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.
Barbenheimer: Part 1 of 2
This is the kind of film I really don’t want to criticize, because we don’t get nearly enough other stuff like it. However, mr. Nolan has been in need of an intervention for a while now, and unfortunately all of the issues that have been plaguing his films since The Dark Knight Rises show up to some degree here. Visually it might just be his best film, and there’s some tremendous acting in here, particularly by Murphy and RDJ. However, it makes the common biopic mistake of treating its subject matter like a Wikipedia entry, thereby not focussing enough on character and perspective. As a whole, the film feels more like a long extended montage, I don’t think there are many scenes that go on for longer than 60 seconds. There’s a strong ‘and then this happened, and then this happened’ feel to it, which definitely keeps up the pace, but it refuses to stop and let an emotion or idea simmer for a while. There are moments where you get a look into Oppenheimer’s mind, but because the film wants to cover too much ground, it’s (like everything else) reduced to quick snippets. It’s the kind of approach that’d work for a 6 hour long miniseries where you can spend more time with the characters, not for a 3 hour film. I can already tell that I won’t retain much from this, in fact a lot of it is starting to blur together in my mind. There are also issues with some of the dialogue and exposition, such as moments where characters who are experts in their field talk in a way that feels dumbed down for the audience, or just straight up inauthentic. Einstein is given a couple of cheesy lines, college professors and students interact in a way that would never happen, Oppenheimer gives a lecture in what’s (according to the movie) supposed to be Dutch when it’s really German; you have to be way more careful with that when you’re making a serious drama. Finally, there are once again major issues with the sound mixing. I actually really loved the score, but occasionally it’s blaring at such a volume where it drowns out important dialogue in the mix. I’m lucky enough to have subtitles, but Nolan desperately needs to get his ears checked, or maybe he should’ve asked some advice from Benny Safdie since he’s pretty great with experimental sound mixing. My overall feelings are almost identical to the ones I had regarding Tenet; Nolan needs to rethink his approach to writing, editing and mixing. This film as a whole doesn’t work, but there are still more than a few admirable qualities to it.
Edit: I rewatched this at home to see whether my feeling would change. I still stand by what I wrote in July, though the sound mix seems to have been improved for the home media release. It sounds more balanced and I didn’t miss one line of dialogue this time around. I’m slightly raising my score because of that, but besides that I still think it’s unfocused, overedited, awkwardly staged and scripted etc.
5.5/10
I am incredibly grateful to Game of Thrones for this adventure I have found myself sucked into for some years now. I am grateful for all the emotions it brought me since day one, bitter and sweet alike. I am grateful for all the laughs, all the tears, all the jokes and gags, every single bit of it, I really am grateful and appreciative of it all. It's been just... wonderful.
That said, I am feeling robbed and betrayed right about now. This ending is arguably one of the worst series finales in the history of television and trust me I realize how bold of a statement that is. The terrible violations the characters have suffered this season, the lack of proper resolution to many of the plots and narratives developed over seasons worth of buildup, the seeking of shock value at the expense of quality writing... that and much much more solidified this as an absolute disappointment of a finale, as opposed to the marvel wrap it could've given this cultural phenomenon.
This episode does have its positives, as always the score, acting and cinematography are perfectly performed but I just do not think it's nearly enough to compensate for how lackluster the writing has been, as much as I wish they did. Oh well, sad as it may be, I'll just hold on to the good stuff and hope that GRRM's book, once finished, will tackle the ending in a more coherent, more respectful and more meaningful way. It's been real y'all...
P.S: I'll leave this here lest some people jump me again. This comment is a representation of my own personal opinion, I am entitled to one just as all of you are. If you enjoyed this season and felt this finale delivered what you were looking for then more power to you mate, but that doesn't nullify my opinion nor does it make yours any valid. If you want to discuss or challenge my views, I'd be more than happy to engage you on that basis but if all you have to offer are petty remarks then please keep them to yourself.
This actually is an overall decent finale. The tense in Camina's fleet is good. The Rocinante battle is good. Naomi's rescue is good. The reveal on the end was also good. However there's one reason that makes the episode feels like a jumble of choppily edited scenes: everything involving Alex's death.
I don't take issue with it being sudden and abrupt, as many deaths are. But everyone feels really disconnected from that one incident that should have affected at least all the main casts. Alex just died, but Holden and Naomi spent their time to listen to Naomi's supposed farewell (and spent minutes on it). Amos was more eager to bring Peaches instead of mourning his close friend; even worse he was only informed about Alex's death off screen. For a fellow Martian and somebody who has spent quite a time with Alex, Bobbie seems largely unaffected at all. And Alex, well... The only tribute they gave to this incident is a plaque, which makes for some emotional moment, but that's it. Heck, that part where Holden talked to Naomi to rekindle the events almost feels like Holden breaking the fourth wall to explain to viewers due to how abrupt it is handled.
It almost feels like the event is not supposed to happen, and the showrunners edited in last minutes.
This season has been nothing but a Naomi season that leads to a reunion of Rocinante crew. That incident stuck like a sore thumb, making the supposedly joyful event with all crews gathering feels really emotionally detached. Not to mention that, barring the reveal at the end, most events still happen off screen. Just like most things that happened this season. We don't get to see the impact of something big happening.
So despite being an overall decent episode, this finale closes the relatively most mediocre season The Expanse has produced. I'd even say that the quality is even lower than Season 4. The first four episodes were nice, but it went downhill and stagnated really fast.
I've just stepped out of the cinema having watched the worst movie of the year. I feel like the director has played me for a fool. I feel like the joke here.
Joaquin Phoenix must want to shake Todd Phillips till his eyes pop out his head for he went 100% down the rabbit hole to create this performance - only for a horrendously bad director, languid editing, and a screenplay-by-numbers to fail this picture into the miserable, sodden, car-crash of a film it is.
The last time I felt so vitriolic after a 'much-hyped' film was Guy Ritchie's Revolver. Another stinker for the ages.
