EvilPhoEniX

Talented director Ivan Kavanagh, who lives 20 kilometres from me, delivers an atmospheric, uncomfortable, superbly acted and executed horror film about the lengths a mother will go to save her sick son! The director's previous effort, The Canal, was better, but I'm happy with this one as well. The film moves at a slower pace, but compared to Saint Maud and The Night, it's definitely more fun. I liked the mysterious atmosphere where the doctors, the main characters and the viewer have no idea what is happening to the son and that some pretty unpleasant things are happening to him. I also have to praise the gore, there are four brutal scenes that are really well shot and disturbing enough. The two jump-scares also worked and I liked the denouement with a rather unexpected twist. I got what I expected from the film. That is, well acted, well shot, dark, brutal, atmospheric, disturbing with elements of the supernatural and dark detective fiction. Some may not enjoy it, it's more for the more attentive viewers, but I certainly didn't fall asleep with boredom this time. Story****, Action>No, Humor>No, Violence****, Entertainment***, Music***, Visual****, Atmosphere****, Suspense***. 7/10.

A brilliant 19-minute short set in an elementary school where students play an April Fool's joke on a teacher, but it gets out of control. Funny, brutal, entertaining, original, well acted (the Sheriff is excellent), and the ending is a treat. I have nothing to fault here, this is quality. 10/10.

An excellent film with an absolutely brilliant idea. Son of a Rich focuses on the son of a rich Russian man who is a bit of a cocky prick and thinks that no laws apply to him. When his father runs out of patience, he decides to teach his son a lesson with a rather attractive punishment, he sends him to an artificially created 19th century village where the son will have to go through purgatory and experience the harsh life of the time. Thanks to the great idea, the entertainment is more or less taken care of, the actors are likeable, the girls are gorgeous, the romantic line is not distracting and very enjoyable, and I was moved to tears by the end. It's not a comedy where I would fall down laughing, it lacks memorable lines, but it's a very good film to watch, and believe me, you will watch it with a smile. Pros: a brilliant idea, a touching ending, a funny and offbeat setting. Cons: definitely lacking some big laughs to be absolutely satisfied. 8/10

A watchable horror film on the theme of Voodoo and Black Magic. A man and his family crash in the Appalachian Mountains and wake up in the bed of a strange community practicing black magic rituals. Nicely filmed, quite suspenseful, and the main character is a likeable guy to root for. It's a shame that in terms of gore the film doesn't offer as much as the theme would demand, but it's definitely a film worth watching if only for the not-too-common topic. Definitely a better genre piece than the similarly-themed The Death of Me. Pros: a likeable protagonist and decent bad guys, black magic, Voodoo, rituals, decent cinematography and good pacing. Cons: lack of gore. While the film doesn't offend, it doesn't really pull anything off. 6/10.

This is great! :D Call of Duty Daniel Brühl level Challenger against Beginner Nazis. It doesn't even matter that it's in black and white, it's funny, imaginative and snappy. It would be a full score in colour. 8/10.

Unbelievably awesome!! France at its peak delivers probably the craziest, funniest, most outrageous gangster comedy and I have to say for myself that I laughed out loud and almost continuously. Yeah, the plot isn't very interesting, more or less two stupid drug dealers wanting to break through and doing all sorts of crap in the process, but there are some really crazy scenes that made me go nuts. Jokes to be set in stone!! It's not the stupid American humour made up of bad words, but the crazy French humour where a lot of allusions to movies are dropped as well. Nassim Si Ahmed's character is absolutely awesome, I don't even know if he was acting or if he really is like that, but every line and scene he did destroyed me. There was some pretty decent action in the finale, with fun fights and slow motion. Awkward for some, not everyone likes this style of humor, but for me, it’s great. It reminds me a little bit of 20 years old comedies like Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. A ride I'll watch more than once. 8/10

Probably Patryk Vega's weakest piece of work. I miss the classic Vega stuff, this film has absolutely no humour, gore or nudity, which are his specific features. On the other hand, this is one of his first films and maybe he wasn't such a pervert then, but that's why I like him. The film itself is otherwise not bad, visually the action is okay, but some of the storylines felt redundant and didn't bring anything very interesting. Only 6/10 this time.

Quite an interesting story of Tonya Harding, and the only reason I watched the film is because I like sports dramas where the underdog kicks everyone’s asses. The opening met my expectations and I wanted to praise the excellent Tilda Swinton as the mother, but now I realise it was actually Allison Janney, well never mind she was perfect and to remove her after half an hour is a reprehensible mistake. That's like someone removing J.K. Simmons from Whiplash, without him the film definitely wouldn't have gotten the recognition it has now. As for Tonya herself, unfortunately there's not much skating, the rivalry is mostly nonexistent and she performs the same tricks over and over. The film focuses more on her personal life and her relationship with her husband, which at times was reminiscent of The War of the Roses, but I wasn't really interested in that. Pros: Margot Robbie and Allison Janney both solid, an interesting story. Cons: slow pace, humour only in the first 30 minutes then absent, lack of skating and o an intense finale like in Borg vs. McEnroe, for example. 6/10.

A solid ghost story from South Korea. The film has quite an interesting theme about a mysterious closet that hides something supernatural. A father and daughter move into a new house and soon the daughter mysteriously disappears. The father, with the help of an exorcist, will do anything to get his daughter back. The visuals are solid, the cinematography is fine, the scares are good (one of them is heart-attack inducing, I thought my heart stopped and I almost kicked the TV), and the scene with the dead children without eyes is a downright horror treat. The atmospheric finale is also captivating. It's a pity that the film moves at a very slow pace and the scares, though effective, are not that many. A fan of ghost stories and a viewer who is looking for scares will not be disappointed. Pros: solid visuals, interesting premise, the dead kids are quite unpleasant in their own right. Cons: Slow pace, boring when there are no ghosts. 6/10.

Patryk Vega is back! Poland's craziest butcher, known for Pitbull - Exodus, Women of Mafia and The Plagues of Breslau, delivers a bit of a gangster drama that won't disappoint fans of his previous work. Based on true events, the story focuses on a cop who plans to get rid of all the pimps far and wide and build his own brothel with Ukrainian girls and go big. Vega is once again off the rails and most of his familiar characters are back (the katana-wielding cop called Ninja is awesome). The main character undergoes an absolute physical and mental transformation, literally the disintegration of a man in the worst possible way. There's no shortage of raucous humor, WTF scenes, drugs, an incredible amount of sex, lots of beautiful naked women. The gore is tamed this time, but at least the falling silicon implants will stick in my memory. The first half is an adrenaline rush that goes from one scene to the next and almost doesn't let the viewer breathe, but towards the end the film runs a bit out of breath, but it’s still decent. Pros: Lots of naked women, crazy absurdist humor, dynamic pacing, interesting story. Cons: The best ninja character is absent in the second half, slower finish to the finale, not as brutal as usual for Vega. 7/10.