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3 Body Problem (2024)
Just as infuriating as the source material
Positives:
The show is well made. Production value is great. I personally like a slow tempo, setting things up and unravelling the mystery bit by bit. Some cast choices I really liked.
The bad stuff:
Some of the characters fall flat, and painfully so. Just not working for me, and I can sense their "on camera vibe", so I guess it's not working for them either. Not sure if it's casting, directing, script or the source material.
I just finished episode 5 and it brings up bad memories. I only read the 3rd book of the series, after picking it up at a train station for a longer journey. Some aspects were really good, some were just awful. Especially the one-dimensional characterisation of women.
Episode 5 and the "Ship Scene" really reminded me of how nonsensical the plot can be, based on the many shortcomings of the source material.
So... this is the ONLY way to solve the issue? Watch it and you know what I mean.
What I hated about the book the most:
The romantic partner of the main character was such a hollow, lifeless side-note, only there to deliver prompts so the author could clean up a completely pointless emotional growth journey for the man.
The metaphorical fig leaf over the not-so-metaphorical plot holes.
Overall: watchable if you're bored. Infuriating, if you forget to switch off your brain.
The Beekeeper (2024)
Awful script, awful acting
OK, I really don't need that much from an action movie. Solid setup, a good villain, maybe some explosions.
Thing is, in order to be able to enjoy that intellectual vacation, you have to be able to switch off that brain.
Everything about this movie is just so forced and lazy. The script is so bad. Every piece of dialogue was so awful, you could feel the cringe in how the actors delivered their lines.
And, I'm sorry.... but the plot setup. What was that??
>>Mild spoiler, but it happens in the first five minutes<<
One of the main characters' mother dies, but she seemingly just shrugs it off, goes back to work and is joking around with her colleague the very next day. Lazy, lazy writing. Booo booo, rotten vegetables, boooo!
And a bunch of people thought "eh, good enough" and decided to finance this...
And all that forced nonsense about bees, I'm sorry but if the shoe don't fit, you ain't got no metaphor. They don't call it shoehorning for nothing. Bleh.
There really was no need to explain anything in the fist place. Then you doubled down on it and it was kinda sad to watch you try and make it work.
This movie was bad enough that I wonder why they actually released this. Who would willingly put their name on this pile of poo poo?
Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)
Please make it stop
Zack Snyder, can't say I'm surprised. Visually this looks great, as always with his movies. Too bad, movies also need a story and decent dialogue.
Why do we need the main character to tell us her whole life's story every 5 minutes, when the whole world around her is just cartoonishly one dimensional? It just does not connect on any level.
Why on earth would you allow Charlie Hunnam that godawful, butchered mockery of an Irish accent? Why? You clearly see how much he needs to focus, and how little brain capacity is left to actually do... you know...the acting.
On the brght side: the dead sheep they glued to Djimon Hounsou's face got a good laugh out of me. That "beard" looks absolutely ridiculous, particularly the fluffy upper lip section. Poor guy.
I could go on, but would rather just sum it up. If you need to put your brain on autopilot for a while, sure you can watch this. But the cringe is strong with this one, so don't expect much.
And just because I think this should be said as often as possible: Justice League's Snyder Cut sucked so hard. It was just as bad as the original version and added an hour of braincell suicide. Thanks for nothing.
Ahsoka (2023)
What's next? Magic Elves?
What's going on in the Star Wars universe?
The quest: find this person.
The clues: scattered across ANCIENT ruins, protected by stupid puzzles plucked right out of your generic fantasy treasure hunt b-movie playbook.
The villain: a witch and her henchlings (ffs)
I'm sorry, but did they hire some Fantasy Nerds to write a Space Opera? Why such nonsense? (uh, uh, I know the answer: because they know we'll watch it anyway and they need to squeeze every last drop of profit out of their rights to the franchise, so why not do it cheap and easy?)
I feel like I'm yelling at a horde of drunk exchange students while they're jumping around on my grandma's furniture and vomiting all over the place.
Yes, grandma was vague about the force stuff. But she was also quite clear that it's not magic.
