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Dickinson (2019)
A lost opportunity
No problem, I buy the mix of old and new style. I also buy the satire and the effort of approaching a historical figure to new generations and presenting an empowered young woman against her world to transmit some values.
What I cannot buy is that this empowered young woman is also -and unnecessarily- presented as lazy, immature, capricious and arrogant. I think the intention was to transmit self-confidence, courage, resilience and initiative, but they are not the same. Doing a character presentation
Also, the main character is what we would call an easy rebel. She is ungrateful and sarcastic with people, saying whatever she wants to say until the end while others stare angrily at her with minimum confrontation. She also takes actions under the risk that being caught could be severe, but later nothing big happens, just some people angry or disappointed shouting for a moment or -you guess?- staring angrily at her. Oh, we got caught because I uncovered ourselves, let's run -so funny- and hold later the shouting of papa. She cries in her bed for a while to show how hard is her life so we can feel her pain and there will not be much effect. Things will continue the same.
There is no real danger or risk, there is no real pain but the world not letting her do what she wants. And that is a diminish and almost infantilization of the real life, repression and suffering of Emily Dickinson, which is reflected in the spirit of her works.
Another aspect of the works of Dickinson is her dark romanticism, but it is important to be careful with presenting death as a sexy character and be conscious of the age of the audience to whom this is adressed. So it is a hear-lighted infantilized and funny show or viewers are mature enough to avoid falling into idealizing meeting with death?
No, this is a lost opportunity of bringing an interesting character to young people, transmit important values and create a solid well written show, but it is too childish, remarks what it shouldn't and doesn't show what it's really important.
Argylle (2024)
Much better than expected
Usually I wouldn't stand a movie rated under 6 until the final credits or rewatch it, but I would with this one.
It has some flops, but the mix of action and comedy and especially the parallelism of fantasy and reality with Cavill and Rockwell exchanging roles is super cool and funny in the first half. The second half is a romantic comedy with bollywood style action.
I think that the expectations were too high due to the cast and Marketing and that it was misunderstood Same idea and script in a smaller vehicle would have been better received. Like Red Notice or The Lost City it's a goofy movie, easy to watch and easy to forget.
It's true that in the middle of the movie there is slowdown of rhythm, but recovers from it and special effects are horrible, remarkably bad with CGI and green screens for chases and other dangerous shots and for locations, but could be accepted as part of the fantasy and exaggerated world of kiddy spies. As per locations, I guess they spent the big money in cast contracts and needed to save.
But all in all is not necessary to be so cruel with it. 5 rated movies are usually much worse and this one is enjoyable despite not memorable. I don't care if they would continue it, but I would watch it they'd do it.
His Dark Materials (2019)
Lot of non sense for an expensive show
I haven't read the books, so I'm just judging the show for its own merits.
Unfortunately, apart from the excellent visual effects and settings and some cast, I feel bored and raising up my hands all the time in despair. The music score is also great.
The overall plot is interesting, you see the pieces of the puzzle aligning, the depth and complexity, but how it is implemented is extremely wrong.
Situations and dialogues fall continuously into absurd, with people saying that somebody is smart or dark but without truly showing it. The whole show is full of scenes of the type "barely and in convenience" -like Ryan George would say- and because the writer says so. Characters following others into danger without clear reason, offering help and giving explanations as if they were Non Playable Characters of a videogame so easy as meeting them. Situations developed as if some scenes were cut and you miss when happened a key thing, that you don't understand how or when the character found out about the thing they are talking about. Lyra is played bland and behaves stupidly all the time making you pray for someone to slap her in that inexpressive face. The obsession of Will and others for her doesn't make sense and is not proved in what is based because she doesn't prove to be passionate, nor a leader, nor smart. She is negative and stubborn, frequently unempathic to others problems except hers. She doesn't really do anything and the others around her are who really fight and sacrifice for her, making her progress while she doesn't care. Professor Mary Malone wanders around also stupidly and after finishing the show I still think that her character was not necessary and did nothing. People analyze questions and arrive to the conclusion without connecting well the dots, jumping out logic, just because the script says that they have to conclude X from A after few minutes thinking. People also change clothes continuously without having a wardrobe and can survive anywhere without food or any effort. I could continue with more examples of non sense and bad writing, but it would take too long.
