In the wake of the weary

Rayburn runs a wildlife sanctuary. It's a nice place, but he has to deal with shit like poachers and vandalism. Rayburn has had a fair share of misery; the disapperance of his daughter and a divorce that followed within. Unsurprisingly he tries to drown his sorrow with booze. As if this wasn't enough, wrong kind of men and women with terribly wrong and illogical decisions start popping around every corner. A messy thriller, horrible script with surprising yet silly twist in the end, bits entertaining though.

Circles around the bronze ashes

Liam wakes up from a car accident not only oblivious to his own being, but he's also become a grim reaper incarnate causing immediate death to anyone in his proximity. He sucks the life out of someone or something by just coming close. He fucken radiates death. I like these low-key indies where inventiveness and perseverance overshadow the low budget.

Someone somewhere forgot a zero

To capture cop killers, they isolate Manhattan, N.Y., by closing its bridges (hence the title 21 Bridges), tunnels, rivers and railroads. A complete Manhattan lockdown. Sounds interesting altho in the end it's only a sidenote in a cliché-ridden plotholed story of good cops and bad corrupt cops. Decent cast of Chadwick Boseman (his last theatrically released film), Sienna Miller, J.K. Simmons, Keith David and Taylor Kitch.

Man in the jar

An emotionally charged story of a construction worker turned a basketball couch. His former life was ridden with booze and death and misery, so leading a Catholic high school team could be a welcome change. There's lots of sadness, with little glimpses of hope, and the film deals with the emotions comfortably enough. Ben Affleck in one of his better roles.

Allsång på Skansen

Just a while ago I read Miika Nousiainen's hilarious novel - Vadelmavenepakolainen (2007) - about a Finnish man who desperately wants to be Swedish. The movie is a wasted opportunity. Not only have they left most of the contents out, but they've just snipped the basic idea and cooked up the rest. Almost a completely different entity. And the result is close to terrible.

Where the lightning strikes

I decided to choose between two films from 2019 that I haven't seen before and that I kind of knew weren't going to make much of an impact. Nicolas Cage's Grand Isle or John Travolta's The Fanatic. Randomly picked up the former where, during a hurricane, a fence repairman gets stuck in the mansion of a rather batshit crazy couple and can't seem to figure out what to do. He just wants to survive the night. Completely embarrassing to everyone involved, me included.

On trial for thoughts

Chicago 7 were a group of American activists/anarchists and they were on trial for several things including conspiracy and inciting a riot. They did amazingly well with the legal drama, some of the best courtroom sequences ever witnessed. It's both funny and shocking. Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman, the social activist, and Mark Rylance as William Kunstler, the lawyer defending the Chigaco Seven, particularly stood out.

What's the point ending up dead?

After 29 years things are falling apart for Grace (Annette Bening) and Edward (Bill Nighy). Edward has found someone else. But can he just walk away, disappear into a new life? They have a son who, albeit unwillingly, is joining in as a mediator and a messenger boy between the parents. A hopelessly decent relationship drama set in a picturesque coastal town. Nothing remarkable anywhere except that it's always a pleasure watching Bill Nighy's somewhat inconspicuous and leisurely acting.

It's like riding a bike

Four young women steal professional diving equipment and enter an underwater cave for fun. Their stupidity deserves to die because shit like getting trapped in the cave with a great white shark and running out of fucking oxygen might happen. B-movie horror full of claustrophobic panic and hysterical screams, but that's all.

Voices from a starless domain

It's just awfully disgusting and disturbing. Chris Watts cold-bloodedly murders his wife, unborn baby and two little daughters, aged three and five. Left a stinking feeling in my stomach that will linger there for days. A true life documentary and a true testimony to the evil that men do.

