EvilPhoEniX

Future Hong-Kong classic!!! After the legendary thriller Limbo and the action flick Kill Zone 2, Cheang Pou-soi is here with a high octane crazy martial arts flick that is getting rave reactions everywhere (74% on IMdB, many sites giving 4/5 or 5/5, 87/96% on Rotten Tomatoes). It is one of the most expensive Hong-Kong films of the last ten years and is packed to the ceiling with stars. It is also an adaptation of an Andy Seth comic book and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this insane ride. Every kung-fu fanatic will be purring with bliss and you've never fucking seen anything like it!!! There are a lot of characters, a lot of motivations, and the storyline didn't really blow me away, but visually it's a very impressive piece of work where the action side of things is amazing. The action sequences are long (the whole second half is one incredible action set-piece!), featuring well-known Hong-Kong veterans like Louis Koo and Sammo Hung. The main character played by Raymond Lam is also excellent and the villain played by Philip Ng was ultra crazy invincible. The action has great cinematography, brutally elaborate choreography, it's nice to see that there are almost no ordinary dummies here, but every dude has mastered martial arts perhaps since he was a kid, so every henchman here could play a bad guy in another action movie and I applaud that tremendously. Besides fists, there are also slashing weapons and I enjoyed the duels with sickles, hammers, machetes and knives immensely. It has an incredible drive and the action scenes can properly raise the pressure and give chills. The ending is a bit over the top (it is a comic book adaptation after all), so don't look for any realism here, everyone has incredible stamina, surviving the impossible, especially Philip Ng getting hit with hammers and doing next to nothing with it. But when you get over it you enjoy it immensely, but I can understand that some people might be bothered by it. it's just over the line at times. I'll gladly repeat this insane action orgasm. 9/10.

Brazilian socio-thriller where a bunch of villagers rebel against the owners of a farm who have other plans. The iea of a festival's home invasion with a lynching by villagers sounded attractive, but unfortunately it stayed somewhere in the middle. The acting is fine, the film is technically average, the idea and motivation are logically justified and the atmosphere is chilling only barely. If you've watched similar stuff, you won't be surprised. It's a pity that the film kept too close to the ground for my taste. Considering the number of characters, it could have turned into a more enjoyable hixploitation rural massacre, which we would all have welcomed, but the body-count could be counted on one hand and only a slightly unpleasant atmosphere with a socially relevant subtext is unfortunately not enough to satisfy me, but it's not bad. An okay watchable average that has its moments. 6/10.

Monotonous, stagnant and tedious indigestible artsy shit where the most creepy thing in the entire movie is the main character's mouth. No decent script, no interesting characters, no horror scene, hideous visuals, just everything is wrong here. One of the worst overhyped flicks I've seen this year. The Pink Opaque, the TV show that will steal your time. 2/10.

A passable cheap horror B-movie that suffers a bit from the fact that it takes itself too seriously (the first half is quite tedious and uninteresting), which is a big minus in similar films, but the final third improves the impression quite a bit. The murder of the cult is quite funny and bloody (although there’s no explicit gore, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey was better in that regard), but it didn't offend me at all, even if the acting and visuals weren't worth much. Pure average. 5/10.

An interesting samurai film, where the samurai commanders are portrayed as exaggerated caricatures (Oda Nobunaga is downright mad and a buffoon here), but unfortunately, compared to Shogun the political intrigue doesn't have the necessary power, perhaps due to the fact that it's a satire where the director makes fun of great historical icons. On the other hand, it's nice that no violence is spared and severed heads fly very often, so the rawness, filthiness and twisted brutality was very pleasing to me and also earned the film a higher rating. The plot didn't blow me away that much and the running time could have been shorter, but Kubi has its moments and it’s worth seeing for fans of samurai themes. 7/10.

Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano probably won't have another hit like The Intouchables, but this is fine too. Again, it's a film that tackles strong social issues, but unfortunately it's not funny enough for a comedy; it's more of a drama about debt and eco-terrorism. The leading duo are deep in debt and it was a little sad to see how some people can end up, their lives ruined like this with no bright hope. Some of the dialogue has depth, the acting is very good, overall it's a decent film on an unconventional subject where the first half is a bit more entertaining, but I still don't regret watching it. 6/10.

A found footage version of Hereditary? Nope. Another disappointment and untapped potential this year. The story revolves around a young influencer who tries unsuccessfully to break through practicing Yoga, but soon finds an ancient book left by her grandmother that contains various ancient rituals that she soon becomes obsessed with. There's some nice cinematography (no shaky cam or distracting camera work, there's some above-standard cinematography and nice camera shots), the transformation of the protagonist, who undergoes a significant change over the course of the film, and one spectacular jumpscare, but otherwise weak. Most of the time the film focuses on the least interesting thing, i.e. the influencers, and the horror aspect is thus largely neglected, which is a shame. I quite liked the hallucination scenes where the main character sees a version of herself and one pretty heated argument between the main character and Kenzie, but I would have appreciated that more in a drama than here. Otherwise, unfortunately, not much happens here for the 80 minutes of running time. It's not complete shit, but I don't have much reason to go for average either. 4/10.

I skipped the first part due to the terrible reviews, but I gave the second part a chance thanks to the happier reviews and it definitely didn't offend. It's terrible B-movie rubbish with a non-existent plot, unlikeable characters and visuals that are still underwhelming compared to the competition, but it's at least passable. If there's anything worth praising, though, it's the make-up effects (Christopher Robin looks really cool) and the gore. In the final part at the disco the carnage is such that I was very pleasantly surprised. Occasionally they still scare with horrible CGI (fire, acid), but mostly it's practical effects, and the cutting off heads of pretty women was decent. (The hand in the throat is also impressive). You can’t deny the creativity and fan zeal of some of the fatalities, so thumbs up up for that. If you want a trashy slasher with focus on gore where nothing else works, you won't be offended, those with higher standards can skip it. It's a pity that it's taken too seriously, if the film had a lighter vibe, added some wisecracks and hot girls showing their tits, I think the final impression would have been more pleasant, because that's all the people behind it can do. 6/10.

Trim Season definitely had the potential to be a decent horror movie. It could have been a solid folk body horror film evoking Suspiria if Ari Aster, Robert Eggers or anyone else more capable had taken over, but the final product is unsatisfying in many ways. The craftsmanship is fine, it doesn't look cheap, there are quite a few characters so I was looking forward to a decent body-count and gore, but no. Once something starts happening, there are a couple of decent scenes, but it's so lacking in horror that even the voodoo games come off as more comical than scary. There was one interesting twist at the end, and that hand being cut off with a shard was quite uncomfortable and painful even for the viewer, but it's not enough. I've seen bigger shit this year, but I still can't pull it up to average. 4/10.

Richard Linklater is quite an unexplored director for me, his work has always passed me by, so I didn't have high expectations and I wasn't too impressed either. The action was non-existent, the humour minimal to nonexistent and the whole thing hinged on the likable duo of Glen Powell and the beautiful Adria Arjona, but I didn't find the plot engaging, imaginative or very interesting either. Too simple for me without any interesting plot twists. Just average. I'll forget it tomorrow. 5/10.