Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

MisterWhiplash This could have been just a good but standard horror film except for one thing: Peter Cushing as Baron Frankenstein (whether there's a 'von' in the middle I don't know, but there should be) is so spectacular playing such a horrible person. I'd need to ruminate further, or rewatch the Whale films from the 30's, to know for sure whether or not this is the "best" Frankenstein movie (Bride is more ambitious, while the original has Karloff), but what makes this Hammer one stand out, the first of many as it appears, is that Cushing is so committed to this total bastard of a "doctor". It's really his movie - the Creature, of course it being Christopher Lee in one of his triumvirate Hammer performances as the famous monsters, is a supporting role, only showing up more than halfway into the story - and he is a fascinating lead since he is the villain of his own story. The "Creature" has got nothing on Frankenstein's ego, which is the kind that could rival Walter White as far as high intelligence and don't-give-a-f*** intent.There would/could be something admirable about him if he had ever done anything for anyone else, but we never see that (he does resurrect the dog with his one-time colleague and partner, Paul, played in a sturdy, almost straight-man performance to Cushing's hard-nosed egoist by Robert Urquhart, but whatever). Instead he is set on his path of single-minded determination while also cheating on his fiancé with the maid (her acting is likely the weakest here, but she's on screen the least so it's acceptable), destroying the one sort of friend he had with Paul, and not stopping when he really should - many, many times. Another villain might chew the scenery and make him more obviously evil or twisted. Cushing finds the humanity even while he keeps going on this dark and misguided path. We might remember the monster - or that's the intention - in other Frankenstein movies. Here, Fisher wants us to leave 'Curse' remembering how at every step of the way, the Baron's manipulation of those around him, from his fiancé to Paul (until, fairly quickly, he realizes how terrible this man is), is without end to meet his goal of creating the "perfect" monster.Curiously, Cushing may have not liked the script too much (he made a quip to Lee upon one of their first days on set, "I have no lines!" Lee said, with Cushing's remark, "You're lucky, I've read the script"). Perhaps he found those moments where, without saying anything, in those in-between moments in the script, that he found the character and made him feel all the more of a threat. And, again, it's not the kind like you usually expect; in a way the Creature is a more innocent kind of danger, since he doesn't know any better. By the way, one of the fun things in this film is how, I have to think Hammer knew this as well, they combine two famous bits from previous Frankenstein movies: at one point the creature runs into a blind man who has with him a little boy. Close enough to both the scene where the Karloff creature met the little girl (and then threw her into the lake), and met the blind man in the sequel. This time the blind-man moment is not as ... philosophical, one might say, but it's still entertaining.As far as the rest of the movie, outside of Cushing, this is produced with as much care as could go into what I'd assume is a fairly low budget for Hammer - this was just before they made Horror of Dracula, which really set them on the path they'd carve out in the genre - and it's, I think (correct me if I'm wrong), the first Frankenstein movie in color. One might think something is lost when it's not in black and white, but Fisher and his team find a way to make it colorful while also not too heightened; the colors are drab and a lot of grays and browns and greens, but it doesn't have the hue like a modern movie might have if it only had those colors (looking at you, modern action movies). And of course there's Lee, who, again, has no lines, but damn if he doesn't care a major impression through an incredible make-up job, and as he showed in the other horror movies because he takes this seriously (and is such a good actor) we can take it seriously.Is it campy at all? I'm sure there might be a scene or two that's a bit much - another character I mentioned in this review meets demise, spoiler, how one might expect - but all the time there's a sense of dread just by proxy of what the hell this Baron-Doctor is going to do next, and how far he'll go. By the time it gets to that ending it does something clever which is to sort of subvert its own opening; the beginning of the film starts with Baron Frankenstein in jail, the priest coming to visit him, and he seems sympathetic. That... goes away quickly, and by the end he's a pathetic shell of his former self. It's not the way one would think a Frankenstein movie would end, but maybe it's how it *should* end, placing the emphasis on character and downfall over effects.

