danielmanson

The show itself is quite good. I would argue it's a little over edited and there is an overfocus on certain people, but as a whole it's entertaining enough to fill your evenings.

My largest issue is the title of the review. Using season 2 as an example, they split into 3 parts with the final episode being released on its own a week after the 2nd batch of episodes. I just feel this hurts the show so much that the finale ends up being incredibly underwhelming and actually quite dull. Which is not what you want when you see someone win 4.56 million. In season 2, in the 2nd batch of episodes, it builds up a really good intensity and the snakes and ladders ep is fantastic. However, when you watch it and then end up waiting a week for the final, you lose all intensity that's built up and all emotion towards any contestant has pretty much gone. Unfortunately, the ending was quite boring as it was (not so much Netflix's fault as you can't help how a game turns out) but this batch releasing on episodes killed it even more. It just doesn't work for this kind of format of programme.

Beyond this, I mentioned the over focus of certain contestants. Netflix had a tendency over the 2 seasons to put their entire focus on about 8 contestants total. Which does get quite annoying when you want to watch how a game plans out and instead you're watching the same 2 contestants you've seen for the last 2 hours complete the game and ignoring the other 454 people in there.

Finally, I feel as though season 2 felt a little more "fake" than the first. Certain scenarios that happened just seemed incredibly unlikely to happen and yet there you go, it happened. I don't want to accuse Netflix of faking anything, but I do feel as though a few incidents could well have been manipulated one way or another.

I think what I am trying to say is that the show is an entertaining concept. However, the episodic releasing and editing of contestants ended up making it more annoying and tedious instead of fun and entertaining.

I did somewhat enjoy this movie. I'll be honest in saying it's not my usual cup of tea for a film, but I still gave it a go. And as my title says, I feel it's just lacking that killer factor. Like it's okay, nothing overly bad, but I wouldn't say anything overly good either.

I liked how they kept that "panto" esc vibe with the characters and the plot, without making it overly silly. It managed to keep that original charm with the "Wonka" character well also. And to be honest I also did enjoy how all the characters were completely unique and had their own traits. I find a lot of movies "side" characters are very dull and pointless, but this does a fantastic job of every single character having a purpose.

I will say I thought a couple of the songs felt forced into the plot and didn't really fit with the plot at the time. The fact that it's VERY clearly not them singing also throws me out of it. I know it's never them singing in these type of movies, but this seems so much more obvious than usual.

The plot just lacked that little bit that would really elevate this movie being more than a 6/10. As mentioned it's okay. It's entertaining in parts and it keeps you occupied and somewhat interested. But it just lacks that bit that would make you want to watch again. It's quite forgettable. 6/10.

I honestly expected the worst film ever going into this judging from the reviews from box office and I have to say it's nowhere near as bad as it makes out. Sure, it's not the best movie ever made and no it won't win awards. But, it's entertaining and isn't that what you want for a Xmas movie?

I'll start with where it went wrong: I thought Dwayne Johnson's character was quite bland really, he didn't have much to work with and it was quite apparently throughout. To be blunt it was the stereotypical "Rock" character that he tends to play.

I think they massively underplayed the main villain in this also. They could have really fleshed her out a lot more, but instead we got this almost soulless witch that didn't really get any screen time. All the characters I'd argue were underplayed and the depth and arc's of them were generally poor. I could argue also that they were trying a bit too much with the plot and throwing a bit too much generally. But, that's not a major annoyance more of a nit pick.

But, as I said at the beginning it's entertaining. It's a different take completely on a typical Xmas movie and I appreciate the direction they went with this. I thought the CGI was great & the fighting scenes were really fun to watch. I definitely think it gets better the more you watch and by the end I was hooked. Like I said this won't win awards, but for a different style of Xmas movie I actually enjoyed watching and would recommend if you're feeling something a little different this month.