An original film from Netflix. Well, not that original. Tau is quite like Ex Machina in that it has a "bad man" making an ultimate AI. But in many ways it is more enjoyable because the guy is just mental and his antagonist is more believable.
There are some nice touches, but plenty of annoyances too. I get a bit tired of the "mad scientist" trope. Come on. People clever enough to make something that advanced a) don't do it on their own (especially the building) and b) are not psychopathic killers.
Nice touch having a "Julia" ... I wondered if the other guy was a "Winston".
One thing that disappointed was that I was convinced there was more to it than there was. If this project was so important to Alex then what was he doing going out all day every day and leaving Tau to deal with Julia?
There had to be a reason; and I was sure that Alex was watching the whole time and it was all about how Julia would teach Tau stuff that Alex couldn't.
But no. Alex was actually a psycho who just had to go out a lot. And...
Well, never mind. It was quite entertaining. Just not very clever.
Monday 2 July 2018
Sunday 1 July 2018
The Bridge [Broen] [Bron] (series 4)
The Bridge (this one) is my favourite TV show of all time. Ever.
Nothing comes close in breadth of story and depth of character. The acting is superb. The writing is brilliant. The atmosphere is absolutely mesmerising.
I was very sad to hear that series 4 would be the last (and also that Martin would not be returning, again). And why only 8 episodes, not 10? But if you have to go, best to go out on a high with another cracking story rather than go on too long and risk a steady decline.
It is another roller-coaster ride. There are always a few strands of story that we assume might come together at some point... but you never quite see how until it does. People do terrible things, then you end up feeling for them... not sorry, just a speck of understanding. People get trapped in a corner, and you can't see any way out for them.
And all the while we see the personal lives of our well-loved characters being played out. Oh, how they suffer, but carry on living as well as they can...
The brutality of the crimes is shocking. Especially when turned on Henrik... how can anyone think the poor man hasn't suffered enough? I guess someone who buries a woman up to her chest and stones her to death (episode 1 - micro spoiler).
Even at the last, when everything seemed resolved, I was still worried that there might be one last cruel twist. And that last line of dialogue was absolutely spot on - it made me cry.
If I was forced to have my memory wiped and could only retain one TV show from the whole of my life... I would not hesitate to choose The Bridge.
Nothing comes close in breadth of story and depth of character. The acting is superb. The writing is brilliant. The atmosphere is absolutely mesmerising.
I was very sad to hear that series 4 would be the last (and also that Martin would not be returning, again). And why only 8 episodes, not 10? But if you have to go, best to go out on a high with another cracking story rather than go on too long and risk a steady decline.
It is another roller-coaster ride. There are always a few strands of story that we assume might come together at some point... but you never quite see how until it does. People do terrible things, then you end up feeling for them... not sorry, just a speck of understanding. People get trapped in a corner, and you can't see any way out for them.
And all the while we see the personal lives of our well-loved characters being played out. Oh, how they suffer, but carry on living as well as they can...
The brutality of the crimes is shocking. Especially when turned on Henrik... how can anyone think the poor man hasn't suffered enough? I guess someone who buries a woman up to her chest and stones her to death (episode 1 - micro spoiler).
Even at the last, when everything seemed resolved, I was still worried that there might be one last cruel twist. And that last line of dialogue was absolutely spot on - it made me cry.
If I was forced to have my memory wiped and could only retain one TV show from the whole of my life... I would not hesitate to choose The Bridge.
Friday 29 June 2018
Gantz: Perfect Answer
After the first live action Gantz movie, Gantz, proved to be quite good, I had a reasonable amount of hope that the second, Gantz: Perfect Answer, would at least be OK.
It's not. It's mostly terrible. Even the gorgeous Ayumi Ito as Eriko can't save it.
Obviously the whole CGI budget was spent on the first part, because in this one the aliens are all conveniently taking on human form. They do something weird with their eyes from time to time to remind us that they are aliens... but mostly they are just people (often the same people who are normal people too).
And the story goes bonkers.
We know that Kei is desperate to get 100 points and resurrect Kato. But when the older guy gets 100 points first (how?) he resurrects Kato... even though he knows Kei is also just about to get 100 points. And then Kei resurrects the young brat fighter in the hoodie. Which would be fine, except that when everyone thinks that Gantz is about the expire the older guy becomes so desperate to get the last 100 points that he almost kills the innocent girl for it. Huh? He says he wants to resurrect his wife (did we even know she was in the running for resurrection, I missed that) ... but if that is so important to him, then why did he resurrect Kato? It just doesn't make sense.
And that is just the easiest to explain dumb thing about the story.
On the plus side, some of the fight scenes are better in this one than the first. But that's like saying the Star Wars prequels have merit because the lightsabre battles are better than in the original trilogy.
Overall this is a poor movie. I can't help thinking that like the animated effort, they should have done one decent film instead of attempting two.
It's not. It's mostly terrible. Even the gorgeous Ayumi Ito as Eriko can't save it.
Obviously the whole CGI budget was spent on the first part, because in this one the aliens are all conveniently taking on human form. They do something weird with their eyes from time to time to remind us that they are aliens... but mostly they are just people (often the same people who are normal people too).
And the story goes bonkers.
We know that Kei is desperate to get 100 points and resurrect Kato. But when the older guy gets 100 points first (how?) he resurrects Kato... even though he knows Kei is also just about to get 100 points. And then Kei resurrects the young brat fighter in the hoodie. Which would be fine, except that when everyone thinks that Gantz is about the expire the older guy becomes so desperate to get the last 100 points that he almost kills the innocent girl for it. Huh? He says he wants to resurrect his wife (did we even know she was in the running for resurrection, I missed that) ... but if that is so important to him, then why did he resurrect Kato? It just doesn't make sense.
And that is just the easiest to explain dumb thing about the story.
On the plus side, some of the fight scenes are better in this one than the first. But that's like saying the Star Wars prequels have merit because the lightsabre battles are better than in the original trilogy.
Overall this is a poor movie. I can't help thinking that like the animated effort, they should have done one decent film instead of attempting two.
Hana-bi
A Japanese crime drama. Not what I expected at all. It is quite slow, there isn't a lot of dialogue at times, there aren't many characters.
But I found something about the main character Nishi-san quite interesting. He is almost enigmatic at the start. He doesn't say or do much. What he does do is whatever he wants, or so it seems.
As the film progresses you realise that Nishi is a fairly ordinary cop who has been dealt a bad hand. A really bad hand. So bad in fact that he has given up on the world... and most of the people in it, apart from a select few.
Gradually it becomes clear that Nishi is on a mission to show the world it can go fuck itself. He takes a destructive path, but because he doesn't care about defeat, he steamrollers all opposition.
We know that ultimately Nishi's quiet rampage will end in tragedy. But really the tragedy happened before the start of the film, so what we see is his long defiant finale.
Not always my kind of film. But on this occasion I really enjoyed it.
But I found something about the main character Nishi-san quite interesting. He is almost enigmatic at the start. He doesn't say or do much. What he does do is whatever he wants, or so it seems.
As the film progresses you realise that Nishi is a fairly ordinary cop who has been dealt a bad hand. A really bad hand. So bad in fact that he has given up on the world... and most of the people in it, apart from a select few.
Gradually it becomes clear that Nishi is on a mission to show the world it can go fuck itself. He takes a destructive path, but because he doesn't care about defeat, he steamrollers all opposition.
We know that ultimately Nishi's quiet rampage will end in tragedy. But really the tragedy happened before the start of the film, so what we see is his long defiant finale.
Not always my kind of film. But on this occasion I really enjoyed it.
Thursday 28 June 2018
Ghost Wars
This show has to go down as "good start, bad finish".
After the first few episodes I was really enjoying it. It seemed like The Returned in some ways... just a lot less French. And it looked like it was going somewhere.
But as it progressed, it stopped going anywhere. The middle episodes just drifted. What was going on? Hardly anything. The only thing changing was whether Meat Loaf liked Roman or hated him... and that changed every 20 minutes.
I real turning point was when the Lambda boss arrived. Then it just got boring and predictable. By now it was trying to be Stranger Things 2.
When the bar owner started on the weird pregnancy I thought something important might happen. But it didn't. When the priest burned the live ghost pod people I thought the surviving one might become more powerful, or something. She didn't.
Nothing was happening. The ending just came and went. And I really don't care how Roman ended up with the amber rock thing at the end... when it was supposed to blow up and close death's door for good... without a single other person noticing that nothing blew up.
Sorry, but Ghost Wars disappoints all the more because it showed early potential.
After the first few episodes I was really enjoying it. It seemed like The Returned in some ways... just a lot less French. And it looked like it was going somewhere.
But as it progressed, it stopped going anywhere. The middle episodes just drifted. What was going on? Hardly anything. The only thing changing was whether Meat Loaf liked Roman or hated him... and that changed every 20 minutes.
I real turning point was when the Lambda boss arrived. Then it just got boring and predictable. By now it was trying to be Stranger Things 2.
When the bar owner started on the weird pregnancy I thought something important might happen. But it didn't. When the priest burned the live ghost pod people I thought the surviving one might become more powerful, or something. She didn't.
Nothing was happening. The ending just came and went. And I really don't care how Roman ended up with the amber rock thing at the end... when it was supposed to blow up and close death's door for good... without a single other person noticing that nothing blew up.
Sorry, but Ghost Wars disappoints all the more because it showed early potential.
