Reviews

"Poor Things" is another peculiar film by the excellent director Yorgos Lanthimos, a kind of Frankenstein of the 21st century that subverts the logic of what is monstrous, exploring the attempt of a soul to remain pure in an impure society. The director had already addressed a similar theme in the film "Dogtooth." The performances are excellent, representing the best moments in the careers of Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo, who play their roles very well here. Another highlight is the construction of retrofuturistic-style settings, full of references, such as metropolises, which blend intentionally simple visual effects with high-quality effects, constantly creating a sense of suspicion.

The photography seeks open and dystopian angles, and the controversial scenes involving sex are not explained but are very well directed. The film starts with a premise in the best science fiction style but traverses various genres, including horror, comedy, romance, and drama, forming a complete work. Despite being far from perfect, in a period of repetitions and little creativity, Yorgos Lanthimos draws inspiration from a little-known book from the 90s to create a timeless film. Rating: 9/10.

"Anatomy of a Fall" is a film of the beaten genre, the courtroom drama with a hint of police drama; however, it seeks to innovate in some aspects but falls short in others. The perspective of creating depth among those involved in the murder is excellent and works, especially in the third act. However, in the first two acts, it feels like we are watching a cold and inconcrete work. That being said, the film features great performances, good direction, a cold and sad photography, and editing that emphasizes the emotional toll of the events and the passage of time. Despite the film being quite repetitive, it doesn't become tiresome. The twists in expectations are good, and the character development works well. However, in its final moments, there is a feeling that something is missing. Overall, the film is good - a different courtroom film that seeks new perspectives but ultimately doesn't manage to be that innovative. Rating: 7/10.

"Saltburn" can be summed up in a single word: "pretentious." The film constantly positions itself as a great work but is nothing more than another movie made for the Oscars that didn't achieve the expected success. However, despite its arrogance, the film has some positive elements, such as its cold and bluish cinematography and excellent framing. The performances of Barry Keoghan and Rosamund Pike are great. At a certain point, the movie reminded me of "Parasite," but much dirtier and more sadistic, which makes me like it a bit for not being afraid of madness. However, at times, I feel it loses its way, affecting the narrative coherence. I don't like its conclusion or its plot; the strengths lie more in the artistic aspect than in the script of a film that has some good aspects but, overall, is a highly pretentious and empty feature.

"Godzilla: Milus One" is a movie that entertained me from the first to the last second. With engaging action and compelling drama, the film stands out as a perfect live-action anime, exciting with good characters and a developing plot. Although I don't consider it the best Godzilla film, "Shin Godzilla" from 2014 is superior, but this one is certainly more vibrant. I like practical effects, but when the film attempts special effects, we notice some flaws. However, this in no way detracts from the experience. Japanese performances, which tend to be a bit exaggerated, hinder a bit, but for those accustomed to Asian cinema, it's easy to handle. The film still finds space to address themes such as family, companionship, abandonment, guilt, and remorse. Rating: 7/10.

"The Flower Moon Killer" may not be Scorsese's best film, but it is certainly one of the best of the year. The director manages to reinvent his directing and scriptwriting methodologies at the age of 80, proving once again his talent in this three-and-a-half-hour film that passes quickly. This is the result of consistently engaging editing and pacing. Even though the villains are introduced early on, the suspenseful atmosphere permeates the entire work, featuring a magnificent soundtrack. The blend of western and noir dictates the pace of the scenes, and the photography is engaging, with beautiful symbolic and metaphysical framing and liberties.

However, the performances don't grab as much attention, despite a star-studded cast including De Niro, who delivers a stellar performance as one of the greatest villains in recent years - this is not a spoiler. The standout is the unknown Lily Gladstone, who gives an outstanding physical performance. Scorsese may not extract everything from his actors in this film, and despite the excellent production design, the film's editing bothers me at times. It seems that even with the three and a half hours, many scenes were left out of the final cut. It's important to emphasize that this pertains to the editing, as the overall assembly is excellent.