Out of all the spinoffs, only Andor actually adds something to the worldbuilding. The rest is just fast-food (including the Mandalorian). Sometimes quite enjoyable, but always optimised for least resistance in your digestive system. And thereby very forgettable.
Foundation (2021)
Really really bad
Edit after S02E09: Yupp downgraded it. This show is ridiculous in the worst way. Can't call it a last straw, because they practically drown you in hay: two main characters standing 10 meters away from their escape vehicle, and one giving the classic dumbo "Go ahead, I'll be right behind you" line, instead of just putting that same amount of time to good use and getting the F out of Dodge. I was facepalming so hard. Please make it stop.
This is so painful to watch, and I just can't anymore.
Wow, I just watched S02E02 and somehow it got worse than the previous episode. They made an utter mess of the source material, which I can forgive if the result is entertaining and well crafted.
But this is utter horse manure. Really bad acting and very noticeably awful directing. Characters go overboard with so many things, weird emotions, weird dialogue, weird actions. I was left shaking my head and had a resting-wtf-face throughout the whole episode.
S02E01 was intriguing to some extent, how they developed the empire characters based on previous events (avoiding spoilers here). But this show is becoming pure cringe now and they've ditched the last bits of magic from the source material and its ideas.
Mildly entertaining if you're bored. Season one was a solid 7. Season 2 so far is a 5. So I'll settle for a mediocre 6, fully aware that this show is going downhill fast.
The writing's on the wall (and literally in the gutter), so I honestly can't imagine that they'd turn this around by the end of the season. YIKES.
Off the Air (2011)
Pretty boring & irritating
Stock footage in weird mix/edits. And in between some animation sequences that are not very creative, with a rather bland style and low-level technique re the underlying artwork.
Even if I was watching this on acid, I'd be either bored out of my mind (that's really something) or -more likely- this would be so annoying that I'd rather do anything else.
There's nothing edgy about this. You can talk about psychedoodles all you want, -it's hard to see why this show exists. It's plain bad. Not "so bad it's good. Not "you have to be high to get it". Just not well made and -in whichever way you look at it- not very entertaining.
If you're looking for an alternative, I would highly recommend The Midnight Gospel. The first episode is a bit meh compared to the rest. My favourite is the last episode.
Andor (2022)
Excellent cast, great storytelling
The Mandalorian, Kenobi, Boba Fett, -ranging from flawed-but-entertaining to outright silly in my book.
Those shows can't hold a candle to Andor, imho, with its stellar cast and superb storytelling. I can't praise this show enough, there are so many actors & actresses with excellent performances. Whoever was responsible for casting should receive a medal.
Diego Luna is a wonderful actor, Stellan Skarsgård is a legend and longtime favourite of mine, Faye Marsay could burn a hole through the moon with her intensity at times, and Genevieve O'Reilly adds a whole new dimension to The Resistance.
It is such an entertaining show, and I did catch myself just enjoying the characters and their performances, while actually not much was happening in the plot.
Highly recommended.
1899 (2022)
Bad production choices. Oh Netflix...
Who on earth thought it would be a good idea to have a bunch of characters speak half a dozen languages? Oh Netflix... did you listen to the marketing folks again??
Newsflash, geniuses: you can't watch the actors and read the subs at the same time.
Surprise surprise, -as a result, I don't care one bit about any of the characters.
Besides being an absolute snorefest with a fuzzy pointless plot build-up, 1899 feels more like an audiobook with added visuals.
Two episodes in, there is nothing engaging or remotely entertaining. It's just...meh.
And we've had this conversation before, with a myriad of other failed projects: random stuff haphazardly glued together does not equal mystery...
Also: please Netflix, find someone else to curate soundtracks for your shows. It's always so try-hard lame & cringy. The equivalent of a midlife-crisis dad trying to connect with his teenage kids.
NF soundtracks have become so very recognisable. And not in a good way.
Dune (2021)
Pretty but hollow
First of all: I did enjoy the movie. It looks great and is a very immersive experience with excellent CGI and very detailed world-building.
But it feels so very bureaucratic, with a lack of passion or artistic vision beyond the surface. It´s a sightseeing tour across the book, featuring all the memorable scenes.
