razvan-rogoz Reviews

Security (I) (2017)

Lacking Logic But Fun...

[13 October 2021]

This movie is surprisingly fun.

It is fast paced and has a likable main character. There are many moments which will have you roll your eyes though. Also, try not to think too much because you'll find many plot holes and a lot of nonsense.

Another thing - the acting feels a bit forced at times, they're trying too much.

Still, a solid B movie where you'll root for the main character to survive.

Mortal Kombat (2021)

5 / 10 As A Movie... Maybe 7/10 As A Tribute To MK.

[6/10 · 24 April 2021]

I wasn't expecting this to be well written... but neither to walk out of the cinema after one hour.

Nostalgia wise - it was a lot of value and they've banked on this. As a movie - it is simply boring. It is full of cliches and formulaic. Even the character for the comic relief feels forced.

The last Mortal Kombat I've played was 4 so I didn't recognize a lot of the secondary characters. But yeah - fine - if you love the games it is an entertaining movie. But if you're not a MK fan or if you don't really remember them that well - it is predictable and boring.

The Old Guard (2020)

Good-ish?

[6/10 · 26 March 2021]

It is serviceable. I don't really know why it got so many positive reviews from critics.

It is the kind of movie at which you glance from time to time while doing something else on your phone. There are some good scenes, the premise is interesting but somehow, the movie is not better than the sum of its parts.

Plus, it is so filled with cliches, especially when it comes to the bad-guy. And plot-holes. Oh so many plot-holes. It's like their skill level in fighting dynamically adjust to move the plot forward. They are either super soldiers or super incompetent - if the story needs that. For people who have fought hundreds or thousands of fights, they sure make some interesting mistakes.

And you know what came into my mind?

That Twilight (yes, Twilight) does the entire immortal thing a lot better. I could swear the backstory and how it connects to the present in a teen movie is better than this.

Anyway, as I've said, serviceable.

Willy's Wonderland (2021)

Good fun

[8/10 · 6 March 2021]

I've seen five movies at the cinema in the last six months. This is the first one where I actually had fun. The others are critically acclaimed, praised by critics and fans alike.

Well - good for them. But this movie is fun. Really fun. Yes, a lot of things are not explained. Yes, some things don't make sense. Yes, the plot is not really meant to be taken seriously.

But dear reader, I watched this with my girlfriend and we found something to laugh about every few minutes. It kept me engaged until the end. That's more than I can say about TENET and other recent masterpieces.

Follow Me (2020)

Good Mash-Up Of Recent Horror Movies & Old Ones

[8/10 · 9 January 2021]

This is a good horror movie.

It is good because you end up actually carrying about some of the characters, even if in the start, they're all awful caricatures.

The biggest downside of this movie is that it is clear where it draws inspiration from. There was a similar movie, a famous one done maybe 20 - 30 years ago. The plot is basically the same.

It is not a masterpiece but it keeps you watching. And the ending is well... ... you could see it from a 1000 miles, but it will still shock you to some degree.

Personally, I find it one of the better movies of this type launched in the last years. I believe Hostel (the first one) was better - but it is definitely better executed than most movie of its type.

Go in with an open mind. The first half of the movie will be a bit slow paced but the second half races towards a conclusion. It is worth your time.

Blowing Up Right Now (2019)

Feel Good, Not So Feel Good Movie That Feels Very Familiar...

[8/10 · 15 February 2020]

This movie is not a masterpiece but it makes you think. It hits so close to home, to our patterns, to our beliefs, to our own mistakes. So I actually watched it all in one sitting not because they're the best actors or it was the best made movie - but because I could relate.

The ending was a bit strange and anti-climatic for me but I get it. I've been there (minus the nuclear war thing). I've made the same mistakes. I've blew it the same way. And when someone makes a movie that almost "understands" you, it deserves a high score.

Gemini Man (2019)

Decent Enough

[7/10 · 11 February 2020]

I don't know why everyone seems to hate this movie.

