All the beautiful shots and cinematography cannot save this train wreck of a script. It is a colossal failure of storytelling that fails at every level to explain its senseless plot and violence.
Reviews
13 Reviews
The Call
(2020)
Brilliant concept, terrible execution.
8 January 2021
The directing, editing and acting are good, it keeps you interested through the entire movie. The film has a really interesting premise of time traveling but it's entirely ruined by terrible writing.
The story started out great but halfway through the film one major nonsensical decision made by the protagonist stuck like a sore thumb, whilst the moment was the pivot of the story it could've been executed quite differently without the need for the protagonist to unnecessarily sabotage herself.
Next there's the ending which defies all logic and common sense. They're obviously planning a sequel so they shoehorned that garbage.
The story started out great but halfway through the film one major nonsensical decision made by the protagonist stuck like a sore thumb, whilst the moment was the pivot of the story it could've been executed quite differently without the need for the protagonist to unnecessarily sabotage herself.
Next there's the ending which defies all logic and common sense. They're obviously planning a sequel so they shoehorned that garbage.
Somewhere Between
(2017)
Somewhere between mediocre and atrocious.
20 November 2020
I'll break down the review in the following three categories:
Directing The directing is serviceable. Editing is fine. Apart from a complete failure in guiding Paula Patton on her facial expressions, there's not much to complain about. 6/10
Writing The writers had an interesting concept but they seemingly had no idea how to write a story around it. It also doesn't help that there is a glaringly obvious loose plot thread. Some of the minor characters are so incredibly stupid that they defy all reason. The lead child character is supposed to be sassy but she comes off as insufferable, frankly she's one of the worst child characters on TV. It's also never explained if she's adopted or the writers just forgot how genes work. The script is poorly written, especially Serena's lines. 5/10
Acting Now comes the biggest problem: Paula Patton's acting. I'm not familiar with her previous work but her over-exaggerated expressions killed this show. Frankly most of the time when she's in a scene with the male lead Devon Sawa, she looks like she's having an orgasm. She's often panting, seemingly out of breath for no reason at all! At other times, she looks like she's drunk or high. Furthermore, Aria Birch, the child actor playing Serena, sometimes completely fails to act (for example pretend to sleep) which is cringe-worthy. The show is held together by the male actors, mainly the lead Devon Sawa who does his best to play an alcoholic ex cop/bounty hunter good guy. 3/10
Conclusion Somewhere Between has an interesting premise but directionless writing, mediocre script, poorly written characters and over-exaggerated acting by its female lead never really let's the Series reach the heights it showed the potential of reaching in its pilot episode.
Rating Average: 4.5/10
Directing The directing is serviceable. Editing is fine. Apart from a complete failure in guiding Paula Patton on her facial expressions, there's not much to complain about. 6/10
Writing The writers had an interesting concept but they seemingly had no idea how to write a story around it. It also doesn't help that there is a glaringly obvious loose plot thread. Some of the minor characters are so incredibly stupid that they defy all reason. The lead child character is supposed to be sassy but she comes off as insufferable, frankly she's one of the worst child characters on TV. It's also never explained if she's adopted or the writers just forgot how genes work. The script is poorly written, especially Serena's lines. 5/10
Acting Now comes the biggest problem: Paula Patton's acting. I'm not familiar with her previous work but her over-exaggerated expressions killed this show. Frankly most of the time when she's in a scene with the male lead Devon Sawa, she looks like she's having an orgasm. She's often panting, seemingly out of breath for no reason at all! At other times, she looks like she's drunk or high. Furthermore, Aria Birch, the child actor playing Serena, sometimes completely fails to act (for example pretend to sleep) which is cringe-worthy. The show is held together by the male actors, mainly the lead Devon Sawa who does his best to play an alcoholic ex cop/bounty hunter good guy. 3/10
Conclusion Somewhere Between has an interesting premise but directionless writing, mediocre script, poorly written characters and over-exaggerated acting by its female lead never really let's the Series reach the heights it showed the potential of reaching in its pilot episode.
Rating Average: 4.5/10
Seraph of the End
(2015)
Shallow atrocity.
