Reviews

I just left the screening of "Carriers". It was the opening Movie on this years Fantasy Film Fest. At least here in Munich. Well, my first reaction to this film was something like "Wow... this where long 90 Minutes". Most of the other crowd thought the same and their comments where quite similar to mine. Meaning: Good, but a bit slow.

This Movie needs a little tightening to speed it up a little bit. It does a lot of things right! The characters are worked out properly, the camera-work is top notch and the acting is very good. But sometimes there are scenes, that last too long. You know where the Directors want to go, you know how the scene will play out in the end, but it still goes on and on and on... So again: a little trimming would do the film good!

Well, and then there is this whole "Wrong Marketing"-Thing. At least here in Germany they try to sell this movie as a Horror-Movie. That's just wrong. Sure, there are the classic Horror-Elements, but overall "Carriers" is a strong, heavy Drama. There is virtually NO Action and even less gore in it. Instead there are long dialogs, dramatic events and more dialogs. That's fine with me, but it makes the movie hard to find it's audience. The GoreHounds will be disappointed by the lack of blood and guts and the Drama-Fans will be pushed away by the apocalyptic Elements...

So. Once again: "Carriers" has great potential but is a little bit to slow and to heavy on the drama to pass as a great movie.

Even 25 Years after it's initial release in 1981 the special effects of "Dragonslayer" still deliver!

As with "Star Wars" or, maybe even more comparable, "Jaws" the combination of Blue Screen, Miniature and Animatronic-Effects do still look good. Maybe even better than most of the CGI you get nowadays.

The movie itself may be quite a bit cheesy in 2007, maybe the acting is a bit over-the-top, but the Dragon alone makes this movie worth watching.

To bad none of the available RC1 or RC2 DVDs do contain any Extra-Material on how they created this great illusion...

This Movie is mediocre through and through. Mediocre acting, mediocre story, mediocre action and mediocre cinematography. I can't believe, Stan Lee green-lit this movie back in the 80s. The Story behind the Punisher has so much potential that is not used by this movie. It lacks most of the drama-elements used in the comic-book and it reduces the Punisher to a mindless killing-machine.

All this could be put aside, if the movie would be fun action-wise. But even this is not the case. It is done in a very routine and boring kind of way that is so typical for B-Movies from the late 80s...

If you want to see, how it is done - mostly - right, then watch the 2004-Version of "The Punisher" by Jonathan Hensleigh.

O.k., good things first: "One missed call" is scary as hell, most of the time. It has some great scares that take you on the edge of your seat and will sometimes make you jump out of it. The acting is quite good for most of the actors and the cinematography is quite impressing. Now for the bad part: the basic story is a pure rip-off of the original "Ringu". Even one or two complete scenes are "borrowed" nearly 1:1. That's why the solution to the mystery can be foretold quite early in the movie and the ending isn't much of a surprise after all... Overall "One missed call" is a good and enjoyable movie. And with it's lack of gore and it's easy to follow storyline it is for sure the most commercial movie Takeshi Miike has done so far...

80 Minutes of this movie are a perfect roller coaster ride!

Mystic, scary and sometimes funny, this little gem makes it hard, not to like it. The story, and the way it devellopes sometimes reminded me on the works of David Lynch. This includes the weird ocurences and the way this movie destroys the classic American family. But unfortunatelly this movie makes a big mistake and comes up with an ending, that is so uninspired and dull, that it takes away a lot of the overall-experience.

Still a rock-solid 8/10!

I`ve finally seen this one on DVD yesterday and i enjoyed it very much. Great Werwolf-Design, fast action and quite a bit to offer in the gore-section. The only thing i found a bit distracting was the clishee-driven story. You can predict most of the twists and turns of the storyline, if you have seen other movies in this genre. But that does not make the film "bad" either. It is still very entertaining to watch! If you`re looking for a good Party-Movie, Dog Soldiers is the one to look out for ! 8/10