"While The Flower Moon Killer" may not rank among Scorsese's top films, it is more than enough to be considered one of the best of the year and potentially sweep the Oscars.

Rating: 8.5/10.

"Oppenheimer" is a complete film, with three hours of little contemplation and a lot of dialogue that intertwine across various narrative lines: past, present, and future. The first standout aspect is the makeup. I was so immersed in the movie that I simply didn't realize that the feature includes actors like Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, and Matt Damon. The actors are immersed in their characters. The cinematography of "Oppenheimer" is incredible, dark, and somber. The film's sound is spectacular, both in terms of mixing and editing. We feel the weight of each scene through sonic exploration, highlighted by a 20-minute sequence about the bomb test that is perfect; much of this is due to the sound quality. Another highlight in the artistic realm is Cillian Murphy's performance. The actor is completely absorbed by his character, which is visible through his performance, although some narrative choices don't explore this as they should. Although I'm not Nolan's biggest fan because his films are usually aesthetically untouchable and in terms of direction, his scripts often struggle to connect with the audience. They're so deep that they become shallow. However, in "Oppenheimer," he manages to narrow this connection. The film could be more audacious at times, especially concerning the visceral consequences of an atomic bomb. Nevertheless, "Oppenheimer" is an almost perfect film, deserving an 8.5 out of 10.

"Barbie": Greta Gerwig's new film manages to be extremely creative and original while, at the same time, a bit generic. The film starts strong with an impeccable introduction referencing "2001: A Space Odyssey," and then transitions to the gigantic dollhouse that is Barbieland. The production design is simply incredible, the use of CGI is imperceptible, the practical effects are great, the costumes are unique, and the makeup and hair contribute to the excellent art direction. The performances are all good, especially those of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, who as Ken manage to steal the scenes several times. The weakest point lies in the script, which hits and misses at every moment. Its execution is good, the story itself works well, even without explaining some details. Nothing comes close to hindering the experience. Greta aims to deliver strong critiques and attempts to remain neutral, but at a specific moment, she forces it too much, causing a disconnection with the viewer. In the following scene, there's a spectacular sequence involving Ken, creating a sensation that his storyline is better. It's not; it's just more entertaining. The only "weak" storyline is that of the human mother-daughter duo and the executives. It's one of the weaker aspects of a good, fun, exciting, and creative film, which falls short of being even better due to stumbling over its details.

"Evil Dead: Rise" takes all the good elements of the franchise and puts everything here in an authorial, unique film that respects the previous ones too much, entertains, scares, and has good touches of humor -although it could have more - we have an opening scene which starts with the classic camera going through the forest, this first scene is in the best panic style, although I don't like it in its entirety, I think this introduction could have been a little more visceral, but its ending is sensational, and it gives a card of presentation. One of the good points of this new film is the development of its characters, something we did not have in the original film, its script presents a linear and effective construction of its characters, and when the madness begins, it makes everything more impactful, the film is courageous , daring, don't hold back on the gore, it's dirty and gross, with dozens of bloodbaths, the action is exciting and the makeup is amazing. This isn't the best Evil Dead for me, but I had a lot of fun! 7.5/10.

"Mario" is, above all, a fun film, which privileges children's audiences, it's true, but we have several scenes for adults as well, full of references and songs from the eighties, we have a phenomenal adaptation, the transition from the game to the movie is functional , sift and manage to work the characters and Mario's world well, the film still manages to be funny and with good original songs, the dubbing work is great, the small script changes in relation to classic game clichés work even well and the villain, Bowser is the best thing about the movie, in addition to excellent secondary characters. "Mario" is a great adventure that rescues the spirit of classic games in a fun way that appeals to children and adults alike. The film was well criticized in the specialized media, don't take that into question, the film was made to have a premise, be fun for young people and adults and take the world of Mario to fight with Sonic, and that he does very well. 7.5/10.

