quaseprovisorio Reviews

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)

one of the best comedies I've ever seen.

[10/10 · 6 February 2024]

Sofia Coppola, Tarantino, Aaron Sorkin, even Ricky Gervais I grasped here. The awkward humor is amazing. It's so so fun, I never dreamnt I would laugh so hard with this film. It is so embarassing to watch sometimes, and I love that. It encapsulates the spirit of a time, but it wants the audience to evaluate their own relationships, it wants to test us to see how forward are we really.

And believe me even today a lot of people would be embarassed by the film and missed the point. I can't even realize this has not even a "7" as evaluation. I mean this should be rated at least as high as most quintessencial woody allen films are. 4 charming actors, a perfect script, and so many funny scenes, being for me the one with whisky the best.

Please stop missing this movie, it deserves to reach a way wider audience.

Hacks (2021– )

jean smart is amazing and it can be an emotional rollercoaster.

[8/10 · 10 February 2023]

This show has a great rating already, but it still could be superior. The problem is: a lot of folks have problems when shows portrait women with no goal to please men, who have their own dynamic and purpose and motivations. Or gay people who are actually good characters and have their own agency, and older women who still feel sexy and bright and are not afraid to show it.

It is really bad when we live in a world where lot of people still have an issue on understanding that women are people exactly like men. Its true both of the main characters are not exactly good people. Or excellent people. And so what? People make mistakes they do stupid stuff, make stupid choices and they have to live with it. Doesnt matter which generation they are. I do think the show is a lot about this.

I didnt consider the stand up bits to be very funny but i basically never laugh at stand up anyway so i am not the best judge. But the character dynamic is great, some of the dialoges are very bright and clever, and the show can make you laugh and then cry in like 2 minutes. Jean smart is an amazing actress who i almost didnt know until like 1 or 2 years ago. I am so happy someone so talented as her was able to finally get a this spotlight.

The assistant is neurotic and sellfish a lot of times, but there is also a lot of stuff attractive about her in my opinion. She is funny, spontaneous and she is strong enough to stand up to herself and be a counterpart to this deborah vance characters.

It is not my favourite show, but it has a very good first season. Its too bad a lot of people just see shows where women have their own will and are not just an "award" for good behaving men, and label them as "women shows". Honestly if I was 16 probably i would be like "im not watching this" out of fear of being called gay for watching a "women show". But it is not 2002 anymore, no need for anyone to still behave like that.

Funny, witty and emotive. Pretty good stuff in my book.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 6: The Prisoner (2019) Season 1, Episode 6

you might think its a filler, but the fillers are my favourite juice on this show.

[9/10 · 2 February 2023]

I may be weird, but i really loved the stand alone episodes - even more than the main narrative ones, except when dogu is found. These episodes are exactly the portrait of a lone cowboy who goes from town to town to save the day and then moves again to the next place. Like a lucky luke comic for example - which i love. They work because they are almost like short films, and honestly that was the biggest appeal i got from this show.

There is a bounty to rescue a prisoner: one team is recruited along with the mandalorian and everything under that labirynthic prison was a feast to my eyes. The use of light, the silence, the dark, the suspense, how they used a standard narrative but made it work through the action.

It was probably my favourite episode, even though the previous one was also very interesting. Yeah, they might be considered as fillers to most people, but on this show where the viewer is compelled to be fascinated by the light and the visuals, this is where they got me. I was the edge of the seat most of its time.

Andor (2022– )

very solid show that holds itself very well.

[8/10 · 1 February 2023]

I am a casual of star wars. I only saw rogue one the movie after watching this first season (not as good as this) and checked a few mandalorian episodes. Meaning I am not exactly a star wars fan, neither i follow the movies and the series very regularly. But this one got me easily addicted because there is a lot of stuff going on but you never get lost in the plot. You know on which stage each character is and what is going on with them in that precise point.

All the characters have different and rich narratives around them. The story is manly a espionage one, where we find what motivated andor to become part of the rebellion and how the rebels try to organize themselves even on the big stage. It is full of hard decisions where none of the solutions is a good one - and good people are sacrificed for the greater good. It really makes the point on how much we need to sacrifice in order for freedom to be conquered.

