amheba Reviews

Escándalo, relato de una obsesión (2023)

Dark, disturbing, over the top and entertaining.

[7/10 · 9 March 2023]

This show started on the wrong foot when it originally aired on Spanish TV because it gave the impression that it would be a beautiful romance between a middle aged woman and a fifteen year old boy, and sure enough people were not about to normalize such a story. But the show is nothing of the sorts.

This is a very dark and disturbing story with mostly the worst side of human beings. Though for me it ended up being quite entertaining because of its fast pace and constant twists and turns. To make it so, the show runners opted for a quite an over the top storyline. It's often said that reality is over the top of fiction, but in this series it's not.

I almost substracted a point in this review because of the last episode. There was little that could be done to top the outrageous events of the series in the final explosion, but for me they went for a melodramatic choice that didn't fit much with the rest of the series.

Overall, it's not a masterpiece in any way, but it keeps you on your toes and gasping for air almost the whole way through. Quite a few jaw dropping moments on this one. It did entertain me and enjoyed it more than the overused formulas we usually get on series.

Bullsh*t: The Game Show (2022)

Another fake Netflix game show.

[1/10 · 2 March 2023]

This show is for sure scripted and therefore takes away any expectation to its development.

The premise is the constant has to answer a question and he may know the answer or if not, lie with his or her answer. Three opponent contestants must predict if he really did know the answer or not. If all three detect whether he's lying or telling the truth, the constant is out.

What's the major problem of the game? Before the show gives the right answer the contestant tells whether he gave the correct answer or lied. But in case he didn't know the answer, how does he know he didn't click on the correct answer just by chance? If he didn't know the answer there's no way for him to know if the answer was correct or not before the show says which one is correct. Therefore it makes no sense.

I don't understand why netflix will only do scripted reality when the unpredictability of human kind is what make real TV shows so great.

Insiders (2021–2022)

Reality??

[3/10 · 19 December 2022]

I'm a fan of realities. But this is the third or so from Netflix that I watch and the whole point of the show is completely absent, which is being real. This show seems totally scripted feels fake. In the first episode people started crying after a couple of sentences spoken with peers for no reason or to make drama. In the second episode the contestants are supposed to shoot live rabbits and the drama was about the morality, but none seemed to have the slightest problem with the fact that they had to handle a real firearm and it's dangers. Netflix needs to learn from regular tv realities. If we want to see scripted drama we'll watch the tons of scripted shows available... Ridiculous.

A Kidnapping Scandal: The Florence Cassez Affair (2022)

Power battle from the smaller to two nations.

[8/10 · 10 December 2022]

I saw several reviews that say they couldn't understand what was going on so I decided to make an overall recap.

On Mexican national TV a police operation to arrest two kidnappers and release three prisoners is broadcasted live. But very soon, the very channel that broadcasted the operation starts realizing that what was shown seemed to be staged. The chief of security in Mexico is confronted again on live TV by one of the arrested people, who is a French woman, who claims that she was arrested the day before the broadcast, held prisoner for 24 hours and then brought to her lover's house, the other arrested kidnapper, where evidence was planted to make her look guilty.

The documentary explores the two most accepted theories of what took place:

The official version is that the French woman and her lover were kidnappers and apprehended legally, only that the arrest was recreated in order for the reporters to be able to film it, and that's the explanation of all the things that looked staged in the live broadcast of the arrests.

The second version, which seems to be supported by the documentary makers is that the two people were framed as part of a vendetta. A powerful man with connections with the government and the head of security of Mexico had a business fall out with the brother of the woman. Her boyfriend, who worked for her brother and was a personal friend as well, threatened the powerful man to leave alone the brother and in retaliation, the powerful man framed the pair with the cooperation of the head of security.

Then the documentary goes on to explain how the case escalated to the point of provoking a serious diplomatic crisis between the governments of France, who thought the French woman was a victim that needed to be rescued and Mexico, who's citizens believed she was guilty and it would be badly seen if they let her go to France as the French government wants.

Even though the documentary is five hours long, it doesn't get boring and goes by quite fast. As with so many cases, it can't be said with certainty what really happened, but the filmmakers clearly point to the conspiracy theory.

1899 (2022)

Too all over the place.

[6/10 · 8 December 2022]

I gave up by episode 7 knowing that the 8 episodes were just the first out of 24.

The show looks very good, good acting, recognizable faces and a plot that at first seemed interesting.

What made my interest fade were two things. First, there's way too many characters each with their own story. Because of the sheer amount of characters, each doesn't get more than a couple scenes per hour long episode, not enough to make me feel invested in their story.

