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Squid Game (2021– )
2/10
Battle royale cliche with very few redeeming points
1 November 2021
Overhyped nonsense with a typical K Drama thrown in for good measure.

The story is a carbon copy of several other Netflix shows, including a Japanese tv show from a few years back The acting is way overexaggerated and borderline cheesy The setup is completely nonsensical and the atmosphere in the film, except for a few moments, is poorly done.

The only reason this show got the exposure it got is because of the enormous amount of marketing it received from Korean conglomerates. This was advertised on every bus and taxi in Seoul for months.

If you're going to be copying a typical battle royale formula, at least make it original.
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Free Guy (2021)
1/10
Horrible, Cringey, Waste of time
7 October 2021
This was the clingiest film I've seen in a while and this is coming from someone who's been an online gamer since 1995 Horrible plot, bad acting, weird cameos from youtubers and twitch streamers and a completely unrealistic plot. There is nothing redeeming about this title 1/10.
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Mortal Kombat (2021)
9/10
Anyone who's played Mortal Kombat and enjoyed it, will love this movie
25 June 2021
As someone who spent countless months playing MK1/2 when I was younger, this was a pleasant surprise.

It's a very good adaptation to what the gaming universe of Mortal Kombat probably would be like.

The characters, the personalities, the occasional fatality - all are perfectly executed

One major flaw tho that I felt throughout the movie was that things were just way too rushed. This would have been great as a TV series (think Gotham) that develops each character separately, but as is, is unfortunately too short and just doesn't provide enough satisfaction.

Hopefully they turn this into some sort of a continuation, but even as is, it's pretty great!
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3/10
What a mess...
10 March 2021
This movie fundamentally fails to capture anything about Monster Hunter universe or games and ends being a cheesy hollywood action flick.

It also fails at having a point or knowing what audience it's trying to target. Is this made for action fans? Because the action is sort of bad. Is it for fans of the game series? Because other than surface resemblance there is very little to offer here.

Monster hunter universe, if you've never played the game, is a world of peace and wonder with mysterious monsters showing up once in a while and causing havoc - they are not really terrifying nor are they meant to illicit fear by murdering anyone - they are fearsome beasts meant to illicit respect and a sense of awe. This on the other hand presents them as terrifying murderous beasts that go on rampage murdering everything. That's complete nonsense As a big fan of the series, I was very disappointed with this title, despite being a fan of the actors and generally enjoying the acting. The film as a whole is a mess
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The Witcher (2019– )
4/10
Disappointing, Confusing, Not for the fans of Witcher game series
9 April 2020
If you're coming into this after playing the Witcher series, you're probably going to really dislike this. As someone who's played all 3 titles and indulged in the lore presented in the game I was quite confused but not only what was happening on the screen but also bedazzled at how everything many of us loved about the game was completely absent from the series. The story is very bland, it deals with some prequel like events that are supposed to teach us about the characters in the game, but the execution, the acting, the story and the setting are poorly executed. The worst part about the series is the progression where a next scene could be a flashback from years ago or a scene from the future and there is absolutely nothing to establish the scene or the characters. I really don't think I'll be watching this past season 1 and even that season was very difficult to finish.

I'd have to give this 4/10 on par with some of the worst game-to-movie remakes.

Very disappointing
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First Man (2018)
10/10
One of the best films I've seen in decades
17 June 2019
I'm a huge space nerd and have created a space related business out of my passion. I also have thoroughly studied most major space missions and know most of the details of the Apollo 11 mission pretty well. But I also was not born American, nor do I have an annoying patriotic streak in me or the need to justify every action by putting hashtags after every tweet.

Having said all that, this was bar none one of the best space movies I've seen in decades.

It is made with passion, detail, love and incredible focus on human condition as opposed to trying to make a political statement. There are no attempts to put down one nation or another or to try to create an image of something that many Americans want to believe. No, this movie follows a man, the First Man, the man whose family life became a part of the story and it's a story that needed to be told.

Armstrong's sons from what I understand approved of everything the movie was trying to tell and were very proud of the image that was created of their father. And in all honesty, no one else's opinion on the matter really matters. The movie was about their dad, it was a biopic more so than anything else and it did an incredible job of delivering the emotions of a grieving father with a tough mission ahead.

