Change Your Image
deanswr
Reviews
The Northman (2022)
If you enjoy art you will love this movie
I watched this movie without seeing any of the trailers, it was a recommendation from a friend. I had no expectations.
In summary, if you like the boring, cookie cutter bang and crash action/superhero movies that have action every two seconds that have no story but CGI overload then you'll hate this movie. If you love artistic, visual and compelling story telling then you'll love this movie. The movie had me from the very beginning all the way to the end.
I really hope this movie does well so they make more movies like this and less of the absolute garbage the industry is spewing out these days.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)
Fun for the kids
The movie was OK. Some strange scenes and plot choices in the middle of the movie. Some things just didn't fit but the ending was actually pretty good.
My kids enjoyed it, so that's enough for me. Some nice nostalgia from when I played the games on my Mega Drive.
The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World (2021)
Bastardisation of the books
Not sure how anyone who's read the books would think that this "turning of the wheel" was better than the story in the books. So many details, story lines and plot points that have been changed in really bad ways. Not only does the story suffer, the characters are shells of themselves for no purpose at all. I wanted to give this show a go, the early episodes had so much promise, but they've stuffed it up. I'm done.
On a side note, the Wheel of Time story is an excellent story of female empowerment and equality. Men and women working together as equals is what truly advances the One Power and humanity with it. Mens sacrifice I what saved the world but also broke it when corrupted (just like real life). They've dumped on that theme and made men weak and hopeless while women are all powerful saviours. We get enough of this on Netflix, we don't need any more of it.
The Wheel of Time (2021)
Book Fanboy but Genuinely Enjoyable
As a massive book fan I was very cautious going into this show. There have been some appalling adaptations of my favourite books recently. After watching the first three episodes I can say that this adaptation is fantastic. The sets, acting, casting and cinematography are absolutely spot on. I didn't picture in my mind how a number of the characters look with their TV counterparts and was apprehensive about them in the first place but WOW they've done an incredible job finding the right actor for each character. You can see how each of the actors genuinely understands their characters and have passed on their spirit from the books to the screen.
Biggest criticism are of some of the book to TV adaptations although I understand why they've done them. I think that the pacing of the show and introduction of a few of the main characters goes against the grain of the books. A slower introduction with more character building and less piece meal world building information piled on early would have made for a better show but probably wouldn't have brought in the masses who can't go 5 seconds without action. The first season of Game of Thrones did this amazingly.
I'd be concerned how they discuss the "one power" and hope that they do eventually properly describe how it's divided into Saidar and Saidin and why male channelers now go insane. If they don't it will be a bit of a heresy and take substantially away from the story.
Foundation (2021)
Sick of Terrible Adaptations
I was going into this series as a big fan of Azimov's work with Foundation as one of my all time favorites. The visuals, costumes and cinematography are absolutely amazing and has pushed the review up to a 5 from what would have been a 3 for the following reasons.
On the back of some less than ideal sci-fi adaptations I went into this fully expecting some liberal interpretation of the story, but this interpretation is bordering on sacrilegious. Just one item from many stands out in that when Brother Dusk is in the ruins he has a small personal force shield. Book readers will know that this goes absolutely against the entire premise of what the Foundation was set up to achieve. One of the main reasons why Trantor was chosen by Seldon in the first place was it's lack of natural resources, which pushed the Foundationers to be incredibly resourceful and drive ingenuity on a scale the Empire couldn't understand. The Empire only understood technology and atomics on a grand scale, they couldn't translate it into the levels required to create a small object like a personal force shield. This was so wrong and proved that the producers and writers didn't understand the source material or didn't care about it.
Lastly, I have no issues with Gaal being changed to a woman and thought her character was done well, especially for someone who had such a minor part in the books. However, changing Salvor Hardin to a woman is simply wrong. Hardin was written as a man. He was arrogant, aggressive, shrewd, controlling and should have stayed that way. To fit in the female adaptation they've totally changed the character.
To all writers and producers. Please write better female characters (it's been done MANY times), don't just change male characters into female for the sake of some silly diversity targets. Story > Diversity.
The Larva Island Movie (2020)
Appauling
This movie was appalling and should locked up and thrown overboard into the middle of the ocean. I put this movie on to stop my kids from fighting and screaming at each other but the constant screaming of these, things, gave me PTSD. I walked away after 30 minutes. If you want a nice, relaxing movie to watch with your kids DONT watch this one. In fact, don't watch it at all.