I didn't like this episode very much. They definitely took things too far and I think this was a very bad first episode because it doesn't at all represent the rest of the show. Thankfully I had heard very good things about it so I kept watching and the rest is a million times better.
Claire Temple showing up was really awesome! Loved the mentions to her other 'special' friend and her interactions with Jess!
Thrilling, creative and well acted. There was a lot of doubts about Edge of Tomorrow, but for me it seemed very cool and since I first saw the trailer that I was excited to see it. Today I finally had the chance to catch it and I really enjoyed!
The concept of the story is so cool! Something between Source Code and a mix of many war films. The action sequences of war are absolutely amazing and the special effects so well done! With a fantastic and super original Sci-Fi story you will be intrigued until the very last minute and you can't even predict what is coming next.
What I wasn't expecting was the amount of humour the film has. Those comical parts go very well with the story and are very well delivered. I let go an amount of spontaneous laughs throughout the story and that was great.
Tom Cruise was really great that his role! We already know that through the last few years he is a guy that likes to do this kind of physically difficult roles full of action and he certainly is in shape for that. I confess that I prefer the 80's and 90's Tom Cruise but he was pretty good in this and that is the Tom Cruise that I wanna continue to see! (although last year I also liked to see him in Oblivion which I think is not as bad as many say). Emily Blunt is a good actress, seeing her in this badass role was awesome! The chemistry between Cruise and Blunt was fantastic! I really liked Bill Paxton's character too.
I heard somewhere that this film was "the best video game film that was not based in a video game" and while I was watching it I really felt that! It was so cool to almost feel that I was actually playing a video game something like "Oh sh*t GAME OVER, start all over again!" haha
First was X-Men: Days of Future Past and now Edge of Tomorrow. Two great Blockbusters! Will this Summer continue to be great? I hope so!
When I wrote my thoughts on Spotlight, I speculated about how knowing the end of the story going in, knowing the extent of the scandal the team in Spotlight was uncovering, may have robbed the plot of some of its punch. And yet, The Big Short is, in many ways, the perfect counter to that.
Almost everyone old enough to watch this film lived through The Great Recession. They know that the disaster all the main characters in the film are predicting comes true, in all its horrible, self-destructive glory. But rather than taking away from the film, it adds to it. There's this sense of foreboding, of doom that hangs over everything.
A film about the financial crisis, especially involving traders and analysts and people crunching numbers in a fund, could easily be too dry. And yet, the fact that the individuals the film focuses on are slowly but surely investigating an economic massacre waiting to happen, and how each step they take reveals another way that disaster might have been diverted, or people who are supposedly in the know digging the whole deeper, means that the entire film is just an exercise in creating that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. It's not a prestige picture; it's a horror film.
It's also a very weird film. It's not so bold in its presentation that it feels unprecedented, but it feels stitched together, disjointed, and unusual, but in a good way. Adam McKay, of Anchorman fame, is the right man for the job. There is a darkly funny absurdity to the topic The Big Short covers, and with his fourth-wall breaking asides, his cuts to celebrity explanations of complex financial consequences in ridiculous situations, and his jumping between various characters acting wild or nutty lends the perfect tone to the movie, one of simultaneous horror at what hell hath been wrought and unavoidable bemusement at the clowns who steered us all into this ditch.
The direction and rhythm of the film is frenetic. It's closest comparison point is Requiem For a Dream with the same frenetic hodgepodge of images and sounds, bleeding and blending into one another, disorienting the viewer and conveying the sense in which the financial world the film depicts is intoxicating, dizzying, and unsettled all at the same time.
Another aspect of the film that makes it hard to compare to other works in this space is the fact that it doesn't really have a protagonist or a plot. Sure, it has a story, and it has characters who take up the most oxygen over the course of the movie, but more than anything it feels like a documentary. It's far too stylized and irreverent to really deserve that label, but it's far more interested in trying to describe what happened, to explain just what mistakes and lies and blindspots led to the global economic crisis, than it is in rising action and resolution, or showing people growing or changing.
That's not to say there isn't an emotional element to the film. Steve Carell stands out by playing essentially a smarter, angrier Michael Scott who grabs your attention every time he's on screen. The parallels between his character's sense that a catastrophe is looming in economic terms that he could do something to prevent, and his guilt over not doing more to prevent his brother's suicide was--while perhaps a little easy--also affecting.
