Reviews
Foundation (2021)
Not Foundation... I guess?
Well, I've liked the book series, actually I have them displayed in my room for some years now. But those weren't your normal sf books, and my sympathy for them wasn't absolute. In fact, despite the fascinating main plot idea, the execution of the storytelling itself was lacking at times, to the point where long fragments of them started to get boring. I was fascinated by the idea, but not its execution.
When I started watching the shows, I began to doubt my sanity, because I couldn't remember most of the characters and plot parts from the books. And lo and behold, after doing come comparing I've figured out it wasn't my old head that was sick, it was just the showrunners changing massive amounts of the source material, and not just adjusting them for the screen or a newer audience, it's like 60% of the most important stuff and characters changed or replaced.
That saying, I like all of the new stuff more than the old stuff. Asimov is probably not happy wherever he is, but this is probably one of the best SF shows ever. As a complete work of fiction, it's much better than the books, even if it betrays its source material in an absolutely outrageous way.
This is the ultimate story about the long fall of a galactic empire.
The Acolyte (2024)
Good
I've watched most of the Star Wars movies and shows and enjoyed them all (well, except for Obi-Wan, sorry Ewan I love you and know it's not your fault), but I'm not what I would call a fan and don't care that much about canon as long as it doesn't get too ridiculous.
If I would have to objectively rate the prior Star Was stuff, most of them would have serious drawbacks and would probably be a 7/10. But still, the setting engrosses me every time, despite all of the shortcomings.
And it's the same here. In fact, this time I started enjoying it right from the beginning. I really like the main character. Actually, it might be the first time I'm not only liking the older Jedi protagonists, but also the younger lead.
I also dig the story, which might be connected to the Republic before the Fall being my favorite period in the setting. I think they also did a great job here when designing the environments and alien planets. It all felt very immersive, and it was nice to see a non-Jedi force user culture being expanded.
The fights were for sure the best ones in any Star Wars movie. A great mix of classic lightsaber duels and group fights and the new, but high quality hand-to-hand action, which I felt fit in very well. They also felt more meaningful because no punches were pulled here and death came even to likeable characters.
All in all, despite some silly stuff and the partially wooden dialogue I would probably rate it the highest of the new SW shows, well if not for Grogu that moves the Mandalorian slightly ahead for me.
Guess I just need to get used to shows I like being cancelled.
Alien: Romulus (2024)
Great SF, with only minor flaws.
I had my doubts, if this will work out because of the full young-adult cast and the "contemporary band of friends" feeling in the beginning. But it did, or at least it didn't detract from this SF feast.
The best part was for sure the world building. The environments, the engrossing dystopian future vision, the retro-futuristic technology, everything was best in class and very, very immersive.
The worst part were the cheap, annoying, plentiful jump-scares, that made it feel like a B class holiday horror flick at times and detracted from what was otherwise close to a perfect, dark SF movie.
Some smaller annoyances were minor inconsistencies in how the aliens "worked" in comparison to the other movies, and the fact that the last fight was in many ways similar to what we have seen in one of the prior alien movies.
To sum it up, slightly missed being a sci-fi work of art, and a cult classic, but miles ahead of most other SF movies that are being produced today. I would have no problem with getting more moves in the same quality, and for sure with the same artistic direction.
Halo (2022)
Good SF
I played the game in the past, but as the game was just a solid sci-fi game, the show is just a solid SF show. While the setting was ok for the game's purposes It wasn't in any way special for me, so even if there are some inaccuracies between the lore in the game and the show, I simply don't care.
I like it, it's just well-made classic sf-stuff without any strange experiments with the formula. At the same time, it's also possibly the best super-soldier story I have seen, for sure when counting only shows and not fully-blown Hollywood movies.
I also like the cast for the main character. A good balance of being a cold professional soldier and somebody human enough to relate to.
