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Because of the strong main female protagonist (Aoi) and the prevalence of charming male characters, this is definitely an anime series aimed more at a female audience, although it is far from boring. As I mentioned before, the big draw here is the very appealing Aoi, who is mostly the driving force behind the plot and the one who provides the solution to most of the problems. I guess it is rare that it is fortunate that a main female protagonist in an anime series, who is surrounded by so many charming and capable gentlemen (all right, well, it is the ayakashi anyway), so intensely and sweetly gives a helping hand and gets down to work herself (because all too often the main female protagonists in such productions just sit around waiting to get rescued). Plus, the way Aoi does it (through food and kindness) can be very attractive to a male audience in particular. Also, the way Aoi approaches the issues she faces within the interesting and magical setting of the world the show is set in, there is a very pleasant atmosphere that warms the heart. Of course, it is not just a nice walk in the park, the anime’s creators sometimes manage to conjure up some kind of suspense, to set up an intense situation that Aoi has to get through and overcome either on her own or with the help of her companions. It has quite an interesting narrative, even if it may give some people the impression that it is merely going to repeat the same story twice (SPOILER ALERT Aoi is taken somewhere against her will, to gradually win everyone over and save everything END OF SPOILERS). Anyway, if I add to that, in my opinion, good animation, and an appropriately chosen soundtrack, I am going to award a nice 8/10, which is actually an excellent result from someone for whom this anime series is probably not primarily aimed at.

A pretty nice movie with Mark Wahlberg going on an adventure race in the jungle where he meets a dog and becomes a full-fledged member of the team. I'm a bit disappointed that the race itself lacks any sort of typical survival parameters, there was no significant thrilling obstacle apart from the cable car, and the whole thing is mostly about the doggie's relationship with Marky, which can stir up some minor emotions at the end, but I won't scratch for a higher rating. Nice but ordinary. 6/10.

Teenage silliness with a fresh idea involving two dead guys who are detectives solving supernatural cases and various ghosts, witches and other monsters. I was quite looking forward to it, I'm just disappointed that it's conceived in a teenage style. It's kind of a combination of Wednesday, Ghostbusters and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, leaning only lightly on the horror theme, but more darkness and and R-rating would have done it a lot more good. It also deals with a lot of relationship and LGBT stuff, which I'm not a big fan of, and it lacks stronger characters and a better developed script. The best episode was #3 with the time loop with a father murdering his family for several years. From episode 5 onwards I watched it purely out of obligation and wasn't really enjoying it. I'm not the target audience. 5/10.

Shogun is definitely a revelation in the series field this year and should be seen by everyone. Until the 5th episode I was sure of a 5 star rating, but then my great enthusiasm started to wane as my faith in some epic battle started to fade away, and it ended up being very intimate. The series has spectacular sets, great performances – Hirojuki Sanada is awesome, Mariko is perhaps the most beautiful Asian ever, and Aijin is also great. It has meticulous dialogues, great atmosphere, strong emotions (episode 9 is probably the strongest) and it's also quite suspenseful. The series is actually flawless in all respects except for the lack of action sequences, and I can't forgive that because the samurai didn't just conduct political intrigues, they also cut each other and there was obviously a budget here, so they could have easily crammed a 15 minute battle into those 10 hours. Considering the whole 4th episode was dedicated to cannons (there was even the best gore scene of the series), it's a shame that they didn’t use them once more during the series and the ending just disappointed me because nothing was resolved properly. I'm sorry because there won't be a samurai movie or series this expansive for quite a while. I still enjoyed it, but there was no ejaculation. 8/10.

I think in this duel of the daughters of horror greats, Shyamalan vs Cronenberg, the winner is decided. The daughter didn't didn’t do a very good job and delivered a sort of talky drama that cuts to thriller at the end. I don't think daddy will give her any praise for this one because it was boring as fuck. It's got a pretty interesting theme that could have turned out well in more capable hands, but the acting is pretty bad, the pacing is very slow and there's definitely nothing satisfying at the end, where some gore could have come in handy. This was quite painful. 3.5/10.

Godzilla is enjoying a vacation in Europe and Kong is looking for more apes in the hollow earth and has a toothache. A modern version of the Verne films, which degenerates into unadulterated Kaiju-porn at the end. Swashbuckling battles, solid visual effects, 80's soundtrack backed by Holkenborg synths, tremendous destruction and people who don't get in the way but are props for the main fighters. It's rubbish and digital crap, of course, but it's fun and even in neon colours with a pink Godzilla who justifies the change by sucking out nuclear power plants in Europe to fulfil his part of the Green Deal. It's got a bunch of subliminal messages. The villain is OK, but the main asset is Adam Wingard's wacky ideas, which somehow manage to get implemented. The most entertaining entry in the franchise.

Stuntman Ryan Gosling must find a lost movie star in order to save the film of his beloved Emily Blunt. And for her, he'll go through hell. David Leitch delivers an entertaining tribute to the stunt craft and all those who practice it. He combines great action with surprisingly even better romance, a nice bit of wit and humor, and the obvious joy of goofing around on set with the friends he's spent his entire career with. And it's great to watch.

