EvilPhoEniX

The new Netflix vampire flick touted a variation of Collateral, but with vampires, but the result is a dull TV thriller with nothing to impress. A driver picks up two attractive women to drive them from party to party all night, but he soon finds out what their intentions are and that they're not exactly normal. It has quite nice visuals and the two attractive female vampires in the lead role are nice, they are probably the best thing about the whole film and make it watchable (Megan Fox also appears in a smaller role), but that’s not really enough. There is little action and it's not worth much, there is no gore, a bit of blood splashes on the wall from time to time, but that probably won't faze anyone today, there is no humour either, the plot is not worth much, so I really don't find much reason to see this film. For cooking, ironing or as a backdrop, maybe, but otherwise it's a pointless movie that Netflix probably won't make anyone happy with. Too bad the vampires don't do well at all. Story 2/5, Action 2/5, Humor 1/5, Violence 2/5, Fun 3/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 3/5, Atmosphere 2/5, Suspense 2/5, Emotion 1/5, Actors 2/5. 4/10.

Netflix once again delivers a candidate for series of the year from South Korea. It is brutal! Jin-min Kim, a completely unknown director, took lesser known actors and made a series that feels like the biggest South Korean blockbuster in the last 10 years crammed into a 7 hour long ride with all the popular themes and props that go with it. The only known star here is Hee-soon Park, who plays a model gangster (I've seen about 15 movies with him, but I'll never forget him after this role), and the young and adorable Han So-hee, who has talent to spare. My Name is a bit of a The Man from Nowhere crossed with The Villainess and New World; no I won't mention here like others that boring conversational drama without action Infernal Affairs, this is five levels above. The story focuses on a girl whose father is murdered and taken in by a powerful mob boss, who raises her, trains her and helps her find the killer, but finds out he's probably a cop, so the girl joins the police to catch the killer. It sounds simple and straightforward but it's really intelligently constructed, it manages to surprise and shock several times throughout, and it doesn't really deal with the characters with white gloves, anyone can die at any time. The visuals are of a high standard, the characters are very charismatic and likeable, the music is the best I've ever heard from South Korea (the soundtrack has been playing for half an hour after the series has finished and whenever, I got emotional). I roared through a quarter of the series, what an emotional charge! It's very suspenseful, atmospheric, the twist is properly surprising, and in particular, the action and the violence – they don't skimp on that. I like that the Koreans, unlike the Americans, don't use guns much, they solve everything with knives, so it's about cutting and chopping for seven hours of intense action that almost made me bleed myself. Gorgeous cinematography, top choreography, with a finale like from The Raid. I have no words, I enjoyed every single element here. Complex and mature filmmaking and a proper manly ride. A heavy full package that eats Midnight Mass for breakfast and shoots all those intellectuals from the dramatists circle in the head instantly. Story 5/5, Action 5/5, Humour 1/5, Violence 4/5, Fun 5/5 Music 5/5, Visuals 5/5, Atmosphere 5/5, Suspense 4/5, Emotion 5/5, Actors 5/5. 10/10.

An ordinary and a bit useless remake of a slasher from the 80s by SyFy, which really has nothing to impress. The killer is known to the viewer from the opening minutes, so the typical whodunit game is missing here. The killer doesn't even have a mask and he makes a funny face. I appreciate at least the unconventional weapon in the form of a drill, but you can't come up with many interesting murders with that. Visually, it’s an average made-for-TV B-movie, typically stupid, the girls are quite good to look at (though there is no nudity), but I could imagine a better casting. The murders themselves are quite passable, nothing crazy or memorable, but the effort is there. I can't recommend the film, it's not something that you haven’t seen anywhere else and it won't please die-hard fans of slashers either, although it's not a completely unwatchable piece of shit. Story 2/5, Action 2/5, Humor 1/5, Violence 3/5, Fun 3/5 Music 2/5, Visuals 2/5, Atmosphere 2/5, Suspense 2/5, Emotion 1/5, Actors 2/5. 4/10.

