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Reviews
Black Mirror: Crocodile (2017)
Laws and tech killed 3 innocents and almost a hamster, too
Despite some of the (not-so-small) flaws in the plot I would point out that the real take-away of this episode is not the mind-reading of a hamster or a petite woman on a killing spree of sizeable males, but rather how laws (and technology) that force a person to self-incriminate to a combat-incapable insurance investigators can and would cause meaningless deaths that should have never occurred. Yes, at the end, justice was served, but at what cost? Instead of a murder, we have four of them. Where's justice in that? Where's the social and legal benefit if murderers were systematically transformed into mass-murderers? Had Mia knew the tech can be applied to hamsters, she'd squash him with a hammer, too. Society would be far better off with an unsolved murder than with solved serial murders.
Both me and my wife were left emotionally disturbed and empty at the end of this episode. But it didn't feel like a horror porn. In hindsight, a person already gone too far would likely have committed one more act of evil to save him_herself and their family. And one more. And one more. And...
Circus Kane (2017)
Talk fest instead of gore fest
Terrible story, dreadful and pointless script, appaling cast, constant ramblings of a completely un-scary archvillain make this schlock painful to watch.
Don't waste an hour and a half of your life, go watch a Mexican or a Turkish telenovel instead.
Infinity Chamber (2016)
Surprisingly fresh story with average acting
I did not see this coming. A slow, but interesting story, keeping the viewer in constant expectation what's going to happen next, what is real and what is projected to the prisoner's mind. A mixture of elements from The Matrix, The Cube, 2001 and Inception, but not a clone of any of them. Fairly average acting by both main characters, though, but it doesn't negatively impact the viewing pleasure.
Definitely recommend this one.
Coco (2017)
Beautiful and unpretentious
Yes, the movie starts a bit slow and takes its time to build up momentum. It is rich in cultural reference to Mexico that may be a bit strange to embrace to non-Latin Americans. The music in the movie is soft and emotional, but not epic, glorious or Oscar-grabbing. The major plot points are predictable. Most of these are not really complaints, just factors of potential viewing (dis)pleasure.
Apart from these, the film blew me away. I had zero expectations walking in the theater with my kids, wasn't sure whether it's just another animated movie after first 30 minutes or so and definitely saw the result of Ernesto/Hector clash coming. It nevertheless grabbed my soul at that breaking point and never let go. It was only then that I truly started to care for our main characters and their family, but did so doubly.
Coco is, for most part, seemingly a completely irrelevant character, until she becomes a focal point of everything. Of entire (mostly dead) family line. She is the key to love and forgiveness of their (deceased) parents, to a final wish of a missing father and to both Miguel and his family members (dead and alive), who come to finally understand that respect for family is just as important as respect for dreams of its individual members. And it is not just Miguel who ultimately suffered from Imelda's hate for Hector, it was also Coco. But her grief and own final wish were locked away in a catatonic body until Miguel came back from the dead to set that wish come true with a song, filled with love for family.
I could not really claim this is the best film I have ever seen, but it was the one that immersed me into its story most and evoke my emotions.
There were three times I've cried watching a movie in my life: - at the end of East of Eden when I was 7 - at the end of Color Purple when I was 15 - for the entire final third of Coco, now when I'm 40+.
It will always have a special place in my heart. I will always Remember you.
The Walking Dead: The Cell (2016)
Daryl vs. Dwight vs. Negan
The three episodes couldn't be more different from one another in any aspect possible. The gore fest of the opener, the Utopian tiger-esque follow-up with a reminder of the ever-present danger at the end and now the Holy Trinity of the third part.
This part isn't about Daryl vs. Dwight. Or Daryl vs. Negan. Or Dwight vs. Negan. It's a battle between good, evil and someone lost in between. Negan respecting Daryl in a way, wanting him to become his ultimate trophy, Daryl resisting the turning to the dark side. And Dwight. He's human after all. Broken, mean, sympathetic, accepting his reality and wishing it wasn't so. His background, as we now discover it, is bitter and explains his actions and words. He's swaying between saving his life and saving his soul. He will most surely die for one of them.
I'm sure some people who loved 0701 will hate 0703 and vice versa. I'm not complaining about any of them. To me, S07 is immersive, fascinating, full of fear and expectations. JDM is simply Oscar-worthy with Norman Reedus really stepping up now that he's given a proper chance. Not a single season came close to this now. So far. Let's see where our favorite show takes us next...
