Circle of funeral pyres

The Danish district of Nørrebro in Copenhagen is bustling. Accusations are flying about the disappearance of a young boy and the underworld is starting to sort things out. A bag of cocaine has also disappeared. A crime film with a surprisingly bland plot, but impressive enough in execution to be worth watching. A surprising ending, although it's watered down by the fact that it's pretty ridiculous.

Adversity builds character

A bit of a nostalgic filmmaking feel. Paul Hunham teaches privileged boys at an elite New England prep school and he has to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit a few students who can't go anywhere. Not exactly a dream job for this gruff teacher. Makes a cinematic eye candy. The comedy in the film is warm-hearted, ingenious and, in places, downright funny. The acting (Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa and Da'Vine Joy Randolph) is absolutely top-notch. Directed by Alexander Payne.  

We're very fragile creatures

World War II. A young Frenchman, for no real reason, joins the German police force to fight against the French resistance, his fellow countrymen. In his sense of power, he imagines that he has the right to do whatever he wants. However, falling in love with a Jewish girl is against Nazi ideology. Lacombe, Lucien is a classic by Louis Malle from 1974. Unfortunately, the career of the main actor Pierre Blaise was cut short by a car accident in 1975, at the age of 20.

Somewhere beyond the sea

A textbook romantic drama that balances joy, sadness and immense tragedy in waves. An Italian couple and their friends experience different phases of life over a period of 10 years. The film's jumping around between different time periods is a bit annoying at first, even confusing, but it gets better towards the end when you start to get a sense of the film's message. Still, it's far from Paolo Genovese's best work.

Only the dead bereave

A unique sci-fi film. The space freaks have found themselves in a rather strange Estonian apartment block where the everyday lives of a few people change quite a bit. The Black Hole is a bit too stretched out and therefore boring in places, but it could have been made into quite a cult hit if it had been edited better. The film's satire simply doesn't have the bite. And the wackyness turns into annoyance.

Guns have their uses

An old-school action flick, a thing of beauty. It's easy to forgive the clumsiness and naivety of these films. This is honest movie rock'n'roll, straight-up action where the bad guys are real no-good villians and the honesty of the good guys wins. For many, the action films of the 80s and 90s are the true golden age of cinema. Final theatrical film of Charles Bronson, he was 71 when Death Wish V: The Face of Death was filmed. 

God bless the wicked

What a tedious piece of shit. Unfortunately, this movie will only be remembered for the incident in which Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed one of the film's crew members, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. To honor her memory, they should have made an intensely captivating movie. But it was left undone. 

Deeper demons

Hopefully the Serbian horror scene has better things to offer than this. A very confusing and therefore meaningless story about two estranged brothers and a small village that is entangled in a mystical pagan cult. One of those completely useless horror films that has no entertainment value. Complete nonsense. 

A single cell of energy that explodes with a bang

There's nothing wrong with the acting (Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli) and the director (Paul Schrader) is already a respected one, but it's a boring movie! An idealistic and eccentric documentary filmmaker and professor talks about his life to other filmmakers on his deathbed. And there's absolutely nothing interesting in it.

One well placed bullet can change the world

A John Wick spin-off. There's really nothing here but skillfully choreographed fight scenes with firearms, knives, axes, grenades, everything possible to harm another person. You can watch it for a while, but the repetition is exhausting.  

We were just here gravedigging

It's quite fun to watch. Started out interestingly and the pleasant tension continued for a while, but towards the end things got out of hand as the story was being woven together in a terrible hurry. Still, a sufficiently gripping thriller with a bit of Hitchcock-esque features. 

Lost in the wildfire

From the very beginning, you sense an ominous atmosphere and, as a result, a terribly sad ending. A very emotional and memorable film, but so ruthlessly cruel that you won't enjoy it to the fullest. It will hang in the tentacles of the mind for a long time. 

Hot smoke of the infinite void

A pretty nice biographical gangster drama. Rapper Xatar is involved in many things. This refugee ventures into the circles of violence and drug world, sometimes flirting with old love and trying to get a boost for his music career. 

