Smarmelade Reviews

Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver (2024)

Unyielding in it's badness

[2/10 · 19 April 2024]

It is like watching a car crash in slo-mo. Literal slo-mo.

And the car is a clown car... and it's on a bridge... and a bridge is falling down... into a septic tank.

I like to imagine Zack Snyder typing this movie by himself on a most expensive MacBook known to man, thinking how much of a genius he is. A true wordsmith. Nonchalant smile and a self asserting nod to himself and his level of humble supremacy in the smarts department.

Dialog is vapid and cringe. Snyder thinks his writing rivals Shakespeare. It does not.

It rivals, barely, a five year old child that has a faintest understanding that written words exist. Email spam is better written than this.

Action is empty, not interesting and without stakes, in short - boring. Music is hilariously serious and without merit.

Plot is embarasingly stupid. Acting is either bad or .. well, worse. Characters are wasted, villain is the same dude as in the first movie, but somehow... less. Oh, lord, oh no. I'm having flashbacks to the endless slo-mo harvesting scene.

Also, she cuts her hair to look like in the olden days of her glory. Dude shaves, looks like a goober, promptly exits the "franchise".

Visually unimpressive, yet expensive.

I thought "telling and not showing" is bad, but somehow Zack Snyder managed to make "show and tell and narate it at the same time", and it's worse.

Only thing that can challenge this netflix trash is, well, a first Rebel Moon movie.

Zack Snyder is truly and most probably the worst overpaid director at this moment. Everybody says he should do photography in a movie, not direct or write. Man, I wouldn't give him my phone to take a picture of me on a vacation in front of a monument, let alone a movie.

Again, don't support this. Watch paint dry, stare into a blank wall, do nothing, sleep, sit on a cactus, but don't watch this.

Fallout (2024– )

It could've went either way, it still can

[7/10 · 13 April 2024]

We all prepared for the worst and it didn't come.

Fallout TV show was kinda good.

They've nailed the aestethic, went a bit overboard with the music and had interesting characters. They respected the games pretty much to a letter.

Walton Goggins is great, as always, but I think Ella Purnell was the best one here. While the characters were interesting, I wished they were a bit "more" of everything.

B plot inside the Vault 33 is also solid but they did took their sweet damn time revealing it. Main plot is interesting and in tune with the games.

Biggest flaw is, however, that they just could not decide if this was a comedy or a serious drama, then blending it both in a way that made it neither. Is it funny? Yeah, but kinda not really. Is it very serious? Yeah, it tries to be but it's just not working sometimes.

It should have been a straight up comedy with serious elements here and there. But, nothing that can't be fixed in Season 2.

However, I'm pretty sure Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy duo as producers are mostly responsible for tone consistency problems. Like their previous potential TV hits - Westworld and Peripheral, this can be driven into the ground like those shows as well. Most notably - Westworld, that started great and it went nowhere in the worst ways imaginable to the point that most people that stuck to the cancellation probably hate watched it.

Hope they see the error of their ways or the big wigs above decide to can them and get some new people, better suited for the job.

You should check this out.

3 Body Problem (2024– )

How much can you deviate from source material and still call that faithful to it?

[4/10 · 23 March 2024]

I never want to be that person that says "Books are still better". But I'm being now, sorry.

I love the books, they are pretty great.

This show is not.

Except the main essence of the plot, everything else is different.

They apparently hate so much the first book that they rush past 60-70% of it in the first 3 episodes. And that is just sad.

Something I don't think I ever saw in a book adaptation, is that they split the main character from the book into five people in the show. It's usually other way around. And it's done so ridiculous, they split a chinese scientist dad with a wife and a kid into a Beneton ad cliche - millenial team of a latino woman, asian woman, black man, chunky englishman and white dude with cancer. But even more bizzarely - those same characters then started to mutate into characters from the second book. I don't know what to think about it honestly.

