Change Your Image
goettel-881-904368
Reviews
WarGames (1983)
One for the eighties shortlist of films
I do have a soft spot for the subject matters: hacking, nuclear war and eighties culture, so I'm a bit biased. I loved WarGames when I first saw it and I love it still. Sure, it has some slow parts, but the seriousness of the subject matter is handled with just the right touch of humor (loved the group touring NORAD as a nice day out) and the performances are stellar all-round. The sound design is top notch too. It might be getting a bit old these days, but it's one of those films I rewatch every couple years or so and I expect I will be doing that for a long time. One of my shortlist of favorite eighties films.
Entourage (2004)
VICTORY!!
"Entourage" is a hilarious, feel-good show that follows the life of movie star Vincent Chase and his entourage as they navigate the ups and downs of Hollywood. With witty writing, an all-star cast, and an abundance of celebrity cameos, "Entourage" is pure entertainment. However, while the first 4 seasons are top-notch, the quality starts to drop off in seasons 5 and 6. Despite this dip, the show remains a highly entertaining look at the excesses of Hollywood and the bonds of friendship. If you're looking for a light-hearted, fun watch, "Entourage" is definitely worth checking out. Drama is a personal favorite. VICTORY!!
Louie (2010)
A must-watch
"Louie" is a masterful blend of comedy and drama that seamlessly blends humor with poignant moments. Louis CK's writing and performances are outstanding, delivering sharp wit and vulnerability in equal measure. The show's unique tone and style make it a standout in the world of television, showcasing a level of honesty and heart that is truly special. Whether you're laughing out loud or being moved to tears, "Louie" is a must-watch for anyone who appreciates brilliant storytelling. The many guest roles are brilliantly portrayed, with a personal favor being David Lynch.
One of the best and darkest comedies ever.
Dice (2016)
An underappreciated gem
Dice" is an underappreciated gem of a television series that should not be missed. The show, which first aired in 2016 and ran for two seasons, follows the semi-autobiographical story of comedian Andrew Dice Clay as he tries to revive his fame and career. It is a unique blend of humor, drama, and insight that is elevated by a talented cast of actors and comedians, including several well-known names in supporting and guest roles.
The humor in "Dice" is often crass and politically incorrect, but it is also clever and insightful. The show fearlessly tackles sensitive topics like race, gender, and sexuality, doing so in an entertaining and thought-provoking manner.
In addition to the humor, "Dice" also explores more serious themes such as the struggles of finding one's place in the world and maintaining personal relationships. The show balances these heavier elements with its lighthearted humor, making for a well-rounded viewing experience.
Overall, "Dice" is a must-watch for fans of off-beat comedy and edgy humor. It is a shame that the show is so underrated, as it offers a fresh and entertaining perspective on the world of show business and the challenges of personal life. Don't miss out on this hidden gem of a series.
The Dark Ages: An Age of Light (2012)
Truly illuminating (pun intended)
The Dark Ages: An Age of Light is an outstanding BBC series that offers a fresh and enlightening perspective on a period of history often misunderstood as a time of darkness and barbarism. The expertly researched and masterfully narrated documentary provides a rich and nuanced understanding of the political, social, and cultural developments of the time, highlighting the contributions and achievements of the people who lived during this era. The stunning visuals and engaging storytelling bring the past to life in a way that is both educational and entertaining. I highly recommend this series to anyone interested in history, as it offers a truly illuminating look at the Dark Ages.
Invasion (2021)
An excellent first season
A solid cast which can actually act, at times amazing camera work, an exceptionally apt soundtrack, and great pacing - but seeing some reviews here I guess some (more) patience is required to enjoy it fully.
Nothing about the story is particularly new or interesting so far, but it is (or should be) obvious from the large chunk of time spent on the characters that this is a character study first and foremost. The invasion is just the premise.
I'm curious about the actual reveals of the story and the explanations of why and how all of this happening, but not as much as I'm in the characters and how they get on.
Here's hoping the puzzling bad reviews won't kill it.
It's a solid 8/10, but I'm giving it 10/10 to offset.
Avenue 5 (2020)
Stellar
An excellent comedy which is entirely its own thing. You'll either get it or you won't. I'm loving every second of it.
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Mostly excellent, if you know why you're watching it
Having watched it a second time and checking out the reviews here, I'm amazed how many people didn't like it. I thought it the strongest in the Marvel Universe series after Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Yes, better than Iron Man (all of them).
Casting is solid, with a great bad guy, the storyline is appropriately over the top, without too much attention to character development, and the whole feel of the move is that of an epic myth, in a comic context. Those are traits of many comics, and not necessarily bad ones.
Maybe it's my interest in Nordic mythology which gives Thor the edge, or the astonishingly great, epic scenes in the movie. Or Loki, who is mostly great, as before.
Highly recommended - don't pay too much attention to reviews!
Almost Human (2013)
Not-too-serious SF for the serious SF fan.
