RM851222

Greetings from Lithuania.

"Highest 2 Lowest" (2025) is the latest film by Spike Lee staring Denzel Washington, and is a new take on Akira Kurosawa's "High and Low" (1963). I have seen Japanese film and enjoyed years ago. The latest film by Spike Lee takes some big swings in storytelling, and makes its own thing. Ones looking for same mood and griping thriller from '63 might find this film disappointing, but in taking liberty Lee created one of the more entertaining films this year.

Denzel Washington is excellent here as expected as well Jeffrey Wright whose friendship will be tested to a limit due to extreme circumstances. This film shoot in New York city looks absolutely gorgeous. Cinematography was excellent as well as music and set design. Spike Lee also bring a lot of love to this city and it shows. By taking this story into a modern day music scene it creates is own dilemmas and ideas.

Overall, while at running time 2 h 10 min i did find this movie a bit to long, nevertheless its a fun and entertaining film. Great Spike Lee and great Denzel Washington are in their excellent form here and ""Highest 2 Lowest" is a lot of fun.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"Sinners" (2025) isn't a perfect film. Far from it. But after credits rolled out i voted this film 10/10. Simply because at its running time 2 h 10 min this movie gave me everything i hope to see in movies and then some. It is fresh, bold, dazzling, intriguing, involving, amazingly crafted bloody and music soaked piece of cinema.

I'm a fan of Ryan Coogler's work. I highly enjoy "Creed", loved "Black Panther" while not even being Marvel fan and "Fruitvale Station" was really good. Now comes "Sinners" which is in my opinion is his most ambitious work to date. It all could have collapsed in a hands of lesser talent, but luckily this film works because of absolute confidence of its director. Set design here is Oscar worthy. This film just oozes with style and sense of place and time. Every scene is soaked with colors, style and talents in front and behind the camera. Acting was great by all involved.

Overall, "Sinners" is a fresh and superbly made film in style of "From Dusk Till Dawn" but it does way more then that. This is the kind of cinema i wish great directors would do more often for us to experience something as good as "Sinners". It is not a perfect film by any means, but its one of my absolute favorites from 2025.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"Backdraft" (1991) is a very solid film. The all star cast here works for good - while on paper this movies plot shouldn't have worked. Great director Ron Howard brought a life to this film - every scene here just pulses and this movie never gets boring. Clearly "Backdraft" is one of those films that were not meant for critics but rather for general audiences. Special effects involving fire still looks great, and sound design is terrific here. But its acting and directing of this material makes this movie work and combining with terrific production values makes this film work.

Overall, "Backdraft" is a good movie. Great actors did great work, production values are good and directing by Ron Howard is excellent. Not a great film, but a good guilty pleasure film.