Saturday 23 June 2018
Prime Suspect 1973
This is a prequel to the 1990s police drama Prime Suspect and shows the early days of Jane Tennison as a probationary police officer.
Whilst I didn't particularly follow the original "series" very closely (each "season" consisted of two 2 hour parts) I did enjoy this portrayal of the character.
Perhaps the format was just more watchable, with 6 episodes of 45 minutes. Perhaps it was because I watched it on Netflix with no ad breaks (I hate ad breaks in drama... they destroy the atmosphere).
It is a shame that ITV have already announced that there will not be a season 2. This has a similar feel to Endeavor and that has been running nicely for several seasons now.
As much as Tennison suffered sexism in the 1990s, by then she was basically a tough woman playing like a man in a man's world. In contrast, the 1973 character is still idealistic and determined to succeed in the police as a woman. That is more interesting. Especially given the insight into how her own family even fail to support her much of the time.
Whilst I didn't particularly follow the original "series" very closely (each "season" consisted of two 2 hour parts) I did enjoy this portrayal of the character.
Perhaps the format was just more watchable, with 6 episodes of 45 minutes. Perhaps it was because I watched it on Netflix with no ad breaks (I hate ad breaks in drama... they destroy the atmosphere).
It is a shame that ITV have already announced that there will not be a season 2. This has a similar feel to Endeavor and that has been running nicely for several seasons now.
As much as Tennison suffered sexism in the 1990s, by then she was basically a tough woman playing like a man in a man's world. In contrast, the 1973 character is still idealistic and determined to succeed in the police as a woman. That is more interesting. Especially given the insight into how her own family even fail to support her much of the time.
Monday 18 June 2018
The Alienist
Scanning the list of things to watch, you are bound to think that The Alienist is a sci-fi. But it is not. It is a crime drama set in late 19th century New York.
And it is really good.
Like the Scandinavian crime dramas that I love, it has such a strong set of interesting characters that you can't take your eyes off it for a minute. The crime itself is just a backdrop for the characters to fight in front of.
And it even makes you doubt the honesty of the main "good guys" from time to time. That is a gripping drama.
Now we are just getting started. Bring on season 2.
And it is really good.
Like the Scandinavian crime dramas that I love, it has such a strong set of interesting characters that you can't take your eyes off it for a minute. The crime itself is just a backdrop for the characters to fight in front of.
And it even makes you doubt the honesty of the main "good guys" from time to time. That is a gripping drama.
Now we are just getting started. Bring on season 2.
The New Legends Of Monkey
Absolutely abysmal.
If you remake something that people loved; you have to do something special. Otherwise why bother? This has none of the character of the original and no new angle.
I forced myself to watch the whole of the first episode because I really, really wanted it to get better. It didn't. It is rubbish. Boring even. Sad.
If you remake something that people loved; you have to do something special. Otherwise why bother? This has none of the character of the original and no new angle.
I forced myself to watch the whole of the first episode because I really, really wanted it to get better. It didn't. It is rubbish. Boring even. Sad.
Gantz
I saw an animated movie on Netflix called Gantz: O a while ago. It was very futuristic, a bit weird, and obviously based on a Japanese Manga comic. Quite enjoyable. I even watched it again one night when I was drunk...
Anyway, when I noticed a film called Gantz on Cinema Paradiso I wondered if it was the same one. And I was intrigued to find that it was a live action film of the same material.
But, remembering how much the animated film relied on big dramatic monsters, I assumed that the live action version would probably be a bit rubbish. Like the old Godzilla movies with a badly articulated puppet monster.
It seemed to have a decent rating though. So I thought I would give it a go. There was even a sequel so it couldn't be that bad (I later discovered that both films were shot back to back and released a few months apart).
And it is quite good. Mostly the same story as Gantz: O but different enough that I wasn's always sure what was going to happen next. Not as spectacular because it doesn't have the budget for lots of amazing effects, but enough to make you buy into the concepts.
So overall I enjoyed it and am looking forward to part 2.
Anyway, when I noticed a film called Gantz on Cinema Paradiso I wondered if it was the same one. And I was intrigued to find that it was a live action film of the same material.
But, remembering how much the animated film relied on big dramatic monsters, I assumed that the live action version would probably be a bit rubbish. Like the old Godzilla movies with a badly articulated puppet monster.
It seemed to have a decent rating though. So I thought I would give it a go. There was even a sequel so it couldn't be that bad (I later discovered that both films were shot back to back and released a few months apart).
And it is quite good. Mostly the same story as Gantz: O but different enough that I wasn's always sure what was going to happen next. Not as spectacular because it doesn't have the budget for lots of amazing effects, but enough to make you buy into the concepts.
So overall I enjoyed it and am looking forward to part 2.
Thursday 7 June 2018
Jupiter's Moon
Usually I eventually figure out what a film is about. Or I get bored and don't make it to the end. So Jupiter's Moon is unusual because I did watch it all the way to the end without understanding what was going on or why.
SPOILERS - sort of...
Firstly I don't see what this movie has to do with Jupiter or any of its moons. There is some text at the beginning speculating that there might be life on Europa. So what?
Then what was it about Aryan that made him change when he was shot? Was it even getting shot that changed him? It's never even clear what he can do... levitate, yes, but also rotate a whole room? Whilst not detaching it from the surrounding building?
Was he even really flying, or just making people think he was? I'm inclined to think the latter... because otherwise why didn't he just fly away from the bad guys instead of always just failing to escape by running away? Maybe he could only go straight up? Except he did traverse along above the pool didn't he?
The camera work is very mixed. Some of the shots are great - I loved the car chase with the low camera angle, that was very exciting, much better than the average. But many were just disorienting - most of the levitation shots just made me dizzy, was that deliberate? I wondered if it was supposed to convey something about the disorientation of Aryan or the amazement of the people seeing him... but in the end thought it was probably just the director playing about because he thought it was fun.
Doctor Stern was the doubting disciple who underwent a conversion. And some of the other characters kind of had biblical counterparts. But it was all very muddled. I must have felt something for some of them, otherwise I would not have watched it all. There was a clumsy exposition of "you are here to make people look up" ... and literal proof of that at the end ... which was just dumb.
At the end I thought for some time about it. Wondering if I had missed something important. Maybe I did. But I can't think what. Unfortunately it just left me cold and shrugging my shoulders.
Some stuff happens. The audience have to guess why. The End.
SPOILERS - sort of...
Firstly I don't see what this movie has to do with Jupiter or any of its moons. There is some text at the beginning speculating that there might be life on Europa. So what?
Then what was it about Aryan that made him change when he was shot? Was it even getting shot that changed him? It's never even clear what he can do... levitate, yes, but also rotate a whole room? Whilst not detaching it from the surrounding building?
Was he even really flying, or just making people think he was? I'm inclined to think the latter... because otherwise why didn't he just fly away from the bad guys instead of always just failing to escape by running away? Maybe he could only go straight up? Except he did traverse along above the pool didn't he?
The camera work is very mixed. Some of the shots are great - I loved the car chase with the low camera angle, that was very exciting, much better than the average. But many were just disorienting - most of the levitation shots just made me dizzy, was that deliberate? I wondered if it was supposed to convey something about the disorientation of Aryan or the amazement of the people seeing him... but in the end thought it was probably just the director playing about because he thought it was fun.
Doctor Stern was the doubting disciple who underwent a conversion. And some of the other characters kind of had biblical counterparts. But it was all very muddled. I must have felt something for some of them, otherwise I would not have watched it all. There was a clumsy exposition of "you are here to make people look up" ... and literal proof of that at the end ... which was just dumb.
At the end I thought for some time about it. Wondering if I had missed something important. Maybe I did. But I can't think what. Unfortunately it just left me cold and shrugging my shoulders.
Some stuff happens. The audience have to guess why. The End.
Monday 4 June 2018
Justice League
I am not really a DC fan and everyone I know who is said that Justice League was rubbish...
But I like to make my own mind up so I stuck it on my Cinema Paradiso list and it turned up on Friday.
You know what? I liked it. It wasn't awesome. But it wasn't bad either.
The best thing they did was keep Superman out of it for as long as possible. I don't remember how he died in whatever other film it was that preceded this one... Batman vs Superman (?) ... but it was painfully obvious that he was going to come back somehow ... and you know when he does that he is just going to batter the bad guy into the ground ... unless he has Kryptonite ... which this guy didn't ... because he obviously knew he didn't need to pack any since Superman was dead.
I had no idea who the bad guy was. But he was quite cool.
Batman was good in the role of ageing hero. Nearly worn out. Flash was decent value for comic effect. Wonder Woman was awesome (again) and so was Cyborg.
In fact I think Cyborg was my favourite.
The boxes weren't as good as the Infinity Stones in the MCU... and there were only 3 of them :)
It wasn't too long.
Sadly though, now that Superman is alive again, how are we going to get another decent film where he doesn't just overpower the baddie? Maybe he can go on a really long holiday to an alternate reality for some reason...
But I like to make my own mind up so I stuck it on my Cinema Paradiso list and it turned up on Friday.
You know what? I liked it. It wasn't awesome. But it wasn't bad either.
The best thing they did was keep Superman out of it for as long as possible. I don't remember how he died in whatever other film it was that preceded this one... Batman vs Superman (?) ... but it was painfully obvious that he was going to come back somehow ... and you know when he does that he is just going to batter the bad guy into the ground ... unless he has Kryptonite ... which this guy didn't ... because he obviously knew he didn't need to pack any since Superman was dead.
I had no idea who the bad guy was. But he was quite cool.
