Playbahnosh's Reviews

Juvenile Justice (2022)

9/10

10 March 2022

I stumbled upon this series while scrolling through Netflix, looked into the first episode and it hit me like a truck. Juvenile Justice really came out of left field for me, and in retrospect I'm really thankful for the experience.

The story revolves around Shim Eun Seok (Kim Hye-su), a juvenile court judge who appears stone cold and lays down the law with an iron fist on young offenders, while also battling her own demons of the past deep inside. The juvenile justice system is highly divisive, conflicting and heavily overloaded, laying not only the sentencing and punishment of juvenile offenders on the court but even the aftercare and oversight on the judges themselves. While the law treats them as children who are scarcely accountable for their own actions, often it doesn't defend victims or take their circumstances into account, what lead them down this path. Domestic violence, neglect, mistreatment, bullying, often very hard to properly prosecute. On the other hand, many young criminals straight up expect to get off with nothing but probation and a slap on the wrist while committing very real crimes, theft, robbery, blackmail, prostitution, grievous violence and even murder, fully aware of their actions. Judge Shim sails the muddy waters of this tattered legal embroglio to try and truly punish young criminals and bring absolution to the victims of the system.

Honestly, I was truly surprised by this series! I half expected a confusing and boring TV schlock, filled with incessant jargon and theatrical melodrama. But what I got was a very intense, high quality, easily digestible (for a legal series), very binge-worthy story and some of the best acting I've seen in a while! Kim Hye-su completely dominates the role of Judge Shim. Coming off as a stone cold, no-nonsense inquisitor who absolutely throws the book at young criminals trying to slip through the cracks, while she slowly learns that the juvenile court is not only there to punish but also to teach, reform and protect those fallen by the wayside and wronged by the system.

The production quality is excellent! The camera work, direction and even the few special effects are way higher quality than one would expect from a TV series of this kind. This far excuses some of the plotholes and the sometimes wooden acting by some of the support cast. I usually don't like kids in series and movies, but I have to say, the young cast brings their A-game and believable acting throughout the series, which was really refreshing. The story goes at breakneck speeds, filled with lots of detail, action, intrigue, investigations and hard choices which makes the series feel a lot longer than 10 episodes. There's never a dull moment watching Judge Shim and co going above and beyond their line of duty to get to the truth and render a truly just verdict in the end.

All in all, I highly recommend Juvenile Justice to anyone looking for an intense court drama with a flair for complexity and some action on the side!

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Mother/Android (2021)

2/10

Another one to the garbage heap

8 January 2022

Warning: Spoilers

Sci-Fi as a genre is in a really sorry state lately, and abject trash like this movie just makes it worse. Even the basic premise is boring and stale. Yet another "the machines revolt and eradicate humanity" trope, that has been used and abused in countless awful films for decades. Because ignorant fearmongering is cheap and easy.

It's not like this premise cannot be used to great success, we've seen really interesting and exciting takes on the robot uprising trope (Terminator, Matrix, 'I, Robot', Westworld, etc.), but in all those films the concept is explained. Why do the robots revolt? How does it happen? What do they want? And so on. "Because of course they do" is not an answer, and throwing a 19th century Czech writer's (Karel Capek) play in our face to be edgy and poignant is just a lazy hackjob. Even then, the movie doesn't take the concept anywhere. For all that's in the movie, it didn't need to be homicidal androids. It just as easily could've been a run of the mill war, civil unrest, alien invasion, zombies, you name it.

Being an "action movie", it's incredibly boring. It starts out well enough, obviously blowing most of the budget on the CGI eye-candy in the beginning, but then it very quickly devolves into a lackluster snoozefest. The movie completely fails to create a proper atmosphere. For admittedly being on the run for nine months in the middle of the murderous android apocalypse, they look incredibly comfy and relaxed. All their clothes and gear looks brand new and freshly washed, and they don't look dirty, malnourished, tired or stressed one bit. In fact most everyone in the movie looks mildly inconvenienced at best, bored even. Absolutely no sense of tension, urgency, paranoia, discomfort, frayed nerves, bleak dread, nothing. Instead of constant mortal danger we get the feeling of a leisurely weekend hiking trip. Instead, the movie focuses on...nay, mercilessly beats us over the head constantly about how incredibly, totally and utterly pregnant she is, over and over again. Speaking of which...

The characters couldn't have less chemistry if they tried. The casting choices are utterly baffling for this movie. Chloe Grace Moritz, an otherwise excellent actress, is a complete misfire in this role, which seems to be a running theme with her (she definitely needs to find a new agent). She seemingly did the best she could with the material she was given, but this movie did absolutely no favors for her career. Which is a real shame, because she could do so much better than B-grade trash like this. It doesn't help, that Algee Smith totally phoned in his utterly unconvincing, dreadful performance.

I won't go into the frankly impressive amount of gaping plotholes, mistakes and aggravating stuff, because this review would be about 26 pages long. Sufficed to say, this travesty is one and a half hours of my life I'll never get back.

Do yourself a favor and steer clear of this schlock.

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3-Iron (2004)

10/10

Not your average love story. A real universal film.

21 December 2021

Not "universal" as in the film studio, but universal as in "this movie is for everyone" regarless of where you live. Some people might be scared off watching Bin-jip because it's a "Korean movie", but it's...not. There is barely ten lines of dialogue in the entire movie, and even if you don't understand Korean or have subtitles, everything in the movie can be understood perfectly. This is why film is such a strong medium. The entire story is told through the scenes, the characters, their actions, their body language, the emotions on their faces, strong or subtle, happy, sad, angry, intense, love, hate, it's all there. I never for a second felt like I needed more dialogue or exposition in this move, it's so well written, shot and directed, anything more would be just ruining it.

The basic story itself is nothing major, somewhat boring even. A young and quiet drifter, riding around on a motorcycle, spends his days by breaking into the homes of vacationing families to stay a few days. But he is not your regular squatter. He doesn't trash the place or steals anything. In fact, he pays them back in his own way. In return for the lodging, he does the laundry, cleans up and fixes broken stuff, appliances, etc. So when the family returns, they find their home better than then left it. During one such home invasion, he runs into an abused housewife (who's also the quiet type), and decides to rescue her from her tormenting husband. However, the charitable squatter duo's days are numbered, with the law catching up to them...

