tsevelevsl Reviews

Clone High (2023– )

As good as it gets, missing just one thing...

[9/10 · 26 March 2024]

It's amazing how reviewers hate the reboot and claim that it's "not as good as the original", citing the very things that the original did. "The clones are just insults to the original historic chaaaracters!" Really? And the original clones weren't? Do people actually believe that Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy and Ghandi were more like the original clones than Frida Kahlo, Frida Kahlo and Confucius and their respective clones? Spoiler (not spoiler): they were not. It was a comedy show to begin with.

"Oh no, they joke about white privilege!" Newsflash (not newsflash): the original show joked about sex, religion, homosexuality, homophobia, rape, homosexual rape, death, prisons, and arthouse films.

"Oh no, there's so many cliche sentiments and themes!" Well this is what it always has been, it parodied the cliche sentiments and themes. Duh.

The only thing missing is, of course, Ghandi. But he's always mentioned.

Ghosts: Comic Relief Special (2023) Season 5, Episode 0

Adorable.

[10/10 · 11 September 2023]

A short but refreshing meeting with the ghosts. Everyone is in character, though the episode is too brief to show more than the basic glimpse of each. In a way, we see a reenactment of Alison's big talk to the ghosts back in season 1.

Kylie's acting is good. The chemistry between all the characters is nice and makes sense. I'd actually like to see how more of this story in the final season of Ghosts, but it's rounded up smoothly enough to explain why they might never meet again (I suppose affording Kylie as a full-time star is too expensive - she only appeared in one episode of Galavant back in the day, which the characters joked about in the season finale).

Blind Fury (1989)

A good remake.

[10/10 · 15 March 2023]

Inspired by the film Zatôichi chikemuri kaidô, the seventeenth in Zatoichi franchise about the adventures of a blind swordsman, Blind Fury keeps many of the strong points of the original while adding to them, replacing crimes and villains of the Shogunate era with those of 80's USA. The cast is good, the screenplay keeps a good mixture of drama, action, and comedy, and the swordplay is excellent.

It's interesting to watch for someone who's been a fan of Zatoichi films for a while, comparing the way Rutger Hauer plays the blind veteran Nick Parker with how Shintaro Katsu played the wandering canesword-wielding masseur.

It's sad that a sequel was never made. They could even invite Toshiro Mifune - now that would've been a meeting!

Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival (1970)

The poster is surprisingly accurate.

[4/10 · 11 March 2023]

After enjoying the first Zatoichi movies, I found myself wondering: "Are all the 26 films as good as the early ones?" And for the first dozen films, and even after, the answer was "yes". There were changes, there were experiments, but the films were good.

"Fire Festival", however, is the demonstration of how after twenty films, things can go horribly wrong.

Basically, Zatoichi turned into a parody of himself. The bathhouse fight, followed by jolly music, feels like a scene from a low-budget comedy.

Tatsuya Nakadai, while moving and fighting gracefully, carries the "What are you watching, and what am I doing here?" facial expression during the whole film.

The thugs suddenly attacking Zatoichi and being slaughtered at the courtesan's grave feels like Toshiro Mifune's shrug in "Yojimbo" - it's a gesture that's part of the character's charm but has no plot relevance.

Everyone's favourite comic scene with the roadhouse couple kicking each other's butts (literally) feels unnatural. I kept hoping those two were actually assassins who would suddenly abandon their antics and try to kill Zatoichi. They weren't, they didn't.

How do I put it... Shintaro Katsu, producer and co-author of the script, is a great film actor.

Operatsiya D.U.P.A. (2019)

Excellent short comedy

[10/10 · 25 January 2023]

I've first watched "Operation B. U. T. T." during the "Karpathian Crown" film festival, and it was easily the best thing that was screened that year. Ukraine filmmakers work a lot in comedy genre, but there are few gems like this one. Light, fast-paced, with good acting, good dialogue, good plot and jokes that make me laugh even now, years after I've seen it first.

It is not easy to translate some of the joke from Ukrainian (one of the characters likes to rhyme, which makes it even harder), but the conflicts are universal - parents/children, system/freedom, cool kids/losers. I'm certain this film will entertain anyone who ever went to school. Or taught at one.

They Live (1988)

Hit and miss.

[7/10 · 10 July 2022]

The opening cinematography is excellent. The music is gorgeous. The scences that illustrate the life at the back end of USA are disturbingly truthful. The plot, as soon as They are revealed, becomes simplistic. The five minites fight scene is ridiculous.

Worth watching.

The Bad Guys (2022)

Excellent.

[10/10 · 20 May 2022]

Funny, beautiful, touching.

I predicted the plot twists and was pretty much correct, I just thought what would be the right way to work the plot and that's exactly what the makers did. Very satisfying. Also there were many nice moments that were completely unexpected and hilarious in their noble insanity.

Mister Snake is my new spirit animal.

The Watch (2020–2021)

A very Pratchettesque marvel

[10/10 · 20 May 2022]

I heard about The Watch from a friend, who was very much against it. I decided to give it a try, just to see if it was as bad as I was told.

It is brilliant.

I've heard complaints about the casting. I think the casting is just fine. Some choices I don't quite understand (why is Vetinari a lady?), but that's not really important for the plot, and the acting is fine.

Angua is perfect, she has the eyes, the expressions, the air of a werewolf. Carrot is less and Vimes is more heroic, but both are recognizable and funny. Cheri is perfect. Casting a nonbinary actor to play a Pratchett's dwarf is a good solution.

