WillVenture

Thinking about this series, I'm wondering why I didn't like it better. It think it had too much going on, combined with unsympathetic/unempathetic characters. There are multiple red herrings scatter around the episodes that lead to nowhere, which begs the question, "why so many red herrings?" In the real world, herrings are fish, and they start to smell after awhile. I don't think I'm spoiling anything by disclosing that everyone who gets a stern questioning by the police is not going to be guilty. Worse, many of them aren't even really involved in the plot. There are so many names of possible "bad guys" that it's hard to keep up with who to root for or against. Complexity is not a bad thing. Confusion masking as complexity is. For instance, there was one scene that lasted for probably five minutes (of a 40-min. Episode) that turned out to be a dream that had absolutely nothing to do with the plot. All of the characters in the dream (other than the person dreaming it) were not even in the series-except in the dream... a dream that makes the viewer think it's part of the main plot. Why??

Secondly, it was hard to empathize with many of the characters. The "brother" was about the only empathetic character, and he didn't say a single word in eight episodes (other than in flashbacks to childhood). The main "victim" had a tough go of it, no doubt. But somehow it was still hard to feel sorry for her. At several points, I thought, "this show would probably be a lot more interesting if they just killed her." The actual villains seemed to go way beyond the pale of normal "revenge". I'll stop there b/f I spoil anything. But the motivation and life-consuming focus on revenge of the villains seemed unrealistic and excessive.

Lastly, if you're not Scottish, make sure you know how to turn on Netflix subtitles. Geez.

Long story short, I wanted to like this show. I watched the entire series (there is only one season, at the time of this review). But, I won't even remember that I watched it a year from now. It has an 8.3-star review on IMDb right now, which baffles me. It's a six, at best. If you love crime dramas and have watched all others, give this a go. But don't get your hopes up.

I was excited to see this movie after seeing the cast and high ratings on IMDb. I realize this is sort of a satire (or really just an attack) on "Big Meat" and giant corporations, and I have no problem with that. You're signing up for that when you watch this movie. But the way-too-over-the-top acting by Jake Gyllenhaal and to a lesser degree Tilda Swinton were just too much. I'm a big fan of both of them. But having said that, some actors just aren't meant to venture into certain realms of character. To wit, Gyllenhaal just crash lands over and over, in every scene he's in-essentially playing an extremely flamboyant version of Jim Carrey playing an even more flamboyant version of Ace Ventura (the terrible sequel, "When Nature Calls" version) playing a pseudo-animal biologist. It's just horrible. Tilda Swinton is only a few shades less irritating in her "too-much" portrayals (she plays multiple characters, who act no different from each other). Again, if you view this as a satire, I get what the movie makers were going for. But lots of people also try to climb Mt. Everest every year and fail miserably, just like this movie fails. The movie doesn't know what it wants to be. Especially (spoiler alert) just when you think it's going to hit home and have a real punch, everything suddenly, and for no real reason, works out fine for Okja and the little girl. Yes, the movie hammers home that corporations and big meat processing companies are devils incarnate. We get it. We got that in the first 20 minutes-really the first two minutes. But Okja is saved and by all accounts goes on to live a great life with the little girl-at least until the little girl (a few years after this story ends) grows up and discovers boys, music, school, and any sort of life off of the completely isolated postage stamp of a mountaintop "farm" where she lives only with her probably-soon-to-die-of-old-age grandfather. But let's not put too much thought into that, or this movie goes from a 4 rating to a 2. If you hate Jake Gyllenhaal and want to watch him go up in flames over and over again, watch this movie. If not, maybe spend your time on other films.

A truly epic piece of artistry. A masterpiece. How many academy awards are given each year? Whatever the number, double it, and give them all to Air Strike. The director, screenwriter, editor, director of photography, and special effects master all deserve lifetime achievement awards for this movie, even if this is their first feature film. And there should be some sort of new best-of-the-best award created to give to Bruce Willis, Adrien Brody, and the CGI bird in the cage for their spectacular performances. Breathtaking, all. I watched this film and quit making movies, because I realized this feat of magnificence could never be surpassed.

• Eric Jonrosh