Reviews

The tone of this show feels way off. It presents a world where the bad guys are senselessly evil, and the good guys are righteous and just in their revenge quest only by the scope of the villain's evil. The show indulges in the violence, often exaggerating it to the point of slapstick. And then the next scene drops some tragic Holocaust exposition, or blatant racism on you to justify it.

I feel like they either needed to commit to the absurd satire of monstrous Nazi war criminals living in 1950s USA, or to the dramatic tale of a band of holocaust survivors grappling to lead moral lives while being compelled to seek revenge on the men who tortured them and their families, but we're left with an awkward in-between that feels like they went ahead with their first draft of the script.

To me it seems that the showrunners really just wanted to make a series about killin' nazis, and I guess they did.

Yikes I haven't been this frustrated with a movie in a while. Even bad movies. I watched this with a friend, and I found almost nothing to stay engaged with in this film. There are some interesting scenarios and stunts, but the way they're shot and edited are schizophrenic. Even when something interesting happens, the camera can't stay focused on it for more than half a second before flipping away to some other pointless flowing motion. It's like watching a spray of effuse from a hose trying to catch glimpses of recognizable shapes in the patterns as they splash upon a wall. The plot itself is even worse. A brief moment of something interesting leading to ab.so.lute.ly nothing.

I really didn't expect to find myself laughing so often during season 2. Nearly every scene is set up with a visual gag. There's always something there that you don't expect to see, and it's somehow resolved either in a horrible way or in an amusing way. Maybe a feeling like watching Twin Peaks, where the situation can turn to either horror or absurdity. I found it refreshing\disturbing\delightful! The mystery involved in season 2 didn't pull me along so much as just wanting to see how they would resolve it, and I don't think it disappoints.

Tonally it's quite different from season 1, so if you really enjoyed season 1, there's no guarantee that this one will float your boat. Janelle Monae has a pretty fascinating face to stare into and wonder what she's thinking. She seems so perpetually neutral and in control, and when that control seems to crack I found her very compelling.

I don't think this film downplays the dangers or crimes of fascism, Nazism, racism, and all the other isms that plague society, but it does point them out to be as absurd as they are. If we always display Nazis and fascists as powerful and dangerous we may be perpetuating their desires, and giving into the way they wish to be perceived. Maybe Hitler was a pathetic little man that wanted to be powerful and adored. Maybe teaching children that people that are different from them aren't human is utterly ridiculous. To be able to laugh about it isn't denying how terrible it is, it is a way of dismantling the fear and power of it, and I think we need more of that today. I'm probably a sucker and will always believe that love and humor can overcome hate.

Of the film: I laughed, I cried, I left it feeling wounded and introspective, yet hopeful! It presents WW2 Berlin from a boy's perspective, as a bright and colorful place whose optimism is being tainted by something fearful. Worth watching if you feel down about the world today.

There were some clever and funny twists in this movie that made it very enjoyable. I'd like to see this team with some more money. More puppets!

The trailers for this movie left me doubting. I expected the usual modern horror fare with lots of shaky camera footage chasing people through the grass, but what I got was a strange and surreal horror-adventure with a surprisingly frightening adversary. I'd love to see more of this story.

The plot shambles around a couple of interesting ideas and then it latches on and smothers it. The characters just seem along for the ride, without any particular motivations. Then some scary things pop up, and the kid screams and wakes up, and screams some more. Then a twist! There really isn't much story here, or anything particularly creative to enjoy, though it's well made.

I love monster-horror stuff and The Strain really tickles that particular fancy of mine. The show displays a horrifying take on vampires. Revolting creatures that violently warp human anatomy into their own shape from within. The characters are fun, and relatable (unless their name is Zach). I'm so glad the show got to run to its conclusion. I think, and hope it'll stand the test of time as a piece of monster-horror greatness.