A Gentleman in Moscow (2024)
Still great
A very nice, warm, bitter-sweet story in a beautifully crafted setting. I loved most of the main cast, both good and "evil" and even the frequent time acceleration, which normally works much better in books than in shows, was skillfully done and helped craft moving stories of people's lives.
When it comes to the diverse cast. I don't think the idea in itself is bad, and not fitting. It could be just done so much better. There were many times when there were loads of international guests in the hotel. In fact, from all of the places in Russia at this time, this international hotel was the perfect place to do it! There would be no problem at all with making many of the non-white guests more important to the story in the show, but for some reason they've used them for native Russians, which turns this heavily history inspired story into another magical fantasy wonderland and robs it of immersion.
Yes, please, use diverse casts, there is almost always a way to do it smartly. But not like this.
Either way, I've got used to it very fast, and the rest of the show is just great.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)
Much better than expected
Definitely the best among the Middle Earth on screen media, I also take the show's plot over the books.
While I love fantasy, and really like the setting, I was never a big fan of how Tolkien told his stories. While it's for sure not perfect, the characters in this one are much more interesting and the story has a better pace. No more boring depressed emo-hobbits whining for ages and taking up hours of screen-time with their suffering.
The casting is also very well done, and dwarves feel even more dwarfish than in the theater movies. Also-best dwarf wife ever. Even if she looks funny.
I'm glad they are experimenting with content that is outside the main books, because the setting has lots of potential for untold or half-told stories.
The Legend of Vox Machina (2022)
Gets better with time
I play RPGs and have watched some Critical Role videos before watching this.
I really didn't like what I saw in the first few episodes. But I think with time they've started to learn what the sweet spot is when transforming what happened at the table to the screen.
The first few episodes I would probably rate as 6/10. The pacing was bad, and scenes of unnecessary gore, nudity and bad jokes were too frequent and because of that more annoying than meaningful.
It's just an entirely different thing if someone comes up with a bad joke at the table once per 3-hour session, then it is when the time is compressed for the show, and you get 5 of them per 20-minute episode.
If the future seasons of the show will be more like the second half of the first season, I will be very happy.
The Boys (2019)
Simply perfect
And I don't even like superhero movies/shows :)
But there is really nothing in this show that would be bad.
The pacing is great, the characters (both good and bad) are perfect, with probably the best villain I have seen for a very long time, the music is insane and spot on and the production values are very high.
It's simply a masterwork in its genre, so good that you will enjoy it even if you normally don't fancy "Supes".
The Wheel of Time (2021)
Good fantasy
I like fantasy both in book and in TV form but didn't know Wheel of Time till now.
Well, I'm sure many fantasy book authors would kill to get their books filmed in such a quality and budget as this one. It's really a joy to watch, having both great CGI, fights and a lot of good semi-known actors in it.
When it comes to the script, of course it's not great, because it's a fantasy novel, doh :D They have all horrible writing and dialogues, but this is part of the charm. I would say it's spot on to what you would get in most of the popular bestsellers in this genre.
As a fan of this stuff I have really enjoyed it (as well as my family that isn't so much into fantasy). I just hope it won't get cancelled due to all of this complaining that destroys so many good shows.
Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020)
Funny
I really like Star Trek, but I didn't really get the humor of Orville. This is more to my liking. And I do think, surprisingly, that they make good use of the Star Trek tropes, so I'm glad they've based it on ST and not some other SF franchise.
To be honest, I do prefer a silly Star Trak-ish cartoon that is well-made than the last "serious" Star Trek spin-off series I have watched.
Cowboy Bebop (2021)
Actually fun
I've watched the anime original many years ago and really liked it.
When I've heard Netflix will do a live action remake, I didn't really care much, as I didn't think it will be possible to do it with real actors. Anime is just a different medium that allows you to do lots of strange over the top stuff and make it look cool.
