Reviews

As already noticed by other reviewers, this a french "homagge" to "Silence of the lambs", to make things perfectly clear one of the main characters in the film even picks up the Thomas Harris book. It has its problems: pacing is uneven, some scenes drag quite a bit and there are some holes in the plot but when everything is added this is a pretty solid effort whit some interesting ideas and great, lyrical ending. Actors are all very good, even in the smallest of parts(the zoo owner was great). Directon is stylish and camera work impressive at times. Although the script isn't all that original it does elaborate some great twists and psychological insight. It merits one viewing, 7/10.

What a nice surprise this movie turned out to be. Lately I have seen so many bad horror movies that I almost gave up on the genre itself but this one had good reviews on horror sites I visited so I gave it a go. I'm glad I did. The story is basic and simple:a monster, an isolated place and people doing their best to get out the situation alive.Been there, seen that,right? Sure, but Splinter is so well crafted and executed that this didn't bother me one bit.Characters are interesting and intelligent people that use their wits and brains to try to save their lives and don't just scream and panic. The movie is tense and gory and doesn't drag for a second. Special effects are mediocre but sufficient. If you are a horror fan this is the one to watch.Good job Mr. Wilkins!

Let me start of by stating that I hate musicals,simply hate them. I have seen maybe 7-8 in my life and didn't like one of them. Simply put when actors suddenly burst into singing I feel the urge to do something else with my time.With this in mind I still had to see this Burton-Depp collaboration, although their last effort,that chocolate factory movie, was terrible. As it turned out I was happy that I gave this a chance because it is a very good film, a strange mix of musical, horror and comedy, but it works. Depp is good as he usually is,Burton delivers his style with taste, hell even the songs worked for me,most of the time.Supporting cast does a great job,Alan Rickman especially. Check it out, you will not regret it.

I loved the first Goal!. I found it to be the best football movie since Victory,and was glad to know that it would be followed by 2 sequels that will take our Mexican Pele to Real Madrid to play Champion's league final and then to the world cup. Sorry to say,or write,and sorry for myself,this one is a step back,a big one.The only part that isn't worse in this one is Alessandro Nivola,the guy knows what he is doing and does it good.For everything else...hmmm.. First-the script is rather clumsy,making our "hero" deal with such problems as meeting his mother that left him when he was a kid,dealing with a jealous girlfriend,an injury,loss of a friend and an agent....and in a mix of all this he does actually play for Real Madrid and meets Becks,Raul,Roberto Carlos....almost like that isn't the most important thing here and the reason why me and lot of other people want to see this in a first place. The chosen director wasn't the happiest choice because the guy has serious problems with pacing and working with actors like he has already showed in his debut,the 2005 remake of Hause of Wax.I saw that a third Goal! will be directed by Michael Apted and that is a good news,at least I hope so. Well it's not all bad,after all there are so few football movies these days(unlike boxing or American football)that I cherish even a flawed one like this and will definitely check out the third Goal! once it's out.

Every now and then a film lover gets a huge unpleasant surprise after watching some film that has a great reputation.This happened to me when I watched this p.o.s. directed by Wes Craven,a auteur whose films I enjoyed for some time now( Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream being my favorites). Sure,it is 35 years old,low budget horror movie,but that does not make up for a fact that it feels like some friends smoked a couple of joints and decided to make a horror movie with no script,no professional actors and as soon as possible. So it ended as this mess:actors are so bad that it's not funny,it's sad.The music is awful(after one of the girls is raped starts a song-you are so aloneeee....I mean,come on!),dialogs pure rubbish,direction non-existent......a festival of disaster. Avoid the disappointment I had "filling the hole in my movie-culture" and skip this c..p.

I always thought that Ang Lee was an overrated director. Crouching tiger... didn't impress me much and Sense and sensibility bored me to the point where I fell to sleep in the theater watching it(Ice storm is his only great film). But still, his work is highly praised, Crouching... made a lot of money and Hollywood mogul's decided to give him 130mil.$ to make The Hulk. What he made is something that's so bad that it's hard to beleive,the worse 100mil.+ budgeted film since Armageddon. What Lee tried to do is a serious film about a man that turns in to a huge green monster when he gets angry,10 times his normal size,but still never loses his pants,they just stretch. In doing so, he made Nick Nolte deliver the worse role in his life and almost sealled Eric Bana's Hollywood carrier. The film itself is extremly boring, and when something interesting starts to happen Lee screwes it up with splitting the screen in 2,3,4 or even more small screeens simply because he had to be cool. Split screen worked in early De Palma's work, here it's just annoying. CGI is so-so,with such a huge budget it should have been much better.

I really like M.Night Shyamalan's 2 previous films(The 6th sense & Unbreakable) and Mel Gibson is one of my favorite actors so I expected nothing short of a masterpiece. It would have been that if there wasn't for one huge mistake:microphones! They stick out all movie long from every angle imaginable so it sometimes looks like a TV interview. I mean,they had a huge budget and all digital wonders at their hands and still this happens? Mr.Shyamalan please check your prints more carefuly next time. All this had no effect at box office result and wasn't mentioned in any reviews so the film became the biggest hit in Mel Gibson's carierr and had excellent reviews. This is not totally undeserved: apart from mikes everything else is great. Shyamalan proves once more that he's one of Hollywood's best directors. The way he tells this not-so original story(in my opinion Shyamalan is a better director than a scriptwritter)is brilliant. The camera is always placed at the most perfect spot. Thrills and chills are not forced upon you,the film slowly creeps under your skin. Film is emotional and deeply religious without being pathetic and scary without having any gore(less is more!). Calm and inteligent stuff from start to finish, the oposite of ,let's say, Michael Bay's work(one of Hollywood's worst directors). Acting is top notch but that is expected when you have Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix in leading rolls. I rate this one 8/10. It would have been a pure 10 value if not for those damn mikes.

This one blew me away. I think that Wachowski brothers also loved this film because "The Matrix" has some almost identical fighting scenes, but who can blame them when those scenes here are among the best martial art scenes ever filmed. The story is not very original but is interesting enough to keep you focused between the fights. I*ll be watching this one again as soon as I can. Breathtaking stuff!