EvilPhoEniX

Definitely interesting and original in terms of plot. The protagonist views the fatal story of a milkman whose milk poisons someone and everyone wishes him dead on a device that allows stereoscopic vision (I know it as a kid, where I used to play different pictures on this little TV). But with this device the main character summons the milkman to his home and the story of the present begins to be projected. I like the concept and the atmosphere works towards the end. Interesting. 7/10.

Academy Award Winner! Fuck!! An atmospheric horror delight asking for a feature film! A very workable teen short about two brothers where one convinces the other to summon the spirit of a local legend and advises him that if he holds his breath, the entity can't hurt him. A functional idea slightly similar to Lights Out, with great portrayal of the Entity, and chilling and dense atmosphere. Chills guaranteed. Really good. 8/10.

It has quite nice CGI, though still quite artificial, and the beginning of the catastrophe, which lasts about 15 minutes, is decently chaotic with a nice atmosphere, but the next hour and a quarter is boring as shit. A girl searches for her brother and communicates with her father in space. How entertaining LOL. If the whole movie was in the style of 2012, it would okay, but this turn into drama didn't grab me. 4/10.

Nonstop epic fantasy adventure game packed with action, humour and heart! One of the biggest surprises and the funniest movie of the year. There hasn't been a better fantasy film since Warcraft and LotR! I've never played D&D, but it has the feel of any other RPG and that was plenty enough for me to enjoy on the big screen. We've got a likeable bunch of main characters. Chris Pine as lead is admittedly the most redundant as he has no special abilities, but then again he takes care of the humor and he does it well. Michelle Rodriguez has probably the most interesting role here, she is the strongest of all, so she takes care of the contact fights. Justice Smith is a proper magician, but he just needs a good work out to become a full-fledged Mage. Sophia Lillis the druid has a great shapeshifter ability and a delight as well Regé-Jean Page as Paladin was the best fighter and again brought another funny element to the film, shame he didn't get more space. I also liked the villain. Hugh Grant was ordinary, but Daisy Head as the Magus was was really good. The film impresses with a very frantic pace, where it doesn't get boring for a moment, rushes forward like a Shinkansen, has great playful visuals and very good CGI. The action scenes may be smaller, but they are well shot with decent choreography. The fat dragon and the final maze were great. (A promise of a more epic battle perhaps in the eventual sequels?). I must also praise the script, which managed to surprise a few times. Some of the plans and contrivances are very intelligently thought out and playful. The humor is a great draw, where I laughed in good taste almost the entire film – the graveyard scene had me in stitches. If that wasn’t enough, the emotions work too – the whole theater had a tear at the end and I honestly can't remember a fantasy film where the comedy, drama, action and the characters work. A full Package as it should be. I want to see it again immediately and let the second part be on its way. 9/10.

A cool action flick from Vietnam that's a little better than the American crap. Veronica Ngo is the female version of Tony Jaa, she's handy and swinging in the action scenes. There's quite a bit of action and it's not bad at all, they use of knives, machetes, guns and syringes, which I like, and there's blood as well, which I always appreciate. The story is ordinary and uninteresting, but that's not the point. The CGI motorcycle chase had an almost video game feel to it, but it had something going for it. It was entertaining, not offensive. 6/10.

The culmination of a ghost trilogy that I was only now starting to care about, after Kimo Stamboel took over directing, only to confirm that he didn't have the balls without Tjahjanto and that Ratu Ilmu Hitam was a fluke, as the rest of his work just isn't worth much. Pure average. We have a classic family going on a vacation but their son goes missing, which complicates the trip considerably, and it’s made worse by the fact that he has been kidnapped by a troublesome ghost. So the story is simple, visually it's unoffensive, the pace is slower as nothing much happens for the first hour, though the final half hour where the ghost enters the scene is a bit more interesting. His appearance is creepy enough, but without a decent atmosphere and scares it just doesn't work. There's perhaps only one gore scene, and that's at the very end, so horror-wise I find this to be one of Stamboel's weakest efforts. Next time I want to seer more black magic or explosives, no more ghost stories please Kimo. 5/10.

Carnival Row returns with its second and final season and it's once again accomplished and brutal fantasy that's properly dark and raw. The fantasy genre itself is quite rare and usually comes out in pg-13 rating, but the R-rating adds to the revving up and that's what I enjoyed most about the series. The big asset is again the setting, filmed in Prague, the cast (Orlando Bloom is great, Cara Delevingne however annoyed me a bit with her indecisiveness), the supporting characters are fun too, I enjoy the segregation of all sorts, the politicking and interesting musings. There's plenty of action too, there's something going on in every episode, you don't wait much for guts and the monster that shows up in the 5th episode rivals Alien (a really beautiful and original creature!). I felt that the Faunus and Werewolf races were slightly neglected, though, the series focuses a lot on fairies, humans and a new race, but it doesn't matter that much. There are two story-lines, one takes place in the Row, which is the most interesting, the other is in New Dawn, which is more like a concentration camp, but I didn't mind it. The best episode is #5, which had quite a few interesting twists and turns, as well as the introduction of the main villain, whose entrance was properly epic. Then of course the finale, with a decent carnage on the streets of the Row. It just couldn't have been done without the battle Satisfaction for me. From the costumes, to the makeup, to the brutality, to the politicking and the action itself, Carnival Row is definitely a success in this regard.

