Reviews

"Raunchy humor will probably get bad reviews from people over 40 on here."

...that user comment sentence got under my skin. :) I'm 47, and I grew up with movies like Clerks, There's Something About Mary, South Park - The Movie, American Pie, as well as the fricking 80s - i.e. Porky's and its 6699 clones.

When comparing that sum of experiences to Bupkis, well, it lands somewhere in the middle. The show's funny, it has heart (which is way more important than being raunchy), I like Pete, and Joe Pesci alone is worth the watch - but it's not anything new under the sun. Maybe "people under 40" don't get to see any of that anymore, so they think it IS something original or "extra offensive".

By the way, I really enjoyed Wilfred, with that Hobbit guy. Go and see that show, too.

Back I digress. Aside from that comment about my age group (dunno if I would have a review without it), the show really has it's merits. Go, Pete.

When the credits were rolling, my heart was lifted.

This is a movie we don't get often. A movie about community, about empathy. A movie about the importance of traditions, and even religion. Most of all, it's about sacrifice.

Be warned, though: this film takes its time. If you want something more action-paced, I recommend the very similar-themed, but less lenghty The Wicker Man. The one from the 70s.

This is not about thrills. The ending is clear, long before you get there. As I said: This movie REALLY dares to take its time. Don't expect too much tension, because although it might feel tense, sometimes, it also lasts long enough - and then some - to ease out any of these feelings.

God, this is such a good movie about values.

...it's a slasher movie, for about 90 minutes. And it's a pretty boring one. We didn't care for any of them.

In fact, they get so annoying, that when there's this fight over petty things, right in the middle of the night (people already died, mind you), my friend, at one point, just sighed and sayed: Please, kill them, already... There's no tension, if you start rooting for the killer.

The acting is very decent. Sometimes great.

...the ending is VERY original.

Too bad you have to sit through all the mediocre stuff. We almost stopped, halfway.

As a satire, it works pretty well. I'm just not a fan of the combination with a slasher movie, where you should at least root for a few of them... and you just can't.

So... funny thing. This movie got mentioned in some Youtube clip, "10 most unknown gems of 2023", or so. I watched a few seconds, got my interest up, made a decision to watch it and skipped the rest of the clip.

I knew almost nothing, other than what happens in the first five minutes, when I started watching the movie two hours ago.

Up until the end of the movie, I didn't even know WHO made it.

And I just learned a few minutes ago, when seeing the top review here, that there is a book. I, obviously, haven't read it, so I can't compare.

All that being said: I think that movie is heavily underrated, and I think it's one of the better works of M. Night Shyamalan. It is, in my opinion, the best work he did since Unbreakable.

In a way, it's a "small" movie. Which is kind of ironic, given the global part of it. But I liked that. It could have been the debut movie of an up and coming, young director.

The tension during it's runtime is just... stable, for practically the whole movie. I cared for the family, and I cared for the invaders, too - not knowing if they are right or insane.

There are a few flaws, like the footage from the beach (how did they retrieve it?). But beside that, I really enjoyed the movie from start to finish.

I don't know if it's unique, but I can say that I haven't watched anything quite similar, so it was definitely a unique experience for me. And I'm almost 50.

(having seen The Sixth Sense at the movies) Unique movies are getting rare, once you've seen 1000s of them.

Obviously, given the ratings, others are not so excited. Maybe they expected something else.

I expected nothing, and I got a really good movie.

I can only say: Try to give it an unbiased try.

I love the show. My sole complaint always has been that it was hard, at times, to keep up with the suspension of disbelief. There's this group of teenagers, and almost everybody turns out to be the poster boy/girl/being of being sexually special.

Also, it takes away a huge part of the reality of being special - having to deal with the fact that most others are NOT.

But hey, it's fiction, I loved the characters and the stories. No problem...

And then THIS episode happened.

Everything I described above, amped up to 20.000.

The scene with the "specials" - as the dominant group(!) - excluding the "normal" girl... feels, aside from the blatant irony, like a revenge fantasy. And it seems like they only have "positive energy" for those who "are like them".

That's not inclusive, that's just reversing the power balance.

