EvilPhoEniX

The sequel to Maleficent is roughly on a similar level to the first one, but with a bigger budget and a more spectacular finale, so fans of the first one shouldn't be disappointed. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is unexpectedly enough a dark fantasy fairytale, which is nice to watch thanks to nice visuals, the beautiful Angelina Jolie, a lot of interesting creatures and enough famous names. The finale is about 30 minutes long and is a solid, engaging and interesting castle conquest that is reminiscent of the best of the Lord of the Rings within the fantasy genre. I was definitely not bored. 75%

Clearly this year's hit, which hit my taste exactly. A captivating Victorian mansion, a rich fanatical family, the gorgeous Samara Weaving, who is the most in demand and best actress on the horror scene at the moment, and a great idea that is perfect for the horror genre. From the start the film picks up a huge amount of momentum that doesn't let up until the end, the humour works too, which goes best with the eternally high Melanie Scrofano, and there is a fair amount of violence that literally erupts into a bloodbath in the finale. Suspenseful, intense, stylish and thanks to Samara's superb performance, this was an unforgettable experience for me. The bride in her Converse shoes, with her dress torn and covered in blood is already symbolic for me. I haven’t had such a good time at the horror cinema this year, so I’m gladly giving it a weaker five stars. 85%.

Patrick Lussier, the director of My Bloody Valentine, has prepared a Halloween slasher that is not bad, but experienced viewers might ignore it. The main villain has decent knife skills and kills his victims more or less from the 5th minute of the film, so there's no shortage of action and plenty of dead bodies. It's a shame that all the murders look very similar and there's no juicy gore to speak of. The acting and the visuals are just average, but fortunately the film doesn't get boring, so those who don't have anything to kick in the evening and like slashers shouldn't regret it. However, this year's Haunt was a level above. 50%

Babak Anvari is not having a comeback. After the uninteresting Under the Shadow, he made an interesting but ineffective horror film – and the trailer looked decent. A bartender's life is turned upside down after finding a phone with disturbing contents, but this mythology is not developed in any way and feels a bit unnatural. Babak has assembled a surprisingly decent cast for this film: Armie Hammer, Zazie Beetz and Dakota Johnson are decent choices for a horror film, but it needed a more interesting script and more creativity, which unfortunately Babak will never have. There's almost no horror elements here besides the cockroaches. It's not suspenseful, atmospheric, gory or as disturbing as I had originally hoped. Hulu is not Netflix and Babak Anwari will probably never make a good horror movie. 40%.

The talented Ruben Fleischer serves up the Comedy of the Year, the Ride of the Year and the Zombie Movie of the Year! I have to admit I didn't have much faith in the film after the trailers, but from the opening minutes it was set to be a heartwarming affair and it was! It's been 10 years since the first Zombieland and the world and characters have changed, especially the zombies, who have evolved and now split into different species, which I found terribly fresh and novel. Of the cast, Woody Harrelson obviously rocks the most, stealing most of the scenes for himself, but the nerdy Jesse Eisenberg and Emma Stone are also awesome. The only bland one is Abigail Breslin, who both looks awful and is more of a by-the-numbers character, so the new characters are a much welcome. The sexy Rosario Dawson and the adorable Zoey Deutch, who plays the naive silly Barbie to perfection and made the whole cinema laugh out loud during every scene with her. (“You know why she's still alive? Because zombies eat brains and she ain't got none.”) Apart from the perfect humour, the action is also a good, nicely shot, brutal, original and entertaining, including the climactic finale. The highlights definitely include the annual awards for Zombie kill of the year. One of those films where you say "I want to see that again!" when it's over. A big surprise this year and it will be fighting for the top spot. P.S. The post-credits cameo scene is perfect. 90%.

After Sinister 2 and Citadel, Ciarán Foy serves up his most interesting work. After Brightburn and Prodigy, we have another children's horror film that works thanks to a novel idea. The protagonist is allergic to the world and undergoes experimental treatment in a remote house that is not as safe as it first appears. The director builds the atmosphere nicely and serves up a fair amount of scares and imaginative jump-scares that work better than in this year's Annabelle 3 or La Llorona. However, what lifts the film to above average is the solid finale, which comes with a surprising twist. For fans of ghost stories, a clear recommendation. 70%

An unexpected gem aspiring to be the most bizarre film of the year. The story focuses on Jesse Eisenberg, who plays an accounting nerd with poor social skills. One night he gets so badly beaten up by a biker gang that he ends up in the hospital and decides to sign up for Karate for self-defense. The Karate class is led by an eccentric Sensei who, in addition to teaching Karate, also teaches a way of life, and the protagonist literally transforms into a different person. From that point on the film becomes incredibly bizarre. The film is half black tragic-comedy and half bizarre psycho thriller and together it works great. The film excels especially in the performances, the dialogues, which are not only smart but also informative (lots of interesting stuff regarding martial arts), and the last half hour kept my mind wondering how weird the film would eventually turn into. Unpredictable, informative, entertaining, funny, disturbing and gritty! 85%

After the great trailer, the end result is a better average. Matt and Kate buy an isolated house where they discover a room that can materialize any wish. This concept is delivered very entertainingly until Olga Kurylenko wishes for something she could never have. I found the second half not as entertaining or interesting. There's quite a lot of WTF stuff going on and the finale is oddly overwrought. Thanks to the idea and the beautiful Olga, it might be worth watching, but I expected it to be more intense maybe even more suspenseful. 60%.

The talented Ric Roman Waugh has done some decent prison stuff and now he serves up the best installment of the trilogy, which frankly shocked me because the trailers didn’t have me expecting much. It's very much in the vein of The Fugitive with Gerard Butler going against everybody. The film is an intense ride from start to finish with perfect music, pumping action, a decent bad guy, unexpected twists and turns and a pretty pissed off Butler (the drone scene a awesome), and Nick Nolte is great with his forest traps. A very nice surprise, I unexpectedly enjoyed this one and will award the film the B-movie of the year award at the end of the year. 85%.

Oscar-winning Ang Lee delivers a 90's style actioner, and even though the critics are grumbling, I think it's great. Will Smith is the ultimate assassin and he's just about to retire, but before he does he has to face his own younger clone who wants to take him out without hesitation. The story is interesting, but doesn't dazzle that much, which in this case I don't mind because the action scenes are almost revolutionary and technically precise. The intense music, the amazing cinematography, the utmost professionalism and precision of the two Wills captivated me with every moment and the scene with the motorbikes is one of the best I've seen in the cinema this year, but the fight in the catacombs or the rotating machine gun with lasers is also great. The acting, the action and the technical aspects of the film are impeccable and if that's enough for you, you'll be royally entertained like me. 80%