What I do know, there is no mystery, tension, thriller, only those characters, being dragged through main plot while they deal with their petty BS.

You can fault chinese series for some things but they at least kept it fairly close to the first book and made an okay show, if not one a bit too long and complicated at times with some elements omited/whitewashed. But it worked.

This is not that. It's worse compared to that show that came one year ago and it's far worse than the books it's "loosely" based on.

A lot of people say Benioff/Weiss failed in finishing Game of Thrones because they had no source material to rely on so they improvised. Well they had it here and they still bungled it up. Most things are made subpar, acting, characters, plot is flatlined, even music is 10 shades of gray whatever stuff. A lot of things went unexplained or explained badly, brushed off, especially some core science stuff which play a big role in the plot. That somewhat shows what creators think about their audience.

There is no sense of wonder, no amazement, no character development. It's not smart, funny, trippy or visually appealing - CGI is nothing to write home about. It's pretty lame and cliche filled affair tailored for modern western audiences that just consume and don't demand quality for their money. So, Netflix subscribers.

I don't know, you can watch it, it's disappointing. You can watch chinese series, it's better, longer. But I would recommend books every time.

Halo (2022– )

Why would they do this?

[1/10 · 21 March 2024]

They finally adapted the video game that everyone knows how the story goes and they managed to miss all the points.

Season one was real bad, master cheeks, hot prisoner sex, stupid visions, the choosen one, all the horrible tropes you can imagine. Bad new characters, wasting time on them instead realizing the main characters and the main story.

Season two got a tad bit better in some things, but in the main story part, it got so much worse.

Magic of HALO the game's plot was adventure, exploratory sci-fi, into the unknown and all that in times of full on war. This show is mostly meaningless drama that I'm not even sure what is it about. It's so stupid.

I wish Kwan, Soren, his kid and wife and many more were not even introduced in the show in the first place. Just bad characters for wasting time.

Final episode of season two is pretty much whatever. And whatever plot moved forward, it all moved wrong. The ring, the flood, everything.

This show is a failure.

Stopmotion (2023)

Stressful snoozefest

[2/10 · 16 March 2024]

There is nothing worse than a artificially slow movie with faux fullblooded plot.

It really grinds my gears. I was nervous so much watching this, and for all the wrong reasons.

I don't know if it's the acting, production, but it's probably direction and editing. It's like they drag out everything just to get to proper minimum movie time length.

Plot is kinda interesting but way too anemic and predictable. Also, sliding into madness is always a good concept with some decent ideas here but just not made by these people.

I feel bad for the actors in this, because all that work is ruined by shoddy directionship.

Maybe it's just me and this movie is great, a movie of the year and I'm just not into it. But I'm not convinced that is the case. I think most people would jump out of their skin and through the window from blue ballsing anxiety this movie induces.

It has actors, it has a story, it's shot with real deal cameras but none of it matters because it's boring, slow and bloated with dead air. It just rubbed me the wrong way and watching was like slowly and roughly shaving my soul with dull cheese grater.

I have to say that I hate this movie to an momentuous irrational degree, that will surely pass very soon and I'll forget all about it.

For All Mankind (2019– )

Best damn show currently airing

[10/10 · 13 January 2024]

Ronald D. Moore is a tv series magic man. I don't know how he does it but man made some of the best shows around. What he touches, turns to gold.

Season one was good, it was a good setup. But then from season two onwards, show exploded in quality.

Plot is so damn interesting and attractive, so escapist and yet so real. Actors are all bangin' out performances of their lives. Music is tight, visuals are unmatched, drama is so engaging.

Really, I don't know if there is any complaint. I just want more. We all need more of this. Everyone needs to watch this!

For all Mankind is the new Star Trek. All the elements are there, professionals doing their job by being smart while drama also unwraps around them. Hell of a cast of characters. Some still here, some gone in the blaze of glory.

As you may have guessed, yes, I recommend this. Season four wrapped up, can't wait for the next one.