The first season had the more attractive setting of Hawaii, not that Sicily isn't beautiful, but the Hawaiian exoticism had its charm. Yet I have to say that the second season has more interesting characters, better plot twists and overall I enjoyed it a lot more. Of the familiar faces, I liked Theo James, Aubrey Plaza and the return of Jennifer Coolidge. Simona Tabasco as the hooker was an instant crush, and for the biggest likable character there's Will Sharpe,  I felt quite sorry for him, that relationship was pretty toxic. You really care about the characters, their development and their relationships are very well written, you hate the opening theme song of the first season and then love it and the final twist is really very good. Very entertaining, gripping and addictive, I'm glad I gave it a chance. 8/10.

My Sweet Little Village without Menzel’s refined touch. Both when he is at home in his dingy studio apartment and when he is at work, the solitary truck driver played by Vlado Müller sticks to his routines, which long sections of the plot are dedicated to depicting. In her only film role, Pavla Kárníková portrays his unpunctual assistant, who conversely has no respect for order or authority. They can’t stand each other at first. They’re sure about that in advance. He sees her as a “whore” and a “bitch”, while for her, he is a grumpy “old man”. Through their dark past, however, they gradually find common ground and come to realise that it is possible to step out of the roles to which they have become accustomed or that society has assigned to them. In his case, it is the role of a curmudgeonly bachelor who holds others at arm’s length, whereas her role is that of a troubled “slut”. Unable to express their feelings in a healthy way, the two outsiders come together during Advent, and the undecorated tree and lonely Christmas dinner add a sense of melancholy to the raw, authentically gritty story. In the context of the collaborative works of Kachyňa and Procházka, Christmas with Elizabeth fits in with Hope, which took a similarly humane approach to depicting the relationship between a prostitute and an alcoholic, other social outcasts who in the 1950s were condemned to the roles of criminals unworthy of any understanding. 75%

I enjoyed Eva Green in the corset more, but otherwise I enjoyed everything else less. The first one was better. Still top-notch production values, big-movie ambitions and the right dynamics and visuals, but the second part doesn't stand out in any significant way and only serves as a necessary bridge for the finale. Sort of like The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, a good second part, necessary for the great first and third.

A swashbuckling, raucous and modern adaptation of Dumas' classic. More emphasis is placed on the action scenes, which are gritty, dynamic, and with great choreography. There have been so many versions of “The Three Musketeers” that I'm not even sure how it was supposed to be done, but the snipers in the church is a very good sequence. Eva Green is incredible as Milady, and overall it's a very strong cast. The ending is outrageously open and I'm looking forward to the second one.

I once suffered through Rose Glass' Saint Maud, but I was looking forward to this one thanks to the stylish trailer. It's okay and I'm very much between 3 and 4 stars, but I'm going to be stricter in the end because the plot is pretty straightforward with no significant changes throughout, and Kristen Stewart is not a pretty sight to look at. Luckily the testosterone-soaked Katy O’Brian was the best character in the whole movie, I could see her as a final girl in some kind of monster movie. The film has a nice retro look of the American backwoods, a nice lesbian romance with R-rated erotic scenes, a sleazy Ed Harris, and there were some corpses, so I liked it, I enjoyed it, but I was expecting a bit more. The bizarre fantasy ending didn't quite work for me. 65%

Sébastien Vaniček and his instant ticket to the A-Horror League. I'm gonna go give out prizes, because this is where history is made. So Vaniček made a dream debut (right on the lines of the recent successful debutants like Robert Eggers, Jordan Peele, Ari Aster, Zach Cregger), the best spider horror film of all time (it's quite funny that the previous king is already 30 years, Arachnophobia), kicked off this year's French wave and at the same time made the best horror film of the year – no one could ask for a better way to start. Whether Infested will be dethroned by the new Alien or Nosferatu at the end of the year is another matter, but until then it can enjoy the pedestal merrily. And now for the film. After a long time, I experienced very uncomfortable feelings with horror, and since ghosts and demons don't do anything to me, spiders as a real evil definitely had an effect. The housing estates of the French ghetto evokes an interesting atmosphere in itself, you don’t get to really form much of a relationship with the characters but that didn't bother me. The craftsmanship is excellent and once it gets going, it really is a spider atmospheric hell crammed with jump-scares like Sam Raimi's Drag me to Hell, and I twitched along decently (I also praise the aptly chosen musical score!). Admittedly, it got more intense as the spiders got smaller, but even the big ones had something going for them – that's where the CGI came in handy. It's a bit marred by the ending, I was expecting a bigger carnage, the mass battle spiders vs cops was over too quickly for my taste, and the whole thing ends quite hastily – I could have easily managed 20 minutes more – but these are minor flaws in the beauty of a film that is born once every three decades. Anyone who doesn't appreciate that is an arrogant scumbag and an enemy of the state and me. 9/10.

