EvilPhoEniX

A found footage version of Hereditary? Nope. Another disappointment and untapped potential this year. The story revolves around a young influencer who tries unsuccessfully to break through practicing Yoga, but soon finds an ancient book left by her grandmother that contains various ancient rituals that she soon becomes obsessed with. There's some nice cinematography (no shaky cam or distracting camera work, there's some above-standard cinematography and nice camera shots), the transformation of the protagonist, who undergoes a significant change over the course of the film, and one spectacular jumpscare, but otherwise weak. Most of the time the film focuses on the least interesting thing, i.e. the influencers, and the horror aspect is thus largely neglected, which is a shame. I quite liked the hallucination scenes where the main character sees a version of herself and one pretty heated argument between the main character and Kenzie, but I would have appreciated that more in a drama than here. Otherwise, unfortunately, not much happens here for the 80 minutes of running time. It's not complete shit, but I don't have much reason to go for average either. 4/10.

I skipped the first part due to the terrible reviews, but I gave the second part a chance thanks to the happier reviews and it definitely didn't offend. It's terrible B-movie rubbish with a non-existent plot, unlikeable characters and visuals that are still underwhelming compared to the competition, but it's at least passable. If there's anything worth praising, though, it's the make-up effects (Christopher Robin looks really cool) and the gore. In the final part at the disco the carnage is such that I was very pleasantly surprised. Occasionally they still scare with horrible CGI (fire, acid), but mostly it's practical effects, and the cutting off heads of pretty women was decent. (The hand in the throat is also impressive). You can’t deny the creativity and fan zeal of some of the fatalities, so thumbs up up for that. If you want a trashy slasher with focus on gore where nothing else works, you won't be offended, those with higher standards can skip it. It's a pity that it's taken too seriously, if the film had a lighter vibe, added some wisecracks and hot girls showing their tits, I think the final impression would have been more pleasant, because that's all the people behind it can do. 6/10.

Trim Season definitely had the potential to be a decent horror movie. It could have been a solid folk body horror film evoking Suspiria if Ari Aster, Robert Eggers or anyone else more capable had taken over, but the final product is unsatisfying in many ways. The craftsmanship is fine, it doesn't look cheap, there are quite a few characters so I was looking forward to a decent body-count and gore, but no. Once something starts happening, there are a couple of decent scenes, but it's so lacking in horror that even the voodoo games come off as more comical than scary. There was one interesting twist at the end, and that hand being cut off with a shard was quite uncomfortable and painful even for the viewer, but it's not enough. I've seen bigger shit this year, but I still can't pull it up to average. 4/10.

Richard Linklater is quite an unexplored director for me, his work has always passed me by, so I didn't have high expectations and I wasn't too impressed either. The action was non-existent, the humour minimal to nonexistent and the whole thing hinged on the likable duo of Glen Powell and the beautiful Adria Arjona, but I didn't find the plot engaging, imaginative or very interesting either. Too simple for me without any interesting plot twists. Just average. I'll forget it tomorrow. 5/10.

The most mediocre and classic mainstream horror genre film that can possibly be made for the least discerning audience (teenage girls). On the one hand, I appreciate that the whole movie isn't just haunted by one boogeyman, but every single protagonist has their own demon and they surprisingly have great make-up effects, so all those scenes are relatively fine. It's a shame that there's no gore, because if if the film had been conceived of it as a fun bloody killing spree it would have been better; this way they rely on ineffective scares and a not very effective atmosphere. Too bad. Visually it's fine, but the story is the most basic and you don’t get to form any relationship with the characters. Pure 50%

If you like this series, if you liked the third part, you should be satisfied here too. It's not a significant shift in quality, it's just a standard solid action comedy, where the mutual banter between Martin Lawrence and Will Smith works, but above all it's pulled by well-done action, which at times takes your breath away. Adil el Arbi and Bilall Fallah know their job. There are nice Miami visuals, a decent bad guy played by Eric Dane (Euphoria), decently brutal R-rated action with engaging camera forays, top visuals, some twist and turns and working one-liners. The whole film paces well with no deaf spots and it's exactly the right action entertainment that's missing in cinemas and you can take anyone to see it. If you expect a film with a well thought out plot, you won't be satisfied here, but if you know what to expect from a film, you can't be disappointed. 8/10.

Oh so this is not going to rank with this year's New French Wave and there was a lot of faith in Xavier Gens, who could have saved the eco shark horror after a long time, but who hasn't come up with a quality genre film in years, and instead of a proper shark carnage, he made a sort of activist eco drama? WTF! I don't care that it's stupid and nothing makes sense, but the fact that the shark only appears properly after an hour and the whole time it's just bullshit activism, Gens shat his bed here. For an hour absolutely nothing happens, I don't understand the focus on the story, which nobody cares about anyway, the characters are completely useless, the whole thing takes itself too seriously, so it's unfortunately an incredible bore, which could have been saved by lightness and gore, but even that is lacking. The final 20 minutes didn't offend me, finally something starts to happen and finally the shark shows up, which is digital, but it's honestly the least of the problems here. Next time please another Frontier(s) instead of not these experiments. A big disappointment, but for the finale and the inoffensive underwater shots, at least two stars. 3/10.

A bit of a disappointment for me, but that's due to the film's premise, which lured in a serial killer who cuts off women's lips, and I was expecting a gritty Hannibal-style murder mystery, and it really didn't. The murders are at most just talked about. I was expecting it gritty, unpleasant, raw and brutal and I found it very light even for the Poles. I didn't care for the final twist. I didn't enjoy it much, didn't like the style the film was going in and it has few attractive scenes. 55%

A psychological, dense, disturbing conversational Thriller that came out of nowhere and is one of the nice surprises much like Last Stop in Yuma County. Unfortunately, I can't say too much about the film, as there's an interesting twist at the 20 minute mark that piles on more twists and turns, and it's a pleasure to see it turn into one of my favorite "horror" themes. I'll give a minor hint though, and it's a bit of a variation on the recent hit The Menu. The film mainly benefits from a mysterious and disturbing atmosphere, a decent script and an interesting location. The clever detective was excellent! It's a shame it doesn't escalate more at the end, as it was slightly encouraged to do so (if it had turned into a slasher, I might have considered the maximum rating). Of course, it's also a bit of a socially relevant satire. Don't find out anything and don't hesitate, it's good !!! 75%

This French historical drama is worth a watch. The men settle their honour by duelling each other with swords or pistols, and the acting is dominated by fencing master Roschdy Zem, who plays a very likeable character. It's got attractive visuals, strong themes like honour, pride and feminism, interesting dueling rules and nicely filmed and intense duels (the fencing is really cool!), and the emotions at the end may work on some people. A decent film on an unconventional subject where thousands of Frenchmen died in tough duels.. 7/10.