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stormrider65
Reviews
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
My Advice For the Wachowskis
And this advice goes to anyone who has achieved something in his/ her life: if you haven't outgrown your previous work of success, or outperform your previous self, DON'T attempt/ try to do something drastic or dramatic, thinking you are 'better' today and able to surpass your yesterday's self.
Warning (2021)
It's a Mashed-Up Wannabe
The Matrix + The Day The Earth Stood Still +Space Odyessy 2001.
That's it - the whole show is a thought-provoking sci-fi film Wannabe trying to be 'holier-than-thou'. Just look at the title 'Warning' and you'll get the 'message' - humanity has been ignoring all these 'warnings' from the very creation we've built - AI machines.
Look at the 'Logo' of 'God' the program - does it remind you of 'Illuimati', or the 'Pyramid' on the US note? Or how about the theme of 'sin' and 'sinning' that runs thru the show? And then the 'invasive' and 'intrusive' controls of the AI program in manipulating Claire. Haven't we seen them all before in so many past films??
If you have some spare time to spend, and don't mind slugging in the couch watching a slow-paced and shallow sci-fi show that is trying hard to be a 'wannabe', this is it for you.
Murder One (1995)
I Just Wanna Leave My Thoughts Here
In the face of COVID pandemic, I come to sense that 'time waits for no man'. So I'm penning down my thoughts on this show which I'd watched twenty odd years ago when I was in my late teens.
It literally blew my mind away as to how captivating one whole series of TV shows can be, and how 'GROUND-BREAKING' it was, when compared with ALL other shows then. I liked 'Airwolf', I was fond of 'Hunter', and I definitely admired. 'Homicide: Life on the street'; but this show, this most memorable show that branded a deep impression in my conscious mind, just took my soul to a whole new level that no other shows could reach or achieve.
The first 'ground-breaking' feel I got directly from the show was how 'one' story actually lasted one whole series. Viewers were taken through the supremely-minute details of law-firm's backend discussions, as well as the super-crafted execution of courtroom's upfront debates and exchanges. No other shows come close to it then, and even with ALL the 'real-life'/ 'reality' shows popped up in the early 2000s, this show is ONE HUGE MEGA MILESTONE for the American TV history.
Secondly, the whole production crew just came into my mind and blew it with one question forever circling in my head: WHERE THE HELL DO THEY FIND ALL THE DETAILS AND FINEST PRINTS OF A COURTROOM SHOW??? Every casting, every suit, every presentation, every line, WAS JUST PERFECT. You can almost say that no matter how many times you play it back you just can't find any fault or flaw comes glaring in your face. Not only you get to watch a really 'reel-life TV show', you got transformed from being a 'viewer' to a 'courtroom attendee', or even a 'juror'. That was how powerful this show was: it simply drew you in the moment you rested your eyes on it!
Third and final, I just thought that this show is something that is so special and unique, that it is almost like a 'divine-treat' that humanity just wasn't ready for it. People then were watching 'Beverly Hills 90210', 'Friends', 'X=Files' and 'NYPD Blues', and all were nonetheless good. HOWEVER, this show is altogether something else; it is almost like telling us "hey humanity, maybe you all wanna take a look at 'TV shows' from another perspective? Perhaps you guys wanna see the 'TV world' from another angle? How about we give you ONE STORY that lasts 23 episodes? The storyline will be rich and the acting will be spot-on richer. Ready for it?" Sad to say, from then till now, the world isn't ready yet, and hasn't changed much. We are in fact declining, and don't get me started on 'Netflix'.
So adios and goodbye, my beloved teenage years, and my forever-gone memory lanes. Thank you for all the good times of.23 episodes. The world will never quite see another TV show quite close to what this program has had given us.
Arrival (2016)
Two stars for a trash-like movie
95% of the show was in 'darkness'. Silhouettes, shadows, dim light, overcast and gloomy sky,. Why? Probably the director wanted an 'end-of-the-world' feel, but little did he know that it is nothing remotely close like that, but just a dumb movie that is full of annoyance and irritation. At least I felt that way. You mean there is no 'mid-day sun', just because the aliens visited us?? Or that the US power supply dropped drastically, so much so that even in the temporary camps erected beside the 'alien vessel', the whole damn room was so dim and gloomy that one can barely read anything? And it was really that one scene with the army heads seated at one table with lots of papers laid on it that got me laughing - who the F can actually read anything?!
