randomStuff101

Season two drags on the nonsense without reaching any coherent conclusion, and is the reason for my low score.

There's no explanation for anything that happens. It's cryptic weirdness for weirdness sake, and it goes on and on.

Some scenes linger almost like they're filling time.

We're never told exactly what's happening or why, because I don't think even the writers know.

By the end, it's just an exercise in keeping the audience in the dark. Pretend like there's deeper meaning, but never actually reveal anything other than a quirky circus act involving baby goats, ridiculously long office hallways, and a bizarre religious cult mixed with cutting edge science?

First season built up tension with a reasonable plot, but sadly nothing is delivered in season two. They spend an entire episode showing the Lumen boss lady out on some farmhouse looking for a book. A subplot that could have been done in 10 minutes but took 45 min of long slow shots of people staring at each other.

The question you'll be asking yourself throughout this series, "what is happening, did I miss some crucial information last episode?"

No, you didn't miss anything. It's the show messing around with the timeline. Way too much. They overcooked how much they keep viewers in the dark. As a result, you're left with too many questions, not enough answers.

The other problem is the constant shooting of guns. In the later seasons it gets ridiculously casual. Someone in your way? Just shoot them in the head. Human or not, doesn't matter. All the main characters are cold-blooded murderers. Casually opening fire every 5 minutes.

It becomes farcical. People dressed in suits and evening wear, running around shooting people.

There's a lot to like about this show, but also hollow, pointless action. Run from point A to point B, don't tell us why, kill a few people, move to next scene.

This is a fun game show with action, tension, drama, eliminations, rewards, temptation, and style. Everything is scaled up, it's entertaining and binge-worthy.

No idea why people are downvoting it. Something about the contestants not living up to their expectations? Huh?

Who cares! It's a bunch of people trying to win the big prize, you'll see all kinds of characters and different strategies. It's not about the contestants anyway, it's about the games and contest.

Great production. MrBeast keeps it rolling and upbeat. I've never seen a game show like it before. I hope there's more like it made.

Starting with 1000 contestants is a great idea. The elimination rate and the way cash is thrown around tempting people at every turn is amusing.

Starts well, enjoyable enough until an hour in when the jokes fall flat and there's too much unrefined silliness.

This movie needed more writing effort, or different writers. Some of it was funny, but the plot suffers from lazy comedic tropes.

The way it all wraps up at the end is so dull, it's not great writing.

The "dumb blonde girl" and hippy guy characters were overcooked, such thin cliche characters. They just didn't try to make this a great movie.

Even the detail about why Little Rock left in the first place, to find people her own age and meet someone was never resolved. This girl ends up the only one in group without a partner, as they drive off all "happy families." So the mission to find her succeeds, but her situation is no better than before.

Good to see a prequel covering the events at the other camp, leading up to The Thing from 1982.

If you've never seen the 1982 Thing, I'd recommend starting with this prequel then watching the original after. That way you get the story in the proper event order, and for the first 20 minutes you'll know something the characters don't which might be fun.

While it doesn't surpass the original, it doesn't try to. It tries to make a prequel and get the job done. Effects are not as physically real looking as the original, which is ironic.

Writing is safe and underwhelming. Nothing too creative is going on here. Some action scenes are far-fetched.

The directing and overall "art" of the original is missing.

It's meant to be set in the early 80s, but these characters give off a more modern vibe. Even after her huge ordeal the woman looked fresh faced always. She needed weathering and battle scars, she just wasn't a believable character.

You can tell they chose a female lead because we're not allowed to have an all male cast, even when it makes sense to relative to the story.

Slow start. A lot of faffing about setting up characters and backstories. Finally after 20 minutes, you get the first hand scene and we're away.

It's a good idea, probably 6 or 7 out of 10. But you'll be suspending disbelief. The group accepts the intense supernatural events a bit too casually, it's all a big laugh for them, as they mess around with demonic possession.

Somehow they keep it secret, confined only to the small group. Even though the kid almost dies, they don't mention to anyone the cause of his injuries, or that they have a ceramic hand with direct line to the dead.

So it's one of those horrors where you need to forget about what people would really do if there was an object with that much power.

