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elijah-tabere
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Unorthodox (2020)
Story worth telling. NOT a series worth watching.
I have to join the few reviewers on here, who praise Netflix's courage to take on this material in the first place but can't help but criticize them (or rather the filmmakers they hired) for how horribly they bungled its execution.
The series was bad from a technical point of view when it comes to filmmaking all around. Storytelling, directing, cinematography, sound design, score, production design were all sub par and mediocre at best (in some parts few and far between). As many others pointed out, mainly because of the undeniable drag that were literally ALL of the Berlin sequences.
The only things that stood out as worth a mention were costume design and good acting.
Alas, that was not enough to carry this series, which had potential as a period piece, but stripped the original material of almost all of its gravitas in the 'aspirational' version we got to see here.
Wasted opportunity. Controversial: Maybe try hiring a better script writer or director or producer next time. Felt like they wanted an almost all women crew so badly, they forgot that film making is actually a skill that you can possess even if you don't have breasts.
Ozark (2017)
season 1 is great, season 2 is good, season 3 is garbage filler
Best thing you can say about season 3 is that it's over. Never thought I'd say this but even during this lockdown when I yearn for any kind of good entertainment on TV, I wished they had just *not* released this garbage filler snooze fest that was season 3.
It tarnished the reputation of this show and made me downgrade from 8/10 to a barely above mediocre 6/10.
Anybody reading this review in later years, here's hoping it improved back to old strength in season 4. That said, as things stand, you can skip season 3 altogether and you wouldn't have missed a thang.
Ozark: All In (2020)
Total waste of a season. Last 4 episodes complete filler. I hate Laura Linney.
Can't believe I'm saying this, but it's true and all those 10/10 fanboys know it in their heart of heart's.
This season 3 was an utter disgrace. Utterly boring. Utterly irrelevant in the long run. Utterly dragged out. Utterly inconsequential. Utterly unsurprising. Utterly uninspired.
After the mediocre start came a somewhat stronger middle but from Episode 7 on when Ben's arc started to take center stage, it wall went downhill fast and never recovered.
After initially hoping for a thrilling finale after the snoozefest that was episode 9, I found myself skipping over at least three Wendy-scenes this episode, not missing anything because those scenes didn't add anything of substance that hadn't been said before. Can't remember when I last wished for a final season episode to be over quicker, it was just that boring.
@Writers: If you want to kill off a character in a season, get it right at the first try and don't drag it out please. They tried to kill off one of the main characters three times this season and so when they finally did in the so-called-shocking finale, it wasn't that shocking anymore.
Everybody else who claims they were 'at the edge of their seat' this season, should have their vision checked for some kind of impairment.
All I saw was the most boring season of TV of 2020. Here's hoping they'll find a way to get rid of Wendy next season. The promise of that happening is the only thing that would make me return to season 4 at the moment.
Or maybe keep the character alive but just recast Laura Linney. Now THAT would be a gamechanger.
Ozark: Boss Fight (2020)
Laura Linney / Wendy went from bad to unmitigated disaster... :-(
My distaste for Laura Linney off-screen and her character on-screen grows with each passing episode.
Wendy this season, so far mind you, grew from the usual nuisance she is/always was to an outright unmitigated disaster and arguably the most destructive force on the show.
Her bad decision-making steers Marty from one tight spot into another and it is he who pays the price for her foolish actions. She's become so insufferable that it pains me, each time they want me to feel sorry for her... like when she has her non-chalant conversations about nothing with Charlotte asking each other a 100 times 'if they're ok'. This is especially infuriating when we're forced to watch her as she hangs on her expensive wine glass plotting against diligently-working Marty, sitting in her expensive house in her expensive clothes contemplating life while he's thrown in a hole to rot - for her illusions of grandeur because apparently 'she wants it all'.
Her character is just beyond unlikable at this point and frankly I'm beginning to think Marty is too well-mannered to keep silently dealing with her issues.
I'm just hoping he'll lose his temper at her at some point. My biggest hope is that the writers find the courage to write her off somehow this season. It would honestly increase my enjoyment of this show so much not to have to suffer intolerable fits of rage each time I see Laura Linney on screen.
