Reviews

I approached this movie after having watched Get out (like the majority of us, I suppose). The trailer was very promising so I decided to watch it.

The idea behind the movie is very interesting. The fact that the Tethered are created by the government just to manipulate the humans' lives is so captivating. As already happened with Get out, I like how Peele deals with political themes in a very unique and recognizable way. Moreover, I enjoyed the style and all the aesthetic choices he made, e.g. the scene where the blond woman is killed and changes the song before dying is so funny. The whole part in the mirror maze with the two little girls and the young doppelganger's death in the fire are very cool, too.

However, I think that the movie is not so horror as one may expect it to be. The thematic is so delicate and it could have been narrated differently. I think that Peele lost the opportunity to create a very disturbing and terrifying movie. I don't understand why he chooses to insert the comedy inside this movie. The result is a little loss of credibility and trash dialogues, in my opinion.

On balance, I rate this movie 7/10 and I look forward to watching Peele's next movie.

I've started watching this tv show by accident and it was really worth it.

The first episodes are really captivating. The parallelism between the Crains' childhood and adulthood is well-structured and very useful to understand their psychological traits. Actually, the true story kicks off halfway through the series. It begins in an explosive way with episode 5 which is so intense that it almost made me cry and episode 6 which technically recalls a movie because of the directorial choices (e.g. the one-shot frames). After that, I think that the plot becomes less interesting: the ending left me a little unsatisfied. An intense horror show like this should not have such kind of "happy ending", a bit unbelievable in my opinion.

The haunting of Hill House, anyway, is a 8/10 to me. In the whole, the things I appreciated more are the terrifying atmosphere and the characters' description. I recommend it to everyone, even to people who are not horror lovers.

This is one of the most remarkable TV shows of the decade. If we put together an original script, a good picture, cool costumes and a captivating soundtrack, we obtain Peaky Blinders. In my opinion the direction is singular as well, since it is closer to that of a movie shot for the big screen rather than that of a TV series.

However, I think that the strongest point of this series is Thomas Shelby himself. Each character is charismatic and interesting because of the way they're developed; but Tommy belongs to an higher level. This is surely due to Cillian Murphy's talent but also to his constant presence in almost every scene of the show! Personally, I love aunt Polly and Solomon's characters in the same way.

As for the story, I enjoy how plot twists are managed: they are staged as if they were ordinary events; this strategy amplifies the spectator's shock. For instance, think about Grace and John's deaths: they're both unexpected and very rapid.

Finally, I really like the historical scenario and I'm happy that it is gradually impacting more and more on the Shelbys' lives. This motivates my hype for the upcoming season: I'm really looking forward to seeing how the raise of fascism will affect Tommy's life.

Breaking Bad is the TV show with the highest rate on IMDb and it surely deserves it. Everything is almost perfect: direction, screenplay, soundtracks, picture, acting. In my opinion, BB's strongest points are the psychological development of the characters and the plot itself. The storytelling speed is consistent with respect to Walter White's interior growth: for instance, the first season is widely slower than the fifth one. As a matter of fact, WW is increasingly aware that what he's doing is just for himself, just to feel alive. Just like Heisenberg, we can feel alive by watching this series. It's as if we could feel all his emotions. Breaking Bad is also appreciated for its perfect ending. After the ascending climax of the five seasons, there was no other choice for the conclusion, which is completely logical for what happens, and tremendously iconic for how it is put on screen.

Unorthodox is about a woman coming from an ultra-orthodox Jewish district in New York. The rigid rules and the traditions of Willemsburg community significantly restrict the woman's life. Women are not allowed to have hobbies, to have non-jewish friends or to use communication devices, that is, they're not allowed to live. Esty is different, as she said to Yanky the first time they met. She loves music and playing the piano. Even if at the beginning she seemed to have a propensity for that cage-life, when Yanky asked for divorce just because in his opinion she was not able to give him a child, she finally realized that her only purpose in life would have been cranking out children in Willemsburg. So she escaped from that world. She has been strong enough to start a new life. And I loved how things turned out in the end for Esty.

The great empathy we are able to feel is due to the character's development and the remarkable interpretation of the actress. I enjoyed Yanky's character as well because he's not the typical husband who uses his power against his wife: he's a very fragile person, and his weakness highlights Esty's strength even more.

What I didn't appreciate, though, was the contour. There are some logistical problems referring to how she managed to do everything she did in Berlin (sleeping in the school, obtaining the audition, etc.). I think that they should have spent more time explaining some circumstances, instead of using 20 minutes for the wedding's ceremony or Esty and Yanky's sex part. As I already said, I liked how it ended for Estybecause I liked that she decided to never go back to Willemsburg. But I was curious to see how she would have fent for herself, and what would have happened to her child. Anyway, good luck Esty!

