Psilio Reviews (20)

Diego Maradona (2019)

Short-lasting subtitles ruined it, but still good

[6/10 · 20 February 2020]

Never been a football fan, but everyone has heard of legendary Maradona, so I 'had'to watch it.

It was great documentary, but they main thing that brought down the score for was subtitles. Who ever wrote them was not used to making subtitles.

Most of the dialogue was made in a 'foreign' language (I'm Norwegian, but I understand English), like French, Italian, Spanish and other languages, and the subtitles only lasted like a second, so there was no chance to read them. I had to pause the movie or rewind constantly to understand what was being said, which kind of ruined the movie for me.

Other than that, it was good :)

They should have used someone who knew how to post subtitles, though.

The Lighthouse (I) (2019)

Really slow movie

[3/10 · 15 January 2020]

It took me 6 days to watch this movie, only watching when I felt like it, and every time I did, I got depressed.

It is a sad story about 2 guys going insane.

I loved the performances of both actors, but I've read that they didn't talk to each other during production, only several months after wards.

I guess this movie is all about art, being in black and white and not in a normal format, but I guess I'm not ready for that kind of art the producers intended.

All in all a very dull and depressing movie (I was not entertained). I gave it a 3 out of 10, which is very rare for me.

But I can see for art lovers it would be considered a good movie.

Crawl (I) (2019)

Above average

[7/10 · 25 December 2019]

I had no idea what kind of movie this was before watching it, although the title should give some hints.

The story is so-so. but but a strong performance by the lead actress make this a nice late night watch..

Firefly: Objects in Space (2002) Season 1, Episode 10

The best episode of Firefly

[10/10 · 28 October 2019]

I'm just binge watching Firefly for like the 20th time, and this episode is the best one of all.

I don't why they cancelled this show. I'ts so much better than most shows.

This episode is hilarious and serious at the same time, like all the episodes of Firefly, but this one stands out.

Highly recommendable!

Skin Deep (1989)

Such an underrated movie

[8/10 · 16 October 2019]

I loved this movie when it was first released when i was young(er), and just re-watched it. It's still so good. The scene with the after effects of the electrical shock treatment is hilarious, and if you watch closely, i'ts all done in one take.

I'm so sad the we lost an actor like John Ritter much too soon. I also recently re-watched the movie "Sling Blade" where he also has a strong performance.

This movie is so good, with such good performances. And it goes deeper than just being a comedy. It explores the effects of being an alcoholic as a rich person. It's very thought provoking, and makes you think.

All in all a great movie.

Fire in the Sky (1993)

True or not, it is a good movie

[9/10 · 18 September 2019]

I just re-watched this movie for the first time since it was released. I liked it then, and I liked it now.

I didn't know who Robert Patrick was when it was released, but he does an excellent job in this film, as do the other actors.

I have a special interest in the topic, and although I've read that the story here takes certain liberties to the actual story, I think it's a great movie anyway.

Good production!

Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne (2019) Season 8, Episode 6

Awesome ending

[9/10 · 20 May 2019]

I haven't read the books, so i can't compare anything to that, but i really loved this episode and the other episodes of season 8. Granted, there were scenes that took ages and could have been spent better elsewhere, but i got satisfaction in the end.

M*A*S*H: The Party (1979) Season 7, Episode 25

Family matters

[9/10 · 27 July 2018]

This is my most favourite episode of M*A*S*H, mainly because it centers on the families back in the countries from where the soldiers are fighting.in this case US soildiers and families, but this theme goes for every human on earth. love conquers all ;)

The Crown: Scientia Potentia Est (2016) Season 1, Episode 7

Astonishing performances

[10/10 · 19 November 2016]

This episode had me in goosebumps most of the time.

None of us can really know what Queen Elizabeth II was like or what she said in private meetings back then, but I gained a deep respect for her in this episode. Here she emerged from an insecure young lady and into the woman she is now known as: a very intelligent and reflected woman who commands respect.

The performances of Claire Foy and John Lithgow are very convincing and breathtaking, and the latter's even had me in tears in the end. I had no idea Lithgow could act like this. Tremendous performance.

