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josef654
Reviews
Expend4bles (2023)
Dumber than dumb, but kind of fun
Altough dumb, the film remains entertaining pretty much the whole way through with fast pacing and plenty of action scenes. Thankfully the franchise has also returned to it's R-rated roots allowing for all the gore and profanity that audiences, in Stallones words, have come to expect from the series. Speaking of the man himself; he's unfortunately absent for most of the movie for plot reasons so dumb my eyes rolled back so hard that I cold see my own brain.
Unfortunately the rest of the lineup aint that impressive as it lacks many of the big names of it's predecessors and commits again to the worst sin of Expendables 3: the bringing-on of "new blood", consisting of 50-cent and Megan Fox, along with 2 other to me unbeknownst younger actors. This gives the film a sense of identity crisis as it's attempts to appeal to a broader audience makes it less appealing to it's core old-school action loving audience.
With Stallone gone Fox takes the reins of the group despite being a newcomer to the franchise and lacking previously established skills to qualify as team-leader. Perhaps it was done to score some progressive points but thankfully it never came of as too preachy and the side-cast were allowed to kick ass in equal measure. Tony Jaa also joins the ensamble at a later point, being by far the best addition to the group altough if you're familiar with the feats that he can pull off in the martial arts department you will feel that he's being under-utalized in the film. Sadly the same also applies for Iko Uwais, of The Raid fame, who plays the main villain in the film. The action parts were still pretty good for the most part altough lacking any real standout moments. The scinematography of the action scenes gets the job done but doesn't make you feel directly involved in the action in the way a superior action film like The Raid does.
For a film that puts it's title in plural it didn't really feel like a group effort as much as a solo assignment, as much of the film belongs to Statham alone. With him freeing the group and saving the world pretty much by himself it made most of the group feel somewhat redundant, diminishing the purpose of them working in a group.
All in all the film never exceeds expectations and probably has enough flaws to warrant a lower score but I can't deny that I had a pretty good time with it as it kept me entertained and smiling throughout.
House of the Dragon (2022)
Glad i stuck with it
I don't know why imdb allows full series reviews after only a pilot has been released as I deem it impossible to judge an entire show after having only watched an episode. Therefore i've watched the entirety of season 1 before sharing my thoughts on this long awaited prequel to GoT.
Now let's face it; we live in an era of abundance when it comes to quality TV-series. I would say there are more watch-worthy shows out there than most of us would ever find the time to watch, in huge part because of the rise of streaming networks, all competing for our time & money. As a result of this "good" or even "very good" is simply not enough of a merit to warrant the time investment required to watch a show to completion.
Why do i mention this? Initially i thought this show would fall into forementioned categories. And with initially i'm referring to pretty much the first half of this season. While i never found this prequel to perhaps the greatest series of all time (yeah, the ending sucked but it's an overall assessment) to be bad it simply didn't do a good job of capturing my interest at first. Yeah the acting, writing and directing was great at all times but the conflict itself seemed at first to be nothing more than a family drama about succession and gender roles instilled with the occassional action scene. Because of this i nearly gave up on this series...
But as the title says; I'm glad i stuck with it. Now i was initially against the switching of actresses since i thought the OG ones were so stellar in their performances, but the new ones were equally as great and the transition went by almost unnoticed on my behalf. Not only that but we have also been introduced to a plathora of new characters, all interesting and sure to take the show in new and exciting directions by adding more altogheter possibilities to the story, making it almost as unpredictable as it's predecessor. We also have a clearer sense of where the show's heading now as opposed to at the start and in retrospect it made me appreciate the initial, slower, episodes more for making me care more about these characters, where they are heading and why.
I'm not a fan of complexity for complexitys sake when it comes to storytelling but i really thought it worked when it came to GoT as despite the enourmous amount of characters they were all distinct, memorable and most importantly added a near infinite variables to how the story could end. Every death could drastically change the balance of power in favor for one party or the other and i think with the end of this season we're on the same page. As a non-book reader I'm happilly clueless as to where this show will take me and i'm equally as happy for how much i find myself caring for who'll take the throne at the end.