Batman was good in the role of ageing hero. Nearly worn out. Flash was decent value for comic effect. Wonder Woman was awesome (again) and so was Cyborg.
In fact I think Cyborg was my favourite.
The boxes weren't as good as the Infinity Stones in the MCU... and there were only 3 of them :)
It wasn't too long.
Sadly though, now that Superman is alive again, how are we going to get another decent film where he doesn't just overpower the baddie? Maybe he can go on a really long holiday to an alternate reality for some reason...
Stratton
The beginning of Stratton is really good. It is exciting and draws you in towards the main characters very nicely.
Then it goes downhill. Fast. The head of MI6 has one of the oddest English accents I have heard on film in a long time... (not as bad as the legendary Dick Van Dyke - I'm saying odd not terrible - probably OK sounding to a non-native speaker, but just clearly not from anywhere). Connie Nielsen is much better as a leader of the Amazons than a leader of a covert British intelligence service.
And when she is the only one who recognises the bad guy, even though he is supposedly the most terrible FSB agent ever, you know she has a personal connection to him that will probably be significant... except it isn't... or if it was then I was asleep by then.
And poor Tim Felton just had to be the turncoat didn't he. OMG. Casting director: who can we get to be the mole? I know, Draco Malfoy. FFS. Give the guy a part where he isn't a snivelling weasel; he can act, let him.
That girl from the Robots thing on Channel 4 is quite good (Gemma Chan). Dominic Cooper is too. What is Derek Jacobi doing? And why did the writer only manage to find a decent 15 minutes worth of story... the last 80 is pure tosh.
Shame. The actors deserved better material to work with.
Then it goes downhill. Fast. The head of MI6 has one of the oddest English accents I have heard on film in a long time... (not as bad as the legendary Dick Van Dyke - I'm saying odd not terrible - probably OK sounding to a non-native speaker, but just clearly not from anywhere). Connie Nielsen is much better as a leader of the Amazons than a leader of a covert British intelligence service.
And when she is the only one who recognises the bad guy, even though he is supposedly the most terrible FSB agent ever, you know she has a personal connection to him that will probably be significant... except it isn't... or if it was then I was asleep by then.
And poor Tim Felton just had to be the turncoat didn't he. OMG. Casting director: who can we get to be the mole? I know, Draco Malfoy. FFS. Give the guy a part where he isn't a snivelling weasel; he can act, let him.
That girl from the Robots thing on Channel 4 is quite good (Gemma Chan). Dominic Cooper is too. What is Derek Jacobi doing? And why did the writer only manage to find a decent 15 minutes worth of story... the last 80 is pure tosh.
Shame. The actors deserved better material to work with.
Monday 28 May 2018
Dark Portal
I like a baffling film, if there is some sort of pay-off at the end.
Sometimes there is a very fine line between enough resolution and disappointment. And I think Dark Portal is the closest film to that line that I can remember. So close in fact, that I am really not sure if I liked it or not.
The girl Alice is quite intriguing. She dresses a bit oddly, and she has a recent disability that is unexplained. Not just not explained, but actively avoided.
There are very few other characters. So the whole film rests on whether you are interested in what is happening to Alice. For the most part I was. But there were times when I started to lose interest.
For example (avoiding spoilers as much as possible) there is a scene in the kitchen where she seems to have made a tough choice and acted on it... but then she completely fails to see it through. I didn't think that was really believable... but then I am not a 10 year old girl, so how would I know. I suppose that the aftermath of her initial action might have completely shocked her into a state of inaction. It sort of made sense.
Unlike the beginning. Which didn't make sense even after it was "explained" later. And even though the broad thrust of everything was resolved, sort of, at the end... it didn't feel very satisfying. Apart from the fact that only Alice could really make it happen... or could she? We are left to wonder (which is an aspect of the film that I liked).
So I guess I liked the ambiguity but not the details that they chose to clarify. The atmosphere and the staging were excellent and did keep me engaged... you can only guess where the story is even supposed to be happening, for example.
Hmmm. I am totally flip-flopping still between liked and didn't like. If you really pushed me, I think I would say... decide for yourself :)
Sometimes there is a very fine line between enough resolution and disappointment. And I think Dark Portal is the closest film to that line that I can remember. So close in fact, that I am really not sure if I liked it or not.
The girl Alice is quite intriguing. She dresses a bit oddly, and she has a recent disability that is unexplained. Not just not explained, but actively avoided.
There are very few other characters. So the whole film rests on whether you are interested in what is happening to Alice. For the most part I was. But there were times when I started to lose interest.
For example (avoiding spoilers as much as possible) there is a scene in the kitchen where she seems to have made a tough choice and acted on it... but then she completely fails to see it through. I didn't think that was really believable... but then I am not a 10 year old girl, so how would I know. I suppose that the aftermath of her initial action might have completely shocked her into a state of inaction. It sort of made sense.
Unlike the beginning. Which didn't make sense even after it was "explained" later. And even though the broad thrust of everything was resolved, sort of, at the end... it didn't feel very satisfying. Apart from the fact that only Alice could really make it happen... or could she? We are left to wonder (which is an aspect of the film that I liked).
So I guess I liked the ambiguity but not the details that they chose to clarify. The atmosphere and the staging were excellent and did keep me engaged... you can only guess where the story is even supposed to be happening, for example.
Hmmm. I am totally flip-flopping still between liked and didn't like. If you really pushed me, I think I would say... decide for yourself :)
Saturday 26 May 2018
The Rain
I watched about half of the first episode of The Rain and turned off in disgust. Because it was so dumb. The car crash, then the door... these kids are the stupidest on Earth... why would I care if they survive or not.
Introductions are important. This fails on so many levels.
Introductions are important. This fails on so many levels.
scorpion
The first episode of </scorpion> was a bit silly, but there seemed to be some promise to the characters. I kind of enjoyed it... but needed it to go somewhere if I was going to watch much more.
Th second episode was disappointing. A step backwards. I decided to give it one last chance...
But the third episode was more disappointing. The End.
(sometimes people say to me "You should watch <X> ... it's quite good by the third season." and I think "You sat through 2 seasons of something you didn't think was very good... and you want me to do the same?")
Th second episode was disappointing. A step backwards. I decided to give it one last chance...
But the third episode was more disappointing. The End.
(sometimes people say to me "You should watch <X> ... it's quite good by the third season." and I think "You sat through 2 seasons of something you didn't think was very good... and you want me to do the same?")
Thursday 24 May 2018
New World
Not what I expected. Which is what I love about Korean films.
A gangster movie. There is action and violence. There might have been some sex... I can't remember... because there is a lot of intrigue that keeps you thinking about what the hell is going on.
So it is more of a thriller. But not a basic whodunnit ... more of a what-is-he-going-to-do?
I wont put in any spoilers; just say that there are many characters here in difficult situations. Few people understand who all the players are aligned with... if any. And we gradually learn who is who in a series of clever twists.
Gangster organisations must always be built on fragile alliances. And the police have a tough job dealing with the balance between banging some people up and causing chaos on the street.
New World examines those issues impressively.
A gangster movie. There is action and violence. There might have been some sex... I can't remember... because there is a lot of intrigue that keeps you thinking about what the hell is going on.
So it is more of a thriller. But not a basic whodunnit ... more of a what-is-he-going-to-do?
I wont put in any spoilers; just say that there are many characters here in difficult situations. Few people understand who all the players are aligned with... if any. And we gradually learn who is who in a series of clever twists.
Gangster organisations must always be built on fragile alliances. And the police have a tough job dealing with the balance between banging some people up and causing chaos on the street.
New World examines those issues impressively.
Thursday 17 May 2018
The Hitman's Bodyguard
This is a dire film. It came highly recommended by a friend who I know (a) has recommended great films and TV shows in the past; and (b) has recommended terrible films and TV shows in the past. There is no middle ground - great or terrible. The Hitman's Bodyguard is one of the terrible ones.
Everything is a cliche. There is nothing new to see here.
The action isn't even very good. Every move is telegraphed at least a minute ahead so that you don't miss anything... or get surprised.
The main characters are rubbish. The only one vaguely interesting is Salma Hayek's. And she isn't in it very much.
Luckily for Gary Oldman, his character isn't in it much either... although every minute is a minute too much. Even a great actor like Oldman can't give life to a character this badly written.
Ryan Reynolds and Samuel Jackson play their roles as cheap mash-ups of previous performances. The similarities between Bryce and Deadpool could only be more obvious if he actually wore a red suit. Kincaid is just a mess of all the bad guys that Jackson has done in the last 5 years... with some Mace Windu zen wisdom on the side.
It's. Just. All. Bad.
Everything is a cliche. There is nothing new to see here.
The action isn't even very good. Every move is telegraphed at least a minute ahead so that you don't miss anything... or get surprised.
The main characters are rubbish. The only one vaguely interesting is Salma Hayek's. And she isn't in it very much.
Luckily for Gary Oldman, his character isn't in it much either... although every minute is a minute too much. Even a great actor like Oldman can't give life to a character this badly written.
Ryan Reynolds and Samuel Jackson play their roles as cheap mash-ups of previous performances. The similarities between Bryce and Deadpool could only be more obvious if he actually wore a red suit. Kincaid is just a mess of all the bad guys that Jackson has done in the last 5 years... with some Mace Windu zen wisdom on the side.
It's. Just. All. Bad.
Wednesday 16 May 2018
Raw
I enjoyed some parts of Raw, but overall found it uncomfortable to watch.
