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Retour à Séoul (2022)
A nonsensical unlikable borefest
It's a slow film that's supposed to put you in the head of a slightly damaged, emotional and impulsive adoptee looking for meaning in her life as she makes an unplanned visit to South Korea, her birth place. Nothing wrong with any of that. But the film is utterly nonsensical, or random if you prefer, the main character very unlikeable and, worst of all, the story, if you can identify one, is so sprawlingly boring, it makes the other annoying aspects of the film unbearable. It's not necessarily unrealistic, as you could imagine such a confused and angry person going randomly about her life, but it doesn't make for pleasant viewing.
House of the Dragon (2022)
Predictable and missing all the charm of Martin's dialogue
Game of Thrones, the TV series, was made great, at least the first four to five seasons, by Martin's (and Martin-inspired) amazing, witty and creative dialogue delivered by the wonderful cast. The books are also completely resting on the greatness of interpersonal relationships and dialogue while being essentially quite weak fantasy. In fact, I would go so far and argue that Martin wanted to write books about political intrigue and aristocratic families and added fantasy only as an outer shell to make it more colorful. This is important to understand to see why the later B&W seasons failed miserably - illogical character development, ludicrous storylines and weak, charmless dialogue. House of the Dragon, so far, tries to steer clear of ill logic but delivers the same weak, charmless dialogue. This is understandable because dialogue makes or breaks books, films and TV series and is arguably the most difficult aspect of writing to master. The cast is middling with some real duds like Matt Smith who is appropriately charmless, but also annoying and not nearly menacing enough. Paddy Considine's Viserys is bloodless and uninteresting, Toussaint's Corlys likewise. Milly Alcock's Rhaenyra Targaryen is the only interesting character of the lot, although clearly based on Cersei Lannister and the cliched (but often true) tropes of underestimated and ignored women. What is less understandable to me is the often atrocious CGI. Just go and rewatch the knights' tourney in episode 1 and marvel at the 2-dimensional people in the stands, at times completely warped perspective and ridiculously bad level of detail.
The Baby (2022)
Fresh, new and clever
The series is very fresh and clever making a clear departure from formulaic horror mostly on offer today. The acting is excellent even though the main character is pretty unlikable. The baby (there are two of them in reality) is excellent, expressive, adorable and scary at the same time. The music is very good and follows the story nicely. You can tell the show in not American, because it explores some very unpopular opinions on motherhood and is generally darker and more acerbic than most things coming over the ocean. I guess this is also the reason for its comparatively lower ratings - unlikable main character and a pretty hostile stance on motherhood. Give it a chance - it's creative, original and well executed.
Barry (2018)
A dark comedy with plenty of spirit marred by uneven third season
Barry's excellent first season deftly blends comedy with very dark material, avoiding the usual clichés or owning up to them in creative and fresh ways. The acting is excellent all-round with no one to single out as being too good or bad. The second season continues much in the same vein, but the material is already suffering. The original premise is being milked too hard and loses some luster and charm, but it is still quite fun and better than many of the shows out there. Then comes the third season, and I think the whole creative team completely messes up. They knew they cannot keep doing the same thing three seasons in a row, but they couldn't quite decide what it is they are doing.
Consequently, we get a season that is not very funny but is often so dark and severe that it seems entirely out of place with the previous ones. The actors are still excellent, and even the material is not bad, often it wouldn't be out of place in a psychological horror, but somehow the Barryness of it all is lost, and we are left with stark, barren characters, monsters of their own making inhabiting a cruel and profoundly unfunny world. This can be good stuff, but it's not Barry.
Stranger Things (2016)
First two seasons excellent, third middling, fourth a monster bore
A previously excellent nostalgia exploitation show hit fourth season to rave reviews saying it's dark and serious and still excellent. It's not. First six and a half (of seven) episodes feature mostly teenage angst and high school drama played by men and women who are now all of them too old (some ridiculously so - Joseph Quinn) to seriously represent high schoolers, even failing ones. Ok, that's not such a big deal, although it messes with my immersion. The real problem is a whole lot of nothing on screen. Hopper is stuck in his own version of passion (Christ's kind) with a dull subplot that's slowly going nowhere. "Kids" are fighting "kids" in every way possible, from boring and insignificant drama to ridiculous, overblown vigilantism and mob justice. Fantasy elements are few and far between taking maybe 5 percent of each episode. Horror is rarely present and I cannot believe this is considered dark and sinister by many reviewers. But, probably the worst decision was to make what are essentially nine full feature films with the material for at most two.
