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Elvis (2022)
You ain't nothin' but a hound dog
Hair pulled back with a slicked curl that falls casually into his face, splendid costumes, a divine voice and a hip swing that makes women forget themselves by the dozen. The King of Rock 'n' Roll is finally getting his first feature film of his own, directed by none other than Baz Luhrmann, who is making his first film in almost ten years and who has already proven in the past how to pull off a really big show on the big screen. The hopes are high, the expectations are low, the result is somewhat disappointing. In two hours and 40 minutes, Luhrmann does not manage to get to the heart of what he wants to tell us at all - whether this is supposed to be a biopic, a homage or even a shrewd film about a sleazy manager who knows how to make his own fortune. Instead of a clear concept, there is a plot that just barely follows a thread of the artist's vita and yet doesn't allow any deeper insights into the person Elvis was.
Also instead of a musical explosion that could bring future generations closer to the musical legend he was, we only experience in a few of Austin Butler's stage moments the brute force that this film could have unleashed. The fixation of the plot on the Coronel (indirectly Tom Hanks) does the movie no favours either.
Jungle Cruise (2021)
Cruising into commerciality.
It is nothing new that Disney likes to recycle itself again and again. So Collett-Serra serves us another theme park attraction movie that repeats the familiar formula of action, humour and romance. Sure, Jungle Cruise is "entertaining", but the lack of originality grows boring. It's all been seen elsewhere and better. We basically get the fan-fiction version a la Pirates of the Caribbean films with a slightly different makeover. Or, to put it more wickedly, a moldy Indiana Jones knock-off. Despite millions of dollars worth of special effects in virtually every scene, the film fails to work any real cinematic magic. This isn't even annoying, it just doesn't matter at all. Movie making at its safest, laziest and most unimaginative.
Les misérables (2019)
Supreme
Partly inspired by the Paris riots (back in 2005), first-time long film director Ladj Ly delivers a supremely confident debut with "Les Misérables." An impressive snapshot of the racist and economic evils of the banlieue hood, it becomes a savage indictment of neglectful public policy and underhanded police brutality. Told as an intensely crackling thriller encountering a social study in the style of "The Wire." This may not be new thematically, but how the filmmaker heats the violent atmosphere to a boiling point is unfathomably intense in its urgency and its sense of authenticity. The movie culminates in a crisp final sequence that leaves the viewer to decide whether sanity, hope, or just angry desolation still exists in this already pressurized boiling pot.
The Predator (2018)
Verging on imbecility
The coffin nail for a Hollywood icon. The Predator is the unworthy sequel to an action classic that has rightly failed critics and the box office.
From Paris with Love (2010)
Not very compelling
Entertaining, completely senseless Buddy-Movie, which represents a reactionary, politically completely incorrect conception of humankind, but can convince in places with good action. Dull dialogues, a pale Jonathan Rhys-Meyer and logic holes lower the rating.