And if I ever met Claire Foy and she asked me to do anything using the character she plays here I would not hesitate to say 'at once, your majesty'. Very convincing performance also from her.

But seriously, this episode was gripping from start to finish. Magnificent.

The Big Short (2015)

Surprised I liked this

[8/10 · 14 July 2016]

I normally don't enjoy watching movies/shows about politics or economics as I understand very little of those things, especially American (I'm Norwegian). But I decided to give this a go, mainly because of the good cast, but also because of the acclaim from critics and high ratings from viewers.

I was pleasantly surprised! Although it was a bit hard to follow every term and what was happening all the time, I understood what was going on, and I was almost at the edge of my seat at times, which has NEVER happened for me before watching a movie like this. Of course it also helped that I thought it was very funny! Very entertaining movie with great performances all around.

Recommended. 8/10 from me.

M*A*S*H: The Ringbanger (1973) Season 1, Episode 16

"I have to shoot some targets, and I didn't even know they were in season"

[9/10 · 21 May 2016]

As a Norwegian I must admit I had never heard about Leslie Nielsen until I watched "Airplane!" (1981) as a kid. Decades later when I bought all the M*A*S*H DVDs I noticed he was a guest actor in this brilliant episode.

It has a lot of great jokes by Trapper and Hawkeye (and others) as usual, but also features Nielsen as a good 'serious' actor. He portrays an officer that will do anything to kill as many 'gooks' as possible, even when it's not necessary to win ground and with great losses to the soldiers he command. Without knowing for sure, I'm guessing this is something that happens from time to time with over-confident and ambitious officers all over the world.

Another reason for this episode to be among my favorites is McLean Stevenson's many funny lines and facial expressions when he's drunk out of his mind after being tricked into it by Hawkeye, Trapper and Radar to achieve their goal of trying get Nielsen's character discharged to save further unnecessary casualties under his command.

All in all a very good episode that was the standard for this excellent show, with both great and funny dialogue combined with portraying the seriousness of war; where- and whenever it happens.

Stargate: Atlantis: Miller's Crossing (2007) Season 4, Episode 9

A very good David Hewlett episode

[8/10 · 10 December 2015]

This is another episode where we get to see David Hewlett's real sister back in the role as his in-show sister.

I understand David Hewlett as Rodney McKay is some people's least favorite character in this show, but I don't understand why. He is an excellent actor, and in this episode he is truly sparkling with his brilliant performance. He was the main reason I watched Stargate Atlantis until the end, and still keep watching it over and over.

The episode is also a crossover to Stargate SG-1, although the latter was canceled at the time, but I love cross-overs none the less. There is a pretty witty dialogue between Ronon and Sgt. Walter.

I also like sci-fi shows where they bring things to the 'real world', and there is a fair share of that in this episode.

8 thumbs up from me!

Stargate SG-1: Cold Lazarus (1997) Season 1, Episode 6

One of my favorite episodes

[10/10 · 26 February 2015]

This episode starts out quite slow, but it evolves immensely, at least in my opinion.

The SG-1 team is visiting a planet where they at first sight find nothing but radiation and some strange crystals.

Upon taking some of the crystals back for analysis on Earth, they discover something extraordinary.

This is a very well written sci-fi story, in my opinion. This is why I watch, read and like sci-fi.

Speculation on how other lifeforms besides the ones we so far know of on our planet has always fascinated me, and I think this example is a very good one of what might be out there.

Gladiator (2000)

Shiould be a limit over 10

[10/10 · 10 December 2014]

This is the best movie ever made.

I have to write 10 lines, but my first one says it all.

Russell Crowe does one of his best performances here, as do Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen and least but not last Oliver Reed. He (Oliver) died during filming, so they had to replace some of his scenes with stand-ins and computer generated graphics, which was very well done.

He did a very memorable appearance in this film, though, as did all the stars.

Russel Crowe has a reputation of being hard to work with, and I'm not sure if he was in this movie, but his chemistry with the other actors (especially Djimon Hounsou) appears excellent here.

This will probably be my favorite film for decades to come.

