yincognyto-91718's Reviews

The Expanse (2015–2022)

8/10

Epic, well done, but also dragged at times

4 January 2023

The first thing that comes to mind when starting to watch The Expanse is probably a bit of confusion and the impression that you're watching a B quality series, partly because of the need to set up the world and story properly, the unconventional cast and the particular lighting required for a realistic space environment. Hence, some viewers will find it difficult to immerse themselves into the series atmosphere, and rush to conclusions that don't favor the show. Let me just say up front that this is an illusion and once you're into it, the story and the execution is compelling, relatable, realistic and captivating.

Unlike most adaptations for TV, The Expanse does a great job at following the books of the same name, similar to Games Of Thrones and the recent Dune installment. Just like those, condensing some things and adjusting others is unfortunately needed for a feasible cinematic structure. I wouldn't call it a "Game Of Thrones in space" because even though very well made and acted, it doesn't have the same complexity and grandeur, but I'd rather see it as a mix of a "House Of Cards" (when it comes to politics) and a "Stargate Atlantis" (when it comes to personnel).

Generally speaking, it's a story of three human factions in space (Earthers, Martians and Belters), a new key resource (the protomolecule), and the fragile balance between them when looking to exploit the said resource. Although set mostly in space and having outstanding realism and special effects, it's also relatable if one sees it as an allegory of, say, races on our planet, or alternatively, of cold war environment, with some appearing as privileged, others as militaristic and others as exploited. Obviously, just like in real life, the narrow minded stereotypes never capture the actual truth, and we see similar qualities and flaws in all factions since after all, they're all humans irrespective of their desire to consider themselves more special or entitled than the rest.

We see hatred, war, hardship, prejudice, betrayal, but we also see love, desire for peace, prosperity, open minded approaches and loyalty. The characters are well built and acted by the cast, easily lovable depending on each viewer's preferences, but always having their own flaws. None of them is perfect and this adds to the realism and the story, whose whole arc is captivating to watch due to the many twists and cliffhangers throughout the show.

In terms of things that could have been better in the series, there are some: the cast seems at times too thin to represent an entire universe (e.g. Lots of things revolve around a limited number of ships and people), some characters are at times way too tolerant on various things (fortunately there is Amos compensating on that with his "it's nothing personal" direct approach), way too many women in top or technical positions for a space series (not that I'm bothered by it, but it's just not realistic in that aspect), the story is a bit dragged on at times especially in parts of the last seasons (a good way to address that would have been to condensate it and adapt the remaining 3 books as well), there are some loose ends and not that well captured motives once in a while (like Miller's fascination with Julie or various protomolecule related threads), and of course the fact that just like The Wire, even though a message of hope exists, the series is at times both literally and figuratively a bit too dark (in terms of lighting and sharp view of humanity).

That being said, it's well worth watching. Much better made than other series, a good adaptation of the books, great story arc and opening music, and a well designed resolution. If you start with no expectations and an open mind, you'll be pleasantly surprised. For someone as picky as myself, who's quick to stop any movie or series exhibiting stupidity and lack of logic in motivations, it certainly receives a pass.

2 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Lucifer: It Never Ends Well for the Chicken (2020)

Season 5, Episode 4

7/10

Not as bad as expected

21 November 2022

First of all, I'm not a fan of film noir, black and white filming, musicals, or the 40s to 60s obsession in movies, and I read some reviews before watching this, so I went on watching with low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was better than I thought it would be though.

Sure, the crime investigation was thin, but that was to be expected from the series, since the mythological and social aspect are the main attraction and the episodical cases are not meant to be at the level of other series that do them better. On the other hand, there is little going on the main plotline, apart from some quite touching and interesting moments here and there regarding the connection between Maze, her family and Lucifer, which explain what will happen in future episodes. I believe that presenting these things as a story that Lucifer tells to Trixie - and the reason why she asks for it in the first place - were very well done, much better than in other similar filler episodes from other series.

My advice is to watch this without expecting too much of it and maybe it won't be as boring as others suggest. Playing other characters was not done badly at all albeit it was more on the parody side, the gender bender was understandable since a lot of the cast are female actors anyway, and the bartender story was emotional and fit well in the overall scheme. Certainly not an under 4 mark, just like other appreciated episodes from the series are not of a 10 one either, but hey, people go to extremes these days forgetting about being objective, so there's that...

0 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Lucifer: Everything's Okay (2019)

Season 4, Episode 1

8/10

Decent follow up

15 November 2022

The good things about this episode, besides Netflix' decision to resurrect the show after Fox canceled it, are the beginning of the episode (which was absolutely hilarious, kudos to the actor involved, who had equally fun presence at various points during the earlier show), the ending (which was intriguing and making the viewer want to see what was that all about in the following episodes), and the fact that Chloe's coping with who Lucifer is was done brilliantly realistic (including lying about stuff, protecting her family, trying to overcome the devastating impact and only getting back to her natural self once Lucifer literally bled for her ... since, after all, she didn't knew that he already did that before in the fight against Pierce towards the end of season 3, being unconscious and such). Realistic were Dan's reactions as well regarding Charlotte, and of course, both Maze and Linda's parts with their usual mix of humour and emotion.

Apart from that, in terms of the regular police investigation serving as the background of the story in each episode, there wasn't anything spectacular about it: one or two twists as usual, in a pretty mediocre murder involving honey and ... (absent) bees. But then, of course, that was never the main attraction of the show, as there are much better crime series anyway.

All in all, this follow up provides hope if it continues like this (or even up its game) in the hands of Netflix, especially considering the competent writing of this episode and ending with a twist / cliffhanger / question mark that makes you want to know more about it (Prison Break was master at this, for example).

Unfortunately, I've seen examples of such nice starts cooling down eventually, and consistent 9+ episode ratings can't be trusted going forward since fans get emotional in their gratitude to Netflix picking up the show instead of rating episodes for what they are, so taking it with a pinch of salt is recommended. This is further aggravated by the fact that some fans seem to appreciate showing up Tom Ellis' nude backside more than the actual quality of the show, which is of course, childish. People must understand that a network doesn't necessarily pick up a show because of their good heart and loyalty to fans, but because they see potential in such shows ... for their own benefit (including the financial aspect, obviously).

Lastly, although a bit off topic, I'm dissapointed by the main actress deciding to uglify her natural beauty via a lip job. Sure, it's her life and body, but these folks just don't get the fact that they're becoming repulsive and not beautiful as a result, that boosting their self esteem or confidence is only related to the inner self relationship and not looks, and that being weak enough to give up to whatever pressure from third parties to do it is basically making the whole confidence boost point moot. In terms of this show, smiling more often instead of being the classic serious cop figure helps much more than plastic surgery - just look at the actor playing Dan, he fits naturally in his role, very much to his credit.

1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Stargate: Atlantis: Sunday (2007)

Season 3, Episode 17

7/10

Decent enough, but not for the reason you would think of

5 June 2021

First, other reviewers are wrong that the show started to go downhill from here. The mere fact that it belongs to the Stargate series is enough to warrant the downhill rating, and the reason is simple: apart from being a rip off of other series and the occasional grandeur and attractiveness of the main plotline - i.e. Excluding the many filler episodes - regarding the "fight" against Goa'uld / Replicators / Ori / Wraith / Genii / Assurans (I say "fight" because the "bad" enemies somehow always spare the lives of main team characters, while the latter always seem to "win" through some overused but unrealistically effective guerilla tactic, not to mention always taking the fight and life and death situations lightly), each episode is basically the main team fixing the disaster caused by their own crew's incompetence, disobedience and stupidity in the last minutes of the episode.

