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jbuchana-21199
Reviews
The Equalizer 2 (2018)
Ode to Predictability
The movie is entertaining, but nothing else.
Way too many clichés, slow, but with some sparks of good action scenes and saved by Denzel Washington's superb acting. Overall, the movie is lame.
So lame i thought it was a Netflix production
Outlaw King (2018)
Dissapointing
This movie has everything to be great: the epic storyline, the hero, the action, the budget.
However, it fails in very basic things. The script is poor and the narrative is slow. It lacks the power of a proper epic movie and to be honest, it's just boring. (Not to mention with a few awful clichés)
It does have some highlights though. Pine does a great job as Robert the Bruce, and although there are a few historical mistakes, the story is quite accurate.
I did enjoy the movie, but i struggled to keep focused on it. A real shame, a promising start and a very mediocre development.
Bones: The Nazi on the Honeymoon (2013)
Study geography guys
Just that. Apparently Buenos Aires is in the Caribbean and Argentina borders with Cuba. Having lived in Buenos Aires for many years, i find it oitragepus that they simply don't give an F about the setting's culture. The only real images of Buenos Aires are those shown at the beggining. Nothing is as pictured in the show. There are no beaches or waterfalls, it doesn't have a tropical weather (actually winters can be really cold), architecture is completely different, with no shiny pastel colours, and cars look like everywhwre else. Last but not least, argentines don't have the classic latino look, the most common surnames are italian and they are much whiter, as their ancestry is mostly european. Awfully depicted, a real shame how misleading is the impression the show gives of a city i came to love so much.
Merlí (2015)
LIFE CHANGING
There is definitely a before and after watching Merlí in my life, or plenty of reasons.
First of all, everything on it -but Merlí itself- It's completely down to earth and very easy to identify with, both characters and plot. There is no quest, no good and eveil, no heroes and villians. Merl'i is about ordinary people struggling with problems of ordinary life (and not for that easy). Characters are deeply developed, with complete absense of stereotypes, and yet, we all know a Pol, a Berta, a Tania, a Bruno. We also know someone dealing with financial problems, or whose parents are getting divorced, or that feels very unsure of their sexuality: Again, all people and problems that hit us just in our heart, because this sh¡t happens to us and in the end, it's what life is about.
Merlí himself is the only extraordinary aspect of this show. An unorthodox, rebelious teacher that gets his pupils to really do philosophy. Not just learning names and concepts by hard, but actually thinking, questioning and approaching their daily life from different angles. He is in some way similar to Mr. Keating from the Dead Poets Society (actually the whole show is a bit like the movie). Plus, he has many flaws, what makes him an ordinary man, although he is one of a kind. Each episode has te name of a different philosopher or school and explains basic concepts to us mortals who never read any of that before. It hooked me, and now i'm interested of learning more of it.
I felt over and over reflected in characters, relationships and situations in a way that touched me deep inside, as very few books or movies did before. Everything in this show seemed very real, very close to me and very dear. It made me feel i was a teenager again and I started re-thinking many questions we usually ignore. What am I doing with my life? Am i happy with myself? Should i settle with my reality? And on and on. I really wish i could time travel and show this series to my 17 year old me. I would have bolder and crazier decisions, but i would have been happy too. As Thoreau said "and not, when i came to die, discover that i had not lived"
The Last Kingdom (2015)
Good, a bit mediocre
This bbc-netflix serie has moments of brightness, but it's a bit dissapointing. In my opinion it gets the worst of both; BBC's dullness and netflix's shallowness. I'm gonna do a short list of the reasons i think this.
Positives:
1) Alfred, and a couple more characters that save the show.
2) BBC is usually very faithfull to history and facts. Though plenty of mistakes is still pretty accurate.
3) the plot is very entertaining. A half dane half saxon boy torn by loyalties lying on both shores, and betraying his other half every time he takes action, decides to support Alfred's cause against the people who raised him.
Negatives:
1) The main character is very hard to like. How can i enjoy the serie when i think Uthred is a complete turd? (Yes, he likes calling other people turds constantly). Too arrogant, with that half smile cocky attitude all day long, making not-funny-at-all jokes. He is really annoying.
