marcococco-1 Reviews

Away (2020)

Normal phone calls from deep space? really?

[4/10 · 24 April 2023]

I love space stories, not like the star wars or Star trek sagas but the ones which tell stories about astronauts from Earth in space travels missions. I love everything that involve other planets, stars and solar systems as well. I've seen a lot of documentary about Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Pluto and the famous Titan (a Saturn moon) and also a lot of movies about space travels.

This premise is what brought me to watch this series on netflix.

From the very start I understand that this was not what I was looking for since the space things are not the main thing and, overall, it's full of scientific mistakes that even a child would have avoided in making a series or a movie set in deep space.

Let's talk about it first:

1) Communications. It doesn't matter how far they are from Earth, the astronauts can do normal phone calls to Earth whenever they want with absolutely no delay. The fastest thing that exists is light (300'000 km/s) and it's totally impossible that a phone call, even with the most powerful set of satellites, could be faster than light. (Only spaceball 1 in spaceball had a faster "ludicrous speed" but that movie was only a spoof). In real life the robots Nasa sent to Mars could send messages, photos and other documents but they need many whole minutes to reach Earth so it's impossible that a simple cellphones could reach Earth with no delay at all. (the same mistake is made in. "the space.between us" in which a Mars native boy can video chat with an Earth girl like they were in the same room with no delay)

2) How on Earth NASA could put together in such a difficult missions a bunch of astronauts who can't stand each other? The only really explanation is the abused "politically correct" issue which netflix really loves. Races, genders and religions always are the main thing to show in netflix opinion. Who cares about science and logic when we can see. It's no wrong that a space mission has astronauts from the whole Earth, we are all humans: americans, russians, chineses, africans, indians but the astronauts they chose are too much cliched just to remark their nationality and not focusing on the mission.

3) NASA always prepare a mission with months of tests and studies. There's no way that such a long mission can have so many technical issues even from the very beginning with the solar panels which don't unfold

I've talked only about the main mistakes the series have but there are many and many others but I don't want to be too long.

Let's talk about the story itself. I must admit they I liked it and that's the reason why I'm giving 4 stars out of 10 and not less. It it was not set in the space I could have given even 8 stars but unfortunately they chose the wrong set for an emotional family drama like this.

What I like more is the russian astronaut who's the only one who could really pass like an astronaut while all the other cast members, commander included, seem amateurs, expecially the african/british one who can't stand low gravity (how he became an astronaut in the first place?)

Hilary. Swank is anothe thing I liked of the series not because of their astronaut skills (which she lacks) but for her presence. I liked her from "Ps I Love you" and I think she is a really good actress.

That's all I wanted to write. I hope in the future netflix should ask the real NASA some advices before going at full speed in producing a space series.

The Closer (2005–2012)

WORST MAIN CHARACTER EVER

[7/10 · 4 January 2023]

Like I said in the title, this show has the worst main character ever. But before I'm going into details about why, IMHO, she's the worst, let me say something about the show as a whole.

I like it, that's true. I like all the other characters in the squad, from Provenza (my favourite) to Sanchez, and even Buzz. They all are a perfect squad. There is Tao, who is the brain of the team and the one who is a real wizard with softwares and computers even if less than Buzz who is not a cop but always helps the team with his cameras and technology of every sort. There is Sanchez, vho is the "rebel" of the group, always angry even if under the skin he has a very golden heart. And then there are Provenza and Flinn who are very close friends even if they always cheat on each other making some of the best jokes of the whole show. Finally there is Gabriel that, beside the horrible main character, is the less likable. He's a pimp and always agree with HER no matter what. Of course, in the end we realize that he is even the mole inside the team even if he wasn't aware of it.

Concerning the stories told in each episode, I think they all are very good, entertaining and not always obvious. I think the show would deserve a whole 10/10 if it wasn't for... HER

And here I am tallking about that main character, Brenda. Since the very first episode we can see that she's been called to be the deputy chief of the team from her former fiance, who is also the chief of police, Pope. She wasn't even from LA but she was from Atlanta so we understand that only because of a reccomandation that she's there to harass everyone.

Ok, I know reccomandations always exist even in real life but there is a limit.

