unnamed-32145 Reviews

Foundation: A Glimpse of Darkness (2023) Season 2, Episode 2

What is this BS?

[2/10 · 25 November 2023]

Sorry,

what the heck is going on? The story is just a mash-up of different phantasy movie tropes. What does this has to do with SF anymore? No, sorry, SF is gone. We get some magic, we get some fairy talles, we get some religious stories, which might work on their own, I mean it worked quite well in the last century for other shows but ONLY IF DONE RIGHT. And this thing does NOT feel right. This is mostly drama and feelings, sometimes without explaining the background and sometimes just overdosed, shoved down your throat.

And it does not even make sense. The obvious technical challenges which act as a plot device in the beginning are suddenly washed away and are never mentioned again. This is just an offense of viewer's intelligence and is the last episode of "Foundation" for me. The first of season 2 was creepy nonsense - but this one is FUBAR. Enough is enough.

Nice CGI, though. At least that is done right nowadays..

Babylon 5: GROPOS (1995) Season 2, Episode 10

Not an easy episode to review

[8/10 · 5 June 2023]

People in the reviews keep comparing this to U. S. Army activities. But it is not as easy as that.

From some other POV, I see more similarities to things like the involvement of the Soviets in the Asian countries like Afghanistan back in the 1980ies. The more I watched this episode, the more I saw it. Just look at it, there is a government who wants to gain some political influence in an extreme and independent part of the world, by helping another puppet (or weak) government which wants an external power to be their ally. And they have burned lots of young lives there in Afghanistan, for no good reason after all.

Jolt (2021)

Watchable. Don't expect too much.

[7/10 · 18 February 2023]

This movie wants to be a little bit more of what it actually is. And nevertheless, one can enjoy it.

First, the cast is not too bad. IMHO, Kate Beckingsale looks more attractive than others wanna-be stars like Emma Watson, while being almost twice her age. She portrays this dark femininity very well in this movie. In the Total Recall remake a few years ago it did not work out very well, but here she an really excell.

Second, the story is slightly stupid. But not that kind of stupid where it starts offending your intelligence, more of the "STFU and don't think too much" stupid. "Just enjoy the show" thing.

And in the end, there is the C story in the background which is hardly explained. I hope we can get a sequel here to get over with it, although the current ratting probably says otherwise.

Mission Majnu (2023)

OKAYish Indian movie

[6/10 · 23 January 2023]

Looking at the trailer, I was not sure what to make of it. Is it an espionage flick? An action movie? Another Bollywood trash?

In the end, it was a mixture of all. Kinda predictable, kinda less so, kinda realistic, and sometimes pure CGI action BS but not too bad.

The original story is also probably not that far away from the truth. Just hidden under layers of overacting. And I didn't really buy the initial love story, especially since it was probably only added as a plot device. It develops to a certain extent but even it stays too weak.

The overall Indian patriotism in the end is "okay", something that was to be expected, considering the origin of the movie.

Manifest (2018–2023)

OMG. Hard to like it.

[2/10 · 15 July 2022]

From the second episode, it feels like endless drama stream of typical "women problems". Some bits make sense, but after all... seriously? This is sold as SF? Very little science, lots of fantasy, lots of female drama.

A fantasy telenovella? No, thanks.

The One (I) (2021)

Nice idea, poor story development

[3/10 · 26 May 2022]

I was intrigued by the preview and stayed here (actually looking for Jet Li's The One).

But what is this? Maybe not a bad concept but the delivery here is soooo uninspiring. Always the same, thing X happened, thing X gets resolved withing a few minutes, then the same for thing Y and Z, and all over again.

Also this woke-ness. Yes, it's from Netflix, I got it, but even for their standards - sorry, after 2.5 episodes it seems like every second "perfect match" has to be homosexual? I seriously doubt representation of the statistics here, and the overall drama around it is too overplayed.

Catching Killers (II) (2021– )

Interesting episode, but...

[2/10 · 5 March 2022]

Quite disturbing. It's (more or less) started by the female detective and also ended by that person. The one from the previous episode.

But WHY? This is the one who has failed on the task, and has quit the job. Because of "family business". Going full drama mode over her is pointless.

Her younger and male colleagues who managed to correctly identify the killer should have earned the kudos, not her.

Don't Look Up (2021)

Not perfect but sarcastic enough. And bitter.

[7/10 · 25 December 2021]

It was supposed to be released in 2020 but getting it in 2021 is even better. To see how it's storyline correlates with the real events after the last US elections is strange, to say the least.

After all, the story rips some bits from the classics like Meteor and Deep Impact, crossing over with some bits from Salvation (the clever and funny parts, not the crazy non-sensical stuff Salvation was suffering from).

Jennifer Lawrence is a welcome appearance. The more mature role like in this move fits her acting style much more than teen survival non-sense (Panem series). And Leo is a pro, fills the role of middle-aged professor with ease.

And the end, well, could be done better. This version looks like deriving too much from Iron Sky 2, which is not a good thing.