Very good show, compelling with a huge dynamic in the episodes and a great main character to follow. As a standalone series it is highly recommended, no need to be a star wars fan in order to enjoy this.

Parks and Recreation: The Fight (2011) Season 3, Episode 13

my favourite episode of the show.

[10/10 · 29 January 2023]

In here you have all the characters with time to have some protagonism. You have them dancing and being drunk. You have ron promoting the snakejuice, leslie and ann fighting, andy and april running after each other playing spies, tom absolutely dunk, donna the designated driver, leslie trying to make ben jealous with jean ralhpio...it just encapsulates perfectly the comedic tone this show had and the amazing characters they created.

I watched this whole series like 3 or 4 times already (except season 1 i always skip). This episode i watched more than 10 times, and sometimes i just go on youtube to see ron dancing. Its perfect comedy here, one of the best tv episodes ever and one of the best comedy shows ever.

The Bear (2022– )

very solid show

[8/10 · 16 January 2023]

The show puts you in the action immediately. You first see the screaming which is going to be part of this whole thing, the frantic and quick and stressful and, as the show goes, you kinda realize the characters are better and more dense than what you thought in the first place.

It might be hard on the first or second episode to like the characters much because you are so into the action, but then you kinda like them, because all of them are gray and have different motivations and issues and no one is really bad. Its just a bunch of people trying to survive after a tragedy - finantially but mostly mentally.

Really well filmed and the script is amazing: its very hard to put people screaming and yelling and interrupting all in one page. They have done it so well. The kitchen scenes are very well directed, the pace is incredible. I was really surprised, one of the shows of the year. Definitely deserves a big audience behind it.

Navajo Joe (1966)

it deserves a better rating. its a very good western picture and extremely entertaining.

[8/10 · 16 January 2023]

This is just a great film. Yeah now a days its weird to see burt reynolds as an indian ( even though it seems he has some cherokee heritage) , but its from 1966 and an italian is doing it. The film per se is pretty good: probaly a bit formulaic which is its biggest flaw, but we have again here a west with no hope. With a villain that has density but no heart, with corruption on each corner, where the state is easily robbed.

In here we have duncan: the bad guy who is a professional scalper. He and his gang have a deal with a local sheriff with scalpes of bad guys in return of money. But duncan is diversifying his victims and started to collect scalpes from indians (including women and children) - we understand why later on.

Then the main hero: navajo joe starts to pursue this group (we will also understand why at the end) and fights back. The group goes to the nearest town (that gets burned after) and gets a proposal: to steal a train with 500 million dollars of money that would be split between the group and the guy who told them this information. That train would come to a near city.

Now, no one here is spared, violence is on every corner. The movie is pretty simple on its form but it does want to raise questions about indians vs white people, it wants to make a point about a hero who had a whole land to ride a horse, and a life, and then whites stole it from him and now pursue his own kind. Navajo joe wants to be the representation of the opressed against the system - even though is burt reynolds impersonating it.

The movie makes the prostitutes and the indians as heroes: the whites in general as incompetent people, unable to protect themselves, some of them with very little morals and very capable to sell themselves for money. The state absolutely cannot penetrate here, the sheriff is not useful, so they will have to rely on the weak to protect them from hell. Navajo joe is an excellent gunslinger so you have that.

Then technically the movie is great. There are beautiful and composed shots, the music is amazing and it appears on the right moments, the sound absolutely works, it is a very easy and comfortable watch. Mainly the budget was certainly not huge which even adds into it.

The main problem: all these themes were explored later on by corbucci. There is nothing here inherently new with the exception of having a navajo as a hero. But the pace is awesome, the action moments are very intense and we never know who survives. Its true that reynolds being here is weird, but the movie is still very good.

Corbucci might have done this movie a bunch of times, but it is still very underrated. 4 starts. When i see more of him it might be lower. But for now it does deserve this rating.

South (2019)

not perfect, but still pretty good.

