A stirring near-futuristic romance of two best friends who harbor an unspoken love for one another even after a test matches one of them up with their supposed soulmate.

Set in the universe of Soulmates, it brings together Imogen Poots and Brett Goldstein in a slow-burning, heart-warming drama about life and relationships. It’s a good addition to the aforementioned universe, and while the atmosphere is “near futuristic”, the feelings and actions are more actual than ever. Also there’s chemistry between the two and the movie just clicks. Five popcorns.

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In the near future, scientists make a momentous discovery - a way to find one’s soulmate. Each self-contained episode illustrates the potential cost of finding true love.

From writers William Bridges (writer for Black Mirror and Stranger Things) and Brett Goldstein (ROY KENT from Ted Lasso!!) comes an anthology of stories revolving around “The Test”, a sociological discovery that makes people find their soulmate. As always, discovering a revolutionary way to make an omlet will cause the society to break some eggs. Each episode tells the story of some people and how The Test is affecting their life. While it feels like a discounted Black Mirror episode, I loved the fact that it keeps the show realistic and focuses on the inter-personal relationships, rather than on the technology itself.

Because of the anthology format, telling different stories in the same universe, it manages to bring great actors, like Bill Skarsgård, David Costabile, Charlie Heaton, Steven Mackintosh, Betsy Brandt, Tom Goodman-Hill. Too bad it was cancelled after one season, I’m sure the universe could have done a bit more with the material. Like a movie (which I’ll watch next).

Five popcorns.

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Dark comedy set in the early 90s during the Transnistria War.

Absurd comedy about the life in a Transnistrian village during the War, the people living there fighting for independence, but actually fighting other’s battles. It’s deeply anchored in reality, with its good and bad parts, its funny and sad moments altogether.

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The true story about a dog’s loyalty to its master, even after his death

No, this is not the one starring Richard Gere, this is the good one. Telling not only the story of Hachiko himself, but also the story of his family, it offers a good insight into the life of 1920s Japan, its traditions and culture. THe movie is good, and the story is moving, just as pretty much every one knows. One odd thing about this movie is that someone kept cutting onions during the movie. Six popcorns.

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A chronicle of Terri Hooley’s life, a record-store owner instrumental in developing Belfast’s punk-rock scene.

How come every movie about British music comes telling stories about bands from London, Liverpool, or Manchester? What about Ireland?

A vibrant, hilarious and inspirational biopic of Terri Hooley, Belfast’s “Godfather of Punk,” whose upstart record shop and music label Good Vibrations became the hub of the city’s nascent ’70s punk scene and a voice of resistance to the sectarian violence of the Troubles.

As the bloody sectarian violence of the Troubles tears apart 1970s Belfast, fanatical music lover Terri Hooley (Richard Dormer) stages his own kind of protest: he opens a record shop on the most bombed half-mile stretch of road in all of Europe and quixotically dubs it Good Vibrations. Discovering a compelling voice of resistance in the city’s nascent underground punk scene, Hooley starts an indie record label and becomes the unlikely ringleader of a band of young musical rebels who set out to create a new community free of the decades-old hatreds that are splitting their city apart.

A vibrant biopic of Belfast’s real-life Godfather of Punk, gets six popcorns and goes into the Movie Vault. Brilliant recommendation from Draí, which you might remember from her Lost And Found.

When I look out at youse all gathered here, it confirms something I’ve always felt. When it comes to punk, New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!

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Mikey Saber (Simon Rex) is back home in small-town Texas after burning bridges and flaming out all over Los Angeles. A hustler, operator, and charismatic con man, Mikey quickly learns that no one wants him back. When he meets a teenager working at the local donut shop, he sees his ticket back to the big-time in this darkly funny, live-wire film from acclaimed director Sean Baker

This is a bit slow burning and a lot of talk that is pretty pointless, as we’ve started to learn from A24 movies. These guys really know how to show you things you don’t really care about. Once the movie picks up, it’s a nice watch. Simon Rex plays awesomely the despicable Mikey Saber, while Suzanna Son is the perfect thirst trap for this movie. Two popcorns, because (like all damn indie fucking movies) it has an open ending, and this puts a fucking ban on whatever indie movie gets out.

Another recommendation from Neil on the guestbook, this one is … interesting, for lack of a better word.

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An intricate intertwining of politics, investigations and romance unfolds against the backdrop of Moldova over the past thirty years, where the forces of good and evil collide in a compelling plot.

