Reviews

One of the things I like the most about platforms like Netflix is the possibility to watch films and series from all over the world. It is a great opportunity, a window over new languages and new cultures.

So, I was eager to watch a series from Turkey.

And here we are with Yakamoz S- 245. Promising pilot, promising concept, new interesting faces but, alas, by episode 2 it had already become cringeworthy. I kept watching because being a Turkish series I felt like I owed it a shot. But my good intentions were not rewarded: by episode 6 it had turned into a very predictable episodes of the Walking Dead (which I have stopped watching years ago). Episode 7, the series finale, was even worse, because, after all that happens, we are left on a cliff-hanger. Arman, together with Felix and Yonka, was the most likable character for me, but in a year from now, or even more, I will definitely not tune in just to know what happened to him. In fact, I am sure I won't even remember about watching this series a few weeks from now. That's how much Netflix quality has decreased in recent years. It seems like every time I'm excited about a new series I am destined to be disappointed. Sooner or later I'll cancel my subscription all along, I'm really tired of this negative trend.

...which would have probably been the watered version of Eyes wide shut., but it's not a film, it's a series and in my opinion it doesn't really work. The whole point of it is supposed to be that people, especially women, are cornered in a specific role to fit social standards, and are never free to truly be themselves. Well, that's life, babe, as the main characters point out towards the end, and it's up to us to choose happiness over misery. All of us are actors on the stage of life, in some way or another, the point is not which role we are playing, the point is why we are playing it. We don't have to be defined by those roles or rules, we should be the ones who define the roles and the rules.

Had the series stopped there, I would have given it a solid 6. But no, it goes on and it ends up exactly from where it had started. So, I don't understand the point of it all. You may try to convince yourself that you can have it "all", until you are 25, 30 tops, but after that you either you grow up, or you are condemned to be unhappy forever, because having it all is simply impossible. As you approach 40, as the characters in the show, with family, healthy kids, a lovely home and lots of money, and you are still looking for that "all" to achieve, it means you should seek therapy instead, because you clearly have some unresolved issues, and even the best lover in the world will never be able to solve those issues for you.

It's a little film, with no pretenses of being great, but it is actually very well done. The script is solid, the plot is entertaining, the acting is overall pretty decent, and the direction is discreet but spot on.

The film starts out as a comedy, and it keeps its light tone for the most part, but then it slowly grows into something more intimate and deep.

The last scene is so simple and true, I loved it. It manages to convey the whole sense of isolation, the solitude and the loss of purpose that Abe has been battling since he was a boy. He is loved, but he is not truly understood from his family or his city. Only Caroline knows how he feels, but she is too young and she is struggling with her own personal demons.

Bland conclusion to a disappointing season.

First of all the embarrassing way the authors disposed of Alex is frankly unacceptable. I read the actor has been accused of sexual harassment or misconduct, or maybe both, and I hope justice will be served, but what has this got to do with us viewers? I expected so much more from The Expanse creative team, that was no way of handling a beloved character departure. For whatever reason.

The whole Naomi odyssey was gripping in the beginning, and I love her, but it was pointlessly dragged for too long. By the time she threw herself out of the spaceship, I was already thinking about what to cook for dinner.

And shall we talk about the interstellar family saga? With father, Marco, mother, Naomi, and son, Filip, all looking the same age? Come on, seriously? Each time Marco or Naomi talked to their son and said "When I was your age...", I couldn't help myself but thinking, "Sure, last year". Plus, both the actor playing Marco and the actor playing Filip were not so good, in my opinion, especially as father and son. Actually, Filip didn't manage to communicate any kind of emotion to me. At least Marco was a good fit for a fanatical extremist, with that crazy look in his eyes.

As for the rest, I enjoyed Amos story line on Earth with Clarissa a lot. By the end, though, I was a little tired of her Mother Theresa behavior and what happened was quite predictable.

Camina was great as always.

Bobby and Alex had a good interaction up until the ridiculous end, as already mentioned.

It was nice seeing the whole gang together on Luna in the end, it almost felt like a series finale, with Earthers, Martians and Belters ready to fight Marco.

I didn't particularly enjoyed the last 10 minutes, and, contrary to previous years, this time I'm not looking forward to seeing the next season. Before watching season 5 I was devastated at the idea of only having one more season to wait for. Now, I'm ok. I'll watch season 6 with much less anticipation, but I'll still watch it, mostly out of affection for the characters.