Nothing new on the front" is a film with a sober, thought-provoking and evolutionary narrative construction, the critically acclaimed German film knew how to build the context of the absurdity of a war, worked well on state manipulation to recruit soldiers and conveyed the weight of young Germans from the beginning of the 20th century, and it is not just a good script that the film is made of, the war scenes are frighteningly distressing and well done, the sound of this film is incredible, its hopeless dead photography combines exquisitely with the despair of the trenches and the performances contribute a lot to the film working so well. All nominations are deserved and the meta language surrounding the name is good "nothing new on the front" is literally another war movie and about the horror it provides. 9/10.

"Triangulo Da Tristeza" is a film of three very different acts, there is a good one, a great one and a bad one, despite the divergence in quality between them, we perfectly understand their narrative choices. We begin by being introduced to the couple Yaya and Carl and their everyday misadventures, discussions about femism, which are quite different, are set and we feel the impact of the direction, very naturalistic, exploring their characters, with ironic framing and dry cuts, we feel a very European inspiration in the artistic style of director Rubem Ostuld, it's no wonder given that the director is Swedish, although the work is American. After that we have an irreproachable act, where the criticism turns into a discussion about exploitation and wealth, a criticism that is very well grounded and explained through a perfect acidic humor and always very well put, everything works in these almost an hour, the characters, text, narration and performances, but this spills over into an inevitable deepening of criticism, leading us to the third act, where humor migrates to seriousness, which does not work, and leaves the work monotonous and boring, however, its conclusion is great and saves the feature, managing to perfectly combine humor with social criticism. "Triangulo Da Tristeza" is a roller coaster, or rather, a boat in a harmful storm. 8/10.

"Argentina, 1985" is a film that succeeds in its technical and artistic aspects, although the new work by Darin and Miter lacks something special. The script tells the story of prosecutor Julius Caesar, responsible for mounting a case against the military who commanded Argentina during its bloodthirsty dictatorship. The performances are very good, especially by Darin, his documentary script works very well despite the heavy editing, some scenes, especially the testimonials are touching, cold and visceral - just like his dark photography - they are passages that work well but could be too better utilized. I think that screen time is lost in exchange for scenes that add little, especially in the second act, however, its third act is magnificent, its ending without doves and dry pleases me, it brings a sense of continuity in the battle for truth. "Argentina, 1985" is another beautiful work of Argentine cinema. 7/10.

"The Whale" new film by brilliant director Darren Aronofskyi goes deep into his own cinematic ideas, despite being a story adapted from a play the "Aronofskyikian" elements are there, the psychopathic immersion in something, the analogies and metaphors, the religious criticism and obsession, the latter present in all of his works. And it's easy to understand why the director chose this play to adapt. The first element that catches the eye is Brendan Fraser's performance, he is brilliant, at the same time that he is a suffering and charismatic performance we feel an anger at the character for his lack of combativeness due to guilt, his intonation and body performance are also incredible , another highlight of the performance is that of her friend and carer Liz, played by Hong Chau, who is great in an interpretation of a tough and friendly character, on the other hand, one of the pillars of the story, the young Ellie played by Sadie Sink makes a poorer and weaker performance. The script is very good, all well put together, full of morality and allegories, with dialogues and an almost personal text talking about writing with passion and not with technique, these passages are beautiful and touching, I really like this personality in the text of "A Baleia ". The photography is dark and sad, as is the composition of the dirty, sunless scenery, it is always a depressing and hostile atmosphere, the make-up is a separate element and should arrive strong for the Oscars. Darren Aronofskyi brings harrowing scenes, it seems that we are always breathless watching his film and the protagonist's life being held by a thread. One point that takes me away from the film is the same thing that takes me away from Aronofskyi's previous film, the feature "mother", from 2016, both go too deep in their religious and poetic metaphors in addition to having a slow montage, I didn't like it either the use of the camera and the soundtrack although the sound mix is great. 8/10.