About the same as the first part. The battle is maybe a bit better, because we have lightsabers in a bigger extent. The script is a big mess. The idea is there, but Zack Snyder can hold it with all the weird dialogue and nonsensical behavior of the checkerboard pieces. I want to see the uncensored version to see if anything interesting can be done with the material or if it is just bullshit. To be continued. P.S: There's still not enough of Anthony Hopkins' Jimmy out there.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, from Radio Silence, deliver their tried and tested recipe once again. Why change something that works. Here we have a group of thieves who kidnap a little girl and are tasked with guarding her for 24 hours in a huge mansion, but what seems like an easy job soon will cost them their lives – they have no idea whose daughter Abigail is. A very likeable cast (I enjoyed the original introduction to the characters, where Melissa Barrera uses details to identify everyone like Sherlock Holmes), the big surprise is Kevin Durand, who is a very funny insert throughout the film, and it was nice to see Dan Stevens as well. The film has a very fast pace, nice visuals, effective jokes, it's decently suspenseful, there a few twists and turns at the end, and it's also decently gory (the house ends up painted in blood from the roof to the basement, so evil can't be pissed) The final explosion was literally a gore epic!!! Too bad the atmosphere doesn't work much and some of the vampire rules change to serve the script, but never mind that, it's the cool ride that they promised, and delivered. Quite possibly the best Vampire movie of recent years? And if you doubt about it, give me a better choice. 8/10.

What The Bear is to restaurants, The White Lotus is to hotels. Both are in the industry for me, so it's definitely an issue that's very close to my heart, plus it's all set in Hawaii and it's nicely exotic. But it's more drama than comedy, though some there are some entertaining black-humored. The cast is great the clash of the Hollywood boobies with Alexandra Daddario and Sydney Sweeney is real eye-candy, the director was very crazy, the twists and turns and the nicely escalated relationships on all sides are good, and who ends up being in the casket, I really didn't expect. I was expecting a more bizarre choice of characters though, after all, I know from the hotel business that you run into all sorts of weirdos, and these ones were even normal compared to reality, and they also could have pointed out the guests' complaints more, but otherwise I'm cool, it flows very well. 75%

Olympic level in the discipline of "inducing a feeling of deep inner turmoil". I haven't seen something so often beautiful, yet repulsive and disturbing in a long time. And my apologies to A24 for wrongly suspecting it of producing a straightforward war blockbuster. It's, of course, another auteur film, just the way we like it.

What starts as a very slow genre film demanding a patient viewer, with a very likeable sinister atmosphere, turns into a sequence of authentically scary scenes just before the halfway point. I enjoyed it. But then one plotline climaxes and the story takes a bit of a turn, and you suddenly realise that you are watching something more ambitious and sweeping than you had initially thought. And at that moment you regrets watching it with not very good English subtitles, because you get a bit lost in it :D So my advice at the moment is to wait for better language support, I'll definitely watch it again then to catch some details. Still, I suspect there hasn't been a better Asian horror film of this calibre since The Wailing.

A weak biopic, whose quality is on par with typical TV Lifetime content. However, Brittany Murphy's story is worth telling, and if this attempt inspires another team, it will only be a good thing. There was once an ambitious girl, and even though she was destined to play ugly ducklings in the nineties, she gradually climbed up alongside colleagues Alicia Silverstone, Kirsten Dunst, Amy Adams, Denise Richards, Angelina Jolie, and Winona Ryder until she ended up in Ashton Kutcher's arms. From a duckling emerged an anorexic swan fulfilling all the stereotypical assumptions of beauty in the new millennium. In private, she was focused on her mother and husband, Simon Monjack. And here it comes: Murphy dies in December 2009, her husband, seven years older, just half a year after her. A true-crime story in the making.

If I had to compare Adam Wingard's previous Godzilla vs. Kong and this one, I would compare it to a concert of Def Leppard vs a concert of the grindcore band Cannibal Corpse. I mean, sleek, a bit predictable, safe rock vs. totally unhinged wildness in the front row of the audience to the point of being health hazard. I've seen almost all Japanese Godzilla movies from the SHOWA and HENSEI era, and I can say with certainty that none of those 25 or so movies had the kind of insanity I saw here. Not even in Ishiro Honda or Jun Fukuda's films, which were made with a kind of judiciousness, a kind of safe kaiju mainstream, even if Godzilla and Kong were putting on wrestling holds, or in other works there that mixed in aliens, octopuses, monsters spawned from toxic waste, etc.. This movie was bonkers. The script looked like it was written by an 11 year old with an overactive imagination, with one absurdity after another, but it was all topped off with amazing fan-service. Human characters reduced to useless goons? Checked. Protector Mothra? Checked. A plot that gives no trace of elementary logic? Checked. The only thing missing was a baby godzilla with a little Japanese boy. I laughed in disbelief at what I was seeing the entire movie, but my similarly kaiju-fan buddy and I had a terrific time. At the same time, I felt sorry for the elderly couple in front of me who had to suffer terribly at this – the gentleman got up halfway through and went to sip beer in the cinema bar instead. I absolutely do not understand (and at the same time appreciate) that a Hollywood studio, which routinely makes financial calculations, predictions and audience surveys, gave such a budget for such a basically non-mainstream and also fan service for the insiders and knocked this insanity off Wingard. I’ll probably never want to see it again, but the unexpected feeling in the theater was priceless. KAIJU is still alive, dude!