In the whole, I think that it is a good series and it provides an opportunity to learn about ultra-orthodox Jewish traditions, which highly limit womens' lives. As Esty's piano teacher claimed, sometimes rules and limits live just in our mind, they may not even exist.

I approached this movie because the main concept fascinated me. However, I am a bit disappointed because it completely lacks of contextualisation. We deserved some explanation about why such blind beings are there and what they actually want. I see that a sequel is coming soon and maybe they already had thought about it, but I expected to know more from the ending of this movie without waiting for a sequel.

On the other hand, I think that it's very good from the attention to details perspective. For example, they do not use glass, pottery and other noisy materials, they walk without shoes on sand paths, and so on..

I also noticed that sometimes characters don't make the smartest choice. Why the hell the idea of having a child in that situation?? Why they showed us that they can scream by the river and they never take this as an advantage?

As for the contrast between the silence and the minimal noises and music, I enjoyed them because they contribute to make the atmosphere really tense. I would not say that it is an horror movie, but just a thriller with some really dramatic moments (e.g. the father's death).

On balance, this alternation between positive and negative aspects motivates my rating 6/10. Now I'm looking forward to watching the sequel, in the hope of some deeper explanation.

I think that this movie is a bit overrated. The idea of three alternative realities is interesting, especially if we think that it is a 1998 movie. The dynamism of music and camera are pretty good. However, plot and character developments are missing and they were necessary to me. Maybe if we knew a little more about Lola, her boyfriend and the situation which they're dealing with, we could feel Lola's tension, urgency and anxiety as our own feelings. Because of this lack, the movie results sometimes funny and sometimes unfortunately trash. Hence, I would not say that this is a thriller nor a dramatic movie.

Game of thrones is the most watched series of 2010s, especially from the 7th season on. Maybe the success it reached is the reason of its decline in the last two seasons. But I'm not here to say anything bad since it has already received many negative comments. So let's focus on the spectacular first seasons of the series.

The strong points of the series are the plot's and the characters' developments. The first season is aimed at psychologically preparing us for the others. No matter if you are an honorable person or an evil one, you can survive only if you learn to play the game of thrones. As Cersei said

"In the Game of thrones, you win or you die".

Game of thrones' cast is wide and each character has its own charisma. We saw the Stark siblings growing in this violent world. We both hated and loved Lannisters for the decisions they took in their lives. We have been cheated like rookies by Littlefinger's and Varys' subterfuges. We have lived all the Essos adventures with Daenerys, who started her adventure as an innocent child. We went beyond The Wall with Jon Snow and Bran to see that an higher danger was coming to Westeros. We suffered and rejoiced with all the characters in a very intense way because of the tremendous turns of events.

Game of thrones is iconic and it will be for sure a source of inspiration for many future TV shows. Music, direction, scripting, everything is meticolously studied. Fantasy, drama, romance and adventure mix up in a perfect combo which allows this series to be appreciated by everyone of all ages.

I'm sad to admit that what I've just said refers only to the first 5-6 seasons. And this is the reason why I rate it 9/10. We will never forget Game of thrones, it doesn't matter if for the bad finale, the Red wedding, or Dany's storyline.

Spectacular HBO mini-series! Not only for the superb direction, soundtrack and cast which are undoubtedly excellent, but mainly for the emotions which causes. The fear, the sadness and the terror are so authentic. Moreover, Chernobyl provided me the opportunity to learn a lot about the disaster of 1986. I wasn't aware of many aspects of such tragedy, e.g. the government's resolution which raised the level of tolerated radiations by humans in order to reduce the hospitalization flows. Or that they wrote a list with the guilty people of the explosion, and so on.. Such revelations shocked me, but not as much as the 4th episode. Damn, I was terrified by the killing of animals. To sum up, it could be a very terrifying series, but I think that everyone should watch it to have just an idea of what really happened to Chernobyl in the not-so-far 1986. This series will open your eyes.

Memento is one of my favourite movies because it is a very difficult brain puzzle written and filmed in an excellent way. It is a psychological thriller which lays the groundwork for Nolan's upcoming movies like Inception. I loved the noir plot, its development and above all the time structure of Memento.

