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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)
You dashed my hopes, writers
My last two reviews seem to have not got past the Amazon test, so let's try again...
When I first heard that an epic Lord of the Rings series would be released in a few years, I got very excited. I thought this will be the greatest TV show off all time. When I then heard it was going to cost $1billion, my belief was established, oh wow, this is going to be incredible.... Please don't screw this up Amazon. Please don't screw this is up. Come on Tolkien, you will live again!
And here we are a few years later, after the initial announcements, and what do we have? Perhaps the biggest let down of TV history. I know you spent $250 million in the rights alone, but that still leaves you with over $200 million for season 1 spending. How did you not get more experienced writers? And writers who have respect and love for Tolkien? Who are these writers?? Why!? So much time, effort and dedication had been put into this show from all the departments. The costume designers, set builders, CGI teams have probably put crazy hours into bringing this to life, but ultimately what let them down is just a poor story at it's core, this giant heap is just written poorly.
Overall I rate this show a 6/10. Here's what I think out of 10 for some elements:
Costumes: 10
Set design: 10
Props: 10
Money thrown: 10
Effects/CGI: 8
Male dwarves: 8
Ep. 6 action sequences: 7
Cinematography: 7
Elrond: 6
Music: 6
Acting: 5
Story: 4
Directing: 3
Casting: 2
Writing skill: 2
Faithfulness to the source: 2
Galadriel: 1
Slow motion Galadriel: still 1
Respect for Tolkien: 1
Wise dialogue: One cannot drink seawater
Female dwarf beards: 0
Middle aged elves: why?
Good choice of who will write this: God no
Dollars spent wisely: $0.
House of the Dragon (2022)
Lost Your Dragons
I certainly don't hate the show, but I barely like it.
Pros:
- Production design
- Cinematography
- Costumes
- Music
Mehs
- Acting
- Casting
- CGI
Cons
- Story
I disagree with the bad reviews about acting. I think the actors are fine given the script they've been dealt with. I'm sure the actors could do a great job with a great script. Characterization comes down to the story at the core.
Ultimately, what I want to watch is an entertaining (and sometimes poignant) story. I'm up to episode 4 of HotD and after watching this installment I realized I've just been watching a soap opera with a bit of shock value. The first 3 episodes I was mildly enjoying, and I went into episode 4 expecting it the eventual opening of the main story, after this 3 episode build up. But episode 4 just said to me, "nope, there is not much story here, it's just a bit of family drama in a castle." There is so little intrigue, mystery, fantasy, build up, tension, and the whole cast is so limited that I feel stuck in this castle and I want to get out. At least in the previous 3 episodes there was a bit of escape on the dragons and the battle with the crab dudes from the triarchy.
I just rewatched the first 16 mins of Game of Thrones episode 1 out of curiosity to compare openings with HotD. Wow. What a difference. Go watch it and you'll see how to start an epic fantasy. HotD does not give the same sense that we're going on an adventure or that we're going to stand against a greater evil or that we're going to solve a mystery or that we're going to meet a host of exciting characters... But... I'll keep watching because I have faith in George Martin's storytelling. If the writers are following his story, perhaps it'll pick up soon.
Sex Education: Episode 8 (2021)
Just a few words for Adam and Michael
Most of the reviews here have focused on other characters, so I just want to put a spotlight on Adam and his father Michael and I think the final episode of season 3 is an apt place to give credit.
The growth that both these characters have gone through has been simply incredible. Michael was built up in season 1 as the "bad headteacher", but since we've got to know him better we have been brought on a wonderful journey of failure, crisis and searching for meaning. Michael attempts to improve himself and become the man that is worthy of winning back the love of his wife Maureen. It is a spectacularly joyful scene when Maureen and Michael reunite for one passionate night, though Michael's heartbreak is not entirely recovered when Maureen devices this will be too confusing for Adam, so they better stay separate, for now...
And speaking of Adam, wow. This character has gone through the most profound change of all the characters in the show, and that is a big statement. Sex Education is a deeply sensitive and emotional story with richly developed characters and Adam Groff is the most exemplary. Beginning the series as an angry bully and somewhat of an offensive thug, we've seen Adam open up to becoming beautifully sensitive, caring, courageous and a bully no more. His relationship with Eric transformed him completely and seeing Adam come out and begin to accept who he is such a joy to watch. Then in the final episode of season 3 ...BIG SPOILER... Eric ends the relationship with him, WHY ERIIIIC, WHY YOU DO THIS?!! Leaving Adam utterly heartbroken and that was one of the most heartbreaking emotional scenes I've ever experienced. I was expecting him to throw himself off that bridge, but thankfully he seemed to be resilient and he was enjoying himself at the dog show. It seems that Rahim and Adam have more in common now that both of them have been dumped by Eric, so who knows, maybe they'll be matched in season 4.
