Goldbeater

The characters talk and behave in such an absurdly dramatic absence of logic that it must have been intentional. For sure, this strongly contributes to the dreamy atmosphere. As for the audiovisual experience, Messiah of Evil is on top of things (with a combination of very chilling music, colourful execution and peculiar editing). One regret: the plot is quite straightforward and without major surprises. Other than that, thumbs up.

With the help of his rock band, Buckaroo Banzai, an American polymath with Japanese roots – uncovers a secret invasion by aliens from the 8th dimension (each of them being named John and commanded by amusingly overacting John Lithgow), accompanied by synth-generated music. What else could I say? The weirdest thing about this flick is that, if its creators tried to make a comedy, they failed, but if they tried not to make a comedy, they failed, too.

I've read the novel and it's very good and engaging. For the most part, the filmic adaptation is merely a faithful transcript which, unfortunately, doesn’t have much in store for those who have read the original. The non-readers, though, will appreciate the undeniably palpable tension.

Perfect scripting, perfect acting, just perfect in every aspect! A rule of thumb: the more you are familiar with the original Frankenstein pictures from Universal, the more you will enjoy this one. Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Mel Brooks… Basically, the dream team for such movies, all of them being comedy geniuses! I could watch Young Frankenstein over and over!

Despite its lack of innovation, still a pretty decent conclusion of Hammer Studios’ Frankenstein series. I enjoyed Peter Cushing’s comeback into the main role and also, I was interested in the madhouse set, where the baron is hiding; this part strongly reminds me of "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" by Edgar Allan Poe. The appearance of the ‘monster from hell’, however, is far removed from the original Frankenstein monsters. Perhaps this was intentional, but I was under the permanent impression I was actually watching a hairy alien from Robot Monster. I can confidently recommend the first two parts of the saga. For the rest, horror fans will decide for themselves – but this one cannot hurt.

A half-an-hour-long mockumentary that became the blueprint for the beloved What We Do in the Shadows. Sure, it has a taste of amateurism and the jokes are – by far – not as polished as in the subsequent feature-length piece, but also as a small package, it is effective and quite a lot of fun (Jemaine Clement massively enjoyed playing his role). For the fans of the aforementioned feature film, this is a lovely expansion of mythology, for example if you ever wondered where the vampire clothing goes when disappearing from the mirror reflection.

Whatever opinion you may have about Tommy Wiseau’s person – optimistic visionary, tragic dreamer, or just a total failure who managed to attract too much attention – , it doesn’t matter in the slightest way. Here, it is James Franco who is in charge. And obviously, he’s on top of his game. Interestingly, The Disaster Artist completely nails it. Above all, the cast is on point, the roles are performed with authenticity and, what’s more, there’s a delightful cameo every two minutes (the best one coming just after the closing credits, so make sure you watch till the end). Of course, you’d better be familiar with The Room if you want to enjoy the second half of the film fully. During the viewing, I had a feeling the creators had a great time shooting the movie and went out of their way to convey their passion to the audience. And this in itself makes my day.

A fairytale built upon artificial foundations. Even though all of the characters go through their own small or big personal crisis or tragedy, in the end, there’s nothing the superstar actor trio couldn’t handle! Not only Collateral Beauty’s creators rely on relentlessly milking emotions out of the audience, the viewer is downright turned into an idiot by the way some stories end up. Watching this movie, I think I was in greater pain than some of the main characters.

A lame fail. Even though the movie is trying to look like an entertaining horror comedy digging some clichés out of the ’80s′ camp slashers, it ends as a predictable fairytale whose creators must have seen two parts of Friday the 13th series and called themselves experts of that subgenre immediately thereafter! The fact it’s all PG-13 instead of the required R is the icing on the cake. If only it was funny! But I’m afraid the only joke is that brainless concept.

Act of Aggression is nothing more than the French answer to the American classic Death Wish, produced a year earlier. Jazzed up with Catherine Deneuve’s charms and a silly twist at the end, for the most part, there’s still a lack of atmosphere and no appealing sympathetic actor in the main role as was the case with Charles Bronson. The theme the film is based upon has been dealt with on the screen many times, and often in better ways. This production seriously lags behind.