Sadly, -for me- it misses the mark when it comes to character development or even reflecting the general "atmosphere" of the original story.
The director´s sense for focus and pacing is just slightly off, but that is enough to make this adaption feel hollow.
We see the desert, but no drop of sweat (yes, yes stillsuits, but c´mon).
The Bene Gesserit, Fremen, Spacing Guild. All paraded in a bureaucratic manner with no emphasis or much finesse in storytelling. Stunning visuals and a veeery slow pace cannot gloss over that lack of coherence.
The Harkonnen are just a bunch of insecure space weirdos that happen to wear black and do bad stuff (bar the baron, I liked the acting / character here actually).
As the first part, this feels like a very long intro. And that, it just doesn´t do well enough.
Dune 2021 is an above-average / OK movie. Mostly because it could have been great.
Ted Lasso (2020)
Written by an Algorithm
Take a metric ton of cute, blend it with a shipload of heartwarming dialogue taken directly from a 50s christmas story and distill that to a neutron star of "pleasant". That´s about the level of Ted Lasso.
Entertaining and as feelgood as it gets, by no means a show to avoid.
But every now and then it just feels so creepy, and I can´t shake the feeling that this show was, in fact, written by an algorithm. And I´m dead serious. I hope this is not the future of TV entertainment.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013)
The opposite of convincing is...
I am now halfway through the first season and there seems to be no improvement in sight. There's enough potential here to make an entertaining show, but once again the sum of all parts makes an awful whole. The acting is sub-par, although you have to give the cast some credit for trying to make something out of nothing. There is virtually no background to draw some depth from, so we are presented with stereotypical heroes and villains, who can only act as sketchy characters, but not as real human beings. Scientists are nerdy, Mr. Quarterback saves the day, pretty face tries to be funny and likable. Sadly, NOTHING out of the ordinary.
So far, the main plot is vague at best. A well-written series will puzzle the viewer with some twists and bits of information to chew on. But most important: we get someone to direct our antipathy to. If the viewer has to ask him-/herself: "Why should I keep watching this series?" the clearly, the writers failed. Here, so far we get only henchmen who do stuff in order to achieve stuff. Meh. No glimpse of a greater scheme and not the slightest impression of a serious force or threat, -nothing to be truly worried about, just some vague conspiracy/organization we know nothing about apart from the fact that it exists. The problem is, this evil organization doesn't make the impression of plotting towards something bigger, -it's just ALSO doing stuff. It's nothing more than everyday business of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Why worry about them?
Neither the interaction between characters nor their decisions and roles can grow on this lack of depth. The quests this group has been pursuing so far, couldn't make up for that, as these also have been quite underwhelming regarding originality.
For me, this show feels like listening to the radio. It stays in the background with some pleasant, well-known tunes, but never manages to touch me. Comfortable, as it fills the silence with cotton candy, but unable to draw real attention due to it's lack of spiciness. 6/10
How I Met Your Mother (2005)
Honest and lovable
OK, I was unhappy with some hater's review, so here's why I love this show: It's got honest humour, has wonderful characters and makes me feel good. I laughed out loud countless times, -not because I got smacked over the head by some cheesy jokes you might find in any other TV show. I laughed because this one made me care about it's characters and their stories in a smooth and entertaining narrative. I simply feel good when I watch How I Met Your Mother, -because the five of them are funny, lovable, caring and each one in their own way hilarious. It is sensitive comedy and that's very rare to come by these days. Yes, I find Ted annoying at times, or Barney too absorbed in his role or Lilly a bit silly. So what? It's an honest approach(and the result is superb) that reaches out to the audience. The writers don't want to make this one hilarious or a roller-coaster-ride comedy show. They don't have to go over the top to please here. Hard to describe, - but this show just feels refreshingly kind.
The narration is a bit lengthy at times, but it's really fun how things tie together through references in later episodes, which amazingly manages to smoothen out things.
To make it short: I watch this show when I'm tired, when I feel sad or when I'm sick. It always makes me feel better. And I guess that's all there is to say.
If you don't like it, then just avoid it. Calling a show "overrated" (after saying that you've watched every episode) sounds more like an agenda to me, -and says more about the reviewer than the show, actually.