The episode was good although I have issues with some of the plots:
I have to say the flashbacks were heartbreaking and well acted and I hope we get more of those to really understand each person’s point of view. It was announced that this season might be a short one and I hope that is the case and we get solid episodes. Although I don’t have very high hopes since I feel they might go with having Serkan believe Kiraz is Burak’s daughter, but we’ll see…
Denis Villeneuve is the man!
There’s only one word that came into my mind after watching it: finally.
Finally, a blockbuster that isn’t afraid to be primarily driven by drama and tension, and doesn’t undercut its own tone by throwing in a joke every 30 seconds.
Finally, a blockbuster that puts actual effort in its cinematography, and doesn’t have a bland or calculated colour palette.
Finally, a blockbuster with a story that has actual substance and themes, and doesn’t rely on intertextual references or nostalgia to create a fake sheen of depth.
Finally, a blockbuster that doesn’t pander to China by having big, loud and overblown action sequences, but relies on practical and grounded spectacle instead (it has big sand worms, you really don’t need to throw anything at the screen besides that).
Finally, a blockbuster that actually feels big, because it isn’t primarily shot in close ups, or on a sound stage.
And of course: finally, a blockbuster that isn’t a fucking prequel, sequel, or connected to an already established IP somehow.
(Yeah, I know Tenet did those things as well, but I couldn’t get into that because the characters were so flat and uninteresting).
This just checks all the boxes. An engaging story with subtext, very well set up characters, great acting (like James Gunn, Villeneuve's great at accentuating the strengths of limited actors like Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa), spectecular visuals and art design (desaturated but not in an ugly washed out way), pacing (slow but it never drags), directing, one of Hans Zimmer’s best scores: it’s all here.
I only have one real criticism: there’s too much exposition, especially in the first half.
It can occasionally hold your hand by referencing things that have already been established previously, and some scenes of characters explaining stuff to each other could’ve been conveyed more visually.
Other than that, it’s easily one of the best films of the year.
I’ve seen some people critiquing it for being incomplete, which is true, but this isn’t just a set up for a future film.
It feels like a whole meal, there are pay offs in this, and the characters progress (even if, yes, their arcs are still incomplete).
8.5/10
It’s funny to know that this movie was intended to come out before the pandemic, because by releasing it now it might provide some unintentional food for thought for the morons who believe that a certain virus was actually conceived in a lab.
I genuinely wonder if those people will read that far into this film, I’d find it deeply amusing.
The good news is that there are definetely a lot of things this does better than Spectre.
The action is memorable and way more visceral (though it doesn’t quite surpass the Mission Impossible Fallout bar) and the characters are generally more interesting.
I loved the women in this in particular, they all have distinct personalities and they’re not flawless human beings or overpowered (e.g. Ana de Armas is bubbly and fun, but at the same time she’s inexperienced and chaotic), like some blockbusters tend to do.
At the same time, we shouldn’t pretend that this film invented strong female characters for Bond, especially after we’ve had Eva Green and Judi Dench.
Meanwhile, James Bond himself has a very satisfying arc in this film, which isn’t too dissimilar to Tony Stark’s arc in Avengers Endgame , with a bold pay off in the third act. I’m happy that this film gave us confirmation that Mads Mikkelsen didn’t end up castrating Bond during that scene in Casino Royale.
It’s paced very well, more like a traditional action film and less like a drama, which was the case for Skyfall and Spectre. Don’t let the runtime intimidate you, it doesn’t feel longer than 2 hours.
And finally, the whole thing just looks great, it’s produced excuisetely. The cinematography isn’t quite Skyfall level, but Roger Deakins is an impossible bar to clear for any cinematographer.
Unfortunately, this film really struggles with its tone, bouncing between some cartoony stuff and very dark, dramatic moments.
It wants to honor the traditional Bond stuff, but at the same time it can’t let go of the roots of the Daniel Craig iteration, which makes it feel like an uneven artistic vision, because the foundation of Craig’s Bond rests on this idea that this isn’t the traditional Bond.
