After a long time, finally we can see the great Robert Downey Jr. do something different than the superhero Iron Man, or even the very intelligent but insane Sherlock Holmes. Nothing against, as the success of these two blockbusters owes much to his talent and what he gives to his characters. In The Judge we can see him doing a deeper and more serious role, never losing his ironic side and that funny that always makes us laugh whenever it is necessary. Here plays a character that can be perfectly adapted to real life and I confess that I've been missing to see him again in a different register.
The Judge is divided between the courtrooms and the family drama of a family marked by problems from the past that are still unresolved. Attorney Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.) is forced to return to his hometwon in Indiana, 20 years later, for the funeral of his mother. Hank always had problems with his father (Robert Duvall), a very well respected judge in the city, and during his short stay his father is considered the main suspect of an homicide. Hank is forced to help his father to find out the truth and eventually re-connects with his brothers and even with some old acquaintances of the small town.
The film is not simply a story about courts, laws or criminal justice, but a family drama where the characters are going to rediscover themselves, learn how to forgive and respect each other. The emotional side of the story is more important than everything else, and despite the numerous clichés that the film may have, they result in a perfect way to what the film is supposed to give us and it never disappoints.
It is certainly a film of great performances! The chemistry between Downey Jr. and Duvall is really great and all their scenes together are very intense. The entire supporting cast does a very good work, but is mostly Downey Jr. and Duvall what make The Judge to be not just a drama of conflict between father and son, but a real portrait of many families, sincere and honest that has a slightly different ending than we are expecting.
One man and his car. The man's name is Ivan Locke and his life is going to change completely during an hour and a half trip in his car while he talks on the phone via bluetooth with several people. Soon we discover the destiny of the road trip and throughout the film we understand and follow this man's issues.
Tom Hardy is an actor of excellence so even before I saw the film I already knew that he would give all of him as he always does. This film is not quite a monologue but is close to it since the only character we see is Hardy's. He always shows the right emotions no matter the difficulty of the role, and this was hard work. He has the capacity of keeping us interested and using the right tension and despair he is able to carry the film. We really feel connected with Ivan Locke. This guy needs more praise than he gets, so underrated and so great!
This film is definitely good but we do not see what it sells. For me it was a solid drama and not an exciting thriller. We watch a man trying to do the right thing. Against what is heart wants in his head he believes that he needs to assume a mistake not to be haunted by ghosts of the past that lead to the less happy memories of his childhood and adolescence. Another thing that bothered me in the story was the writer's (which is also the director of this film, Steve Knight) insistence on what I am going to call the "concrete talk". I understand that he wanted to prove that Ivan Locke is very passionate about his work but I felt that I do not needed so much of that.
The best thing about it (Tom Hardy's performance apart) is the fact that besides caring about the main and only character we see on screen it made me also cared about all of the other characters and we never see them! We feel their emotions and that was really cool.
Locke is definitely a different film with an interesting cinematography and editing. Doing a film only set in a car on a highway is not an easy thing to do and not even because of that we feel less power but the misleading plot might be your major disappointment.
While the trailers and adverts might make this seem like it's a happy romp, it's not. Believe me it's not. This, in my opinion, is a very sad film. It took me by surprised me and made me remember aspects of my childhood I don't normally keep at the forefront of my mind. This is despite the comedy and the happy joy-joy attitude seen for about 50% of the film. I really related to Riley, so much so that I actually cried quite a bit at the theatre. I felt a bit embarrassed but I really couldn't help it. It wasn't the acts in the film that made me sad, it was the explanation afterwards. Riley's motivations. Hearing it in words after seeing everything broke me. A Disney film hasn't made me cry like that ever.
You absolutely have to see Inside Out. But, don't go into it looking for it to put a smile on your face after a bad day. It's a really emotional ride. However, the message in the end is really worth it. It's a message that we should really get across to the children of today. I wish the message being put forward by this movie was being aimed at children back when I was a kid. It would have really helped. It would have indeed.
A promising start. There are a lot of haters, though, and I think many were expecting it to be The Walking Dead. It's like 90% The Walking Dead, yet the 10% of new style is objectionable to many.
There is a bit of artistic flare here. The original is artistic too, but in the sense of George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" being artistic: bringing zombie films to a new level. The new series is more about feeling what the characters feel, especially when they see zombies for the first time. For example, the opening shot is upside down, so we feel the confusion of a druggy waking up.
The Walking Dead is filmed in 16mm, to give it that classic, zombie movie look. I haven't been able to find the specs on Fear the Walking Dead, but I'm guessing it's done with high quality HD video cameras.
The acting is criticized by many. The teen girl is often singled out. Personally, I wasn't taken out of the experience at any point. However, one advantage of a zombie series is that any bad actors are going to become zombie food. We might have to wait until next season, though, for the script writers to react to any bad acting.
The pilot was slow. But slow is not necessarily bad. Take Alien (1979), for example. I felt the pace was appropriate and built the tension. I'm looking forward to the next episode.
This series succesfully shows the exact opposite of blockbuster movies: Create a great story with mediocre special effects and lesser known actors.
The writers behind this show do an amazing job creating one wonderfull Fairy tale adaptation after another. I did not like their previous work, but I think the writing is getting more mature (but they still make some errors that are frustrating.) But mostly they are not afraid to change major aspects of the fairy tales if necessary.
The creaters of this show also worked on 'Lost' and the 'TRON: Legacy' movie.
