manisimmati

First World War. Blake and Schofield, two British soldiers, have to deliver a message to an isolated regiment. If the message doesn't reach them, 1600 men are going to die. It's going to be a near impossible task for the two young men, but nevertheless they dare to cross the enemy line.

Frankly, Sam Mendes' 1917 is a big disappointment. It looks amazing, that much is true, but everything else is severely lacking. Yes, the camera by the always amazing Roger Deakins is a highlight: The scope is unbelievably wide, yet it feels like Deakins is teasing and daring the audience to look beyond the movie screen. Fantastic stuff! But visuals alone don't make a movie.

There's rarely a theme in 1917 that feels fresh and daring. It's a textbook war movie: There's a tragic death, a big shootout and a forced moment of tenderness and love. It's so predictable it's almost painful. The set piece at the end is truly breathtaking, but the ending itself is downright sappy.

At the end of the day, 1917 doesn't bring many new ideas to the table. It tries to wow the audience with grandiose landscapes, but the two soldiers and their quest keep strangely one-dimensional.

In »Knives Out«, the seemlingly clumsy private investigator Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is hell-bent on illuminating the mysterious suicide of Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), a famous crime novelist. Blanc teams up with Thrombey's shy nurse Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas). But of course, nothing is as it seems; the Thrombey family is as colorful as it is shady.

Oh, I love these classy crime movies! You know how it works: An old patriarch dies and his whole family wants to inherit the fortune he leaves behind. And of course, you gotta have a creepy mansion with secret passageways as well as an eccentric private eye. Director Rian Johnson (»The Brothers Bloom«, »The Last Jedi«) follows the tried and true formula to a tee, his love for the genre is apparent. There are some ironic moments and references (»Clue«; »Murder, She Wrote«), but most of the time, Johnson plays it straight.

The pacing is fast and entertaining, Benoit Blanc and Marta Cabrera are likeable main characters. Craig apparently had a lot of fun with his portrayal of the strangely clueless Blanc. You always wonder what's the deal with this guy. I personally would have loved to see some kind of backstory for him, but I guess the mystery surrounding him is fascinating as well. De Arma's nervous and kind-harted Marta is very endearing; when you watch this movie, you really want her to get out of this mess unscathed. And yeah, the fact that she has to puke whenever she lies is bloody brilliant.

»Knives Out« works very well as an audience flick. The movie theatre was cram-full when I watched it and everyone had a great time figuring out the twists and turns. Of course this movie doesn't reinvent the wheel; a weakness with most of these stories is the fact that the plot tends to become a bit too convoluted at the end. This happens here, too. But regardless, »Knives Out« is a charismatic update to a familiar genre, political undertones and a dumb yet thrilling car chase included. I'm already looking forward to the announced sequel.

Did we really need a remake of Sam Raimi's iconic horror flick The Evil Dead? Probably not. But you won't hear me complaining. To be honest, I kinda like what I saw. The only thing I truly dislike is the the fact that the main characters are teenagers in the woods. Again. I know that the original also followed this trope, but come on, try something new once in a while! How boring is that? And I didn't need so much backstory for the two main characters Mia and Dave. It felt underdeveloped and overly dramatic at the same time. The script was trying way too hard to be deep. Give me a break. This is a silly demon romp after all. All that being said, if you get past the sappy stuff and take The Evil Dead 2013 for what it wants to be, you'll have a lot of fun.

The characters aren't too annoying, pretty likeable actually. There's plenty of gore, some effective jump scares (a bit too many probably) and passable acting. I'm not a big fan of the special effects, they don't always look convincing. Some scenes were downright silly, I wasn't even sure if intentionally or not. By the way, why does every demon look and even sound like Regan from The Exorcist? That threw me off. The ending is a jaw-dropping, epic bloodfest. Very, very cool. Director Fede Alvarez goes crazy with the camera angles in true Raimi style. I felt the whole thing could have been even crazier, but oh well, for a modern ramake this one isn't bad at all. Give it a chance.