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Reviews
DNA do Crime (2023)
The first half of the series is great, the second is weaker.
Very well produced series, very professional, good performances and, for the most part, well directed. Exceptional, by Brazilian standards.
I'm giving it 7 but I divided the analysis between the first half and the second, which have, in my opinion, different grades.
The first half of the series (ep-1 to 4) is excellent, except for Benício's excess flashbacks with his dead partner. The first flashback already conveyed the information, the second became tiring and from the third onwards, unbearable. In this case it is better to use a symbol that adds to the feeling of the moment and use it, instead of saturating the series with these flashbacks. The cliché of every police officer not being able to have a normal personal or family life is also disturbing, which is also tiring, especially in the Federal Police of Brazil, where they earn absurdly well and have many perks. I know two federal police officers who have great financial and family lives. The cliché family problems do nothing to advance the plot and the police are treated in a very cliché way. I even skipped some familiar scenes and repetitive flashbacks.
But from episode 5 onwards, things take a turn for the worse. At the beginning of this episode, the bandit "Sem Alma", who was being obsessively pursued by Benício, runs away into the woods, injured, and the police, who are numbered 4, don't go after him just because he threw a grenade and made smoke and noise, no injuries were reported. Completely inconsistent with the behavior of the police, especially Benicio, who after his friend's death, lived just to catch this criminal. But I understand in terms of the structure of the script that it required him to escape, but the way the scene was written and performed was too simplistic. Episode 5 is drawn out and tiring. The fight in the nightclub is confusing due to the editing (and perhaps the direction, it's difficult to know), with very quick cuts and the stroboscopic effect preventing anything from being seen, it was impossible to know who was hitting who.
The character of Cordeiro, with his parallel subplot, was also forced and, for me, it didn't work. And the fact that he, in a very short time, rose, undercover, to a trusted man of one of the bosses of a powerful criminal organization, was also too forced. Apart from the fact that the police officer was suspended and freely carried out the investigation at the behest of a Federal Police chief, the reason for which was never fully explained. Probably to return in the second season or, more likely, to paste the first half with the second, which seems to have been written in a hurry to stretch the first 4 episodes to 8. His private drama of having to kill a police officer to prove his loyalty to a criminal organization also served no purpose in the main plot.
The attempt to humanize the character of "Sem Alma" did not integrate well with the character, for me. His inner "conflict" between religion and crime was not well integrated, it was a bit played out and forced, more like a forced characteristic to give dimension to the character, only to give him a chance at redemption in the end, when he frees a hostage.
The Federal Police Officer who becomes corrupted in a 1-minute conversation with a criminal was also too forced.
Then comes the final episode, extremely anticlimactic in relation to the conclusion of the story, pushing the envelope again, this time for a possible second season.
The way in which the Federal Police arranged the transport of the main Paraguayan crime boss, within Paraguay, was absurd in every aspect. Firstly, in the case of any extradition of criminals between countries, the local police would escort the prisoner to the airport, where, at least, a Paraguayan police officer would accompany him to Brazil, they would not leave everything in the hands of the police from another country, especially when it comes to of a powerful crime boss, the Ambassador. But if the federal police knew that there was an internal informant and an army of criminals to free him, the mission was suicidal and very poorly planned.
Then, in the shooting against the convoy, from the beginning, we do not see the target of the attack, the Ambassador. It seems that all the police left the boss in the car, leaving him, apparently, with a police officer. It's difficult to know who got him because later a man in a mask runs away with him, and even so, the Ambassador doesn't appear in the scene. I saw the scene 3 times and didn't understand where he was and who rescued him. The Ambassador's protection was the convoy's main mission and he could even have been used as a hostage and shield, since the function of the attack was his rescue.
The pursuit of "Sem Alma" ends this anticlimax of the episode and the series. Benício was obsessed with the criminal, who, in addition to his friend, had coldly killed two other police officers. Then, he just arrests the criminal and even has a friendly conversation with him in the car, completely inconsistent with the rest of his behavior throughout the series. It seems that writers and directors became fond of the criminal and kept him alive out of affection, perhaps for a second season, compromising the end of the series and the coherence of Benicio's obsessive behavior.
There are countless other points in the script to highlight, simplistic or forced solutions, but I have already written too much. But the impression that remains is that they compromised a large part of the final episode just to give the opportunity for a second season.
I give 10 to the production and effects, especially the use of cell phones, well placed, and the use of weapons and shooting. The use of drones also greatly enhanced some scenes. Most of the main actors are very good. The photography and camera were also very efficient. Some scenes were very well directed.
However, according to my criteria, a personal matter, the script always has greater weight.
Overall, with greater weight given to the script, I give it 9 for the first 4 episodes and 5 for the other 4. Average 7.
If the series had had better script solutions in the second half and a more exciting and satisfying ending, it could have even reached 9 or 10. I don't know if the second half and the ending were harmed by the need for a second season or because they had to be extended the first 4 episodes to 8.
