kgenereux-75-533576's reviews

This series breaks more than a few molds. It's truly zany with some fantastic over-the-top style acting, especially by this series' star, Masaki Kuda. (btw Kuda is also amazing playing the punk rocker Toya in Takeru Satoh's epic series "Glass Heart"). But this rather odd series is about 180 degees from Glass Heart stylistically; It unfolds like random acts of a surreal play. It begins (as plays generally do) with a mood setting Act One: Like an alley cat that wanders into a seedy bar seeking refuge from a storm, a dejected young theater director has a fateful drink with a sultry woman. Clutching a satchel stuffed with dog-eared volumes of the plays of William Shakespeare, Sensei Kube is about to wander down a bizarre rabbit hole. Long before the story arcs vector and twist, we surmise that Kube views himself as a nothing-left-to-lose outcast; he's a manic man on a quest for artistic expression and redemption with a dose of revenge. Meanwhile, stricter enforcement of rules regulating exotic dancing in Tokyo spells out a financial catastophe for the plucky denizens of the backroom strip joint that Kube has stumbled upon down the "rabbit hole". So in a last ditch effort for survival, a scrappy band of offbeat strippers and comedians will join forces with Kube & Shakespeare, and together they'll all stop at nothing to get the Shibuya rent paid somehow. It's like a carnival rollercoaster ride, with a funhouse and seductive sideshows thrown in. If you've enjoyed offbeat Japanese comedies like "tiger and Dragon", you'll definitely like this.

You may have read about the Nation-shaking "submarine" murder of journalist Kim Wall in front page stories the NYTimes ran. With ties to Denmark, and being semi-fluent in Danish, I was able to follow the story unfold in real time through Danish news outlets every day. The slow mounting evidence of her gruesome fate was unbelievably grotesque. This series is a formidable retelling of how her murder was investigated and the dogged attempt by so many dedicated professionals to leave no stone unturned so that a "guilty beyond a reasonable doubt" verdict could convict the one of the vilest monsters of a human being in Danish history. Every actor is flawless; and you may recognize two of the stars, Soren M and Pilou A. From their acclaimed work in the classic Danish drama, Borgen. If you like Scandi Noir, this series is must see television. Not quite a spoiler, but a warning: There is a scene where Kim's emotionally devastated parents embrace that will haunt you.

Don't know why exactly but I love this crazy series. It's just so wholesome, offbeat and every episode has a heart warming ending. Even the manga inspired corniness of it's premise is charming. No matter which way the wind blows, a parade of hilariously quirky themes, details and recurring friends and foes that run through both seasons, kept me paying attention. It's even educational in many ways. I learned a lot about Japanese city life. The lead realtor Nagase Saichi and his ever-smiling mentor Tsukishita are an odd couple: An adorable pair of young realtors on a quest to succeed in business while doing the right thing, or at least trying to-even if it means losing a commission. The transformation of Nagase, the easy-on-the-eyes, slick con-artist type into Tokyo's most painfully honest realtor, is a fun watch. You just never know what painful truth he'll blurt out next. I hope there's a season 3 but recently read its such a hit series in Japan that it's getting a movie adaptation. Can love ever bloom between clueless N. And sidekick-starstruck T.?? No doubt that's a super-size maybe, but I'm definitely rooting for them. Why not? Maybe the kaze-wind gods are too.

This is a uniquely Japanese take on the emotional evolution of a stepmom and daughter relationship. It is heartfelt and charming, albeit a bit frustrating at times. Mostly because Step-mom Aikiko is just so mired in self sacrifice and stuck in detached tearless grief. Thankfully we do watch her slowly transform, but I do mean SLOWLY. It's not that she is vulnerable and fragile, it's more like she is excruciatingly tough on herself and has a painfully stubborn streak. Luckily her daughter is played by a chill young actress who conveys stepdaughter teen angst with convincing subtlety. Things do get funnier and lighten up a bit when Takeru Satoh shows up as Mugita. He's her good looking baker boss, a hard working blue collar type guy played with a lot of heat (no pun intended). We kind of know right away that he's got eyes for Aikiko, but she never seems to notice his awkward glances. It's a total 180 degrees from Satoh's usual roles playing the aloof out-of-reach type. (Rorouni Kenshin- Samurai assassin anyone? LOL) All in all, if you view patience as a virtue, and can enjoy an offbeat take on a non-nuclear Japanese family story, my verdict is give it a watch. But in the end, I felt Aikiko left us all kind of hanging. But maybe that was the point? A woman of mystery for sure.

