lumosnight Reviews

Beastars (2019– )

Drama galore and neglect of good plotlines

[6/10 · 20 May 2023]

To summarize the plot: a wolf is attracted to a rabbit because of her 'irresistible scent' - he doesn't know whether he wants to eat her or make love to her. He doesn't even know her personality properly -what he does know is that she is 'perfect for him' and he wants to commit his life to her. The rabbit is an outsider and she is continuously placed in damsel-in-distress situations where he has to save her, while also not trusting himself to be with her because he might hurt her.

The story sounds familiar? Of course it is, because that is the same plot as Twilight. It is a fanfiction of forbidden love, with carnivore and herbivore animals instead of humans and vampires. No wonder teenagers love this show.

The first episode captures your attention because there is a murderous carnivore on the loose, but that plot completely gets pushed to the side in favour of a lemonade story where Legoshi the wolf stalks and pines after Haru the rabbit. He has obsessive internal monologues a la Joe Goldberg from the tv series "You", but that's not seen as creepy at all.

The characters deliver a lot of quasi-philosophic lines that do not make much sense, like "No matter what I do, figuring out a woman's mind never gets any easier" and have dramatic outbursts very frequently.

Characters make plenty of unnecessary sacrifices, when they could have just called the police or avoided saying something. It also makes no sense why carnivores and herbivores are forcing themselves to live together in a society where they don't trust each other and carnivores have walk on eggshells so as to fit in with herbivores' standards, when they can just take over and keep the herbivores as their meat stock. The creator obviously did not think this through, and it shows that this universe has been poorly planned.

On the other hand, this show does keep your attention, so you do want to know what happens next. In my opinion, Season 2 is considerably more interesting than Season 1, which wasted a lot of time on Legoshi's pining and white knighting of a rabbit he barely knows. I actually like a good interspecies romance, but this is poorly handled, perhaps season 3 will be better.

I want to give this a 6.5, but since there is no option of this here, I will have to settle for a 6, as a 7 would be a bit too generous.

The Accidental Narco (2022– )

Naive and silly, but all in good fun

[6/10 · 12 September 2022]

When they say 'based on a true story' what they mean is that there was once a Korean narco trafficker in Suriname, and that is where all the similarities end. He did not front as a pastor, nor did he have a cult following of crazies.

So the story follows a man called In Gu who is down on his luck and has to support his family. His friend gives him an offer that is too good to be true: to set up a business in Suriname where they will export skate fish to Korea and thus become rich. In Gu takes him up on his offer, never once investigating the political situation in Suriname, nor checking the regulations for importing food into Korea. The two of course get into trouble with the local gangs who each want their cut of the revenue and In Gu ends up having to work with the National Intelligence Service to hunt down the local Korean kingpin, the notorious Pastor.

Everything feels incredibly naive with the story, where our main character happens to be a brilliant negotiator who is capable of pulling the wool over all the narco bosses' eyes and he manages to pit them against each other. The NIS officer who begs him for help is so laughable in how helpless he is in the whole situation, and his disguises are quite unconvincing.

The Korean production of this show obviously wanted a cut out of the 'narco trafficker' genre which is very popular now. However, it is obvious that they haven't done a bit of research on what made narco bosses so remarkable. Anyone who watched the Narcos series would realize that the leaders of these cartels were highly intelligent, despite not being educated, and they were very good judges of character. In Gu's deceit would have be discovered early on and he would have been killed the moment he even attempted to put them against each other. Only the most observant would stay on top, which is what made cartel leaders so intimidating.

Overall, this is a fun show, but it would have worked much better as a full on comedy that parodies the narcos genre - now that would have made it truly memorable.

The Daltons (2010–2016)

A fun show

[8/10 · 14 February 2021]

Growing up, I enjoyed reading Lucky Luke comics, and the Daltons were my favourite characters. I only recently discovered this show and I'm surprised why it was not more popular. There is a fresh updated design that strays not too far from the original, and the episodes are funny. Each episode revolves around the Daltons trying to break out of prison using different schemes, some clever, some hare-brained, and some absolutely out of this world. The show features original characters, like Miss Betty the prison educator and Mr. Peabody the prison director, but they do not steal the spotlight from our main characters. What I like about this show is how the Daltons have now more fleshed-out personalities and therefore are more likable. So from the order of eldest to youngest (shortest to tallest) we have:

Joe - just like in the comics, he is hot-tempered and conniving, always coming up with ideas for escaping from prison. However, it is pretty obvious that he cares about his brothers, especially Averell, with whom he frequently loses patience. Also, he seems to fancy Miss Betty.

