J*A*S*M

The chosen concept and format isn’t always 100% convincing, but, since I believe that pure and unbridled formalism is the bane of cultural life, because it reduces art to a machine that is or is not well oiled and assembled, I will turn a blind eye to that and I will rate this as a successful début. It’s a human film that, unlike other Czech “human” oriented films, relies on well written dialogues, realistic characters, good performances and also the wisdom of its young creator, who clearly understands that humour doesn’t necessary have to equal embarrassment, as it’s usual in modern Czech movies. Very nice as an entry, next time I hope it’ll be better! 7/10 on a number scale, and as a proud native of Budějovice, rounding down is out of the question.

Such a predictable thriller with a surprising twist. Smarter readers will have correctly judged the previous sentence as an oxymoron… and that’s exactly where the problem is.

For Marvel, good. I’m usually not a fan of this colourful conglomerate of comic book superheroes, but The Winter Soldier is (unlike its predecessor) a solid action blockbuster that entertained me a lot. The theme is relatively interesting and stimulating, though Marvel’s habit of “not going too deep” can make it frustrating at times with how superficially and simply the political, philosophical and technical aspects of the of the script are presented. But, as a summer blockbuster for the masses, it works fine. So, as I say, for Marvel, good. Next, on the umpteenth episode of your favourite series…

A solidly atmospheric conversational thriller that relies mostly on real-life characters, which is the most important thing in these indie films. The climax feels a little forced and the final chase could have been a bit shorter, and you can also see how underfunded it is. The Poisoning is certainly not a hit like those truly renowned micro-budget horror movies like Resolution or Absentia, I don’t think I’ll remember it in a couple of days, but it’s still a good first step for a new director.

Hammer has resurrected, but taking into account the quality of their new stuff, I wonder if it shouldn’t have remained buried. With the exception of Woman in Black (which, given the director it had available, was actually below expectations), the only films they’ve delivered so far are average and pointless, which is exactly the case of The Quiet Ones. It has a fairly nice set design and style and the director does try to build an atmosphere, but despite all those efforts, it just didn’t make it for me, it was terribly boring. Really, I can’t remember when was the last time that I felt so incredibly bored with a horror film (that didn’t have zero ambitions). And this is not a movie where nothing happens, here “something” is happening all the time, the problem is how blandly it’s delivered: monotonous, unobtrusive, without any rhythm or escalation. And with a very worn out premise and uninteresting characters, to boot, which I don’t care a priori, provided the filmmakers can compensate it with something. But here there’s nothing, just an annoying blend of a classic film with period “found footage” images. An awful drag.

Certainly, more drama (or rather, sombre romance) than horror, but Dino Risi knows how put up a good atmosphere. Given the country of origin, you have to expect a higher level of naivete, but it’s not so bad. For me 7/10

Until the last moment, I couldn’t believe it would be so good. Lego Movie is packed with ideas, both in the visuals and in the dialogues, and it was such an onslaught at times that I almost couldn’t keep up. For a commercial movie for kids, it has some fairly smart overtones and an interesting resolution, which is of the self-serving kind, because it defends all the previous nonsense, but it’s not totally devoid of meaning. Really, I’m satisfied in every sense, this is the first blockbuster (if we can call it that) in a long time that exceeded my expectations. The theme song is so terrible that it’s incredibly catchy.

Indie directors shouldn’t get into commercial blockbusters, so I wouldn’t look forward to it only to be disappointed. There’s enough action, I believe, but it’s not exciting, which is a far bigger problem than if there was not enough action. The most interesting characters are removed in the first act, and for the remainder of the film, everyone stands staring like a moron, or either think up some bullshit (the bomb here is used in the same weird way as in the last Batman from Nolan) or try to arouse the emotions of the viewer (unsuccessfully). If they had “forgotten” about the story and just let the monsters beat the crap out of each other, it would’ve been better. But they didn’t and the result is painful several times. Visually it’s great, as expected, I would love to print out some frames and hang them on the wall, but when things move it’s really bland. And what pissed me off the most was that the unidimensional protagonist always shows up by chance exactly where the monster is heading. Were the Japanese Godzilla from the past the same? If that is the case, the bullshit has remained bullshit. And I don’t like bullshit.

Somewhere half-way. I don’t glorify Verhoeven’s classic, so I went into Padilha’s remake without prejudice, and yet it was unable to win me over in any significant way. As an action flick, the action scenes in Robocop aren’t exciting, and as a satire, it’s not sharp enough, even though it has some promising hints. Overall it’s unremarkably bland.

After Borgman, we have another excellent weird thing this year. Jesse Eisenberg delivers a convincing double performance and Richard Ayoade convincingly portrays the nightmare of a quiet, shy and replaceable person who can make his best effort without that having any meaning, because his antagonist alter-ego manages to use everything against him. The story takes place in a beautifully atmospheric, dreamy industrial world that has no room for jokes or humour, and yet it is shot with humour, or rather, with detachment. Very satisfied, I really dug this film, both in style and contents.