Nikki_Ki-yay Reviews

House of the Dragon: The Green Council (2022) Season 1, Episode 9

Just so bad...

[1/10 · 17 October 2022]

...And it just keeps getting worse with every episode. None of the suspense of the original series. It's rushed and seem cheap.

There is no character development to speak of, and people die faster than one can learn their names. So it's hard to actually care when characters die becauase they haven't had enough screentime to be memorable.

The characters are mostly shallow caricatures and it's not hard to figure out the plot well before it developes. I mostly just find myself going back and forth between disgust and annoyance.

If you enjoy this series, good for you. But for me it just lacks the magic and immersion of the original.

Lost Cities with Albert Lin: Stonehenge (2019) Season 1, Episode 4

So many factual mistakes

[1/10 · 6 September 2022]

Comparing the megalithic culture of southern england with the bronze age culture of northern scandinavia is like making parallels between sahara and florida. Not the same people, not the same cultures. Way to eradicate the Sami herritage for the sake of "wow-factor" tv. Utter rubbish.

How could any of the archaeologists participating sign off on this? Lost city of Stone henge? Might as well be looking for Narnia. Just as real. In hunter-gatherer europe there was no cities. Only seasonal camps/villages at most.

Could've been excellent if they actually tried to make some sort of factual point. The megalithic culture is present in both Denmark and Sweden. The great dolmen of Falbygden would've been an excellent site to make parallels, the seal altars of southern Gotland too. Culture that were more similar bith in time and expression.

Better Call Saul: Axe and Grind (2022) Season 6, Episode 6

To all salt for "early reviews".

[10/10 · 17 May 2022]

Here in europe BCS is released every week direct to Netflix. In my country I could watch it from 00:01 CET on the 16th. This means I finished it by 1 am CET and could write a review. But in the US it was still the 15th. And a lot of people were loosing their s**t over "early reviews". I'm not saying that there aren't people leaving early reviews, but also keep in mind that there exist other countries and time-zones before posting 1 star reviews to "even things out".

The Northman (2022)

Is to Nordic history and mythology what Pretty Woman is to prostitution

[1/10 · 13 April 2022]

Is it a fun mess? Yes. XD

Do I regret seeing it? Not really.

Was it entertaining? Sure.

Was it a horrible representation of my country, my heritage, and my history? Yeah. (But if anyone thinks this is more accurate than GoT or Marvel's Thor, maybe that's not this movie's fault).

It was sort of a fun ride, and even though I enjoyed parts of it, I probably won't see it again. Maybe it is more fun for people in countries that find my country exotic, but I found it mostly to be cringe. Alexander Skarsgård is fine, but I think his acting comes off as far worse when you view it as a fellow nordic than if you see it, for example, from an american perspective.

So, I guess my recommendation is to enjoy the movie for the mindless entertainment that it is. But don't "quote" it as facts or think that you've learned something about Nordic mythos or history by watching it.

A Boy Called Christmas (2021)

Just came here to state..

[1/10 · 3 December 2021]

...that the Sami traditional kolts aren't costumes, and shouldn't be used to "give an authentic nordic fairytale feel" to people who doesn't have a clue what the nordic really is. It's just messed up. Sami people aren't "Santa's elves", and the whole thing is quite frankly beyond insulting.

"Jus ii beasa geavahit árbevirolas eatnamiid ja cáziid. De ii sáhte sámi álbmot doaimmahit iezas kultuvrra dege árbevirolas ealahusaid".

The Queen's Gambit (2020)

Desperately lacking chess?

[4/10 · 23 September 2021]

I've just seen 4 episodes so far so I guess it might pick up. But so far it's just depressing, slow drama. Teenage angst and substance abuse. Chess seems to be more of a backdrop than the main focus? I love chess, and really thought this would be something for me. But mostly just mentioning standard strategies is as far as they'll go.

Wild Nordic (2019)

45 min of tourist commersial for Norway

[1/10 · 19 May 2021]

I watched wild Russia and had high hopes for this documentary. But the first episode is mostly just about how Norway is the best country in the world, a lot of references to Vikings. Apparently E V E R Y T H I N G is Viking in Norway. Apart from an Eagle in the beginning, some goats and a flash of a cod and a seagull there are no animals in the documentary. Even when the narrator is talking about cod, it's mostly close-ups of gritty fishermen (and references to vikings). Other than that it's just viking roads, viking buildings, viking people viking doing viking sports, and some (viking) geology. Mostly dudes talking about their passions, and a narrator with the most awkward Norwegian/English accent ever who inserts the word viking in every other sentence. So if you're wondering where to go on vacation it's a great informative commercial. If you want to learn something about the wild nordic... not so much. Oh... did I mention vikings???