If you can close your eyes to this kind of inconsistencies, then film is very, very enjoyable. Cast is very fluid and dynamic. I really enjoyed Gemma Chan and her melancholic/grounded portrayal of Sersi. Both Stark brothers Richard Madden and Kit Harrington fit really well. Selma Hayek played matriarchal role perfectly. Even usually obnoxious Kumail Nanjiani was fun to watch.

But the best part was Angelina Jolie, or rather very limited use of her. This reminded me of her similar role in “Wanted”, where she played character who had very little to say and instead perform with her actions. This, in my opinion, proves that she must stick to supporting roles and not main ones.

Director Chloe Zhao gave film a lot of exposition and dialogues, which is surprising for an MCU film. This mostly comes from her background of indie filmmaker. These scenes are heartfelt and well made. She tried to balance it out with action sequences (she said they were inspired by Revenant – spoiler alert – not even close). Unfortunately, those were not well paced, choreographed and edited.

Regarding writing, as with any MCU film, there is an incredible amount of plotholes (not going to dive into for spoilers, but hit me up if you have seen the film and we can talk about it). I also didn’t like attempt at “inclusiveness”, which in my opinion, was just a gimmick. Oh look, we have first hearing impaired character, LGBTQ+ character, Pakistani, Indian, Koren, Chinese actors. Ok. Good for you. Now how that serves the story?

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I enjoyed every second of this film and I am right. It bears such a semblance of what I had in mind while reading the book. I mean HOW can you show desert and make it look sexy? Ask Villeneuve, he will tell you. Sands of Arrakis are spicy. Witches of Bene Gesserit are psychedelic. Baron is mental. Paul is accessible and reliable. And sandworms are, well, digging.

My companion didn’t like the movie. She said it was too simple. “Made for teenagers” is exact quote. And she is also right. In essence, the story that Part 1 tells is only a mere setup for the events that will follow. And to be honest, the whole first book of Dune series is a mere setup and is in my opinion one of the weakest in the series.

So, to really enjoy DUNE, you must read DUNE. Otherwise, it will be another big budget epic star opera filmed in a very peculiar manner.

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Good things first – Delroy Lindo finally gets to step out from playing supporting hard-ass generals, hard-ass detectives and hard-ass mob bosses to finally shine as a lead man. It is a shame that this actor could have been no less famous than Samuel L. Jackson or Denzel Washington had he been given a proper role earlier in his career. His Oscar-worthy performance was truly captivating and it’s what kept me watching this film.

Apart from Lindo, I really enjoyed Chadwick Boseman’s performance. Weird, because he spends a total of less than five minutes on screen, he managed to deliver every aspect that his character was described to have and then some. 

Spike Lee, though, dropped the ball. I was extremely confused not only with pacing, but the overall direction of DA 5 BLOODS. It starts as a buddy road trip into memory lane, then gets infused with nostalgia and family matters, then jumps into mindless action and ends with a cliche finale. It’s like Lee took someone’s screenplay and rewrote it to fit his vision. Wait a sec, Wiki says that’s exactly what he did. So, instead of having his usual structured film (e.g. BLACKKKLANSMAN) we get a mix of 3 other films.

And then we have plot twists that you can see from a mile off. Cliche dialogues and illogical decisions. Plot conveniences and plot holes. Overused aspect ratio changes. Old actors playing younger versions of themselves. Oversimplification of politics and war. And all this drags for 2.5 hours. At least music is nice, gotta give it to Lee for keeping that consistent.

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Screenplay is a pure ridiculousness and mishmash of random things. Our hero is an antenna repair guy who suddenly learns that his astronaut father might be alive stuck in the orbit of Neptune after losing contact for 16 years. And he might be responsible for recent power surges that threaten our Solar system. And he might be insane and trying to destroy humanity. Because, that is the most logical explanation of things, how can it be anything else?