15 October 2019
Story and writing:
Absolutely mediocre. The characters are the most smug and unlikeable I've ever seen. The protagonist constantly disobeys direct orders in the military and yet everybody tolerates him. The lead's needs take precedence over other human lives. The main characters are unbelievably arrogant and selfish with obnoxious dialogues.
The lead's possibly romantic relationship with his Foster brother is also the driving force of the entire show. It's disturbing, to say the least.
Animation: The animation isn't the worst but it's nothing to write home about. There are certainly better action anime out there.
Sound: The soundtrack and music is forgettable although the English dub voice actors did a decent job. I don't like subtitles, hence I can't comment on Japanese VA.
Conclusion: This anime has more mentions of "family" than Vin Diesel has uttered the words in his lifetime, I had to skip past some parts of one episodes because I just couldn't suffer through another mention of the word. I'm on the penultimate episode of season 2. I've already committed to watching this anime so I'll finish it but God I cannot sit through another season of this abomination of an anime!
I rate this 3/10 but only for the decent animation and character design. I would not recommend this to my worst enemy, simply because I don't want to be thought to be lacking of taste.
The lead's possibly romantic relationship with his Foster brother is also the driving force of the entire show. It's disturbing, to say the least.
Animation: The animation isn't the worst but it's nothing to write home about. There are certainly better action anime out there.
Sound: The soundtrack and music is forgettable although the English dub voice actors did a decent job. I don't like subtitles, hence I can't comment on Japanese VA.
Conclusion: This anime has more mentions of "family" than Vin Diesel has uttered the words in his lifetime, I had to skip past some parts of one episodes because I just couldn't suffer through another mention of the word. I'm on the penultimate episode of season 2. I've already committed to watching this anime so I'll finish it but God I cannot sit through another season of this abomination of an anime!
I rate this 3/10 but only for the decent animation and character design. I would not recommend this to my worst enemy, simply because I don't want to be thought to be lacking of taste.
Fist Fight
(2017)
Fun if you don't take the plot too seriously.
13 February 2019
Fist Fight is not a good film. It's a fun, silly little film. But not particularly a good one.
The premise of the film is silly, the overall plot makes no sense, characters don't make sense and the ending makes no sense. Suffice to say it's not a film you should watch for the story.
No, Fist Fight is something you go watch for the laughs. Save it for a rainy day when the dramas are too deep, the horrors are too dark and you don't want to make much sense of anything.
Fist Fight has some decent acting, funny characters, funny moments and a little message that if you get pushed around you need to push back. So if you don't think too deep about the story, this film will surprise you.
I think giving it a 7 is too high and a 6 too low, sadly there's no 6.5 so I'm going with a 6/10.
The premise of the film is silly, the overall plot makes no sense, characters don't make sense and the ending makes no sense. Suffice to say it's not a film you should watch for the story.
No, Fist Fight is something you go watch for the laughs. Save it for a rainy day when the dramas are too deep, the horrors are too dark and you don't want to make much sense of anything.
Fist Fight has some decent acting, funny characters, funny moments and a little message that if you get pushed around you need to push back. So if you don't think too deep about the story, this film will surprise you.
I think giving it a 7 is too high and a 6 too low, sadly there's no 6.5 so I'm going with a 6/10.
The Blacklist
(2013–2023)
Gets better before it gets worse.
18 January 2019
James Spader is an enigma of an actor. His voice and acting can carry any show. The supporting cast are great. The Blacklist has several likeable characters including Tom, Dembe, Cooper, Ressler and especially Aram Mujtabai but it suffers at its core because of its female protagonist
The main problem is the female lead character, Elizabeth Keen. Megan Boone has done a good job of portraying the character but the writing behind the character is awful. Special Agent Keen was likeable until halfway through season 3. The character has massive daddy issues and zero integrity. She will constantly have a hot and cold relationship with Raymond but at the end of the day she will side with Raymond every time. She's quick to overlook every criminal offence Red has committed and is likely to commit in the future and she will readily justify it by saying the FBI needs him. She has even shown she's willing to commit crimes if she can get away with it. Her self righteousness has also spread out and infected the other characters over the later seasons. I had originally rated this show 8/10 but the score dropped down 2 points in the last two seasons.
