TheEvilTwin

Where the first part was a bit boring in places, the second relentlessly drops one joke after another and I didn't even have time to look at my watch. It's got a great plot, the "inside" space is far more fleshed out and expanded than in the first film, we get to see new emotions, and, most importantly, it's entertaining and funny, even for an adult audience. A great fairy tale and an accurate template for how animation should be done. Satisfaction.

One of the better fairy tales that we can only dream about nowadays, but I still have to say that through all the hype that Inside Out has been reaping for 10 years, I was probably expecting a bigger hit. It's got heart, an idea, fine "characters" and plot, but it's still really just an "okay" fairy tale and not exactly the kind of thing I'd cheer and want to see again. That doesn't change the fact that, compared to today's generic animated films, this is actually a gem.

I have to give this a full score, because wacky cringe comedies with this type of humor don’t come around much anymore and because I just love this genre. And anyone who enjoys comedies like We’re the Millers, Superbad, Good Boys, or other high-school comedies with simple, cheesy, parodic-satirical humor will appreciate Incoming as well. This is a pure template, where a bunch of first year dropouts want to get laid at a party amongst their older classmates, and it’s hilarious from start to finish. Another revival of the subgenre, thanks for that.

I regarded Longlegs as the dark horse of 2024 and was looking forward to it like a little kid, but the result was so disappointing that I couldn't even imagine it. I don't see Osgood Perkins as a particularly good director, and so I considered this to be another classic film that could have been a successor to A-listers like Se7en in the crime genre, and together with the atmospheric aspect and technical style could make for a film of the year that will be long remembered. But, unfortunately, I can only rate the technical side positively, as the cinematography is unusually good in places and the music, along with the haunting mystery in the air, lets you know that "something is going to happen". The problem is that nothing happens, so the content is literally disastrous. The story doesn't make the slightest sense, there's a cast of five actors, the opening line with the FBI agents is lame, no one explains who Longlegs is or why, why there's so much magic, why all this is happening, everyone behaves illogically and kind of staggers in place for 80 minutes in which nothing actually happens and, lo and behold, we have a rushed finale that throws us a few scenes and leaves us without an explanation. The ultimate disappointment and the only saving grace is that the film came out the day before my scheduled cinema visit. And this is supposed to be the scariest film of our time, featuring Nicolas Cage with the best mask in the horror genre, and that this is his role of a lifetime? I don't think anyone can be serious...

An interesting thriller, I didn't know what to expect from it, and as a result I was pleasantly surprised by the similar style to  The Menu. It's fairly straightforward and simple, but all the more engaging and original, the film is entertaining and doesn't let go until the end. I'm a little disappointed that there wasn’t more action towards the end, more get more gore or a bigger twist, and that nothing happened to break the film out of its monotonous flow, but otherwise it was actually entertaining enough and I wasn't bored at all. A decent average where the less you know the better.

An unexpectedly fine cinema visit. I hadn't read the book and only had a rough outline of what the film would be about, so I can only rate the film, and it worked decently for me. The whole thing is pulled off by Blake Lively, who is all personality on screen and is just fun to watch, but the story also reeled me in decently, even though it's actually pretty ordinary on the whole. It has romance, it has drama, the tension in the climactic scenes is handled perfectly, and that "pressure" scene is so well done that my heart was racing, and likewise the reunions, break-ups and all the elements around it kept me entertained and managed to grab my heart in places. A very surprising piece that I wasn't expecting much from, but which actually worked more than well in almost every aspect. Satisfaction.

Yeah, that was crap. From the trio of Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, The Heat), Awkwafina and John Cena I expected a brutal comedy blast, full of humour, that would have me laughing out loud, with loads of jokes, but the result is exactly the opposite. The humour is terribly weak, I laughed only a few times, the jokes are dry and Cena has nothing to work with here, because his character is too ordinary, characterless and not interesting, Awkwafina can do better roles too. So we have two great comedy actors under the baton of a seasoned comedy director in a very surprisingly big misstep that probably no one expected. We were expecting a lot more, but this was so bad that I had trouble finishing it. The idea is perfect and a lot could have been made out of it, but it's woefully underused and there's nothing to stand on at all.

Fede Álvarez has made one of the best sci-fi films of our time. I haven't seen any Alien movies (yes, I'm a philistine), so I can happily judge based on the qualities of this film and not on my bias or love for the entire franchise, which makes my rating far more objective, and even then I have to say that the result is simply flawless. 1) The atmosphere on the ship is suffocating as shit, all the wanderings in it are filled with tension and I was waiting to see what would happen next. 2) The scares work as well, there are no heart attacks, it's more like scene work and the situational jump-scares are casual and clever. 3) The characters are fine, no one is irritating, and even better, no one here acts like an idiot, the decisions are rational, and most importantly there is not a single scene scene of sentimental bullshit or extensive debates and sadly stating the death of a partner. I can’t remember when was the last time I saw a movie this thoughtful. 4) The visuals, the sets, the varied environments of the ship, the look of the Xenomorphs and in general the whole face to face monster and human scenes are absolutely brilliant and breathtaking. You can feel the acid sizzling off the screen, sweating along with the characters and just devouring every scene with those insanely naturalistic monsters. 5) The use of the ship is literally flawless. All the rooms, the gadgets, the work with gravity, the acid, the cryo-chamber, you can see perfectly well that someone has put some work on that, that there's a team behind it that knows what to deliver. I simply have nothing to complain about here, and I haven't been this satisfied with the sci-fi genre in a long time. It's all the better that both fans of the franchise and the uninitiated will find something to enjoy, as this is a full-fledged, stand-alone film that introduces the viewer with all the necessary "what, when, where and why" information so they feel like they actually know the franchise. I have no words - EXCELLENT!!

I don’t think this film is as bad as others users rate it. The Instigators is certainly nothing objectively good, and it's exactly the kind of movie I won't remember in a week, but on the other hand I have to admit that I laughed more than enough throughout it. The story moves forward without stopping, so there is always something going on and you don’t get bored, there is plenty of humour, both in the situational jokes and in the overall concept, with the two intellectually simple thieves Matt Damon and Casey Affleck robbing the mayor and a merry-go-round of events ensues (as usual). It's simple, light-hearted, funny and despite expecting much more from the lead cast and the experienced director, I'm not downright dissatisfied. Average to fill a dull evening, but otherwise it's definitely a film to be skipped without regret.

Judging by the reviews I was expecting maybe something more along the lines of Se7en, but this was too ordinary and straightforward a crime thriller for me, with no significant overtones. It lacked brutality, psychological development of the characters and a more significant twist that would have thrilled me. Still, as an average one-shot, it's actually fully adequate if you don't expect anything more from it...