Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
The Island (2005)
Less than the sum of its parts
This is a mash-up of pieces from a bunch of good to great (scifi) movies -- eg, Logan's Run -- but put together around mindless eye-candy action sequences reminiscent of generic action moves -- eg, Mission Impossible or Transformers (go figure) -- while not leaving space for the potentially interesting parts of the pieces of plot that have been borrowed from other stories to develop. What could have been an engaging science fiction movie is instead rendered mundane and banal.
The only redeeming thing about this movie is Scarlett Johansson. While the main bulk of everyone's acting is shallow and wooden, she is still worth watching.
Hakan: Muhafiz (2018)
Watchable...
...but these people (ie, the characters) are terrible at their jobs: really just the worst. I'd give the first season a 6, maybe a 7, the second season barely a 5. Still working my way through the third season but it seems like it's going to continue the downward trend.
I think the first season had a good, coherent story with reasonably thought out characters. However, season 2 and beyond seem hacked together out of spare parts.
I don't speak Turkish but the actors do a really good job, especially in the first season. Personally, I prefer subtitles to dubs, so that's what I watched.
Tl;dr give it a try.
The Guardians of Justice (2022)
Watchable, but...
...it feels like the show is trying too hard to be too many different things at the same time and this is sometimes refreshing but more often than not it comes across as jumbled. The story is nothing new and much of the acting is pretty flat. Not sure what else to say...
I'd probably watch a second season if there's nothing else going on but I wouldn't notice if there wasn't one. The Watchmen series was much better and more deserving of additional seasons.
...it feels like the show is trying too hard to be too many different things at the same time and this is sometimes refreshing but more often than not it comes across as jumbled. The story is nothing new and much of the acting is pretty flat. Not sure what else to say...
I'd probably watch a second season if there's nothing else going on but I wouldn't notice if there wasn't one. The Watchmen series was much better and more deserving of additional seasons.
Liu lang di qiu (2019)
To put it simply...
... this movie is ludicrously dumb. The short story wasn't great to begin with but this movie is ridiculously stupid. It's nonsensical. Almost everything about it is terrible. However, it's obvious a lot of money and effort went into special effects so I'll give it a 2 but this is honest unadulterated garbage.
Gallowwalkers (2012)
Ugh...
There is so much wrong with this movie but Tanit Phoenix is not one of those things. Honestly, this was an opportunity wasted. If the story had been better-- well, and the acting and the editing and the camera work -- this actually might have been decent. Instead, it isn't... So, maybe you came for the promising allure of a zombie western, maybe you came for Wesley Snipes, maybe for some other inscrutable reason but likely you kept watching because of Tanit.
Westworld (2016)
Fun but overrated
This show is quite watchable but there are some serious plot holes and some absolutely ludicrous situations that require an unreasonable amount of disbelief suspension... However, it is still fun and if you don't worry to much about the silliness of some of the plotlines then you'll enjoy it.
Btw, stop watching at the end of season 2. Season 3 is a turd, I made it through, but just barely and I'm not even going to try season 4.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)
Watchable
This movie is nothing special but it's a good, watchable video game movie. Don't expect it to be anything else. Better than most of the other Resident Evil offerings.
The Misfits (2021)
Terrible...
The only reason to watch this is Hermione Corfield but that's not enough. The acting is poor to bad, the writing is terrible, the plot is incredibly flawed. I can't imagine what the target audience of this is... honestly...
The Batman (2022)
Not bad
This is a pretty decent Batman movie, but Batman is pretty poor. Better than Ben Affleck but just barely. It's hard to understand how someone decided to cast that guy as Batman. The rest of the cast was good but he's to Batman what John Cho is to Spike Spiegel or Elijah Wood was to Frodo: just wrong.
Dune: Part One (2021)
Okay
Very slow, to the point where it just felt padded. Also, I don't know if they could have found a weaker actor to play Paul Atreides... This feels like an opportunity mostly missed, but still better than the David Lynch version, at least so far, and better than the William Hurt miniseries.
Feria: La luz más oscura (2022)
Worth watching
Enjoyable occult thriller based on Abrahamic mythology. There are a couple plot holes and ups and downs but overall this is an engaging story that conducts itself quite well. The actors do a good job, even though some of the characters are thin and wooden. I prefer subtitles but the dubbing is better than average.
Season 1 ends on the type of cliffhanger that doesn't have to have a second season, so that's nice: think Cabin in the Woods. However, I'd like to see what they'd do with another season. Better than a lot of what Netflix produces.
Krakowskie potwory (2022)
Grew on me
There are some awkward plot points that feel shoe-horned in or like something significant was cut but, overall, this is watchable Andi found I enjoyed it more by episode 5 than I had in episode 1.
I like the interweaving of old mythologies into the modern world. I think Invisible City did a better job with that, overall, but this is a pleasant addition.