It was okay. Nothing spectacular, nothing memorable but a well executed, well acted movie with some interesting action scenes. Will Smith is a good actor and while I have no idea if the other role was reprised by him too, both were okay. I feel they've played it safe with this movie, which I'm glad wasn't the case with Bad Boys 2. But for a lazy evening, it is a good flick.

Feast (2005)

So bad it is good?

[6/10 · 13 February 2019]

Disclaimer: I've seen only 30 minutes of the movie. I couldn't watch further because honestly, it bored me.

HOWEVER, I think that if I were with some friends or drank a few beers, this movie would have been hilarious. It's a movie with a lot of "WTF" moments. It is engineered to deliver this and it does it in a... brilliant way?

So I don't even know how to rate this. I'm not in my best mood, having a cold, being down a bit. However, I can see how I'd love this movie on a airplane ride or with a few male friends.

Give it a try but realize that you need the right circumstances to enjoy this.

Fahrenheit 451 (2018)

Poorly Adapted Material; Poorly Made Movie

[5/10 · 21 October 2018]

I've read the book.

Compared to most people, I haven't found the book to be a masterpiece. Sure, it is good and it is well worth the time invested, but I'd take "Brave New World" or "1984" for my dark dystopian futures any day of the week instead of the world in this one.

So I won't review this from the perspective of a die-hard fan, as most of these reviews seem to be. I'll review it first as a movie and partially, in relationship to the source material.

In both cases, it is poor. I see what they're trying to pull off but I don't really feel any connection with the on-screen characters. I don't care if they live or die. I don't feel my skin crawling while the books are being burned. I don't feel like some horrific thing is done on-screen.

Maybe the main problem with the movie is that it tries a bit too much to be contemporary. The hero or anti-hero is too much of a cool guy. There is this huge focus on a huge social network that resembles Facebook and which replaced all forms of education and entertainment. There are some even video game references like "insanity +100", seen in role playing games.

It's hard to talk too much about this without giving away important plot points. I can say that the only redeeming features of this movie were some dialogues about why books are burned. They go into the philosophical and make a lot of sense. They're also the smartest thing that happened into this book. I don't know if I like them because they're true or because it reflects the left vs right cultural war happening right now but if the movie was more of that, it would have been great.

Let me put it this way. Most of the people who wanted to see this movie have read the book. It's not an obscure one so there's a big audience. Yet, this movie was made for a 12 year old audience that most likely never heard of it. So it tried to take a complex idea and dumbed it down while alienating everyone who actually cared about a good story.

So for whom does this appeal? Book lovers? Teenagers? SF fans? I have no idea. I couldn't even watch all of it. Even without the source material, the movie is too confusing and it tries too much to be "cool" and "interesting" to take it seriously.

You can skip it.

The Visit (I) (2015)

Well Made, Pulls It Off

[9/10 · 20 October 2018]

I love it.

I had thought it would be a parody, like the Scary Movie series. The jokes, the setting and even the horror made it look that way. Two hours later, it was oddly satisfying to finish the movie.

The genius of this movie is that it balances real horror with tongue in check humor well. The characters are also very well played. The two kids have chemistry together and act as real siblings.

For me, this was like a grown up version of Scooby Doo. It will not scare you as "IT", nor it will entertain you as a full blown comedy movie, but for what it wants to be, it is good. It is definitely better than many +100.000.000 USD blockbusters I've seen lately or even many similar horror movies.

Watch it and don't worry about the snobs posting 1 / 10 reviews.

Antiporno (2016)

Good Theme, Poor Execution

[5/10 · 26 June 2018]

I don't think it is a masterpiece.

Yes, I can understand the theme even if I'm not familiar with Japanese cinematography. There is a lot of symbolism and it acts as an abstract social commentary and I'm sure it resonates a lot better with the repressed Japanese society than it does with me.

However, this doesn't mean it is a good movie. A similar movie that breaks the fourth wall is Dogville. But that movie makes sense. The plot is interesting. There is coherence to it. It hits you hard, emotionally. The final scene feels right even if it is so wrong. It is a masterpiece compared to this.

