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Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
Season 3 is a complete Star Wreck
I really enjoyed season 1 and 2, but season 3 is getting harder and harder to stand. I think I have one episode left to watch in this season, and the explanatione for the secret that kept the season going is unbelievably disappointing.
Yes, Star Trek has always been about feelings, compassion, etc... But season 3 seems to have forgotten about the Sci-Fi that most fans still expect.
The science deck has now become LGBT HQ, where oversensitive symbionts and gay crew go to speak their language. Nothing wrong with addressing diversity, but pushing the issue with every episode is becoming stale. Sympathy is turning to boredom.
I have no idea who greenlighted the scripts. I think that the very large majority of negative comments about season 3 will convince the showrunners to fire the writers and abandon them on a distant planet.
So far, this year, Discovery has been one disappointment after the other.
The Game Changers (2018)
Not a documentary, just pseudo-science vegan propaganda.
From vegan producers and also producers who are in the vegan food industry, comes a long pseudo-scientific pseudo-documentary that has the aim to convince us that human beings are made to eat their greens only.
This film follows the story of a few minor athletes that, well after becoming world famous, switched to a vegan diet. Through white lies and "reality show" kind of shots we get to experience how these people achieve yet another great result but, this time, without eating animal proteins.
In between shots we are fed nicely illustrated charts and "educational" infographics based on some researches with little scientific base. The name of the researches is shown, but it's never mentioned that most of them never made it to a scientific journal.
The film contains a few "live" experiments with a sample size of 3 people and no control over the environment. While even the doctor in the film says that these are no scientific experiments, the results are explained as if they were scientifically accurate and always valid.
Needless to say, we see the athletes achieve their goals in the end, by pure chance when the film's narrator was on stage, and by pure chance the first thing they scream from the stage is "Vegan Power!".
I don't want to dig into food science, chemistry, or biology, but to anyone that has at least a secondary school degree this movie should look like a blob of non scientific skits. If the only way to convince the audience about the goodness of a plant-based diet is to lie to them, then there clearly are problems at the base of this ideology.
A non-documentary with worthless experiments and pseudo science that calls itself a scientific documentary deserves less than one star in my opinion.
Bumblebee (2018)
Very good fun! Second best Transformers movie so far
When the first Transformers movie came out in 2007 I loved it because it was a good mix of decent comedy, action and Sci-fi. Things went bad after that, and all other Transformers movie were too focused on messy CGI action, with a few bad jokes or non-believable characters as comic relief.
Bumblebee acts as a prequel in that universe, but thanks to the fact that it focuses on few characters on a smaller scale mission, it manages to find again the balance between action and nice clean situation comedy.
I was happy to see that, even if this movie is somehow connected with the other ones, it enjoys some creative freedom and has many nods to the old cartoons.
Special effects seem to be simpler here, because the digital models are way less detailed, but I appreciated how much the Transformers looked like the toys. Also, the photography in this movie is way better than in any of the other Transformer movies.
A good movie for the whole family, if you don't mind that your kids see some digitally created robots being beheaded.
See You Yesterday (2019)
A massive let down. Bad on too many levels.
This is a movie about black people having a rough time with the police in Brooklyn (NY) while bullying each other. To stop the white policemen from killing (yet another) young black American, the "most brilliant" girl in school travels back in time and makes stupid choices over and over again.
I spent more time trying to understand why the characters behaved like thugs with each other than trying to put together the shattered pieces of the time travel sub-plot in this "movie". Sci-fi wise this is a zero-rating movie. Science is all over the place and over simplified, and the characters are too stupid even to repair a broken blender, so the whole "time travelling backpack" is simply unbelievable.
The director clearly wanted to make a movie about how badly black people are treated by the police in America, which is a subject too serious to be put in the hands of two kids who only travel back in time to throw slush at their ex boyfriends.
The budget for the whole production must have been about $5. Maybe $11 including 3 cups of slush priced at $2 each. The few special effects are seriously bad, props are even worse. Acting is all over the place and there are a few continuity mistakes in the scenes that indicate lack of care or bad montage.
