Wonder Woman 1984

(spoilers!)

It's been a long, long wait. Back in the summer 2017 we were delighted by Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman. It had thrills, laughs, emotions and most of all - so much heart. Now Jenkins returns with a highly ambitious sequel, which is very, very different from the original film. The saddening and dark setting of the World War I has been replaced with vibrant colors of the 80's, the serious background is now a fantastical tale and Williams' gentle, lovely score made way for Zimmer's music which sounds as if he did few lines of coke on a rolllercoaster. But it still feels like a familiar Wonder Woman story because Gal Gadot's Diana is back. And she is the same as we remember her - both an inspiring goddess and a highly relatable person with hopes, fears and desires. We know her, we like her, we admire her. We want to follow her on her journey. And the heroes we see ourselves in are those who end up inspiring us the most.

"The Crown" delivers its best season yet and introduces the new generation to Lady Diana

The hugely anticipated season 4 of The Crown is finally here and it's yet another series from Netflix that is so good I actually watched all 10 episodes of it in a row. It's the show's best season yet and it's about to catapult it to new level of popularity for the obvious reason - it introduces the iconic Princess Diana.

Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

I love Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel and I think they are both wonderful movies about terrific heroines. However, I cannot fully connect with them because, while they kick ass, they are so very noble and kind. Diana grew up on a paradise island, surrounded only by loving and supportive women, and Carol doesn’t fully remember her past, which explains why they aren't pissed off. Because if they knew what we know and experience what we do, they'd be very, very angry.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

(spoilers!)

I never thought that I will see something more embarrassing when it comes to ruining the franchise than 1. WB handing the keys to DC kingdom to Zack Snyder and giving him three tries to make a movie then on the third try going "oh, fuck no!" and firing him mid-making of the film 2. Dumb and Dumber wrecking Game of Thrones so bad that the early seasons are now unwatchable because you know it is all heading towards explosive diarrhea.

Enter whoever was in charge of Disney's Star Wars trilogy (do we blame just Kennedy? Surely more people were involved in making final decisions?). Because whoever made the calls here just wrecked 40+ years worth of a franchise.

Marriage Story

Marriage Story is a wonderful, wonderful movie. It's one of the year's best scripts (Parasite still is my win here) and it is truly expertly paced - it's not a short movie, but you aren't bored and even though the characters have many, many flaws you care about them enough to be curious what happens to them next.

Joker

(spoilers!)

I wasn't going to write a review for this because 1. the last thing I want is insecure "men" who identify with the lead character writing nonsense in my comment section 2. this movie doesn't actually deserve my - or anyone's - words, but this is entirely too long for my letterboxd so here we go. Call me a c*nt, you ain't getting published, honey.

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

(spoilers!)

6 years after the finale of Breaking Bad we got the sequel focusing on Jesse Pinkman. I was worried how it will turn out, given how perfect the last shot of Jesse in the series' finale was. A lot of people are complaining that El Camino wasn't necessary. No, it wasn't. But that didn't make it any less enjoyable.

It: Chapter Two

(spoilers!)

It Chapter One premiered two years ago and was a massive success - it got positive reviews from critics, the audience fell in love with the film and it managed to become the highest grossing horror movie of all time. As entertaining as that movie was it had a lot of problems and now in Chapter Two the same problems return. But so does the fun, the emotions and of course, Pennywise.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

(cast spoilers!)

The audience and critics alike loved the chemistry between Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham in The Fast and the Furious films so much that the studio decided to green light a spin-off featuring both of them. And now it has finally arrived. I myself only started watching the series when Statham joined it and as far as dumb action movies go, they are really good. And this spin-off has the added bonus of Vin Diesel, the black hole of charisma that actually sucks out the charm of surrounding actors, being nowhere in sight.

The Beach Bum

There are some actors who suit the part they are playing so well you cannot possibly imagine anyone else doing that. It's the case with Jeff Bridges as the Dude. Samuel. L Jackson as Jules Winnfield. Keanu Reeves as Neo. And now Matthew McConaughey's Moondog.

