constanza-nm Reviews

The Quiet Girl (2022)

As delicate as painful

[9/10 · 28 March 2024]

I kept thinking while the movie was playing that eventhough I didn't quite understand where the movie was heading, everything looked so beautiful and well crafted that I couldn't help to feel excited about how wonderful it is that these type of films are made, movies that are here to tell a little piece of story about life and existence.

The ending, as equally delicate as painful, left me in tears.

Every time she was in that house she felt the need to run, to disappear somewhere else. But this time, this one time, she had a place to run to, arms to run to.

I don't think I'm ever forgetting how precious that scene is.

All of Us Strangers (2023)

Does it feel real?

[9/10 · 5 March 2024]

I'm not going to lie, the ending of this film left me quite frustrated at first. What really happened? But as hours has gone by I realized that eventhough we may not get clear answers, this story touch me so deeply. I cried several times while watching it. Every single performance is so incredible moving. You can find so much power in its interpretation of grieve, love and loneliness. Maybe this movie was jus supposed to be a safe place for that. I keep thinking about the scene in which Adam asks her mother if everything happening is real and she says, "does if feel real?" "Yes" "than there you go". There you go.

The Starling Girl (2023)

Not the movie I thought it was

[5/10 · 12 February 2024]

All that I knew about this movie is that it was a coming of age story about a teenager growing up on a very religious family. That in itself, at least for me, it's interesting enough. The premise of the film, especially with how beautiful it looks, is really good. But it quickly diverts from that into this very inappropriate relationship between the protagonist and her mentor and it lingers on that. It becomes the story about a young girl having an "affair" with and older married man. There's clearly a power dynamic there and is never discussed. What is actually the message here? I wonder. I think it could've been so much better if they focused on her journey without this "romance", because everything ended up revolving around that. It feels so unnecessary when everything else happening to her is quite compelling as it is.

Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult (2020)

Great short docu series

[8/10 · 18 December 2023]

I actually just wrote a review for the first season of The Vow pointing out that it definitely gets drawn out too much while relevant information about the victims is left behind.

This series is way more successful at condensing the facts and giving the victims a proper depiction of what they went through. It shuns a stronger light on how deep the manipulation and coercion really were and how these women ended up being part of this cult and couldn't walk away from it.

Glad to see that India and her mother got to tell their stories. They were both very important in this case. And both decided to do the right thing.

The Vow (2020–2022)

Has some issues, still worth watching

[6/10 · 18 December 2023]

This is a very good topic for a documentary, it is an important story that is worth telling. However, I agree with many comments here that is too long and unfocused at times. It could've been shorter for sure. I understand that they show many videos and recordings to creat context about the cult and its lider. The way that it functioned, the way that they created control over the victims, but after a while I really didn't wanted to see or hear this horrible man anymore, this is not a series about him, I don't care neither want to care about him.

The most important thing should be the victims and their stories.

True Detective: Now Am Found (2019) Season 3, Episode 8

Too much and not enough at the same time

[5/10 · 17 September 2023]

The biggest problem with this season is how long it is. It should have been five or six episodes. There so much information all the time and a lot of it is not relevant at all. Like who cares that the son is having an affair? Or the fact that the dad was gay? Why is that important? Well, it isn't. I feel like the show was writing to be actually longer, it doesn't feel like a miniseries because they really try to make you care about too many characters when you know you're not going to see them for that long. I also have an issue with some plot holes: we never get and answer on why Julie hated her dad so much, we can imply but is all speculation, why the mom wasn't really investigated when they knew she had affairs, the link between the first season and this one is not really a link but a way of just creating expectations that are never met. There're scenes that didn't lead anywhere, like the wife/writer talking to the mother best friend and taking a picture of the kids and you are telling me that no one had talk to her before? A lot of things don't make sense.

However I will give credit to the amazing performances and the the fact that I believe the whole story arch of an older character dealing with loosing his memory was pretty well done.

I didn't mind the ending that much or the "twist" but it could've been better. They had the pieces, it seemed they weren't able to put them together, just like the detectives during all of those years.

Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi (2022)

It's for the spectacle

[5/10 · 23 April 2023]

This case and the involvement of the church is a very interesting topic, it does not need extra "drama" but this series wants to create it in the cheapest possible ways. Everything is directed and edited with that purpose, to make an spectacle of the case. And in all honesty it doesn't even work. It's gets boring. You get shown the same images over and over again, the stories at times are all over the place and maybe they were trying to convey the chaos of the story itself but was it really necessary to have a bunch of frenetic car scenes with loud music in the middle of the interviews? A journalist says in a clip that Americans are comparing this case to a Dan Brown book. This documentary feels like that's what they were trying to do, to create a thriller. I feel specially saddened by the fact that her family participated and you can tell how hard this has been for all of them, just to ending up seeing an over edited, poorly paced re telling of their tragic story.

Glass (2019)

I don't get the praise

[4/10 · 27 March 2023]

Ok, I really didn't like this movie. I wasn't a huge fan of the whole superhero plot and all the references to comic books and marvel that didn't quite feel organic BUT that's not even the worst part. This movie made no effort to make actual sense. The amount of plot holes take you of the narrative. The doctor seems fake the whole time, she doesn't practice any therapy on them and in the one scene that they are together the dialogue is awful. Then you have that there's never any security or any employees walking around. They don't believe they are superheroes but they keep them in cells specifically build for them? And then at the same time treat them like they are not dangerous but walking into their rooms and not worrying about locking doors. It's just plainly stupid and I was so disappointed that I couldn't care about the rest. Split is a great story mainly because the girl manage to scape by being smart, that's what is compelling, she had to learn to survive and she is good at it. Why this film is so dumb?

The Bling Ring (2022)

It's gets boring

[5/10 · 11 January 2023]

I don't know what people were expecting, obviously this is a shallow documentary about white privileged teenagers. Of course is going to feel vapid. I'm disappointed though at how this doc doesn't bring anything new to the table, all this information you can already find it online or has been shown on other medias. After a while it was hard to maintain attention, none of them are particularly interesting. The mom and Nick are straightforward annoying and after all of these years it doesn't make that much sense to put them in the spotlight again. That's what they want, so frivolous attention. It becomes a show about a bunch of people just blaming each other. It didn't need to be made.

Aftershock: Everest and the Nepal Earthquake (2022)

Respect the country that you visit and their people

[5/10 · 4 January 2023]

From the moment that they showed the three Israelis friends ass naked pictures I knew I this documentary was going to disappointing me. Such a huge tragedy and so much runtime dedicated about foreign people that was there just because they wanted to have a "crazy" adventure. I love watching documentaries about Everest and climbers. I know by now that a lot of people that climbs Everest isn't actually a climber, they have money and this obsessive dream, but why would you make a documentary focused on these people? The white guy that was willing to go over everybody to go to the summit? A whole country devastated and you choose that narrative. Honestly, I don't remember seeing a doc with less likeable characters, because the thing is you could make a movie about how terrible these people were during this time (why would you do that I don't know, but you could) but this film doesn't even bother to make a point of how terrible they were.

Black Adam (2022)

Orange filter prevails

[5/10 · 26 November 2022]

I'm surprised at the score, I thought it was going to be far less. The movie is not horrible, you can find entertainment and decent action, BUT it's so flawed. The script really wants you to care about characters that you barely know, the editing is just awful at times, there's and excessive amount of CGI, everything seem fake, there are scenes when the action on screen looks like out of a videogame and the cinematography with that orange filter for the "Middle East" country just make this film so visually saturated and forgettable. Also we need to talk about the overuse of the slow motion (DC hasn't managed to move past Zack Snyder and it shows). I can't stop thinking of how if this was a Marvel film it would have been shredded to pieces. I'm convinced that people let a lot pass just because this is a DC movie and they aren't expecting much. It's mediocre and that's okay for a lot of people. Eventhough I didn't like it I think my biggest issue with it is how we judge these films in the end. Franchises like Star Wars have great visual effects and technical aspects but bad writing is all that people see when it comes to reviews and they get destroyed. I'm telling you, there's something about DC that allow these directors to get away with just overall bad cinema over and over again.

