akira-hideyo Reviews

Game of Thrones (2011–2019)

Typical Betrayal both in reel and real

[10/10 · 30 April 2024]

GOT lived up to its nemesis of logic, justice, fair play,.. Etc. Right up to its finale, it did a complete reversal of plot sequences from the high to piling up hordes of pure disgust and condemnation from its fans world wide. I just managed to binge watch all 8 seasons over the weekend and then some mins ago and like most was infuriated and felt truly insulted that the finale committed travesty parallel only to Cersei's monstrosity in the role. But synonymous to the shock and disbelief that the show brought with its endless gore, horrors, betrayal and deceit, it must truly also be appreciated for its incredible spectrum of reality wisdom revealed in navigating life in its true form. So hate the finale for its reel portrayal to a satisfying and expected conclusion but surely we cannot deny how we all now have an ion of feeling how disgusted and repulsed betrayal feels. You have to hand these mother frockers awards for spilling the essence of GOT out from our screens and smack onto our emotional psyche. Just be grateful that the Night King stayed behind.

Downstairs (2019–2023)

Singapore's South Park meets Simpsons

[10/10 · 20 November 2023]

Absolutely hilarious and natively unique to Singapore but can travel across borders. This series must be seriously promoted globally for the brilliant witty content, culturally appropriate Singlish and relevance. Any non citizen watching this will definitely get a very good grasp of what the inner core this red dot nation truly is. A big cast of the nation's comic best. I almost never rave over any animation of any genre, let alone local or comedy. This series with its consistent humorous anecdotes will surely garner a bigger fan base once its reach is accorded the well deserved recognition. Made in Singapore series drama, animation and documentaries are respectfully renowned on an upward trend and are celebrated and awarded in global media events. It's 's ripe for more global appreciation. Great job! 👍👌🙏🎉

Bathhouse (2005)

Introspection

[9/10 · 23 October 2023]

The low reviews are akin to the shallow characters in this movie. Don't glimpse over the movie. Understand it. It may not be hollywood quality nor the sophistication of many low budget shows but if one watches till the end it should imbue the true essence of the reality of many gays evertwhere in the world; where they struggle to satisfy their primal urges yet unrealistically expect to find true love from such love ghettos. Gay bath houses has come a long way since the earlier days pre and post AIDS. Structurally many have had upgraded to better facilities, better access, younger hotter crowds... Etc, but sadly, there's way more abhorrent superficiality from these leisure lifestyles. Present times, free sex and free love are no longer that easily available over a cuppa coffee or a bathhouse of hungry crocodiles waiting for that prized Wildebeest to stumble over a needed drink. Welcome to the world of male escorts or moneyboys, where technology offers you a delectable menu of the unattainable wagu prime meat over a simple tap on an app, provided of course your bank account is abundantly liquid to accompany the main course.

The Neighbor (2022)

Messy

[2/10 · 30 September 2023]

Good intentions but very disjointed plot, unnecessary annoying psychotic diva dramatics on the part of the protagonist Rikki and pent up bursts of irrelevant flashbacks to events that lead to no where. Slow pace is curiously drawn out to insert inane conversations from all characters. Whole movie seems amateurish where audience can't or don't care to engage with any character to empathize with. Each character seems detached from the each other, pansively dragging on with their low energy lives and carrying their own misplaced cross in a crisis moment when tragedy, pain and grief should unite and mend fractures for possible last moments of the aggrieved. Too much tortured souls suitable for therapy sessions but not for a movie worth sitting through. The worst part is the enabling of a very clear and present danger in the story to ballon into a very serious hate crime when simple measures with authorities could have had been easily taken to prevent the obvious inevitable consequences it was heading towards. So much negative deprecating aggression within the supposed nucleus of love by the protagonist but seemingly not doing enough the right things to make anything matter.

