misc-161 Reviews

Constellation (2024)

Grief

[8/10 · 21 April 2024]

There is a lot of grief about losing who people love.

The quantum split is confusing and hard to keep track of, but it makes sort of sense and it is ok. At the end though, it feels a bit mechanical and artificial. Like things are forced in some ways to make a point.

There is a fair amount of randomness going on which make the show feel like a waste of time. But there is also good acting and grief which are done right and feel good.

Overall it felt ok. Not amazing and not a waste of time. I give it an 8 for delivering something descent.

One problem is that the very last 10 seconds were strange, didn't make sense and they hurt the show for me. Maybe they are trying too hard to make space for a second season.

Poor Things (2023)

Original but not engaging

[6/10 · 17 March 2024]

It is in am amazing concept they go over, and it is very well captured. But then it was slow and repetitive. It went on and on about certain types of scenes like they really wanted to make sure we get the point.

The main problem with this movie for me is that it felt remote. There were too many weird characters in it and nothing to relate to. Too cartoonish.

They started with an interesting concept and confused it with other peripheral strange events. There were also a number of unlikely coincidences that moved the plot along and made the result unbelievable and unrelatable.

At times it would make me think how many "grown up" beliefs are artificial, but more often I would check the time to see how much time is left.

Battlefield Earth (2000)

You better believe it

[3/10 · 9 December 2023]

I was curious so I watched it. It really is as bad as people say.

To put it simply, it is like a children's Power Rangers movie except worse because of the confusing tilted closeups and weird sound.

There are no hidden Scientology messages here. It is just a badly done childish movie.

Most of the movie is shot at an angle (the Dutch angle apparently) and full of close ups like in the film's poster. This by itself is enough to make it feel confusing. That only sets the bad stage. After that, the movie is full of plot holes, meaningless reactions, childish features. For example every time the security camera is activated, it comes out of a big hole and is so obvious only a 4 year old would not find that surprising from an advanced alien race that had conquered hundreds of civilizations. Then you have action pieces completely quiet except of out of place elevator music.

Moving (2023– )

The mother of all flashbacks

[8/10 · 14 November 2023]

The first 7 episodes were amazing. A 10/10 for me. The execution was prefect, the plot very interesting, the characters likable and lovely. One of the best TV show starts I have seen.

But then the plot freezes and we have the mother of all flashbacks. 7 episodes of pure history going through many of the key characters one by one in perfect sequential order. The flashbacks are well done and interesting but freezing the excellent main story for so long is annoying. They also feel artificial going after the history of each character one by one.

The real problem is the last 6 episodes. Lots of flashbacks but also the most cliche superhero fights ever written. Punching in turns? Check. Stopping before the other guy is about to die? Check. The other guys recovers fully and comes back to the fight? Check. Long talks from the killer to explain themselves? Check. Multiple iterations of this? Check.

Hard to believe, but last episodes are almost unwatchable.

Invasion (2021–2024)

Starting into space is only the beginning

[2/10 · 11 October 2023]

Yes there is a lot of staring into space here and watching paint dry would be a lot more enjoyable. But that is only the beginning. The much more wrong with this series.

Then you notice that the frequent switching between scenes does not resume scenes where they left in a mildly interesting state but restart from scratch on another staring into space bout.

These can be forgiven if you happen to be the very forgiving type. But the final nail in the coffin is in the senseless writing during the rare cases where something actually happens.

Broadcasting to the whole world to look into the sky for our main counterattack? What if the counterattack failed? You want to make sure everyone will know that we failed?

Sending a nuke at the first contact point immediately as soon as the very first and only contact is starting because that is the only known point?

And that at the same *exact* time, a kid tells the aliens to stop? And when the aliens do pause you don't know if they were stopped by the nuke or by the kid? Really?

The woman that has the only item that kills aliens gets captured by the US army twice and both times and when she is transported in a single alone truck is freed by random vigilantes that happen to be in the area?

I am the forgiving type but this is just a soap opera.