This series is only for people who know nothing about the actual ballet world. I know it's a storybook fantasy and all, but the lack of actual ballet dancer prowess of the star "ballerina" made it unwatchable for me. Who would pay a dime to watch a dancer performing at her level? Clearly nobody would except maybe fans of Hallmark holiday movies. I was expecting someone at the level of a Misty Copeland or a Sarah Meers, but instead they cast an over-nourished teen with no athleticism and marginal grace. Pretty and feminine sure (think high school cheerleader in a tu-tu)- but in no way channeling a Russian born prima ballerina. But OK, there have been few actresses who have transformed themselves to the level of genuine ballet star for ballerina roles; Natalie Portman in Black Swan is one of them. But this young actress is NO Natalie Portman. She over-acts and under-dances. If its target audience is girls age 14 and under, you can disregard my critique. As silly fluff goes, it's harmless.

Not since "Word of Honor" have I been so wowed by a historical C-drama. Beautiful sets, an exotic yet universal story of survival and best of all, some of the most spot-on casting I've ever seen. As many reviewers have described, all of the leads are excellent, from the lithe pearl diving slave DuanWu to the dandy of a schemer "Master" Yan Zijing. Plus the supporting characters, like DuWaan's "little brother" Shrimp and Yan's mysterious brooding first mate, are all perfect too. It helps that the subtitles for this series are never clumsy and like Word of Honor was, quite poetic sometimes. But Confucian moments aside, this is also a cool ACTION film. (That's clear as day by the time they hit "Despairing Cove".) So along with all the devious back-stabbing, cunning plots and Yan's seductive half-smiles, there's plenty of furious chase scenes and take-no-prisoners fight-to-the-deaths. At this point, I'm at Ep. 10 with 30 more to go. But no matter how it turns out in the end, I can already tell this Pearl Girl story is going to a magnificent ride. I'm taking one star off for making the otherwise clever DuanWu so clueless about wielding her sex appeal for some extra leverage against that Yan dude. Looking like an angel is nice, but mostly it gets boring after a while. Disclaimer: At this point I'm waiting for weekly episodes to drop and will edit my review if things go south.

A lot of this disturbing on point documentary puts Jeff Bezos in the hot seat. When David Bowie created the song "The Man Who Sold the World", it's as if he foresaw Jeff Bezos and his global Amazon empire. Bezos & Co. Basically coined the phrase "one click buying", and this doc "Buy Now" reveals the horrific consequences of the planet's raging manufacturing and shopping addictions. Not to mention this consumerism on steroids nightmare that one way or another, haunts just about every corner of planet earth. Some excellent interviews with some very smart women who dropped out of their corporate universes when the guilt over working for various evil capitalist villains became too much for them.

The first episode started with a bang, but the show buries itself in an avalanche of ambivalence and a soapy cross between blah and meh. Major casting issues with this one. Kentaro Sakuguchi as the romantic male lead is a dud from the get-go. Zero star quality. And the "Mr. Nice Guy" piano player was a clueless yawn. Maybe to a lot of people, this love story has depth and heart (quite literally), but I had to stop watching midstream because of its total lack of chemistry between Kasumi Arimura and her rizz deficient love interests. It's not like Arimura is normally an ice-queen either. Her astonishing work with Takeru Satoh in Rorouni Kenshin: The Beginning was scorching, and in her more recent work in shows like Meet me after School, Call Me Chihiro and Ishiko and Haneo her hidden sizzling desires had me like "d*mn, that woman is hot.". Bottomline is that Beyond Goodbye's arty editing and top tier cinematography just wasn't enough for me. Chemistry is just one of those things where you know it when you feel it. And I just wasn't feeling it here.

