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meelaleks
Reviews
Halo (2022)
Seriously
Well, on the bright side: it is a sf series. That and its well made, the special effexrs are good enough. On the other side: it has no soul. Not a single one. I couldn't care less what happened to the main characters. But... it has that in common with the game so.... no harm done I guess?! Too bad it feels like a looooong scene from the game. The series has potential but rarely delivers right now. Sad really. Maybe with other actors or another director, dunno. Change something else the series ends soon, maybe even after just one season and it deserves better. Ah well. Maybe it made gamecomputer-lovers happy. Who knows.
The School for Good and Evil (2022)
Missed chance
This movie is good enough as a movie for kids. For grown ups not so much... sure, the special effects are good and the music score is fitting but there are some serious problems with this movie. For one: it is way to long. Way. Secondly: the main charactors hardly ever move you. And the storyline... wow... sooo obviously, so cliche. Irritating really. The subplots and supporting charactors are also obviously and sort of hollow, predictioly. This movie heavingly leans on black and white points of view and how to battle these, but in a way it starts to be enoying, that can't be the goal. All in all: pretty made but a missed chance.
Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)
Well...
Well, after reading some of the reviews I sort of braced for impact. But it was not as bad as I expacted. True, the acting is well... lets say errr... below par. But so was the acting in the first Starwars movies to be honest. The graphics where above par, way beyond to my surprise. Does this make up for the not-thrar-good acting? Nope. But it eases the pain. Do I care that it has a lot in common with the original, with Starwars? Hmmm... a bit, bit not so much that I bothered to be honest. This movie is good enough on its own. Give it a chance and watch it without your mind made up already. You might end up liking it.
8MM (1999)
Boring
I bet they, especially the director, intended this movie to be dark. Instead it was slow and boring. Boring! How can a movie about this topic and with gross, violent and perverted content about one of the underbellies of society end up to be superfial and boring? To be honest, I dont like Cage, I think he's not a good actor. But in this movie he is even worse. I cant get to like or believe his charactor. Yawn. Thats the most intense emotion I had. Silly of me? Maybe. Live with it. At least give us some suspence, like Hitchcock did, but no. A missed chance, thats the best I can say about this movie.
The Witcher (2019)
Not that bad, but...
First of all, I'm a big fan of fantasy and scifi. So I had high hopes for this series. It sort of deliveres, but gee, what a confusing world. Worlds actually. Highly confusing. I almost gave up after a few episodes. Season two explains a lot but wtf.... do they have writers who simply dont care?! This series has or should I say had great oppurtunities but well... not that it is gad, not at all, but it could have been way better. I will not compare it to the books I can not since I didnt read them. But without them the serie starts off with seemingly thinking you did, causing a lot of misunderstanding and confusion. I bet a lot people stopped watching after the first episodes. After enduring this phase and season two I'm glad I didnt. But, as said, it could have been better.
The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)
Truly good
I must admit... I had my doubts. A classis story like this in a modern setting? Maybe not the most original idear. But... it works in this case! I couldn't stop watching, I have to admit so. Greed and money in its core, family drama all over. Scenery and actors work and the same goes for most of the storytelling. A pleasant surprise, I must say. Well worth watching. Sure, it does take some liberties when compared to the, great, original story, but never in a bad way in my humble opinion. Just watch this as it is, and forget the orignal for now, enjoy it as it is: a good series, worth watching...
The Pacific (2010)
Great series
What a great series! Luckely it does not glorify war, not at all. Maybe even the opposite. You get to see and feel the horrors, the rain and mud, the personal choices, the loss of lives, the impact on civilians. The casting is good, the storylines decent and mixed with the battlescenes with care. I had my worries at first when I started viewing this series but was suprised in a good way and kept watching untill the end. I would love to see a similair series of apart of the second worldwar in Europe. Is there nothing wrong with this series? Sure there us. For one, it fails largely to depict the Japanese side of things.
Dolittle (2020)
Well. Sigh.
I k ow this is a "kids" production. On the positive side: it is technically fine. Just barely. Not great but good enough. Same goes for the special effects. BUT the movie has no soul, you never care about the main characters and, even worse, the movie is not funny. At all. The list of flaws is endless and the casting is really terrible, the actors (most of the known for other movies and/or series) seem to do their best but it is of little use in this case. This movie is good enough for a rainy day. Or when bored. Or both. People must have paid to see this movie in a cinema. They must have felt cheated. You can find better ways to thriw away your money, I'm sure.
