na-09069 Reviews

Expend4bles (2023)

What a total misery

[3/10 · 15 November 2023]

I already started out watching the movie with the idea of just looking at moving images while doing something else at the same time and maybe pick up some 100 times used jokes, but besides Jason Statham and Tony Jaa absolutely no one was convincing as a fighter. The jokes were of a first-grade school level when children can still laugh about piss jokes.

I always liked the easy acting of Sylvester Stallone. He always totally controls his space. But his talent was wasted in this movie.

Why is 50 Cent playing in movies? Does he give the studio money to be able to get a role? When he is cast, then you know the movie will be crap. You know his just being on the set will pull down the acting qualities of the other actors. He is absolutely unconvincing in whatever he tries to get across to a movie audience. His acting isn't worth even one cent.

And Megan Fox........? What is she doing as an expendable? Or as an actress for that matter? Any reasonable good-looking woman picked from the streets would have done a better job.

Andy Garcia, a top-notch actor who I've admired in so many splendid movies was swept down under by the undertow of extremely bad acting of more than 90 percent of the cast. Please Andy don't ever surround yourself anymore with high school actor wannabees like that.

Then the story, the directing, the CGI....... Probably creatures with the brain capacity of an amoeba could find that all interesting. Please let it go under with the 100's of yards long tanker that could make 180 degrees turn in seconds. Maybe Aquaman did help a hand. Same kind of quality movie.

What an absolute garbage this movie is. With excuses to Andy, Dolph, Sylvester, Jason and Tony. The three stars are for you.

Alphas (2011–2012)

Excellent for little children

[4/10 · 21 September 2023]

I started watching this show thinking it was for adults, but I soon realized it was made for children. I watched a few episodes and on that level it was OK.

The acting is reasonable, but the super human qualities are plain stupid. A woman who has super senses and picks up smells and human heartbeats from a mile away, but seems to be able to put these abilities on and off.

Same for a boy who can see literally every electromagnetic radiation of all wavelengths there is in the air and nowadays it must be extremely dense. He also seemed to be able to put the ability on and off. He can even find a certain wavelength among the trillion wavelengths in a certain point area of the globe and manipulate it.

The so called strong man isn't that strong as we see him get beaten a lot in a simple man-to-man fight. Something you wouldn't expect from a Hulk like man.

Then there is a guy who can throw a coin in a vending machine standing 5 feet away.

Well, it was funny and for children till the age of 12 it should be an amazing show.

Cafe Minamdang (2022– )

A lot of nothing

[3/10 · 7 July 2023]

I watched the show till the end, hoping it would get better, or that I would loose my edges in criticism so I could enjoy it more. Neither happened.

The acting is on a children's level. The developing love between the main characters is absolutely fake as the acting of Seo In-Guk is energetic, but has no depth, just to mention one aspect.

To me, Mi-na Kang did what she could with her character, but the whole scrip and directing was too poor to make anything out of it.

Same for Man-sik Jeong, who I regard as an excellent actor, but who seemed to be unable to show us his top qualities in acting in this series due to ridiculous story lines, shallow directing and inadequate descriptions of the characters by the writer.

Well, I presume the rest of the cast gave it their bests, but if there is no clear idea as to what your target audience should be, a clear vision of the overall story, no attention to developing relations of the several characters combined with an extremely bad script and lacking quality in directing, then all becomes like sand grains that won't stick and all acting efforts disappear in a black hole.

Dollface (2019–2022)

Over-over acting

[2/10 · 4 June 2023]

The show is so plastic. The characters are like manikins. There is absolutely nothing you can relate to as a real human being. It's a comedy? If you say so.

The acting is ridiculously over the top. Or is that the comedy? Brenda Song brings it to a level that becomes absolutely irritating to watch. Like she is a psycho on the edge of exploding that needs a tranquilizer that can put down a rhino.

The show is an ongoing flow of mediocracy, of nothing, not funny, not dramatic, no empathy, no feeling. Well I have to make the minimum number of words, so I'll write down these words that don't add much anymore to what I've already written, just as each minute of the show doesn't add anything to the life of the viewer.