The Chestnut Man (2021– )

Really good crime show

[8/10 · 4 October 2021]

I started watching this show without any particular expectation. The first episode is kind of slow, but the settings were beautiful, the cinematography is really great and the performances were solid. I have to say I relay enjoyed watching it. It has a good pace and everything comes together in the end. If I had to complain about something is that, as some other reviews had pointed out, it does end up falling in cliches of the genre: detectives going alone to dangerous places, nobody wearing gloves, the killer is right there form the start, a vengeance story, missing clues that should have been looked up since the beginning (the fact that nobody care about the nuts is almost ridiculous) all of those things that we've seen before. You can actually figure out parts of the story pretty early on, however, I don't think all of this flaws happen because the show is poorly written, I think it has more to do with the fact that there are too many crime shows out there, I've seen several myself and that probably has an influence in the way I anticipate things. Something that I didn't find cliche and that I really liked was the way they portrayed Kristine parents. Instead of making the easy representation of an "hysterical mother" it's the father who you see struggling the most, I found that refreshing. I also think is great how they didn't care for putting drama on the screen just for the sake of drama. This type of shows often have affairs and treason and all of this backstories that don't really ad anything in the end.

I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good detective/crime drama. It's short compelling and it's honestly really well produced.

The Guilty (2021)

I haven't seen the original

[6/10 · 2 October 2021]

I haven't seen the original so I don't know if it is a good remake or not. The movie by itself starts pretty good, a compelling story, good acting, but slowly begins to fall flat, especially after the "twist", it's really hard to maintain the interest after that. I've read that the danish movie is better and I can feel like this one was missing something, so maybe the original has it. I wouldn't recommend this film unless you want to see Jake's performance.

Black Widow (2021)

Boring

[4/10 · 17 July 2021]

I kept watching to the end in hopes of getting better. It doesn't. The unrealistic action scenes, the fact that Natasha should've died like ten times in the first part of the film, like for real, she survives explosion, fires, falling from buildings, the weak script, all of that is bad, but honestly the worst part is how boring this movie is.

Everest (2015)

Good enough, but not memorable

[7/10 · 6 May 2021]

I've read so many reviews on here complaining about the movie being "boring" because "who wants to see rich man doing something stupid". What where you expecting? If you have not interested in what happens when people climb the Everest than this isn't the movie for you, cause yes, it's about climbing. I've seen several documentaries about mountain climbing and I enjoyed this film, it feels real. It has really good cinematography and shots. The one big problem is the script. There were too much information and they didn't managed to convey all of it in an appealing way. Too many characters (and in the true story there were even more climbers) and not enough time. There's also a lot of technicality about mountaineering that is never explained, so that could be confusing to some people. Overall, good enough. I'm glad I watched it despite the bad reviews. With better dialogues and character development could've been better.

World's Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji (2020)

Unexpected adventure

[7/10 · 1 April 2021]

When the show first begins it gives you a very chaotic, American-focus feeling. A lot is happening and is hard to follow. But along the way you can actually get invested in people's stories and enjoy the ride with them. I think the show overall is good, but, just like other viewers had pointed out, there should be more screen time for other countries. Especial mention to Travis and Mark and his heartwarming father and son relationship. That was truly inspiring and I'm glad I got to see it. I think the main thing I got of this adventure was all of the human stories.

It a good option to watch while being quarantined and far away of nature.

The Ripper (2020)

Crazy how many people hate this because of "feminism"

[8/10 · 18 January 2021]

I've seen pretty much every docu-series about serial killers. Most of them killed women. Lots of women. Never I've seen a series of this sort where they focused on the actual women, and how these circumstances affect their lives. That was extremely refreshing. How is that all of you are so mad that it deals with feminism when is a show about the killing of women? More documentaries should adopt this perspective. Most of the victims of brutal murders end up forgotten, while the killers are known and even praise for decades. All of you being upset just proves the point of how society shape the role of women to be weak and unimportant. Really, getting offended because they' re showing you women protesting while there is a manic loose on the streets is ridiculous. It happened. And still happens.

I'm glad that Netflix is working to make quality products that actually matter.

The Umbrella Academy: The End of Something (2020) Season 2, Episode 10

Do better Umbrella

[5/10 · 13 August 2020]

As other people has pointed out this season is basically season one but with improvements, but while some people still choose to give it a high rating I have to be honest, this season has the same issue that other Netflix's shows have, like Stranger Things the creators/producers see what works and keep doing the same thing over and over again with slight changes, because in the end they know people will comeback for the characters and the good production. Although I'm glad that they listen and actually gave us better rounded characters, the show waits to the last minute to have something truly meaningful happening, it's predictable in a lot of ways, the triplets plot it just ridiculous and unnecessary, the Handler is repetitive. I really hope if this shows continues would get something different. No more apocalypse, no more Vanya destroying the world, no more brother and siblings being plain DUMB so they can keep pushing the plot for a couple of more episodes. Do better Umbrella. They had really good potential and I do feel they failed to gave us a memorable season. It's good, but definitely not great.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

