Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)

A young woman tries to reintegrate into normality after escaping from a dangerous cult.

'Martha Marcy May Marlene' is a psychological drama film. Elizabeth Olsen is magnetic and carries a difficult role easily and brilliantly. It is not an easy viewing, but it is intense and hard to ignore.

Director:  Sean Durkin    

With: Elizabeth Olsen, Sarah Paulson, John Hawkes, Christopher Abbott, Hugh Dancy, Julia Garner

Rating: 8.4/10

Devil in Ohio (2022)

A psychiatrist treats a young woman who escaped from a cult.

"Devil in Ohio" is a dramatic miniseries, peppered with a bit of thriller. It has a weak script, too washed up for 8 long episodes.

Director:  Steven A. Adelson and others  

Production:  Netflix  

Creator:  Daria Polatin   

Duration:  one miniseries of 8 episodes (6 hours in total)   

With: Emily Deschanel, Sam Jaeger, Gerardo Celasco, Madeleine Arthur

Rating: 6/10

Madres paralelas /Parallel mothers (2021)

Two mothers in different stages of life give birth on the same day and create an unconventional bond.

'Madres paralelas' is a dramatic film by Almodóvar. It's full of human interactions and rich dialogue and some unconventional elements like all of his films, but it remains mostly uninspired and too much like Hallmark movies or the like.

Director: Pedro Almodóvar    

With: Penélope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón

Rating: 7/10

Shiva Baby (2020)

A young woman attends a gathering with her parents after a funeral, where she meets the guy who pays her for intimate services and her ex-girlfriend.

'Shiva Baby' is a psychological drag-comedy. It focuses on Danielle and her palpable panic and her many contradictory feelings that envelop her in a situation with impossible coincidences, in which the control she desperately needed is turned upside down. Very well played.

Director:  Emma Seligman    

With: Rachel Sennott, Danny Deferrari, Fred Melamed, Polly Draper, Dianna Agron, Molly Gordon

Rating: 8/10

Cold In July (2014)

A family man accidentally kills a thief caught in the act, and the event takes him down unexpected paths.

'Cold In July' is a thriller that does not follow the expected steps of the genre. It starts almost mundane and predictable, but things change in an extremel way long before the halfway point of the film. Well made and well carried by a trio of interestingly chosen actors, with Sam Shepard in one of the last captivating roles before leaving this world too early.

Director:  Jim Mickle   

With: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don Johnson, Vinessa Shaw

Rating: 8.4/10

The Skeptic (2009)

A skeptic who does not believe in the supernatural inherits a haunted house.

'The Skeptic' is a light horror film with classic ideas. It has an interesting cast, a central story that has traction, but does not rise much above a mediocre level.

Director:  Tennyson Bardwell  

With: Tim Daly, Tom Arnold, Zoe Saldana, Edward Herrmann

Rating: 7/10

Living with Yourself (2019)

A man finds a solution to his life's problems like depression and fatigue, but the solution is not what he thought.

'Living with Yourself' is a dramatic comedy series with philosophical tones. It has interesting ideas, short episodes and a charismatic cast.

Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris   

Production:  Netflix   

Creator:  Timothy Greenberg   

Duration: 1 season of 8 episodes (26-30 minutes each)  

With: Paul Rudd, Aisling Bea, Ali Akbar Sepahi, Desmin Borges

Rating: 7/10

Wrong Turn (2021)

A group of hikers confronts the Foundation, a group that has lived isolated in the mountains for hundreds of years.

'Wrong Turn' is a horror film that adopts a more realistic and close to home version of the "mountain people" from the previous films, perhaps even with a more effective goal of inducing horror. Well made.

Director:  Mike P. Nelson   

With: Charlotte Vega, Adain Bradley, Bill Sage, Emma Dumont, Daisy Head, Matthew Modine

Rating: 7.4/10

Villains (2019)

A couple breaks into an isolated house for an impromptu robbery, but what they find completely changes their next actions.

'Villains' is what they calle a dark comedy, with dramatic undertones. It has a subtle and dark humor, diverse and memorable characters and a group of well-chosen actors. The characters are well balanced, the term villain being chosen with a double meaning, representing exactly what you expect but also the fact that first impressions are deceiving. It's not a perfect movie, but it's perfectly suited to be enjoyed by fans of the genre or of the cast.

Directors:  Dan Berk, Robert Olsen   

With: Bill Skarsgård, Maika Monroe, Blake Baumgartner, Jeffrey Donovan, Kyra Sedgwick

Rating: 7.4/10

Of Human Bondage (1934)

A medical student is irrationally attracted to a superficial woman and that has a destructive effect.

'Of Human Bondage' is one of several screen adaptations of a novel from the beginning of the last century. Cold, superficial and rushed, the film fails to evoke what it seems to be trying to suggest. The best quality of the film is that it managed to give a successful start to the career of Bette Davis.

Director:  John Cromwell   

With: Bette Davis, Leslie Howard, Frances Dee, Kay Johnson

Rating: 7/10

Damsel (2024)

A noble young woman agrees to become a princess to save her people from starvation, but the trade is not exactly what it initially appeared to be.

'Damsel' is a fantasy film with teeth. It is far from being a masterpiece that offers a deep and multi-faceted meaning, the plot and its development are predictable and the message a bit too on-the-nose, and yet it is a source of genuine entertainment precisely for the cheap satisfaction and in addition, hearing Shohreh Aghdashloo's voice from the dragon's mouth is a real delight.

