Night falls like an ambush

A plane carrying people - mostly young rugby players - crashes somewhere in the Andes. A large group survives the crash. But how do you survive in a region where there are only giant snow-capped rock mountains as far as the eye can see? And even the search for possible survivors is abandoned without any results! This true-to-life story from 1972 has been previously adapted into a film, at least by Frank Marshall in Alive (1993). But this 2023 J.A. Bayona piece is considerably more gruesomely detailed. One of the best survival films where despair and anxiety and extreme distress and hunger are beautifully depicted on the screen.

Stupidity has saved many a man from going mad

If you have to die and you are ordered to die, but you don't, who is responsible? Like the British soldier who jumps out of a burning plane without a parachute and survives without a scratch! This is something that needs to be resolved in a celestial trial! A Matter of Life and Death, by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, is quite a masterpiece. For a 40s film, the technical execution is brilliant. The visuals are absolutely stunning.  And the story itself is absolutely gorgeous. A love story set in a wild cosmic setting. A timeless classic.

Close to the emptiness of existence

A dog kennel worker is a bit lonely. He desperately needs female company. He runs into a woman he knows from his college days and develops a morbid obsessive interest in her. And because she couldn't be less interested, he stalks her and finds a way to get her. And there are other reasons than simple passion. This woman needs to be caged! And tamed! A thriller built on one great twist that should be compelling but is just unspeakably boring and ridden with plotholes. 

Angels eat shit

Roman Polanski's quirky comedy about the super-rich in a Swiss Alpine hotel, where they celebrate the turn of the century in 1999, or even the end of the world in their Y2K frenzy. The film has a very farcical feel as Russian mafiosi, an aging porn star, a world-famous plastic surgeon, a penguin, and other eccentric characters feed their own desires and the hotel employees try to fulfill their wishes. Unfortunately, except for the very beginning, there isn't really anything very funny about the film's story. The cast includes John Cleese, Mickey Rourke, Oliver Masucci and Fanny Ardant. 

Beginners guide to anarchism

A beautifully created time period of the somewhat hipster Brasilia of the 70s, which was fundamentally a very politically and dangerously tense time. The left and the right clashed bloodily, the police force and political power were rotten to the core, dictatorship and paranoia prevailed, and dissidents were simply killed. But samba was playing even then, people enjoyed life as long as they stayed outside the political turmoil. For some, however, the fight for justice became a life mission. It's a shame that the film's story is told in a somewhat confusing and rushed manner, with characters scattered carelessly and only moments of thriller-like action and suspense.

Poison in the veins

Marcia su Roma (The March on Rome) was an organized mass demonstration in October 1922. It led to the Italian fascist party led by Benito Mussolini coming to power and beginning a brutal period of twenty years. Its impact was reflected far and wide in the world and those teachings are still being put into practice. Such documentaries are very educational, but unfortunately, one cannot ignore the power and brutality of man.

It's now or never

A melancholic but very realistic film by Aleksi Salmenperä. What's special about this is that one of the main roles is played by Tomi Lindfors, an amateur actor with limited mobility who lives in the Salvation Army's housing service unit in Helsinki. He actually uses a wheelchair and his speech is slurred due to alcohol addiction and a brain hemorrhage. It's also clear that he has no experience in acting, but how naturally he does it! And the chemistry with his co-star Tommi Korpela is wonderful to watch. Despite small touches of tragicomedy, the drama is quite heavy-handed in all its sadness.

This is nowhere

A film can leave a lot up to the viewer's own interpretation, but when everything is left unexplained and open, it's unreasonable. And a bit like in an escape game, the clues only lead to a new riddle. In Genki Kawamura's Exit 8, a man gets stuck in the corridors of a subway station, in some kind of mysterious loop, and must follow and implement precise instructions to get out. The film is a great idea and in places, excruciatingly awesome, but the plot and events are otherwise very thin.

Before the crimson bloom

Watanabe is told that he has stomach cancer and therefore only has about six months to live. For the first time in his life, he decides to drink and now regrets never having done it in his life. What other pleasures he has missed out on. Fortunately, there is still time to realize them. And what fun things there are to do! And what there is still to offer the world! The money he earned from his work and intended for savings has found a purpose. Stomach cancer made him think about life and realize its beauty only on the eve of death. Ikiru (1952) is Akira Kurosawa's thought-provoking masterpiece.

The shadow knows

A dog plays the lead role in this enigmatic and quite scary horror film where some kind of ominous supernatural element is ever-present. The film's uniqueness is more fascinating than the story itself, but it does meet the criteria for a perfectly decent horror film.

The rites and the rituals

A damn long movie, but could such a nuanced and enigmatic story be told any shorter? This is Rian Johnson's third installment in the so-called Knives Out series. And as in the previous ones, it's clear that the actors have had a hell of a time filming this entertaining and interesting murder mystery where a priest is murdered and someone close to him is suspected of being the culprit. Great acting from the whole cast, but Daniel Craig and Josh Brolin in particular stand out a bit in roles they are rarely used to.

Hear the grass grow

I can already say that this is the weakest movie I've seen this year. I simply can't come across anything this blatantly bad anymore. The script is a mess. Some of the initial side plot twists are left hanging in the air without any resolution, various characters are introduced into the story that seem like they have some kind of significance, but they are just forgotten. And the whole thing is smeared with some kind of Christian ideology. This apocalyptic survival movie is such an incredible waste of time that it almost needs to be watched again.