EvilPhoEniX

Balaguero off the chains and still in good form! After his cult hit REC, he may have made his best horror film. Finally this year I can shout my favourite phrase ‘What a fucking ride’! Balaguero cleverly combines two sub-genres here, where on the one side we have a crime drama with drug dealers and on the other side occult horror with witches, and both genres fit very well, so the result couldn't be bad. It has a highly attractive protagonist, Ester Expósito (after watching it I immediately went check if she has a video on pornhub and at least lick the TV!), who plays a dancer who escapes from work with a backpack full of drugs and hides in her sister's apartment. Pissed off drug dealers are scouring the city, but other dangers lurk for the main character: there are also witches in the apartment complex who want to resurrect a demon, The first hour is just things getting going, but it's a good watch thanks to the beautiful Esther, and things only to erupt into a pretty decent brutal massacre at the end (nothing crazy, but the bloodiest genre film so far this year without a doubt). The atmosphere, which is uncomfortable in places, is also good, there's some minor plot twists, the whole film has a great pace, it builds up nicely, and in a few scenes the film evoked Martyrs and Inside, which is a great calling card! The finale is a bit of a stretch though, the main character gets a crazy beating, she's slowly covered in blood and full of open wounds, but when she picks up the shotgun it's proper Female Heroism with all the trimmings. It's a bit of a shame that the demon only gets one scene, because it looked awesome and deserved more space, and of course Esther doesn't show her tits, which is the most disappointing thing, otherwise I wouldn't hesitate to give it a full score. 8/10,

A likeable little sibling to Top Gun about the first black pilot during the Korean War. Very underrated in our country, but the reason is obvious (racism and most comparing it to Top Gun, which is a losing battle beforehand), if you get away from that, you're in for an enjoyable war movie with fighter jets, of which there aren't many. Director J.D. Dillard tends to make cheaper films, and Devotion is his first major A-grade work, and he's certainly handled it decently. As for the cast, absolutely no reservations here. Jonathan Majors is a young talent and Glen Powell was in Top Gun as well, so he was downright born for these roles. Visually it's very good, it looks realistic and it's a good film to watch. The first hour is slower though, we have the classic character introductions and immersion into the plot, but I wasn't downright bored. Once the first action scene starts, the film picks up a decent pace and it's a ride to the end. The action scenes are very well done and look spectacular. I was pleased to see that it wasn't just in the air, but there was some ground combat as well, albeit brief, but the atmosphere could be cut. I also enjoyed the whole final mission, which oozed fatality and emotion, and the music was good too. So for me, a decent job. 7/10.

The finale of Sky Rojo is over and it is once again an ejoyable and fun ride. The first season is admittedly unsurpassed in my book because that's where the character of the pimp gets the most space and his wisdom and philosophizing takes the best of Berlin, so I enjoyed that a lot, plus it breaks down the whole brothel system in detail and it's sexy, intelligent and compelling. In season 3 it's purely about revenge and who's who. The new villain of the sicario from El Juarez is a pleasure to watch, he plays a fine nutcase and was a great fit here. The villains are very good and the trio of hookers works as well, especially Coral and Wendy are top notch. The tension is not spared here again, the music builds up solidly and there are more and more dead bodies. It's a pity that story-wise it doesn't dazzle that much, you can guess how it will all turn out, but I can live with that. The finale is nicely action packed and Asier Etxeandía deserves an Oscar, he can play these bad guys to perfection (especially the pimps!). A fun Spanish mini-series from the makers of Money Heist. Let's see what they come up with next time, now that both series are over. 7/10.

An excellent animation film, a really incredible ride that leaves the whole Pixar and the whole Shrek franchise in the dust. It has an attractive theme and finally an animation that is not only a story, but is also loaded with great action and great humour, a combination that always wins for me. The cat wisecracks non-stop, the visuals are almost revolutionary, the action scenes have great choreography and Wolf is the villain of the year, he gave me goosebumps. I loved that there are two other bad guys besides the wolf, which is nicely unusual and this whole cat adventure never takes its paw off the gas. I'm annoyed I didn't see it in the theater. Well done on all counts. 9/10.

