Reviews

Honestly I was extremely pleasantly surprised by this first episode of "Distant Lands", featuring and named after one of the most beloved characters from the original series, the endlessly lovable BMO, and this episode certainly is a whirlwind from start to finish that never stops giving, a rollercoaster of emotions and just what we needed to see for a first dive back into the world of Adventure Time.

Personally I thought they really ticked pretty much all the boxes for what I would expect and want from a spin off - there were a lot of voices and characters (some more obvious than others) from the original, there were actually lots of references to the original series from characters to plot points and especially some of the new info dropped about the universe of AT which we never got in the original. There really were some quite big reveals and a fair few other references that are more mysterious in nature, as well as some that only megafans will catch. I wasn't particularly expecting this spin off to expand too much on the original universe, you never really know how much a team wants to touch anything surrounding the source material, especially with a show as fondly remembered as "Adventure Time", so this was a nice surprise for me and I really hope they continue this trend in the other three episodes as I have rarely been so invested in the lore and world building around a show so much as Adventure Time.

The hour long format is great for the Adventure Time writers and allows a story to be built and developed a bit more easily, or perhaps deliberately, than in the original series, and although I'm only giving this a 9 right now I can see that changing when the other 3 parts have been released, if they are all of this quality I would be happy to revise that to a 10 and of course I very much hope that's the case. I would 100% recommend this to anyone who liked the original show, I fail to see how you could be a big fan of Adventure Time and not enjoy this spin off, if you haven't seen it yet, what are you doing?! Go watch it NOW!!

Hysterical, dumb, random, dark and slapstick comedy that I loved every minute of, but based on some of the reviews here I guess you need a certain sense of humour for. I guess that's the same for comedy movies in general though, it's probably why they normally seem to receive lower overall ratings compared to other genres.

Anyways, from the opening stunt I knew this movie was going to be exactly what I want from a comedy, I had sort of seen/heard a little bit of Lonely Island prior, but I was familiar with Andy Samberg, who is just a generally funny guy in my opinion, he always makes me laugh, but I get the feeling he's reminiscent of a Jim Carrey character, in that you'll either love or hate his comedy style (I love Carrey as well), and like Carrey he has an extremely expressive face that just works well comedically. The whole cast of Hot Rod is amazing, and pretty much all the characters are hilarious in their own way; Bill Hader and Danny McBride were especially funny and gave standout performances, and the infamous "cool beans" scene is a huge highlight for me, as well as the "quiet place" forest scene. The plot itself is fairly simple, but I thought it was a great concept, different from any other comedies I've seen, something a bit more out there and interesting that still offered the opportunity to explore more than just the slapstick comedy and introduce a bit of romance and drama to the storyline.

In my opinion this is one of the funniest movies I've ever had the pleasure of watching, but like Napoleon Dynamite, it's not for everyone, although I think if you liked Napoleon Dynamite then you probably have the right sort of sense of humour to absolutely love Hot Rod, as I definitely see similarities in some of the deadpan humour. I don't necessarily think older generations will be into this so much, but it had my mum and my sister laughing so it's not just "guy humour", although it probably does appeal to the younger male generation (13-35) the most.

Look no further if you want a super serious series to sink your teeth into, this is for active viewing only, this is certainly NOT a passive watch, and please for the love of all that is holy, watch this in the original GERMAN language with SUBTITLES, and if either of those two things puts you off then I can say for certain that this is definitely not the show for you, but for everyone else keep reading!

Dark blends a variety of genres and excels at every single one of them; seemingly beginning as some kind of murder mystery with the type of atmosphere and feel resemblant of a dark crime drama, it very quickly introduces sci fi to the mix and, on top of that, you will soon come to learn of the incredibly deep history and lore involved, this being of the extent and detail you would perhaps expect to find in high fantasy, however the themes here are both serious and grounded in reality, drawing on a lot of scientific theory as well as both historical and religious texts. For me the subjects and setting presented in the show achieve what I believe to be an almost perfect balance of simultaneously being both extraordinary enough to be extremely exciting to watch and yet presented in a reality feasible enough to be believable, which when combined makes it all that more thought provoking for the viewer, and it's because of these very reasons you will find yourself diving deep into topics related to the subject material, scouring forums for theories and rewatching scenes or entire episodes to learn that little bit more about the mysteries around the show and to find the clues that will unlock the truths and secrets behind the curious town of Winden.

This is 100% a show for viewers who like to be challenged to think and those that love to come away after every episode with more questions and research to do each time, and by doing so becoming even further embroiled in the mysteries within. I can say for certain that Dark is also a show that holds great rewatch value, as you will most certainly notice things you didn't catch the first time around and connect a lot more dots that you perhaps didn't originally, the attention to detail is astonishing absolutely everywhere here - visually, musically, thematically and theoretically, the rabbit holes are just endless and I can most definitely say there isn't another show like it. This is without a doubt one of THE most exciting, interesting and thought provoking shows I have ever had the pleasure of watching, every member of the cast is great, with convincing performances all around, I was especially impressed with some of the younger cast members. The casting process itself was clearly something that the show's creators placed a lot of importance on, you only have to watch the first season and you will see a myriad of reasons why I say this knowingly, and with great appreciation for the results, additionally the cinematography is gorgeous throughout, and certainly the intro in itself is worth a mention for this among other reasons.

