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Reviews
Damsel (2024)
"Nice" narrative but childish
Damsel tells the story of a woman (Elodie) being sold to a royal family. They sacrifice her to a dragon to pay tribute for the crimes of a king many years ago. Elodie survives and becomes bitter herself. She seeks revenge.
The idea of the film is as unoriginal as the fantastic elements. The narrative is simple: an inncoent woman gets hunted, humiliated and betrayed which makes her strike back as strong as never. Its a bit blunt.
It's even childish. Elodie hurts the dragon first before she reveals that it was betrayed too. There is no fun in watching it. This is only entertaining when you have a need for seeking justice in revenge.. Kin liability or Sippenhaft (in German) seems to be OK, too, which is why its ok to kill all.. again, it is lame.
The visual effects are ok and i like fantasy in general. However, convenient coincidents happen throughout the film. Suddenly the light goes off, a ring rescues her at a cliff etc.. it makes it easy for the author to tell the story..
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)
Entertaining but trashy stylistic elements and too much personal struggles
(Rating: 6/10)
The movie has some entertainment value and even some moments where I thought this is what I came for. The Film took enough time to develop the character of Noah, the ex-military, but it got lost in personal struggles of the 90s at some point. Unfortunately, the story telling was forgotten whilst finding a job and paying bills.
What I came for:
I came for the battles. They are cool, powerful and exciting - yes, this is a transformers film. The sound effects, as always, are overwhelming. I also came for the (re) transformations. These scenes could go forever, I watch them! On top, there is always a new and mind blowing bot or villain or something else. Just think of the Dinobots in "Age of extinction". "Rise of beasts" brings in a kind of a mecha King Kong and, my favorite, a rhinoceros. Unfortunately, we didn't see much of the rhino bot..
What's refreshing:
The well-known extraterrestrial futurism merged with the nostalgic elements of the 90s. Soldering of broken pieces from an old device, cable headset, presenting old school music in a way they did etc. The makers mixed the old new with the new old. It simulates a postmodern futuristic feeling. Of course, this concept is not original and seems to be a trend nowadays (guardians of the galaxy, flash etc) but it still let's in fresh wind, especially in the way they realized it. The next cool and rather unusial thing was the password. Very good integrated from the beginning.
What's Disappointing:
1) While Noah's character development was overshadowed by personal issues, Elena stays a complete mystery. Who is she? What's her story? Too much and too less don't add up to "enough"..
2) the use of unnecessary stylistic elements. Either they are too blunt or they are "kind-of-copied" - better said: unoriginal. They tell the story bigger than it is. A) the hunting scene in the first part: I was impatiently waiting for the shock moment. And it took longer and longer - didn't know I am watching a horror movie. I know exactly what the makers tried here and it's a little annoying B) when the autobots met in the garage with Noah the first time. It reminded me of the first transformers movie, right at the moment he called for the others bot to meet up. Did the makers think it works again?? C) optimus sacrifices himself in the epic final. So far so good. But then, in the very last second, Noah comes and rescues. Then, he can't keep optimus and everything seems lost again. Then again, someone came to rescue. This up and down is too much and left me completely disappointed. It's ridiculous.. D)...
3) Optimus Prime is rather Optimus second (or beta?). I know that this film plays in the 90s, so, before Optimus met Sam (first movie), but still he has lived for thousands of years and I expected the typical "I am optimus prime, now I am stating a wisdom about humans and the different evolution of our two species". Instead, he was egoistic, blind, macho and, most confusing, following a human that he didn't even trust. And everyone seemed to defend his behavior! That's not the optimus prime I had in mind. I expected him to be strong-minded, a true leader, somewhat wise and sublime. But here - Meh.
4) Very sudden convenient (for the plot) appearances out of nothing. It was easy to tell when the makers needed elements to continue their plot. The warp key created a gigantic warp machine on a big mountain where - straight out the walls - a huge army of bot soldiers appeared all that out of the blue.
