EvilPhoEniX

Alexandre Aja serves up an intimate, smart, and thrilling survival drama in a cryochamber for Netflix. It is solid, and survival fans will definitely enjoy it. I would have preferred to see something like Aja's High Tension or some other massacre, but I'm glad for this as well. There is a certain inspiration from the film Buried, so if you liked that one, there's a great chance that Oxygen won't disappoint you. I could complain that it's slower, it could have been more intense and maybe twenty minutes shorter, but on the other hand, I can't really imagine anyone being able to get more out of this premise. Mélanie Laurent performs excellently, the central twist is fantastic and quite unexpected for me, but I also found the other plot surprises to be very well thought out. And surprisingly, Aja managed to include three decent jump scares – one of them even gave me goosebumps! I hate needles and rats, so this part of the film made me uncomfortable. Overall, it's a nice one-off, which I would give 3 or 4 stars, but survival films don't come out at a rate of twenty a year, but rather a maximum of two, so I don't see a reason why I should hold back. 7/10.

Decent B-movie. Quite a funny classic and a parody of kung-fu films. Sometimes it's so over the top and outrageous that it's hilarious (the fight with the cow and the toddler is awesome). It used to work better back in the day, but if you like Shaolin Soccer, Kung-Fu Hustle, and similar comedy style, you can easily put this in between them. 5/10.

This new Netflix series with superheroes from the mind of Mark Millar (Wanted, Kick-Ass, Kingsman) seemed promising, but it is a huge disappointment and in the end, I would have been better off not watching it at all. The casting is quite good, especially the female cast. Leslie Bibb as a mother with gray hair seemed incredibly sexy to me, and Elena Kampouris is also enticing. The only familiar name is Josh Duhamel, who, with his dialogues, sometimes irritated me a lot, but he suited the role. It is also nice that it is R-rated, though the entire series features only a maximum of three gore scenes. But the problems are more. Criticizing the uninteresting plot and uninteresting costumes is not my style, but what really annoyed me is that the series is primarily a family drama focusing on character development and emotions, and the action scenes can be counted on one hand. At times, the pace is so slow and uninteresting that I often felt like I was accidentally watching a teen drama instead of comic book superhero carnage, which is not happening here. The funniest thing, however, is that the storyline in the flashbacks (with the stock market crash of 1929) is far more interesting than the present-day one 😃 The only good action scene that I remember and could watch on YouTube is in the 7th episode (in Japan, with katanas and plenty of blood), but that seems awfully little for eight hours. The last three episodes completely lost my interest in the series, and I finished it with less enthusiasm. There is a lack of a character who would take care of humor, and a truly interesting antagonist is also missing. Don't bother. 4/10.

An excellent original and entertaining concept about an unsuccessful screenwriter who gains the ability to take various valuables and items from his own dreams, really cool. The protagonist is likeable, the pace is entertaining, and there are even a few plot surprises. The dream sequences are somewhat disappointing, the villains have CGI cloud around them, which personally I don't like, and China seems to really enjoy it. For a higher rating, I missed either a more prominent sense of humor or more interesting action, but I definitely don't regret watching it, the concept is really great. 6/10

This new true crime series from Netflix disappointed me, but fans of similarly oriented stuff will probably not be swearing explicitly. I was expecting a classic detective story in the style of Night Stalker, where a notorious serial killer case would be investigated and we would follow the detective work of the police officers and see how they catch the killer. That is what I like, but unfortunately, this mini-series takes a completely different direction than I would want, one that didn't entertain me much. The storyline with David Berkowitz is more or less wrapped up in the 1st episode, so if you're going into it because of him, you will be disappointed. The next three episodes focus on a writer obsessed with the case and convinced that the murders were part of a Satanic cult. So, there are a bunch of conspiracy theories that unfortunately don't entertain me much. There are a few interesting dialogues and thoughts, and those who enjoy occultism might find it appealing. Personally, it didn't captivate me too much, documentaries are not my strong suit, and they only entertain me if they are presented explicitly and engagingly like in Night Stalker or Don't F**k with Cats. 6.5/10.

Ben Wheatley is a peculiar director. I've seen five of his films and none of them impressed me, and if you feel the same way, then In the Earth won't impress you either. The director made the film for a small budget during the coronavirus, with three characters in a forest. Coincidentally, also the film also features a virus raging. A scientist and a park ranger venture into the deep forest for research. They encounter a third character and nothing goes according to plan. That's basically the story, there's not much else to it, so fans of plots won't find much satisfaction, and unfortunately, fans of horror, action, mystery, or anything genuinely interesting that is worth paying attention to won't find satisfaction either. There are only about two horror scenes in total (the scissors in the eye are great, the fingers chopped off with an axe are relatively decent, but for a 100-minute runtime, it's somewhat insufficient). In the final twenty minutes, there's a flickering stroboscope, which was possibly supposed to be the "psycho" element, but it almost gave me an epileptic seizure, so no thanks. A waste of time, it didn't give me anything, I silently wished for it to end. 4/10.

This trilogy has so far passed me by, but the third part caught my attention. The biggest opening weekend in history, just under 400 million (Avengers: Endgame 358m) and it also stars Tony Jaa. The expectations were high and in the end I am a bit disappointed, but it is still an entertaining film. Chinese, Japanese, and Thai detectives are invited to investigate a murder, and it's quite fun. I enjoyed the investigation the most (similar in style to Sherlock Holmes, I like that!) and the action is great, although there is not much of it. It's really more of a lighthearted crime-comedy, but the grand fight at the airport and the smaller fight with Tony in the subway are solid. The first half is stronger and more enjoyable, in the second half the film slightly falls apart and the fact that I didn't get an action-packed finale disappoints even more. I don't regret watching it, though, I had fun. 6/10.

A pregnancy horror short that impresses with a disturbing finish. Had it been half as long, I would have been happier. 6/10

I was hoping to at least laugh at how stupid, embarrassing, crazy, and insane it is, but I didn't find it very funny. Some of the absurd ideas will catch your attention, but it's a terrible mess. There is so much blood splattering that at times I couldn't see anything else. It was overly exaggerated for me, sometimes dragged on, and occasionally I felt embarrassed. Not great. 3/10.

It's great to see Jim Carrey again in the best shape. Liar Liar is still a perfect comedy with excellent jokes and a fantastic Jim, who truly delivers an Oscar-worthy performance. I laughed out loud, it's a blast. 8/10.