The rest of the cast do their jobs well, but blend together a bit because again, while they're a vital part of the film, the film isn't really about them. The characters in The Big Short are conduits to detail, in amusing and human terms, just what the hell went wrong. Christian Bale is a collection of actorly tics, but he acquits himself well enough. Ryan Gosling does his best dudebro douchebag type, and is sufficiently entertaining in that guise. And Brad Pitt seems pretty reserved, short of his moment where he chastises his young wards for being too happy about what they're making their money from.
But again, the fact that there's not really a narrative means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The film is not really a story; it's an autopsy, cutting up the corpse of our financial system and exposing the bloody innards, the rotten organs at the core that led the USA, and the world, to the dire economic state it was in by late 2008. In that sense, the film succeeds wildly, and McKay manages to tackle something of real significance without losing the absurd madcap attitude he brings to his comedic works, and somehow, doing justice to the insanity of the lead up to The Great Recession in the process. It's a hell of an achievement to make a film this funny, this disturbing, and this great.
Mockingjay Part 2's biggest mistake is being completely faithful to the book, considering that it is the worst one of the trilogy. They had the chance to make the story better but chose to stick to what they had. Being the final chapter of the story, it has emotional bits, but miserably (and unfortunately) fails to sell them, rushing the scenes which we were supposed to remember the most. However, its political and action turmoils are its best parts and were beautifully developed. After all, piecing the four movies together, it remains a good story.
Finished binge watching the series and wow, what a great series it was! Very true to the original tone of the comics with some great references to the MCU and Netflix Daredevil series. Can't wait to see more of Jess in the Defenders show and hopefully in future upcoming Marvel Netflix series!
Loving this 70s period-scifi piece so far. Nice space missions, human drama, very 70s. Everyone smokes all the time, everyone drinks all the time. My kind of fun.
I've played LoL on a handful of occasions throughout the years but never enough to be familiar with the world/lore. So I went into this show pretty much blind and with little expectations because of previous games to TV adaptions.
But boy were my expectations completely blown out of the water. Everything in the first three episodes was damn near perfect. Animation. Score/soundtrack. Voice acting. World building. Captivating Story. Interesting Characters. Fucking insane. I cannot wait for the next episodes.
I have mapped every pore on Elizabeth Moss' face by now. Today she had a blackhead on the right side.
I can't believe it, but the second season is better than the first. And I gave the first a 10/10. The quality of the show is so high. Acting, pacing, the camera work... wow... just wow.
I think this is about cruelty, in a social way. About social revenge, and mostly criticizing the "eye for an eye" thing.
At least this one is entertaining. Despite the fact that it mainly warns us about the dangers of adolescent popstar live.
It's also very long to start. Its 1h10 could easily be packed into 45 minutes. The whole Rachel awkard teen's story and how she can so easily be influenced by a toy telling her to believe in herself is way too long. First as usual with this type of character, I have a very hard type believing that a girl that looks like her would be in this situation at school. And it's not like she's even useful in anything as a character. She's just a plot device. She wants the Ashley Too, and she wants to do what she says. That's it. She's such a huge fan and that's her whole character. OK, the fact that she says that when face to face with Ashley that is tied to her bed and just woke up from a coma a few seconds ago, that's funny. But she doesn't do a single thing. She's in a back fangirling while Jack drives. She does nothing while Ashley Too unplugs the real one and Jack is handling the bodyguard. She does nothing at the end while Jack is actually playing with her idol. Such a loooong exposition for a character that has nothing to do after. I mean it goes through all the cliches and then deliver nothing...
I'm not really in the Miley Cyrus demographic, never seen her, maybe heard one song, I mostly have seen her in tabloids stories. But wow, I found her very good. As the cheery popstar, as the depressed ex child star (but maybe they're not such composition roles) and very much as the robot voice. Through the whole beginning the only interesting parts were hers, and the real story starts at Ashley Too's awakening.
This second part was fun, though it looked more part of a teen show than a BM episode.
As for the tech part, it's a lot less dark than usual. There's basically no downside. Previous season had a way harsher treatment on the duplicating consciousness thing. That was a constant theme in last season, with very dramatic to horrific consequences, but here it's like they wanted to show, look, it can be fun too. Very not Black Mirrory.
However it's not like we're talking about every day technology as it is usually the case. Even in this world, the tech used seems to be revolutionary. And that makes no sense in the story. So the aunt, or her company, or people who work for her anyway, manages to map an entire mind, industrial scale, and they use it for... a pop star doll ? Also it was cheaper to have a miniature doll with the capacity of containing and running the whole thing and put a limiter on it, than to just map and put the tiny part you want to use ?
