Заразяване / Contagion - The films of Steven Soderbergh fall into two distinct categories - they are either too art, even unwatchable (Full Frontal, I'm looking at you) or great crowd pleasers ( the Ocean's franchise). So where does Contagion rank then? Perhaps somewhere in between, and all the better for it. Soderbergh's latest movie is a horror flick at its heart, raw and even documentary at places. However, unlike the so popular (not for Bulgarian distributors though) found footage films, the director hasn't shot a movie deprived of the magic of cinema, and has polished it as best as he can - the camerawork is great, the music remembering, the various cast strong. The biggest strength of Contagion is that its antagonist is realistic as the next flu pandemia and therefore it would scare the shit out of you. If you're faint hearted, you'd better avoid it, or the next time someone starts coughing at your direction, you may run in panic. Soderbergh has succeeded in catching and transferring to the screens all reactions stemming from such a threat - the madness, the desperate desire to save the loved ones, the ignorance, the falsification, the paranoia and so on and on. At moments it is a tough watch, but at the end it is Steven Soderbergh in his best, Traffic, mood. (Alexandra) ****
Нещото / The Thing - This 2011 prequel of the Carpenter cult movie was always gonna be maligned by critics and fans due to comparisons with the original. I, however, haven't watched the 1982 movie (yes, blame me), so I can only judge this horror title by its own merits. So, it has slick visuals, good CG effects but suffers from the lack of any real tension. Yes, at times it has one or two good touches, and as a whole the sense of paranoia that spreads after the thing is released is well captured on screen. However, once the alien takes its form, the film starts to look like a rip-off of the Scorpion king from the Mummy franchise. On the surplus side, kudos should go to the decision to use Norwegian actors for most of the cast, which is creating atmosphere. The moment, however, the main heroine, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, appears on the screen, the movie starts to crack from wooden acting. Anyway, it's not a completely lost opportunity and genre fans will find a thing or two worth watching in it. (Alexandra) **1/2
Мръсна игра / Trespass - When a movie with A-list stars such as Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman gets dumped to a limited release in the States, you already know something is not right. Add to this, the director, the now infamous Joel Schumacher, who hasn't shot a decent movie in ages, and the alarming light should already flash in red. And rightly so. Trespass is a film suffering first from obnoxious narrative - several story developments are repeated to ad nausea levels, the actors, before getting beaten and threatened by a gun, only yell in front of the camera (often at once) perhaps to silence the ridiculous script full of betrayals, unimaginative character motives and predictable story twists. Second, the editing and, as a whole the directional work lacks any sense of thrills or action, while the camera is hectic and just confusing. Over the past years Nicolas Cage has consistently trying to score his worst role, and maybe he has succeeded here - rarely is overacting on such a display, while Nicole Kidman struggles in the role of a femme fatale. Following the star-heavy and dreadful Dream House from earlier this month, you could not help but wonder if the Bulgarian distributors do not deliberately seek movies with strong cast but with zero quality... (Tandem) *
The ratings:
***** Perfect
**** Unmissable
*** Fine
** So-so
* Stay away
