Reviews

This was the best episode of the series so far! The buildup of the first seven episodes led to an absolutely incredible payoff and a perfect cliffhanger for the next season. It felt like the series did a great job of explaining necessary scenes in earlier episodes yet kept multiple scenes as mysteries. This episode closed nearly all unexplained scenarios and had a perfect blend of past to present action and explanation. I have to give a shoutout to the actor playing Maximus because I wasn't a fan of how reserved his character is, but the actor showed a ton of range in this episode with emotion, and I hope to see that more often in season two. 5/5 stars.

This one is probably one of my least favorite of the series, but it was still pretty good. I just felt like all the characters represented were in the middle of great stories and they kind of went in different directions. I assume they wrote like this to get to that season finale and make it work, but I felt like this episode could have been a bit tighter and more concise. A lot of times the scene played out in a very different way compared to the consistency of how the characters have been acting this entire series. I'm excited for the finale and payoff but this one just didn't have the moments I was looking for like the other episodes in the series provided. 3.5/5 stars.

This is one of those slow burn episodes that gets progressively better and more intriguing as it goes along. The beginning seems pretty dry but gives a fantastic look into the past about life before the nuclear events. It juxtapositioned near perfectly as the episode got to the second half and started to slowly unveil that not everything is as it seems (avoiding spoilers). I'd rate this higher, but it is quite a long episode with a lot of exposition and narrative but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It seemed necessary to develop the story as the characters split their ways but did a fantastic job of showing that there are certain elements and characters that tie everyone together. 4/5 stars.

This was probably my least favorite episode so far in the series. It was still good enough to watch but it kind of felt like a filler episode. What it did well was push the Vault 33 story along quite nicely and now has me even more intrigued about what's going on in Vault 31. But the pacing overall seemed super slow and just didn't have the spark that the other four episodes had. Especially in the wasteland it seemed like there wasn't much going on except for a bridge standoff. This one could have been ten minutes shorter and that's saying something since it's the shortest episode to date. I'm still looking forward to the rest of the series though. 3.5/5 stars.

I absolutely loved this one. Although it was missing the third main character Maximus, I felt like pushing forward the dynamic between Lucy and The Ghoul was really well done. This episode probably had the most references to the video game series and had some of the best world building for people who haven't tried the games. It also developed Norm into a character with courage and probably got me the most interested in the vault side story since the actual pilot. It did a great job of explaining some of the unanswered questions like why The Ghoul desperately needs vials. I really like Lucy after what she did for him even after how awful he's treated her throughout the show. 4.5/5 stars.

This is another episode that pushed the story forward very well. I still prefer the second episode as my favorite so far, but this one did a great job pushing the three characters' stories forward. It also reintroduced the story of the vault from the first episode so it's nice to see them not abandoning that aspect of the show. The more I watch this show the more I realize it kind of pays homage to the movie The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly where the three core characters are all vying for the Head and each character fits these descriptions but in a different manner. I continue to be blown away by the visuals and I'm thrilled to see how accurate the show portrays how the video games played out. 4/5 stars.

I thought the pilot was excellent, but this one was fantastic. It did a near perfect job of bringing all the main characters together and pushing the story forward. The standoff at Filly was very intense and made for a great climax to this episode. The whole setting with all the props did a really great job of paying tribute to the 3D video games. I'm also opening up to Maximus's character. He seemed pretty bland and one-dimensional during the pilot but my concerns are starting to ease as he develops courage in the Brotherhood of Steel. Again, Lucy and The Ghoul shined through this one and continue to impress me. 4.5/5 stars.

I'm a huge fan of video game series so I was a bit nervous about the quality this show was going to be but so far, it's been fantastic. This episode did a great job incorporating staples in the Fallout game series but also created a brand-new story in the universe. The opening scene setting the background story about how this world came to be was a great touch and a great introduction to new fans. I really like Purnell as Lucy and feel like she was perfectly cast to play the lead. Moten as Maximus is undecided for me since it didn't go too deep into his story, but I like what I see so far. Goggins as the Ghoul is another fantastic casting choice. The setting, visuals, etc. Are exactly what I would look for in a show based on the series and I can't wait to continue watching. 4/5 stars.

Not a bad film by any means. It had a difficult task trying to follow up one of the best thrillers of all time and at least did a decent job closing the gap between the two movies. I just felt like this one was a bit messy and all over the place. The twist was very good but then it just felt like they kept throwing the movie in different directions instead of sticking to a more structured outline. Perkins did a great job like he did in the original and I'm surprised he could capture the character 23 years later. Tilly was kind of "meh" and the acting wasn't great. Perkins is supposed to be a bit "out there" but Tilly playing a spacey young woman couldn't quite capture what I expected. The rest of the cast was pretty good though. 2.5/5 stars.

