J*A*S*M

I think this is a fairly smartly put together true crime documentary that at the end of each episode has the viewer exactly where it wants them. It guides us through the stupid internet conspiracy theories spawned by this case and, in the light of all those weird coincidences and mysteries, it makes you wonder whether there actually isn’t something supernatural or an insane conspiracy behind it. The youtubers and other influencers are fair game, of course, and fortunately, in the fourth episode the documentary uses them to make a point: that the real problem is that today every uneducated moron has an opinion about everything and is not afraid to use the internet to share it. Poor Death Metal fan.

A nightmare may awake, but I fell soundly asleep through it. For me, an uninteresting topic and very blandly (though technically well) executed. The first half hour failed to catch my attention, then I only alternated between feeling bored and sleepy.

A perfect example of what you can expect from a small, low-budget horror movie inspired by Lovecraft. The solid execution, the beautiful setting on a remote Norwegian island and the likeable characters are all good. Otherwise, it just checks the boxes without bringing in anything extra.

A painful, small indie film about a likeable couple affected by a pandemic that makes people lose their memories; something like Alzheimer, but also hitting young people. It’s a very well made thing, whose strongest cards are the poignant script and the superb actors. It’s impossible not to think about the melodrama A Moment to Remember, which some time ago broke me even more. This one is not as fierce and aggressive as the Korean “competitor” when it comes to arousing emotions, but I still felt touched in the end.

This is so masturbatory that the local fans of bloated art will be in heaven. On the one hand, it’s a remarkable and impressive piece of work – a cheap movie shot on location and in warehouses that looks truly spectacular. The creative team used a lot of digital effects (somewhere I read that it was five years of work) to create a very atmospheric dystopian world that knows how to draw you in and arouse curiosity. On the other hand, Bateman dives too deep into lyricism for my taste, to the point that he basically refuses to tell a story. I can get something out of it, and it did evoke some feelings, but I would have enjoyed it more if, among those interesting sets and that intense atmosphere, something that made sense on a basic level took place.

One of those dramatic thrillers where the protagonist suffers from mental problems and the viewer is supposed to feel tense and confused about whether those weird things that happen in the film are real or a product of the protagonist’s condition. You wish. I didn’t give a toss, I find this type of movies extremely boring and uninteresting, and Fear of Rain doesn’t have anything to catch your eye.

A sci-fi flick with a surprisingly serious story about weighty stuff and with a villain who’s a real psychopath and a dangerous asshole. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the balls to be proper hard sci-fi and pretty much every aspect was subjected to some sort of childish facelift – from the visuals to the characters to the tone of the finale. As a result, Space Sweepers feels like a compromise that will offend hardly anyone, but will also thrill hardly anyone. The potential, however, was higher. Yeah, and at least half an hour of the runtime is redundant.

A nice acting exercise for two talented actors, but I feel it runs too much around in circles without producing anything important. I would slap both.

I realised while watching this how glad I am that this trend is already a thing of the past. Ten years ago or so, two out of every three horror films were shot in the found-footage style, but now they’ve become rare. Nicholas Danko decided to resurrect the subgenre sending a group of urban explorers into the woods to visit  an old abandoned house. He shouldn’t have. Logically, this format’s strongest card should be authenticity, which here is totally absent. The characters are complete idiots who utter crazy shit and never react according to the situation. By the end you can see an attempt at something at least a little interesting, but it’s done in such an ineffective and almost ridiculous way that nothing comes out if. I’ve seen worse found-footage than this, but still… no more, please.

Most of it is a nicely made borefest where a young pregnant woman and her estranged mother whine and whine about past traumas, to the point that it feels as if the film was three hours long. But I was torn out of my lethargy by a pretty bizarre ending with a fairly shocking twist that reveals the concept as a whole, which is interesting after all. It’s a pity that the way there wasn’t a bit more entertaining.