EvilPhoEniX

After the recent Bliss, the talented Joe Begos has made another decent effort, set in a pub that will be defended by a bunch of veteran cops (Stephen Lang!) against drug-addicted punks. It's kind of a simple grindhouse affair that feels like it's straight out of the 90s and serves up a really decent helping of gore, with limbs flying through the air and blood splattering all over the pub. Decent fun for one viewing and the most brutal film of 2020 so far. I would have liked more polished visuals here, but it’s still good. 6.5/10

An anthology series consisting of famous fairy tales (Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, Hansel and Gretel) packaged as a dark and mature psychological thriller. The idea is perfect, but I still couldn't shake the impression of it being a second-rate series. The budget, the actors, the story are all rather mediocre and I felt that the creators were not smart enough to handle such a big bite. While there are many twists that can shock, they feel forced and somewhat contrived. There are a few action scenes that aren't too bad, there is a bit of violence, Red Riding Hood is hot as hell, and the series is thankfully well paced so you won't be bored with it, but I'd take it rather lightly. If you have enough time, you shouldn't regret the 8 hours, but the competition in series is so big right now that this will soon fizzle out. 6.5/10.

A black-humor journey praised abroad, where Elijah Wood goes to visit a father he's never seen, but everything will be different than he expected. The film quite interestingly creates unexpected twists and turns with a mixture of black humour, and there is a bit of violence, so it's not completely bad, but nothing that would make me fall on my ass either (though a stabbing with a pen dipped in excrement is something I’d never seen). It's good for one viewing and I'm glad Elijah Wood has dedicated himself to horror. 5,5/10.

The culmination of a great pure Chinese martial arts series that lasted for 12 years is here and for me it’s probably the best episode. It's absolutely awesome, with a very powerful, emotional and moving story that has top-notch to flawless fights (and there are some!!). Donnie Yen travels to America to find a school for his unruly son, but runs into complications. There is a nice depiction of the racism and bullying of the time (the scene where a Chinese student is bullied by her classmates is very powerful) and it’s nice to see Bruce Lee, the relatively unknown Chris Collins and the uncompromising Scott Adkins, who gives another big time performance as the bad guy. Every fight has something going for it and the exchange of styles (Karate vs Wing Chun) is especially wonderful. By the ending I was screaming with joy so loud that all the walls in my house were cracking. It's been long since I've seen a proper, pure martial arts fighting game with such a very engaging and nice story. Donnie Yen is an icon and so is Ip Man. 10/10.

Birds of Prey turned out tragically financially, and the movie itself is nothing to write home about. I may be one of the few who liked Suicide Squad, but this spin off with Harley Quinn was too feminist and girly for me and it irritated me for almost the entire running time. There's a difference between listening to the dialogue of a group of tough mercenaries versus a group of women, where the humor doesn't come across as funny at all, at times I was almost embarrassed. What elevates the film to the average is the nice color comic book visuals and decent over-the-top action, but I hardly noticed any violence apart from a few nice fractures. Compared to Deadpool, where guts and brains were flying in all directions, this was very tame, and Ewan McGregor as the villain overacted too much for my taste. Somewhere around 20 minutes before the end I was wishing for the ending and that's always a bad sign. It's okay for one viewing thanks to Harley Quinn and the decent action, but there wasn’t anything else I enjoyed. PS: Jurnee Smollett-Bell in gold leggings, however, was not to be missed! 5/10.

Fans of courtroom dramas can't complain. Germany surprised and Elyas M'Barek, a comedy actor, handled the serious role with ease. The film has a great theme, with a newly graduated lawyer getting his first case where he has to defend a murderer who killed his former lover's grandfather, and on top of that, he's up against a hostile and well-respected opponent. Great courtroom verbal shootouts, decent twists and turns, great actors and the biggest legal scandal in German history ever. What more could you ask for? 8/10.

This was a mistake. The worst Scandi-movie ever. Unfunny, uninteresting, repulsive, boring with unlikeable characters and weird dialogue. I haven't seen such a bad film in a long time, and it made me downright angry with its existence. 2/10.

The exotic-looking Monos is a nicely shot borefest that suggests something interesting is going to happen throughout, but in the end we don’t get any suspense and certainly not any violence. 4/10.

Slight disappointment. The Italian mafia and courtrooms are among my favourite subjects, but neither line appealed to me here. The film is too long for my taste, with too many characters to form any kind of relationship with, the verbal shootouts in court have no charge and it doesn't really build up, it stagnates rather. It's watchable, a few sequences weren't bad, but considering the subject I expected something much more vigorous and powerful.

A confident Clint Eastwood serves up another compelling true story that is intense and suspenseful from start to finish, and Sam Rockwell has another perfect supporting role! (After Jojo Rabbit for the second time this year). Well acted, interestingly shot, emotional towards the end and overall a very entertaining piece of work where I kept my hands clenched for the entire running time. Praise should also be given to the nasty detective Jon Hamm, the bitchy reporter played by Olivia Wilde, and the unknown Paul Walter Hauser, who also gives a great performance. I hope it's not Eastwood’s last film. 8/10.