Moonfall (2022)
A masterclass on mannequin writing
A truly unique experiment on what would happen if you took a mannequin, threw it at a keyboard many, many times, printed out the result and called it a script. Also, cameras were slapped around, mics thrown about and the main actor got onions rubbed into his eyes at a certain deeply moving junction to moisturize those wooden features. Lovely stuff.
Jackass Forever (2022)
Absolute garbage
Absolute garbage glazed with sadness of seeing geezers performing the same crap they did 20+ years ago without any progress, modifications and certainly no improvement all the while killing themselves with various degrees of speed and success.
Dexter: New Blood (2021)
Excellent and deserving finale to Dexter, finally
Barely went into this thinking they were in it to milk more money in the vein of the pretty awful last seasons of the show's initial incarnation. Couldn't have been more wrong. Simply excellent - good acting from everybody, story leaning on the nostalgia, but fresh, plenty of humor to lighten the grimmer aspects and a fitting ending to the whole saga.
The Wheel of Time (2021)
Simply weak on all levels
Weak CGI, surprisingly so considering shows like Lost in Space and The Expanse with similar money available do much better. Weak adaptation, almost not worth commenting on, but if you expect Jordan's books coming to life, they won't. Extremely weak, uneven and jarring pacing with complex storylines and/or character motivations that would take years of real life to grow, at least an hour of screen time to develop, do so in literal minutes with little explanation and even less emotional impact. And the crowning weakness of the series is its casting and acting - mismatched, weak, flat, wooden and stony - they do all of the above weaknesses no favors and render the series unwatchable for me; too bad for Rosamund Pike whom I love and has recently done some wonderful projects.
Nocturnal (2019)
Shot in 18 days, forgotten in 18 seconds...
It's well that the utter flatness of this film was shot in 18 days and no more time was wasted for everybody involved. The actors are decent enough, but the rest is so dull and unintelligent on every level you can imagine that I cannot recommend it even as a curiosity.
Creepshow (2019)
Ok
Started strong, but very quickly lost charm, CGI quality and decent actors. It is what it is and it aint't much.
Y: The Last Man (2021)
Entertaining enough
It's no masterpiece, slightly stupid, but I find the premise interesting enough, the pace slow but bearable and the actors sufficient. It's a type of series that's a good distraction while waiting for a better one.
Foundation (2021)
Based on grand material but very flat
Based on grand material, the series uses little of it, uses it unwell and changes it randomly, often not for the better. The scenery is grand, CGI spectacular, but it all feels very flat and not engaging. Actors, even the good ones, struggle with the material and there are plenty of middling ones that can't carry it at all.
This is all bad enough, but towards the end of the first season it becomes so full of plot holes, generally unintelligent and just beyond any suspension of disbelief that I think I've had enough of it.
Ojing-eo geim (2021)
An overacted deadly-serious hole in search of a plot
It could have been great - human selfishness exposed through worst excesses of capitalism, emotional struggles and ridiculously tough life and death choices, great sets, plenty of villains and drama.
Instead, it is so unbelievably full of plot holes that it could only work as a parody, perhaps even really well. Unfortunately, Squid Game takes itself more seriously than a 19th century psychiatrist. It oozes heaviness and deep philosophy that its clownishly overacting cast (VIPs are the least of the show's problems) just cannot bear out.
Wolf (2021)
Oh dear sweet pretentious garbage
It's like a joke wrapped in a film, wrapped in bewilderingly bad acting (but honestly, they couldn't have gone anywhere with the script and are mostly at fault for even accepting this allegorical atrocity), wrapped in a terrible story - all wrapped into utter boredom.
The North Water (2021)
Great landscapes and cinematography, decent story, acting leaves a lot to be desired
The series is stunning to watch with lovely cinematography of great landscapes, gorgeous shots of sprawling ice sheets, glaciers and icebergs. It offers a decent story of survival and crime. All in all, it is an OK series, and with proper casting could have been a minor masterpiece, but, unfortunately, acting leaves a lot to be desired.
Starting with Colin Farrell... Just an example of many such unnecessary transgressions - somehow it was decided that his character should be fat. There is absolutely no reason for his character to be fat - it adds nothing to the story, nothing to his backstory, nothing to his psyche, motives, overall character development - nothing at all in any way. He actually worsened his health for no reason. A prime example of a gimmick to hype up his effort. Arguably, he made the character (and himself) worse. He also grunts and grumbles and growls emulating what I call a Tom Hardy school of acting, but it still adds nothing to his character. He plays a sociopath and everything he (or the director or anyone else) added to the role just makes it stupider and less realistic.
