ginobean Reviews

Black Mirror: San Junipero (2016) Season 3, Episode 4

Boring..

[3/10 · 3 September 2018]

I thought it was pretty boring. It took a while for the "mystery" to clear up, but I didn't feel like I cared enough about the characters, for it to make a difference to me.

It might have been more engaging if the "mystery" was explained much earlier in the story. But even then you still have a fairly tepid and tedious storyline..

For me, this was probably one of the weakest and most boring episodes.

A Very English Scandal (2018)

brilliant. masterful script and acting

[10/10 · 4 July 2018]

Everything just seemed really well done. Terrific, well paced script.

I thought both Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw nailed their characters. And the support cast also nailed their parts.

The Good Wife: Mind's Eye (2015) Season 6, Episode 14

by far the worst episode so far

[3/10 · 20 July 2017]

I was watching this episode and it was almost entirely about hypothetical scenarios. Alicia would think about an issue and imagine various hypothetical scenarios in response to the issue.

I found it incredibly boring and pointless and, by far, the weakest and most pointless episode of the series so far. (I've been binge watching the all of the episodes, in order, for the past week or so).

On the positive side, I would generally rate most of the other "Good Wife" episodes an average of 8-9 out of 10.

Locke (2013)

unsympathetic protagonist ruined it for me

[2/10 · 31 March 2016]

The movie's about a good man who makes a monumentally bad decision that ends up costing him his family and his job.

Hardy delivered an excellent performance but that performance was based on a fairly unbelievable script.

It's mind boggling and incomprehensible to me that a man would throw away a good job and a good family over a one night stand who he doesn't even have deep feelings for, because he wants to "do the right thing."

And this failure of the script, to make this fundamental premise believable and in a way that kept the character likable, made the movie a massive fail for me.

I kept on thinking to myself what a foolish and stupid man this guy was. And, in the movie, he makes breathtaking decisions that are so outrageously beyond the pale and borderline suicidal that it alienated me from the movie.

Coin Locker Girl (2015)

excellent

[10/10 · 26 March 2016]

Characters are interesting and believable. The storyline is also interesting and, although I've never been part of a loan shark operation, what happens in the story makes sense and is also believable.

The movie kept my interest throughout and I was definitely rooting for the main character, who definitely had more than her fair share of hardship and misery in her life.

Although she's a loan shark gang member, her basic humanity shows throughout and made me like and sympathize with her. She was fundamentally decent and human, in a good way, throughout the movie.

Strong ensemble cast also helped establish the believability and credibility of the characters.

One of the best movies I've seen in a while.

Tiger House (2015)

pretty enjoyable flick

[8/10 · 10 December 2015]

solid ensemble cast. story kept me interested to the end.

i think it's fairly believable in terms of what happens. i'm not sure why some of other reviewers seemed to really hate it..

One gripe is that the Dougray Scott character was portrayed a bit too positively. I think it would have made more sense for him to be a bad guy through and through to the end.

The psychopath character was pretty good and believable. I could sort of understand his twisted logic and how it made sense in a certain light.

The lead girl was pretty good as well. She behaved in a fairly reasonable manner and took some necessary risks along the way.

The Seven Deadly Sins: Signs of Holy War (2014–2021)

possibly one of the best animes i have ever seen

[9/10 · 14 November 2015]

Writing is very good. The story hooks you in and, at the end of each episode, I wanted to know what happened next. BTW, it took me a few episodes before I caught on that there was usually a short scene, *after* the end credits of each episode, that was relevant to the storyline.

Our heroes are likable and, for the most, pretty easy to identify with on a basic human level.

Probably my most favorite character is Hawk, the talking pig. Aside from being able to talk and fly, he really has no special powers. But he, at times, exhibits a courage and decency that outshines some of the heroes.

In terms of audience, it's probably best geared for an adult audience. There's a bit of sexually suggestive boobs and buttocks humor that was a bit tasteless and not really essential to the storyline or the character involved.

All in all, it teaches you about human values and life without becoming preachy or pedantic. In this, it reminds me of the anime, "Avatar: the Last Airbender".

I am hoping this series does well enough that they will add at least a couple more seasons to it..

