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The Americans (2013)
Almost perfect, really!
I put this one off for years, because I feared it would be some unoriginal show about how great the Americans are (were) and how evil the Russians. I know: where on earth did I get that idea?
Out of boredom, I eventually gave an episode a try... and four weeks later, I have watched all six seasons. That doesn't happen very often to me, because I'm hard to convince to spare some 40-100 hours of my life just to watch the last episode of something. The last time I did that was with Lost... yup... now you know why I don't do that anymore ;-)
Admittedly, this is not a perfect show. There are plotholes (minor ones), sometimes the characters do stuff, that you don't 100% understand etc. But that's really minor, if you don't look closely, could be that you miss it altogether. What threw me off more that I would have thought though, is Kerri Russels "smoking". She doesn't inhale, i.e. She puffs. While I totally get, that smoking is extremely unhealthy and should be avoided at all cost, there are so many (esp. In the later episodes) scenes and closeups, where her character is smoking, and it looks like a kid imitating and adult each and every time. I wonder, if there couldn't have been a better solution with this. CGI-smoke, cutting away, just something that wouldn't break the immersion like a supposedly chain-smoking, tough-as-nails Russian spy puffing cigarettes like a 12-year-old.
But that might be just something that bugs me. Otherwise, this show is nothing short of awesome. There is nod "bad Russians" vs "lovely Americans" going on here. It's too clever for cliches like that. This show is about a lot of things. Family, marriage, political systems, blind patriotism, obedience, sacrifice, moraility, difficult choices etc. The thing I liked most about it was that it leaves you with the feeling that both ways of life, Capitalist and Communist have their appeal. There is no judgement in the way of "Communism failed, the USSR failed, we won, because we were better". It even leaves you with the question if this life we live right now, with 25 different coffee brands in the supermarket and a new cellphone every 18 months really makes us happy.
Bottom line: not perfect, but most highly recommended!!!
Hypnotic (2023)
Could have been... but isn't...
The first two thirds of the movie are really hard to watch. The dialogue is blunt as hell and the plotholes abysmally deep. Of course that can be attributed to the bad screenwriting of the Division. They are not professional screenwriters, don't have continuity people, noone with experience going over their script etc. Etc. So the script is naturally very amateurish. I could live with that. I'd even call it a courageous experiment. Letting the audience go through a pretty stupid wringer, only to surprise them with a logical explanation. There could have even been jokes about Affleck's character not seeing the holes in the plot.
If the last third would have had a really strong change in the quality of the script, the logic, the characters, the dialogue... this could have been a cool movie. But that doesn't happen. It stays blunt, pointing out the obvious, overly dramatic.
What I keep asking myself, whenever I watch a movie like this: isn't there a point where experienced actors like Affleck (not a fan), Braga (like her a lot), Haley, Fichtner, Fahey (like all three of them) or a director who did Sin City goes "nah... we can't do this... need to rewrite"? I mean, there are a ton of people on the set who were part of great movies... how can they all be so blind not to see what's happening? I'm not in the industry, so I really don't know. Is it like they sign a contract and after that, they just follow the script no questions asked? Really? I mean, they're all gonna get a lot of crap for this thing, aren't they? I'm at a loss... However: if you haven't seen it and think to yourself "what can go wrong with this cast, this director and the interesting premise?"... forget it. It really is that bad...
Renfield (2023)
At least a 7, if they hadn't...
...cast Awkwafina... Watch the scene where she walks away from her sister (like 10min? Into the movie). If you don't see what I mean: good for you, more fun that way :-)
But if you do see it, you'll probably also notice the overacting in every scene she's in... wow... long time since I've seen a single actress/actor botch up this bad, in a movie, where literally, down to the thugs who die after 10 seconds delivers! How??? I would get it, if the other were as bad, but that's absolutely not the case! Cage (especially, he basically makes good on what Awkwafina botches), Hoult, Schwartz, everyone does a really nice job. So wouldn't the other actors say something? Or maybe even... the director?
However: the script is funny and weird, Cage is definitely the funniest Dracula to date (!), the CGI are pretty much ok, basically everything works, if it wasn't for...
65 (2023)
Man...
... what a waste of a ton of money, talent and time. By talent I mean Driver, who should get another agent, maybe? I mean, do actors read the script before signing up for a movie? This is just so lazy, I can't believe it... I feel whenever the director wanted to make sure, even the last idiot in the audience gets what's going on, Driver's scan/map device starts talking. What happened to show, don't tell? Then there's about every cliche, you've ever encountered... wild animals, dark caves, quicksand, tree drops, literally about everything you've seen a ton of times. And there's no originality in how the protagonists overcome those obstacles... just nothing... it seems someone has googled the most used solutions and the written them down. Oh yeah and jump scares anyone? Who wants to see those anymore? I'm not gonna star about the personal stake Driver's character has... it's so worn-out that I can't bear to describe it. Also I don't want to spoil anything... well, maybe I should... to save you from watching this.