This movie is a set of almost random scenes that are connected by an overall theme of feminine repression and sexuality and chaos. It's the movie that critics will look at and say "wow, this is so freakin' deep" when as an experiment in cinematography, is fine, but as a movie, fails dramatically.

Sure, you can think I'm a moron and that I don't understand conceptual cinematography and that this movie is not for a caveman like me. But I've seen similar movies and theatre and I don't mind the idea. The idea and concept are goods. The execution itself is flawed. I should have feel shocked or disgusted or thoughtful or anxious at the end and I'm not. I felt bored. I was asking myself "c'mon, when does this end?". The first part was interesting, especially breaking the fourth wall, but overall, I found it a waste of time.

Rebel in the Rye (2017)

Charming & Sophisticated Movie (At Least By Today's Standards)

[8/10 · 21 February 2018]

I haven't read "Catcher in the rye" and I'm grateful for this. I'm not saying this because it is a bad book but because it would create unrealistic expectations for this movie. Fortunately, I simply enjoyed the movie for what it was - a biopic. I've found it inspiring and even charming to some degree. It also persuaded me to buy the eBook (Catcher in the rye) which I'll start reading soon.

If you are quite educated about Salinger, chances are that you're going to be disappointed because what's on the screen can never be as good as what's in your mind. Even if this is a movie about the author and not the book, chances are that you see Salinger in your own unique way. This is true about all authors.

If you are not, then you can enjoy the movie. You can relax and not compare every single detail with actual facts. After I've saw the movie, I've discovered that there are many differences compared to actual recorded history and if I knew these things beforehand, I would have been frustrated. I didn't and I've enjoyed two hours of a good movie. The end.

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

Leave your brain at the door if you want to see this movie.

[5/10 · 20 October 2017]

I'm saying this because the plot doesn't make any sense and there are so many forced moments that it feels more like a telenovela than a big budget action movie.

It is an emotional roller-coaster where the conclusion is clear - the monkeys get to live on while the human race dies. Am I'm supposed to hate the humans and love the monkeys? I'm a human being. They can be portrayed as inhuman but at the end of the day, logic dictates that if one of the two species is to survive, it is to be the one I'm part of.

The audience is not made out of monkeys. It is made out of human beings. Yet, am I'm supposed to feel happy and satisfied at the end?

It is 2:15 hours long and the plot feels so convoluted that I had to ask several times "how long is this going to take?". This is no Lord of the Rings. The entire plot could have been done in 90 minutes and it would have been a far better movie.

There are plot holes galore. It is the kind of movie where the special forces guy hits everything apart the important plot character, where a colonel designs a military fortress complete with anti-air launchers but leaves a huge tanker filled with gasoline next to the entry and so on. I've seen worse writing but for this kind of budget, the scriptwriter should be ashamed of himself.

Unless the humans were complete idiots or braindead, 90% of what happened in this movie could not happen. The irony is that the last one made so much more sense and it was far more credible. This is just supposed to be an emotional roller-coaster that if you analyze on a logical level, you start hitting slapping yourself for wasting your time watching it.

The only redeeming parts are the sign language and the entire "heart of darkness" type of subplot, with a short philosophical discussion between the villain and Caesar. But honestly, while that discussion raises my objection about the entire plot itself (that the humans are doing just what is needed to survive and that they're not the real villains), it feels like those 2 minutes were directed by someone else.

This movie represents everything is wrong with the cinema today. I don't hate it for the production values, those were decent. I hate it because it treats the audience like freakin' idiots that can't see how none of the pieces fit together.

Dear script-writer, please don't direct another one.

Final Girl (2015)

This may be an unpolished gem.

[8/10 · 25 September 2017]

This movie is one of the reasons why you should never make decisions based on online reviews. I expected to see a crap movie. Instead, I've got a decently made thriller that feels more limited by budget than by scope.