I think this movie stands alone as an entertaining adaptation of the Hellboy mythos and tone. It managed to pull a lot of smiles out of me. There's some surprising and fun imagery and gore, and David Harbour's take on Hellboy feels pretty spot on to me. He's grumpy, funny, sloppy, and tough as they come. The filmmaking quality is a little crude and dated, but it's totally watchable and easy to follow the action.

The film doesn't hold much of a candle to the pedigree of the Perlman\Del-Toro version, but as B-level action\fantasy\horror I was plenty entertained.

This feels like a movie I should be very much into. I love sympathetic monsters and creatures, and strange unique fantasy lore, but this movie just falls flat for me. I've seen it twice now. I gave It a second chance with the Director's Cut, but I came away feeling the same.

I did really enjoy seeing David Cronenberg acting, and I imagine everyone on set had fun, but there's really nothing to come back to in this movie. It feels like they had written a premise, and a first act, and then just winged it for the rest of the film.

There's a decent mystery being built up in that first act, and I'm intrigued, hoping to venture further into this strange culture of Midian, but it seems that there is no actual depth to it. They're just monsters.They sit around in dusty underground lairs waiting for 'normals' to come around and shake things up, and when they do they go "boogie boogie boo" and dance in their faces.

While watching episode 3 I realized I had a very concerned expression on my face. Every little idiosyncrasy of the characters, that may have made me laugh or chuckle in another context now feels like it's another tumble toward some ultimate tragedy. If the show's going to keep pulling me down this hole, I will probably give it up and watch something satisfying and cathartic instead. None of this really reflects on the quality of the show, which I still find fascinating, and the character endearing, and the acting fantastic, but I'm not sure it's a journey I want to be on right now.

I enjoyed the concept of this episode. The sort of forced-reconciliation during a storm we've seen before, but it's good drama. The acting of the young actors is compelling and believable. I wish the script was a little sharper (there are some obvious awkward moments), but with the stumbling pacing and overt moralizing of previous episode it was nice to see something raw and simple.

I think that's been my favorite thing about the FTWD series. We get these distinct little character dramas to play through.

There are parts of this show I'm enjoying, it's weird and offbeat, violent with a kind of slapstick sadism, but I'm finding it hard to be invested in anyone in this show. The world they're creating is fun and strange, but the people we're following are vapid, self-centered, and (aside from Cassidy) devoid of charm. There's childish bravado to their decision making that makes the show feel like a gag I'm supposed to be giggling along with, but I'm usually just rolling my eyes and sighing.

Though Herr Starr in season 2 is hilarious.

There are some small moments of character development in this episode, but I feel like most of these flashbacks are just delaying the inevitable. It's frustrating, and kills all of the tension. It may have been more fun to try to piece together what happened from the present than dragging it out.

The 'enemy' this season seems so non-threatening and laid back. I feel like I'm supposed to be angry at them to relate to the protagonists' revenge plot, but I'm mostly frustrated with them for their dawdling.

I'm enjoying the spirit of this series, it's building up it's characters and stories well, and the writing is there, but the tone and direction really throw me off. I'm stuck somewhere in between wanting to see the story resolve and cringing painfully at the tone. Maybe it's trying to be some kind of pastiche sentimentality, but it feels contrived and almost lazy... maybe it's just very low budget. I'd keep watching for free but I won't be subscribing to Youtube Red just to watch this.

I enjoyed the first season of Legion. The first season had a tension to its style. There was this uncertainty to reality that kept me fascinated. Every silly, strange surreal moment was like a relief to that tension. By season 2 it feels like the rug has been pulled out from under the show's plot, and they're left dancing in midair with nothing to hold them up but a fun style, dance numbers, and psychedelic rambling.

I'm going to keep watching in hopes that it gets back on track. But if I'm going to just be watching a new song and dance routine in every episode, or another psychedelic gag because "wahaa-wehee-why-not?" then I'm gonna tune out.

This show started as one of those shows to have on in the background to roll my eyes at every now and then, and glance toward when something exciting happens, but I've found myself actually becoming invested in the characters. There have been some moments/decisions made by character that have left me dumbfounded, but I've never been bored by watching it. There's some interesting, subtle manipulations between characters in dialogue, and a lot fewer melodramatic speeches.