There is an old saying in engineering "something is not complete when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away". It's mind-boggling how true that is for 3-Iron. The entire movie cost about $930,000 with everything included. Like, how is that even possible? A single episode of any big name TV show costs many times that, but writer/director/producer Kim Ki-duk managed to turn out an entire feature film from less than the catering cost of any Hollywood production. If the stories are true, that wasn't entirely his doing, because the cast and the crew gave up a large portion of their pay to help finance the movie. (They were properly paid from the box office income later.) Not only that, but get this, Kim Ki-duk wrote the screenplay in a single month! The entire movie was shot in 16 days, and with only 10 days of editing and post-production it was off to the theaters. The entire production, from mere concept to premier, took less than two months! This is truly mind-blowing. Hell, most Youtube videos take longer to make, not to mention any "real" movie. This just goes to show, that you don't need a gigantic cast of celebrities, studios, gear, CGI and hundreds of millions in funding to create something truly special. It is actually a lot more impressive that Bin-jip even made it to theaters on such a pauper's budget.

The funny thing is, you can't tell any of this just by watching the movie. It's all shot in really high quality with excellent photography, direction and some of the best acting I've ever seen. In fact, the movie wasn't shot in some huge movie studio, but literally on the street and the homes of the cast and crew! Production was done at such a breakneck speed, they often didn't have time to re-shoot scenes, so almost the entire film is made up of first takes. That's some legendary quality filmcraft.

Now, I know a lot of you are less than impressed by all this, and a lot more bothered by the artsy-fartsy "silent film" nature of Bin-jip, which is quite understandable. This movie is definitely not for everyone. I know a lot of people found it lackluster, boring or even downright pretentious. I won't say there isn't a hint of egotistic "art over business" flaunt going on here, but honestly, I can take a bit of artsy grandstanding if the end result is a multiple-award-winning cinematic masterpiece. Or if not that, at least a very well made, incredibly entertaining movie about love, loss, hardship and happiness. Do yourself a favor and watch this if you haven't done so.

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Black Mirror (2011– )

6/10

Technophobia

21 January 2017

Fear of technology. That is what this series seem to represent. How we are all enslaved by science and technology, which will ultimately doom us all. Black mirror is basically fearmongering, especially about social media. Almost every single episode's underlying theme is how facebook and twitter is this vile cesspool that only brings out the absolute worst in people and only spawns trolls, bullies and terrorists, a system that makes us all soulless total psychopaths reveling in mass murder and human suffering.

Black Mirror seems to be made by old people. The kind, who only have a cursory understanding of modern technology, probably from the news and conspiracy nut blogs, and they envision this formless evil beast that will inevitably destroy humanity. We all fear what we don't understand, and the creators of this series are just bringing this concept to the extreme. You can see it in every episode: social media is evil tyranny, modern medical and scientific advances are just waiting to kill us all, and where one single person is enough to hack some automated system and go on a killing spree, while the authorities are just fumbling about completely powerless.

Aside from one single episode, Season 3's "San Junipero", the entirety of Black mirror is totally ridiculous, pandering fearmongering, that exploits people's lack of knowledge about technology and sends a completely wrong message. This sort of luddite thinking and behavior is what lead to the Dark Ages...

Having said all that, Black Mirror is a surprisingly well put- together series. The production value is very high, and for a sci-fi TV series, the CGI is remarkably good. The stories (discounting the subject matter) are well written and well acted. Some of the episodes tend to be sluggish and boring in places, but I chalk that up to the creators, who seem to be from the old-school sci-fi scene with strong hints of Stanislaw Lem and Phillip K. Dick influences.

All in all, Black Mirror is very well made sci-fi series, that is just a bit too on the nose about it's hatred for modern technology and especially social media. It's definitely worth a watch if you can distance yourself from the ridiculous fearmongering.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation: Unnatural Selection (1989)

Season 2, Episode 7

5/10

The episode that shouldn't exist

3 February 2014

Warning: Spoilers

This episode shouldn't exist as it goes straight against Star Trek canon in every way.

First, since the Eugenics Wars, Earth and Federation law strictly bans any genetic experimentation on humans, so the mere existence of Darwin Station is impossible. In a canon episode, if a Starfleet vessel were to find Darwin Station, it would've been immediately shut down, the specimens and the research data destroyed and the personnel arrested.

If we discount this giant plot hole, there are still problems with the episode. When the Enterprise finds the USS Lantree and they gain remote control over the vessel, they just activate it's beacon and leave it floating in space. They don't inform Starfleet Command, they don't request a medical or science vessel to investigate, they don't order it to follow the Enterprise, they just leave a potentially really dangerous ship out in open space. Not to mention Picard leaves the Lantree with the keys in the ignition, so to say (it is totally empty but otherwise in perfect working order), so it's a prime target for any shady creatures happening by.

The story at Darwin Station is also shaky at best. According to the log, the Lantree left the station 3 days prior to the Enterprise finding it derelict in space. By the time the Enterprise reaches the station, the personnel down on the planet is already showing advanced symptoms, yet in 3 days they didn't put out a quarantine warning or distress signal, they didn't inform Starfleet (or anyone else), nothing. They didn't even try to warn the Enterprise away, they wait for the ship to hail them before they say anything at all, saying they "just declared a medical emergency". Really? It's only an emergency after you age 30 years in 3 days? Also, the Enterprise just shows up at the station unannounced, they seem genuinely surprised to see what is happening on the station when they first hail them. What? They didn't try to contact them through subspace? They didn't even try to call ahead, just straight up show up there.

Also, the standing quarantine protocols seem to leave much to be desired. There is ongoing debate about what to do next all throughout the episode, as if there is no real quarantine procedure at all. If there is a standing procedure, the captain, the CMO and the station personnel should follow it to the letter. But instead they all argue every step of the way as if it's up to debate. Even if that were the case, Doctor Pulaski trying to argue her point to Picard is utterly needless, since the CMO outranks the captain in medical matters anyway. Also, the sense of urgency regarding the "child" specimens is utterly forced and goes against even the simplest disease control rules. Why is it so important to beam them to the Enterprise on the double? Admittedly, they are totally isolated on the station, so they are perfectly safe, there is absolutely no need to move them anywhere until the doctors can figure out what's wrong. It's really reckless and dangerous to move anything out of a quarantine area unless absolutely necessary, which is not the case here. In fact, saying that the "children" are not sick doesn't mean anything, since they still could be carriers, which an accomplished disease specialist like Doctor Pulaski should know full well. Going as far as insisting to "breath the same air and touch them" is simply beyond stupid.