Let me explain. In my humble view, the world wants to see a good vs evil fight. They want to see the bad, evil characters and the good, moral heroes. Well, in this movie you get a bunch of bad psychopaths vs what can be considered a good psychopath. From a pure moral point of view, everyone is out there. There's no politically correctness.

You get the cold, efficient killer that acts as a mentor. Wes Bentley plays the role of the emotionally repressed teacher extremely well. You get the emotionally damaged girl. Abigail Breslin plays her role very well. She knows nothing but to kill and yet, she's battling with the fact that she's a growing teenager / young adult. Then you have your classical high school jocks / psychopaths. Here is where the movie goes wrong. Veronica and William feel very authentic. It may not be what plays well on the big screen but as someone with a background in psychology, it feels that it hits the spot and that the behavior and approach is consistent. The jocks are just caricatures of what the bad guys should be. Overly arrogant, coming from a rich family, power driven, overly inflated views of themselves. The director tries hard to make us hate them and yes, they are despicable but they feel very two dimensional in the end.

So should you watch this movie? Yes. It is a good movie. The problem is that it is too short. There is way too little character development to actually care about anyone in this movie. It feels like they've cut a lot of scenes that would connect the plot. We don't know WHY she must kill them (apart that it is a test and it is the right thing to do) or how this relates to our enigmatic mentor. We don't know what is Veronica's final purpose and mission and the ending is more style than substance (plus, it makes no sense whatsoever).

I feel like Abigail and Wes' acting alone is enough to see this movie and believe me, this got and kept my attention a lot better than the 6.0+ flicks on IMDb. Is it bad compared to what could be a very intense thriller? Yes. Is it worth a 4.7? No. It feels like an unpolished gem and it is easier to put this movie down because it is not formulaic and can make people uncomfortable than because it is badly written and directed.

So yes, watch it. It's worth it. It will leave you wanting more but you won't feel like you've wasted your time.

Timeless (2016–2018)

Interesting Flick, Very Enjoyable

[9/10 · 28 June 2017]

It is a movie with charm. It's been quite a long time since I've watched a movie for the action itself and not to find out about some mystery or to wait for some plot reveal (I'm looking at you Blacklist).

As long as you don't mind too much the time travel paradoxes, it is entertaining, especially for geeks who like history. Each episode is set in a different scenario, ranging from mid 60s to the Alamo and the setting itself is interesting enough to keep my attention.

However, if you want to enjoy it, really, don't over-analyze the time travel thing. They do the entire butterfly effect thing but it's not meant to be a documentary. Personally, I consider this a perfect movie to binge on while I'm sick.

The Circle (I) (2017)

Enjoyable but apply some critical thinking first

[7/10 · 28 May 2017]

Honestly, I felt like this movie makes fun of start-ups and of big data, analytics in general.

I know what big data is. I use big data. I know what the quantified self movement is and how it works. I know how Facebook captures data from each user and sells it to advertisers and I must say that this movie dramatizes this dramatically. It is the kind of movie that prays on uninformed audiences by taking something they are familiar with (take social media), throwing some concepts that they may know about (analytics) and then making it look like analytics are the equivalent of a nuclear weapon.

I found that … sad. It is not that the world will not head there, it will, but anyone who actually worked in this field will roll his eyes. This movie is about as accurate about how web start-ups work and how information is collected as Rambo is about the Vietnam war. It is based on some truth but it is more the type you'd read into a tabloid newspaper than on Tech Crunch.

And personally, I simply hate it when this happens - when something is taken and then dramatized in almost an obscene manner just to evoke an emotional reaction from the audience. It reminds me of the Cold War and how everything was portrayed as a caricature of good and evil, capitalism vs communism, smarts vs muscle and so on.

That being said, the movie itself was not that bad. Watson is a great actress and she carries her role well. Tom Hanks's role is a bit exaggerated and that sucks. Everyone else falls somewhere in between. This is the strange part, Watson actually portrays a living, 3D, believable character while the others fall into some stereotype or another. It is like the script writer finished the main character and then got bored and decided to go for 2D characters instead.