It’s going for the same tone as Skyfall, meaning its pretty serious, while also incorporating some campy stuff with the plot and the villain (but never going into straight up silly territory, like Spectre).
The problem is that you could still take the villain and the plot seriously in Skyfall (Bardem is still scary despite the camp, the hacking plot feels grounded), and that isn’t the case here, the plot goes too much into sci-fi territory for that.
Also, Rami Malek didn’t leave much of an impression on me, the accent is wonky and he feels like a stock villain (very much like Waltz in the last film). There’s not really an interesting motivation there, or an interesting evil plan. It’s a campy and theatrical plan, and it feels very familiar.
Finally, this film can be fairly predictable at times (for example: Matilde being Bond’s daughter was extremely obvious, but they still try to somewhat play it as a twist. The same goes for Lea Seydoux being framed in prologue.).
So, it’s good, it pushes the creative boundaries of what a Bond movie is in some ways, which is the best stuff.
But I kinda hope they bring in someone with a fresh, fully realized artistic vision to really shake things up again for the next reboot.
7/10
Ps for the Bond producers: please, please make a spin off with Ana de Armas’ character.
Nate's development is annoying, but honestly realistic. It was as Keeley put it somewhat: people like them have more to prove; Nate was literally the towel boy / kit man before his promotion and has a father whose approval he yearns for. I feel for him and can see where he's coming from, and where he wants to go. Even his defensiveness about his new position in life that he presents as cruelty to his successor, Will, and even Colin, (currently the only people he can exert some power over) is behavior I've seen in real life with people who climb up ranks. But not everyone who does this goes through a similar transformation. tl;dr Nate: Cool motive, still a dick move though.
I wonder which Ted will meet Nate in the fallout though: kind Ted who forgave Rebecca, or a rare, angry Ted who's gone through a rollercoaster of emotions in the past few months (weeks?).
I wasn't surprised he tried to kiss Keeley, too. Saw that coming the minute he asked for her help to pick out a suit. And yo, I thought Roy had good chemistry with the teacher. In my head, I immediately established it as a possible fallback for Roy if Keeley goes back to Jamie. I don't know, for some reason, I'm just not feeling Keeley and Roy this season. Roy looks so aggressive next to her lol
I loved Ted and Sharon's scenes. Their dynamic is a pleasant surprise for this season.
So over the past two weeks when the show's online discourse ramps up, there's hints from critics with advance episodes about how some criticisms, mostly of the show sinking into its own worldview, will be addressed in Episode 6 (onward?), and this very good episode really does give us that, a crisis arc that is subtly built (from Ted's little bouts of uneasiness throughout the season) but now revealed so well when in full force, and it feels gratifying unpredictable in how the particulars will play out from here.
About that discourse, let me vent a little. The crazy defensive fanboyism this show somehow can inspire in certain corners is far worse for sure, but what frustrates me about Ted Lasso discourse from non-watchers (who I see participate a lot over the past weeks) is how their perception from hype/logline is so incongruent with the show that gives us "Tan Lines" (the limit of Ted's worldview in solving his external problems) in season 1, or this week's final scene of startling vulnerability (its limit in solving his internal ones).
In a way, it's amusing how each season (or at least S2 so far) seems better suited, and the discourse of this size probably avoided, if their release formats are switched: experiencing Ted's spreading effect on other characters week-by-week in S1, and binging Ted's accumulative existential bouts contrasting with the rosy outsides world that is often effected by him, only for he himself to crack down a little, here in S2.