[7/10 · 3 May 2022]

It's a good show, with great cinematography and a very good main actor. Also good and dense secundary characters. Lisbon is a beautiful city so it shouldnt be hard to film it like this. Unfortunately very few times lisbon was this well filmed.

The plot in general was interesting to follow. The issue was with the subplots that should have been more connected with the same one. Also i would change the ending, and sometimes pace was missing even though this is more on the slow burn part of que equation.

Still very good thriller, that appeals to a wider audience, beyond portuguese borders. If you want to start with a portuguese tv show this is a great gate.

Meet the Robinsons (2007)

yeah, i cried

[9/10 · 30 April 2022]

This movie made me cry. It's not exactly the mostly crafted disney film, but at the end it gives us such a dense message that i guess it got me and i started to cry. It's not that unusual for me to cry in films, even though doesn't happen that often. And when i cry i always give good grades. The thing here - the story about an orphan kid, who was deeply frustrated about his nonworking invention that took him hours and hours to make, looking for a family - is how lewis became hopeful.

The type of themes the movie explores - fear of failure, of loneliness, childhood traumas that can be problematic, fear of being rejected - i guess a bunch of them are deep to me. So while i was doing his trip, i think it went too close to home. And i was mildly enjoying the movie, and finding the robinsons a bit boring, until we understand exactly what goes on.

Look the movie is not very appealing visually. It's maybe one of the worst disney movies in that sense, it looks too amateurish, even though it has good ideas in terms of scenery. But the animation is clearly disney saying "we don't care". However the script is actually great. Since the beggining the movie gives you small clues about what's really going on. And when we get there, the characters gain a whole new dimension. What was an absolute cartoonish idiotic villain is now a deep character with a lot of issues that absolutely need a psychologist.

That's how smart this is. Disney did a "sixth sense" that is actually better than the sixth sense. And when we see the results at the end for the kid, when the whole plot comes together, when all the pieces match...jesus i cried. I guess i really liked lewis.

The Afterparty (2022–2023)

its fine, and has good moments but i guess the plot is not long enough.

[6/10 · 12 April 2022]

Saw the whole thing. Its like they wanted to turn this into a type of "who dunnit comedy" and were successful from time to time. I think the episodes at the end are a bit weaker, but i actually enjoyed pretty much the animated one, i dont understand why is so lowly rated. It was a fine watch and it isnt boring, but it could have had more immagination, better jokes, and better developed characters - its like at the end of the day they were still the same people from high school, and while i believe a lot of people dont change much, some others do.

Its still fun and enjoyable, and has its moments. I really like ben schwartz mostly because of parks and recreation, and he was good here. All of them were fine and had enough screen space. But yeah i guess at the end i got a bit disappointed. Not by the ending per se, but i think they streched everything too much. Probably only like 5 episodes would be enough for this.

Still, is good enough for a watch.

Severance: The We We Are (2022) Season 1, Episode 9

edge of the seat fest

[9/10 · 9 April 2022]

Great finale. Absolutely suspenseful and breathtaking, with a bunch of revelations, where you almost couldnt breathe cause the time was counting and there were so many surprises...

i believe is one of the best season finales on any show like ever. Its just an astounding episode that make us drool for season 2. I really really hope it sticks with the quality of this season. This is amazing tv.

The Office (2005–2013)

its a very good show, even if it went too long and lacks secundar character development.

[8/10 · 1 April 2022]

The office is a great show. It is funny, charming, it has really solid episodes and was able to develop the awkward humor tone of the english version (not improve it, because that would be impossible. It has a bunch of memorable episodes, there are a lot of things that worked. For example all sexual partners Michael scott had were great adds to the show. The evolution of dwight and a lot of warming jim and pam moments.

The main issue along the show: the rest of the characters never developed properly. Phyllis, dwight, oscar, even angela, kevin...they pretty much have the same type of jokes, they dont change much along the show, neither they have a lot of subplots that should have had. In the last 2 seasons they attempted to give some more time to them, but it was already too late.

