sevalgunes Reviews

Challengers (2024)

Overhyped waste of time

[3/10 · 19 May 2024]

Zendaya is currently the "it" actress in Hollywood. Everybody has been inundated with trailers and previews and commercials about this movie. I read somewhere that the director never played tennis and has no clue about tennis. And it shows. The actors apparently just held the grips and everything else was CGI. Overall, a very mediocre movie which definitely does not deserve a rating of 7.7 as of mid-May 2024. There are much better sports and tennis movies than this turd.

It felt more like an R rated teenager movie where two guys kiss (OMG!!!). It's 2024 and nobody cares when two guys kiss. We are not in the 60's any more.

You have been warned. If you decide to watch it and also find it is way overhyped, leave your reviews and ratings here to keep other people from wasting their time.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz (2024)

Excellent series

[9/10 · 13 May 2024]

I cannot understand people who downvote this because Melanie Lynskey's Australian accent is bad. Really? That's what you are concentrating on? Wooden acting? Do you expect people in that situation to be exuberant?

In a time when young people get their historical "knowledge" from TikTok and Facebook, it is very important that these events are not forgotten. It may not change the attitude of die-heart holocaust deniers but may inform some people who are on the fence.

Holocaust deniers and their supporters on X have to be counteracted with these first-hand accounts. Of course it is not a documentary but partially fictionalized but that is ok.

Having seen one of these tattoos myself, this is an excellent series that is especially needed with the rise in antisemitism.

The Bear (2022– )

Waste of time

[4/10 · 7 March 2024]

People just screaming past each other, making banal stuff in a restaurant look like life-and-death decisions in an emergency room. Obvious, telegraphed gags like the Nigerian actress dropping the heavy box with the veal stock..,Add the obligatory organized crime, alcoholism, suicide, constant smoking and divorce story lines and people apparently just lap it up. One of the worst, annoying, self-important, pretentious series I have seen in a long time. If you want to watch something interesting, unexpected in the world of culinary snobism, I highly recommend The Menu, which was original and interesting.

Days Gone (2020 Video)

Most underrated game

[9/10 · 18 February 2024]

I am surprised that nobody else has written a review of this game. Apparently when it came out initially on PS4 there were some glitches and some of the reviewers probably only played it for a short while. I played the PC version and it is an awesome open-world zombie shooter in the best sense. The graphics are beautiful on PC. The setting, voice acting, story, score are all excellent. You get a mighty scare the first time you encounter a zombie horde. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Check out the thousands of gameplay videos on Youtube. The cutscene where the main protagonist Deacon St. John rides the motorcycle with his buddy Boozer and you hear in the background Jack Savoretti's "Soldier's Eye" is haunting and brought chills down my spine. A true gem.

Tár (2022)

What if Harvey Weinstein was a women?

[3/10 · 22 January 2023]

That is pretty much it.

Pitch meeting: "Let's make a movie about Harvey Weinstein but make him a woman." Very unoriginal but extremely pompous movie where name-dropping is half the plot.

You will come out of it asking yourself why this boring movie is so highly rated? Probably because of Cate Blanchett who becomes almost unrecognizable after all the plastic surgery, fillers and botox. But that's about it.

I was waiting for a plot twist or something significant to happen, but nothing much unexpected happens.

In comparison to other highly rated and enjoyable movies that deserve the praise from "Everything Everywhere All at Once", "Menu", "Triangle of Sadness", "Puss in Boots-The Last Wish" and others, this one is by far the worst as it includes not one single original thought. You have been warned.

Ambulance (2022)

Just garbage

[2/10 · 6 June 2022]

Total waste of time. Incredibly stupid with every possible cliché.

They used a truck full of lipstick and makeup on the ambulance driver to rival Tammy Faye Bakker.

The medical parts were beyond ridiculous.

The characters were all caricatures.

Michael Bay should just retire with the money he made and stop making more idiotic movies like this one.

Moonfall (2022)

Turn off your brain and enjoy the ride

[6/10 · 4 April 2022]

This movie will bust the counter at Cinemasins by violating all laws of physics and common sense while adopting every single cliché possible.

If you want science, watch a scientific program with real scientists.

This is a popcorn movie where nothing makes sense and you just enjoy the ride.

Maid (2021)

Cannot bring up any sympathy for her

[4/10 · 14 October 2021]

I think the series is supposed to elicit sympathy for the titular maid but I just cannot feel any empathy for her. Pretty much at every step she makes wrong decisions again and again and again. She is not "unfortunate" but a pathological liar that pushes people who want to help her away and never learns from her mistakes. Her movie (and real-life) was just horribly annoying. 4/10 at best.

The Mosquito Coast (2021–2023)

Waste of time

[3/10 · 8 June 2021]

It is just horrible. Nobody in the family can follow simple instructions for a minute (like stay in the hotel). After they escape from a cartel boss they nonchalantly go everywhere as if everything is hunky-dory. Even after 2 people get shot in front of them by a cartel assassin they decide to spend days in public and at the beach as if they are regular tourists. Nothing makes sense and they all behave like 3 year old kids with attention deficit and no sense of urgency or danger. It was really annoying.

Wireless (2020)

Complete garbage

[1/10 · 3 November 2020]

No wonder Quibi went out of business. This is a story about a brainless Millennial, an old beaten-up 1986 Ford Bronco (worth $500 but very valuable to his dead dad), his mother calling about a missing bottle of Tequila... I hoped for the idiot to die. I am glad there won't be any more Quibi trash wasting people's time and aggravating them.

Interreflections (2020)

Excellent subject, horribly boring and pretentious execution

[2/10 · 19 October 2020]

I mainly agree with the review of LovesCinematography. The issues being brought up are very important and current. The way it was presented was too long, boring, artsy-fartsy and preachy. If I compare this to Sir David Attenborough's Witness Statement which also brought up habitat destruction, environmental pollution, species extinction, population explosion and other issues, it is like comparing a student project to a professional work of art. You could cut this 2 hour 45 minute long movie and make it into a 60 minute coherent documentary which would get the message much better across with a vastly improved signal to noise ratio. I wish there was a 60 minute director's cut without all the fluff.

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)

Screw the critics, this movie is very funny

[9/10 · 27 August 2020]

I was initially planning to skip this movie after reading scathing reviews by the professional movie critics. After watching this movie it was clear that they were just as wrong as they were with "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and all the other comedies they hated and the public loved. If you have ever seen a Eurovison Song Contest, you will love it. I recall watching on TV as ABBA won with Waterloo. This movie captures the songs and the spirit of the competition. I loved the parts about Iceland and their elves. Do yourself a favor and just watch and enjoy it.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

Complete garbage

[1/10 · 28 February 2019]

It is only worth watching for the CGI creatures. Absolutely nothing else makes any sense. I coulnd't care who was supposed to be good or bad or who was trying to do what. It was a mess and as anyone can do anything by waving their stick, anything and nothing was possible. Complete waste of time.