"Puss in Boots 2" is a film that has been a huge success, both with critics and with the audience, and the film is good, with great voiceovers, and cartoonish animation that I like a lot, charismatic characters and great subplots, but if If it weren't for the bold addition of the "Wolf" which in the feature works as a metaphorical representation of death, a representation that actually works very well, the film would be more of a good common animation, like its predecessor, this style of language adds a plus without taking away the fun and entertainment for the kids, I don't leave the cinema impressed but I liked what I saw, and mainly it entertained me, if you're looking for super animation, deep, well dubbed, fun and with impressive features, go see Guilhermo del Toro's Pinocchio because "Puss in Boots 2" is not that movie. Note 7/10.

"All in Everywhere at the Same Time" is a well-acted, well-directed film with very good sound editing and mixing, however, I don't like its marvel-like humor, its criticism seems hollow, its slapstick style is unconvincing and its editing is tiring, the good editing of the film is lost when you use it to excess, and that happens with all the good aspects, after an hour and a half, everything stops working and at a certain point I just disconnected from the work, I thought about everything , except for the movie there in front of me, I don't understand how hype it is and the theaters are so full, it's the same audience that stays in queues for hours to see "ant-man" or any canned food of that kind, and at the end "All in All Place at the Same Time" is a gourmet canned food with good ideas that gradually self-destruct, leaving a giant shell of scraps behind. I like the universe created and I like the performances, but all this doesn't hold back the great tangle of "nothing" that we have here, in which even its great differential, the "humor" is weak, its Oscar competitor, "Inisherin's Banshees" it is a film with a humor that is also present but of an infinitely superior quality and tune. Note 7/10.

"Inisherin's Banshees" is a peculiar dramatic comedy, with a touch of English humor and taking place on the Irish coast of the 1920s. His cinematographic style, a mixture of the Coen brothers and Yorgos Lanthimos. The film is well directed, with bluish photography and a soundtrack that guides the feelings on screen, it gives a certain warmth to the cold composition of the scenery, the script is "strange", we have a weak beginning that begins to deepen in several layers and expose some feelings, mainly loneliness, depression and purpose, but this is diluted in its third act, transforming what we saw into a dispute of egos, could this be a criticism of how shallow human beings are? You can, but I don't buy that idea so well. Artistically, what attracts me the most is not its beautiful centered direction or the beautiful long open plans, but the performances, all the actors are impeccable, with emphasis on Kerry Condon, Brendan Gleeson and Brendan Gleeson. "Inisherin's Banshees" received extremely strong favorable and unfavorable reviews, I don't agree with either side, its melancholy and exaggerated humor attracts me, and combining this with beautiful performances, good direction and an irreproachable authorial touch by the director, they form a set of factors that make me like the film, despite its slow pace. Note 8/10.

"The Fabelmans", Steven Spielberg's new film, is so personal that it is difficult to comment or evaluate, its script is a masterpiece in the construction of characters, all extremely three-dimensional, broken, loving and charismatic, perhaps the construction or events, mainly in the core Sammy's development process can be a little uncomfortable, however, as the facts are based on memories of one of the greatest film directors of all time, it makes mistakes banal and gives the work a magical tone. The direction is calm, contained, with simple plans and great shots, always looking for the emotional side of its characters, the soundtrack is fantastic, the photography changes according to the location of the characters and the pace is good. One of the highlights is the acting, all the characters are fantastic, but Michelle Willians is impeccable, playing an anguished character full of sentimental contraventions, and the actress manages to express all sides of that feeling. 8/10.