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
Not Star Trek
This series is just wrong in so many different ways. It is less related to the Star Trek canon than JJ Abrams' turds were. This is raw Star-Trek-ploitation. Perhaps it could have been enjoyable if it were called something else and didn't try to awkwardly force itself into a mold it wasn't designed to fit into... If you like Star Trek, check out Star Trek Continues, New Voyages, or Lower Decks for better offerings in the Star Trek universe.
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
How did this get made?
This movie is essentially unwatchable except for the beauty of Gal Gadot. The script is abysmal, the acting terrible -- except for Kristen Wiig, the humour forced and awkward, the special effects mediocre at best.
The Man in Black (1950)
Surprisingly engaging
Great old-school psychological thriller. The story has some nice twists and turns, as well as some plot elements that are familiar, even for the time. It's a fun watch and the three leading ladies carry the show.
Date with a Dream (1948)
Not worthwhile...
Pretty much average to poor with the exceptions of the few minutes where the Vic Lewis Orchestra is performing, but I could listen to recordings of them on YouTube without the long breaks in between...
Midnight Mass (2021)
Give it a pass...
It peaks around the 15m mark, unfortunately. The next 6-2/3 episodes are a journey to nowhere. The acting was fine, and the setting was good; however, the story was flat and any potential that it may have had at the beginning went entirely unfulfilled. Honestly, I don't think there's enough material there for even a short movie, let alone a 7 episode mini-series. I think they would have been better off skipping the super-natural element and just going with mass hysteria or something like that. If it's introspective and thoughtful mono-/dialogues, stick with that and ditch the vampires. Unfortunately disappointing.
Archive 81 (2022)
Not the podcast but...
...it's pretty good nonetheless.
I ran across the original podcast shortly after it started and was hooked. There are some significant changes that were made to bring it to the screen, some of which obviously are necessary. However, there are some that I really don't think improve the story and certainly weren't necessary. It's to the point that I don't see how they can hook up to the season 2 material. But, maybe they're not planning to... I don't know.
Regardless,I enjoyed it and I'll watch season 2. If you haven't already, listen to the podcast. Netflix did a better job bringing this to the screen than FB did with Limetown, thankfully.
Zone 414 (2021)
Generically sub-par
Trying to hard to be Blade Runner, at least the feeling and atmosphere, with hints of Cherry 3000 and a healthy dose of OTR detective, in front of poor and distracting incidental music.
The first 40 minutes were okay and showed the promise of an interesting mystery to be untangled but that quickly evaporated into a predictable mess of plot points from movies you've seen before.
Guy Pearce deliversa poor performance in front of a cast of cardboard characters. The only halfway decent thing about this was Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, who's been good in everything I've seen her in.
Wu Assassins (2019)
Mediocre
The story is mediocre and the fight sequences average; however, Kathryn Winnick makes it worth watching. I'm really not sure what else to say to fill up 150 characters....
The Silent Sea (2021)
Ugh ...
Ugh .. something kills everyone on the moon base but it's not radioactivity like they were told. So, what do they do? Take their helmets off before determining if it was a virus or bacteria or sometime similar... Too stupid :P Other than that, their budget spaceship, and a crew that is both careless and inept, it's almost watchable... Not sure I'm going to make it through episode 3...
Titans (2018)
Watchable
I've only watched the first two seasons but this is okay to watch as long as you don't pay too attention to the plot (holes) and the criminal incompetency of the "super-heroes". There are some good characters and performances mixed in with a number of tepid ones. The first season was better than the second...
Red Notice (2021)
Generic...
...turd of mediocrity. Ryan Reynolds plays the character of Ryan Reynolds, as always. The Rock is The Rock. Gal Gadot is hot but flat. The acting is tepid, the plot generic, blah, blah, blah.
Doom Patrol (2019)
Good, but...
I thought this was a 7 or 8 after season 2 but about halfway through season 3 that I just don't care anymore... So, arriving at a 6 overall, I guess. It's good but it's not compelling enough for me to care after two seasons.
The Wheel of Time (2021)
It's okay
I was in high school when this series came out and I avoided reading them, even though I was a fantasy junkie; given that it took 25 years to finish, I'm happy with that. I'm on episode 4 and the plot is just Tolkien-esque with some different bells and whistles.
The acting is okay, but feels stiff a bit more than not. The CGI is okay, but not as high quality as one may have hoped for! The monsters are especially poor.
I'm happy to watch this so far but it's not great. If you like high fantasy there aren't a lot of options so you'll probably want to watch this. If you're not, then you may want to give this a pass.
UPDATE: Episodes 5 and 6 start to bring in plot points that aren't just Tolkien so it's nice to see the story develop a little.
UPDATE: Eight episodes in now and it's improving: the story is differentiating itself a bit, the characters developing. The CGI is still not great wrt the hordes. The male leads, Rand and Perrin, are underwhelming much of the time but the female leads do a great job picking up the slack.