Not always because it was horrific.
For instance, I hated the way that the senior students behaved toward the juniors; and that all the juniors went along with it, perpetuating the abuse for generation after generation. I was bullied at school... it is not OK, however you dress it up as "traditional" or just "a bit of fun".
Is that a French thing, or a medical student thing, or both? I wondered if medical students have to behave in such a way to cope with cutting up dead creatures and cutting into live ones. It's not something I could do.
Some parts of the story are confusing.
Are we supposed to believe that one small exposure to raw animal protein is enough to physically transform her overnight into a creature that not only likes human flesh but actively craves it... on pain of massive withdrawal?
How does her sister manage to bounce off speeding cars and recover in minutes? Repeatedly? Is that part of the transformation? Some sort of rapid recovery. I was looking to see if her finger grew back but didn't notice either way at the end.
Why did her sister make her eat the animal when she knew what would happen? Presumably she thought the flesh eating was good... but it didn't seem like she actually enjoyed it... so in a "sober" moment why didn't she spare her sister the torment?
There were good scenes where the pain and confusion were well done. And I felt sorry for the room-mate in a way. But the ending was entirely predictable apart from its utter bleakness.
All in all it failed the fast-forward test. There were plenty of times when I was bored and just wanted to FF to the end to see what happened. I didn't FF. But on reaching the end, wished I had.
Not always because it was horrific.
For instance, I hated the way that the senior students behaved toward the juniors; and that all the juniors went along with it, perpetuating the abuse for generation after generation. I was bullied at school... it is not OK, however you dress it up as "traditional" or just "a bit of fun".
Is that a French thing, or a medical student thing, or both? I wondered if medical students have to behave in such a way to cope with cutting up dead creatures and cutting into live ones. It's not something I could do.
Some parts of the story are confusing.
Are we supposed to believe that one small exposure to raw animal protein is enough to physically transform her overnight into a creature that not only likes human flesh but actively craves it... on pain of massive withdrawal?
How does her sister manage to bounce off speeding cars and recover in minutes? Repeatedly? Is that part of the transformation? Some sort of rapid recovery. I was looking to see if her finger grew back but didn't notice either way at the end.
Why did her sister make her eat the animal when she knew what would happen? Presumably she thought the flesh eating was good... but it didn't seem like she actually enjoyed it... so in a "sober" moment why didn't she spare her sister the torment?
There were good scenes where the pain and confusion were well done. And I felt sorry for the room-mate in a way. But the ending was entirely predictable apart from its utter bleakness.
All in all it failed the fast-forward test. There were plenty of times when I was bored and just wanted to FF to the end to see what happened. I didn't FF. But on reaching the end, wished I had.
Thursday 10 May 2018
Dunkirk
What do you call it when a movie has lots of good individual performances, but it doesn't hang together as a whole? Less than the sum of its parts? Disappointing?
That was Dunkirk for me. Despite a lot of dramatic performances, there was no real drama.
I could tell that the young soldier at the beginning was going to make it. I knew that the pilot who ditched was not going to drown. I knew that Tom Hardy was going to shoot down all those planes then run out of fuel ... but not crash.
Lots of people died at Dunkirk. We see some people die, but no-one we have got to know, so we don't feel it much. The worst moment is when that poor lad gets pushed down the stairs on the little boat and cracks his head open.
I didn't even get much of a sense of impending doom, followed by a glorious rescue. Everything just seemed a bit flat and, sadly, boring.
Films have dialogue for a reason. Nolan tries to create drama without much dialogue... and fails.
That was Dunkirk for me. Despite a lot of dramatic performances, there was no real drama.
I could tell that the young soldier at the beginning was going to make it. I knew that the pilot who ditched was not going to drown. I knew that Tom Hardy was going to shoot down all those planes then run out of fuel ... but not crash.
Lots of people died at Dunkirk. We see some people die, but no-one we have got to know, so we don't feel it much. The worst moment is when that poor lad gets pushed down the stairs on the little boat and cracks his head open.
I didn't even get much of a sense of impending doom, followed by a glorious rescue. Everything just seemed a bit flat and, sadly, boring.
Films have dialogue for a reason. Nolan tries to create drama without much dialogue... and fails.
Friday 4 May 2018
La Mante
Another great foreign-language thriller on Netflix.
La Mante is a French take on the "serial-killer helps cops to catch another serial-killer... or does she?" style. And there are plenty of twists.
At first it looks like we might get a different suspect nailed on in each episode, but that mercifully doesn't happen as the predictable path is avoided.
The main character La Mante (The Preying Mantis) is wonderfully done and you just can't tell what she is up to. Is she helping or is she behind everything? We are just kept guessing... as are most of the characters, who struggle to know who they can trust.
Watching with subtitles again makes this a very immersive experience. I watched the 6 one hour episodes in pairs over 3 consecutive nights. Compared to a 2 hour movie there is just so much more here to get into... a much more detailed story and better developed and rounded characters.
I am definitely ready for The Bridge 4 which is coming to BBC4 very soon now.
La Mante is a French take on the "serial-killer helps cops to catch another serial-killer... or does she?" style. And there are plenty of twists.
At first it looks like we might get a different suspect nailed on in each episode, but that mercifully doesn't happen as the predictable path is avoided.
The main character La Mante (The Preying Mantis) is wonderfully done and you just can't tell what she is up to. Is she helping or is she behind everything? We are just kept guessing... as are most of the characters, who struggle to know who they can trust.
Watching with subtitles again makes this a very immersive experience. I watched the 6 one hour episodes in pairs over 3 consecutive nights. Compared to a 2 hour movie there is just so much more here to get into... a much more detailed story and better developed and rounded characters.
I am definitely ready for The Bridge 4 which is coming to BBC4 very soon now.
Tuesday 1 May 2018
The Dark Tower
There are some films that you just have to see. It doesn't matter how many bad reviews there are, how many people you know tell you not to bother, or how much you just know it probably wont be any good. You just have to see for yourself.
The Dark Tower was one of those movies for me.
I picked up the first book The Gunslinger in an airport when it first came out. Probably because I had heard of Stephen King and thought it was about cowboys. I loved it. But is was ages until the next one came out... about 5 years I think. I loved that too. Then another 5 years. Loved book 3. Then another 5 years...
Book 4 was massive, about 800 pages, and what with all the stuff going on in my life at that time, I never finished it. End of story.
But I was intrigued by the prospect of a movie. Then horrified when it seemed that everyone hated it. Just like another of my favourite book series (His Dark Materials) it looks like we just get the one movie... then nothing. The fickle public vote with their feet after the "introduction".
For what it is worth I quite enjoyed the movie. It was very short (94 mins) both in time and on explanation. I can understand why people who had not read any of the books might feel a bit lost. I couldn't actually remember any of the plot but some of the performances resonated with the impressions I retained of the main characters.
Maybe it would have been better if Netflix had commissioned a TV series instead. A run of 13 episodes would have the time to build the story that is needed here. In a short movie most people are just going to be left asking why the cowboy was weird and why the bad magician couldn't just kill him like he did everyone else.
The Dark Tower was one of those movies for me.
I picked up the first book The Gunslinger in an airport when it first came out. Probably because I had heard of Stephen King and thought it was about cowboys. I loved it. But is was ages until the next one came out... about 5 years I think. I loved that too. Then another 5 years. Loved book 3. Then another 5 years...
Book 4 was massive, about 800 pages, and what with all the stuff going on in my life at that time, I never finished it. End of story.
But I was intrigued by the prospect of a movie. Then horrified when it seemed that everyone hated it. Just like another of my favourite book series (His Dark Materials) it looks like we just get the one movie... then nothing. The fickle public vote with their feet after the "introduction".
For what it is worth I quite enjoyed the movie. It was very short (94 mins) both in time and on explanation. I can understand why people who had not read any of the books might feel a bit lost. I couldn't actually remember any of the plot but some of the performances resonated with the impressions I retained of the main characters.
Maybe it would have been better if Netflix had commissioned a TV series instead. A run of 13 episodes would have the time to build the story that is needed here. In a short movie most people are just going to be left asking why the cowboy was weird and why the bad magician couldn't just kill him like he did everyone else.
Baby Driver
Liked this a lot. There have been a few films with excellent soundtracks, but Baby Driver makes the soundtrack integral to the plot in a way that others have not... except Guardians of the Galaxy did, a bit.
Given that I hate (most) musicals... this could be the start of a whole new genre?
There wasn't anything too surprising in the plot, but the atmosphere of the film and the development of the (small number of) characters was just great.
A very cool movie.
Given that I hate (most) musicals... this could be the start of a whole new genre?
There wasn't anything too surprising in the plot, but the atmosphere of the film and the development of the (small number of) characters was just great.
A very cool movie.
Wednesday 18 April 2018
Atomic Blonde
There is one good thing about Atomic Blonde and that is Charlize Theron.
Everything else (including the normally good James McAvoy) is just about OK enough to make the movie just about OK overall.
It's all a bit repetitive, derivative, blah blah blah ... boring in places. The story isn't clever enough to make it into an interesting thriller and the action isn't frequent or varied enough to make it into a thrilling roller-coaster.
Probably more fun after a couple of drinks.
Everything else (including the normally good James McAvoy) is just about OK enough to make the movie just about OK overall.
It's all a bit repetitive, derivative, blah blah blah ... boring in places. The story isn't clever enough to make it into an interesting thriller and the action isn't frequent or varied enough to make it into a thrilling roller-coaster.
