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Reviews
Ludwig (2024)
Not as good as I hoped
It's a cute little detective drama, but it's far from what it has been compared to: far from Jonathan Creek or Dirk Gently.
What I take most issue with is actually the personality of the main character. In the beginning he's shown as a shy recluse, who doesn't leave the house and is only comfortable around his puzzles. But that character is very inconsistent.
You would expect a person like that to have a lot of difficulties trying to maintain a huge lie, lead a team of cops, and confront a new pool of suspects on a daily basis. However, he seems to have no trouble with that, and whenever the story calls for it, he's suddenly the most confident police officer in England.
Other than that, the plot is fine, the characters are likeable... Good enough to kill a Sunday.
Supacell (2024)
Umbrella Academy meets Gangs of London
Normally I love a slow burner, but this one wasn't particularly enjoyable.
First, no way around it: it was boring. For a slow burner to work you need something to keep the viewer engaged: good dialogue, or beautiful cinematography, or charismatic characters... This show doesn't have any of that.
Second, there were a few plot holes and generally dumb and unnatural choices that characters made. I'm not saying it's not realistic: I'm sure real people would often behave like idiots in supernatural circumstances. It's just not very satisfying to see it on screen.
I finished the season, but I did skip ahead quite a bit. No idea why this is praised so much: it's a pretty beat up idea about people with sudden powers that are being hunted, and I don't think the show introduces anything novel. Better than Marvel, I suppose, but that's not a high bar.
Twisted Metal (2023)
Just good solid TV
No complaints, would recommend.
If you love humorous, brightly-colored post-apocalyptic road trip shows, this is a great fit for you. Definitely scratches the Fallout itch.
Acting is good, dialogues are funny, the show never pretends to be something more than it is. It's well-paced and entertaining. The bickering romance between the two protagonists feels a bit stereotypical, but only just enough to make us feel comfortable and relax our brains a bit. This is not the kind of show where you have to worry for the main characters' fate: despite the occasional gore, it's quite light-hearted through and through.
I wish more shows were like this.
Doctor Who: Space Babies (2024)
Damn I miss Chibnall
I miss the times when I was watching the first episodes with Jodie and my only complaint was that they were kinda boring.
In this episode the TARDIS apparently travels to the planet of cringy 1990s American comedies for family viewing. The few precious moments where the episode attempted to create intrigue or talk about social issues or humanity's nature disappeared without any followup, and the only thing that remained were the creepy artificially animated baby mouths.
The plot felt like a bootleg version of old RTD episodes that we loved: there's a bit of danger, a scifi solution to the problem, a lesson about acceptance... But it just wasn't exciting. The twists were not surprising, the resolution was not satisfying, and the jokes were childish.
I would rather have to sit through the Rosa Parks episode again than this.
Doctor Who: The Star Beast (2023)
Doctor Who's worst plot resolution
I thought writing was bad in the Chibnall era, but he actually got better at the end, and I quite enjoyed the Flux and the Timeless Child twist. Now that RTD is back, I hoped for some of the good old Doctor Who magic, but I was gravely disappointed.
This episode destroys one of the most heart-breaking finales in the history of the show: Donna Noble's story.
Many companions met a tragic end, but Donna stood out: stuck in her ordinary life, always feeling something was missing, and cursed to never know, while her family couldn't tell her what she forgot without killing her. It took a great toll on the Doctor as well, as he was nearing the end of his regeneration and went through a few of his darkest episodes alone after losing his best friend.
This episode simply... shrugged all that drama off. They spent about one minute on exploring the massive dilemma of letting her sacrifice herself, about thirty seconds on Donna's reaction to her awakening, and about 15 seconds on why it didn't kill her, even though it should have. Turns out, fixing her condition was as simple as just wishing hard enough, and having a child. Which means the last 15 years didn't have to be a lie at all, and all the tragedy was not worth a penny.
I'd rather watch season 11, and I HATE season 11.
Bloodride (2020)
Rating should be higher
No idea why the bus is involved, but this is an anthology of dark stories, a bit similar to "Inside no. 9" (though not quite as good). The genre varies nicely: from classic supernatural horror to psychological thriller. It's not exceedingly gory, and doesn't have jump scares.
Karakterdrap, I thought, was wonderful. For the other episodes something that makes the rating 7 rather than 8 or 9 is that some of the twists are a little half-baked. First, some of them become obvious a little earlier than the plot suggests they should. Second - and most important - after we see the twist, there's not enough time and context given to fully appreciate it. It's missing the foreshadowing that would make you go "oooh... that explains that little detail earlier". At the same time it doesn't spend any time after the twist to show the alternative side of the story that we hadn't seen (it's usually just given in one or two sentences), so I'm often left with questions that I wish were explored a little more.
Obyknovennoe chudo (1979)
Not really a movie, but amazing
The only reason that I'm ranking it 9 instead of 10 is that fact that it's... not actually a movie.