From the very beginning, she starts to treat anyone like she's the best and f..k the rest (sorry for the way I put this but is the best way to explain who she is). She doesn't hear anyone but his ego and nothing can stand in her way, neither his actual fiance (then future husband) who works for FBI but seems to be a slave for her.

She doesn't respect rules, her superiors and neither her parents. Ok, she closes all the cases which she follows (that's why she's called "the closer") but in unortodox ways and often with lies after lies after lies (she could have been put in the show Pretty Little Liars and made the other liars of the show appear totally sincere) Even when she seems to apologize for something, we can see that she's lying. I don't really understan why Fritz Howard didn't leave her alone after the uncountable lies she told him.

In the show we can also see Cpt Sharon Raydor, who is the main character in Major Crimes, the spin-off of this show and even if the production tried to make her hateable, I always cheer for her when Brenda shows in and tries to harass her. I Love Major Crimes and I love Sharon Raydor, a much better chief of the team than this selfish, annoying woman who's everything but likeable.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not against women in head positions. Like I said, I loved Sharon Raydor in Major Crimes when she take the reins of the Major Crimes division. And I love many shows in which there are women in the head of a department. It's Brenda that I don't like at all. If it was a man, it would have been the same, obviously. Selfishness and arrogance are the worst quality in a person.

She really managed to make Pope (another selfish character) much more likeable than her.

There are two particular episodes in which I hated even more brenda. The first one is when she decided to leave Turrel Baylor without protection and he was brutally murdered as a consequence. In the episodes after that she keeps on saying that she was right showing no regret at all. (I really cheered for the lawyer who tried to make her pay for this error).

The other episode is when she refuses to listen to her mother because she "must" goes back to work (even if it was not necessary at that moment). We, viewers, don't know what her mother wanted to tell Brenda because she died that very night leaving brenda finally sad but, like always, feeling no regret at all for having put work over her family, expecially in a moment in which they need her the most.

Beside all that, like I said in the beginning of the review, I loved the show but because of Brenda I can't give it more than 7 stars. I prefer Major Crimes without this bad character..

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

TOO SILLY FOR A SPIDEY

[4/10 · 16 November 2022]

I watched this movie after seeing No Way Home which I wanted to watch because the one and only spider-man, Tobey Maguire, was back in that role even if is from another universe. While watching that movie I started to know which universe the Tom Holland version of Spidey is from and I immediately felt not good about it so I decided to watch this movie.

Overall is not that bad, I must admit it, but Peter Parker here is way too silly, always behaving like a cry-baby who doesn't even listen to advices and suggestions by his mentor Tony Stark/Iron Man. I confess I never read any comic related to spider-man but I know the story of the character and the fact that many version of it exixts but I never see a spider-man this low in his behaviour.

Let's talk about the supporting characters. Many of the main characters in other movies don't even exist in this movie. Where are Harry, Gwen and MJ? Of course there is a MJ in this movie but her name is Michelle who is not even like the real MJ (Mary Jane). Zendaya is gorgeous but her character doesn't belong to this universe, not for her fault, of course, but it was a pathetic choice to create a totally new character only to have one with a name that sounds like the original.

Then, who the hell is Ned? Never heard of him. He's the only one who knows that Peter Parker is Spidey (obviously apart Tony Spark and Happy). Then there is Aunt May, a bad copy of her. I think Marisa Tomei is one of the most beautiful actress ever, but her Aunt May is completely nonsense. She's supposed to be much older. Spidey even doesn't call her Aunt (maybe just only once in the whole movie) but he calls her just "May".

Let's talk about the villains. The main ones are Vulture and a fool version of the Shocker. Neither of them really fit in the main story. It seems that only Spidey knows about them. Of course, there is a scene in which the FBI is after some weapon illegal vendors but they never ever feel even surprised seeing a man with mechanical wings flying up in the sky with some alien technology. It feels like these villains are in the movie only for a background while in the other movies we can see policemen try to stop the supercriminals. The police show up only in the end to put vulture in Jail. It was a little weird seeing Michael Keaton in vulture's shoes. For me he is and always will be the Batman (the best Batman ever in my opinion) and not a bad copy of a villain.

