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A brisk, energetic thriller on the theme of “innocent protagonist gets into a jam, the situation only gets worse as time goes by and he has to get through a hellish night fraught with danger in order to save his own life”. In this case, a young black locksmith becomes the victim of a deception when he unwittingly helps to burgle an apartment and thus calls down on himself the wrath of the mobsters who have suddenly lost a million euros in cash. All against the backdrop of Black Lives Matter protests in the centre of Brussels, shot in a dynamic and engaging way. The plot relies on tense moments and sudden twists, though in some scenes the screenplay goes for dramatic effect through solutions that are more complicated that would actually be necessary. The work with suspense is aided by the precise type-casting and the appropriately frightened/determined performance of the actor in the lead role.

A half-baked thriller about a group of schoolgirls rebelling against the conservatism of uptight adults in a religiously tight-knit village community rocked by the recent case of a missing/murdered adolescent girl. The conflicts with parents and with the local pastor and the murder investigation are of marginal interest and the story instead focuses on the girls’ romping in the forest and the related emancipatory motif of finding inner strength and courage. Most of the film is therefore focused on the main character and her friends secretly playing at being amazons, trying out various ritual ceremonies just for the fun of it and whooping and setting challenges for each other to make themselves stronger. For a simple story about the dangers lurking in the forest, however, none of that is very important and the potential sources of suspense, whether fear of their parents’ reaction or an encounter with the “forest monster”, remain unused. As a result, Spirit in the Blood is unsatisfying both as a mystical thriller and as coming-of-age drama.

A thriller about a North Korean soldier who tries to defect to the south and about the ruthless army officer who tries to capture him even though the two men are former friends. But because of that friendship and other supporting and peripheral characters, the story contains vague motifs and storylines that prevent the plot from focusing on the escape (whose failure will result in certain death) as much as it should. Some of the very well-rendered moments are memorable (the opening passage and the “secret mission in a stolen car”), while others are too watered down or not very believable. As genre entertainment, however, Escape is well made (and with bold, pulsating music) if you set aside some of the ridiculous ideas about the situation in North Korea including, for example, the women’s partisan corps.

A historical martial-arts drama built on fight scenes, which are fortunately not only numerous, but also long, imaginative and varied, both in terms of alternating settings and in the variety of fighters involved, as well as in the use unconventional weapons (including slingshots). This is fortunate, because the overwrought plot, which is suffused with family and contemporary social issues and involves the resolution of a complicated dispute over whether the leadership of the martial-arts school will be passed to the old master’s son after his death or to his best student, isn’t very interesting and basically serves as filler between the fight scenes. As a result, you won’t care who ultimately wins, how the secondary romantic storyline plays out or who defends their honour and who doesn’t. A notable highlight is the sporadic (though effective) flashes of humour, e.g. during the master’s death scene and the breaking of one’s own arm as a means of officially apologising for publicly bringing disgrace on oneself.

Taking a break from The Walking Dead, I turned on World War Z for the first time in years and it's immediately clear why it's one of the best two zombie blockbusters along with Train to Busan. An unbeatable Brad Pitt stealing all the acting credit for himself, a convoluted, multi-phased story and plenty of both action and the deciphering the origins of the virus, and the twist of natural selection against an overpopulated planet is chilling. The zombies properly are aggressive, some scenes (especially the zombie "pile-up" on the walls of Jerusalem) were literally epic. I don't have a single issue to add to this, and for zombie fans it's a must see. Bring in the sequel!

An excellent hour-long description summarizing the journey of Money Heist from the first episodes to today's (so far) conclusion. The emotional and breathtaking rendering of the execution of the series and how much effort went behind it only underlines its magnificence, which has translated into a global format (the masks of Dali as a symbol of resistance, the obsession of the fans with the main characters or the revival of “Bella Ciao”...). Hats off to the entire crew because what they've done is phenomenal.