I really love how Rumpelstiltskin plays the evil maniac, especially during the first season. But there are more noteworthy roles in there, like the evil queen, her mother, Belle, Hook or Peter Pan. Emma Swan is pretty well played, but compared to the extreme characteristics of the fictional characters she is a bit bland.
The things I dislike most are probably some repeated main themes (family feuds/bad parent-child relations) and that they copy the characters of fairy tales a bit too literal from the Disney franchise from time to time.
Overall I think it is on of the best non-comedy shows of the past few years.
PS. I am glad Lady Gaga never replied on the invite to play the Blue Fairy.
Note: This review was written after watching the first 2 seasons.
Usually the best momentos on the show (not comedy-wise) are thos little moments when they let Sheldon be a real person (with his own particular problems) and the forget to make him a joke of himslef. That's something that since Amy came to the show gives the character a tone that improves it so much.
Obviously for the tone of the show they don't do it often but when they to (particularly on this episode) they do it pretty well because they're not making him a "normal guy on the inside" but they show someone who has a lot of troubles to manage himself in a social world he doesn't quite understand and it explains very well all those things that, when done in a comedy tone, makes us laugh (or at least that's their objective.
Sheldon can't control or understand how people feel arround him, and that's why he controls everything else (schedules, places to sit, etc). The rutine he creates, and even the work he does, with the laws that don't change and make the universe predictable...in the funny moments those things makes us laugh, but when they let the character be serious and honest, it explains all of him. Those moments would be the "uncertainty principle" of this show. Not even in the hardest of sciences can you be completly sure of everything, and no matter how much you try to control the world arround you, people are always an uncertainty principle for him.
The only thing I dind't like about this episode were the scenes in the puzzle house. The episode was about the different forms that love can take. Howard with his mother, Bernadette with Howard, Sheldon and Penny...for the other four something else would have been better...
[Slightly Spoilerish] Without even having seen David Robert Mitchell previous movie "The Myth of the American Sleepover" I'm quite certain that both movies have some similarities despite the first one not being a horror movie at all. I also think that is one of the main factors when it comes to this film, it doesn't feel like your typical horror movie while still showing off it's influences.
The big bad here is just "It" - a being taking the form of someone known to the victim who is slowly but steadily walking toward it's target. The only way to get rid of it is to have sex with someone else but if whoever is on top of it's list dies it falls back in the chain. Simply put: If you can't deal with it, fuck someone else and better look for someone who can either handle it or has a high chance of passing it on too.
Unlike many teen horror movies the girl who "gets" it and her group of friends are written more realistically and go about it reasonably. Unfortunately it seems that no one in the curse chain was creative enough then despite it being not completely dumb there seem to exist more than enough methods to keep "It" in check.
Nonetheless, it's a solid movie relying more on atmosphere than a body count or jump scares.
9.5/10. This was a superb effort from The Walking Dead. I really appreciate them devoting whole episodes to developing characters rather than trying to do it through the various machinations of an often baffling series of storylines alone. This was practically a short story, and it helped us to develop a better understanding of who Morgan is, and he got from the screw-loose madmen we saw in "Clear" to the pacifist monk who appeared last season.
Some parts of the story were a little too convenient. I was reminded of "Broken" from House M.D. where you knew that the writers were going to have to hit certain beats in telling a story of recovery. But that aside, I really liked the character of Eastman, who was given quite a bit to do and was the glue that held this episode together. The actor who played him (an odd mix of J.K. Simmons and Paul Heyman) lent the appropriate zen but playful air to him that made the character work.
And I liked how the show offered a little bit of optimism here. There's a great deal on TWD about people being damaged, scarred, shaken, or changed by the fall of civilization. It is, in many ways, a pessimistic show, about what people become when the metes and bounds of society are removed and our impulses go unchecked. Sometimes the show has depicted people finding solace in this new world, but never has it devoted so much time to showing a person healing. Despite the episode's end, it was a very hopeful episode, something that's in short supply in this series, and I for one, was happy to have it.
It was also a wonderful episode in terms of atmosphere and mood. It was very patient, going over the show's usual runtime to develop the story as long as it needed to. There were slow, lingering shots of edenic meadows, quiet streams where Eastman and Morgan practiced forms, or the characters simply stayed in place and reacted to each other. Very artful and a nice break from some of the more action-y drama from the first few episodes of the season.
It's a slower episode than usual, but I liked it because it showed the Alexadrians dealing with the harsh reality instead of the fantasy bubble they've been living in. The problem is that a whole episode that focused basically on characters that I personally don't care that much yet was a bit boring.
Aaron is the one I'm most interested when it comes from characters from Alexandria. Apart from him I like that new doctor Denise, Deanna and her son (because they are so naive about everything) and Jessie and her kids.
As a filler episode I think it worked because there was development in the new characters, specially the teenager kid that came to his sense and apparently isn't rebelling anymore against everybody and did the right thing without being obnoxious or annoying.
I loved seeing Aaron and Maggie bonding, it was a very sweet moment and I wanted to see him interacting with more people of the group. But I could go without the pregnancy storyline for Maggie... we saw that already with Lori, not really something interesting to watch.
Jessie has had a good development since last season, but honestly I think that the timing is off getting her and Rick romantically involved right now.