Oh, and I didn't really like how Otis handled the competition. What's worse: he made himself look very bad, and not mature enough for the job - being awkward about (verbal) sexual misunderstandings...

Lastly: Being a counselor is not about giving "good" advice. It's about asking the right questions. Which was exactly what his "enemy" did.

I liked her way more than I liked him, in that episode.

I like the show. I started watching it AFTER I watched the first season of the live-action show, which I loved.

I like the Anime too, but... it is SO slow. Many defend it by saying that it has to be slow, to have time for character development. But that's not what makes it slow. It's the 10 seconds of reaction shots, after every 5 seconds of action... and, well, the characters ARE slow. They talk so much, even when time is pressing. Bystanders do so much exposition and superfluous explanation, ALL THE time.

This episode is the perfect example. Luffy is drowning (which is not a spoiler, that was the cliffhanger at the beginning), and everybody knows that he has only a few minutes. They even say "we have to defeat our enemies in seconds, then we can save him" - but then they pause all the time, to talk and/or to listen... Then, someone else decides to rescue Luffy - but first, he has to explain that to the others. At long last, someone says "please, hurry!". But right after that, of course, someone says "stop!" - just to explain, in detail, why she should go with him...

Again, I like the show. But particularly the fight episodes are ridiculously slow. Five minutes last 20 minutes.

Some criticized the live-action show for driving the story forward to quickly, but I don't know. If they would have expanded the fights like they do in the Anime, I would have stopped watching mid-way through.

This is the first episode I truly loved.

It's the first one that is truly about inspiration. About doing what makes you happy, and, maybe more importantly, doing what you do in a way that makes you happy.

In this case: not just giving people food. Make them happy. Give them an unforgettable experience.

It's cheesy but true. Finding your purpose and making others happy with it, makes YOU happy.

The transformation Richie goes through in just a few days, it is heartwarming and, to use the word again, inspiring.

I will definitely watch this one again, and I'm about to craft a poster for my work desk.

Every second counts.

I can forgive the writers for giving everybody the same style of humor - because it's, more often than not, a good one. I can forgive them for that "I blame myself, why didn't I do something to prevent it" theme every other episode, no matter how far fetched that thought is.

But in the AMLT universe, it's getting more and more obvious just how many bad things happen. It reminds me of the Hannibal series, where they hunted a historically bad serial killer EVER SINGLE WEEK (not even globally - in their area...). Just without the crime... there is nobody without trauma, without having lost someone. That's either the unluckiest group of people ever, or it's a different universe.

Still loving the show. That says something. At many other shows, I'm not willing to oversee such a list of flaws.

There is a review stating that Maggie is a terrible therapist, because it is shown how "crazy" she behaves in her personal live. And while this is true, she is reacting VERY extreme, let me say this.

I myself am an counselor. I know a LOT of therapists, and they are all great counselors.

We ALL have family and/or relationship problems. That's because parents and/or partners and/or children install plenty of powerful triggers, which are hard to overcome.

And THAT's why counselors exist. They have distance to the problems and triggers of their clients, and can point them out.

And THAT's why good counselors have their own counselors.

So, the argument that Maggie is a bad counselor, just because she acts extreme in her personal life, is not valid. In fact, she has proven to give great advise.

But... I was a more taken aback be Regina's very strong reaction over the Andrew situation, in combination with her saying she's a survivor. The problem is not so much her strong emotions (although she says herself that she may appear a little crazy), it's that we only have her perspective. We never met her uncle, and although Andrew is a, let's say, man of strong opinions, we haven't seen any abuse of power. Quite the opposite: he draws back ever time he feels Regina doesn't agree. He told her very clearly that it is HER restaurant, but that it is his experienced opinion that she might fail if she doesn't adapt a few things.

As of now, she IS overreacting.

Which can be seen as result of her wounds and scars, but that would be a very broad generalization - does she really have a problem with ANY man who is criticizing her, trying to "force" his opinion on her?

Maybe Andrew will reveal himself as "villain", but again: at this point, I'm with him. Which is sad, because I LOVE Regina.