This is where this episode actually does the right thing, albeit to an undeserving (but only if you count this episode off) and otherwise likable and funny character: finally, the incompetence, poor decision making and disobedience of a main character is rewarded with the realistic payback for that person: death. I won't spoil other details, but once you see this it becomes clear that, in this episode, the eliminated character:

severely endangered the whole Atlantis crew for a single individual
blatantly disobeyed common sense orders conveying the above
insisted on handling things instead of much more qualified crew members
acted out of character by placing individual good above the common good

For those reasons above alone, the eliminated character deserved the outcome, so good riddance. The problem was not with the character itself however, which was one of the few that actually was OK in most aspects, but with the choices the character made (yeah, the abysmal writing, I know). By that standard, almost all the characters should deserve and logically be subject to elimnation, but since most of them are there just as cliche bait for the viewers (e.g. The good guy, the annoying one, the brute and the woman - I'll let you figure out which is which in both SG1 and SGA) it isn't feasible to do the logical thing and make them pay for their own mistakes.

That being said, SGA was at its beginning much better than SGA, simply for the fact that it didn't seem to make the same mistakes: base being conquered easily each episode, trying to be funny without being funny at all (I'm looking at you, O'Neill), moral questions sabotaging the natural outcome of a situation in critical moments, being more concerned about making jokes and exploring empty forests and petty villages than surviving against so called mortal enemies (NID was actually right on that one), and so on. Unfortunately, these mistakes slowly came back to haunt SGA as well, probaby because the poor writers were assigned to SGA after SG1 finished airing. At least this episode, despite the poor writing and similar decision making of a character, provides a logical and natural outcome. Too bad it wasnt done for the sake of realism and proper story telling, but only to make room for other characters and recycle this one for the following seasons on in the series (you'll see what I mean later on).

2 out of 18 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

I Am Mother (2019)

9/10

Almost brilliant, if not for some flaws in the premise

19 September 2019

In a post apocalyptic world, an AI mother raises a human daughter for a purpose. Apart from the great visuals and story, attention to details and acting, the beauty of "I Am Mother" is that literally everything in the plot summary (my first sentence) is questioned and the answers expertly revealed in small doses throughout the movie, keeping you thinking and guessing not only while you're watching it, but afterwards as well.

The trick in these kind of movies is to strike the right balance between hiding and revealing stuff in the plot, so that the result is both intriguing enough to generate suspense and mistery for the viewers, but also clear enough for them to eventually understand what it's all about. I was pleased to see that they got that balance right - sure, there were one or two things I didn't quite understand until I read some of the reviews here (although I wasn't too far of from the actual explanation), but still, you'll have no problems figuring out the most of it...assuming that, of course, you have the ability (and the patience) to use your brain properly. The funny thing is, if you don't, the underlying message in the movie will fall of deaf ears anyway, so no loss there - it's just that this flick is not for the average viewer in the cosumerism age, who's used with ready-made thoughts being duly delivered to him/her without ever relying on his/her own. By the way, if you think this movie was hard to follow and understand, check another recent SciFi, "Captive State" - now there you'd hardly get a hint about what is actually happening, and even if you do, you'd need to be fully focused to spot the tiny clues and figure out things .... which is why I mentioned that "I Am Mother" did manage to strike the right balance between hiding and revealing stuff in the first place.

Once you finished watching the movie though, you may notice that it unfortunately has two flaws in the plot (hence my "not quite perfect" rating) - and while these are not that obvious and could be forgiven for the sake of the movie having a premise in the first place, they still have an effect on the "realism" of the story, since an AI robot would have easily identified them and altered his behavior accordingly:

since Daughter passed all the tests with flying colors, that means the AI was, after all, successful as a mother, so why not continuing its work further on (e.g. APX04, APX05, etc.) - instead of proceeding the way it did at the end? It certainly was the practical choice, since being a robot, time was of no importance, plus, it could precisely follow the countless details involved in the complex task(s) ahead. It was the logical choice, and, as a robot, it should have chosen it.
no matter how "evolved" / "better" / "ethical" a parent is, there is absolutely no guarantee that the child will be similar, irrespective of biological, environmental or educational factors - real parents can testify to this. Good and bad are of course relative, but "good" parents can have "bad" children and viceversa, not to mention the fact that a lot of offsprings rebel during the teenage period and make their own path in life - there is simply no workaround for that, it's part of life itself: while beings have a similar base (e.g. they eat, drink, sleep, etc.), the rest is different between them (including between generations). An AI would have surely realised this (and the futility of attempting to produce perfect children just because the mother was perfect) right from the start, therefore it wouldn't have proceeded the way it did (including the very beginning of its actions), making the whole premise of the movie impossible (you know, since AIs would take decisions based on logic and hard evidence, without any feelings involved).

That being said, even with these flaws (and I've seen MUCH bigger flaws in other movies), "I Am Mother" is still great, and one where Neflix actually got it right. As for some "deep thinking" afterwards, the only solution that doesn't involve permanently annihilating the human race is to provide alternatives that apart from being tailored to suit various people, help alleviate or redirect problems. Eradicating a problem (as opposed to only minimizing it) is indeed the best option, but the thing is this option, if realistic in the first place, is doable almost always using force or violence - which in turn creates yet another set of problems to solve. But then, in the end, it doesn't really matter, does it? If it's not the AI, the wars, the aliens or the mind control that wipes us, it's an asteroid, the sun or the Milky Way - Andromeda collision. It's looking "great" either way...

0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Change of Heart (1998)

Season 6, Episode 16

10/10

Now that's what I call a true connection between Worf and Jadzia

31 August 2019

Warning: Spoilers

I already said in one of my reviews on a previous episode that the romance between Worf and Jadzia Dax is pathetic, for the simple reason that the characters didn't seem to connect in a proper and believable way until this point in the series. This episode however was something else, and in a good way: we finally see a proof of their true love when Jadzia risks her life to be up to Worf standards and Worf risks his career to try and save Jadzia from a certain death. Because, make no mistake, it wasn't just Worf who risked something in this episode, but Jadzia as well.

This leads me to the plot hole identified by another reviewer, that Worf should have let Jadzia right where she got injured, complete the mission on his own and pick her up on his return (since the path they were supposed to take was the same on their return). I agree that this is indeed a plot hole, but furtunately, unlike other episodes where the characters made absurd (read stupid) choices that couldn't be explained in another way than by the inept writing, this time there were mitigating circumstances for the characters' behavior: Jadzia, as I mentioned before, wanted to show Worf that she's up to the task and a worthy Klingon wife (risking her life in the process), and Worf couldn't let her in the vicinity of the killed enemies since she would have been easy to find and capture when the rest of the enemy troops searched for the missing personnel. So, at least this time, there were at least two (more or less) logical explanations to the actions of the characters - it's wasn't just stuff thrown out of the blue by the writers in order to come up with a certain resolve in the episode (like so many times before in the series).

Apart from that, it really was a touching example of true love between two characters that didn't seem really connected before in the series (I'm mainly talking about acting, not just about events like their wedding). I don't know about you, but I liked this episode - the first time I was convinced that what they had was love and not just a one night stand between "the beauty and the beast"...

