netmedia-1 Reviews

Gran Turismo (2023)

Beautiful and irrelevant.

[4/10 · 5 November 2023]

The first thing you will notice about the movie is very specific aesthetics. It always looks as walking a thin line between a video game and reality. It has a certain emptiness to the aesthetics that makes it look one of a kind. However, Neill Blomkamp is not enough to make a good movie. The story is as basic as it can be, and it's one of those movie where some will say "oh god this was amaaaazing", and completely forget about it in a few days. When I say forget about it - I mean truly and sincerely forget, like they never watched it and most problably not remember any of the details.

Also, it's the movie is a loooong ad for japanese cheapcars, and the only pure breed car the protagonist sat his bottom in, was 2 minute ride in a 911.

Hypnotic (2023)

What happened here Rodriguez?

[5/10 · 31 May 2023]

I'm wondering at which point in time did Rodriguez say "allright we are giving up on this, let's just go to editing and see what we got"? What happened here??? I feel like I have just watched an overdone storyboard for a good movie? It's all like a mockup. Excellent story, huuuge potential, excellent surprises and unexpected turns of events... whaaaat happeneeeeeeed heeeeeereeee?????

We know that Rodriguez can do better. Maybe he did not do better because he knows that we know that he can do better? This was supposed to be better and this is one of the rare cases that I got frustrated because the movie was not better...

Jung_E (2023)

One star more for the courage.

[7/10 · 21 January 2023]

Still, the Korean and the Chinese appear to be the only that have the courage to make a superfuturistic sci-fi with a serious budget. The directing is naive and sloppy from time time, and acting even worse by some actors (not all of them) especially if you are not used to asian acting which very different from western or european acting. The last 25 minutes or so are hard-core metal to metal fights, cracking and sparking fun with top-class CGI and motion capture. It is worth the watch, even if you skip the boring parts, the last third of the movie is very good action and some good robot design.

Halo (2022– )

Absolute mess.

[1/10 · 20 December 2022]

This is worse than anything adapted so far. It is literally a kids show with blood, gore and limbs flying around. The asian girl (Kwan i think) is so irritating that you need to fast forward. It's as irritating as "Dr. Smith" from Lost In Space.

The adaptation of the game is so literal, that everything looks like actual gameplay. Sounds, design, everything. Not a single spark of innovation or cinematic thinking. Maybe this is just me, I never clicked with the Halo game, all about it is very very flat, but this show is worse. This show puts cinematography in service of replicating a video game, instead of going at least one step ahead.

Andor (2022– )

Star Wars for grown-ups.

[10/10 · 9 December 2022]

Finally. Star Wars evolves! Intelligent, intense and with dialogues that you want to rewind and listen again.

Finally, after Rogue One, once again the focus centers on simple people that made all the difference in the war against the Empire.

Seeing for the first time in detail how the Empire works on many levels is refreshing and enlightening, and above all, this series gives an impression of importance of all the people involved from both sides, rather than just Jedis and Siths.

Stellan Skarsgård shines, and carries the majority of this sci-fi espionage thriller, Denise Gough right behind him, and Diego Luna as Cassian Andor is much less relevant I must say.

Tales from the Loop (2020)

Good fondation but bad directing

[5/10 · 9 November 2022]

Good stories, decent scripts. Very good visuals overall, a nice blend of 80s and futuristic science-fiction. However, the main problem is that the episodes are actually written as shorts, meant to be 10-15 minutes maximum, but actually stretched to 50+ minutes of ultimate snail-paced boredom. It is so slow in the most unexciting way that makes you feel suffocated if you even try to watch an episode all at once, except the first one when you are still excited and waiting to actually se if there is any point or reason for such an oxygen-depriving superslow tempo. I hope to se season 2 if ever, maybe they will fix this since it has a lot of potential.

Tenet (2020)

Only Nolan can('t) do this

[10/10 · 30 July 2022]

A story which is too much to be told with a movie, or by any means available to humans. This is why it's a messy masterpiece. It deserves a 10/10 for pushing boundaries in a remarkabke way.

In the Shadow of the Moon (2019)

A bit underrated.

[7/10 · 9 May 2020]

Yes, the plot is a little bit already-100-times-done, but still it's a good soft-sci-fi thriller and does not leave you unsatisfied. Most of the actors are definitely a highlight, Holbrook nails it, like really nails it.