It's like a play of spirits caught in the transit between their life on earth and the afterlife. They go desperately through the motions of how people could be in certain situations and try harder and harder, but fail in every respect because the spirit of life is absent and hollow shells and echo's remain.

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

A funny or very sad movie?

[3/10 · 29 May 2023]

A funny or very sad movie?

I watched this movie with a friend while we did eat our ordered in dinner.

At first, we tried to take it seriously, but it got hilarious as the movie progressed. How many rounds can you shoot with a gun? Kill hundreds of people and not get hit by a bullet even once? Rolling down a 222 steps high stone staircase while hitting your head many times and then walk right up again to kill whoever is in the way? And a blind man who knows how to hit his opponents every single time, be it with a gun, a pistol or whatever. He even knows how to play cards and knows exactly which cards he puts on the table?

And then the sweet lips almost pressed against a 50's looking microphone keeping the swarms of hitmen, that all seemed to be tuned in on the same radio frequency, informed about the whereabouts of their mark? In how many movies did we see this before?

We could laugh about it all, but think about all these youngsters who take this as a possible reality: shoot everybody who is in your way and shoot as many people as you can. Seeing Mr. Wick as their role model in this brainless violence tsunami.

Well, I guess playing a role like that pays well. But still there are people in the States asking "Why is it that we have so many (school) shootings in our country?" Maybe Mr. Reeves has an answer to that.

Bad Prosecutor (2022– )

Bad Prosecutor really is....... bad

[4/10 · 22 May 2023]

Unfortunately, this show lacked to deliver on all points. Full of movie cliches and lines. I should have stopped watching when I saw a body fall from a high building. And how does a body fall..... Exactly: always on it's back on a parked car. Sooooo boring. Maybe this show was aimed at a teenage or younger audience.

I kept on watching because I admire Kim Sang Ho. He is absolutely great. But his performance couldn't save this show, neither could the excellent performances of these very good actors Kim Chang Wan, Choi Kwang-Il and Kim Tae-Woo.

Lee Se-Hee was at no point believable. Definitely not as the superior of the main character. Do Kyung-Soo made his character much too slick, totally unconvincing. Too cliché in his sort of arrogant teenage acting showing too much an almost frightening twisting of his lips especially on his right side, making it look like a super enlarged mouth twist of an Elvis having Parkinson.

I was hoping it would get better, but this TV series looked like a video clip for Do Kyung-Soo, who has still so much to learn where acting is concerned. Ha Jun looked more promising to me. He was definitely much more in the moment; controlling his world as Oh Do-hwan, but he also doesn't have the depth of a solid actor yet. But I'm almost sure he will.

The camera work wasn't too impressive I'm sorry to say and the directing lacked to give any surprises, although the many ridiculous plot twists may let you sniff at.

All in all, a very bad show if it wasn't for the excellent performances of the actors, I've mentioned in the second paragraph. One point each for those four actors.

Hotel Del Luna (2019)

Outstanding, superb and heart warming

[9/10 · 19 May 2023]

Outstanding, superb and heart warming

Again, a top-notch TV series from South Korea. Really outstanding.

Ji-eun Lee totally enchanted me in every aspect. Her presence fills you with 1300 years of life energy and she touched my soul with 1300 years of savage, playful beauty. Her acting flows like a small stream in the woods carrying the soft sunbeams along that play on the water, sometimes so intensely that they splash you.

The chemistry between Ji-eun Lee and Yeo Jin-gu is fantastic. I also liked Yeo Jin-gu very much. His warm acting comes natuarally and he draws you unescapably in these magnificent story lines.

So is the warm chemistry between the main hotel employees Kim Seon Bi, Choi Seo Hee and Ji Hyun Joong, who show you their lives and the reason why they are employed in the hotel as the show progresses. These three actors: Shin Jeong-geun, Bae Hae-sun and Ji-Hoon Pyo give you an outstanding performance as do definitely all the actors in this TV show.

The show made me appreciate life in itself much more intense after the show gave me this thought at the end: suppose you see everyone fade away before your eyes one by one and you are left totally alone with only the memories of them. Then wouldn't you appreciate their existence even more in reality, even the persons you don't appreciate so much?