Rotting in the Sun (2023)

Refreshing

[9/10 · 19 September 2023]

Wasn't expecting a few unexpected twists and the fast sudden change of leads within a movie with 2 protagonists. Impressive. This has a genuine feel of reality and it follows a very logical route of story telling. And that's exactly how the guilty character would behave with anyone caught in that dire predicament. The female helper was truly superb in her performance giving so many conflicting and disturbing vibes of what exactly is she in character essence. She can seem naive and somewhat intellectually slow, yet her instinctive prodding for an accomplice to erase her reckless misdeed betrays her darker nature. Again, the ending was another unexpected twist from her yet unpredictable surrender of truth when she could have had simply fade into oblivion. Great show.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (2023– )

Leopard No Change Spots

[4/10 · 11 September 2023]

I decided to watch this strictly based upon my fan respect for Norman Reedus alone to carry the lead. I have long given up on TWD and all its boring spinoffs. None worked, same ole same ole bore. So this new series started off pretty interesting. Hopeful it will have a new storyline, new direction and new change of environment, I persevered. A few off moments I excused but then when the convent got crowded and little cirque de solo boy was told to lock up safely after on room alone, he must truly be the brilliant rubiks cube genius messiah that does so only loudly when intruders were just immediately outside to alert them. My mind just blew. Or that the idiotic old nun kept bodily blocking gun shooting Daryl to show mercy to the escaping chief guerrilla when her own sister nuns were brutally massacred. Truly, I'm done with such imbecilic writing, writers strike or not. All can starve to death for all I care and turn into real zombies if such brain dead scripts keeps trending. Pun intended. Doubt I'll waste further precious alive time for the next episode. BTW, isn't the nun's similar theme objective been already done by too many other series, the most recent notable being " The Last of us?". Geez!

The Changeling (2023– )

Change-And-Blink!

[5/10 · 9 September 2023]

I have to confess I was anxiously excited to watch this series when I thought it could be a remake of the 1980 movie by the same name. Also, am a huge fan of Adina Porter. Now after tolerating 3 episodes of this fractured piece of Salvador Dali, (no worries Ms Porter, you did great, Shantay you stay), I feel that the true horror lies not with the show but its casting good talent, props and production values into the Mac trash bin. Can someone please empty bin please? Maybe the story wants to match its namesake by nauseating viewers on trying to catch elusive Tinker bell zigzag it's way through all incoherent sub plots? Sadly it's best to clip her wings soon enough and chain her to a burial plot next to the so called demon child. Zzzz.

The Baker (II) (2022)

Perlman Wows!

[8/10 · 24 August 2023]

I don't even understand how this movie can rank below a minimum of 8 in review ratings. Ron Perlman is way underrated as the real man's man of what a strong, silent, no nonsense real hero should be. Not withstanding in this movie, a dream fantasy grandfather or father any kid would be proud to a part of that bloodline. The plot may seem straight forward predictable but it's the flow of a good movie and it's great talent that elevates this from mediocre. RP character doesn't need lots of stunt work to get the message across or work done. Guess it's his many years as a veteran artiste professional that commands an implied presence that requires no words. Like the bread that he bakes, he more than rose to the crunch. 🍞👍🙏👌😋👏🎊💐

Narrow path to happiness (2023)

Love is love

[8/10 · 21 August 2023]

What stands out from this docu-biographic film is raw courage, faith and hope that true love will triumph over deliberate obstacles and challenges created both by circumstances and an extremely primitive political eco-system against LGBTQI+ in Hungary. What these 2 protagonists faced for their life commitment to each other is nothing short of miraculous. Not many men, hetero or otherwise, would have had the same public bravado to showcase their struggles and continual fight globally through this film plus their on going media projects. They proved beyond any doubt that they possess the real alpha qualities of real men that fight and win wars that inspire revolutions that inspire mere mortals to fantasize for that honor but lack courage to emulate for unspeakable consequences. God bless them both with all their communities rising up to meet them rightfully.

Blue Beetle (2023)

Another appointed loser!

[5/10 · 19 August 2023]

There seems to be alot of these such movies lately where something incredible is chosen for someone to be great and the so called chosen recipient of the gift or blessing is so non deserving with highly irritating low self esteem that one starts to cheer for the bad guys instead to end the audiences' suffering. What happened to real super heroes like John Wick or Jack Ryan where they wear their battle amour with responsible conviction and honourable mission to do good without a second thought. This show comes off the lot to fill the ethnic diversity quota in Hollywood of recent push. Yes, by all means, but for goodness sake, arm such protagonist with more oomph and self pride and courage. All needs a dash of Bruce Lee to make this porridge perfect for all future Goldilocks.

Bird Box: Barcelona (2023)

Bird Droppings

[1/10 · 17 July 2023]

Whomever tagged this as the sequel to the original Bird Box needs to have their unhatched eggs checked-they are all cracked, rotten! I watched an hour into the show and could no longer stem the irritation and annoyance of watching an ungrateful sinister protagonist curating his penchant for murder of good innocent survivors on whatever spiritual crack he's snorting. The production value was good as per any good hollywood movie but what a serious waste of props and talent. How anyone can equate making someone else commit suicide, the very antithesis of divinity, as a demonstration of angelic persuasion is clearly delusional. Another case of writer's block within the writer's strike? Blind me!