Finally, the ending puzzles me to no end. They decide to blow up the Lantree. This is puzzling for many reasons. First, blowing it up with photon torpedoes is reckless. The remaining flying debris could contain small pockets where the "disease" could hide. So unless they outright vaporize the entire ship, it could be even more dangerous to blast it to small pieces that could later contaminate some unsuspecting salvager. Also the Lantree is a fully functional and, I presume, quite "expensive" (in Star Trek terms) space ship. Not only that, but it's a Starfleet vessel. Now, that they finally found the nature of the "disease", it would be quite easy to set the bio-filters on the Lantree to get rid of the antibodies. If not that, just blast it with a huge dose of ionizing radiation or some other form of decontamination should work nicely. Destroying a perfectly good ship when it can be salvaged is pretty dumb.

All in all, this episode was terrible for many reasons and shouldn't even exist.

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The Mentalist: Red John (2013)

Season 6, Episode 8

Bursting the bubble

9 December 2013

This episode now ranks second on my Worst Finales Ever list, just after Dexter's finale. Full of giant plot holes, rushed script and no closure whatsoever. The laziest, most abysmal writing of all episodes so far in this series. Considering all the past seasons, it doesn't make any sense that person to be Red John. The "big reveal" was a flimsy fizzle and the "epic chase" was ridiculous. There is no payoff, no closure, no nothing.

Maybe the writers pulled one over us and this was not the real Red John, and they plan to bring him back later. Maybe. But if they really ended this plot here, it was the most horrible way to do it. I do see why the creators had to shake things up. It makes sense since the story was getting really stale, the series did need some fresh blood and direction. But doing it this way was a bad idea. Let's hope this shocker pays off in the long run, because if it doesn't, it will cause the demise of one of the best series in TV right now...

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How I Met Your Mother: Bedtime Stories (2013)

Season 9, Episode 11

After a series of thrashing, this one felt refreshing!

26 November 2013

I don't usually write reviews on episodes of series, but on this one I felt the need to get serious. Not every series can pull of a trick like this, since a gimmick like rhyming is mostly a hit-and-miss. The episodes in this season felt lackluster so far, the acting and the stories sure won't win an Oscar. But this one is at least something new, if a bit gimmicky, and was worth to watch, unlike the rest, which were rickety. I know my rhymes are a little forced, but so were the ones on the screen. Some of them were so bad and coarse, they almost made me scream.

I like, that they brought in the rapper dude from Dr. House. He busted some mad lines and rhymes that really brought down the house. But the short stories, too, were visions of past seasons, and I think they included them for all the wrong reasons. The episodes back then were really fun, charming and witty, but these later ones feel like they were designed by a committee. It seems the writers finally ran out of good ideas, so they chew on stripped bones like a bunch of starved hyenas. Using tropes like rhyming will only fly once, but including more of them won't help an ounce. I hope they soon come up with some better stories, or the audience will up go watch some other series...

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Dexter: Remember the Monsters? (2013)

Season 8, Episode 12

1/10

What the HELL was that?!

26 September 2013

Warning: Spoilers

Okay, let's get one thing out of the way first: I absolutely LOVED this series. It had it's ups and downs as far as quality goes, but all in all Dexter was a really good show and I would watch the re-runs forever. It had it's great moments, truly epic, never before seen scenes that would move mountains and it also had, at times, some of the worst possible blunders....like this ending.

After a quite stellar 7th season, I (and I assume everyone else) expected the creators to pull out all the stops, bring out the big guns and end one of the best series in TV history with a bang. But sadly, that's not what happened. The final season was simply the worst of Dexter, choke full of gaping plot holes, forced dialogue, dreadful blunders and characters undoing 7 seasons of character development.

But let's talk about this finale. Instead of a BANG, we got a lousy whimper utterly undeserving of such a great series. I know, writing a finale to such a great series after 8 years is a horribly thankless job, and no matter how you write it, most fans would hate it, if only just because it ended their favorite show. However, ruining the entire series with a terrible schlock like this finale is simply unacceptable. A room full of howler monkeys with a typewriter could've done a better job.

Bringing back Hannah was one of the biggest mistakes. It served no purpose other than sticking a huge flashing sign on her that says "MOTIVATION". She did nothing the whole season but sit in rooms and act concerned. Some of the biggest, most blatant plot holes were all Hannah's. Her face was plastered all over the news as a dangerous fugitive, and yet she didn't even bother to change her looks? No haircut or dye, hat, shades, different clothes, nothing? She was busted by a simple hospital receptionist for gods sake, yet she passed airport security right up to the departure gates? WHAT?! Looks aside, how did she explain away the syringe full of horse tranquilizer? I assume she had it all along and it didn't just magically appear en-route to the bus terminal. Even if security was dumb, SOMEONE should've recognized her! She also stabbed a guy with a syringe on a packed bus, yet nobody bats and eye. Then she strolls through security at YET ANOTHER airport? Damn...

How about Saxon? The walking plot device, without whom there would've been no season 8. His presence is only to serve as a beating stick and a disposable plot generator. Being a total psychopath, he shows a considerable amount of emotion and utter lack of common sense when he just casually stumbles into the hospital filled with cops and media, and goes after the person that's the sole reason for them being there? After he makes his dramatic entrance by depositing a cruelly mangled victim (who's tongue he cut out in a vehicle parked on a high-traffic street in broad daylight) to the doorstep of said hospital, he just waltzes in and strolls around clearly drenched in blood without anyone noticing? Keep in mind, there is a MANHUNT after the guy, his face is plastered all over the news. *sigh* Don't even get me started on the holding cell scene. When given a weapon and cornered like an animal, fully aware he is going to be killed one way or another and he has only one shot, (Saxxon being a fully experienced, seasoned killer himself) he stabs Dexter in the shoulder. Yes, the shoulder. As in Hollywood's go-to "it's just a flesh-wound" spot. Really? REALLY?! And after Dexter quite predictably goes for the jugular, a few minutes later Batista just lets him leave for Argentina? WHAT?

