Reviews
A Grunt's Life (2019)
Disgustingly funny
Overall, I'd describe it like Generation Kill during a a Roid Rage. If you enjoy some dark humor, this is for you. Love it, 10/10.
Castlevania (2017)
From a person that doesn't like Anime: it's damn good!
Castlevania is a smart TV show. Even the Anime aimed towards adult audience ends up being an immature view of adult themes at best, a compendium of clichés at worst.
Castlevania has some of this while incorporating religion of it's world. Church is bad, corrupt and violent. We've all seen this and that's my only complaint that wouldn't change by bigger budget.
On the other hand, Castlevania is witty, charming and funny. It's historical authentic as far as a low fantasy Anime can go - thankfully no giant swords and such.
If you read Stoker's classic, you'll find very cool references in it. There's also some scenes that obviously meant to pay homage to the most popular film adaptations.
I could end the review praising the voice acting, but with that cast? You probably already know that!
Game of Thrones: The Long Night (2019)
Badly written, badly directed and the most disappointing end for an almost decade long plot
May of 2011, HBO was advertising what appeared to be a jousting documentary. As it happens, the ad was a quick clip of the King's Landing tournament, specifically the showdown between The Mountain and the Knight of Flowers. That's how I discovered and fell in love with Game of Thrones - since day one.
That very first episode started the Long Night plot, a deserter had sighted the White Walkers, a supernatural force thought at this point in time to be a frightening tale for children.
Last sunday, the shortest Long Night ended, and it wasn't frightening, interesting or thrilling:
a) Directing: The action scenes (opposed to the Battle of the Bastards) are made in very short multiple takes, sometimes there's a take per second. Lighting is terrible even for a night scene (unlike Helm's Deep) and the choreography falls short every single moment.
b) Writing: Multiple plot holes, clichés and badly made attempts of "subverting expectations" (seems to be the last bastion of the bad writer). Characters teleport to convenient places with no in-world explanation and the plot armour is more blatant than ever.
There's also the a very cheap retcon made with Arya's plot, the dialogue order was even changed to fit better a creative decision that was taken years later.
However, this is coming from the same man that wrote Wolverine: Origins and isn't a surprise in any shape or form. The show relied mostly on its source material, without it the creators simply couldn't rise to the task.
Terrible episode in every sense. 2/10.
Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter (2013)
Terrible as a war/historical series. Mediocre drama.
The story follows a group of friends just at the beginning of the invasion of Russia. As their paths diverge, the series shows different perspectives of regular Germans during the war - which is quite unprecedented and welcomed. So, there's both a war and drama component to this piece.
As a war/historical genre, it fails miserably. Not because of accuracy, but lack of depth. Most of the action sequences are basically "Stormtrooper tactics", but more ridiculous. We have junior officers discussing macro management of the war, instead the actual scenario they're involved. This is way under the average US war series/movie.
On the drama department it's mediocre at best. The story is quite interesting, but the dialogues are 5th grade stuff.
Go watch Band of Brothers, Generation Kill, the Pacific... This is C-quality, despite the good production.
Mindhunter (2017)
A refreshment to sore eyes
After the popularization of Netflix, countless cheesy and unintelligent TV Shows started to arise.
Mindhunter is the proof that Netflix isn't lost. It's innovative, stylish and bold. The dialogues are very unique and realistic, the plot in intelligent and the cinematography very beautiful.
A true gem! Hope it succeeds!
Rogue One (2016)
Rogue One: A Unoriginal Story
The movie seems like every lame Hollywood action flick. 5~6 heroes embark in an amazing adventure kicking the ass of everybody and defeating legions and legions of enemies grunts.
Hercules (2014), King Arthur, Clash of Titans, Guardian of the Galaxy, GI Joe, Pirates of Caribbean and etc... Same story, different characters names.
Not to mention the repetitive "Star Wars formula" - Big space battle at the end involving a death star - or a death planet (how original) like the in the VII.
Honestly, I'm not watching the next Disney movie.