"Terrifer 2" is a film of hits and misses, and although the hits are gigantic the mistakes are even bigger, Damien Leone's new feature has incredible makeup and practical effects, the violence in "Terrifer 2" is so daring and absurd that gives a sense of humor to the shots, taking away the disgust and passing tension and adding to this the great characterization and performance of David Howord as "Art", the clown who is born and has everything to be a slacher icon, on the other hand the script it's dark, in the bad sense, the attempt to create links between Art and the final Girl of the story Sienna is so bad that it spoils all the merits here, despite the good scenes, all of them around Art, because the clown is the only narrative that works, they are not enough, everything is so bad that I want to believe that Damien made a saccharistic allegory to the films of the genre to justify his script, however the lack of elements makes me believe that he tried to create something profound and completely failed, Damien Leone is at he is a reasonable director, despite the simple camera shots he knows how to lead and create the scenarios, as a makeup artist Damien is great, incredible, but when it comes time to write the script, it is deplorable, the film could easily be 40 minutes less. 6/10.

"Babilonia", Damien Chazelle's new film, brings many aspects of his short and fantastic career: The love for cinema, the love for music, the grandiose long shots and the daring travellings. Damien tells the story of 4 characters with an important historical contribution to cinema, despite the 4 characters being charismatic and engaging, not all of them have a complete development arc, because despite the more than 3 hours of film, the daring shots, sequences and choreography magnificent images take a good amount of screen time, which makes the 3 hours fly by but reduces the screen presence of the 4 main cores. The script, with touches of "La La Land", talks about love, ambition, legacy and overcoming obstacles and presents some great subtexts, mainly those involving the character Jack Cornad, played spectacularly by Brad Pitt, even if the nucleus with more development and time of screen is the duo Nellie LaRoy and Manny Torres, which has a troubled second act but has a beautiful final outcome. As already mentioned, Chazelle brings many narrative resources from her most successful film. "La La Land" that doesn't work very well here, on the other hand, it comes with its strong musical side, combining a chaotic choreography that works perfectly, and talks with the maddening narratives that will follow, always exploring the excess of drugs, glamor , sex and booze of classic Hollywood. Another cool point, Chazelle makes cinema one of the characters in her feature film, all her changes, developments and evolutions from the 20s to the 30s are very well guided. The script contains good speeches and monologues and travels through the intricacies of the madness of being at the center of the development of a gigantic art that was still less than 40 years old, the deaths, production problems and gigantic constructions of sets are presented, and they are beautiful , Chazelle made the narrative of her film crazy with organization, something that does not seem to have a clear focus, this is due to the point of view that her film narrates, something that goes beyond great producers and great actors, we have a narrative about legacy and love that will be perpetuated, not necessarily because of this film, but because of hundreds of thousands of films that come out and move so many people, and its apotheotic and controversial ending references this. "Babilonia" is far from being a perfect film, its direction, despite being grand, has transition problems, its script lacks a bit of depth in some points, such as in the center of Sidney, but we have one more proof of the cinematographic potential which Chazelle is directed, a film with great performances, an uncontrollable and immersive direction and a script with ups and downs. 8.5/10.

"Shin Gojira" It is the best film of the franchise that I have ever watched - although I have not watched all of them - the Japanese response to the American Godzilla of 2014 is very good, although the Hollywood version is reasonable, the Japanese care for the character is impeccable, perhaps "Shin Gojira" is not such a good movie, but I went with such low expectations and was so surprised that it made my perception of the feature increase. The script seeks to deal with the international politics behind the appearance of a giant monster, all the characters have their own personality and their envy, pride and ambitions are visible in moments of fragility, in addition the script manages to treat with great subtlety and dexterity one of the reasons for creating the franchise, the eastern fear of the atomic bomb and its consequences, in addition, even a good questioning about environmental issues is mentioned, bringing Godzilla to our time. All these texts are within the work, not all of them are deep and nuanced, but they are there, they are intriguing and they work well. The special effects are not good, they are very low, just like the practical effects, they don't work so well, even giving a kind of trashy look to the feature, however, the art direction regarding the look of Godzilla is very good, its primitive versions with bulging eyes increases the feeling of trash and terror at the same time, I really liked the look of it in all evolutions. 7/10.