This show gives you many themes to think about when you get to know the characters and their stories more closely. It made me think again about how I might be "recycled" (again) after I'm finished with this life.

South Korean film makers many a time know how to surprise me with so many innovating and original story lines like here again in Hotel del Luna. Once again, I also was totally swapped away by the magnificent directing, camera work and all the work of the technical crew that made this sublime piece of work possible.

I very much hope to see much more of Ji-eun Lee, because her life energy is so huge, that a camera cannot contain it and a movie screen cannot hold it. She bursts right out of the movie to touch your heart....... Well, she touched mine.

By the way, how many outfits did you wear in these series? 😊

The Witch's Diner (2021)

A poem about life

[10/10 · 9 May 2023]

A poem about life

I just finished watching the last episode of The Witch's Diner and although I realize that what was meant to be told was told, I'm still very hungry for much more of this excellent and original TV show. Why only 8 episodes?

I applaud Korean film making that it so many times comes up with original ideas like in this case: you can make a wish while eating the best meal you've ever tasted. Your wish is guaranteed to come true but it'll cost you something precious, so "Be careful what you wish for". The show is about making choices, but also about regrets that may follow a choice and how to deal with that and as life is about continuing making choices, this is a show about life itself.

If you really, really wish for something it may come true, but it has consequences on other parts of your life and it may affect other people. Each episode presents some themes about life that can make you think about it. That is if you're open and willing to take in what the characters give you and if you look a bit further than just the witch idea, which in itself is an original and well-acted out idea.

Song Ji-Hyo is absolutely stunning as the beautiful and mesmerizing witch. Wow!!! Also, the ravishing Nam Ji-hyun and definitely all the other great actors perform a great job in giving us this TV show. The way the actors present their characters and their stories to us is superb. So recognizable human - in contrary to too many American plastic shows - that it becomes your own world, real life people you can sympathize with and want to have in your life.

The cast is sincerely superb as is the directing, camerawork, sound and everything else that makes this show outstanding. It was a real pleasure watching this series and I regret it's over after 8 episodes, but to the whole team of actors and director and technical staff and everybody that worked on realizing this show I say: THANK YOU!

The Mandalorian (2019– )

A hodge-podge of movie echo's and cliches

[3/10 · 9 May 2023]

A hodge-podge of movie echo's and cliches

I started out watching the first episode of this show with high hopes for a solid new and innovating Sci-Fi adventure in comparison to the classic Star Wars. Boy, was I disappointed! Even to a point that I wanted to hit the stop button already after 10 minutes in the first episode.

All the cliches of American movie making seemed to be put in this show. An overly done western B movie using cliches that have been used a trillion times, only this time not with cowboys, Mexicans using Gatling guns and horses, but with people in Halloween costumes and make-up and not horses but .... Eh, well I don't even care how this super wild thing was called the main character could tame with the cliché words "easy boy" etc.

I forced myself to watch this first episode till the end, but if this is what American film making nowadays has come to, using the faint echoes of outstanding movies with actors like Clint Eastwood and milking out the only part of history America seems to be proud of, namely the Wild West era, then let's turn our heads to Asia where new ideas and innovating movie making is still possible.

I really don't understand and I definitely don't believe that America also is not packed with innovating (young) film makers, but what hits the big screens is movies on a children's level, using themes that have been used way, way, way too much and numb the audience with endless repetition of movie cliches. Totally nothing refreshing but spreading a fog of boredom that numbs you.

I didn't bother to start the second episode and started to watch a Korean mini series called The Witch's Diner, which in its simple lightness, has way more value and knows how to get real acting and messages across better than these hundreds of millions costing carnivalesque dressed up hodge-podge of movie echo's and cliches. America what happened to your innovating role in the movie world?

Echo 3 (2022–2023)

Please go to South Korea and learn how to make a decent movie

[3/10 · 15 February 2023]

Why don't more American directors, editors and technical staff take classes in South Korea so they can make a decent movie?

Actually this line should sum up what I think of those aspects of this TV show, because all that is a mess in Echo 3.

The acting is so boringly according to the worn-out Hollywood rules and fails to get any honest emotion across to the viewer. Again go to learn that in South Korea.

