Reviews

I always have these thoughts that a group of people came together and they saw ME. And they said to each other: "Look at that poor guy withering away so sad, he doesn't like the Avengers, he doesn't like Succesion, he hates Two and a Half Men, he doesn't like American Football, he doesn't like ANYTHING, and he is dying! Let's make something especially just for him, so he can find some joy too!" And that's how 'Black Mirror' came to be... at least in my fantasies. So yeah: I'm a HUGE Black Mirror-fan, and I agree this was NOT Black Mirror.

I saw a few reviews calling on the episode 'The National Anthem' as an argument that this IS Black Mirror. But first of all, The National Anthem was the pilot and very often shows find their real swing AFTER the pilot so often the pilot is different. Secondly, I found The National Anthem to be VERY Black Mirror. Because it was all about modern technology, people being able to film each other everywhere, social media, and they took that concept to an EXTREME, which is EXACTLY what Black Mirror does!! I mean it went so far that politician had to get sexual with a pig online to save a person, how much more 'Black Mirror' do you want it? And how can you compare that to this episode..?

I have also never complained about the previous episode: 'Joan is Awful'. I don't get the hate for that episode, because yes, it was more 'fun', and way less 'thrilling', than usual Black Mirror, just like 'Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too'. But I really enjoyed both these episodes because even though they were fun(ny), they were DEFINITELY Black Mirror episodes to me!

But this episode..? 'Loch Henry'? I'm sorry, but to me this was just a typical 'whodunnit' kind of thriller, that could've been written by Agatha Christie together with Alfred Hitchcock. Where at the end you shockingly find out it was the Mother all along...

If there were any real Black Mirror elements to this I sure completely missed them! I saw at least one review argueing that this is Black Mirror because it had media and video's in it. Yeah, by that logic I can almost argue that The Fast and the Furious is also Black Mirror, because it has technically very advanced pimped up cars....

Now this was really GOOD, please don't get me wrong!! As a horror-thriller, I did enjoy it very much! In fact, if I would rate it just for what it is, I would've definetly given it an 8-star! But you understand: I had to take SOMETHING off for it claiming to be something it's not. At least to me. And that is Black Mirror.

Man, writing this review sure made me really good at typing 'Black Mirror' now.... 🙄

Honestly, this movie totally surprised me.

For all the many many reviews here that only complain about 'unrealistic climbing': maybe you missed some point somewhere..? This is a simple popcorn thriller movie, just meant for some mindless entertainment, we ALL KNOW it's not going to be realistic even before watching it! Let's look at great sensational movies that have set new bars in movie history: like for instance Jaws or Jurassic Park. You really want me to start reciting right here and now, everything that was 'not realistic' in these movies? No... no you really don't! And it doesn't make sense, because 'realism' is not at all the point or goal of such movies.

You should KNOW what movie you are watching. If you're watching something like Schindler's List then yes, you will definitely appreciate a little realism there. But if you're watching a popcorn flick like Fall or John Wick and start giving 'gun handling' or 'climbing' lessons you are more being posh about you having climbed in your life, than seriously reviewing a popcorn movie like this... With all due respect, this is my opinion.

Well, I DID know what movie I was about to watch when I started Fall, so I didn't expect realistic climbing lessons at all. I can certainly enjoy a brainless entertainment movie every now and then, as long as I KNOW what I'm about to watch.

So I went in this, expecting a very stupid and silly thriller, but still entertaining, like for instance The Shallows, or Horizon Line, which are both extremely silly but I both managed to enjoy. And I was in the mood for exactly that! But then I found this movie totally surprised me to be more entertaining and satisfying, and quite a bit better then those two. Not to mention gut-wrenching...

Yes of course the set-up of the movie is totaly cliche like we've seen a billion times already. NO efforts there, to be even the slightest bit original. But then, when the (unrealistic) climbing of the tower finally starts, it totally took a turn for me. It turned out pretty nerve wrecking and from that point, I didn't think the movie was so 'predictable' at all! In fact, from that point on I found the occurances to be pretty original and surprising, and they even managed to put a pretty nice twist in there I never saw coming.

