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bragharun-1998
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Reviews
Bajo sospecha (2014)
Absolutely loved it!
I must admit I didn't expect Bajo Sospecha to be half as good when I started watching it - but pretty soon it had me hooked!
The two seasons are pretty different from each other, in my opinion, with the second being better. The first one, although it had a pretty engaging plotline, failed in the character development department. Instead of making us identify with the detectives, it invested a lot in the characters of the family, the suspects, which for me was a mistake, as they would always be doubted by the viewer.
However, the first season set up a pretty good foundation for the second one, especially in its depiction of undercover work. In the second season we were used to the way Victor and his partner would work and the massive expansion of the suspect (and victim) list was challenging, but not difficult to follow. The character development in the second season is totally different from the first, and excellent, I believe. Things get much more personal.
However, I loved both seasons, because at the very least they kept me on the edge of my seat and the twists were endless. The first one won me because of the singular mystery, while the second one relied more on character development (still the mystery was very hard to solve until the last episode or two). To this I'd like to add the excellent performances of all actors in both seasons. I couldn't identify one weak link in any of the major characters. My personal favourite, other than Victor, was a certain character common between the seasons, who reappeared entirely unexpectedly in the second season to become a main character.
Gran Hotel (2011)
Totally Addictive
Amazing show, one of the best out there! I absolutely love the plot, with all the mysteries constantly in the air, and of course the love story between Julio and Alicia. While it might appear cliche, at first, the notion dissipates immediately. The mystery, seemingly simple, never turns out how you'd expect it and it's masterfully handled. The romance, common enough, is still deeply moving and interesting. The whole series is seeped in blood, however it's not heavy at all. All the actors, lead and supportive, are great.
For those who have watched it, the first couple of seasons are definitely about what happens "when the lights go out".
In my opinion, it might be better than Downton Abbey. It's definitely more "mystery and thriller", but what makes it better for me are the characters; I definitely found myself identifying more with Julio, Alicia and the rest, than I did with the central characters of Downton Abbey. It's a different show, what makes them appear similar is the setting (close time periods and the juxtaposition of the rich owners/aristocrats and the servants).
Warning: this show definitely calls for late nights, if not all-nighters, for me at least. It's not just the cliffhangers or simply wanting to find out what happens next, but also the fact that the episodes average 1hr 20mins each, which definitely put me out of schedule. Whenever I said "come on, it's still early, let's watch another episode" I ended up sleeping much later than I intended. Not that I minded at all.
Death Note (2017)
Death Note Only In Name
This movie is not just untrue to the original series, it spits in the face of the classic anime. Death Note the anime is a tribute to the eternal dispute about justice and the death penalty and who (if anyone) has the right to bring justice to others. The movie completely discards all the valuable source material to create shallow characters that literally no one cares about, when in fact both Light and L have huge fan bases. One of the greatest assets in the series is the mind games between Light and L, something that is not only not shown in the movie -- in the movie we don't even get that Light is a genius!! And don't even get me started on the fact that Light is not Light, character-wise. He's all but Light. Anime Light would never ever do the things that Movie Light does. And who the hell is Mia? The trailer led us to think she would be some sort of replacement for Misa, but she's nothing like Misa, and she's also a poorly written character (we don't know her motives, we don't know anything about her). But the worst of all is that as an anime fan I was hoping that this movie may inspire people who don't watch anime to go watch the original series at least. If I were someone who'd never seen the anime and only watched this movie, I'd never try the anime. The movie is not inspiring, it is nothing but a poorly written cheap thriller. Shameful. PS. 2* just for Willem Defoe's Ryuk. The only one worth his screen time.