Jack - the responsible brother, who reasonably questions Joe's plans to make sure they make sense. He's usually quiet most of the time, though it might be the wisest decision when it comes to Joe.

William - he is now the most well-read brother with academic leanings, coming up with straightforward solutions and possessing deduction skills. He occasionally addresses the viewers and explains different concepts to us (such as the status of women's rights in the Wild West). He also seems to harbor a crush on Miss Betty, of which she is oblivious.

Averell - in this version he is more of a ditz, clumsy and stuck in his own world. However, he is also kind and affectionate, which makes him lovable to everyone. Also, he is an amazing artist.

Despite their shortcomings, the brothers are fiercely loyal to one another, and what makes their plans fail is either bad luck or that they hadn't properly thought their missions through. You end up cheering for the Daltons to escape while also enjoying the creative solutions they come up with.

Bloodride (2020)

So campy and predictable

[4/10 · 31 March 2020]

I actually watched the entire first season - as someone who gets scared easily, I was laughing and rolling my eyes at how bad the episodes were. The characters were all awkward - I don't know if that is part of Norwegian culture, but the people there behaved like they were interacting with other human beings for the first time in their lives. So awkward and blunt, it was like watching kindergartners in adult bodies communicating with each other. The characters don't seem to challenge information that is given to them or think for themselves. They readily accept when they told that something is supernatural or a piece of information that might very likely be a lie. Also, no one ever thinks of properly fighting back, either verbally or physically, when their lives are in danger. They just... let it happen. The plans that the villains pull off simply cannot be done if you think about it - they are too fallible, and the audience is asked to suspend their disbelief, very often. And finally, the plots are very predictable. You can guess from the first few minutes how the story will unravel and the 'twists' have been ripped off from famous horror movies. So why did I watch it? It was still fun and dare I say, for laughs. Thank you for giving me comedy nights Norway!

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

A true adventure and far better than the original

[8/10 · 24 December 2017]

I re-watched the original Jumanji a few months ago and it made me realise just how dull I found it. It had a good idea and an excellent actor (the late Robin Williams) but it never reached its full potential. Its scenes often felt like the story was dragged along, the humour was weak and I didn't get attached to any of the characters. Given that sequels rarely surpass the originals I was wary of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

Needless to say, I was pleasantly surplussed. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle features characters that are actually likable and we want them to win, the action scenes keep you at the edge of your seat and it was actually funny. Jack Black was hilarious as a self-absorbed teenage girl trapped in an overweight man's body and he truly stole the show. The morals of the story that are addressed here are timeless and focus on issues that teenagers try to resolve, such as breaking away from the modern-age dependence on social media, the rekindling of friendships that had gone cold over time, and overcoming personal insecurities of inadequacy.

Overall, it is a feelgood movie and a fun swashbuckling adventure. I actually walked away from the cinema with a smile on my face.

Split (IX) (2016)

Our hopes in Shyamalan's films have reawakened

[8/10 · 19 February 2017]

Ah, Shyamalan. What a complex opinion I have of you. "Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable" had made such an impression on me that as an eleven-year-old I had decided that you were my favourite director. Little did I know that your following films would steadily disappoint me over the years to a point that I had almost completely given up on you.

"The Visit" was a spark of hope. "Split" is a flame.

This thriller turned out to be much better than I expected. A trio of teenage girls are kidnapped by a mysterious man who suffered from multiple personality disorders. There are a whopping 23 of them, and the ones responsible for the kidnapping are three: the stern-faced Dennis, the calm and collected Patricia, and the child-like Hedwig. However, a far more dangerous personality is threatening to emerge, and it is a race against time for the girls to escape before their luck runs out.

The film is intense and keeps you on the edge of your seat. The viewer feels the pressure and you will be trying to connect the dots throughout the flick. The Shyamalan twist (or, more accurately, the reveal) explains a lot and is satisfying.

