Change Your Image
hfamendola
Reviews
Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
I doesn't look good.
The first episodes were mildly entertaining. But it kept getting worse. By the end of the fourth episode, I was certain it was writen and executed by low capacity fan fiction authors.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
Good ideas, but...
I was expecting more. To keep it spoiler free: The pacing was off, it rushes when it could hold a bit and stalls when it could go faster.
But the thing that annoys me the most in a story (any medium) is when characters change their psychological profile without a strong motivation. In my opinion this kind of issue started with the multiple TV series from Disney +. I think the MCU got a bit lost in Phase 4 and is hurrying somewhere without building a strong base before. I hope they organize things and decide to walk the path before getting to the destination.
The Witcher (2019)
The Witcher
I enjoyed the first season. It's pretty much average. I would say a 6 or 7 star. The storytelling is a bit convoluted, and the timing between switching from character to character is a little to long. The anachronic timeline was a plus, in my point of view.
The second season was a step down. It kept the convoluted storytelling and lost the "surprise element". I mean: they could have been more epic while using the cliffhangers from last season. Also, Geralt is to underpowered, or doesn't show his skills enough. That's a waste of resources. After season 2, I say it's middle range, 5/10. Maybe they can step it up a bit if we see a 3rd season.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Pretty much average
This series had actually a lot of viewers here in Brazil. I watched most of it with my daugther, so a feel able to review it.
The story starts alright. I differs from the original because She-ra starts as a villain and after some episodes, turn sides. I think it was an interesting point of view. But after the first episodes, the script falls into the usual current formula, trying to pass modern day pllitical belief in everithing. It becomes just anoying, except for rare glimpses of fun.
On the other hand, the art is poor. The lines look like amateur drawing, and we see changes in proportions and body shapes from moment to moment. Not professional at all. The animation is ok, but one should expect that from a Netflix bedget project.
After watching the whole series, I would say it is middle range (4-5 stars). I gave 4 stars because of the hushed and shoehorned ending.
Dune (2021)
Excelent adaptation
The screenplay was extremely well adapted for movie language. I see the box office was not "out of the roof", but I hope the producers stick to the wonderful cinematography and push a little further in character development, so we can have a perfect second episode.
That's a job well done. Some freshness in the market after a few uncreative years. Cudos!
The Croods: A New Age (2020)
That's quite a step down from the first
I watched this movie yesterday, with my 10 year old girl. She put out a few laughs, so she probably enjoyed it more than I did.
I liked the first movie, in which we could see the "evolution" of the Croods from a pack to a family, with emotional development, especially from the overprotective father, who, by the end, was even willing to sacrifice his life for the survival of her family and his son-in-law-to-be.
In this new installment, however, all that development was thrown in the garbage. They became a "pack" again and the affection is gone. We can see some potential when they meet the other family (more of a sapiens type) but the writers missed their cue. Instead of try and develop something from what was already build, they tried to make a 90 degree turn and started with some gratuitous puns unrelated to the story previouly told. Afar from that, the story extrapolated in checking the modern checkmarks of contemporary movie writing, at the point that none of the jokes could take a hint of a smirk out of my face.
I know I'm being harsh for a family movie, but I'm a father absurdly commited to my daughter. I always take her to the movies and, as though I don't like many things about modern cinema, I try to review the movie with my kid and bring up the good points, so we can have some kind of growth.
As far as family movies I saw this year (Raya, Cruella, Lucca, others from Disney and Netflx), this was the worst. Mostly because of the lack of creativity when writing. I would rather see people writing something worth and then turn it into a movie than have a movie that needs to be done and pay people to write anything checking some boxes. Sorry!
Hawkeye: Partners, Am I Right? (2021)
MCU Villains are always the same character now
I was enjoying the first two episodes of the show. But that Maya kid... well, she's the same villain as the ones in Loki and Falcon &WS. And from minute one you can see that Kate's step father is the big baddy. Ok, marvel has always been formulaic, but a teensy weesy bit of creativity would be apreciated.
I miss the MCU movies with Ironman and Thor and the gang, at least we had a crescendo and a sense of fulfillment at the end of each movie. If they keep this series' formula, I'll probably cancel Disney + and just grab some classic movies and books for a while, until there's something interesting again.
Wandavision was Ok, but it's beeen steadily downhill ever since. I see the next show is "Ms Marvel"... As a comic book reader, who was a kid in the 80's, I couldn't possibily even imagine to watch something like that. And I shure won't.
I miss good old creative writing. What a pity...
Game of Thrones: The Bells (2019)
Childish writing
Amazing performances by the actors, great cinematography and fair to good cgi are completely messed up by the completely childish storyline. The characters are not only out of character, they are the exact oppsite of what they've been for 8 years, including last week.
And the plot holes, omg, they're so huge... Dany couldn't burn more than half a dozen unprotected wights on open field with two dragons and now she can obliterate a whole fortified city with one? And that garbage Euron immortality? Why and how would Jaime leave the city walls? And that fight was so stupid and fast paced, good Lord!
I could go on with every single scene from the episode, but I'm just too heartbroken. These two guys (d and d) have issues... or a veeeerrrryy low IQ. Did they realy think this is minimally acceptable?
I have low expatations for next weeks episode.
Game of Thrones: The Last of the Starks (2019)
Atrocious writing
I agree with pretty much everything that has been written by other reviewers. I'd just like to add... what is the point of having castles in Game of Thrones? The defending army ALWAYS leaves the walls to offer battle to the attacker: Kings Landing vs Stanis, Ramsay vs Jon, The Living vs the dead. And apparently the golden company too. That's plain stupidity!
I'm just completely heartbroken!!