Hitchcock did a wonderful job with this. I was pretty much on the edge of my seat from the time Norman Bates was introduced at the Bates Motel. The movie did a wonderful job illustrating that something was off with the main character but didn't make it too obvious. The buildup at the beginning was well done and gave a great backstory about Marion. I thought the theme music was very good for its time. I'm not the biggest fan of the acting throughout the movie, especially some of the death scenes. It's Hitchcock's style and I get what he's trying to portray but it just doesn't age well compared to modern movies and effects. It doesn't ruin the movie but any means since I still believe this one is close to an all-time classic for me, but it does knock it down a bit. 4.5/5 stars.

This is up there as one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Maybe it hasn't aged as great as other comedies, but I haven't had an issue with the material, and I feel like it's just as hilarious today as it was back then. Downey Jr. Playing a fake actor playing a black dude is genius comedy and shouldn't work like it does but in the end, comedy is meant to push boundaries. I thought the whole cast in general was hysterical. The fake trailers at the beginning made me believe they were real the first time I saw them. I wish they would return to making comedies like this again. It's okay to offend sometimes in my opinion and the audience will let you know when you've gone too far anyway. Our society needs comedic relief to heal. 4.5/5 stars.

This was an unbelievable film to watch in theaters. The score and sound effects gave me goosebumps multiple times and it was so easy to lose myself in this film. It easily surpassed part one and took care of all the weaknesses the first film had. There's nothing I like better in the first film which is saying just how good part two turned out to be. The cast was just as good with the recurring characters and added new ones like Butler who played a phenomenal villain. I was also blown away by the color usage this time around. It felt like the entire color spectrum was used throughout the movie giving an incredible viewing experience. The stadium scene being completely black and white gave the whole scene such an eerie feeling to it. A true masterpiece by Villeneuve. 5/5 stars.

Another fantastic film by Villeneuve. He's extremely talented and has a knack for bringing back old 80's sci-fi classics and making them either as good or even better than they were. The soundtrack by Zimmer was also amazing and brought emotion out of the scenes implementing the soundtrack. I also really enjoyed the entire cast and thought Chalamet was a much better portrayal of Paul Atreides than the '80s version (he's supposed to play as a boy but the old one looks like too much like a man). I had to knock it a bit down because the movie ended at an awkward time. The original tried to cram the entire story into one movie and felt like a mess. This one took its time but it's still a weird point to end a movie. Character development could have been a bit better as well. It's still an incredible movie and I can't wait to see Part 2 in a couple of hours. 4.5/5 stars.

This is the first Studio Ghibli movie I've seen, and I was blown away by the visuals. The way the motion contrasts with the background during intense scenes is incredible. This movie had fantastic humor throughout and each minor detail with characters whether it was the specks working with coal to the transformations performed by the witches was such a sight to see. Being my first time watching a movie like this, I was not expecting such an unorthodox type of story or unique characters. Bouncing heads? A giant baby that can talk? It's going to take a while to get used to as I was expecting a pretty normal spirit world and instead was confronted with challenging visuals. Great movie but being a beginner, I need to watch more of these movies and then I might watch Spirited Away again to see if it jumps in my ranking. 4/5 stars.

I give this film a pretty decent score, but it's carried by near-perfect dialogue. It also has hilarious moments combined with intense scenes for a great blend throughout the movie. It's not as high for me because it just didn't flow well. I've thoroughly enjoyed movies that were out of order scene-wise before, but this one is just missing something to pull it all together. The order the film was presented was very good though and it made for a fantastic payoff near the end. Jackson was brilliant in this and delivered some of the most iconic lines in movie history. The rest of the cast was also enjoyable to watch. It's a weird feeling that I should rate this a masterpiece, but it just didn't resonate as high for me like most other users. 4/5 stars.

It's a long movie and throws a lot at you at a rapid-fire pace but if you stick with it the payoff is fantastic. It takes on the aspect of time at a scientific level but does a fantastic job of weaving in the weight of choice in life. Van Dormael was able to blend science and art to create an incredible story. It's one of those films that makes me ponder the choices I've made in life and what my life could have been taking different paths at different stages. I was impressed with Leto in this one. He needed a lot of range to pull off as many different alternate realities and I thought he did a great job. I would probably rate it a bit higher but it's a bit artsy for my taste, although I don't think it would be as good without the extra theatrics. 4/5 stars.

I forgot how intense this movie is. Cuarón did an unbelievable job progressing the story while also making every scene flow towards more anxiety. Owen did a great job playing the lead and I'm sad to not see him in more movies because he's very talented. I label this one a masterpiece because of the range of emotions I go through. A particular scene near the end gets me choked up and it's impressive how Cuarón was able to diffuse the tension and portray something so beautiful. Every action scene was so well shot, and some scenes had styles that felt like one-takes making it a very unique way to approach how it's portrayed. I also wish Cuarón did more films because he's extremely talented as well. 5/5 stars.