A missed opportunity in writing a better ending. The very last scene where we see the hand in action from the other side, should have been the father using it to connect with his daughter who stabbed him. She left it at her house. Instead it's just random unknown people who use it. Or it should have been her friends or something... just to bring it full circle. It could have been more cleverly crafted to tie everything together and offer a little more depth.

Enjoyed this perhaps even more than Knives Out. Love the setting and all the clues right in our faces. If you watch it a second time you can see some of the big clues are literally visible on screen.

Funny how Miles' murder mystery party was solved immediately and it made him angry. I enjoyed where the story went after that, we all knew it's going to get real, and it unravels in an entertaining way.

Nice little twists within twists, it's smart and funny. Very good movie, it's strange to see some other reviewers complaining. Relax! It's a fun ride.

Small details like the hourly "dong" is funny. Blanc is even more enjoyable to watch this time, he let's loose and nothing is at it seems. Great viewing.

Why is everyone so smug in British spy dramas? Good guys, bad guys, they're all up themselves and let everyone around them know about it often.

Season 2 is a convoluted mess of unlikely chance events and overly-complex plot holes, that naturally funnel towards the all-knowing neat & deliberate conclusion. As if mapped out like a... screenplay.

That's what we're watching . Not a good story, but a "clever screenplay" with pre-fab characters that slot into their places.

Super convenience around every corner. Never mind the main character nears death, it was all part of the plan! I suspect the fans of this series completely missed the plot holes regarding the technical plausibility of deep fakes.

The AI tech boss almost had a tag on his shirt labelled "bad guy" because that's how he played it.

Too many: "we can't tell you anything right now, but follow me down this dark road as I dial up the drama with my villainous tone". It's cringe overload.

Enjoyable but frustrating plot holes and tedious virtue signalling & "socially conscious" writing.

We get it. Women can be "top scientists" and the "smartest and prettiest person in the room". Please reinforce it again and again, because I need reminding every 10 minutes.

We know when writers run out of ideas to link plot A with plot B. They just make up implausible cheat modes in the story. Apparently aliens can interfere with computers and anything they like, but fail to stop basic scenarios involving those who plot against them.

In other words, the writers gave the aliens almost unlimited God-like powers, but the aliens fail to use those powers, or appear to be selective in order to facilitate the TV show's entertainment agenda.

We are forced to just accept significantly sized science fiction silliness. Reminds me a bit of Doctor Who level absurdity. 6 out of 10 because it's watchable, but annoying. They went too big, too corny.

They mention "season 2" a couple of times in casual conversation on set, before they knew Netflix would pull the plug. So they must have hoped it would happen, very sad it isn't.

Great to see behind the scenes, all the details, costume making and hard work. They did create something very unique and cool, during a pandemic.

You'd think with such production innovation and strong cast, Netflix would be keen to continue the adventure.

Perhaps season 2 was pitched but they didn't like it. If the story became a futuristic "space" story, it would be completely different. The steamship was almost one of the characters, all those sets they built, wooden hallways and areas of the ship.

I guess it's possible they simply didn't have a strong direction for the story to take after the true nature of the simulation is revealed.

Just discovered this series in 2024.

Dreamy, mysterious and keeps you wondering and wanting more. The best "Matrix" awakening scene since "The Matrix".

Spoiler alert: By that I mean 1899 has a Matrix-style satisfying reveal in the final episode where the main character manages to escape the simulation and wake up in reality, which happens to be the exact opposite of a 19th century steamship, but a giant space ship hurtling through space.

We can presume the simulation existed as entertainment for the crew of the space ship, a way to pass the time, or some necessary training or hibernation. At some point maybe the technology got out of hand, or someone abused it for some reason, to gain a certain outcome. I hope the creators of this series explain what they had in store for season 2, if anything.

This final reveal explains the main mystery, but a number of things are left unresolved. Since the series is now cancelled, we'll never understand why certain characters did what they did, or what they had planned for series two.

On reflection, it's hard to think how they could have kept it going. Our lead character awakens in the real world, and presumably can figure out how to wake up the other main characters who were asleep in their pods, stuck in the simulation. In some ways, things are wrapped up with this final scene, as if it really is the end.

I was hoping the story would go down an "Edge of Tomorrow" path, like Groundhog Day, and we'd see the reset but this time knowing what it all was, and the main character would be aware this time, or something.