Characters and story apart, I loved the action in this movie so I think it was not the worst superhero movie ever but it lacks in many other way. Maybe if anyone who doesn't know who spider-man really is, may enjoy the movie more than I did, but for me it deserves only 4 stars out of 10. I'm sorry for Tom Holland but his is the worst spiderman ever.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

BIG RETURNS BUT STILL NOT LIKE THE SAM RAIMI FRANCHISE

[6/10 · 14 November 2022]

I'm not a fan of remakes and reboots. For me, the best spiderman movies are the ones with Tobey Maguire. I watched also the two amazing spidermen but I wasn't able to consider Andrew Garfield's peter/spidey enjoyable like the maguire ones. I haven't watched the Tom Holland's version yet (except this one obviously) but I can't feel like he's a good spiderman either.

What I liked of this movie is the return of the actors of the first movie franchise. It was very fun, and a bit of nostalgic, seeing Alfred Molina and Willem Dafoe in their old roles again. And it was very fun even the Tobey Maguire return as well even if, obviously, now is almost 50 so was a little awkard seeing him in his suit now but still enjoyable.

I like also the jokes between the three spidermen about the way they create the webs. In this part the producers wanted to put together the different kind of spidermen that exists even in the comics. The ones which has to create webs with add-ons and the ones who can create them naturally.

But still I don't like the multiverse system. I'd prefer the "real world" versions of the movies like, as I already stated, the Maguire ones and also the Garfield ones.

Another thing that I liked was the "cure" of Doctor Octopus who came back to his old self and, in the end, help the gang of spidermen to save the day. It was nostalgic seeing doc oc talk to "his" spidey as a friend and not a enemy anymore.

I liked also the new costume of Electro, much more similar to the videogames and comic version compared to AS2. The only one that, in my opinion, won't add much to the plot is sandman. It was not Thomas Haden Church fault (another come back from the first spideram franchise), but his role in this movie is a little bit poor.

I gave a 6/10 at this movie. As I stated, I love all the returns we had but I can't stand the multiverse and the too much irrealistic Tom Holland Universe. I know that this is still a movie that came from a comic which is full of universe, magic, aliens and so on but I still prefer per much more realistic single world of the first movies

The ending left me thinking that something was missing: everyone forget who Peter Parker is but, how in the world, they could even forget what happened in the last few days? Nothing is said about it and this, in my opinion, is a huge plot hole even if it's at the end.

Alaskan Bush People (2014– )

STAGED BUT AMUSING

[6/10 · 17 October 2022]

Like many other "reality" I'm watching this show on italian tv Dmax.

I found this show very entertaining even if it's quiet obvious that many things we see are completely fake or dramatically staged for the audience.

I Just watched an episode in which Billy and two sons went to buy a boat leaving the others at home in the woods for days... Amy, Billy's wife, was worried because they weren't home yet and she can't contact them.. FALSE cause with Billy and the boys there were some members of the crew and also another crew boat was behind them on the water so they could've informed Amy. I know nowadays a program should have some kind of drama in it to make audience but, please, don't insult the viewer with these kind of tricks.

The same things happens in many other episodes. There is always at least a camera with every group of the family so it's always impossible for the other not knowing where they are.

But, in spite of these tricks, I like the show and I like the Brown Family. I'ts amusing watching them on their life even if we don't really know how much is real and how much is staged. Let's say it's almost like watching a comedy tv series like many other which are not sold as "reality"

Eventually I can give 6 star to this show. Maybe it deserves more but the fact that is almost totally staged keeps me for giving more than that.

Aussie Gold Hunters (2016– )

TOO MUCH DRAMA

[4/10 · 5 October 2022]

Like for other show of the same kind, I'm watching this show for a while on italian channel Dmax along with the opal hunters show. The two show are almost the same. The only real difference is that here we're talking about Gold while in the other we're talking about opal.

I like really much the documentary part in which we learn how gold is in nature, how it can be harvested and we learn also some chemical tricks which are very interesting.

What I don't like is the drama part which is obviously staged. I can understand that a show like this without any drama could be boring for many tv addicted people, but here's a way too much.

Another thing that I consider annoying is the use of the word "target" many and many times and the "but" used everytime it seems that everything is fine "but" anything always happens to ruin the gold hunt (everything obviously staged).

