Mers_Mers_Mers Reviews

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022)

Didn't We Almost Have It All?

[6/10 · 6 January 2023]

It's a nice movie but it could definitely be better.

Hearing her sing in a movie theater is just plain bizarre. Lots of live vocals in the movie. Just bizarre what Whitney could do on stage. At times, I really stared open-mouthed and I also teared up because her voice is just incredible.

But the film itself is quite superficial in terms of story and the timeline keeps getting mixed up. Some things are wrong, a lot of her story isn't told. The film hops from event to event without really telling much. The historical greatness of some moments is also not really portrayed. And they skipped quite a lot of songs. Personality wise we don't get to see much of Whitney. She's mostly snappy because of Bobby Brown and other people around her, like her father, that only use her. We didn't get to see her other sides. So many people that knew her talked about how much fun she was, how caring, how generous. They also didn't touch anything about all the things she did for children.

The whole story about her as an artist and her musicality didn't go beyond her voice. Of course the best voice ever (unparalleled live vocals as far as I'm concerned) but there was more. How she produced her music. Her sublime stage presence. Being a (fashion) icon. The fact that she broke barriers for dark artists. The influence she has on music in general. The soul and gospel she brought to pop music. Her impact was huge, they didn't really show that.

Naomi does a great job. She got the mannerisms and sometimes when they shot from behind it was as if you saw Whitney. She also managed to speak like Whitney very well. But I didn't think they captured Whitney's stage precence. I'm not sure if that was Naomi's fault. I'd rather say it's something left out in the movie.

Stanley Tucci does a great job as Clive Davis and I don't know why we don't talk about her more, but Tamara Tunie really impressed me as Cissy Houston.

I did like the fact they showed the relationship with Whitney and Robyn Crawford had. We knew it but her estate didn't really want to confirm it.

Another highlight was at the beginning when Cissy noticed Clive Davis was in the audience where she and Whitney would be performing. Cissy faked a soar throat and told Whitney to sing the first solo. This scene, acted wonderfully by Tamara Tunie, just touched me so much. The scene then moves on to Greatest Love Of All. Wonderful and very emotional.

Long story short: A fun movie to watch but it falls short to be a great biopic.

Jurassic World Dominion (2022)

They failed to make dinosaurs look scary

[5/10 · 12 June 2022]

The dinosaurs are finally roaming free in our world and what do they do? They focus on giant locusts. It really does sound as stupid as it is. There was a world of opportunities for the writers here yet they failed to make dinosaurs look scary. They were so busy introducing new species they forgot to write a good story around the main stars. We don't need all these news species, we just want the darkness and the horror. How many fabulous and scary scenes could they have created with dinosaurs in our streets and our homes? Yet they focussed on uninteresting stories around the characters. Even the original cast couldn't save this mess. The darkness and horror of the first two movies was never recaptured. The Jurassic World trilogy will go down as one of missed opportunities. Jurassic World is a worthy movie for the franchise but Fallen Kingdom and Dominion alongside Jurassic Park 3 are forgettable.

Game of Thrones: The Bells (2019) Season 8, Episode 5

What a waste

[4/10 · 13 May 2019]

I usually do not write reviews because I feel others usually perfectly well know how to describe things, but after episode 5 aired I just had to write something down.

Game of Thrones was the perfect show but the writers ruined it with the last season. I will be taking the battle of King's Landing as perspective on why I believe this season doesn't deliver like the previous seasons.

Cersei owned Daenerys at playing the game of thrones. Sadly the writers forgot this show is about playing the game of thrones.

Daenerys lost almost her entire army and she lost two dragons. The north lost a lot of it's army too.

Cersei's plan worked, her enemies got weak because of the war and she grew stronger. She even added 20.000 men to her army. She had houndreds of scorpions made. She had a lot of time to prepare for war. For what? Just for everything to get destroyed by throwing logic out of the window and by providing major plot armor to Daenerys?

What's the point of all of it if by some miracle Daenerys' army gets revived a few episodes later? Did the writers really think they could get away with that? Did her army just respawn like in Minecraft?

Why was the golden company there? They had 5 seconds of screentime. Why is the Lannister army, a legendary army, all of a sudden incapable?

How is that with houndreds of scorpions aimed at Daenerys and Drogon, not even one of them could hit the mark. How is it possible the Iron Fleet all of a sudden seemed incapable while they took down a dragon in the previous episode and have been owning since they came into play?

What would win? The entire might of King's Landing's forces and impenetrable structural defenses, armed with enormous harpoon launching death turrets? Or one single dragon?

Why is it the writers suddenly had Cersei and Qyburn just stand there without any plan. It's so out of character for Cersei to just to stand there. She always has a plan, she always fights to the bitter end. Cersei and Qyburn knew what was coming. It was so stupid the writers made her do nothing. They just couldn't come up with something because they didn't know how to write a clever character anymore.

How could they have written such a major character change for Daenerys in like 5 minutes?

What's the point of Jaime's major character development, for him to just get killed in the arms of Cersei?

It was like they were so focussed on going out with a bang they forgot to actually write. They forgot character development. They forgot logic.

It's a disgrace the writers created such a one sided war. It's such a waste of a great villain like Cersei and a great actress like Lena Heady.

I am not complaining about a character dying. I am not complaining about the fact the show doesn't have a happy ending. It's Game of Thrones. The thing I am complaining about it how the writers make them happen. The clever writing of the previous seasons is gone, sadly. They are only focussed on closing it out and spectacle.