Oh gosh, I'm so glad they didn't kept the therapy until the last episode. The "What happened to Ted Lasso?" could be the theme of the season, just as the show, as its titular character, but it feels like it's a long time coming. I mean it's clear that the Ted Lasso way is not 100% working (we have the Roy Kent way and the wonder kid method too now), they barely scratched that last year as well, but I think the question this year was how will Ted realize that and how will it affect him. Which is a reasonable way, but this season dealt with Ted so few times and focused more on others that it felt like an eternity to get here (and still need at least one more week to get answers). And focusing on others is not a bad thing (we know Roy is the MVP this season), but the pacing is just not good, and this was the episode that showed how bad it can actually get. A number of previously started storylines (Nate, Beard, Jamie, Roy, the dating app) seem to have wanted to peak here, but the focus was just lost on all of them as they tried to climb on each others backs. Alas, Ted is the titular character, and while seeing through others how his way should not be the only way is a good thing, but him realizing that should be the biggest climax of them all - and panic attack here, heartbreaking reveal of his coping mechanism by playing with his hand there,
they both felt a bit lacklucter because of the other storylines, so at the end I was just yelling at the screen "OH THANK FINALLY FUCING GOD". And I fully meant it.
I had heard good things going in, and I was still thoroughly impressed. This is definitely my favorite movie I've seen this year, and quite possibly in the past few. While he is at some of his best in the movie, very little of that has to do with Nicolas Cage.
There is way more substance than the trailer gives you clues to. Outside of the rich narrative, the film is a masterclass in "less is more" to illustrate complex subjects through well executed inference. Michael Sarnoski's writing and directorial debut demonstrates some of the best storytelling skills I've seen in a long time. This will be a piece I point to for a while on effective filmmaking.
Underneath the novel premise of the movie is deep subject matter and one of the more mature explorations of grief and purpose in life. I wouldn't call this a feel good movie, but rather one that lays out a difficult but healthy and necessary path to dealing with tragedy and loss. I called Manchester by the Sea on of the best movies on grief ever made, because it showed how broken it can make people. Pig is an answer to it that shows the health of acceptance and recognizing the value in what we chose to spend our time doing.
Can’t help but feel this was a little bit of a dud of an ending? Not sure, going to have to reflect on this for a little while, but immediately feels like a 6/10 ending for what was overall an 8/10 show.
Edit: Having read the book ending, yeah, I'm a little let down by this one. The book basically throws in another murder that Jacob is suspiciously close to after Hope winds up dead and Laurie finds a red stain on Jacobs bathing suit. This pushes Laurie over the edge with guilt as she is now totally convinced Jacob did it, resulting in her killing him with the car crash. I feel this is much more compelling ending as it adds a pattern of similar circumstances around Jacob, but still doesn't confirm he is the killer. and further drives home some of the central points of the show. The grey area between right and wrong, the decision between what is right ethically, and what is right for the family, and how hard it is to straddle that line for the people involved. How a parent copes with loving someone that they are convinced did a horrific act. It keeps the same ambiguity of the show ending while adding the finality of Jacobs death, meaning we may never know the truth.
Although it feels like I've bemoaned the entire ending here, I still really enjoyed the show, and would probably give the whole show about an 8/10 if pressed for a score. Would have just been great for them to have gone through with the book ending as it's a little darker and much more in-keeping with the shows tone and presentation.
I loved that twist involving JK Simmons! Even tho his appearance was brief he did a great role!!!
So thinking about the episode, a lot of shocking stuff happened, like the truth of Patz’s suicide, Hope, the car crash, however the episode felt extremely long and kinda lost the momentum.
Reading the comments, I checked wikipedia to read the book’s plot and the ending was slightly different but so much better! Don’t get why they changed it, when they had all the elements there! It happened the same thing as with Little Fires Everywhere, they didn’t respect the ending so the show ended feeling a little inconclusive. In the book Hope dies, there’s blood on Jacob’s swimsuit so Laurie has more reasons to be suspicious and then Jacob dies in the car accident, that would’ve been incredible to watch! Hope coming back means that Jacob wasn’t involved at all, so probably he didn’t kill Ben and then Jacob being in a comma is kinda dumb. So this was a good show, but could’ve been a great show if they respected the original ending.
And I like the idea of never knowing if Jacob did it! My verdict is that he did kill Ben, I feel like Patz would’ve confess if he was guilty, he let the other kid Matt? press charges against him and never retaliated or threatened him so yeah he was disgusting and good riddance but I feel like he wouldn’t have gotten away with murder.