All that aside, Michael C. Hall's acting (or rather, the lack thereof) was the worst, most cringe-worthy thing in the entire finale. After being handed a script this stupid, I assume nobody would've done any better, but still, he could've tried at least instead of this "why bother" attitude. Being at the deathbed of Dexter's dearly beloved sister, pulling the plug and then unceremoniously dumping her body in the ocean (right near his other victims), all he manages is a series of clearly forced, wimpy frowns? If anything, one would've assumed THIS would make Dexter flip the hell out, trash a room, scream, cry, beat himself up, ANYTHING. But no, all we get is a tired-looking, mopey, stone faced Dexter with a "meh" attitude. Pathetic.

Adding insult to injury, the totally-unnecessary-but-crammed-in-anyway- for-the-sake-of-spinoffs epilogue. After magically surviving a giant hurricane on the ocean (which wrecked his boat to splinters), we see a totally unharmed Dexter in what I assume Alaska, sporting a horrible looking fake beard and nonchalantly working as a....lumberjack? Of all the things, this is the best they could come up with? A lumberjack? The very last ending picture is this hollow shell, we once knew as Dexter, tiredly looking at the camera with a "are we done yet?" expression on his face. Why? Just...why?

I don't know what were they thinking. I assume they were just "lets get this done quickly, because I need to look for another job now". Sad. Real sad. It's particularly infuriating too, because unlike the great majority of series, they knew full well Dexter is going to end TWO YEARS beforehand. They had ample time and opportunity to write a two-season story arc to tie everything into a neat little bow. But apparently they shot their load at season 7 and the energy and drive was simply lost by the end. Shame. Now not only we have to deal with one of our favorite series ending, we have to deal with the awful taste this finale left in our mouths, that sours the entire show in our memory....

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Monster (2004–2005)

8/10

A seriously unique crime-drama

21 August 2013

Let's get this out of the way first: I REALLY liked Monster! But, I wouldn't watch it again...

Monster is a down-to-Earth psychological crime drama. At first it might appear to have supernatural elements, but I won't spoil it for you. After watching the entire thing, I would say Monster would've been great as a live-action TV series, which couldn't be said for any other anime I watched so far (and I watched quite a lot). It has everything a great series needs, a cast of characters that the audience can care about, action-packed scenes to liven up the pretty in-depth crime drama, great character development, a good story full of twists and turn that will keep you coming back for more and an astonishing and realistic art-style to wrap it all together. During it's 74 episodes it brings up many hard questions about the human psyche, morality and human connections, relationships. How far are we willing to go to accomplish our goals? How much of your humanity are you willing to trade in for them? What is "humanity" anyway? Some of the episodes are frighteningly realistic in describing the human condition and it doesn't back down from touching really hard social and historical taboos either. No, it grabs you by the hair and slams your face in them saying "Look! That's what you are!". I can safely say Monster was one of the most unique and thought-provoking experiences I've ever had.

But, (and yes, here comes the "but") Monster is anything but perfect. While it's action-packed and suspenseful story would stand great on it's own, it's sadly spread too thin and too long. The story needlessly drags on for 74 episodes and the ending feels more like a coup de grace than closure. The cast of main characters is huge, and while they are really well made and fleshed out, we are continuously introduced to a slew of new side-characters that have barely any relevance to the main story (if at all). The writers regularly go off on tangents just to demonstrate a small plot point or tidbits of (mostly irrelevant) character backstory, bringing in and taking out characters on a whim after they "served their purpose". In the end, they were seemingly just struggling to give enough individual screen-time to their monstrously bloated cast (pun intended), and it only makes the audience lose interest in them and lose count on who is who why they are even there.

The story is mostly delivered in (sometimes painfully dragged out) exposition. The story lurches forward in needlessly detailed investigation sequences flooded with meaningless trivia and extra character backstory that have little to no bearing on the main story itself. The story regularly branches off into dead-ends and meaningless side-plots that fill entire episodes yet don't bring anything new or interesting to the table. The sheer amount of dialogue and narration in Monster would fill entire volumes of books. Even the exposition itself is riddled by double-takes, needlessly repeated "remembering" segments and a ton of redundant, rephrased information. You can seriously skip entire dozens of episodes and still understand everything since the characters and the exposition keep repeating themselves over and over. The whole series could've been distilled down to a neat 30-35 episodes without losing any of the story.

My third (entirely personal) beef is with the setting. Unlike most anime, the entire story of Monster takes place in 80's and 90's Europe (mostly Germany and the former Czechoslovakia). See, I was born and still living in Europe, I lived in the time and place the show takes place. Monster being a work of fiction, I chalked up most of the factual, cultural and historical errors to "writer's freedom" and "suspension of disbelief" and such. While the creators of the anime obviously did their homework and got most of the big things right, there were some things that bugged me more than they should've. Little, insignificant things that most people from other parts of the world would miss, were just screaming at me from the screen. Getting used to the obviously Japanese mannerisms, phrases and behaviors forced upon the allegedly European characters is one thing. But small details like choice of words, type of foods/drinks, fashion, architecture or even music in some places were just flat our wrong and felt so out of place that it shoved me right out of the immersion. I know it sounds lame, but since the creators obviously tried to recreate the setting realistically, I just couldn't help it.

I know I spent most of this review pandering on what's wrong with Monster, but the truth is, I really liked it, and I stand by my score of 8/10. It's really worth watching for everyone who desires something other than the run-of-mill anime, something unique. If you can overlook the droll exposition and sometimes aimlessly branching and dragged out storytelling, you'll find a really suspenseful and interesting story of crime and punishment, dark secrets, interesting characters, huge plot twists, thrilling psychological expeditions into the human mind and soul and much more.

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Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

4/10

This is NOT how mental disorders work...

20 January 2013

I was so curious what makes this movie the most awesome rom-com in the entire world that re-defined the genre and whatnot, because this hype avalanche came rushing at me wherever I looked. So I caved and I decided to see it for myself. It wasn't the best idea...

I've dealt with mental disorders in the family and amongst friends, and even myself. I know that doesn't make me an expert and I don't claim to be one. I can only draw from my personal experience with this stuff, and according to that, this is NOT how it works. Not even close. This movie is just using all the correct narrative tools to FOOL you into believing this is how it supposed to work. No, mental disorders, bi-polars, schizophrenia, obsessions, psychotic episodes are NOT quirky or slapstick, and people screaming nonsensical BS at each other is NOT drama. Also, no, you cannot magically cure mental illness by dancing with an equally mentally screwed up girl. That's not how things in life work.

