Change Your Image
Dreamer-87066
Reviews
The OA (2016)
A Wonderful Series
This is truly an imaginative, creative, well-written, superbly acted show. Gripping, compelling, spiritual, deeply touching. It is incredibly audacious in how far it pushes you to suspend disbelief, and to invest yourself emotionally in these characters, and to believe, to have faith yourself, in them and the story.
Brit Marling is just wonderful in the lead; she has an indefinable quality that makes her performance in the story really very moving, but every single actor does a wonderful job, every character is nuanced and compelling.
This show is not quite like anything else I've seen, frankly. It's such a shame that it was cancelled when this kind of show is so unusual and valuable; I'm still holding out hope that it will be able to continue at some point.
Humans (2015)
A wonderful, thought-provoking, moving sci-fi show
Really just great writing, superb performances, storylines and character relationships which developed really organically. Very touching, and covers so many themes and issues from the morality of violence, torture, terrorism, inter communal violence, prejudice, close examination of family and relationship dynamics, etc. Just really great. Thank you to all involved with making it.
12 Monkeys (2015)
An Excellent Show
I have not seen the original film. However, this show I think is wonderful. It's certainly the best time travel film or TV show I've ever watched.
Powerful, deeply moving, with wonderful characters, and meaningful relationships between them which change believably with events. And overall just a great story, or series of interconnecting stories. The creators and writers meticulously thought out this extraordinarily complex and ambitious tale of time travel, with high stakes and high drama.
It's all about these deep, timeless (!) themes of family, loyalty, survival, loss, grief, hope, revenge, hatred and the defeat of it, and most importantly, love. It's in the end a beautiful tale, though of course not perfect as nothing is, and everyone involved in making it should be very proud. Those reviewers saying the show has no heart or soul are about as wrong as it's possible to be when it comes to opinions about a piece of art, which are always subjective.
Special mention for me goes to the actors who played the 4 characters dearest to me and who were the absolute heart of the show for me, though all the characters, including side characters, were great; but I love these 4 especially. That is, Cole, Cassie, Dr Jones and Jennifer. Played by Aaron Stanford, Amanda Schull, Barbara Sukowa, and Emily Hampshire respectively. I was deeply touched by all their performances, and feel grateful to them for what they gave the world with this.
Would recommend to pretty much anyone.
We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân (2010)
Wonderful
This is an incredibly beautiful, inspiring, and powerfully moving documentary. Superbly crafted, with music and visuals to match the story expertly told through the interweaving of multiple interviews of Wampanoag people.
The insight into Jessie Little Doe Baird's work, her relationship with Dr Ken Hale, the interviews with many Wampanoag members about the impact of the revival of their language is all deeply touching. This is the story of an absolute triumph of the human spirit, of Wampanoag and indigenous resistance against oppression, forced assimilation and cultural destruction wrought by colonists, of a great movement for healing.
Frankly, it's one of the best documentaries I've seen, of any subject; the achievement of the Wampanoag one of the most worthy and magnificent I've ever come across, and I don't say any of that lightly. Everyone could benefit from watching this documentary.
The Wheel of Time: The Dragon Reborn (2021)
By far the best episode of the season
An excellent episode. The gulf between this and the rest is massive; the 3 episodes prior to this were really not great, and all the episodes after 4 were pretty awful, with episode 8 an insult. However, this episode is wonderful. Great writing, worldbuilding, acting, it's magical, transporting, powerfully moving at several points, it feels like the Wheel of Time more than any other episode; it inspires awe, the characters feel real and you care about them. Even the music is vastly better in this episode than the rest.
And at some points this episode actually manages to improve on Jordan's story; notably the treatment of Lan and Nynaeve's relationship - much better in this episode than in the books - as well as the way the Tinkers/Tuatha'an were dealt with. They were, in my opinion, written more subtly, intelligently, sympathetically, and were more compelling and interesting here than in the books. That was also down in large part to the great performances of the two main actors playing the Tinker parts.
But most of all it's the writing quality that sets this episode apart, because Dave Hill the writer of this episode didn't write for any of the others. It's just leagues ahead in quality. The showrunners should do everything they can to get Hill back for future episodes/seasons, or failing that, anyone else of his quality. It's the writing that makes the rest of the episodes poor and this one great, and will be what makes the show a success or not in the long term.
The Wheel of Time (2021)
A solid start - the only way is up
I've read and enjoyed the entire series, and this is definitely a solid start. Good performances from all the main cast, the changes that have been made to the story I've generally either been able to live with or think they actually improve on the source material in some respects. They've kept the core of the story and characters, and that's what matters. Knowing the extraordinary scale of what these characters will do and experience in the coming seasons sends shivers down my spine. I hope the show does well and new viewers give it a chance, because in my opinion the story only gets better as it goes on. (Oh and the show's credits sequence/intro is just stunning).