A sort of Taken, or what is this really?

Then the military actions......... I won't go into that because I want to avoid giving away too many spoilers, but sooooo cliché and so stupid and so unlikely at times.

Do I have enough characters yet?????

Salvation (2017–2018)

What a bunch of lunatics running around in this TV show

[5/10 · 14 January 2023]

A bit of space rock is discovered by a student who predicts that it will impact the Earth after 5 months, give or take, causing the end of life and the Earth itself. So, you would think that this little bit of somewhat disturbing news would unite humanity to safe the Earth and mankind. But think again. Doing things in unison is not the thing in the western world. Super heroes are, so he convinces the CEO of a super tech company and together, well, that is off and on and off and.... etc., they try to find ways to stop that extinction event from happening.

This CEO doesn't feel much like working with any government and goes at it the way he thinks is right, like all global corporations do.

The American government has no intention to work together with other world countries, even at the threshold of an extinction possibility, and has already calculated that hacking the space stone in pieces will do good to the world as the pieces will impact mainly in Asia, thereby destroying China and Russia and billions of Asians, so that's a good thing for the old US of A.

But fortunately, there is a global hacking organization that doesn't want to wait for all the political nonsense and arrogant corporate behavior and forces top scientists from all over the world to work together to come up with the best idea to stop the world and safe humanity. So, at last an organization that thinks clearly you would think as there is no time for quibbling on any level. We are all humans and only in unison we can prevail, but uncle Sam labels them as terrorists and together with the CEO - who has some personal issues to settle with one of the members of the hacking group- things are set in motion to wipe out the hacking group.

What follows in the series is a space spider's web of insane story lines, people in high power positions who are emotionally totally unbalanced and make one stupid decision after another, the MIT student who sort of has a quarrel with about everyone and looks stressed throughout the whole series, the CEO suddenly becoming president of the USA and then not again, a second civil war, people who get shot and are dead, but at different points in the series come to life again, couples that come together, then break up, then fool around with others, then.... Yes what, people that steal highly classified government documents and deliver them to the enemy, but are released because they cry a bit and are sorry?

An uncle of the CEO comes into play (with some terrible fake accent) who also is a member of a disruptive organization of ultra-rich people that actually rule the world and governments. Then a sort of Charles Manson-like cult group is also brought in that is hell bent on letting the space rock kiss the Earth....... Pour all these story lines and these absolutely emotionally disturbed maniac characters in a barrel, stir it, drink it " Ad Fundum" and then you'll get the two seasons of " Salvation".

The Lazarus Project (2022–2023)

Let's do the Kama Sutra again

[3/10 · 6 January 2023]

It's presented as a top, top, top-secret organization above MI5, MI6 till MI 100 or further up, but you'll find out it consists of merely totally emotional unbalanced beings supposed to safe the world from extinction because they have the means to let time go backwards just before an event might take place that will wipe out humanity and the world itself. 2018 seems to be a sort of unhappy and busy year in that respect.

Anyway, so you think these are highly trained people that put the interest of the world before their own, as they are much higher up than all the MI's and SAS and all three letter American agencies. So, we can expect something we never did see in TV series dealing with the MI's and 3 letter agencies across the ocean.

AND HERE IS WHERE YOU GET SOOOOO DISSAPOINTED!

Most of the leading "agents" are only concerned with getting and keeping on to babies. A flow of baby births will poor out of your TV screen. Four babies every second. Well... I didn't count as I believed what the hush, hush characters in the TV series said.

The main character, George, is recruited because he is one of the few who can remember a time reset. It appears time resets happen quite often, but 99,9% or more of us don't recall that. So, George gets a tough training and indeed we see him shoot at some metal silhouettes of people that he occasionally hits, so that's quite reassuring. One year later he is part of the field team trying to retrieve a nuclear warhead that could be used to trigger off WW3. Therefore, we can conclude old George did his best at school as in less than a year he climbed up the ladder from absolute layman to top notch operative. Well done, George. Our destiny and that of the world is in safe hands.