I absolutely loved every moment and definitely thought that the portrayal of Buzz Aldrin was spot on as well. He's always been a controversial character (sued his own kids, what a great family) and honestly his miniscule role in the film was the right choice.

This is a must see for anyone into space, into human drama or anyone who enjoys watching an incredible journey of a man in pain. It didn't do well in the box office, but I'm sure it'll turn into a timeless masterpiece.

10/10
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Game of Thrones: The Bells (2019)
Season 8, Episode 5
4/10
Huge let down after years of incredible story telling
14 May 2019
The last season of the show has been a huge let down so far I was really disappointed with how the first two episodes just rambled on just to give us an extremely hard to follow battle with extremely dark scenes that were hard to see. And that ending to the whole Night King saga? I've never been as disappointed in GoT as that. It turned an incredible show into a hollywood silliness.

This episode specifically was a bitter sweet experience. On the one hand you get incredible visually rewarding battle scenes and excellent fights, but on the other, the more important hand, you get sudden abrupt ending to several important character arcs that just left everyone dissatisfied.

Overall, I really disliked season 8 so far and am genuinely worried about how the series will end with the next episode
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3/10
I wouldn't recommend this
25 March 2019
I'm not entirely sure what type of audience this is meant for because people that have followed Winston's work on YouTube will be shockingly surprised by how positive and to some extent "fake" this video is in comparison to his regular YT videos. As a matter of fact, I felt it was somewhat hypocritical of him and very misleading to the people watching this documentary that the topics he covered in it were then dissected and criticized in his regular YouTube videos. He goes into a lot of detail on the channel and essentially bashes a lot of the stuff he did regular Winston style. And it's not that he's wrong, it's just...misleading - why not mention it in this title? Why not be honest with your viewers?

So the thing about Winston's videos is that they are generally quite biased and somewhat one sided. You can kind of get a taste of what this will be like by watching his YouTube videos. His take on China has always been: "don't get my wrong, I love China" but always involved various types of somewhat negative criticisms, not all wrong of course, but also some of which anyone with Chinese background would probably hate him for.

Imagine a Chinese guy comes to your country, finds the worst your country has to offer and goes on Youku(Chinese YouTube) and exposes it for all China to see, pretty much being disgusted by it while politely replying in your language that he loves it. That's kind of the nutshell of a lot of his videos, but strangely and somewhat misleadingly not this one.

In this video, he's presenting a positive view of the fringe culture in China and I was genuinely surprised but not in a good way. Simply because this was so much different from the regular Winston videos I'm used to on YouTube, I actually ended up finding this title boring.

And unlike some other travel documentary makers out there, unfortunately, Winston is also not very knowledgeable either. It feels like he does only surface research prior to writing the script and knows little about the world outside of his bubble. It worked well as an opinion piece when all he did was YouTube videos because that's how YouTube works, but once you start making documentaries and want to present the world to people, I don't think it's fair to have the same approach.

The only part I really enjoyed, was seeing Naomi who I highly respect for what she does, but there was not enough of her work and it was such a short and simple expose that it was totally pointless at the end. I would have preferred to see some of the cool stuff she has going.

Would I recommend this? Not for the price and not for his YouTube fans. This is so different from his regular stuff that I genuinely didn't really enjoy it.

I would recommend this to someone who wants to watch a video about Chinese fringe topics and some interesting offbeat science research, but because it was so random and so disconnected, I don't think it's really worth it at the end.

If you want more Naomi stuff, go check out her channel, her content is stellar. If you want to see what this video is like, watch some of his videos first.

Not really worth your time or money in my opinion.

Giving it some stars for good camera shots in some parts, but taking away a lot of stars for the overall presentation and the unusual disconnected themes presented. This would have been so much better as a separate episode for each city, instead of a mishmash of several cities and random stuff from each.
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2/10
Another Chinese action blockbuster - but probably won't appeal to the west
21 March 2019
To be honest, I didn't have much expectation going into this and wanted to see what this new wave of Chinese movies has to offer and once again was a bit disappointed just like I was with Operation Red Sea.

In short, I think this would only appeal to Chinese audience and/or someone used to the style of movies produced by the Chinese directors, but I feel this needs to be elaborated a bit more.