Echo (2023–2024)

DOA

[5/10 · 10 January 2024]

Spin off show from a show that no one watched, like no one will watch this.

Pointless main character with whatever "powers" involved in a meaningless plot.

Overall conclusion is that it's pretty boring. They somehow roped in Kingpin into all this, retroactively ofcourse. I don't even want to go into whatever were they doing with him in this show, it's just embarassing. I laughed out loud at scenes like eye lens scene. That was just silly.

To be honest, after Endgame most movies were bad, some were fine, most were whatever. I don't think any of the Disney+ shows are good, maybe What If. Everything else is either pretty bad or at most pretty ok.

Same with this, it's watchable but really not worth your time. For now, Daredevil and Punisher from Netflix are still peak modern Marvel TV, that I'm not sure Disney would be able to replicate in the upcoming shows.

And even now, I'm typing more about MCU in general and not much about this show, because there isn't much to say.

I'm only happy for the main actress, like Ms. Marvel kid, she is also acting newcomer with Echo being her first role. But I also feel kinda bad she is in a subpar show being used in corporate oppression olympics so the producers can tap their own backs and congrat each other on a diverse and inclusive show. No matter if it sucks.

Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)

Embarrassingly bad

[2/10 · 22 December 2023]

Imagine you're a twelve year old boy, having watched some cool movies for the first time five minutes ago, having your bootleg toys of popular franchises and smashing them together in dirt saying "and then" every couple of minutes. Now imagine you get tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars to make that a movie.

Now imagine that being better than this.

I thought Sucker Punch was bad. This is somehow worse.

Below average acting, uninteresting characters, worldbuilding hastily slapped from who knows how many better franchises, including WH40K, Star Wars, World War II, Kurosawa, probably some anime and much more.

Visually I would describe this as "vulgar", an ocular insult. And so much slo-mo, it's just silly. It just looks and feels bad, atmosphere is equal to a junkyard.

Villains are so bad, heroes are no better. I get Netflix does what Netflix do, making bad expensive movies, that people watch. But this is insane.

I want to make something very clear - it might look like a good movie, it is not. You shouldn't watch this and promote this. Ask better for your money.

Thanksgiving (I) (2023)

Bad

[4/10 · 21 December 2023]

At this point one would think after all these movies, Eli Roth would learn how to make a good movie.

Unfortunately, he didn't so he doesn't.

While the premise is fine and plot could be salvaged with someone better at writing, the whole movie is quickly spiraling into your average stupid slasher movie.

They probably tried to make a new Scream like movie, but failed.

There is so many, many (not important) characters in this that waste screentime, so many unused chekhov guns that is not even funny.

Even worse, there are many plot dead ends, which is somehow worse than having a good ol' plot hole. For example - part about store camera backups. It looks like an important part of the plot but no, it just resolves itself in the minutes after being mentioned. And it was resolved by one of the characters just watching those backups at some random point, concentrating on the dumbest part of it, printing some photos and going to police. What?

Having so many unncessary characters is probably seen on paper like having so many options for viewer to think who is the killer - "Oooh, no, who it is, ooohh". But in reality it just wastes screen time and the only thing getting killed is any hope for plot coherence.

Which brings me to the pacing of the movie. It's done so amateursh and incompetent that I go back to the first sentence - how did this dude didn't learn after all these years to make a coherent story flow? There is no sense of time in the movie, no sense of space, no sense of plot order. Things just happen.

One of the worst things a movie can do is to make viewer constantly think "That doesn't seem right/That's stupid/What?" while watching a movie.

The ending also looks super slapped on, contrived at best.

It's not the worst movie ever, or from this year, but it ain't good. There is a solid horror movie in there somewhere but that movie is not written, directed and produced by Eli Roth.

Fear the Walking Dead (2015–2023)

Complete insanity

[7/10 · 19 November 2023]

I loved the comic so much. I tried to like the original show but it fell apart really fast for me. Season one was fine but after that, it went downhill.

