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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WAY TO GO (!)

When first part of the high budget modern trashy interpretation of „War of the worlds”, crashed directly on the DVD/online movie community, the impressions were pretty much positive.

Although in a lower level of cast, „Skyline” showed decently tense and hidden story, accompanied by some pretty good CGI and action sequences. With its very ending it offered less answers then it gave and the story about the advanced alien race that kidnap thousands of people to get their brains had to continue.

And it did, and did it by raising the level of trash to the level of parody. High end budget was there one again, as well as the C-level cast, but the script was the one that evolved beyond any predictions.

Not only do the aliens use human brains to drive their slave army of soldiers, they also do not manage to control every single brain they collect. When one of those brains in one of those soldier’s bodies manages to save his pregnant girlfriend that gives birth to a very special little girl, the hunt for the key of the survival of the entire human race begins.

And it leads us to Laos, crossing the paths with lead stars of the Indonesian martial art masterpiece, „Raid: Redemption”, paving the way to the ultimate standoff between aliens with blue brains, aliens with red brains and mankind at Angkor Wat.

„Beyond Skyline” is one of the finer examples of modern day Hollywood trash SF-horrors and deserves to be recognized as such.

BEYOND SKYLINE – 7/10

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OH SCRIPT, WHERE ARE THOU?

It isn’t true that everything is bad in today’s high end Hollywood production. There are still some great men behind the camera, capable of filming a suspenseful and innovative scene/sequence/movie. Guy Ritchie is one of those naturally gifted directors, whose editing cut, camera and lens can still surprise us so deep into the 21^st century.

There are also some still decent actors, capable of carrying out their roles they were meant to, even if they were mediocre up until now (i.e. Jude Law).

CGI, production and soundtrack makers were never the issue.

So, what is the main problem with modern blockbuster coming from the other side of the Atlantic?

Script, script, script.

There aren’t any good ones left. If there were, story about King Arthur, his sword and the Knights of the Round table wouldn’t be so trashy and written for the population with special needs. Which is really a shame, because Guy Ritchie otherwise made a really decent action historical/SF spectacle that could’ve been capable of satisfying even a more demanding viewer.

„King Arthur: The legend of the sword” is a good movie with an awful script.

KING ARTHUR: THE LEGEND OF THE SWORD – 5/10

FOTO: cinemavine.com

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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