TheRetroCritic

Yes, "Snake Is Back". But this time: it ain't New York. That Escape From New York is, to this day, still seen as a sci-fi cult classic and Escape From L.A. remains something of a joke is hardly shocking. After all, this is mostly what this sequel/remake is, right?  A joke? I mean, luckily everyone involved seems to be in on it but it's the kind of thing that audiences just wouldn't necessarily get. Evil Dead II , for example, was essentially a remake of the first film, and a parody of it to a certain extent, but right off the bat, the sequel obviously had a very different, jokey vibe, plus it was a good, really entertaining movie so it worked. Here, it feels like the movie is taking the piss of itself but it's not really clear why so it just ends up being an altogether random experience. Especially since Escape From L.A. is basically a messier retread of the original plot-wise. And I think that's what kills the flick. Don'

Look at that poster. What the hell were they thinking? When did Dreamscape become Temple Of Doom ? I know Kate Capshaw's in this movie but honestly, that's not enough to justify making a full-on Indiana Jones poster for a film which mostly sees people talking rubbish in rooms and labs, with the occasional wacky dream sequence. Besides, the little kid on the left: SO not a main character. The poster makes it seem like he's Short Round or something. Honestly, if you've seen the movie, this poster's hilarious. Dreamscape stars Dennis Quaid as a dude with some kind of telepathic/telekinetic ability who is hired by Max Von Sydow's scientist to be part of an experiment which involves entering dreams and controlling them somehow. A villainous Christopher Plummer learns that the US President is having these strange nightmares and decides, with the old man's permission of course, to send someone in his mind to sort it out. Of course, Plummer's more intere

Olivia de Havilland loses it and we sit and watch as she attempts to regain some shred of her sanity and hopefully leave her confinement to be reunited with her husband. The reasons behind her nervous breakdown are revealed little by little and although the feel of the film is, at times, very Hitchcockian, the way the subject-matter is handled makes  Spellbound  look like a 5 year-old child's perception of psychoanalysis rather than a legitimate take on it. De Havilland's performance in this is one of the most complex, unpredictable and powerful I've seen in a long time and, again, makes Gregory Peck's performance in Spellbound look even poorer than it already is in comparison. She earned a well deserved Oscar nomination and so did the film. The Snake Pit is very dark and doesn't sugar-coat much, with some scenes actually quite hard to watch and pretty daring for 1948. As larger than life as some of the characters may be, this is far more subtle and honest than

Yes, as you can see the calibre of films that I've been watching lately has somewhat improved. Then I saw Sssssss... Believe it or not this is not a sequel to French caveman comedy Rrrrrrr! , a film I actually wish I had watched again instead of this soporific snake-a-rific mess. Not that I was expecting anything stellar quality-wise but at least vast amounts of laughable silliness. Oh I got the silliness alright but at what cost? Only 4 hours of my life in snake time! I'm exaggerating. Really the film is watchable but so many scenes throughout could have easily been rushed or just cut from the final edit altogether and the general pace of the whole thing makes a funeral look like Speed Racer . We tediously snail along to an incredibly silly but admittedly almost genius conclusion which turns out to be... Not really worth it. Oh sure the dialogs are Troll 2 awful, the story is nonsense and you get circus people PLUS a guy turning into a snake so there is some fun

Olivia de Havilland loses it and we sit and watch as she attempts to regain some shred of her sanity and hopefully leave her confinement to be reunited with her husband. The reasons behind her nervous breakdown are revealed little by little and although the feel of the film is, at times, very Hitchcockian, the way the subject-matter is handled makes Spellbound look like a 5 year-old child's perception of psychoanalysis rather than a legitimate take on it. De Havilland's performance in this is one of the most complex, unpredictable and powerful I've seen in a long time and, again, makes Gregory Peck's performance in Spellbound look even poorer than it already is in comparison. She earned a well deserved Oscar nomination and so did the film. The Snake Pit is very dark and doesn't sugar-coat much, with some scenes actually quite hard to watch and pretty daring for 1948. As larger than life as some of the characters may be, this is far more subtle and honest than,