New Reviews - Progressing Users

An average western thriller with the traditionally good Sarah Paulson, good craftsmanship and a decent soundtrack and that's about it. I deliberately say thriller because in the beginning they build some sort of mythology around a Greyman of sorts (A western version of Babadook? bring it on!), but in the end nothing like that happens and it relies on hallucinations over and over again, which gets quite tiresome. I didn't suffer, it was watchable, but there's nothing to stand for, unfortunately. Forgettable. 5/10.

I was looking forward to an action-packed brutal ride with vampires, and I got a vampire B-movie for kids with make-up effects so horrible it made me physically nauseous. Another failed Stephen King adaptation, yes they are cursed! It's two hours long, with unlikeable characters, and, as I mentioned, downright tragic make-up effects that would have been laughable even in the 90s (those glowing eyes my God!). Plot-wise I was absolutely not interested, the atmosphere didn't work and the only thing that could have been nice would have been the gore, but we don't even get to see that. If I compare it to the last ten movies I've seen, this is where I suffered and wished for the ending the most. This really went over my head and the TV visuals didn't do it any favours either. If I had seen this at the cinema, I would have strangled the ticket seller. 3/10.

A fine sequel to one of my favourite Tim Burton films (the favourites are completely different though). The logic was already haphazard then and it's not much better this time around, but who could be mad when Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is such irresistible mayhem, genuinely entertaining and made with love for all things dead and undead.

Corporate Animals is a very silly piece of crap that goes purely on a conversation between people trapped in a cave and the topics are so absurd and stupid that it can sometimes make you laugh. Occasionally there's a joke, situational humour, but there aren't any fits of laughter or downright memorable scenes, which is a shame. The film doesn't even take itself seriously, so it's no wonder that audiences don’t take it seriously either, and I don't understand Ed Helms' five-minute role in such a B-movie. Overall, the time spent with the film is probably not worth it and it gets more boring as it progresses. Too bad, at least it could have climbed to a two star...

An unknown outsider is unexpectedly a huge hit and I'm drooling with bliss. Wheelman is a kind of Baby Driver in a rougher, more sonorous and far more action-packed package, led by the excellent Frank Grillo, whom I adore. He's an actor who commands respect and should be the star of A-list action movies because his acting, facial expressions and everything around him is simply perfect. At 82 minutes, it literally never gets boring, from the second minute onwards it moves at an incredible pace until the end, there are plenty of shootouts, chases and action and there a nicely convoluted story where three parties come together in pursuit of money and start settling scores with each other. I also have to praise the cinematography, as the side angle on the driver and the cameras from outside his car are effective and make you feel you are sitting next to him, as is the sound, which is tuned out so much that I can't help but dream about the noise of the car. Jeremy Rush has shown in his debut that he can do it, and I certainly wouldn't be averse to more of his films in the future.

Ava has no compassion, it mercilessly tortures you with 90 minutes of boredom and doesn't stop until the very end. The comparisons with Anna and Red Sparrow are certainly in order, but they are not even close. There's little action, and even it’s pretty bad, unbelievable to the point of horror (a problem similarly-themed films never avoid), and story-wise it's an unremarkable classic with no surprises, not a single moment of suspense or concern for the main character. Colin Farrell doesn't fit here, for as much as I like him I suffered during his scenes. John Malkovich and Jessica Chastain were thankfully passable. Boring, boring, boring. Had I seen this at the cinema, I would have cried at the money I wasted.

Dawn of the Dead is a classic of modern zombie films and it's nice to see how skillfully Zack Snyder was already on his way to becoming a master director. This is despite the fact that it's a vastly different genre to his films today. For 2004 there's plenty of quality gore, nice make-up effects, and I also like the minimal use of eye-popping CGI effects, making the film visually gritty, dirty and exactly how zombie horror should be. The story is the classic survival of a group of people, where the characters are thankfully engagingly written – though I would have liked more interaction or character development in the intimate atmosphere of the mall, but that can be forgiven. The action and the music fit together nicely, there's shooting, running and slashing just about every minute and I have to say that the film manages to keep your attention until the end, including the ending during the closing credits. Bravo.

