EvilPhoEniX

An unbelievable borefest and this year's biggest torment. Sibling of Focus and the Now You See Me? Hardly. Instead of heists and scams, it's about interpersonal relationships and drama, where nothing interesting really happens for two hours. The characters didn't entertain me at all, the dialogues made me yawn, the pace is slow, there no suspense or entertainment, and the whole thing is so cold, detached and aloof. I didn't find the twists interesting or shocking at all. For me, a waste of time, I was not entertained by anything. 3/10.

South Korea vs the Taliban! A relatively unknown Korean director has made a Korean variation on the American film Zero Dark Thirty (I would much rather see a variation on 13 Hours or Black Hawk Down). It's an unusual premise for the Koreans. The story is about Korean missionaries who are captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and it has a Korean diplomat and big star, Hwang Jung Min, trying to negotiate with the Taliban for the release of the hostages. He is seconded by Hyun Bin, so there is no shortage of stars and the production values are as usual very high, but is that enough ? Not for me. There's only one action scene, a well shot car chase with a fight in the car, but that's really not enough. The whole film focuses only on the investigation and the negotiation. It’s too much "step by step", and at times it is a bit boring, but some people will enjoy it. I would have preferred a shootout with the terrorists or torture. Though I do appreciate something a bit different than a hitman or gangster story, I wasn't too impressed. 6/10.

Adrenaline and testosterone pumping boxing romp! Michael B. Jordan makes his debut and excels both in front of and behind the camera, making for me the best boxing drama I have ever seen. It has everything, included heart, rage and power. Creed is now retired and enjoying his family life. He has a great wife, a lovely daughter, a luxury villa, money, respect – everything he ever wanted. But his idyllic life is disrupted by an old friend who returns from prison after 18 years and longs to become a champion. Jonathan Majors, a vicious beast and spineless bastard, the best bad guy in boxing movies ever, takes the whole franchise and the film to a whole new level. The rivalry, the uncomfortable stuffy atmosphere between him and Creed is almost chilling, and all these confrontations in the dramatic line are more than great, intense, well acted, it leaves the viewer breathless. The fight in the middle of the film between Chavez and Mayors is the greatest in-ring carnage I've ever seen, the blood almost flowed out of my nose and onto my nachos. The fights feel very dynamic, gritty and authentic thanks to modern technology and camera work. You feel all the punches are felt and all the fights have an amazing atmosphere (the entrances are legendary), and during the finale, where Jordan very originally removes the audience and focuses only on the two rivals, it was a visual boxing extravaganza the world of movies has never seen. I was sweating, I was cheering, I was screaming, I was freaking out. I was more pumped up with adrenaline and testosterone than both of them combined, and the hyped up soundtrack gave me chills like nothing I've heard in a long time. I am happy! 9/10.

Shyamalan's best years are behind him and his latest release is a mediocre film. Knock at the Cabin is more of a psychological drama-thriller than a horror film, but one that lacks drive, doesn't make much sense, lacks a proper twist and holds up the violence. The first half hour is pretty good, it has a home-invasion feel to it, with four armed people trying to ambush two men and a little girl and coming up with an unpleasant proposition like Sophie's Choice. Dave Bautista is decent in the role and is probably the most interesting thing about the film. The disasters on TV are also interesting, the only more action packed and interesting insert. However, the progression of the film is very tepid and slow, and wheen there is a murder, it's out of frame. The psychology of the characters isn't portrayed consistently enough to sway the viewer and the whole thing unfortunately doesn't make much sense without a proper Shyamalan Twist. The atmosphere didn't impress me much either, the suspense is lacking as well, I don't find much praise to recommend Knock at the Cabin to anyone. 5/10.

Conspiracy-hunt-escape. An excellent spy thriller based on true events from France, like a French version of The Fugitive, from the director of the awesome Zulu. Gilles Lellouche finds himself in a very uncomfortable situation. He has been falsely accused of sexually abusing his daughter and the powerful KGB organization is involved. A transfer to a Russian prison with a Section 42 it’s something you don't want. (Too bad most of the film doesn't take place in the prison, it would be properly raw there). There’s no right to a defense, the French authorities are helpless, his only recourse is to escape and pray. I enjoyed this. Lellouche gives his standard quality performance (he reminds me of Liam Neeson), the music is excellent and the tension is palpable in a couple of scenes. A situation no one wants to find themselves in. If you like European conspiracy thrillers, I definitely recommend it. 8/10.