I have a weakness for Japanese TV shows and quirky k-dramas and I really wanted to like this new Netflix series. I expected a risque comedy, but it's neither risque nor a comedy. It's a weird soapy mish-mosh with a clogged kitchen sink thrown in. Yet somehow, the lingerie business theme becomes more of a tangent, which is a shame because that stuff is cute and hilarious. Anyway, the first 4 episodes are slow paced but amusing and I anticipated some crazyfun was about to break loose. But nope, we're at episode 8 and the last 4 episodes were stretched all over the map. And never legitimately funny. Scenes were edited and thrown together in a forced, plodding and disconnected way. I still can't make any sense of the female lead because her acting keeps vacillating from deep frozen damsel-in-distress to disruptive emotional volcano. Sometimes she even reminds me of a mask wearing Kabuki character. The one character I do like is Detective KIm. Kim is slowly becoming the super-glue that holds the hapless Kabuki style heroine, her backwater town, its puerile police force, and the entire series together. So I plan to keep watching. At least to see how things turn out for all the lingerie ladies.

First off you should know that "Kabukicho Shinjuku" is a red light district in Tokyo. And warning, if you haven't been exposed to the bizarre disconnect of Japanese sexual mores you may find the show cringe or ridiculous. But the more time you've spent laughing down the rabbit hole of Japanese TV on Netflix, the funnier this series will be. Lots of inside jokes that had a newbie-to-Japanese-comedy friend of mine going "Huh?! What in the heck does THAT mean?" An example: 5 minutes into Episode 4, I burst out laughing at "The only Japanese person allowed to mix English with the Okayama dialect is Fujii Kaze." (Which as fan of "Shinunoga E-Wa" Kaze, I found hilarious, but my friend just couldn't get it.) The episodes paint a choppy landscape punctuated by noodle slurping morphing into gory ER emergencies, social workers moonlighting as wicked dominatrixes, and ritual bowing concealing bigotry and backstabbing. On the flip side, here's a foodie way to describe "Shinjuku Yasen Byoin": Throw an old episode of "MASH" plus episodes of "Dr. X", "Saitama Host Club" and the entire 2024 season of "Completely Inappropriate" into an AI blender. Then press Pulse. Add a hit of wasabi powder and "Shinjuku Field Hospital" is the smoothie your bot-blender has whipped up for you. As some have mentioned, it makes no sense that the American surgeon's English is worse than Shohei Ohtani's, but OK, whatever. Details, details! LOL. Note: This is an adult comedy with some dark unfunny scenes and themes.

From the first episode it seemed to me that our "dear Sa-Chan" was getting set up by a pair of grifters. I assumed what he immediately gets himself involved in is a honey trap extortion scheme. Maybe I was wrong but maybe I was actually "half" right? I'll never really know. Maybe I'm dumb, but It's all so unclear, and the dialogue is so formal and stilted that I found the whole business inscrutable. But I kept watching for the wtf? Factor and to see if there'd be some shocking plot twist. Whether there is, I won't say. (No spoiler zone.) I've watched a lot of Japanese TV series on Netflix (at least 25 or so) but never have I encountered one with such a clueless and unlikeable protagonist. And with the finale implying that something extremely disturbing is about to go down, he just goes from bad to worse. But then maybe this series represents some kind of Japanese neo-existentialism, and I'm just not intellectual enough to appreciate how "deep" it is. Whatever. Not gonna lie, the only "deepness" I ever sensed is the overwrought opening sequence with the hapless Sa-Chan submerged in dark water and struggling for air. (btw, that underwater scene is jarring and over-used for its cheap shock effect.) Any stars I'm giving all go to the actress who plays the alluring Shino. It's too bad her character's arc has nowhere to go. What a waste.

Loved the first 4 episodes for sure. There's a lot of tension and pent up resentment tinged with an ocean of emotional denialism going on all over the map here, especially between the 2 leads. (lots of parallel sub plot characters) But I just watched episode 6 and the "will they or won't they" Jane Austen vibe at the end of almost each episode is kind of getting milked to death. Suddenly there's less light humour, and the female character is acting like such a narcissist. Sure she's self-centered and prone to outbursts of semi-violence (like throwing shoes and punches at friends and sibling) but her general sincerity and charm had outweighed that stuff. But by ep. 6, it's tipping the other way. She's morphed into annoying with perpetual overbaked tantrums and demanding the kind of attention an 8 yr.old child would. Anyway, by episode 7 you may be like me: hoping for the male character to tell her to ***** off. Maybe if he does, she'll get a grip and the story between them can go somewhere. I'm a k-drama optimist so I have my fingers crossed and will keep watching.

