D.Moore

A horror film for beginners or those slightly advanced, for Kristen Stewart fans, for those who don't mind films that rip off better known and better works, and last but not least, for Sam Raimi fans who are curious to see what he has done with his name this time. I have to say that I generally liked The Messengers, in a safe sort of way. It looks decent, LoDuca's music is reliably atmospheric, Kristen Stewart can be sympathetically frightening when she needs to be... Don't expect anything surprising, "only" a new take on something you've seen before, which (hopefully) won't lull you to sleep thanks to its reasonable runtime.

Will Ferrell plays the same character for the umpteenth time, but this time in such a charmingly goofy movie! I was amazed at how much I enjoyed Semi-Pro. Moments like the fight during the commercial break or the revolver scene, Woody Harelson's performance ("If you see a possum, try to kill it. It's not a pet!"), the sensational jibing of two sports commentators, a hippie whose check they won't cash... It was all (except for a minimum amount of awkwardness) very fresh and funny. It was definitely a good move not to write the script so that only Ferrell would make jokes, but to give a generous portion of them to the other characters. Add to that Shapiro's excellent music and lovely period atmosphere. Great.

Everything is wrong... Almost. Except for the lovely Rooney Mara. I was initially very happy about the casting of Jackie Earl Haley as Freddy Krueger, but I had no idea that the boilermaker in the striped sweater could have been played by absolutely anyone (except perhaps Jiří Krytinář), because he looks like Imhotep crossed with Voldemort, i.e., like a mask under which everything is lost. But along with that, the black humor, the eerie atmosphere and the fear of anyone or anything was lost in Nightmare. To be honest, I was actually quite taken with Jablonsky's music, which I'll probably listen to on its own, but that's about all the film had to offer me.

A Nightmare on Elm Streeet... Even after thirty years, it hasn't become stale, which is admirable. The main villain, burned boilermaker Freddy with a sense of rather brutal humor, is still a unique character and his actions still entertain and frighten at the same time. The fact that the special effects don't look the least bit ridiculous (the scene with Tina) and the atmosphere is still chilling only confirms that this is Wes Craven's best horror film, a timeless hit that is going to scare generations of viewers for generations to come.

It is only now that I really appreciate Bad Teacher. Here Comes the Boom is such an annoying variation of the aforementioned film that it is impossible that its authors took this seriously. However, I am not going to convince myself that the whole boring hour and three quarters was a subtle parody. A bunch of the most clichéd clichés possible (from patriotic to religious, self-belief and so on) with a comedian in the lead role who is not particularly funny and Salma Hayek in another role where she literally kills her talent (but not her charm, thankfully). There were a few funny moments, but even so... It’s nothing special, Hollywood lost this fight in the first round.

An action spectacle to my liking. It’s not overly complicated, one remembers Serpico or The French Connection, and it’s not hard to guess how it will turn out... Bu does that matter? Nope. It is true that the best passage (the meeting with Wulfgar and the rather long chase through the city, underground and subway), which was supposedly directed by Stallone himself, isn’t surpassed later on in the film, but the cable car is also good... and the ending! Apart from the likable Stallone and the unflappable Hauer, I was very pleased with the British tough-as-nails Nigel Davenport.

Three and a half stars. I really liked the scenes set on the ship of the dead, Woody Allen's character and the music, but I was quite disappointed and annoyed by Scarlett Johanson. She looked good with Hugh Jackman, though.

What has Stephen King done to filmmakers that they keep changing the endings of his stories, and (this time definitely) significantly so? Oh dear. Heck, in Children of the Corn they turned freshly married couples going through a crisis into quite happy fiancés, but what about the ending? A happy ending? There’s no way, my dear God of Corn! Perhaps the only thing missing was an epilogue showing a happy family, him and her together with their adopted siblings... God. But to tell you the truth, the atmosphere was lost even earlier - specifically during the over-hyped and rather awkward-looking finale. It’s too bad. The film started promisingly and the actors, especially the kids, were often diabolical.

I don't know what it was, maybe I was too groggy by the late night (or rather very early morning) hour I watched Sanctum, but I certainly didn't find the film as awful as it might have seemed. Sure, there are a lot of clichés (the flashlight in the boar's tooth...) and the main young actor deserves a slap in the head, but I really enjoyed it. Why, you ask? The film has a charismatic actor in the main adult role, who was really a tough guy (and reminded me a lot of Radek Brzobohatý), beautiful cave exteriors (or interiors?) and magical cinematography, Hirschfelder's music, omnipresent tension (the passage through the narrows, brrr) and last but not least the gradual deaths of the characters, which were often unexpected and in at least two cases really shocking for me. I’m rounding up the three and a half stars.

A pleasantly sincere, gentle and calm semi-romantic comedy, which was surprisingly not so much about romance (I guess). I was pleasantly surprised by the ending, which on the one hand was typically Hollywood sweet, but on the other hand... You know what I mean. Lots of "real life" situations, pleasant humor, emotions that feel genuine... It was good. But I liked the similar and newer film Smart People (again with Dennis Quaid) even more.