Joe Carnahan is a fine director, he's done The A-Team, The Grey, Boss Level, Smokin' Aces and Stretch, he's even planning a remake of The Raid, but Copshop is the least interesting of his work to me. The whole film takes place in a police station with few characters and although it stars Butler and Grillo, it drags at times. I didn’t like the dialogue too much, the script isn't very imaginative and there’s no action the last half hour, which makes it all the more frustrating. A standard average that probably won't offend anyone, but at the same time you won't lose much by skipping it. Carnahan can definitely do better and hopefully his remake of The Raid won't be too much of a flop. Story 3/5, Action 3/5, Humour 1/5, Violence 2/5, Entertainment 3/5 Music 2/5, Visuals 3/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 2/5, Emotion 1/5, Actors 3/5. 5/10.

The event of the year and the reason I watch movies and series. See is my new favourite and I knew from the first season that big things were going to happen and they did. This is the new successor to Game of Thrones, and in its last episode playfully beats the battles from all films and series. Dave Bautista, as the new bad guy, and Lee Hoon (Banshee, Warrior) are two strong additions to the cast. The return of Tamacti Jun is also a pleasure. The production design is breathtaking, I would love to make a picture of every single shot and hang it on the wall, technically it's just absolutely perfect and the artwork is unrivalled far and wide across worlds and universes. The palace intrigue and the betrayals are great too. The twists and turns and the backstabbing work on a similar level to GoT. But the absolute biggest draw is the action and the gore, they are something incredible; I was screaming with excitement in the first episode, what an insane carnage it is, and it all builds up to the spectacular epic finale, which is the best battle since Lord of the Rings. It has absolutely everything: great strategy and traps, perfect choreography, uncompromising R-rated action, a large number of enemies. It lasts about half an hour and I was downright gushing with delight. Seeing Baba Voss, Tamacti Jun and Bow Lion next to each other, was surreal, it's like pulling out a 100 lvl sprite from an RPG and sending them up against bots, Gorgeous. The whole thing culminates in a pumped-up duel between the two brothers, which escalates into an absolute emotional inferno that tore my soul into a thousand pieces. I'm absolutely thrilled, this whole thing has gone awfully well and I can't imagine what's going to happen in season 3 because the bar is already set pretty damn high. An absolute masterpiece, I can't fault anything. Story 4/5, Action 5/5, Humour 2/5, Violence 5/5, Fun 5/5 Music 4/5, Visuals 5/5, Atmosphere 5/5, Suspense 5/5, Emotion 5/5, Actors 5/5, 15/10.

The best shot R-rated battle since Lord of the Rings. An insane emotional carnage with a well thought out strategy, amazing visuals and a tough R-rated action... Beautiful. It leaves the whole of Game of Thrones biting the dust.

Evil is not dying Tonight. I'm not as pissed off as others, but I definitely expected more. The Halloween from 2018 was a level above in almost every way. When Michael Myers is on set the film is an effective horror slasher with cool kills and decent gore, a 4 star flick, but when he's not on set, which unfortunately is most of the time, it's pretty boring for and 2-star worthy. There are lots of uninteresting and weird characters dealing with some kind of urban trauma which I was absolutely not interested in, I'd rather watch young teenagers going house to house and Myers killing them one by one than watching this bunch of grown ups dealing with boring adult stuff, oh yeah drama is already here too! We've known for 40 years that, Myers comes back to life and it's a wonder anyone is surprised about it today, it's like walking into a strip club and being surprised there are strippers. Also illogical character behaviour has always been a part of slashers. The original movie from 1978 wasn't some deep story mindfuck with philosophical overtones and abstract thinking either, after all there's a woman screaming before Michael even pulls a knife out of his pocket, so Jokes on you Bitches! I, on the other hand, will complain about the lack of murders and Myers, who spends maybe 30 minutes on his rampage, and the downright unsatisfying finale that lacks atmosphere and suspense. I can still remember the atmospheric finale in the house. Ironically the best gore scene of the film is from a dude who jumps out the window by himself, and the firemen had bigger balls in the trailer. So Malignant is unthreatened so far this year, maybe Antlers or Last Night in Soho? Story 2/5, Action 3/5, Humour 2/5, Violence 4/5, Fun 3/5 Music 4/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 3/5, Emotion 1/5, Actors 2/5. 6/10.

