Kaka

A Spanish low-budget flick that superbly combines horror atmosphere, survival, love story and relationship drama. It mixes everything just right, with a great twist in the middle, solid direction, and excellent performances from what are actually completely unknown but well-cast actors. One of those films made on a shoestring that has an idea, tension and delivers more entertainment than many a blockbuster with automatic high expectations.

Some of the situations are surprisingly too straightforward and simplistically presented, but if the whole thing works, everything will be fine. There are still many characters whose identities and motivations the viewer has to unravel and place them somewhere. The most interesting by far, aside from Kevin Costner's character, is Kelly Reilly and her Beth, who is literally off the rails in places.

A seeming slowdown that allows the viewer to explore the complexity of the main characters and gradually peel off more and more layers and perceive their motives, attitudes and, in fact, their overall identity. I suppose this trend will continue for a few more episodes, the creators of GoT did it in a similarly subtle way. So far, a modern western that the creators are holding firmly by the reins.

The opening 20 seconds already make clear that this will be something extraordinary. The Yellowstone pilot looks like a 21st century Game of Thrones, except the king wears a cowboy hat instead of a crown, and the Croatian Kings Landing is replaced by a magnificent log cabin with many acres of land in the untamed landscape of Montana. So far, the characters are a bit one-dimensional, but the cards are clearly and promisingly dealt in the beginning. “Just tell me who to fight ? Everyone.”

A black-and-white downer that is overly literal, simple and, in fact, ordinary in every way. The female cast rules the roost, the rest, with the exception of the leading man, are worthless. I enjoyed the raw visuals and the attempt to authentically depict the 1970s, but the concerts lack zest and fail to captivate. Average film, but decent craftsmanship.

A breezy retro adventure, with a somewhat clichéd script and a clichéd final gala performance by Matt Damon that is perhaps be compelling in terms of acting and emotional integrity, but how many of these have we seen before? An alternative to the founders of McDonald’s or Apple. In short, go for your goal, fight, don't give up and in this case sign Michael Jordan. The rest is history. I prefer Affleck as an actor, and that’s no exception here, but he's a decent director too, he just needs more refined material.

A macho story about commitments that are really important in life and should be fulfilled. With a minimum of words, but an ideal amount of gestures and decent music as support. Ritchie's directorial finesse is nowhere near Spielberg's or Scott's, so the gunfights are rather generic, full of annoyingly digital effects (what else could we ask for 55 million dollars?) and certainly not the main draw of the film, but at least he delivers another solid adult film with emotions, suspense and without pathos after post-modern bullshit like King Arthur or Sherlock Holmes. The Covenant will probably get lost among war movies because there’s is too little war and the depiction of Eastern terrorists is not as catchy and dynamic as in, say, The Kingdom, nor as meticulously detailed as in Zero Dark Thirty, but in terms of content, it is is relatively strong, simple and straightforward.

For God's sake, give this bunch of lovable oddballs some dignity. If the first and second films were overstuffed but benefited from the fact that the main characters looked so "different and funny" compared to most others, the third film looks like a stale and generic colouring book without any innovation and freshness. There are lots of characters that aren't even worth talking about and the only thing that has a solid pull and gets some emotion out of the viewer is the line with the raccoon and a couple of funny jokes with Bautista. A film that starts 30 minutes and ends at about 45, already quite a nightmare with all the banging and shooting. Star Lord and co. can take a well-deserved break now no one will hold a grudge.

As a full-fledged film with a meaningful and meaty plot, it's pretty lame, but as an fully devoted fanservice full of fantastic action sequences and eye candy gadgets, it delivers exactly what die-hard fans expect. Whether it's a passage from Japan, Berlin or Paris, all is world-class level, with amazing production design, lightning and, of course, the stunt work and the choreography of the fights. A superb Scott Adkins, a charismatic Donnie Yen and of course Reeves, who doesn't say much, but fights with all his heart.

A great example that you don't always need an elaborate script, phenomenal performances or a complex story, with a firm director’s hand, you can manage without other attributes. Almodóvar fully unleashes his typical palette of passion, emotions and explicit eroticism that will satisfy any viewer, even if the rest of the film isn't worth that much and some scenes are downright toe-curling with their theatrical overkill.