holeeray Reviews

X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)

A decent movie if you ignore source material

[7/10 · 8 September 2019]

I'm a fan of the X-men franchise so a lot of this movie was difficult for me to digest. I figured this would be the case going into this movie so I tried to watch it with new eyes. They did a decent job of writing in layers and depth to the characters as well as the plot and I liked that they broke away a bit from the formula. The performances were decent and the soundtrack was well done. At worst, you get to see mutants showcasing their abilities and kicking ass for a good portion of the movie so I'd say it was worth the watch. All that being said, if you're a fan of the source material, you might have a bad time.

Southland (2009–2013)

Pleasantly surprised

[8/10 · 2 June 2019]

I find a lot of shows like this tend to get stale quickly or the stories use "forced" plot devices that bring you out of the overarching plot. Southland kept me interested though its story telling, character and plot development, as well as performances. Even the "filler" content of random traffic stops and routine that didn't directly involve the bigger cases were entertaining because they were layered in such a way to help you better understand the characters. I could honestly just watch another couple seasons of this show of the street patrols doing their daily thing and getting to know them.

This show had meaningful depth in many ways and I really wish we had a chance for more "resolutions". I'm pretty upset this show didn't continue (especially considering how the last episode ended), but I'm glad it was given the 5 short season it was. I have to compliment the performance of the actors in this series. Even the criminal extras were more often than not believable and well researched.

My only real complaints have to do with technical aspects like the camera direction and the odd dubbing in some scenes. I feel like the camera director got carried away with being a bit too "artsy" during some indoor scenes using weird focus and framing. That being said, I really liked the hand-held handling of the patrol scenes as it really drew me into it.

The Legend of Cocaine Island (2018)

Better than expected

[6/10 · 2 April 2019]

I went into this without any information and was pleasantly surprised. The pacing is kind of an issue in the first act, but it does pick up considerably so you might have to be a bit patient. I thought this was a mockumentary until about halfway through, but it really added to my enjoyment to find out this was mostly a non-fiction. P.S. Dee is a POS.

Reign of the Supermen (2019)

Interesting Take on the Story

[7/10 · 16 January 2019]

I was a huge fan of the original storyline when it was printed in comics and was wondering how they were going to fit all the storylines into a 1.5 hour movie. They did a decent job of streamlining everything by changing around some key elements. Part of me wishes they had stuck to the original story, but part of me is glad they did something different to keep it fresh. The story is still fairly engaging and there were a couple twists I wasn't expecting. The voice acting is pretty good (besides John Henry's voice should have had a bit more bass to it imo since in the comics they described him as having more of a James Earl Jones type of voice) and the animation is above average, with spots of low effort in certain scenes.

Overall, I'd recommend it to anyone who's a fan of the DC universe.

Maniac (2018)

Taste is subjective

[8/10 · 26 September 2018]

Seems opinions are mixed on this series and people are on the extremes of either side. I absolutely loved this series. Yeah, there were a couple spots where pacing became an issue and I had a couple minor nitpicks about the special effects, but there's just so much here and it's presented in a very meticulous way, but effective way.The story is presented as an intermix of strings that are woven together really well. I would almost consider this one of those "slow burns", but there's plenty of interesting things that happen along the way that you don't have to be super patient. I'm being vague because I really don't want to give any of it away. I'd say if you don't enjoy it by the third episode, it's probably not for you. If you do end up getting into it by then, you're in for some really wonderful surprises.

China Salesman (2017)

An Epic Masterpiece

[9/10 · 18 July 2018]

I notice this movie has a lot of negative reviews around here, but I'm going to assume it's because this isn't a movie that just puts everything on a platter for the audience to easily consume in little bites. There's incredible depth in character development as well as plot. It took me about 5 attempts to get all the way through the movie because how difficult it was to fully comprehend what the director was trying to portray. You don't normally see this level of craft in action movies, but there was incredible balance and I look forward to future movies by this director. I wanted to give it 9/10, but I did take off one star because I feel like the trailer is a bit misleading.

Defiance (2013–2015)

Pleasantly Surprised

[8/10 · 30 November 2017]

I just got done watching all three seasons and I have to admit that I really enjoyed this series. Yes, there are a lot of recycles tropes and plot devices, but they do a few things that really work for me. First of all, the universe isn't spoon fed to the audience. Instead of having some narration or excessive exposition, the writers reveal this new world to the audience through regular dialog and context. The story is pieced together from ideas that have already been used, but it all comes together fairly well thanks to a decently balanced plot and decent acting. They really flush out each separate culture and main character fairly well and the conflicts don't feel too forced.

The CG was okay for what it is. I'm judging this as a made for SyFy series. I don't go into a show like this expecting Steven Spielberg.