They are setting the bar high with the events happening at the end of this episode, although a lot of information is still withheld. Hopefully this will result in a fantastic season, and not a massive clusterf. 7 episodes for a whole new balance of power is certainly short, although this might flow over in the 6th and final season
ps. I hope Amos got off earth in time.
Interesting and binge-worthy Sci-Fi show.
The best thing about 'Raised by Wolves' is the Ridley Scott (inspired) envisioned visual style. The show looks like it has a decent or big budget, although I could not find any definitive numbers anywhere, and it looks very good as long you are not put off by it's dark and bleak environments.
Storywise it is interesting enough, but it can be somewhat messy, switching between character focus and plot focus, and fails to indulge us more into the depth of characters and philosophy. A lot of ideas, and not a lot of answers. The aim seemed to be to present as much ideas as possible in this first season, to feed off of them later during multiple seasons. It cumulates into a season that was akin to one big pilot episode.
~ This comment was written after season 1. ~
This is incredibly average and boring.
What a fantastic albeit bittersweet movie. Chung Keun-sup both wrote and directed this by himself. And it results in an almost Villeneuve-style movie. Although the constraints of the genre and probably the lack of experience of the director sometimes show in certain aspects. Needless to say he did a great job in creating a captivating story and film. Such a shame that I could not find any more work from him, bc he looks like a promising and talented director.
The camerawork and editing is of high quality, and in the writing of the story there is great attention to detail. Even though the story in itself looks not that remarkable on the surface, what was done with it in 'Montage' shows an understanding of the craft of movie making well.
'Mulan' suffers from poor character writing and questionable creative decisions that ultimately could disappoint both audiences it was made for.
As with most of the Disney live action remakes, 'Mulan' uses a similar base as it's 1998 animated version. However it does not try to recreate it's predecessor scene for scene, while also not deviating as much as some of the other remakes did. Ultimately the balance of originality was pretty well done in this regard. Combine this with stunning set pieces and an inspiring message and this should make for a good, or at least an entertaining, movie. The bad news is that it doesn't.
Warning: Spoilers ahead! (hidden)
What Mulan (played by Liu Yifei) initially is fighting for is the safety of her family (mostly her father) and bringing honour to her family. This is a challenge for her, because her skills do not conform to what is accepted for girls in her society. Mulan has a high amount of chi inside her. Chi (in this movie) is an inconsistently used power that is either a stand-in for magic, or for being able to do martial arts at high levels without (proper) training.
The problem starts with that Mulan's whole character arc is based on this aspect, foregoing any actual personality and turning her into basically a Mary Sue. Only mid-second act we are shown she can outsmart others and can think tactically, which is not (properly) set up.
The sad thing is that the aspect of chi does not enrich the story, but rather takes away from Mulan as a character.
At the opposite side of the spectrum we have the "witch" Niang (played by Gong Li) who uses her chi to wield magic. She has arguably the best character development in the film, however predictable. She joins the enemy Rouran army because she was not accepted for who she was. In this way she hopes to change the world and get rid of the oppression against woman that are different. However she gets betrayed by the Rouran leader, Bori Kahn (played by Jason Scott Lee), who has the same denigrating ideas about who she is. After Mulan gets accepted for who she is by her fellow soldiers, the witch redeams herself by sacrificing her life to save Mulan.
During a key scene of the movie, Mulan and Niang meet, and Mulan declares she fights for the emperor because she knows her place. In that moment she chooses to continue the cycle of oppression she experienced in the first place. This was such a strange moment for me, because it contradicted her original motivation completely. It looked like it was a later change after studio intervention, and it was what broke Mulan's character.
It did not help that most of the performances of the actors were rather lackluster. I can not qualify it as bad, ,most of the time it was just fine. But there were moments when the acting was not convincing or too mediocre and lacking dedication. I had hoped to see a bit more of Jet Li, but with the role he plays my expectations were not set too high.
As said in the opening, the set pieces, background and photography that are done for this movie are stunning. CGI is done very well too. Not too in your face, and most of the time not obtrusive. Costumes and make-up is also masterfully done, and deserves big compliments. So many times you can just look at the images on screen and forget about the story for a moment and feast your eyes.
