AttitudeInc

First, I'd like to say I really enjoyed *most* of the special effects. There were moments where the CGI was worse than pre-2000 CGI, although to be fair, it was mostly in the background but they were awful. As an example, pay attention to the armies fighting in the beginning.

Second, the acting for the most part wasn't too bad.

Here's what bothers me and I haven't seen any reviewers address these. If you have to read the subtitles, you spent some time thinking "What??" due to their translations. It feels like they ran some of it through Google Translate. Some of it was good, while some sounded like they were purposefully trying to make it sound like broken English. Then there was the out of place use of modern English slang like "small potatoes" or the informal "wanna" in addition to other parts that just sounded downright childish. Did the person or people who did the English subtitle translations not speak English very well? I can't understand why you wouldn't at the very least pay some American college kids $100 a piece to proof read it. It wouldn't be that hard. I mean, the internet, right?! I'm pretty sure that given a few hours time, I could make the English translation sound 1000% better, while keeping to the spirit of the movie.

Then there is the portrayal of the Monkey King. For the most part it was pretty good but all the blinking and there was LOTS of blinking. So much so that it would have given an epileptic a seizure. Did he think monkeys have really bad eyes? Add the stupid surprised faces that got on my nerves and it gets really old. It didn't help that he even did the begging dog pose, which I'm SURE isn't actually a thing with monkeys of any type.

All said, it's a decent movie with some redeeming qualities that understandably isn't geared towards an English speaking audience. I just wish if they were going to bother with it, why they couldn't get it right.

I don't get the bad reviews. This show has a great story that unfolds a bit more every episode. The acting is very well done and the two leads are excellent. The dialogue is sometimes simplistic in that it's there to move the story, not hit you in the feels or expand your mind but it's there to give you information so that things that have or will happen make some sort of sense. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of great dialogue, it's just used where it's needed, not to add flourishes to something that doesn't require it.

The script that everyone is dunking on manages to make you feel the vast space of the universe they're building. From the disparate types of people, languages and motivations to the thoroughly believable advanced tech.

Visually, they've done a great job. When appropriate, the CGI is well done and not overly flashy. Just solid and believable. Overall production design, sets and wardrobe are all great as well. Nothing about the show feels cheap or skimped over.

I feel like people are just mad because the writers aren't handing you scenes that show whether a person is good or bad. There's a lot of ambiguity going on but the show manages, if you give it a chance, to answer many of the questions that arise. That said, I also feel like the show has a lot more to say about a lot of things. Things like where AI is leading us and how we might interact with it. Whether some knowledge or "progress" is too expensive or dangerous. If humanity forcibly evolves itself are they still human? And of course, what's going on with the weird rocks?

They've obviously left room for more answers in a (thankfully) renewed second season and I look forward to more thought provoking, enjoyable and sometimes beautiful episodes.

If you're looking for non-stop action or nail biting suspense, this ain't it. If you're looking for good, solid, moderately hard sci-fi with some decent but infrequent action sequences and a bit of philosophy thrown in, this might just work for you.

I feel like this deserves a nuanced review but for those who just want the meat of it, here ya go: Star Wars meets Foundation shot in much the same style as 300 with a heavy "Battlestar Galactica Reboot" feel. A good watch.

I enjoyed the movie. It had a great visual style that pulled me into the movie, from the farms to the mining planet. It felt very real, less fantasy and more scifi.

There were moments that pulled you out however. Some of the story was very heavy handed in it's quest to throw you off the scent. Some seemed not well thought out (like shouting at fighter pilots instead of using a communication device or fighting with a sword for ten minutes when there are people standing around behind you with guns watching you.) But to be honest, the most distracting thing for me was the overuse of the slow-motion, moving comic book panel-esque shooting style that made 300 so much fun to watch back then. I'm over it. Over it in the same way I'm over lens flares in J. J. Abrams movies. Sam Raimi rolls his eyes when he sees these.

That's the bad.

The good is that I genuinely liked the story and the main characters. A few supporting characters as well. You want to root for them. They're mostly likeable with easily understood motivations, for the most part. And while I felt like some of the broad story is just given away with overly obvious clues that leave little to surprise you, it still feels good to be right (a cynical person might think that was the desired result) and see the ways it's made to happen. Like being given a full outline of a story but no ending and then reading the book in all it's detail.

What intrigued me most was what I believe is foreshadowing of things to come. I won't indulge any of my theories but I'm looking forward to seeing if I'm right.