psycosid-10273 I like "The Curse of Frankenstein" which is a 1957 British horror film by Hammer Film Productions, loosely based on the novel Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley. It was Hammer's first colour horror film, and the first of their Frankenstein series. Its worldwide success led to several sequels, and the studio's new versions of Dracula (1958) and The Mummy (1959) and established "Hammer Horror" as a distinctive brand of Gothic cinema. The film was directed by Terence Fisher and stars Peter Cushing as Victor Frankenstein, Hazel Court as Elizabeth, and Christopher Lee as the creature.Peter Cushing, who was then best known for his leading roles in British television, was sought out by Hammer for this film. Christopher Lee's casting, meanwhile, resulted largely from his height (6' 5"). Hammer had earlier considered the even taller (6 '7") Bernard Bresslaw for the role. Universal fought hard to prevent Hammer from duplicating aspects of their 1931 film, and so it was down to make-up artist Phil Leakey to design a new-look creature bearing no resemblance to the Boris Karloff original created by Jack Pierce. Production of The Curse of Frankenstein began, with an investment of £65,000, on 19 November 1956 at Bray Studios with a scene showing Baron Frankenstein cutting down a highwayman from a wayside gibbet. The film opened at the London Pavilion on 2 May 1957 with an X certificate from the censors.

BA_Harrison Locked in a cell, an hour away from the guillotine, Baron Frankenstein recounts to a priest how he built a creature from human body parts and successfully brought it to life.The Curse of Frankenstein might not be one of my favourite of Hammer's Frankenstein films—I prefer the studio's later entries in the series with their lurid gore and overt sexuality—but I still hold it in extremely high regard for helping to revive the flagging horror genre (sci-fi having dominated much of the fifties) and for being the first film to team British horror icons Peter Cushing (as Baron Victor Frankenstein) and Christopher Lee (who plays his creation).Working with a limited budget, director Terence Fisher stages much the action within Victor's home and laboratory, his film very much a character driven piece, with Cushing's obsessed scientist to the fore and Lee's monster taking a back seat. Thankfully, Cushing is such an accomplished performer that he is able to carry the film virtually by himself, delivering a truly chilling turn as a genius driven to unspeakable acts by his obsession. Lee, on the other hand, simply gets to stumble around a bit (he would get his chance to really shine the following year in Hammer's Dracula).6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for Hazel Court as the Baron's cousin Elizabeth, who adds some welcome glamour to proceedings.

calvinnme ...and Victor Frankenstein is shown not that sympathetic even as a small boy. The story is being told in flashback by Victor (Cushing) as he awaits the guillotine. Baron Victor's mother has just died, leaving him an orphan, and he looks to be in his young teens, yet he apparently doesn't have a guardian nor a tear for his dead mother. Instead his interest is in hiring a tutor, Paul (Robert Urquhart). Paul takes the job, and their experiments and work together show that Paul is probably neglecting the liberal arts part of Victor's education in favor of the sciences. Their ultimate work together - by now Victor is a grown man - is to bring a small animal back to life.Victor wants to go further, he wants to bring a dead human back to life, and not just a deceased human. He wants to build him from body parts. Paul at first assists Victor in this experiment, but his heart isn't in it. His heart really isn't in it when Victor's distant cousin Elizabeth (Hazel Court) comes to live there, since she and Victor are betrothed. It is an arranged marriage. You get the feeling Elizabeth feels she owes this to Victor for supporting herself and her mother all of their lives, but she is fond of Victor, what little she knows of him, and she does NOT know about the human in progress in the lab.Victor crosses the line you just knew he was going to cross when he invites a great professor to his house to dine and then pushes him off the balcony of an upper floor and makes it look like an accident so he can have his brain for the creature. Paul didn't see the murder, but he does figure it out. Paul damages the brain so it will be useless to Victor, and implores Elizabeth to leave the castle and not marry Victor. Both acts are in vain.Victor builds the creature with the damaged brain anyways, and brings a very angry brute to life. I'd be angry too if I were the creature, since he (Christopher Lee) looks like one of the Beatles, down to the 60's haircut and the Nehru jacket, except a recently deceased version. To further add to Victor's crimes, he is bedding a servant girl in the house, and would probably continue to do so post marriage to Elizabeth, but the servant girl winds up pregnant. Hmmm. What to do? He has an angry murderous creature and a blackmailing overly curious pregnant servant girl. Watch and find out.Now Paul knows the whole story, and knows it to be true. The authorities think that the murdered were the work of Victor. After all, how could a man make a man out of body parts and bring that man to life? Poppycock. A word from Paul and Victor is free. But Paul has grown a fondness for Elizabeth and knows the darkness of Victor's heart. What will he do? Watch and find out.If you want atmosphere go watch the original Universal horror films. If you want pretty good storytelling in a horror film, even if isn't close to the original story, done on a budget but done fairly well- and what isn't done well is funny to the point of being endearing- see the Hammer horror films. They do tend to satisfy.