NOT TO BE UNDERESTIMATED

There are different kinds of Stephen King’s movie adaptations, and the one about the blood thirsty religious cult of children in some God forsaken village in Nebraska is not one of the milder ones.

Pretty gory for its era, it tends to dissipate its script when it comes to credibility of the entire concept, but nonetheless, 1984 version of ’’Children of the Corn’’ will give you a few goosebumps. Acting will be solid, especially when it comes to children, but much of the true story behind the cult will be saved for the much weaker sequels.

’’Children of the Corn’’ is still to be considered as one of the more serious horrors of the 1980s.

CHILDREN OF THE CORN – 5/10

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GOOD, BUT OVERRATED AS WELL

Michael Haneke likes to make his movies long, slow and painful, so the story about the group of children that rain havoc in a desolated German village in the wake of the First World War doesn’t differ much from that.

However, besides the deviation and genuine disturbed characters that this story unravels, there isn’t much to offer to viewer when it comes to script writing.

Acting will be of trademark high quality, as in all of Haneke’s flicks, especially when it comes to children.

On the other hand, the very end will be abrupt, without the expected climax and a conclusive wrap up of tension being built from the beginning of the movie.

’’The White Ribbon’’ is a good European drama, but not an excellent one critics say.

THE WHITE RIBBON – 6/10

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FASCINATING, BUT OVER THE TOP

Space exploration in the USSR is one of the major topics in modern day Russian cinematography these days and one of those fascinating stories is the one about the first exit into the open space by Alexei Leonov, but also the chaos that followed their return to Earth and the battle to rescue them from ice storm in the desolated area of the country they landed.

However, all the unbelievable elements were not always collected and arranged together by the script in a satisfying manner, so there is a overall sense of a pathetic and over the top subplots all through the entire curse of the movie.

’’Spacewalk’’ has an interesting subject, but also an unstable script as well.

SPACEWALK – 5/10

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CHILDREN’S HORROR

There are movies that just need to be watched in a proper time of your life, and the adaptation of Stephen King’s notorious killer clown Pennywise is just one of those stories.

Viewed as a ten year old, it caused some serious trauma and the clown-phobia through the years to come. Viewed in the late thirties, it just caused boredom and parody-like laughter spiced up with some really thin plots and lame acting.

’’IT’’ is the movie for the children and should be viewed as such, despite all of its gore.

IT – 3/10

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WELL ACTED, BUT NAIVE

Contact with alien races is one of the eternal SF themes, so not even the King of trash John Carpenter resisted the temptation to tackle it.

What separates ’’Starman’’ from the rest of the b-production it shares the timeline is one of the best acting in the history of SF cinema (Bridges), as well as some decent production, albeit nowadays out of date and slightly naive.

On the other hand, the script just won’t take the viewer anywhere specific, leaving the sense of unfinished business at the very end.

’’Starman’’ is a decent movie if you are a fan of the ’80s, but not for much anybody else.

STARMAN – 4/10

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CLASSIC CARPENTER TRASH

Story about a car killer is just one of those scripts that Carpenter built his career on, so the ’’Christine’’ fits in his portfolio like a glove.

All the elements of the ’80s trash horror will be there, poor acting, lame plots and some fine movie aesthetics as well.

However, the bad elements will overcome the good ones and not in a good manner, leaving this flick as one of the weaker ones legendary John signs.

Even if you are a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere fan, „Christine’’ won’t be a decent horror.

CHRISTINE – 3/10

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TYPICAL GENRE MAINSTREAM

Psychic powers are one the more often dealt subjects in the horror and SF movies, so the Cronenberg’s flick about the man (Walken) that wakes up from a coma with a possibility to see the future through a series of flashbacks.

As you can already guess, those predictions aren’t the nice ones, so main character soon finds himself trying to utilize his new set of skills to stop a terrifying outcome that can affect the entire country and the world.

What separates ’’Dead Zone’’ from the majority of such scripts is its ending and a smooth directing and build up of tension characteristic to muck more ’’serious’’ genres.

„Dead zone” is one of those true ’80s horror/SF/fantasy genre mainstream gems.

DEAD ZONE – 6/10

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CRONENBERG AND IRONS AT THEIR BEST

Good horror movies are the ones that mimic the reality as much as possible and the best ones are those that have their base dug deep into the psychology.

