Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Kirpianuscus luck, love, survive. the fairy tale atmosphere and the flavor of Oriental old story. and, sure, Max van Sydow. more than a film, it is a challenge. to reflect and to discover the real significant things who defines the life. in same measure, it is a game of appearances. the need of them. the science to make difference between shadows and reality. not the last, it is a beautiful film. for cinematography , off course, but for the memories about other similar scenes. in same measure, it is an answer. to the need to define yourself . and to use the dreams as concrete of life.

JollyMidge Thank goodness this film was NOT Made in H'wood. Sadly, the H'wood money folks seem incapable of taking such a premise and allowing it to flow from the source---too bad.I am so glad to have seen this film. Grateful too for the subtitles, no dubbing.Enigmatic yes, slow no. Reminds me of other films with premises taken to extreme. The pace allows time to reflect on the ideas presented. It is a fine commentary on the current climate in the industrialized world...everything, even the human luck, could be a commodity under these fantastic circumstances.Simply my opinion...will recommend it to other film buffs.

tedg There are a few good filmmakers alive now, ones I credit. Mostly they are distributed in accidental pools of the industry, a couple in Hong Kong, a master in Amsterdam, a few passing through Hollywood it seems. Singles here and there. But there are three film communities that when I enter them, I feel as if I am entering a magical kitchen of imagemaking shared by a single family. The blood pumping between one pair of lovers, the enhanced tongue of another, the wild creative dialog about spices among a young crowd in the corner — each of these somehow providing juices I will taste.One of these kitchens is Australian, another Canadian (oh how puzzling!). But this big saucy one is Spanish, with emissaries all over the Americas. Not every Spanish film is nourishing, but when I find one that has serious ambitions, it more often than not inherits all the smells, traditions and many of the skills of that kitchen, that world.Superficially, this is an ambitious project, with a young filmmaker whose visual skills aren't unusual, and he has been helped by a crew that pulls off most of the cinematic needs of his scenes. The techniques themselves aren't very striking.See this. It is not full of new ways of seeing story, as you find with Medem. It has no novel parallel narratives as you'll often find. But it parallels it does have, else it wouldn't be in this tradition I like so much of magical overlays of reality, up and down.What is striking is the typically Spanish shape of the thing. Folded realities, agents of fate placed among us, the narrative as game that includes a game. The tokens of the game as images and placed in images we "win." Some players as noir characters, others as filmmakers in the thing.This juxtaposition of noir-related game with gambling with images with conflating images in the film with images of the film is unique. Remember when you saw the first film of a gifted filmmaker, and began a rewarding life with a new friend? Here's one for you, a new friend. I do not think he will disappoint.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

waltcosmos Are there really adults out there like the people in this movie? Who believe in such mumbo-jumbo, that is? Blind luck, as opposed to a Lincolnesque luck, may be considered a gift from the gods. So how can it possibly be stolen when someone touches you? Consider. If you're lucky, and you want to keep that luck, get used to spending the rest of your life ALONE in bed, pal, cause sex is all ABOUT touching. So THAT'S out. And what's up with those morons running through the woods? The one's who should be cheering are the one's who smashed into the trees. Because if your idea of being lucky is WINNING that race and then playing Russian Roulette with five bullets in a six shooter, then you need help. And by the way, suppose you win? Then what? I didn't see any legal papers being drawn up saying that you now own the casino. Samuel's life didn't seem to be all that spectacular even then. I mean, what exactly did he do except walk around a casino all day making more money? Which he never spent. This is SPAIN! Or a province under the hegemony of Spain. Everybody dresses like their lives depended on it. But consider. Anything Samuel can buy, like, for dinner, I can too! Only ten to a thousand times cheaper. I shop at WinCo foods and hobnob with the great unwashed. What do I care? Another problem I had was with Sara. Why was she trying to kill that guy? All he did was rob a bank. So what? No, I'm sorry. There's no reason to be called The Luckiest Man in the World if all it means is you have to face off with still another tired contender and murder him after he tries for the umpteenth time to murder you. Some life.