POMO

This cheap slasher B-movie builds on the premise of its predecessor, but unlike the first instalment, it doesn’t come up with any original ideas, instead comfortably (and ostentatiously) using the premise of the Japanese Battle Royale and popularized elements from Predator (Henry Rollins as a tough tattooed Marine) and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (a girl tied to a chair during the festive dinner). Even the actors in the first instalment were better cast and more diligent, while here they are mediocre and forgettable.

A Rock Crusade is merely a montage of videos of Bono’s meetings with politicians and other influential people at various happenings, showing his activities in the fight against AIDS and poverty in developing countries. This documentary is not at all about U2’s music, instead only exploiting the popularity of the band and its leader and the resulting power in political activities. That would not be so bad, but the montage looks like a cheap TV production, because of which this cannot be regarded as a reliable source of information. Which is suicide in the given genre. Catching it on daytime TV is OK, but selling it on DVD elsewhere than in street stalls is a crime.

Martyrs is a painful experience that doesn’t leave any positive memories. The filmmaking is good, with an unpredictable script. The attempt to convey some sort of a deep message in the ending fails and does not turn the film into a serious work, but at least it’s there. Without this attempt, the extent of the protagonist’s suffering would be unacceptable for the audience and completely off-putting.

With its costumes, set designs and 1940s atmosphere, all of which are perfect, Black Book is a beautifully made film. But underneath this Hollywoodishly precise, dynamically edited façade, there is a cold Dutch heart that is far from the standard Hollywood form. The result is contradictory. In places, the characters seem not to be human, have no emotions and act only on the basis of their motives to achieve the intended goal. In its story, Black Book is more of a superficial, rushed action thriller than a drama that would provide you with more than elegant enjoyment and astonishment over the perfect technical aspect, which in itself is worthy of four stars.

Guy Ritchie at the service of Hollywood. His strongest directorial trademark, as well as Hans Zimmer's most bombastic music exhibition, comes in the impressive introduction. The rest of the film is “just” a nice conversation movie between Robert Downey and Jude Law, set in a world of dark Harry Potter-style magic. There is little to surprise the audience, as the routine script relies on proven elements – great actors and the atmosphere of dangerous, overcast Victorian London. Sherlock Holmes is decent entertainment.

I have a problem with this film. It derives all of its atmosphere and suspense from the banal fact that a bomb might (or might not) go off at any time. Its characters are uninteresting, the dialogue is horrible and the dramaturgical framework almost non-existent (it’s just a series of situations that the characters facing death have to survive). On the other hand, these very flaws make it all the more realistic and valuable as a testimony from the given places. Maybe all this movie needed was to decide whether it wanted to be an exciting thriller or an interesting docudrama.

Ellie Parker is a feeling-based indie film about a fumbling actress and the City of Angels. I can’t deny that I was bored in places and laughed in others. It is realistic, doesn’t pull punches and rises and falls with Naomi Watts, who acts as if here life depended on it. It looks a bit like her fictional diary from breaks in shooting Mulholland Drive.

Audition is an interesting parallel to Trier’s Antichrist, which suffers a little in comparison and suddenly seems tacky. Takashi Miike’s filmmaking is (following in Andrei Tarkovsky’s footsteps) minimalist and correspondingly brutal and clean. He sketches out a life truth worthy of pondering, making you dredge up important moments that you might have experienced and, in the end, putting your head in the guillotine. If the reasons why the main character is so fascinated by the femme fatale had been more clearly defined, I’d give this film five stars and call Audition a "Japanese Vertigo".

Avatar is an ultra-mainstream adventure movie for the whole family. In a filmmaking package so perfect it could give you an orgasm, James Cameron self-confidently delivers a super-hackneyed story that won’t surprise you with anything. Apart from his comedies (True Lies), Cameron’s films always contain a hint of existential food for thought alongside all that technical brilliance. But only a hint. They have ideas on which other filmmakers built their movie worlds. Avatar, however, does not contain anything of the sort, and its message begins and ends with a bit of simple ecological agit-prop. It is Cameron’s first film composed solely of things we have seen elsewhere (whether in his films or somewhere else), which he merely delivers in an even more elaborate and beautiful wrapper. Every shot, every cut, every tone of James Horner’s soundtrack contributes to the absolute perfection of the final product. But what good does it do when we always know what happens ten minutes in advance?

Because it lacks a more robust framework, Zombieland starts and ends out of nowhere. But the characters are likeable and well directed, and the movie uses some very effective slow-motion shots. This is a pleasant chill-out movie, but Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead was bolder and more brutal, which pays off in the zombie sub-genre.