Hermanoteu na Terra de Godah: O Filme (2022)
Much better than Monty Phyton's "Life of Brian"
Excellent, much better than Monty Phyton's "Life of Brian", with which the story and style are similar. It's a small step below "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". It manages to make humor with Jesus without being offensive, unlike "Porta dos Fundos", a Brazillian group who intended to copy Monty Phyton but only manages to be offensive and don't even come close to this excellent group "Os Melhores do mundo". Production, photography, script and direction are excellent for a comedy, and the film managed to be even better than the play which the film is based on and which I watched. The script had great new ideas that made the story even better. The actors are masterful and hilarious. And I didn't work on the production nor was I paid by the group to do this analysis, and I rarely like Brazilian comedies.
Star Trek: The Menagerie: Part I (1966)
What Gene Roddenberry achieved in these 2 episodes was something brilliant
What Gene Roddenberry achieved in these 2 episodes was something brilliant, taking advantage of an unapproved episode, with its own story, and managing to make another fantastic story around it with a beautiful ending. It's a very difficult thing that I've had to do with a 38-minute TV episode that I wrote and aired, to turn into a feature film using the scenes and story already filmed, but in my case, using the same story and filling with other scenes. This script ended up not being filmed, but I wrote it. It's something very difficult. The idea and its realization were brilliant. It was amazing.
Enterprise (2001)
it's the best series in the franchise
I'm rewatching Enterprise, I've already rewatched 3 seasons and I think it's the best series in the franchise of all. I was a pilot in the Navy, I served aboard aircraft carriers, and this series is the one that most realistically shows the behavior of the crew and the compartments of a real spacecraft, with little space and less comfort.
All the actors are very good but I really like Jolene Blalock, she was excellent on Enterprise. I'm sorry that she didn't have more chances and projection in the Industry and roles in better films. Playing a Vulcan, in the Enterprise series, that started contact between humans and Vulcans, was quite difficult and she did an extraordinary job, on the same level that Leonard Nimoy as Spock. Her character's arc was very well constructed by her in the series and, in a way, it was more difficult than Spock, because in the series he had no arc, he was always the same.
Infinitum: Subject Unknown (2021)
What this couple achieved with an i-phone is impressive
What this couple achieved with an i-phone is impressive. The editing is spectacular, top notch, the mood achieved by the direction in the framing and use of lenses is very well done. The actress is excellent. The theme addressed by the script is very current and, incredible as it may seem, real. A similar incident happened to my wife, in an old, huge, two-floor hotel that had an elevator and two staircases. She went up to our room through one of the stairs and on each floor, it was dark and without anyone. After 5 floors, and the building only had 2 foors plus the basement, she went back to the lobby and there was no one, not even in the cafeteria. She went back to the stairs and then this time arrived at our floor, lit up. And she was with my 6 year old son. The hotel was crowded. In Brazil there is a kind of urban legend called "Sete Além" (seven beyond, literally), with several reported cases of people who go out on a bus or on the street in strange places with strange people, but they guide them on how to get back. But these are the ones that came back, there may be several that didn't come back.
The script, together with the great direction, the exceptional editing, the excellent colorization and the great performance of the actress make this little film very interesting. The sound is very good too.
I didn't really like the ending but I understood it. But for a film made with an iPhone, during a pandemic, with a tiny crew, it is a great achievement. Congratulations.
PS: I'm from Brazil but I studied cinema at NYU in NY and I write, direct and edit in my country, so I know how to recognize talented work with very low budget.
You Should Have Left (2020)
David Koep should have retired after ruining the penultimate Indiana Jones,
David Koep should have retired after ruining Indiana Jones and thw Christal Skull, so he wouldn't have ruined the last one. This film is proof that he has completely lost track of what a good script and a good film are. Sad to see the great decline of a screenwriter. Nothing in this film works. Veryyy bad.
David Koep should have retired after ruining the penultimate Indiana Jones, so he wouldn't have ruined the last one. This film is proof that he has completely lost track of what a good script and a good film are. Sad to see the great decline of a screenwriter. Nothing in this film works. Veryyy bad.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters: Secrets and Lies (2023)
flying from South Korea to Canada in an old propeller plane is a bit much
I don't expect coherence from a monster movie, but flying from South Korea to Canada in an old propeller plane is a bit much. Didn't the writers use Google to find out the distance?
It's almost 15,000 km crossing several countries and the Atlantic Ocean...lol. The teen drama also became forced and boring.
I don't expect coherence from a monster movie, but flying from South Korea to Canada in an old propeller plane is a bit much. Didn't the writers use Google to find out the distance?
It's almost 15,000 km crossing several countries and the Atlantic Ocean...lol. The teen drama also became forced and boring.