16 out of 18 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Sacrifice of Angels (1997)

Season 6, Episode 6

8/10

Much better than other episodes, but plot holes remain

28 August 2019

Finally, we have a major space battle on the show, and it was great, after dozens of filler episodes that didn't tell much. This is the main reason for my positive rating - I would have wished for more episodes like this in the series, but I guess that budgetary constraints made it difficult to achieve.

That being said, this could have been even better if not for the plot holes. Other reviewers (e.g. ericdreynolds) identified some of these, but what bothered me the most were:

the Odo switch to "the good guys" made as little sense as his switch to the "bad guys" in the first place. As a side note, "good/bad guys" is just an expression, because apart from not being genocidal like the Dominion, I don't think the Federation are the good guys by any means, after all, it was them who invaded the Gamma Quadrant, started to colonize it, and provoked the war by refusing to retreat to the Alpha Quadrant when asked nicely by the Dominion earlier in the show - something that seems to be forgotten entirely afterwards, in favor of the Dominion expansionist policy explanation for the conflict. Going back to the Odo storyline, someone called the writers lazy for making his behavior not believable, out of character and basically stupid in these later episodes, but I would use stronger words for such inept writing. It made no sense that after just two links with the female Changeling he would foolishly be so easily manipulated to side with the occupation force in 'Behind the Lines' (not even people in love fall that easily and change their behavior AND principles), and it equally made no sense that when the tides were turning on DS9, Odo would "miraculously" recover from the effects of the link by suddenly realizing that billions of people (Kira included) are eventually going to die in the hands of the Dominion in this war...after supposedly being blind to the matter beforehand - go figure.
a ridiculous plot hole that wasn't mentioned in the other reviews was Sisko's resolve in the matter of the Dominion reinforcements from the Gamma Quadrant. This might be because it's not that easy to spot, but if you pay attention, you'll notice it. I don't know how to say this without spoiling minor bits in the episode, but I'll try to be vague enough to not make the resolve obvious. First, one of Sisko's officers asks him if he has a plan B if stopping the destruction of the minefield the conventional way fails. It appears that he has, only to discover later that this plan involves ... facing thousands of ships on his own (and this is confirmed by his attitude and reactions when dealing with the "Prophets" - this is where paying attention is important when watching). This "plan B" is not only stupid, but not worthy of a Starfleet cadet, let alone a "captain" and the admiral's right hand - even if we're talking about the Defiant. On the other hand, had his plan been to involve the prophets in the first place, that would have been reasonable. The problem (and the plot hole) lies in the fact that his conversations in the episode make it clear that this was NOT his plan...but instead he just wanted to be a kamikaze against thousands of Jem'Hadar ships, without ANY potential gain (and certain loss) for his side whatsoever.

Other than that, for the N-th time in Star Trek (not just DS9), the "Birds of Prey" save the day - it even rhymes, if you know what I mean. That's not a problem in itself, but this cliche is overused every time the going gets tough in a Star Trek space battle. It apparently became something of a "magic trick" to solve hopeless combat situations in the series.

17 out of 27 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Behind the Lines (1997)

Season 6, Episode 4

2/10

Stupid and inconsistent plot

28 August 2019

This episode is a perfect example why the writing in DS9 (apart from some quality bits involving the Cardassian and Ferengi related episodes throughout the series and the Dominion war arc that's basically the only interesting thing about the show) is simply below par and inferior to, say, TNG. While the majority of the episode is reasonable in describing the Defiant missions in the war against the Dominion, the resistance cell actions on DS9 aka Terok Nor, it fails miserably at the end, in terms of keeping the Odo character consistent with the previous 5 seasons. The latter alone destroyed both the episode and its conclusion, really.

Without spoiling it, it's simply inconceivable that a character that devoted his life to justice and, by extension, peaceful resolution to disputes (remember, he refused to carry weapons on him as the Security chief), who has an unwavering attitude of rejecting a vast array of temptations offered to himself, a character that developped more than friendly relationships with the "solids" and who holds one's responsibility and accountability - including his own - in the highest regard ... to do what he did at the end of this episode, not to mention THE WAY in which he did it. More specifically, I'm not talking about siding with a Founder once in a while (because that's understandable, after all, they belong to the same race), I'm talking about doing that irresponsibly and without caring for the repercussions of his actions. It's like having an episode where Odo looks away and doesn't bother to investigate and find the murderer of another individual that happened under his watch ... because he just doesn't give a f.... about it. Especially when the same (dumb) writers emphasized his responsibility and professionalism with every occasion throughout the series.

Lastly, Odo doing such things after just two "sessions"/meetings with another character is absurd, considering he had at least two of such encounters in the past with the said character and was clearly unfazed at this level before.

Bottom line, the writers (again) chose to suit the story after the desired result instead of modelating the result based on the story. Apparently, for such amateur writers, it's the effect that determines the cause, and not the cause that leads to a certain effect. And, of course, the whole plot is not only overly simplistic and ridiculous, but utterly not believable. The resolve is insulting the intelligence of the viewers, plain and simple. This could have been done in a million of better, more intelligent and more believeble ways than foolishly playing Odo out of character, really.

13 out of 44 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Trials and Tribble-ations (1996)

Season 5, Episode 6

3/10

Skippable vintage Star Trek episode

23 August 2019

This is basically a filler episode centered around a simplistic plot of finding the needle in a haystack - literally. Apart from the well done TOS decors and suits, the expert editing and the handsome Kirk presence to appeal to the original series fans, there isn't much about this episode per se that is worth seeing.

I can understand why this anniversary episode is appreciated by the fans of the franchise, but a 9.4 rating (currently) is beyond ludicruous, it's laughable. Claiming that this was an "immensely clever" episode with "brilliant acting and everything" says a lot about the level of bias that turned this fake rating into a joke. It didn't stole a laugh, a tear or any kind of emotion from me, I just stood there baffled in front of the screen and asked myself: are they really going to make an episode about fluffy dolls?! Apparently, they could have even made a "memorable" episode where Captain Kirk kept scratching his backside for half an hour and it would still get a 9+ rating, just because it reminds people of Stark Trek the original series. Imagine trying to recommend this series to someone who never saw it and point him to this episode and its rating - he would avoid watching the show at all costs (assuming he's over 12 years old, that is). Absolutely shocking, hahaha!

7 out of 102 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Shattered Mirror (1996)

Season 4, Episode 19

3/10

Enjoyable...but only if you suspend your critical thinking

21 August 2019

First, let me admit that seeing characters act differently from their main story line can be fun, and can make a decent time watching it. That being said, that's where the good part of this episode stops. The rest is just pure junk in terms of intelligent construction of 'Shattered Mirror', and I'll explain why:

the idea of parallel universes is ...erm... problematic as it is, to say the least (any number of parallel universes would require space-time-matter-energy duplication that is simply absurd scientifically), but even if you go past these problems the idea that easy travelling between these universes allow the same characters from different universes to coexist in one of the universes is even more absurd. A character from an universe shouldn't be able to exist in another "parallel" universe (i.e. outside of his own universe) - not to mention alongside his replica from the parallel universe - because all the space-time-matter-energy that he's made of belongs to a single universe: his own. That's why they're supposed to be "parallel" universes: because they coexist, but DON'T intersect...otherwise we would be talking about the same universe, now won't we?
travelling to this parallel universe has been, as other reviewers mention, overused in DS9. Sure, it can be fun, but it becomes tiresome and boring after a while. After all the characters don't have any interest in involving themselves in the other universe, support an alliance or another, care for a person or another, for the simple reason that...duh, it's not their own (not to mention the apparently obsolete Prime Directive, regarding interfering in the matters of another 'world'). Which leads me to my next point...
how the heck could Sisko and, even more stupidly, Jake, care deeply for the Jennifer from the other universe is beyond me, really. Hello, Sisko slowheads, it's NOT your wife/mother - it's an entirely different person. How could Jake, a Starfleet Captain son, be so charmed and easy to kidnap by someone who is clearly not his mother and bears no connection to him whatsoever is illogical, to say the least.
the dumb plot doesn't stop there however. Get this: a Starfleet officer, a Captain in the Federation forces, the almighty Sisko, the first man tasked with stopping the Dominion's advances, makes a rookie "mistake": he falls into the same trap twice. Not only did Smiley (O'Brien's 'alter ego' in the parallel universe) easily captured him the first time in one of the previous episodes, but poor Sisko is incompetent enough to let himself being taken AGAIN to the parallel universe, this time along with his son. Now I don't know about you, folks, but this character is not the best father at all letting his son being taking away from him like that, and he's not worthy of being a Starfleet Captain if he, a hardened officer in one of the greatest millitaries in the galaxy, falls in the same trap twice. Imagine making such foolish mistakes against the Dominion - you're already conquered. I couldn't believe my eyes when he so easily bought Jennifer's claim that she was "just visiting" him... knowing the major problems in the parallel universe, he's fool enough to believe those folks may need a "vacation" in his own universe, hahaha!
simple question: what do you do if a person who's the deadly enemy of your father points a gun at you and wants to know who you are? You lie, of course, because it saves your skin - you don't tell the person with the gun that you're the son of his enemy, inviting death, being taking hostage or being kidnapped... twice in a row. What does Jake Sisko do? Guess what: the exact opposite. Not smart at all, especially coming from an aspiring writer. Sure, Sisko being indebted to her was convenient for the alternate Kira and, of course, for a future (equally dumb) plot in the parallel universe, but made no sense if Jake wanted to survive and return home with his father.
the Defiant, the station's shields and Bashir's ship was all that it took to make an ENTIRE fleet of angry Klingons to retreat and run back to their empire at maximum warp. I get it, the Defiant is a nasty ship and all (even though it seems to be on the brink of collapse in every battle it's involved in, at least visually), but to defeat Worf's entire imperial fleet that came to punish a handful of rebels? The writers must be joking, really.
lastly, the nonsense that concludes all the previous nonsense above: since when Klingons (and Worf, alledgedly the most Klingon of all), retreat and run away from battle like cowards? I thought they were living under the motto that "It's a good day to die" and that "Victory is life", not to mention the honor they would throw away by leaving the battlefield. Ok, it's a "parallel universe", but Klingons are still Klingons if I'm not mistaken, and so far it all looks more like a parallel plot to logic and realism than a parallel universe episode.

It was midly fun, but I have a big problem with stupid plots and unrealistic life and death decisions from the characters - hence the rating. The writers can make the story suit their desired outcome all they want, but for me, the outcome should be a consequence of the story, not the other way around.

16 out of 31 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Sons of Mogh (1996)

Season 4, Episode 14

2/10

An absolutely despicable episode

20 August 2019

Warning: Spoilers

I always liked Klingon episodes in Star Trek TNG, because they had depth, great character development and offered great insight into the Klingon culture. Sadly, in DS9 the writers destroyed everything good that was built in TNG regarding Klingons, and their role as 'strange aliens' was largely taken by the Cardassians. Now I don't have a problem with focusing on the Cardassians, as most DS9 episodes involving them are really good, but it makes no seanse to negatively affect another race while doing that. "Killing Kurn without killing him", as Dax put it, is a simplistic way to cut the remaining ties with the Klingon world, eliminate one of the few Klingons (if not the only one) who was truly authentic - i.e. Kurn, Worf's brother - and artificially develop further the pathetic romance between Worf and Jadzia Dax. The fact that the Founders (i.e. The Changlings, the Shapeshifters) managed to seed distrust between the powers of the Alpha Quadrant - especially between the Klingons and the Federation - could have been much better and more realistically achieved than making Gowron turn his back on the allies that provided him with his Arbiter of Succession, making the Federation treat Klingons like "allies" that should better keep the distance (despite them coming to help DS9 against the Dominion in the previous episodes) or arbitrarily discarding Kurn's character because he was temporarily 'persona non grata' in the Empire. After all, Worf endured a greater dishonor for decades until he briefly restored his family's pride - why couldn't Kurn successfully face the same problem using his brother's guidance?

Anyway, all these illogical choices of the writers pale in comparison with the abomination of erasing a sentient being's whole memory because, aparently ... "it's better" than physically killing that being. Excuse me? How is erasing someone's memory (I'm not talking about one particular piece of memory here, but the ENTIRE memory and experiences of that person) different from killing that someone, apart from the issue of terminating his biological body? The whole concept of life in the case of sentient beings (even more so for intelligent life) revolves around their memories and experiences - without them, that particular person is non-existant. Resequence a person's DNA and erase that person's memory, and he's a different person altogether - his or her old self is dead, period. It's still a crime, and the perpetrator is still a murderer, albeit not in a 'standard' fashion. That can go for real life too, not just for a TV series character.

Also, what's funny is that of all people, the one performing the procedure is ... a Federation doctor. You know, the same Federation that swore to respect intelligent life (which is fundamentally based on a person's memories and experiences, as explained earlier). Another funny thing is why they couldn't erase just the problematic memories/experiences to solve the issue (maybe even planting a fake memory to help the process), instead of the whole memory. We know that in TNG that was possible, when dr. Pulaski SELECTIVELY erased the problematic memories of Sarjenka, a girl character from TNG's season 2 episode 15, 'Pen Pals', instead of wiping out her entire memory. But then, it seems that the Federation scientific research (and most importantly, its application) not only did not progress throughout both series, but actually regressed between TNG and DS9 - that's probably why the Defiant had to use limited Romulan cloaking technology instead of taking advantage of the MUCH superior cloaking technique from TNG's season 7 episode 12, 'Pegasus'. Granted, there was the Treaty of Algeron that prohibited the development or use of cloaking tech by the Federation, but that was already broken in that TNG episode, not to mention the existential threat that the Dominion posed to the Federation which should logically take precedence over any limitations enforced by an Alpha Quadrant treaty. But then, as I mentioned, logic doesn't seem to be the writers strong point - they mostly decide to do things in the series because, and I quote... "it's fun". Yuck!

20 out of 42 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Sword of Kahless (1995)

Season 4, Episode 8

7/10

Originally a nice idea, but the twist is pretty stupid

19 August 2019

Kor, Jadzia Dax and Worf go to the Gamma Quadrant to find the 'Sword of Kahless', the first bat'leth ever created by the legendary Klingon hero Kahless - and they are followed by another group that wants to get the sword as well. So far, a nice idea, and kudos to the designers for an absolutely magnificent "first bat'leth" - no kidding.

What follows though is not that smart though. Apparently the writers wanted the major symbolism of the sword in Klingon culture to be a dangerous thing that generates conflict between any Klingons that get a hand on the sword, and were baffled by the fact that the viewers thought the sword was either carrying a "virus" or had some "magical powers" that caused the whole aggresive behavior. Ok, maybe most viewers don't bother that much to get the underlying message of an episode, but then, what do you expect if you - aka the writers - don't explain things properly (not to mention that the strange behavior is simply illogical even for the brutal Klingon culture)?