The second problem which accentuates as the season progresses is that what goes on makes no sense, probably because it will get explained way later on, so you see the characters going here or doing that, but you don't really know what they're trying to achieve so it ends up being a bit boring. Probably you need to pay a really good attention to the details to get the sense of a story, but for me it ended up feeling like almost random scenes. I did watch Dark, from the same creators, and though it's a very complicated story I was able to ride along with the story as it was told. But in this one they lost me in a couple episodes and felt lazy to try to hang on.

Holy Family (2022–2023)

Great watch

[7/10 · 15 November 2022]

By the number of votes here on imdb and how little time is any the show spent on the top 10 from Netflix, is say this is a quite underrated show.

I enjoyed this extravagant over the top series. It's labeled as a drama but I would also add mystery on the tags.

For the people who want to watch the show because many actors are also from money heist, a warning, it's nothing like money heist.

It's a very different show with great characters that you don't know how if they're good or bad until the end. Loved the lighting, the colors, the music, the atmosphere. Nice acting and entertaining story. Dark, mysterious and at times funny. It has its flaws, it's not a masterpiece, but if you're looking for entertainment give it a go.

Monster (2022–2024)

Great show had it been a work of fiction.

[6/10 · 3 October 2022]

I knew about the story of Jeffrey Dahmer and was therefore very afraid about watching this show. I thought it would be too disturbing and it took me a couple of days to decide to give it a try, convinced I wouldn't get past the first episode.

Well, I have to say I got through the whole series and enjoyed it quite a bit. Well done, never boring, a great show. I even found myself eating ice cream while watching it.

Because I knew the story and was able to eat ice cream while watching it I substracted a couple of points to the voting I would have given it had it been a work of fiction.

I find the producers used the power of attraction that such an infamous serial killer has, to sell a show that wasn't really his story, let alone the story of his victims. If this show was to honor what really happened, very few people would have been able to sit through the whole thing. In this 10 hour long episodes series there was less information about why Jeffery Dahmer became so notorious than in a two page article of any magazine. It really is difficult to even imagine a more nightmarish way to die than what these men went through, but in the show it's only hinted if not hidden. I found especially disrespectful a scene where the victim's families discuss suing some media for using a distorted vision of Jeffery Dahmer to sell magazines when the show featuring this event was doing exactly the same. I can only imagine what a slap in the face it must be for these people to watch this scene, almost ridiculing them.

Also I will say that in the show I even liked Jeffrey, he seemed kind of funny and darling. Almost just a tad naughty.

On the other hand, I did think they did a good job portraying the attitude of law enforcement and the role that prejudice must have played in this tragedy. As well I found compelling the depiction of the journey of Jeffery Dahmer's neighbor. How terrifying it must have been for her. It shows an angle from these stories we don't often think about.

So it's a great TV show very enjoyable, but I feel they cheated trying to sell it using Jeffery Dahmer's name.

Uncoupled (2022–2023)

Watchable... At times

[6/10 · 19 September 2022]

Nice white comedy. Nice settings, well made, nice acting. But it does feel the whole way through that you've watched these same stories just with other characters. The whole thing feels so artificial that each time a character spoke I could almost see a group of writers typing the lines. Seems very formulated and lacking a personal touch. Also the characters felt unlikable most of the time just because of how artificial they acted.

Still it's not horrible and as the episodes go by and you start getting past the stiffness of the show you can have a nice time watching it. But very very far from wonderful gay themed shows like Looking or Eastsiders.

House of Hammer (2022)

Makes you feel sorry for Armie Hammer instead of the other way around.

[3/10 · 3 September 2022]

I had absolutely no idea and never heard of any scandals regarding Armie Hammer or his family.

After watching this 3 hour long documentary I'm almost more confused than before watching it. There's a powerful and dark story regarding his great grandfather, grandfather and aunt. But it almost seemed that Armie Hammer himself was just a collateral damage in order to sell the documentary.

Not enough is said about him to justify a 3 hour documentary that will basically ban him for life from his job. There's an endless interview scattered around the three hours of a woman claiming to be traumatized after a relationship with Hammer, but it's all based on one night that it's not clearly explained.

There's also small bits and pieces from other two women and the lawyer of one of them, but again, they claim Hammer to be a monster but don't clearly expose the events.

I think if a three episode long documentary with Armie Hammer's broken face as a poster is going to be released for the world to see, the ethical thing to do is to clearly expose the reasons and events for the allegations, not just bits and pieces here and there and half told stories.

At the end I kind of felt more sympathy for him than before watching it.

Lost for Life (2013)

Very brave documentary.

[10/10 · 26 August 2022]

I watched this documentary right after I saw another about the murder that two 16 years old perpetrated. In this documentary they are interviewed only 6 years into their life sentences without parole. When I saw the first documentary I just wanted the kids to suffer really bad. But when I saw this one, I clearly saw that 1 of them wasn't the same person who committed the murder. He had completely changed into a mature man. And it made me wonder about the point in making him stay in prison for 60 years longer until he dies, because he's not the monster that committed the crime anymore. In a sense it seemed that one person was serving someone else's sentence. As much as I want the kid to rot in hell, that kid doesn't exist anymore.

