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Reviews
The Family (2013)
Highly enjoyable
This movie is underappreciated because it has a top cast (Deniro, Pfeiffer) and a fun story. Lots of crazy situations and also very recognisable situations if you have even been to france. As usual this movie was a total surprise to me and i loved it. Luc Besson has made masterpieces like Leon and the ffith element, but also some pretty bad movies. Still i can highly recommend this movie if you like tough humor and a fast story. Robert Deniro and Michelle Pfeiffer have proven their comic talents many times and they are supperb again in movie too. The occasional violence is not everybody's cup of tea, but luc besson's movies have never been for the faint-hearted, so this should not a surprise. Have fun with this movie.
Dogman (2023)
This movie deserves an oscar
Luc Besson has made masterpieces in the past but also pretty bad movies. Dogman is of a different kind: a very emotional story from start to finish. The main character and the dogs are the stars, often very sad and dramatic, but with moment that you have to smile about or even laugh because of the crazy situation. The reason that i think this movie deserves an oscar is because Luc Besson has outdone and reinvented himself with this story. He did this in a similar way in the not-enough appreciated ' malavita' , go and see that moivie too if you haven't yet. Unlike malavita, dogman is much more serious, but fascinating, keeps you wanting to know what happens next.
Hilda (2018)
a magical world i would like to live in
What a beautiful series this is , it shows a magical world combined with everyday problems. The characters are fun, moving, sometimes annoying , but everything leaves you with a positive feeling in the end. The 3 seasons and the movie between series 2 and 3 have beautiful small stories that make you laugh, wonder and give some life lessons aswell. A must-see if you are young at heart and bright of spirit (and if you are not then this series will make you :-> ) . Excellent voice actors, my advise for netflix would be to ensure that in all countries where this series is shown that the original english soundtrack is used with subtitles. The original voices really make it complete. A gem that deserves all the praise that it can get!
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
Good old fashioned action comedy
Don't expect an original story, but it is a good old fashioned action comedy with lots of nazis! So basically ingredients from all previous indiana jones movies rolled into 1. Did i have good time? Yes! Was it a good story? No! But so what, it was entertainment at a fine level. There were no real slow moments in the movie, there is an interesting twist almost at the end. The movie wraps up as a good ending to a story that began 40 years ago. I felt like i had said goodbye to an old friend , but did not feel sad about it because we had a good long run. Effects and acting was great, 8 stars for sure! Have fun!
Ragnarok (2020)
modern view on norse mythology
Great story putting modern everyday characters into the shoes of gods and giants. Not a fast story but builds up tension well. The acting method in scandinavia is very realistic and everyday, no overacting. It could have been a scene from accross the street. Except for the story of course which is a mythological deviation from everyday life in a norwegian little town. Good acting, you should really have the original dialog in norwegian with subtitles, otherwise the atmosphere of the story will not come across very well (i think). And of course the voices belong to the actors playing the characters, you should not hear another actor's voice dubbing the sound. The last episode is not great but then again, as stephen king says, it's about the journey, not the destination :-> . Have fun!
Silo (2023)
great cast but no surprises
This series has a great cast. Acting is good. Sets are great .you really feel as if you are there in the underground burrow with the last of humanity. That said, the story is very unoriginal, there are so many movies with a similar story going back to the 70ies. And it is all stretched out endlessly. Season one could have been told in a one hour episode, instead it takes 10 or so episodes. This kind of poor writing has been happening since streamer companies have really taken off. They need such a huge amount of new material that any story that would have been a one episode story in the past (or a 2 hour movie if it's a really good story) is now an entire season, or worse an entire series of multiple seasons. In short: it gets boring pretty quickly and it's a waste of good actors. Still 6 stars for the acting and the sets.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The Broken Circle (2023)
painful to watch
There is a writers strike, ok. But this episode really is bad even with a strike.
No story present, completely ignoring the star trek time line and species characteristics. Mindless and disfunctional action scenes that are completely outside the logic of the star trek universe. And on top of that also completely outside their own characters from season one.
For example, the doctor and his nurse are in a tight spot, surrounded by klingons. Suddenly they take a green juice from a vile, suggesting that they always carried that with them since the 'klingon wars'. And presto! They are fighting machines that can defeat dozens of klingons bare handed! Ridiculous to say the least.
This does not bode well for the rest of the season. 1 star above bomb for the special effects!
