Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)

A village of farmers on a pacifist moon is forced to take extreme defensive measures after an unjust attack by the ruling force.

'Rebel Moon - Part One' is the first part of a futuristic fantasy series, created by Zack Snyder, which is a welcome change in a genre oversaturated with Star Wars and all of its spin-offs. It's not extraordinary, but it has a very well-chosen cast and some well-coordinated martial-style fight sequences and not just confrontations with futuristic guns and "pew-pew" at every turn.

Director:  Zack Snyder      

With: Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Michiel Huisman, Bae Doona, Charlie Hunnam, Anthony Hopkins, Staz Nair, Cary Elwes

Rating: 6.5/10

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities (2022– )

Guillermo del Toro introduces each episode from an anthology series for which he gathered stories and talents to bring them to life.

"Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities" is an anthology series where each episode is unique and independent. The quality varies but the overall effect is wonderful.

E1: Lot 36: The horror elements only appear towards the end, but the fascination of the occult and the three-dimensional characters keep the interest going.

Director:  Guillermo Navarro 

With: Tim Blake Nelson, Sebastian Roché, Elpidia Carrillo, Demetrius Grosse

Rating: 9/10

E2: Graveyard Rats: The historical period in which the story is set becomes an attraction in itself and the attention to detail is admirable. The gothic humor is part of the charm.

Director:  Vincenzo Natali 

With: David Hewlett, Alexander Eling, Ish Morris, Cory Bertrand

Rating: 9/10

E3: The Autopsy: A mystery to be solved, draped in palpable suspense and curiosity and a dialogue between characters worthy of a sinister film noir.

Director:  David Prior 

With: F. Murray Abraham, Glynn Turman, Luke Roberts, Dan Beirne

Rating: 10/10

E4: The Outside: It reminds one of The Society in terms of style and background, but it mainly stands out due of the courage of the main actress to embody the character.

Director:  Ana Lily Amirpour 

With: Kate Micucci, Martin Starr, Dan Stevens, Kylee Evans

Rating: 6/10

E5: Pickman's Model: An interesting gothic air and menacing art. Imagination becomes reality and the shock of the ending is that reality was always frightening but we just choose to be ignorant.

Director:  Keith Thomas 

With: Ben Barnes, Crispin Glover, Oriana Leman, Seamus Patterson

Rating: 8/10

E6: Dreams in the Witch House: Characters and entities from the imagination of HP Lovecraft come to life in this embelished adaptation. A similar adaptation has been done in Volume 1 of Masters of Horror, but the newer version is clearly superior, especially through the access to modern effects and a rich budget.

Director:  Catherine Hardwicke

With: Rupert Grint, Ismael Cruz Cordova, DJ Qualls, Nia Vardalos

Rating: 7/10

E7: The Viewing: The echo of the 80s is present at every moment, visually but also, and especially in the audio. Even in the choice of the subject and the mystery revealed at the end. Well made, but it loses its audience due to arrogance, the main cause of the dragged-out story.

Director:  Panos Cosmatos  

With: Peter Weller, Steve Agee, Eric André, Sofia Boutella

Rating: 6/10

E8: The Murmuring: A dramatic story that hits all the right spots, with a nice gothic horror athmosphere and melodramatic ghosts.

Director:  Jennifer Kent 

With: Essie Davis, Andrew Lincoln, Greg Ellwand, Daxton William Lund

Rating: 8/10

Director:  Various   (see above)

Production:  Netflix   

Creator:  Guillermo del Toro   

Duration:  1 season of 8 episodes (1 hour each)  

With: Various   (see above)

Rating: 9/10

Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021)

In a post-apocalyptic future, an imprisoned criminal is tasked with bringing back the granddaughter of a local chieftain who seems to represent the lawful and unlawful local power.

'Prisoners of the Ghostland' is a film that is hard to define. Probably the closest it could be described as is an absurdist post-apocalyptic thriller. Nicholas Cage is the typical hero played in many other titles (with slightly more intense messianic traits), and Sofia Boutella is the missing girl, but the rest is meaningless madness, possibly with some failed attempts at clever symbolism (the mixture of Oriental and the West represented by the wild west - perhaps representing the cultural pollution coming from the West and such other ideas). Watchable, but pointless.

Director:  Sion Sono     

With: Nicolas Cage, Sofia Boutella, Nick Cassavetes, Bill Moseley

Rating: 5/10

Hotel Artemis (2018)

Intr-un viitor apropiat, Nurse conduce un spital  ilegal cu drepturi speciale pentru membrii sai ce apartin exclusiv lumii interlope.

Un thriller de actiune cu accente SF si elemente caricaturistice. Bine facut, bine jucat, cu personaje detaliate indeajuns, Hotel Artemis intretine atmosfera eficient prin dialogul bine pus la punct si interactiunea interesanta a personajelor. Mai incet decat fanii genului ar dori, filmul nu este perfect si se pare nici prea bine primit, ceea ce este pacat, deoarece va fi uitat repede pe nedrept.

Jodie Foster revine dupa ani de absenta intr-un rol neasteptat in care interpreteaza un personaj mult mai in varsta decat ea insasi.

Regia:  Drew Pearce    

Cu: Jodie Foster, Sofia Boutella, Dave Bautista, Sterling K. Brown, Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto,  Charlie Day, Kenneth Choi

Rating: 8/10

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