Then you hear the shock of victims families when they learn that whoever killed their loved ones is gonna get out of prison and how unfair it seems to them when their lives have been broken beyond repair.

The brave thing about this documentary is that we all prefer to have an easy choice and think of good versus monsters. Unfortunately, or thankfully, I don't know, it seems that things usually aren't completely black or white. And this documentary is brave enough to show this uncomfortable truth.

The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On (2022– )

I don't buy it.

[4/10 · 25 August 2022]

For the first couple of episodes I thought these people were strange, but by episode 3 it became clear to me that this show is faked. Not only they don't act like human beings but also they don't talk like them. They talk like if it was a coaching book.

Fear Street: Part One - 1994 (2021)

Terrible

[4/10 · 6 August 2022]

I just wanted to add my grain of salt. The plot makes absolutely no sense. It was just one random scene followed by another.

I've read here that the movie gets wrong the depiction of 1994. I was in high school on that year. I don't remember very well if the props used in the movie were outdated. But I do know for a fact, that more than the monsters and so on depicted in the movie, what really is science fiction is that 2 girls were having such an open relationships on 1994. It would have been an absolute scandal and these girls would have had no peace in school had they have a homosexual relationship openly. Still I like that they decided to put it in the movie.

Father & Son (2015)

Weird but fun and nice

[7/10 · 27 June 2022]

This is a low budget B movie with all that that implies. But i did find the plot amusing and it had a nice message at the end. The acting wasn't bad either and lots of eye candy and some good drums music. I enjoyed it.

Rainbow Prince (2022– )

Gave up on episode 6

[4/10 · 9 June 2022]

It's a nice attempt but just that, an attempt. This is a Disneyish BL series with the singing included and instead of lonely mice, lovely drag queens. There were good things like the sets and scenery, but almost everything else was below the decent quality line. Some actors were really bad, the plot was almost non existant, the editing was terrible. And most of all, all the characters seemed to be high on MDMA smiling constantly. I thought it crossed the red line for me when we see the prince strolling his little dog around in a baby pushchair!! Good idea, but way too much sugar with little else.

Apocalypse Pompeii (2014)

So bad I couldn't stop watching

[5/10 · 4 June 2022]

I must say that I kind of like these unapologetic bad movies. It has everything a B movie should have. Bad script, bad acting, bad special effects, senseless plot. Everything is so bad that I couldn't even blink waiting to see what they would come up next, which ultimately made it very entertaining. This is actual dialog from the movie: -if the vesuvius erupts again it will be much worse than the last time.

-really? How bad?

-does krakatoa ring a bell?

Bad Buddy (2021–2022)

Just another one.

[5/10 · 4 June 2022]

I truly don't understand all the hype about this series. It has nothing really special, it's not specially funny, nor has tension or drama, the plot is very weak and slow, specially the ending and it's been done over and over already. It's basically 12 hours of footage of the two leads being cocky and flirtatious to each other.

The one outstanding thing I found was Ohm's performance. It's not his first role I see and he is very convincing in every character he plays.

I had to make an effort on the last couple of episodes to get through because it just lost the little interest I had on previous episodes.

Gameboys (2020– )

Watch out if you're diabetic!!

[5/10 · 16 April 2022]

This show is like a cotton candy with a crusty sugar coating filled with a sugar ball. That's basically it, lots of sugar but little flavor It's basically about falling in love at first sight and being crazily romantic ever since.

Generation (2021)

I hope this doesn't represent the generation.

[1/10 · 2 April 2022]

I just watched 10 minutes of the first episode and I feel really bad that either the generation of teens nowadays, or what they're thought to be, are anything like what I saw. In the first scene, in a mall a girl teen is telling the other who has period pain to swallow or better snort an opioid pill, but turns out the other one is giving birth and because of her parents she wants to have the child in a public bathroom. The second character we see just climbs up to sit danglin on a dangerous place to take a selfie. Are kids these days really SO LOST?? I really hope not.

The Player (2021–2022)

Wild and fun soap opera, for adults only.

[8/10 · 23 March 2022]

This is kind of the Thai BL version of Melrose Place. There's pretty much every felony on the book: kidnapping, blackmail, bribery, murder, attempted murder, multiple perpetrators attempting murder simultaneously on the same victim, prostitution, pimping, humiliation, public humiliation, sexual humiliation, sexual abuse, infidelity, sex videos, snuff videos, corruption, you name it, it's got it!!