What's better than a 40-minute episode? A 20-minute episode! And what's better than a 20-minute episode? An 8-minute episode! An excellent an entertaining 10x8-minute series that goes by quickly and is perfect for warding off boredom on a rainy afternoon. Kevin Hart plays himself and tries to succeed in film action school, but towards the end it turns out that it's not just about school, it's about his life. Kevin Hart, John Travolta and Jean Reno sit together beautifully for the "old years", it's got great pacing, loads of jokes and most importantly it's not boring and nice to watch. It's probably not for everyone, but if you want a laugh, go for it.

An American Pickle is an entertaining film in its own right. Seth Rogen in his double role is great, and as always, he is a kind of "father of comedy" for me, because this genre simply suits him best. If there was an award for the most absurd film, this a clear winner. A man who wakes up in the future from a pickle barrel and tries to start a pickle empire is a brilliant idea. Throw in a rivalry with his great-grandson to see who can knock the other out of the game first, lots of jokes and other bizarre situations, and you'll be amazed at how rich it is. It should be taken with a huge grain of salt, though, but I had a royal laugh even though the story is soulless, quite sentimental towards the end and unnecessarily tries to teach a lesson at times. The film won't make a dent in the world, but it will certainly provide entertainment, so fans of parodies and Sandler films shouldn't be downright disappointed.

The Room has a banal and unoriginal motive at first glance, but it turns out to be quite an interesting film. It begins as a ghost story/home invasion/sci-fi thing, well, whatever comes to mind, but as it progresses the plot moves to unexpected places, goes through several genres on its way to the end (horror, scifi, fantasy, drama…), asks existential and moral questions with a decent psychological development of the characters, and offers suspense at the end. What brings it down, though, is that it tries to be so many things at the same time, until it ends up not beingany of them 100%. It's still an interesting film, and I applaud it for having the idea and the courage to embark on such a thing, but the target audience will be mainly film buffs and probably not the average TV viewer.

Clint Eastwood is back on form and after The Mule he delivers an uncomfortable, authentic and often hopeless drama, the kind that hasn't been seen in a long time. They couldn't have cast a better actor than Paul Walter Hauser (Kingdom) to play the slightly dim-witted but at heart terribly nice and kind man, the security guard who found the bomb, because his facial expressions, demeanor and acting are all on point, and I haven't sympathized and empathized with a lead character like this in a long time. For such a simple story, the writers did a good job, especially with the psychological portrayal of the situation, the manipulation of the media and the pressure of the FBI, their daily intrusiveness and destruction of an innocent man's life, and although it is rare that a story leaves a bigger mark on the viewer, this one is an exception and I can safely say that I have not seen a better drama in years. Suspenseful and chilling, yet so human and emotional.

A young law student's love for a new student gets him involved in the international drug trade when he and his crew are tasked with transporting a package to France from Amsterdam, but everything goes wrong and, in addition to the competition, his employer comes after him. The nerd eventually becomes a seasoned gangster and the film goes all the way. A basic plot skeleton, complete with decent pacing and numerous one-liners that made me laugh quite often, throw in a hilarious red-headed, racist, anti-Semitic party member named Durex who more or less provides all the funny content, and you're done. I was a bit bothered by the French here, I can't understand a word of it, I'd probably prefer to watch the film with English dubbing. As an entertaining one-off it serves more than adequately and I had a lot of fun.

A chilling thriller with a rather unpleasant theme, but a far more frightening central point (stalking, psychological terror). Egyptian director Atom Egoyan, who has made the much-discussed Devil's Knot, clearly has a flair for films with this theme, and so it is with The Captive. Ryan Reynolds and Mireille Enos as the overwhelmed parents are convincing, but Kevin Durand as the mentally disturbed kidnapper is downright excellent and exactly the kind of character I would expect from a slimy madman. But the film's biggest asset is that it can be suspenseful in pivotal scenes, incredibly emotional in others, and at times I was literally shaking in my seat and suffering with the characters. A brilliant and engaging film that knows how to play with the viewer and outlines the flip side of society in a realistic way.