Director:  Juan Carlos Fresnadillo     

With: Millie Bobby Brown, Ray Winstone, Angela Bassett, Brooke Carter, Joely Richardson, Shohreh Aghdashloo

Rating: 7/10

The Night Of (2016)

A quiet young man spends a night full of drugs with a young woman who is found murdered the next day.

'The Night Of' is a dramatic mini-series, procedural in certain aspects, but which mainly focuses on the secondary effects of the incident, on a small and larger scale. Based on a British series, the HBO version has a life and personality of its own. Riz Ahmed and John Turturro are magnificent, and every episode is original and unpredictable.

Director:  Steven Zaillian   

Production:  HBO   

Creator: Richard Price, Steven Zaillian   

Duration:  miniseries of 8 episodes (8 hours 45 minutes in total)  

With: Riz Ahmed, John Turturro, Bill Camp, Amara Karan, Payman Maadi, Michael Kenneth Williams

Rating: 9/10

Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

Hercule Poirot is forced by circumstances to solve the mystery of a murder committed on the train he is traveling on.

'Murder on the Orient Express' is a new and modern adaptation of Agatha Christie's famous novel. Apart from the modern air (here we mean the observable technology proved by the perfect picture and the color and cinematography in general), the current adaptation does not bring much more than the old ones, except that once again, an impressive and different team of well established artists have gathered to bring the movie to life.

Director:  Kenneth Branagh  

With: Kenneth Branagh, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Daisy Ridley, Michelle Pfeiffer, Johnny Depp, Lucy Boynton

Rating: 7.5/10

Halo (2022– )

Master Chief is humanity's most powerful weapon in the midst of an intergalactic conflict.

'Halo' is the TV adaptation of a very popular video game series. Based largely on the mythology and the story in the game, Halo offers an alternative of very effective sci-fi entertainment and plenty of action.

Director:  Otto Bathurst and others   

Production:  Paramount   

Creator:  Steven Kane, Kyle Killen   

Duration: 2 seasons of 9 episodes (1 hour each)

With: Pablo Schreiber, Shabana Azmi, Natasha Culzac, Olive Gray

Rating: 8/10

Saw X (2023)

John Kramer is deceived by a group that promises him a miraculous cure and decides to punish them.

'Saw X' is the latest addition to the long-running franchise. A probably exciting event for the fans, but unfortunately the screenwriters decided to make quick money and ignore the need for consistency and credibility of the character.

Director:  Kevin Greutert   

With: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Synnøve Macody Lund, Steven Brand

Rating: 6/10

Hypnotic (2021)

A woman who begins psychotherapy discovers unexpected consequences.

'Hypnotic' is a psychological thriller with an interesting idea, but one that has been used before, not necessarily in better ways. The execution is not bad, but unfortunately the script fails to use the raw material in an effective, believable or memorable way.

Director:  Matt Angel, Suzanne Coote   

With: Kate Siegel, Jason O'Mara, Dulé Hill, Lucie Guest

Rating: 6/10

The Nun II (2023)

The nun Irene is sent to investigate a series of religious crimes that seem to be committed by the previously defeated demon.

'The Nun II' is the continuation of the story of the ghost nun from the films from The Conjuring franchise. It keeps the original distribution (with small changes) and somehow manages to obtain a more consistent and whole result, with as many horror-type actions as it can fit and many layers that manage to keep attention away from any possible flaws. Not flawless but attention grabing with what the audience likes.

Director:  Michael Chaves   

With: Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet, Storm Reid, Anna Popplewell

Rating: 7.5/10

Inkheart (2008)

A single father is able to give life to characters in books and must stop such a character from destroying the world.

'Inkheart' is an adaptation of a much-loved children's fantasy book. The idea and the story sound fascinating in theory and the various summaries one reads about it, but the adaptation leaves much to be desired, lacking that something that attracts the viewers like a magnet and unifies the magic of the fantastic into a whole that satisfies many requirements: originality (check, but that's about it), rich and coherent dialogue, fantasy that appears fantastic and characters memorable by something other than their name being Paul Bettany.

Director:  Iain Softley    

With: Brendan Fraser, Andy Serkis, Eliza Bennett, Sienna Guillory, Paul Bettany

Rating: 6.5/10

La voz humana (2020)

A woman reacts to the fact that her partner left her, leaving his cases and dog behind.

'La Voz Humana' is a very intense and effective dramatic short. Tilda Swinton is fascinating and carries the film with professionalism.

Director:  Pedro Almodóvar    

With: Tilda Swinton, Agustín Almodóvar, Miguel Almodóvar, Pablo Almodóvar

Rating: 9/10

Perfect Sense (2011)

A scientist and a chef fall in love with each other in the middle of an epidemic that causes loss of the senses.

'Perfect Sense' is a poetic drama, a metaphor of the modern world and the hope for intense and real feelings still being possible. The two protagonists are very well chosen, with a great chemistry and extremely expressive in portraying intense and traumatic experiences, which cause a variety of contradictory reactions. A real gem.

Director:  David Mackenzie   

With: Ewan McGregor, Eva Green, Connie Nielsen, Stephen Dillane

Rating: 9/10