"Pinocchio" is by far one of the best animations of recent years, I went to watch the film full of optimism, since the whole project was led by Del Toro, who is a director who makes few mistakes and manages to express many meanings and sentimentality of stories more "Macabras", in addition to always valuing an incredible visual aspect of his works, and this is no different, speaking first of the animation, that is amazing for car#l#o, it doesn't even look like stop motion, it took 14 years of montage and animation, and you can feel the passion of those involved in the final result, in addition to the incredible animation, we have the visuals, which are not cute or in Disney molds, quite the contrary, here we have very real elements, and as we are dealing with an extremely violent and traumatic part of human history, with wars, deaths, oppression and famine, the whole look contributes to this more "sad" atmosphere, otherwise the film has a good pinch of black humor and satires of fascist Italy. But one of the great merits is given in the script, Pinocchio is a film about accepting death, the discussion of whether or not to be a real boy takes place in the acceptance of human frailty, we are all going to die, and that is what makes us human, is it? Pinocchio talks about this idea. Pinocchio reminded me of another film by Del Torno, the great "Pan's Labyrinth", which in my opinion is still the best film by the Mexican director, a cold and brutal film with a slightly lighter outfit, great film, great story , great animation. 9.5/10.

"Shutter Island" is a film that seeks to involve the viewer, and it succeeds, with an incredible artistic direction, an instigating script and a great driving, despite being long, the film does not tire, Martin Scorsese is a brilliant director, in fact, however in this film he makes some narrative choices - mainly in the final act - that I don't like, but it's something of the time, very influenced by guys like Nolan and M. Night Shyamalan, although Scorsese and his work are much bigger than both. The artistic direction and script is great, but the outcome is predictable. Mark Ruffalo is as usual, a dull, apathetic character, Leonardo DiCaprio, on the other hand, is very good. The film as a whole is not purely horror, Scorsese transits through several genres: Suspense, Horror, Police, Adventure, etc. GRADE 8/10.

"Kick-Ass" is in my opinion the best film of the superhero genre of cinema, not that the film is a work of art, but it brings together what a good film of the genre needs: fun, action, development, humor and the classic hero's arc. "Kick-Ass" still has the merit of bringing together a unique tragicomic realism, just before Marvel turned the genre into a joke with dozens of equal films, "Kick-Ass" has its own personality, is authorial and is f#d# , the effects may not have aged very well, but its humor still works, its characters still intrigue, the plot is engaging and the action is great, the soundtrack together with the art direction are impeccable and the absurd and cartoonish details of the work are the icing on the cake, "Kick-Ass" is a film that will remain unique for another 10, 20 years as it is a perfect portrait of a time in cinema, where the besteirol meets the hero genre, where originality and creativity still had a little space in this niche, it is worth remembering that the film has two versions, the censored and the uncensored, I strongly recommend the uncensored, because the black humor is high and the dystopia between realism and the absurd work much better. 8.5/10.

"The bar with the golden glove", German film about a serial killer who acted in Hamburg during the 70's, is a harrowing, disgusting and depraved feature, but manages to convey with praise all the depression of an industrial Germany rebuilding itself after the end of the second world war, the setting is incredible, gray and dirty photography, filthy and maximalist environments, phenomenal supporting cast, the director manages to give a background to all the characters in seconds of screen, even those who do not interact with the main plot , this is sensational and combines with the perfect use of the soundtrack with songs about mourning but yearning for hope, but all this ambiance would be lost if the story of Honka - the serial killer - was bad, even though the main plot is very well-told, the film, despite not presenting a graphic gore, shocks due to its contextualization, with the sexual, psychological, physical and moral abuse in addition to the deepening of Honka's mental degradation, which is a per films with nervous lapses and a constant rage against women, director Fatih Akin has some great merits, such as showing an out-of-control, dumb, dirty and cowardly psychopath, very different from what is usually shown in big productions, Honka's cowardice is explored in small details, such as the character's constant fear of male figures, raising his voice and being tough only with women. The performance of the protagonist and the entire supporting cast is very good, the actor explores the physiognomy well and uses a strong body performance. Note 8/10.