Lima

The first half is excellent. With a minimum of resources, Raimi manages to evoke an oppressive atmosphere of fear. The tree rape scene is something that is not easily forgotten. But the second half is terribly jumbled, as if Raimi didn't know what he wanted to do and was paying for his inexperience as a filmmaker. What I mean is that the scenes are poorly sequenced. In one scene there is a brutal death, and in the one that immediately follows, the characters look uninterested, as if not much had actually happened a few minutes before. I consider Evil Dead to be merely a good, not great, precursor to the flawless sequel.

Sam Raimi is a whiz who can turn a fairly mediocre script into a first-class thriller. It doesn't happen very often when I watch a movie, but I was really scared, and I think that's the best mark.

One of the few films where I literally fell in love with the main characters and experienced everything good and bad with them. The relaxed performances of everyone involved make me believe that the shooting must have taken place in a perfect atmosphere and the love for the source material oozes out of the film, that is something that is reflected in the final result. Writing how visually stunning this film is, is like bringing wood to the forest. From an acting point of view, I particularly enjoyed Cate Blanchett, Ian McKellen, and I was very pleasantly surprised by Sean Bean as Boromir. His performance at the end, when he wants the ring from Frodo, is one of my favourites.

What moral lessons can we take away from this film? The following: if you give beer to your bear, you will make an alcoholic out of it, useless for guarding your personal property. A lesson so profound that it's quite enough to award this entertaining western four stars.

Wolfgang Petersen forgot about his masterpieces Das Boot and The Neverending Story and made a stupid film that even Emmerich would be ashamed of.

Once again I didn't give in to the critics and it paid off. A.I. is an excellent film and I left the cinema with a warm feeling in my heart. I think it is stupid to look for Kubrick here, this is sensitive Spielberg with all the bells and whistles.

The otherwise average director Peter Hyams has pleasantly surprised me. 2010 is a film with very good visual effects, an interesting story and a well executed final twist. But it should not be compared with Kubrick’s 2001, that one is a league of its own.

Robert De Niro shows his career is going downhill, because he is taking roles in increasingly mediocre films, and 15 Minutes is no exception. Karel Roden overacts with gusto and maintains a comfortable distance next to the awful Edward Burns.

Yeah, the detonation scenes are interesting and dramatic, but the love story line is lifeless and Sly, narcissistically showing off his body at the gym, isn't at his best either. Luis Llosa can put together action scenes, but he is not so good that he can easily combine multiple genres.

I wouldn't expect this from Konchalovsky, a very good thriller with brilliant performances. B-movie king Eric Roberts could enjoy his only Oscar nomination.