After 16 long years, I think I can shyly say: Shyamalan is back.

Hick (2011)

Excellent acting and a plot that did not reach its full potential

[7/10 · 5 April 2016]

I had relatively low expectations for this film - the negative reviews were not promising, but it features two well known actors whose other movies I liked, so I decided to give it a shot. After seeing this film, I would rate it somewhere between 6 and 7.

The strongest feature of this film is the acting. The actors are fantastic - Chloe Grace Moretz plays a sassy, irritating, ignorant little hillbilly girl but manages to balance it off with cuteness and naivety. Most actresses would easily take it too far and just come off as plain annoying, but Chloe at such a young age knew just how much she could get away with such behavior before switching back to remind you that she is just a vulnerable girl. Great job.

Eddie Redmayne perfectly pulled off a southern accent and the mannerisms of a redneck, which is a complete contrast to his British background and Eton school upbringing. But that's not all: despite playing a role where he is supposed to be a creepy villain, he injects a good dose of quirky vulnerability to it, making you sympathise with his character. I was never so undecided about a fictional character before, as I did not know whether to feel sorry for him or despise him. His face and voice displayed so much raw emotion that you simply cannot hate his character. This wasn't an easy task - his character Eddie was a one dimensional villain in the book, and Redmayne's performance gave the movie an advantage over the book in my opinion. Therefore, I would recommend everyone to watch the film solely for his acting.

Now the downside to this movie was the story, which had so much potential. The dialogue and the huge number of coincidences make it seem like the script was based of a fan-fiction story and it doesn't get very exciting. The climax of the tale was dampened with a rushed scenario that did not leave an impact when it could have. More things could have happened which would make this film richer but the potential was unfortunately never exploited.

I notice that most people complained about the sexual undertones of the story and the fact that such a young actress plays a role where she is a target to predators. I do not understand such complaints, because sexually exploited prepubescent girls is a very real problem in every country which needs to be addressed instead of being ignored in the media. If anything, every teenage girl should see this film to reminded of what dangers await for them out there, especially since many girls romanticize the notion of running away from home and hold idealistic views of falling in love with a 'bad boy'.

I personally think this film is better than what the critics say about it. I'd give it a 6.5 if I could, but I rounded it up to a generous 7/10.

Put Ruzama Posut (2013 TV Movie)

Expected more. Way more.

[2/10 · 12 January 2015]

I was really looking forward to this film - there are not too many films where the storyline takes place immediately after the Battle of Kosovo, and about Princess Olivera nonetheless! The princess is a rather mysterious figure in Serbian history, as not much is known about Tsar Lazar's youngest daughter who married the Turkish Sultan in order to protect her people.

This TV film was an absolute disappointment, and let me count the ways:

The quality: Though I do understand this is was a television movie, it more of a documentary rather than film. In fact, it cannot be even called a documentary as there is not a single scientist or historian who appears and enlightens the viewers on interesting true facts. Instead, it is like a fairytale, without any evidence or explanation of how the princess helped her people or even her so- called 'wisdom'. You might as well have read a Wikipedia article about her.

The scenes were so painfully low budget, that in the Battle of Kosovo scene, there was only Tsar Lazar and two soldiers guarding his tent on the battlefield. Some cheap CGI to create an army would not have hurt, even the Turks have done it for their low-budget 'Suleiman the Magnificent' soap opera.

Acting and narration: There are only a few time-period scenes featuring actors who barely say a single word and the actress who plays the teenage princess has the same blank expression on her face throughout the historical sequences. The narrator is especially annoying, as all he does is walk around aimlessly, mumbling his lines without properly pronouncing the last word of his sentences.

Music: This was the worst of all. Whereas the whole movie consists of silent narration, choir music suddenly blares loudly in between scenes, shocking the audience. I had the mute the TV a number of times because I got tired of lowering the volume every time that 'music' came on.

I really wanted to like this film, but I couldn't. Bad film-making is bad film-making. One would expect national TV allocating a bit more money and professional hire to the creation of a movie about an important chapter of the country's history, rather than wasting it all on advertising.