All in all, a good general idea and quite imaginative, but a lost opportunity in implementation. It's dark in the general approach like the cristicism of religion, but childish in the logic of how it works, so not clear for which public is intended. I hope that the books are much better and those that say that this is a good adaptation are wrong.
Echo 3 (2022)
Slow, with lots of long lows and few highs
My review is based in 4 episodes so far, being the first three what they called Part One, and the first episode of Part Two.
I will avoid a summary. I like Zero Dark Thirty, The Hurt Locker, Code Geronimo, Counterstrike, Green Zone, the new Jack Ryan tv show and the Final List among others, so I had to watch this one.
Initially it looked very well, with some definition of characters, including their relation and skills that prove how badass are the male characters. The female is supposed to be tough as well, as it is mentioned many times, but it is not shown. Also, the love that the couple has is reminded many times through flashbacks of sex scenes and closeups of smiles and eyes, but it is not really there, I didn't see any chemistry.
In general, the pace is super slow and feels like a movie that has been extended adding failed operations and lots of bureaucracy -politics are mentioned but they are not seen much. Action is not very well shot and feels confusing. Even the character of Luke Evans is described as a Rambo, but he doesn't do much apart from proving to be a good sniper that seems similarly prepared to the commandos Colombian army.
I think they want to transmit to the viewers realism through the frustration of bureaucratic decisions and the confusion of the combat, which is nothing similar to the Final List and similar products. No body combat, everything at distance and with few calculated shots. But then, they lose the realism because a lot of non-sense situations. For example, someone says that they cannot approach the kidnappers place because they would be quickly detected by people in the streets, and they go to the place holding guns in public; they meet an enemy and tell him to go away, who of course warns his colleagues; they arrive to the country and ask to be included in the operation and sure they are; a commando is asked to retire officially when they could have rescued the hostages and few minutes later they decide to come back unofficially; and I could continue with many more stupid situations, which are nicely salted with slow realistic pace.
Then you get some scenes of character frustration and emotional pain with closeups and forced camera shots of now and then, during which you pray to arrive to the next action scene, which will take some time to appear.
At least the characters uncover some more layers in episode 4, showing the flaws of the male characters and explaining the strong bond between the siblings, although it didn't require to wait 4 episodes. And to make it worst, the fourth show many more stupid situations related with the two male characters, but I will save the details to avoid spoilers.
Personally, I'm stepping out here. I wasted more than 4 hours of my life.
Dr. Brain (2021)
Smart in the overall story, but flawed in execution
Starting by the positive aspects, it has a smart story arc and development. I think the idea, structure and plot are very good. Photography is also excellent and most of the cast do a great job.
However, there are many absurd details that are not related with the sci-fi aspect of the show. A lot of dialogues, decisions and actions have non-sense and make you raise your hands again and again and even wish to leave the show. Advice: when you feel like that, go to the last episode and find out the conclusion to stop torturing you.
Some special effects are also crappy -mainly the cat related-, but especially the development of the story and the slow pace. Computers without password, secret places that can be accessed without security, decisions of the police and a long list like that make watching the show painful despite the intrigue that it's not so much after the first 3 episodes.
Basutado!! Ankoku no hakaishin (2022)
Guilty pleasure
As a summary of the plot, society as we know it was erased from the Earth after some people uncovered dark powers and the show follows a future in which humans live in a medieval style and magic and monsters are a common thing. In that new world there was a war against a dark army led by the infamous sorcerer Dark Schneider, who being impossible to be killed was captured in a baby and the army was defeated.
