resonator Reviews

90210 (2008–2013)

This is actually pretty ... err... terrible!

[3/10 · 3 September 2008]

I very rarely have the urge to go to the web and state my opinion about a show, whether I like or dislike it. But judging from the first two episodes I hated this OC-ized version of a 90ties classic so much that for once I did feel the urge. What can I say, in my opinion this show seriously sucks (or bites, or blows, if you've seen the first 20 seconds).

Not on all levels of course, the production values are high, the teens are all eye-candy, the sets look over-the-top rich as you'd expect... You can tell that some money went into this thing, alright. But unfortunately, the story and the characters are LAME, and the acting is mostly mediocre and partly downright terrible. And you probably can't even blame the actors for that, since the characters they are playing are straight off the teen-drama-shelf clichés. We've got drug girl, spoiled princess girl, angry-athlete-guy, look-at-me-i'm-so-rebellious-girl, rich-and-somewhat-dark-but-maybe-bighearted-guy, and then we got the too-good-to-be-true family that could substitute for the entire cast of 7th Heaven.

This show feels like its elements have been assembled in more than a hurry and stuck together with duct tape. I can't bear to watch another episode to be honest.

Doctor Who (2005–2022)

As good as it gets

[9/10 · 10 August 2008]

Like many others who live outside the UK my exposure to Doctor Who was limited, I was aware that it existed, never watched any episodes though, so I wasn't at all excited when the new series was announced and I never got into it. So, I watched a few clips on YouTube and I thought the acting was broad and stupid, the color palette and I'm not exactly a fan of British TV as most of it is shot on video, so there was nothing attractive about the series to me... and then a friend of mine handed me the first season on DVD, and damn me, this series is so much fun to watch! What I thought was broad acting makes perfect sense in this fantasy world of the Time Lord, and actually Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Billie Piper, Freema Agyeman, Catherine Tate, they're all really great. This is a show that doesn't take itself too seriously, it's a colorful, pulpy world with quirky characters. Sure, there's better film making out there in terms of technical aspects, but when it comes to story-telling and acting, this one raises the bar for Sci-Fi shows quite a bit.

So, if you're turned off by look of it, give it a shot anyway, and you probably won't be disappointed. And be sure to watch the entire series chronologically, since it is heavily serialized.

The Green Mile (1999)

If you haven't read the novel yet, go and rent the film first...

[10/10 · 14 June 2000]

To be honest I didn't make it through the novel. I quit reading it after the second issue (it was initially published as a "scrapbook", remember?) but after seeing "The Green Mile" as a movie I wished I didn't.

I'm by no means a die-hard King-Fan, but I read some of his novels and I liked them a lot, especially The Dark Tower series, but with this novel he proves that he is a brilliant writer.

The movie is simply great, from both Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncans acting the main characters to the wonderful directing by Frank Darabont who already did a great job with his screen-adaption of "The Shawshank Redemption". All the supporting actors are playing their characters with passion, especially Academy award winner James Cromwell who plays the part of the tired and desperate Warden Moores.

I don't know why so many people are saying that a three-hour movie is hard to watch, I sat there and enjoyed each and every minute.

It's not too hard to make me laugh, but the last time a movie made me cry was when I was 5 years old and saw King Kong die on television, but this movie made me cry because the tear-jerking scenes were so not-painful as usually they are.

If you haven't read the book yet go and rent the film first and if you have read the book and didn't like it go see the film to because you'll probably change your mind.