Man of Steel (2013)

So many clichés that they ought to be ashamed of themselves

[5/10 · 20 July 2013]

This movie ripped off so many other movies that it got ridiculous.

The beginning looked like a Star Wars setting with angles and lighting from the new Star Trek movie. When Jor-El shouted, "This is madness!" I was immediately reminded of 300. When the bad guys come to Earth and the lights go off while the TV becomes static it looks like it ripped off The Ring and then later on the living machine space ship was reminiscent of The Matrix. There were several other instances, but these stand out fresh in my mind.

The dialogue was corny with the forced notion of God vs Evolution to be drawn parallel with Good Vs Evil. The good guys believe in God, the bad guys in Evolution. "In the end, evolution always wins." What? That's not how evolution works at all!

Also this movie upholds some questionable morals. To name a few:

A) You should always support royalty and tradition, even if they brought about the end of your world.

B) Superman's foster father tells Clark that it's better to let people die than save them. Really? You couldn't advise Clark how to protect his identity while saving people or the fact it would look very suspicious if Clark kept surviving all the tragedies while everyone else died?

C) In what way was Zod a monster? He tried to ensure the survival of his people (and couldn't help it because he was programmed that way) through any means necessary, something we humans did on numerous occasions. Clark's exclamation of "Kypton had its chance!" was shallow and so unfeeling I found myself sympathising with the so-called bad guy.

I gave this a 5/10 because of the good special effects and enjoyable action scenes (even though most big budget movies are expected to have them now), but story-wise this needs a big clarification for whom we are actually supposed to root for. Oh, and please stop ripping off other movies.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Stop Americanising everything!

[2/10 · 26 March 2013]

Yes, Americanising. With emo kids, animals who work in companies, a failing marriage, all the drama.... just please stop.

Roald Dahl is my favourite writer. It was thanks to his books that I became an avid reader as a child, and Fantastic Mr. Fox was his first book I read that lead me to discover the joys of reading.

It had witty humor and the reader would savor the idea of eating plump chickens, juicy geese and syrupy cider. The point was that simple animals could outwit man and his machines - it was about survival from a wild creature's point of view, of course with all the humour thrown in.

The movie completely tramples on this point and instead portrays the animal world much like our human world, with lawyers, loans and mortgages. What is going on here? What made it worse is that the movie dumbed everything down into an American soap opera - Mr. Fox has a worn out marriage with his purple-eyed wife (?) and they have only one child, who is a rebellious teenager. The weird cousin comes over, and I seriously don't comprehend what he contributes to the plot - he just stands there awkwardly and behaves like victim of abuse with all his frightened stares.

The story barely focuses on the delicious food but instead on the drama and making it look like the overused Ocean's Eleven shtick. Instead of rooting for the characters like in the book, in the movie I didn't bond with them and I didn't care about their fates.

I give this a 2 out of 10 because it takes a lot of effort to create a decent stop animated movie, but plot-wise it was a complete disregard for Dahl's work and wit. Let your child or younger sibling read the book, it is a very entertaining read, while the movie is very forgettable.

Porodicno blago (1998–2002)

Way better than the rubbish that plagues Serbian TV nowadays

[7/10 · 27 May 2012]

Please do not listen to the reviewer 'Crveni Krst' - he has given negative reviews even for classics such as 'Bolji Zivot' as he has a preference for foreign films.

Pavic-written series were not mindless soap-operas that currently plague the US, India and Spain, but series with intelligent dialogues and witty caricatures of common people in Serbia. I personally find 'Porodicno Blago' a better series than 'Srecni Ljudi'.

What is notable about 'Porodicno Blago' is the good dose of realism it possesses without being dark. It is happening during the difficult times in Serbia (that unfortunately exist to this day) where Serbs face the issues of high unemployment, the rural-urban divide and the young generation dreaming of leaving the country in a delusion that they might find a better life abroad. We have the Gavrilovic family where the heads are trying make ends meet while the children are faced with issues of their own: one is trying to find a job, the other is a tomboy who finds love and the third child struggles to finish school. These are very common problems that are portrayed in a manner where we sympathise with the characters and root for them. Even the people from the countryside are hilarious, a refreshing change from Serbian movies and series that were at the time this was aired were heavily focused on Belgrade.