A miss opportunity for greatness, but enjoyable nonetheless

[6/10 · 4 August 2020]

I was surprised to see that this sequel has quite bad reviews in other websites. I saw the first Elizabeth a couple of months ago and I didn't want to address this one thinking it was far too awful. The truth is that I enjoyed this film. It isn't perfect by no means, the script focuses on a romance that feels force to the viewer. A love triangle that's far from being interesting really. We don't care enough for this characters to invest in their relationships. It could have been truly something admirable, a film to quote. It doesn't achieve that. I wish it would spare all of the romantic intents in it and show us more of Elizabeth itself, her struggles and conflicts, in the first installment the best dialogues are when she is with her adviser, we don't get nearly enough of that here. My favorite parts were when she was by herself, the little of what we get to see of Mary of Scots and the final battle. That should have been the movie and it would've been great.

The music, cinematography, costume and production designs and the performances are all excellent.

Truth Be Told: Monster (2019) Season 1, Episode 1

Dissapointing

[5/10 · 26 December 2019]

I wanted to give this show a fair try, so even though it didn't seem that interesting I kept watching it. But I think I'm done. It just doesn't look or feel realistic, besides it has so many unnecesary subplots. The story itself should be enough and could be enough well executed. Great cast, mediocre show.

Free Solo (2018)

It should have been about Alex

[8/10 · 1 August 2019]

I was 40 min in when I had to stop watching it because I truly couldn't understand the relevance of his romantic relationship in all of this. I came here to see if someone else had had that same feeling, and it seems like the majority of negative observations made about the film are in relation with this aspect. Her girlfriend is not interesting, or charming or appealing in any way, it was completely unnecessary to dedicate so much screen time to her unless you wanted to make her look bad. She always seems to have a problem with his lifestyle, she can't understand why he is taking the risk and keeps repeating it, it doesn't make any sense. We don't even get to know what she does for a living or anything else. She is just there to be his girlfriend. That's unfair for her and the viewers. While, we met his mother for a couple of minutes, and that was enough. She understands, they are not very close, we don't need to know more, it's there. The same with his friends. Tommy was a really pleasant presence on screen, you can tell that he cared, but not for himself, not of how this could affect him, it was about Alex. I don't want to give a bad score, because overall I think is a good documentary, but no the best. It could have been better, definitely. Alex is an outstanding climber and a compelling and even absorbing person. It should have been about him.

Orange Is the New Black: Here's Where We Get Off (2019) Season 7, Episode 13

Not good

[5/10 · 30 July 2019]

This is not a good season, I think people have been giving it good scores out of nostalgia. It was depressing and not satisfactory at all. Also, I didn't think it was possible but Piper became even more annoying, Larry's description of her was spot on, probably one of the few worthy dialogs on the final episode, who would've thought. I only appreciate the five-second that we got to see that Pennsatucky actually did get her diploma. Thank you for that.

McQueen (2018)

A true artist

[7/10 · 13 November 2018]

They could've easily made a documentary about his drug addiction, about the fact that he was HIV positive or any other controversial topic. But they chose to show us art. What he truly loved. And I'm so thankful for that.

Deadpool 2 (2018)

They did it, again

[8/10 · 17 August 2018]

I'm late to this party, so I will just say this. Even better than the first one

Love (II) (2015)

Love is more than what you see here

[5/10 · 17 July 2018]

By the reviews that I've read on this page and others calling it just porn, I assume the movie had literally just sex. I was surprised to see that the even though the sex scenes are long, it's definitely not the whole movie, neither it feels like porn. The problem relays in the fact that I've seen porn with more content than this. More artistic, better edited. That should give you an idea of what type of film this is. The protagonist is insufferable. I hated him 5 minutes into the film. And we don't get to know the rest of the characters either, in consequence, you don't really care what happens to them. The performances are mediocre. At times it truly feels like an amateur project. The shots get repetitive and boring and the dialogues fall flat. This a good idea, let's show a relationship from a sexual point of view without censoring. I appreciated that but where's the real intimacy, the real feeling. I have no idea. Nymphomaniac did it. I haven't met anyone who has seen that movie and hasn't feel overwhelmed. There's emotion, pain, struggle. The main topic, of course, is different, but I think you get the point. Love is more than what you see here. Actually, love shouldn't be what you see here.