[4.50/10] House at the End of the Street (2012)

House at the End of the Street (2012)

QuickRating: The breakthrough star of 2012, Jennifer Lawrence, saves it from being a complete and utter failure, because she tries her best with the poorly-written character she has to play for cash, but "House at the End of the Street" is every bit as uninspired as its title suggests and has zero suspense, let alone decent scares, and that combined with the un-intriguing story, and ridiculously anti-climatic twist at the end, make it feel twice as long is it actually is.

[4.50/10] Silent Hill: Revelation (2012)

Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (2012)

QuickRating: While the '06 original movie was like watching your worst nightmare, and had a strong creep factor, the CGI-laden "Silent Hill: Revelation" relies on its mostly unimpressive special effects and dark spaces to evoke sense of fear in the viewer, which doesn't really work. The truly sinister atmosphere is all gone, the creatures aren't that scary, the thrills are cheap, and Adelaide Clemens' trying-too-hard performance doesn't help either.

[4.50/10] Cosmopolis (2012)

Cosmopolis (2012)

QuickRating: Hm, has mastermind David Cronenberg lost his touch? Judging from this movie, probably yes, as "Cosmopolis" is joyless, cold, pretentious, overwritten, and thematically overcomplicated bore, featuring tons of tedious dialogues and yet another stiff performance by Robert Pattinson, plus, the fact that pretty much the entire movie takes place in a limo, makes it even more difficult to watch. One of this year's biggest disappointments!

[4.50/10] The Babymakers (2012)

The Babymakers (2012)

QuickRating: After a quite clever and surprisingly hilarious opening scene, "The Babymakers" quickly turns into a vapid and unimaginative comedy that tries desperately to be funny and original, but ultimately fails to rise to the occasion, despite its on-paper potential and appealing main cast. On the top of that, the movie mostly feels and looks like a straight-to-video affair, without any sort of technical and visual qualities or at least a decent direction.

[4.50/10] Piggy (2012)

Piggy (2012)

QuickRating: One thing is for sure - Kieron Hawkes' debut UK revenge thriller is nasty, brutally violent and disturbingly realistic, but sadly, it's also boring, tedious, thoroughly predictable, as moody as its washed out cinematography and just as oppressive as its melancholic music score. That being said, "Piggy" is far from terrible and its graphicness is cover-your-eyes shocking, but the weak writing and familiar story leave a lot to be desired.

[4.50/10] Project X (2012)

Project X (2012)

Brief review: Produced by "The Hangover I & II" creator, Todd Phillips, "Project X" is British-Iranian director Nima Nourizadeh's debut feature film, which follows three high school friends, who plan a huge birthday party in order to increase their popularity, but things go out of control. Since it's about arranging a fancy party, the party itself and nothing else, "Project X" is completely plotless. Worse than that, it's also laughless, which is definitely a bad thing for a movie labeled as comedy. It has one or two mildly amusing moments, but overall, it fails to deliver genuine laughter, and its crude and raunchy, yet silly, humor mostly falls flat. The characters involved are a bunch of shallow teenagers, who think and talk only about sex, parties, drugs and alcohol. But hey, isn't that the reality? It certainly is, therefore, as ridiculous as it may sound, "Project X" wins points for credibility. Since the POV style narrative is not usual for the comedy genre, director Nima Nourizadeh deserves credit for his creative approach. The movie is presented as a home video from multiple points of view and that works most of the time - some of the party scenes feel like a well-shot music video, and the joyous atmosphere is so inviting, it makes you wanna join the party. For better or worse, the young cast, selected through open casting call, act in front of the camera the exact same way they act in real life - like morons, yet kind of naturally.

Overall summary: The untypical for the comedy genre POV shooting style creates a joyful atmosphere and makes it all the more real, but sadly, in spite of its cheerful nature, "Project X" is nothing more than a stupid party movie about stupid teenagers doing stupid stuff.