First, I love Iggy Pop. I like the song "Death Is Certain". That being said, the overuse of the song's intro makes this episode (and the next) difficult to watch. The near constant "yeeeeah" within it, gets super old especially when they loop it. Over and over and over we are assailed by it, only treated to the better parts of the song occasionally. If there's one time I'd be OK with a song not being used in a DVD release, this would be it.

This movie isn't going to win any awards, sure but it's not horrible. Having lived through the 80's video store boom, I've seen some *bad* movies. Really, really bad movies. They make this movie look Oscar worthy. But I digress...

Some of the acting isn't bad. Some of it is. Some actors are better than others. Eric Roberts was... Eric Roberts.

The story is decent and I enjoyed the movie. It probably could have been better. They probably could have started with the title.

I'd like to mention one actor in particular. Terry Woodberry did a very nice job. His character was probably the most believable in the movie.

Surprisingly fun movie considering the budget. Most of the acting was about as you'd expect for a movie if this type. The lead actors turned in good performances. A few of the smaller parts were decent enough although to be fair, a lot of what might feel like stilted dialog can often be attributed to editing so...

Anyway, the story is fairly interesting and engaging once you realize which direction the ride is going. The ending was mostly satisfying but could have been so much more in my opinion. Again, budget constraints are probably to blame, not lack of imagination as seems fairly evident. I will absolutely recommend this movie to friends.

First, the new intro is awful. They shouldn't have messed with the theme so much. The stars are hideous and whole thing just looks cheap. Not today cheap, just plain cheap for any time. Second, the music for the episode is just bad. All I can think of when watching this is the old Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy BBC show. That music was fairly bad but forgivable given the subject matter and even added a bit of weird fun to the episoe's. Here it just makes the episodes feel stupid.

Ugh.

I love this episode. I just do. You know what I don't like? Pete. Pete is a jerk and a moron. The last time he blew off Barclay, he ended up being right in a big way. Now here he is again with another thing and Pete is just like "Go home for a week." What?! What kind of an idiot does that?

Don't be Pete.

*grumbles* Still love the episode.

What's the deal with the weird aspect ratios here? It starts of letterboxed (on widescreen which is odd but I'll give it to them since it's the prologue) but then switches to 1.55:1 for the rest of the film. Seriously? I have to look at bars on the left and right of the screen. Why not put it on a VHS tape in 4:3? WT(actual)F is that about? I really hate it when directors try to get all artsy using odd aspect ratios. You aren't making it better, just stop. It's not like it lends any sense of ANYTHING to the film. It's just distracting.

The rest of the film is barely ok. It might have been better if I was so annoyed by feeling like I was watching a 90's TV version of a movie.

This is a pretty good movie. Not the best but very good. The music on the other hand is abysmal. On top of that, they opt for no sound during dramatic moments *except* for the music.

This is also the same type of music used in the B5 spin-off "Crusade". Now I'm not going to lay the blame for Crusade's failure solely on the music but it was definitely a contributing factor in my opinion. It just gives it a chintzy kinda feel. They could and should have done better for both this movie and the show.

I'm writing this in response to all the vitriolic posts I've seen about this show. I don't understand where it's all coming from. Will it ever win an Emmy? Probably not.. Is it cheesy? Yup. Does it look like a B movie? Sure but a REALLY good one.

Look, I'm no expert but from what I could see, the biggest problem I see isn't really a problem. They seem to have foregone the whole adding film grain digitally for effect (kudos, BTW - I'm quite sick of it) and just given us an incredibly clear HD picture that unfortunately exaggerates what is often referred to as "The Soap Opera Effect". On top of that, everything seems to crisp, too clear, too..perfect. People think it looks cheap because it APPEARS cheap compared to all artsy futzing around most people do with the picture nowadays to AVOID that. But it's all perception, an illusion based on our inability to recognize a realistic, clear image as anything but REAL and once it becomes real, it feels weird to look at. Like someone filming a live stage production with a high end recorder. Our brains expect the film grain and the weird lighting effects because it's what we're used to. Don't believe me? Try adding noise to an image and tell me that it doesn't "appear" sharper. I use it every day and people without fail are shocked at how much "sharper" the images are to them now (needless to say, I don't explain why - it's just too confusing).