Maaaan, this episode was a mess, in both the best and the worst ways. Gonna start with what bugged me. This ep disregarded how the midseason finale had ended, and I like my continuity. I know Carl lost an eye in the comics, but how the fuck has he survived a shot to the head? Also it was a bit weird how walkers got that whiny little shit Sam just because he took a step to the side, and then they attacked Jessie for screaming like they could follow the sound to her vocal cords, instead of just attacking the general source which would be the whole group. Not gonna lie, I kept waiting for that whole nightmarish (and slightly ridiculous) sequence to end up being a figment of someone's imagination. Wolf having a sudden change of heart was a bit farfetched. But fuck that shit, I don't really care. Rick going berserk and everyone following him to clear up the streets was awesome. Daryl, Abraham and Sasha coming back at the right moment and saving the day by gunning down the dead fuckers and blowing shit up was... convenient, but also awesome, yeah. Fuck the nit-picking, this episode was the shit, definitely worth waiting and yawning during some of the previous ones. Keep it up.
9.5/10. There are times when I feel jaded as a viewer. When it seems like despite the breadth of films out there, that I know most of the tricks, to where while I can appreciate a film's achievements in sort of a detached way, when I can even be engaged and invested in something, it doesn't necessarily reach me in the way that movies did when I first started watching them. The scope of appreciation has widened, but the emotional resonance feels muted, because I can't help but see the strings.
And then a film like Room comes along.
And Jack sees the expanse of sky for the first time. And Joy hugs her parents after not seeing them for seven years. And Robert can't even look at his grandson. And Nancy tells her daughter that she's not the only one whose life was destroyed. And Joy tells her mother that if she hadn't been taught to be nice, she might never have gone with Nick. And there's a supreme, heartbreaking look of guilt on her face when a reporter asks if she should have given her son up while in captivity. And Jack walks in on his mother's suicide attempt. And Nancy hears her grandson say "I love you." And Jack sees a real live dog, and makes a real live friend, and cuts his hair to give his mother his strength.
And I wince and I laugh and I cry and I gasp at this beautiful, devastating, intimate, life-affirming film. This is why we make movies. I love popcorn films, with the fights and flashes and epic feel, and I love the big dramas, with their scope and their sense of grandness and the talent on display, and I love those classic film comedies that mix the absurd and the irreverent and the memorable into a single hilarious package. But the films like Room simultaneously so small and so personal, yet so powerful and affecting, have a special place. These are, as Robert Ebert once put it, the empathy machine that is film working at peak efficiency, taking us into the lives of people who have suffered and been unfathomably wronged, and carries us with them as they carve out a way forward.
I didn't know I wanted a film that feels like a cross between Oldboy, Life Is Beautiful, and Boyhood, and yet the elements Room shares with each--the sense of isolation, the loving way in which a parent tries to distract their child from a continuing tragedy, the slice-of-life, impressionistic depiction of a young boy's innocence--come together to form something absolutely tremendous.
That last facet of the film, the fact that it filters the entire experience through young Jack's eyes, is a stroke of brilliance. There's a matter of factness, a certain directness or even blitheness to the way children experience the world. Using Jack as the lens through which Room tells its story renders those events not only realer, but plainer, imbuing them with the unvarnished perception of childhood. The way the film is able to get into Jack's head, to allow the audience to view these horrors and steps to recovery through his eyes, is its greatest strength and most impressive achievement.
By the same token, Brie Larson as Joy deserves all the accolades she's received for her performance here. While still a prisoner, she carries herself with such an air of both utter resignation and quiet resolve, someone who's been beaten into submission but carries on with whatever she has left. And once she returns home, the guilt that consumes her, the anger that she has for the world that kept turning without her, are palpable in every moment without fading into overwroughtness.
The film can essentially be divided into those two halves. The first is the story of Jack and Joy in Room, of the way that Joy makes unbearable circumstances livable for her son, the way that she copes and shields Jack from the horror around him, and how Jack strains and struggles to understand the idea of the world beyond those four walls, to where he can, eventually, help the two of them escape. The second half is far less intense, but still endlessly intriguing and affecting. It's a quiet domestic story about how people recover from that sort of trauma, both Joy who feels the opposite of survivor's guilt and second guesses herself, and Jack who is exposed to a big scary world, the depth and breadth of which is entirely alien to him.
But throughout both halves, there is such a pure emotional truth in each moment, from the simple joys that Jack enjoys within the home he doesn't realize is a prison, to his anger and resistance at having that fantasy shattered, to Joy's dispirited but resolute attempts to keep him happy and healthy, to the realistic, painful difficulties parents and children face when rebuilding a family seven years after a tragedy, to the wonder and fear a small boy has for what lies beyond the garden gate, and the unmitigated joy at every step taken toward some cobbled-together normalcy. Room is a beautiful, heart-wrenching, intensely personal film, that takes an unflinching yet uplifting look at how people cope and come back from the worst that our world has to offer.
Legendary!
G, I love this movie.
Here are 15 lessons I learned from Kung Fu Panda 2
01 Never lose your sense of humor.
02 Nightmares are visualizations of your inner fears.
03 We must do, what we are afraid to do.
04 If your heart is filled with hate, it can never be filled with love.
05 Live in the moment. The here and now is the only thing that matters.
06 If you are angry, it doesn't help to release it on a pole or people next to you.
07 The problems we have, are only (reflections) inside our self.
08 If you want to find inner peace, you need to let go.
09 You are yourself your biggest enemy.
10 When you accept your past & accept who you are - you can access your full potential.
11 Anything is possible (if you are in inner peace).
12 Nobody can tell you who you are, you have to discover it for yourself.
13 Revenge can blow up in your face and your victory will be short lived.
14 Everything happens for a reason - even pain will result in meaning (loss of parents -> dragon warrior).
15 Never give up.
I'm on s2ep6 and I don't understand why some people gave it such bad reviews.. The show had to evolve in season 2, I think the direction is just as interesting. I started with s1ep1 yesturday and binged it. I read reviews before starting new shows I binge so anyone considering watching this show.. It Is Fucking Awesome! And I watch alot of tv.
