manolescucrazvan

Firstly, I've read the Remembrance of Earth's Past series by Liu Cixin and it one of my favourites. It's everything good Sci-fi should be.

That being said, I don't mind a rewrite for a series. There are numerous fan fiction stories, one of which made it as the unofficial 4th book in the series.

But what I find strange is that there are huge scenes that are following the book closely and the the others are dangerously close to trash.

The main characters are not believable as top scientists. Some of it had to do with poor casting, a lot with the idiotic dialogue. These are top minds of the world and they speak like edgy 20 yos. They don't gratuitously swear.

Apart from that, we also see the, now classic, strong female character trope (that replaces the man main character). That's fine, it doesn't matter, the story is much larger. But all the male characters are pathetic, useless, clumsy idiots that constantly need assistance. I whish Hollywood BS would have just stood this one out. This story not a good place for moral preaching.

The CGI is sometimes amazing, sometimes cheap. The story is the same.

I wish we could have had a slower story, with a smaller cast, more science and less teenage drama.

After finishing the movie, I feel like I've eaten reheated pasta: I still have a taste of the original dish, but the experience was just bad.

The overall plot of the movie is decent. It doesn't feel like a heartless cash-grab, but the execution does.

* The movie is littered with sequences from the old movies (which I found very tacky), as well as over-explanations. The best thing about the original movies was that it made you think. It made you keep processing what you've just seen for a lot of time.

* The Matrix movies felt cold and serious. They were about serious issues, there was no silliness in it. There was no room for it. The silly atmosphere and lines just make some things feel gross. Any attachment that you feel to the characters is reset to 0 in that moment.

* Fight scenes are sub-par.

* 3rd wall breaks are ok if you set them up correctly. These were not. Sometimes it felt like the director just watched Deadpool and said "I want some of that".

I think the best thing that could have been done in post is just not name it "Matrix". Name it something like "The adventures of resurrected Neo" or something. The movies doesn't do justice to itself or to the original trilogy by latching itself to them. It's fine if you want to do something different. But don't raise expectations by packaging it in nostalgia.

This is not a perfect movie. The intrigue is good, pace is a bit slow and the attention to detail is almost unnerving. This is what hard sci-fi movies should be about and in that particular respect, the movie is great.

The Andromeda Strain is what modern sci-fi should follow for inspiration. Not as a whole, but in respect to technical backstory that doesn't make you cringe every time you really think about it. It's simplicity, yet sheer quality should make people rethink high budget blockbusters with paper napkin scripts that have no idea what a technical consultant looks like.

This movie should be watched by every sci-fi fan to recalibrate their sense of what the genre stands for.

I read the book slightly before the movie came out, so a lot of the scenes were still fresh. I'm not one of those people that puts reading on a pedestal and snub movies. A good story is a good story, no matter the medium.

The movie captured the heart of the book well, there is some evidence of hard sci-fi, all the action is pretty realistic and is very fun to watch.

Damon's acting is pretty good, and most of the characters are pretty believable. Jeff Daniels was also is his very likeable Newsroom authoritative, slightly cocky character.

Where I feel this is a let-down is the script: the book has a lot of funny passages and jokes that are sprinkled between technical details and the protagonist's inner battle to keep sane while dealing with disappointment. Like any other script, most of the action was summarized, while most of the humor made it. This makes the story feel more silly than it really is. It also makes the story less believable.

7/10 seems like a fair estimation for this movie, but you have to heavily balance the excellent impact on the viewer and the way the movie unfolds. Given that, it should easily have 8/10.

What I feel Signs did excellently (and that a lot of modern horror movies fail at) is establish a baseline of normality. They show characters going about their usual lives, with nothing out of the ordinary. The story and associated tension develops slowly and naturally. It's almost boring.

Some shallow evidence of a weird phenomena are showed, but there is no killer to jump out in the bathroom while one of the side-characters is taking a shower. There is no screaming and no blood. Just a faint feeling of something being wrong.

By the time the first aliens are shown, you are legitimately startled. This is precisely because you're not used to it. If the first 10 minutes of the movie would have shown a non-human claw or spaceship hovering about Earth, that surprise would have been completely eradicated.

Most horror movies should take notes from how Signs was constructed and what it really takes to build up a scare.

I started this series exactly as it was coming out because, like most people, I just finished Breaking Bad. I was very pleasantly surprised that it was able to fill that hole.

I was very hesitant at first because I never liked the Saul Goodman character. He never had enough admirable qualities to make you root for him.

The show is very smart (with lots of interesting legal knowledge), well acted (props to Odenkirk here) and with very interesting script that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The story alternates pace and creates tension out of thin air. This is very similar, if not identical, to Breaking Bad.

Where I think Better Call Saul is different is that it's just funnier. The darkness is counterbalanced by humor and it makes for a much more relaxed viewing experience. Now the question is: is that a quality or a defect? Should a cinematic experience mark you or not? Personally, I prefer it, due to this.

What I love about it is that it's an origins story, but no explanation seems forced. The evolution of Jimmy to Saul is so natural, that it almost feels real. What I also enjoy about it is that characters never go from start to destination without taking some winding backroads. They explore different attitudes and keep or dismiss them due to their experiences, not because it brings them closer to the person they should be in the end.

Taking this movie within it's coming of age comedy genre, I feel it's one of the best ever made.

Judging by the fact that more than 10 years after seeing this I still remember a lot of funny scenes and quotes, makes me think that it was a memorable and entertaining experience.

The interactions between the three protagonists shows the story of friendship in the trouble world of teenagers. Everyone tries to act cool, but deep down no one really is and that contrast is shown superbly. The three friends are on a confidence roller-coaster that should transport any viewer to their teenage years.