I thought the 'social media' angle would annoy me a bit, but even that surprised me. I actually thought it was great and even gave the movie some taste of 'meaning'. Because people ARE getting more and more thrillseeking with social media, we all have seen folks doing the CRAZIEST life threatening things on youtube for views and we all heard the many stories we already have of people plummeting to their deaths because they wanted a spectacular selfie.

I think that concept was used beautifully in this movie and I also really liked all the stuff they made up with the cellphones.

So to conclude: is this movie GREAT, like Jaws or Jurassic Park..? No. No of course not, don't be silly. But if you like a nice bonechilling thriller and are in the mood to just sit back with some popcorn and be taken for a scary theme park ride while not thinking too much..? Then I am even willing to go as far as recommending this.

But if what you want to do is watch some 'realistic climbing' then renting a movie like this one might just not be the way to go for you... even though I humbly think you should've known that already beforehand.

What's up with that new thing that EVERY Family Guy and American Dad episode nowdays ALWAYS starts out with this ridiculously low rating on IMDb, like 2 stars or something, even before it officially gets aired? And then when I finally get to watch it, it is not nearly that bad at all or even pretty good..? EVERY time! And then slowly as time passes the rating goes up a bit.... What's up with that, I find that really weird and ridiculous.

THE GOOD: I really liked the episode. Was it the best American Dad ever..? No, of course not. But the Steve science project story with the hangover-free beer was definitely a fun enough way to pass some time. And weirdly: I even kinda liked that 'Stan fixing the shingle'-bit, that turned out to be absolutely nothing!! I don't know, it was ridiculous of course, but I thought it was kinda funny...

THE BAD: Those SONGS!!! We all fondly remember that first decade, when Family Guy and American Dad had GREAT songs! Just great. They had love and heart and you just wanted to hear them again! But those times of great songs have been over for quite a while now, haven't they...

Hey dear American Dad writers: us, your audience, are not stupid. We can tell when you're uninspired and therefore treat us to 5 minutes of 'song' to fill up time. Please, next time your story is only 13 minutes long, and you lack a good song, GO BACK TO THE TABLE AND WRITE 6 MORE MINUTES OF STORY!! And maybe even one more joke, would be nice. It is what you are getting payed WELL for.... And don't fill our time with 5 minutes of lazy nonsense song thinking we're too dumb to notice.

As I said: I liked the episode. I would have given it a 7 actually. But I had to take two whole stars off, just for boring me with those stupid songs.

And o yeah, to those leprechauns and goblins starting off every Family Guy and American Dad episode with silly two-star ratngs: where are you..? Who are you? SHOW YOURSELVES!!

Man. This truth IS somewhat inconvenient isn't it..?

I don't think it should be a surprise to anyone that this show gets such a medium overall score like 6... at least at the time I write this. Especially in the times we live now, I have been checking this on many politically loaded shows, like movies or episodes that take a swing at Donald Trump for instance: the score is almost ALWAYS around 5-6... anyone with an IQ around or above 85 should be able to guess why that is.

I was really fascinated watching this, even though no, certainly not everything about it was perfect. Because I just thought it is a great idea, to use our current wonderful movie techniques in an attempt to kind of visualize the mess we might be in for those who have a hard time imagining.... Of course you will NEVER convince the hardcore denyers, they will certainly keep denying this even when their very own children are already literally on fire! And I meant that LITERALLY, not at all being cute or colorful here, believe me they will. I mean, they even deny it NOW, when clearly half of the world is already on fire or flooding every year and temperature records are constantly being broken everywhere at a ridiculous pace... let's be real.

Some reviewers here have complained about some of the CEO-like characters being too stereotypically evil. Yes... but then again let's not be overly naïve here people: most of those big company leaders ARE pretty darn evil. They really don't care about you or me, or our children, or the future, or other people in poor countries already suffering big time... they ONLY care about their current wealth and status and increasing those whenever possible. So yeah, those people are indeed slightly cartoonized but come on, really not that much guys. And it IS a tv-show after all.

So yeah, I feel this one NEEDED to be made and watched.

People who are not really interested, or already have their judgement ready before actually watching something, very often take just a quick look at Family Guy and American Dad and say: "Oh it's basically the same show...."