Probably more fun after a couple of drinks.
Friday 13 April 2018
War for the Planet of the Apes
How does a big budget movie get written this badly?
SPOILERS
Firstly, there is no war. There is hardly even a battle... just the start of one. Most of the film is spent seeing Caesar (the smartest ape and possibly smartest living being on this version of Earth) lose his mind and chase a human to avenge the killing of his wife and son. At the risk of all the other apes being killed...???
No, I don't buy it. Totally wrong for the character.
Secondly, despite The Colonel going to all the trouble of launching a special mission to kill Caesar, when Caesar stupidly gets captured by The Colonel what does he do? Does he kill him? No, he doesn't. He keeps him around so that he can cause trouble and ultimately destroy The Colonel.
Dumb.
And the rest is just filler.
I remember really liking the first part of this trilogy. The second part was OK. This final part is rubbish. Which is a complete travesty given the amount of effort that has clearly gone into making the apes lifelike. Great performances there... but you forgot the golden rule -
IF THE STORY IS GARBAGE ... THE MOVIE IS GARBAGE !!!
SPOILERS
Firstly, there is no war. There is hardly even a battle... just the start of one. Most of the film is spent seeing Caesar (the smartest ape and possibly smartest living being on this version of Earth) lose his mind and chase a human to avenge the killing of his wife and son. At the risk of all the other apes being killed...???
No, I don't buy it. Totally wrong for the character.
Secondly, despite The Colonel going to all the trouble of launching a special mission to kill Caesar, when Caesar stupidly gets captured by The Colonel what does he do? Does he kill him? No, he doesn't. He keeps him around so that he can cause trouble and ultimately destroy The Colonel.
Dumb.
And the rest is just filler.
I remember really liking the first part of this trilogy. The second part was OK. This final part is rubbish. Which is a complete travesty given the amount of effort that has clearly gone into making the apes lifelike. Great performances there... but you forgot the golden rule -
IF THE STORY IS GARBAGE ... THE MOVIE IS GARBAGE !!!
Sunday 1 April 2018
Jessica Jones - season 2
Having watched the first season of Jessica Jones and loving it, then watching it again and loving it even more; there was always a very high probability that season 2 would not be as good.
On first view, I think it isn't as good. But not drastically so. It is very different. There is no single clear bad guy for her to battle... although Jessica is clearly still struggling with the aftermath of Kilgrave's influence.
So the battles are more subtle here. The supporting cast also have a lot more to do in season 2. Boy do they all have problems. That's what I like about this season, there is a lot going on, and Jessica often has to just deal with stuff without any support... because the people she normally falls back on are also having a hard time with their own issues.
If we thought we had seen Jessica vulnerable in season 1, then we get more of that here in season 2. In different ways, but with equal intensity. No wonder she drinks. She is such a believable down-to-earth character.
There is a long-running back story about the lawyer Jeri Hogarth. Every time she mentioned Rand I was praying "no Iron Fist, no Iron Fist, no Iron Fist" and thankfully he does not appear :-)
In fact Jessica is pretty much on her own again. You have to suspend disbelief a bit after The Defenders that she can't ask any of the others for help?
Of course "Patsy" is always there to help and we get some interesting backstory on her too... except she isn't really much help is she? Jessica just has to cope with her hero-envying friend taking any unknown substance that comes to hand which might make her stronger, faster and more reckless... again.
Overall I really enjoyed season 2. There is probably a lot I missed, as with season1, so I will definitely watch it again in a few months time.
On first view, I think it isn't as good. But not drastically so. It is very different. There is no single clear bad guy for her to battle... although Jessica is clearly still struggling with the aftermath of Kilgrave's influence.
So the battles are more subtle here. The supporting cast also have a lot more to do in season 2. Boy do they all have problems. That's what I like about this season, there is a lot going on, and Jessica often has to just deal with stuff without any support... because the people she normally falls back on are also having a hard time with their own issues.
If we thought we had seen Jessica vulnerable in season 1, then we get more of that here in season 2. In different ways, but with equal intensity. No wonder she drinks. She is such a believable down-to-earth character.
There is a long-running back story about the lawyer Jeri Hogarth. Every time she mentioned Rand I was praying "no Iron Fist, no Iron Fist, no Iron Fist" and thankfully he does not appear :-)
In fact Jessica is pretty much on her own again. You have to suspend disbelief a bit after The Defenders that she can't ask any of the others for help?
Of course "Patsy" is always there to help and we get some interesting backstory on her too... except she isn't really much help is she? Jessica just has to cope with her hero-envying friend taking any unknown substance that comes to hand which might make her stronger, faster and more reckless... again.
Overall I really enjoyed season 2. There is probably a lot I missed, as with season1, so I will definitely watch it again in a few months time.
Saturday 31 March 2018
The Handmaiden
The Handmaiden is a Korean film that is surprising on several levels.
On the one hand there is an element of subtlety regarding the cultural interplay between the various Korean and Japanese characters. It is set mostly in Korea under Japanese occupation... with Korean dialogue in yellow subtitles and Japanese dialogue in white subtitles. Some of the Koreans want to be Japanese, some of the Japanese want to be Korean... it is complicated.
On the other hand there is no subtlety regarding the sexual interaction between characters. There is a lot of sex. And not the clothes-come-off-cut-to-afterglow kind... it is explicit and detailed and prolonged.
The movie is quite long at over 2.5 hours. But it is split into 3 parts, so you can pause and... er... recover between parts if you want to.
For the first part everything seems to be explained and the most intriguing thing is how they are going to fill two more parts since the story seems pretty much done and dusted towards the end of the section.
Then. Bang (no, not a sex scene, a big surprise) and you realise that most of what you thought you knew must be wrong. This is the point at which I really got interested... up to here I was starting to get a bit bored... but the surprise grabbed my attention.
Part 2 takes you back before the start and explains why the surprise happened. It is all very convincing, again. But is it true? I was more wary this time because I had already been tricked once... and there is a part 3.
I am not going to spoil the plot, just say that I liked the way the story was told. It was very entertaining and set a perfect canvas for the detailed and explicit interactions of characters.
The sex scenes were done well, I thought. The first was shocking in a way, because most of the movies I watch only give hints. It was refreshing to see the whole story for a change... because the sex is an important part of the story. I'm not saying that just because I enjoyed watching... there are plenty of porn sites if that is all you want to see.
So I think there is another lesson here for Western film makers / legislators. Just as Korean action films do violence better, Korean thrillers like this do sex better too.
On the one hand there is an element of subtlety regarding the cultural interplay between the various Korean and Japanese characters. It is set mostly in Korea under Japanese occupation... with Korean dialogue in yellow subtitles and Japanese dialogue in white subtitles. Some of the Koreans want to be Japanese, some of the Japanese want to be Korean... it is complicated.
On the other hand there is no subtlety regarding the sexual interaction between characters. There is a lot of sex. And not the clothes-come-off-cut-to-afterglow kind... it is explicit and detailed and prolonged.
The movie is quite long at over 2.5 hours. But it is split into 3 parts, so you can pause and... er... recover between parts if you want to.
For the first part everything seems to be explained and the most intriguing thing is how they are going to fill two more parts since the story seems pretty much done and dusted towards the end of the section.
Then. Bang (no, not a sex scene, a big surprise) and you realise that most of what you thought you knew must be wrong. This is the point at which I really got interested... up to here I was starting to get a bit bored... but the surprise grabbed my attention.
Part 2 takes you back before the start and explains why the surprise happened. It is all very convincing, again. But is it true? I was more wary this time because I had already been tricked once... and there is a part 3.
I am not going to spoil the plot, just say that I liked the way the story was told. It was very entertaining and set a perfect canvas for the detailed and explicit interactions of characters.
The sex scenes were done well, I thought. The first was shocking in a way, because most of the movies I watch only give hints. It was refreshing to see the whole story for a change... because the sex is an important part of the story. I'm not saying that just because I enjoyed watching... there are plenty of porn sites if that is all you want to see.
So I think there is another lesson here for Western film makers / legislators. Just as Korean action films do violence better, Korean thrillers like this do sex better too.
Friday 30 March 2018
Annihilation
I started watching Annihilation more in hope than expectation. And I was disappointed. Hard to say why exactly... but I think that it felt like it was trying hard to be original... and wasn't.
Not very much happens a lot of the time. Which would be fine if that was repaid by a big build up of atmosphere. But it isn't. There's also no suspense, because everything that happens is more or less telegraphed by the rather plodding script.
Some of the actors do a good job. Sadly not Natalie Portman, who looks like she just can't wait to grab her pay check and leave. Oscar Isaac is good, but underused.
In the spirit of the movie I am just going to stop now and leave you hanging.
Not very much happens a lot of the time. Which would be fine if that was repaid by a big build up of atmosphere. But it isn't. There's also no suspense, because everything that happens is more or less telegraphed by the rather plodding script.
Some of the actors do a good job. Sadly not Natalie Portman, who looks like she just can't wait to grab her pay check and leave. Oscar Isaac is good, but underused.
In the spirit of the movie I am just going to stop now and leave you hanging.
The Frozen Dead
This French series kept coming up on my Netflix recommendations; but I didn't take notice because I thought I had already seen it. I was confusing it with season 2 of Witnesses, another French drama, which had the English subtitle A Frozen Death when it was shown on BBC4.
The Frozen Dead is based on a novel of the same name by Bernard Minier.
It is only 6 parts, but I really enjoyed it. Mainly because it was similar enough to the Scandi-Noir thrillers that I love to be familiar; and different enough to have its own intrigue.