As for the acting, fight choreography and such, I've seen worse. MUCH worse from shows that made it 3, 4 even 5 seasons and have fans out there to this day (I'm looking at you Z Nation). The lead actor Jessica Green does a decent job of making her character as believable as she can. Jake Stromoen (from the recent series Extinct which was fairly good and the movie series Mythica made by the same company which makes this series) is solid as usual. The fight choreography is nothing to write home about but once again, I've see far worse. It looks fairly realistic as long as you can pretend people can really do that and aren't staring too hard, which actually applies to most fight scenes anyway, now that I think about it.

One knock I have to give is for the makeup. Following in the footsteps of the Mythica movies, they seem to want to add dirt smudges around the hairline or forehead and usually one cheek. This then randomly moves around or just disappears for no good reason. I know they are trying to make them look less perfect but it just ends up looking contrived and obvious. Either leave it off or do it right. We're already suspending belief here, so why not that as well? I mean, how many movies and shows have we all watched and thought to ourselves "Where did she get that eyeliner and lipstick and exactly how did she get her eyebrows so perfect using what would pass for mirrors and tweezers. More importantly, when did she find the time for all that AND washing THEN drying her hair?" (having long hair, I know what a pain it is so I notice these things. Stop judging me.) So if you're just going to play with the face smudges while trying to keep everyone pretty, just drop it. If we can accept the fact that they've washed their hair (or even bathed), I think we can deal with them wiping their faces. You're not helping. Seriously.

For what it's worth, cut them some slack. It's not supposed to be perfect, just entertaining and so far, as with the Mythica series, it works for me.

Given the reviews so far, I won't hold my breath for another season but then again other shows have had the same thing happen and they're still on the air (I'm looking at you again, Z Nation) so who knows?

I would probably rate this as 7 stars. I'm giving it 10 because of all the haters.

This crap wouldn't even make good B-roll footage. You might as well stick a GoPro on a farmer and watch him harvest wheat all day. I spent the first 15 minutes thinking "WTF?" and the rest thinking "Seriously?" The only redeeming thing about this movie/documentary (and I use both those terms extremely loosely) is the sound which is pretty good for the most part but not worth the agonizing torture of watching this.

Don't watch it. For the love of all you hold dear, DON'T WATCH THIS!!!

First off, I'm a fan of the show.. but this episode was just weird.. The writers of this show are usually so careful about making story lines mostly believable. This episode made no sense. In order for this guy to be his son (or his friends) he'd have to be at LEAST 61 years old. He certainly didn't look it.

Now,what show was the previous reviewer watching? Coraline wasn't even IN this episode! The guy questioning Leo was MICK and it was about drinking kids blood NOT a car..? Julie Fordham's SON was kidnapped and Mick might be he grandfather as the boys father might be Mick's son. Who, by the way, does NOT know Josef - who is never introduced or even in moderate proximity to the family..

I can only assume that the previous reviewer either did't actually watch the episode or he/she got a hold of some SERIOUSLY bad subtitles..

I wish people would stop expecting things like this to be absolutely true to the source material. Anytime you try and adapt a book or series to a TV show, there are going to have to be changes made for brevity's sake (After just 4 episodes we're about halfway thru the book already - imagine if they HAD stayed true to the book.. 8-10 episodes of what? Walking around and whining? (yes Amberle whines a lot in the book. It's understandable in the book, probably not so much in the TV show)) or just because something wouldn't sit right for TV audiences (There are almost no actual flesh and blood enemies to provide any kind of conflict). Who has time for that? 40 year olds who were fans of the books? Riiiiiiight.. Because THAT is the MTV demographic..

I really like it so far. I'm not saying I'll cry inconsolably if this gets cancelled, just that compared to the usual crime drivel on nowadays, this is refreshing. It's a story I'm familiar with told again in a different manner. The actors do a good job, the sets are well done and the cinematography and effects are what you would expect from a well-funded TV show in 2016. The story is slightly different but works well as a episodic as opposed to a full length feature. I'm a fan. I'll keep watching until they actually do something wrong like make the Ellcrys walk or Allanon crack a joke...

Before going on, I would like to point out that I'm a big fan of the books.

OK. Now to pick apart the reviews of annoying idiots.

First point. "Where are the people of color"? What? What show were you watching? I saw an obviously non-white female elf (Emilia Burns as Commander Tilton) Manu Bennett (Allanon) is of Maori descent, and I've even see a few others interspersed within the Elves AND Rovers. Not too many but hey, this area was supposed to be the pacific northwest, hardly known for it's racial diversity (basically 75% white or higher in all areas - if you don't believe me, look it up. It's crazy). Not to mention that most of the people we've seen are elves. Elves were not EVER human. They were hiding from the humans but were always there so your dumb argument about people of color is just that.. Dumb. the fact that there is even a few within the Elven ranks is a testament to the fact that they were trying. I'd like to see a bit more in the supporting roles as time goes on though.

