EvilPhoEniX

I wasn't impressed by the trailer and I admire submarines, but I don't really like movies on this topic, so in the end I'm very pleasantly surprised by how brisk and entertaining Hunter Killer is. Gerard Butler is solid as the captain and I enjoyed the underwater attacks, which are very suspenseful though rather mediocrely filmed. The rescue of the Russian President was also good. I enjoyed myself immensely and didn't expect more here. I can't remember a more entertaining submarine movie, I'll gladly round up. 70%

A nice farewell to Robert Redford's career about an admirable criminal who broke out of prison countless times and robbed over a hundred banks. The heists are fun and Redford as the smiling gentleman is great. Casey Affleck as the cop trying to catch him is also entertaining. Too bad the jailbreaks were summed up in only five minutes and the comedy is pretty underused. Still, a decent retro film that has charm and heart. I have it between 3 and 4 stars, but given that this is Redford's last notch I'll round it up. 70%.

Matteo Garrone, who made the great morbid horror anthology Tale of Tales, now comes up with a dense, raw drama whose authenticity and bleakness will make you uncomfortable. The protagonist, played by Marcello Fonte (a perfect performance), is a typical good guy to the bone who loves his dogs and his only beloved daughter, but his life is terrorized by the local bully, a cocaine addicted former boxer who terrorizes everyone in the neighborhood, and everyone in town wishes him nothing but the worst, really, a man like a rabid dog worthy of being put down. The whole film is set in a bleak seaside town in dirty Italy and the two leads make the film very entertaining and engaging. The finale is grittier than I expected and you end up rooting for the main character to the max, even if some of his decisions were very ill-considered. A solid Indie affair that is both sad and chilling. 80%

The first new release this year belongs to Canada and it’s definitely an unusual and interesting catch. It is a heavily festival Indie cheapie that is nevertheless very original and at some points quite disturbing. The protagonist is a shapeshifter, that is, he decomposes and rots alive, but the only thing that saves him is reincarnating into another person, and so he is on a constant killing mission, taking on a different identity almost every six hours and leaving behind rotting, dried-out bodies. It flows at a slower pace and the visuals aren’t very impressive, but the make-up effects are good and the final sequence reminded me of Alien. The film is definitely worth watching for its original premise. 60%.

Solid, but probably the weakest Narcos. The setting of Mexico is certainly appealing, but the characters are not as engaging as before. Michael Peña isn't Pedro Pascal and Diego Luna doesn't have the charisma of Escobar or the Godfathers of the Cali Cartel and that's quite a problem. The only crazy character that really entertains is Rafa. The action is more intimate than spectacular and unfortunately there isn't much of it as no one is properly at war with each other; there more personal murders which, although detailed and brutal, I expected much more. Slight disappointment, but still 4 srars. 75%.

Park Hoon-Jeong is a solid director who has made films like New World, The Tiger, and V.I.P. He also wrote the screenplay for the excellent I Saw the Devil, so he’s a clear guarantee of quality, and he's probably made me the happiest with his new effort. The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion is a gritty, suspenseful and visually breathtaking supernatural thriller about a little girl who massacres the entire lab that has been conducting strange experiments on her and escapes into the woods, where she begins a new life when a new family "adopts" her. Kim-Da is no ordinary little girl to me though, she has supernatural abilities and is proficient in things like telekinesis, but unfortunately she also suffers from amnesia so she doesn't remember the horrors she has committed. The problem comes when she shows what she can do live on a TV show and this is noticed by some very bad people who are eager for revenge and to get the little girl back. The first hour is a bit slower and comes across more like a drama, but from the second half onwards it's a decently frantic action ride with dangerous bad guys, a decent amount of violence, excellent action scenes (I've never seen such brisk and innovative action filmed anywhere before), and the finale is one of the best that Asia has produced this year. There are a few unexpected solid twists in the story as well, so there's a bit of everything. Big praise also for the lead young actress,who gives an Oscar-winning performance, her transformation of an innocent sweet girl into an uncompromising killing machine was delicate. So yeah, and considering this is Part 1, we may be in for a very wild trilogy.

The producers of Train to Busan serve up a historical horror film with the Chinese Dynasty will facing off against aggressive zombies. Definitely a very original piece of work, as is usual with Koreans, visually sophisticated, the acting is impressive (the elite of Bin Hyun and Jang Dong-Gun rock once again), the action is very good, the zombies have cool make-up. it's decently suspenseful, slightly bloody and there are plenty of heads. The only problem is that the film is primarily historical, so it also focuses on the problems of the time, which may not be to everyone's taste, but I didn't mind because I'm already well-versed in Asia. 70%

I remember that The Last Kingdom was originally supposed to be filler before Vikings came out, but now it’s a full-fledged competitor that actually surpasses Vikings in everything. Visually impressive, historically accurate, the action is brutal but more intimate than spectacular, and the twists and turns are elaborate and shocking. The new characters are a grat (Skade and Bloodhead are awesome) and Uthred is an increasingly better and more interesting hero. One of the best historical series of our time. An emotional historical orgasm. 100%.

I was skeptical about this film, but it ended up being enjoyable, touching, and Bradley Cooper deserves much admiration for his acting, directing, writing and singing. Lady Gaga has already shown in American Horror Story that she can act too and here she just strongly confirms it and I hope she gets a well-deserved Oscar. The highlight for me was Ally's first appearance on stage, she literally brings the whole stadium down with her voice. I also praise the well-chosen songs. A solid film for the genre, but I'm not the target audience. 75%.

The most twisted film of this year belongs to Chile and after all this year's exploitation flicks, the clear king. Trauma is a film that can literally traumatize some viewers, especially women and people with weaker stomachs. The very opening scene, when the son is forced by the soldiers to rape his own mother, is one of the highlights on the level of A Serbian Film and that's just the beginning. Four friends, two of them lesbians, go to visit a rural town in Chile, but the first night will mark them for the rest of their lives. They are assaulted and raped by a sleazy redneck and his son and I have to say, if anyone didn't feel good about the rape in I Spit on your Grave, they won't be able to handle it here. The scene lasts about 10 minutes, is uncut and feels very real and disturbing at the same time. After that, it's more or less a classic revenge flick with some awesome gore and even though the budget is low, the attempt to shock the audience worked brilliantly. An unpleasant, evil, unfunny and traumatic film that won't entertain but will disgust and shock you and for me it paid off. Additionally, I praise the best lesbian sex ever filmed in a movie and the very pretty actresses. 80%