A mythological Mexican legend of the witch who feeds on children! January has brought us two decent horror genre films so far. The first one is the surprising slasher Sick and the second surprise is this Mexican spooky tale, which just reaffirmed my fondness for witches and creepy grannies. Isaac Ezban has already made a decent mindfuck called The Incident, so he's not a complete newcomer, and technically Evil Eye is very good, which is always one of the mainstays for me, because underfunded horror films just don't do it for me anymore. The story is about two sisters who go to visit their grandmother. Their parents are trying to find a cure for the youngest sister and so they spend a torrid time with the grandmother because not only is she mean, grumpy, strict and unpleasant, but she's also a witch. The film has a slower pace but it doesn't get significantly boring, there are a few scares (nothing that would induce a heart attack but they are there), the atmosphere and the grandmother herself are the most impressive, she is simply creepy (she looks great stripped of her skin, that's where the makeup artists went all out), and the story of the nanny to the kids is also impressive and pleasantly creepy. Good for me, I can take this Mexican Folk fairytale. It could have been more intense and brutal, but I like witches better than ghosts and demons, so I'm satisfied. 7/10

A mainstream demonic haunting film with a Jewish theme. The Offering was released in American cinemas, so technically it's above average and looks nice. The Jewish culture gives it a novel touch and the morgue setting works well, it just could have used a little more gore when it comes to the scares. I liked that it has a pretty old fashioned feel to it and there is some interesting Jewish mythology surrounding the ancient demon (the demon's look is original and solid- just again he didn't do enough damage). There are a couple of atmospheric sequences that aren't entirely discardable, but the scares didn't strike me as too spectacular and there aren't many of them, I think. But it's a pretty good watch thanks to the short running time and the novel premise, and it's definitely a better average among similar stuff. I was kind of hoping for a little sibling to The Autopsy of Jane Doe, but unfortunately that didn't happen. 6/10.

An escapist cat and mouse chase in a morgue setting. Play Dead is a bit of a TV thriller (but with good craftsmanship) that goes all the way without any major surprises and without any proper gore. For me, this is definitely not enough to be satisfied anymore, but it's easily watchable. The likeable main character infiltrates a morgue to retrieve a phone and save her brother from jail, but the local coroner is a twisted psychopath who traffics organs and things get complicated, as she's about to lose her life. Jerry O'Connell plays the psycho pretty cool and the main character is easy to root for. Too bad you doesn't really enjoy the organs and operations, it's just too lightweight for me. The similarity to The Price We Pay is almost parodically funny.. :) At least that one had gore. 55%

Ryuhei Kitamura opens the year with an exploitation film that doesn't disgrace the subgenre, but it doesn't bring anything new, doesn't push boundaries, and doesn't dare as much as his previous films (Midnight Meat Train and No One Lives will probably never be surpassed). The Price We Pay is a straightforward genre film that takes all those familiar horror clichés, which ironically also made me happy because those genre films were made 10-15 years ago, so it's nice to be reminded of them. We have a bunch of thieves who rob a pawn shop and take an attractive hostage with them (a beautiful woman is a staple in these movies and they stick to it, even if they don’t show her tits), their car breaks down in classic fashion and the closest thing they get is a remote farm where they decide to settle down. There, however, is a perverted Grandpa and one monstrous lumberjack woman – a properly sleazy villain. The opening takes some 40 minutes before anything starts happening, but it doesn't get boring. As soon as the two clash, Kitamura's favourite torture scene comes on (I was kind of hoping the eye gouging would be on camera, but this time it's off). I was honestly expecting more gore, the visuals are just average and the actors are B-grade, so no miracles there. The best scene is the final fatality with the barbed wire, which was worth a full count, but it would take at least five such scenes to go for a higher rating. I'm glad that after a long time there is at least a watchable addition to the exploitation sub-genre, but it doesn't reach the quality of its predecessors (Frontier(s) is still 2 levels higher in terms of filth and gore for example).

This is just another Boudali-Lacheau smash! I've been following this crew since the beginning of their career and I've seen all of their movies at least five times (each time with someone else) and it's always been a success. It's nice to watch their finances grow and how they keep improving, keeping their tradmarks and the superior quality of their movies better than Marvel and DC combined. The story may be borrowed from elsewhere, but it's very apt for a comedy. The protagonist learns he has 30 days to live, and so begins a zero to hero ride where his confidence soars, he starts taking risks and getting himself out of one crazy situation and into another. Again, there's a bunch of original and crazy ideas where I laughing in tears (no one can deliver such a cadence of gags and skits like these two). The cinematography, actors, music and crazy pacing are also great. Just top of the comedy genre. 85%.

Taylor Sheridan and his macho serial romp continues. He is in top form, every one of his TV series is breaking records and Tulsa King is no exception, with Sylvester Stallone giving his best performance since Rocky. It's an old-school gangster drama where Stallone is released from prison after 25 years and his boss sends him to the backwoods of Tulsa where he'll be able to build his own criminal underworld and have a very unexpected crew at his disposal. The series takes a quieter tone, but definitely entertains. Stallone has charisma to spare, and I enjoyed seeing him slowly and surely grow. The supporting characters are likeable and the villain leading the biker gang is a proper asshole. The action is minimal and the more action packed finale is particularly interesting, but it's survivable (although I prefer gangster movies full of dead bodies, drugs, torture and shootouts), so this is more of an old school feel good genre flick, but it will please everyone just because of Stallone. 75%