I must say by episode 3 I was about to give up, but I'm glad I stuck to it because it quickly takes off and becomes very fast paced and fun.

Special mention should be given to Namtam for her portrayal of Giwi, a wild villain with a taste for humiliating men.

Overall it won't win an Oscar but for sure won't give a moment of boredom either and will shock you more than a few times with its outrageous twists and turns. If you're not faint or heart, give it a go!

I Told Sunset About You (2020–2022)

A gem.

[10/10 · 26 February 2022]

I was very surprised when I read about the conception and production of this series. It was conceived in response to another series from the same director who featured the two leads as a side couple. After the success they stirred amongst fans, he wanted to do a follow up series where they would be the leads, but as 1 of the characters had died, it was decided to do a whole new series. So the writing began and in about two years it was finished. And all by the same studio and channel (line TV) as the rest.

But somehow the result cannot be classified as a BL because it has none of the elements that defines them. This is a very realistic series, with very little plot but that grips your heart from beginning to end. There's a second season titled "I promised you the moon".

TharnType (2019–2021)

One of the best BL

[8/10 · 2 January 2022]

What sets this BL series apart from most is that while most end with the first kiss, in this one the first kiss is at the beginning of the story and we get to see how two people manage to stay together for 8 years. The series is never boring, surprisingly not even on it's second season. There are also great secondary characters, most notably Techno, a really funny guy. Great job as well by the two leads, who make their characters seem very real. All round a fun, romantic and sometimes over the top watch.

3 Will Be Free (2019)

Great BL crime action thriller

[8/10 · 24 October 2021]

Very nice and refreshing BL series. It's a fast paced thriller which tackles on all forms of love, including a bad gangster loving a trans woman. The story has many twists and turns and goes by quickly and without boring moments.

Daydream Obsession (2003 Video)

5 minutes of dialog

[1/10 · 1 September 2021]

I found it really funny. In this movie there's about 5 minutes of dialog. The rest is just scenes of guys naked very badly done, with no taste and don't even feel erotic. The funny thing is that the 5 minutes of dialogue are performed by actually quite decent actors who can perform!!

Cruel Summer (2021–2023)

What a script for teenagers

[1/10 · 27 August 2021]

I'm just on the first episode, so I'm not judging the plot. I just had to comment on the horrifying script. We get a fifteen year old say ashamed she's nerdy (intelligent) and then sadly say that's impossible that by magic she'll turn out pretty and popular. And her brother say that his 15th birthday was indeed very special because his dad left him *Crack his first beer*. Is that what's happening in America? I haven't seen a single show or film where the guys whenever they're not working don't drink only beer as if it was water or soda. Is everyone an alcoholic or need getting numb in order to be able to exist in a society with those messages?

Is hard for me to understand why a movie that shows a female nipple gets an R rating but kids are massively hit with the message that constantly drinking alcohol is not only good, but cool! Some thing's wrong, really.

Getting Go, the Go Doc Project (2013)

Great film, a different point of view about gay stereotypes.

[8/10 · 21 August 2021]

This film breaks all the rules of stereotypes. So many times we get to see the not so sexy but very smart and moral guy win over the sexy but troubled. This story is not about stereotypes, it's the story of two real people, each unique and not predefined by their outside appearance.

Doc is a very introverted man who's only desire is to fit in, to be like everyone else. But precisely this unacceptance of who he is blocks him from truly loving.

Go is a gorgeous looking guy full of love. He wants to make people happy, as he says making people's interaction with him a pleasant one. He believes in freedom to be who you are regardless of the acceptance of others. And it is his freedom what makes him so capable of loving.

When they meet what happens between them doesn't have to do with what they look like on the outside, where the gorgeous one won't easily commit to the normal one, but with who they are inside, the guy who doesn't like who he is will turn down the love from the guy who feels free to love whoever he wants.

One thing that struck me was the couple of times Doc asked Go about what he likes about himself and other men. When his reply was about inner things he was asked to change his answer to physical traits. Later on Doc says he doesn't want Go to be other people's object, just his own. That led me to think just how lonely such a gorgeous person can feel when people can't get past his looks. Overall it's what ended up happening to him. He was turned down, I found quite cruelly, being told that his looks will fade and he won't have anything to hold on to.

I absolutely fell in love with Go (who wouldn't?, well Doc, I guess). At they beginning when we only got to see how pictures naked and him dancing I just saw one more of the thousands of bodies we see everywhere, hot but nothing I would pay much attention to. But the moment he started talking and smiling I was completely smitten, which I guess reminds us just how important inner beauty is in this visual world.

Overall I felt like I was watching real people with their own whole inner world and not just caricatures which is what we usually find in films. The acting was very natural and the story was not predictable. A very satisfying film that stays with you after the credits roll. Please, more like this!!