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Silent_Rocco
Less talk, more feels
Reviews
Don't Worry Darling (2022)
The low critics scores are crazy
What an original ride. Well produced, well acted, with a fantastic soundtrack, beautiful sets, a great mystery, quite a few surprises, and most of all lots of messages and ideas to discuss. This film was a fantastic watch. And I'm shocked about the low scores. Why?!
I'm now just writing to reach the minimum characters needed to publish this review. Do yourself a favor and don't read or watch anything about this film (I went in completely blind), and enjoy the ride.
Olivia Wilde really had to say something. And I'm now a fan of her directing capabilities. Looking forward what she's coming up with next.
Exception (2022)
Loved it from start to finish
I was absolutely enthralled by Exception from the very first to the very last minute. A truly original high-concept science fiction anime with stunning worldbuilding, creative and often intelligent writing, and a stylized and colorful CGI look that I grew to love immediately. Got some Aeon Flux and some Lexx vibes. One of the most interesting and unique shows in a very long time, and I'm happy Netflix got this thing made. The elegiac soundtrack was also very special and constantly created a dream-like atmosphere.
Only writing to reach the the stupid 600 character limit right now (dear team IMDB, please change that).
The Resort (2022)
My favorite show of 2022
This unique show is such a joy to watch. No wonder with all the great talent involved, from Ben Sinclair (High Maintenance) to Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot). The Resort defies genre conventions in the best way possible, which reminded me of the great hidden gem Under The Silver Lake. The Resort is super original, beautiful, intelligent, and wonderfully mysterious. They also managed to finish season one on a very satisfying note. So, if it ends here, I'm more than happy. And if they get to make another season, I cannot wait. Thanks to everyone involved, cast and crew, you created something truly special!
The Book of Boba Fett (2021)
Xena-level TV bore
People in Star Wars costumes standing and talking. No magic, no big cinema moments. Didn't feel anything in the first two episodes, and won't continue watching.
Mandalorian was a hit or miss for me, but showcased some of the best Star Wars minutes since the original trilogy (the first few nihilistic episodes are masterpieces in my eyes).
This one just feels boring, cheap, predictable and without any bit of scifi fairytale magic.
Don't Look Up (2021)
Absolutely brilliant satire
Don't Look Up on Netflix is easily the most relevant film of 2021. An absolutely brilliant satire on the state of our world. Original, brilliantly acted, and bursting with anger, energy and hurtful truth. The high caliber cast clearly came for the script, not the paycheck.
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
1999 vs 2021
In 1999, Matrix was an absolutely mindblowing and utterly singular movie theater experience that will stick with me forever.
In 2021, Matrix Resurrections is a total trainwreck of a b-movie, a badly written and directed mess that was hard to sit through. Please delete it from my memory.
The Green Knight (2021)
My film of the year
I loved everything about this film. And I'm stilling thinking about it, days after having seen it. Easily of my fav fantasy film, and generally the one to beat in 2021. Super unique, stunningly dense and beautiful. Movie magic.
Dune (2021)
Fav half of a movie 2021
Villeneuve's Dune: Part One is as perfect as a book adaptation can be. Personally, I would have wished for more subtleties in the score (but Zimmer is everything but subtle), and I could have lived with a few less of the same Gladiator-style dream sequences. But world-building, production, cast, atmosphere - it's all stuff for ages. A true, bold modern classic.
The only problem: It's simply half a movie. Not a full first movie of a film series, no, seriously just the first half. So, the biggest annoyance now is that we have to wait a couple of years till we can enjoy the whole masterpiece.
Foundation (2021)
Game of Thrones in space
So far, so watchable. The visuals are fantastic and make for an epic worldbuilding. I was really impressed with episode 1. Yet, already the second episode falls a little flat with becoming a tad more soapy than I'd wish, regarding the source material. So yes, so far it's been a great watch, but I sense it will remain an epic, beautiful scifi soap with the source ideas just sitting in the background. TV can be a lot worse, but I wish scifi - especially with this name behind - would dare to go a little further. Will definitely keep watching, but with toned-down expectations.
Annette (2021)
100% Leos Carax
Leave it to Leos Carax to surprise you with a film that's unlike anything you've ever seen before. Annette might end up as my film of the year. I cannot imagine to see anything as bold and creative as Annette in the rest of 2021.
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
Lazy and boring
I was bored throughout. Huge exposition dump at the beginning to outline the rather silly and oversimplistic world, and then they travel the various levels like a computer game. It also didn't help that although portraying Asian cultures, everyone talks like hip modern US teens or street gangsters. I missed some respect towards and appreciation for the film's inspirations. Raya was a boring character and the dragon was often rather annoying and felt like another Aladdin's Genie. Yes, of course the film looks amazing, but that's a given coming from the big studios.