While I love the widescreen cinemascope ratio of this show and wish more shows would follow this format, the actual story is lightweight. I've watched the first season only so far.

Another glossy crime boss story set in an alternate universe where unlikely events happen every day to cardboard cutout characters around ever corner.

Great seeing Stallone do a series. But everything is predictable and formula-driven.

The playbook is easy. A template-driven production guaranteed to "meet expectations".

Many shows have come before this in the same low-complexity, surface-deep rendering. "Power" comes to mind - six seasons of "gangsta fantasy", super-unrealistic cheese without grit.

Stallone is enjoying himself, and this series is one of the better cheesy series, but I expected something more.

I watch TV series to escape reality and be entertained, not be reminded how stressful and anxious people can be in the kitchen as they chop onions and spill containers of soup on the floor.

Watched first 3 episodes of season 1 only, not sure if I will watch more. I don't see the point. More shouting, more chaos in the kitchen, for what purpose? So the main guy has some issues. The thing is, those issues don't seem at all interesting!

Tight camera framing increases the stress. It's narcissistic to think this content is worth general viewing. Maybe if I was in the food industry I could relate, but other than that there's nothing interesting here.

If you want a good kitchen movie, try Dinner Rush, a great movie. The Bear is nowhere near that quality. Or try the Pixar animated movie Ratatouille. Or try the fantastic movie The Cook The Thief His Wife Her Lover...

Nothing happens in The Bear. It's almost like a technical exercise in photographing a kitchen, with a few loosely tacked on story elements. I may watch the rest of season 1, then edit my review if I find something worthy of a better review.

Shame on the cinemas who cancelled the screening because whinging mobs shook their fists.

First of all, the movie is non-profit. Secondly, it was made by a real human crew and real actors.

It was clever to get ChatGPT to write a film script about a screenwriter who feels his job is threatened by AI's superior writing ability. How can anyone not be curious to watch this movie? It's free to watch on Youtube.

The lead actor does a fine job as he goes through the highs and lows of his journey with the AI writing assistant. I was keen to find out how where ChatGPT would take the story.

Ultimately, the script lacks any real punch or decent plot twists or narrative layering that we humans love about film. It doesn't go anywhere you wouldn't predict. In saying that, some scenes are genuinely good and enjoyable. There is suspense and intrigue.

Writing a good ending is difficult even for humans. Balancing story arcs and character elements takes skill and refinement. Perhaps ChatGPT could have done a better job if repeatedly prompted to improve each scene and come up with more depth and alternate endings. Just like how humans write films, sometimes it takes a lot of revision to nail it.

Humans sometimes make boring, awful movies with bad scripts, cliches everywhere, predictable plot holes. If AI does nothing but replace low-grade human writers and keep good writers on their toes, then I'm all for AI generated scripts.

Definitely an interesting experimental film that did not deserve the negative backlash. 7 stars for the experiment, 4 stars out of 10 for AI's script quality. It just wasn't layered enough, and settled for a generic, wrapping up to please humans. I would have liked it more if the AI dared to take the story to a more edgy conclusion than the "audience friendly" road it took.

There's a generation of writers and directors who went to film school, but not to learn how to make good stories. Their intention must be to make money by appealing to the lowest common denominator.

The aim is to appeal to short-attention span viewers with a lazy, dumbed-down narratives and simple words.

"Bad day at the office"... says one character to another.

"What's heaven?" says the child robot to the human.

Some of the scenes are ridiculously implausible and almost cartoonish. Why? Who is the target audience?

Unlikely nick-of-time moments are fun in isolation, in small amounts. Not every second scene. Pushing it too far causes separation from the viewer, who no longer cares about the story and is there only for the light show.

It's such a shame that producers give so much money to these talentless writers. They're given a crew of talented set designers and visual effects people, and then slap these empty, soul-less scripts on top, ruining everything. It's a culture of cringe, of mediocre and safe writing, "just in case" something with more grit is too scary or provokes too much thought.

"Leave brain at door" is a cancer on the art of film-making. Particularly for science fiction themes, which should be more intelligent.

Effects are good, but please get better writers.

Unfortunately the quality of the script is nowhere near the quality and tightness of the first 3 Toy Stories. Not counting the look and animation, the ideas weren't as creative and the execution only average.

