POMO

The Empty Man is a very ambitious attempt to elevate a teenage horror theme to the level of an adult crime thriller with a mysterious, almost existentially philosophical bent. But it doesn’t quite succeed. The long exposition wouldn’t be a problem if it didn’t deal with the banal motifs of teenage horror. The revealing of the cult background would be intriguing if the key “prayer” phrases were not semantically transparent nonsense. And the final unveiling of all of the truths could have given it all meaning and weight if everything that came before had worked and if the key to understanding the human side of the main character had not been such a superficial event. A contradiction, confirming absolute creative disorientation, with flimsy shades of It Follows and Midsommar. P.S. Why was the cult’s building shaped like the Scientologist’s LA headquarters?

This feel-good Disney hybrid of The Truman Show and Tron has a nice portion of enticing romance and action in the spirit of Ready Player One. It’s nicely cast and pleasantly colorful, with typically appealing cliché elements and some fine ideas. But the dramatic framework, with the characters’ motivations and reasons for doing what they do, is a bit slapdash. But it’s my problem that I want such a movie to be logically fleshed out and everything in it to make sense.

Gunda is a vegan wanna-be art film about how even industrially farmed animals have personalities and emotions (wanna-be also because if I love animals and nature, I won't film them in black-and-white for God’s sake!). The film’s best scene is of the caged hens cautiously and curiously venturing into the grass outside and their perception of the sounds and variety of open space. It is a brilliant psychological moment. The epic slow-motion shots of the cows nicely highlight their majesty and, in the portrait shots, the individuality of their faces. In terms of content, however, their appearance suffers from lack of context within the film. The least interesting and, in places, even boring aspect is watching Gunda and her piglets, which, however, results in the film’s strongest moment, finally getting its point across. If the shots of the pigs were shorter and the “story” of the cows more meaningful, I would have given this four stars.

Ulrich Thomsen is undoubtedly a good actor, but Nikolaj Lie Kaas gave the role of Carl more distinct character traits, which are crucial for the film’s sense of drive. And the “new Asad” is an absolutely bland sidekick, so the buddy chemistry between them, which is so important for this detective series, is pretty much gone. An even bigger problem, however, is the execution, even if we view the film independently of the previous instalments. The Marco Effect is blandly and statically directed, the dialogue-heavy plot lacks dynamism, and the action scenes (if we can even call them that at all) seem like something out of a mediocre Czech TV series (most notably in the chase scene at the construction site). The motif of the Czech Roma as the grey area of the story will be controversial in our country, but even if we set aside the local connections, it is embarrassing. Unfortunately, if something doesn’t change significantly with the next instalment, this interesting franchise ended with the preceding Journal 64.

The directing goes for broke in the suspenseful nature of the scenes, as if serving up groundbreaking genre events. But it actually doesn’t offer any such thing (except for the original idea of muting the sound in the case of the deaf girl) and rather takes inspiration from elsewhere (the cinematography showcase in the great opening scene along the lines of Spielberg’s War of the Worlds). The film’s main problem, however, is the even greater contrast between the superb visual execution and the goofiness of the screenplay than in the first film. Part II lacks the basic cleverness and common logic of experienced, thoughtful screenwriters. And by boosting the suspense with interesting visuals enveloped in so much silliness, its makers (unwittingly) confess to their own myopic, would-be creative sophistication, which is almost laughable in places.

Genre craftsmanship with decent technical qualities, combining familiar things, but in a likable high-octane plot and with a healthy dose of brutality. Blood Red Sky offers a combination of epicness and a B-movie nature on a scale similar to Snyder’s Army of the Dead, but more dignified. The bits of nonsense are equally balanced by cool moments.

Army of the Dead is colossal trash with annoying characters and tasteless blurring of the image behind them. However, it holds the viewer’s attention because there are enough pleasing things in the movie for fans of the genre. The awkward viewing experience is also salvaged to some extent by Bautista, who is not only a mountain of a man but also has a powerhouse personality, and a zombie tiger that could devouor Ang Lee’s schmaltz in a single gulp!

This is perhaps the best film of the franchise so far, as it is a souped-up adventure thanks not only to Josh Lucas and Will Patton, but also to its higher production values. Of course, it is a dark and violent adventure that blasts its way wildly from the idyllic setting of a Texas ranch to an almost post-apocalyptic setting where one might expect to find Snake Plissken. The Forever Purges is more ambitious both in its action scenes (two of which are apparent references to the famous one-shot scenes from Children of Men) and in the thematic healing of wounds from the anti-Mexican Trump era. The screenplay is likable and topically exploits the politically noteworthy theme of the franchise as a whole. A strong three stars.

Set in Las Vegas, Hostel: Part III has a more well-developed screenplay than the previous two instalments and offers some surprising moments. However, the attempt to upgrade the plot is undermined by very shoddy directing and moronic dialogue, which is reminiscent of bad 1980s American horror flicks. In any case, the first murder is terrifying and properly vicious, but nothing that comes after it in the film can compare.

One fool’s emotional infatuation with a vivacious hippie in a psychologically accurate drama that never develops into anything more intense and surprising than a somewhat half-baked symbolic festival movie. But Suntan works well as a portrait of a loner who has fallen into despair, and it is also appealing due to its insight into the workings of society on a small Greek island.