J*A*S*M

An activist film that is very annoying in the way it presents its agenda, it’s as if you stumbled by mistake into the Twitter profile of a left-wing political group. If you want a really good #metoo movie, watch Promising Young Woman; if you’re looking for a video manual for beginner feminists, where you can check one toxic event after another, watch this one. The problem with these passionate activists is that most of them are insufferable twats who can turn what are basically relevant and sensible topics into something annoying; like the girls in this film, for instance. The film seems to be partly aware of this, in the end it lets the protagonist search her conscience over at least the most terrible things she did, but a lot of it goes unnoticed. I don’t think the creators are downright evil, that they are deliberately encouraging teenagers to film their teachers without consent and bully them posting the videos on the internet, I just think that in their efforts to push their agenda they are blind and… well how to say it politely… dumb as a bag of tools. By the way, I remember the days when films touted as comedies at least tried to be funny – this one doesn’t have a single joke.

The hyper-realistic style makes this film almost unwatchable, even with a sober runtime. I like films where you can see that someone though about how to place a camera and move with it, how to compose a shot, how to pace things, etc. But this willy-nilly edited home video would need something very stimulating for that style not to piss me off, and there isn’t even a hint of it.

A very nicely made little slasher about a psychopathic hair stylist who scalps her clients. It’s very colourful and with good performances, I think the leading actress really hit that spot where she plays a completely insane maniac who can mostly hide that from her surroundings. She looks a little awkward and absent-minded, but you’d never suspect that she has a cabinet of curiosities in her cellar. That said, the film has several problems, what bothered me the most perhaps was how the script doesn’t pay attention to some details (e.g. how does the stylist get rid of the bodies?). And it’s also true that the creators could have loosened up a bit and let the protagonist show more than what she delivered, at least in the end. But it’s more than enough for an average rating, and I believe Jill Gevargizian can do a better job next time.

Scary naked old people, welcome back, I haven’t seen you for a long time! It’s obvious that in his new film, a story about a mother and a son haunted by the sectarian past of their ancestors, Ivan Kavanagh wanted to make a new Hereditary. Unfortunately, he’s not as visionary and innovative as Ari Aster, but he’s no bum either and the film is watchable – there are a couple of pretty creepy moments, especially in the first half. The problem in my view is that it’s all about the uncertainty of whether there’s really something demonic or cultic going on or whether those weird things are the product of the ruined mind of the mother, who in her youth was a victim of a heinous crime that didn’t involve anything supernatural, and Kavanagh is not able to sell that well enough to make it interesting. I'd much rather play with clearly laid out cards and watch either the inevitable fall into madness or the slowly tightening loop of a supernatural evil, but this film’s approach works on the edge of both, which is also associated with several problems in the script, focused mainly around Emile Hirsch’s police officer and the behaviour of the mother, and they can be almost painful to watch. For instance, when, after she “kidnaps” her son from the hospital, “everyone is looking everywhere” for the protagonist, but she’s at home and has hidden her son at the neighbour’s, i.e. the first and second place that “everyone should search”. The ending justifies some of the stuff we’ve seen, but the road there was quite bumpy. 6/10

The wonderfully chosen settings (bleak autumn/winter locations) and a couple of beautifully atmospheric shots in the trailer sold me this boring, ridiculous, silly and wannabe important nonsense so well that I really looked forward to it. It wasn’t worth it.

The conflicts among the characters are a shaky and shiny pandemic spin on Lord of the Flies, but it’s acceptable as a genre snack.

A hard to describe fleeting parody about a middle-aged redneck couple who go on a trip to a beach resort in Florida. In addition, there's a plot about a mysterious villain and her devilish plan with genetically modified venomous mosquitoes, and many other bizarre atrocities. :D The ratio of cringe-worthy and cringe-funny madness is about 50-50, which is quite OK considering their frequency. It’s one of those films that will entertain you, but also make you feel a little ashamed.

An excellent, cynical, motherfucking thriller about the conflict between two assholes. Rosamund Pike enjoys herself plenty playing a despicable being who abuses defenceless old people, until one day she messes with an old woman who has very dangerous friends. It’s brisk, with excellent performances and a lot of fun, but unfortunately not so well written. In the last act things go a bit too over-the-top and the script begins to rely too much on unlikely coincidences. But I’m willing to turn a blind eye to it, because the ending was pleasant. In short, great satisfaction.

An Instagram beauty influencer is at her sister’s place looking after the dog and is being terrified by an unknown attacker who quite convincingly claims that if she doesn’t fulfil the tasks he gives her, he will murder her friends. Shook makes extensive use of social networks, but it’s filmed in a normal way, it isn’t a new addition to the Skype/Zoom subgenre (like for instance Unfriended or Host). The craftsmanship is good, but the heroine didn’t earn my sympathy – the way she behaves and how she’s always texting both with the attacker and other people (for instance, that she never makes a typo in such stressful situation :) – but that’s a detail) felt annoying and ridiculous. But I did like the resolution; the core conflict feels solid and it could be the basis for a much better film. Unfortunately, the potential was not exploited, but for an average rating it is enough.

The first four episodes are basically a run-of-the-mill relationship thriller about a love triangle where at least one of the characters is a nutter. The fifth episode makes a weird sidestep into another genre and by the climax in the sixth episode, things are downright batshit crazy. It’s a great shame that on the way to the resolution, the good guys had to behave like morons so things would go the way the creators wanted. But I ended up liking the concept, even though I was pretty confused at first. Paradoxically, the way they show the cards by the end is so awkward that I saw the main twist coming a few minutes earlier than I should. Ideally, it should be more focused, sharper when it comes to the behaviour of the characters, and bolder and weirder also in the first two acts to avoid the viewer falling asleep with the uninteresting romantic plot. Because when after four hours of nett time, we get what we got, it will inevitably feel a little cringe-worthy. If it had been that way, I would probably be thrilled now, but it is what it is, and unfortunately, I’m mostly nonplussed – that said, this is a limited series that I will certainly remember for quite some time. 7/10