2) Bad acting. As there is Alfred, Sigfrid, and Hild, there is, on the other hand, many more bad acting-writing than good. Some dialoges and scenes are too forced.
3) political correctness is ruining everything. I won't spoil anything, but i'm sick of XXI century thinking in historic dramas. Women where beaten, they always stayed behind in silence, and tha was OK. Not believing in god didn't make you cool, they would kill you for that. I think that this is killing historical TV. Well produced shows fall into pieces because of this. Instead of having 9th century characters, we just have a bunch of normal people in costumes. I wonder if we'll have a black dude and the gay scene next season...
4) getting that actor from "Reign" (aka crappy gossip girl in carton castles) drives it even lower.
It's a real shame, i has wverything to be good but somehow ot manages not to be. Netflix doesn't find the way of making a good hostoric show yet (marco polo was a fiasco aswell). They'd better leave BBC on it's own doing what they know best.
Dunkirk (2017)
"Some ships rescue a bunch of soldiers" By Christopher Nolan
This was one of the most disappointing movies I've ever seen. I LOVE historical and war movies, but this is not the case, Though it wasn't awful, i'd probably never watch it again. Pros: great story. Good acting. No cheese scenes. Period. Cons: Edition is terrible, very difficult to get along with (my sister got completely lostwith the non lineal timing). Characters are really underdeveloped. I didn't cared at all if they lived or not, because there was no plausible difference with non- main character soldiers. Music is quite annoying (sorry Hans) Staging SUCKS. There were 400.000 souls and 1000 civil boats in Dunkirk. But Nolan decided that 2000 soldiers and 20 boats were enough. WHERE THE HECK ARE THE OTHER 398000 SOLDIERS AND 980 BOATS MY DEAR CHRISTOPHER?!??!?!? A HUGE BUDGET JUST TO PAY FACELESS TOM HARDY? WELCOME TO CGI ERA!!!! YOU JUST HAVE TO DO COPY PASTE A COUPLE OF TIMES WITH YOUR ARMY! MY DEAR GOD IT REALLY GRINDS MY GEARS. Pause Breathe Happy place Where were we? Yes! Conclusions. The movie is just... good. Maybe the problem is that I was expecting a movie way more overwhelming. The movie is, all in all, inconsistent. Characters are shallow and you never get to understand the real dimension of the events. You just now how many people they saved because the paper says so. But if it was for Nolan's point of view, it's just a bunch of boats that saved a couple hundred soldiers. Really difficut to understand if you never read about Dunkirk before. As I have already said, the most disappointing movie I've ever seen.
Kurt Seyit ve Sura (2014)
The most expensive soap opera ever made
To be honest, I've watched just the first three episodes, Many may think it's not enough but it's what I've got.I started watching it because I love historic TV shows/films, but I didn't like it at all. I think my male opinion will be of use for guys who may join the audience. First of all, the production on this show is outstanding, that i must admit. They really spared no expense. We happen to see Imperial Russia in all it's glory right before its fall down: Palaces, aristocracy balls, the Bolshoi (though I know we'll have much less pompous scenarios). The main characters are perfectly depicted. We can certainly see into the depth of their souls and we can sympathize with them (take note, shallow Hollywood) Both costume and music (oh,Tchaikovsky) matches perfectly in every scene. The problem is the story itself. A naive, just presented on society girl and a ridiculously good looking officer fall madly in love with barely no conversation (Cupid's 2nd fastest shot after Marius and Cosettes') and are willing to fight to spend the rest of their lives with a complete stranger. The script could be good too, if it wasn't for that moments when some low budget Nicholas Sparks-ish screenwriter fills the scene with some of the cheesiest dialogues ever made. So prepare for a love story full of obstacles that will try to push these lovers who don't even know each other apart, while listening to great music and crappy love dialogues, in breathtaking settings. But that's not all! We also have an abusive use of eye contact and slow motion dancing scenes, and way too many day dreams and memories where our heroes dance and stare to each other (yes, you've guessed)IN SLOW MOTION. Again. To conclude: this is a great show, but don't forget it's still a Turkish soap opera. Ps: (minor spoiler alert) The guy "saves her beloved from great peril" because he SMELLS THE PERFUME OF HER HAIR. From blocks away. In a Petrograd busy market. That's ridiculous, and if true, creepy as f...