Good writing. The issues like "why doesn't she have a beard?!" arise immediately, and we're given answers - and it's plot-relevant.

And it has the good old conflicts. Good versus evil. Love and fear. Outsiders and soulless corporations. Basic, important and well-played.

And it's as funny as a Pratchett story can be. Which is a lot.

Watch the Watch.

The Owl House (2020–2023)

Magical adventures on the Boring Isles

[3/10 · 22 January 2022]

I really wanted to like this show. The creator worked on Gravity Falls, which was excellent; Alex Hirsch is doing several voices; I like owls... I really wanted to like it.

But I cannot. I cannot sympathize the characters. You might say that it's just because I'm not a young bisexual Latino girl - yes, I'm not, but I'm also not a billionaire playboy dressed up as a bat, I'm not a talking frog, I'm not a cockney gorilla with daddy issues, et cetera, and I care deeply about them all. If the only thing that could make me like the main character is belonging to the same social group, that's very weak writing.

I mean, what's the problem that Luz faces? She's living in a magical world, she learns magic, and if she fails, she'll - gasp! - return home to her loving mother? Gee, the horror.

Basically, I feel that the whole show is concentrated in an element of the first episode. It's all the King's crown. We're promised a magical crown of power, and instead we're given a cardboard hat, and the witch says with a cynical grin that hey, why not, if it keeps the audience happy!

I'm not happy with this approach. I find it offensive. Chickalisk out.

What We Do in the Shadows (2019–2024)

So boring.

[1/10 · 12 September 2021]

It feels like the whole show is just one energy vampire who feeds on your emotions by boring you.

Xena: Warrior Princess: The Haunting of Amphipolis (2000) Season 6, Episode 2

So very bad.

[2/10 · 15 June 2021]

Every Christian-themed episode of Xena is worse than the previous one. This is so bad, it's not even toe-curling, it curls the whole body. It looks like someone tried to tell their friends the plot of Exorcist, Shining and several more horror movies while being very drunk, and this became the script.

Batman and Harley Quinn (2017)

The Harley Quinn of Timm's cartoons.

[5/10 · 9 April 2021]

So I've watched it; I've seen worse. It can't be all bad if it's made by Bruce Timm. Timm is a titan of superhero cartoons, and Kevin Conroy is the best voice of Batman. Hearing Conroy is a good thing.

Another good thing was lots of cameos of characters from Batman the Animated Series (and some Justice League cosplayers).

Bad things, oh, brother... The animation style. I honestly don't know why would they use the style of New Batman Adventures ever again. It was clearly inferior if compared to Timm's older style.

The plot is ridiculous. What's worse, it resembles that dark time of comic books before Stan Lee turned it all around, when Batman degraded to being mostly a self-parody. That was something that Timm's team had to deal with when they were creating Batman Animated Series - they wanted to be taken seriously. I guess it's not as important now when Timm is a living legend and can do pretty much whatever he likes.

That's what it feels like - a self-parody.

Nerealnyi KOPets (2021)

I had a part in this; apparently this is how future generations will remember me.

[4/10 · 8 March 2021]

How should I put it. This is a buddy cop movie about a guy who has to work as a police officer, and doesn't really know how being a police officer works, filmed by people who don't really know how the buddy cop movies work. Still, there are some funny moments, and the fighting scenes look rather cool. I think there should've been more fighting scenes in this film, it could've been really nice.

DuckTales: The Rumble for Ragnarok! (2020) Season 3, Episode 7

Worst episode ever.

[1/10 · 23 May 2020]

I love the relaunched Ducktales. There are many, many things to love about the show. This, however, was the most boring, uninteresting, and lame episode in the world. Would you like me to tell you how bad it is? Let me tell you. It is the Star Wars Holiday Special of Ducktales. THAT bad.

Charmed (2018–2022)

Oh god, it's so stupid it hurts.

[1/10 · 12 May 2019]

Bad acting. Special effects that would be bad in the 90's. Stupid dialogues. Feministic overtones as subtle as being hit on the head with a 2 by 4.

The Silent Child (2017)

Sentimental and perfectly well acted

[9/10 · 30 November 2018]

It's a good film. The only problem I saw was that the story had much more potential than we were shown. Good actors, the little girl was just great. Watch it, it's nice.

Black Cossack (2018)

Not bad.

[7/10 · 28 October 2018]

The film combines Ukrainian traditional historic elements with those of classic fantasy (some scenes reminded me of late David Gemmell's heroic fantasy novels). It is amateurish in some aspects, but nevertheless worth watching.

8 Minutes (2017)

What would you do if you only had 8 minutes?

[10/10 · 7 October 2018]

One of the best short films I've ever seen. It's perfect the way it is - telling the story about people, about life and death, about the important things in life. About art. About being an artist. It's a short story, but it's very, very deep.

Baghead (2017)

Could be better, could be worse.

[4/10 · 2 October 2018]

The idea is interesting. The visuals are very good. However, the dialogues are much weaker, and the plot is pretty much predictable. It lack something to become a real mystery, or a real horror.

Fire in Cardboard City (2017)

Very well done.

[10/10 · 2 October 2018]

A simple story that doesn't pretend to be something it isn't. Quite interesting animation. All in all, Fire in Cardboard City is the best short film I've seen this year.

Mara (I) (2018)

Meh.

[1/10 · 23 September 2018]

Utterly predictable, not interesting. The visuals are nice, and Olga tries hard, but it doesn't help much. This film doesn't even need spoilers for you to know what's going to happen.