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Reviews
Copenhagen Cowboy (2022)
Pacing is painfully slow, messy storyline
The entire 6 episode storyline could have been more effectively written into 3 or 4 parts due to the ridiculously slow pacing. Feels like you're watching everything at half speed. Some of the shots are very cinematic and the main actress who plays Miu is formidable but the storyline just isn't strong enough to make up for the pacing. Most of the characters are not relatable, their motivation often makes no sense. There were moments of potential in the story and characters but it never went in the creative direction that you wanted. Seems like the writers and directors had a handful of good ideas and some great shots and acting but got carried away with trying to be edgy like David Lynch but it just falls flat. Very unsatisfying to watch, leaving you thinking "Was that it?" when it ends.
After Life (2019)
Some good bits but too sentimental, annoying characters and story isn't believable
Ironic that the highlight of this show is Paul Kaye as the useless psychiatrist. Honestly I am disappointed because I love The Office, Extras and the Ricky Gervais Show with Karl Pilkington. Gervais only seems to excel as an actor when playing himself but as a writer he is lacking without Stephen Merchant who was clearly the true genius behind The Office. After Life is littered with Gervais' own soapbox rants, his own opinionated philosophies, which would be fine if it was occasional and subtle but his opinions are relentless and forcibly shoved down your throat. Even as an atheist, I found those parts unnecessary and mostly unfunny. Almost all the characters aside from the old woman at the graveyard and Paul Kaye as the psychiatrist are annoying. The entire local acting school storyline and cast are especially unwatchable. There are far too many flashbacks about his dead wife and cut scenes of him just moping about. Also notice how all the other characters are designed and written to make Gervais look cool. All the female characters can't stop saying how nice he is, even though he rarely shows any evidence of that and has mostly just been rude and obnoxious non stop. The old woman at the graveyard, his work colleague who always cries, the nurse love interest, all of them just written into the story to stroke his ego. Worth watching just for the Paul Kaye parts though, he is hilarious. But the fat kid, the acting coach and the Brian character are all awful. Shock laughs for the sake of it. Lazy writing. Can't say I'm disappointed that Season 3 is the last to be honest.
Don't Look Up (2021)
Bad attempt at satire, not at all compelling
Well, that was 2½ hours I'll never get back. It's a shame because the cast looked so promising but the storyline was terrible. It just wasn't very compelling and it was just extremely repetitive, absolutely no reason for it to be longer than 90 minutes, let alone nearly 2½ hours. An asteroid is coming to earth. The main cast just screams and freaks out for most of the film. But the media and everybody else is too busy with their phones to notice. What does this say about our society? Wow, what a clever observation that nobody has ever thought of before (Black Mirror, hostage in the car episode etc.) - Obviously there was a bit more to it than that, but that was the gist of it, it wasn't that clever or funny and they could've done a lot more with the story. Not to mention the most unbelievable unconvincing president portrayal I've ever seen from Meryl Streep.
3% (2016)
Watch in Portuguese, not dubbed.
The dubbed version is awful, always watch with subtitles, much better. Story development is excellent, the characters are deep and refreshingly multi dimensional. Can't wait for season 3.
The Rain (2018)
Don't trust the bad reviews, this is brilliant
So what if some characters do stupid things? In that situation where everyone is panicking it's perfectly feasible and understandable that young people would make mistakes. That's not a legitimate criticism at all. Can't wait for season 3. Each season gets better and better.
Travelers (2016)
Seriously underrated and deserves more seasons
Brilliant acting, storylines and cinematics. Fans of Continuum will notice a few of the same actors, presumably because it is also a Canadian production. Travelers has great moments of action, tension and comedy, it's a great balance. Definitely worth a binge, despite only 3 seasons.
Luchshe, chem lyudi (2018)
Excellent acting and storyline
This is reminiscent of the Swedish show "Äkte Människor" (Real Humans) and the shows writers were undoubtedly influenced by it, but it nevertheless gives it own twist on the human robot futuristic sci fi genre. Well worth a watch, lots of tense moments and unexpected outcomes. Hope the show is renewed for more seasons.
The OA (2016)
If your girlfriend is crazy, she will probably enjoy this.
This cringe-inducing nonsensical storyline is painfully slow and terribly executed. Clearly there are lots of crazy women (and possibly a few weird dudes) who love this story, because it jumps all over the place like an insane shopper on Black Friday.
The show starts off with a promising background story but a few episodes in, you start to realise the pot-holes are not revealed to be clever twists, they are just unintentional faults and loose ends in the writing. You cannot sympathise with the characters, their motivation is unclear, the story is really not believable at all. I'm not talking about the supernatural elements of the story either, because there are plenty of well-executed stories in the supernatural genre, it's just that this isn't one of them.
Still struggling to understand the hype about this show, which is nothing more than a vanity project for the lead actress / writer of the series. Save yourself the time, this is a complete snoozefest written by a self-absorbed lead actress who has no clue about character development or story structure.