The mighty fall at last

East meets west in an embarrassing western movie. Reckon we are expected to laugh at this parody and all its graphic bloodbaths, but no one bothers. Pays homage to old western classics and their gunslinger myths, nothing else. 

They are my losers

Slow Horses season #3. You can't help but enjoy the fireworks of humor, violence, and excitement that this series offer. MI-5 is breaking apart for whistleblowing and things get volatile as shit. Somehow it feels like a privileged pleasure to watch this. 

No one answers to prayers

It's style over substance. Wes Anderson should do something normal for a change. And stop this masturbation nonsense. The quirkiness has run its course. His black comedy is no longer funny (if it ever truly was for that matter). The actors are put out of their comfort zone and normal acting shenanigans and it's kind of hackneyed fucking thing as well. The viewers are left cold and bored. 

Dungeons of diabolique

A film about a donkey and its odyssey. In its sacred simplicity, nothing else. Endearing and cute, if only it weren't so ominously sad. A very different and memorable film nonetheless. 

Duck is in the water

Quite interesting in many ways. A thriller made in 1995 and somehow it seems even older, perhaps because we're not used to seeing modern-day experienced actors Nicole Kidman, Joaquim Phoenix, Matt Dillon and Casey Affleck as almost teenagers. The plot is about a ruthless woman who will do anything to become famous. Even murder. 

Dancing in blood

A good war movie, although there isn't really any proper plot. Navy SEALs fight against Iraqi soldiers in Ramadi, Iraq. They are mostly stuck in one building, and the movie tells the story of their struggle for survival. There's a lot of shooting and explosions, violent and chaotic all around, probably quite close to authentic warfare. Based on a true story.

Every proctologist story ends in the same way

There is nothing wrong with this season either. Extremely enjoyable comedy that you can easily spend several hours a week with. Introduces couple of wonderful characters, namely David Puddy (portrayed by Patrick Warburton) and J. Peterman (John O'Hurley). Notable episodes: The Face Painter, The Secretary, The Fusilli Jerry, The Diplomat's Club and The Understudy.

No mind, no soul

Fantastically weird, visually stunning and, as a zombie feature should, disturbing and gory. But halfway through the movie it lost its focus. Sure then it introduced Ralph Fiennes's character which is great, but at the same time the movie switches its tone and the entire story starts falling apart. Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later is not bad in any sense, it's disgusting horror as it should be, but it's still the weakest of the three films in the series.

Everybody's getting laid after lunch

Brian De Palma's erotic thriller.  The thematics of the film owe a lot to Alfred Hitchcock. Although this is a predictable murder mystery, it's quite interesting and enjoyable to watch because the story is not paced with quick editing and it flows smoothly and the brilliant actors (Michael Caine, Nancy Allen, Angie Dickinson and Dennis Franz) follow along.  

An avalanche of indifference

It's still the best shit right now. It's almost impossible not to watch the next episode. A true TV series royalty. A thrilling British thriller. 

Death is a relentless son of a bitch

Death is the fate of each of us. It will reach us all sooner or later. But imagine Death who, just for his own pleasure and amusement, throws a bunch of people at the mercy of his sadistic pursuit. Sixth installment in the Final Destination film series, Final Destination Bloodlines is a nice modern horror film, the first few scenes in particular were brilliantly diabolical and executed to perfection. 

Fear lives in the guts

Jackson Lamb, the leader of the rogue agent organization Slough House, played by Gary Oldman, is a completely contradictory character: a foul-mouthed, ruthless, untidy, booze- and cigarette-hungry bastard, and on the other hand an incredibly smart, in his own way caring professional who seems to be one step ahead in everything. He is a Cold War relic who cares little for the sophicated methods of modern MI5 terrorism investigation. But he, with his team, gets things done. Slow Horses is a fantastic agent series. Unbelievably good. It's based on the series of novels by Mick Herron, created by Will Smith (English-born comedian).

Acts of violence don't win wars

This Gillo Pontecorvo film (1966) is said to be one of the best of all time. It's rare to see why, but once a film is labeled with classic status, it's not easy to shake it off. Still, The Battle of Algiers is arresting and impressive. A touchingly realistic black and white depiction of the fight of Algerian partisans against the French invaders. 

