bspavlovic

Once you start watching, you cannot stop. I watched season 1 and waited for seasons 2 and 3, and unlike some bad, decent or even good TV series, even after some time between seasons, it's like I watched the previous season the day before... I'm not going to offend anyone here when I say that keeping up with it requires certain intellectual capacity - clearly, people who watched it all and gave it 10 stars do possess such qualities - and in the era of thrift and hastily put together visual arts this is a high rarity.

It's mesmerizing, no two things about it. It may sound strange, but I was constantly thinking of 2 of my favourite authors who do the same thing so magnificently, but in a different media and genre. First John LeCare: JLC knits this spider web of events and characters, which and who seemingly have nothing in common, are scattered through time and places, yet somehow you know they're all driving to the same destination, albeit in different directions, and in the end it all becomes perfectly clear, and you've connected the dots, and you feel contempt and fulfilled, almost as if you yourself arrived there. Second, Itallo Calvino and his masterpiece "If on a winter's night a traveler", a composition of short stories that have nothing to do with one another, arevinterrupted half way through, a cacophony of thoughts and situations that only in the end, put all together, make sense to an open minded, intelligent reader.

Dark is difficult to follow, it's at times confusing, unclear, the parallelism of it makes you wanting to stop, turn to syndicated shows that are so straightforward, clear, easy to follow, sooo one way - but you don't, you want to see more, you want to be confused, you need unclarity and you oh so desperately want to know how it's all going to end! You're thrown into this whirlwind and just like Dorothy, you're million miles away from Kansas - and you don't want to go back before you unravel the mystery of Oz... I'm blabbering here, I know, but I just finished seeing it for the 2nd time, and (as I expected) I'm not a tiny wee bit less impressed, satisfied and overwhelmed by how smart and perfect this show is.

I'm also a stickler for acting and technical execution, and all I can say about that aspect of the show is... Well, perfection.

Ausegezeihnet, absolut perfekt, meine deutschen Freunde! Sie haben einen sehr hohen Standard gesetzt, der es schwer zu befolgen gilt!

There's a good reason there's no IMDb for high literary or fine art - if there was, the lovers of James Patterson would've showered Leo Tolstoy with 1 stars for the War and Peace, 3000 pages of no action, the admirers of I Want You for The US Army posters would've (maybe) given 2 stars to Salvador Dali for using some colour. Yet movie art does have the vox populi that is IMDb and it sometimes feels like it shouldn't... Tastes in art have always been questionable and subject to the eye of the beholder, and while seeing the Mona Lisa make the great majority of people feel like they saw something nice, looking at Guernica would not - that required some intellect.

Wes Anderson makes those pieces of art where nothing really happens, where you look at the picture and instead on Mona Lisa's veiled smile you see horrors of the civil war in a way real horrors happen in one's head, as the explosion of images and convoluted, broken feelings. It's like reading Mark Twain, expecting, hoping that Huck finally kills someone, and instead he just strolls on his merry way... Wes Anderson is a genius and not everyone can understand and appreciate that, and that's fine with me. Yet, there are people who gave The Machette 6 stars - I would NEVER go to the length of writing a review expressing my disgust (yes I saw it, I was curious, so sue me) - and that's because I respect everyone's right and freedom to like what they like. So why do people feel that they have to blemish what they do understand? Mr. Freud, would you like to comment?

Another reminder of Ridley Scott's genius.

And yes, some say he made some so-so movies, but didn't all great artists have their mediocre moments, only to be judged by their masterpieces? This is such a masterpiece, the gem of the art of moving pictures. From the technical point of view, impeccable - you can see it in every scene, in every, even the most miniscule detail, the director's steady hand, where no shortcuts were allowed and no small detail overlooked. Cinematography (hats down, Mr. Wolski, hats down!) editing (oh Mr. Scott, thank you for that, these are the brush strokes of Caravaggio, cadenzas of Mendelson and camera angles by Newton, Ms. Simpson, amazing job, but for you - business as usual), lighting (e.g. Never even a hint of artificial light in the medieval castle at night), music (inobtrusive, yet perfectly in sync - you'd swear after the movie finished you didn't even hear the music: well, that's the point), costumes (probably the least demanding task, but still top notch)... Everything is just the way it should and must be. Someone commented this is the Rashomon for the new generation - and indeed, Mr Scott sits proudly next to Mr Kurosawa on the throne of the kings of filmmaking.

