mariogrcic Reviews

Iron Fist (2017–2018)

Embarrassment

[1/10 · 17 March 2017]

This show isn't just the worst comic adaption but one of the most ridiculous shows i watched in quite some time. I couldn't care less about the whitewashing issue. Iron fist could be played by Luke cage, Jessica henwick and i still wouldn't care since the only thing that matters is acting here.

Finn Jones - Completely miscast as iron fist. He neither has the charisma nor is he believable as "on of the strongest martial artist". When he fights it looks like he is dancing. His acting mostly is just OK at best and at worst is like hodors lines. Also as a character danny comes of as a douche-bag. Am i supposed to root for this unlikable individual?

Coleen Wing - Jessica Henwick is rocking this characters. One of the few good thing on this show. Why couldn't she play iron fist? At least she knows how to act.

Meachum - The meachum family are extremely irritating and unlikable. Am i supposed to care for these unkind,selfish people?

Fight-scenes - Someone at marvel lauded this show as "the best fight scenes on television" before it aired. I have to say they are laughable bad. Its like watching people dance. Its almost as if they didn't care and used the pre-rehearsed scenes than the actual ones. Finn jones isn't selling it either.

Plot - The story is ridiculous boring and slow. Like in one instance danny is repetitively trying to prove he is danny rand but instead of proving to the person that he is danny (by recollecting important information from past) what does he do? He yells: im danny! its me! Not once but 100 times. DO we need to see a whole episode of danny in a mental hospital? Really? Wow.

Dialogue - The dialogue is one of the worst i have seen. At some point Coleen says things like: I must defend my honor! I guess the writers think we live in the 19th century.

Netflix/marvel partnership - This partnership has gone so long enough that they can do/dish out shows in any way the please. This show wont get cancelled since u can binge watch it. But my fear is that the producers don't ever try/care anymore as a result.

Summary - Boring,slow plot,weak/uninteresting characters,. This show belong on the CW with all the other campy,comical series. It seems to me that marvel quickly made a product without any care to it whatsoever. The fight scenes seem to be done by people who don't like martial arts at all so its no wonder to watch something that passionless. I bet some producers kid said: hey dad! u know it would be cool if u added these crazy kung-fu moves as titles for the episodes! Dad: Oh great idea son!

Just remember that we waited 2 years for daredevil because of this. 3 years for JJ.

Legion (2017–2019)

Wrong approach

[2/10 · 4 March 2017]

Legion started good first episode and than went completely off the rails. The characters are really paper thin. Sydneyy barret for example seems nothing but a nice looking chick who smiles all to often. So just the love interest, besides that empty. The rest of the cast don't say that much and the ones that do say little... well they to seem empty of any characterization.

The plot is so so paperthin. Im on episode 4 and nothing barely happened. This should have been a movie, not a series.

Here is my biggest problem with legion: David a schizophrenic who has multiple personality's. They could explore his psyche, go in depth. They could have made a deep series about mental illness, about all these rich personas. Instead u get barraged with visuals after visuals. The problem is, psychology lies inward. But this series focus lies outward. Creating a visual atmosphere. This show should be character driven. Like breaking bad, night of....

The writers/directors don't have the capability to explore the psyche. The outer layer/outer world should be always secondary. U can have a man in a dark room with nothing to see except hearing David talk. This is the approach this series deserves.

If u don't like artsy type of movies/series or stuff like twin peaks that uses surreal imagery than u probably wont like legion.

If u like good drawn out characters and well written dialogue u wont like legion.

If u like a good plot... u wont like legion. If u like a lot of style but no substance, u like legion.

1 star for acting and 1 star for visuals.

Halt and Catch Fire (2014–2017)

Mad man ripoff

[2/10 · 26 February 2017]

Some ignorant people at amc think that what makes a show successful is the part that u take from it. Oh look game of thrones has dragons,nudity,violence. Or mad man has period costumes, business meeting. Thats what makes this show successful...amc thinks. So they say hey throw some dinner meetings, old guys in suits, smoking, talking a lot of business stuff (while sitting). They think they can just copy paste mad man and make a great series.

But mad man was successful because it had characters who some where flawed but also had a lot of strengths. Draper had his flaws but he never talked behind others backs, hard worker. Or betty shy insecure but later develops. All these characters have some humanity in them. Who do you root for here? This unlikable mess?

Mad man had intelligent,wise writing. Whats happiness? Whats success? Does success lead to happiness? The question posed in the series was posed by wise/intelligent people. U cant copy-paste wisdom like its a folder on a computer. Wisdom comes from the heart of the person. From experience that shaped u. That u embody.

1 star for acting. 1 star for good visuals.

Top of the Lake (2013–2017)

Delusional

[3/10 · 26 February 2017]

This has to be one of the most narrow minded shows i have ever come across. The writer/directors must consist of bunch of women who loath man fiercely. The story takes place in new zealand and 99% of the man there are the worst kind. Off course if u are a man hater like the women director campion and u have a narrow view of the world what do you do? U place all the women in abusive,helpless relationships. Because all man are violent pigs. Right? Just so u can comfort your one sided views. All the other man who save lives,are kind,generous...well they don't exist in her world. Because if they did her whole fantasy construct would fall apart and we cant have that, now can we?