Money Heist sets the bar higher and higher with each new season, and as a whole it's one of the best, if not the best series ever (and that's completely objective according to IMDb ratings and viewer feedback). The fourth season may take away from the investigators and the police, but it adds a hell of a lot of action and especially emotions and the relationships between the characters, which are portrayed like never before, and has an incredibly strong power to move the viewer's empathy. Aside from a couple of scenes (an unrealistic shootout), it's absolutely flawless and the intelligence of the Professor (maybe more like the writers) is insane even in this season, I just stared open-mouthed waiting to see what would come next. The worst thing is perhaps that we will suffer for a year waiting for the next season....10/10

At first glance, the not-so-attractive idea is transformed into a decent above-average series thanks to convincing performances and a compelling narrative style, all the stronger because it is based on real events. The detailed and in-depth description of the search for a serial rapist was complemented by the talented Toni Collette and Merritt Wever, who seemed so natural and entertaining at the same time that I was living it with them by the end. It did have a few weak spots and Kaitlyn Dever as the perpetually disgruntled, obnoxious teenager bothered me a bit, but I guess that's a matter of opinion. A solid series and if you have nothing to watch, you certainly can't go wrong with this one.

A good action-crime one-off that certainly doesn't bore, has plenty of action throughout and there is room for jokes here and there, though to a lesser extent than I had hoped for. Mark Wahlberg is decent as always, doesn’t overact and is entertaining, the plot is bland and not innovative, but the pace is fast enough. While there are a few issues and some scenes where the film downright oozes naivety, it's thankfully the kind of fun Two Men Show where you root for the protagonists and look forward to the final showdown, keeping your well-deserved attention throughout.

After a long time, a decent jailbreak flick with the craziest looking Danial Radcliffe I've ever seen. The tension could be cut with a knife in some parts, but there was little action, the prison was very laid-back and even the guards were not very cruel. An interesting idea with the life story of a couple fighting for black rights in South Africa, but it lacked a bit of harder action for a full experience. A must for fans of this genre.

I was initially worried about the generic idea and rip-off of X-Men, but after the excellent opening minutes it dissipated and I sat glued to my seat until the end. The big draw is the young, likable and unknown actors who played their roles perfectly. The world is excellent, the abilities imaginative and the visuals of the gifted and police superbots are top notch. So is the plot, with plenty of action (and violence in places) and a little room for the emotional side. If the ending was a bit more intense and clear, I'd be firing a full score, because I haven't been impressed with a film like this in a long time, and Jeff Chan has climbed a notch with me.

A distressing drama about an alcoholic pilot who lands a plane like no one ever has and saves a hundred passengers with his daring stunt, followed by an investigation involving the disruption of his personal life and media exposure of his alcohol problems. The atmosphere can be sliced with a knife, Denzel Washington’s performance is so convincing that at times it makes you experience the events with him, and the cast of supporting roles is great. The perfect psychological portrayal and development of the characters and the constantly turning over moral dilemma inside the pilot's head are clearly the greatest strengths of Flight and thanks to them the film doesn't let up for a moment. The excellent ending only topped it off. A powerful and emotionally weighty film that simultaneously asks existential questions and wrings out emotions wherever it can. Maximum satisfaction.

At times it looks like full-fledged science fiction, but in some scenes it looks like a total B-movie no idea. The problem is that Underwater has almost all the key elements for a proper sci-fi flick, but they're all used only very little. There are few claustrophobia-inducing scenes (which could have benefited the atmosphere quite excellently), few monsters, little quality action, the characters are flat and undeveloped, and the editing is often incredibly chaotic. Moreover, most of the scenes are so dark that you can only make out the outlines and it doesn't deliver the right visual experience. Similarly, I don't know what led the producers to cast the "dead" Kristen Stewart, who with her hairstyle looked like a feminist leader of a street protest. Misery and pain, sadly a failed underwater version of Life, which was much better.

I was expecting a silly comedy and that's exactly what I got. Since I love stupid humour, I didn't really resist the film and I was quite excited. It’s kind of a non-offensive one-off, but also not "silly" enough, keeping the humor too down to earth in places to make you want to watch it ever again.