Moonfall (2022)
Wow
Please tell me this counts as a b-movie. If not its worth 1 star. Tops. Its plain stupid, if not laughable. Its like four or five bad disaster movies from multiple genres combined. Who allowed this, and why fir God sake??? It contains all: questionable sfx, all clichés you can think of and really lame and predictable text delivered by actors who try to make the best off it, but fail most of the time. Wow. I actuelly saw better c-movies made by students, with a way smaller budget. Honestly. Do NOT watch this movie unless you are really bored and have way, way to much time to spend. Even then... wow.
Shadow and Bone (2021)
Decent series
Just so you know: I didnt read the books, so this is my opnion on the series only... Well, seems Netflix has only two flavours when it comes to phantasty series: great or teaah. This one suprised me, as it is a bit of both. The series sureley has good visuals and the special effects are decent enough. And thank God it lacks cheap ways to add 'tension' like shaking cameras or pointless sound effects. I didnt find the story boring, but it heavenky leans on stuff we've already seen and thats a shame. The main characters are casted well, though I didnt see any surprises there. In short: this series is decent enough to watch but it has some flaws. Ah well, there are way kess series, thats a fact.
V-Wars (2019)
Wtf?
This series started out promising and decent enough, the story has a lot off positive elements, but got worse and worse. At the end I went from a decent 7 to a 4. Yes, I was gentle... a 3 would be more acccurate... Where to start? Never convincing main charactors? Leaking ceiling in a 'high tech' building that look more like abandoned offices? Lights off in close to every room and nobidy turbs them on? People finding each other in the woods with ease? No tension in epsisodes whatsoever? Geez, I could go on and on, the list is endless... But by all means, try for yourself and be your own judge.
The Ninth Gate (1999)
Sad.
Sad. Polanski at his worst. Great cast but a rather
disapointing movie. Not by the lack of action (a surplus of it kills most action movies recent years) but this one lacks tension and suspence. The few tension it has gets killed by giving the next scene away because of ditectional choises and/or he music. It sometimes feels like a b-movie. Sad, because the story has all ingrediënts for a way better
movie.
Stowaway (2021)
Start nice bu fails later on.
The first say 30 minutes of this movie are great, promising.
But then oh my... did the original story end there or did they replace the script writers with dumb asses? Error after error, dumb twist after dumb twist. What started as a 7 star movie ended as a 3 star failure so 4 stars is the end verdict.
The Mallorca Files (2019)
Ouch
I really DO like lighthearted BBC crime series ( Shakespeare & Hathaway and Father Brown come to mind) and was eager to give this one a go. I can live with plot holes and obvious mistakes BUT only if you cover these in great casting and/or witty humour. Sadly this series fails in both. What remains is the nice scenery, but that sadly wont safe the toecurling end result... its rubbish.
Altered Carbon (2018)
What The ? 8/10 and 3/10 makes 6/10
I loved season one... the story, the atmosphere. 8/10 for sure. So I was eager to catch up with season two. Only to had my jaw fell down. What the .... ? I even thought I accidently started watching another, way less show. In short: they ruined the show. Totally. Half way through episode two of season two I gave op. I suggest you don't even try. Watch season one and leave it at that.
The Professor and the Madman (2019)
A moving movie
I stumbled upon this movie by accident, started watching without knowing what to expect and, well... it is a precious marble. I actually shed some tears over it, something I rarely do. Maybe because I'm a sucker for language, words and books: aside from reading daily I work in a second hand bookshop. Anyway: even though I'm Dutch and English is mt second or third language I was fully enchanted by this movie. I was shocked by the nasty critics reviews though. 25 out of 100?! What did expect? Yet another typical Hollywood shooter? Shame on them. Thankfully most viewers love the movie.
Mythbusters Jr. (2019)
Loving it!
I had no hopes for this junior version, disapointed as I was with 'the search for'. Boy, was I in for a surprise. Im 4 episodes in now, and Adam seems totally in place with the kids, releasing his inner child as well, the chemistry between him and thecrest is great. The 'myths' are more like experiments but still fit the concept and are ececuted really nice. Its fun and interesting for kids BUT also for adults like me. In fact, I like these small scale experiments better over the last original mythbusters seasons when things got way to big and most ended in exploding stuff. This junior version leans more on science and I love it for it :)
Project Almanac (2015)
Horrible
If you like to watch very annoying kids AND like really horrible camera work this is your movie. If not: dont spend a minute on it.
