EvilPhoEniX

Netflix has released a four-part miniseries of Capcom's anticipated "Resident Evil" and, though were definitely ambitions higher, it’s perfectly fine as a one-off. I liked the setting in the White House, but otherwise the storyline is pretty flat, though that wasn't the point here. What works well though is the visuals and the CGI animation. There aren’t many similarly themed films made, so some of the flaws are forgivable. The action is great, bloody and brutal (but not really enough for my taste). We don't get tp see much of the zombies, there’s a monster only in the finale, and though the atmosphere is mysterious in places, I could definitely imagine it more frightening. It's disappointing that we get a project like this once every few years , but it falls far short of the quality of my favourite Love Death & Robots episodes – but it’s still better this than another drama, no question. Story 2/5, Action 3/5, Humor 1/5, Violence 3/5, Fun 4/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 3/5. 6.5/10.

A fine Canadian retro one-off that could have easily been released in the 1980s. It's got a relatively cool idea about a kid who accidentally stumbles into some sort of meeting of crazed killers and when the truth comes out, the fight for his life begins. There are quite a few familiar B-movie faces and all the characters are well cast, though I'm a little disappointed that not everyone gets enough space and their ending isn't always properly exciting. The retro visuals are fine, the 1980's synthwave is awesome and the neons are cool. The film is taken more lightheartedly, but I didn't find it too funny. There isn’t much gore, there is a bit of blood, but not really enough to satisfy me (I don't have a single murder stuck in my head after watching it and that's a bad sign), but it's got a nice pace, it's quite action packed, so you don’t get bored. In the hands of someone more capable it could be great, but Vicious Fun is a pleasant average. The central nutter with an IQ of 180 is the best character. Story 3/5, Action 3/5, Humour 2/5, Violence 3/5, Fun 3/5 Music 4/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 3/5. 6/10.

A Mexican home invasion flick about a conflict between two neighbouring families, sparked by an aggressive dog that attacks a little girl and then is euthanized in a rather unsightly way. The family, as animal activists, don't like this and plan to take revenge on their neighbours. A simple and straightforward plot in what for me is the exhausted home invasion genre. There was a time when I loved this sub-genre, but now I feel all the films suck, some day I want to see a home invasion movie where a family of eight is attacked by a ten assholes, that's when my curiosity will start to rise. This 2 vs 2 duel can't bring more than three gore scenes and it didn't even deliver that (though the smashed head is awesome). The visuals and the family is likeable, the make-up effects are pretty good, and there is no shortage of suspense , but that's par for the course with any at least average home invasion film. I was definitely expecting more carnage, but I don't regret watching it. Story 2/5, Action 3/5, Humor>No, Violence 3/5, Fun 3/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 3/5 6/10.

Fast and Furious is a really interesting franchise that divides people into maybe three camps. The first group stopped watching after episodes 3 or 4, the second group started watching after episode 5 (for example me), and the third group watched the whole thing and either enjoy it or hate it as much as possible. I personally don't care much for cars, so I wasn't interested in the first episodes and only started to care when The Rock and other cast members came on the scene and, instead of racing, it went to over the top action and I have to say that I managed to enjoy all the episodes from 5 onwards. They're silly and fun movies with action I probably wouldn't see anywhere else and they have featured a lot of well known martial arts stars, so I definitely can't complain about that. I was curious about the 9th episode and it's without a doubt the weakest since the 5th. I feel like there's less of everything than I'm used to. For one thing, The Rock and Jason Statham are missing, and their absence is very noticeable. They’ve added John Cena and he is surprisingly the best thing about the whole movie, but it's not enough. Roman makes jokes less than usual, there are few personal fights, and even the over-the-top action is less for my taste (the truck caught my attention). On the other hand, the journey into space is uninteresting. There are no interesting locations, even the pretty women are gone, and there's more bullshit about family than in maybe three episodes combined. At least the music is still good, it brought some decent summer songs. I wasn't bored, it went relatively well, but it's a quality downgrade even for people who liked the previous episodes. Story 2/5, Action 3/5, Humor 3/5, Violence NO, Fun 4/5 Music 4/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 2/5, Suspense 2/5 5.5/10.

Forget logic, enjoy the action! The Tomorrow War is a fine sci-fi caper with aliens (monsters). It is not another Edge of Tomorrow, but on the other hand, there hasn't been anything better since it (7 years I should point out!), and I'm not really going to count that Independence Day 2 crap, so I was able to enjoy the movie properly. I find it funny that someone here complains about waiting 50 minutes for the action, but they don’t skimp on the stars with a three-hour gay drama! The film manages to draw you in from the start, Chris Pratt is likeable, though I admit his acting was on the edge at times, Yvonne Strahovski is great, she's hot as hell, J.K. Simmons is traditionally excellent and it was nice to see Sam Richardson comedy relief throughout the film, though I could have imagined more room for him. The visuals are awesome, the monsters are absolutely amazing (I didn't expect we'd get competition so soon after Quiet Place). If the film had been R-rated, it could have been a regular monster horror film, the “Alien" finale was a nice indication of that. I liked the attack on the base the best though, it will probably remind many viewers of World War Z. So yeah definitely great fun, my only complaint is with the dramatic scenes, the emotions and the family, I just don't like that, if they left that out, there would be room for another action scene, which I would have preferred, But today's audiences can’t do without the mandatory drama, because unless there are tears flowing, it's as cold as a polar bear's ass in the Arctic. Story 3/5, Action 4/5, Humor 3/5, Violence NO, Fun 5/5 Music 4/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 3/5 8/10.

