teropaananen Reviews

La Brea (2021–2024)

Bad, bad TV.

[3/10 · 20 February 2024]

I swore about the mid-way point in season 1 I would stop watching, but I guess my OCD kicked in and I "have to" finish this dreck.

The only thing good about this show is its original promise of an exciting storyline. I thought the idea was amazing, but it's completely ruined by sub-par writing, daytime TV level acting and directing, miserably stereotypical and cliched characters. There's nothing interesting happening, at all, in this show. It's just a never ending collection of events that are stringed together by nothing meaningful.

I can't stand any of the characters. The dialogue is...it's like listening someone screech chalk on a blackboard. The characters have this weird pretend-panic mode on 100% of the time. It's so unbelievable it totally destroys the entire show. The back stories on the characters are so superficial they add nothing to the show...omg, like, omg, she slept with her husband's best friend...and nothing. Not to mention how that back story was just completely sidetracked by another side plot / back story before it got anywhere.

I am also constantly amazed how easy it is for the "heroes" not be killed while unarmed and fighting groups of people twice their numbers. It is so incredibly unbelievable there's no way you can suspend disbelief the 10th time it happens. At this point, I'm actually hoping the main characters, especially Eve, gets killed. The show might actually improve.

The Fonz jumped a shark, this show has a woolly rhino attack. It's just ridiculous.

Whoever decided to renew this for season 2, never mind season 3, is out of their mind.

The Creator (2023)

Solid, but could've been so much better

[7/10 · 8 December 2023]

It's no Blade Runner, but it's an enjoyable movie that doesn't reach its potential.

The special effects are amazing. Truly well done, and add to the movie without being ostentatious.

The story is disappointingly basic, and none of the characters, with the possible exception of the creator itself, have any depth to them.

The world created for the movie is really interesting, and I would love to see another movie in the same universe with a better developed story. It kind of feels the writers/director wasn't given enough time to develop the movie into something great.

Still, I enjoyed it, but I was definitely left wanting for more.

Zeros and Ones (2021)

0

[2/10 · 22 February 2022]

This is garbage through and through.

It's just a collection of people dropping in and out of the screen. It's impossible to figure out where, when and why things are happening to get even a rudimentary understanding of what the hell is going on.

Whoever the hell thought extreme zoom-ins with handheld shaky cam makes for art should be forced to return the money their parents paid for their art school education.

Crazy Samurai Musashi (2020)

Bad movie, impressive technically

[5/10 · 29 March 2021]

The entire 90 whatever minutes is filmed in a single take. That's a pretty impressive achievement, but the entire movie is a repetition of about 7 - 8 different kill moves and it gets really boring after a while.

Crazy Samurai Musashi kills something like a billion people in the movie and there's not an ounce of blood on the ground, or his clothes.

Love and Monsters (2020)

Great escape from reality

[8/10 · 8 January 2021]

Yes, the script was light, but man, kudos to everyone involved with creating the world within this movie. Such a beautifully crafted experience.

The CGI guys on this movie deserve a lot of credit for making this movie truly entertaining, what a wonderful job. The mutant creatures are the stars of the movie. The boulder snail was my favorite.

Like other reviewers I hope so much there's a sequel some day.

The Doorman (2020)

They got me

[4/10 · 10 October 2020]

Jean "The French Bruce Willis" Reno is in this movie just so that fans of his earlier movies would be fooled to expect something similar. They got me, I was fooled.

Do not watch this movie. Jean Reno's role is stiff and uninspiring, and his performance is still best in the movie. The script is full of cliches. None of the characters are in any way interesting. There's nothing worth seeing in this movie. It's mediocre in every way.

The setup was pretty interesting, and I did enjoy the beginning of the movie somewhat, but it just fell flat right after the robbers arrived.

I hope the movie loses a crap ton of money on this so that people involved in making this crap never make anything similar ever again.

Ip Man 4: The Finale (2019)

By far the worst of the IP Man movies

[6/10 · 16 April 2020]

I consider the IP Man movies the best kung-fu movies, period. Especially the first two. My expectations were high. They were not met.

This movie is just recycling the formula of the prior movies, but does it much worse. The fight scenes also didn't really match the intensity and choreography of any of the earlier films. The stuff in between the fight scenes was poorly written with poor acting. Donnie Yen is so much better than this. Thankfully this should be the end of this movie franchise.

Now do a film about Bruce Lee at IP Man's school.

The Art of Self-Defense (2019)

Absurd! I loved it!

[8/10 · 17 March 2020]

So funny. If you have a traditional sense of humor, or no sense of humor at all, do not see this, you will not like it.

If, on the other hand, you like weird, absurd stuff, you gonna love it.

Refreshing movie. I guarantee it wasn't tested with focus groups,

Killerman (2019)

Uneven, but enjoyable

[7/10 · 17 February 2020]

Great cinematography in this gritty film about drug dealers, money launderers and corrupt cops/politicians. It's just a beautifully shot movie.

Quite frankly I was bored in the beginning of the movie. It just didn't seem to go anywhere, but the pace picked up towards the end and I quite enjoyed it.

The two main characters were well portrayed, but most of the supporting cast were not pulling their weight as well. The writing could've been stronger.

But it wasn't the usual kind of a crime story we get to see in the movies these days. That's what it made me like it. Not extraordinary, but something different that wasn't repeating the same story lines as most other movies.

Radius (2017)

Entertaining

[7/10 · 5 December 2018]

Strong story, but the characters were a little weak, especially the supporting roles.

The movie starts well, and the middle part is great, but the ending isn't built up well and felt kind of hurried.

The movie would've been better if the main character's big secret would've been revealed to viewers in the beginning leaving people guessing when she would find out and if he would find out before her or vice versa. That would've made the movie great, and not just good.

Still...solid. Enjoyed it quite a bit.

Searching (III) (2018)

Holy plot twists!

[7/10 · 30 November 2018]

Excellent writing and really good acting.

I do feel like the movie would've been better without all the computer interaction footage. Still I was at the edge of my seat the whole time after the search for Margot got on the way and the plot twists started unfolding. Good stuff!

The Scorpion King: Book of Souls (2018 Video)

An action movie directed by a soap opera director

[2/10 · 23 November 2018]

The director has no idea about how to shoot a good action scene.

There are so many pointless slow motion scenes, shaky camera action shots, out of frame closeups and other bad, bad camera work that any film school student could've made a better movie.

The less said about the script/writing and the horrible acting, the better.

Whoever is in charge of this movie franchise should just stop. Don't make any more of these.