Then this came to existence. It wasn't good, it was boring at first but season by season it became it's own thing, every season more absurd than the one before. Show became so nutty and exotic, characters became so wild that you just had to love it.

It became guilty pleasure.

Contrast from season one to last season is so hard, sometimes I can't believe it's the same show. Plots were so far stretched sometimes that even usualy good actors in the show gave up.

But, that core cast of characters was solid and interesting. Clark family, Madison and Alicia, good guy Nick and poor Travis. Victor Strand will outlive end of the universe somehow. And then there is Daniel, played by lovely Ruben Blades. The same one I could swear I read died a year ago but it somehow turned to be a hoax. Man is alive and well apparently at the time of this writing. All great characters.

They tried to mash main show with this via Morgan, played by Lennie James. That kinda worked and he became a main character of the show for a while.

Last season was all over the place, so much it's silly. All in all, whole show was not that good but, man, was it fun watching it. I can talk about it for days. If you didn't like the original series, try this, I'm pretty sure it's a good binge material now that it's over. My score is maybe more of a reflectioon of how much I nejoyed watching this than a real measure of quality.

Decision to Leave (2022)

Tragedy, comedy, drama, mystery and more

[8/10 · 19 November 2023]

I know runtime of almost two and the half hours will turn off some people. But it's worth it.

Simple movie with a mostly simple premise that has it all - mystery, love, drama, crime, tragedy, comedy, absurdity, humanity. And all of it is subdued just enough to make it all work. Hence probably the runtime.

You just can't resist and not like main characters.

Photography is great and I really liked the details in sound desgin. All technical stuff is done solid and then sprinkled with some quality of life details.

It's hard to be in love with a completely wrong person for the right reasons and as is shown with two main characters, there is not much they can do about it without creating total chaos. So they endure, suffer and complicate things.

Music is also fenomenal.

It's one of those movies that you have to experience in person and if it draws you in, great. In any case - you should watch this.

When Evil Lurks (2023)

If this year's Evil Dead was a good movie

[7/10 · 7 November 2023]

It's a pretty good horror movie.

Plot is nothing unheard of but the pacing and tempo are what makes this tick. It was shot decently, acting is okay.

Story is kinda unclear at first, but being a classic story of evil coming to town, it's not so hard to guess what is going on.

However, that pacing and tempo are also the cause for some problems. Mainly the way story is presented, rushed, sometimes incoherent. Probably tho, the main victim of it is the atmosphere.

I mean, it has some atmosphere but it was so close to making that "some" to something way more memorable. Whole movie has a slower vibe of that intro in Dawn of Dead remake from Zack Snyder.

One of the stronger aspects of this movie is it's escalating brutality. The dog scene is a "no, they didn't!" moment and it's just more gruesome after that. And I mean not trashy gruesome like Terrifier just for the sake of it, but unsettling gruesome. Quality trumps quantity, baby.

As I wrote already, it's a good movie and I recommend it.

Ahsoka (2023– )

High price of entry that most people won't pay

[6/10 · 14 October 2023]

And I'm not talking about constantly rising Disney+ prices.

For you to make any sense of this show, you have to not only watch at least original trilogy movies and prequels but over 200 episodes of animated shows like Clone Wars and Rebels. Not to mention Mandalorian.

Without that, you have no idea who these people are, what they want and what is going on.

I always found Dave Filoni Star Wars universe hard pill to swallow. Man created so much new stuff and radically changed Star Wars lore between two main movies retroactively and expected all of us to eat it. Sorry, no.

While I do find a lot of it fine in general, I lowkey loathe it. It's just too much. And honestly, Star Wars as a whole is so bloated, extremely watered down franchise where everything is huge and important that in the end nothing is important and/or matters. There's just too much stuff and because of that Star Wars of today is completely meaningless and pointless.