I particularly feel like a joke has been had at my expense by the presence of Robert De Niro, who must have had deja vu cashing his paycheck reminiscing back to his (actually a good film) The King of Comedy.
This film tries to marry that Rupert character to Taxi Driver and comes up with garbage. Much like the garbage epidemic denoted in the plot itself.
I paid 8 pounds to see this. You'd have to pay me 800 to watch it again.
It almost worked for a few minutes during the scenes with Bobby D's Johnny Carson bit. Almost. The rest was as predictable yet immensely tedious as it could be without me being handed a copy of the script on the way in.
Do yourself a favour... Don't ruin your opinion of Joaquin Phoenix by seeing this. It doesn't feel like he is to blame here. But it's best to just steer clear of the movie altogether. It offers nothing to the DC universe. It offers nothing to the Batman legacy. It actively dishounours the greatness of Heath Ledger, Jack Nicholson, Cesar Romero and all future Jokers.
This film itself IS the joker.
Utter crap.
3/10 - for the attempts made by Joaquin Phoenix saving it from 1/10.
What in the actual f*ck.
I'm a reasonable man, I realize I've been crapping on D&D even more than usual this season but I really do have to give them props for doing exactly what they set out to do. They hoped to subvert our expectations and they did just wonderfully in that regards.
We expected all of that buildup over the years to actually amount to something that at the very least passes for a presentable series finale but instead, we got an incoherent, steaming pile of shit. Expectations subverted!
We expected all of that character development to actually result in a beautiful pay-off that respects the journey of self-discovery each and every one of our beloved characters went through to get to where they are now but instead, we got a painful, disrespectful cycle of character regression. Expectations subverted!
We expected the final season of this show to keep us at the edge of our seats with thrilling writing that didn't subvert our expectations for the sake of subverting our expectations via low-quality shock value-seeking writing, but to introduce plot twists that make sense within the overall narrative of the story but instead, we got CW-level predictable, cringe material. Expectations subverted!
I get it. I really do. GRRM let them down by not getting the books ready in time and so they had to improvise away from his influence, but this? This? For a long while, Game of Thrones lived up to the slogan of its parent network, it wasn't just TV, it was something different, something unique and now to have to see it come to this... it's nothing short of disappointing.
On the bright side though, at least this episode didn't suck completely. The acting, score and cinematography were all on point, so I guess it's nice that I didn't walk out of it having appreciated absolutely nothing about it.
So why do I even bother anymore? I honestly could not tell you, though it's probably a mixture of masochism and a faint sliver of hope that they won't flush our collective investment into this series down the drain by the end of it, just one more episode dammit.
Finally something actually happened after they dragged the season for absolutely nothing.
After four mediocre episodes in a row with three of them being filler, this episode is decent enough. Those previous episodes serve no actual purpose other than waiting for the plot to trigger itself by that call.
The dialogues in this episode could be better and so could the way the scenes are cut, especially for the first half. People seem too eager to join The Mando in his quest for the sake of moving the story. However the last 5-10 the minutes is quite watchable with enough tense. The brute killing in the last scene seems to suggest they're going with the "evil Empire" cliche, but I wish they could do better than that next episode.
It seems like the story just started to be set in motion and we will be left with more questions as Season 1 ends, which unfortunately seems to be Disney+ business model: just make cute Baby Yoda stuff for moms and Star Wars reference for dads, figure things out later in Season 2.
On positive notes, it's nice that they attempt to do more world-building like shocktroopers having signature tattoo, each Imperial province having their own insignia, and the Imperial warlord trying to convince people that the world is better with colonialism.
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! :)
"iF yOu ThInK tHiS hAs A hApPy eNDinG, yOu hAvEn'T beEN pAyInG aTteNtIOn"
Literally everyone except Daenerys got a happy clean ending.
This episode and this season as a whole have been a complete and utter disaster. the decline of storytelling quality from the last seasons is shocking. The show is barely recognizable at this point.
A character who wasn't a contender for the throne ended up on it even though they have done absolutely nothing this whole season, had lots of potential to make for a very interesting role but was ignored and swept aside then suddenly elected king.
Daenerys's character being completely butchered as she was turned from someone who never showed the slightest disregard to innocents' safety to someone who commits mass genocide and shows no remorse afterwards, all in the span of 2 episodes.
So many character arcs were neglected or wrapped up poorly. Jon being reduced to a secondary character with a combination of three sentences of dialogue, Jaime's development being thrown out the window, Cersei barely doing anything and then getting killed by bricks, Tyrion, the master tactician, turning to a gossiping idiot then getting promoted after he quits his job (seriously?)
So many plot points were discarded or turned out insignificant. Azor Ahai, Jon's lineage, The Lord of Light, Cersei's prophecy...etc
The whole White Walkers storyline being eliminated in one episode, then the whole Iron Throne storyline being eliminated as well in the end (FFS)
So much shit not making the slightest bit of sense. Dany's army multiplying, Arya's impenetrable plot armor, The North getting the independence while the Iron Islands didn't when they were the first ones to demand it, Drogon not killing Jon after he killed Daenerys, hell, the Dothraki and the Unsullied not killing Jon after he killed Daenerys, The point of the Night's Watch now that the WW are gone. Tyrion being in chains and holding up a presidential vote over who would run the 6 republics. HBO c'mon man.
Overall the pacing was too fast and inconsistent, the ending was rushed, anti-climactic and nonsensical. This couldn't have ended in a worse way. Kudos to D&D!
[8.4/10] I feel like this episode isn't going to please most people. The critical crowd is going to be annoyed at it for indulging in fan service at times and wrapping a lot of character relationships too quickly. The more casual fan crowd is going to be upset that this episode was full of yakking and sparse on action or narrative momentum. But honestly, I really liked this one. I have to imagine that the next four super-sized episodes are going to be filled to the gils with action and high drama and excitement. In the prelude to that, it's really nice to get a series of quiet moments to reflect on where everyone has been to get to this point, and the uncertainty of the future, amid the other grace notes that "The Rightful Queen" provides.
