DaViD´82

For most of its running time it floats in the calm waters of sheer mediocrity, and the only thing that occasionally snaps it out of its lethargy are a couple of incredibly lame jokes and a few (literally) quite brilliant gags.

Looking back, maybe this wasn’t such a ground-breaking movie as it seemed when it was first released. The truth is that neither Buffalo Bill nor the screenplay are at all original - on the other hand, in technical terms this is excellent and has a brilliant and believably urgent atmosphere, excellent music by Howard Shore and a well-adapted screenplay. So this is a good above-average affair. But what gives The Silence of the Lambs its place in cinema history is the relationship, dialogs and quality of acting (or almost living the parts) of Agent Starling and Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Even today this is the absolute zenith of cinema, not just in this genre.

Julie, or rather Annette Bening, is just divine here, giving a great performance as an ageing theatre actress at the peak of her career. This adaptation of the play titled “Theatre" is really worth seeing, mainly due to the actors, because nothing special really happens story-wise, although the ending certainly works well. Even the directing by István Szabó seems like a record of a sumptuous theatre performance, which in this case is positive.

Jackie is completely devoid of ideas with the "support" of boring direction, TV CGI effects and a non-existent script. All this in combination with Lee Evans, the alleged "comedian", whose "humour" will keep me awake from my dreams for the rest of my life. I’m really sorry for Chan, he doesn’t need stuff like this.

Just like Carl Denham, Peter Jackson should have had a good producer at hand to keep a tighter rein on him while making this movie. As the saying goes: “less is more" and (even in the extended edition which, unfortunately, mainly contains new scenes with dinosaurs and only here or there something meaningful) King Kong is a prime example of that. The entire island part is over-combined and the fact that Peter was just making his childhood dreams come true here is no excuse for it. The scenes with Kong and Ann are splendid, but unfortunately rather sidelined by scene with the dinosaurs fleeing from other dinosaurs, something that you soon get fed up with. The only scene that works in this pulp dime action respect is the one with Ann, King Kong and the trio of T-Rexes. Basically, as long as Kong/Ann are on screen, then everything is perfect and when they aren’t, then it’s just mediocre. Of course, any objections go aside as far as the New York finale goes (which lasts almost as long as a feature-length movie) and I have no qualms in giving this a full set of stars. ♫ OST score: 3/5

It must be said that this is a picture with a miserable screenplay that is barely good enough for an hour-long tale. It also has a needlessly dragged-out introduction and the relatively average Andy Nyman. Luckily, otherwise there are just positives. We get perfectly functional (and appropriate) black humor, a few scenes and snappy lines that stick in your head (most of the deaths, for instance). It considerably helps the picture that it was written and filmed by a Brit, while taking place in Prague, so it has that “outside view" of us, which makes for some funny situations. However, the greatest ace that it has up its sleeve is the absolutely excellent Karel Roden. He carries the whole movie on his shoulders, even during some of the weaker scenes. Considering it cost a mere three million crowns (somewhere around 150,000 dollars), it looks pretty good in technical terms and you can see that you can make a movie even with a minimum of funds. Objectively this is a only slightly above-average picture, on the other hand I was in the right mood and happened to like it more than lots of other movies I have seen recently, so I am absolutely content. However, I can’t shake the feeling that with a better screenplay it would have been on the way to being more than “just" a very good black comedy.

A desperately unoriginal picture, which wouldn’t matter so much because similar types of comedies (Big, Freaky Friday etc.) depend on the actors and their comic talents. Unfortunately, Jennifer Garner has none in this movie and comes across really lame throughout. At the good moments. At other times, she is simply unbearable. The only pluses are Mark Ruffalo, Serkis and, once in a very long while, a good joke or two.

A well-made movie that has one problem that you have to get over: that it’s so terribly dragged out. However the screenplay failed to milk much from attractive subject matter and overall the movie would have benefited from being cut shorter than its rather over-the-top two-hour running time. Caine and the other actors give us just their standard, rather than any unforgettable performances and so it is a relatively decent, albeit needlessly mediocre movie which certainly could have turned out significantly better.

A fine courtroom drama with an interesting and attractive premise, from which I will only remember the absolutely brilliant ten-minute or so scene of the actual exorcism of Emily Rose. It doesn't let you breathe and becomes a clear highlight of scenes of this kind, including The Exorcist.

The passable book and the (once upon a time) good director inspired hope in me that this adaptation of Crichton’s story could turn out not so badly. Unfortunately the fact that the book was just another in a long line coming out of the Crichton factory didn’t help. And so again this adaptation was a fumble and resulted in an action adventure hybrid that is the epitome of mediocrity on all counts. But Tyler’s music came along to save the day at least a little.