This show visually looks flawless. It must have cost a fortune to make. Plot is interesting, up to a certain point. However the main problem is that everyone feels tired, old, bored and uninterested in this. Music is also drab, boring.

Most actors are fine. Natasha Liu as Sabine is a solid character and acting is good. All that is good. Good actors doing their job as they should.

I never liked Thrawn, tho. I know everyone and their grandmother are praising him as ultimate mastermind but this is Star Wars and the bar is not that high for being smart. Dude is mostly letting things play out, then claiming that it went just like he wanted and then he still loses. I guess Thrawn is a loser, is what I want to say, and not some strategic mastermind.

Also, I personally never liked "competing" space magick to The Force they introduced at some point with Dathomir, night sisters, Mortis, etc.

Anyway. If you've watched all that mentioned above, I guess you can watch this. Otherwise, skip because you won't be able to follow anything that's happening here.

Slotherhouse (2023)

Bad and not funny

[3/10 · 24 September 2023]

Apparently movie's creator wanted to make the dumbest thing he can imagine.

Well, congratulations.

Is it dumb? Yes.

Is it fun? No.

Is it bad-good? No.

It's supposed to be a parody or something but it's just bad. Acting is bad, there wasn't one single funny bit. Maybe it was better on paper but not in reality. Script is also bad and unfunny.

Main problem is lack of imagination, just being random and stupid is not enough.

I seriously have flashbacks to Zombeavers, another not funny just bad movie you shouldn't watch. Just like you shouldn't watch this. It looks like it could be fun but in actuality isn't.

No One Will Save You (2023)

What a nice movie

[7/10 · 23 September 2023]

It's an original movie that is not another (great) apsurdity from A24, it's from 20'th Century Studios (now Disney) and it's good.

No time to waste, main plot starts right away. Almost no dialog, mostly action and few silly visual gags. That's it and then it just escalates.

Main character is solid, no nonsense final girl.

However, there is an A plot and B plot. And trying to uncover details of main's character personal trauma B plot and incorporate that into the main A plot is kinda random. There's no logic to it most of the time.

Which brings me to the end, I didn't know at all what will happen at the end but I'm also not sure if this ending is earned and why it happened like it did. Main character is that special, I guess?!

That aside, cool movie. I do think it's a bit shame it's on HULU and will probably be forgotten in a week. That said - congrats to the people who made this, you did a good job, hope you got paid accordingly.

The Witcher (2019– )

I'm out

[3/10 · 29 July 2023]

I didn't read the books, marginally up to date with games and this show is trash.

Season one was fun, stupid, but fun. Had a banger song.

Season two - they started to actively avoid everything that worked in season one.

Season three is complete dumpster fire. Who is doing what and why? Wild Hunt is like one scene, everything else is garbage tier political SyFy level quality drama.

They did most of the things wrong from season 2 and onward. Plot is cringe, characters are cringe.

They should just end this here, no one wants two more seasons (at least) of this and now with different main actor. Not to mention even worse spin offs - like Blood whatever or recently announced Rats.

No, sorry Nettflix, no. Bye.

Secret Invasion (2023)

Pointless, irrelevant

[4/10 · 27 July 2023]

After 15 years, so much hype, characters, dare to say - fun on occasion, money, movies and all, Marvel Cinematic Universe boiled down to this.

Unintersting characters and uninteresting new characters. It's one thing to have too many characters in your sandbox and don't know what to do with them. But completely another is having too many new characters and not being able or know what to do with them.

It's sad. It' just new level sad.

Story is cheap, main catch of the show is kinda unused to an unspectacular level. Even worse than it was in the comics. Most, if not all hidden Skrulls are nobodies. No shocks, except maybe how casually certain characters got killed off. I guess they were just sick of the whole franchise and maybe wanted out. Who knows!?

Wandavision and Falcon x Winter Soldier were boring, She-Hulk was not good but it was at least engagingly interesting car crash. Other Disney+ MCU escapades as well. This, this is just a sad fart in the wind.