Euphoria: The Theater and Its Double (2022)
Lexi shines in the latest episode
Being of the opinion that Lexi has been perhaps the most underutilized character on the show so far i was glad to see her getting some much needed screentime, this time in the form of the play she's been working on for most of the season. Like most of the episodes on this series this one was visually beatiful with great cinematography, altough if i had to criticize something about this episode it would be the editing, making it sometimes unclear to me atleast whether the event's we're watching are unfolding on the theater stage, in flashbacks or in dreams.
The different acts in Lexi's play varied from heartfellt to funny as she shares her feelings on both herself and her insecurities but also, in a not so subtle manner, her friends and the people around her, most of whom were attending the play as audiencemembers. Some having fun with it, like Lexi's mom, and others to various degrees of dismay (primarily Cassie).
Most notably abscent from the audience however was Fezco, instead getting dressed up to meet Lexi after the show i pressume, unaware of the impending doom that awaits him. Not making the same mistake as his older brother the cues of betrayal are not lost upon Ash, who's getting ready for violence in what i assume will be a tragic season finale.
As a final note; i was both suprised and delighted to hear that the theme song from Cannibal Holocaust was used for the ending. I absolutely love it and never would've expected it to show up here, or anywhere really.
Fargo: Storia Americana (2020)
Season not worthy of the "Fargo" name
This season made for a decent watch, albeit an incredibly underwhelming one at that. I'll start off by getting my main gripes out of the way.
The know-it-all young girl: I found her to be incredibly annoying. The writers were obviously afraid to attach a young black woman with any negative attribute that would make her human so what we and up with is a boring know-it-all character whom I personally couldn't care less for. Also her character hardly progressed the story in any meaningful way. All she did was provide some very unneeded narration and hand the ring to Loy at the end.
The crazy couple: I really couldn't stand these two. They were obviously included only to provide even more diversity and they weren't likable at all. I found it incredibly stupid that these two characters somehow survived a shootout against the entire police (an obvious result of the writers obsession with girl power) force but even dumber that Timothy Olyphant's characters tried to arrest them after they had killed dozens of cops and civilians. This was of course done so the black crazy woman could escape and kill Loy at the very last moment, a cheap ripoff of Ewan McGregor's death at the very last moments of season 3. The difference being how the deaf hitman was a character I actually cared for and the fact that he was a hitman, someone who could easily murder his target, and not a crazy lady who would be on every most-wanted list after the train-station shootout.
Apart from these annoyances the story was okay albeit fairly predictable and lacking in terms of humor. I thought Chris Rock did a pretty good job in a serious role but I think his comedic side was under-utilized. This is still Fargo and dark comedy should still be provided. I liked some of the side characters but hardly anyone got any character development. The main strength that TV-shows have in comparison to movies is the time in which they can tell their stories and develop their characters, but I hardly felt anything during the many death scenes throughout this season. If the writers had put down as much effort on telling a good story as they did on trying to comment on Americas history of racism and writing characters that pander to the SJW crowd (an demographic who most likely won't watch this show anyways) this could have been a great season. Instead, it'll probably be the first one I forget.
Björnstad (2020)
Raises the bar for swedish tv!
Having read through the previous reviews here the main gripe i find people having with this show seems to be how it isn't an accurate portrayal of it's source material. So having not read the book i'll judge it purely on it's own merit.
Now i pretty much boycott every production that springs from Sweden. What made me give this one a go was mainly how it was an HBO production, a company i associate with quality tv. As i suspected the production was very good with nice cinematography and sets etc. But the best thing was the story and the actors who kept me glued to the screen all the way through. I do however have a few gripes about this show, and the reasons to why i'm not rating this any higher than an eight.
