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Reviews
Hawkeye (2021)
Dull
Episode 1
Whiny girl: I want to be a superhero!
Hokkai: No you can't.
Episode 2
Whiny girl: I want to be a superhero!
Hokkai: No you can't.
Episode 3
Whiny girl: I want to be a superhero!
Hokkai: No you can't.
Episode 4
Whiny girl: I want to be a superhero!
Hokkai: No you can't.
Episode 5
Whiny girl: I want to be a superhero!
Hokkai: No you can't.
Episode 6
Whiny girl: I want to be a superhero!
Hokkai: OK, fine.
A Suitable Boy (2020)
Beautiful but incomplete
To do justice to the almost 1500 pages of the book, this series should have doubled its length. In its current form, the series is merely skimming the contents of the book. There are many small elements in the series that will likely get lost on people who haven't read the novel and don't make sense without knowing the wider context.
That said, the imagery of 1950's India is stunning, the actors beautiful (Maan and Haresh being my favourites) and it does evoke a similar feeling I got from reading the book.
Oddly, BJP-wallahs made all effeorts to turn this series into a political issue. Interestingly, the most popular negative review doesn't even set things in the right period of time and only proves that the Hindu-Muslim conflict hasn't really changed since 70 years ago. Perhaps they should read the book to make better use of their time.
Cats (2019)
Disappointing
Many one-star reviewers seem not to haveany arguments in their reviews, so here is a more motivated one...
I have long been a fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber, ever since I saw Jesus Christ Superstar on stage in London. Evita and Cats were logical follow-ups in style and music.
This film has a lot of faults, but a few redeeming features as well. The faults:
1. The cats look creepy, all facial expressions seem to be weird and unnatural.
2. Nobody seems to be able to sing properly, not even Jennifer Hudson. In a musical/opera you'd expect people to be able to sing, as that's the the essence of the art form.
3. The choreography makes no sense at all and just adds to the creepiness of it all.
4. Inserted spoken dialogues trying tonadd more of a storyline to the musical are unnecessary.
The redeeming feature of the film is the decor, which looks astonishing, along with the lighting.
In sum, not as bad as a one-star, but not enough to entertain me.
3.
Itaewon Keullasseu (2020)
Feel-good Series
Itaewon class is best characterized as a feel-good series. The earlier episodes are emotionally powerful, the last three much weaker.
Many episodes look like a fashion show and product-placement is rife (unless everybody in Korea actually drives a Mercedes?).
Overall, very satisfying to watch this series, which, along with the Kingdom series and the Parasite movie, made me as a westerner a fan of Korean cinema and TV series.
3% (2016)
Excellent and Promising
All praise to Netflix for starting to focus on non-American series. 3% is the first Netflix series from Brazil and provides a welcome different perspective on TV series than most of what is produced in the USA. As other reviewers have stated, the dubbed version is apparently terrible, but I watched it on its original Portuguese, which led to the series re-igniting my love for that language. Not that there is anything specific about the Portuguese spoken in this series, but the language gives a very different twist to events than a English dubbed version would do. Most actors are still at the beginning of their careers (no wonder, if they are all supposed to be twenty years old), therefore a lack of experience is to be expected. Nowhere did this distract from the drama, though. The plot is strong enough, but can still go anywhere in season 2. The Process itself has been played out now and cannot be the focus of a next season. Having the sequel focus on the Offshore (Alto Mar) itself would take the mystery out of that place and can only disappoint. I'm curious what the writers are going to come up with, for I will definitely tune in for season 2.
American Horror Story: Chapter 10 (2016)
Easily the worst season
Disappointing to conclude that I had wanted a season of American Horror Story to be over already after the first five episodes. I have been a great fan of this show during all seasons, but this one let me down. This season started off very well with the Roanoke story. Interesting angle to have it re- enacted, decent thrills and suspense in the story line. And then it was all over after a few episodes and a second season started within the season, with too many TV-makers inside jokes, eventually turning into a worse version of Blair Witch project with its poor camera work, poor sound, poor story line and irrelevant content. This final episode closes off the season with even more irrelevant content, fragmented across uninteresting rip-offs of TV shows casting yet another third-party view on what happened. All this could have been done in an entertaining, intelligent way, but the producers just blew this season. If this is the inspiration they have left, I am very worried about the quality of the next season.
Stranger Things (2016)
From one Cliché to the Other
I really don't get what the excitement is about this series. For me, the plot stumbles from one cliché to the other (people may call it "references to the 80's" but forget that the 80's were the most boring period in the past 50 years). Acting is quite awful - Winona Ryder horrid. David Harbour is probably the best from the bunch. All the high school backdrop is awfully tedious and cliché-ridden. The merits of this series are only the cinematography (even though we've seen all those tricks before as well) and the way in which a certain level of suspense is effectively created. No need for a second season here. Please just cancel the show.
American Horror Story: Be Our Guest (2016)
Excellent AHS Season
This AHS season was for me by far the most entertaining one. On reviews of individual episodes of Season 5 (and previous seasons), I saw too often remarks about what AHS "should" be, which is rather presumptuous for a viewer to make statements about. It is debatable whether AHS is a "horror" story, but that depends on your definition of horror (of which there isn't a single one). Rather, when you watch this series for its entertainment value, this season has reached a much more interesting level of complexity than previous, more linear seasons that were at times suffering from dull moments. Characters are far more extreme, story lines develop in many directions before resolving themselves all the way at the end. The only other season that had me in its grip in this way was "Asylum," especially the earlier episodes. Overall, this season sets the benchmark for future seasons of AHS in a significant way.
Master of None (2015)
Superficial, shallow, empty
This series was announced as a "carte blanche for wunderkind Ansari" in Dutch press, so I put it on my wish list on Netflix with high expectations. Netflix, after all, released a series like Sense8, which is extremely innovative, so set high standards for themselves. This series, however cute Ansari may be, is just a sequence of uninspiring situations emphasised by empty language and shallow humour. Ansari might have done a better job with better writers, but this show does not go beyond the superficial. Hopefully a next planned season lifts the level of humour to higher standards and does a better job than merely dwelling in urban pop culture.
Carver (2008)
Worst Horror movie ever
Horror movies are interesting when the suspense is kept until the end by not revealing details about what exactly happens. In the case of Carver, the contrary is true. The "whodunnit" element is clear from the start as there is no doubt about who are the bad guys. An additional thing that spoils the suspense is that the ugly details are shown extremely explicitly such that it simply becomes disgusting to watch them. Horror is not to get people disgusted, it is to create a sense of fear followed by relief of it and the buildup of a new cycle of fear and relief. This movie does nothing like that. Moreover, the acting is weak on all fronts as the acting is very amateurish. The storyline very thin and predictable as well. Granted, this is supposedly based on real facts, but that does not necessarily mean that staying true to them is 100% required and makes a good movie. All in all, this is a more than forgettable movie not worth spending your time on. Three points for the effort and for making me watch it until the end.