hakra1's Reviews

American Horror Story (2011– )

3/10

12 February 2024

A mental hospital, administrated by sadists, mass murders and nazis, gets involved with demonic possessions and alien abductions, including splatter and sex scences.

Sounds like utter garbage? It is.

Almost 8 hours of people getting tortured, so you must be a sadist to enjoy this. Especially the first 6 episodes are terribly bad, full of cliches, senseless plotholes and also completely boring. No horror, no mystery, no psychology.,. Just bad and clichee.. To defend some of it, the second part is getting a little bit better, the soundtrack is nice, the intro is good, and some of the actings (Jessica Lange does a great job) are well done, but of course cant save it overall.

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Thirteen Lives (2022)

10/10

Watch it!

12 November 2023

I remember having read a few lines about the accident and the following rescue mission in 2018, but HOW they actually did it, is absolutely incredible!! Watched it yesterday and I am still thinking about, what those guys have done and this movie pictures it in a perfect manner. A lot of details, psychology, political backgrounds, characters, pace, storytelling... GRIPPING!

Stop reading here, just watch the movie, I have to fill the required characters.... I remember having read a few lines about the accident and the following rescue mission in 2018, but HOW they actually did it, is absolutely incredible!! Watched it yesterday and I am still thinking about, what those guys have done and this movie pictures it in a perfect manner. A lot of details, psychology, political backgrounds, characters, pace, storytelling... GRIPPING!

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Moon Man (2022)

6/10

Started as a comedy, finished as a tearful drama with chinese moral

2 August 2023

Warning: Spoilers

A guy with no friends and family gets left behind on the moon with the only compagnionship of a canguroo. The woman and comander in charge and at the same time the main reason why the guy was on the mission, sacrifices him twice to save the earth.

What started as a funny comedy that I highly enjoyed, unfortunately in the last 20 minutes turned into a drama telling us that the individual has no value seeing the whole picture from the perspective of the big mass. It just tells us that sometimes we have to sacrifice the individual so that the mass can be fine.

A bit bitter message after the post-pandemic years when people died or suffered from wrong treatments or forced seclusion.

With the exception of this message and the deadly end of the funny hero i enjoyed the movie, got a lot of loughs and the pace was fine.

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Demolition Man (1993)

7/10

FUN TO WATCH as it was a scifi... and some parts unfortunately now are reality

24 June 2023

Watched the movie again after so many years, and of course some things are quite stupid, the gloryfing of violence for example but there are a lot of hilarious scenes, that were not so hilarious watching more then 20 years ago, and its fascinating how many parallels there are to our modern actual society:

the videocalls, smartphones, tablets (ok easy to be forseen)
gps, automatic pilot in cas (same)
not allowed to swear, censorship (hello facebook)
implanted microchips (already used in some parts in some european countries)
no hugging or shaking hands (remember the first covid-year?)
no food/supermarkets for people who dont want to participate in the rules (no supermarket/restaurant acces for non-vaccined)#
terrible food
ban of cigarettes
finger prints, iris check

In the end i think it was done as a scifi action comedy, but now its a funny satire, enjoyable, and more now than when it came out first.

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You (2018–2024)

3/10

Tried to be kind of new "Dexter" and failed terribly

16 April 2023

A librarian falls in love with a girl because he thinks she is different than all the others. He tries to fix her troubles, attaching her to him, using a lot of violence and stalking methods.

The Pilot is nice, saying the first episode of season 1, but than it goes down quite quickly. Unbelievable characters, no logic, boring situations repeated till stupidity, and everything results in some sex scene, for the only reason that anything happens. Some things are sooo terribly farfetched and away from reality that i had to jump to the next episode... and thats a pity because it really started nicely. And to be fair, some ideas are quite good and the critics towards social media people, their fame and vanity is fun, but at the end its just not clever enough. Failed completely.

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Merlí. Sapere Aude (2019–2021)

3/10

spectare non aude...

26 March 2023

Merli is a great series and Carlos Cueva, who acted kind of second lead next to Merli, deserved a spin off for his great performance.

Unfortunately this spin off is quite bad.

While Merli was about philosophy, psychology daily life troubles and full of great actings, Sapere Aude (by the way a ridiculous and boastful title for a series that has nothing to know or think about) has nothing of it, but only shows the homosexual relations of Pol.

With the exception of the alcoholic university teacher there is mostly nothing else happening around, all the side characters are shallow, not developed and spin in an unbelievable way around the too main character Pol. It's disappointing to see how the same script writer can make something so beautiful as Merlí and fall down into something that has no depth at all but is only about a lot of male nude butts.

As almost nothing happend and some actings are quite painfull (so the contraty of the original season were everything and everybody worked together in a round and believable way) I didnt watch season 2.

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Merlí (2015–2018)

9/10

19 March 2023

A hedonistic, sometimes machiavelic but good hearted philosophy teacher wants his pupils to think for themselves, using not very common teaching methods and opens relationships to them with mutual respect what brings him critics in the institute but also from his teenage son who is also one of his pupils.

