johny_walker_blacklabel Reviews

The Bear: Fishes (2023) Season 2, Episode 6

Michelin star entertainment

[10/10 · 29 June 2023]

I knew the bear had so much potential from the first season and I was willing to bet it will get better and better. This episode proves it without a doubt. This is a great show.

What an insane ride of an episode that was. I don't think I've ever watched a tv episode about a family that felt so real. I started thinking that I would be exactly like the guy with the glasses, cracking jokes and trying to lighten the mood. Like I was there. Every newly introduced character acted and talked exactly like you would feel they do. I don't think people realize how hard is it to write dialogue that flows so naturally and feels so authentic. The acting is crazy good too.

Honestly, one of the best tv episodes I've watched in a minute. The next episode is a breath of fresh air as well. The bear you are spoiling us with this michelin star worthy entertainment. Please continue to do so.

Black Mirror: Joan Is Awful (2023) Season 6, Episode 1

(Joan is Awful) is awful

[2/10 · 15 June 2023]

Black mirror always had very interesting ideas but lacked in execution. However, there are episodes in this show that are pretty cool. Unfortunately, every year it gets progressively worse. This year I was excited that maybe this will change, but boy was I wrong judging from the first episode.

This episode feels like it was written by a bunch of teenagers who brainstormed an idea that would look cool and didn't add anything to it to make it feel real or intriguing. The script is an awful, boring, unfunny mess. Dialogue and acting are also bad. I wish my alternate reality self who acts as me warned me so that I wouldn't waste my time on this because no one is getting entertained by watching this nonsense, or watching me watching it.

A Man Called Otto (2022)

Trust the critics on this one.

[4/10 · 5 June 2023]

This is a below average movie on all aspects I'm afraid.

Directing is boring, the acting is bad, especially bad is the actor of young Otto. The chemistry between the characters is non-existent (even Tom Hanks who I always adore seems one dimensional).

Script and dialogue are mediocre and predictable. The black comedy never works because the black part is toothless and the funny part is not even there. But worse of all... the soundtrack. What a godawful soundtrack. There is music where there should be silence, and silence where there should be music. When they use music it's either playful tunes to show how you should laugh at the grumpiness of the protagonist and cheerful, sappy pop songs straight out of a coca cola ad, played at the most emotional moments effectively removing any depth, real emotionality or subtlety. I don't think I've ever watched a movie that I could hear and recognize so clearly how out of place are the choices of songs, music and their timing, like I could in this movie.

(Edit: I just saw Thomas Newman, who is my favorite composer, wrote the music for this film and I am so baffled. I want to believe he had nothing to do with the sound editing in this film.)

Anyways, maybe the original movie is better, (in hindsight I should have watched it instead) but I believe you should avoid this one.

Now I empathize with the protagonist grumpily looking at the movie's ratings and reading the reviews. Have people lost their taste?

Vinland Saga (2019–2023)

Great story with some missteps

[8/10 · 2 March 2023]

(SPOILERS) (8/10)

It's easy to highlight what's good in this show. The premise is really intriguing creating a unique dynamic. The animation and the images are breathtaking. The soft piano playing on the background is beautiful. Up until the middle of the show everything works. Somewhere along the line, the story veers off and the protagonist becomes a secondary character while Askeladd takes the lead. He is undoubtedly an interesting character with a cool background story.

The problems, however, begin with prince Canute. His transformation for a scared coward, conditioned from his childhood to avoid conflict in all cases, to a confident leader convincing everyone to follow him, is, I fear, not believable. It happens way too fast. But the biggest issue it creates, is that it makes the premise of the story irrelevant, by uniting all the characters to serve a common goal. Askeladd most intriguing quality of being an opportunist with a hint of something more complex hidden inside him, suddenly becomes an ideologue. He hates everyone in his crew and he kills a lot of his men with joy. He follows Prince Canute, who has an extremely romantic goal in his mind, and ultimately, he sacrifices himself to save him (instead of betraying him, by making a deal with the king). Therein lies the problem. The entire arc of Thorfinn highlights that your original intentions, however noble or fair, don't matter if the road to actualize them is a hellish road of killing, and tainting your soul along the way. In other words, it doesn't matter how or why you start, it matters what road you walk on. To clarify, I am not talking from an ethical standpoint, I'm talking about what makes you who you are. The totality of your actions is what defines your character. Thorfinn turns from an innocent boy who wants to avenge his father, to a monster, killing everyone his enemy points to, just to get his revenge.

