Reviews

By 1982, Spielberg had already mastered several genres: Terror (Jaws); Science Fiction (Close Encounters of the Third Kind) and, remarkably, adventures with Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first modern adventures film. He put all those together with his ability to understand and manipulate the public's feelings and created E.T. that is a lot of a drama and a bit of all the previously mentioned movies.

This long evolution, together with the excellent work of John Williams was enough to create one of the best films of the decade, and perhaps the Spielberg's master piece. It is sensitive, sweet and emotive, while thrilling and cheerful sometimes. It distills the true essence of Hollywood. Not surprisingly, it shocked the whole world at its release and its influence was tremendous. Like it or not, the picture of the flying bicycles has became an all-time classic and will be associated forever with he cinema in the eighties, and not just the kids will remember the words "be good".

This excellent movie shows the skills achieved by Pilar Miro as well as the outstanding improvement in the photography/cinematography in the Spanish cinema, as now it can even afford to be sensationalist. Very amusing and entertaining but very difficult to follow too, as it is based on a Lope de Vega play characterized by the most baroque and exquisite use of Spanish. The last part is not up to the rest of the movie, but this is just a direct consequence of the play it is based on and in general to the baroque comedy plays.

This very personal movie from Murnau sets the precedent for the author´s most notorious movie: Nosferatu the vampire.

Murnau demonstrates his superb command of the camera and the illumination while setting the bases of the expressionism.

The suspense distilled in Haunted Castle is well worth a Hitchcock´s movie and the plot is surprisingly complex for a silent.

Do make sure that you see it in a winter stormy night