A beautiful tribute to an actor who achieved recognition as an actor by defying limitations. An example of improvement for people with disabilities. R.I.P. Clark Middleton.
Wonderful reinterpretation of History. With a sense of humor darker than the Emperor's heart. It is a comic satire that is not usual to find on television, and maybe that is the reason because it has not found the right target of viewers, not used to read between the lines.
It is not a perfect show, because it has ups and downs in some episodes, but there are others that are absolutely enjoyable, such as the funny trip to the Kingdom of Sweden in "Meatballs at the Dacha" (1x08). I"An occasionally true story".
After eight seasons, the perfect ending the characters deserved. It is surprising how this tv show has managed to go beyond its original concept to build one of the best reflections on how conflicts in the Middle East are handled from the West.
[HBO] A messy script that's constantly running ahead of events, as if it's so eager to explain itself that it leaves constant narrative gaps. Episode six, a kind of short film anthology, is intended to be explanatory but leaves more questions than answers. The new showrunner Philippa Goslett has the mission to fix the mess (if it is possible) and, on the way, eliminate the sexist tone of the show.
[Netflix] A short film about the consequences of war and the complicity of looking the other way. When Mason opens the barn doors and finds the "ratpocalypse" he assumes the perception of violence. Wrapped in a macabre sense of humor, it's a clever story that has a current reading about how we look at wars from a comfortable distance. Axis Studios' hyper-realistic animation falls short of "The tall grass" (S2E5) perfection, but it's quite remarkable.
[HBO Max] Will Sharpe achieves in this representation of truth and lies a multi-layered narrative that plays with the perception of reality (shooting scenes) and fiction (movies imagination). And he manages to make a true crime fiction that is admirable in its creativity, but also in its depth, about morality and conviction. In the extraordinary four episodes he builds and rebuilds the different versions of a crime.
Although the series got worse since it focused especially on the sons of Ragnar, turning into a kind of Viking soap opera, I have to admit that some moments have achieved the height of those first seasons. And that the outcome (not the end, because the story continues with the series "Vikings: Valhalla" that Michael Hirst is preparing for Netflix, including the return to Kattegat), in a highly irregular sixth season, has been in these last episodes designed with talent.
Michael Hirst has managed to close the circle of Ragnar with his four children: Bjorn (epic), Ivar (a somewhat tricky ending, dedicating part of the final episodes to "sweeten" his profile, to make it more emotional), Hvitserk (consistent with his character) and Ubbe (although falsifying reality, he manages to be the true representation of Ragnar). And the award is appreciated to the fans when one of the mythical characters is recovered.
Nothing like a therapist to solve the narrative needs of a character. Easy script resource, especially in times of coronavirus, this episode reveals the mysteries of Jules and her difficulties in establishing a conventional relationship. But that mystery was the one that worked perfectly as a contrast to the character of Rue.
With a soundtrack that looks like a random Spotify playlist, where Zbigniew Preisner and Rosalía also have a place, the episode explains many things about Jules (an excellent interpretation of Hunter Schafer), perhaps too many things, trying to soften the vision that the character had offered at the end of the first season. A way to explain, according to Sam Levinson, the character, to justify her actions and to show another profile of a depressed "millennial" that could perfectly overshadow the main character if it were developed further in the second season (something that probably will not allow to do).
It is clear that "Euphoria" has a powerful visual style, elaborate and certainly "beautiful" aesthetically, but sometimes it falls into a certain superficiality. In this episode, the aesthetic is between the visual imagination of Gaspar Noé and the crudeness of Adrian Lyne's perfume advertisement. Without a doubt, it is an episode that reconciles the character with the followers of the show, but at the same time squanders the opportunity to build a bridge between the first and second seasons.
An unnecesary sequel. Being out of prison does not do justice to the protagonists. The series wants to be more violent, more radical, crazier, and ends up being less interesting, less attractive, less convincing. The relationship between Macarena and Zulema is repetitive and meaningless.
The directors' work consists of repeating the same sequences and using slow motion to lengthen the running time of each chapter. It is not a good conclusion. It is a whim that makes smaller the value of a series that turned out to be a good entertainment.
Why does everyone have visions and when someone says he had a vision, everyone thinks he's crazy?
