EvilPhoEniX

A likeable and fun action B-movie on the theme of virtual reality and the classic Battle Royale. A group of people are in the woods in a survival game, where a lot of obstacles await them (even one CGI monster). The action is decent, though drastically lacking the R-rating, but otherwise the choreography is imaginative and the fights are well shot. I was most impressed with the finale where the main character uses a katana and a knife, that's where the blood was just supposed to spurt and the twin bad guys as the final boss were fine. The potential was definitely higher, but I like this kind of genre movies and the effort is definitely there. 6/10

Francis Galluppi, like Sébastien Vaníček, comes through with a superb debut, and both have earned themselves a new Evil Dead. Nice. Almost everything I love in movies is here. There's the attractive setting of rural Arizona, one remote rest-stop (reminiscent of popular hixploitation movies), and a group of random people who find themselves in one place at the wrong time. There's a salesman, an attractive waitress, a pair of robbers, a couple of retirees, a Bonnie and Clyde-like couple, a young cop, and a gas station owner. Gorgeous cinematography, confident direction, a well-developed script with no shortage of twists and turns, well-chosen actors, solid dialogue, a taut atmosphere, suspense that could be sliced and a proper Mexican stand-off like something out of The Hateful Eight. The violence and humour could have been worked on better, but this mix of Tarantino and Coen evoking 70's Thrillers is more than a good genre film.8/10

While it's nothing groundbreaking, it's still a fine, stylish and entertaining Guy Ritchie film with excellent casting. The British army recruits a group of mercenaries to cause trouble for the Nazis and killing Nazis is always fun, just a shame it's not R-rated, because once Alan starts working with his knife, the blood is painfully absent.The caste acting is impressive. Henry Cavill and Jack Reacher (who gets better film by film) rule the roost, sex symbol Eiza Gonzales never gets boring, Til Schweiger as a Nazi is a delight too. It's got a very entertaining pace, nice fun and stylish action and there's plenty of it, the plot isn't great and the tension and atmosphere aren't as intense as Inglorious Basterds, but I had a good time and it's impossible not to like this bunch. 75%

How did the anticipated French horror film Pandemonium turn out? Disastrously! My eyes are playing tricks on me! I was expecting a twisted walk through hell with monsters crammed with gore and guts, a little brother to tthe Turkish Baskin and a kick-start to the French Wave this year, and I got a drama where nothing fucking happened for the whole movie. It's not until the last 10-15 minutes that the rather interesting stuff appear, but that's really late.I thought I was going to burn down a barn with my nerves (not that I had any). I don't know when the last time something pissed me off so much, an absolutely uninteresting bore that has about as much in common with horror as KFC has with shoes. In the end it turned out to be an anthology, which has no strong story arc, can't rely on any interesting scenes, script or actors and not to mention the atmosphere. The biggest disappointment of the year. 3/10. One star for the ending, the other for the mutant with the little girl, who did not do anything

Okay, strong stuff giving a clear message against bullying!! The Koreans have once again stepped up and made quite possibly the best series on the subject of education and bullying, and as the 90% here says, it's well deserved. After all, the series is also garnering praise around the world (8.5 o IMDB, quite possibly the highest rated Korean series in years). The main character is an intelligent and quiet boy, a bit of a typical nerd, who is the target of bullying by his classmates, but thanks to his intelligence he has a chance to overpower them. (in the opening episodes the main character acts like Sherlock Holmes, who intelligently maps out his surroundings and the situation and tries to solve it). That was great! He also makes friends with the local school dude who does MMA, but at the same time he's not an asshole (he's quite possibly the best character of the show, who wins the viewer over with his character and his fighting skills). The series doesn't just take place in the school, it also deals with problems outside the school (getting involved with the local drug dealer etc). The big win is the unpredictability, somewhere in episode 4 I had no idea what direction the series was going to take. The quality and sharp fighting, the strong story of friendship and betrayal, and the final episodes tug at the emotions so much that no face is left dry. It's catchy, gritty, funny, emotional, all the quality ingredients come together here in a quality cocktail of a series. Recommended. 90%

Czechia has Pavel Soukup and the Slovaks have Rudolf Biermann!! Scumbag was already a good gangster movie and Cop War is great. It reminds me a lot of European gangster films, especially French ones, so I'm very satisfied. I didn't even mind the longer running time of 150 minutes because I wasn't bored for a second. It's got a very faithful 90's period setting, with corruption on all sides, and an excellent Rytmus as a mob boss, and he could have easily had more space because he was very fitting. It's gritty, atmospheric, manly, authentic and there are some unexpected twists.  Just the way I like it. It's a pity the ending is so inconclusive, I guess a sequel is in the cards and I'd happily take a second helping. For me it is one of the best Slovak films. 80%

David Leitch pays homage to the stunt craft and filmmaking, and it's enjoyable entertainment that won't offend anyone in the cinema, but it just doesn't live up to his previous effort Bullet Train - that was far more substantial in terms of action and humour, and more importantly it was R-rated, so I liked it better. It's quite ironic that the film's strengths don't include the action, which is more creative and interesting than excellent, and the humour is only mildly amusing rather than a loaded comedy ride, but the film gets plus points elsewhere. Like the great chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, it had emotion and this whole romance thing works great, but what I liked most was the behind the scenes of the filmmaking, where Leitch shows a lot of things from the other side and I enjoyed that. There are also a lot of movie references, I really liked the action scene on LSD at the disco (probably the most original fight ever) and then the finale, which is decently spectacular and fun. The icing on the cake is the trailer for the final film which is reminiscent of Honest Trailers (the same guy speaks by the way), I was very pleased with that. Fun, playful and heartfelt. 8/10

Enjoyable CGI cinematic action from Japan, where a group of mercenaries fight space bugs on a spaceship. The plot is very simple, but the visuals are nice, even if you have to take into account that the film is 12 years old, so it's more PS2-PS3 graphics than PS 5. It's R-rated, so all the ladies show up naked, and the soldiers also squirt a fair amount of blood, while the bugs are oozing slime. The spaceship setting is properly claustrophobic and the atmosphere is similar to Alien.Too bad there aren't more monsters and it's all limited to the bugs and the queen, it gets a bit repetitive after a while, but not many movies like this are made (which I'm surprised such movies aren't released in cinemas), so I'll round up to 4 in the end. 70%

I don't see any major differences in the direction and I don't trust Wes Ball much, but for me it's another sheer blockbuster spectacle that meets the highest criteria, it's setting itself up for another excellent Trilogy (there aren't many of those in the works right now) and it will definitely be in the top 5 among blockbusters this year. Plot-wise, I like it better, the apes are in control and the humans will gradually fight to take over. The new hero Noah is likable, Freya Allan is adorable and acts great (another female star looms here), Proximus is a solid villain, visually it's a VFX gem! The action scenes have drive, tension, emotion and a thick atmosphere, in fact I was almost breathless during every scene, it's that gripping (the home invasion one was almost horror) and the whole grand finale has the necessary gusto. 100% immersion in the story with a world that still has something to offer. 85%

Not as good as the first two films, but considering how barren comedy is these days, it's more than decent entertainment that won't offend fans. Moving Ted to a school is a fine idea, once again he's getting stoned, is foul-mouthed to everyone and dispenses wisecracks, and it's again properly incorrect in terms of racism, politics and LGBT. I found the character of the father very funny, he was a proper redneck and gave it all a nice twist. The finale, where Ted's best friend would like to lose his virginity, is just fucking hilarious. It reminds me a lot of comedies from 10-15 years ago, so I enjoyed it a lot, and it also has a bit of a sitcom feel to it. I don't think anyone will go wrong. 75%.