I am not going to give away too much here. But one thing that becomes obvious very quickly is that the police are not in control of the situation at all. There are several players manipulating them and pushing their own agendas. In that sense it is very different from your run-of-the-mill crime drama where something happens and then the hero cop solves it.
In fact the hero-cop is a total mess here. As are most of the characters...
And it turns out that, unlike in A Frozen Death, The Frozen Dead doesn't have any frozen dead people. Sure it is pretty cold in that part of France... but the title is a metaphor. Possibly for multiple things, like being unable to move on when missing presumed-dead loved ones cannot be found... and other things that I wont mention as it might spoil the plot.
I would recommend watching this in the original French with subtitles (assuming you don't understand French) rather than going with the dubbed version. Initially I felt like being lazy, but the English dubbing is very flat so I quickly reverted to the French.
I wish the Netflix player on AppleTV had a setting like "Original Language with English subtitles". Instead I seem to have to select the subtitle language and then select the audio language... which then persists. So I ended up watching part of a Jessica Jones episode dubbed into French!
The Frozen Dead is based on a novel of the same name by Bernard Minier.
It is only 6 parts, but I really enjoyed it. Mainly because it was similar enough to the Scandi-Noir thrillers that I love to be familiar; and different enough to have its own intrigue.
I am not going to give away too much here. But one thing that becomes obvious very quickly is that the police are not in control of the situation at all. There are several players manipulating them and pushing their own agendas. In that sense it is very different from your run-of-the-mill crime drama where something happens and then the hero cop solves it.
In fact the hero-cop is a total mess here. As are most of the characters...
And it turns out that, unlike in A Frozen Death, The Frozen Dead doesn't have any frozen dead people. Sure it is pretty cold in that part of France... but the title is a metaphor. Possibly for multiple things, like being unable to move on when missing presumed-dead loved ones cannot be found... and other things that I wont mention as it might spoil the plot.
I would recommend watching this in the original French with subtitles (assuming you don't understand French) rather than going with the dubbed version. Initially I felt like being lazy, but the English dubbing is very flat so I quickly reverted to the French.
I wish the Netflix player on AppleTV had a setting like "Original Language with English subtitles". Instead I seem to have to select the subtitle language and then select the audio language... which then persists. So I ended up watching part of a Jessica Jones episode dubbed into French!
Sunday 4 March 2018
Mute
I read a newspaper article by a TV reviewer who was complaining about the volume of new material that Netflix were planning to produce in 2018. How was he supposed to review all of that?... he said.
Boo hoo. Hire more reviewers, maybe?
Anyway, one of his arguments was that there was no way all that material could be any good and that Netflix were just making rubbish to drown out the competition. To support his argument he named Altered Carbon, The Cloverfield Paradox and Mute as examples of recent Netflix productions that were not very good.
Really?
I had recently watched Altered Carbon and thought is was quite good. Not amazing, but certainly not rubbish to drown out the competition... whatever that even means.
So when Mute came up as a recommendation I thought I would try that and see if the reviewer was wrong twice. He was. Mute is OK too.
I can see how someone might watch the first 15 minutes and think "Blade Runner knock-off, 0/10". Is that what critics do nowadays? Watch just the first few minutes and decide. Or maybe not even watch at all... and steal some random comments from "social media" written by god-knows-who.
There is a good story in Mute. You have to watch the whole thing to see it. Because the connections only become apparent in the last third. Before that you are seeing the strands and they look disjoint, but they do come together.
TV has changed. There is already too much material for "professional reviewers" to cover. Get over it. Actually, get another job because you are already writing crap about shows and movies you don't understand or haven't even watched.
Netflix are in a great position because they understand their subscribers. They know what I have watched and what I liked. They seem to be good at making more stuff that I like.
Is there stuff on Netflix that I don't like? Of course. But why is that a problem? As long as I have enough to watch, then I am happy. I am sure the people who don't like what I do, but like what I don't, are happy too.
The notion that TV is either good or bad is outdated.
Isn't the internet brilliant !!!
Boo hoo. Hire more reviewers, maybe?
Anyway, one of his arguments was that there was no way all that material could be any good and that Netflix were just making rubbish to drown out the competition. To support his argument he named Altered Carbon, The Cloverfield Paradox and Mute as examples of recent Netflix productions that were not very good.
Really?
I had recently watched Altered Carbon and thought is was quite good. Not amazing, but certainly not rubbish to drown out the competition... whatever that even means.
So when Mute came up as a recommendation I thought I would try that and see if the reviewer was wrong twice. He was. Mute is OK too.
I can see how someone might watch the first 15 minutes and think "Blade Runner knock-off, 0/10". Is that what critics do nowadays? Watch just the first few minutes and decide. Or maybe not even watch at all... and steal some random comments from "social media" written by god-knows-who.
There is a good story in Mute. You have to watch the whole thing to see it. Because the connections only become apparent in the last third. Before that you are seeing the strands and they look disjoint, but they do come together.
TV has changed. There is already too much material for "professional reviewers" to cover. Get over it. Actually, get another job because you are already writing crap about shows and movies you don't understand or haven't even watched.
Netflix are in a great position because they understand their subscribers. They know what I have watched and what I liked. They seem to be good at making more stuff that I like.
Is there stuff on Netflix that I don't like? Of course. But why is that a problem? As long as I have enough to watch, then I am happy. I am sure the people who don't like what I do, but like what I don't, are happy too.
The notion that TV is either good or bad is outdated.
Isn't the internet brilliant !!!
Gods of Egypt (2016)
Last Friday night I had a few drinks and ended up looking through the Netflix film collection for something to watch.
Gods of Egypt caught my eye, because it is an eye catching film, so I watched it.
The effects are quite good... as expected. The story is a bit rubbish. The acting is a bit rubbish. Overall... it's a bit rubbish.
But I watched it all the way through... because I was a bit drunk.
Gods of Egypt caught my eye, because it is an eye catching film, so I watched it.
The effects are quite good... as expected. The story is a bit rubbish. The acting is a bit rubbish. Overall... it's a bit rubbish.
But I watched it all the way through... because I was a bit drunk.
Saturday 24 February 2018
The Villainess (2017)
I really like Korean action films and this is a classic. If somewhat baffling at times... because two of the main characters change their appearance dramatically and that makes things a bit confusing for them and the audience.
One of the refreshing things about Korean action is that it is far less predictable than the western equivalents. There are similar elements, but they always mix it up and you can never be sure that some main character isn't actually going to die... just because we aren't near the end yet.
The main (anti) heroine is quite like Hannah (from the movie Hannah) in some ways... but then completely opposite in others (she has a child that she cares for so she isn't emotionally blank).
Lots of things happen. There is a mystery agency doing terrible things that may or may not be for the greater good (we never find out). There are gangsters. There are whole sequences that feel more like watching someone playing a video game...
It is very violent. And yet it is also thought provoking ... and sad ... and entertaining.
A real achievement to pack so much into one film.
One of the refreshing things about Korean action is that it is far less predictable than the western equivalents. There are similar elements, but they always mix it up and you can never be sure that some main character isn't actually going to die... just because we aren't near the end yet.
The main (anti) heroine is quite like Hannah (from the movie Hannah) in some ways... but then completely opposite in others (she has a child that she cares for so she isn't emotionally blank).
Lots of things happen. There is a mystery agency doing terrible things that may or may not be for the greater good (we never find out). There are gangsters. There are whole sequences that feel more like watching someone playing a video game...
It is very violent. And yet it is also thought provoking ... and sad ... and entertaining.
A real achievement to pack so much into one film.
Wednesday 14 February 2018
The Ghoul
This is a fascinating movie.
The first time I attempted to watch The Ghoul I had had a few glasses of wine and completely lost track of what was happening after 30 minutes; so I bailed out.
A few days later I tried again, sober, and really enjoyed it. I still can't say that I understand it. I will probably have to watch it again... was Chris an undercover cop investigating a shooting, or a mental patient imagining an alternative life as an undercover cop?
Or are we not supposed to be able to tell the difference?
Mystery.
The first time I attempted to watch The Ghoul I had had a few glasses of wine and completely lost track of what was happening after 30 minutes; so I bailed out.
A few days later I tried again, sober, and really enjoyed it. I still can't say that I understand it. I will probably have to watch it again... was Chris an undercover cop investigating a shooting, or a mental patient imagining an alternative life as an undercover cop?
Or are we not supposed to be able to tell the difference?
Mystery.
Altered Carbon
I thought that Altered Carbon was barrelling along nicely until about the 3/4 mark and then, for me, it hit the buffers.
All the cyberpunk aspects are something that you either buy into or not. The idea of everyone having a device implanted into their spine at birth seems horrific... but in 350 years, why not - only 35 years ago it would have seemed ridiculous that everyone would willingly carry round a device that allowed them to be contacted and tracked 24/7.
I didn't quite get where all the normal bodies come from. The rich have clones, I got that. But if the poor only get to reuse the bodies of dead people, then aren't those bodies pretty useless? They just died. Were they reconditioned or something? And if so why not fix them before death? Or is medicine just too expensive for most people? (i.e. the US healthcare approach, not the UK one)
Anyway, that was all OK. But then we find out who is really behind all the chaos surrounding Kovacs. And I thought... What? That is just mad.
Was that the point? That after pursuing a cause for 250 years, by whatever means you can employ, the process can destroy the whole point of the cause you started with?