If the sword was such a cause of conflict between Klingons, why on Earth (pardon, Qo'onos - the Klingon homeworld) was it just a harmless artifact that caused unity among Klingons before it was stolen by the Hur'q invaders? Sorry to say this, but the writers' idea to make the sword provoke division was pointless and absurd, really. No wonder the viewers came up with a more logical explanation for the strange behavior exhibited by the Klingons touching it - it makes much more sense to see it as carrying a "virus" or some sort of "magical powers" (the Hur'q factor, maybe?) than its mere symbolism causing friction... especially considering that the whole myth about it was that it would lead to unity (not division!) between Klingons. And, of course, the whole idea in this episode had to be eventually discarded (you'll find out how after watching), since it would have solved the Klingon - Federation conflict too easily, and make the Dominion threat less dangerous.

16 out of 23 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Visitor (1995)

Season 4, Episode 2

4/10

Stuck in time

17 August 2019

Warning: Spoilers

This DS9 episode has a simple and powerful story that most people can connect to: Jake Sisko "lost" his father in an accident and he's wasting his life trying to get him back. I can see why it's highly rated by most of the other reviewers, because it addresses the loss of a dear family member, an event that leaves people with wounds that can be very difficult to heal.

Apart from that, I am as shocked as others when seeing people comparing it to Star Trek TNG's "Inner Light" in terms of quality and emotional impact, or stating that they were brought to tears by this. I hate to sound cold hearted about it - considering that 'Inner Light' moves me to tears every freaking time I watch it - but this is nowhere that level, and I'll try to explain why.

First of all, it's not the story of an episode that makes the episode great, it's HOW that story is written, produced and acted - basically how it's incorporated into the episode - that does the trick. You can have a simpleton story like the one in 'Groundhog Day' and make it great by producing it right, or you can have a great story that fails because it isn't efficiently "told" in the film. This episode belongs to the latter - apart from the clear feeling that it's a 'filler' episode with no connection to the story arc whatsoever, the fact that it's narrated by the aging Jake instead of being described by his actual life events makes it dull, almost boring, lacking any kind of potential dynamics associated with a person's life.

Secondly, the acting (or, if you like, what the actors were told to do) is atrocious, really. This is a recurring issue in DS9, where apart from the actors playing Kai Winn, Garak, Gul Dukat and maybe Kira Nerys or Odo characters, there aren't any special talents put to work in that aspect. Avery Brooks (the actor playing Sisko), for example, might be ideal for shouting/barking orders in a war-like scenario, but is seriously lacking when pursuing more dramatic parts of his role, like this one. Same for the actor playing Jake Sisko, who might be great at playing picking up girls or "hanging out" with his father or Nog, but he's just not suited for deeper episode like this one. Another issue in this episode in particular is that there is just WAY TOO MUCH WEEPING, period. The key in having a great dramatic episode is not to make the characters cry every freaking time they mention their father's name, but to make THE VIEWERS do it. 'Inner Light' actors, for example, hardly shed any tears in their performance, but stole a lot from the viewers (myself included) - and that's one example of many. Unfortunately, this episode not only didn't stole a single tear from me, but it hardly kept me interested in it.

Lastly, this episode failed to have any impact on me (and others as well, it seems), because, as someone else said, Jake is simply out of character. Not only because of his role as a regular teenager with other more important interests than hanging out with his father, but also because the charater is a secondary (I'm being gentle here) one. The viewers hardly got any chance to really connect with and care for the character, and even if they somehow did, it's hard to imagine a boy who has the most fun playing dom-jot, dating Dabo girls and playing tricks on people along with Nog ending up wasting his ENTIRE life pathetically crying and feeling sorry for himself, or even trying to bring his father back because "it was his fault" (really?) that he lost him. It just isn't consistent with such a light-hearted character as Jake is - plain and simple.

All in all, this is an episode that relies too much on having an impact on viewers by overcrying and reminding them of their OWN personal experiences and too less on having that impact by good acting, making the story believable and caring for / relating with the actual characters. But then, what can I say? For some people, it works, for others it doesn't. The first season's "Duet" seemed like a much better made episode than this one, although this one had clearly so much more potential to be truly great. The difference between this episode's potential and what actually came out of it is basically why I rated it this low.

11 out of 53 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Paradise (1994)

Season 2, Episode 15

3/10

Totally ruined by the terrible ending

8 August 2019

This episode had a decent and realistic premise, that is unfortunately all too familiar on today's Earth: a cult leader abusing and brainwashing her unsuspecting followers, under the usual mask of 'kindness' and 'morality'.

The worst thing though is that the premise is followed by plain idiotic and unrealistic behavior, culminating in an unsatisfactory ending. I get the whole bureaucratic emphasis on the Prime Directive and such, as well as the effort made for the main characters too look 'civilized' and all (who are they kidding though?) but it all failed miserably in this episode. First, there is no clear opposition from Sisko, other than useless verbal one at times; secondly, the colonists are way too docile to abuse; third, the cult leader's son unrealistically shares his mother backwards beliefs (young people almost always strongly reject these in real life); on top of that, the biggest aberration of them all, even after truth has been revealed, the resolution is way too mild for the gravity of the abuse and guess what, the victims would like to... continue their lives as nothing happened (not an ounce of outrage, no sense of injustice, no natural need to be reunited with their families at home, etc.)! As this wasn't enough, Sisko is apparently oblivious to the revelation that there is an entire network of cult followers doing the same things at the highest levels of the 'oh so evolved' Federation.

Worth seeing the beginning for the premise, can be safely skipped if you're bothered by unrealistically nice behavior in the face of abuse and the 'herd instinct' type of resolution. The persuasive nature of the villain was expertly acted though - that's probably one of the few highlights of this episode, apart from the premise.

39 out of 54 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Journey's End (1994)

Season 7, Episode 20

7/10

An excellent story marred by what else but...Wesley Crusher's character

31 July 2019

This is a good episode with a powerful story and moral dilemma concerning the relocation of a group of American Indians - could have been a 9 or a 10 with a little more drama and if not for the terrible inconsistencies and the problematic character of Wesley Crusher.

Wesley had SO much potential in TNG, his genius and his encounters with the Traveler could have been exploited so much better, but unfortunately it wasn't always the case. This is one of the episodes where his side story ruins the otherwise excellent base premise. Apart from his annoying baby face stupid smile that's part of his "acting" in TNG every 2 minutes or so, there is absolutely no way any group of American Indians would have considered Wesley some sort of Messiah or treat him as one of their own, for a couple of simple reasons: he's too young, he's disobedient, he has no spiritual depth whatsoever and ... he disrespects elders, especially after joining the Academy. All these Wesley traits make him totally incompatible with a culture like the American Indian one, period.

Other than that, the premise of this episode could have produced an effect relatively close to that of 'Inner Light', if exploited properly (maybe some tragic outcome of the main plot) - it certainly suited the culture's history. It wasn't to be however, and the Indians' and Wesley's stories were blended in a very unrealistic fashion. Picard or even Worf could have been much more suited for Wesley's act, while Wesley's subplot could have been merged into another, more suitable episode. In the end, it all looks forced and not that believable (to say the least), pretty much like trying to eat soup and cake together.

9 out of 19 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Force of Nature (1993)

Season 7, Episode 9

9/10

Well, it's only "preachy" until you die because of it...

