Kaka

Fast and Furious wants to be like other big and successful franchises, for example, Marvel or Mission Impossible. It aims to put together its own universe with its own rules, audience favourite characters and, most importantly, make billions of dollars. The quality, however, has extreme fluctuations from one episode to the next, and in the case of the tenth it’s for the worse. And yet it looks so promising in the first minutes, with a brief recap and alternation of the legendary fifth episode. But this sequel is bad in pretty much every aspect. There isn't much humour, the action is trivial, the visual effects are extremely poorly done and if all this can be forgiven because of your favourites, the protagonists (with the exception of Jason Momoa) don't even have any juice. Perhaps the biggest filmmaking failure for me is the blatant attempt to rip off the best moments of other films and use them in a worse way, without having the same added value, or at least the desired effect. There are a lot of trademarks and fragments of other episodes in the franchise, and also from Face Off, Mission Impossible, Mad Max, etc. This franchise has turned into a billion-dollar colossus, but the last two episodes bring it back to the quality level of the third and fourth entries (if not worse), which hardly anyone remembers, let alone appreciates nowadays after all those excesses.

This episode brings that moment when you are no longer very much looking forward to what will happen next, but then you see your favourite characters trying to get out of a major predicament. Apparently that's the key to what elevates a good series to a unique one.

Another acting tour-de-force by Kelly Reilly. I haven't seen mental anguish played so brilliantly in a long time, but you believe Beth in every gesture. The best scene is the interrogation, of course.

Probably the shortest episode so far, and a lot happens very quickly. Beth shows up slightly crestfallen, but with a brilliant strategy. She’s superb in the funny scene in the bar. Kelly Reilly's acting repertoire is admirable, she handles a number of different situations with breathtaking precision. And this time there are plenty of fights and a proper dose of cowboys. Yellowstone has its own distinctive character and slowly and subtly gets under the viewer's skin, whether they are ready for it or not.

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.