mr-altex

Of course I've read the manga so I am already bias going into this, but I will just try to focus on the anime only.

I don't understand some story telling "details" while missing some fill in moments that would help the format. New characters are being introduced randomly, they just pop in into the story with some random snippet of information that I do not care about at that point. Chairman, association, other guilds, everything could be introduced in more natural way to anime format.

Story telling in this adaptation is super dry, to the point of asking "what's the point of the anime?" Practicing some animation tricks to introduce rapid motion to the scenes? I guess, because just loud shouts to try to put some emotions into scenes aren't enough.

It is still good, but it feels like even the epic moments won't be as epic, as the build up will be lacking and moment will be gone as quickly as they get to it.

If I'd write that Season 2 of Reacher is not as good as Season 1, it would be a gross understatement.

There's not much to like about second season. Starting with new characters and overall plot.

Main bad guy gets introduced through multiple scenes during the season where there was a certainty "ah, that guy again, he will now kill somebody". It would be more interesting to have a more hidden build up. Nobody cares when somebody is killing random npcs on the way to final scene.

With the new characters added to main crew, it is no longer Reacher, it is now Special Investigators Unit. It has multiple detrimental effects and the main is prolonged violence, because now you have to give room to 4 people rather than 1 or 2. It is seriously wasted footage to watch 1 minute slap fight for 3 characters and Reacher breaking everything.

There are good scenes mixed in here and there, but overall it lacks both tempo and depth.

Now that I watched it, I can read the Bad Luck and Trouble book.

I might adjust the score if the source material is bad, but as of now, Season 2 is 4/10.

The Killer by Fincher is just a bland movie.

The premise is very basic to the point that it gets somewhat boring the moment it starts.

To become psychological drama, it lacks corresponding depth and other than inner monologue this has nothing to offer.

Some scenes were over extended and others underplayed. Even while appreciating the shot structures as one would hope for in a movie by Fincher, it seems a bit half baked.

It is not much fun to watch. For that I guess the script would have to get modified by Guy Ritchie, Statham in lead, and just let the eyebrows work. Nothing against Fassbender, he did well, but the script did not do him any favors.

The form is nice and all, but the whole documentary lacks depth.

The event descriptions are shallow and commentary by current and formal politicians are occasionally reminding the view that they are covering their asses because of the multiple failures during the last 15 years or so.

Each event described in 10 minutes in the documentary could have its own 3 hour part and I think it would still lack the depth required to paint the whole picture.

If you want to get information about the motivation or any insight to political environment of Russia, you'll be surely disappointed. Only good thing seems that it is not just one sided propaganda.

It seems that Witcher completely turned into a soap opera.

Monsters do not matter, the kingdoms do not matter. The primary focus shifted to the amount of hugs each character can have each episode. The plot is shallow and attempts to focus on interpersonal drama just falls flat because of nonsensical interactions.

In the latest season, if the writers are combating ChatGPT, well good luck because most of the dialogues feel like written by ChatGPT. There is a lot of scenes that seems like two actors are talking at each other, but there is no response to the words that are being said. Just monologues in turns. Strangely unnatural.

Goodbye Henry, Goodbye MyAnna, you did your best.

Season 1 is awesome. I didn't read the book ahead of watching this so this only caught my eye after reading reviews from my buddies, and I was not disappointed.

The cast is brilliant. I only just started to listen to the audio book and the raw nature of the book is perfectly reflected in the series (for what I can tell so far). The leading trio works together great. Ritchson as terminator like figure, Goodwin as try hard good doer cop and Fitzgerald who just wants to save her hometown. Adding some decent acting on the villain side, it is a nice packed story to tell in 8 episodes.

Sure, nothing is perfect, some of the encounters look silly but well, overall it is awesome. I am glad they did not overuse flashbacks to provide some explanations of motivation for Reacher, just a nice touch.

I appreciate there basically isn't any completely dull sequence that would turn you away. Which is nice in the modern era of story telling.

I've seen a lot of series that had quality during the seasons with botched final episode, but I am very glad Ted Lasso wasn't the case.

They struck the right amount of optimism to the future with closure for all characters by leaving hints, or opening doors to further character development. It reminded me the final episode of Scrubs (season 8, not the crappy follow up season) in a lot of aspects.

Overall Ted Lasso as series is great and I'd say perhaps one of the best of series from the past 10 years and I will recommend this to everyone who will want to check some feels good series that is neither short or over stretched.

I expected to have some fun on Saturday and this movie almost delivered. There are couple strange aspects to this I just don't get the decision making.

There are almost moments to have a family friendly humorous comedy with Hoult and Cage which would combine awkwardness of them both, and the situation they are in, but the overuse of gore put it down a grade. There are couple really funny absurd moments that resulted out of it, but the cuts and repeated slowdowns in action scenes weren't keeping things fresh.

My biggest beef is with Rebecca. She brought nothing but boredom to every scene she's in. Not sure if I am to blame the script, director or the actress.

Grillo and Simmons are headlining this movie but they are basically side characters with no plot. They are the original movers, but the side story is completely useless.