[Netflix] Another amazing creation of Spanish Alberto Mielgo that has a connection with his Oscar-winning short film "The Windshield Wiper" (2021), regarding how toxic relationships can be, here two predators involved in a battle without winners . The background of colonization and ambition is mixed with animation that experiments with colors, sounds and a complex editing, made by the director's company pinkman.tv.
The second season of "The Mandalorian" was important to establish the path that the creators decided to follow. After laying the foundations in the first season, two paths were opened to the future of the series: 1. Having a personality of its own (which was defined by its references to western and samurai movies) and 2: Becoming a fanservice product, offering references, tributes, character cameos and a development directly connected to the saga. What this second season has shown, and especially the last episodes, is that "The Mandalorian" does not aspire to have a life of its own, but to be dependent.
As if it were the son who has to decide between staying home with his parents or being emancipated, the creators have decided to stay home (or, in other words, the easy way). Because "The Mandalorian" had all the elements to build its own universe. The end of the last episode is a tribute to the past, but it is also the destruction of a path to the future. Or, at least, of a path with some independence, which would have been interesting. But, after the investors meeting (and watching the post-credits scene), what Kathleen Kennedy wants is to connect all the series and movies, because that gives her the possibility to force the need to see them all.
The last episode of "The Mandalorian" thus becomes the closing of a season, but also the trailer for a new series. There are no more independent universes in the galaxy, it is not allowed to be a rebel, but only to become a henchman of the Disney Empire.
After two seasons in which a singular and original universe has been built, a kind of vital labyrinth, the third season had the difficult mission of bringing all these plots together and solving the questions that had been asked.
In the first episodes, the introduction of new temporal paths seemed to further complicate the story, and this new contribution was certainly not strictly necessary. But step by step the writers have been developing a common thread that has led us to a beautiful and spectacular finale, although they have taken the easier path for it.
"Dark" is undoubtedly one of the best European series created in recent years, which has managed to stop at just the right time.
An interesting philosophical and religious proposal that loses strength in the development. The behavior of some characters is not convincing and the ending is inconsistent. We have the feeling that it's a series that takes itself too seriously.
This is one of the reasons why this is a great series. An episode worthy of the western genre, with moments of violence that sometimes even remind us of Sam Peckinpah's films. Awesome episode with impressive camera work.
Westworld is presented as a series that extends more than necessary. The leap into the "real" world seemed to offer new and different possibilities. The result is disappointing.
[Filmin] One of the richest episodes in references, from David Cronenberg to Stanley Kubrick, and one of the darkest in the entire series. It introduces us to a disturbing environment, building two stories in one, which provoke a feeling of uneasiness, despite the fact that there are elements of humor (very dark), and using the old British television commercials for children from the 70s as a disruptive element.
[Netflix] Tim Miller's third short is an exposition about the arrogance of humanity in the face of knowledge of other races, the easy path to progress that nevertheless reveals an internal fragility. Something like the exploitation of the exploiter. Perhaps the ideas need more time to develop, which also underlines the open ending. The animation brings creative designs on creatures and shines in the action scene.
[Netflix] It has the irony of "Zombieland" (one of the directors worked on the film) in the reinterpretation of the zombie genre, but there's an existential sense in the animation tilt-shift that only reveals itself in the sarcastic final shot, which puts the human race where it belongs. Along the way, the mini-zombie apocalypse has references to horror films, the arms race and religion that are more current than they seem. And all for one horny night.
[Netflix] Quoting William Wordsworth, the title itself already indicates the intention of a proposal that uses poetic elements to elaborate metaphysical questions about life and death. It's an interesting and unusual approach, which takes advantage of ambiguity to leave answers up in the air. And it has an excellent animation from the Japanese company Polygon Pictures, focused on warm and cold colors as a contrast.
Personally, I think that the idea of split Joe and building a female version is too comfortable and easy as a solution to maintain interest in a season that, however, turns out to be too boring.
Making Love also have an inner voice that expresses her thoughts to viewers makes no sense narratively. Joe's voice, like Dexter's at the time, connects him with the viewer, makes us accomplices and lets us see his point of view. It also makes sense because of Joe's relationship with literature, he becomes the narrator of his own story. To make Love express herself in this way as well is to betray the initial approach of the story.