Then their holographic tech, that seems pretty good too. Though weird moment when Catherine is in front of the (probably mostly teenage fangirls) audience and does her Apple keynote, being happy to be back into the most lucrative part of the business. She actually says that. Not at a tech investor meeting, in front of the live audience. Also fully customizable (even her clothes!) and scalable, like that's not the easiest part of an hologram.
And then there's this machine that allows to decipher songs from the brain of a coma patient ! That's fucking amazing. The applications just for medecine, are unimaginable. And the other ways it could be exploited...
I can think of a thousand ways to make a shitload of money with that without needing to drug your niece into a coma ! They litterally invent technology worth hundreds of billions of dollars just to make a few millions out of a teenage pop star ! Pretty weird when the aunt's character is just presented as being driven by money.
And what's with the dad's machine ? It shows a brain, so I thought he was working on rat's brains, but he just has a small rat chasing robot ? And, without knowing anything (it's repeated enough), you can plug a toy, see it's brain and edit the limiter on it ? That was worse than any hacking scene in movie history, but maybe it was a joke on that ? Didn't feel like it.
Anyway, by far the best episode of the season, but that's not saying much. And still not a Black Mirror episode. I rate it 7 because it was entertaning, but if I was to rate it as if it was a BM episode, that would be lower.
A real BM episode would have gone over the spying part of the Ashley Too technology. A lot to do with that alone. And like I already said, all the brain mapping thing, there was a lot of ways to exploit that, though it was kinda alredy done in last season, there were still lots of possibilities.
Kinda liked the suggestion that if you're not kept under hallucinogenics drugs you would real music instead of pop :)
Pretty much a perfect miniseries. Intriguing characters and overall story with amazing actors, great cinematography and an absolutely fantastic soundtrack.
After Season 2:
I was really worried that this season might be shit but it actually turned out great. It's IMO as good if not better than S1 (although quite a bit less funnier and even more depressing at times) and it provides a lot happier ending for the characters which is nice. It also deals with the psychological aftermath of S1 really well.
But the best thing in the show still was the soundtrack. It somehow got even better than S1.
The thing about Girls is that you shouldn't come to it expecting to laugh out loud. It's raunchy, there's awkward nudity, and some pseudo-funny moments, but most of all there's a strong realism in the scripting, acting and directing that almost makes it feel like a reality show. Basically, it's not comedy, it's not drama, it's not bad, it's not good. It's just mediocre reality. And that is why I stopped watching at the end of season 1.
i dont know about u guys but asa butterfield AND gillian anderson? ive never been so on-board before
UPDATE: just finished it and MAN you all need to watch this. its a mastery of crushing cliches and good writing!
I spent the entire episode grinning like a fool. It's so good to have Doctor Who back! And beyond amazing to finally properly meet Jodie's Doctor!
Oh, Jodie. When she first took off that hood in the reveal video back in July 2017, I immediately started crying. The thing is, I hadn't even allowed myself to hope for a female Doctor - I thought there was no way BBC would take such a risk. And I had never been happier to be proven wrong. I spent the last 15 months devouring every interview, every panel, every talk show, anything I could find, and making my way through Jodie's filmography (because of that, I can now understand her accent pretty much perfectly, which, as a non-native speaker of English, I'm really proud of). I knew she was a phenomenal actress, and in this episode it became obvious that she was born to play this role. Her Doctor is just the right amount of quirky, she's funny, brilliant and a delight to watch. One thing that stood out to me right away was the sharp contrast between her and Twelve's bedside manner - or, in his case, lack thereof. Thirteen is wonderfully empathetic, she seems to understand human emotions way better than her predecessor did. And it makes sense, too - after a darker, more troubled Doctor we get one who's bubbly, joyful and full of childlike wonder. Someone a little softer, which I love.
The episode itself was very enjoyable. I thought the storyline was quite clever and Tim Shaw (yes, I know that's not how it's spelled) was a pretty good villain. There were moments that definitely reminded me of Broadchurch - you can already clearly feel the difference between Moffat's style and Chibnall's. The whole thing also looked really good. Very cinematic. I already like the new companions - or friends, as they're now called. I wasn't a fan of Graham at first, but his speech at the funeral was very sweet. The Doctor explaining what regeneration feels like was excellent and moving, it also served as good exposition for potential new viewers. And I adore Thirteen's outfit.
