J*A*S*M

On the one hand, brutal and raw, on the other, eye candy that calls for a big screen :-( and last but not least, one of those films where they don’t speak much and the viewers have to figure things out themselves – or lovers of film transcendence, behold! We don’t get many films like this every year, which is good in its own way because we can at least enjoy these gems with the pleasant feeling of having come across something untraditional and unique. That said, the action/adventure label should be taken with a large pinch of salt.

A proper ghost story. The atmosphere is hellish – swamps, fog, an old country manor, scary screams, the ghost of a lady in black... I got properly scared twice, which is something that happens very seldom. It doesn’t matter that the Woman in Black is clearly made for TV, it’s still horror at its best.

I give five stars only to live action films, thus the rating. The Cove arouses in the viewer something between anger and sadness. Those Japanese assholes…

Psychological horror dramas about someone with schizophrenia (or another condition, I ignore the terminology) are getting on my nerves! Basically, there are only two overlapping possibilities: it’s either reality or imagination. The first few films of this type you see are interesting and it’s fun to guess what is real and what isn’t, but then it gets boring and now I’m in a phase when I feel like turning them off. Fortunately, Images is very well made, the atmosphere is very good and Susannah York plays her madness with panache, so there’s not much to complain about – only that I didn’t have that much fun. 6.5/10

I like weird films, but Raising Cain isn’t weird enough to be interesting, nor is it normal enough that it doesn’t feel weird. It made me suffer for most of the time, it was annoying, and if it wasn’t so well made (a walk through a building in one take), I would have no problem giving it two stars.

God, I let myself be stirred again… A beautiful film, tailor made for cinephiles. It’s a little one-dimensional, but who cares when it looks so beautiful. And the music!

This was a flawless surprise that, considering my previous experiences with Troma, I certainly didn’t expect. It’s quite amateurishly made, but brutally funny from beginning to (almost) end. It doesn’t have much in common with classic Troma (it doesn’t have anything too nasty or vulgar), which must be the reason why I liked it. The songs are extremely catchy and some of the jokes (wisecracks, rather) almost made me fall off my seat. I have only one reservation: it could be 20 minutes or so shorter, because the ending doesn’t have any more juice. PS: What the hell is spadoinkle???

Beautiful and terrifying horror from Yugoslavia. Its poetic is quite different from anything I’ve seen so far in the genre, which means only one thing, that I will look for more old Slavic horror, because this one hit all the right notes. An aristocratic manor in a village, scary churches with graves, old women in shacks – just brilliant! 85%

A gripping prison action drama. I didn’t know anything about the plot beforehand, the high ratings and the country of origin were enough to catch my attention and I procured it without further questions. Cell 211 is a fantastic film with a good story, fast pace and excellent performances, it feels very realistic. Full of adrenaline, recommended.

Kick-Ass is kickass. The story is taken more seriously than I expected and it’s really surprising how the film holds itself together considering how serious and detached it is. You could praise basically everything, in particular the soundtrack, which probably is the catchiest in many months. After watching Shutter Island in February I thought that this year there wouldn’t be many films that good, I was wrong, there’s at least one. 100% PS: Watching Kick-ass with a moralist could be a lot of fun.