Okay, those worm implant things are gross as hell. My whole face is itching right now. But how come Sarah didn't feel it earlier? In the previous episode the guy could feel it moving in his cheek and the one in Sarah's jaw looks pretty big.
My poor baby Cosima missing Delphine. I'm so sad for her, she's such a sweet ray of sunshine but she's been through so much. I just want her to be happy...
Helena's having twins! Finally we're getting something nice and positive instead of constant suffering! She was so excited when she found out. And Donny's a real treasure. So kind and supportive and genuinely happy for Helena. I feel a little sorry for Alison, though. This whole situation must be difficult for her, especially since she's the one who wanted to have a family and struggled with her inability to get pregnant.
Felix looking for his biological parents will be an interesting storyline. It's nice that they adressed the fact that S and Sarah are basically related and that Felix might feel left out because of that.
The scenes where the story switched between Sarah and Beth were the highlight of the episode for me. They were very cool visually and I like that we finally got to learn more about Beth, since Sarah witnessing her suicide was what set the events in motion in the first place.
Finally, a legitimately great episode. It has been too long.
Pros:
+At least Euron is here, we will still have to wait to see if Victarion will join as well but it is confirmed the Kingsmoot will take place (although they sapped some of the most important dialogue for Euron's final conversation with Balon and it sort of felt awkward in that context rather than in a speech to dozens of powerful Ironborn families, also not sure it was the best idea to do it when Asha was right there. This way we miss the importance of Euron sailing his ship into the harbor the morning after Balon falls, plopping his ass on the Seastone Chair, and then drowning the one dude telling him to get the fuck out while Asha and Victarion are away in the North unable to do anything about it) I'm nitpicking though, at this point I'm just excited that it's happening at all.
+The Revival Scene was actually great, truly suspenseful. Most people saw it coming but it still managed to make me hold my breath and the hair on my neck stand.
+Jaime's confrontation with the High Sparrow was good
+Tyrion freeing the dragons was good and his dialogue wasn't totally cringe worthy and repetitive
+Sansa and Theon separation scene was great
+oh yeah, Bran is back and well on his way to becoming God Emperor of Westeros
Okay
*Arya stuff is going somewhere but it hasn't really gotten interesting yet
*Tommen's shame and Cersei's reaction were nothing special but I still understand why they put it in there
*Ramsay killing his father, step mother, and step brother was shocking and disturbing as it should have been but it does seem a little bit too illogical considering the Karstark man was right fucking there and probably would not want to work for Ramsay over Roose along with Roose once again telling him exactly why his retarded rampaging wont work. At least it made sense in that it is a very illogical person doing these things and they're not going against character really. I do think it is a good way to provoke the Northern discord that will soon take place with the Manderlys and Umbers joining up with the Night's Watch and Wildlings. Basically, I'm not sure I agree with the means but I do like where it seems to lead to.
Cons
- Nothing really, I said some stuff I didn't really like in the okay part but there really wasn't anything truly bad this episode.
I have so much to say about this show and how bad it is. If you want a excellent supernatural drama, then watch this BUT only from season 1 to 5. The fifth season's finale offers a great ending to the show and after that, everything is just plain bad. The plots stop making sense, they bring back characters just to kill them off and introduce new ones nobody gives a shit about. Think about everything that makes the show amazing, all those characters you love. Well, you'll be lucky if they decide to kill them off, because they managed to ruin Castiel and Crowley's characters to a point where I can't even stand them. Season 10's Crowley is just terrible, all he does is sit on his chair in his castle or whatever the hell that is (look i made a pun) and kill random demons. Regarding Castiel, a lot happens to him after the fifth season, sure, but his character just doesn't evolve. This is so irritating because i was such a huge fan of this show but now i feel like i'm gonna have to drop it.
I can only recommend the 5 first seasons, after that everything is just bad.
Just look at the gap between season 1-5 ratings and season 6-10 (or 11 now, since it has been renewed), and really the only people still defending this show are tumblr hardcore fans and shippers.
Best episode of the season by far
Pros
+Arya's plot was surprisingly strong this episode, Maisie's performance was particularly strong
+Sansa and Jon plotting was good, can't wait to see the Manderlys
+Kingsmoot wasn't what it should've been but it was still pretty good, people won't look at it as one of the best parts of the series like it was in the books but it worked well enough to progress the Iron Islands plot.
+Bran's investigations are better and better and his ascension to power will get more and more meteoric, he's still in the "desert traveler" stage of becoming God Emperor Leto II
+The ending scene with the door was incredible, despite that idiotic CGI fest that preceded it with the director clearly trying to copy the Goblins in Moria with the Wights, even though they can't climb like that.
Neutral
*Tyrion and Varys stuff, it was cool that the fire priestess called out Varys but other than that it didn't really do anything for me and Grey Worm and Missandei just seem to be set decorations this season
Cons
- Not a real big issue but just like how it was weird that Ramsay just had that one out of place scene in the last episode, it felt weird that Dany, Jorah, and Daario had that one scene and nothing else.
Update 9/22/16: This was the episode Tatiana used as her Emmy submission and won with.
So my fave ship from Season 1 is finally reunited. Propane (Rachel x Windows), how I've missed thee. Never part again.