McConaughey, who had his career comeback a while back, had less luck in the last few years appearing in a bunch of movies that were either unsuccessful, underseen or complete box office and critical flops. Just few months ago we watched him in utterly insane Serenity, but even there you gotta admit while the film was an incomprehensible disaster McConauyghey's entertaining performance still made it a lot of fun to watch.

Midsommar

(spoilers!)

Last year Hereditary profoundly scared some and infuriated the others, but one thing cannot be denied - it definitely got people talking. Now its director, Ari Aster, is back with another nightmare and unlike Jordan Peele and his frankly embarrassing script for Us, he avoids sophomore slump. While Hereditary may be a more entertaining and accessible movie, Midsommar feels like a movie made by someone who is more sure of their skill. There were some parts of Hereditary that I felt didn't fit the movie in a natural way and took me out of it, but Midsommar doesn't have that problem. It's a more mature movie.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Gareth Edwards' 2014's Godzilla was one of the most forgettable big budget movies I've seen. Nothing memorable came out of it, other than hilarious Honest Trailer highlighting Ken Watanabe's stares and the meme of Bryan Cranston saying "Godzilla, we need to cook" and shot of Godzilla going "bitch". Somehow it got good reviews and made enough money to jump start the Monsterverse.

At WB.

So you knew shit will get dicey fast.

Dark Phoenix

Back in the early 2000's we didn't really have many good CBMs. We had stuff like Daredevil and Fantastic Four, and we never dreamed that the genre will be truly successful one day. But there were also the X-Men movies, the first two parts of which, along with Sam Raimi's Spiderman, proved that CBMs can be genuinely thrilling action adventure flicks. The franchise then evolved, delivering few stinkers in the process and changing its cast. Then in 2017, triumphantly, came the best entry in the X-Men franchise and entire comic book movie genre -  the masterful Logan. They should have just quit while they were ahead. But as always is the case with 20th Century Fox, they didn't.

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

5 years ago we were introduced to the deadliest Avenger of them all. John Wick, a man who has lost his wife and received a farewell gift from her - a puppy. But when that puppy is killed, in what is the most awful scene I've seen in my entire life, and John's car is stolen (let's face it - that car doesn't really matter, though) by some very bad people, John Wick will embark on the most entertaining, justified and hottest killing spree in cinematic history.

Long Shot

Long Shot is a sweet, romantic film reminiscent of comedies form 80's and 90's. Of course, given the changes in our society and audience's tastes and sense of the humor (let's face it, for the worse), the comedy genre had to adjust and become, shall we say, less refined. But I can confidently say it's the sweetest movie where someone ejaculates in their own face.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

Ted Bundy is one of the most famous American serial killers. In addition to the fact he killed so many women and in such a horrible way, he was one of those criminals who became pop-culture icons. The media was crazy about him, the women were falling in love with him and even after he was convicted, the media circus didn't stop. Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (the title comes from the words the judge used to describe Bundy's crimes) takes a very interesting approach to Bundy's story in that it is told with a lot of restraint, not focusing on the nature of the crimes, but instead depicting how Bundy manipulated everyone around him.

Avengers: Endgame

(spoilers!)

Once upon a time comic book films were rare and mostly not very good. Once upon a time Robert Downey Jr. was unhirable. Once upon a time the idea that the movie based on a comic book will earn rave reviews and score nominations for major awards was unthinkable.

And then MCU happened.

Us

(spoilers!)

When I first saw Get Out I liked it a lot but it oddly didn't make a huge impression on me. Howeve,r recently I rewatched the film again and then again and upon subsequent viewings my mind was blown by how clever and intricate the script is. Every moment, every shot, every line has a purpose and pretty much everything that happens in the movie obeys the logic of the universe the film is set in. It's one of the most brilliant scripts I've ever seen unfold on the sceen. The more you think about Get Out, the more you like it. Unfortunately, it's the opposite with Us.

Captain Marvel

(spoilers!)

The Favourite

Yorgos Lanthimos' movies are not everyone's cup of tea. They are bizarre, shocking and more often than not, very unpleasant. While they always provide a great material for actors to deliver astounding performances I was thrilled to find out The Favourite is the most accessible of his movies. And that turned out to be a correct assessment - though also strange, this film is more a dark comedy than a crazy ride like The Lobster or The Killing of the Sacred Deer.