Every descent action TV series must have a diabolic opponent, so also in this one. His name is Rebrov. Nasty little fellow because he wants to end the world as he believes the world wants to die and who are we not to grant this modest wish? Well, it appears he used to be part of the good ones before, but because the world was reset a couple of times against his will, which resulted in first his son and later and endless flow of his baby girls being reset also, he now thinks it's enough let's end it all. I can sort of understand the bloke, as he had to climb his lady again and again and mind you it is not getting easier when you are getting older.

But guess what? They catch him and lock him in the highest secure prison thinkable. But that doesn't stop our hero George from just walking up to him and asking him how he can get two detonators to do some shady business with, as old George is also tired of having to do the whole Kama Sutra with his loved one again and again when he also can't find his baby after a reset. Well, Rebrov tells him. Georgie gets them and at the very end of the third episode he really looks very mean in the camera. It makes you want to know what comes next.

Well not for me. I stopped this unbelievable pile of nonsense right there. Was there any serious thinking behind making these TV series; any serious directing or did the idea come up after a reset to a nostalgic 1999 heavy alcohol/drugs doom party?

True Story (III) (2021)

A wishful Selfie?

[5/10 · 4 January 2023]

A miniseries about a comedian played by an actor who is also a comedian besides being an actor which you can see when he is acting. The comedian in the series is blown up to galactic proportions and is presented as a nation-wide idol; known, loved, adored and wanted by everyone. But he is even much bigger than this, almost a god for which even his most devoted fan, presented to us as a somewhat silly idiot naïve person, gladly gives his life for by taking the blame for a crime the comedian committed, so the comedian can keep on spreading the comedy word to the nation and probably the world. That in itself is a comedy. Is this how Kevin Hart likes to see himself?

The overall acting is not great, but acceptable. Great to see Wesley Snipes in action again. The story is very predictable. The directing and camera work is good, but doesn't excel. The whole story is wrapped by the comedian with the thought that you'll never really know someone and is hinted at a s to have a happy end although the comedian is guilty of murder and accessory to murder just to name the two important crimes. But we all forgive him because he performs the jokes written for him well on stage.

Well, all in all a show to kill some time, but I don't think we need a sequel or something to this.

Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)

An f-word machine gun movie

[1/10 · 29 December 2022]

I'll be short. This movie is below a kindergarten selfie movie. The lead actress is an f-word machine gun of which I had hoped this robot Santa Claus would have axed her within the first 3 minutes. After about 15 minutes I stopped and hit the fast forward button hoping it would improve later in the movie but it got only worse.

There is absolutely nothing but really nothing good about this movie.

Avoid it and don't be fooled by high ratings

I tried to upload the above review but it was too short, so I can add that I think this kindergarten thing was only made to haul money in floating on a Christmas movie genre in which Violent Night (which is a much, much better movie than this garbage movie) belongs and was made with an absolute and total disregard to what any audience would think about this as it was in my opinion filmed while the " actors" were having fun while experiencing a drug trip uttering a waterfall of meaningless words with the f-word in between every uttered word.

Death on the Nile (2022)

What Have They've Done To Poirot Ma

[3/10 · 29 December 2022]

Why didn't the filmmakers of this Death on the Nile abomination have Melanie sing the songs in this movie. I mean they had Poirot come up with the secret to fool the Germans and defeat them by a gas attack, so they don't see us...... Really? Was there any, only the smallest knowledge of WW1 warfare?

Furthermore, we see Poirot at one point practicing what can almost be called martial arts and later on waving with guns. Well I gave it a chance thinking why not show another make of Poirot, just like Daniel Graig introduced a rougher kind of James Bond, but this rendition of Poirot by Kenneth Branagh, failed for me in every aspect.

Also, the movie is soaked with a kind of Blues that didn't fit the year 1937 and the vocalist uses an electric guitar that was maybe still only tried out by the inventor and definitely not widely spread at that time. Using music of the 70's or rap .... why not? Everything would be possible in this potpourri.

The movie is utterly boring. I miss the British humor there and so many aspects that make an Agatha Christie mystery for me.

After seeing this movie, I feel a need to wash away the bad taste of this Death on the Nile movie. The best way to do this is to watch the Poirot TV series again with Davis Suchet, who played Poirot magnificently and till now for me is unexcelled in his role of Poirot. The best Poirot ever.