24 Days (2014)

pretty good

[8/10 · 25 October 2015]

This was a drama based on a real life kidnapping that occurred in France, in 2006.

The kidnapping gang targeted Jewish males, because they erroneously thought that all Jews were rich.

Performances were excellent all around. I thought the mother was a bit much at times and got on my nerves at times. I realize she was under great stress, but yelling at and berating the police officers and hostage negotiator, who are all there to help you, is not helpful and may indeed have caused them to perform at less than their best.

The movie insinuates that there must have been at least a few people in the apartment complex, where the kidnappee was being held, who must have seen something, but this seemed a bit of an overreach. They may have seen something, but given that they didn't know that there had been a kidnapping, they probably had insufficient cause to alert the police.

Also, the movie indicates that this was fundamentally an act of anti-semitism. I think it was primarily the act of a gang of fairly ignorant and violent people who thought they could make a quick buck because of their mistaken notion that all Jews were rich.

If they had thought a different group of people were all rich, they would most likely have targeted them as well.

While watching this movie, you basically vicariously experience what it's like to have a family member kidnapped, and one possible way that it could play out.

Lincoln (2012)

incredibly boring

[1/10 · 9 June 2015]

Before I saw this movie, I actually had already read the 944 page book, "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin, that the movie was purportedly based on.

I actually enjoyed the book immensely and was actually regretful when I had turned the last of the book, because there were no more pages to be read.

So, I started watching this movie with great anticipation. And was utterly shocked at how slow and boring it was. Daniel Day Lewis seemed off, like he was acting with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He didn't seem anything like the Lincoln I saw portrayed in Goodwin's biography. To be fair, he was probably basing his performance on the screenplay, which was most likely a horse of a different color.

After watching it for an excruciatingly LONG 15-20 minutes, I finally gave up with a mixture of disbelief, sorrow and disgust. disbelief, because I couldn't believe that Spielberg actually directed such a poor movie. sorrow, because I had hoped for a faithful translation to the screen. and disgust, that the screenwriter did such a lousy job of translating the fidelity of the book.

This was probably one of the most excruciatingly boring movies I have ever watched.

The Imitation Game (2014)

not true to the book

[6/10 · 12 May 2015]

When I first watched it, I thought it was pretty good. Then, I read the book upon which it was supposedly based and was fairly surprised in a negative way.

Aside from the names being the same, the screenplay seems to have taken a left turn into fantasy and fiction.

1. Hugh Alexander would never have punched Alan Turing and did not have cause to punch him.

2. Alan never called the descrambling machine "Christopher".

3. Turing's boss, Denniston, was not actively trying to get rid of him -- that would have been pretty insane of him to even try, given the value of Alan's intellectual genius.

4. It was not a case of Alan's smart approach versus everyone else's stupid, brute force approach -- that's fairly insulting to the rest of the cryptanalytic group who were generally extremely bright and talented as well.

5. Alan did *not* take over leadership of the cryptanalytic group from Hugh Alexander -- interestingly, Hugh, due to his superior management and people skills, eventually took over the group from Alan (which was probably for the best, since Alan was not really suited to head the department). So the idea of Alan taking over the group from Hugh was a complete and utter fiction.

6. Although Alan liked to work alone and, in that sense, was a loner, socially, he was fairly gregarious and had numerous friends and friendly acquaintances. This is, of course, quite different from the movie/screenplay, which rather depicts as a guy with fairly poor social skills and a bit of a loner.

I realize that a screenplay, can, at best, be a condensed version of the book. But, in this case, it looks to me like the screenwriter butchered the story. Basically, the screenwriter copied the names and a few facts and then constructed an elaborate fiction which bears little/no resemblance to what actually happened. And this makes me suspect that the screenwriter may have simply skimmed the original book, instead of actually reading it. The screenplay is just so off and so inaccurate, it's laughably wrong.

Five Fingers (2012)

pretty good and enjoyable

[9/10 · 8 May 2015]

A woman raises two children, one of which is biologically hers. And she has good reason to believe that the second child is her husband's child with another woman, so she's not too happy about that.

