MrHlad

Kevin Smith returns to Quick Stop, New Jersey, to make a film about making a movie there in the 1990s. While the meta elements aren't as wild as one might expect from the plot, it's still mostly a film for people who like this director's early work. It's just that the new Smith doesn't have much in common with the old one. The dialogue lacks the inventiveness and believability of those earlier films, and the actors sometimes downright suffer in scenes for which their skills are not up to the task. It's not until somewhere around the halfway point that Clerks III starts to feel like a confident film, rather than a nostalgia bet that works only halfway because Smith simply can no longer offer what he once won fans over with. It still works, give or take, but it's questionable whether that's thanks to the director-screenwriter, or instead in spite of his efforts.

General Nanisca leads a unit of women, and pretty tough ones at that. They're the ones who must protect the Kingdom of Dahomey from its aggressive neighbours, but little does Nanisca know that she'll also have to confront her own past. The Woman King is a brisk and entertaining film with good action, excellent actresses and an attractive setting. However, as soon as it tries to play with more serious themes, things tend to turn banal and clichéd.

After his last job in a small Mexican town, bounty hunter Christoph Waltz meets his old adversary Willem Dafoe, a powerful local magnate and his army, and a woman to die for. Walter Hill delivers a western that doesn't impress on the surface, looks cheap and almost ugly, but on the other hand, it's full of interesting heroes and anti-heroes, a pleasantly old-school atmosphere, and it can rely on some excellent actors. Of course, even the biggest fans of the genre will have to work hard at times to swallow the obvious cheapness.

Don’t Worry Darling has been written about mostly in the context of major and minor on-set scandals lately, which is a bit of a shame that Olivia Wilde's new film doesn't deserve. She changed the genre dramatically after the fairly clever comedy drama Booksmart, and her new film certainly manages to impress. Matthew Libatique knows how to evoke the atmosphere of the 1950s as they may never have been, but as people want to see it through the filter of nostalgia. John Powell, on the other hand, has done one of his best soundtracks ever, and visually and musically there is nothing to fault the film. It manages to be mesmerising and then again a few seconds later very disturbing. Florence Pugh is excellent in the lead role, as is Chris Pine; in fact everyone here tries their best in front and behind the camera. It's just that they are being tripped up by the story, which, while not bad at all, unfortunately, as the runtime progresses, it becomes clear that Wilde doesn't have a new The Truman Show, Dark City, Inception or The Matrix in her hands, but just solid and functional material from which she can squeeze a technically brilliant film, but one that lacks emotion, surprise or any worthwhile message, especially at the end. The result is good, though exceptional, but I will certainly be happy if Olivia Wilde continues her directorial career.

Ruben Östlund delivers a wry satire about contemporary society and people who are not prepared to lose their social status. But it is not intellectual onanism, it is an extremely entertaining and witty comedy that doesn’t take anything sacred, and apart from the great cast, original ideas and clever dialogues, it offers at least one scene that will go down in film history for its absurdity and escalation. One of the best films of the year.

Former spouses George Clooney and Julia Roberts arrive in Bali to disrupt their daughter's wedding, and in the process, they discover they may actually still love each other. Ticket to Paradise is a good-looking, predictable romance that doesn't have any escalating conflicts, surprises or any attempt at innovation. On the other hand, the exotic setting and the two aging stars may be enough for an undemanding audience – demanding is obviously not what anyone is aiming for here.

When I came out of the cinema, I was so resigned. I wanted for Jan Žižka to be a good film, and I wished it for myself. But two days passed and the situation changed a bit. Well, enough. I don't really know what to praise about Petr Jákl's latest film, but I also can't say I suffered with it. Overall, it's "just" not very good. Honestly, the twenty-three million dollar budget doesn't show in the result, but that's the least of the problems. The bigger problem is the awfully cluttered fight scenes, but the worst by far is the actual presentation of the story. Sod historical accuracy, whether the armor is period appropriate, that sort of thing. Of course, the fact that Žižka is a woefully flat character with no working motivation and Ben Foster spends most of the time floundering is already a problem. As is the entire second half, which consists more or less of running around the woods, swapping prisoners and looking for someone who just hid somewhere. I can only praise Roland Møller's villain, but the rest is mediocre at best, lacking directorial ideas, an interesting story and anything else that would be worth paying attention to. A Czech big movie of Hollywood standards this is certainly not.

No one there is the least bit likeable and it's so terribly cheesy.

Siblings OJ and Emerald are struggling with a failing farm, their own relationship, and now with something hiding in the clouds, and as it soon turns out, it's pretty damn dangerous. Only how do you expose this thing, which is good at hiding and doesn't like to let witnesses in, to the world? And how to survive it? Jordan Peele delivers a science fiction film that doesn't quite work in the first half, and he as a director doesn't quite manage to build the tension as well as he might have liked. But he makes up for it all with the final act, when the humans and the mysterious something from the clouds have a fair fight. The closer we get to the end, the smarter and more entertaining Nope gets. And it looks really beautiful. But Peele still can't do real fear and terror.

Idris Elba and his daughters encounter a lion in the middle of the African wilderness. They fight it for an hour, supporting characters die, and then what you expect happens. Beast is a cookie-cutter thriller that impresses primarily because of its cinematography and long takes, but certainly not with the story, which doesn't stray off the beaten track for a second. It's not bad, but I can't really think of a reason to send anyone to see it. As a thriller, Beast doesn't have much to offer.