Change Your Image
Juergen_H
Reviews
Terminator Salvation (2009)
Undoubtedly better than any Terminator movie that came afterwards
Undoubtedly better than any Terminator movie that came afterwards.
This movie may not be perfect and not as good as the first two Terminator films,, but it is a fun watch (maybe as a guilty pleasure).
The acting ist good. Christian Bale as John Connor is as best as it gets. Sam Worthington does, as always, a decent Job as the lead character.
I liked the production desing. One could wish that it should have gone in that or this direction, but overall they did a good job.
The cameo of Arnie as a CGI-character and a fresh T800 was enjoable and fun.
People gave it a lot of flaming back in the days - but, hey - it's at least as good as the 3rd movie and it's definitely better than anything that came afterwards, at least regarding story and characters.
The Last of Us: Long, Long Time (2023)
A boring filler episode that doesn fit into the world of the TLOU.
This is one of the two worst episodes of this first season of The Last Of Us.
It deviates from the game regarding the main characters of this episode and not in a good way. The worst thing about it for me is how the writers changed the character of "Bill's town" itself - in a way that makes no sense in the world of TLOU.
You don't need to watch this episode for the main plot, as it's almost nothing there contributing to it.
There is a story about a sexual relationship in this episode, but not a good one, but one that strikes me as very boring and meaningless. But that's the core of this episode and it's more or less the thing the episode is about.
So, it all depends on whether you like this story about this sexual relationship or not. I obviously didn't find anything to like about it, I was just bored and annoyed...
The Last of Us: Left Behind (2023)
Even worse than episode 3 and I didn't think it was possible.
I didn't think that the low that was set by episode 3 of this series could ever be reached, but here we go.
At least Bill and Frank from episode were somewhat sympathetic and the scenario was somewhat interesting.
But this episode was just an insufferable borefest.
One of the most importent things to do as a writer: you have to make the audience care for the characters. The audience should root for them.
But this episode gives us none of that. Just 2 annoying insufferable teenage girls killing time (the time of the audience, too) and having a hard time coming out of the teen lesbian closet for each other.
If you are familiar with the game: this episode is the prologue which is called "Left Behind", just like the episode. Needless to say, the game did it better - just like almsot everything in the game was done better than it is done in the rather disappointing TV show.
The Last of Us: Endure and Survive (2023)
Another episode which is a lot weaker than the according part in the game.
I don't understand how the TV show just keeps being weaker than the game emotionally. The game is practically made for a live-action adaptation that could surpass the game dramaturgically, but the TV show just keeps being disappointing.
The story with Sam and Henry was one of the very highlights of the game for me. The end of their story was a shock, a punch in the gut. But the TV show ...
I rewatched the according final scene in the game after watching this episode. The scene from the game still hits me a lot more than the according scene in the TV show did. So the reason for why I think that the TV show is not living up to the potential of the story is not that I already know the story. I think that the showrunners keep making wrong decisions about what to change in the story for the TV adaption.
It think the main reason for why the end of the story of Henry and Sam was so much more intense in the game was that it came very fast and that the game was buiding up towards it a lot more. Joel and Elly spent a lot of time together with Sam and Henry and in the end, they bonded. They were happy. They seemingly made it through. And then came the shocking end. The TV show fails to make us bond with the characters of Henry and Sam as much as it is done in the game and it doesn't let the characters and viewers have the joy of accomplishment of making it through a hard journey. The shocking end in the TV shock is missing a large amount of build-up compared to the game, so it doesn't mean and doesn't impact as much as it does in the game.
The TV show is simply inferior to the storytelling and the characterization in the game. And this episode is an example for that.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)
Bad Fan-Fiction - could have been a mediocre fantasy show, but as a Middle Earth show it is a failure.
I will just share some of my impressions and come to a conclusion.
The show is boring and does not pull you in. After watching the first 3 episodes, I am still not interested at all in what's going on.
Galadriel as an or maybe as THE main character of the show is miscast and badly written. She is supposed to be one of the most beautiful and graceful women of all Middle Earth and its history - but she comes across as bland and average in terms of charisma. And she is written as a very unlikable annoying arrogant person.
The casting in general: let's just say that a lot of casting choices do not represent Tolkien's vision of Middle Earth well. The writers and producers seem to not understand the idea of a fully independent fantasy world that is based on its own history and evolution and not the history and evolution of our world. It has to be coherent in itself and not represent our modern day world - that's why it's called "Fantasy". Especially when it comes to the fantasy world of Tolkien's "Middle Earth"! And by inserting the modern day society conditions and ideology into the world of "Middle Earth" the makers of this show make this show look less like "Middle Earth" and more like our modern day world, which Tolkien Fans certainly don't want to be inserted and represented in a show about "Middle Earth".