Frankly, I found it very enjoyable with interesting twists and turns. Probably would make my top ten Korean drama list (and I've been watching a lot of them lately).

The drama poses (and answers) an interesting ethical question about raising kids. It involves "poetic justice". :).

It was well acted and well cast as well.

Interestingly, Jin Se Yeon is actually playing the piano in the drama. That was one of the reasons the producers hired her.

The Grey (2011)

depiction of wolves seems unrealistic

[3/10 · 13 May 2014]

About 15-20 minutes into the movie, it seemed to me that the depiction of the aggressiveness of the wolves toward the humans was unrealistic and not believable. Just did a 5 minute Google search which confirmed my suspicion that the movie did indeed portray wolves in an unrealistic and unbelievable manner.

Humans are apex predators. Animals that attack humans generally either get hunted down either individually or their entire group(s) are wiped out. As a result, most wild animals, including wolves are generally fearful of humans.

I found the unrealistic depiction of wolves to be a significant turnoff as it fatally eroded the credibility of the story. Perhaps one way that the writer might have been able to salvage the story is if he/she made the wolves into supernatural creatures instead.

If the writer didn't even take 10 minutes to research whether it was even credible to have a murderous pack of wolves, I am guessing that the rest of the script probably suffers from other credibility, accuracy issues as well.

Immortality (1998)

well executed but fairly pointless

[4/10 · 8 May 2014]

i think it was technically fairly well done, but i think the basic plot is a big FAIL.

The Jude Law character feeds on blood, but can walk around in daylight with no issues. The problem is that when he feeds on women to stay alive, the women have to die in the process.

Trying to stay alive is generally admirable, but trying to stay alive at the cost of other innocent people's lives is going too far. Once he crossed this road, he was no longer someone I could identify or sympathize with.

Here's an analogy: Suppose the cure for a particular type of cancer turned out to require the killing of an innocent person at least once a month. The cure ends up being worse than the disease. You end up transforming from a victim of cancer into a mass murderer.

This is sort of similar to the plot line of this story. You can't really glamorize it or hold it in any kind of positive, romantic light, because there is none.

Which all makes me wonder what qualities in the story drove the people involved in producing this movie to actually green light it.

The Pact (II) (2012)

boring script and an overly complicated plot

[3/10 · 20 April 2014]

After reading some of the exceptionally positive reviews for this movie, I felt I had to write as I strongly disagreed with them.

I think the movie basically fails because it's got a lousy script. After watching the movie, I was wondering, "what the hell happened ?" at the end, and not in a good way.

Granted, about halfway into the movie, I started backgrounding it (i.e. surfing the internet and reading the news), which is usually a strong indication to me that the movie was not very interesting or compelling.

And the special effects, meant to scare, left me cold. Like when the Caity Lotz character is dragged the floor around by an invisible force, it felt as if the intent had been more to scare/surprise the audience than it was to progress the storyline.

A poor script and an overly complicated plot basically doomed the movie from the start.

Mr. Nobody (2009)

pretty to watch but seemed fairly pointless

[4/10 · 5 April 2014]

The special effects were pretty cool, and overall, the technical elements seemed fairly well done. And the story seemed to flow fairly well.

The big problem for me was in trying to determine what the story was. There seemed to be multiple parallel tracks that the protagonist seemed to have taken simultaneously. So he's married to three different women in three parallel tracks. Confused ? Mystified ? I certainly was.

And then, near the end, we're given an explanation for what happened. But this explanation doesn't make any sense. The sophistication of the worlds we're presented with is way beyond the ability of any child, no matter how precocious.

And herein lies, I believe, the fundamental flaw to this movie. Interesting things happen simultaneously in three parallel tracks, to the protagonist, but by the end, one pivotal scene pretty much negates everything that happened earlier in the movie.

The deeply flawed and nearly incomprehensible story eclipsed the movie's special effects and excellent technical elements.

Remember the Titans (2000)

enjoyable, but a bit too melodramatic

[6/10 · 14 April 2013]

When I started watching this movie, I thought to myself, "this is an important movie". This is a movie about discrimination and racism in the early 1970s and the courage it took to deal with it.

