It was late summer of 1994, or let’s rather admit it was early September of that year and I was hanging around in Prague with no particular agenda after holiday work nearby. Being recently introduced to new indulgences and a legendary (and now extinct) underground joint TAZ, I was feeling incredible. And I was incredibly stupid.

David Gilmour and company, minus Roger Waters, were in town. They were playing the Strahov stadium, the largest concert venue in the world. And I thought to myself: well, they’ve been around for such years, they’re gonna be around for some more. I don’t have to go. I’ll see them next time.

Well, as hippie as I was, I didn’t foresee there wouldn’t be any next time. The tour of 1994 turned out to be their very last. As a matter of fact, they only made it back to England and by the end of October, there was no more Pink Floyd. Finito. Until, of course, all of them, meaning incl. Roger Waters (minus the Crazy Diamond Syd Barret) stormed Hyde Park during Live8. While I was in Prague again at the time, I couldn’t make it to London. I felt so sorry!

But I was given one last chance. It was sort of a consolation prize, however it was still worth it. Roger Waters (minus the others) came over and knocked on the door in Sydney. It was the opening gig of his 2007 summer tour appropriately named The Dark Side of the Moon. Meaning he was to deliver the album in its entirety.

Roger, who’s gonna turn mccartneyan sixty-four this year, is dividing his shows into two parts, first consisting of Pink Floyd essentials and some of his own work (like Leaving Beirut with anti-Bush rhetoric) and the second including complete DSOTM and few encores. Sydney was no exception, he even played the same list he’s carrying around since last year.

The show was carefully scripted, visually stunning and sophisticated, one could see direction of “the creative genius of Pink Floyd” behind it. However, there was something a bit unexpected (at least for these who didn’t bother to read reviews of previous gigs) - Roger didn’t sing many of the Dark Side songs! He left former Dave Gilmour’s vocal parts to guitarist Dave Kilminster, meaning that he could play bass and bludge for a larger part of the second act. Audience was surprised but understanding and rewarded the new Dave with their goodwill and sincere applause.

Though everything was more or less prepared, Sydney got a revised version of Roger’s flying pig with a new graffiti, asking for yet another David, David Hicks, Australian held in Guantanamo for five years to be sent home. It’s about time, I guess.

It all finished as planned: after Comfortably Numb, the group was gone in a flash. Lights went on and some twenty-thousand Floyd-hungry fans with different degree of greying hair dispersed to their homes, reliving a dream come true. Walking down the stairs I could feel tranquillity filling the space.

Wish there were more experiences like this one.

Few times a year there are movies that everybody talks about but only some of these are really worth seeing, and, what more, remembering. Usually, Mel Gibson’s epic accomplishments come under the latter, however it is rather questionable where to put his latest bloodthirsty flick, a story of an ancient tribesman fighting for his life, set during the late Maya civilisation.

Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) is a hunter and a family man. One morning, his village is rampaged by violent raiders led by Zero Wolf (Raoul Trujillo) and its adult population is subdued and taken to a Mayan city. Jaguar Paw manages to hide his pregnant wife Seven and his little sun Turtle Run in a well-like cave but then he’s taken with other hostages. In the city, women are sold as slaves and men are to be sacrificed to sun god Kukulkan on the top of the pyramid. Few get sacrificed but when it’s Jaguar’s time, a solar eclipse makes the priest pronounce that the god had enough for the day. And captives are to be disposed of.

Men are led to a ball field and forced to run for their lives to the jungle in the rain of javelins, arrows and stones. As even an untrained audience suspects, Jaguar, though being injured, makes it and in the process of doing so, sends Zero’s son Cut Rock to heavens.

What happens next is not hard to imagine. Zero Wolf takes it personally and consequently he and his warriors are chasing Jaguar Paw for the rest of the movie. Until most of them drop dead, of course. In the meantime, busy Jaguar has some more agenda on his hands: he’s to save his family members from the well.

Won’t spoil it for you and tell you how it ends, yet to a certain extent it’s predictable…

I am puzzled. And slightly disappointed. Honestly. I was ready for another dose of slit throats, ripped hearts and chopped heads and I got exactly that plus a marathon jog through the jungle as a bonus, yet I am not happy. Mel Gibson didn’t deliver another masterpiece in the best tradition of Braveheart and The Passion of the Christ.

The flick wasn’t boring for a second, yet it’s not enough. It seems to be clear: blood, cruelty and historical settings (let’s not talk about accuracy, all right?) or even Mel’s direction won’t do it if there’s something missing. And one can only assume if it is the style, or an undeniable hesitation of the camera. Or a b-grade script? Revenge of the Jews? A momentary lapse of reason?

I’d tick almost all of the above.

François Pignon is back! He might be ridiculous and clumsy, yet he’s lovable, caring and entertaining. After shining in The Closet (La Placard, 2001) and The Diner Game (Le Dîner de cons, 1998), we get to savor another instance of Pignon, this time as a parking valet, in the newest Francis Veber’s flick appropriately called The Valet (La Doublure, 2006).

Synopsis is simple. A billionaire CEO is snapped with a supermodel girlfriend. However, in paparazzo’s picture, there is one more element: innocent Pignon (Gad Elmaleh) who’s proposal was just turned down by his childhood sweetheart. The magnate (Daniel Auteuil), in a bid to save his marriage to a majority shareholder in his company, pays both Pignon and the supermodel Elena (Alice Taglioni) to move together and pretend they are a couple. Automatically, there’s a clash between different worlds, Elena’s rich haute couture and Pignon’s life in a seedy apartment and a crappy job. To spice things up, there’s a jealous tycoon, his sly wife and Pigeon’s ex (if you can call her so at all) who’s about to change her view on him.

This premise alone leaves Veber enough ammunition to create hilarious comedy and, being a craftsman par excellence, he doesn’t miss a shot.

It’s a comedy in the best tradition of French cinema. It’s not a heavy art, just airy fun that doesn’t pretend to be anything else, however backed by top grade performances by the cast. Go see it, if you like Veber or just want to sit back, relax and have a good time.