The directing however is awkward from time to time. Rather intrusive camera movements and strange angles and cutting. Especially during two action scenes of the Rourans attacking, several confusing and unnecessary camera rotations were used that had no function other than being a gimmick. Cutting was often at not intuitive moments and unusual time- and locations jumps happened more than you would want to see. There might have been some inconsistency in the editing process or during the re-shoots, but it was noticeably distracting.
The story itself was done well enough. Of course there was already a solid basis for the story, and I think they build nicely on that. They worked in some new material, gave the enemy a more appropriate name than the kind of inaccurate 'Huns' it used to be. The action was expanded and some interesting perspectives were added. I did not miss the comic relief dragon nor the music, I think it could have messed with the tone of the movie too much. Overall it was a rather coherent and consistent story, but it also did not achieve great heights.
It was obvious that Disney did not want to rub the message too much in your face. The movie can lead to some debate even as it is. And Disney clearly did not want to scare away the Chinese audience, or worse, displease the Chinese government. I think it was difficult for the studio to balance between keeping western audience satisfied as well as the Chinese audience, while also satisfying fans of the 1998 animation and newcomers. It affected the story in making it safe, while at the same time trying to please several camps resulting in some inconsistencies. But in the end, I think it could have been a lot worse.
While 'Mulan' is beautiful to watch at times, the characters and message of the movie are broken. The studio trying to please too many people from very different backgrounds damaged the movie, even though it could have been much worse. I think it is a fine movie for the majority of people to enjoy, but don't expect much special.
Incredibly boring characters, the way colours and lightning are handled is making the show hideous to look at. I could not finish even the pilot episode. I was not a fan of the movie, although it has some great qualities. Those qualities do not exist in this trash.
Fast paced action movie with decent visual effects and a setting that reminds of 'Limitless' (2011) but with a wider range of powers. Its major drawbacks are a lack of character depth and the absence of a decent antagonist.
This low budget movie offers some lighthearted fun for gamers and fans of the 80s, although it might still be enjoyable for others too.
Expect poor acting and a ridiculous story in a reference rich environment. Fitting for the comedy of Kevin Smith and Wil Wheaton and (at least partially) funded by a kickstarter campaign. They clearly went rampant with this project, and the passion and fun everyone had while making this film jumps off the screen. So even if all else fails, at least it has that.
With a good cast and some good ideas it is disappointing this movie does not achieve more than the average cop crime thriller.
The ideas are there, and at several points the movie tips its toes into intriguing territories. However, it avoids to tackle the themes and questions it sets up, which results in frustrating moments and it lets the movie as a whole fall way below the potential it had. Even though it does not manage to outshine some of the other movies in its genre, it still is a decent movie to watch.
I almost could not finish this, and turned it off after 1 hour. But I managed to finish watching it eventually.
Even as a mindless animation action it fails.
It is just unbelievably boring and shallow. Dialogue is piss poor, Story is not terrible, but too basic to get interesting. The animation often lacks details and many corners were cut. The characters are well drawn, but anything else lacks details and movements are very choppy.
The movie just looks and feels like it lacked money at every aspect in its production. Skip this and watch some of the DCU animated movies instead.
With over 90 comments already existing, I will keep it short.
It looks like the two writers responsible for this movie bit off more than they can chew. Looking at their experience, they were involved in some rather questionable movies already, with the best ones being comedy. I think this is what resulted in (some of the) the poor character decisions, awkward tone shifts between sci-fi horror, thriller-action and even comedy, and some poor plot decisions.
This movie looks like it was made by someone still in film school, but on a bigger budget.
The movie is a collection of cliches and poor directing choices from beginning to end. Writing (character, dialogue and plot) is poor, music is off-putting, and does match the atmosphere or is too in your face. Visuals are okay, however questionable editing and directing choices undercut this. Acting is meh at best.
Better to skip this one if you have something else (better) to watch, you won't miss much.