A summer Netflix event, a slasher renaissance and a decent one at that! I think the next two episodes will be better, but I enjoyed this one. Fear Street is an honest to goodness slasher flick with all the attributes of the subgenre, plus a little something extra. As fan slashers (which by the way is already considered a dying subgenre), I really enjoyed the first episode and the whole trilogy already has cult-classic potential. It evokes a lot of Friday the 13th and especially Scream, the first part is probably the closest to that. There's a likeable group of teenagers (the young black geek is great), classic horror references (Jaws, Poltergeist, Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead), a great villain (the mask, the gun, the urban legend), a fine and stylish soundtrack, and enough body-count and gore (although I could imagine it being even more substantial). It's got good craftsmanship, nice colourful visuals, playful ideas, and an imaginative finale. It doesn't look downright silly, it has its own style and the witches touch was very nice. I liked the introduction of the killers from each decade a lot, that was cool!. The finale is cleverly put together, and I enjoyed the first episode without a problem. Maybe on the humour side could have been better, there is a lack of downright memorable lines, and also a lack of boobs (but they didn't have any to show properly, so I hope the makers are saving that for later), but otherwise I’m happy, I can't think of a better representative in years. Story 4/5, Action 4/5, Humor 3/5, Violence 4/5, Fun 4/5 Music 5/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 4/5 7.5/10.

A strange film, more of a drama with light horror elements that will please fans of indie festival cheapies. Definitely nothing to cheer about and it's exactly the kind of film where I know who will enjoy it and who won't. It’s about three siblings, one of them needs a big supply blood and the older one has to take care of him. There's not much gore and the kills aren't very interesting, the 4:3 format got on my nerves a bit and the actors give relatively eager performances, but none of them are likely to stick in my memory. The film flows slowly, it's very intimate, there's no twist and the story itself can't be considered strong either. It pretty much whizzed past me and did nothing, but the effort is there. With a bigger budget they could have conjured up something more solid. Story 3/5, Action 1/5, Humor>No, Violence 2/5, Fun 2/5, Music 3/5, Visuals 3/5, Atmosphere 2/5, Suspense 1/5,Actors 3/5. 4/10.

The French serve up a stylish, evil, intense, unpleasant and claustrophobic survival flick evoking Cube, and it's a contender for horror film of the year! I was ground to a pulp by this film and cried with excitement that after the long, tortured and boring horror drought I finally got to see a proper spectacle that really meets the most stringent criteria. From the fifth minute onwards the main character is thrown into a tunnel labyrinth of traps and death and it is such an awesome ride. I was holding my breath with suspense for the whole 90 minutes. The claustrophobic atmosphere works very reliably, the main character is a gorgeous, brave and intelligent French blonde for whom I kept all my fingers and toes crossed. There are perhaps more traps than in three episodes of Saw combined, and yes there was even a bit of gore! The traps are inventive, well thought out in a really cramped environment, the visuals and colours are great (blue, red, green). It’s an unenviable situation, and to make matters worse, protagonist is being chased by a mutilated zombie who is really disgusting and unpleasant. The music is great, it underscores the whole ride and I must pay in gold because if not here I don't know where or when. Some may be annoyed that the twist doesn't have more depth, but what the hell, I wasn't expecting such a stylish and beautifully shot ride in the slightest. Story 3/5, Action 4/5, Humor>No, Violence 4/5, Fun 5/5 Music 5/5, Visuals 5/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 5/5 8.5/10.

A pretty decent and low-key made-for-TV crime thriller on Netflix about serial killer Bobby Joe Long, who went on a rampage in Tampa in the 1980s. He allegedly killed ten women, too bad we don't get to see any dead bodies in the movie, but nobody cares about that, right? Fine, it's a TV movie, I can forgive that. While the film offers nothing explicit, it does bring up some pretty interesting themes (domestic abuse by a grandmother, serial killer, kidnap-rape). If maybe David Fincher had directed it, we might have a revolution in the crime genre. Fortunately, however the film takes a rather unexpected direction, with the main character escaping her kidnapper and thinking the worst is over. No one believes she was kidnapped, a rather unexpected turn. I liked the fact that the main character is not only a pretty girl, but also very intelligent and helps the detectives in their work, which is what managed to win me over. Definitely a noteworthy affair that won't disappoint fans of crime fiction, although it would need to have dead bodies to get my absolute satisfaction. Story 4/5, Action 2/5, Humor>No, Violence 1/5, Fun 4/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 3/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 4/5, Actors 4/5. 7.5/10

Three very reluctant stars. I was looking forward to Anonymous Animals since the first trailer and waited almost half a year for it. I tamed my expectations a bit once I saw the first reactions, but I still had faith. Now, however, fresh after watching it I think it's a huge shame to make such a great premise so uninteresting and artsy. The combo of France/exploitation/reverse idea is a damn good premise for a great horror movie, but here it just stayed with the idea unfortunately. Fortunately, the running time is 60 minutes, the film has pretty decent visuals, nice make-up effects and a perverse parable, but that's less than I expected. The film has no talking, no plot and no proper main character, so on the one hand there's not much to root for, and on the other, we don't really learn anything about the interestingly sketched world where animals rule over humans. The biggest drawback, however, is the lack of gore and torture, which the film was obviously touting, but it's very unsatisfying in that regard. I'm pissed that it turned out the way it did, but I'm rounding up three stars for the idea. Story 1/5, Action 2/5, Humor>No, Violence 1/5, Fun 3/5 Music 2/5, Visuals 3/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 2/5, Originality 4/5. 5/10.