The Killer (2023)
The worst, most boring and stupidest killer film I've ever seen
The worst, most boring and stupidest killer film I've ever seen, and I'm not a fan of mindless films, on the contrary, I like films with a good story. This one uses all the clichés but with the disadvantage that this super professional assassin is very stupid, just like everyone else he encounters. The terrible script is full of holes, I won't mention all of them to avoid spoilers, but, for example, this protagonist invades the house of another assassin, 2 times his size, to kill him, just with a pistol, he doesn't even take an extra gun or knife and he almost gets killed. But this protagonist's girlfriend managed to hurt this killer and escape from this huge killer who was still with another killer. In fact, these killers went to kill the super killer at his house in the Dominican Republic by taxi... lol. Not to mention that the agency that hires these killers has the address of all of their homes and they continue to live there...lol. Oh, and the secretary of that assassin agency has the name and address of all the assassins and contractors on little paper cards in her suburban house... in her office, not even in a vault.... that's it.
The office that hires dangerous assassins and sometimes orders them to be killed has no security and no armed guards. In fact, these killers break into sophisticated security systems but there is no security at all in their homes... lol. Serious error that is also in John Wick 1.
"Professional" killers don't realize when they are being followed by car or when there is a car parked in front of their house for hours, with a person inside.
The apartment of the millionaire who hired the killer, which the millionaire himself says is the height of security, uses access to the garage elevator and the apartment with a magnetic card without a password. Even in my country town, access from several buildings to the garage elevator already has facial scanning to avoid this.
These are just some of the huge inconsistencies that, together with a boring voice over, which adds nothing to the plot, make this film have the most stupid murderers in history.. The first 20 minutes are boring and I just didn't put the film down because of the names involved but I wish I had stopped in the first 10 minutes...
David Fincher like Ridley Scott are great technical directors who are not Authors, they depend on a good script to make good films and they don't always know how to evaluate their scripts. Many praise Fincher for his aesthetics, but that's not being authorial, it's just being stylistically technical. And it totally depends on the Director of Photography and the Art Director, and on having a good budget for it.
Missions (2017)
What irritates me about these films about missions to Mars
What irritates me about these films about missions to Mars is that they always arrive with a single module without having had any preparation, plan B, etc. Before going on a distant and risky mission like this, any minimally intelligent person would first send a ship to land and install a shelter and they would then send a mother ship with at least two landing modules. It's the minimum level of security, but all screenwriters fall into this trap, the same as FOR ALL MANKIND, MISSION TO MARS, etc.
This already discredits the entire story. I'm a Navy pilot and any soldier would not approve such a risky mission unless there was a war.
Black Mirror: Beyond the Sea (2023)
Episode full of holes and absurdities that immediately remove any involvement from the viewer.
The episode is full of holes and absurdities that immediately remove any involvement from the viewer. The main thing is why not send the doubles on the mission and leave the originals on Earth? That alone breaks the story completely. Robotic doubles would not need so much space and resources on a space trip and the lives of the crew would be saved. You never send just two astronauts on a mission, even more so for a long duration, 6 years. There is no land control, it never appears. After the absurd scene of the murdered family would there be any interference from mission control? They say in a conversation that it could not be built another double of the astronaut who had his double killed, but then he can use the double of the other astronaut? Then they could use any other double to be treated by control psychologists. There are numerous other elements that can be addressed from the episode's absurdities. Do astronauts communicate with their doubles faster than the speed of light? Because they are instant, including the alerts on the clock. Modern technology only served for the spacecraft, does the earth still have 1969 technology? They have artificial gravity, the ability to build identical doubles, etc. Many absurdities that make the story completely impossible to believe. Even science fiction needs some believability. Any episode of the 1963 Outer Limits series is infinitely better than this episode. And it's very predictable. Perhaps the worst episode of the series and any other series. Someone is missing reviewing the scripts of this series and almost all of Netflix. I would say this script is just a first draft and a bad one.
FUBAR (2023)
True Lies written and directed by Ed Wood.
True Lies written and directed by Ed Wood. Embarrassing script and action scenes. It feels like those 80's television series without the charm and humour. If it were written by ChatGPT it would be infinitely better. Now I understand why screenwriters are so concerned about AI. Any software has more intelligence than them. The writers of this series should not go on strike, but thank God for getting paid for this rubbish.
Hard to understand how Arnold got into this hole. Does he really need the money that much? Because he's smart and insightful, it's impossible that he didn't realize how bad that was.
Silo: Truth (2023)
If this episode had been written by CHATGPT it would be better
Absolutely nothing happens in this episode If this episode had been written by CHATGPT it would be better. Boring flashbacks that don't advance the story, shallow conflicts that are just cheap arguments and half the episode with the Sheriff's assistant crying and suffering over the mayor's death. Mexican soap operas are better. The writers of this series shouldn't go on strike, they should thank God for getting paid to write this piece of rubbish.
Absolutely nothing happens in this episode If this episode had been written by CHATGPT it would be better.
Absolutely nothing happens in this episode If this episode had been written by CHATGPT it would be better.