The Blacklist: Raymond Reddington (No. 00): Good Night (2023) Season 10, Episode 22

Bull

[1/10 · 15 July 2023]

I'm a huge fan of this show since I was a calf BUT to see the finale end with Raymond Reddington "choked" on a fully rare ribeye on tacos is beyond blasphemous. James Spader has so masterfully wielded the character of Reddington to his own real possible idiosyncrasies that it's literally impossible not to regard his role parallel of reel to real union as a seamless possibility. To end this beloved phenomenal series, not to mention the legacy of a larger than life character like Reddington this way is truly dishonorable and hideously disrespectful. It's a massive betrayal to the loyalty and self respect from all the fans and to all the cast ensemble from the beginning. Shame on your writers and those responsible for green lighting this finale !!! Perhaps your current union strike needs to get a new matador with better perspective of paying homage to basic traditions. Not hitting such a massive bullseye this time is clearly unforgivable and hopefully not indicative of more titanics waiting to dock. Nevertheless, thank you to all the cast and team involved with the show all these years. You all will be very dearly missed. Salut and many new blessings!

American Born Chinese (2023)

Oh dear....!

[2/10 · 26 May 2023]

I wanted it to be good. Was really looking forward to savoring it's debut, especially after the massive success of the Everything movie plus Michelle Yeo's historic landmark Oscar win. This series has big Asian stars. So naturally was expecting them to fill big shoes, given it's a Disney project. As I moved into episode 4, I no longer can hold back my cringing skin crawl and goosebumps on how truly bad and humiliating this nonsensically acted folklore depiction is gonna set Asian media march 100 steps backwards. Bad infantile acting, rumbled western colloquially scented mandarin, illogical story lines, unnecessary hamming up of Asian stereotypes....etc. I'm embarrassed to watch further. EEAAO, Crazy Rich Asians, Couching tiger, Geisha, Joyluck club...these were very powerful, positive and tastefully done movies for their genre. They all had integrity, poignancy and sensitive humor where necessary. Sadly, this reckless ABC series is a a strong signal and alarm to stop further celebrations and pardon the turkey. Take a leaf from Awkwafina's comedic series. Her style of comedy is loaded with acrylic and often very offensive puns, ala South Park, but they are executed exactly that way to hit the target without losing its brilliant strategic satire and irreverence. American Born Chinese boasts big names but fail badly to shine with bad scripting and honorable adaption.

Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over (2021)

God Is Proud of its DW-Divine Wonder

[10/10 · 2 January 2023]

Finally caught it on 3rd day of 2023. Couldn't do so via CNN while on flight back home from holidays. No documentary can respectfully contain all the great moments of Dionne's music and her life; its just that full. I had the great blessing of meeting, chatting, hugging and cheek kissing Lady Dionne with precious selfies a long while back, when she was part of an annual tennis charity event in Singapore. This bio documentary is a wonderful homage to not only a living iconic legend, but a known proven humanitarian. Her incredible catalog and gamut of many song gems are mind boggling. I am fortunate to own all her releases and many songs that weren't on charts are nevertheless seemingly timeless hit songs on slow burners for anyone for any era. This presentation gives viewers just a glimpse of just some of the magnificent body of work she graced through so far from her never dull moments of her charmed life with family, friends, colleagues, community, industry, charities and anyone and everyone that mattered. It's uplifting both musically and very inspiring to see her stoic defiant courage in the midst of heavily sanctioned racial situations while on tour and similarly her do or die, F*U, risk it all or nothing on her career future by globally elevating the vital stigmatized movement of the AIDS crusade then by donating 100% of proceeds of her iconic anthem TWFAF, to AIDS research. Humanity above her own commercial legacy. Truly Divine. I salute and will always adore you, Lady Dionne.

Segue: To each his/her own, but I must, for once, am compelled to condemn the vile and purid review here by patriamcanany, titled, Fallen Star. Not only did she not watch the documentary, but has the audacity to put on her KKK hat and launch a honey boo boo self inflated role to diss out advice, based on just getting high on trailers? OMG! -you are a true abomination of the word. Now Walk On By- Period!

Let the Right One In: What's Done in the Dark (2022) Season 1, Episode 10

Let Season 2 right in soon!