28 July 2019

Seeing the ignorance and the political nature of most of the reviews on this episode, one can only come to the conclusion that humanity would deserve its fate when the environmental damage we all do on Earth will become critical. Too bad those responsible for the mess created won't be alive then to suffer the consequences, but their descendants will.

I didn't expect this kind of opinions on this episode, especially since TNG primarily speaks to intelligent and open-minded viewers, who would supposedly understand that if you leave your trash in front of your home, it will eventully stink and produce all kinds of bugs and other... "inconveniences". It's the same with pollution on Earth and the same with the effect of the warp drive on normal space in the fictional TNG universe. By definition, a warp drive is warping space to move an object instead of increasing the kinetic energy of the object, by generating warp fields to form a subspace bubble that envelops the starship, distorting the local spacetime continuum and moving the starship at velocities that could greatly exceed the speed of light. It's similar to folding a thin piece of metal, to get one side next to the other. Now, even children know what happens when you quickly and repeatedly do this to that thin piece of metal: it eventually breaks - just like paper is easier to tear in a straight line after folding it and the same as space does after being repeatedly "warped" (i.e. folded) in the same location(s) by starships. Bottom line, there's nothing "preachy" about the scenario in this episode, just like it's nothing "preachy" about the fact that pollution or deforestation are endangering life on Earth - it's simply the truth.

So, what can you do faced with these close-minded, bureaucracy oriented and irresponsible people, who would either not believe or not take or delay any measure to alleviate or correct the damage? You'd do what the alien's sister did in this episode, sacrificing safety for understanding and appropriate reaction. Maybe the reviewers who considered this fine episode "preachy" need to experience the same - there's nothing more convincing than having to fight for survival. It's up to the viewers to connect the dots and realize the similarities between what happens in this episode in a fictional world and what already happens or could happen in our very real one. Unless they're blinded by petty concerns like profit or politics, that is...

45 out of 88 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Time's Arrow, Part II (1992)

Season 6, Episode 1

9/10

Well written and contrary to what others said, having very few plot holes

18 July 2019

Warning: Spoilers

This was an excellent time related episode, and a decent continuation of part one from the previous season. While I found that flaws and plot holes are present in other ST TNG episodes (a valid reason to dislike those), I disagree with other reviewers here who claim this is one of them - in fact, I believe this is one of the episodes having the least amount of flaws and plot holes, and that is something to appreciate, especially for a time travel related episode. I'll try to explain these supposed flaws and plot holes mentioned mainly by wesleyprang's and Qanqor's reviews (warning: long post):

"Guinan would want a job on the Enterprise, so Picard going on mission in order to meet Guinan is a flaw" (wesleyprang). Guinan repeatedly emphasized that she values trust much more than being in a place where everybody else wants to be (i.e. Enterprise), and her trust in Picard was the sole reason why she chose to be a bartender on that ship. She wouldn't have been able to trust Picard if they hadn't met in the past, hence Picard had to go on the mission.
"Data pays Jack London lots of money, but has no money to pay Picard's rent" (wesleyprang). That is believable, since he had to buy a lot of other stuff for the device he was building, plus he had to buy the carriage he used to save the team from the police, so he may have ran out of money by the time he got to Picard's rented place. He was also probably searched by the police, so he had to stay low and avoid playing poker for money for a while.
"The Devidians only prey on the sick and dying - people who are already in a hospital bed, so it's obvious that they take only what they need to survive; this makes them a threat to all Humanity - even though Humans are spread far and wide by the 24th Century". While from a natural point of view it is acceptable to prey on the sick and dying, in human society a crime is still a crime, even if you murder a sick person. Who knows, that person might eventually recover, if he or she wasn't preyed on. Plus, it's understandable to have a bias on not killing humans, if you are human yourself. Humans are indeed spread far and wide by the 24th century, but this might be exactly because the Devidians were ultimately stopped from preying on humans by the Enterprise team in their 19th century mission from this episode.
"Except that there were plenty of Earthquakes in San Fran - one happened just a few months previously". We are not talking about now, but the time frame when the Enterprise team went on their mission, i.e. at the end of the 19th century. I don't know the specifics, but I believe that the writers were careful to be accurate in that regard for that specific time frame, considering they even had a line mentioning that there wasn't any major earthquake in S.F. for 30 years. That tells me they did research the issue a bit, so the line would make sense.
"If Geordi was able to build a device having the needed sensitivity to allow for the phase change, why didn't they try that the first time, instead of risking Data?" (Qanqor). First, it was urgent, in order to stop the aliens feeding on humans, and secondly: using the device built into Data was accessible immediately, compared to Geordi building his own; it was safer and certain to work compared to an experimental attempt by Geordi; they didn't had to risk any actual human team lives; it allowed a slightly delayed vocal communication with the other team members (not sure Geordi would have been able to incorporate that feature into his own device). Also, if you watch those moments carefully, Geordi didn't say that he couldn't build such a device, he merely said that they didn't have one on the ship at the moment (except for Data's one, that is) - it's easy to overlook the possibility of building such a device, you naturally first think whether you have one at hand or not.
"When the team is assembled to go after Data, its makeup makes no sense, and it gets worse, when Picard sends Worf back to the ship" (Qanqor). It does make sense. Crusher was useful to treat potential injuries to the affected humans, discover how the aliens drained them of energy, and maybe find a cure. Troi was useful in sensing pain from the humans the aliens preyed on, life or distress signs caused by a team member's potential capture in case they split the team to better find Data, and so on. Riker was useful too, since after Data and Worf, he's supposed to be the only male having the physical qualities to handle potential combat, and if the team split, he would command a team while Picard would command the other. If there was a slip up in assembling the original team for the mission, that had to be Worf, since his Klingon appearance would have caused huge problems in a 19th century Earth, but that is corrected when he's replaced by Picard. Worf is exactly the one that had to be absent from the team that investigated what the aliens were doing on the 19th century Earth and went after Data (his looks), and precisely the one that had to stay in command of the Enterprise near a hostile alien race planet (he's the security chief).
"The entire, problematic appearance of the away team in 19th century San Francisco is completely skipped over." (Qanqor) Skipped over, yes, but not flawed. Unlike Data, they probably materialized in the cave from Earth (since they followed the aliens when going there), so their appearance wouldn't have been an issue, since no human was present in the cave. Their clothes could be bought afterwards, using the same trick Data used when he wanted to play poker: sell their partially gold-made subspace transmitters, since they had no use for them in a 19th century Earth and they would have easily have others made for them when they returned to the Enterprise. They weren't able to get rent money because that would have been well beyond the cost of a trasmitter, and they wouldn't have been able to count on dr. Crusher's "income" as a nurse, since she was just pretending to be hired, she was not actually working there (pay attention to how she doesn't turn her face to the doctor when he speaks to her in the episode, in order to avoid letting him know that she's not one of the actual nurses).
"So wouldn't 12th century Europe at the time of the Black Plague make much more sense as a timeframe for the alien time travel than 19th century San Francisco?" (Qanqor) Definitely. However, it is never mentioned (and open to debate) whether this was the first time the aliens preyed on humans or not. Maybe they travelled to the 12th century Europe as well, and it just happened that their San Francisco time travel was the one where the Enterprise team could stop them, considering Data's head in that Earth cave, that triggered the mission. Not to mention that the tech of both the aliens and the Enterprise team would have been impossible to hide and tolerate in a 12th century Europe, where they would have been almost certainly accused of sorcery and executed.
"Why on earth didn't Data and Guinan take Twain into their confidence?" (Qanqor) Several reasons come to mind: the Prime Directive, avoiding altering the current timeline, the difficult task of convincing a man with such strong beliefs as Twain that they were not "invaders" (remember, he wasn't convinced until he saw the 24th century realities and Troi made a case for many of the humanity's shortcomings being corrected in the future they lived in), and ... well, he was a writer, so his primary reaction would have been to let his readers (and the reporters) know about the whole thing. It's like convincing a TV channel not to run their most shocking news story - not going to happen.
"Why is Twain portrayed as such a frothing Luddite?" (Qanqor) He is not portrayed as opposing new technology or ways of working - he's simply portrayed as someone who thinks that in this case, the technology is used to "invade" (or facilitate an invasion of) the Earth by some suspicious individuals. That is entirely logical and believable - after all, we have even today people that are very much adepts of new technologies, but who are worried or fear that too much of the new technology (or that technology falling into the wrong hands) would lead to bigger problems (artificial intelligence built into human-like robots or nuclear weapons are classic examples of this).
"How it makes any sense at all that the only food these aliens can eat is human neuro-chemical energy." (Qanqor) Easy: it's the same as any of us preferring to eat cooked food over raw food, or chicken over pork, or diet food over fat-rich food, and so on. Food is not just a matter of necessity, but also a matter of preference. From our perspective, the neuro-chemical energy of a human, Vulcan, Klingon or that of a cow might look the same, but for such a race it might be that the human one is more..."tasty", maybe richer in their calories equivalent for this type of "food", or simply, more accessible than other types of neuro-chemical energy. Talking about accessibility, we know that the cave on Earth has a similar ideal configuration to amplify the phase shifting signals used to time travel as the cave on the Devidian planet, so they have a foothold on Earth. The phase change of 0.0040 used to time travel to 19th century Earth is very close to the 0.0047 change used to destroy the aliens, so it might be that the 19 century Earth was the closest food source for the aliens's time machine (after they probably exhausted the food available on their home planet).

