In brief I saw all the movies that are out (all those I wanted to and some I didn't even, just had to), and I was so late in chores I had no time to write a proper review and only tweeted on some occasions.So here's the brief. On Dec.1st -so you know what to catch-up in the Holiday Season.
***
Allied -sooo bad it hurts All the wrongs in the right places. -4 out of 10.
Arrival - veerry good, Not the masterpiece people say it is but I trust Villeneuve's Blade Runner will be great ! 7 or 8 out of ten

Afacerea Est. (Eastern Business) Terrible poster, gread sad-bitter-absurd humor film.. The Real feature debut of Igor Cobilianski. 7 out of 10
.
The Accountant-good, better than expected, recommended, kind of a sleeper. Inventive script, could've be made into a series, and a better hero one than most of Marvel's dysfunctional superheroes in their new series. 7 out of ten
Doctor Strange -absolutely useless, spectacularly uninvolving. Vicuals can't save a film, esp when we saw them with smartness, in Inception. 4 out of ten.
Nocturnal Animals -one of year's best. Very Stylish. 8 or 9 out of ten
.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them...not so fantastic. too much mambo jumbo, overwoked and overlong and a new safe paycheck for Johnny Depp in the years to come, Jon Voight is wasted, tho loved Alison Sudol as Queenie. that was a great kiss !-a five, 5 with indulgence for all the work.
.
Inimi cicatrizate-Scarred Hearts- uneven but fascinating. One aof a kinda and a new territory for Jude, still growing up as an artist and director.

6 out of 10
Hacksaw Ridge-my review
here. 6 out of 10
Snowden.
My friend says "the best Oliver Stone since JFK". I don't really believe in this recent history still in the making. So my feelings about Ed Snowden are mixed at best. I would've rather liked a narrative more brave as cinema means, than this most conventional tale, too explicit and schoolclass on the technology. Wrong time for distribution, no Cannes, no fests, surely no Oscars. Seeing Nic Cage "caged" for once was fun. Peter Gabriel contributes another partipris song on closing credits (from Biko to Snowden). 6 out of ten. with indulgence. For good intentions.
The Neon Demon
(wrote about it on FB & the Cannes article in Cinemap and on the soundtrack page).
A real UFO. Saw it then, and it was a real treat on the big screen. For those of you who saw it on a laptop downloaded, I really feel sorry for you. Refn's latest it's very ambitious and arrogant. An aquired taste. Very anti-film too. Experimental. Like Godard's Le Mepris towards cinema, a total despise on the model fake world and on Hollywood. Very 80's pastiche, from The Hunger to Cat People. Movies I love. Could be shallow. Does anyone give a ...? The party was shite tho :). 8 out of Ten for the challenge. Touche !
The Handmaiden /
Ah-ga-ssi -missed in Cannes.caught up on Romanian screens. Overlong (2 h 24 min), and surely exotic for Korean audiecce and for fans of Asian films and unconditional fans of Park Chan-Wook/ Cajn Wook Park ?. Beautifully crafted but in the end, a bit show-offi-ish and shallow. The sex scenes tho beat La vie d'Adele by a longshot. 6 out of Ten.
.