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kai-62
Reviews
Numb3rs (2005)
Entertaining, informative (on maths), but with some small flaws
Quite entertaining as a detective series. And fun to watch for mathematicians or those who like maths. Still, while the maths holds, its application in relation to the crimes mostly doesn't. It's "mathematical name-dropping".
Also, the computer sciences parts are quite often far off - it seems the (excellent) consultants employed for the series were all pure mathematicians. Take for example the notion, that to delete a hard disk drive, the data bits are repeatedly toggled. That would actually leave the data as is, or easily restorable as its bit-wise complement. Actually, data is overwritten, either with zeroes or - to prevent restoration - alternatingly with zeroes and ones (independent of the original state).
Nevertheless, definitely worth watching.
The Book of Boba Fett (2021)
A very poorly made milking of the Star Wars brand
Poor acting, paired with a primitive and often-before-told story. Starts out weak, but occasionally entertaining, to become progressively worse.
What will be Disney's next series? "A Mynok's Tale"? Or the life story of Lando Calrissian's guard captain?
Battlestar Galactica (2004)
Going down the drain
The longer the series runs, the poorer the quality. After the first season I considered it to be an 8 - very good but not brilliant. Now all that allows me to rate it 6 is averaging in the early episodes.
I'll skip the praise here - if you have seen it, then you know that acting, camera, effects, atmosphere, etc. are well above standard.
What really annoys me is the loss of logic, the mysticism and the religious crap (pardon my French) that take over the later seasons. Characters that have been carefully built, break apart and display behavior that is inconsistent and unexplained.
The creators of B.G. claimed "2001" to be one of the fathers of the series. It seems they've taken that too literally. It's always dangerous to copy a master 1:1 - and even Kubrick messed up his masterpiece with a confused ending.
It's really a shame. Galactica would have been excellent SciFi if it had been cut to half the size.
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
Even low expectations don't help
Before I start: I'd given this movie a 3 instead of a 4 if it wasn't for the scene with the can opener. And a 5 if the title role had been played by an actor.
It is amazing in how many ways this movie manages to fail. First and foremost there's Vin Diesel, who visited the Silvester Stallone School for Advanced Expression and Acting - and failed to graduate. Then there is a confused (but really very simple) story, badly told. A science fiction world that completely ignores the rules of physics and reason and completely fails to feel futuristic at all. A ton of stereotypes mixed together. Dialogues that are meant to be funny, but fail to be 90% of the time. Fight scenes that have a lot of action, but are actually boring since all the bad guys act unbelievably incompetent.
Not all is bad. Some of the actors (like Alexa Davalos) are quite good (not only if you compare them to Diesel), but the roles they play are somewhere between substandard and terrible. The effects are quite good, but nothing to write home about.
I have avoided this film for years and finally felt compelled to see, if I had missed something. Expectations couldn't have been lower. They have been met.
Sin City (2005)
Missed attempt at paralleling the success of pulp fiction
Great effects, good atmosphere, famous actors - that's about all that's good about this movie.
Graphic novels are en vogue, Pulp Fiction is one of the greatest movies ever, and Kill Bill celebrated the aesthetics of violence. So why not mix it all together, add good actors, stir it, and create another success?
The reason why this doesn't work is the pathetic plot and the inadequacy of balloon dialogs for movies.
I see that I am quite alone with the "4" rating I give this flick, but I guess that nudity and violence will account for at least half of the "10" ratings. Don't misunderstand me - I enjoy nudity as much as the next man and I consider Kill Bill Vol. I to be a masterpiece. Sin City, anyhow, lacks finesse and originality.
Scooby-Doo (2002)
A waste of time
If you are considering watching the movie: Don't. Not even if it's for free and you have nothing better to do.
Even Sarah Michelle Gellar doesn't make up for the terrible acting (Matthew Lillard at his worst - and that says something), stupid jokes, and mediocre special effects.
'nuff said. It's not even worth a rant. I give it 2 out of 10 since the 1 is reserved for "Plan 9 from outer space".
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Troy (2004)
Good for the eyes, bad for the brain
Nice battle scenes, fair acting qualities, but a terrible story.
Had Petersen just taken Homer's lead, I would rate this movie 9 out of 10. Leave out the gods and it may still be 8. Instead, this is a "hollywoodisation" of the Iliad. Those parts which fit (Achilles conflict with Agamemnon, although overdone) were kept, those which didn't were invented. Imagine: Paris killing Achilles!
As mainstream cinema demands, love story's had to be added or extended, a baby's blue eyes (in this case Hector's) appear every other minute, and battles had to be beefed up: If you don't like divine intervention (because it looks unrealistic and makes the "historical accuracy" (lol) questionable, just add explosive fireballs.