Don't watch this, you'll miss nothing.

Biohazard: Death Island (2023)

Good lookin' but dumb as hell

[4/10 · 22 July 2023]

While Infinite Darkness looked a bit dated, they dialed up path tracing to the max here.

It really looks good most of the time and styled like recent RE game remakes.

That's about it.

Although, you could say the "movie" is very efficient... short is maybe a better word for it. Action kicks off right away and it's dumb, so dumb.

Plot is on par with previous non-game entries, nothing really important to the overall plot. A side mission if you will, against some random evil doers. Zero horror, all the action. No stakes. Life saving chekhov's gun is mentioned 10 minutes into the movie and is used at appropriate time. No surprises.

It really is a placeholder, a franchise promo so you don't forget for five minues it exists.

Is the plot relevant? No. Is the action engaging? Somewhat. Are the characters immersive? No.

Listen, Resident Evil is here a long time and when you look at it, starting from the first game there is something Resident Evil almost every year since - so I'm not expecting someting mind blowing, given the way whole franchise jumped the shark multiple times during these almost 30 years. But, I'm still hoping to see one solid, good RE movie or at least above average animated feature. And it's just not coming.

Could you watch this? Sure. Should you watch this? Maybe, it's your time, do with it what you will but don't expect top tier horror animated action movie. It is schlock with dumb script and it looks good.

Silo (2023– )

Say what you want about Apple, but they do have some banger shows

[8/10 · 9 July 2023]

I heard it was a good show but I waited season to end so I can binge it all.

And well, it is freaking good, I would not survive watching this week to week, tho.

Worst thing I can tell about this show is that as an Apple TV exclusive, it won't be wide available globally. Which is a bummer.

Did not know it was based on a book series, and I really want to read them now.

Plot is a bizzaro allegory of the cave with really mysterious vibes, some action and some good acting. Tempo is constantly on the move and I liked that.

If you can, don't skip this, I know there is million new shows daily, but some of them, rarely, are a must see. I can only see this going better in season 2, which is greenlit.

Vortex (2022)

Really good!

[8/10 · 30 June 2023]

Synopsis on IMDB is lackluster.

Plot is actually far simpler yet engaging and very interesting.

Besides main character trying to keep his wife alive 27 years in the past there are also ramifications of her being alive.

Unspilling the milk is very hard to tackle in movies and shows with any time travel elements, unless - like here - is not the main point of the show, but one of the sideplots.

Actors are very good, very convincing. Age makup is so-so, main guy looks perfect, his partner not so.

If you want simple, yet thrilling mystery and race against the time, I can really recommend this show.

Manifest (2018–2023)

One of the worst shows I've watched, I loved it

[1/10 · 18 June 2023]

This show was cancelled for a reason and then Netflix stepped in and said "No, this diarrhea is just what I want, I'll take it!". Which is very ironic since Netflix is known for cancelling their shows, which - some - are way better than this.

I'm pretty sure all the writers on this were on some crack cocaine, and it was "the good stuff".

Manifest comits all the writing sins you can imagine: contrived plot points, visions, flashbacks, flashback to something that occurred five minutes ago, dead characters coming back to life, characters who shouldn't be together are together, characters with no chemistry are together, spelling to viewers the thing that just happened on screen, pairing characters in romantic ways just because someone needs to hook up, bad guys becoming good guys, irredeemable villains given infinite opportunities and forgiveness, pathetic drama with no payoff, "it was all a dream", not knowing what to do with certain regular characters and so many more.

Not to skip to mention - but the dude that created this used a real life tragedy and timing - MH370 flight dissappearance - to re-pitch again his idea to the studio and it worked. Imagine that!

Subplots are whatever you need them to be, main plot is a mess and mix of simple with slapped on garbage details - resolution to all is somehow way worse.

All the explanations, mechanisms of the plot are so contrived that you can either just go with it or stop watching.