But the dark army has come back with its old commanders and the baby has become a teen. One day, in a danger situation, Dark Schneider manages to manifest in the real world, but he is no longer so evil, as his soul has been affected by the pure soul of the body in which he was captured all those years. Now, he protects humans against the dark army with his dark power and exhibiting some of his prior personality traits, like lust and egocentrism.
Regarding the manga, I started reading it when it came out in the 90's to my country and that's the reason why I watch this show, so I don't know anything about how it was advertised.
I can say that it is very loyal to the story and style of the manga, and much better than the old anime. However, I will try to remove false expectations and create a clear view after reading some reviews here.
First, it's a show about fights with magic, sometimes so long that takes 2 or 3 episodes. They continuously throw attacks to each other saying "it is impossible that you escape" and start laughing satisfyingly and the other appears without a scratch after the smoke disappears and everybody watching the fight freaks out, including who launched the attack. The fight goes on incrementing the level of the attacks and also each new enemy is more powerful than the prior one. After an attack there is at least 5 minutes of listening the multiple observers saying how strong is a character and they did something never seen before. False defeatings, fake deaths and resurrections are also common. So you need to be into that.
Then there is the lust part. To be clear, it is not an erotic show -may be spicy, yes-, and in my case it makes me laugh or smile when female characters get clothes torn apart or the main character starts touching some of them under the clothes while they were having a serious conversation. Hair, shadows and other things cover strategically some parts of the anatomy and there is no sex, but anatomy exhibition and some touching and these scenes are usually exposed in a funny way, as they can be in the middle of a battle, for example. There is more sex in most HBO shows.
The metal or rock theme is only an excuse for some names, it is not a metal animation show. I mean, there is the opening with some nice hard rock piece, but the score of the show is normal with some electric guitar pieces when action arise, completed with some choirs in some dark moments and always the same. Metal is used to make fun, as for example with the names of the 4 kingdoms: Metallicana, Judas, White Snake and Iron Maiden. Some other metal names are used during the show, but without any real connection with the music bands, like the Helloween spell or the character Bon Jovina.
Characters are very exagerated, almost like a parody. They overexpose on how they managed to get something done, and they laugh and are over-confident and proud of themselves.
But if you like this kind of thing, if you can feel some complicity and fun with the bad not-so-bad main character, his enemies that turn into allies, his self-admiration and admiration of others for his power, despite the repetitive formula of each episode, this will be your guilty pleasure.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022)
Entertaining without high expectations
I want to start by saying that this is the first TV show of the current stage of the MCU that doesn't pretend to save the world or the universe, and that is a relief to me. Well, there is Wandavision, but they set the stakes high on their own way. Here there are no stakes.
It's just a light-hearted and brief-format comedy that introduces a new character and shows us her typical day and personal problems, probably what they should have done with Ms. Marvel. I find it funny and entertaining and reminds me a bit of The Marvelous Ms. Maisel in some moments, though not comparable in script quality. It's more like the Lego Marvel shorts level. They are just for fun and as I said, not everybody needs to enter in the MCU fighting a big menace, although she probably will join later the new Avengers in the next movie to save the world.
There are some silly explanations, like controlling the hulked personality from the beginning instead of taking years of training like Bruce Banner required, but that is just a joke, trying to say "hey, we don't have time to make a lot of movies developing that issue; she just controls it, okay?". Don't take the justification seriously, we are in a universe where everybody gets powers by being bitten or passing by the wrong place at the wrong time, so don't ask for serious coherence all the time. At least this show doesn't, so it would be out of place if they gave you a scientific explanation of how she got to manage the She-Hulk.
There is even a tailor for combat suits! Are ultra-fans complaining about how superheroes get to pay for it and many other details like that? No! Just, accept it, it's part of this silly universe. OK, it's like a green version of Sex in the city or even Emily in Paris (sorry for the extreme analogies, but stay with me to develop my point), but the show is intended like to be like this, so it's not fair to judge it for something that doesn't pretend to be. I haven't watched all the MCU nor Star Wars shows and there is no need to do it, there are just some that I will like and others that not. It is a mistake to think that we have to watch all the MCU contents to keep on track and that all of them have to be in the same tone. There are some more action oriented, some more comedic, some more female oriented and some for kids. I am not criticizing the MCU shows for kids because I am not their audience and probably I'll not like them. Marvel is just diversifying their products and audience. Even fights look like nobody will get seriously injured -needless to say, die-, and foes are not so bad.
