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Lessons in Chemistry: Book of Calvin (2023)
The Friendship Between Calvin and Rev. Wakely is not relatable.
This episode felt like a dumbing-down of the series.
In previous episodes Calvin is portrayed as eventually loveable but cantankerous and arrogant when faced with stupidity. His world is that of science and reason. It's what holds him together as a person until Elizabeth comes along. The letters between him and Wakely never go beyond superficial folk philosophy and it seems implausible that Calvin gets anything out of it. The reverend's replies to Calvin are almost cringe-worthy. Of course we get that something is missing from Calvin's life but that something is Elizabeth and the two match perfectly. To put a character like Wakely into the show seems like an afterthought and a measure aimed at pleasing religious viewers that might find the show to "sciency". The series' creators should have stuck to their guns and to the heart of the story: Loneliness and loss can affect even the smartest among us; reasonable people can find happiness and love without having to go to church; raise your kids respecting them as persons with their own personalities and they will be good; reason beats idiocy (we see this represented in Calvin's, Elizabeth's and Mad's storylines). There could have been different aspects of Calvin's past illuminated in this flashback episode. I hope this season's final episode is a more wholesome one.
Isanghan byeonhosa Woo Young-woo (2022)
An Amazing Achievement
This series elevates the old procedural series format to incredible hights.
Every episode feels completely unique and outstanding. Even more incredible is the fact that the 16 series-1-episodes, running 1 hour and 10 minutes each, were written by a single writer (!), Moon Ji-Won. The seamless connection of emotional and intelligent writing is unfolding in every single witty scene.
The series got me after the first three minutes of the first episode, where the origin of the judicial wonderkid is presented. We learn more and more about Woo Young-Woo and her career and every time we do, it is seamlessly integrated into the narration and never comes across as forced.
The acting by the lead, Park Eun-Bin, is magnificent but she is also aided by a cast of flawlessly skilled support.
The cinematography and set-design create a sleek and elegant high-key look that fools you with a perceived harmlessness. But the plots and themes do not shy away from darker content. Other creators would have chosen a grittier approach but, surprisingly, director Yu In-Sik and his team make the almost dream like and soft style of the series work.
I can hardly wait for season 2 and wish the team a great return and as much success when it happens.
Neal Brennan: Blocks (2022)
This one I could not turn off.
At one point you get tired of even the best comedians doing another Netflix special. You start to get their commonly shared condition of self-loathing, self-deprecation and self-harm and it diminishes your joy about what you see and hear and are supposed to laugh about.
Neal Brennan in this (and his previous) set unmasks this condition and gives you insight. And instead of laughing about him you will give him your sympathy and laugh for him.
That is what makes this Netflix comedy special (oddly categorized as "documentary") so much more sustainable.
There is nothing forced or acted out or phony about it. Neal Brennan is authentic even when, at the end he reveals a little optical trick that he skillfully prepared throughout the entire act.
The result is an extremely funny, entertaining and heart-warming exercise in self-analysis that many non-comedians can relate to, as well.
Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities: The Autopsy (2022)
Superb Horror with Next Level Acting
Enabled through brillant writing by David S. Goyer and apparent care for medical details and skilled crafted dialogue, F. Murray Abraham delivers a chilling performance, aided by an overall excellent cast, including Glynn Turman and Luke Roberts.
Set in the outgoing 1970s the attention to details and elaborate cinematography rivals David Fincher's finest works. In lesser hands this could have been a mediocre slasher with some cheap shockers, but David Prior transforms it into an extremely gripping, rhythmically well-balanced mood piece that drags you in and takes you for a ride just like... well, it needs to be seen instead of being spoiled in this here review.
All that should be said about its content is that Abraham plays a seasoned coroner begged for help by an old friend to examine the cause of death of several miners in a small town.
Sheer cinematic joy! Watch it!
Sluga narodu: Episode #1.6 (2015)
Here the show finally takes off!
After seeing for several episodes the new president being driven around town, being introduced to too many staff members and getting uses to the different treatment, while with a lot of repetitive jokes, while his family embraces more and more the decadent, kleptocratic lifestyle of the rich and powerful in former Soviet republics, we can finally watch Zelenskyy's Goloborodko take action against said Kleptocracy. It is a satisfying, if unnecessarily belated moment. For the first time, the show shines and reveals its potential. Having not seen further episodes yet, I do hope for more!
Color Out of Space (2019)
Strong comeback of Richard Stanley.
Richard Stanley delivers a tight and strong comeback.
Acting is flawless (yes, also Cage's). Editing is perfect. Imagery is beautiful with Visual FX being truly original sometimes.
Although a classic horror piece it manages to feel fresh and proves that even from an old genre new gems can be created. This one shines in space color.
Mute (2018)
This would have made a great mini-series.
Sadly, the action of 'Mute' is too convoluted and too layered to pack it into a two-hour movie. The storylines do not play out to the impact they should have, given what is actually happening (pretty traumatizing stuff!). We hardly get used to the many characters and I had problems finding any to sympathize with. Some actions seem to have little motivation and only serve to push the narrative. So in the end this feels more like a highly ambitious film student's gradutation project - putting atmosphere and style over substance- than like the work of (accomplished) Duncan Jones.
If you take it as a film noir, on the other side, you get stuck in thick pathos and the schmaltzy soundtrack which kills atmosphere and mood.
Which is not to say that one cannot feel the passion of the filmmakers. It apparently took many years to finally get made. Maybe the material lay around too long, to become what it yould have been.
Or maybe, with more time to carve out the characters , it would have played out better in a 3-4 part mini-series.
5 stars for the attempt.