Ediebalboa

This will be hard. I'd have no problem recommending The Old Oak to anyone, but my cynical self prevents me from rating it better than slightly above average. Despite the fact that I agree with its basic idea, the problem is the tear-jerking. The film has a number of passages where I can't get past their naivety, and some of the major twists are also handled too haphazardly, such as the dog, saviour of the drowning. Everything then loses credibility from the point of view of the story, and it feels more like a melodrama with elements of a fairytale than today's world in the suburbs of Newcastle, Blackpool, Sunderland and generally all parts of Britain, where all sorts of things are spoken, but don’t expect too much English. The almost exemplarily authentic pub regulars in the film are a beautiful testament to this.

For me, the biggest surprise of this year’s season. A riveting spectacle that is ecstatically overblown, especially in its opening, but it's also bursting with ideas for the rest of its running time and really squeezes the most out of the material within the ossified "biopic" genre. And I'm not a fan of either Luhrmann or Elvis.

Oh, evil capitalism. The multinational Europa has taken it upon itself to appropriate a piece of territory in Albania, and that means only one thing: "Natives, it is time to calm down." Except that Lilith Stangenberg does it with a "human touch". Not a very original theme about all-powerful oppressors and the powerless oppressed, but one that could still work if they had the courage to go more in depth and not try for a mere black and white portrayal. Unfortunately, nothing of the sort comes to pass, as the film's only deepest moments are shots of the ubiquitous raki. Indeed. If there is something to praise about this film, it's its almost documentary-like portrayal of Albanian hospitality, customs and, at the same time, hot-blooded temperament. But don't expect more drama than that created by the natural behaviour of the locals.

After many years, Michael Mann has fulfilled his dream and he does so with honour. But I can't help feeling that if he had taken the time to make it in his golden era in the 1990s, the result would have been much more daring. After all, this film about the fastest cars of its time doesn't exactly pull off the double whammy, surprisingly, especially on the track. As far as the Italian household of Ferrari is concerned, it's two gears better there thanks to the diabolical Penélope Cruz. Outside of the domestic tussle, however, on a comparable budget to the 4-year-old Ford vs Ferrari, Ferrari alone delivers considerably less value in terms of scale, suspense and action (the outlined rivalry with Maserati is just worthy of this bracket). Yes, the Millie Miglia was a completely different motorsport event from Le Mans, but the drama is always created by the racers themselves anyway, andin Mann's rendition they are bland. A great shame given the otherwise historically turbulent development of this race.

Gojira! Gareth Edwards went back to his roots. In his enthusiasm, however, he forgot several circumstances that ultimately bring his Godzilla down. Ironically, it's the human storyline of the film that Gareth apparently didn't care much about and inserted it just to fulfill the standard outline of an American blockbuster. The combination of a bad script, the performances of the actors and the dialogues make you pray for the giant lizard to reappear on the screen. The most charismatic character dies incomprehensibly in the first third without causing any breaking point in the film. In the end, all you have left is the visual aspect, which was heavily promoted in the trailers all along, but that's about it.

Third time’s the best. Rocket's origin, along with an emotionally drained Star-Lord and Gunn's most confident direction yet, brings the Guardians of the Galaxy to adulthood. Well, almost. In the more serious moments, the atmosphere thickens more than ever, but then another joke or the thirtieth song comes along. This exuberant gang stays true to themselves with all the good (mostly), but sometimes some of the bad too. This time, however, I was the least short of perfection.

A year ago it was Spielberg, this year it’s Gibson. Once again, we get a film from the last century, where the director of Braveheart definitely does not disappoint. By the time you land on Okinawa, you're thinking, "Yeah, I've seen this many times before." But then comes the carnage... ugly, harsh, repulsive for some, but for others it's amazingly technical and detailed. On a small battlefield, all hell breaks loose, surpassing in its realism the vast majority of what has ever been seen on the screen. You'll be glad for a master who has a few more miracles up his sleeve, because Hacksaw Ridge is mainly a film about heroism.

Amazingly shot series with the best take on the WWII that you can see. From the moment I met the cast of characters in Episode 1, I cared about all of them, and it stayed that way until the end. And on top of that a wonderful soundtrack, set design, effects, sound. This is how you properly use a generous budget.

Kevin Spacey back in form. Even though his character is rotten through and through, he has such charisma that it doesn't matter in the end. But the others, like his wife Robin Wright and especially the manipulated congressman Corey Stoll, are no less worthy competitors. The start was great, so we can only wait for the next season of politics without gloves. The next season adds to the pace and benefits from being much tighter, you enjoy Underwood the most, and it doesn't even give you as much reason to hate him by his standards. But that just brings me to the third and final season so far. Surprisingly, the plot is again disjointed. We follow the fates of several characters whose decisions sometimes teeter on the edge of what the viewer can bear. It's "rough" entertainment, but I can't shake the impression that it's just a drawn-out prelude to the last stage of Frank's politics....Unfortunately, the last stage hasn't arrived even after 5 seasons. Thanks to Spacey, but mostly because of Netflix's haste, we now have the least dignified ending to a series I can remember. That’s America for you.

The best Iron Maiden concert and the most amazing audience across genres ever at a live show. No one was filming on a smartphone, taking selfies, or chatting with friends during the concert. The audience in Rio created one big singing Mexican wave that knew the entire discography of Iron Maiden by heart, thanks to which even less famous songs like “Sign of the Cross” or “Clansman” stood out. Thanks to the powerful background chorales, these and many other songs took on completely new dimensions compared to their studio versions. The climax was the anthem “Fear of the Dark”, which I still listen to only in this form.