stermix501 Reviews

Natale a 5 stelle (2018)

best Netflix comedy

[10/10 · 3 January 2024]

Learning italian, I have tried to watch some italian movies in Netflix. They were mostly average level with no particular interest. Even the ones with good ranking were mostly boring and comedies unfunny.

Luckily I didn't check the ranking of this one.

From the 1st minute it is engaging, has fast rythm and it is a just 1h30m movie which is ideal for comedies.

I don't understand the negative reviews. Some prudish puritanists reviewers have been inexplicably offended by a couple of women in underwear, when in other successful shows there is full nudity and gratuitus sex all the time. One of them has rated No time to die and Edward Scissorhands with 1, so you can guess the kind of mentality and taste.

I have probably seen something similar in theater, but it works fine as a movie. I didn't like the 5min at the end, but other than that it was great.

Hidden Strike (2023)

Best Netflix movie so far

[10/10 · 12 August 2023]

Don't trust 1 star reviews. Not because they are not authentic, but because these people are out of their waters. Out of curiosity I have checked the profile of a random 1 star reviewer: he had put less than 3 stars on acclaimed successes like Gone Girl, Star Trek into darkness, Shutter Island and more than 8 to flops like Cloud Atlas and Ted. So he was definitely in to watch a movie he wouldn't like, or maybe he deeply likes but is ashamed to admit it or just likes to watch and criticise.

So what type of cinephile are you? I follow Jackie Chan since my childhood. Although he has shown that he can play polyvalent roles with deeper characters, his trade mark is this kind of action comedy. Those who say they like Jackie but didnt like this one, it's bizarre. I thought Jackie had started doing less active roles in his action movies, but in this one you can see the usual Jackie of his 40-50 years carreer. At 69y.o. He runs, kicks, jumps like being 20-30y.o.

Cena is not of my liking in general, but here he was a good partner of Jackie. Probably better than initially casted Stallone, although I would also like to see that partnership.

Plot is no big deal, none would expect Oscar material, but if there was an Oscar for actually enjoyable movies, this would be in the list. SO, if you see 5 stars ranking on an action comedy of Jackie you are probably in for too much fun. I really hope for a sequel!

The Flash (I) (2023)

sell xters to Marvel to get rank/box office results

[10/10 · 30 July 2023]

Sell xters to Marvel to get rank/box office results is the only thing I could think of as a solution. And I am not talking about the movie's merits yet. It just seems so obvious: even for a rubbish Marvel movie the ranks and box office are upwards no matter what. Wandavision S01E01 already had around 8.5rank despite the fact that there was nothing inside there from what the Tv show wanted to present. I believe that there aretoo many of die hard Marvel fans, that if you make a 3h movie showing a wall with paints dry and someone said these paints come from the boots of Thor, Ironman and Spiderman, people would remain watch it and write high ranks comments.

To the movie in question now. Despite A. Muscetti's lack of experience, he managed a great requel prequel kind of thing that spaghettifies in a smart way the whole DCU to make an Easter egg equivalent to all Easter eggs of the 7th art history.

Michael Keaton was never the ideal Dark Knight for me (Batfleck was), but seeing him like that was such a return to my child years, the 1st loves, the 1st disappointments that it moved me a lot. Before jumping again to re-watch the 1989 classic for the 20th time, I stay here to say that the director did an excellent job depicting him eventually better than before. He caught the essence of T. Burton and J. Snyder and gave us a hell of a ride that felt much less than 2h making me wonder how the clock was so advanced at the end of the movie.

I never liked Ezra Miller, so seeing him twice should have been too much. However lets admit that he is not the only one with issues and despite, lets credit him that he did a really fine job here.

Indeed there are some CGI issues, but maybe Gunn has some good cards in his sleeves. I will definitely watch anything DC brings us. Can't even wait for more.

Knights of the Zodiac (2023)

Poor Knights

[6/10 · 2 July 2023]

Saint Seiya was along with Dragonball the 2 animes that I have been following since my childhood. Based a lot on greek mythology, and despite myself being greek, I would have never known it if I was not leaving in France at the time of Club Dorothee's Japanese anime supremacy.