Birds of Prey, or Harley Quinn's solo outing, is a pointless film that figuratively speaking nobody asked for (literally everyone who saw Suicide Squad asked for it), but it was made anyway. Unfortunately. In the end, it's crap. A bunch of unforgivable scripting holes that lack logic, the whole thing tries to go for effect (Harley beats up an entire police department with a confetti gun? Ok) instead of attacking with quality action and characters. This brings me to another of the many flaws, namely the dull characters, whether it be the central group or perhaps the most uninteresting villain in the entire DCU. It’s a film that feels terribly juvenile throughout, with jokes that are awkward most of the time, it has no self-reflection and feels like a parody of itself, as if they couldn't decide whether to make a serious actioner for nerdy comic book fans or target a kid audience, and they ended up making a bit of each, but it just doesn't work together. A horror and a disaster benefiting only from the name Harley Quinn, I finished watching it out of boredom and some respect for the DC franchise...

Indonesian cinema is unknown me and here I went into the unknown, tempted by the rating, and I must say that I definitely don't regret it. From the initial fears about the Indonesian actors, only a good feeling was left, because all of them played their roles unexpectedly well, the camera work was great and the score fit like a glove. The atmosphere building throughout was excellent and the twist in the final third, which shuffled the cards, took the film one step further. The concept of black magic hasn't been around for a long time and some of the scenes were quite disgusting and often original, though hardened viewers are used to them and won't experience anything new. The director didn't spare the children either (a huge plus!!), worms, bugs, centipedes and hectolitres of blood flowed from every orifice, to be honest I can't remember the film that was as rich on disgusting gore as this one. Add to that an unrelenting pace from the 30th minute onwards and you're set for success. For me, it's a respectable four stars, because I certainly wasn't expecting this from Indonesia, and it scores huge plus points because it's not every time you can combine genres so solidly.

The makers of the excellent The Queen of Black Magic have swapped black magic for a family of deranged psychopaths slicing up kidnapped tourists at home, and it's decent fun. There's an overabundance of guts, brains and blood throughout the film, but there's also a huge lack of logic, and not even any intellectual logic, but a lack of basic logic. When there's a guy running around breaking arms and legs on contact (yes, he literally touches someone with one hand and breaks his shin), it's not exactly something that makes you want to watch a movie. Unfortunately, this isn’t even the worst, and without a basic writing skeleton, even the gore can't save it. Rubbish, but the effort is worth it.

I don't understand how Blumhouse can produce films like The Invisible Man and Get Out, and then come with stupid stuff like Fantasy Island. And I thought Black Christmas was a disaster, yep this was even more tragic. It makes no sense, it's talky to the point of being awful, there's no atmosphere to speak of, and the five actors don't help. I'd rather watch an hour of mating butterflies than this.

An excellent, energetic pilot full of incredible jokes and black humour. Guillermo, a dim-witted twit vampire servant who looks forward to his transformation like an African child looks forward to a meal, fits incredibly well, and the main trio of vampires is great. So far, the series manages to make fun of itself while parodying other vampire franchises like Twilight, portraying ridiculously hilarious situations, I was laughing my heart out for the entire 30 minutes. It's insanity to the core that doesn’t slow down for a moment.

There hasn't been an action film like this for a long time and I’m giving it a full score. The plot is like the old Steven Seagal movies – freeing a hostage and then escaping home. But the strongest aspect of the film is its animalistic, hard and uncompromising action, with blood, teeth and heads flying through the air; there is a knife battle, a sniper duel, they’ve done a great job here. On top of that, the excellent cinematography delivers shots that add even more rawness and authenticity to the action. Joe Russo and Chris Hemsworth have made another spectacular film together after Avengers: Endgame and thank goodness the result is what it is. Those who want to find fault will find fault, those who want a brisk romp for the first time in a while will not regret it.