„Dead Ringers” is one of those flicks, giving us the truly twisted story about the identical twins that share their business and private life seemingly without remorse.

Jeremy Irons portrays both characters with a terrifying ease as the script takes the similar dive into the disturbing world of true pathology and perversion, climaxing in a saddening end.

„Dead Ringers” is the best Cronenberg’s flick and the best role Jeremy Irons played in his career.

DEAD RINGERS – 7/10

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HANDSOME EXAGGERATION

Cheap productions, bad acting and too artsy atmosphere were a thing of the past when it comes to contemporary Russian cinema. Movies coming from the largest country in this world are now fueled by a respectable amount of cash and also some really interesting stories, like the one about the first successful salvaging of the man made object in the outer space.

As for the CGI, tensity and cinematography, ’’Salyut-7’’ deserves all the praise, bringing it to the level of the much acclaimed ’’Gravity’’, while simultaneously creating the corrugated atmosphere of the USSR-made machines and heroes of the space race.

However, script tends to deviate significantly from the reality in the bottom half of the movie, managing to spoil the good impressions with the US-style pathetic at the very end.

’’Salyut-7’’ is a true blockbuster for the movies that succeed in its primary role to entertain the average viewer with a slightly different perspective to modern day SF.

SALYUT 7 – 5/10

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UNEASY AND SAFE

Really interesting true war stories are now a thing of the past, leaving very few of them still not adapted for the big screen.

’’Anthropoid’’ is one of those scripts that tend to look pretty much better on the paper than on the celulloid. Saga about the Czech patriots that find their way back in the occupied Prague via parachute to assassinate the notorious Reinhard Heydrich has all the elements to create a tense and memorable atmosphere, but it doesn’t succeed to do so. Instead, British flick, led by the always reliable Cillian Murphy manages to succumb the viewer to its really slow pace and claustrophobic feeling, which is not a bad thing after all. The bad thing is that the much expected climax somehow wiggles its way from us, leaving us with a nausea in the final showdown between the commandos and the Nazi.

’’Anthropoid’’ is one of those smaller scale productions that were primarily meant for television and blu-ray rather than the big screen.

ANTHROPOID – 5/10

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WHATEVER...

Our childhood is officially dead. Disney took care of it, by turning one of the most influential movies of all times into a brainless amusement for children with special needs. There are no new interesting worlds, there are no more breathtaking CGI and action sequences, masterpieces of design, nor some likeable characters and lines for quotations.

No, there’s just market research, political correctness at any cost (black stormtrooper, his Chinese girlfriend), Mengele produced creatures (brontosaurus cows, chicken and gremlins hybrids, fish nuns and many, many more), self- paroding villains and no innovation at all.

The storyline just doesn’t exist and the new ’’Star Wars’’ movies are now just a series of random events with no end and no beginning, raping the serious viewer or a fan with no remorse and ending in sight. All the characters that raised entire generations will be exploited without a trace of shame and in the end, wasted with no real reason (Hamill, Fisher).

If „Rogue one” was the lonesome spark in the nowadays dark ’’Star wars’’ universe, ’’The Last Jedi’’made sure it got smothered in a second so you just wouldn't care what will happen next.

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI – 1/10

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EMPTY POSTCARD FROM NORWAY

Michael Fassbender is in some serious trouble when it comes to role choosing in this decade. A whole plethora of poor choices („The Counselor”, „Prometheus”, „Alien: Covenant”, „Assassin’s creed”, „The light between the oceans”) led once very perspective young actor into some serious doubts whether will he ever find the right way to stardom and critical recognition he rightfully deserves.

The last one  of his flops is an unfinished, messy and totally flat lined script about a detective trying to catch a serial killer that leaves his future victims a snowman before he mutilates them. Set in picturesque Norway, it shows off some spectacular empty landscapes, reflecting the vast emptiness of the storyline, at least a decent plot or some sufficient acting.

Fassbender is looking dazed and confused through the entire course of the movie, like he himself can not believe what he just filmed, wondering why he took the job in the first place.

„The Snowman” isn’t movie at all, it’s just an unfinished first take of a really poor attempt to squeeze the life of the Scandinavian neo-noir thriller.

THE SNOWMAN – 2/10

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