It follows two different alternated temporal lines: the black and white sequences follow a chronological order, while the color ones go backwards in time. In the end, they converge to the same point. The choice of inverting the time is a very smart trick used by Nolan to establish a big empathy between us and Leonard. He doesn't remember nothing which happened in the short-term past, he doesn't recognize people who he already talked to and he's never sure about who to trust and who not: we feel the same for the whole duration of the movie, so basically we live in Leonard's mind. The only difference between us and Leonard is that we can reconstruct events from the scenes we watch, and so we can easily understand that other characters, such as Natalie, take advantage of his disorder.

However, we have to wait the end of the movie to get out of Leonard's mind and open our eyes about what really happened. Teddy explains the truth behind the rape of Leonard's wife, the insulin thing and above all that Leonard will have the necessity to solve this impossible puzzle for the rest of his life because he can't accept where things really stand: his wife was actually killed by Leonard himself. Rather than accepting it, he prefers to blame Teddy, so he builds up a puzzle to capture and kill him one day (the beginning of the movie).

In addition to what I've just explained, I've enjoyed the movie because it is plenty of food of thought. For instance, characters talk about the inaccuracy of the memory a lot of times: "Memory can change the shape of a room [...], memories can be distorted, they're just an interpretation. And they're irrelevant if you have the facts." But which facts? Facts are not polaroids nor notes without any context, and this movie highlights this aspect. The truth is always something relative: it depends on memories, emotional involvement, and even if we refuse it, it highly depends on the people around us.

To sum up, Leonard's actual problem is not about memory or finding the truth. As Teddy told him "You don't want the truth".

This movie is set in the China of 40s, during the war. Personally, I don't know too much about war times in China, but I appreciated how this movie provides us just what is necessary for the plot development without going into deep historical details (otherwise it would have been 4 hours long).

This movie kept me glued to the screen and I think that this happened because of the strong empathy I established with Wang Jiazhi. All the scenes in which she appears with Mr. Yee create a big tension both because of the risk that she's taking as a spy and the evolution of their relationship.

I really enjoyed the movie, but as I expected from Ang Lee, the finale is pretty tragic. I watched Life of Pi and Brokeback Mountain before this movie, and both endings caused conflicting reactions to me. In this particular case, I thought that she would have fallen in love with Mr. Yee and she would have got desperate after his hypothetical death, but I never imagined that she saved him. After that, Yee's cold and quick decision to kill her got me upset. So at first I didn't like the ending, just my personal opinion.

Then I realized that, even if she had been a very talented actress for the whole time, she was just an innocent young woman after all. Her beloved Kuang never declared himself in love to her and her life has been empty before this "job". On the other side, we find an unscrupulous lonely man, which is somehow fascinating to Wang's eyes. Sex scenes evoke all the pain which they hide and keep safe inside themselves: this fact is highlighted by the gazes of the two actors, the passion, the lust, the violence. An outburst of love like this motivates her choice to save him in the finale, but it is not sufficiently important for a man who has always based his life on cruelty and "work".

Just to defuse this review, Yee's wife character was funny. She is the personification of "Who wants to live longer, should mind just his own business" (that is playing Mahjong in this case).

I think that this is a bad movie because it highly pretends to communicate something which is not believable. Let's go into details.

First of all, the movie lasts 90 minutes, but 10 minutes would have been sufficient to tell us that life is terrible.

Many of us are already scared of cohabitation, and this movie definitely destroys every hope in life as a couple. The only aim of the couple seems to be raising that annoying robot-child, and nullifying them as human beings just to feed him with those damn cereals. Moreover, this movie describes human life as a foolish tragedy: we live just to raise our children. Once they have become autonomous, our existence makes no longer sense. The only thing we can do is die. Seriously? Come on, this is too exaggerated.

At least, the man's behavior is consistent with its character: he spends all his time by digging in the hope of finding a way out. The mum's mother instinct is sometimes high, sometimes understandably non-existent. Should we interpret this as if fathers don't have any aptitude for family life and mothers are there just to feed us? Again, seriously?

Now I try to neglect the moral of this story. It is not even a good movie because basically nothing happens, and both characters die in the end. So, it is just a waste of time.

The only thing that I like is the pretty picture. At least, geometry and colors transmit the emptiness of that fictious world in a good way.

The thing I liked the most from this movie is the attention to details. Each character's relationship with the poor Harlan is meticulously described. This allows you to evaluate which Trombey member could be the murderer and why. On the other hand, since all characters are treated in the same way, you can easily deduce that none of them could be the killer after the first part of the film. The only exceptions are given by Marta and Ransom.