The skilled Cedric Jimenez has already made the excellent The Connection and The Stronghold, so every new film of his is worth looking forward to (as with Olivier Marchal, who tends to be a French guarantee of quality when it comes to manly and tough films). This time, however, Jimenez chose a weaker moment with me. The film admittedly benefits from a strong and realistic premise: Black Friday of November 2015, when terrorist attacks took place in Paris. What bothered me the most was that Jimenez skipped the attacks themselves, so the best part of the film isn't really there – I wanted another Hotel Mumbai! Instead, the director focuses on the anti-terrorist forces trying to catch the suspects of the attacks during a five day deployment. There's a lot of investigation, interrogation, but I found it quite uninteresting. I was intrigued by the finale, which at least has a SWAT raid in action and there was a hint of suspense, but otherwise I found it unnecessarily slow and not as interesting as it should be for the premise. Some have compared the film to the American Zero Dark Thirty, but I thought that was a level better. But those who like films based on true events and anything with terrorists will not be disappointed. The craftsmanship and the acting are good. 6/10.

Giallo/Pinku from Japan paying tribute to Dario Argento. An interesting character study of a twisted maniac whose wife gets killed by a guy in a motorcycle helmet and then kills himself. The main character then takes revenge on society and goes on a killing spree on the streets of Tokyo as he feels he has the right to take someone else's wife. The hero suffers from severe depression and survives in company. There's plenty of nudity (If you like attractive Japanese women, there's a lot to look at), there's punk-rock music, there's interesting camera work and colour filters, the main character has impressive philosophical musings (I really enjoyed his monologues about women, the world, politics, justice), and there's some gore, though it's a bit weak in that respect, nothing to remember or nitpick, they could have done a better job here. The short running time makes it a passable and unconventional genre film. 6/10.

What happens in La Tolqa stays in La Tolqa. The best Brandon Cronenberg yet, who has only now fully matured as a director and is following in his daddy's footsteps. Cronenberg's signature is very much in evidence, and those who don't like his films probably won't change their minds now either. Infinity Pool, however, is more of a psychedelic thriller than a horror film that relies on the unsettling and uncomfortable. Twisted more by theme and idea than explicit violence – there's less of that here for my taste than I expected based on overseas reviews, but again, other elements balance it out. The central couple are enjoying an all-inclusive stay at a fictional resort, but the idyllic holiday is altered by a sudden fatal accident that changes the lives of everyone involved. Rough local rules with a perverse local subculture, psychological hedonism and original cloning are all interesting elements. The direction and execution are on a high level. Alexander Skarsgard is great and Mia Goth delivers another affected and insane performance – Pearl 2 Evolved. (that girl really amuses and turns me on at the same time), and there is one psychotropic and hallucinogenic sex orgy scene that is a delight and I can understand the NC-17 rating, albeit more for the nudity than the violence. The gore is practically non-existent (apart from one nicely smashed head there's almost nothing), but the unsettling atmosphere where something unpleasant hangs in the air works well, and script-wise it's quite unpredictable and quite properly wild. I definitely had more fun than I'd hoped. The film won't please everyone due to its controversial approach and lack of any significant horror scenes, but that's typical of Cronenberg. It's got depth, great actors, impressive ideas, brilliant direction and perverted nudity, pluse the make-up effects are perfectly creepy, too bad they didn't use them better and more often... All that was really missing was proper gore to complete satisfaction.

The third installment of the Mortal Kombat Legends animated series and it's once again wholesome carnage full of fatalities and juicy gore. Violence lovers of all kinds will get a boner. Scorpion's Revenge, the first entry, may still be unsurpassed, but this is also a very impressive affair with animation that doesn't bother me as much as, say, Japanese anime. We have the warrior Kenshi, who loses his eyesight but is taken under the wing of Sub-Zero, who gives him proper training so he can get his revenge on Black Dragon and Kane, who here plays the ultimate bastard. The biggest plus, of course, is the action itself. There's a lot of it, it's insanely brutal, some fatalities are breathtaking and the creativity knows no bounds, blood spurts in hectolitres, I can't be unhappy. The film passes quickly thanks to the short running time, sometimes you can laugh at the funny lines and it's just good brutal fun.

A solid action flick from South Korea. Rarely does it happen that an unknown director and unknown actors come up with such an action romp, which also has very positive reviews abroad. I was pleasantly surprised. We have a main character nicknamed Goblin who spends 10 years in jail for someone else. Once he returns he decides to live a peaceful family life, only to have his daughter kidnapped to make sure he keeps his mouth shut, and he has no choice but to announce the return of Goblin in revenge mode. The opening minutes begin with a brutal action scene where no blood is spared and I knew this was going to be something for me. There's plenty of action, going from one action scene to the next except for the middle of the film, where they slow down considerably and focus on the story, which is understandable so they can step on the gas again in the final third and get a decent action inferno going. The entire film is fought with knives! There's no shooting and not much use of hands, everyone fights with either baseball bats or mostly knives, and knife fighting is my weakness, so I enjoyed all the scenes. It's got great cinematography, great choreography, plenty of blood, the main character uses his knife fighting skills to the max, and there are some decent opponents so action-wise I'm very satisfied. I was in mute awe of some of the fatalities and combos (one evoked The Raid 2, where Uwais dismembered an enemy in 5 moves at the end). I wasn't that interested in the story, but that's beside the point here. 8/10.