Reviews
The Americans (2013)
Somewhat inconsistent in quality, but worth it for the highs
Most of episodes here are just average, some are great and some are just not. The ones that work overall make watching the whole show worth it. It's written for TV and you can tell by somewhat traditional and formualic way the episodes and seasons are structured, even the way plot beats within episodes are structured. It's at its best when details matter and storytelling is visual. This is a more common approach early on, but still returns in the best episodes later. I wish the latter half of it was more serialized with the rest. I also feel like some the kids could've been utilized more and in more interesting ways. I really would've liked to see a scene where at least Paige realizes what their parents' job actually encompasses and how many they've killed. This is especially annoying when you see how some plots early on were stretched to milk viewer interest. There are also several plots that seemingly exist to keep actors hired despite their characters having nothing relevant to do. All this fluff and this stuff never comes up?
So, the highs make it worth watching, but I can't see myself ever rewatching the whole thing; maybe the best parts. I don't regret watching it once, though.
The Boondocks (2005)
First two seasons great, third allright and fourth not
First two seasons great.
Third still felt like Boondocks despite it seemingly losing focus. There just wasn't a uniting element present anymore, but the characters are stuill there.
The fourth season, though, does not feel like Boondocks at all. It feels hollow, like a mannequin show trying to use characters as dolls. A lot of characters are no longer present often if at all and none of the characters feel like ones from the prevoius seasons, more like a misunderstood attempt at their recreation. Everything's just so off.
So, in conclusion, if interested, watch season 2 and maybe 3, but not 4.
The Terror (2018)
S01 only
Only watched season one. Didn't like how they throw a lot of characters at you instead of focusing on just a few more closely. I would actually very much prefer for the show to be more character-driven. As is, I'm not really sure what's supposed to keep pushing it. The supernatural element feels overemphasized and underdeveloped. A lot of character "arcs" fall flat due to being underdeveloped. Especially in the beginning, the show feels so desparate to move on that it doesn't bother to let the audience know what and why they are even doing. I like, as many others doe, when a show doesn't underestimate its audience, but sometimes exposition is a neccessity.
Dark Matter (2015)
Great premise, repetitive writing
I have the same issue here that I had with Agents of S. H. I. E. L. D., except for that show the constant reliance on "team member compromised", as annoying as it was, made much more sense as S. H. I. E. L. D. is a spy agency. Here it feels even more like lazy writing. And thet's hardly the only way the writing could be considered lazy; it's just one of many and listing them is frankly not worth the effort.
Le samouraï (1967)
Weak script
Exceptional aesthetic and performances aren't enough to cover for a weak script. Which is a real shame, because there is so much potential ad so many things done right.
Ergo Proxy (2006)
There's some substance here, but it's just not well presented
Having watched the whole thing made me instinctively go to the wiki to see what people have pieced together out of this mess.
The first few episodes you just don't know what's going on; the middle is where most of the character work happens (and the best part) and the ending is a huge, incoherent exposition dump.
SM-rechter (2009)
Good premise, bad execution
I see where they were going with this, but the events are illogical, contrived and quite inconsistent throughout. I could write an essay listing them all, but it seems like a waste of time. When handling such a controversial topic (especially at the time) and trying to make somewhat of a stand, it can be considered even more important to have the movie work on all these fronts on which it doesn't. It's redeeming quality is brevity that ensures you at least won't fall asleep as you would if it were longer.
The Witcher (2019)
Season 1 - 8,5 - promising so far
They've got a solid script here. The acting is on point as well, although I'm not a fan of American diversity casting that requires a certain percentage of every race to be present
even in a fictionalized medieval slavic Europe with no explanation whatsoever of how they got there. You want diversity, do it like GoT - this is just lazy.
This first season is quite episodic, which I found to be quite refreshing and welcome. I assume upcoming seasons will be more serialized as the material starts requiring it.
When it comes to the material, I didn't read the novels so I wouldn't know how much they are sticking to them. I came from the games and didn't expect everything to be the same, but enough was that I could take advantage of all the lore I've picked up and understand far more than I would assume the average viewer without that background would.
Overall, if it maintains this level of quality, we will end up with a pretty decent fantasy show. However, I'm not optimistic as the general trend dictates that it will likely see a gradual fall in quality across the following seasons.
