben surprises her with a secret identity of his own. Jeremy Piven and Annabella Sciorra play two Secret Service agents. Caroline Goodall plays the wise, conventional First Lady. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mandy Moore, Matthew Goode, (more)
