Necrotongue

The first episode of the show lifted my spirits today. Now, I'm not one to revel in brutal murders, but I was pleasantly surprised by the meaningful, quality dialogues, the mismatched pair of investigators, and especially the gloomy atmosphere that enveloped everything. However, it was once again evident that the series was made under the Netflix banner, checking off all the politically correct boxes.

The final part of the trilogy was the weakest one. If I had to say in one word what annoyed me the most, it would be "overcomplexity." While I understand that sometimes writers need to go off the rails, they shouldn't overdo it. It was one revelation after another, two of my favorite characters were shamelessly killed off, and as if that wasn't enough, the whole story kind of fell flat. It was Alexander Sergeyevich and his Brotherhood who saved the day. I didn't expect such a great dose of humor at that moment. Well, about my overall impression. The final installment was indeed the weakest, but the trilogy was brilliant on the whole, and despite all the criticism, I’m sure this isn’t the last time I’ve seen Gogol. That would be a shame. 4*-

I was worried if this movie would match the quality of the first installment, but it turned out my concerns were unwarranted. Although I missed Oleg Menshikov, the Russians introduced an Orthodox ninja and offered a wide range of interesting experiences. Nikolai Vasilievich and I differ in taste, I found his Liza completely uninteresting, and I would definitely choose the undead miller's daughter over her. Oksana wasn’t as uptight, and she could come in handy in tense situations. No question about it. I'm more into brunettes anyway. But I digress. The creators proved that it wasn’t an accident that the first part was good. The second installment had an excellent gloomy atmosphere, tension, and horror moments. I'm ready for the last movie. 4*+

Russian filmmakers have been surprising me lately. The movie strongly reminded me of Sleepy Hollow in terms of style and atmosphere, so it’s obvious where they drew inspiration from. However, that doesn't change the fact that it’s an excellent mysterious movie with horror elements. Boredom was out of the question, I was thoroughly entertained. It just seemed at one point that Russian plastic surgery during the times of Gogol and Pushkin achieved surprisingly good results. Oh well, let’s not dwell on the details. What I would like to highlight is Oleg Menchikov’s superb performance. He was truly excellent, but I might be biased because I’m a huge fan of his.

I found the title rather misleading. The battle is portrayed in a minimalist way and the film is more about the Dutch resistance, which provided the Allies with valuable information during the war. But since I enjoy films about resistance activities, I have nothing to complain about. Well, I do, actually. What I don’t like is that war films are now being made only in English. I'm starting to feel that English-speaking audiences are allergic to subtitles. It really annoys me when a Dutch person and a British person speak English and pretend that there is a language barrier between them. In older war films, Germans spoke German, French people spoke French, and British and Americans spoke English, and everything was resolved with subtitles. I can't get used to the way it’s done these days.

Apparently, you can make a decent movie with just a few characters, a simple plot, and a good atmosphere. Tim Blake Nelson was excellent in his role, and I wasn’t discouraged by the slow pace at all because I could feel that the story would pick up speed. I was going to give it four stars, but several serious insults to logic happened towards the end, so I decided that three stars would be enough. It's still worth watching, though.

This is the second film about the Second Sino-Japanese War I've seen within a short time, and, honestly, yesterday's film was much more powerful. The Chinese creators really leaned into melodrama this time around, which is a real shame because otherwise, they stuck closely to the actual events. The story of defending the warehouse against the overwhelming Japanese forces was already a gripping subject for a film. The plot was unnecessarily stretched out which felt like a disservice to the bravery of these undisputed Chinese heroes. The film also shed light on a troubling aspect: how the defenders of democracy at the time shifted from their original stance of non-interference (in Asia) to later directly betraying their allies in Europe.

What a powerful experience. While some moments may have veered into the realm of being a bit embellished (particularly some emotional scenes), the entire movie offers non-Asian viewers a deep look into the Japanese mentality, hardened by the code of bushido. This mentality was responsible for numerous atrocities committed by the imperial army against war prisoners (of all enemies) and especially against civilians during the Second World War. If you're looking to understand the impact of war on civilians, this film paints a stark picture. Aside from Spielberg's portrayal of Oskar Schindler, this might be one of the few films where the strongest positive character is a Nazi. The film is incredibly convincing (and wasn't an easy watch even for me), and the atmosphere couldn't have been more oppressive. So, I can't rate it any other way than positively.

The film is about the clash between light and darkness in an underfunded subsidiary of Guntanámo, Inc., located on a Polish island. The plot doesn't really offer anything new. There are sneaky terrorists on one side and heroic American commandos on the other, and the rest is obvious. It was incredibly annoying how the Seals constantly reminded everyone around them about their wives, children, and other family values they would defend along with freedom and their country at any cost, but most of all, how they wanted to return to them. From such speeches, an experienced viewer can suspect that there won't be many returns, which is a great opportunity for many tear-jerking moments. I was surprised by the weak defense of such an important facility (the arrival of the Seals increased the defense by at least eighty percent). What was even more surprising was how many terrorists could fit in a standard truck. Impressive. The screenplay wasn't anything special, the budget was obviously low. However, the action scenes were quite decent. I wonder how it would look with better funding. 3*-

The Russian filmmakers pleasantly surprised me again. This war movie was nothing like what I had expected. Sure, there were plenty of heroic moments, the SS Hauptsturmführer was appropriately demonic, and it was as freezing as it gets in Russia. However, instead of determined frontline soldiers, there was a handful of lost souls fighting for mere survival after getting out of the German cauldron in Vyazma. So, the movie wasn't a grandiose frontline spectacle but rather another great Eastern. I've seen a few of them, but this one was the best one so far. Besides the story, I would also like to highlight the music. Although I’m pretty sure I have seen something similar before, I’m far from disappointed. 4*+