But again imagine how epic would it’ve been to witness Laurie having to kill Jacob to stop a murderer!
As I said earlier after I watched the second episode: THIS IS NOT PARANORMAL.
They should've called it something else, and they shouldn't have mentioned that it is based on or inspired by the book series that is written by Dr. Ahmed Khaled Tawfik “May Allah have mercy on him”, because it is NOT, It is something entirely different.
And I'm not talking about the ugly different narratives of perfect stories or the hideous portrayals of beloved characters, I'm talking about the beliefs of Dr. Ahmed Khaled Tawfik and the essence of his writings.
Dr. Refaat Ismail is standing on a chair, tying a rope around his neck, and about to commit suicide?!! REALLY??!!!! Did the creators of this show even read one novel of the +80 book series?!! Did they even read any of Dr. Ahmed Khaled Tawfik's other book series like Fantasia, Safari, or any novel he wrote?
Dr. Refaat Ismail wouldn't even consider committing suicide, the thought would never even cross his mind!
To tell you the truth; when I heard about this project and that they will adapt Metaphysics by Dr. Ahmed Khaled Tawfik into a TV series, I wasn't optimistic; for so many reasons I don't have the time to mention them now, but even then I couldn't imagine what a mess they will be able to turn this show into.
The only thing that is fairly acceptable about this show is the portrayal of Dr. Refaat Ismail's character by Ahmed Amin, he did a decent job, at least for the physical appearance, and that is it.
If you haven't read the novels you might enjoy this show, if you don't mind the terrible decisions taken by the characters and bad CGI.
But if you have read the novels; Please be warned, don't watch this awful mess of a show, and if you must watch it, please push away any thought about the book series out of your mind, because if you didn't, you will be slapping your forehead every 3 minutes, and that will be a preliminary event before you start banging your head against the wall.
The first 90 minutes of this movie are absolutely fantastic. They build up Marla as such a despicable, horrid creature that I was actively begging for the Mafia to get sick revenge on her.
The last 30 minutes are Season 8 Game of Thrones level of terrible and ruin what was about to be one of my favorite movies this year. The steps they want to strain credibility were insane. Firstly her surviving after being drugged and put in the water were questionable. The mafia failing to kill her girlfriend was just...how in the world did they fail killing that girl?
Marla just fell in the water (and I'm not going into the 3 minutes she was able to kick in a glass front window underwater and maintain holding her breath), but she still has her wallet to buy things at the convenience store. She gets to her girlfriend literally just before the place blows up, which she had no control over because she literally waited for a taxi.
They complain that they have nothing left but the diamonds, and but they also apparently have a handy wig, a taser, some morphine knockout drugs to pull off some James Bond type of killing of Peter Dinklage. And then when Dinklage survives, he agrees to be her partner. Look, I get she's smart and was gonna kill it with the mafia. But the shit she did was unforgivable, and it strains my belief that Dinklage wouldn't just go out and torture her the first chance he gets. They did not present him as being a "money first" guy, so him overlooking the mother being thrown IN A PSYCHIATRIC WARD is nuts.
Look, I enjoyed 70% of this movie. It was an excellent horror thriller to that point. I would've loved if this movie went the route of Dinklage and the mob being mostly outsmarted by the crazy, maniacally, absolutely dastardly woman. But that movie NEEDED to end with Dinklage personally killing Marla. No if, ands or buts, anything but that ending ruins the point they spent the rest of the movie going for.
It really hurts me to trash this movie, because Pike was fantastic again in her role as a villain and Dinklage really made me want his character to succeed. But that ending was the worst type of cop out possible.
For me, personally, this couldn't have been written any better. I loved it! I know not everyone will but for me it did the show justice. It was bittersweet and in line with how the show did things in all its seasons. When Hvitserk is given his new name 'Athelstan' I had to push back some tears. It's like the story has come full circle in a way. Ragnar took Athelstan with him on his first quest and now a son of Ragnar has taken place in Wessex as Athelstan, a name given to him by none other than his son.