On the other hand, the main character played by Jack O'Connell is basically a wooden doll - a mystery wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a riddle - and, therefore, completely uninteresting.
There are some quality character actors among the members of the ship's crew who offer more than the rest, but they do not carry the series.
It is a missed effort that I can closely compare to The Terror (season 1), except The Terror is superbly acted with all the other elements superb as well.
The Terror (2018)
The first season a masterpiece, the second average
A mysteriously ridiculous decision to put two wildly unconnected seasons into a single show. The first one is a minor masterpiece with great story, acting and atmosphere, the second a middling affair at best.
Happy! (2017)
Outstanding, hilarious and absolutely insane
One of the most original shows in recent memory and Christopher Meloni at his very crazy best. It is beyond doubt insane and not for everybody, but if you find yourself in the insanity and humour, you will be very, very happy!
The Green Knight (2021)
Unbelievably pretentious and above all else boring
A film can be slow paced, funny, tragic, fundamentally good or bad, mean, inspiring, simple or complex, even pretentious to a degree, but it should never ever be boring. If it is, the rest of its qualities don't matter. This is one of the most boring films I've ever watched.
The White Lotus (2021)
Incredibly well-made, intelligent and emotional social commentary
Superb writing, casting and subsequent acting mixed with gorgeous and appropriate island music. Stories of many arguably mostly unlikable and certainly flawed characters wonderfully interwoven to depict the real villain of the story - capitalism and modern western life (especially the rich part of its equation). Very intelligent, but also emotional and very real, whether you are rich, poor or anywhere in-between - just a beautiful social commentary.
Hunters (2020)
It walks a fine line and then disintegrates into full trash in the end
It all starts cool, a bit kitschy and trashy, but it manages to kind of walk a fine line between being respectful towards the heavier and more tragic aspects of its story, namely the holocaust, and the more ridiculous theme of vengeance by a ragtag group of misfits. It's fun, the casting is good, the story engaging and then we come to the final episode of season 1... And it all goes full r****d. And everybody knows - you never ever go full r****d. I don't even mean the ridiculous Shyamalanesque twist which can be bought, barely. No, it goes bad so hard and so well that it even manages to rival the final season of Game of Thrones. I don't think the show can recover from this.
Lisey's Story (2021)
An oopsy of galactic proportions
Lisey's story, perhaps amazingly, is Stephen King's favorite book. Or perhaps not so amazingly - an extraordinarily prolific writer who churns out books faster than he can think about them, maybe it shouldn't be surprising that something as bland, slow and dim as this caught his attention - it's unlike most of his works which are at least competently written and often engaging, if rarely intellectually powerful.
Unfortunately, Stephen then decided it should be him to adapt it for television and he did it superbly faithfully - all the dullness, dimwittedness, plodding pace and a gallery of wooden characters have been copied to screen and suffer with us as this non-piece plops along.
No actor could save it, none did. They all stare into nothingness, grimace, point to the unknown and offer inane lines that tie nothing together. The story is so pregnant with remembrances, flashbacks, throwbacks and emotions unsuited for visual representation that there is barely any story conveyed - there was precious little to begin with.
Garbage in, garbage out.
The Courier (2020)
A shockingly average film
There is nothing extremely bad about The Courier, but it is a dull affair. It is formulaic, well-made yet entirely uninspiring. The director couldn't decide whether to stress emotion, politics or action and, in the end, did no favors to any particular aspect of the story.
Coming 2 America (2021)
Tired, unfunny, unnecessary
There is a total of one joke in the film and it is about the unnecessity of making films like this.
Bliss (2021)
Jibber Jabber...
In the immortal words of a certain inane and decrepit judge on Boston Legal - this movie is pure jibber jabber. And of the worst kind - it's full of jibber which it then attempts to explain and/or complement with jabber. It is also exquisitely boring and searingly preachy. It tries to be very creative, comes at issues from too many angles, uses ideas from way too many films and books and unsurprisingly makes for an incoherent mess. Hayek's "wild" and Wilson's stupefied absent-minded cowboy acting do not do it any favors. And, finally, being about addiction somehow makes all of the above even worse.