So, if you travel with your crew plundering, raping and killing, for 10 years to satisfy your every pleasure like Askeladd did, you don't suddenly become an ideologue. That fades out with time and reality hitting you in the face (the reality of your own actions too). Your intentions or your childhood backstory doesn't change who you are for the last 10 years. The opposite happens. That's why I feel the unfolding and the ultimate resolve of Askeladd's story is disappointing, which in turn makes his dynamic with Thorfinn wasted.

If I could rewrite this story, Askeladd would've stayed true to his opportunistic nature and gradually rub off on Thorfinn. Ending with, Thorfinn becoming like Askeladd but killing him nonetheless for killing his father. Maybe not even in a completely fair duel, but somehow cheating to gain an advantage. That would make an interesting story in my opinion.

The Last of Us (2023– )

An okay show

[6/10 · 21 February 2023]

I honestly don't get the inflated rating and the buzz for this show. Is it people who only watched the first episode? Is it fans from the game? I wonder... This feels like a fairly worse S1 of the walking dead.

1) The plot is so thin, it can be summarized in 1 sentence. "Joel and Ellie in their journey to save the world." Every episode is like we kill some people/we leave some people behind and we ride into the sunset.

2) There are are basically only two characters. Joel is ok, Ellie is annoying. Her constant irony and misplaced cockiness make me not want to care for her. It just doesn't create a good chemistry with Joel's rugged character. Every time she interacts with him, it feels like the subtext of her words is always: "Oh Joel, you sound so tough but you have a good heart underneath, you can't hide it from me, you are a softie." Which is like a constant fourth wall break, thrown at your face, making Joel's character less believable and the whole experience less immersive. Meanwhile, all the connections and ties to other characters that would create some interesting interactions and plots, appear for a single episode and die at the end of it. Living us with the same old, simple, boring story.

3)Dialogue is sometimes good, mostly sub-par, averaging to mediocre. Hardly ever, insightful or engaging.

4)The monsters are not scary at all to me. Maybe that's just me. I don't know if its the directing or what, but in the walking dead, I was constantly fearful the characters are in imminent danger. Here, I rarely ever feel that way.

5) So far, nothing in this show is really new. No innovation, or creativity. No mystery for the virus. We've seen that storyline a hundred times before. Also, everyone is trying to kill everyone on sight, no conversation, no nothing. Like somehow that would help them.

The music and the cinematography is nice, that's about it. It seems like people jump on the hype train, creating a emperor's new clothes kind of situation. I bet the more this show unfolds, the more people are going to stop following the crowd, and its ratings are going to go down quickly.

I just saw the 6th episode and seeing Joel cry or getting stabbed made me feel nothing, when usually I can sympathize with a character and feel for them pretty easily. I am close to quitting this show, so I hope for some better episodes.

6.5/10.

Glass Onion (2022)

Glass onion of a script

[6/10 · 25 December 2022]

This film misses the mark on many levels, unfortunately making it mediocre. Its high rating just goes to show that there is a gap in the market for modern whodunit films that is not occupied at this moment, and people (myself included) are just happy to consume movies of this genre, even when they lack in execution and writing.

I will consequently list my grievances with this film.

1) The core problem from which derive many others is the style of the film. It resembles a parody of the whodunit genre. However intentional this was, I much prefer (and i think most people agree) original, simple films that don't navel gaze at every chance they get. The film oozed self-indulgence. With constant star cameos, name dropping and an overbearing fake shininess stemming from the direction, the characters and the acting.

