POMO

The biggest problem with this movie is that it pretends to be a deep drama reflecting cruel actual events in the African jungle. And though it does depict those events in a really naturalistic way (I hadn’t had such a knot in my stomach in a long time!), it seems to lack credibility due to the combination of American bombast and Bruce Willis’s famous face. Tears of the Sun can also be seen as a pure action flick that wants to be something more, but because of the slow and boring screenplay, it’s not even a satisfying action movie.

Beyond the Darkness is a visually modest horror movie that takes place predominantly in broad daylight. Logic and the direction of the plot don't play a major role here, as Joe D’Amato focuses mainly on naturalistic massacres of victims, sexual perversion (old Iris/young Francesco) and elements of necrophilia (dead Anna/living Francesco). The horror scenes are underscored with pop music, while the band Goblin provides the romantic accompaniment for the sex scenes. The film is a remarkable perversion that – with better actors and darker music – could have become one of those films that keep you up at night even after the closing credits have rolled. Still, it’s a highlight of D’Amato’s trash filmography.

25th Hour is such a small film, and yet it’s so big! From every minute you can feel the intellectual charge and the director’s commitment and goal. The actors are fantastic, and Barry Pepper in particular is very surprising. The psychological tension in the dialogue could crush an elephant. It’s easy not to give this excellent, distinctive film a full five-star rating, but it’s impossible to reasonably justify why it doesn’t deserve one.

In comparison with the first Final Destination, the sequel has less atmosphere and a more overwrought and less clear plot. It is also more hectic, moodier, more laid-back and more popcorn-ish, with a slight helping of black humour and rather brutal gore. Plus the best scene of the whole trilogy – the opening pile-up car crash is brilliantly filmed!

Even a viewer who liked Exit Wounds or Romeo Must Die has to admit that Cradle 2 the Grave is exceedingly dumb. It’s almost as dumb as Van Damme’s Street Fighter. And Jet Li doesn’t have a chance to do anything more than the routine in it.

Intelligent, cool high-tech and with bad-ass camera filters. In short, Enemy of the State has everything required for satisfying entertainment in this genre.

Greg Kinnear and Willem Dafoe are unique, but this movie set in the porn business is somehow inappropriately negative and unlikable. Boogie Nights, for example, is in a completely different league, with a wonderful balance of humor, satire and tragedy.

Though Bringing Down the House is formulaic, it is still a very likable comedy with an ideal amount of all of the necessary ingredients.

It’s misguided to rate Psycho as a representative of any genre or as a film that scared the viewer on the scale of a few stars. Psycho deserves to be judged as a demonstration of the possibilities of the art of filmmaking and as a showcase of Alfred Hitchcock’s brilliant creativity. And by taking this path, it’s possible to come to only one conclusion – Psycho is not a film; it is a super-film. First there’s that, and then there are films that can rated with some stars according to how well made they are. ___ Let’s imagine that a painter’s brush has X possibilities of movement, angle of approach to the canvas and intensity of contact with the canvas. Now let’s apply that principle of possibilities to film directing and working with film techniques and with the viewer. Hitchcock harnessed these X possibilities that other filmmakers had been working with, juggled them and created a new palette of XYZ possibilities. Filmmaking is a science. When will there ever be a greater filmmaking innovator that Hitchcock was?

A monster movie crossed with a marriage drama? Why not?! Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is such goofy sci-fi trash that you never know what’s going to happen every five minutes. And that’s its biggest positive. Well, that and the comedy achieved through dumb dialogue and the officially worst special effects of all time. If you like this genre, you can’t miss it AND if you also happen to be an angry feminist, you will experience a resurrection!