Elves appear more like kind of Romans, they do not look and feel like Tolkien elves. Giving them short haircuts is a bad decision and an example for how the makers of this show made the Elves more like humans with pointy ears than real Elves that are a different people. Bad casting choices (see explanation above) there, too. Also, for some reason there are aged-looking elves in the show, though elves are not supposed to be aging to the point that they look like old people.
The dialogues (and monologues) are often cringe and stupid - they often try hard to sound poetic, but lack substance and talent on the side of the writers.
In some regard the show is more like "Dungeons & Dragons" meets "Middle Earth" than actual "Middle Earth".
Visually, the show is often just a cheap uninspired copy of the aesthetics of the Peter Jackson movies. You can see the money they put in, but you can't see true inspiration or authentic artistic vision there.
It doesn't do the show any good that it is not based on any stories actually written by Tolkien, but only on some references from the "Appendices" and it just uses some characters from "The Hobbit" and the Ring Trilogy. So this show tells a story with which the (seemingly rather talentless) writers came up themselves which feels like bad fan-fiction (which is essentially truly is).
Bottom Line/Conclusion: It could have worked as some fantasy TV show that is not based on Tolkien's works - for people who get along with this vision (inspired a lot by certain ideology and modern day conditions) of a fantasy world. I personally would have perceived such a show somewhat polished, but essentially mediocre and accordingly would have been my rating; and then I would have ignored the show for the rest of its lifetime. But as this show is supposed to represent "Middle Earth" from the according works of Tolkien, one simply has to acknowledge and point out that it is a big failure. The majority of Tolkien fans reject this bastardization of Tolkien's source material, and they do this for good reasons.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
A very good sequel, maybe even better than the first "Top Gun"
I don't get it why this review was declined at first. Do the review-revewers just toss a coin? Is it not allowed to review this film positively (to the bigger part)? Or is it because I said something about "US world police prop***anda"?
Anyway:
I enjoyed this movie a lot. It has a straight and simple and yet captivating story and a lot of very good top tier action, and wich was done by using mostly practical effects and filmmaking and was not a CGI overkill, unlike so many blockbuster action movies nowadays.
The movie also stands out as an example for a very good sequel, which might even be superior to the first movie.
If you can see past the blatant and yet relatively sparingly inserted "US world police" prop***anda (which was in the first "Top Gun" as well), this movie can be a very fun ride for you, especially if you are into a somewhat cons*rv*tive action movie experience. Thank you, Tom Cruise, for giving us such a movie in the 2020ies!
A very good sequel, maybe even better than the first "Top Gun".
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022)
Dead on arrival.
To be honest, I expected this to be garbage. And oh boy, how did the show deliver on that!
The thing is, if there is something deeply wrong with the main character and/or the heart and soul of the show in general, it's going to fall apart and leave the viewer not interested. And now we got an obnoxious M*ry-S*e for a main character and it's just unbearable to watch. Dead on arrival.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
One of the best and most fascinating horror movies ever made.
Just as the title says it, it is wihout any doubt one of the best and most influential horror films ever made. Its production history is also quite fascinating.
If you are into horror or slasher movies, you simply have to have seen and experienced it. Nuff said.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Bloated nonsense, overlong and meaningless.
If this movie wasn' so overhyped and so overrated, I would just dismiss it as a meh kind of movie. But as it is so overhyped and overrated, I kind of start to hate it.
But to not waste a lot more time on this nonsense, I will just point out the main reasons why the movie failed for me.
1.) The movie failed to establish an emotional connection between the viewer and what is happening on the screen i. E. in the movie. One of the reasons for that being: the movie was driven by nonsense. Whenever the main characters are stuck in a situation, the have to perform some nonensical bullcrap, so that they can crazy-deus-ex-machina their way out of the situation. Again and again and again and again and again.
2.) The other reason for the failed emotional connection is that there were no sympathetic characters given to connect with. Everyone is just a self-absorbed a-hole or douchebag. What they are fighting for is a chaotic piled up mess (because they are unable to fix anything and to improve, so they prefer having a meanignless mess to having nothing).
So, my main problem was: I just didn't care for anything happening in the movie.
If you think that it is a profound philosophical question to ask how your life would be if you would have sausages for fingers (just to give you an example), this may be a movie you. But if you think that such a question is just stupid and stopped being funny since you turned 8 years old, maybe you should avoid spending timeor money on this movie.
But there are some few reddeming qualities of this movie, hence I did give it 3/10.
Which are:
- The cinematography isn't bad.
- It doesn't look like a trash movie production-value-wise.
- Some of the acting wasn't too bad, if you can look past the garbage mess the actors had to work with.
- It has some funny moments, if you can take the nonsense and the stupidity.
But again, at the end of the day, I didn't care for the pile of nonsense that the movie is.