2) Partially explained in the first paragraph is that all the characters apart from the black lady, were unlikable caricatures. The first knives out film characters' were somewhat hyperbolic too, but they were also grounded by earthly characteristics most of us encountered or know they exist in the near proximity of our social circles. (Like the greed of relatives and the useless quarells they have with each other over nothing). What's more, they were characters who were actually likeable and easy to empathize with (like the maid, the grandpa etc). Here all the characters except one have no such characteristics, rendering them all unlikable and hard to care for. I get that the glass onion is a metaphor for their personalities. Seemingly layered but ultimately transparently stupid at their core. Still, I believe it's a bad writing choice to stick to a metaphor at the expense of interesting and real multi-layered characters.

3) The film's pacing is off, and I found myself yawing at moments where I should be glued to the screen. Two and a half hours are in no way justified given the lack of complexity here. Half an hour could be easily cut off from,making it way more consise and effective.

4) The resolve of the mystery was stupid and anticlimactic, almost mocking the viewer. A parodic style is already self-indulgent at its core, but when the script and the metaphors surrounding it are also a parody, it becomes overbearing and pointless.

5) Plot holes and too much suspension of disbelief needed. I I understand that the billionaire is supposed to be an idiot (although somehow a genius at the same time) but who with an ounce of a brain would commit a spontaneous, inanely simple murder in front of the best detective in the world, when he just proved that he can solve your stupid 2-day riddle in a minute in front of you?

Then there is the presence of the twin sister. The billionaire killed the real Cassandra which means that when he sees her, he must know she is the twin sister. If Cassandra was alive, somehow surviving being poisoned, why the hell wouldn't she go to the police and take him down? And even if she didn't and she wanted to plot her revenge, would she come at his secluded house to hang out, surrounded by all her enemies/ his allies, after he tried to kill her a week ago? Probably not. So he must understand that this is really Andi. (Which we can safely assume he knows the existence of, given that Cassandra was his partner for so long).

So, he sees the sister of the woman she killed a week ago, disguised as Cassandra and the greatest detective in the world coming alongside without an invitation, and the thought of those two things being related doesn't ever cross his mind? Who could have possibly invited Benoit there other than Andi? Knowing all that, all he has to do is politely send him away from his island before he uncovers something about Kassandra's murder, especially when he has the incriminating envelope hidden at his office. Instead he just lets him stay on his island and kills someone in front of him TWICE. No one is that dumb, especially a billionaire.

It would be a lie to say that I didn't enjoy this film at all, but at the end of the day it left me with a somewhat bitter taste and a yearning for something more, something better.

I hope the best for Ryan Johnson and I wish he continues making modern crime films, without underestimating the beauty of a "simple" (non-meta, or heavy handed) story told right.

The Bear (2022– )

Decently entertaining tv

[9/10 · 20 July 2022]

This show has a very interesting premise that it explores but it's somewhat underdeveloped. It is tasty, wholesome but it lacks acid. Part of it is the small episodes which don't give enough time for the characters to be fleshed out. It feels like a combination of Burnt and Chef. Having said that I would happily watch a second season.

I feel half of this show charm is it's simplicity and the other half is the charisma of the main actor Jeremy Allen White (who I bet he would rise eventually watching him being so charismatic in Shameless).

The potential is there so let's hope for an even better second season.

Booksmart (2019)

Please no

[3/10 · 19 June 2022]

How in sweet baby jesus is this movie rated 7.1 and 9.6 from rotten tomatoes? I almost never stop movies but this was so cringe inducing, I lasted for 30 minutes. Everyone is dressed like a fashion icon and acts like a caricature. The jokes fall flat. The acting is so over the top. The fat girl's character is like a terrible imitation of Jonah hill in superbad... I am not a snob by any means, i like many teen movies but this was all around awful. Don't waste your time.

