DaViD´82

Axel's second outing stays true to the Hollywood strategy that a proper sequel must have more of everything. It's a shame that it's true to that strategy even in the significant loss of fun.

Arnie claims his place under the sun. Too bad that he does it in a film that could have ended its career right at the beginning. And no one would be surprised.

The direction is perfect, you have to hand it to Steven, but somehow he forgot that a film should also entertain for the whole duration and not repeat itself like a stuck record over and over again after half an hour.

I be in sauna. I go to West. In West different ideologia. It evil. My good. My Western partner bad. I slap some. My Western partner not so bad. I drive bus. I get watch. My Western partner not at all bad. He good man like me. I must fly home now. I at in good Commie movie, it good in my filmographia. I very satisfactory.

Shrek 2 is a classic sequel, everything that worked last time is here to a greater extent. That bothers me a lot with other films, but with Shrek, paradoxically, I appreciate it. Probably because of the Cat's eyes or the strain on my diaphragm after every screening.

Yes, maybe it's emotional blackmail of the coarsest kind. Maybe.. I'm sure it is, but try explaining it rationally to my then childishly naive tear ducts.

A former Playboy model and a hard-working cook. Instead of a warm romance amidst the steely coolness of a floating world unto itself, there's a contact action flick about a guy who could beat the shit out of those steel gates.

Visually impressive and the script isn't too shabby either, but this type of film stands and falls with atmosphere, and I found it desperately lacking here.

A pretty, old school movie about a Casino, purposefully done in an old school way. Slow tempo, great acting, especially the excellent Alec Baldwin who was rightfully nominated for a great many awards for his role of casino boss sticking to traditions. Despite this he doesn’t stick out, because Macy is excellent too as always whose role of an eternally depressed failure fits him as a glove. It’s all pretty similar to some older pictures, so no surprises anywhere, but it all works excellently. You just have to get used to the intentionally slow pace, which isn’t a problem in view of the catchy story and “just right" atmosphere.

Hellboy has huge potential, but the creators didn’t do a good job in transferring it to the screen. The greatest mistake is that they completely ignored the mysterious Gothic atmosphere that simply oozes out of the comic books. In terms of story this is an almost disrespectful mishmash and the only thing that saves the day is Ron Perlman in the title role of Hellboy himself. Add to that the rather sluggish pace, over-long running time and a lame finale. So the result is unfortunately a mediocre affair that can be watched once, but never again.