Watched again after a few years. Just upgraded his grade from 9 to 10!
The Mandalorian started out OK, but ended up as some half-baked, lazily written show that exist merely to lure parents to justify a Disney+ subscription. Kids get the usual Disney contents, moms get Baby Yoda, dads get Star Wars nerdy reference. The show almost feels like being made by a bunch of fanfiction writers with familiarity of the setting but zero sense of screen writing.
Nothing wrong with liking it, it's just the show appears to be all style and no substance.
Storyline shows no complexity at all. In fact, most of them are fillers. You can skip 4 of 8 episodes and you'll still understand the story just fine. Characters are completely uninteresting. None of them are developed. None of them had nuances: protagonists are morally good heroes; antagonists are one dimensional evils. The show relies only on a cute muppet and flashy action, but has zero substance. Had a potential great world-building with some details, but they chose to abandon it for rule of cool (and cute).
The "it's Star Wars, so it'll be simple" excuse commonly said by the series' defenders doesn't hold up if you actually consider other Star Wars titles such as Knights of the Old Republic, Republic Commando, Jedi Academy, Thrawn trilogy, the original and Tartakovsky's Clone Wars, and so on. Those titles are known for having remarkable storytelling; something that The Mandalorian doesn't have for its poverty of creative vision.
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 ...
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.
Boring and lifeless. Is that stupid fake accent supposed to be German? Have they heard a German person speaking English???
Shonda Rhimes... producing garbage and brainwashing gullible white people sice, Grey's Anatomy.:rofl:
Feels exactly like Stargate formula with similar issues (no surprise, with Jo Mallozzi and Paul Mullie). Not a bad thing as is being a huge Stargate fan. Quite the opposite actually, it feels kinda like "home", familiar so to say, although the cast is completely different and there's no Stargate anywhere whatsoever.
Now, this is not SG by a long shot BUT it shares some of the longest writers/exec producers of SG which is a good thing.
Personally, I couldn't be happier about Jo making a new SciFi show in space. It may or may not work out but so far, and we're just 3 eps in now, I genuinely enjoyed it. It doesn't reinvent the wheel and I see issues (clichés) but is by far not the worst effort of a new show I've seen the past seasons (DIG/American Odysee) and has room for a lot of exploration and I do trust Jo to be at least able to make this a greatly enjoyable show given time. Question is, if he is given the time he needs.
Considering the low acceptance of "SciFi" these days I won't hold my breath no matter the journey in S1 but we'll see.
is pretty bad for a new tv series
Preliminary review, my final review for Season 1 is in another comment (I didn't want to just edit over this, especially with the likes on it). Very light spoilers for the first few episodes ahead.
I wanted to throw my hat in the ring and give a genuine review of the series as far as I've watched so far (I'll review it properly when I'm done with the season).
So, let's start with the Baphomet in the room (haha), and note that there is some very overt feminism in this series. As I hear, it tapers off as the series goes on, and I look forward to that, because while it is absolutely not pervasive to every corner of the series, it's a cringey part of the early episodes. I wholly support progressive movements, I am happy to see a non-binary character on the show, and Sabrina's attempts to defend said character. I wholly support Sabrina being a sassy, empowered female character who 'sticks it to the man'.
That said, constantly pointing to a plot element and going: 'This is women standing up to the patriarchy!' is unnecessary. As I said before, it's cringey. Let the work speak for itself.
That said, the series, while not a masterpiece, is interesting so far. I appreciate its willingness to broach Satanism (with all its LaVeyan trappings) and all the horror, gore, and sexuality that comes with it. When it just moves forward with the plot, and doesn't spend its time pointing out its progressiveness, it's a solid supernatural drama.
I do find Roz to be tedious. I think Harvey and Sabrina's relationship is unearned (they are way too lovey for 16 year olds with so many secrets between them, and Sabrina, so far, has been rather self-centered, while Harvey plays the devoted and doting boyfriend; feels very much like the criticisms feminists often have about the roles women play in their relationships with men in other stories). I hope that this gets approached with some maturity, instead of devolving into a mess of drama, but sadly, I feel it could easily go either way.