The Batman (2022)
Imperial March anyone?
Apart from this one being way too long, it misses some really big chances at being the dark movie it should be. The romance between Batman and Catwoman was one of those chances... didn't like the cheesiness (sunrise anyone?) of it. But that would have been fine, I could've looked around that. What really got me though is the score... I'm constantly hearing a cheap ripoff of the great John William's Imperial march (Star Wars). Add a few notes to the main theme and you have it... really bothered me and kept me from immersing into the story. It's like hearing someone playing Imperial March but not getting it right...
Castle (2009)
Fun, easy to watch...
... the leads do a good job, it's not completely stupid (well it's not genious either, if you're looking for realistic or deep, look somewhere else, this is popcorn fun) and I enjoyed it -a lot -so far (a little more than three seasons, so 50 episodes), but what starts to really bug me: every two or three episodes someone says "shut the front door"... I get the american prudeness, not a fan, but I get it. If you use four letter words, you're facing later airtime, losing family friendlyness, blablabla... like I said: get it. But then why the hell not just write around it instead of using such an unbelievably cheesy way to say something you're not supposed to say??? Urgh...
Willow (2022)
How do these people get (and keep) their jobs???
Im not in the movie or TV business but I think this goes for any business... If you take a perfectly fine product (and let's be honest: Willow wasn't a cinematic masterpiece, it was a really decent movie, but that it was, definitely) and pour in something that your marketing guys tell you, tests well (teenage drama, high-school- level usage of the word "like", of course you need to senselessly put a drop of LGBTQ there), that is by far not making a good show! How can you not know that? Who approved this, I ask myself... there must have been a lot if people involved and noone went "guys, let's not do this, it' really bad"? Instead, it feels to me they went "wow, this is like awesome, like really awesome, like"... I gave this three stars, because cinematography and visual effects were very good, but the script and the acting (I think it might also be direction, because I don't remember Warwick David annoying me that much with constant overacting in the movie) are so bad, one star would have been too much. What a waste... the premise was there, it should have been easy to make this a good show...
Wednesday (2022)
If it wasn't for Jenna Ortega...
... I would have skipped this after E4 (the one with the extremely cheesy highschool dance)... The series has much promise, but dabbles WAY too much in teeny soap. Jenna kept me watching, she's got a ton of charisma in this role... BUT: then they take away all that by evolving her character from everything that makes her interesting to just another girl infatuated with the handsome artsy guy... who then hands her an Iphone for saving his life... that's bad on so many levels... This series could have set a counterpoint to mainstream, instead the protagonist falls in line. If there's a second season and it picks up where this one left us, I'm out...
Belly of the Beast (2003)
You'll become bulimic over this!!!
What you get here is 38 Bullets with one stripe of ammo, the worst-acting-ever-world-record and the beastly belly of Mr. "Bud-Spencer of the 90's" Steven Seagal. Then there is the script. Anyone watch the thug in the market slip on a tomato, fall and then ACCIDENTALLY slide headfirst into a knife????? Did they legalize cocaine in Hollywood??? Anyone watch Seagal jump through the paper-thin wooden wall of the train while shooting, what, 20 rounds out of a single pistol, killing 3 men(all this in 3,5 seconds!!!)??? Seagal's films used to be so stupid that one could find some entertainment laughing about them, but this is so bad, it only makes you wanna pass out, so you can stop barfing over your sofa.
How to Deal (2003)
Just how corny can dialogue get?
The story itself isn't too bad. It might even have worked if not for what might challenge for the title of worst dialogue in film history. Those words come right out of some second rate teen magazine photo love story. The cast is not much better but even if they were, there's nothing to save here. You on the other hand can save your time and money and go watch some decent movie. Bad enough, that I had to endure this torture. 3/10 (and that's really friendly)
White Oleander (2002)
Strongest Performance
Not having read the book, i can only comment on the movie. To keep it short: i have not seen such strong performances by either Pfeiffer or Zellweger in a long time (Fabulous Baker Boys), if ever. I did not know Alison Lohman before WO. I can only say she is as good as any of the two mentioned before. As for the Story i must say it is a little too much sometimes, you can't identify or suffer with Astrid because the drama gets too thick. But again: very strong performances, go see it!
High Fidelity (2000)
Even better than the book
I've never seen a movie that excels the book that it's based on. Except for this one. And i have to say that the book is really great. The Cast is so perfectly chosen, their acting is so fantastic that the characters you imagined reading the book seem pale and boring. Furthermore the main monologue in the movie really beats the #### out of it's written equivalent. Watch this flick, NOW!!! ;)