khoras Reviews

Sword of Vengeance (2015)

Nothing much to see here.

[4/10 · 24 June 2023]

I like revenge films and medieval films, but this one was surprisingly bad. The lead "hero" character doesn't talk much and, rather than coming off as mysterious, he just appears uncharismatic and dull. Not much of a story at all. Certainly nothing we haven't seen before. The fight scenes are serviceable, but again, nothing new. The director overuses slow motion.

And what was up with the color grading? This is the worst color grading I've ever seen. The whole movie is so desaturated that it appears to be almost black and white.

The sets are amateurish and cheap looking. About 90% of the movie takes place in a few muddy fields.

I can't believe a movie like this managed to get as much star power as it did: Karel Roden, Annabelle Wallis and Ed Skrein have all been in better movies. Seriously, they must have blown their entire budget on those three, because it certainly wasn't used for costumes or sets or (more importantly) writers...

Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Vengeance Factor (1989) Season 3, Episode 9

Good episode marred by a bad ending.

[7/10 · 29 October 2021]

I really liked this episode, except for the ending. The Gatherers seemed like an interesting group and the Acamarians, with their house clans and blood feuds, seemed like an interesting culture. For the most part, a great episode.

However, the ending was awful! I have to agree with the others. And the comment in the Goofs section is right. Riker had NO REASON AT ALL to vaporize Yuta. He had LOTS of other options. He could have had Chorgan step away from the table. Riker could have physically picked up Yuta and carried her away. They could have beamed her out and sent her straight to the Enterprise brig. So many options!

The choice to have Riker vaporize here was just to have that final "Riker is full of regret" scene at the very end. It was badly done and is an example of lazy writing.

I agree with another commenter here. The brig solution could have been a great ending. It would have allowed one final emotional confrontation between Riker and Yuta.

If they really wanted to have that final "no options" outcome, they should have made a much bigger deal about the modifications that were done to her. Perhaps the extensive modifications could have made it so that she can't be beamed out against her will, stun won't work and you can't just physically block her (maybe she has enhanced strength). They should have made her a much greater threat - a walking weapon. But no, instead they put this viral weapon in the body of a tiny woman who can be restrained with a hug.

Finally, I'd like to point out that it was extremely dangerous (and stupid) for Riker to have fired a phaser at someone on full power with Picard directly behind her. Picard was almost directly in the line of fire. Riker should have just had everyone at the table move away.

The Expanse: Nemesis Games (2021) Season 5, Episode 10

A few clarifications

[6/10 · 15 February 2021]

Some people seem to be having a problem with Naomi's leap into hard vacuum without a suit to the other ship. So let's be clear on a few things:

First, a person does not explode if they go into space without a suit. That's a myth that has been perpetuated by bad Hollywood films. The Expanse is the first show to get it right. You can survive (very briefly) in a hard vacuum without a suit. Although it can kill you and if it doesn't, even a few seconds in vacuum will mess you up medically.

Second, you also don't freeze instantly in space. That's another myth. Since there's no atmosphere in space, there's no convection or conduction to remove heat. You only loose heat through radiation. So it actually takes a long while to freeze. One person said she would have "frozen solid" between the two ships. That's not true. She was only in vacuum for what... less than 20 seconds. Not enough time to freeze.

And finally, a lot of people seem to have missed this... she injected herself with hyper oxygenated blood. The same stuff Holden used several episodes earlier on Monica when she almost died in the cargo container. That stuff "packs quite a wollop" and who knows what it does exactly.

Even with the hyper oxygenated blood, Naomi was still very messed up from her brief 20 second long transit from ship to ship. They did a great job on the makeup. I think it would have actually been worse - bleeding from the ears, damaged vision and hearing, etc. But that had to tone the gore down a bit for TV.

Overall, I'm a little disappointed in season 5. Like many others, I think they spent too much time on Naomi's storyline and not enough on the others. I'm also disappointed that they killed off Alex in that way. I understand why they are removing him from the show and I think it's ok for the show to diverge from the books a bit. However, I think they should have given him a much bigger, more heroic death and he should have sacrificed himself saving others in a bigger way. Also, the reactions from the other three should have been much bigger. These four have been a team since the very first episode of Season 1. I would like to have seen those 3 devastated by the loss and help each other through it. They should have devoted a whole episode to Alex's death and the resulting fallout, not 2 minutes.

I did like the "if I don't make it back" message that Naomi played for Holden. It's clear that message was meant to serve 2 purposes - one was between Naomi and Holden. But it also served as a message to the fans... that the loss of Alex isn't the end of the show and it's going to be ok. People come and go, families change, but ultimately it's going to be ok. I did like the message and thought it was well written.

I'm giving this episode and the whole season a 6 out of 10. It's not terrible, but there are some disappointing choices from the show creators and, overall, this is the weakest of the five seasons. It's still enjoyable and good, but it's not up to the quality that came in earlier seasons.

The Dead Don't Die (2019)

Long, boring, pointless and not at all funny.

[2/10 · 6 December 2020]

This movie is NOT worth 2 hours of your time. Not the worst film I've ever seen, but it's pretty bad. It's long, slow, boring and nonsensical. I hated the Scottish katana-wielding funeral director. Worst character ever. Pointless and ridiculous subplots come and go with no explanation and no resolution. Breaking the fourth wall can be funny, but here it's not, it's just painful. What was the point of this movie? I saw it for free but still paid 2 hours of my time and it wasn't worth it. This movie sucks. I agree with others. The trailer made it seem like a comedy. This movie was PAINFULLY unfunny. Let me say it again - this movie is NOT worth 2 hours of your time.

2030 (2018)

THIS MOVIE IS FICTION.

[1/10 · 4 May 2020]

Just to be absolutely clear... THIS MOVIE IS FICTION. It is NOT a documentary. It dresses itself up as a documentary and tries to pass itself off as a documentary. It does have some genuine interviews with real people (Ray Kurzweil, for example), but much of it is scripted. FM-2030 was a real man and he was cryogenically preserved, but that's it. The rest of this movie is fiction and scripted. And several of the scenes just have bad acting.

There are even sections that they pretend is footage of the real FM, but it's actually an Indian actor with make-up done up to look like FM. Those sections are done by filming a grainy TV image with a camera, so it's deliberately hard to see, but it's definitely an actor in makeup. Also, the "body" on the table at the end is DEFINITELY not FM. Much too young. Of course, by the end of the film, they have given up on the pretense that this is a documentary.

I was so disappointed. I saw this and it looked like a documentary and I was excited to learn more about FM, but I was SO disappointed by this film. It was also very long and drawn out. They could have told this story in half the length of time. If you want to learn more about FM 2030, look elsewhere. This movie shows very little of him.

Northmen: A Viking Saga (2014)

A Solid Viking Adventure

[8/10 · 9 November 2018]

Much better than I expected. I went it prepared for a low budget, made-for-TV film. But no, this is a very well made film.

We follow the tale of a band of exiled Vikings as they are pursued across Scotland by a mercenary war band.

Good writing, good acting, memorable characters and good visual effects. It also benefits from excellent fight choreography, great costumes, wonderful mountainous scenery and lots of well-done gritty battles. If you love medieval adventure, definitely give this one a try.

My only complaint for this movie was that the size of the pursuing mercenary warband kept changing. It was hard to tell if they were 8 or 80. This was particularly noticeable at the battle at the bridge. Perhaps it was a vanguard force ahead of a main force, but the director should have made that more clear.

In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. This movie was very similar to the Clive Owen King Arthur movie. Similar style and tone and characters. If you enjoyed that film, you'll probably like this one.