And, of course, if something is given, something has to be taken away, so apparently this is goodbye to my dear Beth. I have to say that this season's Beth arc was easily one of my favorite things that has happened on this show. It gave this show the much needed boost it needed after last season's Castor debacle. Sarah seeing Beth again while on the bridge near the train station broke me. When Beth said "We need you." I almost lost it.
The main two questions I need answered now are: Where the hell is Helena? I can understand why she left, but that doesn't explain why we haven't seen her. The woman is pregnant with twins and I need to know she's okay. And of course, is Delphine alive or not? It's been 7 episodes since she was shot and all we know is that Krystal saw someone pick her up and she was still alive at that time. If she is alive, I bet she shows up in the last seconds of the season finale or Cosima gets some phone call from her at the end of the episode.
This season is jockeying back and forth with Season 1 in the favorite season department. Actually, I think when the season is over, I'm going to watch Season 1 and Season 4 back to back.
As i expected the wow-effect wore a bit of in the second episode. But still i enjoyed it a lot. After they set up their general nostalgia-flair and their very well written and acted characters, this episode showed us, what i think is the key element that makes and hopefully will make this series so lovable. It is a dichotomy of the protagonists between being an 80s cliché and a human being with a soul (although i am not sure that all protagonists are human beings...). There are some scenes in this episode that really stung right in my heart, for example at the beginning, when Eleven lies there and starts crying. It felt so true. I remembered all the times as a kid when i was sleeping somewhere besides my own bed and felt homesick. So well play by Millie Bobby Brown! And also when Chief Hopper says how in the city he only dealt with strangers and now it was his friend. Those scenes are maybe easy to write, but not easy to act without it feeling acted but real.
Furthermore the story is really interesting. I have absolutely no idea how it will unfold and that happens rarely these days. There are so many possibilities and Stranger Things makes not the mistake to explain anything. It's show, don't tell how i wished i would see more in the mystery and sci-fi genre.
I gave the episode 8 points because i want to keep some reserve for episodes that really overwhelmed me.
As far as I am concerned this is the ONLY version of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that exists. That other thing that Warner Bros. released in theatres is good but isn't a patch on what Snyder originally created. Snyder took an awful lot of flack for the theatrical release, but whatever you think about him as a film maker, you will have sympathy for him once you see how the studio took a hacksaw to his movie. This Ultimate Edition isn't simply another scene or two which adds 30 minutes but doesn't change the movie, it is a sprinkling of expansions to scenes throughout that solve its much maligned choppiness and lack of flow. Apart from the improved editing which allowed the film to breathe, this version of the movie makes you care about the characters more, especially Superman. Following the journey of Clarke Kent in more detail, seeing him actually do some investigative journalism, and understanding his motivations makes a huge difference. This is especially the case in his death at the end of the movie. Without earlier shots of him doing "Superman" things such as helping people after the Capitol Building bomb, as was the case in the theatrical release, I simply didn't care when he died. With the added tidbits in the Ultimate Edition, Supermans sacrifice brought me to floods of tears. Even though I knew what was coming, the gut punch was overpowering! This character expansion also benefited his nemesis Lex Luthor, who with just a few additional scenes (that he isn't even necessarily in), transforms from a spoilt brat into a criminal mastermind. While it was previously suspected, it now becomes clear that he has his fingerprints on everything, from the Africa scene by blackmailing the witness, to intercepting Wallace Keefe's cheques from Bruce Wayne, and Keefe himself being an unknowing puppet of Luthor carrying a bomb in the led lined wheelchair so Superman couldn't see it. Overall, my recommendation if you haven't seen Batman V Superman yet, or if you saw it in the theatres and hated it, is to give this version a watch. I loved it.
I will be writing about Episode 1 and 2.
This season premiere was perfectly paced and very atmospheric. I think the general theme of the episodes and also this season is illusion. Mr. Robot talks about how reality is just an illusion, Phillip Price talks about how the government creates an illusion and Elliot tries to build himself an illusion of a normal life. This illusion equals normalcy and routine. There is this IT-saying: "Never touch a running system". And i think Mr. Robot (the show) tries to transfer this proverb to the real world. You should never touch a running system, even if you can improve something, because it causes disruption. That is what government and the society is about in general (in the thinking of Mr. Robot). But what does a hacker? He/She touches a running system. Sometimes to cause harm and chaos, but often hackers hack something to improve it. Lifehacks become a whole new meaning in this context.
The second part of this illusion-theme is the connection to magicians. The show confirms this magic connection in the QR-Code Easteregg, which leads to http://www.conficturaindustries.com/. If you google Confictura, you get to a handbook for stage illusionists . I remembered what i learned about magic tricks from The Prestige: There are three stages. The Pledge, where you set up the trick ("Look at this bird. Just a normal bird!"), the Turn (Bird disappears) and finally the prestige (Bird reappears). I think you can see this three stages in the season one finales and the two episodes in season two. Tyrell Wellick meets Elliot in the season finale (The Pledge), Tyrell disappears (The Turn) and at the end of episode two he reappears (The prestige). . Maybe we see more magic tricks in this season.
Some other observations: I really liked the acting, specially of Rami Malek and Portia Doubleday (Angela). Angela turned full American Psycho, i was amazed by her powerplay in the PR department. I would like to see her rise to a corporate power woman (and then her eventual fall). Rami's pivot of acting was the scene where he started laughing at Mr. Robot. That was a Joker-worthy performance. It really frightened me. We are also introduced to FBI-Agent Grace Gummer. I think she will be the counterpart to Elliot and fsociety in general. I liked her performance (Anyone else thought of Elsbeth Tascioni from The Good Wife?) and i am looking forward to see more of her.
