Goldbeater

I'm not a fan of the original Beetlejuice, so I went into the sequel unburdened by any expectations, but this really isn't my cup of tea. I'm sorry that Tim Burton has now traded his previously stylish and lush morbidity for nothing but infantile and recycled morbidity. When Michael Keaton wasn't rocking the screen (really, the highlight of both films), all the other humour absolutely passed me by. The plot holds together about as well as a house of cards, the way the bad guys are handled points to the fact that they were really only in the film as a crutch to move the plot along, and the main characters are almost insufferable. I appreciate the return to practical effects and stop-motion animation (or, for the first time in years, Burton has made a film whose visuals don't make me downright nauseous), but it doesn't really improve my overall impression.

As much as I want to like those cavernous Italian horror films, this one unfortunately doesn't even look good. Plus as far as Umberto Lenzi is concerned, in Nightmare City I wondered (was shocked) at how the director was unable to wrap up the story and chose the cheapest way to get around it. And now I see that the inability to wrap up the plot was simply his modus operandi.

Osgood Perkins is in complete control of the style, as we learn within the first few minutes, and without a doubt in control of the content, as his satanic-tinged crime horror works very well, is suspenseful, surprising, and is already one of the genre events of the year. I was almost taken aback by how it really grabbed me. Nicolas Cage and his creations are once again the stuff of legends. It's also quite funny that Perkins is able to use in such a focused film the properties that we would attribute more to James Wan (a demonic doll, a character with glowing eyes under a black veil, houses with many dark corners, a recurring pop song), but uses them in a completely measured, non-shallow and clever way (which is also why his next film will be produced by who else but James Wan). A great surprise, a quality horror film, and definitely an achievement worthy of a visit to the cinema.

In space, no one can hear you cringe. The Disneyfication of Alien was a success. And much like the Predator: Prey, apparently most audiences are fine with it, but I'm not. That Fede Álvarez was only going to come out with a straightforward slasher film with lame characters that here merely replicate the template of the trivial characters of his previous films was clear from the start. But that the film would offer nothing more than perhaps good production design and practical effects, even if these too only skillfully copy and purposefully recall the original, and would only be a variation of what we had seen before, lacking all the tension, directorial invention and, in short, characters in which we could invest our fears, was not something I wanted to believe. To add to that, my fears that it would come to a mindless repetition of elements and catchphrases from the original films, the plague of all contemporary follow-ups to classic franchises, were realized and here it downright hurts. The opening still holds up, but then you can practically identify the turning point in the film when it all starts to go to shit. Last year's Infested was a better follow-up to Alien than this corporate fanservice product, and even managed to do one of the key would-be action-horror scenes more effectively. If you want inspiration from the greats in independent waters and outside of established franchises, you won't find it at Disney.

And here I thought David Lynch couldn't surprise me with anything anymore. I've long kept Inland Empire as the last of his films I had to watch, and waiting for the opportunity to see it on the big screen was definitely worth it. Even though someone kept leaving the theater and the constant opening of doors was a bit distracting, I had a literally transcendent experience. I can't recommend it to anyone, but with the right frame of mind you really are in for a "full David Lynch experience".

A distant relative and imaginary follow-up to Mike Nichols' The Graduate, The Heartbreak Kid is a black comedy about the question "Now what? What's next?" It's all subtle, playful, mischievous, non-judgmental and funny in its own way – just how I like it. Plus, I have a soft spot for films where the (anti-)hero can talk their way out of any situation, or conversely get in anywhere. And Charles Grodin's character does it here quite masterfully. A forgotten gem.

For me, Fellini's best film so far. Although the director achieved worldwide fame with his later works, I'm probably more of a fan of his early efforts. The Young and the Passionate is a great mosaic of small-town characters who would love to be headed for stardom, but instead stay in the same hole over and over again. Non-judgmental, heartfelt and emotionally turbulent in the best sense of the word.

A fragmentary recollection of the director's youth... some will find it a distinctive and engaging account, others will be left cold. I probably count myself in the latter group.

It's probably foolish to complain about the affectation and whining in an Italian film about the world of Roman street prostitutes, but I can’t avoid it, it was too affected and whiny for me. Although Cabiria is almost insufferable, she does get her character arc, but it comes almost two hours, which is hard to take in such an episodic presentation. I left me pretty tired.

Chinatown on expert game mode. An uncompromising, gritty hard-boiled crime drama in which Mickey Rourke, as a newly deployed police captain in New York's Chinatown, makes order among the local mafia and violent gangs. It offers the most concentrated Michael Cimino and a highly engrossing and stylized piece that is bound to sting any fan of the genre.