EvilPhoEniX

The film is set in 1915 on a deserted island in Norway, home to a reformatory for juvenile delinquents. The institute is run by the sadistic hand of Stellan Skarsgård, who gives an amazing performance. The Scandinavians at its best with its no-holds-barred atmosphere, excellent performances, a gritty to uncomfortable setting with plenty of tension and a ruthless ending. Very good. 80%

Vietnam is pulling another horror film out of the bag after a long time (for the hardened and with a strong stomach). Cinematically, it's pretty bad. Bad actors, weaker visuals, a strangely retrospectively told story that is easy to get lost in, and most importantly I didn't understand what was going on at all, and I'm afraid the director is in a similar boat. The film is called Kfc perhaps only because they went there about four times for food. When it comes to the filth, on the other hand, it worked. There's cannibalism, necrophilia, rape, nasty torture (teeth pulling and tongues being cut-off makes me quite uncomfortable). It doesn't hurt to watch this sort of thing once in a while, but there have been far better films, like the recent Trauma. 50%

The culmination of the year's and indeed the century's cinematic event (the last time Harry Potter ended this way), the film lived up to its hype and delivered a perfect farewell to filmmaking so mature that I'm not afraid to call the Russo brothers a directorial powerhouse alongside Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino. With trailers that give almost nothing away, you will be surprised, shocked and emotionally wrung to the max for two and a half hours. Even though the film feels more like a heart-pounding drama for two hours (the action proper doesn't until the end), it doesn't matter at all because story-wise the film offers a lot. The time travel in particular presented in a very creative and entertaining way. The Hulk along with Thor take care of the humour, and the emotions work very well, too, at least three scenes had me in tears. Once the epic finale starts, I was absolutely buried in my seat, enjoying the ecstasy with orgasm so much that I still had trouble getting up ten minutes after it was over and I was also half paralyzed to the point of having trouble picking up my drink. Yeah I can't even remember such an experience I took away from the cinema. I can't imagine kids having fun with this movie. 100%.

This year has been poor so far except for Pet Sematary, Us and Escape Room, but the overlooked The Prodigy is a nice thing and for me an unexpected surprise. I expected nothing but mediocrity from the director of the horror film The Pact, but in the end this is a very disturbing and psychologically gripping horror film about a young boy who is unusually intelligent and uncomfortably aggressive. I liked that the boy is not possessed by a demon or any supernatural force, as is usual with similar genre films, but rather originally the film focuses on reincarnation, which is an interesting topic in itself. It's well acted, decently shot, engaging from start to finish, and there are some decent scares, including a pleasantly sharp finale. Better than I had hoped for and certainly a better choice than this year's similarly-themed The Hole in the Ground. 80%

The Spaniards are masters of thrillers, but concentration camp dramas are not their forte. It's not an outright disaster, it does have a couple of strong moments, but the greatest horrors are unfortunately not captured. Fortunately, the film doesn't bore and you do to like the characters, but it must be admitted that there have been better pieces on a similar theme. It could have been grittier, but I also enjoyed watching a different perspective. 65%

The Indians serve up a macho, pimped-out ride about the Indian URI Special Task Force going after Pakistani terrorists. India really pulls out all the stops here. Not only did they leave out their dance moves, but they made a very authentic, realistic and gritty action film. The action is the ideal number and is shot perfectly. All the shootouts are engagingly shot, visually impressive and the special forces do a truly professional job. The film entertains story-wise and keeps a very solid pace so it doesn't get boring. Good stuff. On a similar level to 13 Hours. 80%.

I was a bit afraid of the Death Metal, because I don't really like this genre, but surprisingly I didn't suffer and had a nice time. Some of the gags were very funny, the ideas creative and the main characters properly weird. Metal fans will surely be purring with glee. For me, better 3. 65%.

The Germans pulled it off again. A decently made Cold War historical thriller about a family trying to escape across the border via a homemade hot air balloon. An original film with likeable characters and an unexpectedly decent amount of suspense. A pleasant surprise. 75%.

The Russians release war movies like a treadmill, but the thematically similar T-34 was a level above in terms of entertainment and action. Here, I didn't really care for the characters or their motivations, and while the action isn't the worst filmed, it lacked rawness and more visual glitz. Average. 60%.

Europe's best actor Mads Mikkelsen fights for his life in the cold Antarctic in this new adventure survival drama. Fans of survival dramas will surely enjoy this one, but the film is too minimalistic for my taste, and there are no surprises or interesting scenes. Mads barely speaks, so the only thing to praise is his skill and creativity to survive. It's believably shot and everything makes sense, but the film lacks drive and tension, unfortunately. There is indeed a polar bear, but compared to The Revenant, it's not even worth mentioning. For fans of Mads, nature and survival films a must see, the rest can ignore it as they won't miss much. 60%