POMO

David Lynch’s movies bear the same creative signature, but each and every one of them is different. With the exception of Inland Empire. This film is just a collage of already seen “Lynchian” things and some tricks to make the story more tangled, escalate it and bring it to a close. It’s basically a longer, club version of Mulholland Drive without beautiful actresses, spicy erotic scenes, a reasonable length and compelling visuals, which are replaced here with abhorrent digital graininess. Inland Empire is a deluge of half-baked material that would look better on a DVD together with a collection of the director’s eccentric shorts. Or am I just too spoiled by his other movies?

Hairspray is small and simple, but nice and cute fun for one evening. It is to Adam Shankman’s credit that he is also behind the choreography.

While the dialogue was Tarantino’s Achilles heel, in Rodriguez’s case, it is the story. Despite these failings, both of the Grindhouse movies provide some delicious entertainment, and Planet Terror is an absolute king of the trash genre. On the “Troma scare”, I’d give it five out of five; on a normal scale, it gets three stars.

To blame Disturbia for using the most recycled thriller premise and not providing any moments of surprise would be unfair. It is a well-crafted thriller for teenagers, who don’t care a bit about Hitchcock or his Rear Window. The slightly boring first hour rests solely on Shia LaBeouf’s shoulders and he bears this responsibility with dignity. Sarah Roemer may remind you of your first love in high school. And the last twenty minutes have some decent escalation.

It’s hard to believe that this monstrosity cost just a laughable 150 million bucks. If that’s true, it means that the producer Spielberg has some extraterrestrial abilities. Transformers is a Hollywood blockbuster worth easily double the price of a cinema ticket... if you know why you are going to a Michael Bay film in which robots from other worlds wage war on Earth. With the exception of the chilling introductory sequences, it’s a bit childish and silly, but the technical side, especially the numerous escalated action scenes, is just nuts. The scene of shooting at a scorpion in the desert (especially shot from the inside of a helicopter) with the musical background in the form of Jablonsky’s “Scorponok” is incredibly cool! And those feline eyes of Megan Fox... omfg!!!

Death Proof is a cool flick full of boring girl talk and AMAZING, visceral car chases and stunts. I would expect more in the dialogue department from my beloved Tarantino; however, he (once again) pleasantly surprised me with the dynamic action of the car scenes. Kurt Russell is great and the director’s inside jokes for those familiar with his work are even better (the two policemen, the ring tone of Abernathy’s cell phone, Kurt winking at the camera, etc.) Maybe, however, Quentin should have followed Russ Meyer’s example and cast some bustier ladies so that the movie would be the “perfect” representative of the feminist exploitation genre. Let’s see what the 110-minute version will bring, but because of the dumb dialogue, I’m not willing to forgive, so I’m sticking with three stars. P.S.: Rosario Dawson is very pretty.

August the First is a technically semi-amateur (the unintentionally blurred image even in banal dialogue scenes!) film about a family who deals with their dysfunction in their home and garden. The idea is not bad - one of the main characters turns out to be someone other than we thought, which completes the story -, but it’s not done well. The chemistry between the characters works, but the director doesn’t know how to emphasize important moments and the film, which has the same length as, for example, The Naked Gun, is boring in places. It’s a somewhat negligible, small-scale indie affair.

These dice have been thrown so elegantly that, even though the same number appears on every side, it is still a pleasure to watch them fly to the end. Ocean’s Thirteen is an entertaining and charismatic flick that pleased me with Brad Pitt’s perfect suits, the sensually attractive MILF Ellen Barkin (doesn’t anyone have the recipe for that perfume?) and the skyscraper-hotel tycoon Al Pacino. Add in the perfect roles for Andy Garcia, Vincent Cassel and David Paymer, and of course Clooney’s smiling, cool-as-a-cucumber Danny Ocean. Steven Soderbergh did a great job with being in charge of a dozen stars, milking the potential of each one of them to the last drop, and even managed to chill while doing it. It’s not as amazing as the first installment (i.e. it’s easily forgettable and it’s enough to watch it once), but on the other hand, it’s easier to follow and more relaxed than the controversial second instalment.

A ghost thriller about youngsters for youngsters, where absolutely nothing works as intended. David Goyer’s half-witted direction was still bearable in Blade: Trinity, which did not pretend to be anything more than dumb fun. The Invisible, however, wants to be a serious, tense and emotionally devastating drama, and it fails on all counts, arousing only bitterness, disbelief and sometimes a condescending smile. The film’s production values are solid; it’s no cheap B-movie and Justin Chatwin is full of youthful charm (he also gets much more space than in the “technical” War of the Worlds), but Goyer buries it all. It’s movies like these that make one appreciate the art of good direction... Instead of this, go watch the emotionally effective Butterfly Effect or the atmospheric and intriguing Donnie Darko.

The story is fast-paced, the action scenes are perfectly shot and sometimes even inventive (the tunnel scene), and the old boy Bruce Willis is – surprisingly – still the same great John McClane, who holds the film together and provides it with the right ironic wit. I would edit the last third of the film a bit and shorten the whole thing by some five minutes, but otherwise I have no complaints, apart from the fallen Capitol in the trailer.