And the movie was fairly enjoyable and it was clear who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. Denzel gave a stellar performance. And the actor portraying the football captain did a great job as well in capturing the nuances and subtleties of his character.

But it seemed overly melodramatic. I find it inconceivable that the Board of Education would have appointed coach Boone with the intention of firing him after his first loss. It just seemed a bit much and overblown.

And then one of the referees started intentionally calling bad plays against Boone's team -- I thought it was highly improbable that this happened the way it was depicted in the movie.

And then I started wondering what really happened. Frankly, I would have preferred something closer to reality than what was depicted. It was all a bit too melodramatic and fanciful and not grounded in reality, so much so that I felt fairly cynical toward the movie and wondered if anything outside of the basic facts was even true -- the basic facts being that Boone was hired to coach and his team won the state championship the first year.

As a comparison, imagine a movie where Abraham Lincoln uses his magical powers to sway the course of the Civil War in the right direction. Would it have added drama to what actually happened ? Yes, but then it becomes a piece of fiction and starts to bear little/no relevance to our society.

Similarly, I think there was so much dramatic license taken that, instead being an important biographical work, the movie ended up being a sappy melodrama that bore little no relationship to what actually must have happened.

As a piece of fiction, it's fairly enjoyable and dramatic. As a biographical/historical piece, it's a fairly empty and unsatisfying piece of work.

In sum, it's like junk food -- it tastes good, but it's not really good or healthy for you in the long run...

Skyfall (2012)

fairly mediocre and a little boring in the second half

[6/10 · 5 April 2013]

Not sure why this film has such a high average rating.

I thought it was a fairly mediocre, boilerplate Bond film. First hour was fairly interesting and well paced, but then the second really dragged on and I thought the pacing was really too slow. They could probably have taken out at least half an hour of footage without detracting from the storyline.

Not quite I got the Bardem character's motivation. Basically, he was an MI6 agent who was caught and then his suicide capsule didn't work, so he did a complete 180 and became a villain ? That doesn't make any sense to me. It's like if Superman decided to become a villain because he had a really bad day.

Craig is a very good actor, but the problem with Bond films in general is that it's already so over the top that unless you're able to find just the right balance, it comes off as machismo buffoonery.

By the halfway point, I had mostly lost interest in the storyline and watched it mostly to find out what eventually happened.

The story itself seemed fairly boilerplate and not terribly creative or well done.

As a side note, the female lead, Berenice Marlohe, was both stunningly gorgeous and a superb actress.

Brave (2012)

excellent animation, but muddled and mediocre story

[4/10 · 27 February 2013]

Frankly, I'm shocked that this won the Oscar for best animated feature or was even nominated. The story was fairly muddled and mediocre. Part of it involves the Queen forcing her daughter to marry against her will.

To me this is a no brainer -- when you force someone to marry against their will, you're basically creating an untenable situation for them. It's not rocket science.. And it all goes downhill from there. When you put someone into this type of situation, it isn't called love, it's called imprisonment. At this point, I felt antipathy for the Queen and thought she was being totally unreasonable.

The graphics and animation are excellent, but for some reason, I found it hard to really get into the story much at all. Maybe because the story was such a yawner -- it wasn't that interesting or compelling.

If I were to grade the story on a letter scale (A-F), I would give it a D. D for dumb, misguided, muddled and uninteresting.

The Americans (2013–2018)

excellent !

[8/10 · 21 February 2013]

When I first saw the previews of this show, I was a bit skeptical. After all, the cold war is over -- what's the point of rehashing what happened in the 1980s ? And it looked like it was rehashing it from the point of view of Soviet spies living in America.

After actually having watched the first 3-4 episodes, it's actually pretty interesting stuff. The writing is excellent and keeps you interested. The acting is excellent as well, with a strong cast.

I assumed that it would be pro-Soviet Union, but it actually isn't. In one of the episodes, Elizabeth and Phillip help a woman to enter the Soviet version of the witness relocation program. Unfortunately, Elizabeth and Phillip are unaware of the thoroughness of the Soviet witness relocation program. For more details, you can check out Episode 3, "Gregory".

Additionally, what helps maintain interest is that Elizabeth and Phillip are likable characters and you can see where they're coming from.

