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The IT Crowd: Reynholm vs Reynholm (2010)
By far, the dumbest out-of-character episode
"The I. T. Crowd" is a fantastic show, not merely because of the brilliant performances but also because it's flawless writing and direction.
However, this one episode focuses clumsily on Mr. Reynholm, while putting our usuals Roy and Moss as mere punchlines within its dull and repetitive plot. Gone are the usual clever twists and quirky dialogue (barely seen); it's all in-your-face dumb writing and too many over-the-top moments.
All in all, this is by far the worst and most uninspired episode of the series. Almost a parody of itself. A real drag to watch, in spite of the slapstick routines they tried to pull for some amusement. Seems like a filler episode made under contractual pressure.
The OA: The Medium & The Engineer (2019)
Outstanding episode from a fabulous show!
Some brief notes to highlight this episode: Part II, Ep. 5.
An AMAZING achievement of suspense, acting, production design and overall directing. It's a shock that after the quality of this episode (and others of the highest standard, e.g. P.II, Ep.4) the show was cancelled. A real shame.
Worthy of recognition!
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
BvS: A shallow brawl amongst a thousand dream sequences.
In my opinion, it was a mediocre intermediate product used to set up a franchise of films. It wasted all that was done in the Dark Knight films or Man of Steel regarding plausibility. Eg.: It was cartoonish to see so many bullets fired and Batman always unharmed, in a unarmoured suit. (?!) The overuse of dream sequences shows the weakness of the actual plot.
CGI Doomsday was terrible. Cinematography lacked creativity and clarity (too close and unnecessarily shaky). Colour palette was horrible; costume design was sub-par. Sequences shifted without any logic (terrible editing, Brenner). Plot holes galore. Eg.: Jimmy Olsen 'terminated' for CIA involvement... where was that really explained?!
Gadot as Wonder Woman is a skinny Prada princess (gorgeous but miscast); Eisenberg playing a Lex via Hedger-Joker pastiche, not the best choice. Adams, Affleck and Cavill act very well, at least, but can't hold together a shallow script. Reference this (Darkseid), reference that (Flash, Aquaman...). No real commitment to the central story... which is? BvS! They fought and reconciled within a few minutes. Then they're new best friends. What depth of a quarrel, FFS! How could they mess up such a great potential of a film? The director, producers and screenwriters got lost in the material by privileging their commercial objectives (setting up the following films).
Overall, it's worth a watch but with low expectations.
Perro come perro (2008)
Another commonplace empty "sicario" movie.
"Perro come perro", a.k.a. "Dog Eat Dog", has been announced as a groundbreaking feature film in Colombian cinema, mainly for being a participant in Sundance Festival 2008. I even got to read a review saying that it would be the next "Amores Perros" of South America and that it marked a new period for Colombian cinema. As an openminded person who loves cinema, I was very much persuaded of seeing the film for the positive reviews: I definitely expected a whole lot more of what I got to see on the screen. Those propagandistic reviews are the motivation behind this personal commentary.
PCP is seriously flawed in many ways. We may start on the overacting of most of the cast. Now then, if it hadn't been for the superficial way in which the themes were dealt with, the spectators could have empathised with at least something; but there's no space for empathy to happen. On the contrary, the supposed seriousness of the main characters' problems is ludicrous.
The plot in itself is quite straightforward: it's a film based more on atmospheres than on actions. If the movie fails to portray a plausible atmosphere is because of its overdirecting. Without any relevant plot twists and several obvious elements, it tries to appeal in any available form to the audience, even resulting in ridiculous comic relief situations. The soundtrack (original music) and title sequence seem like made for another kind of movie. The 'over the top' post-production (colour correction, editing, sound design) only makes us too aware of the directorial efforts to be innovative. Let's face it: if you're going to do "another" Colombian-violence related-gangster film, try at least not to step on the abundant clichés available for the genre. Instead we get to see a handful of badly used cinematic resources within a weak story.
Besides the flaws aforementioned, what I least liked is its thematic emptiness. There are so many pointless situations!! This is made especially annoying with some exaggerated gratuitous violence scenes. All in all, I never got the point of the film (not the story, which is far too simple). What I mean is that it doesn't really say anything new or interesting about the topic, nor it has a cinematic proposal that would rescue the film from being a commonplace empty gangster-sicario movie, as what it really is.