EvilPhoEniX

Guy Ritchie and his war movie The Covenant! Anyone who likes these modern Afghan war dramas will not be disappointed here. It may not surpass it's related brethren in terms of genre, but it maintains a similar high standard of craftsmanship and that's the most important thing. The first half hour is slower, but then it picks up decently with a cool action sequence involving a Taliban ambush, culminating in an uncompromising survival drama with two great actors – Jake Gyllenhaal and Dar Salim (great chemistry, fatality, manly words). It is a very suspenseful sequence with a thumping soundtrack where the viewer is slowly left breathless. The second half is a little different, but definitely not bad. Gyllenhaal shows off his acting skills to the max, and even though the action drops, it's still a very engaging and high quality film that culminates in another action intensive finale on a bridge. There's not much to fault the film, there's simply everything you'd expect from an proper and well made modern actioner. Admittedly I don't quite have the urge to see The Covenant again straight away as I did with 13 Hours of Benghazi or Lone Survivor, for example, which I have a notch above. But this one too is a great flick that shouldn't offend anyone. Ritchie is awesome and an expert on macho movies. Leave the women in the kitchen and The Covenant with a beer won’t disappoint. 8/10.

The brilliant German director Fatih Akin (In the Fade, The Golden Glove) has made an epic gangster magnum opus about the famous rapper Xatar. The film immediately draws the audience into the plot as it begins in the Middle East, with imprisonment, torture, a birth in a cave, bombings, murder at an opera house, and the family's escape from Iraq to Europe. The first half hour is definitely intense, but the following developments don't lag. We watch little Giwar Hajabi grow up, become a small-time pot dealer, and when he gets his ass kicked by a local child gang, he decides to take revenge on them. He finds the biggest guy at the gym, asks to workout with him, and soon becomes the biggest dude in town, picking off the scumbags one by one and giving them a nice thrashing. A nicely conceived biographical gangster drama from zero to peak, just the way I like it. Jesse Albert gives a very convincing performance – the badass role suits him. There are some decently intense and raw scenes and the gold heist is really suspenseful and incredibly paced. The ending even moved me to tears, and overall the film is fast-paced and incredibly entertaining. I haven't been this hooked that I didn't notice my surroundings for a while and that's how I know a good film. 8.5/10

Netflix and the Poles serve up a gritty female revenge flick. The main character Nina is a former Spec Ops agent who must use her skills to rescue her kidnapped son, whom she never knew, and she will have to fight her way through the Polish gangster underworld alone. The story is nothing original, this theme is quite common, but the Poles have taken it up a notch. Form clearly wins over content. Agnieszka Grochowska plays the role of the tough agent very believably, all in one cool expression, and I believed her in the one-on-one fights as well and that is very important. Technically, the film is on par, with good music, great action, attractive camera raids and great use of the environment. Occasionally the director helped himself with some interesting slow motion and overall I found it very playful and pleasantly brutal, which does the trick. I have to praise the villains too. The skinhead leader in particular was a proper nutter, and the whole thing has a relentless pace. For me, a cool action one-shot that kept my attention and since I wasn't expecting much, I'm happy to round up. 7/10.

A feel-good sporty retro genre film with a good cast, great music, a clever script and a fun pace, which reminded me of Moneyball. The story may seem uninteresting at first glance, but it's simply an engaging and enjoyable flick from start to finish, with occasional humour. Nike did the best it could with this decision. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are excellent. 8/10.

After the disappointing 9, it's a return to the better parts of the franchise, thanks to the new actors on the scene. It's once again decent silly fun that entertains with over-the-top action, great actors, a fine soundtrack, apt humour, decent fights and surprising twists. Jason Momoa, who has been plotting revenge on Torret for years, comes in and he is the biggest asset of the 10th episode. Momoa is an incredible overacting madman who entertains, surprises and shocks with his eccentric performance. He is the best villain in the franchise and makes the film worth watching. I was also pleased with the likable Brie Larson and especially Alan Ritchson (Reacher!), another big thunderer on the scene, a bit of a replacement for The Rock. I was surprised that there aren't as many outright epic stunt set-pieces, but on the other hand there are plenty of physical fights, which is my favourite, and I enjoyed plenty of those (Statham rules!!). There is some dodgy CGI, but that's forgivable. The whole thing is fast paced and entertaining, the soundtrack is decent and Roman doesn't disappoint with the humour. There's a twist at the end and it's quite lethal. So the finale will be decently tense and I'm curious if there will be a new cast. For me, a fine popcorn blockbuster, perfect for a date night. 7/10.