So, overnight our hero turns into some John Wick of astronauts, single handedly landing rockets, piloting spaceships into dark vastness of space, performing orbital changes and whatnot. Oh, and also racing with lunar pirates, fighting off space monkeys (literally) and dealing with conspiracy to keep him away from flying to Neptune. And all that for our hero to overcome daddy issues.

Because, why not?

And then everything aesthetic – cinematography, music, visuals, psychology – falls apart. Acting is limited to Brad Pitt talking to the computer trying to keep himself calm and sane. Supporting actors drop in and out without any point but just to say 2 words and move along. In terms, it is even worse than cameos in 1917. 

AD ASTRA tried so much to be APOCALYPSE NOW in space but failed miserably. Instead, it is undeniably one of the most uncool space films I have ever seen, and, believe me, there are a lot of those. 

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Firstly, the story doesn’t stop, divert or introduce new random crap just for the sake of the new season. When other shows make things up as they go, it seems creators Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese had planned all events well in advance. And this all with the introduction of 2 more time cycles with their own masterfully written and explored heroes and events. Old questions get answered in a timely manner, but new ones pop up immediately. So, structurally it still is the same show, but bigger, deeper, crazier and overall better.

Secondly, the setting moved from rainy nights of November to sunny days of June. If you think that it would lighten the mood you will be grossly mistaken. June in the fictional town of Winden is still full of secrets, lies, betrails, misery, and, yes, terror.

Thirdly, with now 5 (!) time cycles you would think you’d be lost. But even here everything is structured and edited perfectly. Odar has a huge task to keep everything grounded and he succeeds with flying colors. And this is still with the introduction of newer characters and new actors who portray heroes at different time cycles. Which leads to:

Casting is PHENOMENAL! With a total actor count pushing 60, not only everyone is just an amazing addition, but they convincingly look and play the same characters at different ages! Man, even GAME OF THRONES sucked at casting convincing young Ned Stark. In DARK the resemblance between the young and old version of the hero is so straight you don’t even think twice.

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This is what I felt watching the first season of German TV show DARK. Masterfully combining sci-fi, horror and psychological thriller, this show is undeniably THE BEST Netflix show and hands down THE BEST representation of time travel and corresponding paradoxes I have ever seen. 

And how beautifully it is done! Imagine Vince Gilligan doing a Christopher Nolan film. This is what it essentially is. Acting is superb. Cast consists of over 30 main actors playing heroes at different ages, but not a single one is fake or out of place. Story centers around children disappearing in a small town and families looking for them, but it is not your STRANGER THINGS with stupid actions by random teens. This is a multi-layered story of choices and consequences that span three eras and multiple generations. 

Created and directed by Baran bo Odar DARK is a complex, meticulous look at the human psyche as well as philosophical musings regarding theoretical physics. Very slow and steady burn never cease to amaze or bore. Dread by constant rain, horror of the northern forest and terror of ominous music constricts the story of family secrets, human tragedy, free will and destiny.

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Season 3 is nothing like that. Smart storylines become snobbish propaganda. Mind-blowing aspects became ridiculous and cliche. Plotlines that led to nothing in particular. Character arcs that became more and more illogical (this really didn’t make any sense since most of the characters were AI). Decisions that were stupid to say the least. New characters were boring. Old ones became impotent. 

Writing is essential in anything and third season of WESTWORLD lacks subtlety, intelligence or any proper emotion.

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Seriously tho, 1917 is an OVERWHELMING achievement in cinema. If you can cast aside gimmicky one-take camera, you will be able to see one of the best and most intricate cinematography by genius Roger Deakins (who MUST get an Oscar for this). He utilizes colors, blocking and framing in a way that no one does. Secondly, big credit to production design, as the WWI sets look not only realistic, they look haunting, daunting and outright claustrophobic. 