I have to say the acting is first class across the board. No complaints there, it's excellent. That's all the 4 stars up there. I believe the actors did the best they could with the screenplay they've been given. But sadly the screenplay is so far torn from all things realistic, that's what makes it hollow. It has some genuinely good moments, at some places I really saw something shining through, but then it immediately does something so stupid, so predictable, so clichéd, so movie-esque that destroyed all the immersion that's been built up.

I know that's not fair to criticize a movie for not being realistic, because it's a movie, it's not supposed to be, but in this case all the praise I see unleashed on Silver Linings Playbook is about how realistic it is with real emotions and a realistic depiction of mental disorders. No, it isn't! If you want to see a realistic depiction of mental illness, visit a mental ward at a hospital. Don't worry, it's free, you can visit any time you want. Getting in is not the hard part, but getting out...

Long story short, this is an average rom-com movie, with great acting and a good story layout that's been ultimately destroyed by Hollywood clichés. It's certainly not the bestest, awesomest, genre-defining, Oscar hogging masterpiece some people make it out to be. Also, if you haven't dealt with mental disorders in your life, don't believe this is how it looks like, because it doesn't. Thanks for reading.

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John Dies at the End (2012)

5/10

Good movie, but not what JDatE deserved!

3 January 2013

Yes, I'm biased because I read the book. I read it back when it was a continuing series of short stories written for Halloween by David Wong at PWoT. I read it when it was finished and freely available to read on the internet. I read it when it was published in hard copy (I have an autographed copy, sent to me by David himself). Yes, I read it over and over again because JDatE is basically the best reading experience I've ever had to that point or ever since. That's why I'm utterly disappointed with this movie. Let me explain:

JDatE is quite a long book, about 500 pages. Kind of like any of the LotR or Harry Potter books. Yet each of those deserved a three hour movie and JDatE had to be crammed into a one and half hour one. You just can't do that! The thing about JDatE is, you kind of can't cut anything out of it without crippling the whole story. You can shorten bits or leave out irrelevant side-plots, but this movie adaptation simply mutilated the source material to the point it simply doesn't resemble JDatE at all.

Why is the ax bit at the start of the movie and not the shed scene? Why put in the metaphor for something and not put in the actual point for it being there? Where are all of Amy's scenes? She was the most awesome character in the entire book with the biggest and most well written character arc, but now she is just nothing. Where are bags of flesh? The TV guy? The drain cleaner factory bit? She has been simply nullified as a character, and the fact she and David being a couple at the end doesn't even make sense now. What about the port-a-john scene? Or where is the entire Las Vegas bit, that contained huge chunks of important plot and the best jokes in the book? The whole story has been entirely crippled in favor for making it a quirky, slapstick slasher nonsense instead of bone-chilling horror with laugh-out-loud d*ck jokes.

But the little things bugged me the most. Why Bark Lee? WHY? Molly, the female goldie has been turned into a male dog named Bark Lee, that's not even the correct breed! Why?! It doesn't make sense! Was it so hard to get a female golden retriever? Also, Amy's name is Amy Sullivan not Larking and why is she at the party instead of Jennifer Lopez when she is a shy, anti-social shut-in because of her hand? I could go on and on about things that anyone who read the book would scream at the screen for in frustration.

But, if I forget the book for a second, the movie was good. I've never seen Bubba Ho-Tep or any of Coscarelli's movies, but as low budget as it is, it's remarkably well done. The actors are great, the cinematography is really good for a film of this caliber and the special effects are kind of okay. If they'd stayed (way more) closer to the source material, this would've been a great movie! But now it's just kind of okay.

If you didn't read the book yet, by golly DO IT! This movie has basically nothing to do with JDatE's REAL story. Even if you didn't like the movie, I'm fairly sure you'll like the book!

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Dexter: Argentina (2012)

Season 7, Episode 8

10/10

The Best episode so far!

19 November 2012

Even before the credits rolled I knew I simply HAD to give this episode a review. I watched tons of series but I almost never review individual episodes (I've done that only twice up until now), but Dexter's Argentina deserves it. It can be argued, that the action or the signature crime/ritual murder/puzzle part was just plain absent. Also, Micheal C. Hall's acting felt a little plastic and forced in some places. But from an emotional and story standpoint, Argentina ranks in my Top 3 of all Dexter episodes. It was a really wild roller-coaster ride.

On one hand, Dexter made some of the biggest, stupidest, most obvious mistakes in the entire series to the point of almost breaking character. I was literally cringing/facepalming at many points. Now, I can see these only served one purpose: lurching the plot forward. Which led up to THE best two scenes in the season.

The first one was Deb's breakdown. It was one of, if not THE best performance of Jennifer Carpenter I've ever seen. The dialogue, the weight of her gestures and the genuine emotional filling took it away. I could totally believe she was seriously freaking out. I mean it looked, sounded and felt totally legit, with the little nervous outbursts, the storm of different emotions wanting to burst out to the surface all at once, even the tiniest of things, like how she cramped her fingers together. I mean, I saw many girls freaking out, and this is EXACTLY how it looks like, she couldn't have acted it any better even if she tired to. I don't know how much of that was cold script and how much was ad- libbed, but it was friggin eerie. Maybe she WAS freaking out, I dunno (seeing as she and Micheal C. Hall used to be an item, she no doubt has a reserve to pull from when it came to freaking out at him, even if it was for show). All I can say is: simply amazing!

The second one was the bar scene between Dex and Isaac. Ray Stevenson's performance in that scene was right up to Jennifer's. The "great reveal" didn't hit so hard, since most of us already suspected...that, but the way Ray delivered the whole thing, was just amazing. He gave a tremendous performance as Isaac all through the episodes, but this was his pinnacle moment up to this point. I truly believed the dialogue had real emotional backing for him (as much for Isaac as for Ray himself), and that snippet of script was solid gold. Yes, from a logical, character or story standpoint that scene should've never happened, but I'm still thankful it did. The things said in that scene maybe hit a little to close to home regarding losing loved ones, but that doesn't diminish any of the value in them.

All that, coupled with the ending adds up to one of the most powerful episodes in the entire series so far, and that's saying something.