An honest, bleak, chilling and awesome crime drama/thriller with a touch of the 80s from the director of Wild Tales. Awesome acting! Shailene Woodley plays a likeable, determined and intelligent policewoman recruited by FBI Commander Ben Mendelsohn, who literally shines! He steals all the scenes for himself with his acting and great dialogue and is a joy to watch and listen to. From the opening minutes, the film won me over to its side. It takes place during New Year's Eve in Baltimore, where the main villain starts killing random people with a sniper rifle and starts a decent chaos in the streets, followed by a pretty intense and atmospherically dense FBI manhunt, that made me feel that this is what honest police work is supposed to look like. We follow the two protagonists as they try to catch the main scumbag, practically never leaving the screen, and I liked that. No unnecessary side characters, no extra filler and plot lines, just honest investigative work by smart cops who step by step build a profile of the main enemy. The killer also has an interesting background from his childhood (anyone who has peeked at serial killers knows that most are driven by some sort of childhood trauma), and he has army skills, so this is no Dahmer, but more like a deranged Breivik chasing a body-count! The film also has a decent pace, it holds the audience's attention well, it's atmospherically dense and has some action (a shootout in a mall!), people scream a lot and I have very positive feelings about it. I haven't seen a better crime film in a while. 8/10.

Paul Urkijo Alijo, the director of the fairy tale hell horror Errementari, now comes up with a dark fantasy tale that draws on Basque folklore and has the feel of fantasy films from the 1980s, and is definitely magical and unconventional. The film is set in the year 778, in a mythical and world with fantasy creatures like water sprite a a cyclops, Christians and Muslims, a lost treasure, beautiful forests and nature, engaging music, practical effects and interesting characters. A nice film to watch, but I think the potential of that world was greater, there could have been more of the creatures and it could have been more brutal and darker. The best scene is in the cave with the cyclops, which looks properly creepy, and the atmosphere there could be chopped up. The opening medieval joust with the knights is also interesting – even if it had some weird editing. I was expecting a more epic finale. It's definitely an interesting and unusual film that has its charms and is worth seeing, but I can't shake the feeling that it could have been better. 6/10.

Finally, a great film from South Korea, quite close to the Amsal in its period setting. These spy movies are about 50/50 for me, but Phantom is definitely one of the more successful additions. The first half could also be described as a Korean variation on Knives Out. Set in 1933 during the Japanese colonization era, the film tells the story of five suspects who are isolated in a hotel where one of them is a mysterious “Phantom” spy. Interrogation, distrust, fights, torture, betrayal and surprise. The film has excellent visuals to fall back on, technically Phantom is really polished, all the characters are interesting, properly mysterious and well acted. The biggest star is Kjong-gu Sol, but I've seen the rest of the cast elsewhere. The atmosphere is also good, there’s plenty of suspense and once the spy's identity is revealed it's one big ride and fight for life, with no shootouts spared. There could have been more action and it is not the pillar of the film, but it is still an engaging and well made movie with an engaging story that manages to surprise and not get boring. 8/10.

A laid-back gangster comedy about how an ordinary woman becomes the head of a mafia family from one day to the next. Funny, well acted and swingingly Italian. However, the action is mediocre and it doesn't excel on any level, unfortunately, but it doesn't offend. Pure average.

I wasn't too impressed with the original either, but I found this one a bit more digestible thanks to Tom Hanks. It's still just a drama though, nothing more, and I'm certainly not going to root for them and give them plus points for nothing either. The occasional humor is fine, but there's little of it, the pacing is slower, and the whole thing just flows along without much interest or enjoyment on the part of the viewer. The most interesting scene for me was the gentleman's fall onto the tracks. Some people are warmed by this, others by Gore!! :)