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1983 (2018)
Surprisingly good political thriller set in Orwellian universe
Tl;dr:
This might be one of the best depictions of Orwellian nature of corrupted government. The story paints the interesting picture of communism, nationalism and rebellion in their dark, deeply flawed natures. If that sounds like it might interest you, give it a try.
I loved:
Excellent acting in main roles as well as their character development as the story progressed. Scenic design was awesome, lots of right angles and concrete and glass, typical of commie Europe. The story takes bunch of left turns along the way, develops on multiple fronts and keeps you guessing. Have anyone told me this was based on Tom Clancy's novel - I would have believed it.
I disliked:
Plot is organically developing in discovery and further complicated by two timelines (83/03) which makes it hard to follow. Dialogues seem to lose something in translation at times, which isn't uncommon in foreign cinematography but makes me wonder who did Netflix target by this show.
Jack Ryan (2018)
A generic, B grade TV thriller (S01)
Unlike Clancy books (or even movies), this show lacks the thing that make his books - nuance. The show struggles to get the basics right, never mind the details - people don't die instantly after abdomen shots in real life, noise suppressors don't make pew-pew noise, agents handle their firearms proficiently and actually clear the building, plans go wrong - baddies and good guys constantly readjust. If you have ever read any of Clancy's books, you get the picture.
The only thing that scripts have in common with books/movies are multiple separate story lines that ultimately merge together, but somehow they feel like pieces of different shows merged together, instead of helping the viewer piece main story together. At no point did I feel like I couldn't see exactly what is going to happen next. Whole CIA office subplot is a mere content filler, it needs not to be there, it serves no purpose and (mild spoiler alert) it gets thrown to the garbage in closing minute of S01.
Krasinsky (Jack) is a decent, but unexceptional actor. He has his moments, then there are some fairly dull ones. There is virtually zero chemistry between him and Cornish (Cathy, love interest), all of their scenes feel forced and nonsensical.
Pierce plays _his_ role as well as you would expect, if you have ever seen him play in any series, you know exactly what to expect.
If you are a fan of Tom Clancy, do yourself a favor and skip this one.
I'm actually giving this 6 star rating because that is probably where this show should be, even though I can see how Tom Clancy fans are disappointed tremendously with this.
Beirut (2018)
Decent if not exceptional thriller
It's a _fictional_ spy thriller with decent acting and captivating, multi layered story. If you like these movies (Green Zone, Body of Lies, ...) you are gonna like this one.
If you like to get offended over Hollywood's insensitive portrayal of Lebanon history, whitewashing and that kind of stuff, you will love (to hate) this movie as well.
Homeland (2011)
S08 review
After disappointing last 2 seasons, S08 started off very slow and just as I was ready to give up on the show, things got a lot more interesting with plot revolving around hot topics drawing inspiration from real life USA.
Fake news, unstable president, russian meddling with Carrie in midst of it all - what more do you want?
Season finale was somewhat of a letdown, else I would probably rate one star higher, but regardless, this season reminded me why I felt in love with the show in the first place.
Mother! (2017)
WTF
I do not understand anything about this movie.
What the F* is the point here? Where is the plot? What is the plot?
As much as I like the actors in the movie and even their performance, the movie just left me with unanswered questions. I can live with surrealism. Fuck, I even like surrealism. But seriously, what the f* is this movie about? I couldn't tell.
If it's meant to provoke some thoughts, what exactly it's mean to provoke?
I liked Jennifers tits as much as the next guy, but what does that mean?
There wasn't any cliffhanger, there is no message or the substance in the movie as far I can tell. It attacks most basic fears that all of us have, but to what end?
Creepily, the plot gets less and less believable and surreal by the minute. but that's it, as far I can tel there isn't any deeper meaning, there isn't really plot here.
I was hoping whole time that she would go mental at any moment and started killing people out of absurdity alone, waking up in a mental hospital, explaining her twisted point of view. None of that happened, plausibly she remained sane for the entirety of the movie that carried no message to the audience.
It's like a Picasso painting that nobody really gets but people pretend to just so that they can feel superior to people who don't get it. As far I can tell there is no deeper meaning, no message here.
What is even worse, the movie doesn't even provoke any real discussion, doesn't leave any room for different interpretations which you could argue with you friends.
In the end, all that goes trough your mind is "is that it?".
The Mist (2017)
Better than rankings would suggest
I have absolutely no idea why people give it such a bad ratings, because I don't give a *** about a book or a movie in this review.
The story and its many story lines converge just slowly enough to keep people guessing. Show is pretty dark and contains bunch of controversial characters, but ultimately everything feels very organic and intriguing. You might not like some (or most of) characters, but ultimately their actions and motivations all make sense. One could argue it's filled with clichés, but show often flips them around and surprises you.
Definitely worth a watch, but be warned, no sunshines and rainbows.
## RANT If you like to be offended, then you will get offended by it, no reason to watch it or whine in reviews. Yeah, good guys turned out to be the bad guys. So *** what.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)
Final nail in the coffin
I'm going to be honest with you outright, unless you are a die hard fan of the series, don't even bother watching this movie.
First 30 minutes of the movie will make you wanna quit outright, one pointless encounter after another. One deus ex machina after another. Plot is completely predictable in that some kind of bullshit is gonna happen and Alice is going to come out alive every time. Movie directly steals scenes from old movies which only reminds you of how RE used to _not_ suck few movies ago. Pacing is horrible, early on, faith of the humanity is predicted hours in advance in order to make the "ticking time bomb" plot device happen. After that happens, you can safely skip to last 10 minutes when conclusion happens and plot holes from previous movies are somewhat patched. Everything about this movie is awful, from shaky camera, poor acting performances, somehow much worse CGI than in older movies. Sets, scenes and even brain-dead enemies are reused over and over.
Gave it three stars because it closed the main plot line and finally managed to kill the series that started out surprisingly strong and progressively got worse and worse until there was nowhere else to go.
Jason Bourne (2016)
This isn't a Bourne 4, this is Die Hard 5.
Can't help myself but I expected way more from new Bourne movie. I hoped for Bourne Legacy kind of reboot with more Matt Damon and characters that I loved.
Instead of attempting to give us a new perspective, wrapped in Bourne packaging like they did with Legacy, writers came up with elaborate plot loosely based around Snowden leaks that puts Jason in CIA cross-hairs somehow.
They added mildly likable and mildly hot version of Pam Landy on top of that and called it a day, hoping that open ended last scene is going to make us like the movie and hope for more.
"Inspired by current events" and "bourne formula" just doesn't cut it for me, this movie doesn't really deliver any added value, it's just a generic cash cow attempt.
I don't think that 3 Oscars for movie editing and soundtrack justify high rating of a terribly generic sequel to otherwise great franchise.
Meh.