For some reason (maybe the continuously explicit statements about the good guys being Japanese and the baddies Greek) it never reached Greece.

To the movie now. I had high excitement and hopes of watching a decent introducing movie. Something in a different level than Dragonball evolution. Something respectable in the league of Rurouni Kenshin's franchise.

The opening was promising and Sean Bean was a great casting choice. Then came the surroundings of a badly written and casted Kasios. As the movie developed, and without knowing the numbers, the peanuts' budget seemed obvious. What a surprise that Toei animation bet their goldmine on a director of a couple of short stories and a few unknown writers. In addition, despite the supposed designer's recherche, the armours had nothing to do with neither the anime's nor any historically accurate original. The foldable mask could have been an acceptable touch only before the Covid pandemic.

Marin's training respected original material, but Seiya's development to knight had not the narrative of Sam Raimi's Peter Parker to Spiderman. Ikki's gen ma ken was not explicit in the interrogation room. They didn't need a huge budget to make them work. 30secs of smart cinematography with inspiring soundtrack and minimum CGI could have worked. But no.

Better give the budget to some fans to do it. Or sell the rights to Marvel to develop it from phase one. Or else this is doomed.

I gave 6 stars because it had potential and I really wish they could make a lot of money to invest it all in the 2nd. But this seems to be a summer night's dream.

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

damn! now I need to collect the four movies!

[10/10 · 4 June 2023]

Keanu's top movies list just got bigger.

Although I watched all 3 previous of this franchise, I was mostly bored to death by the continuous jiu jitsu fighting, but the great casting and production design always appealed my senses.

The 4th one wouldn't lack in these strengths, but the Indian-movie-like duration was scaring the heck out of me. A few minutes in and I had forgotten my fears. Great scenery, super casting and thrilling action were in the rendez-vous. Donnie Yen, Hiroyuki Sanada, Marko Zaror and the unreckognisable -until after the movie- Skott Adkins made my night.

What a great feeling to see my favorite actors, and particularly Keanu and Donnie fight together or against each other. Skott Adkins gave an amazing performance not only in fighting but also in acting this time.

This last movie I got from RARBG lost brothers was a treat. The feared duration is no problem if I want to watch it again, already watched the last 30-40min more than once. So I decided and already collected the whole franchise.

Despite an ending that similarly to Daniel Craig's James Bond closes nicely the franchise, there seem now to exist so many possibilities for broadening the francise to any possible extent.

Troll (2022)

Norway's Kong

[10/10 · 4 December 2022]

I don't know what movie all the negative reviewers saw, but this is by far the most spectacular Norwegian movie I have seen. I was expecting something like Mortal 2020 (slow burning decent Norwegian myth movie), but this exceeded my expectations.

The pace was as fast as it should be and the effects had nothing to envy its Hollywood counterparts.

It is a movie with some violence but without blood or gore, so you can choose to watch with your kids.

If you are a christian fanatic, you might be offended by some part of the plot, although I don't believe something wrong is mentioned. Besides being a mild christian, I know that christians destroyed ancient temples in my country. One religious professor had justified such atrocities by saying "to make an omelet, you have to break the eggs", which I found extremely offending and against christian dogma.

Overall the movie is well written and executed. I am looking forward to a fantastic trilogy.

Pinocchio (I) (2022)

awkward fairy tale

[5/10 · 9 September 2022]

Fairies are the new problem of hollywood. After the movie Cinderella 2021, Pinocchio 2022 has a problem with them. Modern takes need to play with colors and genders. The whale is also problematic, coming right away from the Sea Beast's evil version. What remains is the annoying white people (the bad kids, the coachman, the circus owner, the school teacher) with the exception of Geppetto and the lovable black people (the fairy, the good teacher, the circus girl) who as we all know were a big part of 1800s Italy's population.