Jesus, I can't stand her character so much. And her for always playing such characters. I swear she's being type-cast as the 'Femme fatale' in Hollywood by now.
Ozark: Civil Union (2020)
Laura Linney! FFS! Ruining things again for the millionth time on screen.
I just can't stand ANY character she's EVER played in her ENTIRE career because she ALWAYS ruins everything for the main protagonist and us the viewers.
And this episode of Ozark was the epidemy of her mission statement.
She managed to ruin things as Wendy for Marty for the umptieth time on screen and simultaneously ruined my enjoyment of watching this show because with every shot I see of her, I'm reminded of my distaste for Laura Linney.
FFS why can't she ever play POSITIVE roles who make things better instead of just ruin everything?!?!?
Devs: Episode #1.5 (2020)
Let's be honest: This is filler! It was completely unnecessary from start to finish!
No amount of creative mind gymnastics, which some other reviewers seem to practice, can convince me that this episode is not 100% filler. I defy anybody to point out one relevant thing that added value to the plot PROGRESSION.
While stuff was shown/said/explained/implied, none of it was essential to the PROGRESSION of the story. We didn't need to have Kenton's resolve first reaffirmed with the tank analogy then questioned by himself at the end of the episode. We didn't need the whole backstory how Lily played Go with her father. We didn't need her meeting Sergey or him proclaiming his love to her. We didn't need to see Amayah dying in front of Forest's eyes. We certainly didn't need to listen to Jamie talk to his father for 3 minutes when his family is all but irrelevant to the story. Heck, even Katie's recruitment and the flashback at the first Devs experiments were unnecessary.
WHY?
Because all of that and more was already implied and sufficiently conveyed in the previous episodes. In fact, it's precisely what made the show so great so far, that it painted such a wonderful world, where everybody's motivations, stories and desires were clear pretty much from the pilot episode.
Even the scientific talk and multiple illustrations throughout this episode were unnecessary. WE GOT THE CONCEPT ALREADY. We had FOUR episodes to familiarize ourselves with the superpositions and the qubits and the entanglement and the multiple outcomes theory and so forth.
I'm sticking by my opinion: NONE of what was shown in Episode 5 really needed to be said. This was a filler episode and it didn't add ANYTHING on ANY level to the series.
Matter of fact: Having initially rated this a 5/10, after having thought about it during this review, I'm downgrading it to a 3/10. It was just that bad.
Devs: Episode #1.4 (2020)
Strong return to form after last week
What episode 3 lacked in credibility and artistry, episode 4 displayed magnificently, marking a return to the strong form we've come to know from anything Alex Garland produces.
Lily is still on her quest for Sergey, but it's from this episode onward, that she truly realizes what she's gotten herself into and who she's up against.
I still can't say that she's a very likable character - I find myself rooting for the Devs team more than for her fate or the fate of her pointless boyfriend, who even she has all but forgotten about at this point (with Jamie back at the horizon).
At this point I'm ambivalent: I'd be happy see either side win and would rate the show equally, regardless if it's Lily or Forrest who prevail in the end.
Devs: Episode #1.3 (2020)
Weakest one of the episodes out so far...
Apart from the stellar beginning... if the previous two episodes felt like art, this third installment felt very much like a regular formulaic TV show.
Barely any plot progression but most of all unbelievable situations for the sake of a twist that could only happen on television.
Unfortunately, a bit of a letdown after the very strong first two episodes.
Mr. Robot: 408 Request Timeout (2019)
I know I'm gonna get hate for this but... what a snooze fest!
Yeah yeah... I'm a fan as well. I rank Mr. Robot up there with the all time TV greats such as 'The Sopranos', 'Six Feet Under' or 'Breaking Bad'.
HOWEVER as great as LAST episode was (I rated it 10/10 too), THIS latest episode was a snooze fest of epic proportions.
Heaps of time wasted with the pointless hiding the key scene. Then more time wasted working out Eliott's feeling the first time around with Krista. More bla bla that was all predictable from last episode already that didn't need to be said/heard. Then the only sub-plot that was acutally good this episode with Janice/Dom etc - which is why I rated the 5 out of 10 since HALF the episode was actually good.
