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maltekoot
Reviews
Toy Story Funday Football (2023)
Very strange and uncanny experience
I have no idea who asked for this or thought this was a good idea, bit they should be fired and this mistake should never be repeated.
The animations were ugly and glitchy, the commentary felt forced and the whole thing was very uncanny. Even the game itself was just poorly displayed.
I can only ask: Why Disney? Why? This wasn't a crossover we needed. You didn't have to do this to us. Sometimes it's a good idea to just think about stuff a little bit longer before you decide to do it.
The image of Woody creepily dancing on the sideline is burned into my retina forever... I can never sleep again.
Oppenheimer (2023)
Where was all the physics?
I must admit that I'm not a huge fan of Nolan's movies overall. I do find the subject matter (Oppenheimer and quantum physics) endlessly fascinating however and the reviews were also unanimously positive, so I got in the movie theater with decent to high expectations. Unfortunately, those expectations were not met.
Minor spoilers ahead:
I do acknowledge that in many respects it was a well made movie. It was beautifully shot (I watched it in the original 70mm). The acting was superb. The dialogue was oftentimes excellent (and, surprisingly for Nolan, quite audible). Even the overall dramaturgic arc and pacing was good.
It would have been a very interesting biopic of a politician or war hero. But Oppenheimer was a scientist too, and a very good one at that. This is where the movie fell flat for me. It completely failed to show why quantum physics is interesting, why Oppenheimer was so good at it, and how the physics relates to the invention of the bomb.
Instead, Nolan opted for a much more cliched depiction of a 'generic genius'. Expect a lot of shots of people writing quickly on chalkboard, interposed with solar flares and overly dramatic, extremely loud music. The main way Nolan tried to convey that Oppenheimer was smart, was by constantly emphasizing that Oppenheimer spoke a lot of languages and saying the words 'theoretical physics' a bunch.
I understand that quantum physics is difficult, but so many interesting can be said about it. Even for the layman, things like the uncertainty principle and nuclear fission have so much story telling potential. It actually took me by surprise that so little of the science was explained or used as a rhetorical/story telling device.
(I actually think the way relativity theory was used in Interstellar was vastly better.)
To my utter surprise, Nolan somehow managed to make the suicide of Oppenheimer's ex-lover more engaging than nuclear fission. Of course biopics tend to really focus on the human stuff, and that side of the story was depicted decently. But it failed to tell the story of how the bomb got made and failed to shine a light on the intellectual climate of Los Alamos.
The ending of the movie, where the stakes became a lot more political and a lot less scientific, was where the movie really shined. This was not enough, however, to make up for the 3 hour runtime.
House of the Dragon: Second of His Name (2022)
Solid episode, lousy ending
I really liked the episode. Good politicking, strong storytelling and visuals. I particularly enjoy how most of Visery's and Rhaenyra's emotions and struggles are shown wordlessly and remain ambiguous. It really keeps the viewer on edge.
But then we come to that "battle" of Daemon against the Crabfeeder. It felt completely unearned, too unrealistic and ultimately left me unsatisfied. Is Daemon supposed to be this invincible magical person, that can withstand a whole army on its own? I actually like the idea of 'baiting' the Crabfeeder out of his cave. But this was just cartoonish, without serving either the character or the plot. (Wasn't Daemon shown at the tourney in the first episode to be a decent warrior but too arrogant for his own good...?) I would have liked to see some real stakes.
And then, in the end, his "win" is not even shown on screen. What was the point of hyping up The Crabfeeder as an antagonist, if he was just some nonverbal throwaway character? Luckily, it was only three episodes worth of minor build up, and not some Night-King-esque drama.
Since the other 90% of the episode was very strong, I will be generous and give it an 8/10. Let's just hope future battles will have some substance to them.
Ted Lasso: Goodbye Earl (2021)
Fine start
Overall it was a nice, enjoyable episode. Although there wasn't any groundbreaking stuff, it had a few good laughs and a lot of charm. I did have some problems with the way the therapist was portrayed. Like therapy is some kind of wonder drug that fixes all your problems in one sitting. I think that 'yips' thing could have been developed further, and I would have like for Dani to have really 'overcome' something. Instead of the session just being a magical black box that immediately solves the central problem of the first episode.
The Good Place: Help Is Other People (2019)
Great setup for final episodes
The new people experiment was getting a little stale, so I'm glad this is the last episode of that story arc. I greatly enjoyed the episode, really felt for Eleanor and am very curious for the next one.