Cloud Atlas (2012)

Feels like trailer mashup

[1/10 · 5 October 2021]

Couldn't watch it after 0.5h or so. Great cinematography, sure, but the story telling is a total mess. Good movies use similar technique to enhance viewer's experience but here it looks like a half-hearted job of an inempt movie trailer cutter, who got the order to continue doing this with 3 hours of raw material.

After that time I decided to check IMDB about what others reported. As expected, a flood of 10/10 reviews singing about "the best move masterpiece ever" and an increasing number of very negative reviews which look much more authentic.

Money Heist: Tu sitio en el cielo (2021) Season 5, Episode 4

What am I watching?

[3/10 · 8 September 2021]

This episode was crap. The first half is unrelated story around Berlin's past and the next half is spoiled by whiny actions of Manilla. Looks just stupid, apparently some Netflix activity to present present the storm of inner feelings of trans-women right in the hail of bullets. Yeah. Looks very realistic. AF.

How to Become a Tyrant (2021)

Weak, childish narration, plot holes

[2/10 · 27 July 2021]

Seriously, this documentary is not spending much time on important details. Skipping over relevant questions, like the ideology used by the particular dictators to justify their doing in the eyes of the population.

Also very swiftly avoiding to mention the involvement of Western powers in the development of that tyrants.

Also, why not started with the prototype of the modern tyrant, Robespiere?

Katla (2021)

Beautifully shot but the story development is just dumb

[3/10 · 19 June 2021]

I feel like 3 hours of my life were wasted and I have to stop right here. Sorry, what is this? Another copycat of Lost but with boring characters this time? Where are the SciFi elements? This is just a cheap "mystery" buildup, apparently just for the sake of looking mysterious. Most of protagonist's actions do not make much sense, the conclusions they draw do not make sense, the questions they ask do not make sense in these circumstances, many things are just there to stretch the screen time.

For some reason, I repeatedly felt reminded on the Solaris movie, and I mean the boring US remake, not the original Russian version (which was kinda okay for its time).

Giving it a few stars for the nice cinematography and mostly good acting. But don't watch it if you value your time.

Table 19 (2017)

Quite enjoyable

[8/10 · 20 May 2021]

Stumbled upon this movie by chance and have not expected much. I don't like dumb romantic comedies.

This one, however, was very impressing. A pragmatic view on love. Charming, but not cheesy. Slow, but not boring. Entertaining, but not stupid.

The Lost Pirate Kingdom (2021– )

Cheeply made

[2/10 · 21 March 2021]

The documentary was okay in the beginning but it degrades quickly. Many repetitions, certain things announced are mentioned and told multiple times even when you think "moment, wasn't this topic finished like an hour ago? Oh, no, that was just a forecast of forecast again?". It's just inflating screen time.

Not much is told about the technology, or the pirate economy. Or on the specific tactics or actual hands-on battles. Just keeping repeating how great of a tactic this or that pirate was but then just showing "hey go there" and suddenly we are are there and they are talking again. And talking. And talking.

And beware, towards the end Netflix tries to shove more and more woke stuff down your throat, so be prepared.

Red Sparrow (2018)

Just bad

[1/10 · 17 February 2021]

Not a single Russian word, just US/UK actors with fake Russian accent. Nonsensical story, idiotic playing, implausible motivation all over the place.

And J. Lawrence playing some innocent Russian beauty... are you kidding me? Cannot believe this is based on a book, maybe on some trash novel.

Lupin (2021– )

Mediocre Oceans 11 / Now You See Me crossover

[4/10 · 24 January 2021]

Stopped after a couple of episodes. It's not truly bad, just not good enough for me to spend more time on it. The plot holes are overwhelming, after a while I started asking what I am watching, too many parallels with some aspects of the movies in subject which I really disliked.

Still giving it a few stars, because Omar's acting is quite good, the rest of the cast also doing it quite well, and apparently expenses were saved on the production. Surely an insider tip for the lovers of French Cinema.

This Is the End (2013)

This is not the end, this is the crap

[3/10 · 5 January 2021]

I barely could watch the first 10 minutes. This is supposed to be a comedy but there is no fun. The script writers are obsessed by the idea that just mentioning the real names of the actors give this trope a very funny note which justifies everything. But they are wrong.

This move was crap back in Oceans 12 (Oh, no, this is Julia Roberts, oh my god, it is it really her). And if you base your whole move on it, it's garbage.

Giving it 3 stars anyway because it was nice to see many stars from Knocked Up in a movie again.

The Tower (1993 TV Movie)

Interesting view

[10/10 · 16 December 2020]

TBH, I watched this a couple of times 10-20 years ago and as far as I remember, I have actually liked it.

There was not much SFX. But the story was dense and looked authentic. And Paul R. has delivered it well.

It's as simple or complicated as it has to be, and even nowadays it should raise some red flags in the eyes of the AI fans.