[4.50/10] Chernobyl Diaries (2012)

Chernobyl Diaries (2012)

Brief review: Brought by "Paranormal Activity" series' creator, Oren Peli, "Chernobyl Diaries" is yet another failed attempt at horror, that has all the right elements to be potentially good, if not great, but at the end it screams 'missed opportunity'. Its promising concept is totally ruined by a poorly-developed script, tons of pacing issues, and uninspired execution that makes the whole experience incredibly underwhelming. On the top of that, for a film that consider itself a horror, "Chernobyl Diaries" hardly offers any decent scares, and in terms of tensity it doesn't deliver either. The predictability factor is there as well, therefore most viewers will figure out what threatens the characters pretty early in the movie. Luckily, at least the film manages to use its unique setting to its advantage. The abandoned communist-style buildings are spooky as hell, the pitch-black underground tunnels are more fearsome that the 'creatures' themselves, and the uninhabited city of Pripyat has such a sinister atmosphere about it, it will surely give you the creeps. VFX expert Bradley Parker's lack of directing experience is written all over the screen. He struggles to find the right rhythm behind the camera, and as a result, his debut film is dull and dragged out in its first half, and only semi-interesting in its second. The young actors involved are barely familiar, but they still deliver pretty passable performances, most notably the female part of the cast.

Overall summary: It benefits from its effective use ot setting, but the nightmarishly creepy location alone can't save "Chernobyl Diaries" from being a disappointingly sub-par horror with a predictably formulaic script, unimaginative direction and little to no scares and suspense.

[4.50/10] The Divide (2012)

The Divide (2012)

Brief review: "The Divide" is about nine strangers, all tenants of same apartment building, who manage to escape a nuclear attack by hiding in a bunker-like basement. The movie starts out intriguing enough with an opening scene of chaos and confusion, where people are running scared trying to find a shelter, but as soon as the nine strangers get into the basement, the movie turns into a talky, monotonous bore, where nervous, frustrated people are either yelling at each other or doing nasty things. Another problem with "The Divide" is that it often feels somewhat repetitive, probably due to the the limited setting and the sluggish pacing of the film. There are moments when it seems like the exact same scene is playing over and over again, and that makes the film a rather tedious experience, leaving the viewer in anticipation something to happen. It does, later on, but it's ugly, unpleasant and revolting. With "Frontier(s)", French director Xavier Gens showed us that he likes his movies graphic, brutal and violent, and "The Divide" is no exception - torment, murder, rape, gore, you name it, it's there. Although the performances range from decent to convincing, there's not a single likable character in the entire movie, nor one you could care about at least a bit. On a positive note, the final sequence is so brilliant and visually depressing, it makes "The Divide" worth-seeing for this very memorable scene alone.

Overall summary: Some passable acting and a beautifully bleak final act aside, "The Divide" is a graphic and violent, but quite dull apocalyptic thriller, that tries very hard to shock us and make us feel uncomfortable and claustrophobic, but instead it successfully put us to sleep.

[4.50/10] The Hunter (2011)

The Hunter (2011)

QuickRating: It has an intriguing premise, the lush bush scenery is absolutely stunning to look at, and the capable Willem Dafoe delivers a convincing and truly captivating performance as the composed man on a hunt for the last Tasmanian tiger, but "The Hunter" doesn't live up to its title at all, as it promises to be a tense and thrilling action thriller, but it ends up being a slow and tedious drama that fails to engage on an emotional level.

[4.50/10] ATM (2012)

ATM (2012)

Brief review: David Brooks' overly ambitious project "ATM" sounds good on paper, and it has the potential to be a solid slasher, but it's the ridiculously implausible script, full of 'Oh no, they didn't' moments, that really lets the film down. Furthermore, the true motives of the mysterious killer are never revealed, as instead, what's being thrown at our faces is an unnecessarily convoluted ending, that mutely tires to explain too many things, but has very little time to do it. The end result is 'simply too much to handle' and may/will confuse most viewers. On a positive note, "ATM" has it's moments of intensity, and it offers a couple of vile death scenes, but overall, it's neither scary, that suspenseful. Considering the limited setting, Brooks does a fine job behind the camera, providing us with as much variety as possible, and the dark, deserted surroundings create a certain sense of fear and despair, but these technical qualities just aren't enough to save "ATM" from being a misfire. All three lead characters make stupid decisions and act illogically most of the time, hence, their evolving stupidity makes you care about them less and less as the film progresses. The acting ranges from okay to mediocre, but none of the actors involved is particularly convincing. Alice Eve is pure eye-candy, but her performance just isn't believable enough, and both Josh Peck and Brian Geraghty display pretty weak acting skills.

