J*A*S*M

At midnight at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, this could be great fun, in the comfort of home, however, it’s just bullshit.

In the first fifteen minutes or so I was already saying that it is unbearably over-styled, tasteless, bullshit… and wasn’t far from turning it off. But then – and I didn’t notice exactly when it happened – I realised how much I was enjoying it. I don’t think I ever had such a total change of opinion while watching a film. I can’t provide a sufficiently reasonable explanation why I’m giving five stars to this piece of kitsch, but I just can’t help it.

Perfect direction and performances (Richard Attenborough!) but the script felt very naive, especially considering it’s based on real events – I don’t think it would have hurt the film if the story was more realistic. If the entire first half was as uncompromising as the climax, I wouldn’t hesitate to give it the highest rating, but the impression that, instead of a German prison camp, they were fleeing from an easygoing boy scout camp bothered me quite a lot. Otherwise, I’m satisfied.

It’s such an incredible piece of shite that even Nova put it on as filler between other shows (I don’t think I ever saw it scheduled). It’s hard to imagine something less funny!

I can’t remember when was the last time I saw a film this funny. Brilliant! Edit: It’s a lot weaker after a second viewing. To my surprise (and memories from the first viewing notwithstanding), it’s not that brilliant.

Amateur stuff unsuitable for wider distribution, but there are many scenes that show that the creators have at least some understanding of the horror genre, so they could make something better if given a bigger budget.

A tense thriller that runs like a Swiss clock. Unfortunately, though, the outcome is very easy to figure out. 9/10

There’s no need to hide it under a mountain of text, when one word is enough to describe Public Enemies to the tee: borefest; maybe extended with the adjective digital. It’s hard to say why this flat gangster flick needed to be so long, when not a single one of the protagonists develops in any noticeable way (Purvis has only goal for the entire film and Dillinger doesn't evolve at all after meeting Billie). The biggest problem is how uninteresting both of the main characters are; what can you do when you don’t have anyone to root for (because both of them can be seen negatively) and you don’t give a toss about their fates? A weaker 6/10.

The first half hour or so of The Crypt is great fun because of how stupid it is, but then it becomes only annoying. An unbelievable gang of “criminals”, a girl who’s surprised her mobile phone doesn’t have reception in underground corridors, a green ghost in a hat… yeah, this film has plenty of things :-D

That was pretty hardcore! I don’t have a problem with violence in movies, I’ve seen a lot, but this was something else. It’s hard to rate Grotesque because it’s nothing but brutal and utterly gratuitous carnage with a rather bizarre turning around the middle, thanks to which I will not soon forget it. In any case, for the director it’s a step backwards from the atmospheric Noroi the Curse, even if it is peak gore horror.