The only thing about this movie worthwhile seeing are the magnificent shots of the Nile landscapes.

Secret State (2012)

Excellent UK drama

[10/10 · 21 December 2022]

An extremely well-acted miniseries of the highest standard. The script, the camera work, the directing and further any aspect of these series you can think of are very well done. The absolute power of big money over democratic elected governments, of which many still believe that they rule a country and the power of big money to steer events in the world we live in nowadays, is well illustrated in these series.

The level of acting and all the intrigues reminded me of House of Cards with Ian Richardson. Also, a top-level excellent UK drama series. Maybe some will find my highest rate suspicious, but I honestly think that's the only rating this drama deserves.

Carter (2022)

Non-stop action orgasms

[7/10 · 20 December 2022]

The special effects and camera work of this movie are magnificent and may well serve as a special effects library for action movies to come as I got the impression quite a few of them were pretty new and experimental. But as with too many orgasms in a short period of time, they wear you out. There should be some time at least after a fourth orgasm or so to get to know more about other aspects of the relation. But this movie doesn't give you the time to get more into the different characters, the whole story and the plots and sub-plots. Life hangs on a thread, be it from a building, a racing car, a helicopter, a motor, a rope bridge or a plane, no time to get into romance, character development or relation between the different countries that have an interest in what is happening.

Even the very end of the movie doesn't let you hit the stop button with a feeling that it's over, that all ends well. The movie goes on, that's for sure. You get no rest.

All in all, an outstanding movie where the action, camera work and special effects is concerned, but after a good orgasm or so, I like to also look at the other side of heaven and unfortunately this movie drains your energy too much to totally enjoy the full ride.

Taken (2017–2018)

Luc Besson..........really???

[2/10 · 19 December 2022]

Another TV show of 16 in a dozen with a main character with dimples and an eternal 3 days beard plastered on his baby face who is unable to get any genuine credible emotion across the screen and raising his eyebrows in the sight of any danger causing the " I don't care, you can't hurt me" lines on his forehead to appear, which we see so much with American so called heroes.

He is recruited by a solid covert organization existing alongside the many 3 letter covert American organizations. But as soon as he joins it, he sort of takes the lead and this organization with his many solo actions and suddenly this organization has nothing else anymore to do than aiding him in a personal vendetta against a villain.

He even utters lines to the kidnapper of his loved one in the 10th episode of season 1 similar to the ones Liam Neeson used in one of his feature movies Taken, but o boy what a galaxy of a difference in acting depth.

The whole TV show is packed with inconsistencies and seems to have been produced for children who don't want to think so much........ Luc Besson..........really???

Yes, I watched all 10 episodes of the first season giving the show the benefit of the doubt and hoping it would improve after a mediocre start. I don't like to judge a TV show after just some episodes, but I definitely won't watch a second season of this.

If the British spy/action TV show SPOOKS (MI5) would rate a 10 then take away the " S", the " P" and the second " S" from that name and the rating for this show would be a double zero and even that would be much too high for this TV Show " Taken" in comparison to SPOOKS (MI5).

But for the total effort and the input of Jennifer Beals and guys in the cast like Gaius Charles and comparing an American show to a Britisch show may not be honest, I rate it a 2.

S.W.A.T. (2017– )

Top Show!

[8/10 · 16 October 2022]

My initial thought, before I even saw one second of the series, was "this is probably another stupid action movie about a hero and his team with a lot of F words and more cursing, but let's give it a try" And I'm so glad I did, because at last here we have a very good action show, with solid directing and camera work and good acting. And ...... no swearing and no "one hero saves the world nonsense", but a very strong emphasis on the importance of working together as people to reach any goal.

You might argue that it's not reality because S. W. A. T. defeats whoever and whatever it encounters. Maybe predictable? So what? The A-Team was predictable, all the James Bond movies are predictable but they all give us very good entertainment, so does S. W. A. T.. But still, even if you know that, it's admirable that every episode knows how to grab your full attention without any holes in the drama or action with strong acting.