The first season is great, ends perfectly, while 2 and 3 gets a bit exagerated, especially when almost everybody has sexual relations with almost everybdoy within the college. Also the ending that shows the future of the students is a bit childishly written and trys to satsify some viewers.

But in total very nice series, that you should watch with your teenage kids and will enjoy for sure, especially because of the actors. The great Orella and the charismatic Cueva (who got the leading role in an - unfortunately terrible - spin-off) lead the series in harmony, but also all the side characters doing a perfect and believable job.

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Qué tan lejos (2006)

7/10

Low Budget Road Movie from and through Ecuador

27 February 2023

When after a few minutes you get used to the a bit amateurish camera, cuts and some not professional actors you will be engaged in a very nice and also funny roadmovie that you will enjoy especially when you are from Ecuador.

The director shows an interesting and diversed potrait of the South American country, presenting its natural beauties but also a lot of the culture within different kind of persons during a trip that Teresa, a rich student from Quito, Esperanza, a spanish tourist,and Jesus, artist from Cuenca, are realizing through the country. While the Spaniard enjoys everything, Jesus philosophies about life, Teresa must realize that she is a foreigner in her own country.

Special appearance by the famous singer Fausto Miño, who together with Pancho Aguirre gives the enjoyable movie a lot of flair.

Recommended!

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Charlie Bartlett (2007)

5/10

quite slow, sometime plain

7 February 2023

"Big laughs, a lot of heart, clever crazy, a winner" and so on was the description on the label, but unfortunately it was none of it... Robert Downey Junior sometimes likes to do a bit strange and different movies, as for example the singing detectives, and he also does a great job in Charlie Bartlett, but the story on the whole is just no equally develloped. Its sometimes just too slow (i watched it in three parts cause interest gets lost), a lot of times with ideas far too obvious and the characters with the exception of RDJ too plain.

The message is quite nice of course, but the dialougues and the script is just not working in a lot of parts.

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See How They Run (2022)

8/10

clever, funny cineast-special for fans of the genre

30 January 2023

A whodunnit within a whodunnit parody wittly done with a lot of details, great cast, and some clever funny moments.

Of course if you are listening to the narrator in the first minutes, you will almost at the very beginning know who the murder is, but thats whats all about, giving hommage and making fun of itself and the whodunnit-novels.

(stop reading, now its the same again)

A whodunnit within a whodunnit parody wittly donde with a lot of details, great cast, and some clever funny moments.

Of course if you are listening to the narrator in the first minutes, you will almost at the very beginning know who the murder is, but thats whats all about, giving hommage and making fun of itself and the whodunnit-novels.

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The Marksman (2021)

2/10

terrible

7 January 2023

One of the worst movies ive seen in the last years.... if this would have been done in the early 90s.. okay.. bad, but 30 years ago... but putting such a mess together in 2021 is just a shame. Bad acting, bad storyline, terrible dialogues, and everything so obvious from the first minute. Plotholes and senseless incidents that would never ever happen this way, and all this filled with racism and cliches.

I really dont understand why liam neeson participated in this garbage, i like taken, i really enjoyed cold pursuit and he is a fine actor, but the marksman is just embarrasing. Also the side characters... the police daughter is acting terribly and the accentfree mexican boy the same... its all horrible.. AVOID!

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El Presidente (2020– )

10/10

RECOMMANDED

14 December 2022

First of all: GRANDE ANDRES PARRA!!! Incredible his acting and how he not just acted but became Sergio Jadue! Watch the original videos and interviews with the chilean ex-president on youtube and there is no difference! Sure there are some little plotholes with the FBI-female but all in all its still a great watch and a must for football fans.

Also the second season thats about the beginnings of the FIFA and the life of Joao Havelange is very entertaining, interesting and well done. And there are a lot of hidden messages, that were told, some funny metaphers and all in all a great watch. Albano Jeronimo does a perfect job and its really enjoyable, letting the hopes for a season number 3, maybe about the bettings, VAR or so money other things behind the curtain of one of the most corrupt companies of the world.

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10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

3/10

unfortunately quite bad

3 November 2022

Warning: Spoilers

This movie is the best example how to destroy a movie using a bad ending.

It starts quite entertaining, of course some minor logical stupidities in dialogues but nothing you couldnt jump over to still enjoy the athmosphere and interest in the situation. Mystery and questions all over, allthough some things are far to obvious and you are ahead of the script, but still quite enjoyable and likeable.

But what happens in the ending is just so ridicolous that you dont know if to start laughing or write a complaint letter to the script writer.... Aliens destroyed humanity but what the whole military couldnt do, the girl does by putting fire to a bottle of whiskey (thats not a molotov cocktail, and even if it was one, its absolutely senseless), throwing it at the beast, that of course dadaaa!! Explodes.... this time event the poisonous gas, that was blown over the planet again minutes before, does no harm to her, after using a mask made by empty water bottles that she took of before attacking the alien.... just painful...

Now i dont know whats worse, the bad movie or the 7,3 rating....

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Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

8/10

NOT A ROM-COM!!!

30 October 2022

After reading so many terrible reviews with 1 and 2s the first thing I want to write is that people obviously expected some typical Adam Sandler movie or the light heart easy cheasy romcom jokes.