Haute tension (2003)
Boringly typical until the twist
Everyone seems to hate the plot twist, but to me the movie would be a typical run-of-the-mill slasher without it. Probably would've worked better if a bit more of what actually happened was shown. Given that the protagonist is mad and we see the plot from their perspective, I think there is no real gaping plot hole as you can just write it off as said madness. Still, some scenes would need quite a bit of rewriting and even outhright deletion to have them make sense in an objective timeline, so I can understand the naysayers to an extent. Overall, though, I think it was way more beneficial than it was detrimental.
The Plague Dogs (1982)
Beats Watership Down
Other than that, not much nice to say about it. The plot is very simple and drags in a predictable direction to the end. Some character work is there too. Luckily, it's not that long of a film. One must assume the praise the two films get is coming from adults nostalgically rewatching their most memorable childhood flicks, most of which are unwatchably bad for an averagely intellingent adult, so now these two seem profound in comparison.
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Cheesy, but well-executed
As the title said, well made. If the message was less cheesy, I'd probably give it a higher grade (8-9), but this is not an attempt at an objective review, but rather a note to dial in my preferences (figure out what I like and what i dislike).
N.H.K ni yôkoso! (2006)
A very immature take on a very mature subject
Yet another show that fooled a bunch of people into believing it's "deep" just because it asks some existential questions, no matter how dumb the answers it offers are.
Up until the 11th-12th episode this show seemed quite promising. Episodes 13 and 14 in particular are just horrible. They depict suicide as if it was a spur of the moment childish tantrum for most victims and then preach about one's social responsibility not to kill oneself. In ep. 14 literally every cliff-dweller gets the solution to their particular problem served to them precisely because they attempted suicide. What's the message? Suicide is bad or suicide solves all problems? Or maybe only unsuccessful attempts do that?
What is also really missing is the question of all these loved ones embracing them back now that they've shown just how fragile they are. The question being, why? Are they feeling guilty or would they do it anyway given enough time? First seems way more likely. Relationships based on feelings of guilt and responsibility like that are bound to fail, but this whole angle seemingly doesn't even occur to the creators, so they don't address it.
They also do the suicide switcheroo twice (ep. 13 and finale) for dramatic effect, with Sato just becoming suicidal in the heat of the moment, because, you know, that's how suicide works, apparently. Dramatizing an act as serious as suicide in such a way cheapens the show immensly.
From ep. 15 it's mostly all filler until the last couple of episodes which suffer from the same issues ep. 13 and 14 did, albeit less so.
Serial Experiments Lain (1998)
"Smart themes" without a solid narrative backbone add up to a snoozefest
This is one of those shows people find excuses for being horrendous just because it touches on some interesting philosophical or psychological concepts. As if that excuses horrible storytelling, nonexistent characters with no arcs whatsoever, poor animation, awful pacing and a dozen other problems this show has. It's just not in any way a compelling narrative.
To all of those who liked the show, answer me this - what is Lain like? She is kind of introverted, I guess. Anything else? No? You sure? What personality traits does she have? Nothing? And this is the protagonist we're talking about. That's what I mean when I say this show has no characters. They are all just vessels, marionettes, twisted and turned by writers to make whatever choice is needed for the nonsensical plot to progress.
Frames hang around for too long and are constatly recycled. It's slow-paced, but that seems to be a consequence of a low budget forcing a super-low framerate instead of actual authorial intent, especially as it isn't used in any meaningful way.
The show does indeed touch on some really smart themes, but none of them are fully realized or actually lead anywhere. You can forget about drawing any sort of conclusion, clear or not, from this. Because it is so vague, people seem to project a lot of meaning onto it, despite it carrying none on it's own. You'll hear stuff like "It asks bold questions and provides no easy answers" when in reality it doesn't explore the implications of various answers at all and can barely formulate something resembling a question in the first place.
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)
Conflicted about this one. Worst plot, but best action so far.
John Wick (1) was a pure 10/10 for me. It had a tight, albeit simple script and excellent action. John Wick 2 somewhat upped the action, but the plot couldnt've possibly been on the level as 1 had a definitive ending. I viewed 2's plot as something that needed to be sacrificed for a franchise and that's exacly what we got. But, now with the 3, I'm not sure where said francise will go if it sacrifices it's plot any further.