Then, when the sabre arch started i think they made some wrong options. First the arch per se. We understand changes were needed, but they seemed forced and none of the new characters added much. Holly was a great addition to the show, and i think she should have had more episodes. Andy could have been a better character, but he had too many "mood changes" along the way. He was a different type of character like 3 times in the show. Too much.

When michael left, the show pretty much died. There are still some funny moments, mostly in season 9, but all the new characters were pretty much useless. Even james spade or will ferrell didnt have many lines, and no one knew what to do with nellie, the british character. The two new dudes in the last season also didnt add nothing pretty relevant. I think they should have ended in season 7.

Anyways, is a great show that definitely needs to be seen, that its still funny and relevant. Do i prefer the british version? Yes, but thats my favourite comedy show of all time. I also think parks and recreation is in general a better show than the office(tom, andy, april, ben, chris, even donna and jerry were better developed than the office secundary characters) but there is a lot to entertain and to laugh here. It is already and it will be remembered as one of the most significant tv comedies on american television.

The Dropout (2022)

not awesome, but its actually surprisingly good.

[7/10 · 25 March 2022]

I've seen 7 episodes so far. The main issue with this, is how quickly some events happen. They want to put too much information in a small amount of time and that is noticeable. Given that, i was pleasantly surprised: i followed theranos story, read the carreyrou articles and saw interviews with him, watched a whole bunch of videos... and still i can be entertained by this. They made it interesting to follow and it has a good pace. The characters could have been better developed in general, but they are fine.

Plus the cast is actually pretty good, there is great atinge in the show. It could have told the story differentwise? Maybe, but its still pretty good on explaining what happened.

Glória (2021)

it is not bad, but its just too slow for its own good.

[6/10 · 12 November 2021]

Look, i am portuguese. I would love to have loved this. We have lots of talent on any cinema field, and if we had more money we would have been making great movies and tv shows. At least with the same quality of the spanish ones, and who knows? Some of them better. You want one example? You had better portuguese actors to make the american characters we see on the show. And they could make the same accent no problem. And even if it sound a bit bonkers, the results would have been better.

My main problem is that, and i hate to use this adjective, i found this show boring. It looked too much as a soap opera for me. Some of the dialogues are too expositive and some of the scenes are just too long. On a show like this making dialogue scenes with more than 2 minutes or even 3 its just a lot. Plus i didnt care that much about the characters. There are very few truly redeemable people here. I understand that is somehow the point, but i found out i am not rooting exactly for anyone - well i am surely not rooting for pide, but still.

It is important to see how a lot of women were (and still are) treated. But having the guys we hate the most on the show pretty much being hateful for the same thing, its not exactly that creative. The show tell us not to trust anyone or to attach us to any characters - that is a choice, sure. I just dont agree with it.

It is not bad still. Even though some camera angles are repetitive, the show is well directed, with good cinematography. The costumes and the design are also very well made. But my problem is mostly with the pace of this. Too slow, and the dialogues are just too long a bunch of times. Does it deserve a watch? Definitely because as you can see, a lot of people dont agree with me. Do i want to see season 2? Probably not, unfortunately. I hope netflix continues on producing things in portugal, we desperately need our industry to be born, because we never had one. Lets hope this is the first step for bigger things.

O sabor das margaridas (2018–2020)

not the best

[7/10 · 11 November 2021]

First of all: all of the episodes are big, but this galician show actually has a decent pace and is compelling to watch. I saw both seasons: the first one is more interesting in terms of the small town dynamics, the second one is more complicated to follow due to the huge amount of characters but yes its darker and still has good moments.

It has a bunch of plotholes, and mostly plotlines that kinda leads us nowhere. That was my main problem. Some of the dialogues are dull and we know this is not very believeable if we compare it with the reality. But this is fiction: being fiction i think its fine enough, even if its not the best crime series you will ever watch. Also some of the plotwists are too repetitive which is also a bummer - still was i bored? Not much.

Its a good job from our galician friends even though they wanted too much to and elements and to surprise the viewer, even if it was not necessary. I think there will be a third season, maybe i watched it maybe not. Its not the most solid recomendation. However if you like this type of show i think you will like this.