Venom 2 is such a disappointment that I feel like giving it 2 stars, but that would be biased, so a neutral 3 with a bitter taste in my mouth and an exclamation point for next time. Venom was a pleasant surprise, maybe because Ruben Fleischer was in charge of it, and he was able to handle the humour (Zombieland) and the action (Gangster Squad). Unfortunately, the sequel is directed by Andy Serkis (who has only done Mowgli) and suddenly the humour and action stops working. Tom Hardy is surprisingly unlikeable in this film and I didn’t enjoy his role at all, he's not funny or interesting, he doesn't show anything in action, in short a useless, uninteresting and boring character, and Woody Harrelson, whom I generally like, also didn't show much of anything – their dialogue exchanges are uninteresting and I didn't enjoy listening to them at all, I silently remembered the dialogue from Bond, yes, a strange comparison, but when they give dialogue clashes between two great actors, let me feel the intense darkness in the air, not these childish exchanges. Humour could have been a strong point, but I only laughed once in the whole film and that was with Venom at the disco, the rest is infantile and you don’t even smile. Nobody laughed at all in the cinema, so it's not just me. The Gore is missing of course, but I counted on it. The visuals and the effects are inoffensive, but definitely not breathtaking. Shortening the film to 90 minutes hurts the the film because it practically has no story and everything is rushed. On the other hand, if ti was two hours long, I probably wouldn’t last, because Venom 2 is not very entertaining. And now about the action. There are two short action scenes that end before they even start and then a half hour finale that I won't tell you anything about because I was asleep with boredom, so I'll have to recap that sometime. Anyway, going into Venom thinking it was a comic book action flick and leaving as bored and frazzled as a two-hour Drama, I didn't expect that in the slightest. Ironically, the post-credit scene is better than the movie itself. Story 2/5, Action 3/5, Humor 2/5, Violence 0/5, Fun 3/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 2/5, Emotion 1/5, Actors 3/5. 5/10.

We already know that Tommy Wirkola is talented and even though this time he chose a more intimate film than his previous works, it works well, even if I have minor complaints. It's a bit of a variation on the Russian film Why Don't You Just Die!, but more in tone, style and brutality than in concept. A married couple go to a cabin with the intention of killing each other, and this is complicated by an unexpected visit from three idiots. The pacing is slower and the humour works about halfway. It's a kind of adult humour where serious topics are discussed with a light and black-humored tone so it depends on taste, I would have liked something a little different and would definitely have cut the film by about 30 minutes. When it came to the violence, however, Wirkola is nicely brutal, spares no great ideas and makes great use of all the tools around him (though there are a couple of sequences that are just a tease, like the one with the shotgun and the one with the lawnmower). Overall, decent and entertaining, but I was slightly hoping to be a bit more satisfied. Story 3/5, Action 4/5, Humor 3/5, Violence 4/5, Fun 4/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 3/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 3/5, Emotion 3/5, Actors 3/5. 7/10.

Western of the year and quite possibly the indie surprise of the year. I ignored the film at first and I admit I wasn't too keen on it, but I'm pleasantly surprised. Yes it's no Godless, but I can't think of a more impressive western since Hostiles and The Salvation. Although it lacks the classic Western tropes, it is very adequate but for a minimalist effort. The first half is an intimate western drama with good craftsmanship, an Eastwood touch, a tense atmosphere and very good actors (Tim Blake Nelson is terrific as the farmer and Stephen Dorff's bad guy rips the spotlight on himself whenever he appears). The finale, however, breaks into a wonderfully action-packed and brutal western ride, with the main character going up against everyone alone in assassin mode, using shotgun, Colts, knives and axes to make a mess of things, and there two solid twists on top of that. I don't think anyone expected this from such an unassuming project. Nothing groundbreaking, but engaging enough to entertain on a dull guy's night out. Go for it and enjoy it! Story 4/5, Action 4/5, Humor 0/5, Violence 3/5, Fun 4/5 Music 4/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 4/5, Emotion 4/5, Actors 5/5. 8/10.