The main problem is the female lead character, Elizabeth Keen. Megan Boone has done a good job of portraying the character but the writing behind the character is awful. Special Agent Keen was likeable until halfway through season 3. The character has massive daddy issues and zero integrity. She will constantly have a hot and cold relationship with Raymond but at the end of the day she will side with Raymond every time. She's quick to overlook every criminal offence Red has committed and is likely to commit in the future and she will readily justify it by saying the FBI needs him. She has even shown she's willing to commit crimes if she can get away with it. Her self righteousness has also spread out and infected the other characters over the later seasons. I had originally rated this show 8/10 but the score dropped down 2 points in the last two seasons.
Titans
(I) (2018–2023)
An unexpected but pleasant surprise!
12 January 2019
When I watched the trailers, the behind the scenes photos and read all the online rants, I couldn't be anything but concerned about this show. The "f*** Batman" line seemed too edgy, Ana Diop's get up looked God awful, the makeup and the cgi looked cheap. Sufficed to say the show looked like the next Inhumans.
But after watching the show I can honestly say it was worth it! The choreography is great, the cgi's good for TV budget. The soundtrack is really atmospheric. The writing is nothing special but nothing to complain about either. The cast is really good, especially Anna Diop who's hilarious at times.
All in all, this is an excellent start for DC. The show is probably best watched in a binge format instead of one episode per week.
But after watching the show I can honestly say it was worth it! The choreography is great, the cgi's good for TV budget. The soundtrack is really atmospheric. The writing is nothing special but nothing to complain about either. The cast is really good, especially Anna Diop who's hilarious at times.
All in all, this is an excellent start for DC. The show is probably best watched in a binge format instead of one episode per week.
Gotham
(2014–2019)
An inherently flawed yet excellent tv show.
19 November 2018
This is an excellent show. The villains are quirky and interesting. The characters are great. Gotham feels like a real place. The show succeeds when it focuses on Gordon and the villains of the show. It fails every time when the show cuts into David Mazouz's baby Batman. His Bruce Wayne is unlikable and completely unnecessary. All of the villains predate this Batman and Gordon seems to have done fine without his Batman.
The development of Batman would have been much better left off screen than this dull iteration of Bruce's Wayne/Batman.
The development of Batman would have been much better left off screen than this dull iteration of Bruce's Wayne/Batman.
May the Devil Take You
(2018)
A genuinely terrifying film plagued by stupid characters and bad acting.
17 November 2018
This is a terrifying film. It doesn't pull its punches. It hits hard from the start. It has genuine moments of horror that is missing from most films these days that just rely on cheap jump scares with sudden loud noises and ghosts jumping from out of screen.
Having said that, it does not transcend the usual horror tropes with characters making bad mistakes and acting downright stupid at times. The brother character, in particular, is frustratingly stupid. The movie also suffers from poor acting by the child actor who just isn't convincing that she is frightened. Any human being would be terrified in the circumstances of the film but her expressions are just robotic and she does not seem to be in the same movie as the rest of the actors.
All in all I recommend this movie to all horror movie geeks a 100% but do not expect an exceptional film like the likes of Hereditary (2018) or IT (2017).
Having said that, it does not transcend the usual horror tropes with characters making bad mistakes and acting downright stupid at times. The brother character, in particular, is frustratingly stupid. The movie also suffers from poor acting by the child actor who just isn't convincing that she is frightened. Any human being would be terrified in the circumstances of the film but her expressions are just robotic and she does not seem to be in the same movie as the rest of the actors.
All in all I recommend this movie to all horror movie geeks a 100% but do not expect an exceptional film like the likes of Hereditary (2018) or IT (2017).
Train to Busan
(2016)
The best zombie horror film I've ever watched!
2 November 2018
Train to Busan is THE best zombie horror film made so far. It's intense, heartbreaking and it'll keep you at the edge of your seats through the second half of the film. If you're into horror films, especially zombie films, do yourself a favour and watch it! It's available on Netflix right now as of November 2018.
10/10!
10/10!