I wasted one an a half hour of my life watching this thing. I hope that my review will spare someone else the same pain.
Last note: While I appreciate Michael J. Fox's cameo, even that was ruined by a too obvious "Great Scott". Terrible scripting from beginning to end.
Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
Practically bad in (almost) every way.
Let's start with the positives: Emily Blunt is a great Mary Poppins that manages to merge the book's character with the original movie character.
And now the negatives...
You will not remember, whistle, sing... a single song from this movie, even if you know all songs from the old one. Kids that have never seen the first MP will also not remember a single song from this one, unlike they do for Frozen, Moana etc...
The songs are too "old" in style to be likeable (the movie is set in the 1930s, but the audience is set in the 2010s), and not easy enough to be memorable. It fells like listening to the B side of a vinyl from the first movie. Not great at all, considering it's a musical.
I loved the original movie and I somehow appreciated some cameos, some details taken from it, some recurring situations, but this got repetitive and boring. Kids nowadays would not understand many references and this could even put at risk their understanding of some key events, and this is, in my opinion, a cardinal sin in movie making and story telling that Disney keeps making.
Little context is given about the hardness of the "Great Slump" which would have explained the Banks' situation. At the same time the figure of Michael Banks appear confused from many points of view. Jane Banks really doesn't help much.
Mary Poppins herself is fairly useless for the first half of the movie, apart from a couple of magic numbers, and overly resolving in the end. She acts as a Deus Ex Machina, as opposed to the original movie where it was Mr Banks's change of heart that saved the family.
Last bad note: there is a bad guy. It's very modern today to add a bad guy in movies. Someone to blame for someone else's misfortune, but it makes things all too easy. The beauty of the old MP is that it tells the story of Mr Banks's change into a better man and father, but here we have a bad guy to somehow blame and fight off. Worst of all, this is not even a subtle element and it's shown very clearly through the whole movie.
I am seriously disappointed by this movie that I bet won't become a classic. Too bad for Emily Blunt, whose performance and dedication to the character is really remarkable.
I'll rate this movie with a 6 because it can be enjoyed if you start with no expectations, but it's a big disappointment from a MP's fan point of view.
Travelers (2016)
Good Sci-Fi with few visual effects = good scripting
I am quite impressed with Travelers. I had no idea about what I was going to watch when I started it, but I got hooked to it very quickly. There aren't big special effects or flying cars in this series, but the good scripting makes you want to watch more and more of it.
Characters develop properly and consistently and, by the end of season 1, there has been no need to break consistency to fix plot holes.
Definitely one of the best sci-fi productions of the last few years.
The Flash: We Are the Flash (2018)
Average season and bad finale
Season 4 starts decently with some new meta to fight etc... (I am trying not to add spoilers here). As it moves past episode 14, the season becomes boring and repetitive. At least 3 of the last 8 episodes feel like a waste of time. The writers clearly ran out of ideas and tried to stretch every character to occupy some screen time and make enough episodes.
The two final episodes are as full of cheese as "Once upon a time". It's just that in a kid's show you sort of welcome cheese, while here it's totally out of place.
I really hope that writing improves for Season 5. I fell asleep during the finale of season 4, twice, and I really want The Flash to go back to what it used to be.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
Absolutely horrible and boring
I have never read the book, so I had no idea what to expect from this fourth movie. I thought I was going to see an action movie of some sort, like the other 3 had been, but I was greatly disappointed. I admit I fell asleep for a couple of minutes during the first half an hour; it was that boring. There is politics on top of the war main theme in the series but I never expected that part to take over so much that the most of the movie is about listening to people talking. There is a bit of action in the middle section of the film. Not much to be honest. The story fails to excite me and you can clearly tell who is going to die and when. You can also guess the end of the movie just 39 minutes from the start. So, here's how my brain registered the movie: Katniss embarks in an almost suicidal mission with about 10 expendable characters and a few that we already know will survive. The "showbiz" theme makes it necessary for her to take a mentally instable Peeta along; he will try and fail to kill her and that's as far as it goes between them for the most of the film. After a couple of action scenes that last a total of 10 minutes the group is stranded in the Capitol, Katniss and Gale try to make it for the palace where they can kill Snow but the rebels attack and the war is over; Katniss passes out because of a blast. When she wakes up the war is actually over, Gale leaves, Snow is a dying prisoner and the new president (Alma Coin) is as bad as the previous one. It could have ended here with some sort of a cliffhanger but no, we have to see Katniss killing the new president (and causing Snow's death), being sent to exile and living the next 5 or 6 years in the middle of nowhere with Peeta. The end. Absolutely boring. Katniss adventure through the movie is essentially useless and you can feel it, so there is no tension and no real thrill.