The Wondering Earth is essentially a sci-fi space action movie reminiscent of films like Armageddon and Deep Impact where some sort of a disaster threatens Earth in some way. China took it up a level of course and decided to include a few highly unrealistic scenarios such as a suddenly expanding sun (which in some sense they link to the idea of climate change, which to me is almost a political statement rather than something scientific) threatens everyone on Earth.

Solution? Relocate Earth - this is what you should have gotten from the basic movie description and the trailer as well. And it's pretty much what the movie is about. Except of course it's filled with absolutely ludicrous plot twists, horrible science confusing timeline and - this is actually why I really didn't like the movie - jerky, hectic action scenes that are very hard to follow. On top of that, all of the action in the movie is absolutely not necessary and does not add to any of the plot progression and pretty much every death in the film was completely unnecessary. If this wasn't enough, The Wondering Earth is full of character and racial stereotypes and a lot of political pro-China statements that some people may find offensive.

Overall, this movie is maybe fun to watch with a group of friends over a few beers to laugh at the ridiculousness of the premise and how it's executed - especially the final resolution that "saves the Earth". But anyone genuinely interested in good sci-fi based on at least somewhat realistic science (think The Expanse) - do yourself a favor and save 2 hours of your life - it's totally NOT worth it.
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Family Guy: Trump Guy (2019)
Season 17, Episode 11
10/10
They've outdone themselves
22 January 2019
I'm Canadian and I don't like to get in the whole politics thing, but this episode revitalized the show. The fight scene that has been previously done million of times, was absolutely incredible, but most importantly, the writers went ahead and said everything we were all thinking for the longest time - Trump is a joke and deserves to be made fun of.

If you're a Republican reading this and are offended by this episode you need to reassess your own conviction. Trump is neither Republic nor Democrat - he's a selfish, self-promoting, nihilist who doesn't care which side he joins as long as he's the center of attention.

best...episode....ever
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10/10
An excellent Brazilian movie
14 September 2013
An incredible title with just enough romance and action to satisfy everyone!

+Great cinematography and selection of music

+Amazing acting

+Excellent pace and story progression

Brazilian Western will surprise you and will leave you wanting more. The visual style and the presentation in this movie was exceptionally well done and I would definitely recommend this to people that want to give Hollywood a break.

Great overall!

10/10
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Person of Interest (2011–2016)
5/10
Mediocre, repetitive, ultimately boring.
19 July 2012
I had really high hopes for this show, especially after reading some of the comments here, but in the end was very disappointed after watching the first season of Person of Interest.

Firstly, I have a feeling that the producers of this show are conflicted about which direction to take it. Sometimes it plays out as a not-so- dramatic police drama, sometimes it tries to be a spy show and other times it's a cheesy thriller. In the end though, it's a very bad mix of great genres, done badly.

Also, throughout the entire season, the producers decided to rehash the same few tricks used over and over again. Some of which made me want to stop watching altogether

The show becomes so predictable that after watching a few episodes, it's quite easy to guess what's going to happen.

All of the dramatic or suspenseful moments are ruined with constant deus-ex like divine interventions that make no sense or simply ridiculous resolutions such as gun set on safety or a person being shot from the back at just the right moment.

On top of that, most episodes have exactly the same story progression and sudden twists that not only make little sense, but are sometimes so ridiculous that they made me laugh out loud. Yes, they tried to make the show less predictable, but using plot reversals every second episode is just stupid.

Finally, both main characters are emotionless androids. The drama and the suspense is just not there because for the main part of the show, both characters have a flat expression on their faces and have absolutely no expressions. I admit that technically, both of their characters are supposed to be "robotic", a computer nerd and a special ops secret agent, but for the show as a whole, making both partners will only ruin its appeal to the audience.

In the end, I really wished for this show to be a better version of Burned Notice, but unfortunately, it can't. It's so bad that I had trouble finishing some of the episodes due to the repetitiveness and clichés used throughout.

If it does continue into the second season, I hope they change their production team because the current guys have no imagination.
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7/10
Daniel did well, but as a horror title, this movie...sucks
1 March 2012
I'm a huge horror movie fan and was looking forward to this title.

Unfortunately, I got really disappointed with The Woman in Black for two main reasons: it's predictable, it uses tons of clichés.