Overall summary: It has a decent premise, some tense moments and a few brutal kills, and it's fairly well-executed, but "ATM" is ruined by an utter lack of credibility, brainless characters, and an overly complicated twist ending that just couldn't have been more anti-climatic.

[4.50/10] Beneath the Darkness (2012)

Beneath the Darkness (2012)

Brief review: It's something of a tradition Hollywood to release bad horror movies at the beginning of each year, and Guigui's "Beneath the Darkness" is no exception. Although it has its moments of tension and suspense, those are followed by moments of silliness and contrived 'yeah, right' scenes of ridiculously improbable situations. The story fails to make any impression, simply because we've seen it all before, and the entire script is so predictable, you'll think of yourself as a cinematic psychic or something. Technically and visually, "Beneath the Darkness" is nothing to write home about. The pacing of the film is pretty smooth and the editing is competent, which makes the movie very easy to watch, but Martin Guigui hardly shines with any great directing skills or clever ideas behind the camera. Set in a small town in Texas and completely lacking in visual effects, the production values of the film are so low, you can't help but wonder, what did they spend their $7 million budget on?! The acting is surprisingly decent. Dennis Quaid is quite intimidating as the creepy mortician, who's twisted passion is to bury people alive, and if it wasn't for him, the film would have unwatchable. Tony Oller is okay, if a bit stiff, as the Travis, and Aimee Teegarden gives a solid performance as the charming Abby. Sadly though, all these satisfactory performances can't make up for the sub-par, lackluster execution of this movie.

Overall summary: Well-paced and mildly entertaining, yet too obvious, predictable and unoriginal, Guigui's "Beneath the Darkness" is a rather mediocre horror thriller with a made-for-TV feel to it, that needs to be buried deep in the ground much like the victims in the movie.

[4.50/10] Panic Button (2011)

Panic Button (2011)

QuickRating: This potentially-good social network-inspired UK horror thriller has an ambitious premise, and its 'private jet' setting is insanely claustrophobic, but sadly, "Panic Button" feels too rushed, implausible and ludicrous to be taken seriously, and it's further ruined by a sub-par execution, genuine lack of suspense, and mediocre acting. But worst of all, it's neither as clever nor as shocking and mind-twisting as it thinks it is.

[4.50/10] Paranormal Xperience (2011)

Paranormal Xperience (2011)

One-sentence-review: It has an intriguing premise, cool characters and atmospheric visuals, but this Spanish horror flick is also too predictable and by-the-numbers, its climax is a let down, and relies way more on gore and ghostly images rather than scares.

[4.50/10] Enter Nowhere (2011)

Enter Nowhere (2011)

One-sentence review: Weird, overthought, poorly-paced and further let down by its ridiculously cheap look, dull cinematography and hideous performances, "Enter Nowhere" simply goes nowhere.

[4.50/10] Conan The Barbarian (2011)

Conan The Barbarian (2011)

Brief review: For better or worse, the 2011 version of "Conan The Barbarian" has nothing to do with the films featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Back in 1982, the sword and sorcery fantasy film of the same name was sort of cheesy fun, while Marcus Nispel's version is a bit of a lackluster and just plain bad. The plot is almost non-existent, and the script is unimaginative and full of forced and silly dialogues, delivered stiffly and unnaturally by the actors involved. Speaking of acting, most the performances are mediocre are at best, and all the characters are unmemorable and badly-written. The talented Rose McGowan's delivers the only decent performance in the movie as the vicious and ruthless Marique. Jason Momoa is a real macho man and has the right look for Conan, but his acting abilities are not at all impressive. He looks good in Conan's costume and fights well, but the moment he starts to speak, he becomes wooden. At least visually "Conan" is rather satisfying. Shot in Bulgaria, the movie offers breathtaking scenery and some wonderfully-crafted sets. The CGIs range from great to passable, but the action scenes, while well-staged, are surprisingly unexciting, and anything but spectacular.

Overall summary: It's occasionally entertaining and the visuals are mostly fantastic, but "Conan The Barbarian" feels dated and hackneyed, and it suffers from a weak plot, mediocre acting, one-dimensional characters and overblown, if hardly thrilling, action scenes.