It's times like these that I wish Doctor Who was a Netflix show. I want more!
UPDATE: This episode was watched by 8.2 million people in the UK upon its debut, which is the highest overnight viewership since The Day of The Doctor. Guys, I'm trying to be a good person here, I really am. But when I remember all the assholes on YouTube going "RIP Doctor Who" when Jodie was first revealed, I can't help but cackle. I'd say the show is doing just fine.
So I finished Part One and had a few hours to think about it. The show is definitely interesting. It’s not perfect but I see it setting-up to something bigger in Part Two. The first few episode are a bit off, not horrible or unwatchable but, does have some questionable pacing, lack of music, and some of the more direct jokes aren’t as funny as I would like them. A lot of the “good” jokes seem to be sprinkled in the background or hidden inside of other dialog, I wouldn’t be surprised picking-up on new jokes on a second re-watch. That said episodes 1-5 would be a 5-6/10. Normally a weaker opening to a series would lean me more towards dropping, however...
The reason I say the show is interesting is that the trailer and promo material advertises the show as a comedy first with some adventure on the side, however, it’s very much a slice of life series with hints of adventure down the line in Part Two. I wasn’t expecting this and I actually like this angle more. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if Part Two was exclusively adventure focused. Most of the episodes in Part One are about the daily life of the disobedient princess and falling into situations, all the while adding a LOT of world building. Part One seems very focused on familiarizing you with the world, people, concepts, etc... While this is taking place we get short cutaways to an unknown group of wizards/sorceress monitoring the situation in Dreamland, the main location in Part One, suggesting something bigger going on.
I wont spoil anything at the end of Part One but the world building and hints towards a grandeur story definitely make this series interesting and I want to learn more. Obviously these are just promises for the moment but the care put into the world and the slower pace at the start to familiarize the characters gives me hope that this series will offer more. For now it’s a 6/10, good but until we see the rest I wouldn’t put much into the rating.
Also the 2D animation is very good. CGI blending is better than most shows and a surprising amount of the scenes have a lot of animation in areas you wouldn't expect it. Casual walks in the city treat you to scenes with plenty of bystanders moving and interacting with each others in 2D (some are 3D). Lots of other shows would offer stills & pans so this gives this show's world a lot of life.
Overall this season is a slight step-down from the second, but whew that finale was the series' best. Brutal, funny, tragic, and almost unbearably suspenseful. Skarsgard's story of ancient Roman slaves is such a succinct summary of the Roy family arc. The finale even retroactively elevates the path that leads to it a bit, which is no small feat. Also, I don't care how impractical it is, Emmys for all the five Roys please.
This is definitely getting a second season and I'm all up for it. The cinematography is gorgeous and the soundtrack fits perfectly with its themes. It addresses important topics that should be discussed amongst teenagers in such a natural, easy way.
The whole cast does a great job. I'll never get tired of saying that Asa Butterfield is a fantastic actor and deserves to get more recognition urgently.
I’ve never been a Sandra Bullock fan, but I found her performance in Bird Box rather incredible. In fact, the whole cast was superb. Great execution. My favourite thriller of 2018.
The ending was quite excellent, hinting subtly that perhaps things were not what they seemed. Did she make it, or were things just too good to be true? The idyllic paradise in the midst of the apocalypse, survivors lounging on the grass, enjoying carefree conversation? Oooooh, I don’t know ...
It forced me to buy a Twinkie, and I it was disgusting :D The movie was funny, though.
liked it from the first scene and got better with every episode
liked it from the first scene and got better with every episode
I started watching this with absolutely no expectations, and was pleasantly surprised.
It's a great alternate history twist on the moon landing, and while I initially thought the novelty of core concept would wear off rather quickly, they've actually done a really good job at crafting a broad and nuanced "what if" scenario. It's a nice example of how one small difference can yield all sorts of unexpected results, and by the time I was around say... three episodes in, all the other series on the "currently watching" list had been sidelined by a need to find out what would happen next.
I'd definitely recommend giving it a try if you find the subject at all interesting.
Watched again after a few years. Just upgraded his grade from 9 to 10!
History became legend. Legend became myth.
And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge.
Based on J.R.R. Tolkien's epic masterpiece "The Lord of the Rings", Peter Jackson took up the challenge, that for the longest time was told about Tolkien's book: "Too complicated to bring a true version onto film, it cannot be done."
