Don't expect a horror movie, it isn't one. It's an art film with great symbolics, brave scenes, great cinematography and a decent score. A bit surreal sometimes, but it's supposed to be strange and discomforting. The basic idea behind the plot is also a disturbing one. The negative reviews are coming from people who were probably expecting a thriller or a horror they've seen a thousand times. This is way better than that. Just don't take it that directly, it is rather a symbolic tale about pregnancy, being exposed as a woman, the powerlessness, illusions and taking control. It brings up a lot of questions and starts many conversations about important issues. It is not a masterpiece but still a very decent author's film that is worth watching.
Reviews
10 Reviews
Para - We Are King
(2021– )
European 'Euphoria'
7 May 2023
Like a European - in this case German - version of the US hit series 'Euphoria', 'Para - Wir sind King' achieves more than the much hyped, over-the-top american series: it manages to keep it real. There might be some twists and turns in the storyline that don't seem that probable, but it is storytelling after all. Great acting, the girls are really likeable (and beautiful), great cinematography, well directed. And not too much of it: six episodes in season one are just enough to keep things interesting, no scenes feel pointless at all. The overall low rating is just not fair for this series, give it a try, especially if you love Berlin!
(Review written after watching season 1.)
(Review written after watching season 1.)
Outlaw King
(2018)
Great movie heavily cut
13 March 2023
Outlaw King is a great movie, nice cast, well directed, great fighting scenes, you can really get the feeling of the battles of the middle age. But throughout the film, you have the feeling that it was heavily cut. Scenes change rapidly, there are some extraordinary visuals, but they disappear right after one moment. I wish, there were a director's cut, something like the director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven, which is a really mindblowing cinematic experience, even with an intermission in the middle of it. This movie could have been just as largescale as that and there is really no reason on Netflix to make such an audience-pleasing editorial work after the first screenings. All in all, a great movie, but it could have been much better with that 30 to 60 minutes extra footage. It won't disappoint you, watch it anyways. Florence Pugh is a gem by the way, she added an extra star to this rating.
Avenue 5
(2020–2022)
It's funny.
7 February 2023
After watching the first season, although not that genius like the other stuff Armando Ianucci made before (eg. The Thick of It, In the Loop and Veep), I have to say it is a pretty funny series. It gets better with each episode, which you can't really say that often watching a television - okay, it's not TV, it's HBO - series. This spaceship, the Avenue 5, seems to be a metaphorical earth, a sort of microworld with all the roles and characters and problems we deal with everyday. The jokes are not that PC, which is good, the show itself is self-reflecting, sarcastic and smart. Judging heavily humankind and making us laughable, but in a good way. At least I didn't feel myself offended. I am looking forward for the second season, there's is still potential in the material and it can really go in any directions. The soundtrack is also something special. Don't believe the low rating and give it a go, espacially if you like Ianucci's work or the sketches of a Bit of Fry and Laurie.
Elizabeth Harvest
(2018)
A very unique and disturbing watch
25 April 2022
Rethinking the story of Bluebird's castle Sebastian Gutierrez delivers a unique and disturbing art film with an excellent cast, beautifully shot and elegantly scored. There are quite a few twists and turns in it, but the characters are believable, the story is entertaining and the film also has something to say about love, passion, obsession and human behaviour in general. It is nice to see sometimes an author's work without compromises and this is such a case.
The Night House
(2020)
A series of goosebumps
21 April 2022
I don't remember, when I got the last time a series of goosebumps, but it happened many times by watching this movie. Very well acted, shot and directed, elegant, clever, a must-watch, if you are into the genre. It is not your everyday Hollywood garbage with the cheap scares, even Tarkovsky and Kubrick came to my mind. Only the ending, the sort of explanation of the plot left me a bit disappointed. But this might be different in your case with another worldview. Give it a shot!
Game of Thrones
(2011–2019)
Highly overrated
20 August 2013
Charles Dance said in an interview with some gentle sarcasm that he would not read the books because they are too heavy to hold. That tells it all: great artists and filmmakers are doing their best to make an HBO quality show from a pulp fiction fantasy.
The story doesn't really go anywhere, characters can be killed anytime, new characters can be introduced as well, and the fantasy world is very far from believable. The budget can never be high enough to produce more than a couple of outstanding action scenes in one season so the writers (David Benioff has seen better days: 25th Hour, Troy) have to fill the gaps with long, never-ending and quite uninteresting conversations.
But, fortunately, the greatest stage actors also need the pay, so we can watch an amazing cast: Sean Bean, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Carice Van Houten, the above mentioned Charles Dance and so on. Their presence worth watching the show.