It's hard for me to invest myself emotionally into "realistic" films and characters where the only 2 people that matter to me are fated to die. But I watched this anyway because the acting was virtually flawless- very poignant and mesmerizing. Especially from the shy "Akito" played by Ren Nagase, who manages to speak volumes with his bangs-fringed/ hooded eyes in every scene. Culturally speaking, as an American growing up with friends' soapy emotions left and right, it's hard to fathom the intense existential stoicism of these two young kids. It reminded me of a Shogun episode, "The Eight-Fold Fence", where Mariko explains to Blackthorne how the Japanese hide their feelings and build an impenetrable wall around their emotions from childhood. But OK, The ending was a bit jarring for me. I didn't vibe with how the pair's friend Aya suddenly took the reigns in the story telling. But 9 stars for being a dremlike tale about a pure love that could silence even a love skeptic like myself. But warning it's so SAD, I mean SO SAD, that there were scenes near the end that I just couldn't even watch.

I thought this series was one of the best Asian drama series I've seen on Netflix since Squid Game. It features some amazing actors. Not a dud among the entire very large cast. One huge problem though: The voice dubbing actors for Harrison the ring leader and the guy who plays the swindleing attorney, aren't consistently convincing and come across as over-striving amateurs. Takumi's voice actor may be reasonably cool, but these 2 bad dub actors render the English dub version virtually unwatchable by the middle point of episode 1. So that being said, I'm reviewing the original Japanese with English subtitles "Tokyo Swindlers" from this point onward. The ever impressive Go Ayano stars as Takumi, a cat loving swindler with PTSD who acts as an inscrutable foil to a psychopath mentor mastermind (who could be the devil himself he's so evil). How this series is not higher rated may have to do with its raw treatment of some very dirty business and a continual flow of of violent repugnant weirdoes with sick execution fetishes. Bottom line is this series is SO not for the squeamish and/or those who watch crime shows to root for one heroic protagonist who miraculously dodges every bullet. Special props to the theme music composer Takkyu Ishino. His claustrophic techno-pop is perfect for biting your nails to while you watch each adrenaline-laced scam unfurl. (And if you get hooked on Ishino's theme music like I did, watch the credits at the end of every episode for 4 full minutes of its trance-inducing vibe.)

The big themes here are healthy competition vs. Back-stabbing opportunism, medical truth vs. Medical hype, and the mind-blowing chasm between competence and genius. I'm just now watching this 2018 series in 2024 because it recently hit Netflix as "Black Forceps". Although the medical surgery themed tales are mostly as seen through the eyes of a young intern, his assigned mentor "Tokai" is the shadow star of the entire series. Like American TV's iconic Dr. Greg House, he's a brilliant misanthrope who is surly and checked out until there's some insane surgical challenge thrown at him. And then he takes control like he's some legendary GOAT surgeon. I recognized the actor who plays Tokai as the scene-stealing young soldier in Clint Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima". Like in that film, he's a mesmerizing force; you can't take your eyes off his eyes. And then suddenly when he's thrown into a surgery scene, his surgeon's hands become equally hypnotic. (Some amazing camera work in the numerous surgery scenes.) It's clear from his colleague's expressions that everyone wonders if his astonishing gifts are the hand of god or of the devil. It's the question that kept me watching. But meanwhile behind these intense surgery scenes, the series is rather passion-free, so not going to be everyone's cup of Kombucha tea. Episode one had a very tender scene between the intern and an elderly patient that could have been expanded upon but got dead ended; Not too deep in the human relationship department. Instead the director prefers to add drama by filming people running up and down stairs searching for MIA emergency surgeons. (yawn.) All in all, I'd call this series a bit above average but flawed. Still I gave it 9 stars based on Kazunari Ninomiya's performance as the inscrutable genius Tokai .