To sum it up, this season beginning was fantastic and shows how good Mr. Robot is. Pacing, Atmosphere, Acting: It all was on pint and although the series is often slow paced it never gets dull.
Hades YEAH! :D
For the rivers:
"There are five main rivers that are visible both in the living world and the underworld. Their names were meant to reflect the emotions associated with death.
The Styx is generally considered to be one of the most prominent and central rivers of the Underworld and is also the most widely known out of all the rivers. It's known as the river of hatred and is named after the goddess Styx. This river circles the underworld seven times.
The Acheron is the river of pain. It's the one that Charon, also known as the Ferryman, rows the dead over according to many mythological accounts, though sometimes it is the river Styx or both.
The Lethe is the river of forgetfulness. It is associated with the goddess Lethe, the goddess of forgetfulness and oblivion. In later accounts a poplar branch dripping with water of the Lethe became the symbol of Hypnos, the god of sleep.
The Phlegethon is the river of fire. According to Plato, this river leads to the depths of Tartarus.
The Cocytus is the river of wailing.
Oceanus is the river that encircles the world, and it marks the east edge of the underworld, as Erebos is west of the mortal world."
Wow. I had a feeling this would be good, but it totally exceeded my expectations. I'm calling it now, this will end up being my favorite new TV show of 2017.
I'm kind of ashamed to say that despite my great love for Neil Gaiman's work (I grew up with Coraline and Stardust was my shit in middle school), I've never read American Gods. (horrified gasps) I know, it's a mistake that I intend to rectify immediately. But I have to say, watching this episode while only having a vague idea of what I was getting into was a pretty awesome experience. The visuals were amazing, with lots of cool shots, vibrant colors and impressive special effects. The music was just fantastic. The story and the characters were introduced in a way that was easy to follow for someone like me who's unfamiliar with the source material. I loved the atmosphere, the intrigue and the mysteriousness. The acting was on point, with Ian McShane being the obvious standout. And sure, I have more questions than answers right now, but it's part of the fun. I'm super pumped for the next episode.
Oh, and don't you just love those 90-second opening credits?
they usually say that you're innocent until proved guilty. but in this case, it seems you're guilty until proved innocent. it's really sad that the American system works this way...
fortunately, in my country there is no jury. the decision is up to the judge, a person who is actually "trained" to make that kind of decisions. yes, it also fails, specially in corruption, since it is easier to pay a judge than an entire jury, but I still think it's a better system.
if you ask me "did Steven do it?" my answer is "I don't know". I don't say it's impossible, but the truth is they didn't actually prove it. besides, he had just got out of jail, he was getting his life back. why would he do this?
when it comes to Brendan, I would risk saying "he's innocent". the statement that defined everything (the one which lasted 4 hours or so) was clearly "fabricated", they were tipping him about what they wanted to hear. and no offense, but he just wasn't smart enough to do that.
now, if they convicted Brendan, it was based on that confession where he described that bloody slaughter and Teresa could have only died once so Steven would have gone to jail for that same bloody slaughter. but there are no evidence to support that description Brendan gave so I really don't understand how they can put them in jail for that. so, without any blood to support the bloody slaughter, we have to conclude it didn't happen (at least that way). and why would Brendan come up with a false story when he could have told the real one? I mean, if he was admitting the crime, he would have told the real story. the fact that he told this made-up story just proves that he didn't know what to say, so he was just saying random things, hoping they would be satisfied and stop asking more questions. otherwise, why would he take 4 hours to tell the story? it's not like he resisted for 3 hours and used the last hour to tell the story. no, he started telling the story almost in the beginning. so, if he was already admitting, why not telling them what happened right away? because he didn't know what had happened, or what they wanted to tell that had happened. so he needed those 4 hours to come up with this whole story. if it had really happened, he would have just told it in probably less than an hour, but he needed those 4 hours to try to understand what they wanted him to say. he needed those 4 hours to decide where he would take the narrative, to decide if what he was going to say was too stupid or if they would believe it and stop bothering him.
well, I really hope they get a second chance. maybe this documentary will help them get it.
also, is it just me or is Teresa's brother getting really annoying. ok, you want your sister's murder in jail, but can that desire blind you so much that you can't see the truth?
there was an episode in which they referred there were other suspects who were never investigated because the police immediately assumed it was Steven. do they remain uninvestigated? well, with all the time passed, they could have easily gotten rid of the evidence, but they might still find something so why nit give it a shot?
I was hoping the last episode would be about them getting released somehow, but there would probably be to much to tell in just one episode, so I just lost hope. or maybe Brendan's dream came true and Teresa just showed up... well, I'll know when I watch it.
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.
Everyone keeps suggesting there is a paradox concerning the 5D future humans and their ability to save humanity in the past. It's really not a paradox at all. Everyone assumes humanity survived to ascend to the 5th dimension but how could humanity exist in the future if not for the actions of Cooper.. who was guided by future humans (begin endless loop).