Tribes of Europa (2021)
Couldn't watch this cringe fest
A mess from the very beginning. Costumes, set design, music, acting, dialogs... all just one big cringy mess. And I constantly imagined how the creators probably think that they are super cool. But this is a cheap student's genre fantasy. Nothing more.
She Dies Tomorrow (2020)
Hyptnotizing
I wanted to hate it in the first 15 minutes, with a rather annoying lead doing pretentious things accompanied by cheap lighting effects. But suddenly the film got me and I was thrilled and seriously touched. Hats off to Seimetz and crew! To me, this was a super unique, very affecting journey.
Synchronic (2019)
Loved it
On the surface it's a rather simple scifi drama. Yet, a bold direction (with some extremely beautiful shots, unique cuts and many details), a stunning score and the great chemnistry between the two lead characters elevate this film to something truly special. I was totally absorbed till the end of the credits.
The Mandalorian: Chapter 16: The Rescue (2020)
Cheapest fanservice
As a big fan of the more nihilist western-like episodes (chapter 1 and 2 are masterpieces in my book), this season finale was pretty lousy TV for me. The script was cringy from start to finish. So many flat or overly convenient moments. Introducing Dark Troopers just to make a boring clown show of them, a very well timed guest appearance, who I think every last creature in the Galaxy should know about at this point, the laughable dialog about that the saber has to be earned in battle... and so on. I even found the post credit scene to be kind of horrible.
I know I'm in the minority here, Disney seems to have hit a public nerve and can get away with bad dialog, horrible writing and unimaginative production at this point, as long as they show enough close-ups of Grogu. Chapeau.
Possessor (2020)
One of my favourite films of the year
Loved this nihilist and mostly elegic film from start to finish. The direction is strong, all actors do a fantastic job, the effects are great. It's super brutal, but it fits perfectly to the general depressive mood. This film feels like a long, fantastic and even darker episode of Black Mirror.
One of my favourite films (no matter which genre) of the year.
Dickinson (2019)
Not working for me
Production is fantastic! Yet, the modern-day teen dialog and the period setting are not working together at all for me. Also heavily overacted (Dickinson's mother, for example). It all just feels like constant missteps.
Enola Holmes (2020)
Slighty forced, cold & annoying
It's by no means a really bad movie. But I couldn't get into it. Everything just felt forced and on the nose. Constantly breaking the 4th wall got tedious. And there's not so much to tell apart from the appreciated feminist undertone. The story itself is a mess that needed many tricks to somehow fill the plot holes and become a whole. I kept watching but was constantly uninvested and rather annoyed. Production is good, so try for yourselves.
Biohackers (2020)
Between mediocre and awful
Haven't even finished this show, and need to force myself to do so. Production is good, but the script is so uncreative, lazy and often plain bad. Also some of the acting is ridiculously bad (especially Schwarz, and even more so Xiang). And they do nothing with the show title's topic. You can skip this show and won't miss out on anything special.
Upload (2020)
Rather disappointing
Some great ideas here and there, yet I have so many problems with this show:
Characters are either bland or annoyingly cartoonish, the world building is super lousy in its details (good ideas not thought through everywhere), no chemnistry between the two leads, really bad visual effects, boring mystery plot, only half of the jokes worked for me, the script often feels extremely forced to get to some story beats.
La casa de papel (2017)
I don't get the hype
With a 100% positive critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes and with many of my friends going crazy for it, my opition might not be very popular. But I find La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) to be utterly ridiculous, overly melodramatic and just plain stupid.
Resistance (2020)
Miscast
The film itself is pretty formulaic, neither really bad nor really good. My biggest problem was Eisenberg as a total miscast for young Marcel Marceau. As a professional mime artist, I might be twice as critical here. But his stone face, stiff moves and rapid-fire talking are pretty much the opposite of real Marceau. So I simply couldn't believe his role. So in the end, there is nothing special about this film, apart introducing Marceau's WW2 experiences to an audience that might either never have heard of him or just know him as the world famous mime that he became later.
Freud (2020)
Starts strong, and then I left
The first episodes were a pleasant surprise. Liked the production, the characters and general atmosphere. But ep 5 was bonkers (not in a good way) and ep 6 kept this vibe, so I stopped watching. The "it was just a dream" scenario only works so many times before it's annoying. And being somewhat believable first, all characters started to lose it at some point. Super pity.
The Great Hack (2019)
About nothing less than the death of democracy
Amazing production, and seriously worrying! Everyone crying "left wing propaganda" in here is just showing how well this orchestrated brainwash has been working. I'm worried about the world's future, and this doc shows that free democratic voting simply isn't existing anymore. A must watch!
Madame (2017)
Just awful
One of the worst films I saw (or had to endure) in a very long time. Lousy script, lame filmmaking, horrible characters. Nothing worked for me.