It's based on a theatre play, directed by a theatre director, and it shows in everything: the dialogue, the set, the scenes, the costumes, the actors often talking and looking directly at the audience... However, if you're willing to disregard that little detail and instead watch it as a recorded theatre play, it's an absolutely breathtaking experience.
The movie is based on the play of the same name by Evgenyi Shvartz, one of the most significant Russian The story is painfully simple: two young people fall in love, even though they cannot be together. The literal magic and the magic of being human twist together to make a beautiful plot about love out of this world. People born in the Soviet Union know the iconic songs and quotes from this movie by heart. The cast is stellar, although a few of them are first and foremost theatre actors, which, again, shows.
From (2022)
Good mystery, the crew is on strike though
I really like the premise and the mystery. A creepy little town, that you can never leave. Strange monsters coming out to play at night: they look just like us, but they will rip your guts out. I'm well into season 2, and still intrigued: the mystery definitely deserves a rating of 8.
Which is why it's even stranger that all the other aspects of this show are 6 at best. The actors are mediocre: the family we meet in the beginning might just be the most boring family I've seen on screen. I often have to fast-forward through scenes with slow and generic dialogue, and the camera work is never interesting, so it's more of a radio show to me at this point.
The Consultant (2023)
I think this was written by a drunk AI
Ok, ok, I know it's actually based on a book, but while having the shape of a thriller and various terrifying details, there's absolutely no logical connection between anything in this show.
Everyday reality details don't make sense: IT job market is pretty good and there's no reason for the characters to clutch at their jobs for the devil or whatever.
Magic details don't make sense either: how is lifting yourself to get up the stairs more difficult than lifting yourself after tying your shoes? Or out of a car?
Most details of the plot are left hanging, and the sweet ending makes zero sense.
The only reason it's 5 and not lower is, just because it was so bizarre, I watched the whole thing.
Poker Face (2023)
Trailer trash Columbo is the best!
You know it's gonna be good from the first minute. The care put into the scenes, the colors, the sound is remarkable.
Personally, I appreciate Columbo-style mysteries a lot, and wish there were more of them. This is a fantastic example.
The premise does seem lazy at first: you would think being able to detect lies kind of makes crime-solving trivial. However, I assure you it is handled very well. Her abilities are well-balanced by her general lack of resources or stakes in the events, and being on the run.
Natasha Lyonne plays more or less the same character as she always does, but it's a great character, and she fits into the vibe of the show very well.
I also like the settings they choose: small colorful corners of roadside America that we don't often see in detective shows.
Joshua and the Promised Land (2003)
Ever wanted to teach your kid that mass-murder is ok sometimes?
Yeah, yeah, the animation is terrible, the voices and soundtrack is awful, the characters will probably give your child nightmares.
However, the worst part of this is actually the content. The movie casually brushes past the horryfying fate of a child, forced to wander the desert, watch people die, and murder them himself for many years, before being returned into his child body with his family, like nothing happened. It also takes mass-murder pretty lightly, just because someone is of a different faith. If you ever wondered, what kind of upbringing creates adults who start religious wars and teocratic dictatorships, this is probably a good place to start.
Glass Onion (2022)
I don't know why people keep trashing it
I loved it.
I am not the most picky movie watcher, but I'm a lot more picky that most of my friends, and I always feel lost in a huge garbage pile of sequels, prequels, cinematic universes, and nostalgia cash grabs.
This movie is great. It's sufficiently different from the first one, while at the same time keeping the colorful style of "Knives Out". The jokes and parodies are not too on the nose, the acting is good. The story is just far-fetched enough to satisfy a lover of whimsical detective mysteries, but not too far-fetched to leave you feeling deceived. Small details revealed earlier tie in nicely with the twists and turns of the plot.
If you go in expecting some kind of classic Agatha Christie whodunnit, then maybe your expectations won't be met. But if you, like me, enjoy movies that don't take themselves too seriously, then you might just be pleasantly surprised.
The Peripheral (2022)
Masquerading as good
I was tricked at first. The premise seemed great: a huge beautifully designed sci-fi world with a hint of dystopia, based on a book by an acknowledged author. Good cast, fancy opening credits animation, masterfully choreographed fights... Could have been something like Altered Carbon, or the Expanse, or His Dark Materials: those shows might not have been 10s, but had some undeniably good intrigue and compelling characters.
Here, however, once you strip away the shiny exterior, very little substance remains. The thing that annoys me most is the absolute imperturbability of all the characters. Whether they just learned new information that should have taken them by surprise, or it's their mortal enemy that just entered the room, or they saw something very scary, they're never really surprised, or angry, or frustrated, or confused. They always remain in total control. Every conversation has to start and end with smug and borderline cheesy one-liners and witty comebacks, as if they've spent the past two hours thinking about what they'll say in this unforeseeable situation.
As a result, you can't relate, and you don't really care about what happens to them next. Which is where the second problem comes in: most of the 7 episodes that are out is just exposition. As far as intrigue goes, there is none. What we've learned about the world is interesting, sure, but the story development is so slow and unexciting that I don't feel any anticipation for the next episode.