I can't break any rules because I make them myself! I'm happy when Netflix buys anything from South Korea and this was a hit. John Wick style action carnage driven by social drama and it works great. Director Sung-hyun Byun hasn't had a varied career so far, I've only seen a mediocre actioner from him called The Merciless, but this is a step up to the big leagues. He's got a decent cast too. I've seen the main character Jeon Do-yeon in 6 films in the last 5 years alone, and Sol Kyung-gu is a well known veteran who's been in just about everything, but there's some young new talent as well. The film has a very interesting and engaging story focusing on an organization of assassins, which is presented much more realistically than in the Wick films. There are again interesting rules, different agencies with their assassins, killer evaluations, even training of new assassins where a hitman gets a trainee assigned to their first job – I really liked how the whole thing works (I wish it went more in depth though, but maybe in a sequel), and the main character is one of the best of the bunch, so she is feared, gets the best jobs and her boss likes her. However, her problem is more in her personal life, as raising her teen sassy daughter is more challenging than killing people. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the social line as well, the relationship between mother and daughter is portrayed well. The daughter harbors unexpected secrets and nearly stabs a classmate at school – her mother's genes are undeniable. So I praise the story, which manages to surprise, entertain and hit you emotionally. Then again, I have no complaints about the action, except perhaps that there could have been more of it, but when it comes down to it, I was screaming and falling off my seat with excitement. The action sequence in the bar in Vladivostok with the Russians deserves a place on YouTube. I watched it three times and it really was an action-packed delight. The sequence in the restaurant with the protagonist is also excellent and again lacked nothing from excellent choreography, great cinematography, excessive brutality and plenty of interesting ideas. The final duel has something to it too, definitely a delight with the original insert where the main character is thinking in how to disable the enemy and we see dozens of different variations at once, I call it a hallmark of originality to the action genre. There was also one quite powerful and emotional twist in the finale, and as I empathized with the main character, it made me as emotional as it did her. The Koreans have brought out two of their best aces and are tackling what they do best. A social family drama and an action-packed assassin flick, this complements each other perfectly. The drama scenes are powerful, well-acted and emotional and the action is brutal, uncompromising and superbly shot. I had a royal time, this is right up my cinematic alley and the first Korean five star! 9/10.

It's a shame that Elizabeth Banks took a potentially bizarre and wacky premise, where it was already decided that it would be a bad film, but I was hoping that it would at least be stupid-funny and it's kind of boring. The bear itself looks pretty cool, and the best scene is with the ambulance, which is also one of the coolest, the rest of it wasn't worth much. There's not enough gore for my taste (there was some guts and some severed limbs), but when I think of the bear attack from The Revenant, there was nothing as intense here. There is very little humour, I didn't laugh once, it's mostly cringe and insipid. By the end, I was wishing for the ending and I was struggling not to turn it off. Had I seen it in the cinema, I’d be pissed. 3/10.

The second season of the solid Your Honor series returns, pitting respected judge Bryan Cranston against respected gangster Jimmy Baxter. The first season was a pleasant surprise, mixing courtroom drama, crime, family drama and gangsters and it all worked well together. The second is unfortunately a bit weaker as it strays from the original theme and felt a bit redundant as well, but it's still decent craftsmanship with fine actors, plenty of suspense and decent pacing. Bryan Cranston is coming out of prison and is a bit of a train wreck (it kind of sucks that he's not a judge anymore, so the court battles are missing). He wants to start a new life, but the FBI is after him and wants him to help take down Baxter's criminal organization. Again there's a lot of corruption between politicians and cops, and the two rival gangs are probably the best thing about season 2. Jimmy Baxter still has charisma to spare, and I enjoyed his acting and his lines a lot. I also enjoyed the other black drug gang, Desire. It's nicely tense, but unfortunately the gang war doesn't happen again (what I hoped for in the first season didn't come here either), so we don’t get much action. Occasionally someone gets shot or beaten up, but that's the end of it. I found the first half of the season a bit slower, but in the second half, once the cards are dealt, it's solid. Especially the final two episodes that deal with the trial are among the highlights. There was emotion, tension and density in the air. However, I could do without a third season, the creators have already pulled the best aces out of their sleeves and have little else to surprise. If you like crime dramas with gangsters, the second season will not be wasted time. 7/10.