[10/10 · 13 December 2022]

I waited patiently for this season finale and was not disappointed. The trailer before already set the tone to expect 5 corners confrontation. There were many extreme conflicting decisions that flipped and ultimately it was an unexpected dilemma yet again with serious consequences. The original hit Swedish series where this was adapted from, was a novel approach to creepy but kinda romantic and sweet. That story stayed within a narrow confine and it's appeal worked then against the cold detached setting of the barren Scandinavian cold winter. This current US version was expanded nicely that branch into an entirely different story line with many more possibilities to build upon further. With the finale ending set deliberately with consequences, it would be a grave crime not to usher Season 2 to rally behind now a formidable war between 2 powerful families taking turns now as both predator and prey.

Prey for the Devil (2022)

Good enough

[8/10 · 13 December 2022]

It ain't Linda Blair Exorcist. Yes, there were countless similar demon got me done that horror movies. But this one was like goldilocks. Not too hot, not too cold. But just nice. Concept was interesting too. Not many venture into having a nun as the protagonist. Certainly not one where she went to both extremes between heaven and hell. Jacqueline Byers was a delightful face to watch. A tinge of Britney beauty with that saintly, Opps I did it again vibe, toying dancing this time not with a smitten boy, but a sticky demon. I remembered her in the 2 season 2017-2018 series, Salvation, which ended abruptly, as do most good shows, with neanderthal networks. This movie has great props, high production values, great cast and sufficient haunts and flips to keep your popcorn popping. So I never understand the low score reviews too for this flick and many good to great shows/movies reviewed on IMDB. Guess it's the Era of neanderthals. Growl.

American Horror Story: Something's Coming (2022) Season 11, Episode 1

Cruising 2.0

[10/10 · 22 October 2022]

Loosely deja vu but from this opening episode vibe, and guessing where it's going, seems like they're rebooting the focus on the NYC gay killings of the early 1980s. The original movie then starred, Al Pacino and Paul Sorvino. Despite the masterful story retelling of true crime events within the gay community, the movie was heavily picketed for being too real too soon too close for comfort. Sadly, the masterpiece movie bombed for all the wrong reasons (homophobia, paranoia, denial) but truth be told, it secretly resonated deeply with the fringe community where all the murders were happening. Even the great masterclass William Friedkin, behind iconic The Exorcist, couldn't shift Cruising into the same mega hit box office that it should have been deserving of. It was so bad that Al Pacino never wanted to be associated with the movie and dropped the titular honor from his acting resume. Guess the demons of human nature is far more elusive than those that goes bump in the night. Let's see how AHS handle this classic for TV adaption in the gaylore universe. Having veterans Russell Tovey and Sandra Bernhard fronting this morbid revisit is a good start.

Bel-Air (2022– )

Lord have mercy!

[1/10 · 13 October 2022]

Just watched 20 minutes into episode 1 and felt it was already heading to trial at the courtroom. I do know something about coming from rags to riches but this ain't it. Everything seemed over reaching. Big flaunts, exaggerated opulence, masked swagger, anger issues, big egos, ATT-itude with a capital ASS, attached front and back. I usually fast forward a dud of a show to catch the jist before deciding to drop it entirely if the vibes ain't catching my brood but I stopped dead at the 20 mins pit stop for this one. Too much of nothing is nothing. All I felt from watching this precum was it felt repulsively FAKE, FAKE, Fake! Ain't no shade. Just keeping it real. "Empire" was different. Lucious had bite and Cookie has claws and their wealth and opulence felt sorted and relevant and EARNED! Bel-Air my toots. More like HOT-Air. Can I have an Ariande Frappuccino Grabde please... Next...!

Acts of Love (2021)

Mom's the word

[5/10 · 8 October 2022]

Stumbled upon this somewhere online and decided to watch it out of curiosity. The pictorial intro caught my attention to what this story may be about. Didn't expect it to turn into a somewhat self indulgent autobiographical soirée of hookups, conflicted yes, no, give or take BJ, hj, lovemaking? There is a certain tenderness to the subject matter of connections. The author himself seems boyishly charming, vulnerable enough for his objective to solicit the necessary reactions from his subjects, confused, torn, self validating... I don't know.. Sigh. The best parts to this little venture seems to be his phone conversations with his mom. I'm very much in awe of her feedback. Such succinct, powerful, insightful, accurate and honest comments to what her son is doing with this film and what the public perception would be. I share her views entirely. There's basically no need to write any script for any scene. Just meet, chat, share, do or don't the deed, reflect, done. The juxtapositioning of still photos and commentary interspersed within scenes is interesting. Perhaps more appropriate titles could be; Acts of Affection, Pass the salt, WhyFind Disconnections, or what the great Tina would decry ; " What's love gotta do with it?".

