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Reviews
Death on the Nile (2022)
Mediocre
The problem with this movie, apart from some problems with the special effects which were below average, isn't really the so called "woke" elements that some so called "purist" reviewers are complaining about (they have their political reasons to complain and are definitely getting tiresome). The main problem that completely destroyed the movie ,at least for me, were the first and the last scene which completely change the character of Poirot and should have been the main points the so called "purists" pointed out instead of the "woke" stuff. First of all, Poirot never fought in WW1 or had a sweetheart. He was a Belgian refugee that came to Britain to escape the war and he would never go to a nightclub in pursuit of a woman (no matter her color). If you want to watch a movie about the real Poirot then you'd better find the old ones with the great David Suchet.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
Respects the source material
The story is quite good, the younger actors have done a good job and the cameos of the older generation are respectful but above everything else this movie (unlike the previous reboot attempt) respects the original material and is a fun movie to watch. That's more than enough for me.
Masters of the Universe: Revelation (2021)
Not He-Man
This show is definitely not as bad as some reviewers are making it out to be due to prejudice or politics. The animation is very good and very loyal to the 80's show something that most of us can definitely appreciate. The problem however is that this is NOT a He-man show but something else entirely. If this was called "Teela's Journey-A tale of Eternia" or something like that then everything would have been perfect. The problem is that the creator tried to present this as a He-man reboot with a different twist which it's definitely NOT. You cannot have a He-man show with no He-man present for the majority of its duration. I only hope the second part will fix this massive omission otherwise i will have to revise my rating downward.
Homeland: Prisoners of War (2020)
The show got the ending it deserved
Unfortunately many shows nowadays do not get the ending they deserve ( Game of Thrones anyone?). Thankfully Homeland managed to escape this bad trend by providing us with a satisfying ending that respects the main characters and their arcs for the past eight seasons. Special mention to the excellent acting by the two leads.
Adults in the Room (2019)
Real life events presented only from one perspective
As a Greek citizen myself who wasn't a firm supporter or opponent of the Syriza government i believe my critique is more objective than others found here.
The movie is only based on the account of the protagonist, ex finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. Some of the facts presented here regarding the situation in Greece were true (dire financial crisis) while others are exaggerated (Syriza was never really that popular in Greece -it only got 36% in the election and never really went above that). As for the movie itself the protagonists do look and act like their real life counterparts however the movie isn't really that well made. If you want to watch it just be aware that there's another side in this story and that Varoufakis is now quite politically isolated in his home country with extremely limited political support.
Knives Out (2019)
Excellent mystery movie that skillfully subverts our expectations
So , Rian Johnson can write and direct excellent movies that manage to subvert our expectations in a succesfull and meaningful way. Unfortunately , his great success here is completely contrary to the "Last Jedi" fiasco where he managed to destroy the entire new trilogy. What a pity!
Joker (2019)
Joaquin Phoenix is phenomenal but the movie not so much
First things first Joaquin Phoenix is excellent in the role and most likely deserves an oscar for playing it. However the movie , at least in my opinion , is not that good. Unlike other comic book hero-villain movies which are light and mindless this one tries to send a message but its message is deeply flawed and disturbing.
The Mandalorian (2019)
Finally some real Star Wars
The people behind this show are real star wars fans who know what they are doing. The Result?
This show is a great success and loved by everyone from casual fans to star wars fanatics.
Disney should think long and hard on why it didn't follow the same recipe with the trilogy and allowed people who don't love star wars to sit in the director's chair of a Star Wars movie.
The War of the Worlds (2019)
Started well enough but ended poorly
As other reviewers have said the first episode wasn't really terrible although the flash forward scenes were annoying and confusing. However the second episode after the "miraculous" meeting between the "heroes" is a total disaster. In this episode the whole alien invasion thing becomes irrelevant and we're stuck with a little bit of a horror movie (where the aliens play the part of the serial killer) and a little bit of post invasion red planet survival simulation. In the end i didn't even care if the heroes survived in the past or in the present.
The only people who might like this mess are fans of the lead actress Eleanor Tomlinson.
Rogue One (2016)
Best Star Wars movie of the Disney Era
After the disaster that was the Last Jedi and with the entire "new" trilogy in shambles Rogue One is now clearly the best Star Wars movie of the Disney Era.
The movie is really quite good especially the final third of the movie which has most of the action.
Bumblebee (2018)
Quite good , for a transformers movie
Visually , this movie is by far the best of the Transformers movies. At least this time the Transformers really look like their cartoon counterparts from the original 80's cartoon (the Cybetron scenes are a pleasant surprise for us who grew up in the 80's).
Of course the movie isn't anything really special(human finds broken car-Autobot and tries to fix it) but it at least has some heart. I really wish this was the first movie of the franchise and not those foolish Bay movies which completely destroyed the name Transformers.
Bonus points for the nice 80's soundtrack especially for the , sadly brief, use of the Transformers classic "you got the touch".
Whiskey Cavalier (2019)
Mediocre up until now
I know its only been a couple of episodes but until now this show doesn't really have anything going for it. The action is really not that interesting and the jokes , at least for me, fall completely flat.Perhaps the show might improve with time but if it does not i really don't predict its going to last long.
Lethal Weapon (2016)
A different show without Riggs
The show was actually pretty good for the first two seasons but after the whole "situation" with the actor playing Riggs it all went downhill fast. You can't have a lethal weapon series without Martin Riggs. It's just impossible. And to make matters worse the new character was badly written due most likely to the problems plaguing the production during the third year of the show. I believe 3 seasons are enough for this one.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
Really fear Star Wars will be dead after this movie
I really don't understand what people liked about this movie. I liked Poe's ark about responsibility and Laura Dern's character was not bad but apart from those the entire movie was a disaster. Can anyone honestly tell me what was Finn - supposedly a main character in the new trilogy- doing in the entire film? What about Phasma whose role was once again a sad joke. And lets not forget about the all powerful and mighty Supreme Leader Snoke , the villain who would overshadow Emperor Palpatine with his villainy and mastery of the force dying like an idiot in the middle of the movie so that we can all "enjoy" the true villain of the trilogy the "all powerful" Kylo Ren who almost got killed by Snoke's bodyguards. Can anyone honestly argue that Kylo Ren is a better villain for the trilogy than Snoke could have been( i don't even dare to compare Ren with Palpatine)?
As for Rey's parentage i REALLY want to hope that Ren was either lying or didn't know because if he was telling the truth and her parents are just random scavenger scum who sold her off then the whole thing becomes a sad and stupid joke. Even Rey's supposed flirting with the Dark side ( one of the highlights of the movie for me) went nowhere since Rey suddenly forgot about her anger and resentment and became a paragon of light.
I've been a huge fan of Star Wars for decades but now i cannot really say if i will even go to the cinema to watch the new Solo movie and Episode 9 due to the massive disappointment i got from watching Episode 8.