She-Hulk is just an expensive amusement vehicle for actors and viewers looking for mutual complicity and fun. Even Tim Roth looks like enjoying.
So, go with it, enjoy if you like this format and don't be scared of finding a strong woman with big little challenges like clothes and dating, that moves between cute insecurity and self-confidence depending on which identity she is in, and remember that you would appreciate that in the case of Tony Stark, Doctor Strange and most male characters, instead of calling it arrogance. But if you didn't like "The Bold Type", it's highly probable that you will not like this one.
The real main flaw of the show is that it doesn't look like having a clear destination so far, but that happened with "Friends" too, and with most sitcoms, which I can accept and simply have a good time during its twenty-something minutes episodes. Probably they will do something at the end, most MCU shows reveal and try to close quickly the story arch in the last episodes.
In brief: ENJOY.
Last Man Down (2021)
You will tolerate it depending on the mood of your day
It is similar to the classical Arnie films, that many of us loved but can be embarrassing when rewatching them again. You change natural parks of US for Northern Europe
Almost all scenes, choreographies and dialogues are crappy and ridiculous, but... funny if you go with it. If you enjoy hearing unnecessary classical jokes after killing somebody or to show off, you like watching a man without t-shirt that doesn't receive a bullet while he takes the time to point and shoot and he kills everybody at the first shot despite the bulletproof vests and helmets, people without traning that kills mercenaries in a highly skilled way after receiving few tips and encouraging words, well this is your movie.
The music really reinforces the action, the story and the jokes, moving between dramatic and epic, and adding precise sound effects after a sentence to remark it as something profound, which I still don't know if they really believe it or they are conscious of how close they are to a parody. The main actor has not much charisma neither.
The movie loses a bit of charm with the seriousness of the last act, but still keeps its identity.
This is the script that you wrote at school -with the same writing quality- while watching Chuck Norris movies and Commando of Schwarzenegger and someone shot it for you, so stop thinking and enjoy it.
Superman & Lois (2021)
Started well, but Season 2 is embarrassing
I really enjoyed Season 1, it was Superman with feelings, concerns of his role as a public model and being a family man. I never liked Tulloch for Lois, though. She can represent a tough female model but is very inexpressive to me and zero chemistry with Tyler Hoechlin. They always behave like partners, but don't look romantic or passionate at all. But all in all enjoyable. There is also much personal drama about main and second characters, which sometimes can be boring but makes you worry more for them later.
Sadly, the season 2 keeps the good things but many script lines and scenes are embarrassing. Poor justification of characters changing their attitude 180 degrees, forced characters conflicts and decisions that makes them look like idiots, and situations that defy the internal rules of the show on how things and powers work, so you must stop thinking and go with it.
However, you get a happy ending, some epic and payback previously established, and you get again more characters surrounding the main ones, knowing their secrets and becoming part of the close circle of allies, like all the CW superhero TV shows, which I and the audience appreciate.
I gave it a 7 when it started, hoping to increase it by season 2, but I have lowered it one point to 6, as it became worse to me, but still watchable, especially if you don't judge it severely.
I Feel Pretty (2018)
A lost opportunity
Very good idea but very bad applied. The good point is how self-perception changes our attitude and this influences how we are perceived.
This could have started a path of self-improvement and funny moments at the same time but instead the character doesn't change her habits for good, there is no personal improvement journey and the main character goes selfish and superficial among other embarrassing things based in stereotypes. At the end, things turn out well for her, but she hasn't really earn it and it left me with the feeling that this film is a lost opportunity.