So upon the beginning of the intro sequence we see some handpicked shots from the show that have been amalgamated and processed with (as far as I can tell) some kind of mirror effect while at the same time also repeating in various different directions and angles, providing a mesmeric and kaleidoscopic visual for the duration, whilst at the same time accompanied by one of the most beautiful yet sorrow drenched pieces of music that I have ever heard used to introduce a TV series or film, this alone sets the tone for, and in some way replicates, the kind of contrasting and mixed emotions I have experienced during my time watching the show so far (I'm just about to begin S2E6) and rather than skip the intro like I would with most other series, I always appreciate sitting through the intro to Dark, because like the series itself, it manages to achieve the very same high quality standards and ingenious creativity that set it apart from the competition, and in that little over a minute alone I am made to feel more than what 95% of other TV shows can elicit in me across a whole season. For this reason I feel Dark deserves a rare 10 stars from me. No show can ever achieve perfection, but for me, right now, this is as close as it gets.

Just a quick point to start, to all those reviews saying this is a Hunger Games ripoff, Hunger Games is already a bad copy of Battle Royale, which is the much much better original idea, but you have to understand that in the arts many people take inspiration from the work of others, and sometimes things merely resemble others because people have similar ideas.

Anyway, on to the main topic: 3% is obviously on a lower budget when compared with a lot of other Netflix series but the concept, acting and cinematography makes up for it. You have to realise that there are unexplained areas that aren't explored in this series, this is to keep the premise and action rolling along so you will have to be able to suspend your disbelief or you will spend your time questioning everything. There is also no point in watching this dubbed as the dub is absolutely terrible (as most are), but if you are willing to watch this subbed you will be well rewarded by some intense acting from some promising young talent.

The second series (although I have only watched a couple of episodes so far) attempts some special effects which I think it could have done better without as some of them really give away the CG budget, but as they are exploring the Offshore in this series, which is supposed to be much more technologically advanced, I guess they needed to reinforce the glaring contrast between the two societies. I think the ideas behind the show are really what makes 3% so good as it does make you question yourself and humanity while presenting warped parallels with our own world. I can understand that the requirement for reading subs and the suspense of disbelief may mean this show is out of some viewers' comfort zones but it really is a good watch and coming from a country that has produced some of my favourite films (City of God, City of Men, Elite Squad), the talented and developing Brazilian cinema scene should be supported by anyone interested in dystopian sci-fi, or just those looking for a gripping TV show.

Why would you remake an almost perfect film that was only just over 10 years old?

For people that can't be bothered to read subtitles? Run out of ideas? To make some quick cash?

Whatever the reason it isn't good enough. Stay as far away as possible from this and watch the original masterpiece of cinema, the world would be better off without trashy Hollywood remakes like this one.

Being an avid anime fan I can definitely say that this show has the worst character development I have seen in literally any other series or movies that I've watched, even 0 character development would be better than what most of the main characters are like in Twelve Kingdoms.

It seems that the main characters that we see the most of will literally suddenly have a change of personality every time the wind blows, even the most minor of things causes these people to have a complete change of heart, just because someone they have never even met before tells them something, they will instantly trust them, it's as if they can't think for themselves; yes some of them have been thrust into a world they don't know but any rational thinking seems to pass them by until the very end of the show. Even my 14 year old deaf cat could make better decisions than any of these people, none of whom are younger than mid teens, some of whom are over 100!!

Not only is it painful to watch such 2D characters, but at least twice there are blocks of about 5 episodes or more in a row which are compiled of about 50% of one of the female characters crying over and over again literally at 2 minute intervals and feeling sorry for themselves, as well as multiple other episodes where this is the case, it's utterly awful to put up with as a viewer and for this reason I almost gave up on the series several times, you may not make it through the first 5 due to this fact.

The only good thing about this series is the world setting, which is well detailed, and some of the plot lines are interesting, although sadly due to the fact the author didn't really give closure on some of the best story arcs (the Taiki one is the most obvious and best one that comes to mind), you will be starting to actually get into it a bit and then suddenly we don't ever hear from the characters or plot line again for the rest of the whole show.

I was going to give this 4 stars, but after writing a review, I have realised how truly awful 75% of this show was and the fact that it needs to give us closure on some major plot points is extremely annoying (even if the original author hadn't written it, it should have been added as just leaving story lines so open is ridiculously annoying to the viewer), on top of that the outcome was very predictable, so it only really deserves a 3, don't waste your time, this is the most overrated and worst anime I have ever watched.