So I want to thank the writers of this show for creating such beautiful characters - basically all of the ten or so main characters in this fantastic ensemble are wonderfully developed - and I would like to give extra credit where it is due for the development of the characters Adam and Michael as well as a huge applause for the great performances that all of the actors on this series deliver and especially Connor Swindells who is incredible.
Jane the Virgin: Chapter Fifty-Four (2017)
Noo!
This episode was good except...
Spoiler alert.
They killed of Michael! Why?! He was such a great character. Jane won't be the same anymore!
Jane the Virgin: Chapter Fifty-Five (2017)
Miserable!
Everything's changed. They killed Michael and jumped 3 years later and everything is different. I didn't watch Jane for grief, I watched it for romance and light hearted entertainment!
Interreflections (2020)
Confused
What I loved about Zeitgeist Moving Forward is that there were many voices of people who brought their own way of speaking, their own perspective and insights and then there was a lot of time spent on a possible solution to many issues: The Venus Project. Over the last few years since, I've become disenfranchised by the allure of the naïve vision, though I still agree with developing an open source commons of resource sharing somehow.
Interreflections, by contrast, is just one voice: Peter Joseph for 2 hours and 45 minutes. This whole confused film feels like one badly structured essay spoken by a few random actors to give the illusion of diverse voices, covering that fact that this is clearly a single minded ego train of one man. There were moments I enjoyed - I liked it when he made references to real research, especially when talking about inequality. And I kind of enjoyed some moments in "the great debate". I must give credit to the incredible effort put into the special effects and obviously the huge amount of time and work put in to create this film. Overall, I didn't hate the film, but let's be clear, it was bad. It was jarring, slow and confusing. Almost the entire film was unstructured cynicism with the last 5 minutes for "the solution" - a city that magically appears out of nowhere and is loosely based on a resource based economy, though is incredibly shallow because there is literally only 5 minutes to briefly introduce a slice of utopia and even more naïve than the Venus Project because this wonderful city just literally gets plopped into the ocean by some group of futuristic activists. I mean seriously. I thought this would be like a development from Moving Forward, but it was a serious step back. If Peter Joseph wants to stay relevant he needs to connect with the real world, not retreat further into cynicism and hide behind a totally shallow veil of utopia.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
I'm so lost... What have we been reduced to? How do critics and so many people think this is great?
What has happened? Have people become so blinded by explosions and spikes that real characters and story are forgotten in our collective conscious? I was mostly just bored watching this mindless cliché. I give it 6/10 because it's mildly entertaining and fast moving, plus the sets, cinematography, action sequences, costumes and sound design are all great. But the characters and the story left no mark on me whatsoever. In fact they just made me a bit angry, especially when I realised how many people give acclaim to this empty ride.
5 years later writing this review, I forgot there were "the wives" or the old ladies or what the characters were even doing, so I had to read other reviews to remember it. Do you just forget an actual good story?? No!
I didn't just forget Lord of the Rings, 12 Angry Men, Back to the Future, Toy Story, The Shining, even Frozen for god's sake! - actual memorable stories
What the hell happens in Mad Max: Fury Road?!
There's a cliché evil bad guy with absolutely zero depth. There's a 1 armed women who is the main character and there's a guy called Max who says nothing, we know pretty much nothing about and does nothing to care about. And the same goes for all other characters we're supposed to root for. Why do we even care where they're going? The characters themselves don't even know or care where they're going, as evidenced by the fact: they just go through a bunch of desert car chases in the desert then get to somewhere quiet in the desert, meet some old ladies who have no depth, then they drive back so they can do some car chases again. Oh yeah and the evil dictator has a big stash of drinking water. Okay let's kill him and release all the drinking water onto the floor. Yay, now we're the rulers! The end.
What happened in our generation to gain critical appreciation for this mindless crap? Yes it's got explosions and great vehicles and spikes to look at, but where's the soul?
I wonder if an older film with actual soul like... 12 Angry Men... would still hold up to this generation, maybe it's just lost like tears in the rain....