The rest was time wastage Nr. 2 with the pointless recovering of the key (Offtopic: What a stupid trope to uncover what Young Elliott hid under the door in the museum only for it to be ANOTHER mystery without any revealing qualities.) In general any moment when kid actors appear on screen it's a slippery slope for scenes going downhill fast and this episode of Mr. Robot was no different. Couldn't have cared less for the minutes wasted again on slowly saying what was already implied last episode between young and old version of Elliott.
Then, the kicker, FIVE full minutes of the Oh-So-Emotional last scene which every fanboy praises here in their reviews for its originality and intensity. For me it was just the THIRD instance of Esmail showing us a scene/interaction that was implied and clear from last episode and didn't add anything of value to this chapter.
I could have baked a soufflé in the time it took Mr. Robot to explain his very predictable feelings and motivations for having come into Elliott's life. Again, if you were paying attention at all throughout the show, and especially since the big reveal last week, NONE of the slow bla bla Mr.Robot gave Elliott really needed to be said. It was all implied, it was all crystal clear, it didn't add any substance and simply wasted the final minutes of this very underwhelming episode.
Now I get it: They can't all be great. And god knows Esmail has given us a huge amount of actual, genuine 9/10-deserving episodes over the course of this show.
HOWEVER, if you're honest with yourselves, and not just ride the high that was last week's episode, I hope that at least some will be able to share my point of view that this newest installment was lackluster at best if not to say boring and overwhelmingly mediocre.
I couldn't help but be reminded of that other Mr. Robot episode where the action just stalls, it's 100% filler, and Elliott wastes another 50 minutes talking to that other kid from Brighton beach.
Here's hoping at least next week's episode is a return to greatness for this otherwise very strong show.
Better Call Saul: Something Beautiful (2018)
WHAT are you all watching? Has the whole world gone insane?
This show, especially season 1 and 2 used to be SO MUCH BETTER. The last two seasons, apart from one episode each year, were utter GARBAGE.
This episode again, same as the first two eps this season, NOTHING HAPPENS.
We were LITERALLY watching a guy under a desk for 10 minutes. Then we watch Kim listening to pointless ramblings from her former boss for another 5 minutes. Then we watch Jimmy make cereal again for another 2 minutes.
NOTHING HAPPENS. NOT IN THIS EPISODE, NOT IN THE ENTIRE SEASON SO FAR.
I'm seriously starting to wonder what everybody is praising. People are rating 10 out of 10 stars. It's just mind-boggling to me.
Don't believe the hype (then again, is there really any left at this point??), season 3 and 4 of this show are an utter disappointment and have NOTHING in common with the greatness that used to be Breaking Bad.
Better Call Saul: Breathe (2018)
Nothing but setup, no action, talking heads only
This is how bad television looks like.
Nothing but setup for all but the last 1 minute of the show.
Talking heads only. All the characters meet (usually on on one), talk, then disperse without consequence.
No because-therefore-meanwhile-however storytelling. Instead only pointless conversations that lead to no action = classic setup that MAY lead to something later down the line.
Overall, if you discarded the entire episode and watched nothing but Jimmy's call to Mike or the supposedly 'adrenaline-inducing' final scene, you would not have missed anything and might as well have skipped over the entire episode.
Don't rate based on your expectations people! Rate based on the ACTUAL episode. This one was among the weakest if not the weakest Better Caul Saul, IMHO.
Blind Date (2005)
Kinda good for a first try... keep that director in mind
The idea behind the movie is more or less unique but sadly the movie's potential is not fully used since it appears to be the "first shot" of young upcoming director Elijah Tabere. Still you can already feel a well made atmosphere throughout the movie and though the dialog seems a bit too long a few times, there is still room for interesting thoughts about life and great comedic moments that will make you laugh. Actors worked great on this one and considering that the movie was made with a practically not existing or a very, very, very little budget it still got out very nice. Keep watching out for upcoming movies of this young director Elijah Tabere.