Aside from that this is one of the weakest series of HBO, not even close to the quality of The Wire, Boardwalk Empire or Six Feet Under. The show could have told us something about human nature, power, politics, love, religion, faith and chaos, but instead of these we get a lot of nudity, pointless violence, and some Hollywood clichés.
You can say, it's just entertainment, so be it, but it still doesn't deserve more than 6 stars out of 10.
The story doesn't really go anywhere, characters can be killed anytime, new characters can be introduced as well, and the fantasy world is very far from believable. The budget can never be high enough to produce more than a couple of outstanding action scenes in one season so the writers (David Benioff has seen better days: 25th Hour, Troy) have to fill the gaps with long, never-ending and quite uninteresting conversations.
But, fortunately, the greatest stage actors also need the pay, so we can watch an amazing cast: Sean Bean, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Carice Van Houten, the above mentioned Charles Dance and so on. Their presence worth watching the show.
Aside from that this is one of the weakest series of HBO, not even close to the quality of The Wire, Boardwalk Empire or Six Feet Under. The show could have told us something about human nature, power, politics, love, religion, faith and chaos, but instead of these we get a lot of nudity, pointless violence, and some Hollywood clichés.
You can say, it's just entertainment, so be it, but it still doesn't deserve more than 6 stars out of 10.
American Horror Story
(2011– )
American Ghost Story - the first season of AHS
27 June 2013
How can you keep up the the tension in a classic horror movie for 12 episodes? You can't.
The first season of American Horror Story starts like wow, really one of the best pilots ever. The film has style, tension, great writing and acting, but the story itself starts being uninteresting halfway. We get to know the characters, the mystery is not scary anymore, because there's no mystery remaining. The story starts repeating itself instead of leaving the audience in doubts and the bizarre becomes boring. The horror becomes almost a comedy in the season final!
The creators should have been happy with a 6-episode mini-series, this ghost-story could have been one of the best TV shows of all time.
Great idea though that the second season will be something completely different! I can't wait to watch!
The first season of American Horror Story starts like wow, really one of the best pilots ever. The film has style, tension, great writing and acting, but the story itself starts being uninteresting halfway. We get to know the characters, the mystery is not scary anymore, because there's no mystery remaining. The story starts repeating itself instead of leaving the audience in doubts and the bizarre becomes boring. The horror becomes almost a comedy in the season final!
The creators should have been happy with a 6-episode mini-series, this ghost-story could have been one of the best TV shows of all time.
Great idea though that the second season will be something completely different! I can't wait to watch!
Killer Joe
(2011)
A very disturbing movie
14 January 2013
Killer Joe has a very promising plot, truly great actors and professional directing, but, despite all of that, it still remains a very disturbing movie.
There are many suggestive scenes, some very strange, absurd, sometimes grotesque moments, but something is missing. Playwriter Tracy Letts can't reach the high levels of Harold Pinter or Cormac McCarthy, his screenplay is just too violent and direct, and it looks like he couldn't decide whether to be real or surreal.
The story has some twists and turns, but you cannot really sympathize with any of the characters, so I would look for some other message, but I couldn't find any.
William Friedkin brings the raw, intensive style of his own, and it works well, he manages to keep the viewer on the edge the whole time, and the actors are brilliant too. Matthew McConaughey reminded me of the young Dennis Hopper, Thomas Haden Church is remarkable, Juno Temple is very strange and sexy, and Emile Hirsh and Gina Gershon also do a great job.
Overall, the movie has some genius moments, but these moments don't add up into a masterpiece. The reason of this could be some aesthetic problems of the screenplay or some misunderstanding between writer and director. Anyway, it's worth watching!
There are many suggestive scenes, some very strange, absurd, sometimes grotesque moments, but something is missing. Playwriter Tracy Letts can't reach the high levels of Harold Pinter or Cormac McCarthy, his screenplay is just too violent and direct, and it looks like he couldn't decide whether to be real or surreal.
The story has some twists and turns, but you cannot really sympathize with any of the characters, so I would look for some other message, but I couldn't find any.
William Friedkin brings the raw, intensive style of his own, and it works well, he manages to keep the viewer on the edge the whole time, and the actors are brilliant too. Matthew McConaughey reminded me of the young Dennis Hopper, Thomas Haden Church is remarkable, Juno Temple is very strange and sexy, and Emile Hirsh and Gina Gershon also do a great job.
Overall, the movie has some genius moments, but these moments don't add up into a masterpiece. The reason of this could be some aesthetic problems of the screenplay or some misunderstanding between writer and director. Anyway, it's worth watching!