But there are so many BIG differences!! And to name one: American Dad is actually RIDICULOUSLY consistent with characters and occurances! Seriously, if Stan told a weird neighbor he smells bad today, there is a good chance that four seasons later you find that neighbor is STILL pissed about that. And Family Guy being the exact opposite: not taking stories or even themselves seriously at all, and if Lois loses her leg in this scene, it's completely up to the Family Guy Gods if that is still the case even two minutes later... and I love both shows for being EXACTLY what they are!

So me being the type of fan that actually remembers Meg has not been Meg for a long time now since she was murdered and replaced by a Russian look-a-like clone agent, when Meg started speaking Russian in this episode I immediatly thought: "oooh they're gonna play that storyline now!"

But no, it was completely unrelated and Meg is still really Meg and this is NOT American Dad. I really enjoyed this episode. It wasn't the best ever and the 'laugh-or-grin' ratio was definitely a bit low... But that was well compensated by TWO actually fun storylines that kept me engaged and smiling throughout the whole episode. I wasn't bored or annoyed even for a second, I had fun, and am looking forward to the 'sequel' to this next week! A couple more real laughs would be nice though ;-)

I am a huge Family Guy fan but I just saw the pictures and what this episode was about and I thought: "O God this is gonna suck...".

And unfortunatly I wasn't wrong. I never clicked with this new weird Sam Elliot Mayor character... it feels like they just sometimes at random send Sam a small check to say a couple of lines because of that voice of him. Never felt like he's actually a part of Family Guy.

So I immediatly feared a totally uninteresting episode because of two new, made up, not grounded characters that I don't care about at all in a totally uninspired 'quick write' story.

In fact it was SO uninteresting I just couldn't finish it. Had to turn it off after 16 minutes and that hardly EVER happens between me and Family Guy.

Am I really, really, really... the ONLY guy on this planet that actually thinks this sequel was better and funnier than the original?? And not even a little bit, but a whole lot..?

I liked the original but to be fair I liked the beginning best. Like the first half. The second half I liked too, but kinda 'meh'.

But THIS movie... man surprised the hell outta me! I laughed (not simply giggle, no: LAUGHED) and laughed and laughed! And then I laughed some more and then the movie was over. They are like a really modern vesion of The Three Stooges, and when Motherloving Jones joines in they turn into The Four....

It's very rare for me to actually laugh THIS much in one movie and the last time that happened must've been a pretty long time ago! Underrated!!!

Well. This is interesting once again. Here I was thinking: 'Allright, a new Family Guy!' But then I saw the very low rating it got so far (4.2 at the time of writing this!), and I was bummed: 'Aaw it's gonna be a lousy one...'

But then, brave as I always am, I started the episode anyway. And after a few minutes in, that turned out to be really fun and promising, I wondered: 'Man, whats going to go so wrong here to make it so terrible??'

And then came the two silly little jokes about Trump and Qanon and I was like: 'Theeere it is'. Well, how pathetic can one be... Be warned Family Guy and other comedy: we are slowly but surely moving into a world where there is even MORE stuff we can't joke about...

Contrary to what the low rating wants you to believe, I think this is without a doubt their best and funniest episode this season so far! And no, that had absolutely nothing to do with the two stupid trump/qanon jokes....

The episode was very creative, pretty fresh, highly Family Guy, and soooo much fun! I had a blast and I gave it a 9, while I'm definitely not that type of reviewer that immediatly gives everything he even remotely likes a 10... I just really enjoyed this episode. The story was very fun and I had plenty of good laughs!

(a small shout out to the scene where Peter is INSIDE the painting... just wanna say: THAT'S creative!)

There's another review here by jfilu named "Very entertaining episode". I read that review before watching it. And this was a new experience for me, because after watching.... I agreed with that review just about 100%, every word!

It DID feel like old Family Guy. I am an older dude so I've seen much and laughed a lot... So nowdays, when watching Family Guy or American Dad, also noting that their Prime Days are waaaaay gone, I'm totally fine with just giggling a couple of times: I still enjoy them anyway.

But this time, I LAUGHED! Not just giggle: LAUGH. They were about to play a card-game and I LAUGHED. But a couple of seconds later, Peter learns some harsh truths about hell and I LAUGHED again. And I believe at least four more times, I LAUGHED! I was shaking and wiping tears at some point... And the episode did not have one dull second. Not one.

