Goldbeater

Well, Flanagan disappointed me here. I have read all of Edgar Allan Poe’s work, and “The Fall of the House of Usher” is quite possibly my least favourite. This miniseries, however, has nothing of Poe's aesthetic, it just glues together selected elements of his works in a very clumsy way in the form of the execution of the unsurprising murders of minor characters, and ties it all together with a main storyline whose final denouement is very weak. For as much as I enjoyed Flanagan's brilliantly plotted Midnight Mass two years ago, I had a hard time finishing this one. And the hamfisted all-encompassing inclusion in Netflix shows eye is starting to get solidly annoying, too.

If it were a stand-alone film about demonic possession, most viewers would wave their hands at it as a grey sub-par film unworthy of any attention. But as an attempted sequel to one of cinema's most iconic works, which many have also called the scariest horror film of all time, it's an utterly pathetic and undignified piece of rubbish that elicits nothing but laughter instead of terror, and mangles the original characters (Ellen Burstyn takes a nasty scriptwriting hit here). Moreover, the fact that, for commercial reasons, they named the film The Exorcist:… , even though this time there is no exorcist is in itself telling. I hope this debacle finally demolishes the myth that David Gordon Green is a gifted horror filmmaker. He's not.

Great technical execution, lacking content. Unfortunately, the least interesting element of Brothers is the titular brothers. Given their controversial nature, the screenplay dares not approach them with any kind of opinion, and so you learn next to nothing about their thoughts, emotions, doubts, and possible regrets (the protagonists are simply hollow; they have no inner conflict; they don't go through development; they don't come across as vivid). Even their primary motivations are sketched in just to avoid being told, and come across as stilted and underdeveloped. The film works all the more in the scenes with Tatiana Dykova as the distressed mother, who adds perhaps the only truly human element to the story. Surprisingly, the film paces very well in terms of action and the expected chase in the second half is very tightly and suspensefully shot, a very solid above standard for a Czech production. It's worth seeing, whatever your opinion of the Mašín may be, but sending these things to the Oscar fight for the Czech Republic is woeful.

Stylized distinctively and effectively into the black-and-white works of the 1940s and 1950s, the film tells the story of a gifted physics student who arrives with his PhD at a scientific conference in a cozy hotel in the Swiss Alps. The conference comes to an untimely end, as does the life of one of the participants. And the strange events are far from over. The Theory of Everything throws everything into the blender – from film-noir to conversational drama, romance, detective story, conspiracy thriller to sci-fi and horror about metaphysics. And despite this fascinating list of genres, it flows very slowly and the viewer has to go through several dead ends to get to the final explanation. A difficult film to evaluate. I imagine that for a lot of viewers with a lowered patience threshold, it will just be "meh", but I actually quite liked it – with just a little editing and tweaking, it would have been a great film.

A world where a mysterious epidemic turns some people into different species is a rather cumbersome subject to translate into film form, and I can imagine that under uncertain hands it could sound unintentionally ridiculous. Thomas Cailley, however, has managed to put together an engaging family drama that puts the relationships between the characters and the "coming of age" premise ahead of any fantastical elements. It's a quality film, but even with the slightly overlong running time, at times I couldn't help but imagine what David Cronenberg in full force, for example, would have done with such a premise. That's the kind of film I'd really like to see.

A fresh and dynamic variation on the "home invasion" thrillers, only in this case, instead of a home, we have a diner where the main character is working her night shift. Some of the creative choices and shortcuts make it clear that this is the debut of a filmmaker who hasn't yet been dialed in and could use some polishing, but it's still a very accomplished and suspenseful genre film that entertains every minute and has many surprises in store for the viewer.

Dario Argento Panico, a two-part documentary, follows both the life and career of the legendary Italian director and his current efforts to write the screenplay for his latest film. If you've ever been significantly interested in Argento, the main retrospective line of the documentary won't bring you that much new information that you didn't know beforehand, but you'll definitely be entertained. The shorter present-day line, by comparison, is of no interest whatsoever. An average documentary that certainly doesn't offend.

Jackdaw is a very solid feature debut from a TV creator that recalls Drive from a Northern English hood. The distinctive throbbing music and excellent sound design kind of distract from the not-quite-rehearsed script, which doesn't bring much new under the sun, but the frequent action and overall stylish feel of the film keeps the viewer paying attention. It could have pushed the envelope considerably more though.

An unconventionally conceived whodunit with an interesting, sort of sci-fi premise that turns the viewer's perception of the main character around. With its B-movie potential, it probably didn't need to be quite the two hours it was, but it's still definitely very solid entertainment that recalls the best of Takashi Miike's extensive body of work.

A compelling documentary insight into the backstage of the making of the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, a work that many people associated with it would rather forget, and of which George Lucas legendarily declared that if he had the time and a sledgehammer, he would seek out every existing copy in the world and destroy it. A Disturbance in the Force explores the constellation of factors that gave rise to one of the most fascinating “so bad it's good” pieces of television entertainment, while not mocking the Star Wars Holiday Special, but recognizing it for what it simply is.