J*A*S*M

"The ultra-professional result may be easier to respect than enjoy," said Peter Debruge in his review for “Variety” and I couldn’t agree more. The process that lead to the discovery of the hideout of Osama bin Laden and his killing is very well portrayed, with Jessica Chastain as a “tough” agent, cold and emotionless. It must have been the only way to film this story so shortly after the events, without turning it into dumb propaganda or, on the contrary, a silly anti-American conspiracy. Thumbs up, for sure, but did I enjoy it? No. It’s still a three-hour long borefest in the desert rather than a gripping war movie.

Finally a Bond movie you can watch without laughing. A gritty and riveting thriller with perfect action scenes and a likeable hero. It’s a bit Bourne-like, yes, but it doesn’t matter. 85%

I’m very lukewarm towards Bond films (“it’s just Bond”), but the hero of Skyfall is not James Bond, it’s Sam Mendes. Skyfall is perfect craftsmanship, no more than that. Skyfall is such perfect craftsmanship that I can’t avoid being enthusiastic about it. I truly enjoyed the climax in the foggy Scottish Highlands. A brilliant Barden.

An entertaining and really well made Australian horror comedy about two brothers who produce organic fertilisers and the three young tourists they want to turn into fertiliser. There’s very little horror (though there’s a lot of carnage), and plenty of jokes. But don’t expect to cry in laughter, this is rather a nice and slightly funny flick with likeable characters. The plot is pretty predictable but still fun. Unlike the similar Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, the premise of 100 Bloody Acres is less original, but I liked this Australian comedy a little more. Strong three stars.

I can’t remember when was the last time Americans produced a truly above-average ghost story. 100 Feet isn’t one, so unless you need to watch everything, turn around and forget about it. The plot revolves around a woman who killed her husband (a police offer) in self defence and has been put in house arrest. Naturally, the ghost of the dead husband is also imprisoned in the house and he doesn’t have the most noble intentions. I waited for the very anticipated twist throughout the film, but in the end I was surprised, the film doesn’t have a twist. One good thing I found in this fairly well made movie is that it tries really hard to be scary and tense most of the time, without ever fully succeeding at it. The single-house location doesn’t exactly offer a sophisticate screenwriter a plethora of possibilities to fill a 100-minute runtime (excessive for this type of film), so we get all the clichés you can imagine and, as a result, the film soon becomes boring. The best scene is the punishment of the woman’s lover, it’s a pity that there’s only one like that. Overall score: 45%.

“A family dinner or a funeral… better the funeral, there would at least be one idiot less.” A remarkable Icelandic comedy that fascinated me mainly by how often it managed to surprise me, although after a few minutes I thought that it could no longer do it, that I was ready for everything ... A very likeable and incorrect flick.

The name really screwed it. Throughout the film, the experience from an excellent chamber thriller drama is disrupted by the world “Cloverfield”; you know what kind of reveal this will eventually lead to. And when it gets there, what follows is disappointment, because the connection with the original film is really only on paper. If the film was called Independence Day 2, it would’ve been the same, if not better. A weak four.

What?

I’m shocked at how much I didn’t like it. I believed in Bousman, the trailers were good; after a long time, I could look forward to a great atmospheric demonic horror film, and on a Spanish setting on top of that, something I like a lot. But what I saw in the end made my jaw drop to the floor. I like Saw II, III, IV, Repo and Mother's Day, so I don’t know what Darren has done to surprise us with this dud. This film doesn’t work at all, like really, in any way. The actors are bad, the script is bad, the direction is bad, the music is awful, the scares made me laugh several times. It really pains me to say that 11-11-11 is the biggest horror epic fail of the year. If there’s anywhere where the phrase wrong on so many levels fits perfectly, that’s here. Mother’s Day and all the other Bousman’s films are Oscar contenders next to this one. One star for the last fifteen minutes, where you can screen capture a couple of atmospheric images. And I wanted to praise it so much! :-(

Yeah, Boyle and Franco probably did the best they could under the circumstances, but the fears I had before the screening turned out to be true: the premise is good for an autobiography, but not for a feature film. To allow the camera to leave that unfortunate wedged guy at least for a while, the script includes flashbacks and hallucinations that are pretty annoying and pathetic, though I understand the dramatic reasons behind them. But, considering the possibilities the creators had, the film is very brisk and energetic and Boyle again shows his strength: the blend of music and images. The ending (when the “action” is behind) managed to arouse some emotions. However, I still have mixed feelings about 127 Hours and I would love it if next time Danny chose more story-rich material. 7/10