And then there are the names of some of the teams that are way too weird.. "gold gipsys" "dirt dogs" and the nasty "dust devils". I don't know if they are made for laughs or what.

In my opinion it deserves only 4 stars. If I shoul've considered only the "storyline", the name of the teams and the "target" thing I wouldn't give more than 1 stars but since there are also useful information regarding how the gold hunt is made in Australia, my vote is higher..

Outback Opal Hunters (2018– )

Too much drama

[5/10 · 5 October 2022]

I'm watching this show for a while on italian channel Dmax. The idea of showing how such a precious gem like Opal is harvested. We can learn a lot watching this show (and all the others of the same kind) expecially about what are the most precious type of opal, where to find them (if you're lucky) and so on.. What I don't like in these kind of show is the amount of obviously staged dramas in which the protagonists of the show always fall in. The major part of the show is about complaining for rain, floods, broken gears and so on. Then, we can see the characters keep stating that if they don't find any opal, they won't gain money (and fancy clothes like the.opening theme says). Captain obvious docet.

Every team of opal hunters seem to have also personal dramas.

I know that for a "Reality" to be amusing there must be some dramas but enough is enough. Then, at the end of a season (if not at the end of any episode) they find the "holy grail" and gain in a single shot thousands of dollars.

I gave 5 stars out of 10 because of the documentary part, but the drama part is really annoying.

Baggio: The Divine Ponytail (2021)

BAGGIO DESERVES MORE THAN THIS

[3/10 · 24 June 2022]

Baggio is a soccer champion. I consider myself lucky because I saw him play many times live at the stadium and every time he amazed me with his class. When I discovered this movie I was very happy because seeing the life of such a champions, not only for what he did on the field but also for what his life was behind the scene. However, after the movie ended I felt a lot disappointed because the movie itself doesn't cover that much of Baggio's life. There are many plot holes, expecially the whole 5 years he spent playing with Juventus (which I support since I was born) and many other important parts of his life.

I found the movie too much shattered in pieces. Too bad because Baggio deserved much more than this.

The actors were very good and that's what I liked more of the movie. The main actor really looked like Roberto and that was amazing. For this reason I can give 3 stars out of 10 at the movie but I can't give more.

In the Market (2009)

WERE THEY ACTORS OR ELEMENTARY STUDENTS?

[2/10 · 8 January 2022]

I'm italian so I watched the movie hoping for some fresh air but I was disappointed right from the start. The acting is the worst I ever see and neither me and my friends who made some amateur movies in the past were so bad. The only one actor who made a good job is the butcher. The three guys reminded me of my days back to first year of school when I was 6 and the teacher tried to teach us to read for the first time.

The story itself is not that bad but I don't understand why they pretended to be in USA (American car plates, 911 dialed on the phone) while everything in the movie let everybody know that we're in Italy beside the obviously fake "meat market" sign. Apart for the two main cars we see in the movie, every other cars have italian plates, road signs are in italian end even the signs in the market are all in italian. The director should've fixed this before completing the movie. I know it's a low budget but since he managed to make some good visual effects with the butchers scenes, he could be good even in removing some writings from the film.

In the end, I can only give it 2 stars only because the butcher part is quiet good compared to the whole movie.

Tre metri sopra il cielo (2004)

Love is another thing

[1/10 · 24 August 2020]

I just want to make a premise. I haven't read the book from which this movie is based so I'm going to review only the movie.

I Watched this movie after a good friend of mine insisted telling me that "If you love love stories, you're gonna really love this one". I, by the way, suggested her to see A Walk to Remember (2002) which is, still today, my favourite movie of all time.

Just like the title of this review, and if you saw the movie I quote in my last paragraph, in my opinion Love (with capital L) is something different and not what we can see in this movie.

3MSC (this is the way italian teenagers refer to this movie) is a story between a good girl and a bad guy. If only for that, I can say that it's quiet realistic since it happens in the reaility too and I have a friend of mine who falled for a teen drug dealer (the common thought that "nobody can understand women" here is much more true) but is the way the movie choose to show us that I don't like it... LOVE is something that you feel inside, a strong feeling that goes beyond the attraction (almost phisical) that we see in this movie. To love someone doesn't mean "let's have sex". What we see in this movie is what I call a simple "crush" The only thing that can be truly romantic is the lockpad on the bridge scene which here in Italy became immediately a "must do" so much that many famous bridges grew in a few days a forest of lockpad.