Other than the above, Tom Hanks was perfect casting and some of the grandiose Disney's settings were present as expected. The kids will certainly enjoy.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Tom gun

[10/10 · 28 August 2022]

I was never feeling a Tom Cruise fan, but still managed to see most of his movies since my teen years in the 80s. Top gun 86 was not my top movie, but in one or another way i have probably seen it 6-7 times.

I was impressed by the high ranking of Top gun Maverick so while watching it, I felt the plot was rather made in white "requel" (remake sequel) thread, much of the dialogues predictable, and everything glorifying Tom Cruise's egocentrism.

On the other hand, I was touched by Val Kilmer's appearance depicting his hard reality. I was identified with Pete Mitchell's career issues (he would feel even worst if he had joined the company where i work), and i was glad i didn't have to watch Kelly McGillis (in my view the only total miscast of Top gun). Even Miles Teller which i don't particularly like was totally fine. I took off my hat out of respect for the action.

At the end of the day -and even the following one- what remains is all the nostalgia this movie created. I forgave Tom Cruise's involvement in Scientology and I felt he will be -if he is not already- the most legendary actor.

Børning (2014)

BORnING

[1/10 · 9 August 2022]

After some friends moved to find their luck in Norway, we were awed with their photos and description of what could be the happiest country in the world. I was even convinced to take some Norwegian lessons.

Having seen the amazing Ragnarok series, and liking most of the FF franchise, we thought what better than a mix.

Well, it started strangely with 2 drivers exchanging facial expressions that somehow were supposed to be the driving force behind a simplistic but promissing plot: a fast road trip across Norway.

Instead of the promised, we get to see only roads by night (supposed covering most of Norway). Very few day shoots. Nothing of what our friends described. A cheap boring journey across emptyness. At the end, some forced feelings can't save the day.

Valley of the Dead (2020)

they are more united than us

[10/10 · 23 July 2022]

A sentence of great impact. Yes zombies are all united, when us people can't all agree on a black or white thing.

Such a good film gets a so low ranking that you easily skip it. I keep Netflix for movies like that. Something you wouldn't pay to watch because other people said so.

Very nice depiction of the Spanish civil war. Something similar happened to my country and still remains deeply in the hearts of people due to extreme newspapers possibly being paid by outsiders.

So, yes, besides the zombies, the humor and the action, their is some depth I didn't see coming.

Lightyear (2022)

Look at ratings' demographic!

[10/10 · 17 July 2022]

40% of the 1star ranking, while written reviews with 1star are 10%, when written reviews with 10star are 20%+. This means something is fishy with the rankings. In addition 1/3 of 1star written reviews base their opinion on the replacement of Tim Allen by Chris Evans. In my opinion Evans did a much better job to portray the character, while Allen did a good job in portraying a doll out of the same character.

The rest of 1stars in my opinion was a punishment for the fuss on same gender relationship by people who haven't even watched the movie. If you take out the 10s and 1s of the demographic, it becomes a solid 7-7.5. This in my opinion is correct.

It is a sci-fi movie for the whole family and the is even a lot of humor, u-turns, near misses, interesting characters and good animations and that i wouldn't mind seeing again in a 2nd movie.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022– )

Engaging

[8/10 · 9 July 2022]

Pike, Spock, Laan, Una, Chapel, Hemmer and even Mbenga are likeable xters and well cast. Also the production design is royally good.

However, after first episodes, the dialogues become often monotonous speaking about other things making us lose the reason for watching it. Episodes 7, 8 are of very bad quality and boring. 9 is well done except the villain being a remake of other movies and of questionnable cgi. I was spending more time admiring the haircut of Mount and the eyes of Bush than caring about the sci-fi stuff happening. Any sci-fi stuff happening? 10sec of ST Enterprise had more science than most episodes of SNW and even ST Continues had more interesting stories. I liked however the interaction of Spock with Chapel and luckily I kept watching. Episode 10 was incredibly well done. Dialogues were sparkling, the pace was fast and the acting in the same wave length as characters' depth.

I keep forward to seeing the next season as soon as possible, hoping that the writing will be on the same level as the last one.