The ending is anti-climatic as hell and while it is supposed to provide some form of poetic justice, it falls flat. "HOW" is the big question as while it has some basis in the plot, it feels a huge lot like a deus ex machina, like a last minute plot device used to turn things right and make the audience feel warm and fuzzy. If they would have cut the movie 15 minutes later, I swear, it would have deserved an Oscar for the bleak end but by ending it as they did … for me, they've made a movie that required suspension of disbelief become what that is … not believable. Period.

So feel free to check it out but keep in mind that while everything said there is true, in reality, we're about 25 - 30 years away from even having the capacity to do this, not to mention use it. This is not a documentary, it is a cash grab designed to capitalize on our fear of losing our privacy in the Internet of things world.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

Good But Frustrating

[8/10 · 28 May 2017]

I've found this movie to be very graphic. Personally, I'm one of those people who wanted to follow med school but decided that performing autopsies is not really something I want to do on a daily basis.

Well, half of this movie is an autopsy with virtually nothing censored. You get to see everything and while I can't say if it is accurate or not, it is rather graphic.

That being said, I must give it to them, it is a good horror movie. It is a smart horror movie I may add. The plot doesn't make a lot of sense and there are many, many questions unanswered (personally, I find the end totally anti-climatic) but it builds tension slowly and nicely. Yes, at the end you ask "who was that, why, where, when, how the heck …" and you'll get no answer whatsoever. Actually, for all intents and purposes, the movie puts a lot of questions and ends with answering only one of them.

So from this point of view, there is no finality, there is no sense of satisfaction. When the movie ended, I expected something else to happen, to explain, to show. There is an overall answer and theme that is explained but it ended when it got interesting. However, from a horror perspective, pacing, tension building, it works just fine. It feels like playing Silent Hill, the horror game.

So it is a strange hybrid. The concept itself is relatively neat and unused. I haven't seen any movies do this and I've seen my share of horror movies. Actually, I can say that the entire exposition is fresh. Even if it is low budget, it never feels this way and apart from transitions of 30 FPS to 60 FPS (for cinematic effects), it looks really nice. The characters are believable and the story in a way actually makes sense.

But the problem is that while the concept is good, while the story is good, it builds up to something and that something never happens. And that's why I can't give it more than a 7 / 10.

Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

Good ending to the series.

[8/10 · 21 May 2017]

I'm one of those people who first saw the TV series and then watched the movies.

Personally, I've enjoyed it. Yes, it is full of clichés and it is unrealistic but this was made in 1998. This was long before everyone was a critic and YouTube was filled with analytical movie reviews. It is in a period where a movie was meant to be fun to watch and that's about it, not a documentary.

Personally, I think it is a perfect ending to the series. Even if we'll never see a Lethal Weapon 5 (unless it is a reboot, as it was with the TV series), if you want to watch a good series, watch 1 to 4. It is worth it. It is fun and it has some great set-pieces and many WTF moments. The fourth one in the series has a lot less of these but it is still a good movie. And yes, you can criticize it as much as you want after 2017 standards, but for what it is, a cop buddy flick movie, it is perfect.

A solid 8 / 10.

The Blacklist: Mr. Kaplan (No. 4): Conclusion (2017) Season 4, Episode 22

First in a long time - a finale that doesn't insult your intelligence.

[9/10 · 19 May 2017]

How do you make the difference between a good movie and a good business in the form of a movie? Well, this is a good question to ask regarding the Blacklist. It is designed to make you come back. It always builds tension and ends with something to make you come back. This is why, most people gave up on the show. The first season was purely wonderful but then, it became just a never ending cycle of question and answer, extremely formulaic in nature, losing most of its magic.