[tv+] After a first season that convinced by it optimistic outlook on life, the second season seems to strike a difficult balance between bringing more depth to the characters, especially in the coaching circle, but without abandoning the optimism of the first. There is an interesting development in characters like Nate (Nick Mohammed), although it is not well executed, with a certain tendency to the bad description of his motivations, and the tribute episode to "After hours" (Martin Scorsese, 1985) in which we discover the surreal side of Beard (Brendan Hunt), the least stereotyped and most open to unpredictable surprises.
The tendency to romantic comedy as an obsession that the series has to become a kind of Tinder for its characters is worrying. In this sense, it falls into sentimentality very easily, and loses the balance sending the message that love is the cure for all worries. But the foray into psychological issues is brave, especially in the case of Ted Lasso, although surprisingly it wastes such an interesting character as Dr. Sharon Fieldstone (Sarah Niles), who was announced as the anti-Ted Lasso but in the end is underused.
Somehow the second season is still unbalanced, increased by an excessive number of episodes and an irregular timing of them, as if they need a time that they really do not need to explain everything they want to explain (the series is not deep for that) .
An episode-bridge between the first and second seasons of the series that works only halfway. It certainly doesn't help that coronavirus restrictions force some creative decisions. Basically, the episode relies on the work of the two actors, in a kind of therapy session that may not have much influence on the development of the second season. Not only because it seems like an episode made only for fans of the series, but because there really is no evolution in either of the main character.
Unfortunately for Zendaya, Colman Domingo's reply is so powerful that it ends up trapping the full force of the dialogue. And it is true that important things are said about addictions, but this special does not seem to find the right balance to be more than an isolated sequence in the whole of the series. It is interesting, however, the beginning of the episode, that fantasy of a "happy" life as we understand it in our society. An idyllic image that seems to express what characters like Rue may never experience. "We are living in dark times. Not a lot of hope out there."
[Disney+] Progressively, the series has been transformed from a children's proposal that adults can watch, to a story that addresses adult themes that child viewers can also enjoy. In fact, that this episode exceeds the usual length is an approach that seems to have more of an eye on adult viewers than on children. The structure of this episode allows the creation of two parallel plots that nevertheless come together intelligently in the main idea, which talks about the difficult decisions that are made to achieve greater family well-being, even if this means leaving some important things behind. It is a beautiful story, more emotional than funny, with a certain farewell tone. If throughout its three seasons it has achieved some of the best children's episodes of recent times, this one is outstanding, with some especially exciting sequences such as the final montage with the acoustic version of the song "Lazarus drug", performed by the singer Meg Washington.
It feels like a rejected version of "Dopesick" (Disney+, 2022), but even if there were no other versions of the same story (producer Alex Gibney directed the documentary series "The crime of the Century" (2021)), the tone chosen doesn't seem too appropriate for a story that still has consequences. It tries to balance the real facts told by a somewhat artificial narrator, with a buffoonish description of the Sackler family, which undermines the credibility of the story. Peter Berg tries to move away from his irrelevant action movies to make a serious movie that ends up being also irrelevant.
Sorry, my mistake, I just watched an episode of "Chef's table". "The bear" is falling in all the topics that it had managed to evade in the first season.
[Netflix] Based on the true story of the 18th century when unmarried girls who became pregnant were considered a disgrace to their families, being abandoned on a small island in Lake Bunyonyi. It is a female empowerment short film that is built on references to spaghetti westerns, in the use of music composed by Andrew Ahuurra, or the planning of the action scenes. Loukman Ali's proposal uses African landscapes to delve into the western genre but with a current perspective that gives prominence to African women.
[Filmin] Pemberton and Shearsmith at their best, protagonists of a story that begins in a school where a substitute teacher starts teaching. It manages to make us believe that it is going to head down one path and ends up suddenly turning onto another completely different one. The references in this story are obvious, but what's most compelling is the ability to be totally comedic while also being very disturbing.
[Netflix] The show cannot miss the incursion into the cosmic entities of H.P. Lovecraft, the universe of that cosmic horror that seeks to dominate the planet parasitizing human beings. Sony Pictures Imageworks animation is possibly one of the weakest this season, compared to other 3D short films. S3 feels like little exploration of the possibilities of animation beyond copying the physicality of reality.
It is implausible at times but at the same time skillfully manages the tension, the cliffhanger at the end of the episodes and the suspense focused on elements as subtle as an inappropriate movement or a loose cable. Although the resolution is more disappointing than expected, it's probably one of the series with most adrenaline in recent years, as basic as it is effective, as intelligent as it is inconsequential.