As happy as I am that action is better than ever, the plot problems seep into it as well, resulting in an uneven pacing and unclear character motivation as well as some plot holes holding this movie back from being something truly excellent like the original.
I still find it better than 2 overall, but not by much.
Daredevil (2015)
The main plot in the final season too predictable, otherwise great
I'd give 9 for the first two seasons, 8 for the last.
Californication (2007)
Might've been a 9 if it weren't for the last couple of seasons
Last season is overall the worst although you could argue the show should've ended at season 5. First 5 seasons, though, are some pretty good stuff. Shame we see once more the incessant phenomena of a show outstaying its welcome.
Love, Death & Robots: The Secret War (2019)
A decisively Russian tale
There's something to be said of the power hungry leaders releasing such unholy evil upon the land and then sending men to the slaughter to fix their errors, the errors they will never even acknowledge and if anyone tries to make them, they will certainly end up locked up or dead. However, that to me is not the highlight of this episode. To me, the star of the show here is the atmosphere. Cold, mystical siberian taiga is a character all on it's own and a great one at that.
Love, Death & Robots: Zima Blue (2019)
Just two problems with this episode
First one is that the exposition of the "public story" is too close to the exposition of the "real story". Can't really fault the short for this, though. It's not like they had a lot of runtime to work with.
The second one is entirely subjective and that is my dislike of the art style.
It may seem weird to give a 10/10 and then list a couple of problems, but the fact I was able to list so little and that none of them are exacly fixable is, I believe, just the thing to show how great of an episode it is. It's easier to list the nitpicks than to sing praises 'cause that would take a looooong time.
The Witcher (2019)
Season 1 - 8,5 - promising so far
They've got a solid script here. The acting is on point as well, although I'm not a fan of American diversity casting that requires a certain percentage of every race to be present
even in a fictionalized medieval slavic Europe with no explanation whatsoever of how they got there. You want diversity, do it like GoT - this is just lazy.
This first season is quite episodic, which I found to be quite refreshing and welcome. I assume upcoming seasons will be more serialized as the material starts requiring it.
When it comes to the material, I didn't read the novels so I wouldn't know how much they are sticking to them. I came from the games and didn't expect everything to be the same, but enough was that I could take advantage of all the lore I've picked up and understand far more than I would assume the average viewer without that background would.
Overall, if it maintains this level of quality, we will end up with a pretty decent fantasy show. However, I'm not optimistic as the general trend dictates that it will likely see a gradual fall in quality across the following seasons.
Westworld (2016)
Season 1 is gold, might as well not bother with the rest
That's it, really. Season 1 gets a 10, the rest can be skipped.
Westworld (2016)
Season 1 is gold, might as well not bother with the rest
That's it, really. Season 1 gets a 10, the rest can be skipped.
Archer (2009)
Deconstructive fun at its best and mediocre background noise at its worse
As is the case with oh so many shows, Archer gets farther and farther away from its core premise as it desperately tries not to bore the audience the first few seasons created. This percieved neccessity of capitalizing on a success and not letting a show go when it has said what it had to say, but instead releasing season after season of consecutively worse material as long as the ratings justify it, is the cause of many shows's unsatisfying later seasons. This is done, of course, for profit. It's seemingly hard for creatives in the industry to push new ideas, which means they are more likely to stick to a show while it's making money.
Peaky Blinders (2013)
Another show that seemingly dips in quality each consecutive season
Starts off great, gets slowly worse to the point that last couple of seasons feel like a do-over. Sadly typical for the medium. First 2-3 seasons worth a watch.
Vikings (2013)
Pretty much the only decent Viking show around
I believe the high ratings here are primarily because of lack of competition in the space of Viking TV-shows. That's not to say that the show is bad, but it's, im my opinion, not accolade-worthy.
If interested, watch the first few episodes and see for yourself. Reconsider your decision after season 4, as the show changes significantly.
Overall, decent for multitasking. Not rewatch material in my book.
Stranger Things (2016)
Season 1 - 9,5/10, season 2 - 7/10, season 3 - 5/10
First season is an excellenly executed horror bursting with 80s nostalgia. Second and third seasons are consecutively worse do-overs and aren't worth most people's time.