EvilPhoEniX

Okay, strong stuff giving a clear message against bullying!! The Koreans have once again stepped up and made quite possibly the best series on the subject of education and bullying, and as the 90% here says, it's well deserved. After all, the series is also garnering praise around the world (8.5 o IMDB, quite possibly the highest rated Korean series in years). The main character is an intelligent and quiet boy, a bit of a typical nerd, who is the target of bullying by his classmates, but thanks to his intelligence he has a chance to overpower them. (in the opening episodes the main character acts like Sherlock Holmes, who intelligently maps out his surroundings and the situation and tries to solve it). That was great! He also makes friends with the local school dude who does MMA, but at the same time he's not an asshole (he's quite possibly the best character of the show, who wins the viewer over with his character and his fighting skills). The series doesn't just take place in the school, it also deals with problems outside the school (getting involved with the local drug dealer etc). The big win is the unpredictability, somewhere in episode 4 I had no idea what direction the series was going to take. The quality and sharp fighting, the strong story of friendship and betrayal, and the final episodes tug at the emotions so much that no face is left dry. It's catchy, gritty, funny, emotional, all the quality ingredients come together here in a quality cocktail of a series. Recommended. 90%

I don't see any major differences in the direction and I don't trust Wes Ball much, but for me it's another sheer blockbuster spectacle that meets the highest criteria, it's setting itself up for another excellent Trilogy (there aren't many of those in the works right now) and it will definitely be in the top 5 among blockbusters this year. Plot-wise, I like it better, the apes are in control and the humans will gradually fight to take over. The new hero Noah is likable, Freya Allan is adorable and acts great (another female star looms here), Proximus is a solid villain, visually it's a VFX gem! The action scenes have drive, tension, emotion and a thick atmosphere, in fact I was almost breathless during every scene, it's that gripping (the home invasion one was almost horror) and the whole grand finale has the necessary gusto. 100% immersion in the story with a world that still has something to offer. 85%

With the title Baby Reindeer and the genre classification drama-biopic, I can't think of anything less attractive than this at the moment. I gave it an immediate pass as it sounded like a series version of Father or Nomadland. No thanks! But this is so fucking deceptive. This ain't no talky drama for intellectual fuckers, I'm adding tags here immediately! stalking thriller, true crime, and adjectives like over-the-top, twisted, unreal, compulsive, emotional, depressing, challenging, uncomfortable, traumatic, disturbing, and emotional Psychological carnage!!!! Sounds and looks more interesting now doesn't it? It's based on true events and it's unbelievable what kind of hell the main character goes through and that he can't really do anything about it. He really only meets strange people in his life. On the one hand, he's a poor guy, on the other hand, some things are his own fault. The highlight for me was episode 4, experimenting with different drugs and being abused by a guy! The final speech on stage about his life in front of everyone had power and depth. You just don't want to experience that. The big surprise of the year that came where I definitely didn't expect it. I'm raising the score at the end because this will resonate in me for a while. 85%.

South Korea at its BEST! Korea has mastered most of the film subgenres on a world level, only with horror it's not quite the top yet, but for me this is probably the best Korean horror I've ever seen (sure top 10 this year!). It's a film that wins the viewer over right from the start, it downright grabs you by the balls and doesn't let go, it's very important to get the viewers attention very early on and not lose it once throughout the film. Exhuma has a very original premise. A very wealthy family is plagued by a series of paranormal phenomena and they call in two experienced shamans to help them. They discover that the curse can be broken by moving their ancestor's grave, and they enlist the help of a seasoned Korean veteran, Min-sik Choi, the ultimate expert at the job. But from the start, something doesn't sit right with him. The ground is cursed, foxes are swarming everywhere, the smell of death is in the air, and as it turns out digging up the old coffin will have fatal consequences. It is a genre masterpiece in terms of direction and execution, indeed the whole film looks magnificent, it has very good dialogue, great acting, a well thought out plot with no shortage of interesting twists and turns, in short a very ambitious spectacle that is certainly not common in horror films. What rises from the grave is downright AWESOME!!! (One of the best villains in horror in a long time!). The connection to Japanese history is simply magnificent. Surprisingly, the film is also very well paced, it goes from one atmospherically scary scene to another, the whole thing is spiced up with Korean folklore, local curses, mysticism and rituals (the ritual with the pigs was really amazing), I read that they called in real shamans to make the ritual as authentic as possible!! An unbelievable blast, which sweeps you away with visuals, atmosphere, plot, twists, actors and the concept. I enjoyed it immensely. 9/10.

