Movie reviews

DRAGON RIDER

Watchable. The characters are a strangely diverse assembly of legendary creatures from all over the world, e.g. a kobold, bird Roc, dragons, an Indian temple - from all over the world but with no rhyme or reason to it. Bartek Fukiet translated it into Polish and he's usually top-notch but here even he mistranslated "How To Tame Your Dragon" into "Jak wytresować smoka" ("How To Train Your Dragon"). At least songs have been kept in English. A conversation between two characters: the temple caretaker and her husband is heard at the end of the final credits.

THE RECKONING

Recommended. Terrifying not through any supernatural horrors - the Devil appears only as a vision or nightmare - but due to it being rooted in history: 500 000 women were tortured and murdered in the result of witchcraft accusations. The movie is more of a drama about what it was like to be accused of witchcraft. Gruesome images depict victims of the plague or violence, especially that inflicted on women scapegoated for the pestilence. Beautiful Charlotte Kirk stars as the headstrong victim. It's fiction so it ends well.

THE SUICIDE SQUAD 

Watchable. Having sampled both movies, I much prefer "Suicide Squad" from 2016. As I feared, "Guardians of the Galaxy" writer/director James Gunn has made each character, old or new, twice dumber. That was to be expected. I've yet to see a smart film by him. But to dumb down even Harley Quinn?! Unforgivable. Add to it rock or rap pieces in the soundtrack - uninspiring, what's more, the film was to be screened in Atmos but wasn't, the movie hadn't been recorded in it. The laser projector didn't help either because it is not spectacular, in spite of decent CGIs. So an ordinary screen with a basic sound system suffices to see this blockbuster shot in Panama, Puerto Rico, Porto in Portugal which stand in as Corto Maltese. Visual effects, gadgetry, make-ups, cinematography are perfectly fine and captions written in blood or in elements of wrecks and the like are original. Lots of action keeps you entertained. It's all on the wacky side. The millennials have a reputation of their own, well reflected in the plot. Cleo/Ratcatcher 2 is embodied by Daniela Melchior who looks and acts like young Winona Ryder so I hope she's a rising star. The movie makes you appreciate rats, they're cute, the Weasel isn't. On the plus side, the hints at politics are worth a mention, coincidentally quite up-to-date taken the situation in Afghanistan right now about which the movie makers can't have known at the time of writing and shooting. There's a post-credit.

I saw a rat near home on my way back, an unusual sighting in my area, and it was cute. 

FREAKY

Watchable. Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton excel in the body swap roles. The killer eyes of the girl taped to the chair stay in your mind. This slasher flick has serious undertones, from the male and female attitude to sex in the initial part - too literally diverse to be credible yet making the point, through the second act when the murdering spree is less effective but deceit easier due to the body swap, to the finale where both the serial killer and the prospective victim have learned the drawbacks of being the opposite sex. The gay character is written all wrong.

I was scared of door noises afterwards. 

CANDYMAN

I've seen it finally but can't reveal anything before 6 p.m. CET on Wednesday.

ANIARA

Watchable. This Swedish space opera is based on the original concept of a space ferry veering off course and has ingenious ways at looking both at luxurious vessels and at the society. Taken the confinement of a spacecraft it's also a method of exploring long-term lockdowns. What strikes is the realism of such an imagined situation. And that doesn't mix well with science fiction. While cheap thrills like lesbian sex or a sex orgy enliven the action, I had the impression the frequent nudity was to cover up the inadequacies of deeper meanings. Also, with virtually no music, it feels as empty of emotions as the outer space is of sound.

Available on Viaplay. I don't know if the screener quality is the same as the platform. Mine was rather quiet, the subtitles were medium size, I couldn't watch reading them from my bed but from some distance I could.