Top Secret UFO Projects: Declassified (2021– )

many suspicious reviews

[10/10 · 30 June 2022]

I enjoyed watching this documentary series. Inexplicable the number of negative reviews. Some of them knew the cases better? I dont know. Maybe some materials are seen again, but I guess if we were given all the info available we would have new stories to tell/see. I personally remember the Belgium case, because I was in France and the news were showing the same images seen here. (Maybe this was what ppl meant by "nothing new"?). In any case we have recently seen Nasa acceptance of a ufo sighting by militaries in the ocean. As said in this doc. "the release is not a fact but a procedure of slowly uncovering to avoid mass hysteria".

I remember having seen Who Killed the Electric Car? In 2006. We needed to arrive in 2020 to have a mad rich guy (Elon Musk) investing in it and becoming the richer in the world. So yes, the truth is hidden everywhere. Not only for the UFOs, the electric car, the viruses, the wars, the economy of your country. The same way the fisherman at the corner lies selling you frozen staff as today's catch. No one, next or above you has interest in telling the truth.

There is a say: "the truth comes from the mouth of kids and mad people". Thus, we can only expect for the next rich mad kid to grow up....

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The Elysian Kingdom (2022) Season 1, Episode 8

Reviewing while watching it...

[3/10 · 24 June 2022]

... Shows how boring this episode is. As others pointed out, too early to dress differently the characters that we don't know well yet. The Orville episodes s03e03-04 become more faithful to Gene Roddenberry than last 2 episodes of Star Trek SNW. I like better the casting, storytelling and looks of SNW, but I hope it is the last misfire.

Joel Kim Booster: Psychosexual (2022 TV Special)

i stopped watching...

[1/10 · 21 June 2022]

...when he said "destroy statues and replace them with mobile phone charger points". I dont care about him being asian (i like asian ppl) or gay, but doing a performance on a theater, or watching it is part of being civilized. There is no civilization without history and history is sometimes preserved with statues. So i did as he said: i stopped doing something civilized and went to charge the god dominating our life: my mobile phone.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

The chinese restaurant's Matrix

[7/10 · 25 May 2022]

Surprised that none of the comments I read (although I probably missed a lot), didnt compare it to the Matrix. Although certainly better alternative than messy and ugly Matrix 4, has pretty much the same introduction and location where the dimension travel begins, while the links to philosophy and religions are also present.

Michelle Yeoh has grown to be my favorite Asian actress and is certainly great here. The levels of imagination used and the ludicrous moments are outstanding.

However it feels that the budget was limited and that we watched an extended director's cut.

All of Us Are Dead (2022– )

Thought provoking

[8/10 · 2 May 2022]

I havent been able to watch TWD (stopped from e01), but this gained my attention. At one episode left to go I can say that it is entertaining and it makes you think a lot about your family and the people you love and take for granted.

There are a couple episodes that are boring (hence 8 i.o. 10) and a despicable bad character that survives for too long, but despite these it was a nice series to watch at night. It is not too gruesome. Next to The Sadness (2021), this is Tom & Jerry. Other Korean alternative: The Flu (2013).

The Batman (2022)

Batt Trieves

[3/10 · 29 April 2022]

Matt Reeves who was supposed to be able to unlock what Ben Affleck (as director) couldn't, did his usual movie. Having watched his endless War of the planet of the apes where there is no war at all (just an long ape road movie), I was very worried and i was right.

Well filmed (1st star) but with nothing happening except a car chase and an adrenaline rush in 3 hours you must really love the actors and the absence of light to watch it.

Battinson was not the worst Bat we have seen (2nd star there), but emo B. Wayne was. The soundtrack was really satisfactory (3rd star) but could not fill an empty movie. Catwoman throwing a woke comment was out of context.

Best batman would be Batfleck with Nolan directing a Snyder story.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

5 points for the stars of Tobey Maguire's trilogy

[5/10 · 29 March 2022]

Who thankfully came back for a while. Other than that, nothing to see here. 2 and half hours for fake tears with no chemistry among the actors.

