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cbsman97
Reviews
The Expanse: Why We Fight (2022)
Big, bad, bloated.
I've held my tongue with regards to this season until now. This is garbage compared to the intricate, thoughtful and realistic story told in prior seasons.
There is way too much screen time allocated to characters and plot lines that will likely not materialize into anything with one episode remaining. Unless the final, series ending, episode is 6 hours long, this will be a scar on the legacy of this show.
I'm so thoroughly disappointed in this product.
What If...?: What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord? (2021)
Stop taking the series so seriously. Enjoy it
If you have psychoanalyzed every character in the MCU, you will not enjoy this. If not, you will find an interesting and creative take on the MCU that serves as a refreshing and novel approach to the characters, places and story that we've come to know over the last decade.
The Expanse: Nemesis Games (2021)
Lost the punch of the old seasons
Where are the stakes? Where is the risk? As much as I love this show, I can't help but yawn when characters are in trouble because they always surmount it. Naomi falls victim to this especially, her plot armor is so thick it removes me from the reality that this show has tried so hard to cultivate.
If I could have it another way, Naomi should have died, not Alex. High G maneuvers are dangerous, yes. However, characters in the show have done them countless times unscathed. But now, as the scales tip back and forth between Naomi getting out of the situation alive, Alex falls victim to a stroke trying to pry Naomi out of a virtually unsurvivable situation? Come on.
We need real stakes, real risk in this show again. Fred Johnson getting killed was the only surprising plot point this season.
The Mandalorian: Chapter 6: The Prisoner (2019)
Lazy and predictable but technically impressive
Over the last 5 episodes, the Mandalorian is written as a recluse and methodical character with not a lot of trust in others. But suddenly, when the plot needs it, he has prior history with an ensemble of other criminals and starts being a team player. Are we expected to accept that despite all we've seen? It's lazy.
The end of this episode is also painfully predictable.
This show has gone downhill since the first three episodes and it's time we all recognize it.
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
I lack the words to describe how important this film is
The first 25 minutes of the film are a collage of stories from multiple veterans of World War 1. I appreciated every moment of those 25 minutes. Peter Jackson flips the switch at that minute mark, and my jaw dropped. Never have I experienced such a fascinating and detailed portrayal of a war in the 20th century. This is a film I will show my children when they are of age. Thank you Peter Jackson.
First Man (2018)
Captures the sacrifices experienced during the space race
This is a great movie. It's gritty and realistic. This movie is not about the grandeur of reaching the moon, it's about the strife experienced by the dedicated people behind the endeavor. This may come off as depressing for some viewers, however it really works to convey the treacherous and morbid reality behind the space race. There is a constant level of suspense that keeps the viewer watching.
Bird Box (2018)
I don't get the hype, it's an okay movie.
First, a lot of people are calling this a rip off of A Quiet Place, it's not. They do share similar plot mechanics that add to the suspense of the movie, but that's about it. I think this movie EXTREMELY similar to M Night Shyamalan's 2008 movie The Happening. If anything Bird Box rips that movie off a lot. Both explore the aftermath of a mass suicide driven apocalypse perpetrated by an unknown entity. So if you want to compare it to anything, then compare it to that movie.
Other than that, the movie is pretty average. It has some suspenseful parts, but most of this is anticlimactic because the "flash back and forward" structure of the movie makes things predicatble. There are also holes that also make it predictable. For example, halfway through the movie, I turned to my girlfriend and asked her, "what about blind people? What are they doing during this?". The blatant omission of blind people in the earlier parts of the movie made the ending really predictable.
Overall it was an okay movie and I really don't get the hype that this has been recieving.
Safe (2018)
Painfully Average, Some good payoffs, overall cliche
The intertwining of narrative between the characters is great in the first half on the series, however, it falls apart towards the end of the series. It becomes painfully bloated and cliche, bringing in and dragging on with new parts of the plot that don't end up meaning anything.