The first one already did not do so well, mostly excelling in original design, decent CGI and it's (attempt of) focusing on characters. Part 2 continues this tradition, but sacrifices the few good things about the first movie with just a grander scale.
Boring, unfunny, poorly written and lackluster acting. Even as a family/kids movie, there are many better films out there.
'Die Hard' in space but bad.
A (very) dark/black comedy about war and the deterministic and powerless situations soldiers can find themselves in, doing (arguably) useless things. Even as a viewer your hopes for a win will get thwarted every time.
Even though this all does not sound like good entertainment, it somehow proofs to be the opposite. To find the humor in the world this mini-series creates, proofs the acting and writing skills involved with this show are not just average, nor an afterthought. It (at least) tries to depict a (semi-)realistic world, and does not venture into intentional offensive comedy just for a shock effect.
I would not recommend to everyone, but it is definitely worth the watch if you are ok with a less than regular style of comedy and can enjoy or dealt with a (largely) lack of positivity in a story.
A high quality political action thriller with several twists and turns. From the very first scene it got me hooked, and even though it does not manage to continuously serve that same high tension, it kept me locked to my screen. Definitely worth the watch.
The actors brought their A level, writing is decent to good (except maybe some loose ends in the last episode that are rushed) and the choreography is well done.
My two main points of criticisms concern (mostly) the last episode. The first being the very last twist at the end with Nadia being a bad guy after all. And secondly that mental health problems are too much downplayed. They are more being used as a plot device, while not giving character development or consequences. The threat of (untreated) mental health problems is more of an external threat than one that affects the character(s). Like how in the last scene, as soon as the protagonist sees a therapist, everything will be fine (like -hinted- his relationship with his wife will be totally ok too.)
Enjoyable movie that does not overstays it's welcome.
I recognized the story while watching (maybe I saw the National Geographic episode that was dedicated to this, or through some YouTube channel) and I felt like it was done well without getting too unfaithful to the original story (I have not done my research on this though, so don't take me word on it.)
The aim was clearly to go for a more realistic experience, and try not to overly sensationalize the plot or visuals. And at times the movies leans more toward a (visually more darker) 'The Great Escape' rather than a 'Shawshank Redemption'. Although 'Escape From Pretoria' does not reach the heights of either of those aforementioned prison classics, the movie is worth the watch and can stand on it's own well enough.
PS. I had no issue with the 'Harry Potter effect' that is mentioned in some of the other comments. I think the reason for that might be that it has been a while since I saw any of the HP films, while at the same time I saw several other movies of Radcliffe. To the others I would recommend to try watch him in some of his totally different roles, like the absurd 'Swiss Army Man' and the more recent 'Guns Akimbo'. The humour might be a bit odd, so I can't give any guarantee you like it. Or you can try 'Imperium'. I did not see that one, but it had decent reviews and is a lot more serious.
This is the first episode I personally felt a bit disappointed about. It felt not very 'amazing', but rather forced instead. Maybe there was too much backstory to cover for a 1 hour episode.
Next Gen is not the worst animation movie you will ever see, and definitely is watchable, but too simplistic and flawed to be worth more than a single watch. I would also not recommend it for kids considering the theme, the level of violence and (too?) obvious bleeped swearing.
Story is bland and predictable, lacking some character depth and several plot holes. I won't blame it too severely on that, even though many (animated) kid movies proof that's not necessary.
Most importantly, the animation is inconsistent. There are some (very) good moments, but overall (especially the humans, fluids and backgrounds) look outdated and more like a Saturday cartoon, then a movie. They clearly focused their efforts on the big battle at the end.
I know the movie intents to be messy, but for me personally it didn't work. Too often it felt forced, which made it either into a gimmick being messy for the reason of being messy, while other times it felt messy in an unintended way.
The exposition is probably the worst part of the film. In some kind of attempt to mimic Deadpool or other recent meta/3rd wall breaking movies, it uses narration a lot. And I mean really a lot. It looks like they had to use narration in order to make the movie understandable and messy at the same time, without making its runtime too bloated.