Second point. "Everyone is too beautiful, it's like Twilight with elves".. Well, duh. 90 percent of the people with speaking parts have been ELVES! Aren't they supposed to be beautiful? Does anyone actually expect elves with non-symmetrical features, bad hair and acne? And so far as I've seen, there's only been one really overly attractive human female and one male (although I'm not a very good judge of that part) so I call this point made. Well.

Third point. "Changes were made because of budget constraints". Maybe but I choose to believe the reason we don't spend weeks moving from place to place is because it's a TV SHOW and that would be EXCEEDINGLY BORING!! That and the fact that the actual "Quest" doesn't start until chapter 22 or so. Out of 54. So yeah, some changes were made. I don't remember anyone complaining that Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas made it from Amon Hen to Fangorn too quickly. The book says about 4 days and about 150 miles. It was glossed over in basically one chapter and a few short scenes in the movie. Where was the outrage then? Does anyone really want to watch a show where an entire episode is devoted to getting from point A to point B with nothing happening except making camp, eating and then going to sleep?

Fourth point. Paranor. OK, so it's not the medieval keep from the books but does it really matter? I mean not much actually *happens* at Paranor and what does happen could happen just as well in a ruin as a fully preserved keep. Besides, imagine the lengthy explanations and costly CGI. This way was better, for TV at least and actually makes more sense to me than the perfectly preserved keep if you think about it as post-apocalyptic rather than Tolkien-esque.

I have more but I'll save my righteous indignation for something else. Like Star Wars movies with cutsie robots with cutsie names (I'm looking at you BB-8..) and plot holes you can drive a fleet of trucks into...

I won't go into the specifics of the plot as it's been done enough that if you are reading this you probably already know it. That aside here is what I think.

I didn't like his movie at all. Unlike others who didn't, I don't find any fault with the actors. They were great. They had pretty solid performances. They did what they were told and played the characters written for them. How can you blame an actor for playing a one dimensional character if the other dimensions aren't written into the film?

As you may have guessed, I mostly blame the writer Stuart Morse. He basically took a decent, believable (mostly) story and turned it into trash. It's six minutes longer than the original and yet somehow manages to tell less of a story. After the beginning starts out seemingly trying to tell a story, what we are left with after about 20 minutes is a series of unbelievable events strung together by little more than a directors force of will. Nothing seems real. the director needs to take some of the blame for allowing it to happen. Couldn't he have said to somebody, "Hey, this isn't a Michael Meyers movie or Friday the 13th.. These are supposed to be real people!". I'm fine with suspending reason to watch a movie, just not when you act like it's supposed to be "gritty" and "real" which seems to be what they were going for. Many questions are left unanswered. Did these guys do this a lot? They seemed awfully good at it. Where did she get food and clothes from? Why did she turn around to dive in the river? Was it supposed to some kind of "giving herself up to fate or the river" thing? Was there a tie in with Lipton Iced Tea? (seriously... what WAS the deal with that whole thing?) Who is her doctor and when can he or she fit me in?

In conclusion, watch it, but just don't expect it to make much sense. See it with about the same mindset as you would would have watching Friday the 13th or Halloween. You'll enjoy it more and your brain will hurt less.

My rating should in no way reflect upon the actors work in this movie. If that was my criteria for rating this I would have given it a 7. This movie should never have been made without a more solid screenplay and they can't be blamed for that.

I can't understand why so many people liked this movie so much!! The movie starts out pretty well, but eventually fails to do anything but provide a mindless, time wasting movie. This is a movie that I would probably watch on a Sunday afternoon when there is NOTHING else on TV except this on Encore. The plot moves as if pulled by a string, never deviating from the obvious. There is no "twist" at the end to redeem what turns out to be a bad "re-imagining" of Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window". Basically someone wanted to get paid for a script so they stole a good one, made enough changes to avoid any problems and got their cash. The studio said "we could make this kinda cheaply" so they cast a few stars, got one teen idol and made a movie. There is no original story here. The acting is solid, they just weren't given much to work with (except a paycheck...).

Don't bother, unless it's Sunday afternoon and all that's on are Law & Order repeats.