fixxx-informal Reviews

The Love Guru (2008)

While this movie isn't a 10/10 - it's memorable and enjoyable

[10/10 · 14 December 2021]

The ratings people gave this movie are unacceptably fake. Giving it anything below a 6 is obvious virtue signaling.

The cast is good. The sets are well made. The actors do try to make it funny and succeed more often than not.

It may have references, similar to Letterkenny, but it's not necessary to be canadian, merely having watched enough US cinema.

WATCH IT if you didn't. Don't pay attention to the negative rating.

Sensation (2021)

This movie is broken. Technically. In my opinion.

[5/10 · 26 March 2021]

Rubbish editing, no flow to it. Actors aren't playing off each other and that looks like high school acting performance-level stuff, at best. Main Character is overplaying nearly everything. Music covers dialogue very often. Even when they try to mix it down - some of the dialogue still sounds like it's coming from another room. So loud! Really makes one appreciate when these things are done well, even if the story is nonsense. Overall, just by the technical part of the movie - I'd suggest you stay away from it. Is it always dawn in that world? Sure looks like it.

Night Watch (2004)

People seem to continuously forget to put the movie in context

[9/10 · 17 March 2021]

This was probably one of the first Russian movies to ever try something this big, this bombastic and still keep it their own.

They probably could have kept more CGI out of it but looking at the movie against bring out how many camera tricks were used as opposed to doing it artificially.

Did read the books at the time and they were not bad. Not at all.

Two serious factors though - it was made in 2004 as a "first of its size" in Russia, and that the setting may seem "forced" to look as gritty. They didn't need to look hard to find that. Russia of the 90s was a very bad place to be.

Lastman (2016– )

Feels slapdash initially though steadies out within 5-6 episodes. But...

[7/10 · 16 March 2021]

Started our disjointed so you're forced to watch nearly 1/3 of the whole thing before things click into place. Somewhat. But then the whole worldbuilding starts to break. Main characters not acting cautiously enough allowing for the plot to move along. And Oh boy does it move. It stumbles forward like someone almost ready to fall down but just keep on putting one foot in front of the other a second before going down. Last third of the season definitely shows they didn't think pacing through and didn't count on how much story they need to cram into 27 episodes. Probably should have been 2 seasons.

Passable as an interesting animation experience. Though there's few people I'd recommend it to.

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

It's really not that bad.

[7/10 · 25 September 2018]

This is an action flick in the Star Wars universe. That's it. And it does a good job at being that. Effects are good, sounds are good. Acting is passable. Went in with nearly no expectations and was not disappointed.

Jerry Before Seinfeld (2017 TV Special)

Not sure what I expected

[5/10 · 9 July 2018]

I felt disappointed. The material is too .. weak, I guess. Calling this a Comedy Special, gives actual comedy specials a bad name. Just call it a Special, cause that's what it is.

Gods of Egypt (2016)

Not as bad as I was expecting

[7/10 · 15 November 2016]

Somehow the people were expecting ... i don't know what. But it's a movie people will be able to re-watch from time to time. As opposed to other "epics". It's silly, and totally not worth the budget it was made with (meaning it would have been cheaper but probably retain the same spectator value). Perhaps make the dialogue even funnier, that would have worked too. The acting was pretty OK, same with CGI. The ways they tried to keep the difference in size is just laughable, but what can you do. I'd say it shows the mythology in a way that some people might actually retain at least a bit from. As opposed to what they teach in school - does anyone even remember that? I sure don't.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

My expectations were met, in a "meh" kinda' way

[6/10 · 16 July 2016]

I'd say there was about 60-70% of the movie i could have skipped and not miss much of anything worthwhile. A lot of build-up for a major turn-around in the last part of the movie. Most the of "cool" stuff started happening when I was pondering whether continuing watching had a point so it ended in a both somber and expectant mood.

It was well shot, nothing negative to say there, enjoyed the 21:9 aspect ration on a monitor with that exact ratio in ultra-wide. The audio didn't feel that punchy though, even though i was wearing a good pair of large-diaphragm headphones.

Overall i'd say disappointing as a standalone film.

The Shannara Chronicles (2016–2017)

If you over-analyze - steer clear of Shannara Chronicles

[6/10 · 1 February 2016]

I had medium-level hopes for this series. The main female leads look attractive and aren't just figureheads. They obviously are building up several main characters as fast as they can but this does make it feel too speedy.

Requires quite a bit of gullibility to accept plot holes so glaring that it may be the reason i'll quit watching. For example, knowing there's a specific type of enemy in the palace - they take NO worthwhile precautions to scan them out. Enemies enter and leave the palace like it's a tavern. And there's ONLY ONE ENTRANCE more or less. Yet there's always 1 or 2 guards.. The escort for the most valuable characters are inept and far too few.

The 100 (2014–2020)

Not as good as I expected

[5/10 · 15 November 2014]

From the very start it looked way too rushed, skipped through important story to end up in a high-school-like environment, just with lots of death. And that death is almost unnoticed alongside all the "drama". Shallow, under-thought and utterly boring. My expectation was that the characters could be adults or at least act like them but none have a serious bone inside. The production value is OK for me, but jeez-Louise its extremely cheesy. Was barely able to finish Season 1 with the finger on fast forward and sincerely hoped to find a few scenes of substance.

If you like to watch teen age soap operas I can wholeheartedly recommend this.