Atomic Blonde is a stylish action-thriller set in the final weeks of the Cold War in the quirky town of Berlin. The movie has its flaws in the first third but gets progressively better and really grabs the viewer's attention by the end. Those who liked films like Hanna or Salt where a clever woman defies dangerous enemies, shady superiors and treacherous partners will adore Atomic Blonde.

The movie had a very slow start though. The first third of the movie seems only to consist Charlize Theron's character trying out different stylish outfits and music of the eighties we are all too familiar with. The story seems to go nowhere in the beginning and only gets interesting when the main character meets a French undercover agent.

From then on, the movie offers everything you can expect from that type of film. The story develops mysterious characters, offers numerous twists and turns and quickens up pace and tension. The fight sequences are spectacular and particularly authentic. CGI technology isn't overused and even the use of shaky cameras isn't as bad as in many other contemporary action movies. The viewers also get to explore the beautiful and ugly sides of both East and West Berlin throughout the film. It's an excellent publicity campaign for Germany's unique capital. The movie ends with a stunning showdown and once you already think it's all over, the film's resolution offers another gripping surprise.

In the end, Atomic Blonde has a few flaws but is overall an entertaining, stylish and twisted action-thriller that will appeal to those interested in the Cold War and in movie centered around strong women. Due to its intense action sequences and very present soundtrack, the film is best enjoyed at your local movie theatre. Even though I'm usually not a fan of sequels or franchises in general, it would be interesting to see other movies involving the intriguing main character in the future.

La Cara Oculta, internationally known as The Hidden Face, is a Colombian-Spanish co-production. The movie is probably best described as a mixture of a psycho thriller and a drama. The movie has its very own style which makes it stand out but also quite difficult to digest to be honest.

The story revolves around Spanish orchestra conductor Adrian who accepts a job occasion in Bogota for one year. He asks his girlfriend Belen to come with him and after some hesitation she decides to leave her family and job behind and move to Colombia. Her husband and she settle in a stylish mansion previously owned by Germans who fled their country in the aftermath of the Second World War. Soon, Belen believes that her husband is cheating on her with a violinist called Veronica which leads to some arguments and discussions. One day, Adrian comes home and Belen has disappeared, leaving only a video message behind to tell her husband that she can't live with him any longer. However, Belen seems to have completely disappeared as she doesn't give any news to family members or friends and doesn't seem to leave Colombia to return to Spain. Adrian is initially unsettled but soon starts a new relationship with a sensitive barmaid called Fabiana who is looking for a rich boyfriend. Meanwhile, the police investigates Belen's disappearance and starts to believe that Adrian might have some skeletons in his closet. When Fabiana starts to witness strange events in Adrian's house, she also starts to investigate.

On the positive side, most of the story takes place in the remote mansion outside of Bogota which is a gorgeous building with a few interesting secrets. The locations of the movie are out-thought, stylish and unique. The movie has a slightly uneasy and mysterious atmosphere from start to finish which can be described as the film's guiding line. The initial story line is intriguing enough to keep the audience interested during the movie's first half.

However, the movie loses its pace halfway through the film when the most important secrets are already revealed. There is also a lot of repetition in the plot and what many critics described as a twisted ending is actually quite predictable. The movie though fails to tell us what happens after this little twist which might have added some tension to the film. Another problem is that the characters in this film are all very unlikable, especially the antipathic lead character Adrian. It's difficult to get into a movie if there isn't a single character to root for.

To keep it short, the main idea behind the movie is quite intriguing but the repetitive storytelling and the unlikable characters waste a lot of potential. The film has a mysterious atmosphere, great locations and a few stylish sex scenes but the movie is lacking suspense and tension. Regular psycho thriller fans can give this movie a shot but anyone else can skip this one.

La Isla Minima, also known as Marshland, is a Spanish thriller that has won ten Goya Awards, the Spanish equivalent of the Academy Awards. For once, this film truly deserves the praise it got. The story revolves around the mysterious disappearance of two teenage girls in the desolate countryside deep in Spain's south. Two homicide detectives need to work together and soon uncover more mysterious disappearances related to their case.

There are numerous elements that make Marshland an outstanding movie. One element are definitely the landscapes and locations. The southern marshland looks desolate and raw as one can discover both beauty and despair in such a place. The movie takes us into shady bars, into spare hotel rooms, on dusty roads and into numerous abandoned and isolated buildings. Most characters don't really like to live in this place which has an impact on the gloomy atmosphere of this movie.

A key element behind this movie's success are its two charismatic main characters. Pedro Suarez is a young, motivated and ambitious homicide detective who is openly critical of Spain's past during the Franco dictatorship. His critical and direct attitude helps him to solve his cases but it also creates conflicts with his more conservative superiors which is the reason why he got sent away from the Spanish capital to the marshland. On the other side, Juan Robles seems to be a calm and sociable homicide detective who doesn't question his superiors and who gets along with local people which helps him to get more information than his colleague because people trust him and don't only see him as police officer. On the other side, he can get quite brutal and emotional at times and seems to have a shady past as well as a dark future.

Another convincing element of this movie is its mixture of genres. Even though it is mainly a thriller and focuses on a story with a few gruesome twists, this movie is also the portrait of a country that is going through important changes. The movie takes places in the early eighties, just a few years after the end of the brutal Franco dictatorship. Some characters desire to embrace democracy, move on and open the country towards the world. Others are still stuck in the old system and use bribes, corruption and violence to become or remain influential. Some characters seem to be lost between both worlds as they face demons from the past but are also afraid of what lies ahead. This movie is an authentic drama, historical portrait and character study all at once. It's also a road movie as the main characters walk, drive or take the boat to investigate their case in the marshland numerous times.

