kem-erd Reviews

Star Trek (1966–1969)

Well, the original, valuable only as the source of many of later ideas

[6/10 · 26 November 2023]

I watched it again recently, after 40 years. Most of the stories are lame and predictable, quite some of them plain goofy, and terrible acting.

BTW, Shatner as Kirk was a terrible choice. I would not believe anything Shatner says as Kirk as he almost always comes across a jerk even though he puts his life on the line in almost every episode, it is not believable.

But, it does set the stage for many great follow up stories. So, 6 stars for it.

I feel that it could have been a lot better if they let the story of Pike and his number one develop. Alas! I think that pilot episode is the best of TOS, and one of the best episodes of entire trek universe.

Babylon 5 (1993–1998)

Remarkably well written

[7/10 · 10 March 2023]

This is a very well written series, much better than any sci-fi series on tv ever. Except for few warts (for god knows what reason, but certainly not due to lack of talent), the multiple story-lines it pursues are consistent and all develops well.

The way of politics and power relations leave wanting, but then Americans does not really understand politics, even so called political scientists cannot articulate how it works, so had little expectations on this front.

And, it was a shame that the series ended with 5 seasons. There were material for at least two more seasons.

Finally, and a very annoying part of it, the acting sucks most of the time. Except for mollari, g'kar, bester, and perhaps ivanova all the actors in major roles really really suck. And, oh the computer screens, medical equipment, etc. Look like plastic toys; so you need to overlook these obvious defects and think of this as a novel on screen to really enjoy the series.

War of the Worlds (2019– )

The plot is original but the execution really sucked

[4/10 · 13 January 2023]

The idea is great, but is is not war of worlds not as in the original not in the presented form. But, interesting plot nonetheless.

The problem is with whole bunch of holes in the plot. The problem is that the invasion was not planned carefully. After the initial strike the aliens were almost as pedestrian as the survivors except for robo dogs, it is never explained why. Also why did they not use their ships during fighting with locals? It seems, if there were a mechanised brigade they would wipe the aliens in no time as they have only small arms which were looted from locals.

The aliens want to kill everyone but the reason is not convincing at all. In fact, they should have planned to silently integrate into human societies if they really wanted to survive.

Also nobody bothers to fix cars or even use bikes. Also where are the governments, or army, or at least high caliber weapons. A 12.7mm machine gun and a high ground is all one needs to survive against idiot aliens.

And, finally what is that soap opera where character engage in trivia for minutes when the world around them is ripped apart?

Black Mirror: Nosedive (2016) Season 3, Episode 1

One of the best critique of western societies

[10/10 · 3 December 2022]

For me the story is everything and this one is depressingly effective critique of our politically correct society; some focus on social media aspects but this goes well beyond that.

Adding on top is the impressive performance of the actors many of which I see for the first time.

The pastel colours, the elegant design of the electronic appliances, nice office buildings, etc: all contribute to the feeling of perfect facade of a truly depressing society. One feels what a hell most people live in with subtle hints about how hard really the life is for the most people.

This work is at the same level as Truman show and don't look up, outstanding!

Heartsong (2022)

Inconsistent and boring

[2/10 · 6 September 2022]

Don't quite see how this was deemed good. Terrible directing, boring and stupid storyline. Actors were good but what could they do (except perhaps giving a pass to this annoyance) It was supposed to be a surreal and dreamy storytelling I reckon, but too weak of a writing and annoying music kills it all. Could have been a nice short film without all the pretentious dialogues and a bit less of the strange music. And frankly, if my wife did not force me to watch to the end, I'd quit after the first twenty minutes.

At the end, I was almost angry. So much of stupidity I saw only in so called "art films" of 1980s of Turkish cinema. Hopefully, this will not start a trend.

Don't Look Up (2021)

This will be an iconic movie, right next to idiocracy

[9/10 · 25 December 2021]

It captures the zeitgeist in the US so well. The intellectual decline in the masses along with naked capitalism run by psychopaths, which is the US democracy, is pictured so well in this film.

The story is directed at the idiocy of the Trump republicans but it is clear also in the movie that he decay in the US society is widespread and irreversible. The only criticism I have would be that Chinese or Russians did not save the world at the end of the film; with such an ending the film would have been a 10 star title.

Cube (1997)

Interesting story but had no conclusion

[6/10 · 8 October 2021]

The acting was so so, but the story starts interesting. But, the question of why and how people were put in the cube is hard to answer; and left so to viewers dismay. Also it is unforgivable that we are not given a chance to look at the cube from the outside.

Unfortunately, it appears nobody in the film crew knew much about math. The girl thinking about if numbers that ends with 2 or 5 for seconds were prime is unforgivable, not to mention the way she figures out the meaning of numbers being implausible.