First of i think that the delivery of certain lines from the younger cast felt a bit stiff even if the written dialouge itself was very good and believable. This didn't happen often and the cast was overall very good. My main gripe however was that i felt the show was a bit too short. The build up to the main conflict was great, with the show doing a good job at introducing us to a large amount of interesting characters. The pacing was also really good at first but i thought the second half of the show was a bit rushed. Character motivations started to change too quickly and i felt some more screen time should have been handed to some of the side characters to flesh out the story more and cover more topics. But all in all it was a great show, well made and exciting from start to finish whilst also raising some important questions.
Fargo: The Birthplace of Civilization (2020)
A painful confession
I've been a huge fan of this show since the first episode aired back in 2014 and i have recommended this show to countless friends ever since, something i'm starting to reconsider. Every season so far has been pretty much perfect in my opinion but this season is truly lacking so far. The almost complete lack of things that made the previous seasons soo good (likable and intriguing characters, wit, suspense etc.) and the inclusion of PC propagand (such as the birthplace of civilisation being Africa, lol) makes for a pretty dull season. I hardly care for any the characters and what happens to them since they aren't properly fleshed out or simply dull and unoriginal (Dr Senator and Timothy Olyphant's detective being good exceptions). The villain is also trying way too hard to be intimidating in a Joe Pesci like manner but falls flat both in comparison to him but also to every other villain in this show who kept me intrigued by their mystery and charm. I thought the inclusion of Chris Rock would bring a lot of humor to the table but i feel that the funny side of him has been under-utalized so far. The plot is also very straightforward so far with little room for surprices and lack of characters to root for. Something i liked about previous seasons was that they, in spite of being often violent and dark, had warmth and tenderness to them (the romance between Gus and Molly in S1 being a good example of this) which balansed off the otherwise grim nature of the show, something that is lacking in this season. However i still have some faith left in the creators of this show that this season will pick up and the narrative threads will be interwoven in a convenient way so i'll keep on watching for now.
The Old Guard (2020)
Missed potential
This one had a lot of potential. It had an intriguing and somewhat original concept, a couple of good actors and some nice action scenes that are reminiscent of the ones in the John Wick franchise in terms of choreography, altough at times paired with some questionable choice of music.
The movie also has a good flow and it hardly ever felt dull, altough an additional action scene or two sprinkled throughout the middle section of the movie wouldn't have hurt in my opinion.
For these reasons i'd gladly give the film an 8/10. Unfortunately it has some major flaws related to wokeness that deduct 2 points from me. First of there are 2 gay male characters in the movie whom has barely any personality beyond their sexual orientation. That one of them delivered one of the cringiest speeches i've heard in a long time didn't help neither. Secondly there is a rediculous scene in Afghanistan in which it appears like the entirety of the U.S Marine Corps consists of women. There are some other examples too, such as a female leader of the group, but it was justifiable by context(her being the oldest) and didn't bother me. In fact wokeness when done subtle or when making sense through context hardly ever do. Unfortunately it wasn't the case here.
Could have been very good but ended up just being good. Still, i'd recommend it in lack of something better to watch.
The Last of Us: Part II (2020)
The 1's are from haters and the 10's are from fanboys
This game is an improvement over it's predecessor in every way you'd expect from a videogame sequel. It's bigger, prettier and it plays better than the first game (the AI was a nice improvement from the 1st and It fearures some of the best body damage i've seen in gaming). This allone warrants a rating of more than 1. But the reason why we all enjoyed the first game so much wasn't because of gameplay but because of it's story, or rather; it's characters. In this category this game is a major downgrade from the 1st one. Even if you do like the story and it's message there's no way you can convince me it warrants a 10 since the characters are bland and uninteresting in comparison to the ones we had in the first game with even some of the returning characters struggling to seem two-dimensional.
The fact that the game's poorly paced in it's second half with lot of plot points that doesn't further the story in meaninfull ways doesn't help neither.
Another negative is how the game feels like it was made by an angry feminist. All males in the game are inept except for a boy who happens to be a trans, which feels very rediculous considering the setting of the game.
All in all i'd say the game is unsatisfaying rather than bad. The story, while unenjoyable, does still make enough sense from a character viewpoint. I just wish that the death of my favorite videogame character would warrant a better story than this.