Mank (2020)

Kinda dull

[4/10 · 10 December 2020]

Don't get me wrong, I like classic Hollywood flicks. But only if the are worth it. I have even watched Citizen Kane a couple of years ago just to understand all this chitchat about the black&white classics. It was okay, not a deep story but quite convincing considering the date it was created.

Now, to Mank, that movie was not convincing. They tried to establish some kind of pathos around the persona of the famous script writer but it doesn't sell. Who exactly does care about the bed room stories among the movie industry pros ALMOST A CENTURY AGO?

On top of that, man, Gary Oldman is good but he is just too old, man, about 20 years older than the real Mank when he wrote Citizen Kane. It simply does not fit.

And in the end they try to make a point. But I just don't see the punchline. The movie goes on, ends, and the outcome is meh... not even a summary of the fate of the real Mank. Just pointless.

War Dogs (2016)

Watchable

[6/10 · 25 November 2020]

I am not the biggest fan of Jonah Hill because he kinda gets similar roles all the time, and this move is not really an exception. But he plays it well and the rest of the cast is also quite proficient.

The story itself is okay. Sometimes predictable, a few small plot holes and stupidities here and there rounding up quite well towards the end.

Don't expect it to be very surprising if you know most of Lord Of War, Wolf of Wall Street, Moneyball, but not a time waste.

High Score (2020)

Stay away

[2/10 · 23 September 2020]

As many others mentioned, pure waste of time. The makers waste screen time with the worries and troubles of LGBT people instead of focusing on the topic of the title.

And where is AMIGA? Where is the Playstation and X-Box? Where is the modding community? (ooh, right, it was mentioned in the last minutes, how grateful).

Where is Voodoo graphics and true 3D and whole new genre which came out of it? Only the LGBT propaganda counts here or YET ANOTHER overlong HOORAY story from some prototype eSports event 30-35 years ago.

Snowpiercer: Justice Never Boarded (2020) Season 1, Episode 5

Jumping between predictable and non-sensical

[2/10 · 16 June 2020]

Not sure what to say about it. For a long period it's just dull. Certain moves did feel so out of place that I was even shocked. I would like to see something like this with those actors in their previous works but here it comes like... seriously guys? You were not able to find some other plot device?

This doesn't ever check out. It doesn't feel surprising, just stupid. Also various little plot holes over the place, ruining the overall impression. I guess I stop watching here and save it for binge-watching later.

The Last Days of American Crime (2020)

Wasted two hours of my life

[1/10 · 6 June 2020]

Reminded me on the "In Time" movie. Started with an interesting idea and then turning everything into weak, unbelievable mess. Feels like an even a much much cheaper version of it. Too long, too boring. Not much story development, nothing feeling believable. All major plot lines going into nowhere. Side stories with some potential are well introduced at first, then not developed, then getting intriguing, then suddenly torn into ashes. Time ticker is shown all the time like in "24" but the content seen on screen does not fit.

All in one, just too predictable, too conventional, too dull. The "adult" scenes cannot overplay it. Should have stopped watching after a half hour.

Snowpiercer (2020–2024)

Not convincing; watch the movie instead

[3/10 · 28 May 2020]

Ok, TBH it took a while to see that this is yet another production under the same name "snow piercer". Not the movie, which is not even that old.

Ok... a remake as TV show. Sorry Netflix, this is not convincing. The original plot was a weird SF (more fiction) tale in first place, now you try to turn it into a detective story. Please get it, the detective story move does not work for everywhere. It was okay for Altered Carbon (Season 1) but even Season 2 sucked (unlike the novels, which were not forced detective stories and worked great on their own). So, back to SnowPiercer... it suffers from the same story flaws as the original movie: the base framework simply does not make much sense! It worked in the movie as as plot device only for a couple of hours. There it was enough to keep you entertained without placing too many questions. Now here in the series, there is simply not enough material to keep it going. They are trying to "explain" a story which doesn't want to be explained. Same goes for various twists and shock moments of the original movie, here it goes like "just normal, not much to see here, keep going". Also, this whole setup of "Seaquest DSV on-the-rails" does not look believable - those spaces are normally not what you get in train wagons.

So this the same Netflix BS all over again, quite like with Altered Carbon. Taking a usable original story and remixing it into crap. And put some alternative story lines on top which are not going anywhere, but keep the audience distracted. DONE.

The only reason to give 3 stars is the good performance of J.Connelly (missed her in the last years) and most of the other actors around the foreground story.

Mirage (2018)

A better version of Butterfly Effect

[9/10 · 2 May 2020]

Like with any time loop movie, it is hard to spoil and not to spoil at the same time. So I will stick to what is already known, and in my opinion, the trailer already spoils too much.

But anyway, it's move convincing than BE and the SF part in it feels much more smooth and plausible than the fantasy plot device they used in BE.

There are a few things which they could have improved but I guess it's the best what you can get with that kind of story. There is a twist, there is a resolution, but not really a resolution, just hard to explain without a time machine.

The acting is convincing, good cut, good score, no obvious flaws all around.