Acting is excellent, Messrs Damon and Driver were really, really good, but kudos to Ms. Comer in particular, she's superb in this demanding role.

Finally, last but not least, the screenplay by Ms Holofcener, Messrs Damon and Affleck - this is a powerful story, the one that's never simple to tell, as many millions of women throughout the history suffered similar faith in silence. And, amazingly enough, it's a true story of a woman who refused to remain silent in the 14th century - there's no level of courage comparable to that in today's world! And the message sent is that it is NEVER right to rape or inflict violence upon women or any other defenseless human being, but also how fragile and desultory the justice is...

Thank you for this movie, Mr Scott et al.

B (He/Him)

This is one bad movie, no two things about that. It may be not that bad if we didn't have the pleasure of watching Luther (the original series), one of the best shows ever. Watching this movie we expected Luther, and if course we were disappointed...

The plot is weak and utterly unbelievable. Technically not bad, Idris is his usual amazing self, and that's about it. 3 stars for it.

But one thing that strikes me and its painfully obvious : Idris Elba would be an amazing 007!! Too bad he doesn't want the role (perhaps Broccoli dough can still persuade him to change his mind?) but OMG I can't think of anyone better...

I don't particularly like stand up comedy in a sense that I would not watch any stand-up comedy just for watching stand-up comedy. I watch the Gods (George Carlin, Richard Pryor), semi-gods (Rick Gervais, Dave Chappelle) and some occasional stand-up comedians if I have nothing else to do.

I in the past watched Chris Rock with interest because he came very close to the semi-god category - but this latest show was really disappointing. If you watched Ricky Gervais in Super Nature, you will pick up on several similarities in Chris Rock's latest show (trans women, victimization...) - the problem is Ricky's stand up was done a good year or year and a half earlier.

Selective Outrage started with standard Chris Rock racist jokes, the issues always very current, potent, real, and he did it in his usual comedic excellence. But that was just first 15 minutes of the show and that deserved my first 3 stars. The rest was simply not funny, or particularly interesting, and quite frankly a little bit over the top - especially the parts about his daughter and her educational adventures. The last part of the show dedicated to the incident with Will Smith was sort of funny but in a weird way. The 4th star is for this one excellent statement "if Beyonce worked at Burger King she would still Mary JayZ, black rapper billionaire,: if JayZ worked at Burger King, well..." - that one sentence in itself deserves a star.

All in all, I was expecting more, and I was let down.

Brilliant man just had a bad day at work...

First off, Diane is brilliant.

Second, whoever wrote this is a bloody genius.

Third, there's so much going on and being said that you MUST watch it over and over (and LYAO every time you do) as there's are so many underlining statements, stuff Philomena says en passant, that make this show even more amazing.

Four, Ali G (Sacha Baron Cohen) started the fake interview stint done by a supposedly dimwit guy, but Philomena takes it to the next level. Ali G's guests didn't have a clue who he was and were genuinely stunned by his questions, but most, if not all of Philomena's guests are willing participants, contributing to the hillariousness of the show.

All in all, this is great fun for the years to come, and whilst it may not be in the same league as Monty Python (nothing is) it certainly is closer to it than many.

It never cease to amaze me now people can spend enough money to feed a small African country for a month, employ hundreds of people for countless hours - and produce rubbish. I mean when you write a bad book, or compose a bad song, or paint a bad picture, you did it on your own, and no harm was done - if it's bad, it's bad, if it's good, great, let's publish it. But with movies and television they keep labouring on and on, and don't know if the end product will be any good. OR DON'T THEY?