Did anyone ever consider the other important character in the movie? Amelia Brand carried on with the rest of her mission (thanks to Cooper). I postulate that Brand used the human seeds as intended and set up a colony. A colony that would thrive and eventually evolve beyond human. Thus Earth is of little importance, and may have indeed died. These colonists, and the generations that followed, would have been told the story of a great man (Cooper) who saved them from extinction. With the ability to manipulate space-time, they would pay homage to their hero "God" by helping him in the past so he may fulfill the mission most important to him, to once again see his daughter. Plan B worked beautifully. But the 5d humans, having the power to bend space-time, decided there's no reason why Plan A had to fail.
I really want to love this show, it has a lot of potential, but something just feels off.
The whole John storyline just feels very dull and generic, and Dream himself is kinda boring. I kinda liked what they were doing with the fight/challenge in Hell, but if we're being honest, it was kinda dumb. Why would Lucifer even start by saying "I am a direwolf" if she could have just said she was one of the better things right away? After that challenge happens once, it would never have to happen again because they'd very quickly find what can't be beaten. The little pep talk the raven gave Dream took me right out of the scene too - really not liking the voice actor at all.
Last thing I wanna say is that I feel that the show is constantly trying to have these sort of 'epic' moments. They have nice visuals and great music to create these moments. But the problem is, these moments haven't been earned. They fail to actually be epic or memorable because none of the characters are overly strong and we haven't had much reason to like any of them. The only character I've seen anyone really caring about was the female Constantine last episode - but it doesn't seem like she's going to be a big part of the show other than that one episode.
The show isn't bad, it's entertaining and an alright watch. But certain things in the writing are just preventing it from going from okay to good/great. Not sure if that's just because of the source material, or if it's because Netflix messed something up.
Decent over all. Part 1 was too much build-up for what Part 2 delivers.
The things I thought were good:
The new settings, and a creative plot. I liked the dissociative plot twist. I think it was well executed.
I liked how in the end Joe was chasing himself rather than a girl. I loved how unhinged it got.
The things I thought were not good:
I think part of the reason this season fell flat is because we didn’t have any truly great side characters. They were not written well. Most of the side characters did not add much to the plot at all. Take them out the show completely and we haven’t lost much in my opinion. They all seem like cartoon characters. There is not even the slightest depth to them and I have no interest in the relationships they form with Joe.
I can't really connect to Nadias storyline. Everything she did in P2 was SUCH a horrible decision. What was up with Maryanne not letting Nadia call the cops? It makes no since at all, their reasoning was beyond dumb, it’s just lazy writing.
Another disappointing character arc was the lady with the camera. She was just Phoebe's stalker? I was hyped to see if she was the one who was finally going to expose him. Or if she was connected to Beck somehow.
Kate is my least favorite love interest of Joe. There is zero chemistry between her and Jo. Zero.
I just don't understand why Joe becomes obsessed with Rhys in the first place. It seems so unlike his past obsessions. Had they written this season more tightly, we wouldn't have to wan explanation.
My suspension of disbelief has been broken many times this season, especially things leading to the ending. Joe just murdered Nadia’s boyfriend in broad daylight in London and they're just chatting next to a dead body for how long.
It feels like this season the plot armor is even more noticeable than in the last ones - reasoning of Nadia and Marienne for not calling the cops was really weird, all because they wanted Joe to get away with it without facing the police. The PI just handing Joe a new life wasn't explained. He killed Kate's dad incredibly easily for how rich and smart he's supposed to be. He even survived jumping from the bridge.
Joe has really managed to find not one, but two women who wholly accept him for all his stalking and murdering. And conveniently they both came from very wealthy families who are happy to cover up all of his crimes.
I have a feeling season 5 is gonna be the last. The fact that Joe it now at his absolute worst makes me think they’re preparing for his downfall. Plus it would be fitting for the last season to take place in NYC since that’s where it all started.
The meanest thing I could say about this movie is ‘Has extreme Don’t Worry Darling energy’.
I have never seen a movie more desperate to justify itself. It’s trapped in this endless neurosis over what it is- a blockbuster Barbie movie in 2023 by an acclaimed art house director that is fun but also deep but also earnest but also self aware but also but also but also. Every point it raises it brings up a counterpoint to before the audience can, every frame is trying to prove it’s not just product but art. It’s never just Barbie. It’s never confident or even comfortable in its skin. You cannot for a second be immersed in Barbie because it’s not a story so much as a visual dissertation without a central thesis, it’s a student film riffing on the big dogs hoping it’s underdog audacity will carry it but given a budget in the millions. It so desperately wants you to like it, to know it’s in on the joke too.
Everythng is an ouroboros here: an endless loop of argument and counterarguement feeding itself. Isn’t it shitty how the Mattel boardroom is full of men? Ah, but isn’t it cool how Mattel’s acknowledged it with this niche? And it’ll mythologize Barbie’s creator but uh don’t worry she did tax evasion we know that, now let her impart into Barbie the experience of all women. Barbie helps women, Barbie hurts women, Barbie is told to be everything so isn’t she just like women, but it is better to be a creator than the idea, and in the end, hasn’t Barbie helped all these women? Oh uh why is this blonde white Barbie the centerpiece of it all and helping not only her diverse Barbie friends but a Hispanic woman and her daughter? Don’t worry we’ll have the daughter call her a white savior! But don’t worry we’ll have the mom say she’s not! It’s fascinating to watch, honestly. It’s a film that wants to prove to you so so bad that it works but it doesn’t and it knows it doesn’t and it knows you knows. It’s Gerta Gerwig wrestling with taking this job for an hour and a half.
