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Skam (2015)
We were robbed of a season about Vilde!
Surely one of the best depictions of teenager's lifes and dynamics throughout high school, tackling various controversial topics along the way, such as: religion, homosexuality, betrayal, social discrimination, online bullying, mental health, etc.
It feels especially grounded in its portrayal of the high school experience due to the non-hierarchical view of it the show approaches. By this I mean, teens aren't divided into stereotypical groups of friends who share the exact same interests (for example: the nerdy guys; the athletes; the popular girls and so on). "Skam" offers a rather refreshing and a far more realistic perspective: Friend groups are very diverse.
As per usual with a show composed of multiple seasons, its quality varies accordingly the season being watched. In this particular case, having a notorious dip in quality in S2. My analysis is as follows:
Season 1 - 7/10. Nothing outstanding, but it does introduce all of the main characters nicely, outlining the athmosphere for the remainer of the show. Eva & Jonas relationship's is compelling enough, though I wish this season tried to navigate a bit more the friendship between the girls and how it came to be so strong.
Season 2 - 3/10. Taking two of my least favourite characters from the show and making them a couple really was detrimental here. Apart from both actors being good-looking, there really wasn't any chemistry here. William is an idiot who, despite his backstory and attempted redemption, is still an idiot whose personality should've clashed harshly with Noora's strong sense of morality (which, by the way, seems to be her only character trait, she's unbelievably basic). Yet, it all works out??? This really came out of nowhere. There's some cute scenes with Eskild here and, if anything, Vilde went through the best character arch of the season, so it isn't all bad however, I just can't deny I've skipped an episode or two from this season. The focal point of it is, frankly, quite boring.
Season 3 - 10/10. It's obviously the main selling-point of this TV show and the reason most people heard of it (myself included). There really isn't much more I can praise here other comments haven't already lol. It's amazing and deals with Isak's internalized homophobia towards himself perfectly. Even is a great addition to the main cast and his chemistry with Isak is noticeable from the get-go (unlike some other couple I could mention). Loved the introduction of the remaining Isak's friends, Mahdi and Magnus, and how supportive they were. Vilde & Magnus relationship is absolutely lovely too. I did find Even's bipolar episode a bit random, but it just goes to show how anyone could be struggling. Nothing actually went bad in this season. Sensational!
Season 4 - 9/10. Wasn't expecting to like Sana this much. She had been previously shown to be quite cold and one dimensional, lacking the depth of some other characters. This season basically explains her behaviour and her desperate attempt to always appear strong and unbothered. Struggling to reconcile Islam with her own beliefs & romantic desires and feeling constantly attacked due to her ethnic background, Sana often neglects herself which lead to her big outburst later on. The highlight of this season however has to be her friendship with Isak. Their deep conversation might've been the best scene and contained the best dialogue of the whole TV show. The paralels from their shared experiences when it comes wrong assumptions and prejudice, despite them coming from vastly different worlds is really touching and incredibly thought-inducing. That scene alone incapsulate how good "Skam" is. Having said this, I can't say I found the romance here as enticing as last season's. Also, may I add here, giving us, in the last episode, an exposition of Vilde's home life and then, not giving us Season 5 about her is cruel. I'm sure it would've awesome.
So, to sum it all up, Norway really was ahead of everyone here. I was shocked to learn this came out back in 2015! It's a shame season 2 was so dull though, the rating I ultimately awarded it doesn't quite reflect the overall quality of Seasons 1,3 and 4. Highly recommend!
Evil Dead Rise (2023)
Nothing groundbreaking but enjoyable enough horror movie
If you're looking for something scary that doesn't require that much thinking envolved, this is the one. It's a very simple movie actually (and you can tell by its lenght): a mother of three kids gets possessed by some sort of evil spirit one of the kids unleashed by being stupid. Is that an overly-formulaic and unoriginal premise? Yes, but it works nonetheless. All of the characteres, although shallow, are likeable enough so that you don't actively want them to die and yes, given the absolute stupidity of some characters in other horror movies, this is an accomplishment. Sure, the kid wasn't the brightest when he literally unleashed a demon, but hey at least it's a kid doing stupid stuff, I'll give it a pass. After all, horror movies do need a certain amount of convenience to get the plot going. The best aspect of this film, I'd say, is the CGI. Genuine creepy & bloody imagery. The actors, as well, do a fine enough job at conveying what they're supposed to, however I reckon the aunt did the best job out of them. As aforementioned, everything here is rather simple so it does work out, it just isn't that interesting or, in any way, memorable. Check it out if you want to, but you won't be missing out on much if you decide to skip this one.
Hereditary (2018)
Absolutely dreadful to get through, especially if you were expecting something to be scared of
Saw this movie with some friends and boy were we bored out of our minds! Truly, apart from the sister's death, nothing of relevance happens in the plot during the first 1h20 minutes!!! The scenes are poorly pasted together and, as a result, the whole story feels like a random sequence of unconnected events. Speaking of such scenes, this movie is in serious need of some editing. 2h07m? At least 30 minutes of those is just awkward silence after the characters stopped talking. Why not just cut it out? It just makes the overall watching experience even more tedious, alongside the already messy and underdeveloped plot. I could rant about how the actual plot was nonsensical and hard to understand, how the characters were not fleshed-out enough, how the acting (especially the son's) was dull and, at points, laughable but, honestly, I could've forgiven this movie if it was, at the bare minimum, entertaining and scary. It simply wasn't, at all. Tough to watch and wasted 2 hours.
3/10 only because: 1. I liked the CGI and found the gore-y imagery pretty cool (though there's really not much of it); 2. In the last 30 minutes or so, the plot finally picks up and becomes mildly interesting. There's even some quite well-done suspense, by the end (which ofc is not followed by any great pay-off whatsoever); 3. Despite the poor work of the editing team imo, there are some pretty cool transitions between scenes, like the beginning one. None of these actually excuse how boring everything in the first half of this film was.
Not worth checking out if you're looking for a horror movie.