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Cloak & Dagger (2018)
Extremely slow paced, annoying soundtrack, still somewhat promising
The by far most annoying feature of this show is the soundtrack. Someone decided that the only way the target audience can sit through scenes where characters are looking over documents and piecing something together / figure something out is by cranking up some pop / indy music. As if we weren't able to sit through a slower scene.
Speaking of which, there are tons of slow scenes. Or rather entire plot lines that are developing at a sluggish pace. Some of them feel like they're going nowhere, others are interesting on the surface (the whole voodoo lady stuff) but executed in the most confusing way... like whenever things could start making sense, they cut away.
The weird thing is that this show has a lot of good ingredients. They have 2 main characters that are on a collision course with each other and they don't want to be. That's basically the premise of Daredevil's season 1.
Both of the protagonists are well-developed, but they don't get a whole lot to do. In the first 4 episodes, we see them running away more than we see them standing their ground. This is not how compelling characters are written; in almost all instances when "the plot isn't happening to them" but rather _they_ are driving the plot forward, they are doing so by accident.
It's only 5 episodes in that the show is starting to pick up. It does feel like you're receiving a reward for sitting through so much background story. The main thing that's dragging the show down then is too many storylines and too many side characters that are thrown at our collective faces. When Daredevil focused almost exclusively on the protagonist and the antagonist in season 1, C&D tries to establish 8+ side characters, half of which simply don't get too much to do to be interesting. The show would be much better served if it stuck with ONE main story.
I'm curious to see where this is going. It's not Iron Fist bad, but it's also no Daredevil. For fans of the Marvel shows, it's alright.
My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman (2018)
Long in-depth interviews without the ad break
I always enjoyed interesting guests in the various late shows having a bit more time to tell an interesting story. However, even if they had the full 10 minutes, you felt like you were missing out as they had to be cut off after one or two anecdotes. Additionally, the ad breaks always disrupted the flow of the conversation and even if you decided to catch up the day after on YouTube, you'd have to search for all the various clips in the correct order to have seen it all.
All of that is now gone. "My next guest needs no introduction" allows Letterman to do what he seemingly always wanted to do - just have an in-depth conversation with an interesting guest, but without any interruptions. You can tell he's enjoying this and he seems to be willing to make the most of this new format. In the first episode, we have already seen him put a lot of research into his guest, Barack Obama. Future episodes will show us whether Letterman will continue to put as much effort into his job as interviewer, but I have very high hopes and think this show will continue to be revealing and entertaining.
Overall, I quite enjoyed the first episode and I have very high hopes for the episodes to come.
RoboCop (2014)
Even plenty of talent can't save this train wreck of a script
I didn't have very high expectations prior to this movie. Basically, I wanted to see some cool action sequences and a decent story. I had some hopes since I really liked the Samuel Jackson sequences from the trailers that made it seem like they were trying to build this rich world with plenty of depth. Unfortunately, the trailers were overselling the final product.
After a somewhat promising start where we're getting a very quick introduction to the world Robocop plays in, we're following the protagonist Alex Murphy. The movie seems to take its time telling you more about his character, however, he makes a bad decision that suddenly turns his life upside down. The resulting grief seemed like a great reason to give the character a solid background and set up a transformation, but alas, it's never going to happen.
While the character _does_ transform in a very "technical" sense, he doesn't seem to grow as a person. We are then watching roughly 30 minutes of his recovery, which aren't exactly horrible, but at the same time leave you wanting since this is not what you came for. It's far from being popcorn cinema and it also can't be considered good drama since there is simply too little happening.
Shortly after, you start wondering if there will ever be a build-up in this movie. Like if there's some gigantic threat / villain that Robocop will have to fight? Let me save you your money by telling you up front that there simply isn't.
There were plenty of opportunities, though. Jackie Earle Haley has a somewhat commanding presence most of the times he enters the screen, but with what felt like less than 15 minutes screen time, it's not exactly like you're feeling too threatened by this "villain". Or like he's "established". The other antagonists suffer from different problems; either they only start turning against Robocop 20 minutes before the end of the movie or they are not threatening in any way.
In the end, you are left wanting since it's hard to tell what exactly happened in this movie. When you're trying to measure the emotions of someone who's sat through this movie, you'll see a flat-line since there's so little to get excited about... Considering that there are so many talented actors involved, this caused us to leave the cinema feeling extremely disappointed. It's far from being the worst movie I've ever seen, but it's not even solid entertainment because it falls flat on so many levels.
The New World (2005)
Be warned!
I am absolutely certain that this is the worst movie I have ever seen and I hope that I will never see anything like it again. While I do understand that art-lovers might find this movie fascinating, the average Joe will simply fall asleep during the first 30 minutes. And I consider him lucky as I stayed awake.
There are so many things that are so entirely wrong with this movie. First and foremost the teaser: It makes you believe that there's actually something happening in this movie. That it's about coming to America. That there might even be some action, a killing of Indians, etc.
Well, it's not.
I don't think that a movie needs to have action and blood, but it needs to be something more than the product of someone putting a camera on a piece of wood and collecting 2 hours of "pure nature". This movie is about characters and characters only. Not character development, no, characters. Doing their thing. Someone else wrote "most of the dialogues in this movie - which are actually monologues - are entirely consisting of minute-long close-ups of the faces of the actors and you have to imagine what they are thinking". Well, this person deserves the Oscar of film-critics as he certainly saved some lives with this brave comment. Believe me, he is right.
The movie has some scenes where it goes dark and the next chapter in the never-ending tale is about to start. At every of these scenes, several people in the cinema got up, hoping for this movie to be over. They were actually breathing out loud like they just made it through a marathon. Well, they have been disappointed as the torture wasn't over. At some point, you just feel like giving up and want to leave the cinema. I have never walked out of a movie and I will certainly never be closer to it than I've been while watching The New World. I had been holding back to see if there is a stunning conclusion or if there would be anything at least close to likable in this movie. I have been disappointed big time.
I guess the first five minutes, when no one's talking in the movie, have been put in on purpose. This way, the director wanted to give you a heads-up on the things to come. Don't be a fool, listen to your gut feeling and stop watching if you've really made it past the first 3 minutes...
Seven Pounds (2008)
Very slow paced with a stunning conclusion
Seven Pounds certainly isn't a movie for everyone's taste. If you're not a fan of character development and a confusing storyline, you should definitely not even think of touching this movie. However, if you're a very patient observer, a fan of twisting conclusions at the end or just a Will Smith fanatic, it will be worthwhile.
At first, you feel like it's kicking off hardcore and you'll now be taken on a quick ride full of conclusions, but you'll quickly learn that after the initial shock, the movie slows down immensely and take its time introducing the characters. In fact, you might get the feeling that after the first 10 minutes and 15 minutes before the end of the movie, next to nothing is happening. Brief flashbacks are the main reason keeping you on the hook and make you look more and more forward to the end of the movie, hoping for a stunning conclusion.
And then exactly that happens. And wouldn't it have been done so brilliantly, you would feel like you wasted quite some time of your life. Will Smith does a good job as always, showing once more that he can in fact play a different character than himself. The supporting cast also does an excellent job where it's allowed to, but it's Smith who carries this movie almost on his own.
It should be mentioned that if you're able to figure out the catch before it is actually shown, you might get bored sitting there and waiting for the movie to reveal itself. This and the general very, very slow pace are my reasons for giving it 7 out of 10. The average movie-goer will just not be patient enough to sit there for an hour when next to nothing's happening.