Remedy

A brutally appealing genre film in which heads burn and bodies explode in ultra-fun sequences, it's already achieving slight cult status at the moment and I'll happily include it among my classic Yuletide screenings in the future, i.e. alongside the first two Die Hard movies and Home Alone. Tommy Wirkola is a bit of a freak, but that doesn't take away from his huge dollop of talent and his remarkable flair for scenes that are extremely gory and funny at the same time. Violent Night is horribly irreverent ("Trudy? Well, that makes her sound like a whore."), brutally action-packed fun where you'll soak up the true Christmas spirit like (almost) nowhere else. [80%]

The cool thing about this noir gem, aside from its impressive ode to classic Hollywood, is that it manages with equal brilliance to hold up a mirror to the entire tinsel colossus. Its non-trivial approach results, among other things, in the fact that Sunset Boulevard still has an absolutely timeless effect to this day and rightfully ranks among the absolute top of the film noir genre. [90%]

An honest police procedural and social drama, with an emphasis on Muslim antediluvian preconceptions of women's rights and "the meaning of life". I'll start with the latter – Ali Abbasi delivers it in such an incredibly evocative way that it truly helps the viewer get into the social discourse while also presenting some pretty compelling reasons (from the perspective of the local citizens). The opening is a thriller like something from Fincher and any ride through the darkened Iranian alleys filled with filth and vice will have atmosphere like crazy. One of the films of the year. [80%]

A boatload more cinematic, lavish, and epic than the first Black Panther. Thankfully, Marvel has returned to the concept of a complete story at the very edge of its universe, which also appealingly pays Chadwick Boseman about the greatest possible tribute. Wakanda Forever is an utterly wholesome piece of filmmaking that has fully fleshed-out heroes and isn't afraid to show their limits and pains. This time around there really isn't another theme park and altogether this is one of the best Marvel sequels, which definitely has its place among the top ten best things that have been made in the MCU so far. The parallels to the modern world are eerily timely and for the first time in a very long time I felt like all the political proclamations actually made sense. Ryan Coogler has shown that even in the very established and now even somewhat sterile Marvel setting, it's still possible to make a damn good flick that confronts its characters with much more civil themes instead of all the often excessive references and multiverses of its heroes. [85%]

Czech TV came out with Suspicion, Netflix with The Good Nurse, who unfortunately runs into a bad one. As an artist, Tobias Lindholm remains little more than a hint in the background, and even so his personal contribution is rather limited compared to his previous work. The atmosphere is oppressive in places, but not sufficiently, and by the last act it's downright dull. The most interesting storyline is the one with the systemic failure of the hospital apparatus and Jessica Chastain is great as always, yet I would have expected much more from such a subject (and from Tobias Lindholm doubly so). As a result, it's just a slightly better piece of consumer Netflix material, which is woefully inadequate for such an ambitious undertaking. [55%]

Unfortunately, the decently constructed atmospherics of the first half are interspersed with utterly unbelievable screenwriting wanking, which brings unintentionally charming comedic touches (Justin Long with the wind-up tape measure is a bit of a personal highlight for me). The exterior scenes are reminiscent of It Follows in their aesthetic, and the whole thing actually flows and looks pretty good, but in the end it's unbelievable crap that barely pulls off 3 stars. Good enough for one-time viewing, but as a genre film it's just god-awful average. [60%]

Neither the directorial inventiveness of Olivia Wilde nor the acting brilliance of Florence Pugh can save this one, because apart from the first 30 minutes it's the most arid rip-off of any film you've ever heard in connection with this. Go ahead and plop in any film from the "grapevine" and answer for yourself the question of whether you need to see the ones you've already seen a hundred times again. The retro look, the music, the costumes, and the dolly shots are all fine (the first quarter really provides the biggest highlights, after that it goes downhill hard), but what can you do when the whole thing is horrifyingly sterile and unimaginative. Hopefully Olivia will have better luck choosing the script the third time around, because she's a fine director. [40%]

A weaker reheating of It Follows and Drag Me to Hell mixed together. Excellent sound design and a couple of well executed jump scares pull it up slightly above average in the end. The craftsmanship is very solid, and the few scripting missteps thankfully don't feel particularly distracting. As a horror one-off, it's actually quite good. If you don't expect any deeper themes from horror movies and are content with simple (but well presented) entertainment and a few jump scares, this material is just for you. [65%]

Tereza Nvotová has halfway pulled it off this time. The least that could bother me is the light ripoff of Eggers, von Trier, and with a certain bit of overstatement Kubrick, as together it works quite well as a social drama with elements of folk horror. The problem is that there are multiple themes being developed, most of which ring a bit hollow in the end. However, the atmosphere and cinematography are top-notch, some moments are really strong, and overall it feels quite original and auteur in the context of Czechoslovak filmmaking. Unfortunately, Tereza Nvotová has not surpassed her excellent debut Filthy. [45%]

It's wonderfully endearing in the climactic scenes (the raccoon, the fight with the leather fanny pack, and the fight with the dildos in the hallway) and despite the ambitious concept of a slightly different multiverse, it mostly holds together quite well. The best part is the middle part, or rather the second half of the first chapter, the ending is conciliatory, it warms the heart and that's how it should be. Now just somehow incorporate it as a side storyline into the MCU multiverse and there could be an infinite number of sequels. Aside from the MCU and The Matrix, I was also occasionally put in mind of Inception. Very nice bit of up-to-par silliness. [80%]