Based on the story of Vladimir Plahotniuc, one of the Moldovan magnates, and his ascension from child and women trafficker got so influent that he got to control ministers, distric attorneys, and even presidents. A well made crime thriller exposing corruption schemes that would make even Guy Ritchie blush. Directed by one of the best (if not the best) directors from Moldova, Igor Cobileanschi, gets five popcorns and goes into the Movie Vault.

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The aftermath of a drug deal as told from three different points of view.

Eighteen-year-old Ronna, accompanied by reluctant partner-in-crime and fellow supermarket checkout clerk Claire, is desperately looking to score some rent money before she’s evicted. Simon, an impulsive Brit, is driving a stolen car with buddy Marcus during a no-holds-barred night of partying on the Las Vegas strip. Adam and Zack, a pair of TV stars, find themselves in the middle of a real-life drug sting - and a very creepy Christmas dinner.

Set over a 24-hour period in L.A. and Las Vegas, this unconventionally structured comedy is told from the decidedly off-center perspectives of three parties involved in the outrageous events that surround a botched drug deal: a duo of down-on-their-luck supermarket checkout girls, a pair of soap opera actors and an impetuous British expatriate - all of whom discover they are in way over their heads. In the midst of this wild ride, we learn about everything from the possible advantages of multi-level marketing to the techniques of tantric lovemaking to how to make a fast buck at a rave with a little ingenuity and a box of cold medicine.

Can’t believe it’s the start of the year and I’ve already discovered a great cult movie I didn’t know about. Starring a lot of well known faces (Katie Holmes, Jay Mohr, Scott Wolf, Timothy Olyphant) and directed by Doug Liman (The Wall, American Made, Edge of Tomorrow), a great soundtrack and a well told twisty story. Five popcorns and it goes into the Movie Vault.

By the way, the supermarket dance scene is fantastic.

Great recommendation from Neil on the guestbook.

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The Four Horsemen reunite and team up with a new generation of young illusionists to expose a diamond heiress’s global money laundering scheme for criminals.

Pretty cliche, the budget is very high, but the writing is awful. It’s passable for a first watch, but then it becomes boring. Three popcorns, and that’s me being generous.

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The fifth season of the phenomenon TV show is out in 3 waves, and I decided to write just before the end of the year and the last episode is released. The show looks good, but the writing kinda went downhill, and the most annoying part is that there are no real stakes in this anymore. Yeah, the world may be ending, but the writers are too cowards to kill established characters, or to make meaningful decisions, bringing back characters from the “dead” over and over. Two popcorns, because the budget is still there and the show is still a good looking one, but definitely not a good one. I’m kind of happy it ends, although I don’t have high hopes for the last episode. By the way, if you skip it, you don’t miss much.

Edit: Last episode was mostly fine. A decent ending to an underwhelming season. Visually nice, but the writing, the pacing, the interactions were pretty shit. I liked that they tried to answer all the series’ questions.

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In a world overtaken by a mysterious wave of forced happiness, Carol Sturka, one of the immune few, must uncover what’s really going on - and save humanity from its artificial bliss.

While the concept is very interesting: everyone is happy and lives in a hive-mind perfect world, Carol is left out and starts unraveling some mysteries. Keep in mind, this show is made by Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul), and it excels at being that: sometimes nice, entertaining and keeping you glued to the screen at the edge of the seat, and some other times just plain slow and boring. The first few episodes were actually really really good, but after the fourth, the show drops the ball immensely, there’s no arc, no plot, basically nothing happens.

The main actress does a good job, but they wrote her as a skeptical idiot who sometimes fails to understand the core mechanics of living, who’s not funny and can’t carry this forever and ever.

Two popcorns, maybe three if the new seasons become more interesting, although it seems there’s a lot of wasted potential. I don’t understand how morons can call this “a masterpiece”.

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A young woman starts to get messages from an unknown number that claims to be her deceased father. Trying to uncover the truth, she stumbles upon a larger conspiracy involving the singularity.

This is a complex cyberpunk animation, resembling a bit Serial Experiments Lain, but in a more realistic setting, and maybe not as metaphoric or cryptic. It is very well made though and it features great voice actors, like Paul Dano, Chris Diamantopoulos, Aaron Eckhart, Ron Livingston, Katie Chang, and it reaches delicate subjects like digital life after death, the world as a simulation, ethical hacking and many more. I loved the game-like universe and interactions between characters in the digital world. A bit Matrix, a bit Tron, a bit Hackers, a bit Serial Experiments Lain. Six popcorns.

Edit: Okay, after seeing the second season, I can only say it’s pretty much as good as Serial Experiments Lain, without giving any spoilers. Watch it.

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