Scott Caan, who is also the writer according to credits wrote for himself a good role. Too bad other parts did not get the same attention. There basically wasn't any plot intertwines between all of them. It pushes everything to. It is happening side by side, but it's no Tarantino.

Marianne Rendón and Scott Caan are the best of this movie and I think this movie is being hold back mostly by the side story that is not involving these two.

Despite that, it is more enjoyable piece by John Swab. Still, a lot of room for improvement.

Every good guy is a bad guy, every bad guy is as bad as budget allows. In the old days they would make him super bad just by giving him a chain mail to that mustache. Here they settled to the minor league coach look.

There is an attempt to make plot somewhat complicated, but the execution does not allow much depth. Lots of bodies treated as props to fill the time when moving from spot A to B, and in the end it is another "save the kidnapped kid" operation.

When it comes to aim and shoot skills, Grillo is on par with Reeves and this Wick trilogy. Dramatic music is attempting to mask how comical it all is, but fails to do so. Yet I don't really mind.

Overall it is just another low budget bad cop movie, but since it does not seem to aspire to be anything more, it is enjoyable.

I get that Supernatural isn't supposed to be creative in a sense for stuff to make sense or surprise the viewer in one way or another. But this finale confirms there is no room to exploit for this style of writing.

I've seen only pilot and the end and looks like there is absolutely no progression in the quality of both story telling or characters.

Talkative low level bad character with absolutely pointless exchange with both main and side characters. Returning Supernatural characters added to the last scenes at the level of postproduction green screen because they switched the ending at the last moment. It seems like they realized this won't get renewed for the 2nd season so they made some sort of effort but it is so misguided.

I was right to drop it with pilot. Final episode tells me the way there would be as pointless as the explanations in the final.

I knew Brandan Fraser can pull some good dramatic acting, but he tops any expectations. I was curious how fat Fraser will take on super obese Charlie. I am not disappointed.

The story telling is also brilliant. Story with hidden element that is referred often but slowly being presented. It provides something that binds all characters together while providing some answers the more details are disclosed. It worked brilliantly without needless use of flashbacks.

The weakest point to me is Thomas character which seems occasionally out of place, to the point of being fairly irrelevant in the connection to the rest of the story.

Nick Offerman returns in his most famous role (in my opinion) - the Ron Swanson. But with a spin.

On one hand it, it is awesome. But on another, this is a major step sideways in the Last of Us story. Not only it changes massively the story line from the game, but more importantly it makes this episode completely meaningless, because it basically serves as a back story "Why Joel knows the gate lock combination".

Instead of adventure horror with two primary protagonists, we get this 40 minute side step without any impactful relevance. It's art for sake of art.

I am not sure, but to me it seems more like they just can't produce a story where 2 actors would be engaged in meaningful dialogue for 40 minutes .. hell, they are unable to exchange 3 sentences before they have to cut to something somewhere elsewhere.

Got a tip from my buddy that this is brilliant and perhaps the best movie of this year. Well, I don't have the same taste.

I get that this is critique aimed towards the shallow and useless world of modern society where the wealthy can do what ever they want just because they have money. Being greedy all and all and the server cast who exist just to please them.

It is probably the intention to leave up to the viewer to decide if character is being serious, unintentionally funny or absurdly self-deprecating. Unfortunately once you realize the style, all scenes become predictable to the point of just being boring.

I don't know why, it seems that there some inner studio influences in creation of DC movies where they attempt to add some extra 20% of the footage, and it results into 80% of the badness. Regardless of the director's name under the movie. They are trying to follow some kind of formula but I don't remember DC superhero movie that would excel in some way. Black Adam stands and falls with Rock.

For example, I have absolutely no interest in Atom Smasher and Cyclone, from introduction, to their fancy superhero moves, to the romantic subplot. Everything with these two characters screams testing waters for a standalone movie.

Maybe it is the inevitable result of having a superhero team movie where the focus is elsewhere, so they are just extras, with basically no involvement in the main plot. They are just there, slowing the action, prolonging the footage.

Action sequences are hit and miss. Final villain is another awkward guy with horns. Not a big step up from the other Justice League, felt longer than it was.

To be so quickly closed.

It seems like a bit lacking to just leave it at company fall and Braun being arrested. I would hope there'd be some more coverage of consequences of the fraud when it comes to governmental involvement.

Maybe part 2 or some future investigative piece will take a further look what else is implicated. Upon seeing this documentary I been in a classic internet rabbit hole to seek more information about involved actors, but there does not seem to be much more, or somebody did a pretty good scrape job to clean up the ties.

Overall, I've seen some good pieces on Wirecard fraud, but this documentary provides a good amount of testimonies from people involved rather than just description of what happened.

This is prime example how to make an awesomely well crafted piece into an astonishingly average movie.

I have absolutely no problems with the cast and all the actors. The lineup is actually amazing. Bale, Washington, Robbie, De Niro, Rock, even the minor roles are being played by actors who could easily play the lead in this.

Character introduction was great, clearly stated who is the main protagonist from the very start, slowly adding new people, adding stakes and motivation for them.

Plot setup was also well made at the beginning. I was truly pleasantly surprised. But somewhat it turned into blob.