Ambrose is a great addition to the cast, fulfilling the morally ambiguous role that Salem played in the original (but also being properly morally ambiguous, in keeping with the dramatic tone, rather than comically so).
I'll make a proper review when I've finished with the season, but I just felt like this comment section could use a genuine review rather than the 'feminism is ruining everything!' reviews that it has mostly seen so far.
Just watched the pilot and I gotta be honest, this is the best pilot of any serie I have ever watched. Can't wait for future episodes.
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!
It's generally a fun show but I don't think it depict bdsm pretty well. There's several moments where the consent of some characters was totally overlooked :(
Man I hate that trope they've used in the ending, it's always so stupid and annoying and feels like a cop out. Seriously.
On an unrelated note, think of all the inflation that's going to happen because this huge amount of money just went into circulation. I hope they'll address that in the last three episodes.
Boring AF episode! Nothing happened.
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.
You don't get aliens in Sheffield!!
Quite enjoyed the first episode, enjoyed Jodie Whitaker's quirky style.
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.
This episode will be 90 minutes long instead of the usual 50-60 minutes.
Trakt doesn't allow emojis in comments, but If it were, my comment would be somerhing like: The soundtrack in this show is fire emoji fire emoji fire emoji.
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 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.
Don't get everyone's issue, people seem to think this is season 2 of Squid Game or something aha, it's a reality show, of course it's not gonna have an in depth plot and 'characters', I think people genuinely believe this is meant to be the second season. I actually had fun with this, went in with the lowest expectations are don't care for reality shows and actually managed to have some fun with it!
So far I think the show is very good. I feel like I am watching an updated version of Skins (UK) for 2019. Is that a bad thing? No. I think this show has its own stories to tell, but with similar themes. Labrinth's musical direction and original works are superb. I am going to continue watching.
I was expecting this to be pretty bold-faced Israeli propaganda and I'm happy to report after having seen the entire season that it is not that. This show follows Israeli spies as the protagonists, but Israel is presented as flawed and occasionally brutal (if ultimately justified), meanwhile the Iranians in the show get to be fully fleshed relatable humans rather than evil monsters. It's a pretty fair portrayal where everyone gets to be human. The real villain is the hyper-conservative religious leadership.
As a show, it's middling. The initial set-up is good, then it feels like they were told they had to stretch the show over more episodes than originally planned, and it quickly became aimless from the middle on. It gets bogged down in a love story and a side plot about young Iranian rebels. The season ends on a very bland note, way too many (ironically predictable) double-crosses and last minute twists, and does not leave me very exciting for a potential season 2.
Legend has it, that the script took forever to finish. Every time they finished a line, it disappeared
Absolutely fantastic. I will admit that I hesitated at first, but then I thought why not give it a try. Gloomy and eerie, but good at it. The music throughout the series is really well chosen; it fits perfectly well. The writing is also top notch, as is the acting. You can either have it in English sound or in German sound with English subtitles. Honestly I wasn't bothered at all with the English sound, so if that's your thing you will be able to enjoy the series just fine (maybe you'll also be slightly less distracted as opposed to reading subtitles). Personally I chose the German sound, as it felt more natural.
Honestly, give it a try. Might very well be the best series I've watched this year.
EDIT: Binged season 2 in a sitting. Just wow. This review doesn't do it justice. And the casting...I mean, I totally thought old Ulrich was the result of CGI or something. Season 2 is best thing I've watched this year and last year included (ever?).
It's becoming annoying really... A bipolar, opinionated, middle-management operative that knows everything best, does everything best, defies the system and everybody else, and gets her way... Makes CIA look like a bunch of amateurs and she's the star. Not convincing any more. Sorry to the fans.
As a BB fan am I glad this movie got made? I guess so.
I’m not entirely sure we needed to know this part of the story though.
Some things are better never explained.
It was alright. Nothing special, no real surprises, everything you can imagine that happens to Jessie after breaking bad happens. Nothing surprised me here. I'm not sure this movie needed to be made.
without a doubt the one black mirror episode that has deeply, genuinely, without a fucking doubt tore at my soul and disturbed me to the rawest