For example, the way the toys got the RV to turn back was completely unrealistic. Really takes you out of the movie when implausible things happen. Toys pretending to be GPS navigation, and the humans actually falling for it? Sorry but that's ridiculous.

The writers were lazy or just not the good writers this time. They forced a series of unlikely events towards the end. The timing of those events needing to chain together to form a massive coincidental outcome.

Obviously some scenes are enjoyable, but there's an X-factor missing that was present in the previous movies.

Not sure if the direction was the issue, or screenplay or what. But from the very opening scene, things just seemed muddled, not as poetic. Perhaps it suffered from design-by-committee.

The background music with emotional strings were pushed too hard. Very formula-driven, no creative rule-breaking. Just a "safe" movie in stark contrast to the engaging and original narratives of the previous movies.

Just discovered this series this year (2024). Great to see a star wars series with more meat on the bones. Nicely executed, efficient story-telling. Finally something with more adult themes and tone.

After all, the kids of the 80s are all grown up and some still like Star Wars, but tired of seeing the children's safe version with flashy light shows and too many young actors.

When I heard about this series, I was doubtful a baby Yoda would be interesting. Surely a gimmick. But it works well having this dark and depressed Mandalorian character looking after Yoda.

Excellent soundtrack too, nice ambient sci-fi.

It was going well before they began over-explaining certain issues and ideas. Determined to make points and say it like they think it is. Lengthy ramblings and reinforcement tone.

On the plus side, colour and fun vibrancy in many scenes for a nice ride. Margot is great. But the dwelling on certain ideas and pushing of those ideas was drawn out, laboured.

Self-referential, as if they were too scared not to. Imagine a Barbie movie that didn't come with a toxic masculinity lecture? Who would dare make that?

A truly bizarre narrative intrusion at one point. Something about Margot Robbie's looks being incompatible with the Barbie character's vulnerable moment? In effect disallowing the Barbie character from having that emotion because the actor playing her is pretty? Very strange.

Immature writing in many ways. There are good lines from Ken and Barbie, but also really awkward material.

What's the problem with elevating a young girl to super-warrior ability, agility and strength? It's unbelievable and implausible.

We're asked to believe too much. It's not a "predator movie", it's more "Hunger Games".

Okay, the girl can throw an axe. But we are expected to believe she goes from that to basically wonder woman. Able to out-smart and take down a predator on her own.

All she needs to do is a few flips and spins, some acrobatics, wrestle the predator a few times, defy death and injury over and over again, and watch her complex plan for a trap come together perfectly. We then see her stroll out uninjured, the predators blood on her clothes and face. Riiiiiiight.

The formula-agenda cringe is tedious. Unfortunate to see this again. "Girls can kill predators too" is the main point of this movie. Nothing ruins a good movie more than busting stereotypes and "representing" or whatever studio motivations are behind these projects.

Some drama and suspense here and there, but ultimately a disappointing and overrated series. By the end it becomes implausible and far removed from reality. The fate of characters won't be of much concern by the end. Live, die, who cares.

The way they portrayed the evil genius bad people on the ground directing the hijackers, was in contrast to the awkward blunt demise of those on the ground. Get them out of the narrative so the story on the plane can continue. Way too convenient.

The "cleaners" turned out to be a couple of clowns not far from Home Alone level.

Not great TV. Even with the big Apple name behind the production, they go for a Sunday drive fluffy hijack story.

The main dude didn't have any special skills... ending up nearly ruining the whole thing multiple times. I was expecting him to be a crafty negotiator tactical guy or something, but he made dumb moves during the hijacking. He would have died if not for the unrealistic screenplay to his rescue.

The dude grins every few seconds, grin grin grin.

Someone told him to grin because it's that sort of movie, but that was a mistake because now he grins too much every scene.

What's to grin about? Almost dying horrible deaths etc, yeh I know it's star wars universe but still some actual serious tension and darkness would be useful to balance the squeaky clean material.

Instead we get a Ron Howard feel-good grinning festival. Bland cliche characters and plots, it's all so packaged and sterile. Would have been better with Chewy as main character, and Solo for one scene. Apparently I need to write more to meet some silly character quota.

Long, boring talking scenes about nothing. This movie needed a better editor and writer.

Some good action scenes, ruined by tedious back and forth conversation filler.

