POMO

Jumper is a completely empty and silly flick. It’s like an hour and a half of watching a nicely decorated aquarium without any fish in it. The creators didn’t see their idea through even halfway to the end and the only cool thing about the film is Samuel L. Jackson’s hairstyle. Unsuitable for viewers over 18.

This samurai film is more complex and less poetic than, for example, the Lone Wolf and Cub movie trilogy. There is no character with whom we can identify. The film is a psychological study of a man – a demon – who is bad to the bone. The dark atmosphere of the film is so thick that you could cut it with a knife, but the hasty ending fatally undermines all meaningfully developed storylines. The result looks as if Okamoto shot the film without the last pages of the script, or as if filming had to be prematurely stopped and an unfinished version was released to the world. I was not particularly pleased with the fight scenes, which are closer to theatrical artifice than samurai film classics.

Just like Titanic, but written and edited in a more sophisticated fashion.

After a second viewing, I have to stick with three stars. Sweeney Todd simply lacks heart and its witty ending doesn’t salvage it in this sense. The violence is cold and hateful, lacking Burton’s narrative poetics (like in Sleepy Hollow, for example). Todd’s decision to become a serial killer is unjustified and doesn’t make sense. And I don’t think that the singing Johnny Depp was a good choice for the title role. The other actors, however, were superbly cast and the set designs and music are great.

Cemetery Man is an extremely deranged trip beyond the grave that makes even Peter Jackson’s Braindead look mainstream. Of course, I’m not talking about the amount of blood, which is completely irrelevant, but the creator’s original style, which surprisingly looks neither cheap nor ridiculous and has unique, appealing poetics. A delicious affair, if only for a very limited audience.

*Spoiler alert* A young guy experiences his first unrequited love. He has spent his whole life trying to overcome the resulting pain by banging hundreds of women, only to be finally able to bang that first one in old age, and say: “I’ve been waiting for this my whole life.” With a romantic shot of a parting steamboat on a river, the 140-minute film is over. And I find myself asking: "What the hell did I just watch?"

When I left the theatre, I wanted to comment on this new Ang Lee feature with the words, “A film made with feeling, lacking any feelings”. Lust, Caution does contain feelings, however. It is just too emotionally mature to show them. It won’t make you feel any sympathy or compassion towards the characters, and it tells their story in a deliberately impersonal manner. Impersonal, but with the grace of probably the most perfectionist contemporary director. You are a cruel genius, Ang Lee!

The excellent opening with Tom Wilkinson’s alarming monologue and shots of cold glass offices creates an atmosphere that will engage you and won’t let you go until the final shot of Michael Clayton. The screenwriter of the Bourne trilogy, Tony Gilroy, produced a respectable directorial debut and, thanks to its deeper message, puts his genre competitors Steven Zaillian (A Civil Action) and Sydney Pollack (The Firm) to shame. Tilda Swinton is great here, as are Wilkinson and Clooney. This drama is a proud representative of the “Hollywood Art” category.

Cloverfield is a very effective goose-bump-inducing movie, if a little forgettable. Someone was finally able to take the idea from The Blair Witch Project to another level. Half of the budget went to visual effects, the other half to Skywalker Sound. Dolby sound is a must. But don’t expect anything serious. The monster and the (great) “Overture” by Michael Giacchino in the end credits seem to come straight out of a 1950s sci-fi flick.

Sling Blade is just as significant and remarkable an indie film as Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs or the best from Jim Jarmusch. This is the type of film I value the most – human and personal, written, directed and excellently acted by a single person, moreover without a chance of commercial success. The fifth star is for the respectively cute cameo by Jarmusch and a unique one by Robert Duvall.