Well that was a welcome surprise right..? But then I wondered: how on earth does this episode have an overall score of just 6.4..?

Well thats where the other review "Trigger Warning!" by bnevs18 came in. I read that and in just a few sentences that mystery was cleared up too.... the little joke about MAGA of course: the most humorous group of people on earth, our jewels of tolerance that can always take a joke just fine....

Thank you bnevs18 and jfilu!

I definitely liked it.

Was it the best American Dad episode ever made..? No, not really. But it was fun.

The story was weird again, like we have more often with American Dad episodes. I think the weirdness is a plus, since watching a weird story is always preferable if the alternative is a re-imagening of a story you've already seen 200 times...

For myself I have set 2 giggles to be the absolute bare minimum for me to deem an episode of American Dad or Family Guy 'acceptable'. Well I giggled once and I laughed once, which is a little more than 2 giggles, so that's not great: but it'll do. Apart from that the story was definitely fun and funny enough to pleasantly entertain me for 20 minutes!

( SPECIAL WARNING FOR PEOPLE SUFFERING FROM FROG-RELATED PHOBIA'S: This episode may contain frogs. )

I had to stop and drop a quick review on this episode.

Because even though this might be your typical 'love-it-or-hate-it' episode, I really think it deserves some special appreciation! This was NOT a lazy "o let's have Steve turn into a woman and Roger be a cowboy" episode, this is some seriously inspired thing!

Can you believe I watched it a second time? For the (totally weird) story? An American Dad episode..? And I wasn't sorry!

Okay, now they tell me my review is too short so I need to go on a bit now. Let me see.... something to tell you.... uhmmm something i did today something I did today... man this is hard! Where am I supposed to find more words to add, to make my review long enough? When I have already said all I wanted to say..? Man, I am not solving this one today, I'll just have to get back at y'all.

Okay so here is MY experience. People like or prefer different things and I'm aware that, like with ANY movie or show on IMDb, most reviews will come from fans: of either Wes Anderson or this genre for instance.

So don't get mad or irritated when you get a point of view from someone with another view.

I have watched many many many movies in my 50 years of life, being a true movie lover. And it has always been my experience that when a movie starts spending a lot of effort on 'artsy' stuff, like for instance "filming-in-one-shot" or overly great cinematography, it ALMOST ALWAYS just chips away at all other aspeccts a movie needs to be enjoyable. Like for instance a good driven storyline or compelling, ever developing characters.

The extremely rare times a movie gets really artsy but still manages to keep the basic necessities going, it can be truly BRILLIANT and exhilarating indeed!!! A very good example of this in my humble opinion would be: 'Requiem for a Dream'.

Well, I guess you already feel where I'm going with this. The Grand Budapest Hotel was no exception to this devastating rule to my disappointment.

The movie is supposed to be a comedy, yet at 14 minutes into it, the corners of my mouth hadn't even moved into a curl ONCE. I recall at one time the guy said: "She was shaking like a sh*tting dog" and me wondering if that was maybe supposed to be one of the jokes I missed finding funny.

At the 27 minute mark I had completely given up on the comedy part. But even apart from that I could search my entire soul and find not one single reason for me to want to keep watching. Yes there was a story going on (I DID notice that), but it was hardly gripping and I felt all I was doing was looking at the beautifully styled sets and listening to one overly poetic line after another. While completely forgetting to be actually fun or compelling.

Oh yeah I forgot: like all the artsy stuff, another red flag that very often seems to lead to bad things is when a movie has 26 hollywood superstars in it.... In my moviewatching experience also that rarely lead to a fun or compelling movie.

So yeah, don't shoot me for being the messenger of another point of view. I am not a Wes Anderson fan per se. But I am a big movie fan and The Grand Budapest Hotel just did not move me. Still I will give it an honest 6. You know, for all the artsy stuff and the poetic lines which were good in itself.

Aren't we all getting SO tired of those caveman people huh... those that immediatly start crying "woke!" and "PC!", and whip out those silly 1-star ratings, as soon as a show has a gay couple or a woman in it.... Or my fellow hetero-men that shame me by being scared of 'feminists-with-green-hair' everytime there's some female power in a movie.... just pathetic.