Those are the two big ideas at the center of the episode. On the one hand, you have this sense of everyone both assuming that they're doomed but worrying about what the future holds. More than one character declares that they're all dead. And yet at the same time, you have Dany and others worrying about who might have a claim to the Iron Throne or some slice of the Seven Kingdoms. You have Tyrion and others worrying about who might become (or remain) Hand to the Queen. And you have everyone from Misandei to Sansa thinking about what the world looks like when this battle is over. There's the sense of an inevitable, mortal threat, but also of concern for where things stand after they've picked up the pieces.
But there's also a sense of marking how long the journey has been to reach this point and how much everyone has changed along it. Arya is grown, with her own skills, directness, and desires that mark a sharp contrast from the aspirational little girl who went with her father to King's Landing. Jaime and Tyrion are both much different men since they were "The Golden Lion" and "The Imp" who previously set foot in Winterfell ("the perils of self-betterment"). Hell, even the likes of Podrick has become a capable warrior (and classy singer to boot.) There's a boatload of taking stock in this episode, of remembering where everyone's been and the distance between here and there.
What's more, there's tons of nice little moments. Lyanna Mormont gets a nice scene with Jorah, Gilly gets a little time to shine, and Edd gets a chance to reunite with his Night's Watch brethren. That's all on top of Tyrion's little gathering by the fire, which makes the most of the hang out vibe this episode summons when the time is right.
All-in-all, this feels like one of those Game of Thrones episodes we'll remember beyond the bigger clashes and contretemps the series usually has in store. It's a slower episode, but one that deepens our understanding of where these characters at psychologically and developmentally after nearly eight seasons, and lets us wonder about what the future holds right alongside them.
An immigrant child in a new school battling hormones and her mother's Senegalese traditions tries so hard to fit in she breaks.
Cuties / Mignonnes is everything but cute. It's rough, hard, brutal, tragic and very real. Director Maïmouna Doucouré paints the gut wrenching portrait of the young lady and the clique she's dying to enter with sensitivity, soul and a touch of magical realism that mark the reader like a dark tattoo.
Amy is a complex character (terrifically written by Doucouré and played to a T by Fathia Youssouf) because in the same instant she elicits our sympathy, our anger and our disgust. She makes all the wrong decisions for all the right reasons and because for an 11-year-old on the threshold of puberty, there is only right now and desires that blind them from seeing any consequences of their actions.
As for the ridiculous controversy launched by those who haven't seen the film and fueled by blind ignorance: I find it interesting that people will criticize a female woman of color for directing a film based on her personal experiences, whereas when Woody Allen makes a film about young women throwing themselves at older men, he's hailed as a genius.
Shame on those who shame someone for trying to tell their story. Cinema is meant to be a stage for sharing, not an arena for executing artists we judge despite knowing nothing about them or their art.
Vikings turning into a WTHITH series wasn't what I expected when I first started watching it back when season 1 just came out. What does WTHITH stand for you wonder? Why The Hell Is This Happening
Why the hell is Lageartha dying in such a weird, uninteresting way that just leaves me thinking "wait, what, why"
Why the hell is there a plot involving Ivar's dead wife that is now ressurected and SOMEHOW ended up in Ukraine and SOMEHOW she met prince Oleg and told him all about Ivar and if it's not actually Freydis then it makes no sense and is unbelievably stupid
Why the hell does the Flatnose guy that Edge plays suddenly does a complete 180 and saves Bjorn when his goal all along was to kill him
Why the hell does the guy that saves Bjorn that looks like he's 45 say that he's too young to remember Ragnar
Why the hell there isn't a single character from season 1 alive anymore (and played by the same actor)
Why the hell there hasn't been one scene involving King Alfred this season
Why
Fuck me I'm glad that this is the final season. Let it rest already.
Vesemir says "It feels like bullsh*t now" and it is an apt summary of this episode. It had totally nothing to do with the plot of Sapkowski's novels, which the show is allegedly based upon. Instead of taking the events from the book and transferring them to the screen, the showrunners decided to tell their own story about the witcher. If only it was a good story like it is the case with the games, but no, they had to invent some awful plot with the ancient evil witch Voleth whom nobody ever heard about in the novels, who posseses Ciri so that she turns wicked and starts murdering witchers and teleporting monsters from other sphere to Kaer Morhen so that they could kill more witchers. Vesemir and other witchers want to kill the possessed Ciri but Geralt believes he may help her come back and free herself from the possession. Meanwhile, the real Ciri is in a sort of vision of Cintra where she is happy and both her parents are alive, a vision supposedly created by the witch Voleth so that she can continue to possess Ciri's body as Ciri does not want to come back to the real world. Yennefer sacrifices her life to save Ciri and become a new vessel for the witch, but after Ciri is freed from possession, she uses her magic to teleport the witch back to her world, where she apparently possesses the wild hunt. Back at Kaer Morhen, it appears that Yennefer regained her magic because she was ready to die for Ciri -> this is how the showrunners solve problems which would not have existed at all had they stuck to the source material. It is nice that Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri are now a small patchwork family and the mage and the witcher would work together to protect Ciri, as it should have been the case from the beginning, without any this evil!Yennefer plot twist. Another small plus of the episode is that Phillipa is finally shown, she looks good with her clothing including some owl elements. Francesca went evil and started to kill children with her magic, later the elves captured Istredd who told them about Ciri's elder blood to save his life. So many political factions are now looking for Ciri. Meve is shown in the council of the Brotherhood with the kings and she suggests that Ciri is better dead than alive, Tissaia and others plan to capture and kill her, which I don't think was the case in the books, since in one of the volumes Ciri goes with Yennefer to become a student of Aretuza, so the sorceresses were not definitely intending to hunt and kill her like it is suggested in the show. And at the very end of the episode, the showrunners decided to reveal the identity of the emperor Emhyr, something that is not explained in the books until the last volume! I have no idea what they intended to achieve by doing that, spoiling the books for the viewers who have not read them yet. Ciri herself as well as Geralt and Yennefer learn about Ciri's father at the end of the last volume in the saga, in a very emotional scene which would never be possible to be shown in the series due to the stupid decisions of the showrunners.