Well, the season finale, this one, was different. It answered most questions. It tied most loose ends. Even if it created the set-up for a new season, the theme and hook is very well implied. It is the first time this movie has come full circle, where all chapters are finished in a long, long time. So while the other season finales felt anti-climatic, this felt strangely satisfying. In ten minutes, it solved 12 months of plot points even if it raised new ones.

Watch it. Even if you have gave up on the show long time ago, this can be considered a real ending. Yes, there is always going to be something new and they'll never live happily ever after. Don't even expect that. However, for some finality, it worked wonderfully well.

I just hope that they'll return eventually to the quality found in season 1. It was a season full of grey areas, philosophical aphorisms, amazing acting, spectacular monologues and set pieces scenes. Now … it feels generic as hell. I guess they've never expected to have a season 2 so they've gave it their best in season 1. However, once the show became successful, they've simply tried to milk it as much as possible. In any case, one of the best season finales yet.

The World Is Mine (2015)

Same Sensationalism Employed In Virtually Every Romanian Movie ...

[5/10 · 25 April 2017]

This movie is plagued with the same problems as virtually most Romanian movies. It tries to be an ultra-realistic depiction of reality, exaggerating (up to an extreme) the social and mindset problems of Romania. It follows the same format as every other Romanian movie released in the last two decades - you know it is a train-wreck, you know that it is going to end up bad and yet, you can't take your eyes away from it.

Have you've ever watched a movie just because of nudity? Or because of violence? You know that the movie is crap but yet, something keeps you there. Well, this is what this movies does too. It keeps you not by being shocking but rather, by trying to be a social commentary of the Romanian society and making it so black and white that you can't but watch. You know that it is stupid but you'll keep watching anyway.

It is good to watch if you are actually doing something else, as you don't need to pay a lot of attention but generally, I've found it so full of clichés and that I can hardly say this is a quality movie. It is sensationalism, the equivalent of a tabloid in movie format and I'm sorry to say, but I haven't seen any good movie from Romania for way too long.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)

I'd skip if I were you ...

[2/10 · 17 March 2017]

I like Resident Evil movies. I've played only one of the games (RE4) so I may not be the best person to be informed about the lore. However, I've watched every single one of them.

For RE: The Final Chapter though, I couldn't stand it. I haven't watched the entire movie. The editing is a bit on the strange side and makes it hard to actually watch the movie. It moves to flash, too many cuts, too many changes of perspective. From a stylistically perspective, it makes perfect sense but from a movie making one, it is just hard to follow.

After 45 minutes, I couldn't actually understand the plot and while there are nods to the other movies, the movie did a poor job of actually explaining who is what and why they are doing what they are doing.

Look ... Resident Evil was never a masterpiece in the scenario department. It was mindless fun. But I think this is the poorest RE from the entire series because it is hard to actually consume, as entertainment and because it feels like a series of scenes tied together, not a cohesive movie.

The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)

Good Movie But Fails Dramatically Compared To Its Source Material

[6/10 · 6 February 2017]

I have mixed feelings about this one.

I have listened to the audiobook a while ago. I don't remember everything but I remember the set pieces. It was a book full of moral ambiguities, with mean people being the good guys and nice ones being the bad ones (I'm not talking about the zombies, I'm talking about the main characters).

It was a book where the jerk was doing what's right, where the sociopath was just trying to save the human race and where the nice and loving character helped, indirectly, to kill the human race.

So I've enjoyed it.

The movie kind of retains some of those elements. There are many scenes missing, many scenes compressed and some scenes modified. I can understand that. However, while the bleak and dark atmosphere of the book is still there, it is not as hard hitting here. For example, without spoiling too much, in the book, the relationship between characters is of hate and distrust almost until the very end. Once the Sarge starts trusting the girl, she betrays him. Here, the Sarge starts acting like a friend way too fast.

The scientist, in the book was a cold stone sociopath. A lot of the richness of the material was between the lack of any empathy and the fact that she was doing the right thing. The book wanted us to hate a good character not because of what they are but because of what they do. Here, it retains very little of that dualism.

