MrHlad

Three mates once invented a fake friend, Ricky, to whom they blame all their troubles even as adults. But now their families want to finally meet him, so they hire a broke actor to impersonate Ricky. And things get a little out of hand. This wacky comedy is pulled forward by the great John Cena, a few jokes work, a few don't, and the film fails to leave a significant impression. For two hours, though, it's quite pleasantly entertaining.

After finding that his days of fighting are over because he will have to become a spiritual master, Po decides to embark on one last adventure with a young thief, but little does he know that he will be up against an adversary who may be beyond his strength. Kung Fu Panda 4 is an inoffensive animated action flick, but it doesn't take the franchise anywhere. On the one hand, we get fine fights and a goofy protagonist, but alongside that we also get a minimum of new ideas and a woeful lack of old familiar ones. It's enough for a slightly above average animated flick, but I’m not sure this series can offer something more.

The main problem I had with the first Dune was that I had a hard time finding even one single character whose fate I cared about. It was a beautiful but cold and empty film. The second film, however, manages to repair the series' reputation in that sense rather quickly. The heroes finally do something interesting, they talk to each other, the debates have a point, and Villeneuve wraps it all up in just a little bit nicer visuals. Dune: Part Two is more beautiful, but also more action-packed, brisker and more watchable. Until suddenly it isn't. Villeneuve seems to realise after a hundred minutes or so that he still has a lot of story to tell and that he just can't cram it into the remaining hour. So he hits the gas and the film is suddenly unnecessarily rushed, running away from interesting topics because he still has to finish this or that. And while the final battle looks really magnificent, once again, with the closing credits, I got the feeling that there may very well be a great story behind this beautiful film, but even this time it didn't get told in the way it deserved. Unlike the first part, I wasn't bored this time, but if I ever see this part again, it will be before the premiere of the eventual third. For despite all the qualities, there is still a certain aftertaste of incompleteness.

In the 1990s, the police in Slovakia had an unexpected rapport with gangsters. But a pragmatic cop from Poprad and his new partner discover that there are things they can't turn a blind eye to, and blood will flow in the streets. Cop War is a stylish gangster drama with great actors, excellent atmosphere and world-class visuals. Too bad the plot is a bit disjointed and there are perhaps a few too many wild twists towards the end. But it is a high European standard in its genre, and we are not used to that here.

Alexander Payne knows how to make dramas that are humanly warm one moment and uncomfortably acerbic a few moments later. Few filmmakers are as good at it as him, and I'm glad he reminded us of that with The Holdovers. Paul Giamatti is excellent, as are his two less famous colleagues, both of whom we hope to hear from in the future. There's some excellent work with the gradual reveal of the characters and the fact that everyone carries their past, trauma and insecurities within them and it takes a lot of work to start talking about them or even confronting them. I definitely appreciate that Payne doesn't push the envelope in this regard and is rather restrained in working with emotions, not trying to make the characters laugh, move or bare their innermost selves at all costs. He just follows the three lost souls left to fend for themselves at Christmas. The seventies feel (not just the setting) is beautiful too, and overall it's very nice to watch. Whether you take it as a bittersweet pice or a gritty drama about how everyone just has to deal with certain things on their own, it's still not a bad thing to have someone by your side.

Madame Web is like those porn parodies of superhero movies, but someone cut all the sex out of it, leaving only crappy visual effects, terrible actors and ridiculous dialogue.

What at first glance is a not very nice and not very interesting animated film turns into a very original work in its second half, thanks to Charlie Kaufman's smart script. The film is not afraid to tackle serious topics, offers young viewers and their parents enough reasons to think and even philosophizes in a nice way. Besides, it's also Kaufman-esque, but that change from dull routine to attractive original entertainment for the whole family comes perhaps a little too late and is unfortunately a bit rushed. Orion and the Dark is undoubtedly remarkable, and it wants and can say more than other animated films, but at times it stumbles in doing so.

I have a bit of a complicated relationship with director Jonathan Glazer. I like some of his films a lot, others practically not at all, and I'm glad Zone of Interest falls into the former group. I'm also happy that it ended up looking a little different than I expected. Glazer's Holocaust drama is very much built on working with sounds, but mostly with the viewers and their knowledge. You have to know what family you're looking at all the time, who Rudolf Höss was and what atrocities he committed. Zone of Interest doesn't explain anything, you could say that we learn practically nothing about the protagonists, because there's no need to, and Glazer is counting on you paying attention in history class, or at least reading the synopsis before entering the cinema. This allows him to focus solely on establishing atmosphere, combining hints of the horrors happening behind the walls of the family home while showing the ordinary little Nazi domestic bliss of the Hösses and their children. They come across as extremely ordinary, and that they are cynics and human monsters is something you have to surmise from their actions, as they balefully ignore the hell they themselves have unleashed or are willingly profiting from. Perhaps my only complaint is that I would have expected Zone of Interest to make it a little harder (like, say, the new Scorsese) and more uncomfortable for me as a viewer. On the other hand, Glazer's attempt to merely chronicle the family life of two monsters who tend a greenhouse, organize family get-togethers in the garden, and invite a loving mother to their home, only to occasionally subtly remind us who we're actually dealing with, works well too. An original and compelling drama capable of being very uncomfortable at the right moments.

Author Elly Conway discovers that her spy books have more in common with reality than she thought, and that their hero, Argyle, may very well be real. But why does everyone suddenly want to kill her? Matthew Vaughn delivers another homage to spy action movies that is full of ideas and original action sequences, but this time perhaps so wild that it may be beyond tolerable for some.

Michael Mann tells the story of one short period in the life of the owner of the famous car company. And unfortunately he tells a story that is not very attractive or engaging. In addition, Adam Driver plays a distant, cold professional who keeps his emotions in check, resulting in a rather dull film. This changes in the last part, when the racing starts and Mann shows that he's still good at directing action, even if he can come across as somewhat old-fashioned. Overall, though, Ferrari is a pretty uninteresting film about people struggling with a personal crisis and a once-in-a-lifetime loss, only that one of them happened to be a car designer.