J*A*S*M

The Divide is NOT an indisputably high-quality, unassailable film, it’s very easy to criticise. Myself, I would have no trouble defending a two star rating, because the script doesn’t bother to solve a couple of things (the short trip out of the bunker, what was that supposed to mean? How and why did “that” get there so quickly?), is careless with time, some of the changes in the behaviour of the characters happen too fast and inconsistently, the actors try a little too hard at times, the repetitive score becomes annoying after a while… But the film is so incredibly depressing, dirty, violent, and disgusting that watching it made me almost sad. It had that effect. The characters, who not even at the beginning were Miss Congeniality but you could still root for them, become really messed-up pricks (Marilyn’s transformation? That was something!). It’s not nice to watch and I’d like to warn anyone interested in it: think very well whether you want to watch this because it’s the sleaziest thing I’ve seen since A Serbian Film, an insult to humanity. In any case, Gens has improved a lot since the average gorefest that was Frontier(s).

Twilight for fifteen year-old intellectuals, and I don’t mean it as bad as it may sound. Hunger Games is for the same age group as that other rubbish, but at least it tries (and in the book maybe successfully, I don’t know, can’t judge, didn’t read it) to deliver some social criticism, it’s also about a lot more than whether some unstable idiot will take a vampire or a werewolf as her lover, and the motivations of the protagonists are much deeper. As an undemanding blockbuster, it’s pretty good, it looks quite nice (given the low budget), and the art design of the Capitol and its inhabitants was captivating. The most interesting themes, though, are only sketched out, but maybe the upcoming sequels will manage to complete them, I’m curious. What bothered me the most was the unrealistic behaviour of the characters in the Arena and the fact that I didn’t understand at all how the institution of the Hunger Games is supposed to help the Capitol rule the other regions. The film is not great by any means, but it was decent fun. Jennifer Lawrence is brilliant. 7/10

This is such sterile lot of nothing. Technically, it’s a very well made horror film with a couple of bright spots, but let’s face it, with every minute it becomes clearer that this mysterious spooky story will not produce any big scares or tension. And it doesn’t. I didn’t give a toss about the characters and the atmosphere holds only at the beginning. I didn’t even feel any author’s personality, this is just dull craftsmanship and instant scares Hollywood style. Disappointing, Hollowface will never become a horror icon.

A celebratory look back to what I hate about the 80s. Thanks but no thanks.

Empty crap that relies on the gothic vampire mythology (the film says that every vampire story has three attributes: sex, blood and death, but here the sex is only insinuated, the blood is everywhere in only one dream sequence and there aren’t too many deaths, either) and that wants to be self-aware psychological horror (describing the relationship between two friends who become estranged due to a supernatural creature that controls one of them), but that in the end only causes the indifference of the viewer, at best, and laughter, at worst. Moth Diaries doesn’t work on any level, the dialogues are toe curling, the actors are wooden and there’s no atmosphere. I expected something slightly above-par, what I got was conceited crap that I will try to forget soon (which, I believe, won’t be much trouble). PS: The only interesting thing in the film is the look of the main “moth”, it’s really nasty.

“The best in the semi-amateur splatter genre” is a label that I find as attractive as “the best in scat porn”… It actually depends on your personal (dis)taste for this corner of filmmaking. I found it unwatchable, and was bored and annoyed to death after ten minutes.

A fairly interesting sci-fi experiment. The audiovisual aspect is great, the atmosphere is fantastic, the pace is slow, there’s hardly any plot, it’s essentially an ambitious art film. Unfortunately, I didn’t get anything out of it and it was very hard to watch it all the way to the end. As a directorial début, though, it’s worthy of attention. When Panos Cosmatos is done masturbating over his art, his films will be very interesting, he does have the technical, atmospheric and visual talent.

Why and for whom was this made? Dark Tide ignores all the elements that would make it attractive and satisfactory for at least some part of the audience. Thanks God for Shark Night 3D, that one was at least a funny and silly summer flick for teenagers, this one is only annoying and boring. And on top of all that, it’s very long – just under two hours – which, for a film with Halle Berry and sharks, is way too much. But what am I talking about? The sharks hardly show up, you see them right at the beginning and then half an hour before the end (which does produce some traces of tension, but way too late…), otherwise it’s barren and empty.

The Awakening fits perfectly in the category of “Old World Horror”. The creators attempted to make something that could compete with gems like The Others or The Orphanage (and I feel that they ripped off a couple of scenes, but I won’t swear on that), but unfortunately, they don’t quite manage it. The atmosphere is solid at times, there are also a couple of scary and originally put together unsettling scenes (the little house), but in the end the film hurts itself by not trying to produce anything other than a weird climax with the mandatory twist that fails to take your breath away. Overall, it’s just unremarkable average.

A pleasant dramatic comedy with likeable protagonists that here and there delivers some dark and incorrect jokes, but that in the end is nothing but your typical feel-good fairytale with a humanistic message, or a film that is in no way exceptional. And that’s why it has received so much attention, because its exceptionality cannot piss anyone off. It's just so generally likeable. 7/10