I think those people have ALWAYS existed. I bet they were right here when the first car was invented to say things like: "Going faster than 4 miles an hour will give us tumors!" and "Bill Gates finances the car-industry so our brains will melt by going 11 miles so he can dominate and destroy us!" We should give those types a whole continent where they can live in the Middle Ages and ride horses and carriages forever as they please...

I know I know, I'm not supposed to review still existing dinosaurs but this show The Nevers. So here it goes:

I was very hesitant to watch this since I don't really like Victorian era shows and am also not the greatest fantasy fan alive. But I was seriously surprised at how good this is!! This is definitely not just some 'popcorn & cola' production, but a very smart and pretty original show that requires an attentive watch. But believe me, it is totally worth your full attention! It combines a really interesting story with very well measured drama & fun. I found it to be very fun and intriguing and am now eagerly awaiting the episodes yet to come.

This one will be just a matter of taste. Some will like it, some wont.

I didn't.

Is it of good quality? It definitely is. If you like businessworld schemes, you might (very rightfully so) enjoy this very much! It's really good in that way.

I hated it. And to make it worse: I read a lot of reviews telling me it needed some time to really catch steam, and I believed them. Which made me push myself watching this, one hour-long episode after another, untill the end of episode 7. At that point I couldn't take another second and I was completely sick of it.

Please mind the following words I will say now:

It's like there is constantly a WHOLE lot going on, but not much actually happening. Like, one thing really happens every 2 episodes. The whole show feels like one long and continuous business meeting. It felt kind of like I was watching the 80's soap 'Dynasty', but with much higher production values, much much better acting (acting is good!), and SO much more bo-o-o-o-ring!

Did those last words scare you? I mean REALLY scare you? Then I dare to bet this tv-show won't be for you either.

What is wrong with some people?

Reviewing 101: you should review a product FOR WHAT IT IS. You can't review a Mickey Mouse cartoon like it's supposed to be Schindler's List! Just like you cant review McDonalds like it was a 5-star restaurant.

One of the complaints I read a lot in all these reviews is that you need 'suspend of disbelief'. Well duh, of course you do! This is a POPCORN ACTION FLICK. Howmany popcorn action flicks did you see in your life where you DIDN'T need a couple gallons suspend of disbelief??

I enjoyed this movie just fine, and for a standard action movie it wasn't even that many times overdone, it had some originality. Remember 6 is a pretty good score, if you are willing to acknowledge those 8 numbers BETWEEN 1 and 10, which many also seem unwilling to.

Yeah baby! American Dad does it again! Together with Family Guy, two shows that have been underestimated and frowned upon since their very start. Granted, these days we do have to endure a really lousy episode every now and then. But so many seasons in, and American Dad still makes so many good episodes! And still often enough keeps surprising me with an excellent one. Like this one. Nothing to dislike about this episode!

So Bye Bye The Simpsons! Bye Bye South Park! Bye Bye frowny faces! By now American Dad still kicking it in their 16th season they have proved in abundance that they are here to be taken seriously!

Well, it wasn't terribe. It wasn't great. It was... there's no word to describe it.... Schmooblidong? Thats not it, but it's close.

Yeah a bit weird episode. But it strangely turned out a little more fun than I expected after the first 5 minutes. Another nice story exploring Klaus's everlasting trauma of not being a fully appreciated member of the family... which is always fun.

Me personally, I'm not such a fan of it when TV-shows apparantly get bored (or insecure perhaps?), and then suddenly feel the need to hatch all sorts of 'new characters', probably thinking it might spice things up. They had a surprising succes with me with the Koala Reginald, whom I thought turned out pretty fun. But we don't see Reginald no more. I personally wouldn't mind if 'Rogu' followed the road of Reginald quickly now. American Dad is still fun as hell exactly the way it is, there's really no need for extra weird and permanent characters that feel forced.

Or maybe even trade places and revive Reggie, I'ld be kinda ok with that! But I do believe, even though they managed 2 or 3 pretty fun episodes with him, I am quite done with Rogu by now.

Well, this episode just does't give me much else to say than this title... sorry.

