J*A*S*M

The premise is attractive: a ship lost somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle, unexplainable supernatural events, paranoia. Unfortunately, aside from a couple of slightly scary night scenes and a nicely creepy little girl with a nicely creepy doll rescued from the sea, the film has nothing to offer, or rather, it suffers from lacking one main theme. There this thing happening here, another happening there, the plot is scattered and it’s two hours long. The actors don’t help much either and nor do the dialogues consisting mostly of cheesy one-liners. When the frozen black cook is freed from the fridge, opens his eyes wide and says, in a terrified tone, "this child is a devil", I burst out laughing, basically because a couple of seconds earlier I thought that he would say exactly that.

On paper, the premise was a thousand times better than the way it finally works out. I’m really surprised that bullshit like this can get a positive buzz even after a première in a renown festival (TIFF). It is pretty bizarre, yes (though not in a way that may shock a viewer who at least occasionally looks beyond the mainstream), but that’s it. The horror is only in trace amounts, and Smith has a good hand at comedy, but he succeeds in only about 25% of the attempts at a joke, the rest so cringe that hurts. Especially when the most annoying actor these days appears on screen and begins to grimace like an idiot, and refuses to go away. In the closing scene it seems that Smith is trying to say something important, but by then it’s me who would like to say something to him.

Here even the word “paradox” falls short… In other time-travel films, time paradoxes are obstacles that the filmmakers try to overcome to no avail, and which fully manifest once the viewer begins to question the logic of the story, but in Predestination, the paradox is the alpha and the omega of the story. The creators carefully build it, almost trying to make it as paradoxical as possible.

A perfect B-movie. Actually, I almost want to describe it as a “trashy Drive”, with which The Guest shares a charismatic protagonist who’s never far from a hammer, and a great score. Plot-wise, The Guest feels like a dirt cheap direct-to-video action movie, but it doesn’t matter because whenever it is stupid, it’s fully aware of that. The character of the black policeman with bulging eyes is fun the moment he appears on the screen. And it’s actually the word fun what best describes this movie. By the way, after a long time there’s a film that has made me repeat the ending several times immediately after watching it. From the moment the CD player starts, it’s a great blend of image, music and colour. Just like You’re Next disappointed me last year, The Guest satisfied me.

A more literal and drastic version of Black Swan. It balances on the border of a serious parable and a B-movie caricature, and both approaches clash a lot against each other. I’m not ecstatic, but it does have a couple of effective scenes.

The Leftovers are not the best series for a traditional viewing, i.e. watching one episode per week. The first two episodes are rather confusing, the creators are not very candid with the viewer and it takes some time until you understand the what, the who and the why. But from the third episode onwards things become tighter and sharper, and the pieces begin to fall into place. So, if you want to give this series a chance, reserve an evening, binge on the first few episodes... and you may end up like me, applauding until five in the morning. The Leftovers is mainly an emotional and intimate drama spiced with a pinch of sci-fi, mysticism and spirituality. It’s about people who’ve lost their ontological certainty after an incomprehensible supernatural event and are unable to come to terms with it, even after three years. Each of them copes with it in their own way, usually rather weirdly. The emotional effect on any viewer capable of empathy is not small, especially when a flashback comes at the right moment and shows how these people lived before the event. Don’t look for any rational answers, look for meaning. By the way, great performances and music. I’m excited after the first season. EDIT: After the second and third seasons: The best series out there today. Those who gave it a low rating after the pilot should be ashamed of yourselves :D

I would be really happy if Bustillo and Maury will continue to make films together… and even happier if they never again write another themselves. After Inside and Livid, only a fool could expect a sophisticated script by these horror filmmakers/butchers, their strengths lie obviously elsewhere: in the gore, in creating unsettling atmospheres and nightmarish events. I’d be fine with that, because in this regard, it’s not the avalanche of cheap jump-scares typical of modern commercial horror movies, but rather a planned and intentional descent into darkness, while striking the darkest chords of human psyche. But too much is too much. The climax is so stupid that feels almost like a comedy. On the other hand, some sequences (when taken out of context) were really brilliant – Mr Naked is very creepy.

I strongly believe that when I watch Interstellar a second time, free of any of the hype, I will be able to enjoy this professionally made and above-average sci-fi movie enough to give it four stars… but I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t admit that it was quite a big disappointment. And I’m really sorry about it, because there wasn’t any other film this year that I was more excited about. The biggest problem was the last half-hour, it wanted to be smart and ambitious, but I thought it was actually dull and banal. Really, all that exposition in the middle wasn’t original at all. If only the characters stopped talking so much and let the viewers figure things out for themselves, it would have been very successful and literally, and surprisingly, emotionally cold (the emotional peak comes undoubtedly somewhere around the middle, when they watch the messages). On top of that, there are some weird decisions and logically contradictory moments, which really harms such an ambitious film like this (after realising that time passes more slowly in the first planet due to its proximity to a black hole, these leading scientist really didn’t think of the consequences that it could have on what Dr Miller was supposed to do, etc.?). But Interstellar has many things that I liked. There are scenes that made me hold my breath or that captivated me. Excellent music, great Matthew. But from the whole, I’m still undecided, sigh!

It’s something like a cross-breed between the German film Stations of the Cross and the Greek one Miss Violence. It’s not easy to watch, and gets heavier the closer it is to the end. But I have a little problem with the credibility, since the film is inspired by real events. Tore is portrayed as someone with a blind faith, as a naive boy, but not as a retard. But to allow those atrocities to be committed to him, he has to be at least a little retard (which I guess he actually was). And it wasn’t about him, either. He wanted to protect that young girl whose name I’ve already forgotten, but as a non-retard he would have assessed the situation in a completely different way. Moreover, when it comes to his decisions as a saviour, his repeated lies feel inconsistent (bruises caused by playing football); a fierce believer like him wouldn’t act that way.

After a long time a film where I ended up relating so much to the characters that I would love to go with them and sit somewhere, or for a drink, or to have a chat. A nice movie about a nice town, emotional and melancholic. Great soundtrack.