Maybe I should stop watching movies all together.
There I was, about to invest three hours into a movie about a man I thought to be one of the most interesting characters in human history, and it left me totally underwhelmed. In fact, I quit at the 2:20 hour mark.
This is not "The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II." This was more about american communist paranoia, about political intrique then it was about a build up to an event that changed the world. And even that, the Trinity test, was a massive dissapointment to lock at. It didn't look like an atomic explosion but rather just a giant gasoline fire, which it probably was. No fascination or awe or even fear, on my part about the power of nature they just unleashed. Why not make a movie about the project, the challenges, the difficulties when all you can show us of Oppenheimer is - what really ? What did he actually do, what were his contibutions other then sitting in meatings and hearing others talk.
I would like to say the acting was great but I can't as there are hardly scenes where anyone has more then two lines of dialogue in a row. Or longer scenes at all for that matter. You try to put yourself in one scene and it switches to the next, and the next and so on. Add to that jumping throught timelines and you can be left utterly confused. Which will probably be the reason it get's tons of Oscar's.
For me it's a soulless, lifeless and, dare I say it, boring movie stuffed with a massive cast that seemed so wasted on this.
If there are still people complaining about the second season not being here and the first one only having 13 episodes: The original Spanish series currently (June 2018) has 15 episodes (part 1: 9 episodes, part 2: 6 episodes), each episode being 70 minutes long! That‘s what you‘re seeing here. Netflix made 40-55 minute episodes out of them, resulting in 13 episodes for the first part and 9 episodes for the second part, so that’s 22 episodes overall. A little confusing, but everything is right in Trakt.tv. There are 15 episodes in the spanisch release and 22 episodes in the Netflix release. And it‘s two parts in Netflix, not two seasons (yet).
The first 9 episodes aired in spain are the first 13 episodes in Netflix and the last 6 episodes aired in spain as a second part, are also the second part in Netflix, but with 9 episodes. It’s that simple ;)
And for those of you being like „Fix it!“ ... Trakt.TV pulls data from other databases (TMDB, TVDB), so that‘s where data comes from. Those databases are community driven, so if there actually would be an error, you could fix it yourself. But there isn‘t, so everything‘s fine! :)
I am no friend of remakes, and I am especially no friend of Hollywood remakes of hit movies just to make them Hollywood - especially if the remake comes out in a really short time after the original did and if additionally it doesn't even try to be creative. E.g. even though a lot of people hate it (for understandable reasons) I would say Rob Zombies remake of Halloween is a valid remake, as he tries to give the story a totally other viewing point, a different interpretation and a totally own style - and he did it in the 00s to a movie from the 70s. But Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? (2009 vs 2011) Let the Right one In (2008 vs. 2010's Let me In?) - having exact 1-to-1 copies just with Hollywood stars and fishing away any further success that the foreign movie could have had, even in the U.S.? Come on.
The Upside is the Hollywood remake of the french surprise hit "Intouchables" (https://trakt.tv/movies/the-intouchables-2011), and as soon as it turned out to be a surprise, The Weinstein Company acquired the rights for a remake, that was started just the instant they had the rights. Thankfully production had a lot of problems, e.g. there where at least 5 directors that started and left the production, and the actors where switching as well, from Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx and Irdris Elba and Chris Tucker we finally got down to Kevin Hart. And Colin Firth finally got switched to Bryan Cranston, and Jessica Chastaine and Michelle Williams where eventually replaced by Nicole Kidman.
For me this was a movie that I was bound to skip - I never cared too much for Nicole Kidman, and though I love Bryan Cranston, I have to say that I really really detest Kevin Hart. So, as I didn't plan to go to see this movie, Fortuna took it upon her to make me see it anyways: It was screened at a sneak preview.
Let me get back to Kevin Hart: In this movie - and it really is the first - I really liked him. Wow is this guy a good actor, once he starts playing serious roles and is not doing his usual silly small guy clown routine. I really liked his acting, he was really believable and I felt really sympathetic towards his role and his character. Please Kevin Hart, do more roles like this. It suits you so much better than the stupid comedy stuff. Bryan Cranston was great as usual. And then there was Nicole Kidman. And wow. I really loved her as well! First, i wasn't even sure if that's actually Nicole Kidman, because to me she looked too young to be her. Yet she was. And her acting was really superb, you knew exactly what was going on with her right from the moment you saw her - without her even saying a thing. That was some really great acting - I actually didn't see too many movies of hers, but after seeing this performance I am really looking forward to seeing some of the other works she has done. I've got a lot to catch up, I guess!
Acting was great, music was great, and if it weren't for the bold copy of the entire story, I would be even giving this movie a higher rating. Still it was a surprise to me and even though it is one of these remakes nobody asked for, I am happy to have seen it just for the performances.
I'd still recommend all of you to watch the original, but if you like to see Kevin Hart in a serious role or if you are a fan of Nicole Kidman or Bryan Cranston, you might enjoy this remake. Just make sure to watch the original first, because it deserves the credit!