Ivar's death was more heartbreaking than I could've imagined. I never thought I'd be shedding tears over him. He changed a lot during his time with the Rus and it is beautiful that he essentially gave his life to ensure that of Hvitserk. These two had such a deep bond and I wondered how it would conclude. I always thought one would kill the other but this was beautiful and tragic all at once.
The last scene of Floki and Ubbe on that beach was so well written too. When Floki tells Ubbe he looks like Ragnar, beautiful. Such a pure scene of two men with deep respect and love for each other. Ragnar would be proud of that.
Now if there is one thing I would like to have seen different it would be Ingrid, living her best life as Queen. I never cared for her though I can admit she is a force. She stood her ground against Harald and Erik but I think I never really warmed up to her because she got with Bjorn while he was already married to Gunnhild and I loved Gunnhild like I loved Lagertha.
I'll say goodbye to this epic adventure for now... probably going to re-watch it in the future and appreciate it all over again.
Whoooo Doggy.
This'll probably be the last place I explain this but I used to be one of those guys who hated Megan Fox. I refused to watch Jennifer's Body in part because of that (and in part because it looked TERRIBLE, in retrospect of course it was a Spring Breakers level of reversal). That said I watched Jennifer's Body and as I said in that review it blew. me. away. With how excellent and funny and interesting it was. Between that and Lindsey Ellis' video on Megan Fox in Transformers[2] and that video with Jimmy Kimmel coming around yet again only this time it finally clicked. I've basically done a 90 degree turn on Fox. I'm basically neutral. I'm perfectly willing to accept her as an actress in movies I want to see. I've been rather eager to see what she does next.
Then I heard about Rogue. At first I hear she was leading a mercenary crew to rescue yada yada yada and honestly I didn't like it. Fox is still a petite, super attractive woman. I'm actually perfectly willing to see her in an action role even one where she isn't a sexy demon beast or whatever but this is one of the few roles I wouldn't have picked for her.
Then I saw the trailer and it was basically everything I was worried about. She's like a model in fatigues. But hey I've definitely watched much much much worst movies for less. I figured I'd give it a shot.
Honestly the first thing I compare Rogue to is Hustlers. Hustlers was a movie about strippers from the strippers perspective that was so well crafted, so well written and acted and framed that even in a movie that gave me Jennifer Lopez looking like she's at the top of her game oozing sex in a way that for whatever reason didn't come off cheap. Popped Lizzo's big girl behind in a thong throwing all that weight around. It's a fantastic movie. Just good film making. And in spite of that I never for one second buy in that Constance Wu the main character is a stripper. She screams it in literally every scene she's in... not a stripper. Someone pretending to be a stripper. And yet.... I don't care. It never bothered me. I never saw her as a stripper but the movie is so good I never needed to.
Rogue is kinda like that, but in reverse. Rogue is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. I will watch this movie again just so I can point out all the stupid insane dumb things that happen CinemaSins style. None of these characters make sense. From the moment they casually tossed one of their own mercenaries out of a moving car when he got killed to when it happened literally twice. The bad guys[1] are just SO dedicated to hunting these three girls that no matter how many of them die, they're still running guns up to die. The hostages who were literally kidnapped from school, beaten (but not raped?) and kept in cages and pick the worst battles in history. In the middle of an escape one refuses to wade into a river crying about how she needs a break. Do you not understand what they're going to do if they catch you? Everyone else went across the calf deep water why would you demand to stop? Of course the movie tries to justify this by having her actually get eaten by a gator but gator would have left her along if she was with the group and thematically doesn't make any sense to the themes of the movie. When one of the mercs is bleeding they demand to know what's going on in full Karen effect. Ladies you're teenagers not medics. You don't even know or like him why would you get to know what's going on with his triage? They don't trust the man who saved their life because he admits he used to work for the bad guy. Everyone is just SO STUPID. I haven't seen this level of stupidity since Avenue 5 which is a hilarious comedy about a Space Gilligan's Island with one intelligent person and a shipfull of people at 3 different levels of stupid. It's worth watching for that one episode alone. It's so macabre and funny.