Definitely worth watching..

Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)

garbage

[1/10 · 20 November 2012]

After about the first 20-30 minutes, I found it incredibly boring and pointless. I think there's a bad guy who speaks a lot but it's not terribly interesting what he has to say and there's a female protagonist who doesn't say or do much of anything in the first 20-30 minutes that I watched it.

Frankly, I'm watching the bad guy delivering his monologues and I'm having trouble following the point of what's he trying to say. Or maybe I was too bored and disinterested to follow what he was saying..

Then, I started fast forwarding it and there's about 15-30 minutes in the second half where it shows the female protagonist escaping from where she was being held captive. This whole 15-30 minute period could have, and should have been, edited down to about a minute. If it had been visually thrilling/edifying in some way, that would have been a reason to make it longer than a few minutes. But it wasn't.

As far as I can tell, this movie was total garbage.

I can't figure out how it got any good reviews. The only thing I can think of is that there are some foolish people out there who think that if there's something that doesn't make sense, it must be beyond their understanding and therefore, a form of art.

But sometimes, as in this particular case, garbage is just garbage.

The Elephant Princess (2008–2011)

excellent !

[8/10 · 6 October 2012]

Watching this show is like eating potato chips -- you start eating one and you can't stop !

Well written, delightful, with likable characters and interesting plots.

I know this show is meant for teens, but even I as an adult find it charming and sweet. Well executed..

I think the show addresses some of the issues of growing up in a fairly light-hearted manner -- responsibility, making decisions, being true to your word, integrity, without become preachy.

The main characters are well cast.

Sweet Karma (2009)

a lot of fun to watch

[8/10 · 9 July 2011]

The story flowed well and it was a lot of fun to watch.

I thought Shera did a really good of portraying the Karma character. She emoted really well as Karma and seemed believable and true.

Definitely have read some horror stories about sex trafficking nightmares. This movie should be mandatory viewing for young women who might be vulnerable to that sort of exploitation, because it shows a woman getting revenge on sex traffickers. So, instead of simply following the herd and being a victim, this movie plants the idea that there are other options.

Definitely recommended..

Out of the Fog (1941)

what was the point of this movie ?

[2/10 · 21 April 2011]

Why was this movie even made ? I didn't like any of the characters. The gangster was despicable, without any redeeming qualities. The two old guys were pretty spineless throughout most of the movie. The Eddie Albert character was a nice guy but too boring and predictable. The Ida Lupino character was interesting but why did she go for a total bottom feeder like the gangster ? I realized she wanted more excitement in her life, but how could she pick such a loser as the gangster character ?

Finally, the two spineless old men gather the nerve to kill the gangster, but essentially fail. It's only through dumb luck that they make it out alive.

Never Let Me Go (2010)

awful story

[1/10 · 15 April 2011]

I found the basic premise behind the story to be revolting -- raising children in order to farm their organs..

I think Ishiguro, the writer, totally took a major misstep with this storyline. This foundation is so fatally flawed and repulsive that it taints everything that follows from it.

Technically, it seems to be fairly well done, but again, the basic premise revolted me, so I sort of tuned out most of the movie.

If I were to compare this movie to one other movie, the one that comes to mind is "The Human Centipede", which also revolted me.

Both stories are based on disgusting and awful premises, although "Never let Me Go" is technically better written and directed.

Other than that, I think the two movies are about on the same level of palatability, at least to me.

Hereafter (2010)

Awesome movie

[10/10 · 15 April 2011]

What was great about this film was that it made psychic powers real. First, it showed us the reality that we already knew -- that most psychics are fakes and charlatans. Then, it showed us a psychic who was genuine and real (at least in the movie !). So for the duration of the movie, I watched and believed in a psychic afterlife and found it utterly fascinating and engrossing. And the rest of the story flowed naturally from this second reality.

The writing was excellent -- he hit every note.

Eastwood, as always, did a great job of directing.

Writing, directing, acting all meshed seamlessly to make it real.

The central characters were believable and you cared about the characters.

Even though it wasn't an action movie, the story flowed and riveted my interest throughout.

If you like Merchant Ivory films, you'll probably like/love this movie.

Loved it.