Dubdub1974

I put it all in the title: 1- This is not season 2 of the korean series 2- This is not an americanized version of the korean series

It is a reality tv game show based on the concepts in season 1 of the korean series.

Season 2 of the korean series has been greenlit by netflix, it has been cast and will be released some time late 2024. Look it up!

Now why I rated this game show 3 because it's kind of an insult to the series. The series was denouncing the excesses of uncontrolled greed and capitalism while the game show actually applauds it! It's also VERY american. There are a few UK contestants but 95% of contestants are american. I'm pointing this out as they had advertised it as having lots of international contestants.

What's interesting though is to see how the contestants' reactions really do mirror the ones in series. Won't give any spoilers but it's a testimony to how well the series understood the ugly side of human nature.

It is a reality tv/game show so they have cast it accordingly with a cotery of people you'll love to hate . The way some of them behave will show you what some people will do for money...or food. It's quite revolting. You wonder if they forget they will be on international television or if they just don't care. You also have a cast of people with saccharine pick me stories that are also typical in this type of show...meh...to all of them.

Positive point: the decor, costumes etc...have been faithfully recreated. Some of the changes they've made to some games are really interested and twisted in how they exploit human weakness.

Watch or pass? Meh. Have a look. Understand that there are eliminations all the time so if you don't like a cast member of if you do like them no guarantees they'll still be there by the end of the episode. I just watch for the anthropological side of things. I'm sure some people will say the edit also helps, but a lot of these folks don't need to be edited to be awful. They just are.

Oh my. I was looking forward to some good old swashbuckling and a good story. I mean Dumas wrote a masterpiece. Haven't read it since jr high but I can tell you whatever this film is, it's not it.

First the cast: the lead playing Dartagnan is horrible. He keeps being referred to as "a boy" when he is in fact clearly a middle aged actor. Yes Dartagnan is supposed to be young. Why cast this actor then? Also he really can't act he's supposed to come off as flirty but just comes off as a skeez.

Next the action: you literally can't see anything. Any fighting? Let's zoom in as much as possible on the faces or 1 part of the body, lots of blurry camera shots, 5000 cuts per second, you have NO idea what is going on. Have rarely seen action sequences this badly shot.

Third the story: who's who? There is zero explanation of anything. If you don't have a context of who these characters already are, if you are not familiar with French history or Dumas' original novel, you'll be lost. There is also no character development. You don't care at all about any of the characters.

3:There are numerous contemporary biases that have been inserted into the story that are completely irrelevant to the story.

4: Dartagnan's magical horse. So it's the 17th century, a horse is a huge asset. So let me just dump it anywhere, in the middle of the street and abandon it for hours, days and then it will magically re-appear! Later , whenever I need it! (smh)

5:did you know that the royal guard, the royal palace and well everywhere and anywhere is as the french say "like a moulin" ie you can just waltz in, just about, maybe you need to run a bit but there's zero security and if there is they can't be bothered to look for you if you just run past them...how convenient...when the writing is this bad and you can't be bothered to even try to come up with something that vaguely makes sense....

6:what a wasted opportunity. Btw this is chapter 1 of I assume a trilogy. The movie ends on a cliffhanger and the card "to be continued..."

Don't waste your time, there have been so many filmed versions of the novels for tv or movies. Pick one, any one of them and it will be at worse just as bad or more likely better. Very surprised by the high rating - the movie was terrible.

I'm not a fan of horror so I went into this kind of wary due to it being classified as "horror" and it being called "Resurrected". Turns out this is misclassified. It's not horror, it's a thriller mystery ("who dunnit? What's going on?) with elements of sci-fi (scifi due to the literal resurrection bit).

The format is different: you see it all through the viewpoint of facetime, webcams, youtube videos and cctv. It's very effective, sleek and well done, just like the movie "Searching" but better dues to the variety of mediums used. In some ways it makes you "part of the story".

