kshutch-16590's Reviews

The Matrix Resurrections (I) (2021)

7/10

30 December 2021

There are some good elements, and some bad. I did find it worth watching, but it definitely lacked the awe and amazement I was hoping for.

Bad: The effects seemed cheap comparatively. There was no character building on new characters. The plot was primarily explanations of how and why there was a 4th matrix and less about a new narrative. Lacked depth and urgency.

Good: Interesting use of new actors playing old characters. Interesting take on the Neo / Trinity relationship.

Really bad: The lower frame rate effect used multiple times was lame and a bit sickening.

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The Wheel of Time (2021– )

6/10

Who is the intended audience?

29 December 2021

Warning: Spoilers

Seems that most book-to-show projects either aim to please the readers or the new watchers...and that is generally ok. If the aim is the readers, stay true to the material to bring it to life. If the aim is the watchers, use devices to thoroughly explain the plot and make it easy to follow. I feel like they missed the mark here. This is not aimed at readers because its missing a lot, changes elements, and does not have the same feel as the books. Its not aimed at the watchers because its moving to fast for newcomers to understand and in a seemingly boring fashion.

For readers: You may be wondering - Where is Minn? Why did Perrin have a girlfriend? Where is the wonder in the Two Rivers group demeanor where even running from Trollocs and Fades they still were in wonderment of the the outside world and speaking all the time about how the old stories matched against what they have seen so far. Why are they at Tar Valon without first going to Camelyn? Where is Elayne? Who are these other warders that had no role in the books but are taking up a lot of screen time? Why is the show saying the Dragon could be a woman when the Dragon must be a man who touches the male half of the one power (saidar)? Why did they meet Thom at White Bridge when Thom should have been with them since Two Rivers to act as a plot device to teach them about the outside world? Why did White Bridge have a little wooden bridge, it should have been a massive White Bridge built by Aes Sedai. Why is Moraine and Suanne in a relationship? Why have we only seen Matt gamble in passing at the very beginning when that is literally his favorite thing in the world and the core of his future. Where was the wandering guy that teaches Perrin about the wolves?

For the watches: You may be wondering and should know more about - What is the one power and what are the differences in the male and female parts of the one power? Who is Lews Therin? Who are the Forsaken? Who is the Dark One? Are Rand, Matt, and Perrin mainly weaklings compared to Nynaeve? What role do those 3 play since as of yet they have not really done anything except fumble around (except the subtle introduction to Perrin and wolves and Rand's 2 minute "I am the dragon" reveal). Why did they show the Heron mark on Rand's sword, that used to be his father's sword, and then never say anything about it. Understand this world is super rich with history and has a lot more character development than this show is offering.

It is ok, but it could be so much better. I feel like I did when I watched Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth adaption or Terry Brook's Shannara adaption. Both adaptations were like budget version of the stories they meant to tell and suffered greatly because of it. Seems like Wheel of Time is likely to go the same way. A few of these things are touched on in the last few episodes like Minn, The Heron Marked sword, Lews Therin, but these are done in poor order and glossed over like small details that are actually important to the later story. But come on, we see Seanchan or whatever at the end and we still have not met Elayne?

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Cursed (2020)

8/10

This is a different take

19 June 2021

I found this to be a pretty good show. I do not care that it uses a different take on old lore and changes things up, its still interesting and held my attention. I thought the acting was pretty solid and the visuals were quite nice. Its not the next blockbuster, but its good fantasy show.

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The Nevers (2021–2023)

5/10

Maybe it gets better?

9 June 2021

I like the characters for the most part and the talent playing them with many coming from other shows I liked (the outlander, poldark, davinci's demons). I like the steam-punkishness. But something...just seems off putting here. I think I have narrowed down my current issues to not caring for the Maladie character whose first scene was rambling nonsense, and the dialogue having a tendency to be tiring and seemingly unconnected to anything. Game of thrones did that some but in a far more interesting way in my opinion with better world building. We watched the first episode, and it was ok...could have been better, but the end was pretty sweet. I started the second, made it halfway through and we had to stop for other reasons. But that was days ago and neither my wife or myself have really been motivated to start it back up. It may get better.

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Clannad (2007–2008)

1/10

Horrible extremely overrated aimless mess

10 December 2020

The first season is just horrible. Nothing happens of any interest. It is not funny, it is not mysterious, it is not romantic, it has no plot, the characters are unremarkable. Slice of life typically has some other element beyond just pointless rambling dialogue or at the very least has good character building. This has nothing. After 24 episodes, I am left wondering how anyone could say this is a good anime. I saw it on many lists that it was a good story and on many lists of it being a good love story. This is none of that. It reminds me of doing nothing and convincing myself that I had a great time doing absolutely nothing.

I started on season 2 (after story) and it too is just a rambling unremarkable mess. I have read that around episode 18 of after story there is some incredibly emotional part to this story, but how? To evoke emotion, care has to be given to the characters and this series completely fails in that. I tried but there is no way I can sit through another 13 episodes just to get to the likely misguidedly labeled good episode near the end.

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Away (I) (2019)

3/10

Its just not enough

20 April 2020

While I applaud this is all one person that did the score, story, and the animation...its not enough. The animation could have been better. The story could have strayed from taking painfully long in some areas, which I believe was done because there was really not a lot of story here. Some of this story is up for interpretation, but its ultimately just a short uneventful journey with a few moments of interest sprinkled in. I do not regret watching it...I liked the bird. But I would not recommend it either.

Another reviewer said something about a video game. I have to agree. This would have been much better served as a VR title so at least I could have looked around. Most video games have better animation than this.