Contains major spoilers !!!!!
Huge and utterly dissapointing. After TFA I said this movie would make or break the story. For me it broke.
Where to begin? Let´s start with my biggest problem.
After that rebel cruisers bridge was hit and Leia was thrown into space we saw her drifting in the cold empty vacuum of space. This was a powerful scene and I had tears welling up in my eyes thinking that would be a great ending for the character dying how she always lived. Fighting. I did not realise, or care, that it would have been a huge coincidence had they written this scene at that point not knowing Carrie would pass away. But as I said powerful scene. And then she opens her eyes and floated back into the ship still beeing alive. At that point I was seriously considering leaving the cinema. It´s scifi but, please, without as much as a hint of an explanation that is just awful writing. It is Disney all over it. Anyway I stayed and watched the rest but in general I was done with the movie.
There are tons of other things I didn´t like.
way to much unnessesary and stupid humor. Most of the time it does not fit and just destroys scenes. Holding for General Hux - that might have been OK once but two or three times it just becomes goofy. And there is more of this througout the movie.
the writing was all over the place. So much things going on that do little to nothing for the general plot and just add playtime. Like that whole thing with the codebreaker, going to the casino. Just sugarcoating CGI.
and speaking of playtime - way too long. About five times towards the end I thought it was over. It could have ended when the reached the rebel base- no let´s add another battle. When they realised they where trapped. With Luke going out to face Kylo. At some point I would have been OK with the movie ending with the First Order defeating the rebels, everyone dying, and the franchise done with. But of course that is not happening and the movie ends.....no, just show us a kid with a broom looking at the stars and indicate he could be the hero of a future movie.
in many ways the continuation of storylines is not satisfiying. They introduce Snoke in the first movie without an explanation who he is, where he comes from and how he got there. Would have been OK, could have done later. So now he´s dead without so much as a fight and there are questions left to be answered.
what about Rey ? Are we really to believe her parents were some drunk and drifting scavengers that sold her for money like Ren said ? That would be very stupid because how in the universe could she master the Force in ways even the best Jedis or Sith couldn´t without as much as years of training. Another void in the storytelling.
too many, shall I call them, homage scenes ? A lot of times I felt I had already seen this movie. The scene in the throne room f.e. Snoke = Emperor, Rey = Luke, Ben = Vader, the destruction of the rebel fleet playing in the background and the Ben killing Snoke is like Vader killing the Emperor. I know that was said about TFA as well but I feel it´s much worse here. The Battle of Hoth reviseted would be another thing where they re-did some scenes to a T. All that was left was tow cables.
Those are just some examples of the things I disliked and maybe there could be satisfactory explanation later. There is a lot more but it would take too much time to write it down. But I doubt I will go to the cinema for the next one.
To be fair there where some positives in this movie.
I liked the scenes with Rey and Luke althought they did not really lead anywhere. But some nice insights into Lukes story after ROTJ.
The conversations between Kylo and Rey where very interesting and I thought there was really potential to steer the story to something new and exciting. Not happening.
So overall I was not satisfied. I really like TFA, it built some expectations that where all crushed with this. As far as I am concerned I am done with this new story. I am not not very eager to find out what else the canibalise and how they try to write themselves out of this. There is nothing left.
This is my view of the movie. If you liked it I´m happy for you.
May the Force be with us. Always.
What a phenomenal show! Being a Marvel production, I fully expected something of quality, but my expectations were blown entirely out of the water. Daredevil has easily taken its place among my favorite shows currently on air and far surpasses the current lineup of comic book-based television properties (including Marvel's own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.).
The cast is great. Charlie Cox brings emotional weight to Matt Murdock and an intimidating presence to his vigilante alter ego. Supporting players Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, and Rosario Dawson, all make their respective roles feel critical, never distracting or annoying. But it's Vincent D'Onofrio that really steals the spotlight as Wilson Fisk, bringing to life a villain who is not only vicious and truly terrifying, but also heartbreakingly pitiful.
Daredevil's writing separates it from the current crop of superhero television. The progression of the plot is well organized and dialog rarely (if ever) crosses that line into comic book corniness. You really get the sense that the show runners had a clear vision for where they wanted this freshman season to go, while still laying groundwork for future seasons. Never does it feel like you're just being strung along for bigger and better things to come next season. And the show doesn't constantly try to remind you of the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe, as any references to it are (usually) subtle.
But perhaps Daredevil's greatest strength is its cinematography. Fight sequences are expertly choreographed and coherent (not to mention brutally gritty), even rivaling those of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The production value is top notch, probably thanks to the refreshingly limited reliance on CGI. But what impressed me the most was the brave willingness to let the camera linger or even meander occasionally. Ending episode 2 with a minutes-long single take fight sequence had me speechless, and is a testament to the level of quality brought to the show.
Daredevil is a strong addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I think Marvel's partnership with Netflix could prove to be one of their best decisions regarding their television properties and I look forward to future shows like A.K.A. Jessica Jones and Luke Cage.
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.
— @aag's review (https://trakt.tv/comments/62697, and we need proper internal link markup on Trakt!)
Seriously. The big dramatic moments are unbelievably rushed—there's no time to dig into them. There's too much focus on bad CGI and not enough on characters. Basically every character is 2D at best, except maybe Katniss and Peeta. But that's also due to sticking true to the book. None of the characters in the books were particularly well fleshed out, either, as I recall (from reading them 3 ½ years ago).
I also found the story very predictable. Obviously there's some amount of subconscious influence from having read the books, but it's also just absolutely clear when the big surprises/twists are going to happen, and what they'll be. They end up not being surprising at all. (Not to belabor the point, but the book had this problem too.)
My other big issue—which applies to the whole series—is that we barely see anything that happens away from Katniss. I know it's quite common in YA novels to present a limited first-person perspective from the protagonist's point of view, but in a big political saga like this I feel like that severely limits the storytelling.
"Wasn't sure I'd find you. Thought you might still be rowing." Davos finally said what the internet has been thinking for years.
