INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE [2016]

20 years later, FX-driven director Roland Emmerich returns to his popcorn sci-fi blockbuster ID4-verse with Resurgence.
After developing their own technology based off the weapons found within the alien wreckage from the first invasion, Earth must defend itself again from an extraterrestrial invasion only this time without Will Smith.
While it might be a welcome breath of fresh air compared to all the gloomy cynicism of today's sci-fi films, the brainlessness leaves way too much to be desired.  This time around the multiple mini-plots revolving around it's ensemble cast doesn't quite flow as smoothly as the first and instead is a jumble of mismatched moments of "sentimental" mush.  It delivers quite nicely when the destruction begins but after 45 minutes or so you begin wondering "is this it?" and it keeps your mind hostage from wandering away with it's offensively loud noise.

2 doomed landmarks out of 5

Melancholia (2011)

Dogme 95 director Lars Von Trier (whose last effort I saw was Antichrist) delivers his latest in cinematic experimentalism. Kirsten Dunst is troubled by a deep affliction on the night of her wedding which leads to the breakdown of her life. On the other side of things, you have her very supportive sister who comes to her aid throughout it all. The first hour or so is very slow and you have no idea where it's going and then...BOOM. Everything else that comes before it is rendered trivial. Like The Tree of Life, it makes use of impressive visuals and beautiful music. It's much better to go into this film knowing nothing and enjoy it for all it's worth.

5 brilliant uses of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde out of 5