You may want to overlook the fact that everything especially in the personal lives of the main characters is approached too much out of reason and that we don't see much of the personal outbursts that you might expect after a major personal setback, but then again, we're dealing with characters who have been trained to control their emotions.

The show might be accused of trying to educate us on social justice or what might be politically right, but hey, maybe that's not such a bad idea in an ever more "me, me and F CK the rest" kind of world, because what we really need in that world between those quotation marks is U. So why not think about some of the values this show presents to us: 1 you get nowhere in life without your fellow man. The hero thing is for children. In fact, being individualistic, even when it might occasionally lead to a good outcome, is condemned.

2 we can communicate better without cursing every 3 lines or confronting each other with over-the-top emotional behavior 3 try to understand the other person before judging and respect differences and even use the differences to create a "win-win" situation for all 4 a man or woman who cannot admit when he or she was wrong is a weakling 5 knowledge is the key for success 6 negative approaches never work. Constructive and positive approaches will And many more values that we all may use to communicate in a better way with our fellow humans.

The show touches also on many issues that are happening in our world: school shootings, discrimination, women trafficking, money greed by big companies, a health care that enriches itself more and more and becomes unreachable for people with little income, police power abuse, drug smuggling, organ trafficking, and so many more themes get attention in the series in a not pushy but very considerate way.

Besides the good action and drama S. W. A. T. shows us also a world in which certain important values that we can use in our daily lives and it draws our attention to many issues that disrupt our society. Issues that we can overcome and defeat if we fight them together. Organize, set the target, get the intel and work as a unit to become unstoppable in attacking injustice.

S. W. A. T. Team, don't ever dare to stop this show. Can't wait to see season 6, 7, 8, 9....... etc. Many more issues to cover. And if you want to educate me, then try. As with any teacher, I listen and take what I can use in my life.

Special Delivery (2022)

Great action packed movie

[8/10 · 14 July 2022]

If you want high level entertainment then see this movie. The acting is absolutely believable and very well done. Park so Dam is super in this role. You feel the tucked away emotions that surface again at moments like when she sees the boy play.

All the actors perform very well.

The directing might have slipped at some points as there are minor discrepancies in the story line and in human behavior given a certain circumstance, but the movie overall is highly entertaining and mixes humor, action and good drama.

All in all a great movie that beats it's American same themed movies on all points.

The Boat That Rocked (2009)

This movie will rock you

[10/10 · 23 April 2022]

The late 50's and the 60's revolutionized the music world.

The music revolutionaries took their music to ships in international waters to broadcast from, as governments at that time suppressed airing the new kind of music. , The Danish " Radio Mercur" being the first real 50's/60's pirate radio ship starting broadcasts in 1958, followed by the Dutch pirate ship "Radio Veronica" in April 1960 and the British " Radio Caroline" in March 1964. In that same year, 1964, a Dutch pirate initiative was launched to broadcast and radio and television from the REM island. "The Boat that Rocked" is based on the history of Radio Caroline.

This is a truly wonderful movie with a solid cast of very good actors, among them the ever fabulous Bill Nighy. For almost two hours you get a good taste of the feeling that everything was possible in the 60's and they make you a member of their pirate family experiencing all the happiness, the disappointments and the fears on their ship, but above all they draw you in their world of a world changing, challenging, exciting, non-stoppable calling to bring the joy of Rock and Roll to all the people.

The wonderful humor is what binds all the personal stories of the crew members together. The directing is super, as is the choice of the music, the camera work and all that makes what this movie is and delivers: a pleasure and joy that stays with you long after you finished watching: "The Boat that Rocked".

The Red Maple Leaf (2016)

Frank please don't do this again

[2/10 · 25 February 2022]

I think all the actors involved in this movie must have known from the start that this was never going to be a great movie and never had the intention of making a great movie. Just a bit of playing around with the old boys; just having some fun among old friends; maybe helping Frank D'Angelo a bit with his school project ; seeing if it can add an extra buck on the bank account along the way and if something comes out of it, well then that's an added benefit.

It's nice to see a parade of actors that all have contributed in their own way to the history of cinema and my respect for that, but what a cheer misery in directing, camera work, story line and generally extremely poor acting, apart from James Caan, Paul Sorvino, Armand Assante and Tony Nardi who know how to stand their ground even if they run the chance of being drawn under in a puddle of extremely low class film making.