Heirs of the Night (2019)
Decent series for the youth
This series obviously aims on a young audience (maybe 12 - 19y old?) and as such it's decent enough. The atmosphere is rather good, the acting is not great but ah well (a bit overdramatic, feels more like a stage play) but it lacks tension.
If this series was made for an older public I'd say it fails and give it 3 stars. As it is, for youngsters, its good enough for 6 points.
Dracula (2020)
Shocking. In more then one way.
This series starts off dark, unsettling, gothic, scary as hell at times, great athmosphere. Worthy of 10 points! And then... the last episode happened. I was in shock. How did this miniseries change into... what? a teenage comedy? Still... secretly I sort of loved the braveness of an unexpected twist. Hardly any movie of series surprises me anymore these days so hey, in that petspective: good for you. Do I like the shift in this series? Well, no. Therefor the10 points are gone BUT I did like the final ending so I'll give it 7.
Jingle Belle (2018)
Sweet horror
Plastic smiles and dito accidental tear, hollow characters, overloud background music, predictable plot (even the 'twist'), life in a super sweet smalltown versus bad, bad big town. A boring lovestory, all wrapped around the creation of a horrible, horrible song. Yes, it has it all and yes, it is a toe curling movie. The only reason I finished watching it was that I was sort of trapped on a sofa during a family moment.
Geostorm (2017)
Awesomely awful, rofl
If you love disaster movies without a decent plot or decent science backgrounds but with tons of flaws, 100 % stereotype characters this is your movie. If not - like me- you either cry in disbelief and dispair or end up laughing hysterical bwahaha hahaha haaaahaha hahaa aa aaaa aargh. Or both. Oh as for Leonard Dekkom, the crazy wannebe US president: he's almost as mad and dangerous as Trump. Close? Nah... they even got THAT wrong. Sadly.
I should give it zero points, but I cant. Or one point, but the sfx are pretty good and I laughed my ass out so I'll give this terrible movie 2 points.
The Dark Tower (2017)
A masterpiece
This adaption is a wonderful masterpiece! Thats is, if the object was to turn a great series of books from one of my favorite writers into a barely recognisable short movie for teenagers and young adults. If that wasnt the intention... shame on the makers. As such it deserves 1 star (why is it always so hard to turn Kings books into decent movies? -except some exceptions-) As a stand alone movie, largely unrelated to the book its good for a rainy day if you are between 10 and 25 years old I guess, and worth 7 stars. So combined I'll give it a generous 3 stars. But please change the title, it has hardly anything to do with the book(s). Oh and who casted Idris Elba ? I like him as an actor but he was a bad choice for this role.
Another Life (2019)
Hilariously bad at first but....
Okay. Lets face it. The first episode is hilariously bad. A background story worth a full episode rushed in maybe six minutes, a crew of unstable fools acting as teens, an AI character thats allowed to use emotions over rational arguments. Really, lol?! Did the makers WANT the viewers to stop watching? For some reason I kept watching and I have to say, after 3 or 4 episodes tbe silly drama got tuned down. It never becomes a great show it gets close to decent and good enough for a rainy day.
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
Season 1 was a disaster. S2... well, there is hope, s3 ah finally
I'm a trekkie for close to 50 years, loved some ST series, tolerated other (DS9) and I tried hard to like ST Discovery in S1 but.... sigh. What happened with Roddenberrys legacy?! What happened with curiously discovering the universe, with the positive and light atmosphere? I can't believe I'm saying this but here it is: The Orville series was a way better ST successor. ST Discovery s1 overdid the CGI (looks more like a console game most of the time) and had no soul. As for the Klingons... geez, they looked like a totally other species. Where I was inpatient for every new episode of The Orville I found myself picking a new episode of ST Discovery s1 only when I was really bored. That says enough.
EDIT: having said all of the above: season 2 is better, a lot better. The first episode alone had more Star Trek in it than all season 1 episodes combined. So... there is hope. I rated season 1 with 1 star. Season 2 gets better and better and therefor 8 stars (well 7 actually, but I added one encouraging them to continu improving the series). So Ill give it an overall of 6 stars for now, in hope of an even better third season. Maybe this series and their makers need time. If so : live in peace and prosper ;) EDIT again; halfway s3 I have to say that they finally got it right. Still not as goos as The Orville, but worth 8 stars non the less.