Don't get lost in the clouds

Pretty good. Perhaps a little more than that. Nothing excellent though. A CIA decoder has a lot to do, he has to find and kill his wife's killers and at the same time expose the bad apples in his organization. In addition, he has to protect himself from those people. But no worries, he's smart. Not a physical deterrent, not a gunslinger, but his strength lies in his intelligence. A good movie, but ultimately a rather narrow story. 

Conscience won't let him sleep

In the sleepless nights of Alaska, a detective, investigating the death of a local girl, finds himself in a dead end and digs his own grave deeper and deeper. Insomnia (2002) is Christopher Nolan's masterpiece featuring Al Pacino at his best and Robin Willians in a rarely serious role. A remake of the 1997 Norwegian film by Erik Skjoldbjærg.  

We are all fucked to hell

A horror film constructed with an excellent sense of style. Based on a short story by Stephen King, so there's a lot of his typical black humor here, which pops up in the strangest and most unconventional places, and it's certainly not for everyone. The story centers on a wind-up toy monkey, a death-spreading bastard. The film's wildness wanes a bit towards the end when the story doesn't really have much more to offer, but a hilarious piece nevertheless.  

Lethal on the losers

In this Marvel film, the heroes' opponents are not so much overpowered anti-heroes or fire-breathing villains, but human emotions such as depression and loneliness. But there's still action and excitement here. Quite enough. And in places, it's quite fun. Entertainment worth watching at least once. 

Obscure plains

A failed sequel to the 1999 film Häjyt. Both directed by Aleksi Mäkelä. The film features petty criminals' escapedes and experiments in the international drug trade. At the same time, family and friendship life are put to test. This is by no means a solid and exciting crime story, it's an exhaustingly long-winded piece which you get nothing out of. 

Two of everything

What? A Mel Gibson film? It's such rubbish that it's unreal. In this story, everything is as shitty as it could ever be. And the actors? How about some respect for the profession? Movies where you just turn your brain off are sometimes quite funny, but this is an embarrassment.  

Under the canopy of heaven

At times this is outrageously funny. Still, bodies pile up and things get hysterically violent. Ma Dong-seok's portrayal of detective Ma Seok-do, with his old no-shit methods, is a delightful addition to the somewhat overly stylized police characters in modern movies. 

Conscience can drive you nuts

The life of longshoremen is violent and corrupt. The port is dominated by organized crime. Former boxer Terry Malone's (Marlon Brando) - working for gangster boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) - conscience begins to bother him because he gets involved in a murder and becomes aware of inhumane working conditions and shady employers. Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront (1954) is a powerful depiction of the crumbling of the golden age of criminal organizations.

Sooner or later someone gets a bullet

The stars were probably not aligned here. There's been talk about Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt's crappy chemistry. And how the movie isn't what was initially promised because the script was revised during filming. And, indeed, there's a bit of an unfinished feeling here. But a decent late 90s thriller about an IRA operative traveling to the United States to get some firepower for his homeland's battles and his own personal revenge. Directed by Alan J. Pakula. 

Suffer in illusions

A standard thriller with a comedic undertone. There's nothing terribly bad to say about this, but nothing good either. A movie that you might remember seeing years later and say it was probably okay, but you don't want to watch it again. A young man thinks he witnesses a kidnapping, but the cops don't believe him, so his next-door neighbor helps him finding the missing person. Pretty useless entertainment. 

Red sky at night

In the hustle and bustle of Tango Festival in Seinäjoki, Finland, the former tango singer meets a ministerial entourage, including his daughter, the personal assistant to the Minister of Economic Affairs. This mixed group spends a long weekend in Ostrobothnia and they each have their own worries and dreams. Perhoset, by Jenni Toivoniemi, is easily digestible deadpan Finnish humour. 

Uncovering the secrets of ourselves

This was incredibly boring and infuriatingly slow-paced already from the beginning. It just slowly rolled forward but never really took off. A drama film about a 19th-century French winegrower and her difficulties in both her private life and her work. Could have been informative at the expense of entertainment at least, which is sometimes a nice compromise, but it wasn't even that. 

