The evil child coming to a household that has it's own demons from the past to deal with is such a well known movie trope, that it's hard to imagine a film having much too add to the genre. And this one doesn't really. The tension builds slowly and you actually feel bad for the well acted child antagonist for a while. As things get more bloody, the film becomes less believable, but at least the twist adds some very fresh spice to the mix and doesn't have to rely on any supernatural element. The showdown is exciting even if a little unbelievable. Overall pretty entertaining and while never particularly scary the film has its moments of tension.

Mainstream horror film that dares to get nasty a couple of times, when a few American tourists decide to visit mysterious Mexican ruins in the jungle. The secret behind the eerie events is maybe revealed a tad too soon, and turns out to be a little silly, too, but there is a pretty decent sense of suspension throughout the entire film, as the situation gets more and more dire for the protagonists. Especially the somewhat unusual setting works in favor of the film's atmosphere and the characters are believable enough and not the generic idiots that add one bad decision after another. It also helps that the ending is neither preachy nor falls back on the last second scare. Pretty decent.

This movie will rip the Star Trek fan base in two like nothing before. People will either love or hate it. As someone who enjoyed most but not all things Trek, I loved how the movie both pays homage to the original series and films, while kind of flipping off the purists at the same time.

Chances are, if you enjoyed J.J. Abrams first big screen adventure with Kirk, Spock and their crew, you will have a lot of fun with this one too. If you think he took too many liberties, this one will probably make you cringe in anger. A well-known alien race gets a makeover that could have been more convincing, there are scenes cheekily referencing some classic Trek moments almost word for word while the look of it all couldn't be further from the originals.

That being said, the movie is a well-crafted, highly entertaining and visually stunning thrill ride with great performances, especially by Benedict Cumberbatch's villain who's providing some well-kept secret twists. Most characters get their moments to shine, there is plenty of humor and spectacular eye candy. It all doesn't feel as entirely fresh as the predecessor, but when it comes to big screen Sci-Fi it's still high up there.

Admittedly, expectations were high after the first images and trailers and then sunken a lot after the pretty disappointing reviews. Like so often, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Yes, this is stylish and over the top fluff, but at least it's well executed fluff. So the effects, production design and visuals are outstanding. The actresses are extremely easy on the eyes. Sadly, there seems to be very little beyond that, at first sight at least. Whether or not the story of several levels of imagination and reality makes sense or not, is probably up to each viewer themselves. Still, the film wastes opportunities to be much more than fluff. Even the fun action sequences get a bit repetitive when it comes to slo-mos, close-ups and certain moves. It also doesn't help that there seems to be nothing at stake. Once again Snyder proves how perfectly he can mix music with images, but he fails to touch us. Entertaining, larger than life, but somewhat hollow.

A very unusual take on the serial killer story, splitting the film into several perspectives: the person who finds the body, the victim's (supposed) sister, the psycho's wife, the victim's mother and finally the victim herself. These story do not intermix much, which makes the film feel somewhat disjointed. There are a couple of touching scenes, others leave you indifferent, because the pieces do not always create an overall image. An interesting attempt, but ultimately failing to grasp the audience's attention over the entire running time.