So Jon is a true Targaryen and Sam is like shut up about the shits we got to go fight white walkers.
More reunions, besides Davos and Gendry, we have Jorah and Daenerys (which looks like he is still in the friendzone), Jorah and Tyrion, and Jaime and Tyrion (even if it is only for a minute).
Arya thinks she is spying on Littlefinger but acutally Littlefinger is manipulating like he always does. The scroll was from Sansa telling Robb to swear fealty to King Joffrey back from season 1. Trying to cause some sister fighting.
I love that Tormund doesn't even know Brienne's name. He just calls her "The big woman."
Is Sam the man of the Tarly house now? Or was there another brother? Does he have to back to Castle Black?
Cersei can’t have a fourth baby. The prophecy said she would only have three.
Thats a lot of wights. I’m not sure how 7 men are going to get one back below the wall. And is Tormund the only free folk that could go with them, wouldn't they want a few more? Next week looks like is going to be another Hardhome episode. Can’t wait!
While looking for the dragonballs Kylo Vegeta Ren finds the emperor and he reveals a clown car with 10 trillion death stars in it. Instead of conquering the galaxy the emperor chooses to just give it to Kylo as long as he kills Rey, because she is a sayan prince or something.
Meanwhile Rey is also looking for the dragonballs and to find a dragonball she needs a wooden stick that some guy made 10 days ago.
Luke and Lanpedo have been looking for this stick for 10 years, but Rey finds it after falling in a hole and helping a snake. She blows up 10.000 people with a kamehameha, but is sad because she lost her dog. Their robot needs to talk with an alien monkey on another planet because it can give him red eyes. Rey goes on Kylos ship to find her stick, kills a few hundred more people with a gun and finds her dog. Rey notices the stick looks like a death star so they go to the death star and find the dragonball. Vegeta comes and is killed by Rey because his mom calls his name. Rey brings him back to life because she wants to smooch and kills his mother. Kylo finds his sayan spirit and becomes a good guy (he only killed a few million people no big deal). Rey rams her ship into another planet for fun and finds another stick that points to the emperors clown car. The emporer wants to get whipped, by his granddaugther, because he is into that. Rey charges a spirit bomb with the power of her 10 trillion fans, but the emporer snaps his fingers and kills all her fans in 1 hit. Kylo comes to help Rey whip her granddad, but he slips and falls down a staircase. Rey grants her grandad's his dying wish, but because the she used the wrong whip they are both dead now. Kylo revives Rey, they smooch and he turns into a ghost. Also his mom now is a ghost. Rey uses the dragonballs to destroy 10 trillion death stars and become a dirt farmer with a different last name, because some ghosts nod their head. Somehow her 10 trillion fans are back alive, her dog gets a medal and Lanpedo starts an inappropriate relationship.
10/10
Well...
Instead of reading reviews, the best thing to do is just go and watch it
I didn't find it REALLY good, but I enjoyed it nonetheless !
the main problem (sorry) are the actors... especially Jennifer Lawrence ! Don't go watch it if you want a serious SF movie !
I didn't count the number of times there were "sexy" shots on her body, but at the end I was like "come on ! Not again !"
Also for physics friends, the director made quite a good job ! Of course, there are some flaws but there is a lot of actual physical content, so the ship, the technology and everything is not pure imagination (or wandering).
also I'm still wondering some things, like why is there only a single medical pod or bartender for 5200+ people ? Why there is still a need for propulsion when you keep at 50% of light speed ? What a glass preventing humans from being roasted by a fusion reactor is made of ? How strong Chris Pratt really is to make an amount of force equivalent to the force with which he got ejected by the energy of that reactor, simply by throwing a door ?
Finally, the music is fair and the design is good, the only big problem here is too much romance but hey, that's what people want now ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I did not read the books, and I did not play any of the games (although I heard at least one of the games is of great quality in storytelling) so I went into this show more or less a blank slate.
And boy it is bad.... The writing is just dreadful. I think the writers assumed prior knowledge to the world and characters, and lean on that assumption too heavily.
From the very beginning it is poorly written. Timelines are messy and unclear, exposition is done terribly, worldbuilding looked like an afterthought and taken from a first draft, the pacing is all over the place and inconsistent over time as well inconsistent for each subplot. Episode structure is even irratic. They presented us a continuous story, but several episodes focused more on little episodic adventures that did not impact the main storyline all that much. And for a show with only 8 episodes, that is deadly and lead to other stories being rushed or simply put on hold for the next season (I assume.)
Toward the middle of the show, it started to get a bit better and I thought it could be promising after a bit rocky start, but in the end they could not deliver and it turned into an utter and complete trainwreck (oh that last episode, I almost fell out of my chair several times from disbelieve.) Rushed plot resolutions, while other characters stories crawled to a complete standstill with close to no progression or character development, in somecases even for the whole season.
What the show does have going for it: Photography, sets and costume design are beautiful!
I really did not want to dislike this, but it looked like they actively tried to make me stop watching.
Note: This review is about season 1.
Good things about this episode:
Varys is no longer useless;
Sansa playing the game of thrones to support Jon’s claim;
Gendry Baratheon;
I like the parallel they’re drawing between the two queens - Daenerys is going to lose her three children just like Cersei. But how does Euron have pinpoint accuracy against Rhaegal and then the entire fleet shoots bolts at Drogon and they all miss?
Bad things about this episode:
More shitty battle tactics - D&D said Daenerys just kind of forgot about the Iron fleet and Euron's forces. This is so stupid. Even if she forgot her advisers shouldn't have forgotten;
Entire scene with Bronn;
Cutting out Sansa and Arya's reaction to the big reveal, because they have to do some dumb jokes and establish Brienne/Jaime as a relationship even though they were already great friends;
It doesn’t make sense that Cersei had Dany and Drogon in the range of those giant crossbows and didn't take them out;
I guess we will never learn any more info on the NK or white walkers, which is disappointing.