Sébastien Vaniček and his instant ticket to the A-Horror League. I'm gonna go give out prizes, because this is where history is made. So Vaniček made a dream debut (right on the lines of the recent successful debutants like Robert Eggers, Jordan Peele, Ari Aster, Zach Cregger), the best spider horror film of all time (it's quite funny that the previous king is already 30 years, Arachnophobia), kicked off this year's French wave and at the same time made the best horror film of the year – no one could ask for a better way to start. Whether Infested will be dethroned by the new Alien or Nosferatu at the end of the year is another matter, but until then it can enjoy the pedestal merrily. And now for the film. After a long time, I experienced very uncomfortable feelings with horror, and since ghosts and demons don't do anything to me, spiders as a real evil definitely had an effect. The housing estates of the French ghetto evokes an interesting atmosphere in itself, you don’t get to really form much of a relationship with the characters but that didn't bother me. The craftsmanship is excellent and once it gets going, it really is a spider atmospheric hell crammed with jump-scares like Sam Raimi's Drag me to Hell, and I twitched along decently (I also praise the aptly chosen musical score!). Admittedly, it got more intense as the spiders got smaller, but even the big ones had something going for them – that's where the CGI came in handy. It's a bit marred by the ending, I was expecting a bigger carnage, the mass battle spiders vs cops was over too quickly for my taste, and the whole thing ends quite hastily – I could have easily managed 20 minutes more – but these are minor flaws in the beauty of a film that is born once every three decades. Anyone who doesn't appreciate that is an arrogant scumbag and an enemy of the state and me. 9/10.

Another big series surprise this year, which escalates in the end in such a way that I almost had a heart attack. The series has a very interesting story about a young teenage girl who involuntarily inherits an illegal gun shop from her dead uncle, where only a select breed of people (assassins, cleaners, etc) are allowed to do business, and a bounty is put on her head, i.e. all the shop customers go after her, and it's an action-packed home invasion as fuck. I was a little worried about how a series set in one house being attacked by a bunch of nutters would work, but luckily it works and it ended up being a little different too. It has a very unconventional narrative that creates plot twists through flashbacks, and we learn more about the protagonist and the other characters – some of the twists are cool and it's definitely a well thought out show. MInhye is excellent as a female assassin who protects the young teen (btw the teen knows muay thai and guns so she also lends a hand). After the first five episodes I was happy with an above average series, but from episode 6 onwards it's pure carnage! Episodes 6 and 7 are pure flashbacks where we learn the background about the deceased uncle, who was a mercenary, and that was a real action packed massacre. It also introduces the main villain, a cruel ruthless bastard who kills innocents for pleasure (I haven't seen a bigger motherfucker in a long time!). I was screaming with happiness and excitement and thinking that if the whole series was just about him, he'd probably drive me away fast. The finale is another decent action-packed load that closes all the necessary loops, serving up uncompromising action and twists and turns and making the series the action event of the year. The choreography is top notch, it's exactly the rough, fast, brutal and contact style that I love from South Korea and, most importantly, everyone pulls out a knife, so there are at least five knife fights that deserve a spot on YouTube! Any lover of action, great stories and most of all Korean work can't miss this. Awesome! 8.5/10.

