MrHlad

The new Resident Evil promised a return to its horror roots and it tries to do so. However, Jonathan Roberts didn't have much money or talent, so after a quite interesting introduction and after trying to evoke the atmosphere of John Carpenter's horror films, it turns out that he can't really scare or shoot a decent action scene. Moreover, the whole thing has quite ridiculous make-up and visual effects. I'm desperately looking for a reason to recommend it to anyone.

The Madrigals have been living for generations in a magical house in the middle of the jungle. Each of them has superhuman abilities thanks to magic, except for Mirabel. But it is she, a completely ordinary girl, who will have to save the family because the magic is weakening. Disney delivers a beautifully looking fairytale with a nice Latin atmosphere and a likeable heroine, but the story, which at certain moments unexpectedly turns dark, undermines it. And I'm not entirely sure if the main problem and its solution are suitable topics for the youngest viewers, though maybe I'm just underestimating them.

Benedetta has spent most of her life in a convent, but now besides God, she started to love Bartolomea... what initially appears as a drama about forbidden love, in Paul Verhoeven's direction turns into a provocative and unpredictable story that opens up a lot of interesting topics and cleverly manipulates with the audience, their expectations, and the way it processes what happens to the protagonists on the screen. Equally daring, cynical, clever, and entertaining as the director's greatest classics.

After the death of a magazine publisher, the writers find out that their magazine is ending. And in the last issue, besides the obituary, they will publish the best articles about art, politics, and food. Wes Anderson presents a not very interesting bunch of stories about journalists in a form that prevents him from selling what usually makes his films most interesting.

Visually a very accomplished ride through a nocturnal Los Angeles full of vampires, blood, killing, and maybe even love. But also a film that focuses much more on world-building than storytelling. As a pilot for a series, it would be interesting, but if Netflix doesn't plan to utilize this vampire world in sequels, it's actually a bit of a pointless film – though a nice one at that.

Netflix calculated how to make a hit: take a lot of money, put in famous faces, come up with an uncomplicated story, and cram something in there for everyone, ideally in a way that the result won't turn anyone off, regardless of age or whether they want action, adventure, humor, exotic locations, or basically anything. The result is Red Notice. Dwayne Johnson scowls and occasionally punches someone, Ryan Reynolds talks and pisses Johnson off, and Gal Gadot looks good while sadly confirming that her acting talent is more suited for photos or silent films. And overall? Overall, it doesn't offend, it doesn't surprise, it passes pleasantly in the first half and drags in the second, and when there's a problem somewhere, Netflix throws a few million dollars at it and routinist Rawson Marshall Thurbert pulls it all together into something that's about two hours long, with a beginning, middle and end, and everyone will watch it anyway because we're just curious about the actors, right? And then we all forget about it in an hour. I get what Netflix was going for and I respect that they did it, but I'm certainly not going to settle for this uninteresting routine and I'm not going to praise it. It's like it was all made by a machine that figured out what people probably want to see and served it up to them.

Viktor lives with his mother in a dilapidated cottage, Kateřina with her husband and daughter in a luxurious villa. They don't know each other and their lives have nothing in common. But in an instant, they come together, and it will have cruel consequences. Emil Křižka delivers a small but damn impressive psycho-thriller, relying on an interesting way of storytelling, where you can never be sure who to actually root for in this mess. A psychologically crushing and physically very uncomfortable film that you'll be thinking about for a long time.

I like Edgar Wright, but the more serious he gets, the more I have a problem with it. So I'll always prefer Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz to the shallow and over-stylized Baby Driver. And now over Last Night in Soho. His new release reminded me of Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak, a horror film that was great in every way, audiovisually and genre-wise. Only that with this one, I felt like the director was fulfilling a dream of his, paying homage to a favorite genre, a favorite era, and a favorite form. And does it brilliantly, as if he had made the whole thing for himself rather than anyone else. On the other hand, Wright's play with color, the great soundtrack, the gorgeous costumes, and his typical audiovisual games from time to time still work great. And Thomasin McKenzie is excellent, with Anya Taylor-Joy not far from her, but it's not enough. With Last Night in Soho Wright makes mostly himself happy, which I wish him well, but I won't applaud him for it.

Marvel promised a slightly different comic book movie, and they delivered. But now, an hour after leaving the cinema, I don't know if that's a good thing. Eternals is a very ambitious film, but perhaps too much so, because it tries to tackle a lot of themes in a small space, and with a dozen heroes to boot. As a result, there's not much time to meditate on faith, fate, mythologies, religion and responsibility. Even at 160 minutes, it ends up feeling truncated in a way. On the other hand, the face of the new Marvel movie is indeed markedly different, with Eternals not even trying to reference other superheroes much (instead they make fun of DC) and confidently going its own way and in a rather different direction. I really don't know if that path is the right one right now. Chloé Zhao handles the action and all the attractions with aplomb, but she was clearly making a more ambitious film from that was supposed to be the start of something bigger. And at the same time, she had so many things to deal with in it that it just couldn't be done without compromises and shortcuts. So far, I'll say that Eternals is interesting rather than downright good. But it is very interesting.

It was good, but beware, the trailers are deceptive. The Last Duel isn't nearly as epic as Kingdom of Heaven or Robin Hood. In fact, except two short and fairly small battles and a final clash, it is a fairly intimate affair that usually gets by with a few people talking to each other. But that doesn't matter at all. The Last Duel tells the story from three different points of view, and logically the one who is currently telling the story is considered the biggest hero and the purest character – after all, a douchebag will rarely consider themselves a douchebag – and it's up to the viewer to figure out who's the real hero, who's the victim, and who's the opportunist. That's the only major complaint I have with The Last Duel. It's all a bit too easy to read, and there's unfortunately not enough room for any hesitation or ambiguity in the end for the film to provoke the discussions the makers obviously wanted. Or rather, it did, but it's probably very easy to agree. In any case, Adam Driver and Jodie Comer are great, Matt Damon is very good, and Ben Affleck clearly enjoyed being able to play a character that suits him while being distinctive enough not to get lost next to the central trio. Additionally, Ridley Scott manages to pull off the visuals and sell the dialogue in the intimate scenes, but then when he gets the chance to really step it up, he doesn't hold back. Plus, thanks to the form, and indeed the triple retelling of the events leading up to the fight, it moves forward very quickly, making the two hours go by unexpectedly briskly. Go for it. And preferably to a hall with the best sound possible, the duel is a blast visually and especially in terms of sound.