I usually watch different kinds of series, Supernatural was the only one in its genre I kept watching during the years, mostly because, despite the fact that the writing was not exactly stellar, and there were definitely too many bad stereotypes about women, I still loved the characters.

I don't think Castiel goodbye was well handled in episode 18x15, but I also don't think the authors intended his last scene as a coming out, only to kill him off right after. In my opinion the character was never gay or straight, he was an angel after all, he was supposed to be asexual. It's just that his departure was too rushed and confusing and didn't make clear enough that he was just allowing himself to feel and love completely for the first time, that he was truly acknowledging his humanity before leaving this world. It was more of a spiritual epiphany than a mundane one, as I saw it. But I may be wrong, who knows. What I am pretty sure about is that seeing him again briefly in the last episode, wouldn't have made much of a difference.

However, Castiel hasty sendoff (and all of the other characters' throughout the season, for that matter) was nothing compared to what the authors had in store for Sam and Dean. I can't believe someone thought it could be a good idea delivering the message that true happiness can only be achieved after death!

I won't talk at length about the writing itself, or the many plotholes, or the lack of coherence in showing us an emotionally devastating death, only to present us with a blissful heavenly rebirth five minutes later. I understand that, as Chuck would probably put it, writers don't write for people, other than for their own pleasure, but I really need to express my absolute sense of shock regarding the glorification of death that was thrown at our faces, just like that, as if it were natural, as if we had been rewarded with a cathartic happy ending of sorts. It wasn't a happy ending, guys, not in the slightest! It wasn't a good ending in general, it was the worst possible ending, because, besides a rather poor delivery from a narrative point of view, we've got the loud and clear message that life sucks and there's nothing to be done about it. We can only hope to have a gentle God who will make it better for some of us in the afterlife. I still can't believe it!

I won't give this episode a 1 star rating, as it would deserve, for the main reason that the actors moved me to tears in Dean's death scene, and it was clear their hearts were in it. It's just that in my opinion it was all a waste: a waste of tears, a waste of emotions. A waste of our time and dedication. I wish I could pretend episode 19x15 was the season finale. At least it gave us a little something to smile for in the dark of a November night in 2020.

At first you would think that Arctic is just a film about survival. A man crashed his plane on a deserted, isolated Arctic site and is now struggling to survive, relying only on his own skills and determination. From the very first scenes we see how alone the man is; he has got his own routine and he does his best, but he is alone. When a helicopter spots him on the snow and later crashes due to a storm, all hopes seem lost. But it is at this point that the true sense of the film starts coming to light, as a metaphor of what it means to be alive in this world.

Humanity is all alone, we are all alone. Life is fragile and terribly hard, sometimes the pain is so excruciating that it becomes unbearable and we are tempted to give up. We don't know why we are here, maybe by chance, maybe because of the whim of a superior, indifferent being. All we know is how we can be here. We can chose to share our sufferings, as well as our joys, with our fellow humans. We can choose not to be alone for the time we are given. We can choose to be strong and we can find comfort in each other, being kind and compassionate to the best of our possibilities, always. Because we are the same, all of us, and that's what it means to be humans and that's what give sense to everything.

The cinematography and the script matched one another in conveying the quintessential message of the film. We see clear blue skies and sun accompanying the relentless protagonist into his exhausting journey, the rough yet pure beauty of the landscape, even during the howling of the storms, reflects his profound empathy and his inner strength. He never gives up, he never loses hope, he never abandons his companion, and the sun keeps shining in the sky. In his only moment of weakness, the brief moment in which he is selfish and leaves her, because he thinks there is nothing else he can do, he falls down a hole and struggles to free himself, in the dark and from the dark. Still, he sees light on top of him and he knows he can reach it again. He manages to escape, but, at the end, he did everything he could, he is worn out with fatigue and pain and he knows he is dying. But not only he is dying, he is letting her down, and that's what breaks him. He cries and lies down as he holds her hand. His journey is complete. Yet, the sun is still shining and a rescue helicopter comes down to save them. Literally a deus ex machina, to conclude the tragic journey of a modern-day hero in the tragedy of life. Because the Arctic protagonist is really a hero, a hero in its original sense, in the ancient Greek sense of tragedy, of course. So much so that the film ends with a perfect catharsis, the hero is safe at last, and we are at peace after all the suffering we have endured together with our character, our hero.

Sometimes you find a gem when you're least expecting it. I started to watch Arctic just because I was bored and vaguely intrigued by the title. Something good in this surreal 2020 summer. Thank you Joe Penna, Mads Mikkelsen and all of you who made this beautiful film.