And yet, my worries about Megan Fox were justified. She can't pull off military gunner that well. She doesn't have the body for it. That said she tries. She's the only character who actually seems like she's taking anything seriously. There's an unnecessary "she's a GIRL?!? and military!??!?" dialog at some points. It serves no purpose the movie isn't about her being a girl with a gun. There's no reason for anyone to not trust her character's bona fides as the leader of this mercenary group. But again Megan Fox showed up on set to WORK. She goes seriously, not overly cheesy but with some snark when needed. She can relate to her men without trying to "be one of the guys". She's not one of the guys. She's the boss and she acts like it. She gives orders well, she controls the rescuees well. Megan Fox is the only one in this movie that makes any sense. It's a shame the movie can't manage to warp around her. Everything else BUT her is so bad including the closing tag trying to tell us that captive lions are an issue which has nothing to do with the plot and most will call hypocritical in light of the real lions used (at the end) of the film.
Rogue is a bad bad movie but it does still leave me interested in what Megan Fox does next.
[1] (hmm actually at one point they DO suggest an amount of religious zealotry)
[2] Framing Megan Fox: Feminist Theory Part 3 | The Whole Plate: Episode 7 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKyrUMUervU]. Highly recommend it completely changed my perspective on the characters in Transformers. It's still a terrible movie but wow apparently for that first one the writers were at least trying and Michael Bay really went hard ruining it.
Once again they did the trick.
I wasn't expecting all of this, but I'm glad they got a closure.
This episode was more emotional than I expected, let me star by saying that Annalize's speech was amazing, that she was innocent in addition to any circumstance. She did not commit murder, so I am happy that she was released. Enough was enough, after all that messy life she needed a break and a new start.
What an amazing performance Viola Davis did during all these seasons. Bravo.
Frank ... What a character, he evolved a lot and when I thought He was going to make it another secret came to ruin his life. Maybe if Bonnie hadn't say anything, she would be alive, maybe ...
Bonnie ... She had been trough so much too, I wanted her and Frank to have a happy ending, but that would be asking for much, this was going to happen anyway but it was so sad to see them died.
Connor and Oliver broke my heart, I just couldn't see how much they were suffering, that's the true love there. They sacrifices all for each other. They will always be my favorite couple in this show.
Michaela ... I knew she would end up alone, this is how she was building her destiny, to be a fierce but also lonely woman.
I'm glad Tegan took her chance, even if it didn't end as she wanted, but it was good for her. She deserves someone who loves her as much as she does.
Laurel had her happy ending, without her messy family and the need to run away from time to time and, of course, with the adorable Christopher who ended up looking like WES. I loved that scene, Professor Castillo.
What an amazing show this was. I loved how much we played with our minds and we were always amazed at the end of each episode.
Thanks for the ride.
I am 100% satisfied with this ending. One of the best series finales I've seen and it truly did the story justice. Okay, so first of all; I love love love Bonnie. Always have, always will. Nobody will ever change my mind about this. To see her die (and I blame Frank for it) was heartbreaking. I always hoped she would have a happy ending because she has been through so much. However, I think the way they wrote it was beautiful and it made sense. To have her die like this, alongside Frank (damn you Frank!), in the arms of Annalise, it brought everything full circle. She did her part and now she rests.
I LOVE the funeral scene, seeing moments of Annalise her life with Tegan, seeing Oliver, Conner and Laurel older and CHRISTOPHER! I know some people hoped it was Wes but I like this way better. And that accent! O my god, YES and that he - of all people - is the new professor for that class, being mentored by Annalise... I cried so much happy tears.
For a moment the writers had me concerned that after all these years they would break up Oliver and Conner, thank God they didn't. This was by far the best couple on the show and I never once gave up on them. I'm also very satisfied with how things ended for Michaela, she was selfish from the start and ended up 'alone' which served her right.
So this is the end, bittersweet and I will need a moment - like days - to process this. Fantastic show, always in my heart.