Reacher (2022– )

A little better than mediocre, a little worse than good

[6/10 · 4 April 2022]

This was a somewhat entertaining show. The rules of the games are laid out from the beginning and apart from a small twist in the end, everything moves forward with no real surprises. We know who are the bad guys, who are the good guys and where this is all going.

Quality wise the script is not bad. The dialogue is meh.

The acting wasn't that great all around. The actor who is playing Reacher is being praised in most reviews here as someone who looks like the one described in the book. Now, I haven't read the books and I don't really care about a show/movie being truthful to its material, even if I've read it. A show just has to be good. That's all. And for me, the actor was too wooden/not expressive at all. He also literally had the same tone of voice asking for some pie, or saying that his brother is dead. The whole show. Never a hint of surprise, fear, excitement, or any emotion I can think of. Tom Cruise was laughed at because he played a Reacher as a short man, but Tom Cruise (although admittedly crazy) is a far better actor and has 5 times the charisma Alan Ritchson has.

Having not read the books, I have the feeling that this show is based on material much better than itself. In any case, if you want something easy to digest, I'd say it's watchable.

Free Guy (2021)

GTA meet the Truman show meet Ready Player One meet Cringe

[4/10 · 30 March 2022]

This screenplay looked like it was written from the Taika Waititi villain (Antwan). It literally feels like a rich man went out for a walk and on his way he come across some guys with glasses.

-Hey nerds what's up with these videogames I keep hearing? They sound like a cash cow.

-They are cool man. But what do you want with videogames? You're rich and cool, you won at life. We are like NPC's in your game...lol That's a cool movie idea.

-Wait a minute... Movies are an even bigger cash cow.... BOOM

Just put every cliché there is, cram every popular streamer we can afford to use them as cringy cameos while taking elements from better movies and turning them into a boring, senseless mess.

Now, I am normally pretty good at suspending disbelief but this plot including the characters, their motivations, the science of a videogame and the philosophical implications are completely non-sensical and self-contradicting if you think about them for more than 1 second. And that took me completely out of the movie several times.

Only good aspect of the movie is Ryan Reynolds. Even Taika Waititi who I love was so cringy in this movie, through no fault of his own.

Overall, such a great idea wasted on a bad screenplay.

To Your Eternity (2021– )

Dive in

[8/10 · 7 March 2022]

The show basically consists of 4 stories: 1)The first episode (10/10) 2)The story of March (7.5/10) 3)The story of Gugu (9/10) 4)The story of Tonari (6/10)

The first story tackles what it means to be human. To want to get rid of your loneliness. To hope for something better even in the worse of circumstances. To want to live, not just survive.

The second story is about customs stemming from a grueling effort of man to control the environment for his survival, and fear.

The third story is about choosing your path into society, social acceptance, status and love.

The final story is about people living outside the societal norms. Some pushed and marginalized by society, some by their own doing. But all with their own rules and ethics.

The more the story of Fushi progresses, we dive into the intricacies of human behavior by increasingly visiting more complex social networks. From just surviving but wanting more, to being poor/uneducated and try to harness nature, to living at the bottom of the social pyramid but still holding your own, to being cast aside to form your own small society.

What an interesting journey!

I love the first story the most because it strips the human condition to its bare necessities, making the story timeless and always relevant.

1883 (2021–2022)

The ingredients where there.

[7/10 · 4 March 2022]

What makes a good show? An interesting storyline? Good character development? A great soundtrack? I can't pinpoint exactly why this show works. I could argue it has a very basic storyline, no real character development apart from Elsa's and a great but overused soundtrack. I could argue about the historical inaccuracies and the overly progressive characters for their era.

But somehow it still seems to work. It's a western but not a typical one. It's ambitious yet simple. It's grim and harsh, yet full of hope and uplifting. It's about a death, yet about a life.