To keep it short, Marshland is a very convincing thriller that stands out thanks to a coherent yet diversified mixture of genres, two very interesting and profound main characters portrayed by the excellent actors Raul Arevalo and Javier Gutierrez and atmospheric, charismatic and unique landscapes and locations. La Isla Minima is one of the very best thrillers in recent memory and I would definitely recommend it and watch it again myself.

Just like “The Visit” a year earlier, Shyamalan’s new movie “Split” offers a great mixture of psychological suspense, horror elements and an emotional drama with a lot of depth. The great story line, the tense atmosphere and the stunning acting pardon for the lack of a real twist as we usually get from Shyamalan.

The story is quickly told. A man diagnosed with twenty-three different personalities kidnaps three teenage girls and keeps them in an abandoned basement. The girls quickly realize that they can manipulate some of the split personalities while others are very hostile to them. It becomes obvious that the twenty-three personalities prepare for the emergence of a twenty-fourth personality called the beast that plans to feast on the teenagers’ impure bodies. The three girls must find a strategy to escape before their lives will be in danger. At the same time, the psychologist of the man with the numerous personalities realizes that something seems to be wrong with her patient during their therapy sessions. Will the girls manage to escape and the psychologist find out the truth before it’s too late?

The movie develops a quite diversified pace right from the start. The teenagers get kidnapped within the first five minutes of the movie and have to face one of the more aggressive personalities right from the start. The movie then slows down and presents us seven of the twenty-three different personalities. The film also gives us background information thanks to therapy sessions with the perpetrator and his psychologist as well as flashbacks of one of the girls that will become more and more important trhoughout the movie. The last quarter of the film quickens up the pace and leads to a furios showdown and an interesting reference. If compared to Shyamalan’s last movie, some questions are though left unanswered and indicate a potential sequel to this movie. The restricted space in the basement, the calm and precise camera work, the gloomy light effects and the sinister soundtrack progressively increase the uneasy atmosphere of the movie.

James McAvoy has the challenging task to portray eight different personalities all at once and his acting performance alone elevates this movie to a very high level. He is credible in all of his roles and convinces as unpredictable patient that is both perpetrator and victim at the same time. This unprecedented acting performance should be honored with a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role next year. The main actress incarnated by the talented Anya Taylor-Joy is almost as perfect as her character develops a fascinating chemistry with the perpetrator. Initially, she seems to be a shy outcast but turns out to be a clever and empathic young moment who will fight relentlessly for her survival. She’s the tragic heroine of this movie and empathic viewers will definitely care about her fate. She would also deserve a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role next year. Among the secondary characters, Betty Buckley convinces in her role as open-minded psychologist who is walking a thin line between tolerance and insistance to uncover her patient’s gloomy secret. I think she would deserve a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress next year. Overall, the cast is really convincing and easily the best in the psychological horror genre since Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island”.

The only reason why this movie didn’t get all ten points are a few minor lengths in the story telling during the first half of the film and the fact that the movie didn’t come around with a stunning twist in the key of many of Shyamalan’s previous works. 

Still, “Split” is an extraordinary psychological thriller with an intense plot, an uneasy atmosphere and absolutely outstanding acting. Genre fans might even have their best movie of the year right here. Even those who like to criticize Shyamalan should admit that “Split” is a success and one of the best movies in his career. This film should definitely be rewarded with awards and is one of the few Hollywood movies that actually deserves all the attention it gets.

Final rating: 9/10

I have just watched this German crime movie based upon a Charlotte Link novel and this film exemplifies everything that is wrong with the mass production of German crime movies nowadays that are flooding numerous television channels and over-saturating the market.

First of all, this crime movie has the exact same type of atmosphere as the majority of German crime flicks these days. This film is very depressive, numb and slow. The sky is grey and the sun never shines. The chosen settings consist of abandoned ports, old buildings and ugly streets in shabby suburbs. The characters look unhappy and never smile.

This film also includes the usual dose of social criticism. The problem of German script writers is that they always try to add a moral to their stories instead of focusing on an entertaining story. This film mostly criticizes ruthless journalists and brutal pimps. Instead of adding a thought-provoking element, this type of social criticism artificially stretches this film, slows down its pace and feels very repetitive and stereotypical. That being said, there are already countless movies criticizing journalism and prostitution which proves that the makers of this film are running out of ideas and delivering a pale routine job.

This would be pardonable if the story were only interesting. Sadly, the story isn't interesting at all and highly predictable. Pretty much everything I was expecting to happen actually happened in the end. The plot is really a typical German crime flick by the numbers.

The acting is the only aspect that isn't abysmal but it isn't great either. The actors and actresses are busy looking sad, taking a considerable time to finish most of their sentences and are slowly walking around as if they were sleepwalking. The acting is everything but enthusiastic but since that was the filmmakers' intention, one must admit that the actresses and actors fit perfectly to the depressive atmosphere of this movie.

It's beyond me why German producers are unable and unwilling to produce a crime flick with a positive and vivid vibe, or a thriller with some humorous elements, or a suspenseful flick with some gripping action sequences. The only thing German producers are able to offer these days are slow-paced crime flicks with repetitive story lines and some melodramatic social criticism in suicidal grey settings. If they can't find any stories of that kind among German authors and script writers, producers decide to invest in foreign authors and script writers with a very similar style as in this case. German crime flicks and television series need a revolutionary revamp. Get rid of the conservative, depressive and moralistic stereotypes and try out something new. Let German television be creative, emotional and energizing again.