Flashback with mercenaries. Now that was something!! The spectacle of Ulta the evil cold and ruthless bastard killing innocents for fun, plus one of the best knife duels I've seen. !!!I had a good time. 100%

The best religious horror ever, the best prequel ever, and without question the best mainstream horror genre stuff of the year. It was beginning to look like all horror movies with nuns were doomed, as few have managed to climb to at least above average, but this prequel to The Omen is a flash in the pan that is, above all else, also a great film rather than just a run-of-the-mill horror movie. It's got a wonderful period setting in 70's Rome. The setting is really very crucial to the whole film, great craftsmanship, amazing music, perfect acting – Nell Tiger Free is a great discovery, she is amazing, and the scene with the awakening of the demon in her body is downright Oscar-worthy. I enjoyed the plot, which is well thought out, the twists work, where the crucial one is quite shocking. It has a great dark atmosphere and steamy horror sequences. The triple suicide- jump-burn-hanging is perfection. There are two very unpleasant car crashes, one disgustingly creepy vision of a mutilated nun, two insane births that almost earned the film an NC-17 rating, well a blast that made me very happy. Uncomfortable feelings about horror for the first time in a while. Mission accomplished baby. 85%.

I'm not a gamer, but this is a post-apocalyptic gem with the works. I love in this genre and I devoured the whole thing in one breath. A nuclear apocalypse breaks out on earth and the survivors live in fallout bunkers called Vaults, because on the surface there is radiation, bandits, ghouls and mutants. The main character played by Ella Purnell with her big eyes is cute and very likeable, even though she is no action machine. The action is mostly handled by the excellent Walton Goggins, who plays the Ghoul and is the best character in the series, even though he is an anti-hero. He has great lines, he's uncompromising in action and all the scenes with him are among the best (even the flashbacks). I also enjoyed Maximus, even though it annoyed me that he runs half the series without that awesome Warhammer armor. The action is nicely brutal and stylish, although in the second half of the series there's a lot less of it than I would have liked and we only get two animal mutants, which is a shame, but it's all made up for by a great story packed with twists and turns, atmosphere, mystery and suspense. The Vault scenes reminded me a lot of Silo. The series has great pacing, it never slips into the kind of plodding drama that The Last of Us slid into. This is just lighter and crazier as well as just twisted enough, I enjoyed exploring that world and some dialogue about the destruction of the end of the world gave me a decent chill. There was also a more action-packed finale, so I'm satisfied. I was also a little disappointed that we didn't get to learn much from the Brotherhood faction, but they seemed very interesting. I want Season 2 now! It grabbed me by the balls properly. It's only April and already you could put together a top 10 series list, there hasn't been a series this strong in 10 years. 9/10.

Beautiful. The first proper action flick of the year from the inexperienced Dev Patel, who shines both in acting and directing, and to come up with such a great debut in this day and age, takes my appreciation and compliments. Even if the 5 stars aren't entirely pure, I'll happily give them to Monkey Man, this is after all my favourite genre and a film I'll happily watch with friends again, so why not! At its core, Monkey Man is a classic revenge actioner, but thanks to the Indian realities and culture, it has a very different vibe and actually feels very fresh. I loved the contrast where one scene is slums and utter poverty and squalor and the next is skyscrapers with rich scumbags doing coke instead of shots and banging Miss World. There are only three action scenes, but they are nice and long. The first lasts at least 20 minutes, it’s where Dev Patel doesn't know how to fight that much yet, so he gets a decent ass kicking too. Halfway through, the film switches a bit into spiritual Indian mode, where Patel gets a workout and they nicely show India from a different direction, so that we can then get a look at the Ring, this is where the film is most reminiscent of the Ong-bak, and it’s all wrapped up with an ultra brutal long finale that combines both John Wick and The Raid. The finale is again long, pleasingly brutal, with great cinematography (Patel nicely switches camera angles: bird's eye view, first person camera, close up and distance), and I like that the film has virtually no shooting but relies on melee weapons, and I liked the innovative element of rocket firecrackers!! The Indian assassins at the end were a delight, they were pretty damn cool, and the ultimate boss fight was a nice cherry on top. I had a great time, visually properly dirty and brutal, the action scenes are polished, Patel has charisma to spare and, as I mentioned, the Indian culture suits the film very well. It could have had a little more gore, there's less of it than I wanted in the end, but I'll rise above that. 85%