Fast forward to the end of the show, there is scene where Amy got to meet the army general of China, General Shang. Again, it got me laughing - the WHOLE damn ball-room, is so dark that I wonder if they were in a cemetery! LOL With all the men in bow ties and suits, I can only pity at them for trying to be 'chic' but end up in a setting where one can barely see anything beyond five meters.
Besides this really useless theme that ran throughout the movie, other details like 'helicopter landed right outside Amy's house' got me laughing, again. You mean the army guys, AFTER meeting Amy at her office. Did not secure her phone number, BUT MANAGED TO LOCATE HER HOUSE AND THUS FLEW A COPTER RIGHT TO HER DOOR, thereby waking her up from her sleep??? What is this director's brain made of? Plastic?
Lastly DON'T EVER BELIVE ALL THE REVIEWS HERE. Whenever you see Repeated words like 'fantastic', 'terrific', 'great' and 'wonderful', YOU KNOW THEY ARE WRITTEN BY FAKE REVIEWERS. 7.9 rating? IT SHOULD ONLY BE 3.7 AT BEST!
Rurôni Kenshin: Sai shûshô - The Final (2021)
More stars for the action but not the plot
While I as a Singaporean Chinese love action films, and grew up with them, I cannot reconcile with the fact that the protagonist went to the base of his enemies head-on and alone, using only his Katana to fight 500 swordsmen, many coupled with fire-power.
I can understand when Bruce Lee went over to the Japanese dojo and whacked the living lights out of 20 karate men, due to the latter being a local bullies there and indirectly caused a few Chinese to fatality. But this show is of a totally different level - the main villain Erishi led his contingent to practically leveled the whole town to ground, killing hundreds of innocent people and even Himura's friends and family.
No one in the right mind and with some IQ will walk through the main door armed with only one piece of Katana. I can certainly understand Why the plot goes this way - if not there will not be a 'movie' to begin with, but the story or plot can be tweaked to strengthen the 'logic' behind such a move, and not result in the viewer being mind-boggled and confused.
The Girl Who Got Away (2021)
Don't Watch It to Insult Your Intelligence
I am typing this review with 5 mins into the show. Everything is stupid and dumb, and anyone who has an IQ of 42 should not even get close to it.
1) Show starts with a dad and his son in a car driven by the dad. The WHOLE damn road has zero light or street lamp. Then they saw one woman in white dress stained with blood, and a knife in her left hand.
2( Then, our smart-wannabe boy began urging his dad to stop and check, repeatedly telling him "she's bleeding...she's bleeding".
3) Dad ignored him and the woman, and continued driving. Then they saw the back of a running woman who is also in a white dress, running along the road, and turning right into the bushes and woods. Now, if this is not science fantasy, one wonders how on earth could she run faster than a moving car on a quiet road.
4) The smart-wannabe boy again 'reminded' the dad that it's "that girl". The dad, after moving for a while, decided to reverse to the spot of the missing girl and stopped there. Then he urged his son to 'not open the door' to anyone', and left the car with his torch, disappearing into the total-darkness wilderness.
5) Our 'girl', as anyone has guessed it, suddenly jumped onto the car window and frantically asked to get in. At this point, the smart-wannabe boy actually opened the door, and let her in.
And I stopped the show there and then. Will I go on to watch it? No. You shouldn't too, 'cause I am just hoping that the girl could swing out a knife and finish the dumb boy there and then. And then take car and leave, thereby ending the show.
Suicide Squad (2016)
I'm Sorry But I Just Have To Write Something
After a year of storing the downloaded copy of this movie, I finally watched it today (19/08/2017).
And yes: I JUST HAVE TO WRITE SOMETHING TO RELEASE MY PENT-UP FRUSTRATION OF WASTING MY TIME ON THIS PIECE OF DC GARBAGE.
First and foremost, let's just say that we ALL know we are watching a sci-fi movie. So the enemies are also gonna be out-of-this-world. But, really? Are they? Oh yes, sure they do, starting with the 'Enchantress', who is supposedly to be 'attached' to one lady and can emerge ONLY when being called upon. On top of that, she can literally teleport, going anywhere as she wishes.
