nicolasarnhold Reviews

Into the Night (II) (2020–2021)

one star for the aviation errors...

[1/10 · 3 May 2020]

So much wrong here...

It already started with the "checklist" which resembles nothing I've ever heard.

Then the airplane backs out without any external help like a pushback car, but ok, could've been reverse thrust from the engines which pushed it back (while the engines were never started).

One bullet destroys radio communication which is highly unlikely because there are backups. Additionally, what's nonsensical, the traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) doesn't indicate other planes in the area. Why wouldn't there be others?

The avionics compartment is below the cockpit, not in the back, it also doesn't require a torch to get access, there's a door/hatch to enter.

They actually replaced the onboard radio with a standard radio, I would be very surprised if that was possible.

A bullet that is fired from behind the aircraft (!!) hits one of the side windows - but still doesn't break it!!!

Then a helicopter pilot as the assistance to the first officer.

Later on the pilot tells, in order to save fuel, he will fly lower and slower to gain 50 miles of range which is complete nonsense because a plane burns more fuel at lower altitudes. In the worst case they could've glided the last stretch like several commercial planes did when they lost engine power or ran out of fuel. Except one they all landed safely.

And then this BS: The suicidal woman enters the cockpit and talks to the pilot in French to tell him about the criminal background of the soldiers without any proof that guy surely doesn't speak French, too. She also has suspicious language and words. So dumb.

And of course they need to take the corpse of a diamond smuggler (or drug smuggler?) nobody else knows with them and bury him performing nonsense rituals while the earth is plastered with billions of dead people. The Turkish guy even mumbles to the corpse that he was brave until the end - wtf? He didn't do anything and, when he was getting sick absolutely nobody suspected he could have swallowed packs of drugs or whatever. But hey, he was bravely laying on the floor...

Cleo (I) (2019)

Embarrassing

[1/10 · 1 May 2020]

Cringe deluxe. The Germans managed to ripoff Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amélie...twenty years later and not remotely as chatting charming as the original...

Mr. Robot: Hello, Elliot (2019) Season 4, Episode 13

Both final episode were disappointing

[1/10 · 20 January 2020]

Throughout the years when I watched this series there was a very particular atmosphere, from season one to even the better part of season 4, an atmosphere that kind of made me feel at "home". Not that I compare myself with Elliot, not by far, even though there any be a bit of resemblance here and there in character, but in general I was in love with the melancholy in this series. But not so in the final two. Somehow they are kind of episodes of a different series to me, it became more and more clear that I was lied to. Things that appeared to have meaning were not addressed. And the fact that we never saw the real Elliot was absolutely of no importance to me, it was just a gimmick that didn't pay off, they could as well introduce Elliot's long lost brother or whatever, it wouldn't make any difference. The biggest nonsense over all for me personally was whiteroses machine. It didn't make the least sense. To accept that this gigantic machine, devised and built by an immense amount of people and being the nonsensical idea of a total nutcase is very hard to swallow. Hope did it happen in the first place? Did she go to a bunch of random scientists and ask them to build a alternative reality traveling machine? How could this thing kept getting a secret? How could it be built at the site of a nuclear reactor? And then, how convenient, we cut to an alleged alternative perfect really to dupe us into believing that the machine indeed did exactly what whiterose promised, her including. Sorry, but for me personally this series stops at somewhere around episode 7 or 8 or so, whatever came later just led to the final nonsense shows...

Money Heist (2017–2021)

Laughable

[1/10 · 5 December 2019]

There are a few options why this garbage of a series is rated this high (low/no standards, kids as audience, bought reviews) - and I'm not saying that ratings are indicative of the production's quality, however "quality" may be defined.

In short: this series is laughably bad. Why? The whole acting, story etc. is so ridiculous I wondered a few times if Spanish audiences have a totally different movie language than other Western countries.

For example, there is this bunch of school kids visiting the place to be robbed by a group of gangsters. A girl and a boy from that class exchange a few initial whatsapp messages and within minutes they hold hands and seconds later they kiss! Another few minutes and they make out on the toilet!! wtf??? Same thing with a guy and a woman from the gangster group. They look at each other during their first briefing, seated like a bunch of school kids with the "professor" in the front. Later that day, the guy appears at the room of the chick, she initially sends him away to only literally crash with him into the bed. And that's just the way sexual nonsense in the first episode.

It goes on and on with cringe worthy dialogues and plots. The reason why the first of the robber's gets identified is because that guy left one of the school girls (then hostage) take a video to send it to her family. He leaves her with the phone in front of her to argue with a female robber (the one he hopped into the bed with), of course that chick uses the phone anyways - and of course she doesn't hide it because heavily armed criminals can't be dangerous. And so on and so on...

Rocco (2016)

Interesting

[1/10 · 25 November 2019]

A wonderful gem of a docu which offers very interesting insights into a mysterious industry!

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

"Kids"?

[1/10 · 23 November 2019]

The first thing I thought when I saw the actors: wtf? Why is everybody calling these adults "kids"? Initially I was under the impression they're like 30 years old. And then: a video game? Really?? But that's not the only thing, everything just sucks, story, acting, dialogues.

In the Shadow of the Moon (2019)

...ehm...