I hadn't come across a cool supernatural vibed/action K-drama in months, until I stumbled upon the first season of "The Uncanny Encounter" a couple days ago. I'm at episode 5 and haven't found a thing not to like about this series yet. Violent content-wise, there are some harrowing scenes of past violent deaths, but also lots of very satisfying scenes of high school bullies getting whomped "Bruce Lee style" by a kid you'll totally root for. He goes through an amazing transformation and becomes part of a ragtag band of noodle shop superheroes. All the actors are really well cast and they keep my interest. Give it a shot. Seems like new Studio Dragon shows get a lot of bad reviews lately, but they sure were getting things right back in 2020 with this series. I just hope season 2 doesn't fall flat. Update: Season one was 10 star for sure. I am half way thru season 2 and finding a lot of the fight scenes repetitive and sometimes ridiculous. And that new Counter a lot of people aren't so keen on? He's all cattle and no hat. But "countering" the new Counter's dullness is the fascinating villain Hwang (Kang Ki-Young), the Chinese mayhem artist. He's all jet-black hair slick-backed and loungin' in black silk robes or rockin' $8000 suits. He's got a sexy gal pal, a punky psychotic henchman who shaves his eyebrows, and he takes every opportunity to show off his 6 pack torso. The pure evil this guy can exude with his chiseled "I'm mildly amused" smile is impressive. And the director milks it. I'm enjoying the season 2 ride so far. I fast forward through the cringier brawling and bawling scenes, but all the big Mun and Hwang scenes are keepers.

Why in the heck did I watch all 7 episodes in this (thankfully) short series? It started off really interesting but it lost me somewhere around episode 3 1/2. I guess I kept watching because I thought that at least some of the monstrously entitled characters: Jae-Ri, Kim Ri-An and their coterie of sycophants would somehow CONVINCINGLY tranform into better human beings. But that never happened. And the one decent character, Kang Ha just got less interesting because of his joke of a dumb crush on a girl with the allure of a designer doormat. The finale/Episode 7 was the worst episode of all. A coda of inconsequential duhhh-like-we-didn't-know-all-this-already moments, hollow mea culpas and the obligatory throwing of a posse of nobodies under the bus. Our series' unloved hero, Kang Ha just fades into the background while the 2 characters (who I couldn't stand) take over the series' final scenes. Side notes: Jae-Ri is disturbingly weak both physically and mentally, yet still manages to be consistently imperious around her sassy so-called best friend. How Kang Ha fell in love with her at first sight was unfathomable-unless maybe in Korea it's normal to worship ice queens with blank stares. And why did the drama feature most of the rich kid's parents but scholarship student KangHa is presented like some parentless possibly homeless nobody from nowhere? I sort of wondered if it would turn out that this was a clue that Kang Ha wasn't real- that he was a revenging ghost figure. (Think Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider.) Now that would have been a worth sticking around for twist. And Yo Netflix! Don't order another season of Hierarchy unless you can fire the Season 1 writers. They totally dropped the ball.

Never got to see this until today when it hit Netflix. I had seen the cool trailers and read a lot of rave reviews but was still a tad skeptical I'd be able to sit through a 2 hr low budget monster movie. But talk about blindsided. I got so engrossed in the powerful emotions unleashed by this film, I almost forgot where I was watching it. Like an out of body experience or something. People who are mocking the actors must assume all people need to express their feelings in ways Americans can relate to, or they're bad actors. They don't get that after we dropped nukes on Hiroshigi-Nagasaki the Japanese people were battling severe PTSD. Symptoms of a PTSD semi-psychosis are well documented. So characters' odd facial expressions, etc. Seemed like symptoms of trauma to me. The acting, especially that of the kamikaze pilot hero played by Ryunosuke Kamiki was superb. The emotional arc of the film was deeply moving. Intense love and heartache without even one chaste kiss. Really, this film is a miracle of modern film making. Nothing made in Hollywood can compare. Update: 24 days later and I've watched Godzilla Minus One at least 4 times. On my 3rd viewing with a friend, I saw the English dub and that version had a poorly cast voice actor for Noriko. Her oddly cadenced American accent was really annoying and amateur sounding. Final verdict: The Japanese version with subtitles is the way to go.

