TheDigitorium Reviews

The Sandman (2022– )

Drowning in quicksand

[6/10 · 10 August 2022]

Rarely have I seen a series take such a sharp nosedive halfway through.

The first four or so episodes are nothing short of excellent. The only real negative is the breakneck speed at which the events unfold. Considering how the show quickly loses it's focus after the first main story concludes,it's a puzzling directorial decision to say the least. The entire season could have benefitted greatly by stretching the initial storyline further into one or two more episodes.

After the initial plot concludes the quality unfortunately, noticably declines. The show loses too much focus on Sandman and divulges in less interesting sidestories with less interesting, throwaway characters. Questions are raised and remain unanswered in favor of introducing even more moving parts. The show does pick up again in the remaining 3-ish episodes, but does not come close to the spectacle presented earlier on.

I was almost certain Netflix had managed to produce a series that could rival the Witcher but looking back it is clear that high bar is out of reach. How a series could fumble the ball right after striking gold however, is something I would be interested to know. Overall, the visual imagery is stunning and along with the top notch casting I would not go as far as to call the series a failure, just a disappointment.

Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

Could have easily been 7 or 8 stars for me

[6/10 · 24 March 2021]

The animation is fantastic, the plot is compelling but in the last 40 minutes or so the story starts to feel bloated, overly complicated and overly ambitious.

I also noticed a lot of plot similarities with Spirited Away, which I found a bit strange.

All in all it is still a fantastical, gorgeous movie that everyone should see.

Truth Seekers (2020)

As a production from Frost and Pegg I expected more then what we got.

[4/10 · 24 November 2020]

Drawing obvious influences from shows like Stranger Things and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Truth Seekers doesn't come remotely close to either.

Now granted the budget is clearly much smaller, but without a bigger budget a show like this just feels way too pedestrian for it's premise. The locations used are uninteresting, as well as the effects which are nothing to write home about.

The initial story line alludes to something quite menacing, but simply fizzles out when a new, bigger plot is introduced. Overall the show feels messy, incoherent and clearly needed more work to become fully fleshed out. World building is rushed and there is distinct lack of proper characterization.

Here is to hoping we get a more improved second season with less budget contrains..

Constantine (2005)

Could have been so much more

[5/10 · 21 October 2020]

The movie´s strongest aspect by a long shot is it´s atmosphere. It´s dark, brooding, somewhat depressing and above all very ominous.

Keanu is Keanu and the others actors are decent, but when you have actors like Tilda Swinton and Peter Stomare (Djimon Hounsou aswell, to a lesser extent) enter the scene, this movie becomes what is should/could have been all the way through. Rachels Weisz's performance just falls flat in my opinion, but granted, she doesn't get a lot to work with.

Unfortunately when the movie starts picking up the pace somewhere past the halfway mark, it all starts to fall apart and there is just not enough going on to keep it interesting. Again, especially towards the end it´s the performances that make the movie, not the conclusion itself.

All in a all. a decent, yet mediocre affair.

Love and Monsters (2020)

Better then it had any right to be

[6/10 · 21 October 2020]

By looking at the title and the poster for this movie, I didn´t really expect much. But I was pleasantly surprised by a overall enjoyable movie with fantastic special effects.

One of the reasons I couldn´t rate it higher is because there is just so much more that could have been done with the story. Don´t get me wrong I am not judging the movie for what it isn´t. It´s just that in relation to the amazing effects and interesting characters-monsters and fantastic setting the story is a fairly mundane, straight forward affair.

Here´s to hoping that a sequel will be green lit.

The NeverEnding Story (1984)

Engaging story but doesn't stand the test of time

[5/10 · 18 October 2020]

I have never seen this movie when I was a kid, but I have doubts I would have liked it even then.

The movie has a very rushed look and feel,that become apparent with the main actors.

The two child protagonists that carry the movie are somewhat charismatic but grossly miscast. The actor that plays Atreyu especially rarely hits the right tone and overacts in almost every scene. His tendency to scream at everything just takes you out of every scene he's in. But the kid that plays Bastion does not fare much better..

The special effects are all over the place, with the pretty much only the puppetry standing out in a positive way. The set pieces also range from decent to pretty good. But then you have scenes with Falcor flying, for example that just look laughably bad. It is hard not to imagine a better way that this could have been done, even in 1984.

One of the standout moments in this film is when the childlike empress is presented on screen. Like the other child actors, she also has a tendency to overact, but still comes across as much, much more believable. This provides a strong contrast to the other (child) actors and in turn slightly elevates the entire experience.

But there are many more, major- and minor problems with this film. The old attic space where Bastian reads the book in no way looks like a actual place that would be part of that school. It looks like a some attic you would find in Hogwarts or some old abandoned building.

And then you have the opening scene where Bastian and his dad are having a talk, which just comes across as forced, overly simplified and just plain not believable. I understand that this is a movie for kids, but even with that in mind it could have played out in a much more believable way.

Despite all these negative points, the story and it's message are depicted in a engaging manner that will definitely appeal to a young audience. With the right casting, better directing and bigger budget however, it is easy to imagine the source material could have resulted in a much better movie.