The first half of the film is so cool and funny, it reviews many genre cliché but in a good way. Then about halfway through it, the plot loses its focus, its balance and basically its meaning. There isn't much to say, but they force it to say something more, something else that is just not there. All the characters were obviously conceived to be just types and, when they stick to their simplicity, they're great, but there's nothing more to them, they haven't got any real structure to stand up. It's like watching a film written from two different people: the first a talented writer with a clear vision, the second just a kid who doesn't know what he's doing.

The series tells the story of post WWII Hollywood, but with a very modern sensibility and perspective.

We initially follow young and naïve Jack, a handsome, struggling actor with no training, big dreams and little money. But after what seems to be like a funny yet plausible portrait of the time, people and places, the story slowly takes unexpected turns and proceeds in overturning what only decades later the world would have acknowledged as evil racism, absurd stereotypes and myopic labels.

All of the characters gradually becoming protagonists along Jack were believable enough to me. I don't know many details about the biography of Rock Hudson or Vivien Leigh, but I am usually not bothered by the fact that a work of fiction might take some liberties in portraying real people. What matters to me is how good the script is. In the first half of the series the level of writing seemed pretty good to me.

But, unfortunately, by the end of episode five something stops to work as well as before. Episode six and especially episode seven were really badly written, with too much drama, too many tears, too many explanations, too many good intentions, too many love stories, too many declarations of intent and too many Oscars. An too little irony.

All of a sudden most of the minor characters had way too much to say and to do and the main characters lost depth and consistency. The plot became predictable and paternalistic, it all started to seem fake, tortuous, erratic. Even the actors became less believable in their roles, especially Jim Parson, who had really some cringe-worthy scenes in the last episode.

We audience actually live in 2020, we know how things should go, we don't need to be spoon-fed stories about what is the right thing to do and why. Or at least, I don't want that from a series, I expect this kind of boring and conventional "message" from a sloppy documentary made for kids, maybe. Or maybe not, poor kids. What I expect from a series is something creative and surprising, something new and refreshing, brilliant and different. And if there is a "good message" hidden in that all the better. Exactly what Hollywood gave us in its first 4-5 episodes.

I'm starting to see a trend with these Netflix series, most of them are very good in the first episodes, but then their evolution is always disappointing. The same thing happened with Giri/Haji, which started off so well and ended up a convoluted and soporific mess.

Le chalet is a good, creepy French thriller, with some interesting developments. The make up is excellent as is the casting. The acting is mostly good, except for young Alice who seemed quite emotionless to me. Halfway through episode 4 every part of the mystery is revealed, except for the true motive behind the original murders. Two entire, otherwise pointless, episodes just to get that information were a little too much for my patience. The plot gets too stretched, adding odd behavior and gratuitous bloodshed, and it becomes inevitably predictable. The true identity of Adèle is practically given away from the very beginning; as for Julien, it's obvious once it becomes clear that Olivier is not one of the kids from 20 years earlier. I think it should have been 5 episodes tops.

I loved season 1 and 2 and really, really wanted to like season 3. Of course the actors are still great and deserve all the awards in the world. Also the production, the costumes, the music, everything was great. Everything but plot and character development.

I didn't understand how or why did Rose let go of her inheritance, it was just so completely out of character. One minute she was complaining about not having enough money, and the next she let go of her family fortune to support a newfound feminist spirit. Just not very believable for me.

Perhaps I could buy Abe turning into an angry socialist all of a sudden, because it's the Sixties, right? But certainly not a theatre critic. I get that he was a very educated man, that he read a lot and knew many things, even about theatre, but he was a mathematician, and writing a good article doesn't make you a journalist or a critic.

I'm not sure about Susie either, she didn't strike me as the kind of person who could become a gambler, but her story was certainly better written, since she is not a supporting character like Abe and Rose.

Sophie Lennon's story was probably the only really funny one of the season. Both Jane Lynch and Cary Elwes were amazing. All of the other story-lines were trying too hard to be funny and mostly failed.

Lenny Bruce's short appearance was brilliant and melancholic as usual. The character is so charismatic and sweet at the same time. Episode 5 was my favourite of the season, the final part with Lenny and Midge was just perfect in every aspect.

I was a little bored by Joel and his interactions with Midge. I liked him much more with Mei.