Zoo
(2015–2017)
A terrible third season has ruined the entire show
19 April 2018
The first two seasons were fun and corny but season 3 had me frustrated and yelling at the screen. What began with a likeable cast of characters have been completely ruined by terrible moral choices and because of its main character being too weak to make the hard choices despite having half a dozen chances costing hundreds of thousand lives and then the last moral choice was just so undeniably horrid that the main characters of this show have no redeemable quality.
Decent superhero film
25 March 2016
Spoiler free mini review:
THE GOOD: Ben Affleck is quite easily the best live-action Batman. So is Jeremy Irons as Alfred. Gal Gadot did wonders with what little screen time she had. Great fight scenes. Excellent cinematography. Simply put it's visually spectacular. Excellent beginning. Unpredictable ending. Hans Zimmer's score.
THE BAD: It's a rushed setup film for the Justice League, so it's crammed with too many plots/sub-plots. Bad editing, disjointed scenes (once again due to too many plots) Main antagonist's motives are unclear. Some minor plot holes. Slow middle. Unnecessary cameo from one particular superhero (could have been a simple end credit scene).
THE UGLY: Doomsday cgi is just ugly.
In short: It's no masterpiece and there are certainly much better superhero films out there but it isn't a terrible film by any means.
Rating: 7/10
THE GOOD: Ben Affleck is quite easily the best live-action Batman. So is Jeremy Irons as Alfred. Gal Gadot did wonders with what little screen time she had. Great fight scenes. Excellent cinematography. Simply put it's visually spectacular. Excellent beginning. Unpredictable ending. Hans Zimmer's score.
THE BAD: It's a rushed setup film for the Justice League, so it's crammed with too many plots/sub-plots. Bad editing, disjointed scenes (once again due to too many plots) Main antagonist's motives are unclear. Some minor plot holes. Slow middle. Unnecessary cameo from one particular superhero (could have been a simple end credit scene).
THE UGLY: Doomsday cgi is just ugly.
In short: It's no masterpiece and there are certainly much better superhero films out there but it isn't a terrible film by any means.
Rating: 7/10
Hannibal
(2013–2015)
Dark and entertaining but not quiet as intelligent as it pretends to be
25 July 2013
First of all I deal with the positives. The direction and cinematography is superb. It creates a dark and very creepy world around Will Graham. The sound and music is fitting to the environment.
The acting is also great. Hugh Dancy is spectacular in the role of Will Graham and the rest of the supporting actors are good at their roles. The other lead actor, Mads Mikkelsen, is very creepy as Hannibal Lecter, however, he never came of as the cunning psychopath we've all come to know Hannibal Lecter from the films, he just came off as evil. But I don't blame Mads for his characterisation I blame the writers.
In fact the biggest flaw of the entire show is the writing. In the story Will Graham is an FBI criminal profiler with a gift. He can magically see through the eyes of serial killers in the past when they were killing their victims. I use the word 'magically' because how Will reaches his deductions is never properly explained; the writers lazily excuse themselves by using words such as 'gift' or 'ability to empathise with killers' to explain that he can. Such core plot point should be dealt with more care and detail.
All in all the show is very entertaining if you're in the mood for something dark and mysterious. I have enjoyed it very much and I hope that the writers will write with more care and detail when they're showing off Will's gift in action in the following season.
7/10 stars.
The acting is also great. Hugh Dancy is spectacular in the role of Will Graham and the rest of the supporting actors are good at their roles. The other lead actor, Mads Mikkelsen, is very creepy as Hannibal Lecter, however, he never came of as the cunning psychopath we've all come to know Hannibal Lecter from the films, he just came off as evil. But I don't blame Mads for his characterisation I blame the writers.
In fact the biggest flaw of the entire show is the writing. In the story Will Graham is an FBI criminal profiler with a gift. He can magically see through the eyes of serial killers in the past when they were killing their victims. I use the word 'magically' because how Will reaches his deductions is never properly explained; the writers lazily excuse themselves by using words such as 'gift' or 'ability to empathise with killers' to explain that he can. Such core plot point should be dealt with more care and detail.
All in all the show is very entertaining if you're in the mood for something dark and mysterious. I have enjoyed it very much and I hope that the writers will write with more care and detail when they're showing off Will's gift in action in the following season.
7/10 stars.
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