Equal measures Starsky & Hutch, Robocop and even Knight Rider, it's no more camp than those classics, or even any series of Star Trek. Here, the camp mixes with good olde SF tropes, Whedon-esque dialog (that's a good thing) and a spot of violence into an irreverent romp through a plausible near-future filled with potential stories. Irreverent, that is, to those TV critics who seemingly don't know how to deal with FUN in a post-Sopranos world.
Yes, Almost Human is great fun. Karl Urban and Michael Ealy have good chemistry going, even after only the pilot. Six episodes in, I can see this having long life, even though it has Fox's notorious Malleus Teleficarum ready to crush its infant life in favor of a creatively lesser slot-filler which the hur dur studio brass can understand.
Looked at superficially, this is the usual brash action romp, with a good helping of SF thrown in for good measure. But even now, I've seen small touches of care: care for the myriad stories that technological singularity allows for as a theme. Care for what makes us human. Care for those things that should resonate with any long-time SF fan.
Look at this carefully, not as an also-ran. To me, this is easily better than a Fringe, carries Whedon's wit more than his Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D does (or rather doesn't) and might grow into itself to be on par with the best Battlestar Galactica offered before it crashed and burned in its second season.
On my list, this is going to rank tops in the looming reviews of 2013 TV, and I'm eagerly looking forward to more.
The Battery (2012)
True to form and well acted
Finally, a zombie offering to rival the wit of the (very) British Dead Set. Like any good zombie movie, The Battery is about the survivors, not the zombies. How and why the zombie apocalypse happened isn't touched on, and rightly so - it's of little interest. There's no camp plots involving power-hungry and/or unstable scientists, no platform for a good but has-been celebrity actor, and no endless soapy whining in TV- format. The Battery is a pure film, maybe to its detriment. The hipster soundtrack is absolutely spot-on, and the performances are solid, with some fun and well acted absurdity to spice things up. It looks great, and has the heart in the right place.
Even so, where most zombie offerings tend to tip the balance in the favor of stupidity, bland action and superfluous plot, The Battery tends to do it in the opposite direction: that of being TOO clever, too self- aware for its own good.
However that may be, it's the freshest zombie offering coming from the US since...forever, and an absolute must-see for any zombie fan boy, such as me. It's original, offers little hope, and it's not afraid to affirm some of our basest habits and darkest humor in an atmosphere of absolute despair.
Skyfall (2012)
Not too bad
After hearing a lot of glowing reports on this, I thought I'd give it a spin.
Skyfall is a Bond movie, but more so, and less so. More so, because the story is fluff, the (female) characters are instantly forgettable and Bond's dialog is the standard sequence of somewhat fun but trite one liners.
It's less of a Bond movie because Bond is in bad shape. And I'm not talking about the main plot device either - from the first moments of the movie he can't hit a a single target with his mainstay Walther PPK. He constantly gets outwitted and outmaneuvered. His superior, M, is so stupid that she carries a torch around at the finale, evidently just so the bad guy can track her easily. That bad guy is laughable too - not badly acted, mind (some descent acting there) - but laughable in his motivations, his plans and their execution. And it's not in a fun Bond way either.
Simple fact is: Bond is a superhero, and a very shabby one. He needs his spit and polish to shine, and breaking him down, as this movie does to show us a catharsis of his character, obviously to reposition him to better face market demands in 2012, robs him of his purpose. Bond needs to be superior - he IS the superhuman without need of aliens, mythology or magic.
And that is the only positive thing I took away from Skyfall: that at the end, we see him back in the old office, ready for some REAL work.
Skyfall serves a purpose, and that purpose has been met - just. But as a singular movie, it's very, very forgettable, and that is unforgivable for a character potentially as epic as Bond, James Bond.
Labyrinth (2012)
Too harsh
Labyrinth tells part of the story of one of the most horrific crimes in the Roman Catholic church's history - and there's plenty to select from.
To this day, the mass-torture and murder of the Cathars is a piece of history of which many people are still unaware. It is maybe the first organized extermination of an entire culture and people by a merciless and repressive regime in Europe, centuries before the Nazis increased the number of people tortured and killed from many thousands to millions. As a Dutchman, I really only learned that the Dutch word for heretic, "ketter", derived from "Cathar".
Also unknown to most, the Inquisition was specifically created to destroy the Cathars, who were a threat to the ultimate authority of both Church and Crown. In essence, it's the state and the church coming together to indulge in torture and mass-murder.
The story employed by Labyrinth to expose the horror of the Cathar crusade and the murderers who lead it is contrived, and hard to take seriously. It's probably aimed at those that enjoyed the rip-off that was the Da Vinci Code (which is a rip-off from the book The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail) and might appeal to those who enjoy tripe like the recent Da Vinci's Demons.
Having said that, I found most of the reviews here quite harsh.
Labyrinth is a great looking piece of television, with an outstanding performance by Bernhard Schir, who plays the grim, murderous priest Paul Authie. In my view, his performance is on par with some of the best performances in e.g. the series Breaking Bad. John Hurt does a commendable if predictable job too - his character does not have that much range, but he extracts everything he can from this limitation and manages to inject emotion into a project which is is essentially a bit silly - if still entertaining.
