EvilPhoEniX

The weakest season of the series unfortunately. The second half was a real mess where nothing much happened and for the first time in the series there were episodes in blue, which doesn't bode well. When I compare Vikings to Game of Thrones, where the first season was more intimate and now it's a big studio epic, I feel like Vikings hasn't gone anywhere with the budget, rather it's gone down and that's a bad sign. Fortunately the combo of Lagertha/Bjorn/Ubbe and the English Kingdom still entertains me enough to not dismiss the series. We'll see what the final season do. 65%.

A kind of time race with a bomb in a car with a father and two kids in it. There have been a few films made on this theme so few surprises me, fortunately Luis Tosar is likeable, it's well paced and has a few interesting twists and turns and it certainly doesn't bore. It just doesn't come up with anything groundbreaking for my taste and it's not exactly the stuff I'd go nuts over. 65%.

For me an incredible hit and I am not far from a full score. I love these modern day underworld gangster dramas where a young kid gets involved and ends up becoming the youngest drug baron in history. The film has a solid pace, great performances, Matthew McConaughey is excellent and newcomer Richie Merritt is brilliant. There's violence too and the atmosphere blew me away beyond belief. Great fun and a must for fans of similar films. I would ignore the IMDB rating of 6.5. 80%.

Right at the b eginning of the year, Netflix pulls off an excellent action caper in the style of John Wick, though mostly it's closer to Japanese madness. Mads Mikkelsen as a retired veteran and the world's best assassin is absolutely brilliant. He would love to retire already, but his former employer now considers him a liability and wants to remove him, so he sends an A-team of crazy assassins to take him out. Mads, however, is always one step ahead of the game and takes no shit from anyone. Brilliantly staged, extravagantly styled, properly action packed, incredibly gory, and packed with sex appeal. This is how I imagine a Hitman movie should be made. An impressive audiovisual B-movie ride that will please fans of raunchy, kinky sex, uncompromising anti-heroes and a dose of gritty adrenaline action. The twist at the end is decent and bring in a sequel already. 80% satisfaction.

The Brits strike again with an original zombie comedy, this time mixed with a musical. I was not too keen on the film because I didn't believe this combination could work, but I am pleasantly surprised by the result. There are actually very likable characters (Anna rocks), everyone sings nicely, the personality references and one-liners are hilarious, there is some gore and action that is pretty well done, and the film keeps a solid pace as well. As a teen zombie musical one-off, the film is really good and handled with aplomb. I'm sure not everyone can stomach the singing, but those who are tolerant of genres might be surprised. 70%

Acting-wise, it's probably the strongest line-up we can find up north. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau from Game of Thrones is a very big draw, and add to that Ulrich Thomsen from Banshee and Nikolaj Lie Kaas, who is currently leading the Nordic crime quadralogy, whose latest effort, The Purity of Vengeance, opens in cinemas in just four days. A Second Chance is a stiffing, uncomfortable, authentic drama-thriller that especially for parents (mothers) will not be very enjoyable to watch. The film focuses on two families, one drug addicted socially deprived, the other well off but their luck is not very good. I must say that it is a really powerful film that is not afraid to show scenes that we don't normally see in cinema – the scene where the toddler is lying on the toilet covered in feces and urine was more than shocking. The direction, writing and acting were flawless and supported with a very bleak atmosphere. 80%

I was a bit skeptical, but this is a film that should be seen and as a result I am pleasantly surprised. This is my first film experience with Damien Chazelle, his work hasn't interested me much so far, but he's getting my attention with this film. First Man is an engaging biopic of Neil Armstrong and it was very nice to see how everything works behind the scenes in this one. Ryan Gosling is excellent as always and the trip to the moon is nicely paced and suspenseful. I wasn't downright bored despite the slower pace, but if I had to choose from recent great sci-fi to watch again, I'd probably prefer The Martian and Interstellar. Decent. 75%.

Lee Seung-won is an unknown director who doesn't have much experience, but he has made one of the best action films Korea has produced in years. It has a pretty decent story about a police officer who goes to an isolated island full of prisoners to get revenge on his family's killer, who rules the place and hunts down the other survivors. Bruce Khan is an actor I hadn't heard of before, but his charisma and fighting skills are up there with the best in the business, and the villain, Park Hee-soon, is covered in burn bandages the whole time, so he doesn't show off that much acting. Yoon Jin-seo from Oldboy is also great. My only complaint about the action is that there could have been more of it, because it's absolutely magnificent. There are four major action sequences, thankfully nicely varied, so there's something for everyone. There was a decent brawl in an abandoned prison, a brilliant sword fight, an unusual shootout with bows, and then the final fight, which of course is the highlight of the whole film. I haven't seen such challenging choreography in a long time and thanks to the great cinematography you feel every punch, grab, block and I had a good roar again. I hope to see Bruce Khan again because the man is a samurai and Bruce Lee in one. I missed a faster pace for a full count and was bothered by the occasional humor of some of the prisoners, otherwise a solid event and I will definitely return to the fights in the future. Thanks to Netfix for their cooperation with Asia and especially for the subtitles. 80%.

A pretty decent negotiation thriller with a good cast, but you could tell this was a debut, so it's mostly a more intimate film set in few locations. Bin Hyeon is solid as the bad guy and Son Ye-jin is capable as the negotiator. The twists and turns are alright, and in terms of action there is only a brief shootout at the end, which is quite disappointing. 65%.

Luca Guadagnino is undoubtedly a talented Italian director, but his previous work consisted mainly of romantic dramas, so to remake the famous Suspiria was a big task, but he managed to pull it off. Argento’s original was mesmerizing with its hauntingly eerie music, impressive visuals, elaborate murders and dense atmosphere. The remake goes in completely opposite directions and they don't have that much in common, and yet this journey has something going for it. It should be stated right off the bat that Suspiria is definitely not for mainstream audiences, frilly teenage girls, and people craving entertainment. The film will especially please Art fans of bizzare and obscure oddities and those who are addicted to 70s horror, as the new Suspiria seems to have fallen out of that era. Retro as fuck. It has it's flaws, but it also has distinct positives. The downside is the running time of two and a half hours, with more boring passages than there should be (why is German and English spoken in an Italian director’s film, I have no idea), but if you can get past that you'll get a well-deserved reward. Upside: the gorgeous Dakota Johnson finally shows up naked, Tilda Swinton is again excellent (though she looks so freaky that no normal guy would climb on her), all the dance scenes are interesting and the final number is solid – the gory dance scene is already iconic and I've never seen anything more gnarly and horrific. The disturbing dream visions are also amazing, and then there’s the finale, where absolute hell ensues with hectolitres of blood and exploding heads, Argento's red filter, and one heavily decomposing and moldy disgusting granny that will haunt my dreams for a long time to come. It's hard to rate the film because the horror scenes are great but the filler in between is a bit lame, yet the finale and the heartbreaking dance scene make it worth seeing. 70%