Next episode: Jaime kills Cersei
Last episode: Daenerys becomes Mad Queen and Jon kills her
That this movie, at the time of writing this, holds an 8.8 rating at IMDb is simply beyond my understanding. Needless to say I did not really like this movie. The story is not very good, the science is ludicrous and the visuals not all that impressive. Maybe the latter would be better in a big theater (I watched this on my home cinema system which has a relatively large screen by European standards) but I am not really sure about that either.
Be warned that the rest of this review might contain a spoiler or two.
The movie starts of with the usual “I told you so” wet dream of the green fanatics on a dying Earth so it is off to a depressing start right away. That is an overused concept today as far as I am concerned. Then they pour it on with a school official claiming that he Apollo missions and moon landings never happened. What the f…? If they wanted to depress the audience right from the start they succeeded, at least with this audience.
The story proceeds with our heroes finding these gravity waves in the sand and by a huge stretch of imagination decrypts them to mean coordinates which leads them to the secret NASA base. Once there Cooper is told that he is their best choice of pilot for a “save the human race” mission through a wormhole. Yeah, right! This guy was former NASA. His whereabouts could hardly been unknown to them. If he was their best choice why would they entrust a mission to save the human race to someone else until he stumbled onto their door? Typical Hollywood nonsense!
The movie is full of this kind of rubbish. Romilly wastes 23 years of his life doing pretty much nothing except deciding not to go into the sleep capsule. The supposedly highly trained and vetted professor that they do find turns out to be a psychopath as well as and idiot almost blowing up the ship when trying to proceed with a docking that all the systems tells him have not succeeded. Then they proceed to dock with the main ship and stop its spin as well as bring it out of orbit around a planet with the shuttles engines. That is one hell of a powerful shuttle not to mention the strength of the docking mechanism! This just goes on. When someone is not doing something illogical or stupid (or both) they sit around talking, philosophizing and dragging the movie forward at snails pace. 169 minutes is way too much for this movie.
The movie ends up in one big time travel mess (okay they do not travel in time, just sends messages through time but still…) during a bunch of psychedelic scenes while traveling through the back hole. Science? Not so much. And what about this totally ludicrous massively illogical and inefficient robot design?
The one good thing I can say about this movie is that the performance of most of the actors, especially Matthew McConaughey, are quite good. For the rest, not my cup of tea.
Danys back! That last scene was amazing. It was a long time coming and it was worth it, now lets see what she does next.
The scene between Cersei and Jamie with Euron was great. I wonder what the gift could be? Maybe he is bringing Robert's last bastard, Gendry? Jamie's look on his face when Euron said you should try killing you brother made me laugh. It’s like it just crossed his mind that she is actually capable of doing that.
Arya is not content with just killing Walder Frey, she had to kill them all. I realized about halfway through that scene and it was awesome to see her be a badass. The North Remembers! Oh and there is Ed Sheeran I wonder if we will see him again?
I loved that The Hound basically made fun of Thoros for having a man bun. Its crazy to see the way he has changed as a person and burying the people he left for dead a few seasons ago.
Sansa questioning Jon in front of everyone makes me think she wants to be in charge. I wonder if Littlefinger is rubbing off on her? Jon is concerned with the North but I think Sansa has more knowledge of everyone else and she is going to be important going forward.
I can’t get enough of Tormund hitting on Brienne. "You're a lucky man."
Sam's poop/soup montage was disgusting. He might be the most important part of this epsiode though. Finding the Dragon glass "mountain" might give the living folk an actual chance. Jon will probably be going to Dragonstone next week and we will finally get Jon and Daenerys face to face. And we get a glimpse at poor Jorah which seems the grey scale has gone into full effect.
Great episode to kick off the new season. We don't have a full 10 episodes so hopefully some big things happen next week.
That hour felt like 5 minutes! Bernard is Arnold. Dolores killed him. Ford made Bernard kill himself. Holy mindfuck! my head just exploded. Sorry, bad choice of words. And the MIB being a board member. He knew it all.
The first scene was just perfect. "Bernard, bring yourself back online", Maeve. I was on the edge of my seat.
Every theory has been confirmed, except for the William = MIB, which can also be said to be. He did say he was going to find Dolores and then the MIB appeared in the church, right after Dolores said "William?"
I knew Bernard was Arnold. I knew it. There was something about him that didn't add, especially that scene with Abernathy in ep 1. Those scenes with Bernarnold and Ford were perfect. I knew since the beginning Ford was just messing with him. He didn't even twitched when he saw the gun. And at the end, he even seemed concerned with Bernard, like he didn't want that to happen. I agree with Bernard, what kind of psychopath would give such a tragic backstory to a host? Well, our lovely Hannibal Lecter.
And the father of the year award goes to... Bernard! For his astonishing quote "Charlie,you're a lie". And Dolores killing Arnold, holy cow. Didn't see that one coming, although I get that's the reason why Ford told her that they weren't friends.
When they introduced the character of William I though that would be me, that he was just a regular guy with his regular problems but he's lost his shit. The only thing clear is that you don't call him Billy. He might slaughter you.
I think Ford's narrative involves Maeve, so that he can prove that the hosts are too dangerous to be used outside the park.
God glorious Anthony Hopkins: "Do you know what happened to the Nearthentals? We ate them". My greatest fear is to wake up and find myself in that creepy basement with Ford monologuing at me.
One thing I found pretty odd was Stubbs being attacked. Was it Ford? Create, kill, replace, repeat.
Get hyped for the 90-minute mindfuck of a finale!!!
[8.1/10] I think I’ve figured out my rubric for when I’m interested in what Westworld has going on, and when I’m liable to be bored. The more the show is focused on the park -- whether it’s the hosts making sense of their reality, or the guests exploring and growing immersed in it -- the more I’m on board. Those scenes tend to lean into what makes the show engrossing -- thought experiments about identity and sentience and moral questions about how we behave when there’s no rules.
But when the show is focused on the back end of Westworld -- in the form of corporate conspiracies and middle-manager backstabbing -- the more I’m ready to tune out. I’ve realized that none of the characters who are pulling the strings of the park really interest me.