First, the storyline is reminiscent of so many other movies out there. The first few moments were quite original and I expected a few twists here and there, but as I continued to watch the film, I realized that I'm in for a big disappointment.

Daniel does a good job in delivering his role, but the support characters are strange and out of place and the entire premise seems badly developed. The ending was quite predictable as well and to be honest, it could have been done SO much more interesting and scary.

Second, all of the "scary" scenes are not only very easy to anticipate, but they were almost literally copies from other ghost movies. The mirror ghost scenes, the screaming face scenes and a plethora of others were all blatantly copied. Unlike intense psychological horror movies or movies that use anticipation and the fear of the unknown (REC, Exorcist, Paranormal Activity), Woman in Black employs cheap thrills with the excessive use of atmospheric music, sound and special effects.

Overall, Woman in Black is not a horrible movie, but if you're a horror movie fan and have seen your share of films, you'll be thoroughly disappointed by this title.

It's quite predictable, uses simple scare tactics and dare I say...boring?

7/10
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10/10
WOAH! Incredible in every manner
29 February 2012
This film deserves a MUCH higher score. It's one of the best movies I've seen in years.

Very well developed characters and storyline and amazing acting/plot.

I was a little upset in the beginning and thought the movie will turn out to be cheesy, but it really takes hold on you after a few initial disappointments and doesn't let go until the end.

Buttler fits the unstable "born again, dead again" character extremely well and delivers an extremely believable performance.

What really makes this movie stand out is its non-stop change of pace. It goes from slow and peaceful to hardcore Rambo action, but does so in a very creative way.

Definitely a must see and definitely a masterpiece!
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The Grey (2011)
6/10
Grey will make you feel...grey
28 February 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Grey is a perfect title for this movie because that's how you'll fell after watching it. You won't hate it nor will you love it...it will feel grey.

Although the storyline is somewhat original, the story development is quite bad. Between the completely useless flashbacks, which really don't lead anywhere, and the constant factual mistakes, the movie just feels like dragging on for two hours. There is nothing particularly spectacular about Grey and though I liked Lian Neeson's character, he just seemed a bit over the top. He acted well and had a few good scenes, but it was just too cheesy at times.

The biggest disappointment was the plethora of factual mistakes that would bedazzle anyone who's ever watched National Geographics. Here are few obviously "duh, facepalm" moments that I experienced while watching Grey: -Arctic wolves, especially alpha males, are white, not black or grey. Wolves don't change color, unlike arctic hare or fox. -Surviving a plunge in icy arctic waters is close to impossible, especially if there's no fire nearby. No matter how tough and Irish you are. -Wolves are NOT the only predators that hunt for revenge. They hunt for survival and have no concept of revenge. Anyone who's ever read Moby Dick should know what vengeance is a human emotion.

Overall, Grey was an okay movie. It's worth watching once, but you'll probably forget about it after a few days. Average acting, subpar plot and character development, cheesy factual mistakes and unsatisfying ending is unlikely to leave a substantial mark on the history of cinematography. Chances are you'll fall asleep too.

6/10
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Hitman (I) (2007)
4/10
Overdone. Not true to the game.
2 February 2008
Having read the reviews and seen the score on IMDb I decided to give this a chance. I played every Hit-man game and love the series and was really hoping for something enjoyable. In the end, I was quite disappointed because despite being a good action movie, it didn't have all the little things I knew and loved Hit-man series for.

The game is known for character's ability to infiltrate and deliver silent kills rather than swish his gun around and shoot everything that moves while fighting on swords and jumping off balconies. The action in the movie just didn't give the game any justice.

The choice of the protagonist was simply not right as well. Timothy, though a good actor, just wasn't right to be the 47. His babyface ruined the mysterious feel of the Agent and the excess of nudity was simply too superfluous.

The lack of silent approach, fibrewire, knock outs and other little things that made playing Hit-man and making it to Silent Assassin status fun, were all absent from the movie.

Overall, the film concentrates too much on pleasing the ADHD crowds and excess of action rather than staying true to the game series. This would have worked with the Tomb Raider, but not Hit-man.

4/10
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Evan Almighty (2007)
4/10
A good family movie, far from being 'haha' funny.
20 July 2007
Although I enjoy Steve Carrell's work, Evan the Almighty, like so many other overdone films turned out to be a lot worse than I hoped it would be.

