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Reviews
The Sandman: The Doll's House (2022)
Bye bye
I feel cheated. The first half of the season was great: acting, special effects, and storyline. But this episode is garbage. Why the hell didn't they make Sandman collecting his items the whole season? I stopped watching half way through.
What If...?: What If... Zombies?! (2021)
Fun episode
Zombies + superheroes = tons of fun. And cherry on top is the decent amount of gore.
What If...?: What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord? (2021)
Loved this!
An improvement to the first episode, which was sort of a retelling of a familiar story. This truly an original story with lots of cool twists and turns. It was awesome and at the same really sad to hear Chadwick one final time as T'Challa. I'm no animation expert, but this episode looked better than the first. Top notch! And the end title brought tears to my eyes.
Captain Marvel (2019)
It's a solid entry in the MCU
Is it great? No. But is it a 5,5 (current rating)? Hell, no! It starts a bit slow, but in the second act it really picks up speed. For an Marvel origin movie it's a solid entry. Better than Captain America, Thor, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man and Black Panther. Only Iron Man Spider-Man: Homecoming and Guardians of the Galaxy have better first entries.
Scrubs: Our First Day of School (2009)
You really can't go home again
First things first: I'm one of the biggest fans of the original Scrubs series. The previous eight seasons of whimsical story lines about the doctors of Sacred Heart practically guaranteed stomach cramps from laughing too hard. Every character was from the get go well written. Creator Bill Lawrence was a master in mixing genuine sad moments with laugh out loud ones. Even after multiple viewings the show was frickin' hilarious. Yes, is said it: was. Because the 'new and improved' ninth season, with a bunch of new characters like med students Lucy and Cole, lost most of it's magic. Sure the adventures of Turk, JD and Dr. Cox are fun to watch, but somehow it all feels contrived. On the other hand, the new kids on the block are just horribly stereotypical cardboard characters. And even worse, there extremely unlikable. Of course there's the possibility that it improves over the next couple of episodes, but I doubt it.
Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Table Read (2009)
Even better than the real thing
Everybody and their grandma wanted to see a Seinfeld reunion episode ever since the show ended. Now with Larry Davids brilliant improv show we finally get a chance to see the beloved characters George, Kramer, Elaine and of course Jerry return to the small screen. During the rehearsals and the table read we get some brilliant jokes. You really get the feeling that David and Seinfeld got together and wrote an actual 'reunion episode'. But the laughs don't stop here. The Michael Richards story line for example perfectly makes fun of him and the whole mess of trouble he got himself into with screaming racial slurs during his stand-up act a couple of years ago. I haven't laughed this hard since... well I can't remember when. Best... episode... ever.
Flushed Away (2006)
Flushed Away is far from crap
Flushed Away is the perfect marriage between the American Dreamworks and their crass sense of humor and the British Aardman and their dry sense of humor. Beside the obvious jokes about the sewer there's much to enjoy for the more sophisticated viewer. Like a cockroach reading FranzKafka's The Metamorphosis. The voice-cast is spot on: Ian McKellen as the evil genius The Toad is pure delight, Kate Winslet and Hugh Jackman are clearly having a blast giving their voices to rats Rita and Roddy. But the cream of the crop are the singing and screaming snails. When they sing at the top of their lungs Proud Mary you laugh so hard you have to check your underpants to see if you haven't had a little accident.
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
War vs Hollywood
In two and a half hours Clint Eastwood paints a thought provoking piece on heroism and war-propaganda. The film tells three stories: first it is the WW II battle of Iwo Jima where thousands of soldiers (Japanese and American) died 'conquering' that island. In the style of Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg is a producer of Flags) the viewer gets a astounding look at war with a lot of blood, guts and CGI. Second is the story of a son of one of the flag raisers on that island, who interviews other survivors of that battle to understand his dad a little better. This is very moving stuff, but stands a little pale in comparison to the final storyline. This is where veteran-director Eastwood really shines. Like his meditation on violence Unforgiven, Flags takes a closer look at heroism where soldiers by chance get into the spotlight of the war-propaganda-machine. Some may say that Eastwood made an anti-war film or even an anti-America film, but they're wrong. Flags is very critical on the way war is sold to the public. There's nothing honorable about killing or to be killed on the battlefield. The only thing that matters is that you protect you're friends in your platoon and that they protect you. Flags is one of the best war movies I ever saw, maybe even better than Ryan, because it's never sentimental and always honest in its portrayal of the soldiers and war in general.
Mission: Impossible III (2006)
Watch out, James Bond, Ethan Hunts here!
First things first: the mission impossible series couldn't gotten any worse. The first two sucked harder than Jenna Jameson on a busy day. So I took my seat in the theater and prayed to the gods above: please, let the third one be the proverbial charm. And what do you know? The gods listened. The prologue kicks frickin'ass and has the perfect set up to the rest of the movie.
(Spoiler: this scene is a preview of a terrifying torture-scene where Hoffman's character really hurts Hunt in ways you can't imagine).
The film was of to a good start, but could it sustain this level of nail-biting tension? Hell, yeah! This movie has more mind-blowing action pieces than the other two combined (a helicopterchase through a windmillpark for example). Plus it has some real emotion. Hunt is married this time around and Hoffman's bad guy takes full advantage of Hunt's only weakness, his wife.
Furthermore the direction J.J. Abrams took the story is as close as you can get to a real homage to the original series. There's is a real life team of IMF agents kicking ass and taking names. Ving Rhames is just too cool for school, but also the minor parts really deliver in this high octane action-thriller.
Stand out is Simon Pegg, the genius behind Shaun of the Dead, he is just hilariously clueless as a computer-nerd helping Hunt on his many missions.
I know when the filmmakers of the new James Bond-series see this movie, they leave with cold sweat dripping down their backs. They know they better deliver a brilliant Bond come end of the year, because for now MI 3 can call itself the king of the spy-world.
War of the Worlds (2005)
The Anti-ID4
My oh my, I've seen the biggest blockbusters this year and frankly I'm dog tired. So when I sat down for another popcorn flick, it got me worried a bit: 'Do I still love films, or should I just throw in the towel and call it a day?' Right of the bat, I felt relieved. There's still hope and his name is: Spielberg. So what else is new, you might ask. Nothing, would be my answer. Because in the last twelve years (from Jurassic Park and Schindlers List in 1993, threw Saving Private Ryan and A.I.) there's only one big name director who really got better with age. Scorcese and Lynch and all the other 50 plus directors never adapted to the modern times. Spielberg does that and remains classic at the same time.
What about this new film of his? It's just unbelievable that such a big movie got such a big heart at the center of it all. War of the Worlds story centers around a struggling man and his two estranged kids. Ray (Cruise in top form) has never really committed himself to be a good father and role-model and his kids dread to visit him on the weekends, which they rarely do. So far WotW is a great drama and I could've watched it for another hour and a half, but the invaders from outer space have different plans. And faster than you can say 'holy crap, there goes my house' the family drives away from there home, fleeing from the nasty aliens.
On their drive to Boston a lot of stuff happens to the family that really scared the living daylights out of me. Not because of what you see, but (here it comes Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich) because of what you NOT see. You don't see an alien-vessel every ten seconds or ten minutes for that matter. The whole movie you don't see anything the family doesn't see. That's why you give a rat's ass if something would've happen to them, and that's what makes a great movie. YOU CARE ABOUT THE CHARACTERS!