DaViD´82

Twilight Zone wannabe. It is a great shame that The Outer Limits used up almost all of its potential immediately in the opening, feature-length episode where they adapted a perfect novelette by G.R.R. Martin, “Sandkings". The episodes that followed were just regular episodes where the high point is always the unforgettable theme tune. Unfortunately, it happened too often that the intro scene before the opening credits is outstanding and works as a teaser, but when the credits end we get a half an hour of boredom, and things only start to get going again toward the end. There were a lot of good episodes of The Outer Limits, but only very few of them are episodes of genius, while we get dozens of mediocre ones.

The Rebellion Begins. Daniel Radcliffe must have matured to the phase of puberty when he is eternally pissed and so he has no trouble of really being Harry this time round. Otherwise it’s hard to imagine that, all of a sudden, he learned to act. David Yates excels primarily in dramatic scenes with a minimum of actors. However, he hasn’t (yet) developed a personal style for action and crowd scenes. But he clearly is enamored with Cuarón’s style and manages to copy it more than just well. And, here and there, he adds ideas of his own. The casting of new characters is done well as usual, but, like the old ones, they get an absolute minimum of room. With the exception of Dolores, where Harry finally meets his match. Plus, Yates managed the almost impossible and manages to change Voldemort from a camp, laughable worm to a character that commands deserved respect. Hats off to the creators that they have broken away from the kids’ movie recipe with special effects meant to entertain the very youngest of kids to a rather more mature version which, despite (or thanks to) not having so many special effects, is all the more effective. Unlike the preceding part which turned into a pastiche of uninspiring illustrations to accompany the book, this time round it proved possible to at least create the illusion that there is a complete story that is headed somewhere. The fifth Harry Potter certainly isn’t flawless. And although at no point is this anywhere near as good as Cuarón’s distinctive adaptation, if you compare it to the rather routine and dull Columbus/Newell-style attempts, this comes out as the winner, hands-down. ♫ OST score: 3/5

A moron with a rubber mallet, an "innovative" minimalist soundtrack, tons of bullshit about nothing and most of the runtime taking place on a starcaise... What?

My first encounter with Tsukamoto and straight away such an almost flawless movie experience. Without the occasional phases where it rather drags, there isn’t much to fault here. An interesting topic, molded into an original movie by means of very powerful visuals and marvelous sound effects, all with a great atmosphere. Instead of A Nightmare on Elm Street, I think a better comparison is with a detective style Suicide Club.

Incident On and Off a Mountain Road 1/5: Unatmospheric, with an unlikable heroine, a ridiculous villain, and dysfunctional scary scenes. There are hundreds of amateur movies about the same thing on the net, only they look better and go by quicker; Dreams in the Witch-House 3/5: Too bad that it didn’t with the door flying open, that would have instantly moved it up a notch. Imprint 4/5: Several perfect scenes and if it weren’t for the infuriating Billy Drago, the cast would be good. The problem with Imprint is that the theme has the potential for a much shorter duration than what is ultimately served by the creators. The rating refers to the original version as it was broadcast on television, not to the lamely censored DVD version for the USA.

The Day of the Beast lacks neither a strong idea, an original theme, or excellent moments. But wat it lacks is momentum in several scenes and, above all, better exploited potential. They could have got so much more from such a brilliant idea. Even so, turned out to be an excellent movie where it is glaringly obvious at almost every moment just how much better it could have been.

Variations on Spielberg's ET and especially on Ghostbusters. Just it’s aimed at younger viewers and features characters from monster movies. The pace is pretty good, not all the kids are completely annoying; and it's a pleasant and relaxing family movie. It isn’t much more than a tolerable distillation of something you’ve seen a hundred times before. But, you have to give it them, this is a concoction that works quite well. Still, if you want to see this type of movie, I would recommend watching the phenomenally unbeatable Goonies instead.

When they try to create humor in Hong Kong, it is usually lost on me... Wannabe humorous police scenes are gradually phased out completely, but at first there are more than enough of them. If The Untold Story had been absolutely serious from the beginning, it could have worked excellently. Especially since the movie can rely on the always first-class Anthony Wong.

Not enough Gustav versus a geyser of embarrassment on Purcell's part. It has momentum, aggressive editing, passable CGI effects and lots of color filters. As far as the technical aspect is concerned, there is not much to find fault with. Something that cannot be said about the action or original ideas. These ingredients are desperately lacking here. However, as far as this specific subgenre is concerned, this is relatively successful. But still, expect no miracles.

It is obvious where the creators got their inspiration. And they were more than just well-inspired. Funny Man is a sort of variation on Nightmare on Elm Street. The beginning is needlessly long-winded, but in the second half, ideas and pace come thick and fast. Not all of it is well-made, original and sewn up, but overall that cynical fool’s practical jokes are pretty funny. He-he-he-he!