The ending is also different - both in how it happens and in the post scriptum. There is a love story that borders on rape that was ignored and the characters are far more politically correct.

So I guess I didn't liked it. As a stand alone zombie movie, it is great. It is dark, bleak and there's no happy ending. There's no rescue coming. You know it is going to end bad, no matter what. You just hope that it will stay bad, not horrible. However, the beauty of "The Girl With All The Gifts" it was that it is a character driven story in a genre that doesn't usually do that. Zombie fiction is usually about a few key concepts and character development and morality is rarely among them. This movie, is just a well done zombie movie and without the strong character development, I'd rather watch Resident Evil.

Spectral (2016)

Very Decent Indie Movie

[8/10 · 13 December 2016]

It is good.

Don't listen to the other reviews. I guess they judge every movie against The Godfather.

The product values are not high but it wins points on realism. I don't know how Special Forces would act in a real war but they look human and act human and this is more than I can say about most movie. The movie is a bit low budget so it relies more on the script than special effects to deliver a punch. There are some funny parts like the question asked in broken Romanian and answered in perfect Russian which shows that the director needs to research the difference between two complete different languages.

It is not a horror per se movie nor it is an action one. Since people die in this movie, there is more a feeling of dread and insecurity about what is going to happen as opposed to see American soldiers kick ass and take names.

For an indie movie, it is actually very good. I mean, don't get me wrong but most of the stuff at the cinema nowadays is predictable and alright stupid in some cases. This at least tries to be realistic, has a grim feeling to it and while I'm sure a lot of details are wrong, it tries to portray soldiers as soldiers and not as one dimensional cliché characters.

Watch it. It is worth it. You can definitely go worse for an action horror movie. Personally, since Stranger Things, I have yet to find a movie to keep me wanting for more and this proved to be one of them. If you compare it to Inception and Save Private Ryan, you'll be disappointed. However, if you take it for what it is, a direct to streaming movie with no big names, you'll find it very enjoyable.

Sphere (1998)

It could have been a masterpiece. It is not.

[6/10 · 3 December 2016]

It borrows heavily from Solaris (the book, not the movie). The entire logic of the movie is based on it but it falls flat in some places. The problem is that while the idea is intriguing, the exposition is plain boring and the pacing is far better in the first half than in the second one.

There are a few plot twists, however, all the end, you are left with a "is this all there is?" feeling.

Plus, while Solaris raised philosophical questions about the nature of existence and the limits of logic, not to mention have some really disturbing and intense scenes, this falls flat.

I've watched the movie for the first half on my iPad but then, I've simply left it in the background and did something else. This is one of those movies with a great potential but dumbed down so it can be a summer blockbuster.

Plus, the characters are 2D archetypes. You have the serious US Navy Captain that is always all business and too cool for school. You have the care free lady genius that is a bit crazy compared to the rest. You have the highly intelligent but insecure genius. You have the an afro- American dude that is considered a prodigy yet acts like he wants to win a popularity award.

Therefore, a contrast is created. The idea is good and the inspiration is clear. It could have been a lot more. But it is dumbed down to the level that I'd rather watch Man in Black than this. You don't get a smart setup and give it a stupid execution. If you want a simplistic movie, go with a simple plot. Don't go all metaphysical and then break it up with the execution.

Westworld (2016–2022)

Smart and logical writing

[9/10 · 20 November 2016]

This is a movie that respects your IQ. It is logical, it makes sense and even while it uses topics and themes found in similar works, it does this well enough.

I won't spoil it. I guess you know what it is about. What I can tell you is that if you're tired of predictable, boring, lazy writing in a movie ... if you're tired of being "shocked" with clichés that you see from a mile coming, see this movie. It has a "Stranger Things" feel to it and honestly, while it is far from perfect, especially the pacing, it is the best TV show around.

It becomes more enjoyable if you think about it.

On a basic level, it deals with topics like morality and trans-humanism. On a more advanced level it deals with topics like system theory, chaos theory and causality. In any case, it is enjoyable.