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019)

As idiotic as the plots from computer games

[3/10 · 28 February 2021]

It really is so stupid that one wonders if the script was written by people who also build computer games which I cannot bear. Original trilogy was also goofy but had a charm, this one is just stupid

Paris, Texas (1984)

what a waste of time

[2/10 · 15 June 2020]

Bad acting, unbelievable story, and goes on for 150mins, watched to the end just because I was curious to see what the others might have liked (the final few minutes perhaps; nonetheless those were boring and predictable too) and still don't quite get why it was so highly rated

Salvation (2017–2018)

terrible plot

[1/10 · 6 June 2019]

It is so incredibly stupid that I can't believe I watched 3 episodes. Oh well, I am a sucker for sci-fi; that must be the reason. But, neither science nor fiction was done right. So idiotic!

Star Trek: Voyager: Endgame (2001) Season 7, Episode 24

a rushed finale!

[4/10 · 26 May 2019]

It appears the writers got the information about the termination of the contract for the series on a very short notice!

They not only produced an episode that was clearly rushed but also contradicted many of the past episodes involving time travel, and commits a time travel paradox (also recognized as such in past episodes) which by definition would be impossible: if Janeway was to be successful in her reckless plan as it appears to be the case at the end, how could her sad self exist to get back in time to execute it in the first place? Besides, where are time cops from 29th century to stop her?

I enjoyed the series very much but the finale left a sour taste that I still cannot forget; hence my review here to vent.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Chain of Command, Part I (1992) Season 6, Episode 10

probably the worst story in star trek next gen

[1/10 · 10 April 2019]

Probably the worst episode of the series; quite difficult to understand why it was so highly rated.

First, the story is not believable; second the actors in their newfound delta force abilities really look and act ridiculously

And most importantly, sending captain of a ship that is supposed to be not a military vessel is just plain stupid and contradicts everything the series professed so far.

Insufferable!

Origin (2018)

neat acting/directing but story too facile

[5/10 · 7 February 2019]

The story is too simple and sci-fi part is mostly about the scenes being in a spaceship. Not to mention that there is nothing original alien infiltration of spaceships. And, oh the ship appears to have artificial gravity but also spinning rings for no apparent reason. That part alone kills the sci-fi bit.

But, the main problem is that characters are too stupid and that the aliens are not scary enough, not to mention their apparent fragility and inability to multiply. Such aliens could be dealt with a few smart people in a few hours and that would have been end of story, but...

Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2024)

I found it quite amusing how low this show has descended

[2/10 · 2 February 2019]

I found it both astonishingly stupid and frankly quite amusing. That's why I kept watching it until the end of season 1. I suspect that was not the producers were hoping for, though

I can clearly see that the ratings were not as good as expected and they made changes to the original story mid-course, which made it a soap opera ornamented with some sci-fi mumble jumble. Not that the original story was anything good but later twists to the plot was so incredibly stupid.

One important thing that has to be also said is that acting was terrible and that is one of the main factors that made it look so stupid (and amusing) as you clearly recognize people come together in a dark studio and fire their toy faser guns at each other.

It is sad, of course. But also inevitable when one tries to extract as much money from as possible from the same story.

I rated it 5 because it was indeed entertaining, after all.

Under the Dome (2013–2015)

Can't decide if this was designed for a juvenile audience or the writers were really bad

[2/10 · 9 December 2018]

Extremely interesting idea turned into trash soap opera with some twists that would make it likable by teens like super talented teens wielding real power. Unfortunately, I am 46 and that does not work on me. The only reason I watched this is because I like Sci-Fi and this looked like a good Sci-Fi but ended up as a trash mystery story with really stupid (but very brave) characters running around and not much science or good fiction.

I also can't bear the unbelievable plot holes and have to mention few here: one day they were fighting for extremely scarce resources, the other days they behave like they have everything they need. I also can't figure out from where all these electricity come and why they don't want to communicate with the outside (and vice versa) It also appears that they are very merciful: killing, kidnapping, etc. do not seem like a big deal as they are forgotten in few days.

Poirot: Curtain: Poirot's Last Case (2013) Season 13, Episode 5

Poirot deserved better, but that was Christie's fault

[5/10 · 17 July 2016]

The production is as great as it has always been. I also liked the portrayal of the tattered house and the dark scenes, in line with bad health of Poirot.

My complaint is that the way Poirot committed his own murder was not nearly half as smart as the murderers Poirot caught, even worse it was not plausible; even if we accept that Poirot would indeed commit such a crime. Of course, there is nothing the production team could do about it, if they were not to grossly deviate from the source. I suppose, Christie was really bored of Poirot and could not think of a better way of getting rid of him.

A disappointment overall, but not because of the team that produced the episode.