I didn't get it. That's what I think was happening. The "villain" was just insane. The original "client" was unhinged too. So I guess all the people who were very, very old just went mad. Kovacs was cool because he slept for 250 years.
Is there a sequel? I hope there is more to the madness if so.
All the cyberpunk aspects are something that you either buy into or not. The idea of everyone having a device implanted into their spine at birth seems horrific... but in 350 years, why not - only 35 years ago it would have seemed ridiculous that everyone would willingly carry round a device that allowed them to be contacted and tracked 24/7.
I didn't quite get where all the normal bodies come from. The rich have clones, I got that. But if the poor only get to reuse the bodies of dead people, then aren't those bodies pretty useless? They just died. Were they reconditioned or something? And if so why not fix them before death? Or is medicine just too expensive for most people? (i.e. the US healthcare approach, not the UK one)
Anyway, that was all OK. But then we find out who is really behind all the chaos surrounding Kovacs. And I thought... What? That is just mad.
Was that the point? That after pursuing a cause for 250 years, by whatever means you can employ, the process can destroy the whole point of the cause you started with?
I didn't get it. That's what I think was happening. The "villain" was just insane. The original "client" was unhinged too. So I guess all the people who were very, very old just went mad. Kovacs was cool because he slept for 250 years.
Is there a sequel? I hope there is more to the madness if so.
Saturday 3 February 2018
Black Mirror 4
You might think that Charlie Brooker could have taken Netflix's money and just churned out more of the same Black Mirror ... but he hasn't. It is still getting better with some brilliant episodes here in series 4.
1. USS Callister
This is going to be known as "The Star Trek one" by everyone who likes to wind up Star Trek fans... sorry guys. But you should see it as a homage rather than a spoof. Although casting the bad guy as a fan might upset more. Nice unwinding of the twists as you realise what is going on.
Probably one of my favourites right off the bat.
2. Arkangel
Classic episode because the obvious question of "would a parent go that far?" has an equally obvious, but uncomfortable, answer of "yes, some would."
3. Crocodile
Mixed one. I liked the acting but it was too obvious what would happen when the insurance woman started doing her thing. Apart from the shocking length that the perp went to to hide the truth... and her eventual mistake.
4. Hang The DJ
Another candidate for favourite. I guessed some of what was happening but the ending was a surprise. Brilliant that it now seems obvious; so hiding it so well was a real triumph.
5. Metalhead
I love Maxine Peake and this was a creepy episode. Shooting in black-and-white was a good idea. The reveal about the contents of the box was cool... but somehow, for me, the lack of context killed it - why were the dogs doing that and who were the people?
6. Black Museum
Probably my favourite. Lots of tech gone wrong and a brilliant reveal at the end which had a real Tales of the Unexpected feel about it.
1. USS Callister
This is going to be known as "The Star Trek one" by everyone who likes to wind up Star Trek fans... sorry guys. But you should see it as a homage rather than a spoof. Although casting the bad guy as a fan might upset more. Nice unwinding of the twists as you realise what is going on.
Probably one of my favourites right off the bat.
2. Arkangel
Classic episode because the obvious question of "would a parent go that far?" has an equally obvious, but uncomfortable, answer of "yes, some would."
3. Crocodile
Mixed one. I liked the acting but it was too obvious what would happen when the insurance woman started doing her thing. Apart from the shocking length that the perp went to to hide the truth... and her eventual mistake.
4. Hang The DJ
Another candidate for favourite. I guessed some of what was happening but the ending was a surprise. Brilliant that it now seems obvious; so hiding it so well was a real triumph.
5. Metalhead
I love Maxine Peake and this was a creepy episode. Shooting in black-and-white was a good idea. The reveal about the contents of the box was cool... but somehow, for me, the lack of context killed it - why were the dogs doing that and who were the people?
6. Black Museum
Probably my favourite. Lots of tech gone wrong and a brilliant reveal at the end which had a real Tales of the Unexpected feel about it.
Thursday 1 February 2018
Person of Interest - season 5 (final)
I got impatient of waiting for season 5 of Person of Interest to appear on Netflix. After all, it has only been a year and a half since it aired in the US !!!
Anyway, I used up 3/4 of a month's rentals on Cinema Paradiso to watch it on Blu-ray instead. Keeping my fingers crossed that disk 3 would appear straight after disks 1 and 2, rather than something else from my list. It did. So I got to binge watch it, more or less.
I think PoI was the first modern US TV series that I got into. And it still remains the best in my opinion. Multiple threads of backstory interwoven between the episodes was always a joy to follow. You never knew when an otherwise run of the mill episode was going to be lit up by a revelation from the past.
In comparison this final season feels a bit rushed. There are only 13 episodes rather than the usual 22 or 23. So there are leaps and bounds that we just have to accept.
For example, in previous series, getting access to the NSA data feeds was always a big deal. Both for the Machine at the start and Samaritan later. But here, as soon as the Machine gets resurrected it can magically gain access all by itself.
Also, Samaritan managed to find the Machine last time... but now, even though it is stuck in one place, Samaritan can't find it... right under its nose.
Despite all that, we get some great episodes to finish off the story. Not all the characters make it to the end. The moment when the Machine chooses her voice is absolutely brilliant. I watched that episode again straight after...
The last episode is good, although again there are niggles. What was it that Root did to the Machine to give it a chance to beat Samaritan? Did I just miss that or was it glossed over?
I wonder if the cast were asked how they would like their character to end. There didn't seem to be much consistency to the outcomes. Although they were all quite satisfying in their own way. I guess by that point it didn't really matter... I was sad to see it finish.
All good things come to an end. Better a short season, than none at all. And I will remember episode 100 "The Day The World Went Away" for a very long time.
"Hello. Can you hear me?"
Anyway, I used up 3/4 of a month's rentals on Cinema Paradiso to watch it on Blu-ray instead. Keeping my fingers crossed that disk 3 would appear straight after disks 1 and 2, rather than something else from my list. It did. So I got to binge watch it, more or less.
I think PoI was the first modern US TV series that I got into. And it still remains the best in my opinion. Multiple threads of backstory interwoven between the episodes was always a joy to follow. You never knew when an otherwise run of the mill episode was going to be lit up by a revelation from the past.
In comparison this final season feels a bit rushed. There are only 13 episodes rather than the usual 22 or 23. So there are leaps and bounds that we just have to accept.
For example, in previous series, getting access to the NSA data feeds was always a big deal. Both for the Machine at the start and Samaritan later. But here, as soon as the Machine gets resurrected it can magically gain access all by itself.
Also, Samaritan managed to find the Machine last time... but now, even though it is stuck in one place, Samaritan can't find it... right under its nose.
Despite all that, we get some great episodes to finish off the story. Not all the characters make it to the end. The moment when the Machine chooses her voice is absolutely brilliant. I watched that episode again straight after...
The last episode is good, although again there are niggles. What was it that Root did to the Machine to give it a chance to beat Samaritan? Did I just miss that or was it glossed over?
I wonder if the cast were asked how they would like their character to end. There didn't seem to be much consistency to the outcomes. Although they were all quite satisfying in their own way. I guess by that point it didn't really matter... I was sad to see it finish.
All good things come to an end. Better a short season, than none at all. And I will remember episode 100 "The Day The World Went Away" for a very long time.
"Hello. Can you hear me?"
Tuesday 30 January 2018
Valerian and the Title of a Thousand Words
Another film slammed by the critics, Valerian suffered from four things many critics hate:
1) It has a long title
2) The source material is French
3) The director is French
4) One of the stars is a successful model
So cue the complaints that it would have been great if only the story was better and the lead actress could act...
Are you kidding? Cara Delevingne is at least as good as Dane DeHaan in this movie... and considerably better than Clive Owen who, bless him, chooses cold from his repertoire of "hot or cold". And she's nicer to look at.
OK. It's not perfect. But it is bloody good fun. There is so much going on... I think the bad-mouthers probably missed a lot of the good things because they were too busy looking at Cara Delevingne to notice... then were embarrassed to admit it at the end.
Sometimes with these "critics hated it, fans quite liked it" films I feel the need to defend the people who made it. This time I don't think I need to, because it is so obviously good. Just like The Fifth Element which also split the critics on release, I think it will become more appreciated over time.
Cool film.
1) It has a long title
2) The source material is French
3) The director is French
4) One of the stars is a successful model
So cue the complaints that it would have been great if only the story was better and the lead actress could act...
Are you kidding? Cara Delevingne is at least as good as Dane DeHaan in this movie... and considerably better than Clive Owen who, bless him, chooses cold from his repertoire of "hot or cold". And she's nicer to look at.
OK. It's not perfect. But it is bloody good fun. There is so much going on... I think the bad-mouthers probably missed a lot of the good things because they were too busy looking at Cara Delevingne to notice... then were embarrassed to admit it at the end.
Sometimes with these "critics hated it, fans quite liked it" films I feel the need to defend the people who made it. This time I don't think I need to, because it is so obviously good. Just like The Fifth Element which also split the critics on release, I think it will become more appreciated over time.
Cool film.
Saturday 27 January 2018
Travelers - season 2
At the end of the first season of Travelers no-one knew what was going to happen next because the mission to change the future had been successful.
So we start season 2 with the team in the dark. Historian Philip starts to notice small differences from the future he learned. They still seem to be getting missions still. Their private lives need a lot of fixing...
The first few episodes feel quite slow; but I think they have to be to reflect the doubts the team have over their ongoing purpose. And then we get the bombshell about The Faction. Cool... bad guys (maybe, maybe not) who didn't even exist in the future when the team left it.
