EvilPhoEniX

Too bad I didn't find out until after watching it that I had seen the edited version, but it was still a treat. John Woo serves up a historical epic with all that goes with it and it is definitely a cult film. The action sequences and technical aspects may not pull off as much as they did in 2009, but the planning strategy and the acting thankfully make up for it. I had fun. 80%.

A cute fairy tale and probably a well-deserved Oscar. There are too many songs for my taste, but the central one is very cool. Visually, the film is great, there is a typical twist and a pretty emotional finale, so definitely above average, although I am not the target audience and there could have been more humour... 75%

Kim Jee-Woon, one of the best directors from South Korea today, delivers a remake of the Japanese Anime Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade from 1999. While the director doesn't surpass his earlier works (I Saw the Devil, A BitterSweet Life, The Good, the Bad, the Weird are some of his best work, and then in America he med The Last Stand and The Age of Shadows) I more or less I this film, but it was more entertainment than a gem. Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade is a film I've had on my PC for six months and thanks to Netflix buying the rights and English subtitles I was finally able to watch it. It is a cultural and social anthropology set in the near future when North and South Korea are united into a single government and of course not everyone likes it, and there are numerous rebellions and uprisings. Definitely the first-class technical side should be praised, visually the film is gorgeous and the money is damn visible. The acting is also perfect, there are a lot of Korean stars, with the Jeong Woo-Seong and Kang Dong-Won excelling. The atmosphere of the future is great and especially the Wolf Brigade police with their suits make you think of a mix of “Wolfenstein” and “Killzone”. Action-wise the film is also excellent, for a 2 hour 20 movie it paces quite well, it's R-rated and there's no shortage of gunfights and fights. But I had a problem with the story, it could have offered a lot more, and considering the premise, the director takes a rather cold approach to the film; there are too many characters and many times I got lost in who was the bad guy and who was the good guy, so I was disoriented at times. As a dark blockbuster from Korea, the film definitely holds up, but I probably won't watch it more than once. 75%

The best animated film of the year. The Incredibles 2 is back after 14 years and it's wonderful to watch. The animation is top-notch, the action is phenomenal, the characters are fun and Jack-Jack is delightfully funny. I felt like I was watching a Marvel movie in Anime mode only. An unexpected surprise with a good villain and a nice twist.

I'm not a huge fan of the franchise, but I went to the cinema out of curiosity, as spies are trendy now, but Johnny English isn't going to make a dent in the world. Action-wise, there's nothing to stand on, the villain is awful (one of the worst I've seen this year) and the humor is alternately funny and lame. Rowan Atkinson in Bean mode is still fine and Olga Kurylenko is sexier than ever here, but it's nowhere near a cinematic spectacle. 55%

Drew Goddard, the director of the great The Cabin in the Woods, did not please me at all with this one and after a long time I left the cinema completely bored. (I guess the other four people in the cinema fell asleep and my friends said after an hour that if someone doesn't die and soon, we leave). I had high hopes for this film, the trailers were promising, there decent actors, an attractive premise, and there was also the similarity to both Identity and The Hateful Eight, which I liked, but this one unfortunately failed with me. The film is 142 minutes long and doesn't offer enough enticing material to fully entertain and satisfy the viewer. The hotel with a hidden secret was fine, the sets are nice, the music is great music, and at first I was even entertained by the unknown mystery, but it didn't really go anywhere. Most of the time is given to Jeff Bridges and Cynthia Erivo, who are probably the least interesting characters in the film, with only Dakota Johnson surprisingly pulling it off as an actor, and then Chris Hemsworth, but he shows up half an hour before the end, and that felt like a letdown. The twists and turns are unexpected but not shocking (Lewis Pullman slightly surprised in the ending), the dialogue is futile and the lack of blood and action scenes is a minus for me. There is only one shootout at the end and it's over before I could say shoemaker. Too bad the director didn't pull something in the style of The Cabin in the Woods, it would have fit nicely here. A tedious and not very entertaining film, but it has its own vibe. 60%.

The first half was very good, as I usually like heist movies a lot, but unfortunately the second half turned into a boring political negotiation game and I lost all interest in how it would all turn out. I liked the classically good Luis Tosar, but also unexpectedly few twists for Spaniards. I didn’t like this. 40%

A dark black-humor thriller with an excellent madman, Danny McBride, set during the 2009 housing crisis. Danny McBride goes to complain to a real estate agent about selling his apartment, but an accident and a murder occur at the same time, setting off a carousel of dead bodies where everyone dies by accident. It's both unexpectedly and enjoyably gory and nicely funny, and McBride is superb as the madman. As nice stuff to kill a dull evening the film serves well enough, it doesn't even try for more than that. 65%

A very enjoyable feel good retro drama about an introvert who befriends the biggest dude in school and they start dealing weed. The shy boy gradually becomes a different person who wants more money, starts dating the hottest chick in town and gains confidence, but it's a business where happiness blooms only for a short while. Great choice of actors, a solid Thomas Jane as the sheriff, cool jokes and allusions to other movies, a nice retro atmosphere and a fateful finale. Huge surprise. 80%.

It's a great pity that this rather unconventional and appealing premise is merely a drama, because there's something unpleasant hanging in the air the whole film and you hope that it will turn into a thriller at the end, but alas. I can't say I was bored, it was interesting to watch the escalating conflict between the two parents, but I couldn't root for anyone because the father was a bastard and the wife was a bitch and I was sorry the French didn't let go of their chains, the ending was just begging for a shocking finale. Good film but left me emotionally cold. 65%