The cast is more than game and able. Margot Robbie is doing her damndest to find the heart and soul in this role, and there’s one scene with an old lady near the end of the first act/beginning of the second that actually works, for just a moment, more than any of the big third act soliloquies or montages with emotional ballads. And as someone who’s seen Blade Runner 2049 and Drive, this is the best Ryan Gosling performance I’ve seen. The man commits and delivers a surprisingly compelling and entertaining antagonist. The movie can’t quite reconcile what he’s done with his ending, or tie it into the themes- is Ken letting go of Barbie and the need to define himself for or against her symbolizing the need for men to do the same, and if so, why play it so lightly and sympathetically?- but that’s not his fault. And the supporting cast are entertaining, but you just can’t have big laughs with a movie that feels like it’s constantly checking in the corner of its eye after every joke to see if you’re laughing, grin stuck in place. It’s not as funny or as smart as it wants to be, and the sad thing is, it feels like it knows that too.
There is some great set design, cinematography, dazzling choreography, popping colors, and some fun high points. But I can’t imagine many kids liking it. And we’ve seen how conservatives have taken this movie. And anyone’s who’s progressed beyond the politics of. Well. A feminist blockbuster Barbie movie will find it cloying or condescending or just incredibly basic. It’s aimed at a very specific crowd who will buy what it’s saying, the liberals who see corporate feminism as progress, who agree that it’s just about a little change sometimes, who are ready for something just a little more complex than a SNL sketch. I don’t regret seeing it, because I was deeply engaged the whole time seeing it struggle at war with itself, in pain for its whole existence. It’s not a boring movie by any means. It wants to say everything before the audience can say it first. It’s the endpoint of The Lego Movie and Enchanted- the corporations interrogating and justifying themselves, and the cracks in this formula are too large to ignore. It wants to be so much, and the attempt is as darkly mesmerizing as a fly thinking it can somehow and someway metamorphize into a butterfly and suffocating and struggling in its makeshift cocoon, but this is one Barbie that fundamentally just cannot break out of its box.
Poor Things is very pretty, I’ll give it that much. Colors pop, and the watercolor, blurry sky and the scaling but condensed environments of Lisbon and Alexandria both convey the miasma of Bella’s mind quite well. How the background blurs in our young memories and how we remember all the buildings and places that looked large over us but so rarely the walks to them. Those work for me. So much of the rest of the film doesn’t.
I see what it’s going for- it’s hard not to. A journey of womanhood through the conceit of a child’s brain in a woman’s body, when women are treated as children and property to begin with. But it’s so fucking weird, with that conceit, to devote so much time to sex. Sex is an important part of being human for many people, I’m not denying that. But the attention it gets here throughout compared to brief, paltry scenes of Bella reading, seeking knowledge, having an interest in medical science and surgery is disproportional. Especially when the film wants to play her coming home and following in Godwin’s footstep as a culmination of her journey when it’s a facet of the film that barely gets any play in comparison. Angelica Jade Bastien, whose Variety review you should all read, brings up how in a film ostensibly about a cis woman and her relationship with her body menstruation does not come up once. It’s so telling where the film’s true focus lies.
And yes, sex can be beautiful, and conversely so can sex scenes. But the ones here are done dispassionately yet voyueristically. There’s no interiority, no sensuality, no sense of emotion and character felt through them. Compared to films like The Handmaiden they are sterile in heart if not content. It’s a big swing to go from black and white to color, and I can see sex being the impetus for it, sure, but when it’s done like this I don’t buy it. It’s interesting to me that her first time having sex is portrayed like this, with penetration until the man comes, thrice over, and yet her first time with cunnilingus is off screen. I feel like all the sex in this film is similarly narrow and lifeless.
None of what this film is trying to say is new, but much of it is muddled. It wants to rail against the entitlement of men, how they see women as property, how they want them to be exciting and adventurous but only in service of them. And yet it gives Max no grief at all for falling in love with. A child. Literal child, this is not a metaphor, it’s a child’s brain. And marrying her but refusing to have sex with her until marriage because that would be taking advantage, as if marriage would not be taking advantage and has not been used as the ultimate control. On some level the film condemns this, but only in the opposite direction, as part of Emily leaving Max is her frustration over not having sex. It’s baffling that the film seems to take the viewpoint that we ought to let children consent to sex with adults, that it is part of their development and journey to personhood. The film is similarly forgiving to Godwin, who used a woman’s body in a way she would very likely not have consented to all while the film extols a woman’s choice and ownership of her body.
Everything the film has to say about the nature of man and people, about women’s place in society, about sex work, etc, is rote. Nothing here is new, and nothing is heightened by the core conceit. It’s so surface level. And the cast is game enough. Dafoe is Dafoe and that’s always a good time, but I wouldn’t call this one of his greatest roles. Carmichael, much as I love his standup, just is not working here. Stone and Ruffalo are acting for the back seats, and while that has its moments of charm, it’s too much for most of the runtime. And Stone is just. She’s playing into ableist stereotypes for so much of this performance. The film drops the r slur and we’re just gonna pretend that Stone isn’t doing an insulting caricature at the same time? I don’t even want to delve into all the questions raised by the mental disability angle, others could do that better than me, but it’s another level of thoughtlessness and surface level depth.
The score is similarly cloying and overbearing. It insists on a scene rather than being a part of it. It doesn’t enhance it or complement it, it beats you over the head with how the scene is meant to make you feel. I could enjoy the sound of it in isolation, but as a score it’s distracting more than anything else. It’s a bit surprising to me how much this film has been praised as outside of the production design, I don’t see it. I just don’t. For me, this is as much a misfire as Barbie, if not more. Poor things.