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey (2022)
The many talents of samuel jackson
Samuel jackson is carrying this story together with an excellent supporting cast. Spoilers: it's about a man who is far gone with alzheimers , but brought back to his powerful self for 2 weeks by an experimental treatment. In these 2 weeks he tries to complete the mission that he was asked to fulfill many years before. It's a story with many aspects: mystery, emotion, excitement, compassion, confusion and victory. What a pleasure to watch !
Slow Horses (2022)
Excellent spy thriller
This is what you expect from a british spy story: good acting, nice turns of the story, gritty and humorous at the same time. Gary odlman has a brillant supporting part in this series, a sure recommendation to watch!
Star Trek: Picard (2020)
abandon all rationality!
What a pity that the writers of this series forgot that star trek was based on a vision of the future where logic, reason and facts are the basis for science , technology and progress. This is how, in the star trek universe, humanity achieved everything in the stories up to discovery. From then on , including picard , there was only emotion and irrational behaviour in the stories (+ gross discontinuities). Don't get me wrong, i loved seeing the characters of STTNG and voyager again, but everything else was qutie irritating. Season one was watchable, season 2 is hopeless. Fire those writers and put a panel of people on the job that have watched, enjoyed and understood the highlights of what star trek was about (and why it was so inspiring and succesfull, past tense).
Emily in Paris (2020)
Fluffy fun
This series is light, fluffy, fun entertainment. A lot of the french and american stereotypes are shown in a light and funny way. Lily is the star of course and plays it well. Don't expect any depth and you won't be disappointed.
Dune: Part One (2021)
OK visualisation of the book, but adds nothing to the 1984 movie
If you haven't read the book then this movie can be a bit confusing for lack of (in-depth) explanation, same as the 1984 movie. Visual effects are fine, i saw a lot of 'marvel'-actors in this movie, which was fun in a way. But almost every scene had already been made in the 1984 movie by david lynch, which is logical because that was already a good adaptation of the book by frank herbert. And the 1984 movie had an incredibly good cast that can never be topped, certainly not by this new movie. So for people who haven't seen the 1984 movie it's fine (but read the book first) and for people who have seen the 1984 movie: don't bother to see this new version.
Y: The Last Man (2021)
why why why make such a bad sereis from such a good story
The comic books on which this series is based are great , go read them!
The series made of these books is incredibly boring which is strange because they already had a great script in the form of the comic books. To mess it up in this way is quite an achievement. The technical part of the series looks fine, so one star above bomb!
Invasion (2021)
Good cast bad story
This is another big budget + good cast series that completely misses the mark. It is of course fine to take a bit of time to introduce the main characters, but the storylines are so very anaemic that you simply don't care. And on top of that after 3 episodes there have only been vague innuendos about the invasion that is going on so that can't capture your interest either. Even the fine cast can't compensate for that. Judgement so far : not worth my time.
The Nevers (2021)
Beautiful mysterie story in victorian age
Joss wheadon has done it again: very original story, funny and emotional, unexpected turns in the story, strong women, every episode is a small masterpiece. Unfortunately joss was harassed by woke idiots from previous productions and couldn't take the pressure anymore. Hope this series will be finished by capable hands !
The Tomorrow War (2021)
Fun Timetwister
There have been many movies about time travelling and wars with aliens and this story is no different. But is still has some original aspects and the actors are doing fine. Actions, jokes, some original ways to approach a story like this, so certainly worthwhile!
Black Widow (2021)
fine action
It's a fine marvel action movie, scarlett is looking good, there are jokes, good action, some story, this is what you can expect from a marvel movie. Have fun!
Foundation: Preparing to Live (2021)
irrational and boring
What a disappointment after the first episode! That one was still interesting and making you wonder in what way the asimov story would be put to the screen. But the second episode collapses into an irrational finale and a story that concentrates on the sudden lovestory between two main characters (completely irrelevant for the story). What a waste of good writers material, i feel sorry for the asimov family !
Dead Like Me (2003)
fantastic dark and funny
Great writing, great directing , great acting, must see if you like dark hunor with some philosophical angles
Mockingbird Lane (2012)
funny adams family type series
Alas this series was never continued , not even aired , too bad it looks like it could have been an excellent series, bryan singer directing!
The Watch (2020)
nice adaptation of terry pratchett's disc world novels
It is low budget, but they make a brave attempt to bring the watch stories to the screen. i had a few good laughs, so a 9 is fine!