In this age of AI, video calls, virtual reality and cloning capabilities growing at a rather frightening pace, this movie is very relevant in a lot of ways. Asking some very interesting "what if" questions and a lot of interesting ethical questions too. Add the Catholic church into the mix and you have a really great thought provoking piece.

The first 10 min you're like "meh this looks cheap, the acting is terrible, I know already what's going to happen". I'm really happy I stuck it out for 15 minutes or so because after that you are in for a rollercoaster! The lead actor is horrible in the 1st 10 min not because he's a terrible actor but because his character is horrible. But just wait 15 min like I said. I was very positively surprised. His character arch is very interesting and not a fake "hero's journey" either, a very human one. The teenage son has zero afect, but guys, by the end of the movie you understand why! The Bishop is great and from start to finish you don't know if he is good or evil. Not everything is black and white in this movie.

I'm not sure why some are rating it so low. I suspect they gave up during the first 15 min and maybe just skipped around afterwards if anything. Don't. The layers of this story are presented in order for a reason.

In normal times I would give it a solid 7, 7.5. But I'm putting it at 9 in the hopes of bringing the average slightly up and encouraging others to watch it. T

his is a great B movie like we used to have in the 90s and early 2000s. It's a pity we don't have more of those. Do watch it if you want a good thriller mystery "who dunnit? What is going on?".

Pffff...so boring...have seen this a billion times before and done better.

You might enjoy it if you are under 14 years of age. Otherwise hard pass. If you want a movie to watch with your 10 -14 year old kid, sure, otherwise: hard pass.

But worst of all is Ryan Reynolds who apparently now doesn't know how to do anything other than variations on his deadpool character. Here we have Deadpool rated G. In the original Deadpool we had Deadpool rated R bordering on NC-17. Every movie he's done since he is just a version of Deadpool. That other horrible netflix movie he was in with the Rock, was Deadpool rated PG-13. It now is so boring, unimaginative, repetitive and flavorless (deadpool is only good at charicatural rated-R level bordering on NC-17 ) + the scripts and stories he chooses feel like recycled stories: let's take 20% this movie, 30% that movie and 50% this other movie, add the worst cheesiest dialogue ever, a soundtrack of "hip" retro songs à la "Guardians of the Galaxy" and voila!

It's like Chris Pratt and Ryan Reynolds are now competing to see who can be the most repetitive snarky character in every movie. So so soooo boring. Seems since the Avengers franchise Hollywood now only does one tone if it's not a drama: cheesy snark.

Pass.

This woman is supposed to be the top negotiator in the country and yet is constantly crying or teary eyed ! Why would they think that a professional woman be soooo constantly emotional?! Especially in that field?! Even more so when she's supposed to be a top professional?! Son Ye Jin is just utter rubbish in this one. Hyun bin is no better: trying way too hard to...something. God knows what but it's very theatrical and not believable at all. Continuity issues are numerous and jarring. One doesn't care about any of the characters or the plot. Save yourself: pass! Hard pass!

Netflix does it again and brings an amazingly well written and acted series. This series is amazing. Binged watched the thing in 2 days because I had to work. There are no caricatures in this series. I think it's probably the first american (if not western) series that portrays middle eastern muslims and jews as real, complex, nuanced and normal humans and not caricatures of something or another. The series tackles what some would be considered very controversial subjects just because we don't REALLY talk to each other about our beliefs, the realities of this world and the stories that we tell ourselves to justify our behavior. Whether you are Christian, Jewish or Muslim , or something else or non or the above, you will find this series at worst entertaining and at best thought provoking. Don't worry it doesn't bash anyone, but it's not PC either. It takes a real look at the darkness and light in the heart of "Man" in a very real way. It's not american centric. It's fair, unapologetic. Split between Israel, Syria, Jordan and the US with actors speaking in those native languages, with complex well thought out characters this is a slow burn but sooo powerful. The questions are many: is he who others think he is? is he not? does it matter? It's very interesting to realize the difference between what he actually says and what people hear or tell themselves about who he is and what he does: it's all about the stories we tell ourselves. It makes you think about how much of your experience of the world is shaped by the prism of these stories we have been told and believed or rejected and the narratives that we hold as true to ourselves. If '" a miracle man" (identified as such by others) were to appear today, who would embrace him? who would reject him? who would try to take him down? who would doubt?, who would just observe and take him as he is? what would YOU do? what would your spouse/friend/family member do? Are you sure? You might be surprised... The ensemble cast covers ordinary people all the way up to the highest powers in the land and across nations. Absolutely fanstastic! Can"t wait for season 2. Keep them coming Netflix!