On the other hand, if she realizes that she needs therapy because of her past - that would be kind of a twist I would like. Just because it's very rare that something like that happens on tv.

(it happens all the time in real life. E.g., clients realize that it's their behaviour patterns that trigger acts of MOBBING in others... that doesn't shift the blame, to be clear - but after this realization they can change theirs patterns)

I have to bite my tongue (more accurately: clench my fingers into fists), to prevent myself saying something TOO arrogant...

Told you so. Told you so. Told you so!

Dang it. Me and my lose tongue...

I reviewed that early episode: S01E01: Sanctuary... and I wrote, I quote: "It's a dumb filler, just like E2. On an dumb entertaining level, I like E4 better, because of the AT-ST. If you care about plot and progress and character development, both are bad."

And what did I read about this episode, a few minutes ago?

"This is starting to become annoying... [...] It basicly translates to pointless side quest to advance the plot!"

I just scratched my head... to me, most of the eposides, since season one, were more or less pointless side quests. A lot of them didn't further the main plot, other than maybe introducing characters that had some important parts later on. And the character development always felt like an after thought.

As for the "side-quest" argument: It is fine, that the episodes are that way, I guess. Heck, The A-Team thrived without development, for years... I just don't get why a lot start to complain about that formula NOW...

This episode is not a highlight of S03. But it's okay.

I also wrote, in that same review for S01E04: "[...] it's, as said, entertaining. But stop treating this series as the savior of the Star Wars universe. Sadly, it seems like it isn't."

Nothing has changed, since then.

Shameless has become a cheap sitcom, just without the laugh track. So many scenes going for shallow jokes and quick payoffs. The ironic thing here: it was way funnier the earlier seasons.

Examples: The Liam dress-up-montage (where did he even get the money for all that stuff?), the whole solitary debate, the "I hate myself"-clerk...

The raunchy and dark tones have gone almost completely.

That all being said: it's still above average tv. But seasons 1 to 7 are in my top-10-list of greatest shows ever, so... "above average" is kind of sad. I usually don't watch "above average" shows anymore...

(spoilers only for season one) This was the perfect ending to an almost perfect season. Last season, I wasn't happy with just one scene, which almost ruined it for me (in short: her, going back to him, who was one of the most dislikable characters I've ever seen on screen).

Not this season. It's a perfect mix of happy and not so happy endings, and I was on the edge of my seat, right until the end. I can honestly say, I didn't see that coming. Even more, up until the resolution, I couldn't even tell if the insinuated threat was real or not.

The pace was way better than that of season one, too. And Tanya, who I found so annoying in S1 that I started skipping her scenes, was toned down. Well, at least after the scenes with her husband early in the season, which were kind of hard to watch. At the end, I really started liking and rooting for her.

I truly enjoyed the jealousy theme, and the different approaches of the characters.

If Mr. White keeps improving the show like that, I can't wait for season 3.

Must-watch-TV.

Having seen this episode and the previous one, I had this one thought I never had before, in all my years of Star Wars fanhood... Are Jedi stupid?

Let me explain.

I'm not a "know it all" expert on Star Wars lore, but I've played Knights of the Old Republic.

So... this "problem", that the power of being a Jedi can easily corrupt them, is well known for at least 1000 (!) years.

Still, they never developed some kind of early warning system. Like, when someone like Anakin or Dooku showing openly acts of violence or anger, they immediately get themselves booked an extensive anger and ideology management class...

A violation of the "we are knights of peace" code should be taken gravely serious. Yet, in so many stories, those violations have no consequences at all.

Again: after 1000 years of experience.

Are Jedis stupid?

...the whole show takes itself with a grain of salt, and, if you're asking me - that's what Marvel needs. Desperately.

It's a stupid universe about stupid super beings. Well, no. It's well crafted, and the characters aren't stupid. Most of their movies/series are quite entertaining, and some are even great. One or two of them have been mind blowing.

(Guardians, I am looking right at you)

But it's still just a made-up world, and sometimes I get the vibe that there are quite some people who tend to forget that.

(and to some point, I get it. Don't danger my immersion... right?)

This show is silly as (fill in your level of filthiness).

And that's great.

Enjoy it.