It clearly was a Frank D'Angelo party, but dear Frank please don't do this again. Ask the above mentioned actors for some advice on acting and leave the directing etc. To experienced professionals and/or take classes with South Korean film makers.

Love and Monsters (2020)

Zombie movie making

[1/10 · 20 January 2022]

This movie is a zombie production in which actors go through the motion without making any effort to get even a glimpse of a genuine emotion across, relying on stolen tricks from other movies that were/are original, like Tremors, Avatar and Star Wars and more.

Filled with countless clichés and cliché lines that make you vomit rather than provoke a muscle contraction that may grow into the beginning of a smile this film is exemplary for the hollowness of American mainstream movie production which has fallen into a sinkhole in which only vague echoes of original movie production and ideas can be observed trying to reach up to the dollar.

I don't even want to begin describing the continuous flow of stupidity of the different scenes and general story line.

I must admit that I failed to force myself to watching this film to the end, as right after the scenes with the self-sacrifying robot, during which I went a couple of times to the kitchen, I hit the stop button, so if this movie should have elevated itself later on to a watchable product then I'm willing to add another point to my rating.

Please people, if you like good or even reasonable cinema avoid this display of zombie actors in this collection of plastic, hollow and cliché filmmaking.

Safe (2018)

A great mystery drama

[8/10 · 9 January 2022]

A very well done TV show with superb actors. The odd one out unfortunately was Emmett J Scanlan whose more superficial acting style with popular body poses, witty remarks and almost constantly raising both his eyebrows when uttering his lines stylistically breaks with and didn't match the high level of acting of the rest of the cast and resembles a lot the plastic American way of acting of the cliché popular hero who doesn't care less what is happening around him and faces any situation and danger with a joke. That took off some points for me unfortunately.

Besides that the actors did a superb job. The directing and camera work is outstanding with intense close-ups that lead you right into the soul of the character. Extremely well done.

The story is laid out over a six day period with a lot of twists and turns that keep you glued to the screen.

Michael C. Hall as the leading actor did a great job with solid acting portraying a father going to the end of the earth if necessary to find his missing daughter and unraveling hidden mysteries of rather wealthy people that jointly built a wall around their community to keep the enemy out and be safe.

Go and see this show. You won't regret it.

Da 5 Bloods (2020)

A total mess

[2/10 · 3 December 2021]

The movie started out like it had a serious message to share with us which seemed to be in line of the TV show "Godfather of Harlem', which is an excellent show in all aspects of movie making. But "Da 5 Bloods" totally missed every possible point to make.

We see four complaining veterans, later out of the blue accompanied by the son of one of them who are most of the time acknowledging to each other that they are bloods and repeatedly doing these tribal hand movements.

What follows is a total unconvincing journey into the Vietnamese jungle still filled with active landmines in search of a fallen comrade to bring back home and a trunk loaded with gold bars the friends did hide during their mission in Vietnam claiming it was theirs to keep as a payback for the historical suffering of the black people in the US.

But what happens? They decide to split it amongst themselves and fighting starts with everybody: amongst themselves, with French people who are there to dispose of landmines, with another Frenchman and his army who they made a deal with to sell the gold bars for them and with Vietnamese people who claim the gold as a payback for the slaughtering by Americans of children, women etc.

The whole movie is Agent-oranged with heavy melo-dramatic music or sweetened with Motown and Marvin Gaye.

The end is sooo bad..... everybody gets millions and happiness spreads around the globe and a adult daughter who was told her whole life she had no father, now runs smilingly into the arms of her father, which is one of the four bloods and tells him she missed him so...... what a total misery of film making. And what a waste of great actors like Delroy Lindo and Clarke Peters to mention two, who did their best to save this .......... thing. The shots of the landscape are worth the 2 rating.

Men... please go and see (and let this film team take an example of) productions like "Godfather of Harlem" which has superb acting and really gets the story of the suppression of the Afro-American community in the States across. You'll cry if you see that and realise nothing has changed much since then. But "Da 5 Bloods" is a total mess.