EvilPhoEniX

Excellent French gritty crime drama with a retro 1970's look about a new judge in Marseille who goes up against organized crime, led by the great Gilles Lellouche. I wasn't bored, the pace is fine, there was some bloody action, the finale is quite shocking. France is great at making these films, and this gangster flick is no exception. 8/10.

Incredible blast and a new favourite! This is more or less a film tailor-made movie. An ideal 90 minutes running time, action from start to finish, gore, monsters and breathtaking visuals, what more could you want. The story follows the main character, he is brutally murdered on the subway and wakes up in a sort of alternate reality/afterlife controlled by the computer Gantz, which outlines the rules of the game that is about to begin. So a group of people are sent out at night into the streets of the Japanese city of Osaka, where all sorts of monsters are running amok and the task is to survive and kill as many as possible. The plot is interesting if simple at the core, but thankfully that's not the point, because everything else is utter mayhem! The whole movie is in amazing CGI 3D Animation (kind of like Alita) and I can't remember a better CGI movie than this. Since it's not real, the imagination of the makers knows no bounds and they can more or less afford anything they want. I mean, all the women run around in latex and have nice firm tits, there are cool and inventive weapons, there’s plenty of gore, blood flowing in a stream through the streets of Osaka, and the monsters... Bugger me! I have no words. When the writer asked the director what kind of monsters he wanted in the film, the answer must have been “all of them!” There are about a hundred kinds of crazy monsters, it boggled my mind. The monster made up of naked female bodies is really freaky, but it looked gorgeous. Fans of games, action, violence and monsters will find their way here and there will be more than one orgasm while watching it, I can guarantee it. Story***, Action*****, Humor>No, Violence*****, Entertainment*****, Music****, Visuals*****, Atmosphere****, Suspense***. 9/10.

A diligent thriller from Indonesia featuring a dead boyfriend, four ex-girlfriends and a mysterious letter claiming that one of the ex-girlfriends is the killer. The visuals are passable, the actors are not bad and the film surprises with brutality at times (there is one severed head and a couple of slit throats). However, the twist in the last quarter didn't sit too well with me, I believe it sounded good on paper but in the film it felt both a bit redundant and didn't really fit the original context. On the plus side, the short running time of 80 minutes passes fairly quickly, so as a one-off no problem, but nothing I haven't seen before. 6/10.

Wojciech Smarzowski is another excellent Polish director (Volhynia, Clergy) and Traffic Department is another solid notch in his career. The story focuses in detail on the work of traffic cops and it's clear that it's a thankless job (gangsters, hookers, politicians, blackmail, bribes). When a member of the force dies and another is charged, a rather gripping and suspenseful ride starts and it doesn't let up until the end. It’s suspenseful, well acted and brutal in places (the scene with the bitten off penis where blood spurts all over the car is one I won't soon forget), and the finale is shocking enough. Great film. 8/10.

A crazy mix of genres from Vietnam and it makes for a very impressive film. I don't think I've ever seen genre switching like this in one film. At times the film is haunted house, followed by torture porn, followed by brutal martial arts, which further flips into survival drama with a romantic touch and there are also fantasy elements 😃 Anyway, an interesting film on reincarnation, black magic, immortality and the lust for power. The middle act is the best, the action is excellent, the fights are rough and the torture is passable. The scares aren't that effective, but what the hell, it's nicely shot, the pacing is fine, the story is original and the finale offers a rather challenging twist of philosophical proportions that you'll be thinking about for half an hour after the film is over. I haven't seen a film with a similar tone before and I have to say that I liked the director's vision and the critics did too, even if the film is not for everyone. Favourite scene: the branches going into the body of a man in a similar way as in the iconic scene from Evil Dead. Story****, Action****, Humor>No, Violence***, Funniness****, Music***, Visuals****, Atmosphere****, Suspense***. 7/10.

An enjoyable romantic comedy about a burglar who breaks into the home of someone who has just suffered a stroke. He can't speak, is in a wheelchair, and his granddaughter, who thinks of the burglar as a nurse, arrives. Quite an imaginative and original story, reminiscent at times of the French cult-classic The Intouchables. In the first half the humour works quite well with a few daring scenes. The second one relies more on romance, but it’s not completely annoying thanks to the likeable characters. Watchable, nice, funny. 6.5/10.

A short film companion for Blade Runner. It's a bit slow, but the final fight with Dave Bautista is great. 6/10.

A gritty look into the Philippines' poverty, squalor and drug wars, where a woman loses her husband to a local drug dealer. She decides to work with the local police and take revenge on all the local scum. By Filipino standards, it doesn't look cheap, the acting is quite decent and the few executions are interesting, but I would have expected something either more brutal, more action packed or more entertaining for a higher rating. People will probably like it though. 6/10.

An imaginative seven-minute fan short from the Star Wars world. Nice visuals, decent training, but the open ending is a slap in the face. I still don't understand why anyone would let the film cut off at the best of times. Too bad, if there had been a fight towards the end, it would have been 4stars for sure. Die-hard Star Wars fans will still be satisfied though. 6/10.

For a film about two verbose middle-aged women (which is normally unbearable and unimaginable to watch or listen to), it's surprisingly good fun with cool ideas (a talking crab like Morgan Freeman, a mermaid), funny dialogue and a fine villain. The humor is carried more by the supporting characters than the protagonists, but it's fine. Jamie Dornan shows he has talent in a comedy as well and his song on the beach is probably the highlight of the film. Damon Wayans is also brilliant as a spy who gives away just about everything he can (more room for him and I would have been thrilled). It's got an overall interesting backstory too, with a well reasoned plan about poisonous mosquitoes. I wouldn't have minded at all if the last twenty minutes of the movie had switched from comedy to horror and showed us a beach massacre with mosquitoes like Piranha, but I guess that's too much to ask :D Funny and cute movie. Story****, Action>No, Humor****, Violence>No, Funniness****, Music****, Visuals****, Atmosphere****, Suspense*. 8/10.