Describing "The Lord of the Rings" to the uninitiated may perhaps be best compared trying to describe the taste of wine: Sweet, a little bitter, and intoxicating. Yet to those, who have never tasted wine, the meaning behind this description will forever elude them.
What makes this trilogy stand out amongst other equally brilliant movies, is each individual aspect of this movie is an astonishing work of art and ties "The Lord of the Rings" to something larger than the sum of its parts. The cinematography is breathtaking, in the most literal sense of the word. At times you will hold your breath being consumed by the sheer beauty of Middle Earth. You will quickly forget your surroundings and be plunged into this world. The original score composed by Howard Shore can be considered a masterpiece and Shore's magnum opus, his most brilliant work to date. Inspired by Richard Wagner, he composed the soundtrack around 80 different Leitmotifs, each focusing on an individual character/area/scene with recurring melodies throughout the trilogy. At the time of production, the most popular composers were James Horner and Hans Zimmer, and the music scene was quite astounded at Jackson's choice for the relatively unknown Shore. Jackson said his decision heavily depended on Shore's very unique style (as seen in 'The Cell') and his ability to bring something unique to each of his work.
The (special) effects are equally amazing and more importantly, believable. You will never feel like "Ah, special effects!", but be mesmerized by their authenticity. It almost seems nonsensical to talk about the performance by leading and supporting roles. They were real. I did not see them in their previous roles or as actors, they completely filled out their roles and added their own personality.
"The Lord of the Rings" is certainly not perfect, but if you came to expect perfection, you will forever be feeling disappointed.
It is however the closest thing to perfection as one might get without feeling pretentious.
If you watch this movie for the first time and have very high expectations from all the positive reviews, forget the reviews and watch it with an open mind, but also don't watch it thinking it could never live up to your high expectations, as you might miss out.
I, for one, will be watching this movie for many many years to come, and it has become quite the tradition to watch it at least once a year.
10/10 - You will witness the events unfold through the eyes of the Fellowship and come across joy, sorrow and even great despair. A true work of art that should not be missed.
"The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the Company is true. " Galadriel
I don't have an issue with lowkey bottle episodes, which this definitely was, but there were such flaws in this general setup. Why would they leave June, a woman who has repeatedly shown herself to be rebellious and against everything Gilead stands for, left unsupervised with ofMatthew and her unborn child? Children are surely the most precious thing to Gilead, so to have no-one in the room with June seemed like a contrivance to allow her to do the things she did this episode.
Also, on a fundamental level, I don't understand how (what looked like) a gunshot injury to ofMatthew's shoulder rendered her brain dead.
This show is definitely on a bit of a messy downward spiral of late, which is a shame. It feels meandering with no overarching narrative direction. It's lucky the production values and cast are so terrific. Hopefully things will turn around for the season's closing episodes.
Went in with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised that this was a solid thriller. I cared more about the flashbacks then the current day story. The concept is interesting but nothing we haven't seen before. An easy recommendation since it's on Netflix.
The setting is contemporary, judging by the automobiles, but the ambience is decidedly 1950's era spy film noir. As for genre, I'm forced to call Counterpart science fiction, in that it involves parallel universes, but it's really like nothing else within that genre.
The general scenario is this: 30 years ago, for reasons unknown, reality split into two bifurcating, independent time lines. Until that point, all was unified, meaning that every character alive at that point shared identical histories. Now, things have begun to diverge. But there is a doorway between the universes in a building in Berlin.
Again, for reasons unknown, the two sides have been both communicating with, and spying on, one another through this doorway, and this is where our protagonist Howard Silk (J.K. Simmons) comes in. "Our" Howard is a low level functionary in this spy agency who hasn't a clue as to what is really going on until, one day, his counterpart arrives with news that a woman from "their" side has been sent over to assassinate people on "our" side, including Howard's comatose wife. No one knows why, which is the prevailing state of awareness in this decidedly curious story. "Other" Howard decides that "our" Howard is critical to his investigation and, thus, the strange alliance begins.
J.K. Simmons is a phenomenal actor, despite often being cast in secondary roles, and Counterpart is truly his opportunity to shine. He plays a single character, but one with two separate backgrounds despite shared childhoods, a role requiring some subtlety and nuance. He plays both characters to perfection as the similarities and differences between the two create something of a broader character that calls into question our notions of identity.
In a way, Counterpart is an examination of the concept of self, or soul, but it is also an engaging mystery/thriller. Like its main character, the sum is both greater than, and equal to, its parts.