This turned out to be a cheesy family movie, the kind that employ famous comedian to improve their image, but ultimately fail to deliver.

The usual Carell's dorky humour is almost absent from the movie and though he did make me chuckle a few times, there was nothing hilarious about him in Evan the Almighty.

His 3 kids, although were probably somehow important for a biblical character, were really quite useless in the movie and terrible actors. Even his wife, was somewhat of a third leg for such a simple storyline.

Spending so much money on making a comedy was a huge mistake. Although, Carell's career might profit from this movie, there's no real reason to go see it.

If only there was a little less of his family, a little more of Carell, Molly Shannon and maybe some other SNL cast, it could have actually been a lot more entertaining.

4/10 for a few chuckles here and there.
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1/10
incredible crap
2 July 2007
OK, for about 10 minutes now I was trying to find something nice about the movie to start my review positively. I couldn't...so I'll just summarize the negatives:

-awful acting -terrible storyline -amateur camera work -they even screwed up the music in this one -why is there SO MUCH alcohol in this movie?

I'm sure this was probably one of the least successful film financially this year, since they decided to use top of the line actors and had no idea what they were doing.

1/10 because it wouldn't let me give this a 0
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6/10
It's okay if you're just going to watch it once.
12 May 2007
Hannibal Rising was not particularly brilliant and could have probably done a lot better.

my main concern is with the script itself which seems to add a lot of material that just was not necessary (e.g. kendo practice and Bushido code which was definitely never a part of Hannibal's mentality) and exclude a lot of things that we discover about Hannibal in Silence of the Lambs and sequels. Although this movie does try to juggle the idea of how a twisted person like Hannibal Lector came to be and what must have happened to him in the childhood, I definitely didn't feel satisfied and frankly, it was way too mellow in general. The most gruesome thing we see him do is nothing compared to what he does later on.

Also, the profile itself is completely off the real profile of a serial killer. The trauma that we see him experiencing in the childhood would have never made him what he was in sequels. trying to justify a creation of serial killer through 'vengeance' is just ludicrous. It's not the mentality that we find in so many cases of serial killers we know today.

And although the directing was okay, I thought it could have been done much more spectacular, seeing how subsequent movies are a lot better.

overall, this is worth a watch just for the sakes of watching. But I wouldn't make this a collector's movie and would probably never even bother buying a DVD.
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300 (2006)
9/10
Another incredible comic book adaptation
4 April 2007
What most people don't realize is that this film is based on Frank Miller's comic book and is made specifically to mimic the comic's general feeling. Just like the other movie that was based on his comics, Sin City, 300 is trying to capture the comic book and deliver it into another medium.

Just like Sin City, it does a good job in doing that. The film looks incredible. The visuals are stunning and everything that people might have enjoyed in Frank Miller's animation is recreated in 300.

The film does not claim nor even tries to be historically accurate, representing Persians as evil disfigured beings, but it still does a great job for Hollywood in presenting us with a heroic battle of epic proportions. I think if you are going in to see this movie with some sort of a historical expectation, you are not going to enjoy it at all. Similary, if you end up over-analyzing this, you might end up thinking this is some sort of an anti-Iran propaganda, which it is definitely not (but which did add some extra publicity to the movie). This is nothing more than an adaptation of a comic book and a really good one too. Watch it with an open mind and you will love this movie a lot.

9/10 for great visual effects and incredible new cinematic techniques.
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Stay (I) (2005)
9/10
Am I...dead?
25 March 2007
People say that the moments before you die, your life flashes before your eyes like a sort of a movie where you are the protagonist. This is one of those movies, a story of Henry Leathem and his final moments of truth. Directed by Marc Forster in a very dream like artistic style, Stay presents its viewers with a row of possibilities and different twists that keep us guessing until the end. Although not particularly spectacular in either acting nor storyline, the film visual presentation is quite incredible and some of the shots are done absolutely amazing. As for the actors, this is not the best role either Watts or McGregor had in their career, but they are not bad. It is difficult to ask cast for performance genius in a film where visual arts are at its core, but since this movie starts out as a normal drama, they could have done a more realistic job.

