Reviews

I watched this fantastic film by accident without knowing anything about it. Sometimes ignorance is an advantage! This is a strong film with an wonderful and quite unpredictable storyline. Kudos to both its writer, Kospiah, and its director, Brown for such a great work. It's a dark and violent film about two lonely people who have lost their loved ones and as a result are quite messed up. But as chance would have it, they connect and even develop a friendship; unbeknownst that there is a whole lot more to their relationship and connection...

My Season 2 update:

I don't write reviews much here but season 1 of the Boys was so good that I was inspired to wrote down a few words here. I finished S1 in 3 nights and wrote on couldn't wait for S2...

Well, S2 came and I could barely get through it. I could not take more than 15 min dozes of it at a time. Some parts I could not stand it. How could you take a series so good and mess it up so bad?! When I saw the ad for S2 saying something like more blood and gore, I should have known. It's NOT just about blood and gore. Blow up a whale (so appalling) and keep popping human heads...that is NOT gonna carry you. You still need to have a good STORY and be able to TELL it creatively, you stupid. S2 was a BIG disappointment.

My S1 review:

Well-written, witty, and innovative series. Superheroes are typically genuinely good though some occasionally go rogue and turn into villains. It's usually black n white, which is hardly ever the case with humans, superhero or not. This series offers a fresh perspective on the subject. These superheroes have gone corporate: they're corrupt, working for an evil corporation with an overzealous marketing and media department. As such they're more concerned with merchandising, profit, PR, and social media ratings than catching criminals. Heck, they ARE the criminals! If superheroes were real, there are good chances that this would be closer to reality than our typical superhero story lines.

Great storytelling, good cast and acting, bad language (love how Billy talks), gory violence and action, and some sex all add up to quite a yummy potion! :) I watched the entire season 1 in 2-3 nights. Can't wait for season 2.

An interesting film; good portrayal of Spanish Goya and his artistic work and genius. The credit at the end of the film does a superb job of showcasing some of his paintings with closeups. Two of my favorite artists -- Bardem & Portman -- are in this film and they are great as usual. good example of reversal of fortune caused by historical events -- the evil powerhouse of the Spanish inquisition falls apart by napoleon's attack on Spain and then they gain their power and influence when the English roll in.

The film is also a great reminder for me of why I despise religion so much, in particular the theistic religions (Judaism, Christianty, and Islam). Probably more people in the history of humanity have suffered because of these religions than anything else. Much has been written on this topic elsewhere, such as Christopher Hitchens' "God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything".

On the negatives: I didn't really like Portman playing both herself and her daughter! It seemed strange. Also her makeup after she's released from the prison is overdone. As others have pointed out, there are also inconsistencies in the English accents of Spanish speaking artists such as Bardem vs English speaking ones like Portman.

I agree with the comments under "Be a good boy". I really liked this film and want to add a few points.

"Little Children" is a drama with sad, at times comical moments and perversions. It is a cross between "American Beauty" and "Closer" -- and then some. With interesting narration, it is about dysfunctional, broken and unfortunately often real characters and relationships, with several stories unfolding in parallel.

It is full of interesting characters: an eerie sick pedophile who one somehow feels sorry for as he is at times like a kid himself (difficult role but very well-acted). A young handsome man who is a good father (married to Jennifer Connelly) but unambitious, and professionally and maritally a failure, who sometimes seems slow and acts like a child. Jennifer is a hard-working and dedicated mom. She looks almost anorexic but her beautiful face and green eyes are still a pleasure to look at. Kate Winslet (a mother married to a pervert) does a great job (and bares it all in a couple of good sex scenes. And a tormented ex-cup and bully who is not any better off than the pedophile, and needs serious help.

It is a real and brave film. It may be uncomfortable at times but it is engaging. 130 minutes flew by in no time for me! I highly recommend it.

A somewhat unique film by the Germans about the end of WW II. It shows the final days of Nazi Germany and SS officers close up from the inside of Hitler's bunker in Berlin, as the Russian red army is closing in on them. Powerful, intimate, honest, real, painful, brutal.

The entire film actually has no scene of Germans killing a single Jew. How refreshing! Yes, I know that they killed 6 million Jews, but that story has been told a thousand times. Instead, this time it is the Germans killing each other and themselves. Some very horrific and disturbing scenes of the brain-washed SS officers poisoning their own children to death. How can any human being do such a thing? No one -- unless you have gone completely mad, which certainly they had. It also has a detailed account of Hitler's own suicide, among many others.

Incredible cast and acting. Everyone does an amazing job in it. And I had never seen such a close up portrayal of Fuhrer (Hitler). He is superb. The film is very long, but it is so engaging and it is done so well that 2.5 hrs seems to go by in no time.