POMO

For a long time, Amulet remains an unclear and only slightly interesting psychological game, but in the end it is surprising, makes sense and even pulls off a certain winking humor. As a representative of indie horror, it is marked by inexperienced directing, but it is held together by its good subject matter with a higher purpose. Evil, demonism, guilt, repentance and punishment. A-list British actress Imelda Staunton appears in a supporting yet iconic role.

The excellent screenplay precisely conveys the growing tension and seriousness of the events from all points of view of the participants – the humiliation of the suffering “prisoners”, the abuse of power on the part of the guards and the remorse of the concerned observers, or rather organizers of the experiment. At the right moment, a female, more empathetic element enters the scene and describes the situation in the most accurate and human way. The directing and acting are also superb; Billy Crudup excels. This is a better film than I had expected, with practically no weak points.

Evil Dead Rise honors the classic trio of Tapert, Raimi and Campbell and is unrelenting in its intensity, amount of blood and high technical level. For the first time outside of a cottage in the forest, but in the no less inhospitable environment of a social housing complex without a functional elevator or fire escape. The diabolical make-up and behavior of the demon-possessed victims are a proven fan-service trademark of the franchise. The characters don’t act as stupidly as they did last time and their casting and “rock-emo” stylization are properly unconventional and bring to mind the ensemble cast of the last Hellraiser. The mysteriously beautiful Alyssa Sutherland was born for her role as a demon. And we are well aware that this franchise has the most cunning demons ever. And this time, even a little girl is exposed to them! It’s a pleasure to see such an outstanding genre treat made with so much love on the big screen again.

Margaux is a pile of clichés with which the film’s makers do exceedingly stupid work and without any functional context. In terms of filmmaking, it doesn’t offer even a hint of style or inventiveness, and there is no trace of atmosphere. Even the potential of the modern smart house is squandered. The characters are dreadful and there is no concept to the interplay between their relationships. By comparison, House of Wax form 2005 is a solid genre flick.

Courses on cooking, dining and preparing coffee with the sinful Ms. Jeanne. Formalistic minimalism with minor variations in the repetitive content. Jeanne Dielman is a procedural observation of a few days in the life of a woman who takes her son to work in the morning and has dinner with him and says a few things in the evening. In the time in between, she cooks, goes shopping, receives a male visitor for pay, showers and makes dinner... As a look into a private life, the film is so literal and focused on the acting that it is more voyeuristically satisfying than a documentary would be. Academic purity that embeds itself in one’s mind for the entire time spent intimately with a single character.

Naughty nineties cool, or Pretty Woman for romantic perverts. The vulnerable, searching and devoted Maggie Gyllenhaal in a story of an unusually powerful intimate pairing that may end in a separation with emotional devastation or in a partnered relationship with complete fulfilment. James Spader offers up his usual vocal precision both when he is holding back and in explosive moments. The erotic scenes are psychologically probing and exciting, the detached humour brings pleasant relief, and the emotional drama has impact. A bold and surprisingly appealing, one-of-a-kind relationship movie.

Set in a time in America that now seems the most appealing of all, Air is a fresh entrepreneurial adventure with a maximally feel-good happy ending. It's not as funny or seductively amoral as The Wolf of Wall Street, nor does it reveal such an interesting curiosity as Moneyball did, but it’s still a skilfully directed and well acted true story of the American Dream. “Booorn in the USA!”

The Pope’s Exorcist starts out entertainingly with the character of an unconventional, rebellious priest interestingly portrayed by the great Russell Crow. And then it is all the more unentertaining due to its impetuous piling up of genre clichés in the final third, which is more ridiculous than scary or in any way impressive. The film’s best scene, with which the still watchable and still developing part of the storyline culminates, is somewhere around the midpoint. A mainstream movie powered by a stellar cast, but in the context of the genre, it’s a total fiasco in comparison with some cinematic delights that don’t even make it into local theaters (X, Pearl).

Despite a bit of recycling, Chapter 4 is still an entertaining action blockbuster without a single dull moment in its nearly three-hour runtime. And it has the best ending of all the films in the franchise. Bill Skarsgård is an exemplary bourgeois bad guy and Donnie Yen plays the franchise’s first supporting character who is a match for Wick and is more than just a one-dimensional villain. The overhead shots in the rooms are fantastic, but I wouldn’t have borrowed the wrong-way ride on the traffic circle around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris from Mission: Impossible – Fallout, because this equally highly rated franchise has no need for that. The higher degree of detached humor (radio hits from the Eiffel Tower, the long fall down the stairs) together with the outsized nature of everything was more than pleasing. Of course, the production design is again outstanding. I hope we will see the young Japanese actress Rina Sawayama in the fifth John Wick.

Daniel Craig does a credible job, his detective character fits him like a tailored suit, and he enjoys playing that character to the maximum delight of the viewer. The costumes and the interiors and exteriors in the second Knives Out adventure are also great. The other characters arouse the viewers’ interest in unravelling the mystery and, mainly, revealing their true relationship with their host, a billionaire played by Edward Norton. However, the denouement is in no way surprising or clever, which makes the film merely a pleasant, colorful diversion with a refined style.