I feel this movie also single-handedly shot up Jonah Hill and Emma Stone's career. I don't remember much of their work before this, but I remember a lot afterwards. Given that it wasn't very dramatic and it wasn't set up in the best way to show acting qualities, that alone should tell you something about the quality of the script.

Probably the only reason people snubbed their noses at this is that they didn't take it for what it is and wanted something sophisticated.

I'm always amazed when I look back at how underrated this movie is. 6/10 is understandable, but anything lower is just now fair.

There are mountains of good comedy within the show, mostly prompted by Martin Lawrence's antics.

I always look back at how many jokes people remember from a comedy and if it's more than 2, it usually means it was successful. They may have not been PC, they may not have been witty, but they got the job done.

I've seen a lot more critically acclaimed movies that I struggle to remember at least one funny scene from.

Firstly, I want to mention that I came into this with high expectations. John Malkovich's presence is enough to raise the acting bar level and Steve Carell is one of my favorite comedy actors.

The series falls short because it seems Neflix is operating under the "more is more" mantra. The series has a continuous story, comedy, drama, some action with a little bit of tragedy sprinkles. At times, the show has a serious sci-fi feel, at times it's goofy and other times it's just a boring romcom.

The setup for the show is very interesting. The acting is good, the characters are flawed in good ways, but it seems it's very confused as to what it wants to be.

Secondly, I was hoping this would put more emphasis on the sci-fi part. I feel leaving the comedy a bit dry and contextual would have worked wonders. Instead, it's mixed with the goofiness of Ben Schwartz, which I feel has no place here. If it managed give seriousness vibe just enough to contrast the comedy (similar to The Office), I think it would have easily been a 8-9 * rated show.

I am hopeful that for the 2nd season they decide on a path to take and scrub off some of the dead weight plots that do nothing for the overall direction.

After seeing the trailer for Killing Eve, I fully expected a rough, realistic spy thriller. I thought I was going to see very precise, elaborated intelligence work, and very careful planning. I saw none.

If you take this seriously, there is too much chaos. People who's job description involves critical thinking and tactical planning are cracking under pressure and reacting in crazy ways. Elite assassins cannot shoot precisely 20 m away. The writing seems lazy, with lack of fact checking and authenticity of characters.

Overall: 5 *

If you don't take this seriously, on the other hand, this as a fun black drama/comedy. You start noticing some great acting and a very entertaining story. You keep coming back for more and soon be hooked on finding out what strange new development might happen.

Overall: 9*

Overall, on average : 7*

The whole movie seems like a spectacle of badassery, with little in thought spared for realism.

Though there are some great action scenes within the movie, some of it just mocks you with the how superhuman it is (from people getting shot and continuing without issues, to people getting hit by cars/trucks and walking it off). It game me the vibe of a JCVD Saturday afternoon movie from the 90's, in HD.

I have to give it up to some of the great camera work, but that's mostly due to state-of-the-art stabilizers, so ... well done technology.

The whole plot seems like it was written on toilet paper during bathroom breaks from the action scene filming. Even the ending seems to have no point, leaving the watcher to figure out what happens next, but the movie does little to set that up.

I would give this movie 3/10, bur some great action scenes and quite decent acting saved it.

The overall format of the movie is a typical X-men movie: tell a story, have some inner struggle, sprinkle some supernatural powers here and there. Overall a pretty good movie experience (7/10). But this is not.

My eyes hurt from getting rolled so much during the dialogue. There is no character shining through. Everybody is positive and sometimes seem like a collective hive-mind. I especially don't like Quicksilver's attitude, which should be more wise-ass and combative.

I hate speaking about technical plot holes in a soft sci-fi movie. A suspension of belief is expected and can be offered with little effort, given is had a good plot . But this does not.

Apparently you can survive without a suit in space. Even if you find an explanation for oxygen (telekinetic bubble), there is still danger of radiation, temperature etc. Storm can apparently control air fluxes in the void of space and create ice cubes.

Beast, beside being a bio-chemist, mechanical engineer, apparently he dabbles in aerospace engineering, medicine and psychology as well.

The overall plot seems very similar to the 'The last stand', mixed in with a bit of 'Avengers: Endgame'.

On the CGI, I have to give it a thumbs up, there are some great action sequences.

Overall, I would give it a 5.5/10.

I came into after watching the trailer thinking it's going to be another Godzilla ripoff, or at least a story that was based on a denaturation of it.

But I didn't. The story is not what you'd expect. The story has very fine turns that you don't notice initially. The characters evolve, they become who they ultimately should be to push the story further. The characters start off looking cliché, but soon enough they take you down paths you didn't expect.

I like this movie for its honesty. It doesn't have a mind-bending idea or an extremely convoluted plot, but it makes very good use of what it has.

"Her" is clearly in a world of its own during the action and superhero packed sci-fi movies we see in the cinematic ecosystem today. Its basis is simple: can a human and and AI system fall in love?

While this idea is explored thoroughly, I feel that some of the scenes were intentionally exaggerated or stretched out to be a better filler. I would have loved this to be a broader look at AI, with a focus on human relationships, rather than having an unique focus. For this reason alone, I fear that the movie will be forgettable.

The movie's only redeeming unique aspect is the game the protagonist played, which was one of the funniest scenes I ever saw.

First of all, I'd like to say that I was highly disappointed by the ending of the movie. I hate movies that revolve around a mystery story that never gets solved and leaves you with that fill-in-with-your-own-ideas lazy writing feel. A good example of this type of movie is "The Signal". Beside some great acting that really helped the buildup of ending that would explain the seemingly chaotic events.

Overall, no miracles could be expected from the cast and there were none. All included, it seemed like the movie lacked vision and an overall idea could not be brought forward.