9/10 for original storyline and great camera work
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Tampopo (1985)
10/10
Yummy
21 March 2007
Tampopo is an extremely clever and a very original movie. Like so many other Japanese films before it, Tampopo may not entirely appeal to the western public, but it is by far the most accessible movie I've seen in years.

It is hard to define this film as anything but a story of life through culinary perspective. Major aspects of our every day experience are looked at by introducing food into them, sometimes resulting in a very comical effect. From the first scene, to the last few moments, you will probably be amazed by sheer originality of this movie. Simply coming up with ideas they came up with takes a unique and incredibly approach. Something that has never been done before.

In a sense, I can only compare Tampopo's approach at making us 'taste' what we see with a 2006 film Perfume which managed to describe olfactory experiences with as much success. But unlike Perfume, Tampopo also juggles around few other interesting movie genres just for the fun of it. If you watch carefully, you will begin to see western elements, gangster movie and even a police crime, all in one movie. They might not seem connected at first, but they will make sense in due time.

Overall however the side stories are only there to keep us interested in the main event.

If you thought that tasting things in cinema is impossible, wait till you see Tampopo.

10/10 for great cast, humour, story and acting.
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24 (2001–2010)
6/10
Original at first, quite shallow and repetitive now
20 March 2007
This started as a really good series and the first few seasons were quite incredible and unpredictable. Unfortunately after the fourth season this show turned into an incredibly silly TV show. The characters are revisited in the most ridiculous way, such as election of David Palmer's (black) brother, the storyline and twists are silly and the fact that some of the events portrayed are happening over a period of 2-3 hours is completely ludicrous. Jack Bauer is tortured for 2 years and as soon as he is released, and is fighting evil in what we are led to believe is about 40 minutes time.

Even the emotional response and reaction of people after a major terrorist attack is absolutely ridiculous. Twenty minutes later nobody even remembers it anymore. Overall, I think like so many other shows before it, it has finally lost it and is really not worth bothering with anymore. The first 4 seasons are still quite good and original and might entertain you if you're the first comer to the world of Jack Bauer.

6/10
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10/10
The world of wonder at our feet
13 March 2007
This is an ingenious documentary about creatures of this world we often forget exist. It features amazing camera work, incredibly realistic, life like colours, mesmerizing scenes, good selection of music and even a sort of a storyline like progression for each episode that make this mini TV series by far the best wildlife documentary I have ever seen. David Attenborough doesn't just make us clearly understand the complexities of life in general, but also relates many things that we witness to human experience. Struggle, formation of societies, communication and continuity of life are amongst the main ideas he presents, but espionage, war, theft, deceit and even anarchy, and breakdown of order are also present. He really does go far and wide to present us with an extremely rich experience of the miniature world beneath our feet. Such an incredible amount of footage from all over the world, shot with such an incredible skill left me amazed. I couldn't wait to get my hands on more of his movies, just to see what else I could learn from such an interesting man and definitely a great teacher.

10/10 for a perfect cinematographic creation.
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9/10
Love through death
11 March 2007
The Painted Veil presents us with a remarkable combination of actors, setting and drama. The characters of Edward Norton and Naomi Watts play the simplest possible roles they could have had - a spoiled princess and a doctor living in a bubble - but only their remarkable skill as actors could give these characters so much life. From the start, the grandiose landscape of China and the first few moments of the movie guarantee that this is going to be quite a different piece of cinema. Unusual, confusing, terrifying even, it engulfs us as we are thrown into the lives of two people that grow to love each other and learn the painful truth about the world around us.

And although this movie is really, quite excellent, I was still left slightly unsatisfied with certain moments in it. The portrayal of early 20th century China is somehow incomplete. The few moments shown and few pieces of information given are not enough to make the viewer realize the morbid feeling of impending doom and chaos that was quite common in that period. Some scenes left me with unanswered questions, others left me wondering why they even occurred. And most of all, there was a certain lack of time perception; it was quite difficult to say how long has passed between the scenes and often what felt only like days, would later turn out to be months in the movie. This problem with continuity of the plot though probably unintentional, has however made a movie even more enjoyable as we as viewers share a certain sense of confusion and almost feel lost in translation as to what exactly is going on.

Overall, this is a great movie staring two of my most favorite actors and although they are not going to get Oscar for any of the performance in it, they still did an incredible job. 9/10
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