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nathan_furnal
Reviews
Noel (2004)
This movies makes no sense whatsoever
This movie makes no sense and is a just a cheap emotion grab for the holidays. Stiff acting and weird camera work, let's hope this does not get a remake ever.
The Emoji Movie (2017)
Garbage
I'm just doing something to help other humans, don't watch this "movie", and just be on your merry way do something more interesting and simply better. Hopefully this is not the end of Western culture. It's simply terrible that studios are ready to go to such lengths and have such disrespect for their audience that they sh*t out that kind of garbage. If historians ever look back to our times, they will probably pin the beginning of our demise to this dreadful movie.
Tales (2017)
You can't rely on one trope
So, after watching the first episode, I won't watch anymore of this series for many reasons.
First, this show is based on one trope and this one only : reverse stereotypes. So you get a city/place where white people are considered to be mostly thugs, low income people and where black people are richer, educated members of society. All the stereotypes you can think of but reversed.
The thing is, it doesn't bring anything to the story but being a trope, it's not used in the storytelling to improve the characters of make them more relatable or more likable. The added "Romeo and Juliet" thrown into the mix doesn't help either as it feels forced and doesn't pay off really well in term of storytelling. It all has the feel of a bad ripoff of "Noughts & Crosses" which I can only advice you read because it's largely superior to this story.
Also, the editing is pretty weird with rough transitions between scenes and aggressive cuts, there's some smoothing to make there.
The music is OK if you like hip-hop but they didn't exploit an obvious trick which would've fit the story, like using Vanilla Ice or Eminem songs for black people scenes and Biggie and Tupac songs for white people scenes ; to name only the most popular rappers in that genre. Maybe they couldn't afford it but that would've been nice and slightly more subtle than the over the top black vs white the story is going with.
Now, when you look at the acting, it's rather unequal, some performances are convincing, others are over the top so it's kind of difficult to actually get into the story.
All in all, not a good TV-show, I won't be watching anymore of it.
Year Million (2017)
A science-fiction show at best, not bad but it's not a science show either.
The show had great potential but it is lacking in several areas to be great.
I think the biggest problem -maybe my expectations were too high- is the lack of actual science, you get interviews and interventions from a lot of people who are completely unfamiliar with robotics, engineering, economics, etc. It's like asking your neighbor's opinion and frankly it's quite tiring. I believe the show would gain from explaining the different technologies they present in greater details.
Because of that, the show doesn't know where to go, is it science- fiction, is it actual science? Based on facts or assumptions? Trying to tangle the lives of fictional characters with a documentary is tricky and it sometimes feel like a cheap feeling grab to get the viewers involved. If I wanted drama, I'd watch a drama, I don't understand the need for the character's story arc, it feels forced. Because you simply jump from their story that serves the purpose of introducing the technologies to the audience, it doesn't feel (pardon the pun) organic and ruins the story-telling.
Finally, the show suffers from what could be called "americanisms" : everything is tremendous, crazy, on the verge of a massive discovery, etc. The use of constant superlatives actually weakens the viewers' understanding of what is important and what might be less important. "This is science and not science-fiction", "It's a question of when an not if". I could go on but you get the gist of it. What am I watching, a sales pitch? In the end this is probably the biggest disservice to the series.
So, I'm not strongly against it, the message is interesting and I believe it comes from good intentions. But this is not a science show, there is a lot of prediction and telling you how something will happen but very little factual explanations. A lot of people who give their opinions instead of sticking to facts or fact-based insights.
I just hope we'll have something better in the future.
P.S : Lose the comedian(s), they're supposed to be the "relatable" audience member, they just seem out of place and their interventions are strangely paced as well.
Cleverman (2016)
Okay-ish
So, the show is about a group of people that are outcasts amongst society and they have to survive while being segregated. You have two groups, humans vs subhumans and some people in the middle. It's a very basic plot, it doesn't mean it's bad but the show has to be smart about it and as far as the first episode goes, it is not. You have some subplots which sound more interesting than the main plot and I'll maybe watch a couple more episodes.
But the main problem of the TV-show is the approach it takes on the matter. We have seen that kind of plot and storytelling so many times already that I personally don't want to see it again. The more one watches movies and shows, the higher the expectations and in this day and age, I'm jaded by these simplistic takes on social issues. In my opinion the show comes too late, 20 years too late. Though I'm happy to see an Australian show with Aussie actors, it's too bad that it has to be in an average (mediocre?) show like this one.
Long story short, you shouldn't have high expectations when watching this. Let's hope it gets better even though the path on which it is now doesn't look that bright.