Maybe it is my interest in this specific piece of history, revisiting historic locations I've been to myself, like Carcassonne and the ruins of Montsegur. Maybe it is the cinematography or the gorgeous soundtrack (something very much lacking in most television). Or maybe it's just that the story of the Cathars has moved me since I learned of it, and I endorse any attempt to expose the evils done.
Whatever the case, I greatly enjoyed Labyrinth, and its theme stuck with me after watching it.
Recommended to those who are willing to look for a diamond in the rough, and can forgive the heavy-handedness resulting from people being invested in some truly epic and horrific historical storytelling.
And, last but not least, recommended to everyone who needs a reminder of the evils of oppressive religion.
N.B. I'm giving this a 10 to offset the equally unfair two's and three's. I rate this a 7 out of 10.
Band of Brothers (2001)
As close to perfection as anything.
As a kid my father exposed me to plenty of WWII imagery and stories, and I have always been fascinated by them, as many have. Having watched Saving Private Ryan with him, not so long before he died - the first time he went to see a film in nearly twenty years, and his last - I would have loved for him to have seen this too. So watching it has a special emotional dimension for me, as, again, it has to many people who have similar experience with parents who have faced war.
With astonishing eye for their craft, everyone who has worked on and acted in this has done a remarkable job. The soundtrack, also, is a remarkable achievement which stands on its own. I can't praise this series highly enough to friends, and always hope to but rarely do discover television of its quality. An absolute joy to watch and watch again.
Dead Set (2008)
Dead Set nails it.
SPOILER !
I'm not taken to giving top rating to anything, but it's so hard to find any fault with Dead Set that I'm going to make an exception. The premise, the sets, the characters, the hilarious dialog, the cinematography, even the music, everything is dead on (sorry).
But the real reason why this is so good is because its makers display a exceptional grasp on the things ANY classic zombie flick needs: the remaining character(s) realization that there is ultimately no hope of escape, petty but lethal squabbling amongst survivors, spades of black humor to hide the grimness and a strong theme centering on the flaws of human society.
Charlie Brooker is a god. And a tw*t. A tw*t god !
If only The Walking Dead had turned out even half as good as this...
The Walking Dead (2010)
A good start!
Edit: dropped my score from 8 to 6.
So the first season is done. What a disappointment it turned out to be. Dialog is boring. Characters are annoying and bland. Few moral questions are seriously raised, and even fewer are explored to any degree or resolved in any interesting way.
A zombie apocalypse offers a great canvas for social issues, psychology and drama. What this offers instead is trite and unbelievable interactions of what quickly turn out to be very shallow characters.
None of the dramatic and romantic opportunities of a post-apocalyptic world seem to have been done right. I've read many reviews here bashing 28 Days Later, which wasn't a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination, but did at least lay a weighty, slightly ironic despair over everything, allowing its characters some pathos.
It's a zombie apocalypse - HELLO ?!
The restrained use of music which I loved about the pilot quickly gave way to the usual bursts of bland musical stock which seems to be recycled between the sort of yawn inducing action flick this has turned into. The promise of the main character gave way to a pussy-whipped fool who gets walked over by pretty much everyone around him. And as for the casting... what happened to the genius of the Breaking Bad casting crew ? It's just not showing here, at all.
Admittedly, I'm so disappointed that I realize I'm overstating how bad it all is. It really isn't. TWD is certainly competently done in many ways, and still shows a lot of promise. Now let's wait (10 months...really?) to find out if it can deliver.
---
This is based on the pilot episode.
Admittedly, I watched the (pre air) pilot with baited breath, after having suffered the severe disappointments of what should have been the other TV highlights of the year for me (I'm looking at you Boardwalk Empire and the Pacific).
Casting is good to very good so far, and I've confidence that additional casting over the run of the series will get better, considering it has the casting team of Breaking Bad behind it. I loved how early mood scenes in the pilot were allowed time to sink in, without the typically expected 'dramatic' music to tell the viewer what to feel. It has great sets and makeup and solid writing too, without it being on par with AMC's best offering so far (talking about Breaking Bad, not Mad Men) - yet.
Can't wait to see if this will pan out into the epic, addictive show it can (and should) become, but the pilot puts up a proud flag, and I'm hopeful it will attain the same heights that the (mini) UK zombie series Dead Set reached, and use its potential decade long run (as one of the developers claimed to aim for) to arc its way into a new standard for zombie 'flicks'. Brains !
Boardwalk Empire (2010)
A terrible waste.
Such a terrible, terrible waste of talent and money. How people can compare this yawn-fest to the amazing Deadwood is beyond me. The sets look great. The cinematography is great - or should be great but somehow isn't. It has Buscemi, a geek favorite for uncounted years, who has more than earned a place in the limelight, only to fail because of boring writing and a lack of vision on the part of the director(s). The choice of music, also, is horrid.
After what was surely the greatest HBO disappointment of the year (The Pacific), it's hard to fathom that they failed again so soon, on such a big budget, with such talent on board.