Sheng Wang: Sweet and Juicy (2022 TV Special)

Genius!

[10/10 · 7 September 2022]

Insightful, smooth, cerebral, intelligent, cool as cucumber and very refreshing. Every single joke landed without missing a beat. Passive aggressive brilliance! So I truly don't understand the lower ratings. There are a few Asian comics/ standup currently and it's encouraging to enjoy a more sophisticated presentation of entertainment from Sheng's brand of material. He seems unassuming with his laid back delivery and his astute observation on simple day to day mundane humanity is surprisingly humorous and quietly implosive. You go brother, you got more than the usual unboxing to go far. Time will tell what separates the good expensive eye cream from Cosco! Salom!

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022– )

Boys to Men

[5/10 · 4 September 2022]

I find it highly amusing that high scoring reviews here gets lots of thumbs down and vice versa. It's understandable that comparisons will be made against the tidings of the 3 iconic LOTR trilogy movies. That's just limiting oneself to enjoying this TV series on its own glory by itself. How can any comparison be made against the original historic Tolkien cinematic masterpieces where by just looking at the list of masterclass pedigree actors associated with the franchise vs unknowns here, would make anyone's jaw drop. Watch this TV imagination of storytelling by its own standalone merit as one would within the Tolkien universe and not be distracted by purist pursuits of its roots nor adaptation. Production value alone is beyond historic limits. Give it time to bond with all the new talented new faces on screen and slowly find your LOTR deja vu moments again soon. It should also be evident that after episode 2, any self respecting halfings would start to notice the speed, tension and development of a much deeper storyline is building up strongly. Relax and be grateful that we get to savor the magnitude of epic movie magic from all our devices here and now.

Vanjie: 24 Hours of Love (2022– )

Sisterhood Infinity and BeyondSay?

[7/10 · 30 August 2022]

Firstly, it was pretty good entertainment compared to previous gay dating shows. But what those lack in shady yin energies, they more than made up with some pretty hot yang studs that could ignite some wet torches. Here, it's more like watching Ms Vanjie looking out to adopt one more foster sister for her Madre to BBQ over hell fire and mummy dearest own mexican hot sauce. There's way too much shade, cat fights, and estrogen to fill up all the swimming pools in Vegas. In a sea of wet "beaches" , it's delusional to believe one can genuinely find a standardized entry level hubby in the generic male form with true love icings thrown in, on a reality show no less, let alone within the niche narrower confines of the gay drag universe. The 2 rejected finalists should seem more validating to viewers but it's Vanjie's choice and in the immortal words of MamaRu, " I've consulted with the judges but the decision is mine to make ! " Amen.

PS : Watching mega B! Tch Brandon, one can understand why someone would carry a firearm. Too soon?

Animal Kingdom: Fubar (2022) Season 6, Episode 13

Cop out

[6/10 · 30 August 2022]

Overall the show is 10 10 10 across the board but the finale sucks with too many loose ends. Die hard fans dont tune into the show to search for meditative meanings weeks after. One reason why this show was exceptional was its no nonsense, raw, gritty, point blank in your face survival do what constantly needs to be done to go beyond that vibe and life philosophy. The show just went downhill after they replaced predatory mother Smurf, ala, Ellen Barkin, with a younger and more foxy Smurf, ala, Leila George. Ah well, it had an incredible 6 seasons. Gonna really miss those boys and their crime escapades.

SLR (2022)

Zzzz

[4/10 · 19 August 2022]

Not quite sure how this got past even a 5 star review. Thai cinematography is typically good in their own cultural movie themed settings, ala, steamy, smoky and atmospheric with the usual anticipative something monstrous is about to jump at you type of BOO ! Just don't expect this anywhere near their iconic.2004 Shutter. This one not so good Sir.

Vengeance (II) (2022)

Consequences

[10/10 · 16 August 2022]

The heart sees the heart on the whole matter. Ultimately, everything is connected and has consequences. Cerebral opium. Brilliant conceptual orgasm. BJ Novak did a great BJ (brilliant job-what were all you gutter minded thinking?) lol. Ashton was just as smooth, matured and parallel to Novak's acting chops to the movie's success. Congrats!