This one starts a bit slow, but the tension slowly builds up for an intense payoff. I loved the one-shot film style and it's not something I'm used to in a war movie (technically not one-shot but it gives the strong illusion outside of a clear break in action near the halfway point). MacKay and Chapman were unknown to me before watching but did a phenomenal job throughout the film and pretty much carried the acting through 90% of the film. I was also very impressed with the setting and especially the lighting throughout the film as it captures a full day and night of a race against time. War is brutal and the setting didn't try to hide how horrible it was back in World War 1. If you can't handle a stressful 2 hours of intense war situations, then this one won't be for you. 5/5 stars.

Great film by Jonze. When I saw this came out in 2013 it almost felt prophetic to what our world has evolved into the last 10 years. AI has grown at a rapid pace, and it feels like human connections have somehow gotten harder than easier. This film does a fantastic job displaying how enamored Phoenix's character gets over a simple operating system voice, yet it feels like this happens all the time with the way we're addicted to connections we don't physically have in real life. I also thought the conclusion of the film was very well done and just about the right way I was hoping the story would go. 4.5/5 stars.

This is great work by Tarantino. An excellent story and a satisfying ending. I thought Waltz was amazing playing Dr. Schultz and I felt like he was a standout throughout the film. It does a great job of getting me wound up with all the racism going on in the movie to then lead to a satisfying payoff. It is a bit long for my taste though. I felt like they could have shortened this a bit (especially cut some parts in the first half) but it's not enough to complain about. Foxx was also a fantastic lead and seemed like the perfect cast for Django. It also included Tarantino's bloody but artful style of combat shots and there's no other director that can capture it like that (be it excessive but that's the style). 4.5/5 stars.

I enjoyed the comedy of this one and most of the messages were pretty strong and made an impact. Robbie and Gosling were terrific and hilarious to watch throughout the film. The dance numbers and sets were gorgeous, and they put a lot of effort into the production. Going into the real world was also well done and shifted the story quickly. It's weird to give it such a high score but I also feel like the preachiness and number of messages trying to be driven home were just a bit too much and all over the place. In some scenes, I got emotional, and then in other scenes, I felt like it wiped that progress away with the new "message". I still believe it is that good but if it tightened up a bit and stayed consistent then this would have been bumped higher in rating. 4/5 stars.

I thought they did a brilliant job with this one. It takes on the concept of alternate realities and does a fantastic job of slowly developing the tension and creating chaos. The acting was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I didn't recognize anyone, but they did a great job shooting this and it sounds like a lot of the dialogue was improvised which is very impressive. I'm surprised it isn't labeled with slight horror because it's so creepy in some scenes and it had pretty solid scares. This makes me want to dive deeper into the concept of Schrodinger's Cat, alternate realities, etc. 4/5 stars.

This one had a ton of potential compared to 3 but they took it in such a weird direction that it killed all the momentum it had from the handful of great scenes and twists. It was also filled with really bad cheesy lines, and it felt like the original 2 installments of the series didn't need lines like these. The CGI was much better than 3 and the aliens were way more realistic, so I have to give it credit where it does a good job. Ryder was a great supporting actress to Weaver. I just wish Weaver wasn't playing a clone so her acting could be on display like the first 3 installments. I would skip this one and just stick to the first 2 if you're looking to try the series. 2/5 stars.

The third installment of the series lost the charm of the first two. The first two were very different from each other but still kept that heart-pounding excitement albeit from two different types of horror. This one was just a weird way to continue the series. The CGI was absolutely awful and very reminiscent of when the 90's started implementing it everywhere. The first two had worse technology to work with but were able to design sets and alien costumes to make it feel real while this one felt very fake. The scares were also very tame and not great. You couldn't connect with hardly any of the characters outside of Dutton and Dance's characters. There's still some charm to this one and the story "works" but I don't think I want to watch it ever again. 2.5/5 stars.

I was very impressed with this sequel. I prefer the original, but this one was well worth the time and effort it took to develop. I think the reason I liked the original more was because the story seemed simple, and it gave that sense of dread throughout the movie. This one took the original's basic concept and cranked it up by a lot. It was just as intense as the original and had some amazing action scenes. It seemed a bit less believable since they already knew what they were going to deal with, but the arrogance of the entire military going into the mission was frustrating. It also had a strong cast with Weaver coming back to reprise the role of Ridley so I was very impressed with how much more they could incorporate unique characters compared to Alien. 4.5/5 stars.