The idea to make the movie hectic is in essence not bad, it can fit well with the Quinn character if done correctly. The execution just left a lot to desire, and it affected many characters in a bad way. They became inconsistent, and/or lacked screentime, background (except for aforementioned narration) or motivation.
Also: I enjoyed Ewan McGregor until I didn't.
Also: I enjoyed Mary Elizabeth Winstead until I didn't.
'Spencer Confidential' is an average run of the mill action-detective movie, and it reminded me a bit of the (direct to TV/video) detective films of the 90s. It is never great, but it also never gets too bad either. The story is fine, although a little predictable here and there. The acting is decent, same for the dialogue and the fighting and action scenes.
Just a decent movie without ever really surprising the audience. Don't expect a masterpiece, and it'll be fine.
Good to watch with friends, or when you are alone and want something light to watch.
I feel kinda cheated from that fake out with Picard his death. I don't know why the writers tried to put several high emotional stakes into 1 episode, with several of them feeling unneeded, while neglecting many loose threads.
Overall, this show is very good, but after this episode I have a feeling some of the writers have difficulty with creating overall story structure. With (high budget) series being more and more like movies these days (and this series definitely having the allure of one) I also expect more from the writers to treat the stories and characters with more consistency, and not cram too many different stories to follow or (fake) drama into a show. They chose for a season overarching story instead of an episodic one, so a disappointment at the end like this affects the whole show, not just a single episode (although the cracks started to show in the last episode already.)
It is not just Picard's death fake out. Rios and Agnes matching was dumb (but at least it was a hinted at, although without clear explanation) and made no sense for either of the characters. Seven of Nine and Raffi (which tbh was my least favourite character to begin with) romantic involvement tease at the end felt like I was watching The CW network, and made completely 0 sense. Starfleet (Riker) flying in last minute also looked like a result of the writers getting stuck. Soji her motivation for her choices were remarkably underdeveloped. Why did the Borg cube weapons have to be activated, when it is not used at all, except to get abused by the villain. Why do all the synths just agree with whatever Soj/Sutra/Saga say or want. What are the flowers? So many questions are left unanswered, so why did they introduce all those things so close to the end of the season?
I hoped the evil synth overlords would enter the stage, and turn out to be very different than anyone would have expected. I think that would have been far more interesting, match better with Star Trek themes (curiosity and exploration)
I feel disappointed after having a pretty good run this season, that they ended it like this.
Great show worth watching, even though it's second season does not come close to the quality of the first one.
The franchise became chaotic and messy from all the backpedaling after fan criticism. Because of this, the 3rd trilogy feels incoherent and without a clear vision, which damages the overall story. This last part is still a good and enjoyable film, especially in the blockbuster 'genre', but it can't rise above (no pun intended) it's competition.
Poor film with shallow scripting, mediocre action, and uncompelling story. The characters are rather one-dimensional and many plot lines don't go anywhere. Ending is also highly unsatisfying.
After the terrible 'Olympus', and the even worse 'London', I expected more of the same terribleness in this 3rd installment. But somehow it was not that bad. It still has many of the same flaws the earlier ones had, but they are overall less severe, and it even looked like they tried to add some story to it (although not that well executed, but at least they tried?)
Still far from a good movie, but this one I could at least enjoy. My surprise says more about how bad the first 2 in the fallen installment are.
A bit of a messy episode, mostly prelude to this seasons conclusion episodes and main enemy.
It sure is a big fanservice teaser there at the end, but as a lover of Voyager I had a genuine Holy S.... moment!
[Written after episode 3]
I am very delighted by this new series. Stewart is always a joy to watch, even now in his older days. The visuals are great and the music is just fantastic. I am not so sure about the story, it is somewhere between average and very good, depending on how the story will develop itself. What I am little worried about is the focus on secondary characters (they barely feel like secondary sometimes considering their screen time), that we will (probably) only see connect to the main character and story near the end of the season. It kinda feels like filler or irrelevant at times, while also taking some of the mystery out of the story. Those are no big complaints though.
And even if all else was just average, the music alone makes it worth watching.