The Walking Dead: Twice as Far (2016)
Arrow to the...
An annoying coming-of-heroine-age overweight-in-ZA wannabe-doctor makes a sudden emotional verbal diarrhea outburst not fitting in the storyline at all. Reminded me of Samuel L. Jackson getting a sudden fit on the plane with snakes. Inserted out-of-place scene all the way.
Thank god, or the writers, she took a Skyrim arrow to her knee. Well, eye.
Apart from that, some funny moments with Eugene's BJ of sorts. Bullet manufacturing facility that will explain the plethora of ammo for the season finale when guns will be blazing. Or bats. The flying kind. Sans wings. Extra barbed wire. Random guy from few episodes back only comic book readers remember comes back with face burnt. Gives x-bow back. Not without fight, though. Daryl to do some Usain bolting soon it seems.
Won't describe this as a filler episode as 90% of reviewers think all TWD episodes are filler. Who cares, really. It deviated from Negan expectation story line rather well, I actually forgot about the Saviours. Well, except during the cooler-rescuing quest, when I expected an attack from the upcoming main foe.
Just wish people would stop rambling about the comics. Actually, I wish Negan would be slaughtered in the finale by Morgan with his plain stick. Right off the bat. Would send comic fans nuclear and other fans rolling on the floor laughing.
No, really, let's kill Negan in the first five minutes, just for the shock value.
In any case, looking forward to the finale, it seems it will be a blast. Season 6 looking strongest ever.
The Walking Dead: Not Tomorrow Yet (2016)
Tense from start to finish
From the beginning until the end of this episode the tension grows as we do not know when the upper hand of our group going into the fray is going to finish and how. And the angst each character displays in expecting the unexpected, the ominous nemesis of the comics, can truly be felt. I've not been on the edge of the seat throughout the entire show as much as tonight. The pictures on the wall...well...will be the fate of one of them.
If this was just a small detachment of Negan's army, then there's a lot more manpower in store for us yet.
In my opinion, Season 6 already managed to surpass all previous ones, regardless of what happens until the end of it. Can't imagine how they'll save Negan's appearance until Ep. 16, unless they drag the next 3 like they did with the Gov'nah.
Fear the Walking Dead (2015)
Utter disappointment
This show was supposed to take on the drama aspect of the zombie apocalypse. As if the 2nd season of The Walking Dead didn't already accomplish that.
This show was supposed to focus on the events surrounding the beginning of the ZA and the reasons behind it as TWD basically started 1 month after the outbreak. FTWD sped so quickly through the first few days that TWD's sole episode that centered around the virus' behavior represented Encyclopedia Britannica on the ZA world compared to the FTWD.
This show was supposed to be about character development. I don't care about anyone, literally. Actually, I dislike these characters so much that I wish they die gruesome deaths real soon. After 6 episodes that sounds discouraging, doesn't it? Well, gruesome death is not in the DNA of this particular ZA show, so forget about it.
I'm wondering what some fans see in this drek, but I don't care really, one way or the other. Season 1 was all the torture I could muster.
The Walking Dead: No Way Out (2016)
"And, hell, this is a story people are gonna tell"
It's my 20th year of fairly frequently visiting IMDb. No title, no matter how great or how poor, made me actually register and write a review.
Well, this ended today. Just like another reviewer, hlundin16, put it, it had to be something special for me to do it.
This is what stuff of legends is made of. Yes, No way out is brutal, it's a zombie brutality that was, even though it can't normally be packed into a full featured movie, packed into just one of currently 79 episodes. I won't repeat what others have commented, but will add this - the adrenaline, the uplift, the culmination of experience doesn't come from the guts, brains or limbs flying through the air or on our heroes, it's the triumph of the will (sic!) of the meek, the tired and the ones on the verge of a nervous breakdown that is the heart of this episode. The impact every character, seemingly left on the sidelines for so long, does in their minute of glory, but not pathetic, speech, each in their own special way making the decision to finally make a stand for the last of humanity, so powerfully linked to their individual character development in the show, is simply incredible.
I cannot imagine how TWD crew could produce something as grandiose as this in the future. This is THE benchmark of zombie cinema. And it could only have come after the long character development, the huge investment fans had to make in less dynamic and interesting episodes in order to enjoy an episode like this.
And, no, it's not Godfather, it's not Shawshank Redemption and it's not the Seven Samurai.
But neither of these is No way out, either.