First week after the holidays and six new movies are opening.

The Cannes Camera d’Or award-winning drama “The Tree with the Golden Butterflies”, the satire “Dream Scenario”, with Nicolas Cage, the violent adventure “The Beekeeper”, with Jason Statham, the French blockbuster “The Three Musketeers: Milady”, the humanistic drama “Miracle: White Bird” and the excellent and multi-awarded animation “My Robot Friend” from today in cinemas across the country.

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

Drama film, Vietnamese and French production of 2023, directed by Pham Tien An, with Le Phong Vu, Nguyen Tinh, Vu Ngong Man, Dylan Beso et al.

Existential drama, of poetic inspiration and directorial performance and at the same time a hypnotic narrative, a fascinating film of wandering along unfathomable paths of nature, loss and faith.

Young Vietnamese director Pham Tien An, who lives in America, in this evocative and confident debut, will pleasantly surprise, win the Camera d’Or at the recent Cannes film festival, as a first-time director and leave a lot of promise for the future.

Satisfying performances, dripping with melancholy and admittedly matching the gray dampness of the atmosphere.

IN A FEW WORDS… After a car accident that kills his sister-in-law and leaves his five-year-old nephew an orphan, a thirty-year-old man leaves Saigon and returns to his hometown in the countryside. During a wandering, the traveler struggles with his own ghosts: his agnosticism, his skepticism towards religious faith, the memory of his long-lost brother, but also contact with a love from his past who chose to become a nun.

Dream Scenario (“Dream Scenario” – main photo)

Fantasy comedy, American production of 2023, directed by Christopher Borghli, with Nicolas Cage, Julian Nicholson, Dylan Gelula, Michael Cera et al.

A scathing and somewhat entertaining satire by 38-year-old Norwegian Kristoffer Borgli, also making his American debut, about the influence of “celebrity” and “cancellation culture” in a world that confuses the digital with the real environment and constantly drifts away from real life.

However, the film, whose ingenuity runs out in the first part, largely gained acceptance and a greater interest due to the presence of Nicolas Cage in the lead role. The American actor, with a meteoric career in cinema, playing mainly in indifferent or silly films in the past decades, but always remaining likable as a charming loser of the film industry, here, throwing every characteristic of the hero, but also the biggest part of his scalp, he will make one more attempt, to escape from the trivial, to revive his career.

IN A FEW WORDS… Everything in the life of Paul Matthews, a boring academic and family man, is turned upside down as millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. But when these nocturnal visits take a nightmarish turn, Paul is forced to come to terms with his unexpected fame.

The Beekeeper (“The Beekeeper”)

Adventure, American and British production of 2024, directed by David Ayer, with Jason Statham, Josh Hutcherson, Amber Sienna, Taylor James, Amy Raver Lambman, Jeremy Irons and others.

Jason Statham is back and ready to “burn everything” in his path in this admittedly fun revenge adventure, directed by the action-adventure veteran, but rather expendable, David Ayer of the blockbusters “Fury” and “Training Day”.

Another typical, particularly quirky, adventure from Statham, who goes it alone with everyone and everything to deliver justice. Faced with an army of “bastards” he will use all his tricks and of course his fists, making yet another hymn to the temple of the defunct kickass.

An ex-secret agent who works as a beekeeper, when his neighbor loses her savings to an online scam and then commits suicide, he will take the law into his own hands. The former secret agent will react by burning down one of the offices of the company that was in the name of a woman and considered his family. But the business is much bigger than a gang of crooks, as the big bosses are particularly high up, even in government posts. But when they realize who they are dealing with it will be too late. For them.

Further introductions are probably unnecessary when Statham takes action and starts leaving bits and pieces of debris in his wake. Okay, clichés compete with the punchlines of the lonesome, of course, hero, but they have their fun and take on a flavor, especially when accompanied by savouries, beers and soft drinks.

Jason is always Statham and will not disappoint his die-hard fans, with his exploits and unrepeatable hilariously dramatic breaks in between the lumber he delivers.

IN A NUTSHELL… One man’s violent campaign of revenge takes on national proportions when he is revealed to be a former agent of a powerful and secretive organization known as ‘The Beekeepers’.

The Three Musketeers: Milady (“Les Trois Mousquetaires: Milady”)

2023 period adventure, French and international co-production, directed by Martin Bourboulon, with Francois Civil, Eva Green, Vincent Cassel, Biki Cripps, Pio Marmai, Romain Duris, Louis Garrel et al.

Spectacular, hearty and easy-to-digest period-adventure entertainment that would be more suited to be screened during the holidays. This is the second chapter of the famous story, which Bourboulon faithfully follows and comes to complete “The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan”, as Richard Lester had done in 1973, with the famous heroic trio of Michael York, Oliver Reed and Richard Chamberlain and Raquel Wells at their best.

From the Louvre to Buckingham Palace and from the dungeons of Paris to the siege of La Rochelle a handful of men and women join their swords and their destiny with that of France, torn by religious wars and feeling the threat of invasion from England.

A blockbuster, which justifies, to some extent, its money, but also the reputation of the work. The actors, as expected, are quite satisfactory, portraying the characters on solid footing, which the producers are ready to capitalize on for their part, planning to move on to a sword fighting franchise.

IN A FEW WORDS… D’Artagnan is forced to join forces with Milady to save Constance, who was kidnapped before his eyes. But as war is declared and Athos, Porthos and Aramis have already joined the front, a secret from the past tears apart old alliances.

Miracle: White Bird

Dramatic period adventure, American production of 2024, directed by Mark Forster, with Ariella Glaser, Orlando Swerd, Bryce Geisar, Helen Mirren, Gillian Anderson and others.

Unofficial sequel to the movie Miracle, based again on the illustrated bestseller of the same name by R.J. Palazzo, but this time under the solid direction of Mark Forster. It goes without saying that many tissues are again required for the unrestrained melodramatizations and the volcanic messages of humanism, heroism and greatness. It is no coincidence that Palacio’s books are distributed in US schools.

However, Forster limited as much as possible all these excessive sweets, stereotypes of political correctness and melodramatism, taking advantage of the story that a grandmother wants to bring her grandson out of his emotional dead ends, to tell him his own her story as a child in Nazi-occupied France and the sacrifice of a boy to save her from the concentration camps.

The experienced Forster (“A Man Called Otto”, “Quantum of Solace”, “Looking for Neverland”), without removing from the foreground the positive messages of kindness and tolerance, will add moments of anxiety, but also of tenderness, which will move the young audience.

With two talks, a well-tuned film, for the whole family, which is full of humanistic lessons and will ultimately offer two hours of entertainment, while the young protagonists also write satisfactorily on the big screen.

IN A NUTSHELL… Julian struggles to find where he belongs since he was expelled from his school because of his behavior towards another child. To turn his life around, Julian’s grandmother finally reveals her own story of courage: during her youth in Nazi-occupied France, a boy protects her from mortal danger. They find love in an amazing, magical world of their own making, while the boy’s mother risks everything to keep her safe.

My Robot Friend (“Robot Dreams”)

Spanish-French animated children’s film of 2023, directed by Pablo Berger. A pleasant surprise that makes the most of the beautiful screenplay, which, notably, has no dialogue. Simple traditional design, without sensationalism and digital exaggerations, but mainly pure emotions and a hymn about friendship. A lonely dog ​​in 1980s Manhattan who is bored and creates his own friend, a robot, with whom they become inseparable. Award for best animated film at the European Film Awards 2023 and several more awards at several festivals, and it can also contend for the Oscar.