So we all become extinct

Arcadian, by Benjamin Brewer, should have been longer. The story could have been made into a 3-hour long movie or even a series. Because it's interesting and exciting, worth watching. It feels like the story of aliens who have come to cleanse the Earth of the human virus was told too narrowly. And too quickly. These creatures look like amazing, cartoonishly distorted monsters, as if ripped straight from the depths of hell. One of Nicolas Cage's better recent films. 

Look at those who are burning

A strangely conventional yet completely unique thriller. A widowed mother goes on a first date to a high-end restaurant where she receives a message that the lives of her child and her babysitter sister are threatened. Of course, you can't tell anyone or call the police, especially since this crazy person sending threats seems to know everything the woman does and says. What's stupid about this movie is that no mother in this world would act so restrained when the life of her own child is at stake. Hair-raising and spine-chilling excitement, though. It's cheesy and plotholed, but you'll like it. 

It's nice to pass the time with a stranger

This is oppressive and crazy, but the atmosphere is hidden under the long-windedness and unnecessary mania. The story of a lonely hermit living in a trailer park who gets an uninvited guest during a fierce storm, started well and excitingly, but when the whole plot of it began to dawn, the film was already infuriatingly burdensome. Australian indie horror by Josiah Allen and Indianna Bell. 

Bodies in the basement

A bank teller who feels no physical pain falls head over heels in love and gets involved in a robbery. His rare condition only helps when he gets mixed up in a showdown between cops and criminals. Novocaine is a nicely over-the-top dark comedy, but not particularly well-acted and, frankly, easily forgettable and cheap entertainment.

Methods won't be questioned

A slightly too self-aware agent thriller. It tries to be too cunning and secretive, and because of that, the film's watchability, and at the same time its credibility, suffers. It's a shame, because outwardly everything is great here. The acting and cinematography are of high quality. Directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Dreams growing darker

Given the huge expectations, a slight disappointment. But the value and true impact of Robert Eggers's Nosferatu on the world of cinema will only be weighed years from now. A bit like what happened in his 2015 masterpiece VVitch: A New-England Folktale. It's not necessarily scary, but Nosferatu has an ominous and haunting feel, drawing heavily on classic horror themes. A visually stunning piece, almost in a class of its own.

The edge of the world

Basically, this should be a really emotionally touching film. A sob story where the other person ends their earthly journey prematurely. Maybe there's something wrong with the chemistry between the actors - Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield - because the impact of the story is a bit weak. In addition to this, the narrative jumps from one time period to another throughout the film, which is functional and quite fun, but annoying in the long run. And on the other hand, if it has been presented in linear form, the film would be infinitely ordinary.  

Done with death

They say Until Dawn, by David F. Sandberg, is based on a console game. And just like in the game world, characters in this film can respawn. They are trapped in a pretty scary time loop that requires multiple deaths to escape. Clever reasoning skills too. The film's few rather brutal scenes are worth watching, but overall it's pretty standard horror. 

A societal leech

An ambitious fucking thing. A Hungarian Jewish arcitect flees the horrors of World War II Europe to the United States, only to discover that the world on the other side of the Atlantic, even when there is no war, is very torturous. Brady Corbet's The Brutalist is very memorable, and quite arresting at times, but perhaps not as impressive as you read everywhere. 

Apparitions in the dust

When a Korean diplomat is kidnapped and hidden in Lebanon for over a year, Korean authorities decide to send another diplomat to the war-torn country to pay the ransom and bring the victim home safely. Of course, it doesn't work that easily. Ransomed, by Kim Seong-hun, is a delightfully exciting and captivating film. One car chase scene is downright magnificent. 

Don't look like a reckless snacker

Read negative reviews about this. Shitty actors with horrible dialogue, product placement, and disrespectful treatment of the original work (Colleen Hoover's novel). When you were already pessimistic about the film, it was actually quite a gripping watch. 

The world gets bigger

A widowed mother finds herself caught in the crossfire of Jordanian bureaucracy. Even custody of her daughter is at risk! Inshallah a Boy is an educational story about how things and laws that you consider to be everyday and safe can be the exact opposite somewhere else. A surprisingly engaging film all the same. Directed by Amjad Al Rasheed.