[4.50/10] Apollo 18 (2011)

Apollo 18 (2011)

QuickRating: Gonzalo López-Gallego definitely deserves credit for his creativity and solid directing skills, as "Apollo 18" is very difficult-to-shoot, and yet he made the movie seem incredibly authentic, visually. On the other hand, the film itself tries hard to be a creature feature, a space flick and realistic 'found footage' horror movie all at once, but it struggles to find the balance between these genres, and as a result, it ends up being a mess. A big, boring one.

[4.50/10] Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings (2011)

Wrong Turn 4:
Bloody Beginnings (2011)

QuickRating: This straight-to-DVD prequel/sequel to the 2003 horror hit "Wrong Turn" is pointless, stupid, ridiculous, formulaic, badly-crafted and horribly-acted, which isn't a surprise. Having said that, "Wrong Turn 4" is nowhere nearly as terrible as its dreadfully unwatchable predecessor, it's fun to watch, and it features tons of blood, guts, gore and ripped body parts, enough to satisfy every 'gorehound' in the audience.

[4.50/10] Your Highness (2011)

Your Highness (2011)

QuickRating: David Gordon Green's latest effort boasts beautiful scenery, and succeeds partially in the acting depatment because of its uber-talented A-list cast, yet unfortunately, "Your Highness" falls short on pretty much every other aspect - the jokes are ridiculously lame, the script is uninspired, the CGIs are sub-par, and the pacing is incredibly off. If you want to see the most amusing parts of the movie, just check out the trailer instead.

[4.50/10] Hall Pass (2011)

Hall Pass (2011)

Brief review: In 2011, the widely-known Farrelly brothers bring us another one of their sex-oriented comedies, but unfortunately, their latest film "Hall Pass" is not nearly as good as their cult comedy hit "There's Something About Mary", nor is very funny. It's just outrageous, but in a bad way. The script, obviously written by a bunch of idiots, has tons of stupid sex jokes, gross situations and ridiculous lines. Certain moments prove the script's idiocy - the 'poop on the golf course' scene and 'poop in the tub' scene are both utterly disgusting, however, the most shocking scene in this impudent comedy features a long penis shot of a naked, horse-hung black man, whose 'instrument' is only five inches away from Owen Wilson's face. It's very unexpected, yet somewhat amusing. Speaking of Owen Wilson, he does a fairly decent job as the flirtatious, yet loyal husband Rick, while Jason Sudeikis is rather annoying as the horny best friend of Rick, Fred. Both, Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate are charming and incredibly likable as the open-minded wives, who love their husbands, despite the fact they know they're morons, and the supporting cast is pretty forgettable, except for Nicky Whelan, who's truly eye-candy as the alluring coffee-shopper.

Overall summary: Although it has its moments and features an incredibly engaging female cast, "Hall Pass" is a tasteless, vulgar and often embarrassing comedy full of infantile characters, that desperately tries to be funny, but it's clearly forced, and fails to deliver many laughs.

Numerous QuickRatings PART 3: 2010 Movies [1]

Hereafter (2010)

QuickRating: It may not be one of Clint Eastwood's strongest efforts, but "Hereafter" offers a thoroughly compelling and thought-provoking story that deals with the intriguing subject matter of 'after life', and it's elevated by its talented cast, Eastwood's smooth direction, the moody cinematography, and some truly impressive visual effects.

My Rating: 7.25/10



The Clinic (2010)

QuickRating: Slightly original and thoroughly disturbing, yet hardly credible and lacking in genuine suspense, "The Clinic" is a low-budget Australian horror flick, that may suffer from mediocre execution and sub-par directing, but it compensates with an efficient acting, plenty of mystery and intrigue, and enough shocks and gore to keep genre addicts contented.

My Rating: 6.50/10

Morning Glory (2010)

QuickRating: Far from great and often uneven, yet refreshingly sweet, charming and enjoyable, "Morning Glory" is a 'behind-the-scenes TV' comedy, that delivers both the laughs and the drama, led entirely by McAdams' captivating performance as the determined and ambitious Becky, and Ford's charismatic turn as the grumpy Mike Pomeroy.

My Rating: 6.50/10

Due Date (2010)

QuickRating: Just like Todd Phillips' previous effort "The Hangover", "Due Date" is just an overhyped comedy, that is neither as entertaining, nor as amusing as it thinks it is, and despite its two leads share a good chemistry on screen, the movie fails to impress, or to evoke any laughter, due to its painfully unfunny script and lackluster execution.

My Rating: 4.50/10