Goldbeater

For me (completely subjectively), this is the best western I have recently seen. The cast is memorable, and is combined with a well-depicted story about moral dilemmas and the relentlessness of mortality, it really struck a chord with me when I was in a not-so-good mood. At its core, it is a very sad and bitter movie (it is certainly not a comedy, as is often said) about brotherhood and about simply dealing with the crap life throws up sometimes.

A Wrinkle in Time seems like a pop music video for teenage girls, but stretched-out to an incredible 110 minutes. This is a terrible overly sweet movie with tons of emotionally-charged motivational speeches about gaining self-confidence and the power of love - way beyond the boundaries of merely childish naivety to where downright stupidity begins  - and it is hard to take seriously, especially with the most literal motivational speeches. The characters' lines fluctuate between cheesy stupid ones, like when we learn, for example, that electrons can be connected by the power of love, and even downright ridiculous nonsense - when a young girl finds the confidence to defeat evil, she is compared to Nelson Mandela and Oskar Schindler. The really lousy performances by the child actors (especially little Deric McCabe), up-and-coming adult actors in kitschy costumes speaking saccharine-sweet lines, the involvement of Oprah Winfrey in the role of the wisest being, and Mindy Kaling in perhaps the most annoying role of the whole movie will only cause people to have psychedelic headache.

Sadly, Dumb and Dumber To is a totally unworthy sequel to the excellent road movie that instantly carved out a place among the best comedies of the 90s. The Farrelly brothers reused the same material they had used years earlier, but from the likable goofs in the original, they made selfish, puffy fools. And the vision of tired Jim Carrey features is rather sad than comical. Who could have wished for such a number two?

The mute seamstress Thana (played by the iconic Zoë Lund), is really unlucky - she is raped twice in a single day by two different perverts - after which she embarks on a crusade with a .45 caliber in her hand to clean up New York and rid it of dirty men. Abel Ferrara presents a multi-layered and visually interesting rape-and-vengeance-movie in the very bustling setting of a crime-ridden New York City, and treats the audience to a bloody finale in the form of the protagonist provocatively dressed as a nun. This is a truly memorable feat.

Set in a not-quite-yet full-on post-apocalyptic Australia, not-so-mad-yet Max Rockatansky drives his "Interceptor" car, fights punk bikers, and gives rise to one of the most distinctive works of fierce Ozploitation that shoots Mel Gibson into stardom. For some it is perhaps an old low-budget and simple revenge movie, for me, it is a crucial, iconic action movie full of incredible stunts, for which I can always find the time. Compared to the purely post-apocalyptic sequels and remakes, this is a very different movie, and yet, it is still an unforgettable and original movie.

This movie can be compared with the similar Canadian horror movie Happy Birthday to Me, from the same year in some ways, although I must say that I was a little more entertained by There Was a Little Girl. Nevertheless, the movie lost to its Canadian rival in theory, as it did not appear in American movie theaters until two years later (under the alternative title Madhouse). It is an above-average slasher movie with a reliably dense atmosphere and several gory scenes, which could be enjoyed by audiences who are especially afraid of dogs. This is one of the more modest movies on the "video nasties" list, which, rather than for the explicit gore, of which there is not that much here, was down to the weak stomachs of British censors due to the infamous portrayal of one of the characters, who in their eyes should have been shown as an upstanding member of society, I guess.

I envy people who have been able to enjoy The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. I tried and definitely had no big expectations regarding this movie - I knew in advance that the sequel would go down a different path of horror-comedy, and would have almost nothing to do with the first installment. However, even as a stand-alone movie, it absolutely went over my head, failed to entertain me, and in the end, it even annoyed me. A deranged Dennis Hopper waving a chainsaw around his head was very appealing (I was looking forward to that the most), however, unfortunately, this was the only justification for the presence of his character in the movie. By the end, you can see that he did not bring anything that surprising to the role. It does not even make sense to mention the rest of the movie - the last part of it is simply a facsimile of the first movie’s ending at best, and at worst it is trying to create a parody with a weird sense of humor, which I just shook my head at - all in a kitschy setting, which was all the slapdash Cannon Films studio’s higher budget would allow.

Anyone could admit  that it is only a facsimile of A Quiet Place, however, Bird Box cannot be denied its own merit and the fact that it goes off in a different direction. From a technical and acting point of view, it is a great achievement (I think that more time and space could have been given to John Malkovich’s character especially, I would have appreciated that). However, the retrospective narration was painful - and, because of it, you could predict how the movie would turn out from the beginning concerning most of the characters, so there are no real surprises when something really bad happens. The audience is thus unnecessarily deprived of suspense, and it is impossible to generate an emotional connection with the characters from the start, which is a great shame with this type of movie. Also, perhaps only those with the sunniest of dispositions could have actually believed the ending.

This was the first movie for the studio American International Pictures, the first movie for Dick Miller (and he already has two different roles here), and it is also one of the first movies made by director Roger Corman (he made at least three movies in 1955, and it is hard to say which one was the first), yet this remains a very tedious movie and is a simple western with the unimpressive Lloyd Bridges. It is good that over the years, Roger Corman shifted out of making movies in the western genre, and established himself more as a horror movie maker. Apache Woman remains a very disappointing and unsubstantial movie.

Toxie returns after eleven years to fight crime again on the streets of Tromaville. This time, however, he inadvertently gets into a parallel dimension and is replaced by the evil Noxie. This fourth installment is again a typical Troma massacre, in which all aspects are amped up to meet the demands of the new millennium - more characters, and more blood. Compared to the previous installments, unfortunately, there are loads of poo jokes, however, still to a bearable degree. The rather amusing thing is that this movie apologizes at the beginning for the previous two sequels of The Toxic Avenger, even though I find them quite decent (in the context of Troma Entertainment, these are good fun movies).