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Future Man (2017–2020)

8/10

Crazy, Wacky, Fun

3 March 2020

The cast works great. There are some extremely hilarious parts on this show...and there are some that are pretty stupid ones but within the world of this show...stupid works very well.

I am definitely looking forward to season 3!

But, its not just goofy fun...there is an actual story to follow. While that path may not be straight forward or even slightly believable...its just works. The running humor is really good on this one.

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Outlander (2014– )

9/10

I thought it would be cheese and mush

3 March 2020

I passed on this one for a few years. The time aspect seemed interesting, but it looked like it would be slow, boring, and sappy. Oddly enough...it is somewhat slow and sappy at times...but in a surprisingly great way. Its to interesting to be boring.

Someone going back in time is always an interesting premise to me, so I finally gave it a shot. I kept watching at first to find out more about that time travel. Then I kept watching to find out more of what was happening with the character relationships. Then I kept watching because the story had become this incredible journey that spans the world throughout time.

I have enjoyed each season (current with season 5) even with the complete setting changes. They have done excellent character building and even excellent breaking down of characters.

I never thought I would like this show as much as I have, or honestly at all. At face value I would have said this is probably going to be a 5 or 6 star show. Some of the settings are screenshot worthy and its very different from other shows. It has a realism. It has a sci-fi/fantasy twist. It has a way about it that is just hard to explain. It certainly has a knack for making me, a very non-emotional logical person, feel things for these characters and for the ways of the world from the past.

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The Walking Dead (2010–2022)

5/10

A lesson in how to make a good thing bad

1 March 2020

I used to think throughout the year, "I wonder what will happen on the next season." I bought the video games, read the comic, and I compared the feeling, excitement, and wonder of The Walking Dead storyline to my other favorites like GOT and Lost because it had so much potential and such great characters all in a backdrop of a genre I thought was dead and gone.

For me season 1 was not great but it was interesting enough to keep watching. Season 2 and 3 were awesome. Season 4 was good. Season 5 was repetitive but still good. Season 6 was repetitive and started to feel stale. Season 7 was better but the show changed dramatically to create a greater fear of humans than of the walking dead themselves. Season 8 was a repetitive version of season 7 and it was apparent the Saviors arc was being drawn out to much and to many characters were being made to act outside of what their personalities previously would have allowed for. Season 9 the show went off the rails. When you realize basically all of the characters you started watching the show for are either dead, left for some unbelievable reason, or had changed to a point of no longer being the same characters, while at the same time being introduced to shallow one dimensional characters with whom you have no emotional investment...you start to wonder in season 9, "Why I am still watching the show?"

Season 10 feels like someone had an idea of what to do in this season but it was a very simple idea so they had to create episodic problems to solve and wrap up prior to whatever the main point is of this season. All this occurs with people I care little about, an enemy that is literally the most boring enemy in the history of there being enemies, backstory that is painful to watch (come on, a whole episode of worthless Alpha back story - which was the WORST episode of this entire series), and the few remaining staple characters being shells of what they once were.

Honestly, I can name 6 or 7 characters now. I used to be able to name them all. That is the shows fault for making characters so uninteresting and so removed from any type of main plot. I used to wonder about how the plots would play out, now I just wonder about how bad of a choice the writers and producers will make next.

I feel like I was cheated. Season 1-7, 8-9 stars. Season 9+ 2 stars.

Wrap it up AMC, you messed it all up and there is no path to redemption.

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Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)

6/10

Its ok...but almost a miss

12 February 2020

The first one is much better. This one seemed kinda thrown together. Its not horrible...its just not great. It had that straight-to-dvd feel to it. There was zero character building and the plot was not very engaging. The story moves quick enough to not keep you bored though. It is worth a watch if you enjoyed the first one. If you did not like the first one, probably stay away from this one.

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Jexi (2019)

10/10

Funny, modern, good feel to it.

12 February 2020

I am giving 10 stars to help offset the 6.1 rating at the time I posted this. For a modern comedy, which let's face it some of them are really bad, this is just a good funny movie that stays focused on what it is. Its about technology, life, and how tech can detract from your life and relationships but can also help...its how you use it that matters. It does this in a funny way. I never lost interest during the movie and I found it to have a genuine appeal. In a way it reminded me of "The first 20 million is the hardest" from 2002, but this one is more adult themed.

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His Dark Materials (2019–2022)

6/10

Interesting story, but kind of boring

8 February 2020

The story is interesting but the way its being told is not very involved. My attention wanders to other things while I am watching it and its not very captivating.

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The Mandalorian (2019– )

10/10

Its just good

8 February 2020

All future Star Wars need to use this as a model. It feels more serious and a bit darker than the movies, but it also has a simplicity that only the original 3 movies had. There is mystery and action and a great storyline. There were a few episodes I felt were more like filler. I hope they stray away from doing that in the next season and just stick to the main arc. This show is definitely worth watching.

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The Outsider (2020)

8/10

Good mystery

8 February 2020

There is enough mystery and hanging questions that makes this story quite interesting. The beginning is a bit unclear on the characters as many are introduced and removed without ever getting a good look at them. As the show is progressing though, that is becoming less of an issue. I certainly want to see more.

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Watchmen (2019)

7/10

Good, but seems like its missing something

8 February 2020

The show is ok...its moderately interesting but also not what I expected in a somewhat indifferent way. 7 stars may be higher than it should be. My main issue is that the mystery has yet to seem compelling to me. Its comparable to the feeling I get if I lost an item or trinket somewhere in my house and I want to know where it is, but its not a super important item or trinket so I lack the motivation to expend energy finding it. This show is similar in that I want to know what is going on but its not interesting enough yet to keep my attention so I am a bit lazy about watching it.

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