sinabrazil Reviews

Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories (2016– )

Great short series and very feel good-y!

[9/10 · 20 December 2016]

I stumbled on this series by accident as a recommendation by Netflix for me to watch it and I don't know why but I had a feeling Midnight Diner will be amazing and it turned out to be a an absolute gem. My only complaint is that wasn't long enough so I am certainly hoping for a 2nd season!

The sound track is perfect, really sets the mood and the dialogue is smooth and even though I had to use subtitles Midnight Diner made me appreciate the little things in life. The conversations you have with a few close friends, your memorable encounters with total strangers who impact your life immensely. This series has all of that.

There is plenty of drama too! But the sort of humorous drama, the type that create great stories to tell in the future.

Let's Kill Ward's Wife (2014)

Surprisingly a good movie

[6/10 · 14 August 2016]

The only reason I watched this movie was because I thought it would be one of those comedy films with stupid jokes that for some reason we find hilarious, however I quickly realised that's not the case. It has some definite laugh out loud moments but it feels natural, as if it wasn't written to be a comedy. It's funny but without trying too hard. If you are expecting pure comedy then this isn't for you, but if you want a balanced film with humour, a half decent story line and some drama this is for you!

I liked this title for some reason despite the terrible reviews it has received, it will entertain you for the duration of the film which is actually rather short.

Sense8 (2015–2018)

A really good, original idea gone horribly wrong.

[6/10 · 21 July 2016]

At first glance this is a fantastic new series, a thrilling drama with hints of sic-fi which are bound to keep you hooked and please your binge watching habits. The series starts well but it's pretty much downhill from there. The more we learn about the characters the more you realise how fake and over emphasised everything about them is, a bit like plastic toys really. I have to say the show is bold and FairPlay to them in portraying gender and racial equality but unfortunately they have gone on to stereotype a lot along the way as well (The Korean lady is a martial artist, the African man has a mother with HIV...). I think they concentrated so much on sexual and racial identities that they have missed the plot. We get more information about the character's sexual and racial identity than we do about what the hell is actually going on, why are they spiritually connected? What are the sensate? How come they have only just started to connect? It's only in the last episode of the season that they really use their combined strengths, before that they seem to use their connection as means to an end. The selling point of the series is the emotional and spiritual connection between the characters and yet we don't really see any of that nor do we know why they have that connection in the first place; instead we get to see the dramas of ordinary people. If you are expecting to be emotionally satisfied this is not for you, if you want to delve into spiritual human connections this is not for you, actually it doesn't even rank too well for drama because the show jumps from character to character so you never actually feel the tension. After watching season 1 I don't feel attached to any of the characters, in fact I have already forgotten some of their names. Perhaps they could have created less characters so we could get more out of the story kind of a "less is more" situation.