Plebs (2013–2019)

it started really well, but then the quality went a bit down.

[7/10 · 1 November 2021]

Plebs took me 2 episodes to get hooked, but when i did i really enjoyed. The first 2 seasons deserve a 9 because they are really funny and more than that the roma environment really works in favour of the show. Plus the whole arch of having marcus trying to hook up with Cynthia by lying, deceiving, tricking and then seeing all the lies falling apart at the end, was for me the main thing on the show. And metella almost bullying him, that was great too.

Then season 3...i missed the girls. Delphine was a fine character and it was fun seeing marcus constantly afraid of losing her but at the end of the day her arch was not rich enough. The funny scenes with her are like in 3 episodes. But still we have the three dudes being the same which redeems the whole thing.

But in 4 and 5 there is no stylax and jason is not by any means the best replacement. He is too cute for this show and not exactly empathic, even though his dumbness is funny. Them having a bar is fine, but it looked a bit of a cheap version of its always sunny in philadelphia. Grumio was basically the main saviour of these two seasons - he was always the funniest thing in the show but on these two seasons he pretty much saved the whole thing.

I dont think people will regret this last two seasons but they are no way as good comparing with the first two. The third one is kinda middle of the road but still closer to season 1 and 2 than season 3 and 4.

Look people must see the first 2 seasons. And the third. The other two is more your own risk. I will still replay them for sure.

Upload (2020– )

it has immagination and wit, a good watch.

[8/10 · 30 October 2021]

I think it needs more perspective towards the inequality metaphor that kinda runs this show: poor people cant go to lakeview. It needs more social and even political depth. Other than that i think its pretty entertaining and sweet. The futuristic society is well made and the upload software is actually interesting.

Overall i did enjoy the first season but would love to see more of the social impact. Given the information we have at the end of the first season, i think the show will go more this way. Just not expect a good place or a parks and recreation. The comedy here is more witty, and i didnt laugh much - was very entertained though and definitely want more.

Resident Alien (2021– )

it is very charming with lots of likeable characters.

[8/10 · 29 October 2021]

I think this is the first show on syfy that i really started to follow.it is not the best show ever made, but the truth is that it has its charm. All of the characters are likeable. I didnt fine hugely funny except for the police guy and obviously the alien. A great work by alan tudyk by the way.

The think is: everyone is likeable. The plotlines i found them interesting to follow. I liked the small town vibe and the show doesnt takes itself very seriously which is a good thing. But the best part is that they really made an effort on making connections with all of those characters. This is not only a show about the alien but about the town where we lives.

It could be easy to have all the other characters feel boring. None of them does. It is a very cool tv show and i am glad they renewed it. I will surely wait for season 2.

Ghosted (I) (2017)

until a certain point it was enjoyable, but then...

[6/10 · 27 October 2021]

You know i actually thought this show had potential. The first nine episodes are actually entertaining, being the "sam" episode the best of the bunch. Nothing really out of the box, but i did had fun while watching it. I think they were onto something, also because i did enjoy the major plotlines they were building.

Then they changed screenwriter, the show stopped for some months...and when it came back it was just awful. They put new characters that were unfunny and boring, they decided to change totally the plotline and to forget all the past archs...."the wire" episode is still ok, the other are just almost unwatchable. Its just..why?

At the last episode they realized they did a big mistake, so they put everything back in. So episode 16 follows again the stories the show abandoned and lets go of those boring secundary characters. Unfortunately it was too late.

Too bad, this could have been a cool tv show if they gave time for the plot and the characters to develop. When they decided to give it to a new screenwriter it was when the show ended. Still the first 10 episodes are fine, then skip the show until episode 16.

Only Murders in the Building (2021– )

yes, it is a great tv show.

[8/10 · 26 October 2021]

What can i say? Really well filmed, great cinematography, steve martin and martin short are a great duo that works perfectly and selena gomez is good on handling her role with these two legends. The show is funny and has a very good pace, with sting, nathan lane, jane lynch and tina fey showing up.