I really liked the way the whole Faction vs Director thing played out with our team stuck in the middle. The skydiving episode came at just the right time to emphasise the problem (which may have been stated before, but I missed it) that The Director can't just send a traveler back further in time to fix something that didn't go right.
That is a nice take on the time travel set-up. Knowing that the present we have seen is now somehow fixed gives me comfort that we wont suffer a Bobby Ewing moment where a whole season or two gets trashed by a future past event.
For a long time I wondered why it mattered that Traveler #1 was still alive. I'm still not sure if he will turn out to just be a nuisance or to be the founder of The Faction. My image of him was heavily coloured by that fact that the same actor (Enrico Colantoni) played Elias, one of my favourite characters in Person Of Interest.
The ending of season 2 really is terrific. Everyone is involved, the sequence of events is not quite clear, and we are left with just enough information to feel satisfied... but still have lots of questions.
Don't make me wait toooooo long for season 3, please.
So we start season 2 with the team in the dark. Historian Philip starts to notice small differences from the future he learned. They still seem to be getting missions still. Their private lives need a lot of fixing...
The first few episodes feel quite slow; but I think they have to be to reflect the doubts the team have over their ongoing purpose. And then we get the bombshell about The Faction. Cool... bad guys (maybe, maybe not) who didn't even exist in the future when the team left it.
I really liked the way the whole Faction vs Director thing played out with our team stuck in the middle. The skydiving episode came at just the right time to emphasise the problem (which may have been stated before, but I missed it) that The Director can't just send a traveler back further in time to fix something that didn't go right.
That is a nice take on the time travel set-up. Knowing that the present we have seen is now somehow fixed gives me comfort that we wont suffer a Bobby Ewing moment where a whole season or two gets trashed by a future past event.
For a long time I wondered why it mattered that Traveler #1 was still alive. I'm still not sure if he will turn out to just be a nuisance or to be the founder of The Faction. My image of him was heavily coloured by that fact that the same actor (Enrico Colantoni) played Elias, one of my favourite characters in Person Of Interest.
The ending of season 2 really is terrific. Everyone is involved, the sequence of events is not quite clear, and we are left with just enough information to feel satisfied... but still have lots of questions.
Don't make me wait toooooo long for season 3, please.
Sunday 21 January 2018
American Gods - season 1
I have been putting off writing anything about American Gods for a week now. It's proving hard to express what I thought about it. I have read the book, but it was several years ago ... more than ten years, in fact.
I remember reading the book. I remember liking the book, a lot. But when I started watching the TV series I couldn't recall anything about the plot and only that there were gods living in America as mostly normal people.
Did I expect the TV show to bring back memories? I think I probably did. But it didn't. I still can't remember what happens... I had to look up online to see if this season covers the whole of the book.
It doesn't. It covers about the first 1/3 of the book.
So does that mean they are planning 3 seasons?
This is probably my issue with the show. It seemed a bit slow. A bit like they are trying to spin out a 1-season book into 3 seasons... in the same way that Peter Jackson spun out The Hobbit (a short book) into 3 long movies.
The narrative is also all over the place, with frequent asides, sometimes whole episodes, to explain the backstory... or even just the main story. It just got annoying.
I liked the characters. But the storytelling is just wearing. I think I might ignore any further series and just read the book again instead.
I remember reading the book. I remember liking the book, a lot. But when I started watching the TV series I couldn't recall anything about the plot and only that there were gods living in America as mostly normal people.
Did I expect the TV show to bring back memories? I think I probably did. But it didn't. I still can't remember what happens... I had to look up online to see if this season covers the whole of the book.
It doesn't. It covers about the first 1/3 of the book.
So does that mean they are planning 3 seasons?
This is probably my issue with the show. It seemed a bit slow. A bit like they are trying to spin out a 1-season book into 3 seasons... in the same way that Peter Jackson spun out The Hobbit (a short book) into 3 long movies.
The narrative is also all over the place, with frequent asides, sometimes whole episodes, to explain the backstory... or even just the main story. It just got annoying.
I liked the characters. But the storytelling is just wearing. I think I might ignore any further series and just read the book again instead.
Thursday 11 January 2018
Legion - season 1 - part 2
At the half way point I was quite non-committal about Legion. I really wasn't sure if I liked it or not, because it was (intentionally) confusing.
So now that I have seen the whole of Season 1 (all 8 episodes) what do I think? Hmmm. I think. On balance. That I didn't like it that much.
Clearly it conveys David's confusion and the complexity of reality on multiple planes very well. But it is relentless and that becomes wearing.
It also has a very clear 60s styling, but that didn't feel at all authentic to me. I got the impression that it was more of a parody... "oh look at these funny outfits on people who don't know what the hell is going on".
When we do get some snippets of information, it is either speculative (between Emotional American David and Rational English David) or suddenly spouted as fact by the mad-scientist-with-asian-female-inside guy who flip-flops repeatedly between completely useless and able to manufacture a device to fix everything in less than 10 minutes.
By the end, all we seemed to have seen was "the parasite" moving from David to Oliver Not-Dead-Just-Frozen. That was all that happened, right?
Reading online it is clear that David is the son of someone I have heard of. So are we keeping that secret for a big reveal in a later season? Why is this even called Legion? No-one calls him that. He doesn't call himself that. I think this might be the first TV show where no words from the title are uttered even once in any of the episodes.
Don't get me wrong. There were plenty of things I did like here. I would not have watched all 8 episodes if I thought it was all rubbish. When the agents were trying to pretend David was mentally ill and had no powers... that was brilliant. But I'm not in any hurry to watch a second season... this feels like a show that will always tease and confuse rather than delivering any actual stories.
So now that I have seen the whole of Season 1 (all 8 episodes) what do I think? Hmmm. I think. On balance. That I didn't like it that much.
Clearly it conveys David's confusion and the complexity of reality on multiple planes very well. But it is relentless and that becomes wearing.
It also has a very clear 60s styling, but that didn't feel at all authentic to me. I got the impression that it was more of a parody... "oh look at these funny outfits on people who don't know what the hell is going on".
When we do get some snippets of information, it is either speculative (between Emotional American David and Rational English David) or suddenly spouted as fact by the mad-scientist-with-asian-female-inside guy who flip-flops repeatedly between completely useless and able to manufacture a device to fix everything in less than 10 minutes.
By the end, all we seemed to have seen was "the parasite" moving from David to Oliver Not-Dead-Just-Frozen. That was all that happened, right?
Reading online it is clear that David is the son of someone I have heard of. So are we keeping that secret for a big reveal in a later season? Why is this even called Legion? No-one calls him that. He doesn't call himself that. I think this might be the first TV show where no words from the title are uttered even once in any of the episodes.
Don't get me wrong. There were plenty of things I did like here. I would not have watched all 8 episodes if I thought it was all rubbish. When the agents were trying to pretend David was mentally ill and had no powers... that was brilliant. But I'm not in any hurry to watch a second season... this feels like a show that will always tease and confuse rather than delivering any actual stories.
Tuesday 2 January 2018
Dark - season 1
Initially I was disappointed that Dark on Netflix was badly dubbed from the original German into English. But then I discovered that you can easily change the settings to have German dialogue and English subtitles. My German isn't great, but dubbing sucks the emotion out of most scenes, so I always prefer the original soundtrack with subtitles.
This is just the sort of drama I like. It is complicated. You have to try and work out what is going on, just as the characters are trying to make sense of the situation.
Throw in some time-travel and you also have to work out who is the older or younger version of who... who went missing / time-travelled... and whether anyone has actually changed anything or just made what was going to have happened happen. Right?
And it really is dark. Most of the characters are nasty or selfish or both. Normally that would make me complain that there are few people to care about, but here the complexity seems able to replace that need. I was too busy keeping on top of "who's who?" to really worry about anyone's well-being.
For example "poor old" Ulrich almost comically gets more and more beaten up as the episodes pass... but he deserves it, judging by what he does. Or does he? Because we also see hints in his past of terrible abuse.
There is a constant sense of delayed consideration here. You watch something, try and make sense of the immediate questions (who is who) and then only get to consider the why in the quieter moments, or between episodes.
I'm still not sure I totally followed what happened. There was at least one character that I failed to match to his younger self until quite near the end... probably not helped by mishearing his name early on before I discovered how to turn on the subtitles.
Great stuff. Hopefully there will be a second season.
This is just the sort of drama I like. It is complicated. You have to try and work out what is going on, just as the characters are trying to make sense of the situation.
Throw in some time-travel and you also have to work out who is the older or younger version of who... who went missing / time-travelled... and whether anyone has actually changed anything or just made what was going to have happened happen. Right?
And it really is dark. Most of the characters are nasty or selfish or both. Normally that would make me complain that there are few people to care about, but here the complexity seems able to replace that need. I was too busy keeping on top of "who's who?" to really worry about anyone's well-being.
For example "poor old" Ulrich almost comically gets more and more beaten up as the episodes pass... but he deserves it, judging by what he does. Or does he? Because we also see hints in his past of terrible abuse.
There is a constant sense of delayed consideration here. You watch something, try and make sense of the immediate questions (who is who) and then only get to consider the why in the quieter moments, or between episodes.
I'm still not sure I totally followed what happened. There was at least one character that I failed to match to his younger self until quite near the end... probably not helped by mishearing his name early on before I discovered how to turn on the subtitles.
Great stuff. Hopefully there will be a second season.
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