As the show progresses, we are told that the female controller 'Waller' has her heart, and she can actually 'control' the Enchantress by...doing things to it (?). So why did the Enchantress NOT teleport to her heart, grab it and go, LIKE WHAT SHE DID IN THE SHOW EVENTUALLY? We are not told. Just some random scene of Waller telling her history, and the next thing we know, the Enchantress had gotten her heart back.
Then we have one legion of enemy army who are nothing else but 'humans' wearing faceless masks, running all over the place just to get beaten, smashed, slashed, shot and killed by this 'awesome' Suicide Squad. How scary was that? Very NOT scary at all.
And how do this 'army' get to be so faceless and 'out-of-this-world'? By having the Enchantress KISSING - that's right, you read that correctly and clearly - every captured soldier and turning them into that faceless army. Well, talk about 'oral hygiene', notwithstanding bad breath, decay tooth and whatnots! Then, we are reminded once and again by that woman 'Waller' to be 'very careful/ be caution' of this army, JUST TO HAVE THEM ACTING TOTALLY HUMAN-LIKE, WITH ABSOLUTELY Z.E.R.O. EXTRAORDINARY POWER. They, albeit the masks, ARE JUST LIKE ANY OTHER HUMAN ARMY! LOL So how 'very dangerous' and 'very deadly' are they exactly? Z_I_L_C_H danger.
Then the Joker appeared with a stolen helicopter that had his man shooting Waller and her Squad company. That totally irritating Harley simply stood up, all in the midst of gun-firing, to jump into the arms of her lover Joker - SIMPLY BECAUSE SHE RECEIVED HIS MESSAGE VIA HER HANDPHONE.
And when the helicopter went down, she actually MADE HER WAY BACK TO THE SQUAD, WITH THE WHOLE TEAM HAVING NO EXPRESSION, AND EVERYONE JUST WENT ON AS IF NOTHING HAD HAPPENED. JEEEZZZZ...W.T.F WAS THE SCRIPTWRITER THINKING? HIS MOTHER'S PANTIES PERHAPS WHEN PENNING THE SCRIPT? After a good useless 1.5 hours of talking and acting as if the Squad is very powerful, we are shown to have the finale - the Squad squaring off the Enchantress and her brother, whom the latter despite getting shot at by every available firearm from the Squad and experiencing no effect, ACTUALLY GOT KILLED BY A BOMB. Yes, a bomb. So bullets = no effect. But bomb = yes, killed.
And what do we have for Enchantress? Nothing, but just PLAIN ARMED-COMBAT + CLOSE-RANGE FIGHT. Yes, a WITCH who has "completed her powers", actually goes into an armed, close-range hand combat with the Squad. How fantastically...retarded that is? VERY retardy, I must say.
Of course, all baddies got killed in the end, with the Squad acting as if they really don't care and give a f*ck.
But I really got to pen it down here: Suicide Squad, just like Man of Steel, IS ONE BIG GARBAGE THAT IS PROBABLY WRITTEN BY SOME LOW-IQ FELLAS WHO THINK THEY ARE 'SOMEBODY', BUT IN ACTUAL FACT, A RETARD IN REAL LIFE. Man of Steel had the same old sh!t - Superman can bash, kick, slap, ram, punch, and do all other stuff to his nemesis Zod, with ZERO effect. But at the end of the show, how did he kill Zod? That's right - by engaging in a close-range, unarmed combat that had Zod's neck twisted. Just that simple. Suicide Squad's Enchantress is so powerful, yet engaged in a close-range, armed combat, and again with a simple slash to her chest, GOT THE SHOW ENDED. Lazy script-writing? Absolutely? DC sh!tty production? 100% certainly.
Conclusion: do not spend any more money on DC sh!t. Just follow what I did: waited for their cr@p to come out and fade away, download their torrent and show, watch it, AND DELETE IT FROM YOUR COMP DRIVE COMPLETELY. Their shows and productions do NOT deserve a spot even in my storage.
The Departed (2006)
Departed is Never close to being Good.
Whoever says The Departed is Good, brilliant or Even Purfect is clueless about how a good movie should be.