The main character played by the great elisabeth moss is really bland and uninteresting. The story is mostly boring and pointless. There are many subplots that either lead nowhere or are just a waste of your time.

I give it 1 star for acting, 1 star for beautiful cinematography. 1 star for really great directing.

If i had to summarize this show in one word it would be: Delusional

The Americans (2013–2018)

A cruel new world

[2/10 · 18 February 2017]

If u check sites on what are the best series off all time u will see breaking bad,sopranos,Americans on top of these lists. It seems people enjoy now anti heroes. I give this series 2 stars. 1 star for acting. 2nd star for directing/atmosphere. Everything else is just awful. I cant relate with these people since they are cheating,murdering,lying bastards. If they got killed it wouldn't faze me at all. There wasn't a single moment of compassion,kindness,forgiveness,generosity in the main characters. I sicked in the hopes the fbi people will have some moral compass. But nooo...one fbi guy kills another guy in cold blood. No justice, no remorse. Nothing.

Do we really need to see this? Im asking u the reader. Do we need to see a innocent life taken? (which the main characters plenty of did) Do we really need that long long scene of hitting someone repeatedly? DO we need to see both main characters commit adultery so many times? Lying to each other so many times? All this has an effect on our mind. Its a fragile,sensible thing our mind.

Just think about it if u had 24 h to live and u knew you will die somehow shortly. You just watched 10 h of the Americans. 10 hours of torture,deceiving,murdering,violence... would you feel proud? Would u say: Man that was time well spend! I would look back and feel ashamed and disgusted that i wasted my precious life for this.

Luke Cage (2016–2018)

Could have been so much more

[3/10 · 10 October 2016]

Warning! There are some SPOILERS ahead since i watched all 13 episodes. Here is why this series is below DD,JJ.

Special effects/choreography. Where did all the money go for this series? If u watched daredevil and Luke cage u see the difference. There is really a lack of fight scenes and when there are they really disappoint. I know Luke has powers and he cant ninja kick people because they would get hurt... but the fight scenes are either very short or just rehash of the old stuff. I don't expect crazy punches from mr.cage but at least some creativity. The only good scenes where the ones in the trailer..otherwise none to speak of. Also anyone notice the awful cgi in a lot of scenes? When Luke jumps of a building his body/legs special effects are some of the worst i have seen. Other instance when Luke is in that prison flashback he punches through a wall... just re-watch that scene and tell me if that is some high tech effects. I seen better cgi on CW shows...

Diamondback: You who have watched the whole series let this sink into u. There are people who decided that cottonmouth had to go for diamondback to come into this show?!?! Diamondback the worst,cheesiest,corniest villain i have ever seen in my life. That bible preaching card-board character is a shame for television. Instead to SPOILERS... kill him off the writers where like: " whoah we are so proud of this characters we will have him appear in season 2!"

Luke cage is invulnerable. So you would think the people running the show thought "hey! him being invincible will get old really soon wouldn't it?" but NOOOO. Instead we get to see Luke cage being shot at 100000000 gazzilion times. What they should have done is show the criminal underworld finding ways to stop Luke cage. This way we viewers would understand what limits this superhero has. Like for instance: Burn,acid,electricity,radiation,poison,drawing and my favorite: sonic weapons that will transmit painful sounds into Luke ears. We don't know if this would work instead but all this is better than goons(even the same!) shooting cage for the millionth time.

Cottonmouth: I have to say mahershala ali has become one of my favorite actors since watching him portray this role. My only criticism is (again) the writers. Cottonmouth is basically no villain. He offers no challenge to Luke. In the original comics cottonmouth was blessed with super strength and sharp (shark like) teeth. Why did the writers decide to make him into a normal guy? I would understand if he offered some resistance but what does he do the whole series? Laugh? Bark at his underlings? He never was threatening unlike kingpin and kilgrave. A real villain is supposed to be a thorn into the heroes eyes. Cottonmouth was nothing more than a annoying fly buzzing around cage.

There are some huge plot holes in the series. Like Luke punches diamondback into a wall only for the dude to get up like nothing happened. Luke cage never punched a criminal hard... yet when police show up he falcon punches the cop so hard he flys 10 meters away?? Why not flee? Why not trap the cops into a car? Because the plot demanded it. yawn. And the worst scenes is when Luke cage was dipped into acid to get these bullets out?? Why not dip just the torso and not the whole body!!? And what was with that acid anyway??? Magically turns into water the next minute?

The positive is harlem is beautifully portrait, it feels like the wire ( but without the good writing) some awesome supporting actors on the shows. If they can rectify some of the mistakes this could be on of the best. But i doubt they will and we see the same old same old in season 2. I rate this series in two halves. The first 6-7 episodes i give a 7. And the rest i give arrow season 3-4 rating.