Reviews

It started in a soft note, apparently an emotional story about a mother making all the right or wrong choices just to keep her ailing son alive. It was heart-warming to see the other characters revolving around her and putting their own well-being at stake to be supportive to her noble cause and dedication. Throughout the story Thony gradually evolves from victim onto judge and executioner, culminating with her ending up as the head of a cartel, which is quite a plot twist for a cleaning lady that simply happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Brilliant, clever and innovative script.

A combination between two classics, Identity and Matrix Revolutions, both 2003 feature films, however two genres that do not quite intersect. I would have been a lot more impressed if they managed to stay on the Identity side, without slipping into Matrix. The abundance of unfavourable press releases is a strong indication that the mishmash was not well received.

Most user reviews treat this as a thriller and attempt to link it with Dark. It deserves a far better classification, it is a lot more profound and metaphorical, a true exploration of the human mind.

It could have been top notch with just a few gentle tweaks on the story.

It was supposed to be a Star Trek parody and it is hilarious most of the time, but there are too many instances when it takes itself too seriously and kills all the fun.

Another downside is that some of the actors are not exactly comedy material, which is understandable for a low budget initiative, but not acceptable for a parody.

Good potential, but too often wasted.

I was not able to figure this out. For a comedy it lacks sense of humor, too much sarcasm and very little irony. For a drama, it misses a plot. The script is too theatrical actors do not buy in, they seem to be miscast and unauthentic. It feels confusing and meaningless, you cannot relate to anything. And Elle Fanning forcing a British accent is totally pointless and out of context. Nothing makes sense in this show.

A heart melting story and a magnificent actor, what more could you wish for? I would feel personally offended if it does not get film industry nominations,

Some episodes are enjoyable, others are daft, overall it is much better than the previous reincarnations of the Fantasy Island story.

Episode 3 was an absolute masterpiece, the script must have been written by an extremely gifted author. It should have been a feature film in its own right and the rest of episodes simply ditched, they are a complete waste of time.

It was high time for a musical and this one really brings the concept back.

So filled with metaphor, perfectly backed up by impeccable acting and a fantastic soundtrack, best show of the year so far by a long mile.

'For All Mankind' is a catchphrase from the last two seasons of 'The 100'. It stands for pretending to deliver the benefits of many while serving the interests of a few.

The series puts an end to the 50-year controversy of whether we actually landed on t e Moon or not. It does not really matter, let us assume for a second that we accomplished that and try to imagine how the rest of the story unfolds. How would the disputes about a new promised land be resolved between the participating parties. It is very much like a western movie, without Native Americans shooting arrows. If John Wayne was still among us, he would have been given a part.

A clever plot about politics, military, world supremacy and space projects.

Definitely worth watching.

I wish I could review this in isolation, but it is too closely related to the Roadside Picnic novel written in 1971, so the best I can do is to treat it as the tribute for a 50th anniversary. It followed a different path however, slipping towards an action-packed approach rather than staying within the original metaphor. Once that line is crossed, there is a completely different set of expectations ahead, viewers will look for a plot, a flow and a resolution. Unfortunately, a Roadside Picnic type of story does not offer that opportunity. Enjoyable show but with a questionable future. It does not have many directions to go, sooner or later the screenwriters will remain out of ideas and the audience will lose interest once the plot starts running in circles.

In a normal wold, a series like that should have been discontinued after the first season. If it did not, it means that it is subsidised, like The Young and the restless. A rich family is probably paying big money to keep it going. They should however hire a real actress for the maim role.

The endless time-loop cliche has enormous potential. Some movies explored it better then others and this one is not among the best. However, I totally enjoyed the analogy with a video game, where you have a virtually unlimited number of re-runs to train yourself and reach the 'boss' level. And the final level is not necessarily to remain the last man standing but to make life meaningful. It does not always matter how many battles you win, sometimes it is more important what you learn from them.

A Disney movie is by definition a story waiting to be told, you just need to find the right words and the right context to spread it through. Butchering a potentially enjoyable feature film into thin slices that are delivered as a series kills all the fun and should not be allowed. Our kids deserve better than that. The show is great but the packaging is totally wrong.

