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From (2022)
Unlike a show like LOST.
I just finished season 01. It feels very much like it desperately wants to be like LOST. But, ultimately, it fumbles the ball in such a way and has such poorly fleshed-out characters that it feels more akin to Wayward Pines. Only, somehow, not as good.
Is it worth a watch? Maybe, actually. It really depends on how much the show develops in the future and if the payoff is worth investing time in this first subpar season.
The premise is extremely interesting. A family of four (dad, mom, small son, and teenage daughter) drive through a tiny town that they find there's no escape from. Every turn they take somehow leads right back to where they started from. They're stuck. And it turns out they're not the only ones. This is how every resident of the town first arrived. And, if that wasn't bad enough, once the sun goes down, mysterious, murderous monsters appear out of the dark that can seemingly take the appearance of dead loved ones. Pretty crumby, huh?
What is this place? Are they dead? Is this some kind of purgatory? A different dimension? I feel like these are the types of questions we're meant to be anxiously champing at the bit for answers for. But, at most, the series just left me mildly curious. Yeah, I'd like to know what's going on but, by the end, I really found myself not caring all that much.
A large part of the reason for this, in my opinion, is that the series really takes too much of its time when it comes to honing on on the weird stuff and the "lore" of the town. Which is really all the show has going for it. Instead, the vast majority of our time is spent with the characters and their boring family dramas and their mundane conversations with each other. At most, I'd say only about 1-to-10 minutes per episode really gets into the meat of the intriguing premise of the series. And since, as I said, that's all the show has going for it, that was just too few and far between to keep my interest from waning.
"But isn't character development a good thing?" one may find themselves asking.
Unlike a show like LOST, though, where there seemed to be an almost instant allure of each of its characters (the mysterious bald guy, the instantly lovable fat guy, the selfless hero, the brooding bad boy, etc.), From doesn't really have any well-defined characters that make us want to know more about them. In fact, save for LOST-alumnus Harold Perrineau, nearly everyone felt more or less disposable to me (honestly, if everyone in the series -- aside from Perrineau were to suddenly be killed off for season 2 and replaced by a new collection of people, not only would I not mind, it would make me more optimistic for the future of the series).
So, in short, I'd say the strong point of the series is its premise. The weak point is its characters. And, due to this, the EXTREMELY WEAK POINT is that its first season was 95% about those characters and only 5% about its premise.
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)
Quite emotional, but...
I found the movie to be quite emotional, even though I was expecting more!
Imho, the original story of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi is much better than this version by Del Toro.
I'm Italian and the 'real' story of this little piece of wood and his father Geppetto still breaks my heart. Nothing like this kind of musical/motion picture/wannabe tear-off Christmas movie.
Moreover, I believe that respecting the folklore of a country is not only the basis of good storytelling, but it is also fundamental to reach a good result and to positively impress those who watch the movie.
By the way, Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio is still a pleasant watch for both kids and adults. A movie that is not afraid to wisely mix tears with laughter and vice versa.