I love love movies, I watched many of them (the most are american or english) and I can see the true love in those. I can't understand why in italian love movies there must be always a "good" character who takes drugs and the sex part. It's not that I don't like the movie (I love the american pie franchise for instance but those movie don't called theirselves "love stories" and we know that we're are watching a teen-comedy) but I don't like that people receive a message that say "taking drugs and having sex underage is cool"

Let's talk about the acting... Scamarcio has the very same expression for the whole time. I think he was chosen for the role of Step only for his "bad face" appearance and not for his acting skills... Many of you who are not italian may have seen this movie dubbed so you can't understand what I mean but this is something that modern italian movies has: a theatrical way of acting instead of that of a movie. There is no realism in these movies, both in dialogues and face expressions.

To leave a rate, I confess that I Wanted to give a 1 but I choose a 2 out of 10 because is a little bit better than any desica/boldi trash movies.

Meine Mutter ...: Meine Mutter ist unmöglich (2018) Season 1, Episode 1

STAR RESTAURANT OR FAMILY RESTAURANT?

[8/10 · 7 August 2020]

I found this german movie on "raiplay" and I watched since I like these kind of love stories but what I like the most is the comparation in the movie between expensive "star" restaurants and cheap Family Restaurant. (This is not a spoiler because you can see it from the very beginning of the movie)

I'm one of the many people who prefer to eat enough and spend little money rather than opening a mortgage and go to a star restaurant and not eating much. (I've been once in a star restaurant spending 100 euros and eating 3 raviolis, and a very-very-very-very small piece of meat while when I go to a simple family restaurant I eat a lot spending only 12/15 euros). This is only my humble opinion but that is why I really liked this movie. The whole story circle around Antonia, the owner of the Family restaurant, and Rufus, the star chef. Because of the fact that the 2 restaurants have the same name, the magazine which assigns the stars makes a mistake and give the star to Antonia instead of Rufus. What happens next it's pretty predictable but I don't want to spoil anything.

I found good acting and a believable story and I'm really starting to like german movies. For me it's 8 stars out of 10

Mi faccio la barca (1980)

A light hearted italian movie

[10/10 · 31 July 2020]

I am italian and usually very very very evil when it comes to review an italian movie but this one, in my opinion, deserves 10 stars because it's not so easy to see, expecially nowadays, a lighthearted comedy like this here in Italy... 2020's italian movies are usually filled with vulgar jokes, bad habits (portraited like "good things to do"), politically correct boring contents (believe me, took the "politically correct" challenge at a very very very boring and wrong level) and so on. So, a movie like this one is a masterpiece compared to the today trash.

Piero is a dentist who's going to spend the summer with his two children on his own boat. The journey (and even the start of it) won't be so easy but with the help of Roberta, Piero's ex wife) things wil be easier...

I didn't want to write more about the plot just to avoid spoilers but, as you can see, the story is a simple summer story of a family vacation on the sea. Even is simple, the movie is full of amazing things. First of all the locations. I'm italian and a little proud of my Country, but, believe me, italian Coasts and seas are really amazing. The actors are quiet good even Christian De Sica who I can't stand in the late "cinepanettoni" which are all the same and full of the cliches I've talked about at the beginning of my review. Dialogues are truly believable too. It can be a 40-years-old movie but it grew up well as it could be set in 2020 and nobody would ever see the differences.

For me it's 10 stars.

Smallville (2001–2017)

With different character names it would be a way better

[4/10 · 22 July 2020]

I watched the Show a few years ago and I have to admit that I liked it very much. What I really can't stand is the universe in which this show pretends to be located: the SUPERMAN universe.

I'm an average superman fan, I haven't read too many comics but I watched almost every superman movie and even cartoons. I loved the story of the "man of steel" who come from Kripton and become a super hero. I loved the story of the sometimes goofy Clark Kent pretending to be that way to keep his true nature secret.