[7.7/10] The myth of The Walking Dead is supposed to be that it can go on forever. The bigwigs at AMC have declared as such. You can keep killing characters and adding in new ones ad infinitum. Each new face can have a different backstory, a different motivation, a different reason to be here. And there’s always new challenges in the lawless world that our heroes occupy to, you know, occupy them. There’s always more places to go.
Except that little of that is true. Sure, in principle, you can gradually filter characters in and out, and have new mountains for them to climb each episode. But in practice, two-thirds of each new crop of characters are some combination of forgettable and/or zombie bait. And as unlimited as the possibilities of the show are on paper, The Walking Dead’s track record says that we’ll get the same reheated group vs. group conflicts, the same sort of meditations on what it means to live in this state of the world, and the same cycles of suffering and recovery and loss and community.
So when the show goes big in an episode like “The Storm”, it stands out. There’s been so little that feels truly new on the show that something like the survivors withstanding a blizzard can almost get by on novelty alone. The challenges of keeping warm, of navigating in a blistering snow, of uncertain vision and terrain, are cousins of perils our heroes have already faced, but distinctive enough that it feels like a breath of fresh, frigid air.
It doesn't hurt the show’s visuals either. Aint The Walking Dead nice to look at? Even when the story sags and the dialogue dies on the vine, there’s a stark beauty to this series that helps make it tolerable even in the worst doldrums. With Greg Nicotero directing, the show makes the most of its snowside setting. The sense of uncertainty and paranoia as figures are hard to make out in the snow adds to the foreboding and fraught sense of the survivor’s journeys. Images of walkers frozen solid, or lines of huddled figures moving through a white canvas stand out. Even the scenes of the undead emerging from beneath the powder and threatening to crack the frozen pond has a little extra juice and visual splendor.
Granted, it’s not that different than the times we’ve seen walkers emerge from sand or mud. There’s nothing that new about our heroes making it through harsh conditions in caravans to safety. Blurred vision and the looming threat of an enemy collective are beats The Walking Dead has hit on multiple occasions.
But as much as I harp on the familiar, and the overly familiar, of this show, stories are ultimately less about beats than they are about choices. I get tired of the series’s painful voiceover monologues that bookend so many episodes and deliver so many clanging platitudes. I am utterly exhausted by how often the show resorts to having rotating sets of characters have one-on-one conversations, filled with overwrought dialogue, that directly establish whatever the point or theme is. Still, what drives the show for me -- in success and failure -- are the choices it makes, and has its characters make.
Sometimes those choices are frustrating. I have to admit, I was about ready to throw up my hands after last week’s culling. I am tired of this show knocking off the few remaining characters that I am invested in. I am tired of “shocking” deaths that seems to exist for shock’s sake. I am tired of seeing this show kill of children. And I am especially tired of it making Carol suffer.
Because she is one of those remaining few characters that I still care about on this show. It has had her come so far, sink so low, and yet come back and receive some so-very-earned happiness. The idea that after suffering so long, she finds a healthy relationship, regains her parenthood, and finds a measure of stability and peace after so much was taken from her is one of the few truly laudable journeys The Walking Dead has constructed in its nine seasons. To rip that away from her once more borders on the unconscionable.
And yet, she makes choices here, choices that have meaning. One of the more significant ones is to end her relationship with Ezekiel. I can’t say I love the move, especially when it gets wrapped in a weird love triangle-type thing with Daryl. But Carol/Ezekiel is one of the few pairings on the show worth caring about, and losing a child is one of those things that can be impassable for a couple. So there’s weight when Ezekiel tells his queen that he’ll always love her, and she responds that she’ll never regret the fairytale.
Bigger than that, she chooses not to kill Lydia, despite having every impulse to do so. As she tells Daryl in one of the more nicely laconic colloquies in the episode, she worries that she’s losing herself. She’s hurt and angry and lost after losing Henry. And yet, when her weapon is held at Lydia’s throat, she can only see someone else who blames themself for all that loss. With tears in her eyes, she can only see another child, a child that her son loved, and she relents. There’s true character revealed there, in the show’s deepest and most interesting figure, and carries the weight when so much in the series is crumbling.
Negan reveals his character in his choices here too. The show sets up the insult-slinging, shit-stirring asshole we knew through the last arc once again as he pokes and prods at Rosita, Gabriel, and the others. But when push comes to shove, he goes after Judith in the snow, despite an injured leg, despite the risk of freezing to death, and despite having to lug a canine along in the process.
Maybe saving a little girl and a dog through the snow is a cheap way to redeem Negan, but fuck me (“language!”) it’s effective. There’s always been something that Negan admired in the Grimes kids, the courage and chutzpah shown in Carl and Judith alike. Seeing him risk his own life to save hers in the spirit of that caring, or out of his fractured but potent admiration for Michonne, or his empathy for Ezekiel in losing a Kingdom, can’t help but make me glad to see his shit-eating grin at the end of the episode. I never asked for or wanted Negan’s redemption, even halfway redemption, but I’m unexpectedly happy to see him take the steps to earn it here.
