Two-Paragraph Review: Roma (2018)

The thing about Roma is that it follows and depicts a particular kind of childhood, which took place in the turbulent years of the 1970s in Mexico. Yet, at the same time - and this is the thing that makes it so relatable - it is also about everyone’s childhood and their slight absentness from it. In the film, the children and the family that are experiencing the whole snapshot of this part of their lives is only one side of the story.

The second one, in some ways the major tale, is that of the maid working in the same home. Her life is separate from the family but at the same time, it is also fused with their stories as well as a kind of living but an ever-present prop. In spite of this, the family is mostly barely aware of her, as if she is the same complex and undefinable emotional development through which they became adults. She, like the same process, might be forgotten later on, but Roma shows that its actual influence is both unmistakable and irrevocable.

Two-Paragraph Review: Overlord (2018)

Overlord is a great movie and there should be no doubt about that - it’s one of my biggest positive surprises in this hybrid horror genre since Bone Tomahawk. Its director, Julius Avery, does a precise and very technical, but at the same time bold and unexpected slalom run through horror, war movie, and splatter adventure comedy genres. In the film, there are parts that are in equal measure worthy of Saving Private Ryan, Inglourious Basterds, and The Dirty Dozen.

At the same time, Avery managed to make a really good movie without the use of practically any big actress or actor. Regardless, through the use of plenty of German and French being mixed up with the English language, its cast pulls off an engaging movie. The plot tells the story of a small band of survivor paratroopers on a mission to blow up a Nazi installation on D-Day - there, however, they find things much more dangerous than a radio jamming facility.  In the hell ride that comes after this discovery, the actors and Avery do much more and present it as a great and very gory adventure. You don’t want to miss out on this gem of a film, especially if you find war films and those from the WW2 era at list slightly interesting.