Just see it, and don't take my word for it.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Things Past (1996) Season 5, Episode 8

Odo revealed

[8/10 · 17 October 2014]

This dark episode was great in all aspects, in my opinion.

Great acting, casting, directing (LeVar Burton), photography, lighting, set design, props, everything.

We finally get to see how Deep Space 9 (or Terok Nor as it was called then) was run during the time of the occupation by the Cardassians when Gul Dukat was the station commander. All dark and gritty and dirty, with Cardassians abusing Bajorans for the slightest mistake.

Quark is also in his natural element here. We see him here as he was before, and makes us understand in some way how he is 'today' and how he has changed a bit since the Cardassians were kicked out of the station.

The main cast in this episode does an excellent performance, especially Rene Auberjonois. He is of course always good, but here he is incredible.

Our favorite recurring guest actors in the form of Gul Dukat and Garak also perform above par here. Kurtwood Smith - one of my favorite actors since the first RoboCop (1987) movie - also helps to lift this episode up a few notches.

The reason I didn't give it a 10 is that I found it a bit confusing and hard to follow at times.

Overall, a 'must see' episode for anyone following the story of DS9, in my opinion.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Let He Who Is without Sin... (1996) Season 5, Episode 7

Risa unrising

[2/10 · 16 October 2014]

I'm currently watching DS9 for the first time.

I'm always looking forward to episodes involving Risa, the 'pleasure planet' of the Federation. So when Dax, Worf, Bashir, Leeta and Quark all go there together in this episode I was looking forward to a 'light' episode with lots of comedy and 'pleasure'-like moments, just like an episode of good old 'Fantasy Island' that I enjoyed very much when I was a kid, or when Picard goes to Risa in the TNG episode where he meets the archaeologist lady.

It could have been a fun episode to watch to take a break from the darkness in DS9 at this time.

It turned out that this episode was very disappointing. It was not fun to watch at all. Some comedy mainly by Quark, the rest was just depressing and unconvincing.

Michael Dorn was given a role and lines that were ridiculously childish and negative even for him, and it affected his performance, and this seemed to reflect onto the others as well. Everyone performed pretty bad compared to other episodes, and the chemistry between them was all gone.

The villain was like something from the 1930's, and the writing was overall very bad.

It all felt very childish.

My least favorite episode of DS9 so far, sorry.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Suspicions (1993) Season 6, Episode 22

Low paced and good

[7/10 · 4 October 2014]

This episode was quite enjoyable. I thought I had seen them all before, but this one must have slipped through back then.

Watching this is like reading a book. Just relax and enjoy. There is no action or space battles.

Most of the episode is told in a 'flashback'-style where Crusher tells Guinan (my favorite Star Trek character) about how she got herself kicked off the Enterprise and is now awaiting a trial back at Starfleet. We all know she continues her role, so no spoiler there.

Many think this is a 'slow' episode, and I'm sure it's a 'bottle-neck' episode (made cheaply to save money for other episodes), but I liked the break in pace and the mystery-feeling from the start, and how I tried to make myself try to solve the case like I was reading an Agatha Christie novel or something.

Very decent guest actors make this an episode to watch unless you're all about action and space-battles.

Also nice to see Gates McFadden at least trying to play an emotional role here (the episode is all about her) compared to her normally cast-bound facial expression. She doesn't quite succeed, but she's not too annoying either, so I guess it's a good episode for her.

Very good for a low budget episode!

Star Trek: The Next Generation: First Contact (1991) Season 4, Episode 15

Nice twist

[7/10 · 31 December 2013]

I've always enjoyed sci-fi where aliens make contact with 'earthlings'.

This is a refreshing and thought-provoking episode where 'earthlings' are the ones to make first contact with another species.

The downside is the side-story involving Riker/Jonathan Frakes (horrible actor, in my opinion), which isn't very good at all, as with most stories where he is the lead character.

But as for the main story alone - the 'First Contact'-part - I rate this as one of my favorite TNG episodes ever, and I've watched it many times.

Highly recommendable if you like sci-fi where 'earthlings' interact with foreign species for the first time, or vice-versa.