But the biggest choice the survivors make here is to come together. That’s the overall theme of the episode and the season. There’s teases of threats to come and allies new and old emerging from the woodwork. More than that, though, there’s the sense that these connections became frayed and torn apart, and it made them weaker, more strained and susceptible to threats than strong and independent. Michonne says as much in case the writers think the audience missed it.
There’s catharsis in the dramatization of that. Seeing the refugees from the fallen Kingdom find safety in Hilltop, and resolve that their community comes with them, no matter where they are at the moment, is heartening. Seeing the struggles and threats of crossing Whisperer territory and staving off frostbite and fending off wintery walker attacks amount to a warm reunion and snowball fight at Alexandria is just as encouraging.
This sort of thing is not new either, though. If anything, it’s been The Walking Dead’s biggest trick since at least season 4 and arguably earlier -- break up the group and then warm the audience’s heart when you bring them back together again. We’ve seen declarations that this is a community again, that they’re rededicated to their principles, that there’s strength in working together, time and time again.
That’s where the myth starts to break down a little. You can shuffle the faces and names, shuffle the allegiances, even shuffle the weather to try to freshen things up. And when you do, you may pull out those moments of sweetness, of joy amid the darkness. You may even pull off one of the show’s better season finales, one that puts a bit more of a period at the end of the season than a semicolon.
But you still leave me wondering where the show goes from here. How many more people can it kill off before the whole thing seems futile? How many rival groups can you introduce with different coats of paint before it starts to feel rote? How many times can you rotate locations before it’s just variations on a theme. Nine seasons in, The Walking Dead is squeezing out every last ounce of juice from its premise, and every once in a while, it’s still pretty tasty and refreshing. It’s just tiring drinking the same basic cocktail -- of gore, war, loss, and recovery -- to where despite enjoying this finish quite a bit, I’m ready for this series to settle up.
I... don't know where to start. Maybe like this: I want more. I know that if this season was 13 episodes instead of 8, the story would get unnecessarily dragged out and the Defenders probably wouldn't meet until episode 6. But maybe 10 eps? I just feel like it ended too quickly.
I knew, of course, that there was no way Matt was really dead. Daredevil is renewed for season 3. So his "death" shouldn't have had any emotional weight to it, right? Well, it did. I genuinely had tears in my eyes, which I guess is a sign that the showrunners did something right. Now I've only got one question: is Elektra alive? The whole season (which isn't saying much, 'cause I watched it in like 10 hours) I've been going back and forth between "she's getting a redemption arc" and "she's gonna die for sure". And honestly, the latter seemed way more plausible. She kind of got a redemption arc in Daredevil season 2, so another one didn't seem likely. And yet, I hoped. With all my might. Because Elektra may be problematic, but she's still an incredible, layered, multi-dimensional character. I wanted her to live so badly. I wanted her and Matt to get their happy ending. That would've been nice - a tragic OTP that you think are doomed defying the odds and driving off into the sunset. And now I'm furious because WE DON'T KNOW! WE DON'T KNOW IF SHE'S ALIVE OR NOT! We'll have to wait until like goddamn 2019 or late 2018 at best to find out! Who the fuck thought this would be a good idea? You know how many things could happen until 2019? I could die! I could die and never find out if Elektra made it! No, I'm not going to calm down! This shit is why I have anxiety!
I loved the scene where Jessica pulled the freaking elevator up. For some reason she didn't get to showcase her powers as much as the others, so it was a satisfying, triumphant moment for her and for me.
Jessica: "Maybe we can get coffee sometime."
Luke: Kill Bill sirens
Alias Investigations is in business again! Hell yeah! Now please, someone get Jessica into rehab STAT. Her liver must be begging for help at this point. Jessica's been through an unthinkable trauma, I get that, but drinking herself to death is not the solution.
Luke and Claire are together and happy! Yay! They're so cute. I hope they have some peace for a while.
Danny's still spitting out philosophical bullshit like he didn't throw a tantrum for no reason two episodes ago. Fucking idiot.
I'm sad for Gao. I don't give a shit about the other four fingers (how stupid does that sound?), but she's been around since Daredevil season 1. Hats off to the OG badass. And double props for throwing Danny around a bit. If only she'd used slightly more force...
I honestly don't buy the whole "you wouldn't believe me if I told you" thing that they kept saying to Misty. They live in a world where Avengers are real, aliens invade the Earth on a regular basis and vigilantes pop up left and right. If I were a cop in the Marvel universe, I wouldn't blink at the notion of an ancient cult pursuing immortality. Still not as weird as Wanda Maximoff's powers or a dude turning green when he gets angry.
Final thoughts: fun show, pretty much exactly what I expected it to be, well-written, well-shot, some great cinematography, some awesome music, some really good fight choreography, decent villains (although they kind of wasted Sigourney Weaver, I feel like they could've done much more with Alexandra). Definitely hoping for more.
