kowstoff Reviews

Squid Game (2021– )

Predictable plot, and not original.

[4/10 · 13 October 2021]

I don't get the hype for this show, honestly. It's very predictable, and it doesn't feel original. I just feel like I was watching one of the ''Saw'' movies. However, I like the idea behind the show in an apparent criticism of capitalism society and billionaires in general. It can be a very tough reality to confront, but this show portraits the bad side of capitalism in a very depressing and violent way, as it should be.

On the other hand, it's not that hard to criticize capitalism, it's actually a very easy target. It's almost a trend these days, with all other TV shows and movies addressing this topic. I'm not saying it is bad to address this topic at all. I'm really glad this is being discussed, I just feel that this topic isn't enough to make this show original or surprising in any aspect. It's surely not a virtue of this show.

Squid Game tries to build tension on violence and death, just like GOT did. But GOT's tension is genuine, well-built, and really unpredictable (unless you read the books). The tension here is almost useless, since we all know how this is going to end, and the characters death become almost trivial throughout the show. We know who will likely win and who won't. Sure, there are some surprises/plot twists along the way regarding the characters, but it's not that mind-blowing anyway.

Violence scenes are excellent! It's raw, straightforward and merciless. I also liked the cliffhanger in the end. I like how the main character wasn't conformed with all the violent events, and how he evolved to a more mature and dangerous person.

The first season of Squid Game didn't impress me, but there's room to improve in possible future seasons. This show needs another season, not only because of the cliffhanger, but the narrative needs a better outcome, and the main character deserves a better legacy.

Ted Lasso (2020–2023)

Funny... and refreshing.

[7/10 · 10 October 2021]

This show really surprised me. I didn't expect to like it as I did, I didn't expect it to be so emotional, funny and involving. It's surely a very light and positive narrative. In its darkest moments it still manages to award the viewer with positive outcomes.

The topics addressed in Ted Lasso are very relatable to the average person, the drama is well balanced, and, of course, the punchlines have a really good timing. It has this really nice refreshing and comfortable feeling to watch it on a late night Friday.

The show can be funny, light and fulfilling in several aspects, but at other times it's boring and becomes predictable. I didn't feel so attached to the characters, they can be way too comic for me at times and, consequently, they lose depth. The football (yes, it's football) is not well explored here, it serves more as a background pretext, and it becomes almost irrelevant throughout the show. And yea... I can't seem to find more complaints. The series is good, and does a really good job at entertaining almost everyone.

OBS: Yes, 7/10 is a nice score for my standards. Comedy shows are far from my favorite genre. This one really surprised me.

Straight Outta Compton (2015)

Could've been better...

[6/10 · 1 October 2021]

As a biography of a hip-hop group, this movie is amazing. But I feel that everything happens too fast in this movie, with no time to process the consequences and the development of the story. That being said, this movie is a really nice tribute to Eazy-E. It can be very emotional at the end, regardless of how apathetic the Eazy-E's actor can be. NWA is legendary, and it's quite challenging to put their whole influence and story in a short film without compromising the weight of the events. The feeling is that the movie could've been better... but I don't know how exactly.

Fullmetal Alchemist (2003–2004)

The end is worthy, but the characters were too simple.

[5/10 · 26 June 2021]

The beginning of the anime is so poorly directed, it felt tempting to give it up watching. Even though the tale of ''equal equivalence'' and ''philosopher's stone'' was interesting, the depths of the characters, on the other hand, were shallow and the comic-relief was so repetitive and exaggerate, that it lost all the seriousness that they deserved. I must say that I loved the limited powers of Elric, it wasn't that old anime cliché of the over power main character, instead all his limitations were well justified. Unfortunately The Elric brothers' story didn't catch me that much, I felt that if the anime had a better character development, I could relate to them more. The way that the anime tell us their story is so fast, and simple, that I could almost feel indifference to them. The villains are corny in the beginning, they didn't feel intimidating to me, and they also felt harmless or to passive.

The anime starts to get more interesting at the end, when all the past characters are presented again, and they serve to the purpose of connecting the dots. Some of them seemed to be irrelevant to the story in the beginning of the anime, at the end, however, they've become important to build narrative bridges. Even the villains got more interesting, and surprisingly, I could finally understand their reasons and their pain (some one of them). I wish the whole anime could be more like the end, when things felt more serious and less comic.

This anime is a ''5'' for me, while there are reasons to like it, I still feel that it could've been a better story, if the anime took itself more serious, instead of abusing of the 'comic-relief' technique to force us to feel more attached to the characters instead of working on their feelings and development in a deeper way.

Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

The story is terrible, the myths are weak, the fights are okay.

[3/10 · 7 April 2021]

The first Godzilla movie (2014) was good, after that though, all monster films have been ridiculously childish. I understand that this a movie about monsters, and it doesn't have to be an art masterpiece. Still, it feels so pop, non-epic and full of corny jokes, it loses all the ambitious encounter of the two biggest monsters of the cinema history.

The villains (if there are any) are so laughable (in the bad way), and the main characters are just boring the whole movie. The only good thing about this movie is the final battle. However, it could be better if the movie itself had built a better story around the monsters. In the end it's just a corny movie.

Also: The worst thing about ''Godzilla vs. Kong'' is for sure Godzilla's laugh in the end, that was terrible!!

Paddington 2 (2017)

I'm confused.

[4/10 · 22 March 2021]

The critics are too positive, I'll probably need to watch it again. I didn't see anything too special in this movie. It's surely cute, and I'd have fun if I was a kid, but I don't seem to enjoy that much watching it for the first time as a 20 years old guy. It's fun, that's why 4 stars, not a big deal for me though.

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)

The DC version of Lord Of The Rings!

[8/10 · 22 March 2021]

What a film!!! It reminds me a lot of 300 from Zack. I'd spent more than 4 hours if needed!