NEVERENDING STORY

Mila Jovovich and her spouse Paul W.S. Anderson are back. Again. And again. And again. Spanning though almost two decades, one of the once interesting female action heroes sagas is just keep on pushing further and further afield from the originals, twisting and turning into endless circles that will make even a die hard fans forget the basic plot. Zombies are there, but now mutated into dragons, the action is there, but sparse, as well as only a couple of trademark mass scenes. Mila is there also, but without any energy and with some heavy bodily upgrades. Everything is there but the closure, leaving the room for more and more non-creative ideas.

Everything seen and viewed, „Resident Evil: The Final Chapter” is sadly, not the final chapter at all.

RESIDENT EVIL: THE FINAL CHAPTER – 2/10

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DECENT CLONE

Ridley Scott's „Alien” inspired entire generations of movie creators and it continues to do so 'till this very day. „Life” is one of the exact replicas of the 1979 masterpiece of SF horror and it does its ripping off relentlessly. There is no proper introduction, just plain old action and horror. The concept of the dormant alien creature (aka Calvin) that does its growing by devouring the crew of the Interantional Space Station is something we already saw more than once. All that follows represent one great mashup of deja vus that stretches out to the ending credits.

The A-list cast will do their parts without mistakes (especially Gyllenhaal), while the CGI and camera will be heavily influenced by the makers of „Gravity”.

Script will wander off pretty early in the movie, so expect no serious and scientifically justifiable plots.

„Life” will not surprise you, but will succeed in amusing you, especially if you were raised on the trash SF horror of the '80s.

LIFE – 5/10

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HITTIN' THE SPOT

Being the most expensive Chinese movie ever, „The Great wall” aims really high when it comes to the overall sense of perception of the box office consumers and that is his major and single biggest flaw. Everything else is falling just in the right place, creating one of the more likeable trash fantasy action movies of the decade.

With Yimou Zhang („Hero”, „The Flowers of war”) at the directing helm, visual identity and action sequences are just impeccable, creating the tension and interesting subplots. The main plot is really hyper-trash in its core, with giant tiger-like lizards invading the ancient Chinese empire led by their ferocious queen. Every single plot that comes from that premise is just impeccable in its creativity and amusement.

When it comes to acting, Matt Damon is just irrelevant, while the A-list of Chinese actors is doing their part with no significant problems. CGI is up-to-date and heavily utilized, but there will be some old fashioned man-to-man action as well.

„The Great wall” is a great „popcorn” movie if you consider it a trash action blockbuster it is.

THE GREAT WALL – 7/10


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TAKING DOWN THE MASKS

There are movies that were made into what they are thanks to the limited resources of their creators, forcing them to compensate the lack of money, production and special effects. „Army of darkness” is on those sequels that brought all those things, but lost the connection to the first two parts, turning the entire concept into a teenage comedy. Sporadically, Bruce Campbell will make you laugh, but the overall sense will be quite empty.

„Army of darkness” signals the end to the entire genre in every major aspect.

ARMY OF DARKNESS – 2/10

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ELABORATED, BUT DUMBER

Although disconnected from the first one when it comes to scripts, „Evil Dead II” will bring us more action, more money for the production and further advance of Sam Raimi's directing skills.

The story will be even more dumber than in the first one, but Bruce Campbell will carry the entire flick with ease of a freshly crowned trash star. Humor and irony will also step in, distancing the flick from its predecessor in the sense of seriousness.

„Evil Dead II” will be honored by the genre lovers, but not many more.

EVIL DEAD II – 4/10

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DIRECTING FOUNDATIONS

Sam Raimi's franchise about the dead coming back to life went almost side by side with Romero's „Living dead” story and the parallels are unavoidable. „The Evil dead” will tackle the same situation horror layout, with young people being trapped inside the lonesome cabin in the woods, but with some weaker plots and action sequences.

However, Raimi will compensate the hollow script with his directing talent and trademark fast moving camera to create the tension and horror. As for the Romero, effects are really outdated, but also more gorish. Also, a whole new B-production star will be born with Bruce Campbell taking the male lead.

„The Evil dead” is one the flicks that made zombie trash horror genre.

THE EVIL DEAD – 5/10

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HILLARIOUS AND CYNICAL

Accumulating more money and technological resources, George Romero created the sequel to his zombie horror story with ease and productional lavish. The script picked up where the first flick stopped, making the phenomena of the dead eating the flesh of living more global and massive. Sets are grandious for the genre itself, and there are some really great mass scenes. There are more characters, subplots and the action scenes are more attractive.

However, the show is being stolen by the phenomenal script, just overflowing with irony of the modern US society and mass media. Tacky, but hillarious lines will follow the overall fast pace of the movie up until the very end with great success.

„The dawn of the dead” is a must see for the zombie horror lovers.

THE DAWN OF THE DEAD – 7/10

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CREATING THE ENTIRE GENRE

Zombie horrors were made by George Romero's franchise and they were made in a proper way when it comes to directing skills. Camera on the floor, narrow angle and a fast cut created the claustrophobic atmosphere of a couple of young people besieged inside the house by the army of the dead that came back to life.

The script is by all means naive, as are the special effects, but the foundations of the entire genre are well laid down, including the confusion and the brutal ending to the enitre flick.

If you are a zombie horror fan, „The night of the living dead” is the place where it all started.

THE NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD – 6/10

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FIRST ONE WAS BETTER

Tarantino tends to make long movie stories, so „Kill Bill” wasn't much of an exception. With the overall time of over four hours, the quality and tempo of the story winds down in the second part of the saga, lacking the great standoffs from the first one.

As for the directing, all the major elements are there also, with with a lesser level of hommage, the creativity of sequences will be slightly lower, not diminishing Quentin's raw talent behind the camera. The epic ending will be somewhat of a anticlimactic when compared to the overall rhythm of the script as well.

„Kill Bill vol.2” is a good movie, but slightly weaker than the first part.

KILL BILL VOL.2 – 6/10

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