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.

Plagued by doubts

Season 4 of Slow Horses. Three separate plots that you know will eventually come together, but following them was a bit challenging. But the action and excitement are so expertly crafted that it doesn't even bother much. And it's always a privilege to watch one of the greatest actors of our generation, Gary Oldman.

Silence calls the storm

The island of Tasmania has been transformed into a kingdom of zombie-like people thanks to a failed US military experiment. And now these poor, half-dead people need to be killed and buried. A delicious starting point for a zombie adventure and would probably work as a game too. It would certainly be much more fascinating with a bigger budget, but they bring their ideas to life just fine with this.

The hangman's ready

Truman Capote's In Cold Blood is one of the landmark books of the 20th century, and this 1967 film by Richard Brooks is an excellent adaptation. In a story based on true events, two ex-convicts ruthlessly murder an entire family during a robbery. Simply because they can't leave any witnesses. As if destroying human lives were child's play. A very disturbed and haunting world of thought. You can get chills from the movie too.

An authentic hippie midsummer

Pleasantly close in atmosphere to Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man (1973). In both films, outsiders are lured into pagan ceremonies in some remote corner of the world, where beneath the people's overflowing happiness, there lives some kind of inexplicable evil. And all the evil happens in broad daylight and in full view. No ghosts in the dark and no knife-wielding lunatics in masks. Ari Aster's Midsommar may well as well start to gain some sort of cult status because this is an extremely impressive film.

Big fish live in quiet waters

Hong Sang-soo's unhurried shooting style is gently pleasing to the eyes. This film is based heavily on dialogue, laconic humor and a very slow pace. So even though nothing is happening, the words keep the action and interest going. This naturalistic narrative also requires a slightly different approach from the viewer. 

Chaos is king

The dumbest movie in a long time. Luckily, people still manage to do these things - accidentally or intentionally. This was definitely done seriously, but you would think that everyone involved in this would have been concerned when making such a massive pile of shit. Everything here is ridiculously bad. But as I said, I'm happy to watch these. Unless it becomes a habit.

One day the devil's gonna follow you home

Somehow a very stylish - albeit bloody - horror story. Yet Ryan Coogler's Sinners still isn't quite worth all the hype. There's nothing particularly memorable here, and the story, for all its showiness, is just a vampire story ripped from old, familiar elements. Not bad by any means, especially towards the end, really entertaining, but just ok. Maybe the music and certain individual scenes could be highlighted.

Pouring burning poison to the dead

To her horror, a prison guard meets her son's killer in prison, who has been transferred there as a prisoner from another prison. She is blinded by her lust for revenge. And even though logic and reason are forgotten, she somehow gets a few of her revengeful ideas through. Gustav Möller's Vogter is too much of a one-idea affair, with barely any plot, and unconvincing overall. 

Needles in the sunlight

A Corsican goat herder refuses to sell his land to the mafia and these thugs get angry. This inevitably leads to violence, general discomfort and a manhunt. A rather simple story that doesn't really ignite at any point. But the setting, Corsica, looks damn gorgeous.

No person is without a shadow

Not the best detective reasoning in the first part of the Wallander film series. It seems that the entire Ystad police department, both young and veteran detectives, are stupid beyond belief. Logic at least is often missing. Maybe this is just a case of straightening out the curves, because Henning Mankell's stories tend to be chillingly great. However, the execution of this one was also decent enough. In the story, disciples who believe in the name of messianic cult leader Jim Jones commit a series of horrific crimes.

At the top of the dial

An English hitman is in exile in Los Angeles. He teams up with his new employer's son. To show him some manliness, actually. Then they keep killing. And it's so much fun. Reckon London Calling is some kind of buddy comedy. But it's exceptionally poorly acted - and not funny at all. 

Eclipsed by revenge

Somehow this feels fake and something doesn't add up. There are indications that this competition has been managed in some way by the production. Not as obviously as in the first season, but there is more than meets the eye. Survival is just a platform and the drama between the contestants feels fake. And it is tiring. Still once you start following it, it's addictive enough that you want to watch it to the end. 

Eat less slugs

These have been repeating themselves for a long time. Nowadays, they're always in the fucking Fiji. This is season # 48. There's no sense of danger that's needed to survive on a deserted island. No real hunger because there are food prize competitions all the time. No one is withering away from thirst or starving to death. The conditions are not excellent but rather easy and comfortable. The same annoying puzzles. In the good old days, we were in a real wilderness somewhere in a world, eating everything we could and falling over a campfire from exhaustion. Real survival. No joyful and playful competition. But still, Survivor is the best survival show. It looks good, you identify with the contestants when the drama arc is so skillfully created.

We suffer more often in imagination than in reality

A feel-good film. Fortunately, the friendship between a 58-year-old undertaker and a mentally disabled man he meets by chance was not made into a difficult and taboo-breaking story, but Bernard Campan and Alexander Jollien's Beautiful Minds is a very nice film even though it deals with difficult topics - like death. But mostly, it's just about laughing and quoting Stoic philosophers. 

Save yourself from Hell

The initial cut of the film ran 130 minutes, and they say it was so violent that the test audience and the studio demanded it be cut. And you can see that. The film is too fast-paced, which makes it erratic and confusing. Still a fantastic sci-fi film brimming with claustrophobic horror, but not enough time is given to the narrative. This 1997 Paul W.S. Anderson piece stars Sam Neill, Laurence Fishburne, Kathleen Quinlan, Jason Isaacs, and Sean Pertwee, among others.

Hope is not a strategy

A magnificent display of technical cinematic storytelling. All the things related to Formula 1 racing are made to measure, with an incredibly realistic effect. However, it's far from the truth that a 60-year-old guy would jump behind the wheel of a F1 car out of the blue and outsmart all the young professionals. On the other hand, that's exactly the idea of ​​this film. The only idea, unless you count a little narrative softness. An entertaining movie, though. 

Inventing reality

A thought-provoking exploration of Russian power dynamics and the mental landscape therein. Jude Law doesn't humanize his portrayal of Vladimir Putin, nor should he. He is excellent in his role. The other lead actor, Paul Dano, as Putin's henchman Vadim Baranov is also good, although his face starts to get boring over time, there's just too much of him in the film. And after the cornerstones, stumbling blocks, and various catastrophic twists of Russia's recent history have been quickly presented, the film's narrative begins to drag. Still, better than what is being said and written in the reviews.