The minimalistic approach it uses, focuses on the protagonists' drama and just keeps moving forward with a purpose and no real diving into people around them. It's entertaining, but I feel, a little too simple. It would be nice to see even a hint of connection between the Germans and the protagonists who cared for them. The drama throughout and the ending would carry that much more weight. Taylor Sheridan was a little too in love with Elsa's character, he forgot to give some characters a little room to breathe.

1883 has the spirit of a great show, but on it's way to greatness it forgot how to be a good one.

7/10.

Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)

Incomprehensible

[4/10 · 19 January 2022]

As a foreign viewer, more than half of the film dialogue and radio shows was completely incomprehensible. Filled with convoluted, old references to things and people you never heard of, that probably only an American in his late 70's would understand. Robin Williams charisma and comedic talent isn't enough to overturn that fact, so If you don't fit the above profile, I'd recommend to skip this one.

Last Night in Soho (2021)

Unfortunate

[5/10 · 24 December 2021]

Although I love all previous Edgar Wright films, this is a mess. No real depth is given to the story of Sandy (just a stereotypical story with no nuance) neither (and especially) the story of Eloise. There is no room for Eloise's story to breathe. Just a constant repetition of her being haunted by mysterious figures of the lovers of the girl she's been dreaming about.

No explanation is given as to why she's been having these visions. But most importantly there is no real connection drawn between Eloise and Sandy which makes all of her struggles and hallucinations feel irrelevant to her story. Only a vague veil of a mystery remains which is neither interesting or really engaging to the viewer, who keeps wondering why is the protagonist tortured and why should I care?

Of course, the reveal although unsettling, doesn't carry any weight with it for the reasons mentioned.

Finally, all the other characters seem completely one dimensional, with no real reason to exist other than to serve as a stepping stone for the emotional outbursts and realizations of the protagonist which would drive any sane person away from her. This is a shallow movie which at its best could be a decent 1 hour TV episode, but only for an already established character. I don't know what Edgar Wright was thinking when he made this movie. He probably wanted to make a Black Swan-like horror movie. It's so weird to me that a director that shows so much love for his craft in his previous movies, releases a movie like this. I expected much more from the director and writer of my favorite comedies. Anyway, on the next one.

Dexter: New Blood (2021–2022)

As expected

[6/10 · 12 December 2021]

As I was expecting (from watching a prison break reboot) this is just a bad imitation of the original. A lot of missteps with this one. The dialogue seems juvenile. Dexter's narrating used to be cool in the original, but now he is talking about nothing. Just dull comments attempting to sound witty. Debra appearing could be a cool idea, if it was done well. But she just screams and yells every second she is on the screen. No nuance. Also, the mystery reveal of both Dexter identity and the other serial killer's identity was botched and predictable. Finally, Dexter is acting completely impulsively in all of the show and his son high school drama is boring.

The idea of the show isn't bad but the execution just falls short.

Why did they reveal the identity of the serial killer so soon? It would be so much better if it was a mystery and revealed at the right time.

There are so many questions like this.

The only redeeming quality is Michael C. Hall's acting. If it wasn't for him this would be 3 stars lower.

The show is just missing the grit it had, the irony, the sardonically whimsical elements of the original Dexter. This is just sappy. It reminds me of the tv show You. It just seems fake.

Ted Lasso: Midnight Train to Royston (2021) Season 2, Episode 11

Nate

[9/10 · 1 October 2021]

Finally, a realistic arc for a character like Nate. I don't know how many times I've watched shows and movies where an insecure, bullied person suddenly gains a better position or new power and he becomes a benevolent force helping everyone around him.

People don't work like that in real life. People become like Nate. If you've been stepped on all your life, the moment you get power you want to step on people too. You want to release all your pent up shame and feeling of worthlessness. And then maybe, if you work on it, you can return to balance, and become whole. That's why I love this character. Although he makes me cringe, or angry, his arc is so interesting and I'm really curious for his development.

Promising Young Woman (2020)

Fresh dark comedy.