I think I get it... I think... Hard to Be a God is like a nightmare of living in a world of idiots. It has a feeling like drowning in mud. Of having a permanent hangover, or a sore back. Where thoughts come into your head but you're too irritated to try to communicate them. The feeling of being completely misunderstood when you're clear as day. It's really a beautiful movie to look at, and disgusting to listen to. Endless depth and texture and movement; like stirring through a stew pot looking for morsels, but finding mostly gristle, and sinew, and slime, but you're going to keep looking anyway because you're hungry.

I want to enjoy this show... what it's reaching for I find appealing, but I get frustrated watching it. I feel like I know the outcome of every scene, and the punchline of every joke... but the show needlessly stretches out every moment. I think the extended timing is supposed to be part of the humor and tone, but it lacks surprises and tension. I'm sure the cast and crew had a good time making this show, as there's lots of creativity in the sets and costume, but watching it is like reading a run-on sentence where the lack of punctuation is the joke.

I had strange feelings the the entire duration of this movie. It's odd enough, and charming enough, and well made enough that I was engaged while watching it... but every line, and every scene I felt a nigh-oncoming cringe... And yet that might just be the intention of the director, and so I appreciate it for succeeding in realizing an idea. Every moment of drama and humor almost falls flat, but it's all played so earnestly that it's hard not to appreciate it.

I've really enjoyed some of the director's other films (Memories of Murder, The Host, Snowpiercer), and I think I was hoping for some new big adventure, but instead I got whatever Okja is, and I'm feeling pretty okay with that.

This new series does treat the original source with respect, but I think tonally, and thematically it's pretty lacking. Some of the humor works, mostly in an awkward sense. I recommend the excellent series 'Kemonozume' if you'd like to see something with very similar themes, but treated more maturely (and bizarrely), with tons of style.

I didn't love the original Twin Peaks. I watched it out of curiosity only a few years ago, then again just before starting season 3. I enjoyed the characters and the strangeness, but never really fell in step with it. Somehow with season 3 I'm completely enrapt. After reading a bunch of seethingly negative reviews I felt like I had to say how I felt about it.

I'm not quite getting the complaint that it "has no story". I feel like it's all there, it's just a bit under the surface. The mystery is still building. Tiny bits being revealed. The tone is strange. Frightening and disturbing piqued with little moments of adorable humor, then suddenly disturbingly absurd.

I find myself completely endeared to Agent Cooper in his tragic state of mind. I want him to find himself.

I remember reading that Lynch never wanted to solve the Laura Palmer murder from the original series, he wanted it to be something that would loom over the town, continually adding this feeling of dread and uncertainty. I think that dread is back and it's stronger than ever. Every scene I feel like something mystical is happening or about to happen. Stretched out takes have me anticipating some new horror. For me, it has that special quality of something you can't look away from.

It's been a tough year. It feels like the whole world's coming to a head. We've spun ourselves up into this mindset where solutions to the problems ahead of us seem insurmountable. It's been a year of bleak documentaries telling us how little control we actually have over our lives. Consciousness itself has been hijacked!

I suppose coming from that recent mindset, I watched this documentary with a massive grain a salt burning a hole in my cheek. Every positive, progressive idea it laid before me I had this part of my mind saying, yeah what AREN'T you showing me? Where are the impoverished Italians? How do they live? Well of course Norwegians get along, it's a tiny insular country. Show me the real trauma! Who suffers for these people to live so well!!? Is it strange that that's what I've come to expect from all reality? Maybe it's an American thing.

The film seems purposefully obtuse and optimistic in a very propagandistic way, and yet, I couldn't help but have my optimistic side piqued just a bit. It's this weird feeling that says to me, things can get better, and it's not that far out of reach. I came away from it feeling hopeful and full of a dumb sense of populist power. I gotta do something about it!