J*A*S*M

I didn’t buy it for a second, lol! A very mainstream horror comedy (I feel like writing horror in quote marks) aimed mostly at people who are not very used to horror. The remake differs quite a lot from the original Fright Night, which I would usually rate positively (I don’t like watching the same stuff in a different jacket), but unfortunately, it doesn’t have anything that I can rate very positively. Maybe Colin Farrell deserves a little thumbs up, but to be honest, his character doesn’t fit too much into “horror” (and here you have the quote marks), he looks more like a metrosexual homosexual, instead of a blood-thirsty beast, which is bad. 5/10 immediately after watching (and basically only because of the craftsmanship), but it’s going down with time. PS: I haven’t seen special effects this ugly in a long time. PS: The haters of the prequel of The Thing should have a go at this one…

Everybody lives, everybody suffers, everybody dies. A classic tough-minded indie with a classic tough-minded protagonist. He should carry a ball.

If someone had told me a couple of days ago that there would be a combat sport drama that would get close to my TOP films of 2011, I would have laughed to their face. Fighter, The Wrestler, Cinderella Man, Rocky, Raging Bull… I didn’t give five stars to a single one of them and I’m actually trying to remember whether I’ve given such high rating to any other sports film. Warrior has a very straightforward plot and nobody will have a hard time figuring out how it ends – although I must say that I thought of two other endings while I watched it, both fairly effective, so I wasn’t all that sure. In the end, the creators took the path of least resistance, but it doesn’t matter, I can forgive that, because if I look at the not very sophisticated script (which doesn’t mean that it was stupid!), it’s brilliant and it works both as a drama and as an action film about fighting. In the end, Warrior arouse in me more rapturous emotions than any other film this year. Tension, followed by joy, followed by sadness, all with a great soundtrack in the back. I really prayed that the barrage of emotions wouldn’t be ruined with some pointless dialogue. Fortunately, it didn’t happen. PS: Now I believe that Hardy’s Bane will match Ledger’s Joker, really.

Breaking with tradition, I will begin my comment about a good film by not recommending it. I don’t recommend watching 50/50 on a train. I watched in on the train and I was quietly tearing up by the end, having a hard time not to start sobbing in front of the other passengers. That would have embarrassing :-D. But about the film – very good. Joseph Gordon-Levitt confirms his quality as an actor, but I feel a little sorry for Bryce Dallas Howard, who this year has played an insufferable asshole in already two Oscar hopefuls and I think I will have her forever typecast in that character. The film parades a lot of emotions, from sadness to happiness and joy, it feels natural and sincere, without any award baiting cynicism. If it cut at the strongest moment right before the ending, I would go for five stars. I won’t say the ending ruins the very positive impression, but it does reduce it. Unfortunately. Ambiguity would be fitting for a film called 50/50.

Carpenter’s The Thing is on a different level, but I’m glad that van Heijningen has at least sort of got into the same building :-) His new The Thing is a really nice effect horror movie, nothing memorable, but also nothing that can make anyone mad, there’s other stuff for that. It’s true that the people at the base are hard to tell from each other. It’s true that the layout of the base is never made very clear. It’s true that the paranoid atmosphere could have been better. But still, it was nice to watch from beginning to end. The digital character of the effects can be seen at times, but they were also thrilling in some scenes. Horror art it might not be, but it’s good horror fun. 7/10.

A 80 minute RedBull and Quicksilver commercial. Very nice visually and full of adrenaline, but the contents are emptier than the belly of a Somali kid.

I wasn’t looking forward to Tintin, so I can’t say I’m disappointed with the results. Actually, watching it in cinema on a very hectic day felt quite good. It’s nice to look at, undemanding, relaxing, entertaining… The humour is often almost cringe-worthy, but it’s effective in its own way. The animation was surprising, if the characters hadn’t been so clearly stylised, in some scenes I wouldn’t have been able to tell I’m not looking at something real (for instance, the first minutes at the marketplace). It’s not something to swoon over, but it’s OK for single-use fun. PS: Yesterday on TV I watched several scenes of the fourth Indiana Jones and I realised that in the last few years Spielberg has lost his sense of measure. I don’t like that kind of relentless action anymore.

It’s not my horror cup of tea, but I’m satisfied, good film.

An untraditional artsy romantic drama in a trashy setting and with an indie coat of paint. You can take that as you wish, but for me, the last fifteen minutes are the essence of what I like in film and I think Bellflower is one of the best, most stylish and most interesting films of the year. Keep an eye on Glodell.

What? This film is only 93 minutes long? Subjectively, this must be the longest and slowest forest slasher I’ve ever seen. In the first half, nothing happens at all, after that, you can see someone being killed here and there, but it happens at such slow pace that it almost put me to sleep. It should be radically cut, down to about sixty minutes. That would make it a fine snack, because technically it’s ok.