A solid ending to the (penultimate?) 10th season, which has been a long time coming. Maybe unnecessarily so long that the series unfortunately loses its consistency a bit, you forget a lot of things and details in that time and without the pause it would have been better. Still, the finale was quite good, it's nice to see the characters, zombies, lots of action and so on again, we know the drill. Maybe I found a lot of the scenes pushed to epicness unnecessarily, the death of the beta rushed and in some places a very shortcut solution, which I see as a big miss. So waiting until 2021/2022 for the final 11th season will be an ordeal again, and if Rick doesn't finally get involved in the story, I don't know...

A pointless spin-off that seems terribly stupid and infantile, the group of kids is (so far) terribly uninteresting, the story is bland and I'd probably rather not dive into the series completely...

Everyone praises this classic version over the newer remake, but it just struck me as worse than average, and I might give the new version a chance, since the central idea of live or death version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? is right up my alley. The film has a nice touch of Saw atmosphere at times, the difficulty of the challenges sharpens as time goes on, but conversely the viewer's tension drops. Likewise, I found the dialogue often very silly, simple, and the execution quite cheap, the actors incredibly overacted, and it also lacked a psychological portrayal, the moral balance of money vs problems, which should certainly have been at least rudimentarily outlined here. The idea is good, but I find it quite overrated by many users and maybe this is exactly why I completely dislike Asian films, as the potential here wasn't even half used.

I was expecting a post-apocalyptic action ride, instead we have “Murder on the Orient Express” in a slightly different version. So far I don't like the direction the series is taking, but we'll see....

The last cinema visit before closing is not the pleasure I expected, but it could have been worse. The comparisons to Taken, Non-Stop and The Commuter are certainly spot on, Liam Neeson basically doesn’t take any roles other than revenge actioners these days. This brings me to the script, though, which is incredibly stupid, and literally not a single decision made by a single character in the film was rational, on the contrary, they all behaved exactly the opposite of how they should. There are also, unfortunately, a lot of logical errors, filmmaking mistakes, etc., but what disappoints me the most is that the action isn't worth much either. We don't see any long sequences, there is only one shootout, no knife or contact fights. Liam Neeson is sadly past his prime and his recent action scenes are like slow motion, terribly choppy and boring – still a pretty impressive performance at 68, but he should be done with this stuff. Of the supporting roles, I'll mention Kate Walsh (13 Reasons Why) and bad guy Jai Courtney (Insurgent), who steal the film's action for themselves as an addition to the main trio, since no one else even shows up much, but they take the roles decently. It's just a classic action B-movie, it doesn't work very well in any aspect, I'm rather mildly disappointed and might prefer to forget it in a few days, but as the last cinema before lock down - why not.

I'm turning it off halfway through. It's not stupid enough for a typical Sandler film and not funny enough for a more serious comedy, in fact it's more like an infantile fairy tale for ten year olds. I'm definitely not the target audience, so I'll two stars and move on.

Snowpiercer is the series disappointment of the year so far for me, we haven't had such a boring thing in a long time. Compared to the film, it had a lot more time to flesh out the characters, an interesting introduction to the plot, and intense action, but none of that was present, and as a result it feels like a wasted 400 minutes. Perhaps the only thing worth picking up are a few creative ideas. The first half of the series was downright talky and a tired version of “Murder on the Orient Express”, and it wasn't until the second half that we get some of the rebellion the series was supposed to be heading towards from the start. The action is almost zero, we can only talk about the development of the characters in a very superficial way and we don't get any significant plot twists either. I was bored most of the time and finished the series more out of obligation. On the other hand, Jennifer Connelly (Alita: Battle Angel, Only the Brave) was decent as an unpleasant bitch, while Daveed Diggs enjoyed his role as the main leader of the resistance, around whom the whole series revolved. But the end result unfortunately feels bland and I'm disappointed, because a post-apocalyptic train in a frozen country with carriages divided by social class is an idea that's pretty good idea, one that directors could kill for. I was downright suffering by the last episode...