They just had to forget everything about the earlier seasons to give us a rushed season 8.

To end on a positive note. Cleganebowl was superbe, with a though and sad ending. Jaime and Tyrion's last scene was brilliant and emotional as was the last scene of The Hound and Arya, for a moment Arya had a father again. The music was beautiful. Everything looked beautiful and spectacular.

Whitney: Can I Be Me (2017)

A respectful and sad documentary

[8/10 · 20 May 2017]

I'd like to thank Nick Broomfield for this respectful and real documentary about Whitney. Although Nick did not talk to Cissy, Robyn Crawford or Bobby Brown directly (they are there in archive footage), numerous people who were close to Whitney or close around her for years tell us the sad, sad story about this wonderful person and brilliant artist. Whitney was a great, generous and sweet woman and the documentary sadly shows the bitter truth. She was surrounded by people who cared for her money but not for her. Whitney was a product to make as much money as she could for the people around her. And to answer her important question; she could not be herself. It's very sad to see. For fans it's also great to see never before seen footage from Whitney's My Love Is Your Love world tour and the parts of performances you get to see, which are breathtaking. It's the first documentary that respects Whitney but also sheds light on her sad and frustrating story.

I can't believe she was treated the way she was. Her death (and that of her daughter) could have been prevented but except for a few people who really cared for her, nobody did a damn thing! Nobody cared about her while Whitney wanted to make everybody happy! It makes me so sad and angry. As a fan this is a must watch documentary but if you aren't a fan it's worth watching too.

The breathtaking performances you get to see should also tell us we should remember this woman for her breathtaking voice. She is the greatest singer this world has ever known and she has changed musical history. She had a huge influence on the music industry and she will always be one of it's greatest legends. Whitney was a true craftswoman who sang with every fiber of her body. She felt the music and all it's emotion like no other. The only little thing I missed was an entire performance of Whitney. I would have loved it to see an entire I Will Always Love You performance from her My Love Is Your Love world tour at the end of the documentary for example.

I will never forget you Whitney!

After Earth (2013)

Why does this movie have so many bad reviews?

[7/10 · 30 July 2015]

It seems like everybody wants to hate this movie. I think one of the main reasons is that when you look at the trailer the expectations were made very high. This movie wasn't bad though. Everything looks beautiful.The special effects are very good. I don't have anything bad to say about the acting or the story. Yeah, the movie could have been better, it's not perfect. It could have been more exciting and more epic. The movie is never boring though. Sometimes the movie takes some shortcuts. It's a shame they didn't use the full potential of the movie. But, I enjoyed the movie from the beginning to the end. I'd give it a a 7 out of 10. I don't think it's fair to give this movie a 4.9.

The Lone Ranger (2013)

Do not listen to the critics!

[9/10 · 26 August 2013]

When I saw the trailer a while ago I really wanted to see this movie. After some bad reviews from critics and other people who went to see the movie I was hesitating to go. Today I went anyway and I had a great experience. The first 10-15 minutes were a bit slow, and at that point I thought the critics were right. But after that, the film really started to pick up a nice pace. There was enough to laugh throughout the whole movie, not to much, just a nice touch of humor that just really made me laugh. Johnny Depp just always steals the show in everything he does. Armie Hammer did a fine job too. I've read not everybody was too happy about his performance but I think there was nothing wrong with it. Helena Bonham Carter didn't have a very big part, I wish we could have seen more of her, but this woman can steal the show in 10 seconds, I just like everything she does. William Fichtner and Tom Wilkinson played their part very well, just as everybody else. I enjoyed the spectacular action scenes, especially towards the end of the movie, combined with the music it just gave me chills. Shots of beautiful old western US landscape surely made the movie even more impressive. But the movie is not all about action and humor, it certainly contains a message and I really enjoyed the movies plot, which has some nice twists in it I can tell you. A lot of things aren't what they seem to be. The key word is greed. *This may be a small spoiler* Greed from some ''white people'' towards the Indians. Greed brings out the worst in people, and this movie showed that in an impressive way. So it's just not humor and action, but a movie with a great message. It touched the rich history of the Indians, and I enjoyed that. I'd really recommend this movie, despite what the critics say.

Twilight (I) (2008)

Why does Twilight have such a low rating?

[9/10 · 16 February 2013]

I don't understand why Twilight has such a low rating. I like to watch movies, I have seen a lot and I like quality films. I have always heard Twilight is more for women so it's only until yesterday since I have watched part 1, and I don't think it's a 'chick flick'. I really enjoyed the movie. I have just finished part 2 and I'll watch part 3 in a moment. I don't care if Twilight doesn't make sense to some people. It is a movie, it doesn't have to make sense. To me Twilight is it's own world just like the Lord of the Rings, just Like Harry Potter, and I think the movie tells a nice story in it's own way and I think the story makes sense. I've enjoyed the acting too. The 5,3 rating is too low!

As the World Turns (1956–2010)

Best soap ever

[10/10 · 8 January 2013]

It is such a shame we don't get to see As the World Turns anymore. It was such a great show. It should never have been canceled! It ran for 54 years. It had great characters and great actors and actresses who portrayed them. The show has such an impressive history, it is legendary. It was never boring, so much happened and we got to see a lot of epic story lines. If you have never watched it, you really have missed something. I am only 21 and I've watched the show for 11 years, in the Netherlands. It will always be part of TV history and the show should never be forgotten. If you have the chance, watch some clips on Youtube. You won't be sorry. The world will always turn in my heart.