MrHlad

Eric and Shelly were in love, but then they were murdered. But Eric gets a chance to come back from the dead to take revenge on those who took everything from him. And a little bit of the audience, too. The remake of The Crow is a visually inoffensive, if a little cheesy, film with decent bloody action at the end. Unfortunately, it also comes with extremely unlikeable characters, a dysfunctional romantic storyline and an atmosphere teetering on the edge of ridiculousness. A misstep, and Rupert Sanders clearly has no understanding of the strength of the comic book source material and Alex Proyas' thirty year old film.

After the excellent trailers, it wasn't hard to become excited for Alien: Romulus, but there was still a little red light in my head. It subtly reminded me that behind the camera was Fede Álvarez, a man who certainly has a lot of talent, but not for the horror genre. I suffered through his Evil Dead, and Don’t Breathe was fine at best. And unfortunately, I should have listened to that red light, because while Romulus has its merits, it disappoints in the most fundamental way, it doesn't work as a genre film. Alien: Romulus looks great, and I enjoyed the analog computers, the grey metals, the industrial atmosphere full of hissing pipes, likewise with unexpectedly good actors and interesting characters who behaved surprisingly smart. But that’s not enough when Álvarez can't build a scary atmosphere and his scares are dull and uninteresting. Part of the problem is that this is more a game of referencing and quoting old films, leaving little room for the new. As a result, it's a nice fanservice from someone who knows how it should look, sound and work, but he just can't quite put it together into a workable horror film. Álvarez may be a good producer with an interesting vision, but unfortunately he's not a good director or executor.

A vault full of mysterious alien technology is hidden on Pandora, a planet that is also home to gangs, bounty hunters and a host of monsters. A band of peculiar heroes are determined to find the treasure, even with the galaxy's greatest villain breathing down their necks. Yeah, and it's pretty boring, too. The attempt at a new Guardians of the Galaxy comes  with uninteresting characters, mediocre action and it’s unimaginative in every way.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And Deadpool, unlike the rest of the MCU, isn't broken, so he's doing what he did last time and audiences enjoy it. The combination of gleeful violence, juvenile slapstick and solid directorial craftsmanship is spiced-up with the return of Wolverine, the great chemistry between Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman and a throwback to the days of Fox comics. But anyone expecting the third Deadpool to bring any major changes to the MCU will be disappointed. A proper Deadpool comic book movie with Logan as a bonus. Nothing more, nothing less.

We've kind of got used to sequels to Pixar animated films being a level worse than the first parts, and unfortunately that's true for Inside Out 2. Yeah, it still looks great and I still think the concept itself is almost brilliant, but it's like the creators themselves knew that and figured they didn't have to try too hard when they had such an interesting world and characters. The main problem with the second part is that it's too similar to the first. In practically everything. Once again, the mind of the now teenage Riley wanders, wild things happen in her brain because growing up is not easy, and new emotions come into play. And with them, old problems. Again, it's more or less about the emotions the having to learn to work together, and they and the audience should ideally understand by the end that being insecure, sad, stressed out and nervous about what the future holds is actually okay and normal. Last time they were dealing with sadness, now this is it. It pretty much works, the touching scenes are touching, the funny ones are funny. Unfortunately, I got the feeling that Inside Out 2 was sewn with too hot a needle by someone who didn't try too hard to invent something new and instead just copied and that it was all a bit lazy, more or less from start to finish. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I was expecting a bit more effort. And more ideas.

This sequel to the 1990s classic doesn't bring back familiar characters, but it does bring back a familiar style. Lee Isaac Chung conceived Twisters as a 90s disaster actioner that isn't afraid to be a little silly and naive for the sake of fun, relies on likable heroes and big action scenes with good visual effects, and realistically doesn't surprise with anything at all. For the two hours, however, it entertains very pleasantly.

Someday when I'm explaining to someone what "nice but shitty" means, I'm going to put this movie on. Or at least half of it, so they don't have to watch it for those excruciating two and a half hours. Coralie Fargeat had already disappointed me a lot with her previous film Revenge, but the two films have a lot in common. They look beautiful, there's imaginative play with colour, and in this case there's even some pretty stylish references to Kubrick, Cronenberg or Carpenter, the slow motion shots of TV performances are more than effective and damn sexy, but underneath all the glitz there's a lot of nothing. The Substance is a film that would like to open up interesting themes like the inability to age, the cult of youth in show business, and it also tackles the price of fame and how much anyone is willing to pay for it. But it does all this in a completely banal way that surprises no one and takes an insufferably long time to do so. After about twenty minutes I had already made a list in my head that The Substance will follow until the very end. And just kept ticking it off. Realistically, underneath the audiovisual audacity is a shallow, idealess show full of stupid characters making even stupider decisions and pretending to be surprised by the consequences. It's tiresome to watch, and behind all the pretty pictures, the tastelessness (which isn't so hellish after all), the nudity and the shots of sexy asses in spandex, there's just a perfumed nothingness

MaXXXine Minx is an adult film star, but she wants to take the next step in her career and is aiming for the lead role in an upcoming horror film. But succeeding in a Hollywood filled with madmen, serial killers and violence won't be easy. Especially when her past comes to mind. Ti West has conceived the final installment of his trilogy as a great homage to the 80s and the brainy thrillers and horror films of that era, and has uncompromisingly subordinated everything to it. Anyone expecting a traditional thriller with light genre games is in for a bummer. MaXXXine isn't afraid to be a wild, ridiculous and bizarre B-movie. And it certainly doesn't try to be cute. But it's undoubtedly interesting not just to fans of what West is paying homage to here.

Despicable Me 4 plays it safe. Gru with his family and the Minions are in the witness protection program, but it doesn't really matter. The whole thing is still more a collection of slapstick than a movie. Some of the jokes work, some don't, the Minions do what they always do, and we get a few action scenes. And it looks cute. If you enjoyed it three times, you'll enjoy it a fourth time. If not, there's no point in trying. The changes, innovations and developments were things that clearly no one here cared about. Whether that's a good thing or not is for you to decide. Personally, I'm getting a little sick of it, but it's survivable.

A Nordic indie film of the traditional cut. But very good. Rúnar Rúnarsson has made a film that can be all the more powerful the less you know about it. A tragic accident has occurred in Iceland, claiming the lives of several people, and now it's time to mourn. Young art student Una has also lost someone she cared about, but finds herself having to bear the heavy loss alone despite the fact that all her friends and comrades are suffering around her, she had something more in common with one of the victims, something that fate ended decisively. Rúnarsson is in no hurry to get anywhere, practically the whole film follows the protagonist in a situation that can't lead to anything good, it's just a question of how many people she can hurt in the end. We'll probably hear more about the expressive and charismatic Elín Hall in the future, plus the director relies on long takes during which Hall has to sell her emotions in a significant way several times, but usually only with her eyes, and it's extremely impressive. You know what's going on in her head, but no one around her does. Moreover, Rúnarsson shoots in a similar way to Paul Greengrass, so When the Light Breaks is a very intimate and personal film indeed, but one in which crucial things aren't or can't be talked about. And at the same time, you get the feeling that all the things under the lid are uncontrollably coming to the surface and will touch you too. A powerful drama that manages to be moving, sad, chilling and sensitive without imposing itself in any way. Formally, it's also pretty audience-friendly and for me personally, probably the most enjoyable film experience of this year's festival.