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Snowwman
Reviews
Fate: The Winx Saga (2021)
Don't come here looking for Winx Club
For an adaptation of a beloved cartoon, this misses the mark in almost every way, and for the dumbest of reasons. Completely removing the visual style of a school for magical fairies in another dimension because it's 'not realistic' is insane, especially when one of the cartoon voices was provided by Ariana Grande.
Instead of shopaholic tweens bound by the power of friendship, we have angsty late-teens (I think, they looked older though,) about half of whom were high on drugs at any given time, while the rest were having sex.
They also did away with everybody's favourite character Flora in favour of a token fat girl, Terra. Now, Terra was possibly the most compelling character in this show; however the facts remain. She's there for 'realism' (again, in a fantasy fairytale kingdom) as the DUFF.
People seem to have been complaining about the series 'whitewashing' the old cartoon. Honestly, I didn't notice that characters in the cartoon were supposed to be different ethnicities. They all seem to be fairly different in Fate though, unless you ascribe to the notion that 'white' is an ethnicity, in which case, I can't help you. I'm not sure anybody can.
I enjoyed the show well enough for what it was. As a fan of Winx Club, I was sorely disappointed.
American Hustle (2013)
Don't Bother
American Hustle is pointless, meandering and stupid in the same way as any Tarantino movie, but without that occasional fun scene that makes them watchable.
Captain Marvel (2019)
You knew whether or not you'd watch this movie tean years ago.
While this was an ordinary action movie, it is (I think) the 21st outing for the MCU. If you like the MCU, you'll watch it. If you don't, you won't. But if you're on the fence, this probably won't encourage you toward the series.
Brie Larson was fine; maybe a touch wooden, but she was a military type, so that could have been stoicism (whatever you feelings on stupid statements she has made, she didn't bring the movie down.)
Sam Jackson was Sam Jackson - coolest BAMF in Hollywood. Being that the movie was set in the past, the visual effects of de-aging him were amazing. His plot twist that you've probably already heard about is probably the biggest disappointment of the movie. This is not a reflection on Sam, but lazy, inept writing. Don't get me wrong, by Hollywood standards the script was about average. But the character deserved better.
The backstory was a lot like Green Lantern, only it made less sense. For what it's worth, it's fairly true to the comic, but even for Marvel Comics, Captain Marvel has a weak story.
The villain/s? Garbage. I'd say what I really think, but I don't think that kind of language is allowed on IMDb. Without spoilers, I will say this - you will hate the villain. I know you are supposed to hate the villain, but you will have an extra reason to hate this one - this one make the movie less fun to watch.
We've been hearing about how feminist this movie is. I don't recall much issue being made of gender. I most definitely AM anti-feminist, I am an egalitarian. Ant this movie wasn't particularly feminist.
So in short: Weak lead character, weak script, weak plot, and a villain that brings the movie down. Average action sequences, some laughs. Amazing supporting character, fantastic special effects. A solidly ordinary movie.
Jersey Boys (2014)
Don't believe the hype
I'm perfectly willing to admit that I may be wrong. I've never seen Frankie Valli live. but it seems to me that the movie totally missed the essence of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. I always felt that, whatever flaws were in their singing voices was more than made up for by the absolute joy and feeling in their performances. In the movie, the was a noticeable lack of any feeling in the music. Add that to a choppy story lacking any sense of timing, and Jersey Boys is a pretty mediocre movie.
Zoo (2015)
Just don't think
All of the reviews I've read talk about how bad the acting is. In reality, it's not much worse than any other action TV show. I do find two of the leads (Billy Burke's Mitch and Kristen Connolly's Jamie,) to be irritating but that's a personal taste thing.
What needs to be mentioned is the "science". Not an episode has gone by where i didn't laugh at the theories proposed and the conclusions drawn by the show's "scientists." They range from ridiculous to insane, with frequent stops at stupid and outright wrong.
So if you like pretty people travelling around the world getting chase by animals, or if you like laughing at pseudo-scientific dialogue that makes "The Big Bang Theory," and "Scorpion," sound intelligent, then this could be the show for you!
Mad Men (2007)
Popular because it's popular
I honestly don't understand why people watch this show. The writing is terrible, the acting is stale and the subject matter is dull. The only feature of Mad Men that is positive is the eye candy, and even then they couldn't make the gorgeous women less attractive if they tried.
I gave Mad Men a full season to improve, hoping that it was one of those shows that needs to lay ample groundwork; however the more of the godawful backstory that was uncovered, the worse the show became.
I honestly can't blame the actors for the acting. As they say, you can't polish a turd, and with the incredibly slow pace and the bad writing, they have NOTHING to work with.
As to the setting, exactly how many hours of screen time do they need to devote to telling us that advertisers lie and mislead? I'm not one of those viewers who watches each episode with a notepad and a stopwatch, but I'd guess 20-30% of each episode is devoted to it. ENOUGH ALREADY! All in all, I'd say this show is a little like "The Godfather," in that there's about twice as much airtime as there is story. However, unlike The Godfather, Mad Men's story is just not good.