Main character Ben is probably the most intense and dramatic character that ever existed. Everything is dialed up to 11 for him, it's just silly.

Main kid actor is bad.

I can't remember the last time I watched something as a guilty pleasure of this intense stupidity. I laughed on regular when something stupid and cringe happens in the show. Which was all the time.

I knew when I heard Stephen King praising this that I should just ignore it.

Man, it's so stupid, don't watch this.

FUBAR (2023– )

Don't waste time on this

[5/10 · 11 June 2023]

It's shame to see a dude such as Arnold Schwarzenegger in "cobbled up for Netflix" trash like this.

Whole show tries to do that "charming" action stuff, like True Lies, but it's not working.

Script is bargain bin whatever, Characters are mostly stereotypical "what you see is what you get" type. Jokes are mostly bad and land rarely, if ever. But all that could be trumped by good acting, which we don't get here.

I don't know if it's the director or the actors, but a lot of acting looks like first take and we're done.

Production also seems to be minimal, action is scarce and what ever scraps of it are there, are cheap, short and with million cuts to hide age, bad editing, lousy shots, etc.

Now, don't get me wrong this is far from modern Steven Seagal trash or whatever poor Bruce Willis is doing these days, but it is not that far. It has that Netflix shine that makes it kinda watchable but you might regret later.

You can speedrun this show, one season, but now when I've finished it, I find it not good enough or worth my time. So I cannot recommend this.

Polite Society (2023)

Everyone behind this should be proud

[7/10 · 19 May 2023]

What a fun movie!

Charismatic main character with an idiotic plan and then everything turns to circus.

Production wise, everything works. Acting is solid, stunts are good.

It's not the most impressive movie and it doesn't needs to be. It's fun enough, they did everything right. It needed a bit more to be really big, tho.

But hey, I can bet they can make a sequel that's even better. And I hope they do, and make many more with the main characters, because this was fun and most movies today are not fun, even when they try to be.

I was marginally interested in this movie but now I'm glad I watched it, so I can recommend it if you want some lighthearted fun.

Mrs. Davis (2023)

This is something else, loved it

[9/10 · 19 May 2023]

While I find it really hard to click with dry humour of Betty Gilpin, I think I'm getting the hang of it.

I thought this show will be something completely different but what I got was better somehow. It reminded me at times a lot to Preacher (show and the comic).

Silly, very charming show about human condition and that sometimes, some personal work and growth can't just be outsourced to someone or something else. You have to walk the walk.

Everyone was great in it. Interesting silly characters, nicely paced story and revelations that go along. It can loose a thread here and there, but to unsignificant degree.

I'm not sure it needs season two. It works as a mini series that has everything tied up mostly. Recommended.

Evil Dead Rise (2023)

It's fine, didn't love it.. or even like it, but it's fine

[5/10 · 9 May 2023]

They should've capped the whole thing at the end of Ash vs Evil Dead.

This, and movie before step into regular dime a dozen horror genre movies of today. Although, Evil Dead from 2013 wasn't good at least thrid act was very, very over the top entertaining.

Here, visually movie looks and sounds pretty good, but the characters are the most random whatever bunch and ideas are all mostly cliche, by the book stuff.

And maybe worst of all - it's not fun or zany at all. Yes, there are few very light cheeky moments but nothing to write home about.

As far as the main character goes, 2013 movie had a way better and interesting underdog than here. Beth, she's fine, but that's about it.

I mostly don't care what Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi are doing with these new movies. I love Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness. I think Ash vs Evil Dead was in retrospect, a pretty good, fun and overall great show. But beyond that - not good.

This movie suceeded where last movie failed, in coherent pacing and visual experience, but somewhat failed in everything else. Characters are not interesting, story is whatever. It's like there's was an "Evil Dead Checklist" that guided this.

I don't think it's a bad movie, it's not. It's just, well it ain't a very good movie as well. Competent, yes, but that's as far as I would go.