The episode with nathan lane's son is a brave effort on his own and i did enjoy this resolution. Due to being really good it will certain gather a bunch of emmy nomminations. If you are not watching this yet, you should. The binge will be quick because this is extremely charming and entertaning.

Pôr do Sol (2021–2022)

a very funny soap opera spoof full of portuguese pop culture

[8/10 · 19 October 2021]

Portugal misses this types of shows: shows that couldn't be made anywhere else, because they are solely based on our own popular references. Only a portuguese can identify saul ricardo (and be aware he exists) in the first episode for example. Or knows the portuguese version of the price is right - which is way more than just a tv show. And who knows who joao baiao is and the impact of "big show sic" the tv show he hosted? Exactly.

Than our soap operas have their own specifics. Which means that you need to know a bunch of portuguese pop culture and portuguese soap operas. So yeah, before watching "por do sol" you should maybe live in portugal for like 10 years lol. Or at least having someone portuguese to explain almost all the jokes to you.

The characters and the plot arent really important, they just need to exist. This is a spoof, so the plot is pretty much the plot of a standard soap opera - with the difference that the dialogues are all non sense. I dont think this is an amazing piece of work neither the best comedy portugal ever produced - but it does make a very poignant parody of our soap operas. And we need portuguese shows like water in the desert.

Herman Enciclopédia (1997–1998)

one of my favourite comedy shows ever

[10/10 · 5 October 2021]

When i think about my favourite comedy shows, i think about... the british the office, parks and recreation, party down...and herman enciclopedia. For me this was some of the finest work ever made in comedy. It is hard to understand if you dont get a lot of portuguese culture, and mostly portuguese culture from the 80's and 90's... but for those who are aware of it, this is a neverending source of laughs.

It is mostly a sketch comedy show with recurring characters such as lauro dermio the music critic, mike and melga the infomercial dudes. Diácono remédios, the guy who shows up when the show gets too "naughty", a portuguese soap opera set in one of the historical lisbon neighbourhoods...this show is almost 25 years and its still celebrated and remembered. Why? Because it was really funny and everyone were able to relate with it.

For me the best show on portuguese tv ever. And yes, one of the best comedy shows í've ever watched in my life. Period.

What We Do in the Shadows: On the Run (2020) Season 2, Episode 6

matt berry is a fantastic actor.

[10/10 · 30 September 2021]

I started watching this show, because of matt berry's work on IT crowd. The show has much more to offer than him, but on this episode everyone gets why he deserved so much this role. Jackie daytona the bar owner and volleyball coach helping the small town, gaining empathy with humans. And it has mark hamill. The writing is absolutely perfect, but without matt berry this wouldnt have reached perfection. One of the episodes of this show, certainly.

What We Do in the Shadows: Nouveau Théâtre des Vampires (2020) Season 2, Episode 10

maybe the best season finale for a tv show.

[10/10 · 26 September 2021]

What an episode. The tarantinesque vibe was beautiful. Guillermo had a great development in this season, and the finale confirms it. It has the non sense, the debauchery, the fun, the lines are all on point...it was a great season, and this finally just made it apotheotic.

Lets see how they will go with this. Because honestly this is the type of show that can get to 10 seasons with no problem. The possibilites are endless. I hope they keep the vibrante energy they are having. I dont laugh loud usually at this, but in this episode i did. It was really engaging.

The Vow (2020–2022)

it maybe seems disjointed at times, but i really enjoyed it

[8/10 · 20 September 2021]

Its true that the series sometimes repeats itself and its not very chronological accurate, but i actually didnt care i enjoyed all the episodes. I never find it boring for one second, and believe me when i find something boring i never insist. I liked the fact that they gave time for everyone to tell their story. They were relly concerned with having the most "pawns" as possible.

They could be even darkerer, they could have made this orderly in terms of time framing, but i really enjoyed it how it is. Plus the music is good, the directing and editing are great, i liked a lot the cinematography...is a really well made series that will go deep in terms o why these people enjoyed such a nefarious organization. Please give it a watch.