Sizemore is a garden variety shitheel and his antics are as dull as they are intended to be outrageous. A cliched botched encounter with a romantic target-turned-surprise boss does nothing to help either him or Tessa Thompson’s introduction to the show. Theresa continues to be a stock character with a bad performance, between her run-of-the-mill, steely-but-wounded break-up with Bernard to her reheated pep talk to Sizemore. All the runaround and would-be palace intrigue of who’s going to be in charge of Westworld is a non-starter.
I also can’t be bothered to care about what conspiracy Elsie is uncovering, whether that means Theresa herself messing around with the programming of some off-the-books hosts or a mysterious third party posing as Arnold. The whole thing plays out like something from the usual conspiracy thriller textbook, with Elsie going alone to a creepy hideout, being attacked a hidden assailant, and getting stymied and put in danger just when she’s about to uncover the truth. It’s generic pablum and a big waste of time.
Even the two characters who gets the most focus and give the best performances in the “behind the scenes” portion of the show, have grown fairly dull by this point in the season. Ford is a less a character than a bundle of mysteries and cryptic hints at this point. As I’ve said in prior write-ups, Hopkins is a pro and can spin some of this straw into gold. But Ford is a character without weight at this point, there mostly to deliver exposition and throw out the occasionally navel-gazing bit of foreshadowing.
Sure, it’s mildly interesting to learn that those kids that various people have run into on the property are actually robotic versions of his younger self, and that the oft-spoken-of Arnold made host incarnations of Ford’s entire family, which Ford maintains both to preserve a connection to Arnold and to his past. But what does it amount to?
It amounts to another vague story beat to suggest that there’s something amiss with what Ford’s doing, without really delivering any answers and just having Hopkins skulk around and try to carry these scenes on his back. Even Bernard, who has his fingers in the most pies of the behind-the-scenes storylines, has reverted to being something of a cipher, with a nebulous desire to protect Theresa and the lingering pain of his dead son to motivate him, but a pretty dull progression on a scene-to-scene basis.
It’s hard to pinpoint what the pathology of all these back end stories and characters is. It may just be that, even in the context of a futuristic theme park, this half of the show comes off like a generic high-powered office drama. The characters aren’t sketched out well enough, or given anything but generic personas and motivations, to keep up the intrigue, and unlike the park-focused characters and storylines, it’s harder for that part of the show to rely on the coolest elements of Westworld’s premise.
Those are, namely, the twin concepts of robots becoming more complex while slowly gaining sentience and the exploration of the soul when human beings are given the chance to let their best or worst impulses run wild.
Theoretically, The Man in Black should suffer from the same problems without any of the benefits his fellow park-dwellers benefit from. He’s as much a bundle of mysteries as Ford is, and there’s not exactly a battle for his soul going on right now. But he has a few things in his favor.
First, he has a supreme competence and mastery of this world that marks him as unique relative to other characters. Second, he has the benefit of Ed Harris getting to put on a clinic as memorable blackhats go. And third and most important, he has a clear goal. We may not know much about the fabled Maze just yet, but we know that TMiB wants to find it, that he’s been in the game for a long time, and he’s searching for something deeper, something more meaningful, out of this experience. That makes him compelling, even when he’s mired in the same less-than-lucid mysteries the show seems to be promising.
But even he can’t match the glory that is Maeve’s story here, which is pretty handily the best thing the show’s managed so far. For one thing, it pulls the trigger on something the show’s been hinting at for a while now -- one of the hosts realizing what they are and where they come from.
The sequence where Lutz takes Maeve through the facility, set to the Vitamin String Quarter’s version of “Motion Picture Soundtrack,” is one of the most affecting in the show. The combination of the look on Thandie Newton’s face as Maeve witnesses the surreal sights of her entire world, her comrades and her being, in a state of being under construction, and her dreams being broadcast as ads, is tremendous.
But Maeve is able to take it all in relative stride, however much a shock it must be to literally meet your makers (or at least re-makers) and change who you are with a push of a button. There’s nice touches galore, like Maeve overloading when she reads her own speech patterns, or knowing how to manipulate Lutz’s jerkass workmate into keeping his big mouth shut.
There is something charming and capable about Maeve, one where she uses her skills to know what a person wants to finally get what she wants. The prospect of a host remaking themselves, of knowing what the real story is, and having some kind of plan, is the most exciting thing Westworld has offered since its inception.
When the show focuses on stories like those, which lean into the moral and spiritual awakening of these mechanical people, of the thorny moral questions about control and what makes us who we are, and about the animating idea of a place where people can let loose, for better or for ill, it is an engrossing, even thought-provoking show. When it focuses on a pack of pencil-pushers and clashing co-workers, it becomes like any other show, and leaves me wishing Westworld would stop with the office politics and get back to Westworld.
Recently Neill Blomkamp gave this interview where he said he missed out on a lot of career opportunities because he wasn’t ‘Hollywood enough’. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that Gran Turismo feels like a total paycheck gig, it’s some of the most phoned in directing I’ve seen this year (especially because we all know he can come up with a creative vision if he tried). This looks like a Russo brothers movie (zero effort when it comes to lighting and blocking, every conversation is shot like basic coverage, its few attempts at flashy stylistic touches are stupid) and the score is aggressively bland. For a movie primarily aimed at teenagers it’s also surprisingly lacking in any edge, instead what you get is a very sanitized, plain version of the typical underdog sports movie with a lot of dumb, melodramatic moments. The racing sequences are fine (if a little brief), with the overediting making it feel more like watching Tiktok than an actual race. Again, say what you will about early Fast and Furious (I’m not a fan myself), but those movies did have personality. This is very corporate by comparison, it’s content waiting to be forgotten about.
3/10
The show wants to cover too much in just eight episodes, but it fails miserably. Too many characters, too many subplots, too many conflicts: Richter's fear, the love between Olrox and the knight, Maria and her father, the fight against the Messiah, Anette and her disconnection from her ancestors and her loss of Edouard. The viewer doesn't have time to focus on anything because they throw everything at the same time.