Marta is revealed to be the murderer halfway through. But wait.. In the first half of the movie we are superficially led to believe that she is; so I think that the choice of this "fake reveal" is not so smart because if you tell me who is the murderer after half movie, OF COURSE that is not the killer. Despite this choice that I did not appreciate, I enjoyed the final moment where the truth comes out, it was well written and filmed to me. Also the picture and the production were pretty good.

To sum up, I think that this is a funny mystery movie and I don't understand the reviewers who think that it is boring. It works good because it is enough intriguing and amusing at the same time.

The premise seemed good. I understand that this movie is about capitalism and social stratification, but in my opinion it doesn't provide a solid setting which a movie should always provide.

The vertical building's structure and operation is explained in detail through a ridiculous 10-minutes-long tutorial at the beginning. After that, I think that there is too much mistery about many things which were important to understand the movie logistics. A few examples of inconsistencies are the following:

• some people are sentenced to be there because they are criminals and other people have chosen to be there; why? I think that this should have been explained because the movie's final purpose significantly depends on this aspect;
• people are not allowed to keep food after the platform goes away, but they are allowed to "travel" on the platform or to climb up the building, that is some rules seem inflexible and others do not even exist;
• we discover that the woman who is searching her daughter had entered alone; so what does her character mean? Does she already know about the message or she is just a mad woman?

Then, I have to say that I expected to feel suffocated by watching a movie like this. It should have been more claustrophobic, like Cube (1997), for example. Moreover, I didn't feel any empathy with the protagonist and I never suffered with him. I just felt disgusted because of cannibalism scenes, obviously, but that doesn't count.

Back to the "political message" of the movie, I really didn't get the ending. They finally found the little girl which is "the message". But we discover that the message has to be carried to level 0 without anyone else. Why? What does it mean? And now that the little girl has been saved, what happens next? There are too many mysterious holes (not "plot holes" because actually there isn't a real plot) in my opinion; but not the intriguing mystery which is typical of thriller/horror movies, just something badly written. However, I rate it 5 just because of the good idea behind it (even if it is nothing new).

This is one of the most brutal and shocking movies I've ever seen since it describes drug's impacts in an exorbitant way. When assuming heroine or any drug the first time, I'm sure that everyone thinks that it would be the first and last time, but this movie opens our eyes about the consequences that drug dependence can have. In particular, each character's conclusion represents a possible consequence of drug dependence. It may look exaggerate, but it is not.

Aronofsky is one of the directors I appreciate more. He has the capacity to establish an authentic relationship between characters and spectators. Everyone who watches this film suffers with Harry and Marion, even if we are not drug dependent. Everything is so dramatic, but I want to focus on my favourite character from the movie.

Sara's scenes are really breath-taking. Her character is not only about drug dependence. It is about loneliness, an empty life without purpose. What is she living for? We can't expect from a genuine old woman like her to become just an annoying blabbermouth who spends her days talking carelessly with neighbours. She needs to escape from her life, she needs a refuge: the TV is the only weapon she can use to fight her emptiness. The red-dress dream is just a necessity for her to have something to think about in her life. But because of her innocence, she becomes soon a media terrorism victim. I know this is not the point of the movie, but sometimes people feel alone, insecure, underappreciated, and the outside world (here the TV) responds just by offering you the easiest way to escape, and the easiest way is tremendously dangerous. Sara's decline really touched and shocked me, more than other characters', and this is due to Ellen Burstyn's outstanding performance. Also Jared Leto and Jennifer Connelly's interpretations are remarkable.

On balance, I think that the strength of this movie is the empathy which is amplified by a brilliant direction and a sublime soundtrack. When I hear that music, I still get goose bumps after many years.

The first part of the movie seemed interesting, even if this is not my kind of film, for sure. I enjoyed the adultery thing but it could have been written in a better way (did they really have sex under the rain without getting a cold? Lol). Too many repetitive moments and too many indefinite time jumpings.

By the way, I liked how the rich guys have been represented as stupid pampered people with no substance. But not the wife. Damn the wife is too stupid, that's unrealistic! She is assumed to think only about having children with his husband, yet she doesn't understand that there's something wrong with him.

But nothing really terrible until the "thriller" part. I understand that this movie is something about fortune, but again, this is unrealistic. I neglect the ridiculous police work: that part should have not been filmed to me. Chris' murder plan has been smart, but not so much that he could get away with it. This is not about being lucky, this is about being sorrounded by stupid blind people.

And what's the consequence of the murder? Just an hallucination?

So the question is: what's the point? The main character has been an angel-looking bad guy for the whole time and no one noticed that. He is able to do whatever he wants, it doesn't matter: fortune would always help him. This makes no sense to me.

At least I agree on the fact that Scarlett Johansson is attractive to everyone.