10 points to prove Departed isn't close to being a 'good' movie.
1) The entire show was unbalanced when Jack Nicholsan allegedly changed his script, on top of the demand for a 'meatier' role. Scorsese was believed to have rewritten the script to suit him, and to make Jack agree in joining the cast. This led to awkward focus on him for the first half of the movie. Totally unncessary and time-wasting.
2) Poor choice of Leo's mentor. A better choice would be Robert DeNiro. Someone tough in appearance, but with an angel's heart. Sheen jus looked too too soft and powerless.
3)This remake took in a few points from 'Infernal II', where Tony Leung's (Leo) character's family history was explained in detail. Leung's dad, in the younger days, was much a baddie than the present Jack (traid gang leader). Thus Jack, when lunching with Leo, said, "your dad/ Uncle would kill me and my family if he saw me sitting here with you." However, what the film didn't do was to show the viewers HOW would Sheen guide Leo into meeting Jack. All the show did was to show Leo beat up a few guys & the next moment viola, Jack was lookin up for Leo, by a short intro from 'Mr. French'. All the intimate, heartfelt exchanges between Leo & his mentor was totally absent.
4) The show was BORING for the first hour, with lots of talking and talking, a couple of fights and 'fuck-you', and that's it. No wit-for-wit, game-for-game' kind of moves that have the 'Infernal Affairs' so famous and 'cutting edge'. It was Only in the last half an hour that the show, borrowed heavily from the original, featured a mental game/ fight between the two male leads.
5) Also, in 'Infernal Affairs II', the feud between Jack's and Sheen's characters was explained. That resulted in a long-time mutual understanding for each other. Here, Jack and Sheen were seen only exchanging superficial talks - "I will get you, Frank." "Get me if you can, Queen." Duh. My choice of Robert DeNiro fits perfectly into a scene: Frank sipping coffee with Queen (DeNiro) at an English café, both chatting casually about their lives and memories, but with an undercurrent running fiercely in the air. Both know exactly what each other thinks and wants, and laid down all their cards on the table, except for their own lead.It would be much enjoyable to see these two tough guys hitting hard on the other.
6) Wahlberg's Dignam wasn't, as someone said, non-existent in the original 'Infernal'. There was a character 'Inspector Cheung', played by Ng Ting Yip in the HK version. A powerful, shoot-from-the-hip kind of cop who stood by Leo's mentor. Dignam was created with some motive, BUT alas, what he did was idiotic: resigned but not contacting Leo? WTF was he thinking? 7) The fact that the show ended with all people dead, well except for Dignam clearly shows that there's no thread for any Part II extension. Just that simple. It's certainly NOT as someone commented, a brilliant move by Scorsese. Geez..some people just like topping Scorsese's head with tall hats and praises foolishly.
8) Someone actually 'revealed' that the scriptwriter deliberately did NOT watch the original Infernal while writing the Departed script, so as not to get too close with it. If this is true, he should be given two bloody knocks on his d!ck-head. Departed went so departed that the whole tension was absent for almost 2/3 of the show.
9) Another commentator said Damon's character Sullivan was empty and deviated from the Infernal's. He was spot-on on this; in Infernal, Andy Lau wanted to be a good guy, right from the beginning. He always had wanted to be Out of the triad and be a good cop, a good man. Thus he killed all who would threaten his position. In Departed, we see Sullivan killing for virtually nothing. Did he feel remorseful? Or guilty? Nooo...a bloody empty soul created by the 'brilliant' Scorsese.
10) The WORST of all: the classic scene of both leads pitting their wits against each other in the infamous two gangs' transaction. In Infernal, Leung (Leo) was using Morse Code (a brilliant move) via an antenna to contact his mentor, while on the other hand Andy (Damon) was to use comp to send out text messages to his boss for notification. There was an info leakage and Leung's mentor made a switch in radio frequency and called for a retreat, but to realise at the last sec that the transaction would be at a beach. Immediately the retreat was again cancelled with full force to head for the beach, whilst the triad boss would call for a disposal of Cocaine. All happened in a breath's time of few mins. This, in comparison to Departed, is two knots higher. Departed's scene of 'no camera' installed for the back-exit was laughable and idiotic.