Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)

Victor Frankenstein's experiments are given a David Copperfield jazz-magic vibe that I don't think Mary Shelley intended but by far the biggest deviation of this mostly faithful adaptation is the fact the monster is a re-creation, not a creation - Robert De Niro is a resuscitated organ recipient, - scarred but not a hideous daemon - with prior knowledge, not a birthling - probably because it isn't easy to translate to the screen Mary Shelley's caginess regarding Frankenstein's methods of bestowing life upon the inanimate (pretty much in the book a man says the word, 'galvanisation' and then a big yellow eye opens); there's also fewer deaths in a rushed ending: once this movie's grand climax is revealed (an inspired gothic moment that repulses and horrifies and finally hits the right note) the movie decouples from the book, turning into about seven minutes years of Frankenstein's madness and incarceration and anguish, as if everyone has tired of the whole exercise and wants simply to sail prematurely home.

★★★☆☆

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Coherence (2013)

The kooky premise - those gathered at a dinner party start to experience mindbending things as a comet passes overhead - will certainly keep you watching but as the high concepts snowball and near, well, incoherence, this ambitious low-budget film stays indoors and stays focused on the more easily, more cheaply captured domestic goings-on among the party guests (one of them Nicholas Brendan of Buffy fame) - so glowsticks, boxes, rings, numbers on photos, and bottles of wine become the preoccupation while the more interesting space- and time-warping things happening outside are, well, left in the dark. 

★★★☆☆

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Hue and Cry (1947)

In this first Ealing comedy, a mystery adventure set in post-war London and full of derringdo, a young ragamuffin is surprised one day to stumble into a panel come-to-life from his favourite newspaper detective comic strip, but this is not Walter Mitty fantasy: the would-be sleuth and his extensive network of 'Blood and Thunder Boys' make it their duty to investigate and foil what turns out to be a criminal mastermind's nefarious plot.  

★★★★☆

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Infernal Affairs (無間道) (2002)

This is an exciting Hong Kong action movie bolstered by terrific performances of Tony Leung, open and warm, and Andy Lau, cool and sinister, playing fellow police academy recruits, one who ends up working for years deep undercover as a member of an international drug ring, the other rising through the ranks of the police force while working as a mole for the drug ring's "Mr Big" - a scenario so good this original spawned two sequels (not yet viewed) and a long and boring Hollywood remake, Scorsese's The Departed in 2007.

★★★★☆

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