The real let-down, though, was the last episode, with Midge's debut at the Apollo. It ruined the whole season for me. I will never understand how in the world could she be so thoughtful and kind with Shy on the boat, and also later, in keeping his secret with all of his entourage, and then so totally tactless and/or clueless on stage at the Apollo, in front of so many people, for god's sake. I'm not sure if Reggie was tricking her, because he was jealous of her friendship with Shy, or not, but I don't care. She is supposed to be a very smart young woman, with a bright mind, what the heck was she thinking? I don't even know if she thought it was ok with the audience that he was gay, that they really knew, after Shy begged her not to tell anything to anyone because no one could know, or if she truly thought she was just making innocent and funny jokes. And I don't know which one is worse, really. That's not the Midge we knew and loved.

The idea of a funny, yet touching, take on WWII and Nazism is not entirely original, of course. It's easy to think of Chaplin's The Great Dictator, but also, more recently, of Benigni's La vita è bella (Life is beautiful). Jojo Rabbit is more irreverent and less poetic than the two mentioned films, but it has got a unique point of view and I enjoyed it a lot.

The story is very well written, coherent and consistent in every aspect. It doesn't last three hours and it has got just one, clear ending. Thank you Mr. Waititi!

Each character is depicted with lots of humor, and sometimes silliness, but none of the main ones is ever too ridiculous as to lose its humanity or depth. No scene is too dramatic, but some are quite moving.

I liked all the actors, I loved the ending and I adored the music. The scenes at the beginning comparing Beatlemania with "Nazimania", with the German version of I want to hold your hand playing loud, are just brilliant.

A film like this is just what we all need at this strange time of history we are living right now.

Even though I didn't enjoy the second and the third seasons as much as the first, I still liked them a lot and I was very sorry to hear that the series had been cancelled.

I can only imagine the writers didn't know they wouldn't have had the chance to wrap up all of the story-lines properly at first, so, once they knew, they did the best they could at the last minute. And it's a shame, because the second half of the third season is quite rushed.

What a waste of a splendid cast of excellent actors, beautiful locations and inspiring stories...

Well, actually, some of the sweet stories about inclusion and tolerance were a little too modern to be set at the end of the 1800s, I'm afraid, but it was like watching a better version of the reality that once was, where evil and ignorance did exist, but were seen for what they truly were, with eyes wide opened. A utopia of the past. What could have happened had people been a little less obsesses with their fears and prejudices. What we wish will continue to happen today: to be living in a world of equals, full of possibilities, respect and kindness.

I don't know the source material well, so I don't know how terrible a villain was Trigon supposed to be, but, honestly, saying that all the previous season build up leading to this was greatly disappointing, is an understatement. It seemed like the authors couldn't wait to get rid of the character and of the whole story-line. I'm not even sure if this episode could be considered worse if intended as a delayed season finale or as a confusing season premiere. And then Bruce Wayne, gosh, what a letdown. When I first saw Ian Glen standing there I was pretty sure he was Alfred. I don't mean disrespect to the actor, we all know he did well elsewhere, but I don't buy him as Batman for one second. Or as his alter ego, for that matter. I really don't understand who in the world might have thought he could be the right choice for the part, and why. Throughout the whole scene, I was expecting the real Bruce Wayne to pop up from behind the sofa.

I admit I enjoyed the first six or seven episodes, I thought it was just unpretentious and funny entertainment. Not everything I watch needs to be fantastic or unforgettable.

I read that many people have found Insatiable to be offensive, but I personally didn't. I didn't because there is nothing realistic about the way things are described or handled, everything is grotesque and silly from the start. It's obviously a comedy and it tries to make fun of many topics. For example, while bullying is real, of course, and life is very hard for teenagers who feel uncomfortable in their own skin for whatever reason, how can someone lose that amount of weight in just 3 months and ending up with a perfect body? It's a joke, perhaps a tasteless one, but not one to be taken seriously in this contest.

What I didn't like about Insatiable is that from about half season on, more and more important and delicate issues are addressed, but at the same time the writing becomes more and more ridiculous and sloppy. Consequently, the dynamics among characters become repetitive, and Patty, the main character, loses any redeeming quality. Her struggle to find her true self stops being funny and it certainly doesn't develop any kind of complexity. So, what's the point of her story arc? Showing that she's always been selfish, evil and, basically, mentally ill? That she had never really had any chance or hope? And Bob? What's the point of his existential crisis? Ultimately becoming the accomplice of a deranged teenager? I couldn't find any meaning and at the end of the last episode, I felt annoyed and irritated.