X: First Class
(2011)
Mediocre action movie with several embarrassing moments
4 September 2011
Everything went wrong with the X-men movies when Bryan Singer decided to stop directing them. The first X-men film was an amazing picture with excellent cast and superb directing despite the lower budget. X2 was even better, larger, deeper than the first one. Then Brett Ratner and the producers managed to screw a great story with just simply wrong timing and cutting and unnecessary rewritings of the script. I don't even mention Wolverine which was a mediocre Hollywood trash on the level of Daredevil or Elektra.
The story here in X-men - First Class is not bad, you can feel that Bryan Singer had some ideas during the writing session. But the final result is very, very disappointing. We have a lot of interesting characters here but no time for a reasonable dialog between them. The young versions of our admired heroes are saying the silliest lines - repeatedly! - to each other with harsh, annoying, nonstop score in the background. The viewer has the feeling that it's just a two our long trailer of some summer blockbuster-wannabe - and I know it was meant to be a summer blockbuster but after the first two episodes I was expecting much-much more from this franchise.
Matthew Vaughn is an otherwise extremely talented director, I love all his previous movies but this is lack of any of his virtues. Maybe the ironic view or the humor is missing here which he had before in Stardust or Kick/Ass. X-men is probably not that franchise where you can turn things to a grotesque, sarcastic direction, Vaughn tries it a couple of times and he usually fails. (There are some scenes that are supposed to be funny.) Okay, and what about being cool? Layer Cake is one of the coolest movies ever made, but that also can be said about X-men and X2. Well, this movie is unfortunately not cool at all. Maybe it tries too hard to be cool but this huge effort to overdo everything makes it undignified and embarrassing.
The cast is superb though. It's nice to see that the producers had some money for the actors too not just for the action sequences. James McAvoy is great as always, Michael Fassbender is a perfect young Magneto, he just has some stupid lines and he can't do anything with them. But we have here the amazing Kevin Bacon, the very talented Jennifer Lawrence (watch Winter's Bone instead of this film), the coolest chick of the picture: January Jones (in a very silly costume - most of the costumes were probably borrowed from the wardrobe of Kick/Ass) and such great actors as Michael Ironside for insignificant tiny roles. Sadly, the script doesn't make an opportunity for any of these great actors to do something memorable.
Well, at least the action sequences are pretty spectacular. However, there's nothing you haven't seen before in the earlier movies - or in somewhere else.
Briefly: X-men - First Class is a mediocre Hollywood trash with wasted talents, ruined ideas and nice action sequences. Enjoy if you can.
The story here in X-men - First Class is not bad, you can feel that Bryan Singer had some ideas during the writing session. But the final result is very, very disappointing. We have a lot of interesting characters here but no time for a reasonable dialog between them. The young versions of our admired heroes are saying the silliest lines - repeatedly! - to each other with harsh, annoying, nonstop score in the background. The viewer has the feeling that it's just a two our long trailer of some summer blockbuster-wannabe - and I know it was meant to be a summer blockbuster but after the first two episodes I was expecting much-much more from this franchise.
Matthew Vaughn is an otherwise extremely talented director, I love all his previous movies but this is lack of any of his virtues. Maybe the ironic view or the humor is missing here which he had before in Stardust or Kick/Ass. X-men is probably not that franchise where you can turn things to a grotesque, sarcastic direction, Vaughn tries it a couple of times and he usually fails. (There are some scenes that are supposed to be funny.) Okay, and what about being cool? Layer Cake is one of the coolest movies ever made, but that also can be said about X-men and X2. Well, this movie is unfortunately not cool at all. Maybe it tries too hard to be cool but this huge effort to overdo everything makes it undignified and embarrassing.
The cast is superb though. It's nice to see that the producers had some money for the actors too not just for the action sequences. James McAvoy is great as always, Michael Fassbender is a perfect young Magneto, he just has some stupid lines and he can't do anything with them. But we have here the amazing Kevin Bacon, the very talented Jennifer Lawrence (watch Winter's Bone instead of this film), the coolest chick of the picture: January Jones (in a very silly costume - most of the costumes were probably borrowed from the wardrobe of Kick/Ass) and such great actors as Michael Ironside for insignificant tiny roles. Sadly, the script doesn't make an opportunity for any of these great actors to do something memorable.
Well, at least the action sequences are pretty spectacular. However, there's nothing you haven't seen before in the earlier movies - or in somewhere else.
Briefly: X-men - First Class is a mediocre Hollywood trash with wasted talents, ruined ideas and nice action sequences. Enjoy if you can.
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