Tip of the pentacle

A James Bond movie directed by John Glen in 1983, starring Roger Moore as the agent 007, Maud Adams as the Bond girl Octopussy, Robert Brown as Bond's superior 'M' (the head of MI6), Desmond Llewelyn as 'Q' (the head of Q division), Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny (MI6 secretary) and Louis Jordan as Kamal Khan, the main antagonist. The opening theme "All Time High" sung by Rita Coolidge. A story of illegal jewellery trade is quickly escalated into a threat of nuclear war, but luckily James Bond is awfully good at sniffing out the perpetrators. 

Like nothing you've ever seen

Curtis (excellent Michael Shannon) has bad dreams and he sees signs everywhere that something awful is looming on the horizon. It's catastrophic storm of the end of the world magnitude or his mind is playing tricks on him. Either way, it's better be prepared with a proper tornado shelter and some psychoanalysis. A superb drama of severe paranoia with a truly all-powering oppressive atmosphere.

An arrow shot into the sun

Late 18th century, England and France are fighting for the possession of the American continent. Native American tribes such as Hurons and Mohicans have joined the war and if people aren't bombing themselves to death, the more primitive ways like scalping and burning humans alive are as effective causing chaos and increasing the bodycount. It's a Michael Mann film from 1992, often cited as a masterpiece and a timeless classic. Were I to say it's decent but overrated and not aged particularly well, I'd prob'ly be wrong.

People should know when they are conquered

I've been wanting to see this even though I've seen it a dozen times already, know and remember every scene by heart. It's one of those things. You sit down with it and you are terribly entertained. Gladiator is an emotionally charged story, revenge flick, suspenseful adventure and an epic drama in one brilliant piece of cinema.

Wiser than men or wolf

Fuckers steal a goofy massive dog Buck to sell it to prospectors to utilize its strenght finding and transporting gold from Yukon. A very long way from home, unaccustomed to snow and ice, let alone open sky, the final frontier of earth sends Buck from one adventure to another. He's very much on his own in the wilderness, until he hits it off with another lone soul, an experienced frontiersman John Thornton (Harrison Ford). Based on Jack London's classic novel. The dog is entirely computer generated, a bit cheesy, but surprisingly likeable at that, and overall an entertaining family movie.

We all have blood on our hands

An Austrian farmer voices his opinion that he ain't too pleased with the values of fascism. For speaking his mind, he and his family are ostracized from their home village and things are worsening by the minute. He either has to join the Third Reich army in World War II or hide in the woods, thus possibly captured, executed. Three hours is a little excessive to tell the true story of Franz Jägerstätter,  a conscientious objector, but Terrence Malick keeps it interesting. And, as always, watching a Terrence Malick film, it's like watching hundreds of works of art in a row. Michael Nyqvist's and Bruno Ganz's last film.

Luton is a four-letter word

It's Luton, late 80s, the city like the rest of England is overrun by poverty and bigotry. It's not particularly easy for a Pakistani student Javed, a gifted writer, who is controlled by a stern traditional family and a hostile society. But once he discovers the music and words of Bruce Springsteen, he is in for a massive dose of self-confidence. In spite of bleak British environment that was delivered brilliantly, it's still a rather uplifting and heartwarming a movie.

Under the hammer of malignancy

The Grudge: The Untold Chapter is just a collection of jumpscares caused by a super haunted house on 44 Reyburn Drive, Pennsylvania. There's a Japanese spirit - or curse - that terrorizes people and families in connection with the residence. Nothing is interesting or entertaining, it's just a terribly bad movie.

Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration

The year is 10191. The people in the known universe are fighting over a precious substance, spice called melange, that extends life and expands consciousness, and it's vital to space travel. Denis Villeneuve will have his say to the story later this year. The David Lynch cut, cult movie or not, is surreal and somewhat confusing with crappy and unintentionally funny special effects.

Friends are the family you choose

An orphan dude with a Down syndrome escapes from a nursing home and ends up in the company of a poacher, who is also on the run. The two baddies on the road make a pretty fun bunch and their adventure across the marshlands of North Carolina an eventful one. Can't help it though that it's a bit too naive and goofy. A well-meaning little thing nevertheless.