With that premise, Smalville, to me, has been like a punch in the stomach. Clark Kent is completely different from the comic/movie/cartoon stories, he seems more like Peter Parker (Spider-man) trying to find himself, always wondering about his life, his duties and his responsabilities. Let's talk about all those supervillains that seem to find in Smalville the only place to go to cause a ruckus with the whole world at their disposal. And where the hell they come from? And there are also too many people with super powers.

So, if this show was with original character names, it would be really nice but since it used characters coming from a specific universe transforming them even in their own identity and history I can't forgive the creators. 4 stars out of 10 is the best I can do...

Password (2005 Video)

Not that bad until...

[3/10 · 8 July 2020]

I am italian and I started to watch this movie hoping that could be a good italian film and not like the "cinepanettoni" which fails under every single point of view.

The premises were good. The movie started well with a mistery to solve and investigations to bring on. The characters are believable and even the acting is quiet good.

Unfortunately, everything changed when we discovered what caused the whole mistery from the beginning transforming the movie from a good Crime-Movie to the worst kind of alien-sci-fi movie ever seen on Earth. I don't change my mind about what I said a few lines above: the acting was still good up to that point and the story was not that bad but this twist in the plot ruined the most important part of the movie leaving me without no words.

I can't give more than 3 stars to the movie. It's not bad being a low-budget movie, but the story could've been made a way better and less twisted

Blue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012 TV Movie)

100 days on a desert island and not a single scratch

[3/10 · 7 July 2020]

As a fan of the "Naked and afraid" series, I love to watch survivalist movies that's why I wanted to watch this.

The story follows Emma and Dean as they end on a desert island all by themselves. They need to survive while finding a way to leave the island.

The promises were good but the movie took a completely different (and also wrong in my opinion) path. The movie is focused more on the love story between the two main characters than on the surviving-escaping issue. This was a terrible mistake by the crew because the movie became totally unbelievable. If you want to make a movie about survivalism, you have to make it realistic and not so fake.

How it's possible to live for more than 3 months on a desert island and never grow a single beard hair, never get a single scar, keep on having perfect haircuts, skin color, weight etc ? Did Emma and Dean have a salon on the island? I know that the director wanted to tell us a love story but maybe he should have changed the location and the back story. The love story itself is not a memorable one. The story developed too fast and faded even faster, and without a true reason, when the two protagonists are saved from the island.

The whole movie is a nonsence but I wanted to point out what I really didn't like at all and when a movie contains many errors it sure fails his goal. One thing I can save is the astonishing beauty of Indiana Evans but I can't give more than 3 stars to the movie

Christmas Wedding Planner (2017 TV Movie)

Unbelievable ending

[6/10 · 6 July 2020]

Before writing my own review I read many others just to see why many people totally hate this movie. I saw the dubbed italian version so I may not see the bad acting since its somehow covered by the dubbing but I can say I enjoyed the movie. The script is, somehow easy and predictable, but still not that bad in my opinion.

What I really hated is totally unbelievable ending. I can't believe that a bride-to-be could be so happy seeing her ex-groom marrying her best friend the same day they broke up. This is really unbelievable. The ending is what made me really disappointed and doesn't allow me to give more than 6 stars to the movie.

Not that bad but not the best christmas movie either.

P.S. Another thing I didn't like is the italian title that in English is "Wedding on the snow", totally nonsense since the snow almost never appears in the movie.

Major Crimes (2012–2018)

THE BEST SPIN-OFF EVER

[10/10 · 30 January 2019]

I am a huge fan of this kind of shows. I started to watch Major Crimes almost only because there's the mitic G.W.Bailey ( that for me is always the LT Harris from the Police Academy series) and I soon fell in love with the show. Sharon Raydor and Provenza are my favourite characters of all followed by LT Tao. The show is really amazing. I found a good mix of humour, suspance and a very good story line. I read many other reviews and I saw that many of them don't like the Rusty Character at all. I don't agree with that. I love that character because he added a good side story at the plot (I don't like his arrogant and stubborn behaviour, of course but not the story in which he is involved). At the contrary, the one character I always disliked was brenda lee johnson and I was happy to see that the she would have not been in this show. Raydor is a better captain for the team, less arrogant and selfcentered than Brenda but this is only my personal opinion.. I'm looking forward to see the 6th season as up to now it hasn't been broadcast yet in free tv here in Italy (only on pay tv).