I am pretty sure if this would be directed by somebody like Wes Anderson, we would get much more compelling stylistic experience, so I have nothing else than to blame the director for this mediocrity.

This sequel or follow up to Hacking Democracy (documentary from 2006) is not being taken seriously enough. All discussions in American politics repeat every 2 or so year, just changing sides depending who won and who lost.

This documentary captures how easy it is to manipulate the votes pretty well. As technology moved forward, so did the security holes. It is inconceivable to have a voting machine that serves as a black box, that is relying on external data input while having data processing inside or even data link for updates that connects to intranet of some sort.

I am glad my country is using good old fashion paper thrown into a sealed box and people count it at the end of the voting day.

I kinda like the chemistry between John and Mary, but I honestly hate the Carlos character from the first scene where he appeared. This must be the most lazily created, most stereotypical character from this Buffy like team monster hunter sub genre and it's not even funny. The only thing more obvious would be if he got possessed and turn into a villain within the first two episodes. I get that he is supposed to be the comedic relief character in this series but oh god, so bad! SOOO BAAAD!

Latika as the Willow of the series showed some promise, but my optimism didn't last long.

Good that Demetria McKinney as Ada works well. Together with Bianca Kajlich, they are stars for the episode when it comes to acting. Too bad a lot of scenes are them talking to a an empty room. Seriously, the amount of cuts in just simple conversations are a bad sign even for a pilot.

There are so many things wrong with Season 1 of Rings of Power, but I will start on the positive side.

The environment is amazing that releasing 8 hours of just drifts through the streets, the nature and architecture would be an entertaining ride. Just give it some of the sweet majestic music and release it as meditation tool for the masses.

Couple characters have actually decent set of mystery around them that kept me watching the and got me fairly hyped towards the later episodes.

Now the bad things. The cast for some parts is just ridiculous, mainly Elrond, Ceelbrimbor. Lets face it, give them beards and they would make a decent dwarf. I guess I am spoiled by Lee Pace as Thranduil.

I am not a person who would nitpick about distance crossing and time element in the story, but it is obvious in the backstories that there is no drive, nothing that would drive the story forward. Things are happening, new characters with famous names are adding to the Galadriel contact list but that's about it.

I am not sure what's the objective of the creators / storytellers but it seems that they want to have some tension with added fan service, but it turns out as stretched and laughable attempts to parody LotR / Hobbit characters. So instead of some fresh take we get more majestic landscapes with pathetic storytelling.

I don't remember much from original Clerks, Mallrats or other projects of Kevin Smith, but Clerks III is enjoyable movie even without the baggage of previous movies.

Sure, it feels nostalgic even being aware of the original Clerks and being product of early internet I get most of the references to the original. This movie makes sense even as a standalone piece.

Conversation scenes with Dante and Becky were the highlight of the movie and even if they were seemingly breaking the flow, they served as brilliant connection of the comedy and life.

Since it is a movie about making a movie, I think I would like to see the original cut of the shot scenes in Black and White :D.

But it turned out to be fairly deep at many levels. The characters are believable despite being exaggerated a bit and they are showing an actual character development compared to many (really MANY) tv shows from various genres.

Season 2 puts Ted Lasso to a story line of his own which is a fairly big change compared to Season 1 where he is at the center of everything. But it does not hurt the show at all. The writing is that good that all characters are interesting with their individual stories.

It is one of the shows where you will laugh, you will cry, it will change your life.

PS: some of the "game footage" present looks a bit silly, but I guess it is good use of technology.

I find the first two episodes very slow moving and I almost didn't make it past them. But luckily it gets better as there is more room for the other characters in the story later on.

I don't particularly enjoy just replaying the scenes of Dahmer on the hunt despite the brilliant performance from Peters. To me the side characters and their point of view in the story is much more interesting. And second part of the mini series delivers exactly that.

Adding more scenes with the engagement with the police on uncovering the crimes would add some other angle. Too bad that the police force is portrayed only as bunch of pricks and the detectives were sidelined in the later episodes.

What is the things that bothers me greatly while watching the two episodes.

I understand that there should be some introduction of character to establish some sort of backstory, but the more and more characters we get, it seems to be clear that they serve as one use only to get something for the main protagonist.

So far "something is happening to somebody" and I am missing the connection of ep2 side story for Galadriel, or what's the purpose other than fill some screen time. I am completely amiss of the Elrond plot line which gave us some spectacular and breath taking scenery but it is just so uneventful.

Only side story that intrigued me is the Stranger and I guess we will get everything connected to the Rings of Power eventually, until then, I'll reserve my judgement.

It could have been his Dark Knight moment, but the script did not give him a decent finish. Still, role of Cyrus is the best thing on this movie. The crew of mischiefs and his king like behavior. Lots of cool moments in the movie. I almost think if Cyrus would be the main focus of the plot, it would have been better movie.

The main focus of the story on the kid Sam is from my perspective the weakest part of the whole movie. Kid and mother driving the plot, strange neighbor, social disarray.

I enjoyed it but it could have been better. Not to mention somewhat cheap looking effects, they got passable mark.

Another movie when I had to root for the villain.