The series takes its time. But somewhere along the way it pulled me in hard with its meandering time-bending strangeness. Definitely there's an undertow thing happening with every black & white shot glimpse into characters' recurring dreamscapes and nightmares. I'm at episode 8 now, and I'm guessing that those who are reviewing this drama as "Boring" probably swam to shore very early. Honestly, it took about 4 episodes before the dramatic undertow broke down my "you've got to be kidding me" barriers.

Bottom line is it's not a show for a k-drama beginner.: It would tigger too much crazy-making culture shock. But once you've seen a lot of k-dramas, you get used to a lot of really strange stuff. Like how a tiny 12 yr. Old girl, who seems to be legally blind without her glasses, is allowed to walk to school (and all over the whole darn city) ALONE.

But if you can get past the clueless child neglect, "Atypical Family" might just pull you in like it did me. Btw, This is maybe a 7 star series, but I gave a full extra star for the top-notch performance of Jang Ki-yong, who plays time travelling Gwi-joo. His character slowly sheds his comatose stone-coldness, frays and unravels, then unleashes a range of nuanced and cagey emotions. Jang's 4D acting definitely unveils itself as a cut above his costars, whose emotive capacities are either borderline passive, over-the-top, comic-bookish or just blah. (The actress who plays Grace deserves a small shout-out too. She's a cool combo of sly and fierce.) Anyway since the whole super-power thing was slow getting started, maybe we get a cliff hanger and a Season 2? I Hope so.

I can't believe I lost 2 hours of my life watching a movie that ends in triumph for the character I most despised. This confounding tumultuous tale of a carnival-like Vietnamese subculture awash in masseuses, evil neighbors, street thugs and perverts might be exciting to some viewers but it's one rabbit hole I wish I never ventured down. While the fact that many Vietnamese kids will dutifully worship at the feet of judgemental, controlling and selfish parents is something I've seen firsthand, it doesn't make it any easier to witness or accept. From the get-go, the film's protagonists all seem to suffer from a culturally pervasive sort of Stockholm Syndrome. Despite an ephemeral moment or two of promising romantic charm, overall I found the story relentlessly disturbing.

Anna M. As portrayed by Sasha Luss is gorgeous, IQ brilliant and incorrigibly bad a**. I haven't been so invested in the fate of a female action heroine since Uma Thurman in the Kill Bill franchise. Maybe because there's something undeniably Thurman-esque about Luss-the lean nordic sparrow physicality and the ice cool that permeates the screen in every frame she inhabits. Her female co-star is the indomitable Helen Mirren, as the cynically callous KGB puppetmaster Olga. Mirren is almost terrifying here, owning the chain smoking Olga role with a wry subtlety. Cillian Murphy shows up as a CIA agent with aloof bluster and an achilles heel. Lots of sparks fly between him and Luss, and the attraction he feels toward Anna is written all over him at first encounter. The Russian speaking cast isn't too shabby, but without Mirren and Murphy this flick would be less than. I liked the chess themes woven throughout the film, even if at times a tad clumsy. They included Anna's quick ID of a quote of Garry Kasparov's, about advantages gained by an attack. Anna is indeed a merciless KGB assassin, a feminine ninja in furs, with the raw preternatural death-agent skills of a John Wick. She's "KGB baby" and then some. If you relish a bit of high speed mortal combat and appreciate fight scene choreo this film will not disappoint. But without a doubt, the dialogue is the weakest aspect of this movie. It's often too dumbed down and forced. The early in the film dialogues are borderline cringe in fact. But it improves. And it's never sus with Mirren or Murphy's lines, which sizzle with sophistication and authenticity. In summary, this 2019 film stuck the landing and I wish there was a sequel.