These kind of episodes are the reason I watch sci-fi in the first place, to learn how writers picture us (humans) or another species to react to each other upon first contact.

Don Jon (2013)

An eye-opener of a movie for me

[9/10 · 30 December 2013]

I originally wrote this as a reply to a post for this movie, but realized it could be posted as a review as well.

I've checked the 'Contains spoilers' tab, but I'm not sure it actually contains any spoilers, but better safe than sorry.

Anyway, here is my review: I have to admit I hired this mainly because of the porn thing (I know. Pretty shallow and stuff, and why would I when there is free 'real' porn everywhere?).

Anyway, I liked it very much. It was intelligent and funny (and didn't really contain any porn, but I never missed it).

Great job as a first time director (not counting the shorts) for Joseph Gordon-Levitt, great acting and casting etc. Overall a very good movie, deserving of the 81% score on "Rotten Tomatoes" (which is a very high score by their standards), in my humble opinion.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/don_jon/

Fantastic Julianne Moore is such a versatile actress, and I think she is still hot even though she is 53 (loved her in "Boogie Nights" :D I'm 43 and I've had great sex with several females over 50. In my opinion they are better than the young ones, since they are so experienced and passionate lol).

And Scarlett Johansson is great as usual. A very talented actress for her young age, and she is simply stunning (never noticed her great body until this movie!).

Overall a very entertaining film with few flaws that I enjoyed very much, and it also tickled my 'gray matter', making me think about my own situation.

I was a singer for most of my younger life (age 18 to 35 or so), having lots of casual sex/one-night stands (mostly with equally shallow sex bombs that only wanted one-night stands with the front-person of the band), but never met the 'woman of my life' (longest lasting relationship with a woman lasted about 2 years), and I feel something is definitely missing from my life now that I have a 'regular job' and have settled down. This movie has inspired me to try to do something about that sooner than later.

My father was 50 years old when I was born (while my mother was 27! He was a captain of a large ship while she was a maid on that ship), so I realize I still have time to form a family, but that time is running out... Time to do something about it! Anyway, again I thought it was a great and eye-opening film for me, so thank you for that, Joe.

Can't wait for your next film! :)

Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Defector (1990) Season 3, Episode 10

One of the best episodes

[10/10 · 20 December 2013]

I 'accidentally' watched this episode long before I became a Star Trek fan (my ex-girlfriend had lived in Seattle for 6 years and promptly introduced me to it several years later). I came home from a night on the town at maybe 3 AM, which was the time these reruns were shown on Norwegian TV back in the early 90's.

I was gripped by the story of this episode, but more importantly the acting. This was the first thing I had seen featuring Patrick Stewart, and I thought he was amazing along with guest star James Sloyan, and I was wondering why this show didn't air in the daytime/prime-time so that everyone could see it.

Norway has never been known to show sci-fi during prime-time though, and most Norwegians that admit to liking it are kind of cast-outs and are not taken seriously in other matters if they admit it. It's not like in the USA where even presidents admit to know of and even quote Kirk and Spock and even name space shuttles after it.

Anyway, since then I've watched every Star Trek episode (except TOS. Too dated for my taste) and movies (movies with the TOS cast are great) several times, but this still stands out as one of the best installments in any Star Trek media that I know of so far, mainly because of the acting.

And the best thing with this episode: Riker (Jonathan Frakes, the worst actor in Star Trek history, in my humble opinion) does not do any of his annoying moves:

• His left eyebrow lowered when he attempts to look 'mean'.

• His head cocking to one side when he's puzzled by something.

• His stumbling, tilted moves when he pretends to look tough in action scenes (imitating John Wayne or some other action hero from the 50's)

• His exaggerated speech when he pretends to be in distress ("Aaannyboodyyyyy!" taken from the first episode of TNG)

• His over-acting in general.

In this episode he actually appears normal and professional, just like the other actors.

My first impression of this episode back in the beginning of the 90's or something when I had been out on town was maybe infused by alcohol, but I just saw the episode again now, and I stand by it.

Highly recommended!