The quality is still good, so maybe the fans of the book would enjoy seeing this on screen, as they already know and like the story itself... I don't know.
Blockbuster (2022)
Poor man's Superstore
Ok, I admit the low score is partly because I had much higher expectations, given the cast, but...
The characters are boring and generic, and without quirky characters you can't have a good workplace sitcom. The leads' chemistry can only be described as "people who have known each other for a while", and the banter sounds like it was written by an AI trained on unaired pilots.
I've just watched three episodes, and I can barely recall what was happening in them, except that one of them is about Halloween. It wasn't interesting or engaging enough, and I think I've smiled exactly once. Unlike Brooklyn 99 or Superstore, which manage to combine funny and absurd shenanigans with a social commentary, this show manages neither.
Knowing that the actors are good, I'd definitively say the problem is the writing, both the dialogue and the plot. It might get good by episode 10, but I don't have patience for that.
Inside Man (2022)
Has Moffat forgotten how humans acts?
Ok, I did like quite a bit of the first episode: it's delightfully weird, there are multiple stories unfolding, the pace of narration is pretty good - not too slow, not too fast, - no exposition dumps.
BUT. The first scene in the train is just... Really? You expect me to believe that a journalist who investigates serial killers on death row is afraid to flip off a jerk on a train, and the jerk on a train who's ballsy enough to bully someone with a train full of people watching him in real life is suddenly afraid of some stranger's facebook?
Get a grip Steve. I've pushed past this, and I'll keep watching, but damn you were so busy writing about vampires and aliens that you forgot how to human.
Severance (2022)
2 episodes in and thrilled!
Ok, so it's only 2 episodes, and things could go either way, but... So far this show is fantastic!
The story has a major "Black Mirror" vibe: not just a flimsy sci-fi premise, but actually thinking through how it would change our existing reality. How it would make dinner conversations awkward, how it would spark political discussions, how it would be used and misused.
The show is beautifully made, like many have noted, and the story unfolds at a comfortable pace: not too fast, but fast enough to keep you hooked. It's refreshing to see something that's not rushing one plot twist after another, but instead gives us time to appreciate the atmosphere and the natural development of the characters' lives.
Adam Scott's performance deserves a mention too: his character's trauma and the ways he deals with it are painfully believable.
Leverage: Redemption (2021)
This must be some dark magic
It's not every day you see a return of your favorite show a decade later, with a partially different cast, but with equally amazing quality and even believable changes that have happened to the characters during the gap!
Although only three of the original main cast are present, the absence of the rest is both explained and used to build on the story. And their replacements are loveable and fit great into the team! The humor, wittiness of the dialogue, sweet and naive happy endings - everything that made the original great is still present, and it absolutely warms my heart.
Kastanjemanden (2021)
Like someone mindlessly went through checkboxes
It's probably not the fault of the series creators, but the author of the book... The plot looks like someone put a bunch of nordic crime stories into a blender, pressed the button, and poured out the most bland and generic Nordic crime thriller.
If this is the first Nordic crime show you've seen, you'll probably like it. If you've seen three or four before, you'll spend most of the time having a deja-vu. It has all the staples: two unwillingly partnered detectives with complex family situations and past traumas, an old unsolved gruesome murder connected to the present-day gruesome murders, slow pace and muted colors.
The only thing that it's missing is something to make it stand out. A bare skeleton of a story and a rather disappointing reveal. Good enough to put it in the background while you're cooking.
Evil (2019)
I don't even understand why I like this show so much
This show is very strange. There's quite a bit of detective work, a lot of symbolism, some horror, some mystery...
But that's why it's good: it's different. It doesn't fall into familiar cliches, it doesn't give you straight answers, but doesn't annoy you by building up too much suspense either. It reminds me a little bit of the X-files, where often both Mulder and Scully were right. Because evil is evil, whether you look at it from the view point of religion or scepticism.
The characters are well-written and three-dimensional, and I absolutely love the cast, especially Katja Herbers. You can see the care that the creators put into this show: it's not just some money-grabbing conveyor belt product. Definitely give it a try if you want to see something that doesn't get old after one season.
Promising Young Woman (2020)
A remarkable movie in a genre of its own
This movie tricks you. Oh, you think after watching the trailer, it's a revenge slasher. I'll go get my popcorn. Oh, you think after seeing familiar loveable comedy actors, maybe it's a comedy after all.
But one after another, Emerald Fennel keeps breaking your expectations, without letting you settle into a comfy familiar mindset, until you stop expecting tropes and start honestly feeling the things that the movie talks to you about: loss, pain, love, forgiveness.
Another remarkable thing is how well thought-through this movie is. Every color, every song, every frame and angle, every reaction are there for a reason, and for a day or two after you watch it small details will keep coming back to you, as you realize why they were really there and what they stood for.