An out-of-this-world soundtrack by Thomas Newman plays a great role in intense build-ups. There were several scenes that had me on the edge of the seat as not a lot of films do these days, due to incredible usage of music. Especially (no spoilers) night sequence is one of the best audio/visual sequences I have seen maybe in the whole decade.

What I didn’t like at all was the choice of one-take style. While it worked great in BIRDMAN, it gets tiring in 1917 really fast. Yes, it looks amazing during action sequences, but pacing drops to a halt when nothing happens on screen and because Mendes would not make a cut we have to literally walk with heroes in almost real-time – listen to their BS talk, watch them drink water or wash eyes or whatnot.

Screenplay troubles are even worse, because stripped of all glory of visuals film is about delivering a message from point A to B. There is miniscule character development, all actors do is react to whatever is happening at that moment. There is a huge supporting cast of familiar faces reduced to just 4-sentence cameos. 

1917 is full of war cliches you have seen a thousand times in a thousand other war films (some even ripped directly from SAVING PRIVATE RYAN), BS talks about the insanity, ridiculousness, wastefulness of war, copious amount of blood/amputee/cadaver money shots, and, sure, why not add another child into this to incite horror.

In the end 1917 turns into a spectacle of order of AVENGERS: ENDGAME, with all visuals and not enough substance.

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But, not to digress, I was looking forward to seeing how J.J. Abrams would tie up and end this trilogy. After all, trailer did look nice and interesting. But, how wrong I was. It feels like instead of having a certain plot line in mind for the whole trilogy Abrams and Co. made up plot as they went along. Thus, characters so meticulously created and explored in previous films are either proved to be completely pointless (Poe, Finn, BB-8) or totally abandoned and shamelessly ignored (Rose). 

Instead we have scenes with Princess Leia (isn’t she supposed to be Queen by now?) that have been SO OBVIOUSLY stitched from existing footage of Carrie Fisher for previous films, answering in templates. And certain appearances of certain dead characters just to deepen the nostalgia that never comes. And, yes, C-3PO who can’t shut the f%$& up for a second. 

Regardless, “RISE OF SKYWALKER” is a spectacle of film when it comes to action. Lightsaber fights are extremely fun to watch and final space sequence also felt great to watch. However, the film is so jam-packed with these sequences that adding numerous nostalgia porn leads to extreme pacing issues. Abrams doesn’t even try to help the film here, throwing characters from one locale to another, sending them on a ridiculous quest that (surprise!) shouldn’t have been a quest to begin with. 

Overall, I did know that I would not receive  “RISE OF SKYWALKER” well, but I didn’t know it would disappoint me so much. And I am not even a Star Wars fan.

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Firstly, the elephant in the room – casting. Henry Cavill absolutely nails it as a charismatic, enigmatic, sarcastic, deadly, mutant monster-killer Geralt of Rivia who has much more say in philosophy than actually killing someone. I think there could have not been anyone else who would have done this role the way he did so kudos to that. Rest of the cast, I also enjoyed Freya Allan as Ciri and Jodhi May as Queen Calanthe (a very pleasant surprise as she actually steals every scene she is in).

Regarding casting of Anya Chalotra as Yennefer (and I’d add Anna Shaffer as Triss) I am torn. Acting-wise Chalotra is perfect. She goes above and beyond for her role to show true emotions and all struggles of her character. But, I couldn’t accept her as Yennefer – a woman who Geralt is ready to die for. Call me shallow or blame it on the video game, I guess.

Show is very well directed. Visually it is as stunning as any episode of GAME OF THRONES. Writing tho, I felt could have been better. This includes selection of the stories to show, as well as some scenes with Ciri felt compulsory and dragging the pace down. Couple of episodes in the middle were really mediocre (dragon hunt). I did enjoy the timeline jumps writers utilized which enabled showrunners to bring back characters who have already died and also emphasize the backstory of each of them and give them some meaningful character development.

Overall, as I said, I did enjoy the show, but I feel it could have been just a tad better. Looking forward for next season.

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