================ DISAPPOINTING, FOR VARIOUS REASONS ================

KNIVES OUT Am I the only one being annoyed by Daniel Craig’s „acting“? He’s joyless in the Bond-films. And whenever he’s doing something else (e.g. LUCKY LOGAN), he’s overacting in a manner that’s hurting the films. Apart from that heavyhanded nuisance I thought the makeup of the actors was utterly unflattering, especially to the otherwise gorgeous Ana de Armas. Finally, Rian Johnson is way too fond of himself.

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KIRSCHBLÜTEN UND DÄMONEN DER GOLDENE HANDSCHUH SWEETHEARTS (probably because I had such high hopes) SHAZAM! M.I.B.: INTERNATIONAL GODZILLA II DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD LITTLE JOE AD ASTRA (Why so serious? Brad Pitt was stiff, TLJ gave me the willies, and GRAVITY pulled this movie down.) AFTER THE WEDDING (Coming close to being a persiflage.) BOY ERASED & BEN IS BACK (or is it Boy is Back & Ben Erased?) GEMINI MAN A RAINY DAY IN NEW YORK (No, not because of Ronan & Mia & all that. Woody Allen has directed many of my favorites, that will never change. He just has to do better in terms of directing and coming up with worthy one-liners.) THE GOOD LIAR (Is this a happy caper or a serious history lesson? It isn’t working on either level, getting worse by the minute.) DESTROYER (This one relishes in its own fatalism too much.) US (Sometimes gripping and unnerving, but all in all unconvincing.)

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Blah (I’m getting too old for this) PET SEMATARY CHARLIE’S ANGELS DET. PIKACHU

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AND NOW FOR THE REALLY UGLY

(As always: Counting down backwards, the worst film of the year being mentioned last)

16. X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX The end of the X-Men, rather sad that it had to be with a half-hearted repetition of all the themes from better movies. Bottom of the pit: The way Jennifer Lawrence exits the saga (without an iota of respect) is shameless.

15. DER FALL COLLINI Elyas M’Barek is one hell of a comedian. Too bad he wants to be taken seriously.

14. KING OF THIEVES Robin Hood for teenies. I’d rather revisit Kevin, Morgan & Alan a million times than to sit through this one a second time.

13. JOHN WICK 3 I know, I had „I’m getting too old for this“ before. But JOHN WICK goes beyond boredom. Only Halle Berry got my attention for some minutes. Moreover, the movie didn’t stick to the promise to end it all. I hope I’ll be strong enough to skip Part 4.

12. DUMBO Is this still the Tim Burton of EDWARD SCISSORHANDS? I highly doubt that.

11. COLD PURSUIT Liam Neeson has been the star of several B-action-classics. This one isn’t among them. It’s a bore about amateurs in the snow.

10. GLASS That’s what happens if you expect something from a M. Night Scharlatan movie. What a waste of time!

9. THE DEAD DON’T DIE Unfunny Jarmusch-„genre“-stuff.

8. FRAU MUTTERTIER Unfunny German comedy about motherhood.

7. QUEEN & SLIM A supposedly clever couple doing so many idiotic things from the handbook of idiotic things, you have to lose respect for them.

6. HELLBOY Unclean in every sense of the word. How could a director like Neil Marshall, who came up with great films like THE DESCENT and CENTURION, end up with dreck like this?

5. HOBBS & SHAW This lazy expensive B-movie makes a cheap comedic actioner like IRON SKY 2 almost look decent.

4. IT: CHAPTER 2 Everything that was swell and adventurous the first time around is dumb and ugly this time; I couldn’t root for anybody. I didn’t care for anybody.

3. DOCTOR SLEEP Not only is the project a sacrilege per se, it is just a bad movie.

2. WELCOME TO MARWEN When the great Robert Zemeckis is off, he’s WAY off; time will tell if this clunker is really worse than BEOWULF. I never thought this day would arrive.

1. Terrible, the bottom of the pit. I wish I had never met any of the unsympathetic characters. I couldn’t care less about them, and the intellectual triple whiff about Sein & Schein near the end didn’t do anything for me. I felt dirty after watching this movie.