The only thing I cared about at least a little was Richter's plot and, although it was developed, it was not the best executed. The magic returns to Richter when he realizes that he has many people to protect. That trope is something we are tired of seeing, especially all those who come from consuming anime, consuming shounen to be more specific.
I was not interested in any character and I was even less interested in the antaognists. As usual, I remember that the first part of Castlevania did not shine for its construction of villains either. Who on the team thinks of making the vampires so one-dimensional and giving them so much focus? What is not attractive to the viewer is supposed to be kept on the sidelines.
It makes me laugh how they saved the worst for last: Alucard's appearance. It was not necessary to use the nostalgia card and even less so at a critical moment like that: right at the end when everyone is at their lowest moment and almost about to die. The way they executed those last scenes, Alucard feels like a Deus Ex Machina.
The action scenes were on point. Kudos to the group of animators and directors behind it. Castlevania has always had some of the best choreographed animated battles I've ever seen.
The first part of Castlevania was not something that was very worthwhile, but Castlevania: Nocturne disappoints even by those low standards.
Disappointing.
Why does the imperial cruiser break the chase, when it has plenty of ships on board to pursue Obi-Wan's single craft?
Did Vader really need to take the imperial cruiser with him, to then leave it behind to go alone after Obi-Wan?
Why Vader doesn't even bother to check Obi-Wan is really dead, after all the trouble he has taken to hunt him down? He just turns his back and walks out? He is able to detect Obi-Wan's presence hundreds or thousands of kilometres away fleeing onboard a ship, but can't tell he is alive under a pile of rocks right next to him?
Why should Obi-Wan leave Vader alive after defeating him and confirming there is nothing left of Anakin, only a Jedi mass murderer and a danger to the entire galaxy stands before him? Why make this mistake a second time?
Am I really supposed to believe after watching this series that Vader/Anakin was the chosen one? He is ridiculed and portrayed as a fool that would struggle to pass a basic IQ test, not to mention all those tactical errors (aren't combat and command amongst the many subjects jedis were proficient at?). Vader deserved much better.
It beggars belief, and takes viewers for complete mugs.
I think this is the worst episode of book of boba fett by a long shot.
First of all boba is completely eradicated from this episode and we don’t even see fennec until the last 3 minutes of the episode it’s not even a real Book of boba fett episode it’s more like a continuation of mandalorian so this episode felt really weird and out of place.
Secondly I felt a huge amount of time was wasted this episode first of all with the opening scene where mando is fighting all the aliens for a bounty and the only purpose of that scene is to show off the darksaber and show us what mando is doing but it isn’t entirely necessary when we see the training scene with the armourer later in the episode which could’ve been a lot cooler and of course we want to see what mando is doing but why take up so much of the episode doing it! Secondly The whole 10 minuet scene where mando and peli is fixing it felt extremely unnecessary as well as the fact as they where using half real word to talk about engine parts for example “turbonic venturi assimilator” which to anyone is just a made up phrase which I understand a spaceship will have sci-fi sounding parts but again to the extent it is used it just feels like I’m sat at a kids table for lunch listening to the adults talk and not understanding a single word of it not really a good scene. Lastly I think it is utterly ridiculous when mando is testing the nano starfighter and essentially just gets pulled over for speeding and to get a ticket which ruined a good fast paced scene and brought it to a grinding halt for a scene that is trying to be comical? It just felt so out of place and on top of that it was the exact same guy in the x-wing the new republic has so much space to police and it is the same guy on Mandos tail again it just felt to unnecessary to reuse a character for what reason?
Thirdly the whole scene in the mandalorin hide out has a lot of unneeded scenes first the bit where din just immediately without protest gave up his coolest weapon the beskar spear gets destroyed albeit for grogu’s gift but considering it was the only remanent of the razor crest it’s a bit silly it was destroyed the razor crest was mando transport his home his ability to be a bounty hunter and it was destroyed and the only keepsake he had left of it was the spear and now it’s gone! Secondly the scene where Paz vissler duels with him feels like a really lazy way just to get the armourer to say the creed and ask mando “have you ever removed your helmet” and he says yes and is thus exiled which just creates another story line to explore the issue I have with this is it just feels like an unintuitive way of going about getting to this scenario and feels forced/out of place. As well as the fact that the armourer says the only way to redeem mando is “in the living waters beneath the mines of mandalore” and mando reply’s with “but the mines have all been destroyed” so they have created a problem with no resolution so is mando permanently banished? As far the episode tells us there is no way to redeem himself.
Lastly I felt it played into the prequels a bit too heavily mainly episode 1 with the naboo starfighter (I do actually like the inclusion of this but I don’t think it’s a reasonable replacement for the razor crest) and then mando practically following the pod racing track though beggars canyon which if it isn’t the pod racing track from episode 1 it certainly looks like it.
In conclusion it’s not an awful episode but not a great one either and it definitely could’ve been a lot better than it was especially considering it is the second longest episode so far definitely weird and definitely not a book of boba fett episode considering he wasn’t even in it at all
I really don't understand what their goal is with this show. I watch The Book of Boba Fett to watch Boba Fett, and he's not even in this episode. This feels like an episode of The Mandalorian, and I like The Mandalorian (both the show and the character), but in a show with a very limited number of episodes, they spend an entire episode focusing on a side character. There's no time for that!
On the plus side, it's great to see Dinn Djarin again. I really like all the Prequel references in this episode, and there are a lot. It's nice to see the writers pay homage to that era instead of being hyper-fixated on reminiscing about the OT era. On the downside, there's not a lot going on in this episode, and certainly not enough to fill an entire episode. The typical Star Wars technobabble starts off endearing but I quickly got annoyed by it, as they heaped it on sentence after sentence, kind of like they were padding for time. And that droid lady was never my favourite character to begin with, so imagine how much I enjoyed it when she got as much screentime here as she did in the entire first season of The Mandalorian.
There's some good here, but it's mostly unnecessary. This should have been episode 1 of The Mandalorian Season 3.