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The Intouchables (2011)

9/10

Now, I understand the hype...

13 July 2012

Okay, so my first concern why I didn't want to watch The Intouchables was the story itself. Like it was scavenged from a Hollywood studio's thrash can: "A disgustingly rich quadriplegic guy hires a down-on-his- luck young man from the projects to be his personal aid. The cool dude shows the stuck up old man how to have fun and in return the rich guy teaches him about arts, manners and whatnot. Initially they have a few quarrels that mostly derives from the social, racial and age difference (and that the man is actually paralyzed from the neck down) but in the end they grow close and live happily ever after." That really sounds like something Hollywood might cook up. Like Scent of a Woman or Flawless.

But here's the catch: This movie is based on true events. Not in the sense as Titanic for example, where the only historically accurate fact was that "the ship sunk". It really how it happened in real life as depicted in this movie. Philippe Pozzo Di Borgo (the real life billionaire who this movie is about) personally oversaw the making of this movie to make sure it depicted the story of him and Abdel Sellou (his aid) as realistically as possible. Sure, they took a little artistic license here and there, but it's mostly accurate.

The thing about cripples and terminally ill patients is that most people don't know how to handle them. Dr. House said it best in the series, that once people know you have cancer, from then on everything will be about cancer. People will feel obligated to feel sorry for you 24/7. They will be overly attentive, overly helpful to the point of annoying and will be really careful about how they talk to you. They will never ever just be themselves around you. Even if you've accepted your condition a long time ago, and sometimes you just wanna forget your debilitating disease, you'll be reminded every single time by these people who cannot NOT see the cripple or the person with the death sentence when they look at you.

What this movie offers is a unique insight into a relationship that defies this. Driss is brash, brazen and completely disregards the notion of feeling sorry for Phillip. He acknowledges the fact that he is a quadriplegic, and he slowly learns to take care of him, but he seemingly refuses to be the gloomy oh-I'm-so-sorry kind of hypocrite society wants him to be. Instead, he makes fun of Phillip's condition on many occasions making even Phillip himself laugh. He introduces a fresh and invigorating energy into Phillip's life, which makes him see the world in a new light. Instead of wallowing in the sad and painful past, he starts to look to the future, take chances and make the best of what he can of what he still has.

All in all, The Intouchables was a really positive surprise. It's not a perfect movie but it's a perfect story.

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Buried (2010)

7/10

Unique in it's own right but flawed in some ways

23 June 2011

After reading all the conflicting reviews about Buried that range from "Absolute Masterpiece of the Century" to "boring, stupid waste of time", I decided to see it for myself. I concluded, that both sides have merit to their words.

The movie sees truck driver Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) waking up inside a buried wooden box after his supply convoy got attacked in Iraq by insurgents. Armed with only a phone, a lighter and little else, he needs to get out of there alive. It's hard to write a review about this movie without spoiling anything, so no more story details, go watch it if your are interested.

First of all, Buried really is a unique movie in it's own right. Made with the budget of about a weekly grocery shopping, it's one of best made minimalist thrillers out there. The camera work, the lighting the directing and the music is great and we can see one of (if not THE) best and most believable acting performance of Ryan Reynolds. There is rarely a dull moment during the entire movie, when you'd last expect it, it pulls a new trick on you. This is all a huge feat, since the whole movie takes place inside a simple wooden box. Well done! What I had problems with is the screenplay and the faults in logic and the failure of common sense. I can't even state an example without revealing spoilers, but there are some blatantly obvious faults in logic concerning possible ways of escape, conserving oxygen and using the tools at Paul's disposal. Even in moments of sheer desperation Paul remains aloof and seemingly unaware of his surroundings and the hints he gets. Another problem is with the reaction of various people he talks to on the phone. And the last problem is the blatant un-/misuse of the features of the modern smartphone they use in the movie, that could've possibly provided immensely more help.

It's a nightmare to dance around the spoiler-mines, so to wrap it up I only say, that if you like thrillers and/or uniquely crafted movies, go watch Buried, and you will get a really nice experience.

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How I Met Your Mother: Bad News (2011)

Season 6, Episode 13

9/10

The Big Dip

18 February 2011

I have very mixed feelings about this episode. I very rarely comment on IMDb, even more rarely on series and almost never on individual episodes. This is one major exception (*salute* "Major Exception").

I never thought a comedy sitcom can (or should) pull this off, but it happened. The thing I call "The Big Dip", on the emotional roller-coaster. Drama series regularly try to pull this off, and fail, because the audience expects it, but you never expect is from a lighthearted comedy sitcom. The only other series that pulled this off at least commendably is Dexter.

The Big Dip: making the audience feel really good, happy and content, when you least expect it (usually at the very end of the episode), it suddenly breaks it with an earth-shattering revelation that suddenly flips the spectrum and makes you so sad you wanna cry. On a graph, it would look the the "happiness" slowly rising, and reach 10 (max) right before the end, and then outta the blue suddenly drop to not 0, but -10. Like the big dip on the roller-coaster. Drama series can't pull this off, because they start from 0 and drop from there, but funny sitcoms go from 10 to -10 in a heartbeat and that is a shock because you never expect it.

I won't spoil what happens, but from the title of the episode (Bad News) you can guess it's pretty sad. I only give it 9 stars, because I think funny sitcoms shouldn't do this, but it was so well executed I can't help but applaud the writers and actors. It's a unique episode I will never forget.

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Lymelife (2008)

7/10

Made me feel awful...

13 February 2011

...but that does not necessarily mean Lymelife is bad. The movie is about dysfunctional, broken families and relationships, and I (and I bet many others who watched the movie) also come from a dysfunctional, broken family and had many bad relationships. The fact, that this movie was capable of building on that and making me feel even worse is something to celebrate. Most movies doesn't even come close to inciting any emotion whatsoever, but Lymelife did. Sure, it made me feel miserable, but that just goes to show this movie had what it takes to reach it's audience. That's great.

Aside from that, the movie itself is pretty average, with average actors, screenplay and story. For those who doesn't understand it, it could be dull and meaningless. But for those who did live through approximately the same s__t that's in Lymelife, they might just go home with a strange feeling...