IO (2019)

Very apocalyptical

[8/10 · 19 May 2019]

Very good apocalyptic atmosphere. The movie is far away from top-notch but the girl is so beautiful that you barely manage to think about the movie all you do is keep looking at her.

Altered Carbon (2018–2020)

Great potential, ruined. Sitcom-level acting.

[5/10 · 19 February 2018]

Beautiful sci-fi story full of intrigue and secrets, lots of room to think about conspiracy which uncovers step by step.... in a clumsy way sadly. Directing is like it's done by a 3rd year student, the scenes that are supposed to be powerful are not powerful enough because they fail at basic directing and acting. The characters just wander around everyone on his own, they visit each other at their homes out of nowhere like playing an rpg video game. All the good acting comes down to Kinnaman and Chris Conner, who manage to pull this off with a little help from Lachman who comes later in the series. Higareda (agent Ortega) should return to acting school or simply quit this work. There were moments that I felt embarrassed myself how bad the acting was, I'm not kidding.

However, CGI is better than any series ever, and better than most high budget Hollywood movies. The story is also excellent if it wasn't for bad directing that mostly ruined it.

The Fourth Kind (2009)

One masterpiece.

[9/10 · 26 August 2011]

Please, don't read the plot or anything before watching this. This is one master piece that needs you to be ready for it. This is not a meat-grinder or anything like that brainless. This is a true psychological horror in it nature, the one that you inhale while you watch. I couldn't do it in one try. I made two coffee breaks, it reaaallyyyyyyy rattles your cage :D

So, again: this is not your usual horror movie. Nobody will come out of a corner by surprise and say ROOAARRRRRRR!!! and start chasing someone with a knife... you will watch it and fear... something... anything?

Good luck :)

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

Not what I expected...

[6/10 · 29 June 2009]

This is definitely not what I expected. The first Transformers movie was a so good adaptation that I was completely delighted with it... but this one... this is something else. Like first, there is suddenly a bunch of funny robots that are doing too much human things, and too much stupid things so they easily insult you intelligence, the least what I expected to see is an old robot which we see as "old" because he needs a walking stick and he has a metal beard?! And suddenly a character in the movie dies but later they find a way to revive it, and then another character dies so they find a way to revive him too, and some of the characters that died in the first Transformers movie get revived also... and then, big finale, another character sacrifices himself to give power to another... too much dying and reviving for me. Sometimes I had an impression I'm watching a drama. (I do not want to say what characters because I don't want this to be a spoiler)

Well, the positive sides... the visual effects are very impressive indeed. Actually, they are right as I expected, but they are somehow buried under all this boring drama atmosphere. What I also noticed, in one scene that lasts for a few seconds, the rendered robots (autobots) do not fit the camera-recorded background perfectly... but let's say we can forget that. The humor is pretty good too, but just as I said, because of that humor, the sci-fi part paid it's price.

The best, and most original characters in the movie according to me: Agent Simmons, Optimus Prime, and the little remote-controlled-car decepticon.

Open Season 2 (2008)

Excellent! Huge fun!!!

[8/10 · 8 January 2009]

Well, I can't say that the story is something to talk about, but the characters are INCREDIBLE, every single one of them is unique, funny, and fits perfectly in the movie. If you didn't like Open Season 1 and you find that a reason not to watch Open Season 2, think again! From hundreds of reasons it is worth of a watch even only to see a cat named Roger, I think that is the most original and the funniest animated character I ever saw in a cartoon! I cant really remember the name of that cat breed that it represents, but in moment I saw the cat I knew what were they trying to say. Every animal in the movie is represented just like it's appearance speaks, but much more deeply and originally.

Children of Men (2006)

I hoped that it will never end.

[10/10 · 19 September 2008]

The best thing to say in the start, that this movie is quiet under rated. This is one of the best pieces that i have ever put my eyes on, and honestly, i have never expected it to be from Alfonso Cuaron, but it looks like the real talents are hidden there where we do not expect them. The acting is state-of-art, brilliant performance by Owen, Moore and Cane. At the beginning i was thinking that the entire movie will be a pure social drama, but somehow it isn't, but also somehow it is. Cuaron has achieved that even some kind of scenes that sound like a cliché when you talk about them are putting you out of your chair. If you think that a typical chasing scene is the kind of scene that can never be exciting, well, you are wrong. And that is only a fragment. You got to watch this.