All in all, a well made episode. The only minor flaw I see is having Guinan as a black woman in the high society circles of a 19th century US, only a couple of years after the American Civil War - it just isn't realistic. But then, there were similar worse flaws in other movies, and diversity was always preferred to realism (suspension of disbelief?). At least here Guinan's character is crucial for the episode, and Whoopi plays her expertly.

17 out of 19 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

9/10

The first anime-like movie that I like

5 April 2019

Let me first say that I hate anime and animation movies in general, although I am a fan of science-fiction and technology. One of the reasons I dislike this type of movies is that they look horribly "cartoonish".

Alita didn't suffer from this drawback at all. If not for the big eyes and sometimes "floating" hair, I could swear everything was real. The CGI is exceptionally well done.

What makes this movie more than a nice CGI one is the fact that it has a good story, good acting, a bit of mistery and some touching moments that make you root for the main character(s). All in all, one of the best science-fiction movies of the last years and probably the best manga/anime adaptation ever. Worth to see - can't wait for the sequels.

7 out of 10 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Two and a Half Men: Ow, Ow, Don't Stop (2010)

Season 8, Episode 10

2/10

Dreadful

2 April 2019

To be honest, this show started to stink since its writers made Charlie behave like Alan (e.g. lame Mia, housewife Chelsea, Charlie becoming the husband type, etc.) and Alan behave like Charlie (e.g. banging chicks like crazy), but this is a new low, really - and for the same reason: the behavior doesn't fit the character.

Charlie might be spending a lot on women and accept their sometimes more expensive taste, but no man, let alone the Charlie character, would accept being extorted by a woman who is KNOWN to con men for profit, and has ALREADY done so against the said character. No pair of fake boobs, no supposed "depression" (after sleeping with a dozen women after Chelsea, Charlie is still "depressed"?!), no alleged "love" for Courtney (after 3 years of not mentioning her even once) can change that fact.

Now I know this is comedy and the focus is more on generating humor than believable stories, but this is simply unrealistic and plain stupid. I can understand having some not so good episodes in a show of this length, but this level of making things up for the sake of having some filler episodes when the writers' minds go blank is atrocious. Avoid these Courtney episodes at all costs - not only do they lack a bit of realism, but the humor in them is really bad too.

14 out of 18 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Book Club (I) (2018)

9/10

Excellent romantic comedy with older people

12 September 2018

This is a movie I laughed throughout, that older people and younger people WITH A BRAIN would probably love. Good acting, moving life stories for all 4 protagonists, a hilarious premise (aka the 'book') and a satisfying end would give you a sense that there's still a chance for older people to have fun and find a soulmate no matter how old they seem to be.

This is not recommended for people with political motivations, lacking an open mind or without humour. That kind of people would babble all kinds of nonsense about the movie and give it a 1 rating, cause, you see, it doesn't fit their narrow minds properly: it's with and about older people, the main characters are (successful) women, the book - that they probably didn't even read - can't be understood if you have a superficial mindset, or they are simply too serious about stuff for quality humour to have an effect on them. And of course, they rated movies with the Pope or ... Spiderman (I know, right?) with a 10, LMAO. Just skip those 'reviews' and try this, without any prejudices - the least you can get is some good laughs.

7 out of 14 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Perdida (2018)

4/10

Relatively realistic plot, but poorly executed

5 September 2018

Argentina is a country that produces a lot of cheap telenovelas (aka 'Spanish soap operas'), and that culture has a clear negative effect on how this movie was executed. The plot is pretty realistic, in that you'll find such stories in real life too ... or at least bits of them (especially the bits concerning the criminal world and the police), but apart from that, this movie is quite poor, like most Netflix movies nowadays. The movie relies too much on plot twists, parallel storylines or underdevelopped/vague/pointless subplots to generate viewer interest (just like a telenovela would), and less on good acting, clear ideas and emotional impact. This makes the movie too vague when it needs to explain stuff properly and too direct/raw when some emotion would help more.

Worth seeing only for the parts in the plot that are often encountered in similar real life scenarios. Can be skipped or fast forwarded if great acting, production or emotional impact is expected or desired by the viewer.

1 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Alpha (II) (2018)

6/10

Could have been so much more

27 August 2018

Let me first say that I love early human history and this was the main reason why I watched this movie (and continued to watch it after being dissapointed). Ok, I'm not that much into canines, I'm more of a feline fan, but I like animals and the human-animal friendship is always a good story for me. Therefore, this movie scored high in my view ... but only from the above angles.