If you are a maybe a psych major you might enjoy this as a case study, otherwise just skip it.

Kevin Hart spends 3 hours explaining that he isn't perfect and that's why he: cheats on his pregnant wife, constantly insults his family, friends and employees (but "hey , I love you!"...typical narcissism move), starts physical fights with his friends/employees, has an entourage of yes-men friends on his payroll, is totally tone deaf when it comes to other peoples' feelings, is obsessed with becoming a MOGUL, a BILLIONAIRE, wants people to talk about him FOREVER, has total delusions of grandeur, likes to talk about how he does "all of this for the family", is ALL ABOUT THE HUSTLE, doesn't have ANY resentment about his absentee father that he also now has on his payroll but he would appreciate if, you know, said father could ask for the 7000$ he needs for a new COPD breathing machine "like a man" and not be a "b**ch"!!! (you will hear that word, A LOT)

The scary thing is that Kevin Hart approved this documentary. He produced this, he thinks this makes him look good. This is how out of touch he is with what he really is: the messed up product of a dysfunctional family who has not dealt with any of his issues instead developing this raging ego to compensate. He has zero self awareness but is convinced that he knows it all, has surrounded himself in his private and professional life with yes men and women who are way too enamored with the paychecks and the lifestyle to help him grow and has developed the giant distorted crazy ego to be used as an armor to not have to deal with his issues.

As a result he comes off as an egotistical, narcissistic egomaniac and talks a lot about himself in the 3rd person. At one point I wondered if this was a mockumentary or a performance piece. Unfortunately it's not, this is Kevin Hart as he wants to be seen. It's really sad. Whether you find him funny or not, this will not make you laugh... Skip this one.

I was goint to skip this one because I thought it would be some usual caricatural hollywood bs: men bad women good or men good women bad or men bad women good but then men become good or some other variation on these boring tropes. Oh but no, not at all. What we have here is one of the best shows I've seen in years. Incredibly nuanced without turning away or simplifying the issues at hand: It walks a tight rope and is unapolagetic in it's honesty. It does not pontificate, it doesn't overdramatize, it doesn't take sides because there are no sides, we're all in this together: it just shows. It shows the reality of the double standards, the complicity, the delusions ON ALL SIDES. Men, and women. Both have agendas, both can be predatory, both can be corrupted, both can be opportunistic. Everyone is part of this messed up system. There is no caricature, there's, no black and white, no monster predator. It is way more insiduous, way more complicated, shades of grey that still make you cringe and question all the same without pontificating at you because the moral relativism is sooo obvious. No monster predators, just your every day predators or opportunists, that's what makes it so pernicious. That's what makes the issue so complex. Of course monster predators do exist, but what usually happens in most workplaces is way more complex and convoluted than that. But don't worry there are no long soliloques about the injustices of this or that. It just shows, bares witness and looking from the outside you'll finally get it if you haven't so far, even if you've never been confronted by this. If you've ever worked in a corporate environment for more than 10 years you'll have many flashbacks, especially if you've been in a management position. Everyone is complicit in this culture but it still doesn't make it right. How do we change it without making everything awkward and turning us into robots? The show doesn't have an answer but it definitely shows how complex these issues are. If the conversations around the Metoo movement were this honest we might actually be able to move forward instead of just pointing fingers back and forth at an imaginary well defined other side. Hope this show is able to keep up this level of reality.

