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Reviews
The Expanse (2015)
Was not expecting it to be this good...
I swear, the only reason I decided to watch this series was because someone from my Facebook group said this Josephus Miller character had the same vibe as Nick Valentine from Fallout 4... and since it was played by Thomas Jane, I believed it.
Well, they're right. Miller gave me Valentine vibes.
I stayed because it was a great series.
It was so refreshing to have a mainstream show that allowed its writers to do their job instead of catering to some political agenda (which what so many shows do).
I love how each character was well written, regardless of which actor/actress was playing it and where they stood in the billing order.
Severance (2022)
Good God... that was amazing!
Never mind all the hipsters in the review section trying to figure out what sort of "metaphor" the show's premise is supposed to be, or what sort of real-life struggles it's supposed to find as an analogy to.
Take the show for its premise, and I promise you that you will enjoy it without having to worry about whether it's "intelligent" or not... because tbh watching a tv show is about being entertained and mesmerized for an hour in front of your tv monitor, and not as a medium to get "educated" on something. Like, seriously, relying on tv shows to get you to contemplate life and its intricacies is one of the most stupid of the many stupid acts available to the modern world.
Read a book, watch a video, or better yet learn from experience if you want to get lost in some pointless intellectual exercise on social issues or something... instead of ruining the viewing experience of people just wanting to watch a good tv show like this one.
FINAL VERDICT:
I wish I could have my mind wiped of the memory of having watched it so I could enjoy watching it again for the first time.
You will wish for the same too.
On the Job (2013)
Best movie in the local scene so far...
It's probably because the story cuts a little too closely to what's truly happening, that's why.
Joey Marquez is amazing when he actually tries, and his rapport with Piolo Pascual gives us a tooth grinding realism on the classic "odd-couple partnership" that is usually employed in a number of crime-themed movies.
Marquez's portrayal of a banged-up, fed-up, beaten down, cynical, but still-got-my-humor grizzled veteran cop grinds and scrapes violently well with Pascual's clean-cut, straight-arrow, straight-to-the-Bureau, groomed-for bigger-things-but-he-doesn't-know-it-yet, loving-husband, and intent-on-redeeming-his-family-name, special agent persona.
You can also give praise to the other cast, but their storylines and dialogues kind of remind you of noon time tv shows can be predictable and pointlessly winding. They do their best though.
Gerald Anderson does well with his enthusiasm playing a kid having to "be that guy" and "prove himself" in the particular line of work that is the subject of the movie.
Joel Tore is Joel Torre.
Leo Martinez is kind of shaky to me though... him on the screen seems to risk sending the movie into a direction that goes the way of the formulaic "sindikato" action movies of the 80s and 90s.
Point is, much of the high-end performance was done by Marquez and Pascual... and they did so with such expertise, artistry, professionalism, and surprising chemistry.
Watch it.
Like, really, what else are you going to watch in the local scene?
What else aside from budding "starlets" and daughters of veteran actors and actresses who have now come of age and are eager to show skin for clicks, views, and tickets?
Dark (2017)
As good as advertised.
I don't know how to describe it.
It's not one of those shows that tries to tell you a convoluted tale just to appear complicated and intelligent... but it does tell you a convoluted tale, because it is a story worth telling.
It's more like... like one of those memories when you were a kid... memories that you weren't sure if they were dreams or not... or if they were memories at all.
Those moments in life where you thought you were witnessing a glitch.
Those moments in life where you wanted something or someone so bad, you are driven by that desire for several years, hoping for a miracle... a lightning in a bottle... a hand from God...
That's where the story grows.. although not where the show starts.
The show starts on a the tail end of a story that has already witnessed tragedies and took part in unspeakable deeds.
All stem from man's desires, fueled by man's pain.
I'm not sure if this review is making any sense... Just watch the darn show, and you'll get it.
As Above, So Below (2014)
The Emerald Tablet as seen from those who read about it
The things written about it regarding the subject didn't appear all that horrifying when read in a vacuum.
Things go sideways though when they come into tangents with the occult (from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages).
"As Above, So Below" is a line from the Emerald Tablet from which most of its passages are derived from, and most of its ideas have been incorporated into Western mysticism, as it is the penchant of Westerners to establish a sort of "duality" of nature.
The movie though, being in the horror genre, approaches it from a Judaeo-Christian lens in which the concepts of heaven, earth, and hell are as much a part of the physical world as they are a part of our imaginations.
Personally, I like it. There is no pretension of a convoluted plot... only a cautionary tale of people going in any rabbit hole without making the needed preparations:
Casualties will be incurred... and those who will come out of it will never be the same again, for whatever truth, knowledge, or closure they might be looking for from the quest they undertook will demand a corresponding payment... payment in the form of a part of their identity, their innocence, and even their soul.
Morbius (2022)
Here comes Morby!
A triumph of the spirit.
An existential tour de force.
Very actors have the same acting signature as Jared Leto.
Director Daniel Espinosa exhibits a directorial "je ne sais quoi", if you know what I mean (which I am sure you all do).
The plot has a literary panache to it, and I think it's a great foil to the Spiderverse characters like Iron Man and War Machine.
You wouldn't want to miss this movie, what with all the trailers they've been showing for the last 3 years.
2067 (2020)
Why y'all hatin'?
This is actually good. Not great. But at least it is tolerable than most other sci fi films these days.
Like, seriously, that "Passengers" movie starring Pratt and Johansson got a 7.0, but this one got a 4.9?
I don't know what people want tbh...
It's not even as sanctimonious as other sci fi films are nowadays...
Color Out of Space (2019)
Doesn't feel Lovecraftian at all
Gotta admit, I enjoyed the chromatic spectacle. Other than that, it doesn't move me much. People here swearing by Lovecraft like everything he does is gold, like those fanboys who think every Tarantino movie is good.
This feels like a Lars Von Trier work than Lovecraft.