Change Your Image
karla-lemaher
Reviews
Nisser (2021)
Infuriatingly bad show
Why is it infuriating and frustrating? Because idea of the show is actually decent and whole setting is interesting.
Small island in Denmark that hides dark secret. It is home to wood elves that are actually ferocious creatures. Sounds interesting? And it is. But how it is executed is whole another story.
We follow story of a family who came to that island for Christmas holidays. They have a teen boy and preteen girl. Girl is weird and doesn't fit with rest of the family, so she decides to disobey pretty much all authority.
It would all be okay if characters don't make most stupid decisions ever and if main character - the girl wasn't the most annoying little spoiled brat.
Spoilers bellow
Most infuriating is the end, even though people got hurt, died even and whole island and community on it is destroyed, the family leaves island as if nothing happened without care in the world and mother even talks about presents for Christmas. That shows how privileged and out of touch and self righteous this family is.
I'd argue the best character and family member is their teenage son. Whole family didn't have any repercussions for what they did and practically blamed locals even though they had no damage whatsoever. Considering the fact that their daughter is the only reason for all these things happening in the first place I can't believe there wasn't any redeeming qualities for characters in the end. Not even a "you're grounded for life". Instead her mother shows pride how her daughter is a big girl now. I guess destroying ecosystem, killing 5 people and destroying multiple lives and whole community is how you make your parents proud.
Cinematography is good, elves are interesting but even a 25 minute run time seemed like a torture.
Only reason why I watched all 6 episodes is because the plot starts in episode 3 and by then I felt like not watching the remaining 3 episodes would be stupid specially because they are little over 20 minutes.
Do not recommend unless it is the only thing available to watch next to reruns of Full House. And maybe even then Full House would be better choice.
The VVitch: A New-England Folktale (2015)
Good period horror drama
For an hour and a half it is a great watch. Acting is good, cinematography is good, plot is good, sets are good, speach is good. This movie is just a good movie.
It is a bit slower than I expected and darker, but I actually enjoyed slower pace as I always expected something and that kept me on my toes.
Definitely a movie for you if you like witches, past time, paganism, folklore, Satanism and similar topics.
Akelarre (2020)
Surprisingly interesting and entertaining
I thought it would be another witch trials story, but it's actually a story about women empowerment and feminism in its purest forum.
Acting is very good, cinematography is beautiful and plot is engaging. It is historically very accurate in depicting how these trials went and what people thought in that period of time.
It is worth your time as it is not too long (1 hour and 30 minutes).
The Walking Dead: One More (2021)
Memorable, deep, episodic
Only reason I gave this episode 9/10 is because it was too short. Just kidding. One of the most memorable episodes in whole series, I'd put it in same group as Here's not here, The Grove and similar episodes.
Snowpiercer (2020)
Interesting post apocalyptic setting with social commentary
It is based on comic and movie, and theme of the show is that there was some sort of new ice age that came upon Earth and in order to survive people created train that circles around the world with survivors.
That is base concept of story. More interesting part of the story is that this train has 1000 wagons and whole micro world in it that has wagons that function in sync with one another. You have animals, farms, seas etc.
Another big aspect of the show and story is classes. The richest who bought tickets for this train live in first class, they have as much as luxury you can think of that post apocalyptic train micro world could provide. Then there are 2nd and 3rd class who work in various fields and positions. And non classified stowaway passengers that forcefully boarded the train called "Tailies" as they inhibit tail of the train.
Now that I've explained basics of this show let's get in deeper. Storyline in first season is interesting enough in beginning that catches you and you want more but then it takes a turn in different direction which is not executed as good but is still interesting. But still the show has some misteries that drive the story further down through more than one season. I give it 7,5/10
Acting gets better in 2nd season, partially because of addition of Sean Bean who stands out with his performance. In season one definitely best performance is by main actress Jennifer Connelly. Daveed Diggs is a bit lackluster with his performance in 1st season, but he is showing potential for improvement. Other supporting cast mostly doesn't have many stand out performances with few rare exceptions (which also start coming through in 2nd season). I give it 6/10
Last but not least (as it is my favorite part) is the whole world and setting. New ice age and perpetually moving train that is built to preserve life and give humanity hope of a future is amazing. The whole idea of having carts that carry farms and animals and anything you can think of is mind blowing. Specially when you see shots of the whole thing which is few kilometers long (I think it is about 10 miles long), and very tall. The fact that if anything breaks down in train can jeopardize all those life's and everything on board of that train is exciting. And we're not even talking about other threats like an avalanche, earthquake, satellite collapse, part of tracks getting too bad etc. Set pieces look very interesting and I look forward to new wagons we' ll get to see. I give it 10/10
All in all I give it a hopeful 8/10 as I see much potential but would like to point out that at this point (few episodes into season 2) more realistic grade would be 7/10. Reason why I gave it one grade higher is because acting is showing signs of improvement and story is starting to get better as each episode airs, and they already have amazing world. Only thing remaining is to see where writers decide to take us, which will ultimately decide final grade when season 2 is finished.