I'm not at all angry though, we got quite some very fun episodes this season! See you next season again Family guy!

Wow. I'm kind of amazed. A new American Dad season, starting out with TWO very good episodes in a row..? Havent seen that happening in a while, what are they doing?

Well I sure wont complain! Another Stan-centered episode where Stan (delusional as he remains) now goes into the world, hunting a career in comedy. Not knowing that in itself was the only good joke he ever made.

With Francine and Klaus out to genuinly assist him, Roger is left alone at home with the kids.... which, you know, is always a good idea. What could go wrong there?

Sure this one had a lesser amount of funny jokes than the previous episode, that one almost put me in danger of developing a six-pack! But still really a very fun episode, I really thought the story was pretty smart!

Well I'm so sorry, but now I have to go review that awesome Chinese food I just had. Yep..... it's a pretty busy day for the professional reviewers of the world....

Remember when I said Family Guy and American Dad STILL manage to come up with 3 to 4 excellent episodes every season? Oh, dumb question of me. Of course you do, because you definitely read all my reviews and took careful notice it was me writing them.... Well this surely is one of them!

We all know Stan is tough and judgemental on the outside, but o so buttery soft and sweet on the inside and... well, pretty delusional at times. Well on the delusional side: this time Stan goes so far off the deep end, I found myself actually worrying about him a couple of times! Also Klaus traps himself into biting off a bit more than he can chew...

It deserves some admiration to still be able to come up with episodes of this quality after so many full seasons. I'm telling you, to me, this episode was so jam-packed with those small and silly, but so funny and surprising jokes we love, that at some point I was like: "Guys slow down! Please save some juice for the remaining 20 episodes!" Hence that very rare 10.

It really should be a criminal offense for an adult man like me to enjoy a cartoon as much as I just did this one.

It's such a nice (and very rare!)feeling when you don't have to think and be in doubt over your rating. To me this was a dead clear, and solid, 7. Absolutely no more and absolutely no less.

The episode had an nice, fresh story putting Jeff in the centre for a change. I thought it was a pretty entertaining story and it gave me enough to giggle about. The secondary story about Steve and Roger going snake-hunting did feel a bit like a microwave dinner to me: quick and easy. But I cant say it failed to make me laugh a couple times!

Man it's hard to keep coming up with good episodes after so many seasons! Thats why I gladly forgive the couple of really lousy episodes we get every season nowdays. Because they do still have plenty good ones and even 3 or 4 REALLY good ones each season. And I appreciate that so much because I NEED them to make me enjoy and lauugh about silly stuff to help keep my sanity in an increasingly crazy world.

The exact same also goes for Family Guy btw, and I enjoy them battling each other for the best season each year since I enjoy both shows. Also nice to see them both on the way of beating South Park and The Simpsons in that specific area, since they completely lost their edge much earlier!

So Family Guy is in it's 19th season now. Have they beaten The Simpsons by now? Well in my humble opinion they did, in ONE aspect: staying fun to watch for more seasons. Since I really felt The Simpsons had completely lost all edge after the 16th season. South Park even much, much sooner.

Now yes, Family Guy has seen it's best times as well. However, when I look at full seasons, the earlier ones were definitely better. No argument there. But when I judge the 3 to 4 times a year that they still manage to come up with a really good episode these days, I really do wonder if that episode isn't actually better than their better early episodes. Call me crazy: I just do.

Now this is one such episode again for sure! The secondary story about Brian and his inner cat cracked me up big time. But the main story about the deeper meaning in Peter's relationship with some big chicken was like true haute cuisine! I sincerely, and literally, loved every second of thiis episode.

And thats a matter of taste and completely valid. I keep feeling that even though it's 'edgy', it will have a bigger chance to charm a younger audience, like below 30, then an older one.

It's edgy. It's kind of original. It SEEMS a bit controversial. It's violent. It's dark.

But that's it. For me, it was just really boring and uninteresting. The ONLY thing in this product that really was a bit interesting to me was the character Starlight. For all the rest I just felt like I was watching the latest Seth Rogan show. Full of edgy and 'original' stuff, yes, but oh so empty and superficial. Totally inhabited by flat and completely uninteresting characters.

I made it to episode 5 and I really had to violently DRAG myself there.