Night Sky (2022)

Everyone keeps secrets from everyone

[5/10 · 26 August 2022]

Everyone keeps secrets from everyone and the show keeps secrets from you. You have seen the fake type before in soap operas. And yes, there is amnesia too...

A few stars for the great acting.

Update: the ending is just as disappointing as the rest of the show.

The Boys (2019– )

Ridiculous premise

[6/10 · 10 June 2022]

Great execution but the basic premise is ridiculous. People with amazing powers are getting exploited by an an evil corporation because they have no other alternative? Come on!

Tenet (2020)

Barely worth it

[5/10 · 1 August 2021]

Very confusing. It feels like a test to see how much you will be able to remember. It it barely watchable really and have no interest to watch it multiple times.

A Quiet Place Part II (2020)

Utter stupidity

[2/10 · 30 July 2021]

A world where any noise means certain death by super fast monsters that can hear a pin drop from a mile away, is saved by a deaf kid. Her mother has a screaming infant baby. Her brother screamed his lungs out when his foot was caught in a bear trap. Any questions?

WandaVision (2021)

Are you kidding me?

[10/10 · 15 February 2021]

What is with the negative reviews? This show was beautiful and funny from the very first minute. I am looking forward to how they will evolve.

Knives Out (2019)

Great. Really really great.

[10/10 · 17 February 2020]

Usually I only explained my rating for bad movies. This will be an exception.

What a totally amazing beautiful funny movie. The plot was amazing. Acting was excellent. The story tremendous. Sound and pictures terrific.

You will be very glad you saw this.

Color Out of Space (2019)

Unbelievable

[1/10 · 16 February 2020]

How is it possible that such an unbelievable mess is rated a 6 or anything more than a 2 at the absolute max. How can the IMDb rating be so off?????

Words can't make justice to this thing. The best way to describe it is that Geico horror movie parody where characters are debating whether to run from a maniac by going to their cars or hide under an open shed full of hanging chainsaws. Imagine that 10x more ridiculous.

Wow! Just wow!

Cliffs of Freedom (2019)

Surprisingly moving

[9/10 · 4 March 2019]

I expected a sily movie. It was not.

There was conflict, there was goodness there was betrayal. It wasn't perfect. Obviously a low budget movie. But you will like it.

Glass (2019)

Slow, pretentious, boring

[4/10 · 20 January 2019]

Most of the movie was close up faces of people going on and on about the same things. Utterly bored I found myself looking at the pores of the faces wondering who had the most Makeup. When the camera wasn't close up it had odd views like they were supposed to be impressive. It just felt cheap, repetitive and dumb. The villains organized a whole elaborate operation and then kept the psychiatric hospital with one guard.

Mandy (I) (2018)

Cheap pretentious nothing

[1/10 · 30 September 2018]

It started slow and boring went through flashing lights on and on till it ended with many easy as pie beheadings. If you think there may be some amazing ending that justifies the great reviews, think again. It ends as pointless as it is throughout. One star for the music.

Black Mirror: The National Anthem (2011) Season 1, Episode 1

Complete garbage. Spoilers.

[1/10 · 13 November 2017]

This is my first episode of the series and if the rest is done by the same people, I am not wasting my time.

It is not that it was disgusting, it was entirely unrealistic. Britain does not negotiate with terrorists, not all people behave like a bunch of twisted morons and PM aides do not unanimously suggest ridicule to satisfy terrorists.

How this could get aired is beyond me. These people are idiots.

Paranormal Activity (2007)

Boring and unoriginal

[1/10 · 30 October 2010]

Paranormal Activity is nothing more that a copy of the Blaire Witch project. And yes the shaking camera is right there. I was checking my watch every couple of minutes. Believe me I have only caught myself doing that 3-4 times out of the thousands of movies I saw. It is a complete waste of time.

In case you wonder if there is anything interesting at the end, you will only find a minute of action.

What amazes me is people calling this movie original. I just wished they had called it Blaire Witch 3 so that I would be sure to avoid it.

The only interesting thing about this movie is as a case study of how masses flock into cultural curiosities.