Reviews

I took this movie for New Year party and I think I couldn't make a better choice. I am quite used to watching bad movies (hey, I do my major on 50s sci-fi films), but there's always a movie that sets a new low. A friend of mine made something very similar for like 200 bucks, this stinker cost about 10 000x more money. The only three nice things about this movie are the lighting, Sabrina Gennarino and the fact it really makes you laugh out loud at times. Director has no clue how to set up a plot (basically if you miss the title scene, you have no idea what this is all about), he splices in scenes you have no idea what they mean. What appalled me in a special way was the horrible sound mix - every line is cut sharp before its reverb can finish. You may not spot it right down, but you will feel something is wrong with the sound. Special effects are laughably bad - monster is made of rubber with no animatronics at all, image effects look like made by someone with one day training in After Effects. Gore effects are nice, though.

If you want something REALLY bad for having a great time with friends who cannot stomach older films, get a copy of Day of Darkness. You are guaranteed to have some baaad movie fun.

This show started off brilliantly, like edgy view of a period that is constantly being imagined as naive and kind. It's nicely lit and shot, acting is very good. First episode was brilliant, writing was razor sharp and well observed.

But during the first season, the show seemed to lost its focus. It sort of jumps between business, politics, personal lives and love affairs. It lacks consistency. None of these themes is fully approached and realized. I for one think it should focus a lot more on the business side of things. This way the show could work as a vehicle for revealing principles of advertising to the audience, which is bound to be interesting for the show's demographic. Too bad it doesn't.

Touching and extremely moving semi-talking movie about South American prisoner who is given one-day leave. It is a known fact that none of those who have been given this "privilege" has returned. A jail warden, who is there to provoke him to try to escape, stalks him and intoxicates him on a train so he misses the station at his hometown. The prisoner finally arrives home and becomes a leader of workman movement. Very strong cinematography, rapid montage and moving (even if somewhat preposterous) story based on story by Henri Barbusse make for an exciting movie. It´s not a completely silent movie, there is a spoken word every now and then, accompanied by intertitles. 8/10 for sure.

Mellow, offbeat yet funny story of love triangle between cynical womanizer, his greek immigrant counterpart and maidenly singer. Could be classified as tragicomedy, but more of a comedy than the latter. Movie, shot in beautiful black and white, uses interesting narrative techniques and keeps steady, solid pace and never gets boring. Definitely recommended - 4/5

The Shop around the Corner is never dull, never boring and absolutely not as silly as one could expect of a comedy 60 years old. It´s new remake, You´ve Got Mail, adds few bits and pieces, which possibly make it more intricate, but the mood is partially gone. It´s a classic heartwarming, feel good movies that has you smiling thoughtlessly, that simply aren´t being made anymore. Two thumbs up!

I´ve never seen a science fiction movie so slow, boring and predictable. I am not popcorn-crunching moviegoer, I don´t need action-in-your-face bulls**t, I´ve even enjoyed Tarkovsky´s 1972 snoozefest Solaris. I rather like the thinking and exploration side of sci-fi. But this one is a stinker! Its beginning resembles an average PC game´s briefing. Trails are set in the very first minutes of the movie and the movie follows it without a hitch. Even my girlfriend, whose only experience with sci-fi is Minority Report, knew exactly what would happen in the next minute. The rest of the plot is like a compilation of several faery tales, with absolutely dull and painfully overlong ending. I´ve found myself desperately sneezing and staring in disbelief: what was the movie going to mean? Someone might address the slow pace of the ending as "thought provoking". Gimme a break, all the intellectual challenge is wasted in the first 45 minutes within several tear-jerking scenes with David´s (the robot boy) teddybear and his mother abandoning him in a deep forest. Spielberg once again believes that moviegoers are so stupid he has to slap his thoughts and ideas repetitively into their faces until they get the idea. Dismiss this crap. I give 4/10 for some of the most stunning visuals ever seen in a movie.

This is my humble opinion: I think the main reason why Voyager relatively flopped is that the auteurs have still harder time to develop interesting characters. TOS had very interesting, classic characters with new approach to what "character" means (like Spock and his logic). TNG had human-wannabe android. DS9 had Dax. Voyager has nothing except silly childish Neelix and few other non-believable characters. It´s aimed at different kind of viewer. The magic of Star Trek originates in its characters, which Voyager can´t. This is a plain vanilla soap opera. Period.

This films has a big wow factor to it, but very little other than that. Movie starts with a promising premise, but starts to drag after first 40 minutes and is just plain boring towards the end. Characters have no actual depth and so does the script. I must say that i was delighted by the reptile attitude of Catherine Keener (Maxine) and John Malkovich´s subtle, self-aware acting. It´s an original and strange movie, but that´s not enough to make it either a good movie, nor a pleasant experience. 6/10

A classic of its genre, this well-paced and tightly-scripted movie actually gave me a few shocks, which is not common with 50s monster cinema when viewed nowadays. It has good production values and above-average acting. Recommended for any fan of the genre. 7/10

Here comes a movie which wins the hearts of critics around the globe for more that 60 years. It´s a rather simple story of a poor boy become rich news-tycoon. But it´s so well done, using the most inventive filming techniques far ahead its time, that it will grasp you and not leave until you see it all through. Definetly recommended. 9/10

For every classic sci-fi afficionado, this is a must-see. It´s a bit short and awkward at times, but man, it look GREAT! Some of the FX and camera work are just unbelievable for its time and look very good even now. 8/10 for the production values, 5/10 for the script.

Please do not watch this movie only for its gory scenes. There aren ´t that many of them and you can see similar ones regularly on Reality TV and the likes. The film´s true driving force is strong acting, good script and the veil of foulness, for the story (and even the gore scenes) are based on true facts and documents. You will certainly be disturbed, but rather for the feeling that what you´re watching really happened. Definetly recommended. 7/10

Now this is the ultimate in 50s low budget drive-in outer space silliness. A rogue Brain from planet Arous comes to Earth to overtake body of an good boy atomic scientist and (surprisingly) conquer the Earth! Later, second Brain arrives to stop him, overtaking the body of poor doggie. Special effects look like the ones from Attack of the 50ft Woman (see-through monsters etc.) and the plot is similarly goofy. John Agar´s performance as an atomic scientist turned fiend is overacted as ever, which but adds to whole goofiness of the film. Recommended to any 50s B-movie fan.

This movie is incredible! Forget all you know of 50s science fiction cinema (okay, there IS a saucer, and there IS an awkward robot). This one has something to say, and is done in a very convincing way. A man from outer space (Klaatu) comes to Earth with his allmighty robot Gor to stop people from expanding the human violence beyond frontiers of the planet Earth. When he sees that he cannot get attention of the whole world, he decides to perform his skills and neutralizes all electricity all over the planet.

The movie is perfectly scripted, steady-paced and has very good production values. It´s rated as #198 in IMDB´s 250 Top films of all time. 8/10

If you want to see a true classic of the scifi genre, go for Forbidden Planet. While its 1956 tag may make you think it sucks big time, you sure won´t be disappointed. There is absolutely NOTHING CHEESY about this movie, as we could expect. The FX (graphic as well as sound) are brilliant, as good as those of 20 years younger Star Wars (okay, the synth sound fx are cheesy, but what the hell. it contributes to the atmosphere), cinematography is awesome and the plot is very clever. Yes, indeed, we have seen such plot a hundred times since, but remember this movie is from 1956. You will find lots of resemblances in there, such as the Star Trek-like captain-doctor relationship or Star Wars-like mega-storeys ventilation shaft. I wonder why this film has so little attention nowadays, it certainly deserves more.