I mean OMG someone must have read this script and say "this is good, let's do it" - well that's the guy/gal they have to fire.

Because this is rubbish - waaaay to many issues I have with this show to even start listing them, but it all starts with the story - soooo old, so trite, so unoriginal, so already told million times... But that's not the problem - you can spin any story, however old, trite, unoriginal or told over and over - the devil is in the detail! And there are so many points in this show that lack credibility, so many shortcuts, so many shortcuts!

And the acting is poor as well, to add insult to injury...

Skip it, I did after 3/4 if episode 1.

To begin with: I'm a straight male, but one fierce feminist. I consider woman to be a superior being, and the violence against women I consider the utmost crime against humanity.

This is one superbly made TV series, everything you wish to see but don't see very often: the script (although based on actual events, life is frequently more bland and uneventful: to put it in perspective, writing the script that would glue you to your couch, is where the art comes to the forefront), the editing (I'm a stickler for editing), the directing, and ACTING, OMG THE ACTING!!

But let us not forget the actuality of this entire story: this is NOT a detective movie (or simply a detective movie). To see this story in all its gut-wrenching detail, the struggle these young women went through, the society's (darn male dominated society) refusal to accept the horror of the trauma the victims of sexual violence experience and have to live with, is the real story.

We must protect our women, our mothers, our sisters, our friends, we must watch series like this and educate our children (sons AND daughters) to respect women MORE, we cannot and must not accept to live in a society where the woman is an object, a piece of furniture.

We owe them that much because they gave birth to us, they fed us and give us their unconditional love.

Thank you Netflix.

Well made movie, is the first impression. The actors were well chosen for their roles, and they do a very good job. Decent job also from the technical standpoint, that is, decent job for a low budget movie. But there's a lot more to this movie: I don't know what on God's earth possessed the authors of the movie that shatters so many myths and uncovers so many truths, and that is, when the Serbs are concerned, an extremely rare occurrence. I know one thing: it required a lot of courage to make a movie like this. And who knows, maybe 100 years from now someone will tell the true story about bombing of Serbia and Montenegro in 1999...

Yes, it's Costner and Harrelson, and their superb acting (and supporting roles' too) that comes to the forefront. But there's so much more to this movie: technically, one of the best made movies I've seen in a long time. Directing, scenography, cinematography, editing, camera, costumes, I dare you to find the weak spot in this movie from the technical point of view. The screenplay is amazingly accurate, and it follows the true story to the tee, never falling into the trap of glamourizing either side, as the previous versions did. It's also remarkable in emphasizing our mad obsession with marginal characters whose only claim to fame was their notoriety, stupidity or both. This is the movie that describes the best why I love this art form so much. Good movie, and a good book, when finished, leave you with the lingering feeling of involvement, the trace of dialog, scene, passage that refuses to be forgotten for a long time. Not the greatest movie of all times, but surely one that will find its place in aficionados' hearts.

How could anyone not LOVE this movie?? Oh, I know. Look at the Oval Office...

No wonder the millennials hate this movie. This is not the best movie you'll ever see, but it's better that one would conclude reading all the hate reviews that flooded IMDB. The plot and acting are decent, camera and editing nothing to write home about but bearable, overall slightly better than average movie. The movie tells the story of the generation created to live in a minute, not even a day, manipulated so easily by people and organizations that prey on this mental flaw, or vulnerability, to be politically correct... It's a grim future.

The measure of a good movie, as far as I'm concerned, is when the movie stays with you for a while, coming back in fragments, flashes, reminding you of its excellence by touching that special neuron in your brain. This is Arrival, a sci-fi movie only in appearance, but much, much more than that, that left me breathless, and it's still touching that neuron, and it still produces the flashes of its grandeur, days after I saw it....

Just a quick note, rather important: if you're a fan of Batman vs Superman, don't watch this movie. If you're not into meaningless movies, and like to think, you cannot afford to miss Arrival.