Reviews

With something as classic as Sherlock Holmes, come great expectations. Well, at least mild expectations should be permitted. Unfortunately, this particular adaptation seems to be just about adequate. And I am actually giving this rating after watching this series twice, just so that I could convince myself that it is not worth more than 4 out of 10 stars, even though there are various reviewers who seem to be going ga-ga over this. You got great actors in their respective roles, no doubt about that. But there is much more to criminal detection than speaking really fast. Or the absolute stupidity of the world's best organisations not being able to decipher the contents of a phone (that in itself would still be ok, had one entire episode not hinged on just this one fact).

And then we have the seriously drawn out entanglements with Sherlock's nemesis. Sherlock Holmes is synonymous with great detective work. Something which gets drastically reduced towards episode finales. Instead what we get is just a less gory version of a "Saw", as the antagonist simply grows more powerful and the protagonists seem to be at their wits' ends. With lot of random heavy words being thrown about. "I'll burn your heart out" - seriously? What's the basis for that? Where's the story arc which would lead someone to become so angry at someone?

Not to mention the overall conflicting tonality - from thriller stuff, to wry comedy, to 10-minute tearful monologues. Repeatedly.

And finally - what is with the world's most perceptive person not being able to recognise his own sister? A guy who can predict the history and future of a person from their shoes or napkins, cannot identify a family member?

This one had so much potential. Could have been much better.

What a masterpiece! When the movie ended I was left wondering exactly how do these people come up with a premise that's so simple, but an execution that's just out of this world. A very sweet story, anchoring around a boy's rendezvous with his father, which transforms into a much deeper self-discovery as the story unfolds.

Go watch it! And then watch it again. It's that good.

So effectively, Ashley Too is a slightly more advanced (or stupid - depends on how you look at it) version of Amazon Alexa. The idea of "copying" someone's consciousness and memories etc into a chip have been explored to death (literally) in San Junipero and White Christmas earlier. And those episodes were seriously well-made and emotional in their own rights.

And therefore, this one is a big let-down. Because it tries to explore the same concept in an extremely amateurish, ill-conceived manner. If this were part of some other teenager series or music artist series, it might have got higher ratings. But this is supposed to belong to Black Mirror, and the bar's set quite high there.

Strange bits of humour thrown in actually make it even less bearable. Waste of one hour of your life.

The most important fact was actually presented right in the beginning - that it's the year 2018. It's not a decade in the future, but a few months in the past. For the first time Black Mirror deviates from its futuristic tone and comes up with a far more horrifying reality - The Robots have already taken over. The premise and social message is fairly cliched (social media sucks, they trick us into using those apps, we are the product etc), but it's essence has perhaps never been portrayed so well on a TV show. Andrew Scott is seriously at the top of his game. He carries the whole one hour show on his shoulders all the while being inside a car most of the time. That also speaks volumes about the writing of this episode. Dystopian and poignant. Must watch.

I am still trying to grapple with what their "endgame" was... This is the very last movie with all the hype around it, and supposed to be THE grand culmination of all earlier 21 MCU movies.

However, this is what actually happens - Thor plays Fat Boy Slim. Dr. Strange has as many lines to speak as Groot has. Captain Marvel's only job is to ferry Iron Man's lost ship on her shoulders. Captain America does not remain Captain America in the end. And simply by physical proximity, Black Panther becomes the new Captain America (I would have taken my shoe off and thrown at the screen, but hey, this scene wasn't worth the price of even my shoes).

The only saving grace was perhaps the demise of Iron Man.

They basically did a Game of Thrones finale on this one it seems. Maybe 2019 will be remembered as the year when all movie makers lost it.

This has been one of the most depressing turn of events of late. What was easily a 9+ rated serial and seen such a major fall that it's almost unbelievable something like this (season 8) could actually be written by those who are supposed to write the grand finale of something really as grand as GoT.

It's as if someone was hell bent on burning the legacy of GoT to the ground (much like the burning of King's Landing) - all carefully crafted character arcs thrown down the drain, strange and totally uncalled-for character turns, sloppy writing, and sloppy production as well (Is it some coincidence that only in Season 8 we see a coffee cup on the table?).

This series deserved so much better. Perhaps the writers and directors should learn something from the makers of Breaking Bad, True Detective, The Wire etc. The ending of any series is a golden opportunity for the writers and directors to send themselves to glory - but here the team has probably made sure that no one ever employs them again.

...Season 8. A great series, with fantastic and carefully crafted story arcs, slow and steady character build-ups, and a very taut, fast paced story line in spite of the show being spread over many years. And then somehow the entire team came under pressure. To finish everything so rapidly, and so haphazardly that it ended up destroying the brand built over all these years. All the hard work thrown down the drain so that the series could be, literally, wrapped up. Pointless and very sudden deaths of important characters (Lord Varys, Jaime), sudden goodbyes to others (Ghost), and worst of all, the mindless conversion of Daenerys into an evil monster just in a matter of moments, without warning, and like her Dragon breathing fire on the city, the writers and directors of this show have actually breathed fire on their own creation. I think I speak for others as well when I say that deaths and departure are not a problem at all, we are used to that, but what everyone has become more used to, are the fine ways in which the stories and characters are crafted. And this one quality is somehow missing from what is supposed to be the best season, given that it is the final season. I wish the team would have learnt something from Breaking Bad, or The Wire, or True Detective, or perhaps many others. They really know how to end a serial in the most emphatic and satisfying way.

Final verdict - disappointed by the finale. And I am very sure I am not the only one feeling let down.

I have been reading reviews on IMDB for many years now... but never ever was I tempted to write one - till now. And I created my IMDB login just for this. What an amazing movie this was. Deepest life lessons explained through a very simple yet profound, a very well-known yet new-found character in the shape of Winnie. Everyone acted very well, including the young Madeline. But Winnie the Pooh just steals the show. And rightfully so. Go watch it to remember your earlier self. Or your present self. Maybe both. "What day is it, Christopher Robin?", asks Pooh. "It's today", he replied. "Well it's my favourite day...", Pooh concludes.