Also, even if comics were like that, I never understood why new spidermen need web-shooters: This would mean anyone could be spiderman if he had web-shooters. Somniferous direction.

I should have better watched the original trilogy for the 10th time than that.

Death Note (I) (2017)

Simply fantastic

[10/10 · 27 February 2022]

Knowing the existence of Japanese verions, this was my 1st acquaintance with the subject. Watched it in Netflix with serious doubts due to the low rating. But what a rollercoaster that was. No minute of boredom, fantastic direction and acting. Give to the purists their own imdb, or Imdb should give it to them. Catch it in Netlfix now.

Squid Game (2021– )

great, for virgins in the genre

[7/10 · 21 October 2021]

If you haven't seen Battle Royale, Gantz, As the Gods Will, Alice in Borderland and other japanese series, you will be amazed. I only watched with pain the 1st episode. It went slowly to the good part and I will continue watching. But it doesn't deserve the credit of its predecessors and whatever comes in next episodes will not make me change my mind.

Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)

a slooooow.... Jane Weak

[3/10 · 17 September 2021]

Female John Wick was a good idea, but direction ruined it.

The cast seemed perfect, but either the lack of money to make more spectacular action, or most probaly the director's illusion that he is making great art by making half the movie in slow motion with soporific songs, a lot of anticipation moments for nothing and so many copied pasted cliches, made this so painful to watch.

My favorite Karen Gillan which I love and voted for Marvel's Black Widow, needs a fast replacement from any girl from Black Widow movie, or better stuntwoman or a better choreography director.

My eyes are closssingggg......

Black Widow (2021)

only for Scarlett's fans

[2/10 · 9 September 2021]

Her 2005 and 2006 movies (esp. The island and Match point) were her best ones. Afterwards I didn't particularly like anything of her that I remember. Her casting as a ginger instead of a real one like Karen Gillan was bland. As bland as any of the changes of hair/skin color or gender of other known characters in recent cinema an tv.

Casting her also as Lucy and Ghost in the Shell (this time dyed black hair), monopolising any female action hero really became annoying.

Concerning now the character of Black Widow, she is not very interesting. I don't understand what is her point in the Avengers team. Besides showing Scarlett's derriere, (which has been already seen during the fappening times, and is probably not better than any of my neighborhood's women) BW has no special skills to justify her participation.

The movie started rather well, but despite some good ideas for the plot, and some Marvelised action scenes, the rest was rather boring to me who had to watch the movie in pieces to finish it.

Beckett (2021)

great for what it is

[10/10 · 15 August 2021]

A small mystery thriller centered on J. D. Washington'c character.

Most of the reviewers got annoyed for his proportional to the movie paycheck or the bad english of some locals (?!).

The movie brings you to the everyday life of Greek people. Some locations are beautifully eerie, some other not at all. Every single room angle, every road turn has a local feeling. Greek people's english accent indeed sounds heavy like that. But most of them are - according to ancient custom of philoxenia (hospitality) - willing to help a fellow human in need despite his origin, providing food, shelter, or help.

Inspired on actual events of the economic crisis, like the rise or extemist parties presenting themselves as saviors while in reality being more rotten than the rest of the political system, while their confrontation uses innocent teenage lives. The movie could even start with the unjustly used in other cases remark "based on actual events".

Except for 1 plot hole and 1 unrealistic moment (which in some franchises would be considered exact science), the rest was greatly done.

Army of the Dead (2021)

Lilly (the coyotte) and Chambers deserve a spin-off

[5/10 · 23 May 2021]

Snyder is one of favorite directors ...but probably the success of his JLA cut backlashed. All movies cannot be 4 hours and I don't have enough free time to watch them. It started well with the soldiers, although the meaning of the order "get out of there" did not make much sense no matter the danger. The best part of the movie was during the titles, although their pink color was hardly a good choice. Most characters were not very interesting. Correct comments mentionned it as Army of the Dumb. Lilly and Chambers died as all others... stupidly, but despite being underdevelopped I felt they had a presence and skills worth developing in another movie.