Hunting at the graveyard

The first hour and testosterone was oozing from every corner. The main heist of the movie was quite exciting even though there was no logic to it. Plotholes everywhere else as well. And the movie was absolutely packed with crappy acting. 

Imaginary war

The topic couldn't be less interesting. The Pope has died and a successor is being sought. But somehow Edward Berger has turned the boring subject into something interesting, even thriller-like. Written, directed and acted so well that you feel like you were involved in the election of the Pope. 

Where all hope and sorrow reside

This has gotten absolutely horrible reviews. Partly for a good reason. Perhaps the hardest thing here is to understand that this is Ethan Coen's work. Because he has been, together with his brother Joel Coen, creating so many masterpieces. Drive-Away Dolls is far from a masterpiece and doesn't even qualify as a cult film. It has a lot of Coenesque themes, but a lot of worryingly cheap and artificial humor. A lot of good stuff too, not worthy of a crushing critique, but a miss nonetheless. The only great things about this is that it looks like a great movie, technically. 

A cosmic betrayal

When a couple of Sri Lankan immigrants come to a small Romanian village, xenophobia rears its head. In other narrative, a local lad Matthias returns to the village where he meets his mistress, his distant wife, and his emotionally withdrawn child. Transylvania is full of inner tension. The film is directed by Cristian Mungiu. 

Connect the old bones

This is one of those movies where you wish there was background laughter, so you could at least pretend to laugh at the right moment. Because there's nothing really funny about this. Maybe the only trick to Minor Leaguer is to bring in two former NHL players to "act" and laugh at themselves a little. Unfortunately there's only twinge of shame if you could only care. 

Shoveling coal

Medical students bully one of their own. And three years later, the mistreated person takes revenge in a cruel way. The students have a costume party on the train and, to everyone's horror, they're being stalked in this moving capsule with no escape route. Standard 80s horror slasher by Roger Spottiswoode, starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Johnson and David Copperfield (his only action role in fictional movie). 

Long lost light

I expected much more of Sergio Cattellitto's A Bookshop in Paris (Il materiale emotivo). It's a romance film, but its romanticism isn't emphatized that much, and neither are the books. The content of the film remains worryingly empty. 

Anonymous tombstones

Somewhere in the backwoods, five young friends find themselves at the mercy of a mysterious flesh-eating bacteria. It's a painful and relentless killer. These young people, in their stupidity, have absolutely no chance with this horrible thing. Travis Zariwny's Cabin Fever (2016) is a remake of Eli Roth's movie (2002) of the same name. It's a completely useless film.

Keep on hammering the anvil

An ancient demon kills people in their sleep. Criminal psychologist Kate Fuller (Olga Kurylenko) is absolutely fucking petrified. Mara, by Clive Tonge, is a long-winded film about this sleep demon. It's such a boring, poorly acted and executed piece that the viewer has a hard time staying awake.