POMO

The Furies is an Australian slasher flick with overused subject matter that has been only slightly altered. The unnecessarily exaggerated brutality serves no plot purpose, and the work with the behavior of the characters and the resulting “surprising” twists come across as cheap. The creators don’t seem to know that even a slasher movie requires intelligent work with the viewer.

With this bunch (including the pink blonde), you wouldn’t be bored even if they just stood around talking at a bus stop. Even so, the screenwriters of the second Zombieland didn’t exactly overwork themselves. The film is a road movie with three stops where something happens just for a moment of amusement, not for moving some elaborate story forward, much less for enriching genre conventions. Even the imaginative pacifist smelting of weapons in Babylon was spoiled by the silly solution of the final problem with the zombie army. It’s okay for watching once, though.

If it wasn’t for a visit from a relative who is a Costner fan, I never would have watched this, since I don’t usually watch TV series. And that would have been a shame. It’s not a Western in the true sense of the word; it just takes place on a contemporary ranch where horses are ridden and everyone wears hats. The high quality of the screenwriting becomes apparent already in the excellent, intriguingly open-ended pilot, and subsequent episodes are then divided into those where politics and large-scale machinations are addressed (three stars from me) and those dealing with the residents of the ranch – why they are what they are and why their relationships with each other look the way they look (four stars from me). Each character is perfectly written, cast and portrayed and fits into the complex collective constellation, facing one tragic blow of fate after another. And the theme song is pure perfection. Even the music motif from Eastwood’s Unforgiven, which kicks off the sixth episode of the first season, has its place here. Yellowstone is anything but a romantic tale set in a beautiful landscape with Costner. The people here murder, f*ck, steal and cheat. In short, everything the audience craves.

Cold Pursuit is a thriller with not only an original concept, but also humor and dozens of corpses. The comic relief makes it amusing in some ways, but I would rather see the topic of revenge for the murdered son in harsh northern conditions treated seriously. Even the bad guys do not earn enough respect here. And the positive Indian poetics surrounding drug dealers that are just as vile as the main bad guys is just WTF. This is a peculiar film hybrid that not quite successfully mixes American thriller elements with European courage to play with audience expectations.

This action flick for guys reliably delivers all of the classic elements of Emmerich movies – superb casting, elaborate composition and over-the-top American pathos at the end. Unfortunately, the storyline is confusing – the strategies discussed over the maps and sometimes the continuity of the action scenes make no sense. Ideologically, it’s also pro-China, as without a Chinese investment, this film would probably never have been made (it could never attract enough moviegoers to pay for its technical execution). The digital aspect is excellent, especially in comparison with the recent (sixth) Terminator.

The intention here was to elevate a simple theme like that of a Van Damme movie to the level of a clever, emotional action drama with a social subtext, with the help of a top scriptwriter and “artistic” director. And it didn’t really work. The digitally rejuvenated Will Smith is a WTF character – he’s supposed to go through an intense internal struggle requiring a quality acting performance and, paradoxically, delivers the worst “acting” of the movie with his Shrek-like facial expressions. Despite its ambitious plan, the film is also dragged down by unrealistic digital action scenes that are reminiscent of a Fast & Furious theme park. And that’s too bad, since it had such a promising start with the still cool Will and nice chemistry between him and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

This promising film about a brutal struggle between two tough guys in a living room is entertaining with both cool visuals and humorous hyperbole. However, by gradually exposing the reasons for the intense conflict and introducing two other characters, the film reaches the climax, where it loses its confidence and fumbles a bit. Resurrection and other nonsense go against the very physical realism that was its greatest asset. [Sitges FF]

Imagine the dark, atmospheric War of the Worlds or The Thing in a B-movie version and starring Nic Cage, who delivers the funny, energetic overacting we know and like in his crazy comedies. Does anyone want that? The film alternates high-quality slimy freak-show effects with cheap “space nebulae” and quite powerful horror scenes with the aforementioned comical Cage. It’s a story about a family in serious danger and the director, through Nic Cage, suggests you shouldn’t take the film too seriously. For me this is a little bit hard to swallow, although I enjoyed it and I was curious how it would turn out. [Sitges FF]

Filmed in a modern fashion, this retro gangster film from Naples tries to be very stylish with an elegant, charismatic Toni Servillo, but remains only a simple, one-dimensional revenge tale with pretensions of wisdom. [Sitges FF]

In the Quarry offers the psychologically well-portrayed escalation of tension between four people at a picnic. Female stupidity stimulates male jealousy, leading to a group tragedy. Unfortunately, too little happens here for a feature film and, moreover, it happens too slowly. After all, it is not Polanski, but a pure genre film in which we are used to seeing such conflicts escalate even further and more intensely. [Sitges FF]