Kaka

If Minghella or Lean had been in the chair, it could have been wonderful. As it is, it's just a fairly graphic but poorly told story that clumsily mixes bodice-ripper stuff with the horrors of the Turkish-Armenian genocide during World War I. Nothing against the three leads, but the whole comes across as predictable, clichéd, and the horrors of war are mostly portrayed in a soft presentation with poorly used camerawork and cheap effects. The potential is enormous, but for a capable filmmaker who could give it the patina of the old epic movies, and Terry George is not up to the task yet.

The Sixth Sense meets Lost in Translation meets Basic Instinct. A concoction of several genres absolutely devoid of any drive or creative DNA. Vikander may deliver her usual above-par performance, but the long macros, romantic neon and ethereal music do not make for an interesting film. The attempt at a thought-provoking mystery thriller didn't really work. How this could have come from a Scott Free production is a great mystery.

An original, witty, socially complex and mostly quite funny to the point of insane war satire that oscillates somewhere between Life is Beautiful and No Man’s Land. Though it borrows almost nothing from either, it feels at times like a mature wine that's been with us for a few years and you just know what you're in for when you watch it. Waititi proves that he can apply his talent for funny scripts not only in big blockbusters from Marvel, but equally in low-budget war comedies. Without a stronger pace or truly unforgettable scenes, but still very positive, with an emphasis on traditional human values. You won’t need to watch it again, but at least once is a must.

Decent craftsmanship with an extremely eager and excellent performance from Naomie Harris, who proves that she can not only be a nice talisman for the new Bond films, but can reliably handle a full-blooded lead role in a gritty cop action flick that occasionally peeks like Ayer, occasionally thunders like Johannson from Sicario, but qualitatively is neither. The sometimes stilted script is saved by the ghetto feel of New Orleans and surprisingly fierce action sequences, a small plus for the straightforwardly sketched racial issues and disproportionate police behaviour, a very topical issue indeed.

It’s good, but it could have been excellent, because it had everything needed: charismatic good guys, unassuming and appropriately sleazy bad guys, a raw prison, impressively authentic and grainy filters, down-to-earth direction; in short, everything in place for a quality street crime drama. Unfortunately, the second half slowly slides with its exaggerated inventiveness and subtlety from a gritty drama in the style of Shot Caller into a typically set (and predictable) Hollywood production with increasingly improbable situations and twists. For Di Stefano's second film, however, it's definitely decent and gives hope that other films will be similarly good, like the ones by Zahler, a specialist in crime dramas when he has the right guys and scripted finales.

Fresh, playful, at times extremely conversational, but improvisationally well played. The casting is superb (Ronan, Watson, Pugh). It's hard to say how faithful it is to the source material, or rather to the original film, but it meets the contemporary demands of a historical conversational drama with family values and ingredients in the form of relationships and life turning points and decisions very well. Perhaps the only bigger problem is with the flashbacks, which the director puts there quite unsparingly. It takes a while to get your bearings.

Undoubtedly the most self-centred, self-contained and self-serving season of them all. Gone is the imaginative and brilliant work with the characters from the first season and the breadth and variety from the second. This is just marketing and an attack on the impressionable viewer. There are a few bright spots, standard good performances, but nothing that could be seen again without fast-forward.

Another overstuffed episode that exactly replicates the previous ones from each season finale, and it’s no longer bearable. The creators use the same tactics and methods over and over again, and that would annoy even a die-hard fan for the umpteenth time, let alone a disinterested viewer eager for quality TV. It's not that the last episode wasn't imaginative, but somehow, from left or right, it's predictable, it's coming from somewhere, and that's not good. Actually, it's quite boring.

Only the last episode will make any sense now. Lamster is just a well-acted episode that doesn't advance the overall development of the characters or the plot of the show one iota.

It's almost a sterile quick-turnaround borefest, but the gradual unveiling of the bond between Wendy and Ax is impressive and has due depth. So it stands out even amongst the incredible barrage of wordy dialogue, half of which is about nothing.