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Poligamy (2009)

7/10

Not the best, but definitely intriguing and entertaining

11 June 2010

On first sight, Poligamy looks and smells like your run of the mill romantic summer movie. But there is a huge twist, that makes it one of the most entertaining and intriguing films of the modern Hungarian movie scene.

The story kicks off as anyone would expect. András, the mildly successful screenwriter moves in with his girlfriend Lilla after a five year relationship. They seem to live a fairly normal life until one morning András wakes up beside a totally different girl...who also calls herself Lilla and acts like nothing happened. Utter confusion and occasional hilarity ensues. The story revolves around András, who tries to solve the unreal puzzle, all the while thinking that either him or the world has gone insane.

Poligamy is anything but average. The story is clever, mysterious and you'll never know what's reality and what's not. The emotions seem much more real than average American romantic movies and the actors are very talented. If you want to watch an intriguing and clever romantic movie with the occasional humor sprinkled on top, Poligamy is one move for you. It's not the best, but it's still pretty awesome!

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Lost: The Constant (2008)

Season 4, Episode 5

10/10

Lost needs "anchors" like this The Constant!

1 June 2010

Okay, let me start by stating, that I VERY rarely post reviews to series, let alone individual episodes, but this one is one bloody special occasion. (dang, even the bloody accent stuck on me) I just watched The Constant 3 minutes ago...

I watched Lost when it first started airing, but stopped mid-season 2 because I lost interest. (get it? "Lost" interest? har har" Now, that the series final aired not so long ago, and all of the other series I watch are on summer hiatus, I thought I give Lost another chance, so I went ahead, bought the DVDs and popped them into the player one-by-one. The first three seasons were cool, especially the second and the ending of the third (which I presume, supposed to be end of the series). Now, the fourth season started out by confusing the ever living Bejeezus outta me, and then some. Suddenly, the series I watched for 3 full seasons stopped making any damned sense. None whatsoever. Characters started acting entirely irrationally, going against their own personalities and everything they built for 3 seasons. Things started happening that made absolutely no sense in or even out of context. The carefully constructed flashbacks turned into totally ridiculous and confusing flashforwards. The first four episodes of season 4 were a total inexplicable mess.

Then "The Constant" came, with Desmond in the leading role. I don't know if everyone sees this episodes as a brilliant masterpiece because it's a breath of fresh air after the lackluster season start, or if it's really that good, but it sure had a lasting effect on me. Seriously, it's one of, or maybe THE best episode of the series so far. I loved just about everything about it, the story, the directing, the characters, the...well, everything. It's awesome! I'm not going to ramble on any further, I just say: Lost needs (needed) more "anchors" like this episode.

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Kissing Cousins (2008)

6/10

This movie is wrong on so many levels...

29 August 2009

...but it's awesome on so many levels, too. I have very mixed feelings about Kissing Cousins. It threads on very thin ice, both morally and emotionally. As the title suggests, the movie has cousins kissing in it.That alone can deter or even disgust some people. On the other hand, the acting is great, especially Rebecca Hazlewood who gives an outstanding performance despite the lousy script.

The story itself is a risky venture into the taboos and sensitive parts of today's relationships. Break-ups, friendships, old wounds, fears, desires, misconceptions and forbidden love, it's all in there. It was an awesome movie, it was progressing beautifully and...it just ended.

Yes, my main problem with Kissing Cousins: it's unfinished. I was waiting for some epilogue, some moral lesson, some closure, but it never comes. Poof, credits. I know it's left to our imagination what happens after the "final" line is said in a movie, but there is no "final" line here, something is missing.

The script is full of holes and unexplained, undetailed things. It's like the movie is missing some scenes. The only thing saving this movie from the gutter is the idea. It boldly goes where no big romance story has gone before, but ultimately fails to deliver the final word. I'm quite sorry about that. But if you want to see a great love-story, watch it, you won't regret it.

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The Broken (2008)

4/10

Well, it IS Broken alright...

30 March 2009

I read about this movie in a magazine and I was intrigued. A woman, who one day sees herself drive past in her own car. Well, I thought, this could be interesting...

...but it isn't. First, the title. The Broken? The Broken...what? What is broken? The...oh, wait...I get it, the title itself is "broken"! WOW, clever! Unfortunately, this is virtually the only thing going for it.

The premise is not that bad, but I think Kiefer Suderland did much better in 'Mirrors'. A cross between Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Mirrors, and a rather mediocre one at that. A more suited title would be 'The Boring', since it draws out every single scene for bloody ages. Or maybe 'The Confusing' since it doesn't explain anything at all, not in the narrative nor in the story itself, only some vague idea about evil copies and somesuch, dotted with cheap scares and scenes used to death, but nothing tangible. It's just messed up.

On the other hand, the acting and the special effects are quite good, but then again, it's not a difficult role to act.

After watching the movie twice, I still feel unsatisfied, a little confused maybe, and not in the E. A. Poe or Stephen King kind of way. Do yourself a favor, and don't watch this one. Simply put, there are better thrillers out there.

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The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations (2009)

3/10

It's a time-paradox that this movie even exists...

30 March 2009

I saw the first two movies of the series. The first one was pretty good, the second one was a disaster, and I didn't think that there could be even worse... I was so wrong.

Butterfly Effect 3 has virtually nothing to do with the first two movies, except the "going back" thing. There is no backstory, there is no introduction of the characters, there is some confusing plot, that revolves around time travel, but that does not save it from being a "meh." Basically, Butterfly Effect: Revelation strikes right into the middle of the story. cutting away all that was good about the first movie. It capitalizes on time travel paradoxes, and how changing the past changes everything. A very vague and used premise, that has been killed by many other awful movies. This film doesn't help either.

If you really want to get the most out of the Butterfly Effect, watch the first movie, and the first movie only. Trust me, you won't miss a thing.

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Outlander (2008)

9/10

The Space Marine, the Vikings, and the Alien Space Dragon

3 February 2009

I stumbled upon this move by accident, but being a sci-fi and fantasy nerd, I watched it, despite the fact that sci-fi movies nowadays tend to be rather poor.