[1/10 · 20 November 2019]

While the core premise of this movie sounds interesting, the conclusions are problematic. I'll leave the political points aside, I don't sympathize with either side, both, given a certain intensity, are fascist and dangerous in their own senses.

What I really found stupid and nonsensical was the notion at the end that nothing can be changed. Everything that happens, happens - even though that would mean, as someone else pointed out here already, that the bomb attack that leads to the civil war is inevitable, too. Even more puzzling is the fact that her grandfather, given all the info he got now, wouldn't do everything so his granddaughter doesn't turn into a time traveling murderer á la Terminator and, even worse, gets killed at a very young age - by himself!!! How insane is the idea that it is better to kill your own grandchild than face the consequences we humans have brought on ourselves? How does he live for one second after learning that? And given how murderous the combined history of mankind had been I wonder how killing a few right wing crazies would bring peace forever? Or will the Indian time travel police go on and on until there's nothing left to kill off?

BTW, why doesn't that main guy (forgot the name, I mean that narcos guy...) commit suicide, which most definitely would stop the timeline - because we can see at the end (when no bomb exploded) that certain actions indeed change the future. It doesn't make sense at all. Another visually stunning turd from Netflix...

Mr. Robot: 407 Proxy Authentication Required (2019) Season 4, Episode 7

Unbelievable!

[10/10 · 19 November 2019]

This episode blew my mind in this season! I was quite a bit worried what the Vera subplot is leading to, fearing it would to into a direction that would be dragging and boring. Instead he was the key to a totally new level - you will see, dear reader! And that actor of Vera, Elliot Vilar, is one of my absolute favorites in the whole series, his acting is stellar, I've even watched some of his monologues in the first season over and over. But back to the topic, I don't know how Sam Esmail and his writing team are doing this, pulling out these nerve wracking plots that keep you glued to each and every word spoken and the evolving stories. To top it off, this episode, together with the little fade to and announcements of acts, feels like a classical stage play.

Fractured (I) (2019)

The end ruined it to some extent...

[6/10 · 11 October 2019]

I must admit, I didn't have high hopes with this film when I started it. Quite quickly it began to be annoying. But when things starting getting mysterious, when Ray sent off his family to the CT scan, I was hooked and kept with it, even though it was clear the creators are trying to mislead us with the organ donation things going (those questions and phone calls from that woman, the donation boxes etc.), the strange way his wife was communicating with him etc. I also found it very odd that his wife would let him drive after having crashed his head onto a concrete slab. To me it was clear all the time something strange was happening and that it wasn't what we're expecting. All that is well and fine - I even praise the director and the writer for using as many ways as possible because nowadays, after having seen all possible ways a movie/plot can take, it is hard to surprise. The only thing that I found odd or almost comical was the final scene, when Ray drives off with that half sedated patient in the back he hallucinates being his daughter. The way that poor, barely clothed guy moved looked hilarious, especially with Ray in the front grinning victoriously. But even before that I had the feeling the makers are pushing it a bit too hard in order to have this almost surreal ending. I'd rather liked something less striking.

A Hologram for the King (2016)

Just bad...

[1/10 · 9 October 2019]

I don't even know where to start. The whole movie was, in summary, leading nowhere, at least in my opinion. In hindsight it was mainly about Tom Hanks being drunk over and over in Saudi Arabia (even though NOTHING was filmed there except a few outdoor scenes). And middle aged women who (with absolutely no chemistry between them) falling for him. I especially was disappointed that he went with the unattractive Indian actress (playing a Saudi woman in divorce) who (I must confess) reminded me of my grandma (yeah, I'm of Indian background) instead going with the cute lady from Denmark. The only amusing facts were, that I filmed at the location of the pool party, too, which is in Berlin, Germany, and even funnier, together with one of the camera men of this movie :-D

Overall, a very disappointing film from Hanks. I absolutely don't know why he did it, it can't be money - at least I hope so.

Kidnapping Stella (2019)

Pointless

[1/10 · 16 July 2019]

Right after the first few minutes I was wondering where I saw this before and found out it was "disappearance of alice creed", and since the original was quite good the was no point in watching a third class remake, even less when it was done by Germans...

Pastewka (2005–2020)

Awful

[1/10 · 27 March 2019]

Unfortunately even the two last seasons (8 & 9) which are ok can't change my negative impression regarding 1-7. My main gripe with this series is how unsympathetic each and every character in this series is. They are labeled as family, friends and colleagues but each and every interaction between them is filled with venom. It is pretended that Bastian is the central egoistic character while I don't see anybody in there who's not.

Jerks (2017–2023)

Awful

[1/10 · 16 April 2017]

Like almost any kind of filmic product that comes from Germany this thing also completely sucks. The serial centers around two alleged friends and how they treat each other like crap, or rather, the Turkish guy treats the German guy like a complete loser. Whenever there is a situation the Turk could help the other you can place a safe bet that he'll make him look as stupid and terrible as possible. But hey, it doesn't stop here, there's more! Because the girlfriend of the loser isn't that much better. Or any of the alleged "friends". To round it off, the main guy himself is portrayed like a complete dumbass who never manages to do anything right - and even if he does the writers made sure to make him look bad. If anything of this was just remotely funny, but it's not.