[8/10 · 9 August 2021]

An entertaining movie for sure. It has a good rythme and gets you through a whole range of emotions by somehow being three different films put together. And that's a difficult task to undertake but somehow it pulls it off.

My only compaint is that the changes between the funny,absurd and the dramatical elements are not done smoothly enough and that confuses the viewer on how to feel at times. That's the reason the ending doesn't really land for me. (It's also a little exaggereted. Less would be more there.)

This movie reminded me of Kid Detective, (also a hidden gem of 2020 ) but more ambitious and political.

The Kid Detective (2020)

Pretty entertaining

[9/10 · 17 March 2021]

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I liked the atmosphere of despair and broken dreams of a kid growing up to find that the life wasn't all that he was promised. It seems really hard to blend noir and comedy but this worked, (although not always). I feel people are either going to hate or love this movie. And i think i love it.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Mediocre

[6/10 · 4 March 2021]

I love Queen but this movie was boring.No rythm.No purpose.Freddie's character analysis was like it was written from a neighbour peaking from his window to watch what Freddie is doing and how much he is partying.Empty.We never see the relationship of Freddie with other members of Queen.It's like the gather up make a record and dissapear back to their lives,which we don't even see. It's also chopped up in the editing room which makes it feel weird. I honestly think if queen's music wasn't so good and if Remi Malek wasn't in this film, this would be rated 6,5/10 at best.But you know hype something enough, and the hype becomes the truth.

One Day (2011)

Pointless

[4/10 · 23 January 2021]

The cliche myth of the woman who accomplishes to "tame" the womanizing man for herself. Perpetuated by women who probably have no sex life, because they're looking for prince charming.When this movie ends they walk outside crying about life and people not being romantic enough,decieved by cheap drama and confusing their emotional reaction to this movie with meaningfulness. I don't want to spoil (I mean I do, to save you the time, but I won't) but this movie has one of the cheapest endings ever. Which makes the movie twice more pointless than it already was.

Schulz Saves America (2020)

Bad idea and execution

[1/10 · 31 December 2020]

I actually find Schulz really funny from his stand up but this format is horrible. Too much wordplay and yelling. Too fast and too desperate to make controversial punchlines.You can't set up a joke if you yell both during the set up and the punchline, at the same tone and volume and I am baffled that a comedian doesn't understand this. This just comes off as overbearing and didactic.

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)

A forgotten episode

[5/10 · 12 October 2019]

This movie basically was made because they forgot to give a redemptive closure to Jessi. This whole arc could be covered in less than 20 minutes in the ending episode of breaking bad but because the the main character was Walter, there wasn't enough time or really a good way to show it. The whole thing with the two imposter cops was pointless and at the same time the only interesting thing about this movie. I don't get how the whole wild west thing was redemptive. Or even the way he deceived his parents.

Daredevil (2015–2018)

Best season so far.

[9/10 · 25 October 2018]

Season 3 reminded me why I liked this show in the first place.Great action scenes and great build up before them.The atmosphere was really effective in conveying the tension and I think that was season's 3 biggest strength.I was surprised of how good the soundtrack was at times.I love that they took the time to introduce the backstories of characters and they did that effectively, for the most part. I am picky about the shows i watch, so I do wish some things were improved. Like dialogue sometimes seems repetitive, some stories seem forced the way they are put into a conversation. And some key moments are stained by not up to par dialogue only because the rest of the show sets the bar really high.Like when Foggy tried to be badass and convinces people it doesn't work for me.It's part dialogue, part mediocre acting there.Also the way that they handled agent's Pointdexter backstory (the dinner scene) was sloppy.And the thing that a detail like that disappoints me because it was so easy to get it right, that it shows a certain lack of passion in the craftsmanship of this show. I know, I know I am being overly critical but that's because I like the show a lot and if it were to improve on these accounts it would reach levels of Dark Knight's quality and who doesn't want that?