The story begins with Kainan (James Caviezel) crash landing his spaceship into a lake, in the middle of Viking-land, in 709 AD. With his co-pilot dead, and his ship in ruins, sunken to the bottom of the lake, he uses his only working piece of technology to teach himself the norsk language. (I laughed my head off, when the first word he utters in Earth language is the "F" word :D) Wandering around in a forest, he is found by Wulfric (Jack Huston) and brought back to his village. They think Kainen is responsible for brutally ransacking a nearby village, and when Kainen tells them he is hunting for a "dragon", he is labeled as a liar and enemy. When in fact, the "dragon" he is referring to, is a monster from another planet, now hunting the viking populace and fauna of the land. Soon, when the villagers start vanishing and turning up as mutilated corpses, the vikings realize that Kainen might be telling the truth after all...

I gotta say, combining space marines and alien monsters with a fantasy Viking setting intrigued me to no end. Outlander is the living proof, that such a combination can result in a very good and entertaining 115 minutes. Although the story is a little shallow, lacking in huge plot-twists and deep character development, but it is enough to keep the attention between the awesomely gory fight scenes.

The acting is good enough, with the Christian Bale look-alike Caviezel, and the great but short performance of Ron Perlman, it manages to be captivating. We see far more swordplay than pulse rifle shoot-outs, so the sci-fi part of the film is largely suppressed to make way for the epic battle between the vikings and the moorvens, but that's just how it must be in this movie. The fight scenes are nicely choreographed and acted, the special effects are more than awesome, and the whole is movie is just great.

I'd like to point out, that the Moorven is most astonishing space monster I've ever seen. With the clever colored pulsing and the well thought-out anatomy of the beast, it manages to be best so far.

It's not the best movie I've seen, but it's still great, and every sci-fi and fantasy fan should go see it.

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W. (I) (2008)

2/10

Bordering on criminally offensive and murderously boring...

30 January 2009

I say it out loud, I couldn't get myself to watch this train wreck of a movie till the end. I just stopped watching approx. thirty minutes into it, but my mind couldn't take more of this complete and utter BS. As many commenters said, it's a whitewash of the Bush administration. Stone presents good 'ol Dubyah as a spoiled daddy's boy, who can't decide between getting drunk chasing skirts and making half-hearted attempts at winning over his father. Oh, poor little W., so innocent, so brave... NOT! This whole movie is a farce, a propaganda, starting from the lies about 9/11 (sure, a few goat-herders from the godforsaken wastes of Afghanistan pulled off the biggest, most expensive, most elaborate sneak-attack the world has ever seen...yeah, right...), then the lies about the war on Iraq (we brought you freedom!), and finally making every single man on the administration look like a saint. It's madness. And to drive the stake even deeper, it's so boring, I thought I fall through my mouth when I yawned. For one, it doesn't say anything about Dubyah we could care about. If anything, this movie made me care even less, and thats saying something. And second, the acting is so terrible, even if the script was good, the actors made sure it will fail utterly and completely. And to add insult to injury, it doesn't do justice to the few people who deserves it, either.

All in all, W. is a total failure, as a movie, as a biography, even as a satire or mockumentary. It fails on so many levels, it's hard to count. Spare yourself 2 hours and don't watch this...

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Homeworld (2008)

5/10

This story deserves a "real" movie...

2 January 2009

After reading the summary here, I got interested and finally gave Homeworld a chance. I still have mixed feelings. Sci-fi movies nowdays tend to be awful, so I was a bit skeptic all through this movie, and for part of it, I was right.

Let's get the bad things out of the way first: low-grade special effects, the script is awful, and the props and camera-work could be better. Homeworld being an extremely low budget movie, these things are kinda expected, so no biggie there. The acting is a little corny too, but seemingly the actors are giving their best at least. The characters have speaker names (Gray, Bane, Heart, Fulsome...etc), which is kinda strange in a movie like this, but at least they are mostly true to their characters.

The good part is the story itself. Although it feels like it was taken square out of Outer Limits, it still enjoyable. The ending is the best. It manages to do a rare thing, which is to turn the tables around, making an awful movie feel much better in the long run. It completes the story, but leaves the rest for the imagination. Loved it.

Interesting concept and good story. Too bad the low budget ruined the picture. Better script and dialogs, better props, scenery and effects could've made the difference. Homeworld is not a bad movie, but sadly, not a real good one either. If you like a good story, give it a try. If you are out for the flashy CGI, Homeworld is not a movie for you.

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Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (2005)

7/10

A decent documentary, but a little superficial

14 November 2008

I surprisingly found this DVD hidden in dark and secluded section of a local DVD store, mostly reserved for B grade flicks, art and indie material. Me being a metal-head myself, was thrilled about watching a documentary that digs into the world's most controversial and "forbidden" style of music/art/life. The experience was a little odd.

The first few seconds into the film, when the all familiar intro of Number of the Beast began, with the clips of metal-heads on screen, I shivered, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. I felt something very rare, I felt "I'm at home, baby!" \m/ I won't go ramble on about the things everyone knows. Yes, this film is awesome. It has that rare atmosphere, that only a true metal-head could create, like Sam Dunn. If you are a true rocker, you'll feel in sync with the guy, you'll know what he is talking about and why, but if you aren't into metal, you'll have a hard time understanding some of the meaning.

My biggest problem with this doc, is the same as the others: it's too superficial. For me, it's too much about satanism, gore and torching of churches. For me, metal is not about that. Metal is a form of expression, a way of life. I wanted to see more about metal from around the world.

For an anthropologist, Dunn is far too concerned about the different styles of back and death metal, rather than reviewing metal as a phenomenon and culture around the world. He focuses on the US and Norway, but that is just a little piece of the big picture. What about the rest of Europe? What about eastern metal or other regions of the world? What about the other genres of metal? I wanted to hear more about the different genres, the history and pioneers of each of them...etc, how those evolved and transformed over the years, and who are the artists that made it happen.

In a nutshell, it's too one-sided, too narrow perspective. I know it's only 90 minutes, but it could've been done. Okay, I'm maybe splitting hairs here. I agree, it's a decent documentary, and for such an (pardon the term) amateur team, it's a very good film about metal, but it left me with a nagging feeling of "something's missing", it's somehow not complete, and I guess that's what most people are feeling about this documentary. The interviews are very well done, but with the wrong people. I wanted to hear more big names, more name bands and real pioneers of metal. I know the film is very low-budget, and they probably couldn't pay for an interview with Ozzy, Lars, Joacim Cans or even Serj Tankian, but I really miss those bits from a documentary about metal. Other than that, its a pleasant experience, and I recommend it for every metal-head and non-metal-head out there.

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