But, this movie is not a typical romcom! Its a movie about the world of a mentally ill person, greatly shown by camera, cutting and audio like being inside the head of the mentally ill. The first 30 minutes are really quite disturbing and itching, giving you the feeling of the desperate world of those people, and its obvious that director and writers had help from psychatrists. But it developes funnily and interesting, and the lot of details will make a second watch recomandable!

Adam Sandler gives a great performance, after Uncut Gem his second best! Good movie, but be careful what you expect!

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Donnie Brasco (1997)

6/10

Absolute great acting but...

21 September 2022

Absolute great acting but unfortunately very lame storytelling and quite plain dialogues.

Al Pacino does an incredible job, getting away from his typically hard strong powerfull boss characterising in a very detailled and credible fashion an aging lowcast criminal. Also Johnny Depp acting is fine, but all the side characters are so dull. No atmosphere, no sparks in the story... Almost no background issues, about the time, the mafia, history... Just telling themselves "mafiosi" the whole time doesnt make a mafia-movie... All in all a lost opportunity, this could have been much better.

If you like undercover-movies watch "Infernal Affairs" (2002,Alan Mak).

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Bullet Train (2022)

7/10

nothing special, but fun

7 August 2022

The first 25 minutes are quite plain and look like if somebody is trying to copy a Tarantino, but just lacks the wits.

When you get over these, its getting better, especially because of the funny performance of Brad Pitt who carries the movie and the mere fact that the film is more a parody than actually an actioncomedy.

If you like Deadpool or if you are a Brad Pitt-Fan surely you will enjoy and get your laughs, otherwise you can skip it without missing much.

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Enemy (2013)

8/10

Kafkaesk Arthouse Mystery

6 August 2022

If you are looking for a thriller or crime movie, this one is not for you.

Its more kind of Kafkaesk Mystery movie about the human psyche, full of symbolism and with a huge range of possibilities to intreprete. Camera and Acting great!

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The Valet (2022)

2/10

Pesimo

24 July 2022

Derbez is a funny and a good actor, i enjoyed his movies and sitcoms, but unfortunately The Valet is really really bad.

Far too long, bad cutting, bad editing, bad audio, terrible acting - even Derbez changes between being stiff or overacting - the story and dialogues senslessly chopped together, very boring and obvious, and in s lot of parts stupidly racist.

The only positive to say about this waste of time is Carmen Salinas, who did a good job in her last appearance and brought some fun to this overlong remake.

Don Derbez, usted tiene 62 años, por favor deje de actuar como un cuarenton con caracter de niño, simplemente no cuadra.

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The Lady in the Van (2015)

3/10

dont watch if you are under 70

2 July 2022

Terribly boring, non credible and very bland writer character, a lot of senseless actions that would never ever happen like this... and i really really - what almost never happens, i want to finish a movie for its work - i had to stop after 30 minutes...

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Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

6/10

Not within his best, but still fun

27 June 2022

Kung Fu Comedy with a lot of CGI, that made Stephen Chow famous also outside of China, allthough that "Kung Fu Hustle" is one of his less hilarious movies with less dialogues and story, and either jokes, trama or speed is as great as his older movies, like King of Comedy, Fight back to school, God of Cookery and many others. Without Ng Man-Tat everything is just half of the fun.

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Love in the Time of Cholera (2007)

2/10

Bad movie in the Time of Cholera

18 June 2022

One point for the voice of Shakira and one point for the effort of Javier Bardem... all the rest is really terrible.

Skip this movie and instead enjoy the great book of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

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Drive (I) (2011)

4/10

disappointing

22 May 2022

Mix Rambo with Fast and the Furious, add some splatter assassinations and a bad soundtrack, edit it quite badly so that some scenes are extremely long and boring and others exagerated, and finish all with a foreseeable ending and tadaaa there is your movie Drive.... And its a shame, because it started very interesting, but after the first 15 minutes it got nowhere...

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Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

9/10

If you are into psychology this movie is a MUST.

18 May 2022

Lars is suffering from delusive depression after losing his parents, and his brain leads him on a weird journey, supported by his desperated but loving family and community.

Actors are incredible, story is great and different and the psychological aspects and knowledges shown are interesting and impressive.

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Sleuth (2007)

7/10

watch the original ;)

7 May 2022

In 1972 Michael Caine acted as the youngster, in the version of 2007 he is the cheated husband.

The movie is intriguing, interesting and fun to watch from the beginning, carried by a great performance of both actors, but unfortunately and i have no idea why, they changed the end and the great final from 1972 got changed into some empty cut without much sense in 2007.

Except of the ending a nice and intelligent movie, anyway I recommand to watch the great original!

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Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)

3/10

absolutely disappointing

5 May 2022

Such a great person, such an impressive historical character, such an interesting life and then we get a mediocre, boring movie...

In the first three minutes of "Good Bye, Bafana" there is more information about apartheid in Southafrica than in all those 141 minutes...

Really not recommended, if you want to see somehting about Mandela and the political situation of those terrible times, watch Good Bye, Bafana.

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