Anne Montgomery is everything we all wished for, a Miss Havisham fighting back with a vengeance. 'What If' is a classical tale of love and deception, retribution and redemption, skeletons in the closet and ghosts from the past. The aggressors are actually the victims and the apparently pure souls are hiding more darkness than can be held by a single mind. And all of these are gradually revealed, building up a very complex plot and a brilliant thriller.

Kids shows are supposed to be educational. This involves seeing the characters learning from past experience. It does not happen here, the main characters are repeating same silly mistakes endlessly, despite disastrous outcomes from previous attempts. There is no evolution and no learning curve, it looks like the whole plot is stuck in a loop and not moving anywhere, just running around in circles. Episodes are so hopelessly repetitive that it becomes futile to try and anticipate what comes next, it usually is just a perpetual re-iteration of the same old story like it never happened before. Stubbornly adopting the same attitude that clearly proved inappropriate times and times again is anything but educational. The only 'magic' in this series is that it somehow got as far as Season 4.

Clearly inspired by Sunshine On Leith, however more intriguing and provocative. It is not a musical, it is a more evolved form of entertainment. It ticks all the boxes, apart from the choice of songs. Most of them are perfectly pocked, however some are not popular enough to connect the viewer with the emotion and message they are meant to re-create. A bit more attention to the soundtrack would have made this series a piece of art. Also, not all the actors proved themselves suitable for this type of experiment. Mary Steenburgen for example does not appear to be fitting in.

Kids shows are supposed to be educational. This involves seeing the characters learning from past experience. It does not happen here, the main characters are repeating same silly mistakes endlessly despite disastrous outcomes from previous attempts. Stubbornly adopting the same attitude that clearly proved inappropriate times and times again is anything but educational. And it completely kills variety and surprise, all episodes are re-running the same old story like it never happened before. The only 'magic' in it is that it somehow got as far as Season 4.

Intriguing story, a clever side step from the typical vampires / witches / demons plots. However, without the stunning performance of the leading actress, it would have probably gone unnoticed.

It is a kid's movie, and a very decent one. It was never meant to be a blockbuster but an entertainment show. It ticks all the boxes in my view, as long as you get your expectations straight. If you look at it as a space parody, it is one of the best.

An interesting journey into discovering oneself and facing inner demons. Great filming and impressive acting, fully compensating for the weakness of the story. Presumably meant as a bittersweet comedy, they lost the 'comedy' and the 'sweet' parts down the way and left us with 'bitter'. Nevertheless an enjoyable experience, nowhere close to memorable but decent enough to be worth watching.

Flat line story, no heads no tails, no thrills whatsoever and no plot twists. I was not able to retrieve information about the novel it is built upon, so I cannot ascertain whether the baseline was the problem, or the script failed to reflect the original narrative. Either way, big disappointment.

A galactic road movie, one would rightfully ask what can be so special about it. Well, you need to put it into the context, this is part of a franchise that has been around for more than 40 years and gathered a countless number of fans. These fans deserve The Mandalorian, which is a lot more captivating than any of the prequels, sequels and spin-offs that the Star Wars franchise released after the original series. It brings justice to the Star Wars family. That is the way.

Hallmark are making poor Christmas cards, but they deserve a huge round of applause for this Christmas movie. Based on the same old cliches, the whole bunch of them, but cleverly embroidered around a great story. We are used with Christmas movies to be heartwarming but predictable, this one will up the game . Fresh an unexpected, just when we thought that we have seen them all. I guess that the retro touch is intentional, some sort of a hint that this movie aspires to sit at the table with the big classics. It does stand out of the crowd after all.

You can have the best cast in the world, but if you do not have a story, it crumbles to pieces. You cannot have 5 episodes with a plot and the last one with a different plot. The twists and turns need to be drip fed, otherwise viewers will feel that they started to watch a series and ended up watching a different one along the way. For an HBO show, it was among the poorest.