Numerous awkward plot holes. Implausible, stupid decisions by key characters. Dr Strange for some reason gets outsmarted by Spiderboy's "geometry", as a way to keep Dr Strange out of the picture until the end.

Spiderman is an annoying brat the whole time. Whinging and yapping about this or that.

The scenes with all three Peter Parkers were yawn-inducing. There was one funny line, about not having spidey sense for bread.

The scene at end with Parker stumbling over his words, gazing for 3 hours at MJ in the store, asking for a coffee. So unrealistic. If she had no memory, she wouldn't be standing there for ages gazing into a customer's eyes. Awful, clunky editing.

Did the spell magically erase everything written down too? I thought it was a "memory wiping" spell, but apparently it changed everything ever recorded on video or written about Peter Parker as Spiderman.

Good film-making is about the courage to cut things out, leaving a tightly paced efficient story. This movie fails in that task, and is only somewhat saved by a few good action scenes, the effects, and Dr Strange.

The writers lose the plot with implausible nonsense, generic cheesy emotion and a mess of ideas. It causes a separation of viewer and content, where you don't care anymore because anything can happen. So you just watch the forgettable light show.

Overcooked story and characters don't fit with other Avengers. It's a mess of clashing design concepts.

Tries to please teenage girls with blunt messages of girl-power, and "never give up" but ends up like a corny Power Rangers.

Brie Larson is unconvincing as a hero of any sort. Even as a normal fighter pilot she is out of place. She's the girl next door with perfectly shampooed wavy hair, no matter the physical ordeals encountered. Her whole look and attitude is boring, like she wandered off the set of daytime TV.

It's the 1990s. We get it. Computers are slow, and let's play the popular songs of the day. The Nirvana track lands awkwardly in the most unfitting scene ever for that song. Other 90s songs are plastered awkwardly over fight scenes.

Her powers... over the top is an understatement. Why would she lose any fight? She's basically God. I almost expected her to fly around the Earth to reverse its spin to go back in time.

At the end, a volley of future tech missiles rain down, but don't worry because Captain Marvel just needs to fly directly into them, blow them up, fly through the explosion into space, and just do whatever she wants.

No wonder they needed her to be "on the other side of universe" because otherwise there would be no need for any other Avengers. She could just take care of business by herself.

The story, concept, characters and script, clash horribly and the result is the worst of the Marvel films to date. Anything good? Some great effects, it's a nice light show at times.

Doesn't take itself seriously at all. Completely free to do whatever it wants.

I had low expectations because I read a few average reviews, but happy to find a very entertaining and spectacular ride. With all the stress and division in the world, it's good to let loose with a movie like this.

We've seen so much Thor and Marvel characters, so it makes sense to just open things up and have a jam, so to speak. Play with characters, jump around in the sandpit of the Marvel universe and have some fun.

That's what this is about. Fun. Over the top thrills. Escapism from the real world of wars, politics and sinking economies. Thor is great and really holds it together, and a few surprises thrown in.

I really can't understand some of the grumpy reviews, this is the good stuff.

I waited patiently for something clever, witty or funny. I waited but it never arrived. I am left wondering why this show has a high rating and what exactly people were laughing at.

"I wouldn't use the word lifestyle"... and everyone in the audience laughs. Why? Perhaps people are laughing at the way she says it, or because Martin Scorsese is on stage cracking up every time she says anything.

Sometimes Scorsese was bent over, laughing hard at completely mundane things she'd say. Like how everyone in NY complains about noise. Mildly amusing I guess, but why is he laughing so hard? Scorsese never made comedies, and I think I know why. Comedy is not his thing. Identifying comedy is not his thing either!

Okay.. so I did not watch all episodes because I couldn't bare it any longer. But I did randomly skip to different episodes looking for signs of life. But all we get is a rant without the wit. Like if Woody Allen had his comedic gift surgically removed, what remains would be something similar to this.

Nice lighting? Sound recording on point? I can't think of anything positive to say.

Perhaps her writing is good. I've never read anything she's done but perhaps people feel compelled to enjoy her so called public speaking.

I expected better, it's New York after all. It makes me appreciate the great show "How to with John Wilson" which is the best thing I've seen out of NY in recent times. That was quality. This was not. Maybe I just don't get it. But what's to get?