After all, it's entertaining, had good effects but was overloaded with trashy stylistic elements blowing up the story. The personal struggle of Noah could've been shortened and who is Elena? Cool Rhino, cool Mecha King Kong, weird sudden appearances of bots, armies and the warp machine to be able to finish the plot.
"Rise of beasts" is not among my favorite transformers.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Visually stunning, impressive culture, mediocre story
First of all, the movie keeps what it promised. Great animation, world and nature. The length of the film makes it possible to dive deep into the vibrant and thriving culture of the Na'vi. Also, I could take my time to enjoy the beauty of the sea and it's nature on Pandora.
The animation is significantly better than (the already great) first movie. The scenes under water are the most fantastic ones. I remember them as if I just watched it.
In my personal perception, the action scenes and fights are too long. They could have shortened them. But it doesn't disturb that much.
However, there was one weak point that can't be ignored: the story. The reasons why humans came back to Pandora make little to no sense and seemed just to be a self-critic message from the author. It's a collection of some bad, egoistic and greedy motives without any plot/context. It's very unfortunate and the reason why I have to reduce 2 stars. The author can't just make it easy to let the bad guy do bad things just because he is bad..
The OA (2016)
Nice Story - disappointing end
Some people might like the ending but Part I of this series leaves so many open questions that I don't see the reason to tell the story at all. Nothing is answered, cleared, solved. It is like opening a package of ice cream and leaving it like that. Usually, an end can be satisfying or not but this is rather teasing.
The dances are unconventional though somewhat inspiring, also the fact that, if you die, the beyond of the near-death experiences has a real place. Very creative and deep. But nothing can compensate this ending.
Another Life (2019)
Bad ratings are unfair and rash
Most of the worst raters have only watched 2-3 episodes. Watch the series till the end if you want to rate, otherwise, please let it be.
The first 5 episodes are hard to watch, to be fair. There is no originality and all science fiction ideas seem to be copied. Not even the orchestration of the ideas is creative. The aliens remind me of stargate. There is one ship which saves the universe. The AI of the Salvare has the same emotional problems as half of all the other science fiction shows.
But the second half of season one and season 2 are better. The story is entertaining. Not more not less. The character of Niko is the constant of the show which is keeping the watcher in a comfort zone. She never dies and always rescues. The question is, how. She is played by Kate Sackhoff and she is very authentic. In each scene I asked myself how she will express her feelings and how she manages it to assert her authority.
The personal story of Cas is a little weak and usual. I'd have wished more details in her past.
The end of season 2 is the reason why I give a 7. Although the concept is not new it was well realized.
Gekijôban Poketto Monsutâ: Myûtsû no Gyakushû (1998)
It's not American, so it's bad... Wrong!
I, as a German, feel that what we call "Fremdscham" by reading most of the (American) critics.
It is very brave to confront children with cloning, revenge, war and pacifism. It is not immoral or too challenging, though. In the end the movie's message is pretty simple: Go, fight and compete - it's OK - but above a certain level you can't avoid deep and well thought questions. Example 1: Youngsters love to play paintball, it's OK and makes fun. However, to "play" with real guns will be difficult. Example 2: Judo, the soft way of fighting. Nobody fights until one opponent dies. They rather respect each other and don't see each other as true enemies. In other words, Pokémon is not meant for war and sensationalism. The movie rather shows where the hole idea of Pokémon stands. That is not contradictory to the normal Pokemon fights.
Strong conversion of thoughtful topics:
This movie realized deep philosophical and moral topics very well, e.g. that you can't experiment with others without any consequences. On the other side, it won't work out to fight fire with fire (which even in the Pokémon fights won't have a strong effect). A revenge on mistreatment does not benefit. If course, for adults this is not a crucial topic.
Storyline:
The storyline, however, is a little weak and gets lost somewhere in the middle because the movie is too much focused on social criticism. Too bad!
Only for children?
This movie makes most children think about cloning, revenge and war probably the first time in their lives. And those adults who haven't done it yet, should. Not the answer is important but to reflect on that at least. I think there are many adults outside there to whom such movies would do good.
All in all, great movie!
(Sorry, if my English is poor)