This movie could have lasted 25 minutes or could have been the ending of Mockingjay - Part 1. But they decided to milk some more money out of our pockets. The most shameful part is that the acting is actually decent, and that's why I am giving a rating of 3 instead of 1. Jennifer Lawrence delivers very well. It's just everything else that does not work.
I saw the movie in 3D (apparently post-production "fake" 3D). I could have waited and watched it on a normal screen at home saving some money instead.
Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011)
Lot of fun i a way I didn't have in years.
My idea for this afternoon was Super-8: big explosions, aliens etc... my GF had other ideas and we ended up seeing Mr Popper's Penguins... and now I am very happy we did. Here's why: The movie remembers me of the old style Disney's movies from the 60s. If you are a kid you like them because they are funny and there are some weird situations, if you are an adult you like them because they still have some plot under the funny skin. This movie remembers me, in particular, of The Ugly Dachshund . Jim Carrey plays another of his "weird faced" characters. He delivers pretty well, as usual. The movie is well done, rarely slows down if not for the scenes that add something to the "adult" plot. It never gets vulgar or indecent nor there is any kind of bad language. If I had kids I would definitely go back with them to see this movie, and I will surely remember this title for the future. Definitely a good alternative to modern-way 3D cartoons (sometimes painfully poorly made)!
The Strangers (2008)
Awful is not exactly the word for this movie. It's far worse that that.
The movie has just come out in Italy and I thought it was a good idea to spend 7.50 euros to have a look at it. Now i'm sure i waisted that money. The movie is boring. Nothing happens in this very intricate plot. The only difference between this and The Blair witch Project (which I hate) is that this time you don't have a hand camera shooting.
All the time it's like there is somebody playing bad jokes to this stupid couple. Even so, they part every five minutes, so the killers con work better. Nice Idea.
Please, follow this advice: don't waste your money watching this film. There are far better ways to spend some bucks!
Transformers (2007)
One of the best movies in the last 10 years
Hi from Italy. I have to say that in the last years i've never seen a movie like this. There are a lot of laughs and plenty of action. You never get bored watching it and, even if it might not fit the older series, it's amazing.
I'd say that it's like Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade . The mix of fun and action really remembers the one in the Indy movies.
The visual effects are outstanding. Compared to this, both Spiderman 3 and Pirates OTC 3 are nothing.
Congratulations to the director and the producers (come on Spielberg, we all can see your hand behind all of this).
Eragon (2006)
One of the worst ever fantasy movies i've seen
Let's say i've seen the Italian version of the movies, so this comment might be influenced by the awful dubbing that has been made in my country. I've read the book before going o see the movie and i can say they have really nothing in common. While Paolini (book's writer) made a good job in telling about how the main character and the dragon grew up, in the movie they seem to be born to make war and fight. This is unreal (like in Narnia) and leaves a sense of unsatisfaction at the end of the movie. The story has completely been turned upside down. There aren't some characters who should be there (the twin mages of the Varde, Roran girlfriend etc...) to explain a sequel and sometimes the storyline itself is totally inconsistent.
This movie must be considered at the same level of D&D (awful 100%) apart from some nice Computer Graphics nicely used to create Saphira.
One last word on the Italian dubbing. Saphira's voice seems to have been recorded after some kind of Alcoholic Party. There is no intonation at all and i've heard that it has been done by a non-professional dubber. Brom's voice is completely wrong. Eragon's dubber is awful and doesn't convey any kind of feeling to the audience.