My favourite character was Churchill, the loud, jealous husband who is actually a good man that tries to protect his family using methods that may seem brutish at first sight.

Give this series a chance, it is good fun!

Vojna akademija (2012–2020)

Americanised rubbish, a thinly-veiled campaign by the government to get people to join the army

[3/10 · 23 April 2012]

There are several things wrong with this series, and I need to address them point by point.

1. Do not expect to learn anything about the military. All the characters there merely exist to fall in love, so it could very well be labelled as a romance. The girls are giggly and physically unfit, clearly not army material. As a woman, this is quite disappointing because women in this series are portrayed as individuals who will never be as good as the men in the army and serve as token recruits.

2. This is very Americanised, lacking any Serbian authenticity (if you want so something remotely close to the Serbian army life, checkout Bolji Zivot - Boba doing military service). From the whistling theme tune (which was the anthem of American soldiers in Vietnam) to character dialogues, everything was clearly ripped of from some American series like JAG and simply looks awkward in Serbia's setting. In the first episode, one female plays American football. I would understand maybe basketball, an American sport popular in Serbia, but this isn't popular anywhere outside the USA! The next point would shed light on why this irritating Americanisation exists.

3. Since required military service has become non-existent recently in Serbia, the government (Democratska Stranka in particular, that is fond of adopting Western values) has been trying to encourage people to join the army. What is particularly disgusting in the series is that these recruits will assist NATO operations - yep, the very NATO that bombed the country in 1999 and pressured it with embargoes. Shame on the creators of the series for trying to make Serbs forget the past - we would never see Americans cooperate with Al-Quaeda since 9/11 happened will we? Overall I gave this 3/10, merely because it loosely holds my attention so I wonder what happens next.

Thor: Tales of Asgard (2011 Video)

Quite fun and a nice 'bromance'

[8/10 · 26 May 2011]

This film was much better than I expected. True, it does have some anime influence (like slim bodies and expressive eyes) but most contemporary cartoons have that anyway.

In short, this movie is about a teenage Thor embarking on a quest to prove his manhood to his father, who still considers him immature. With the aid of his brother Loki and the Warriors Three he travels through different realms to complete his quest.

What I liked in this film was that it showed a different, refreshing perspective on Thor and Loki's relationship. In this film we actually see Loki as a caring brother who is a loyal Asgardian. He and Thor share a special bond, trust each other and, when times get tough, provide each other with support. Seeing this just makes it even more heartbreaking as the viewers know that in the future these two would become mortal enemies.

Some dialogues were actually funny without relying on simple humor - even giving room to a bit adult humor when it came to Fandral. There is romance (concerning both brothers), and there are notable number of dark scenes and dialogues which concentrate on the topics of genocide (yes, genocide!) and character death. Unlike most children's cartoons nowadays, it has quite a few mature themes which adults may like.

All in all, it was a pleasant surprise and more mature than I expected. I warmly recommend this film.

PS - the music was epic!

Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1995)

DC Comics should be thankful to this series....

[9/10 · 15 November 2010]

... because this series developed some of the most famous Batman characters and spread the popularity of the comics.

Batman The Animated Series developed:

• Mr. Freeze: before the cartoon he was just a useless character in the comic books. The cartoon developed him into the complex tragic hero whom we all know and love.

• Mad Hatter: the series actually gave him a backstory where he was madly in love with his secretary and tried to make her love him by mind controlling her

• Scarecrow: the series described what his previous profession was, that he was bullied as a child and actually revealed the meek side of him during 'Lock Up'

The list goes on. This is a brilliant children's show, I can't remember any show similar to it while I was growing up. The stories were good, the characters had depth and even the villains were sympathetic. I'm a girl, and I really enjoyed watching a so-called 'boy's show' while I was growing up. It had a dark and morbid edge to it, and it wasn't dumbed down for children (that is perhaps why I liked it). It can be said that the show had a serious tone to it, but that made me feel as if I, a child, was for once taken seriously. I really appreciated it then.

However, I must admit I preferred the first character designs to the revamped ones in 1994.

This is a great series that is sorely missed and I wish future generations will get to see this amazing show, in spite of children's TV shows going down the drain these last few years.