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

After the first 10 minutes I nearly switched off the DVD as this movie was just so beyond ridiculous that I could feel my brain shrinking as I watched it. I mean, it starts in an Al Qaeda compound in Iraq which as we all know are numerous (sigh) with John Cena pulling a Rambo to free 2 hostages (which somehow turns into 3 hostages running out of the building....continuity or making sense isn't the strong suit of this movie....). He just shoots up the place Rambo style (while screaming and in plain site) and manages to kill everyone except the 2 (3?) hostages. This kind of nonsensical stupidness is what you see through out the movie, so just relax, get some pop corn and have a laugh 'cause this movie has it all: -the cheapest blue screen effects ever -the corniest music : blaxpoitation music meets dirty dancing music (yes that is actually possible) -bad guys firing literally thousands of bullets a second and not hitting our "hero" who manages to protect himself with a bullet proof vest...held in one hand! (that's our boy!) -growling and barking alligators (!!???) -The crappiest one liners EVER -And a John Cena who has the acting ability of....a trowel? I swear this guy looks like a cro-magnon.

I give it a 6, why? Because it's hilarious, it's so bad it's actually a good comedy...not on purpose...but oh well...

Ben Affleck needs to stop acting, like right now and just focus on directing. He is ,at best, an average actor but a FANTASTIC storyteller as demonstrated by "Good Will Hunting" and even more so by "Gone baby Gone".

3 dimensional characters, the kind you got to see on NYPD Blue in its hay-day (not season 450) and not one character is superfluous or just there for Hollywood conventions (and yes, that does include the girlfriend- who is here actually the voice of his conscience)

Amazing cast; suspenseful; full of surprises and great cinematography.

Thrilling story.

Highly recommended.

Just like in real life, in this movie, nothing is black and white ...ever.

I get so frustrated with sci fi movies. They are just full of clichés. And the worst offenders are slow paced wannabe philosophical adventures in space.

How many slow mo shots of the spaceship can one suffer? How many unprofessional, irritable, depressed, borderline psychotic scientists/soldiers does one need to send into space to create a catastrophe? ...Oh that character is mean! I bet he gets killed in the next 10 minutes!...5 minutes later: BINGO! So in this super future they don't have backup computers, vital spaceship components are accessible to one and all and navigators do complex math on sheets of papern (and of course mess up), oh and they don't have backup oxygen tanks or contingency plans either or anything that makes sense really! A pathetic mish mash of everything you've ever seen in 2001 Sapce Odyssey + Alien + Event Horizon, etc... but very badly done.

Cliché, after cliché, you KNOW everything that's going to happen before it happens.

As boring as Solaris (the George Clooney version) and as pointless as Batman & Robin.

Want a good space movie, here's one of the rare ones: Mission to Mars.

This could have been very interesting but the film maker wanted to talk about "the characters" in the school and the school director (who comes off as a 40 y.o. peter pan with ADD and a foul temper) rather than the obviously hard working and gifted musicians that make up the "star group" of the school. That is a pity because they could have had for once a documentary about kids finding their way rather than losing themselves but the filmmaker went rather with the caricatural: -the genius overachiever (the good) -there's the tortured teenager (the bad) -the 9 year old twins who would not know what a beat (or singing in tune) is if it came up and hit them in the head (the comic relief) -the school director who spends his time screaming and berating these kids like it's boot camp time in full metal jacket (bare in mind these kids are between the ages of 9 and 17)- (the ugly) - Even after their triumph at the Zappa fest you don't see him once high five a kid or give him or her a compliment. Mind you that might be on purpose: You get the feeling that the filmmaker had a rather set agenda and wanted the characters to be seen in a manichaean fashion. There is a lot of editing. Overall not worth the watch unless you want to spend your time reading between the lines.