OK, I confess. I had soured on K-drama Romances big time. Over the years I've stupidly watched at least 20 of them hoping against hope that the next one would be better, "cathartic" even, but to no avail. (Luckily I had found Japanese TV romances, and they are a lot less "tame" and formulaic. ) To be blunt, the K-drama romance factor is generally all smoke and little flame. They rarely include any kisses that last for longer than 5 1/2 seconds in slo-mo. But a friend told me this series might "evolve" my keenly critical observations. And it sure did. In "What's Wrong with Secretary Kim", increasingly intimate scenes don't immediately fade to black if you know what I'm saying. The lead actress here is pretty, charming and not cloyingly sweet. She's relatable, chic and down-to earth. The male lead is well cast too. He has that oddball style of comedic timing, and with classic handsomeness in spades, his character is believably written as the ultimate Chaebol narcissist. But he's in love with himself in such an over-the-top hilarious way that it's not annoying, Plus he's not a cad, just totally clueless, so you can fall for him from the start, like "Kim Mi So" has, but won't admit to herself. I liked how the couple chemistry went from tepid to hot at a believable and not so frustratingly slow pace. This show represents a new improved breed of K-drama Romance series. A lot less with the weird obsession over food, the getting ludicrously drunk with friends and those minor characters who hog the spotlight with "filler" trivial antics. I really loved every episode. Very addictive and binge-worthy.

This series CGI is definitely a stunner. But the series as a whole could have been easier to like with actually sympathetic lead characters in the mix. If you watch episode 5, you will have watched perhaps the only full episode worth the hype this show is getting btw. (Although I also liked the sub-titled historical intro (set in China, circa 1977), that featured an excellent actress who portrays the tortured young Dr. Ye. Meanwhile in contrast to this poignant and serious portrayal of an enslaved physicist who betrays humanity, are the two irritating "western" female scientists, Jin and Auggie, who seem to have been cast for their ability to maintain sex appeal even while grimacing or in a state of shock. (Question: Does how good female physicists look in tight jeans impress particle accelerators?) And one other question: how does Dr. Salazar, who is nearly going blind/ being driven insane by flashing numbers scrawled across her vision, manage to apply mascara and eyeliner so perfectly? I got used to this distracting supermodel Einstein schtick after a while, but sheesh, It's just so ludicrous. Btw, I've now watched half of the "unflashy" Chinese 30 episode version called "3 body" and it's dramatically superior. At least it never reeks of glammed-up sci-fi soap opera like this Neflix version does. Although admiitedly, the final scene was pretty OK.

But OK. Tiler Peck is a very talented dancer who can do 27 pirouettes on a dime. But she's no Gelsey Kirkland or Suzanne Farrell or a Sylvie Guillem. Lots of big smile bravado, sure, but I don't feel any emotional depth or passion emanating from her. Anyway, I enjoyed some of the rehearsal scenes, but I found 2/3 of this movie meh. Too much "The Tiler Peck Show"/ "Tiler did you eat your sandwich?" fawning mom and grandma stuff for me. The clown skit might have been better if Ms. Peck had dropped the ballerina goofy and went full whacky Carol Burnett mode goofy. The final mash-up finale piece was lively chaos, but with no real vision, drama or edginess. I was expecting Ms. Peck to get into some actual hip-hop herself; She didn't. But maybe that was a good thing. Even without the tutu and pink tights business, Ms. Peck is a precision ballerina-ist to her core. (Attention Hollywood: Tiler Peck would make for a stylin' android in a sci-fi movie.)

If you are a fan of both goth horror and pornography this is your movie of the year. The old porno-trope of a woman who finds ultimate freedom by debasing herself as a "free spirited" prostitute/ sex vessel. This film is a throwback to 80's arthouse "soft" porn like The Story of O and the Emmanuelle saga but with a "goth victorian-belle époque mash-up" twist. I found it to be a weird combination salacious and nauseating. As an mature woman, I can attest to the fact that in its early hay-days, the porn industry tried its best to brainwash me and my female generation into believing that living the life of a sex object was the ultimate form of female liberation. And they're at it again it folks! This time with a throng of tuxedoed Hollywooders unabashedly playing henchman (and pimp nouveau). I had to fast forward through the most salacious and grotesque scenes, of which there were many. Great art direction, hilarious "Chimera" type creatures, and a riveting star acting turn by William Defoe however, so 3 stars.