J*A*S*M

Feel good, yet feel sad. Alexander Payne delivers one of the best films of the year, and he only needed relatively little to do so: a sensitively written script and some good actors. Ordinary, yet beautiful. I like big, unique and original concepts in movies, but sometimes "a little" is more than "a lot". This conniving little man ambushed me and managed to win me over.

This year, it seems to me that perhaps all the films around which there is general hype seem to be slightly above average at best, and Japan's Godzilla -1.0 is another one of those. As long as it deals with the intimate fates of individuals in post-war Japan and the lizard is only seen in waves, it's fine. Once the lizard makes landfall, the Japanese get a chance to use their over-the-top acting, and the characters start hatching crazy plans, but it in the end it turns that the lizard is enough (... well, you'll see), so it goes down the tubes, at least for me. I can appreciate how it looks given its budget, but I can't enjoy it authentically.

A solid, if not particularly distinctive, horror thriller, which initially manages to arouse curiosity as to where it will all go. The ending is OK, and while I recall a similar motif from other films, it's not that common. What's not OK, however, is the last fifteen minutes or so, in which it all goes so fast-paced and illogical as to be ridiculous.

The Golden Globes nomination in the "comedy/musical" category is a good joke. There is barely a trace amount of humor in Todd Haynes's latest; many viewers won't notice it at all, I'd guess. Either way, this is a superbly executed and imagined film about broken people and their broken relationships. Watching it, I was left with a sense of anxiety and nervousness resulting from the insincerity and nonstop pretense of virtually all the characters. It was debilitating and uncomfortable. Yet, paradoxically, it moves along briskly and is not heavy-handed art.

The monastery is haunted! Not again. I can't seem to get into these nun horror movies. From the first to the last minute of Sister Death, I felt like I'd seen it all several times before, and Paco Plaza unfortunately couldn't mold it into any more vivid shape and give the film any personality. Watchable, forgettable.

“The best film of the year with a perfect and original idea and great acting by Nicolas Cage. The dictionary definition of an A24 film, a well-directed piece with impeccable comedic timing, but one that can also strike a darker chord," that’s what I would have written if they hadn't strangely switched gears in the final fifteen minutes – after the school play scene – and the film hadn't fizzled out. It's a shame and I can't quite explain it, the ending really feels like Borgli ran out of time and didn't manage to write and film the climax the rest of the film deserved. Still, I'll burn a five star rating, I've been rather stingy with them this year and Dream Scenario towers high above the usual surrounding stuff despite the stumble. PS: Kristoffer Borgli is the discovery of the year for me – I recommend his previous film Sick of Myself, which is also about a man who craves attention, and in a bizarre way gets it.

I'm quite surprised at the warm reception Thanksgiving has received from both audiences and critics in particular. In my opinion, it doesn't really break out of the horror slasher average. It does have two very nice sequences – the opening massacre at the mall and the final celebratory dinner – but otherwise it's standard fare without any style of its own, likeable characters or, heaven forbid, a script that's interesting in any way. The slasher of the year remains the more playful Seminar.

Zack Snyder used to be a director whose films I alternately rated very high or very low until about 2013, but in the last decade or so my acceptance of his films has settled more on the lower star numbers, with Rebel Moon clearly being the culmination of that trend. It basically can't go any lower than that, everything here is wrong except that it roughly keeps the technical parameters of a Hollywood blockbuster. Good luck trying to build a new cinematic universe around this shit, because I can't imagine who will realistically care about these characters and their world.

The second films of directors who pick up Oscar awards and nominations for their debuts are always eagerly anticipated, and in the case of Emerald Fennell, many people may be unpleasantly shocked to learn that Saltburn is essentially rubbish. A degenerate travesty with lifeless characters whose behaviour bears little resemblance to reality, but with plenty of at-first-signal provocative scenes. Does that bother you? Not at all. Because we don't often see junk this fancy and formally dressed up. One of the most stylish films of the year, but on the other hand, I imagine that if I watched it in a different mood, it might annoy me quite intensely.

Hot mess, but I love it. It sucked me in at the beginning and didn't let go until the last scene, any "rational" complaints are forgotten.