But actually. I really like it. I like the main actors and the chemistry between them, I like that they were able to keep the retro-SF feeling of the world, even the action sequences were pretty good. There were also some pretty smart artsy scenes here and there, which has nicely emulated the unique style of the original.
The cast of the characters related to Spike's old life was kind of strange, but the rest was really good.
All in all, it's a much better adaptation that I would think would be possible.
Warrior Nun (2020)
Loving it
I'm kind of surprised the reviews are partially so bad. It's actually the only "superhero" show I've liked. It was really cool that the character development was longer than in most other shows and the supernatural wasn't over the top in most of the episodes, so it felt special.
I also liked the acting and how the actors in many roles were a great match for each other. I really hope for a lot of future seasons.
Dracula (2020)
Surprisingly fresh
Well, it's pretty much like you would imagine Tarantino would do Dracula.
Badass characters, strong punchlines, a lot of grotesque humor and the always present danger of looming disaster that might not spare any of your favorite characters. At the same time it's a homage to very old horror B class movies, but it doesn't take itself too seriously while doing it.
I like it. Surprising, strong and very smartly made.
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Hard to review
Well, this one is hard to judge.
Let's start by saying that all the artists that worked on this part should get a 11/10. The sounds, the music, the costumes, the CGI, the "real" scenery parts, the camera operators, all the objects and vehicles. All of this is pure art and is simply amazing.
The story... It has some awesome moments where the rule of cool is playing along perfectly with the logical consistency of the world... and parts where it's totally ridiculous and stupid that your brain will hurt a lot.
But it does invoke the very deep SW feeling, it is moving and times, immersive and inspired... when it's not stupid.
I'm also afraid about possible future movies in this universe, cause the power creep of the Force and technology is getting out of control. All of the limitations known from past parts are simply thrown out of the window without any good reason or explanation just to make it more epic.
The Witcher (2019)
Above expectations!
I love the book series and have really enjoyed the show. It is a little bit chaotic in the beginning, but so were the original short stories. Maybe showing the current year and location at the bottom of the screen would help after a sudden chronological change, as viewers that are new to the show might be discouraged because of the disjointed timeline.
The main cast is great. I had a lot of doubts when it came to the casting choice regarding Yennefer but after the 3rd episode everything snapped into place. Henry is pretty much perfect in his role, but they really had to use a lot of grime and dirt to make him not look like Superman :D
The fighting scenes with Geralt are perfect. Very fast, very precise and - as it were described in the books - the victims of a Witcher's blade really looked ugly. The other fighting is pretty much GoT standard. Fine, a little bit too much gore and bloody "finisher moves" where it was not needed at all.
You can also see a lot of very strong artificial lighting, probably to hide some unwanted details that were there because of the lower budget. Let's hope it will be higher in the coming seasons.
Obviously, it's not perfect yet, but it's a very good adaptation of the story, with some points where it was simply excellent and significantly above expectations.
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
Loving it.
I always liked the franchise and watched all of the shows, some of the seasons even many times. I loved it. But the universe was getting to bloated up with the lore, sometimes you were even needing Wikipedia to keep up and the last shows were only so- so. I'm glad it's going back to the beginnings where the world was more simple and the conflict with the Klingons was the main arc. Sure, it's changing a lot of things, but not more than were changed between TOS and TNG. I see a lot of people complaining that it's turning into dirty SF, but well, the ST Universe was always dirty. Yeah sure, not the Enterprise but everything around her. Other ship crews and captains, admirals, Federation citizens. There was a lot of conflict and evil all around. Just the Enterprise crew was kind of perfect, noble and utopian. I loved TNG for this. But it was getting old with all the Trek shows doing the same thing. This time it's more like a modern TOS, but without the hippie-lights and cardboard walls all around.
I'm just afraid it won't run for long. It seems to be still too niche to be a mainstream hit but at the same time not accurate enough for the hardcore-fanbase. And it looks like production costs a lot of money, so it probably won't survive with a viewer base that is somewhere in between.