As for the rest, it was very dissapointing - and the main reason was the missing factual accuracy and historical credibility. Although the movie made some efforts - that I do appreciate - to simulate historical accuracy (e.g. realistic scenery, good cinematography, not too much talking, accurate stone tools and appropriate - although way too uniform - costumes), Alpha was for the rest higly inaccurate and not at all believable (I don't think the things in the list below are actual spoilers, as they don't specifically reveal the plot, but if you're really paranoid, you can skip some):

early human history was much more violent than portrayed in the movie (where there is 0 conflict within the tribe, almost like at a 21st century gala)
perfectly shaved men had no place in this movie; ok, you can let some without a fully grown beard and such, but not that flawlessly shaved like the chief's advisor, for example - after all, they only had stone to cut their hair.
both men and women were not effeminate like today: the tribe chief's wife wouldn't shed tears in public like that, and the chief of the tribe would DEFINITELY avoid at all costs crying like a girl in front of his own subjects / tribe members. Ok, these were not warriors, but even hunters like them confronted death each day and behaving so weakly as tribe leaders would have been unthinkable in those times.
the chief favoring his son like that would have been challenged earlier (as opposed to never, like in this movie), but hilariously, the director makes the potential challenger ...erm... conveniently dissapear at some point in the story, probably sensing that it's too much unanswered stuff there.
children those days would have had multiple brothers and sisters. Being the only child would have been possible, but highly unlikely.
it's again highly unlikely that a teenager those days would be so shy and downright incompetent to not being able to kill a prey, especially knowing how it would embarass his father, who just happened to be the chief of a tribe of hunter-gatherers, go figure.
hypothetically speaking, you are in a hunter group badly in need of food and you hunt a herd of {insert herbivore here} and most of the prey falls into a trap of some sort that's difficult to get to. What do you do? Try to reach that trap and collect the huge reward, right? What did the hunters in the movie do? Leave without even looking back, giving up food that would have fed them for MONTHS! You'll know what I'm talking about when (and if) you see the movie - I bet you'll agree with me that doing like they did was unbelievably stupid, and a waste they could not afford. They didn't even try!
the hunting scenes of the main character were absolutely hilarious ... I mean ... a single canine chasing the prey exactly in the character's path from several yards away? Was that prey blind or what? Killing a rabbit with a stone thrown in his head, without the rabbit even moving? Was the rabbit sleeping or was it reading the newspaper? Come on now, gimme a break.
the CGI on the animals was poor, like really poor. Ok, not every movie has a high budget, but still...it's not like they had to have spaceships there, right?
the chief lost two tribe members in a single hunting expedition, and both losses were his own faults and avoidable. I don't know about you, but that's not a competent chief in my book.
(POSSIBLE SPOILER?) I know this was of paramount importance for the story to work, but it bothered me the most: you do NOT, I repeat - NOT, domesticate a fully grown wild animal, to the point of bringing you food or helping you fight other beasts. Ask every wild animal trainer, domestication, if it more or less happens, works only if you raise the animal since it's a cub and you're imprinted in his memory as someone close to a 'parent' (or a 'pack leader' in case of highly social animals). I'm absolutely convinced that this was how humans domesticated animals to this day.

In my view, sure, the human-animal friendship story was nice and such, but this movie would have worked much better by letting the teenager become a man by himself out of the need to survive alone. This would have avoided most of the minuses above, if tweaked a little, and would have generated a similar, if not bigger impact on the viewers. Or, the other (and harder) option: hire someone with a clue about how life was likely to be 20000 years ago, not only visually, but socially as well. I'll give it a 6 just because I like these early human history movies, and the human-animal friendship is always a nice touch. I would love to see more movies like this, but better made.

9 out of 17 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Tag (I) (2018)

10/10

Excellent comedy - this is how life should be lived

19 August 2018

In a time when they don't make such great movies anymore, this one, although based on what 'mature' people would call a silly idea, is very well done. It makes you laugh and have fun, but it also delivers a message I couldn't agree more with: "we don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing" ... or something like that. You see negative reviews for this movie (bar the obviously paid 1 ratings of some idiots who didn't even watch it) exactly because many people grow old prematurely: they get obsessed with their jobs, with making money they can't enjoy until they get old and incapable of enjoying things anymore, with living for others and not themselves or giving up on their way of life for what others tell them it's 'appropriate'. The fact that this movie is loosely based on a real story makes it even more enjoyable and fun - apparently, there's still hope for people in the world and I can only guess how fun it would be to be one of them, hahaha!

Back to the actual movie, it is filled with quality humour, but also some crude humour that prematurely old parents would tell you it's not 'safe' for kids - forget that nonsense, kids will love it too, it's not like they don't do it between themselves anyway. The movie strikes the right balance between delivering an accurate and positive message of enjoying life (despite the social conventions that tell you not to) and not taking itself too seriously, while also expertly and subtly poking fun at some of the nowadays social obsessions (e.g. the 'fake' hysteria, the media's reputation, and so on) for very brief moments during its playtime. It's also quite packed with 'action' and doesn't let you get bored for a second, all within the context of the competitive nature of the game.

Normally, this would have been a solid 8, but I raised it to 9 as its message is perfectly suited for my taste (as I mentioned above) and to 10 because I couldn't believe that even for a comedy like this there are losers that can rate it 1 star ... without even seeing it. I'm all against censorship, but such interest driven 'reviews' will ruin the credibility of various sites (IMDB included) in the medium and long term. Maybe that's the actual interest in this, if you think about it...

2 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Extinction (2018)

5/10

A movie of two parts

28 July 2018

While watching the first part of this movie, I was dying to come here and complain how aweful it was, and for good reason:

very poor choice of lead actor (Michael Pena is great in funny roles like the one in the Ant Man And The Wasp or in comedies, but is completely unsuited for more dramatic roles, where he tries to complement his lack of dramatic abilities with his creepy stare at something or someone)
absolutely disgusting stereotype kid roles (constantly crying and disobeying the parents for the most idiotic reasons, in order to help the director's total lack of ideas in creating 'problems' along the way in the movie). And no, contrary to what a 'parent' said in a comment below, kids aren't always 'problem creators' or so poor in decision making, certainly not as bad as in movies, and not as bad in life and death situations. Any kid older than 3 knows to shut up or to hide (and stay there!) in life threatening situations.
a clear lack of chemistry between family members and/or some bad acting (this one might be excusable after you learn the twist an hour in the movie though)

After the twist, the movie became not only tolerable, but actually enjoyable (I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, since it was a classic Netflix B movie, after all, but it all made sense in the new light):

all plot lines (and maybe some of the previous behavior / lack of chemistry / bad acting of the characters) became logical
the idea itself, although not new or original, was believable and I'd dare to say, quite realistic in terms of the near (or more distant) future of mankind
the viewpoint/perspective was absolutely brilliant, in that the action wasn't looked at from the classical 'friendly' side, but from the 'enemy' side (I personally love when movies are made from the so called enemy/bad guys perspective)
the end was both believable and suited for a possible follow-up in the future

In the end, my rating is the average rating of the movie's two parts: 1 for the first part and an 8 or a 9 for the second. If you have patience and close your eyes during the aweful moments of the first part, things will be nicer during the second - at least that was my impression.

3 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)

6/10

Mediocre

28 May 2018

The good in this movie: the Jaeger vs Kaiju and the Jaeger vs Jaeger fights, plus the choosing of the villain and the explanation for that (the story twist wasn't that great though, since I already saw it coming miles away). That's all.

For the rest, a lot of flaws: the Jaeger vs Kaiju fight is only happening at the end; the acting - except the girl's - is almost non-existant (the lead actor and his "team mate" should both consider a different job, really), the plotholes, the plain idiotic character development (e.g. the lead character's "I'm not like my father, I don't give hero speeches" only to give a typical one moments later, or telling a story about his father to the girl he already had a neuronal connection - thus sharing all his memories, including this one - a couple of days before), managing to manually target a tiny spot on Earth surface basically from space, and so on.

Conclusion: if you're able to shut off your brain completely and just focus on the fights, you might have a good time (assuming, of course, that you like them or how they were done - I agree with a previous viewer that the robots are too light compared to how they should be). Otherwise, you won't be left with much after this - although the original movie deserved a sequel...

0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

yincognyto-91718

Reviews

Tell Your Friends

Recently Viewed