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vlad-alexandru88
Reviews
Ramon (2023)
Potential ruined by amateur filmmaking
The script had a lot of potential to be a decent, lighthearted comedy.
Sadly, almost every aspect of cinematography that went into making the movie was terrible.
The most glaring issue that bothered me is the scenography and costume design.
It's like the people responsible for it have never seen, for example, a romanian country-side home and people. Instead they put together what looks like museum sets, where everything is perfectly placed and there is no authenticity. The clothes all look brand new bought from Zara.
Casting is terrible too, nobody fits their role at all, the "peasants" all look like corporate hipsters, the "bum" looks like the richest bum ever with perfect figure, hair, eyebrows, makeup, teeth...
Acting is pretty terrible too. There is an attempt to play some caricatural character like Ramon and his cousin, but the actors/directors don't really commit to the portrayal so what ends up coming through is half/half. Half caricature half serious, and neither works at all, it just feels forced and cringey.
The only saving grace seems "Gargaritza" who's the only good casting choice, in my opinion, and does a decent job portraying the self centered, yoga practicing vegan hip girl who faints at the sight of meat.
All in all, this feels more like a Youtube skit you put together with friends and an iphone, rather than an actual piece of cinema.
Oh and the constant and obvious product placement is annoying as hell too.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Beautiful picture but lazy writing
The movie is besutiful, it can't be denied. The rendering quality has improved immensely, and the level of detail and realism is amazing, down to the little hairs and pores on the skin of the Avatars.
The movie could have been great, could've been the next Lord of the Rings, but it was ruined by the weak plot and often lazy writing.
It's not awful, but it's annoying as hell, starting from the forced return of the entire cast, the total change of motivation behind the invasion, explained by a mere 5 seconds by a ridiculous reason, and down to the sheer number of Bro's and Cuz and other language and affectations that make the characters sound like they came out of The OC or some other teenage drama.
Serenity (2019)
Difficult pill to swallow
It's not great, it's not bad. It's a decent movie with a pretty original twist. M. M. As usual is great in his everpresent chain smoker, alcoholic, haunted past personna.
The movie gets worse reviews than it deserves, mostly because the twist is a very difficult pill to swallow for the majority of people, as they are cannot identify with the world that the twist connects to.
Black Widow (2021)
Cringefest + Clichés = Black Widow
Had semi high hopes for this movie but unfortunatelly it was all for naught.
The movie is from the very beginning a walking talking 90s action movie cliché with your generic Russian bad guys, fake russian accents, fake russian names.. the works. Add to it a forced "bad-ass" girl hero(s) that at 45kg super model body can defeat 100kg+ super soldiers and a very predictable plot... Total cringe-fest.
I was only able to watch until the predictable and useless, but classic, reunion + making up fight between the main characters.
This is the one MCU movie I will gladly skip.
Stargate Universe (2009)
Good show, but don't hope for SG-1 all over again
I've been browsing through the user comments and all I can see is people bashing the show for no reason. All I can say is: People! Wake up! This isn't SG-1 or Atlantis. It's a totally different show, with a whole other setting, story, feeling and cast. Stop comparing it.
If you don't watch this show expecting Jack O'Neill to pop out at any moment, killing 20 aliens and then joking about it you might actually be surprised, in a good way.
I must admit, I was a bit disappointed too when I realized that the show was headed in another direction, and we wouldn't get those "saving the world by the skin of our teeth with some humor here and there" moments, nor would we get that character chemistry that made SG-1 and Atlantis so fun to watch (Remember J.O'Neill and Daniel Jackson moments; Sheppard and McKay.. good times..). But once I got used to and accepted the "new" and stopped hoping for the old, I actually started enjoying it.
The show is not so much about battling aliens, saving the world, being heroes anymore, it's not even so much a Sci-Fi anymore. It's more of a Drama about "the wrong people" doing their best to survive in an impossible situation. And the creators actually manage to do a great job illustrating both hope, desperation and the various types of human connections that start forming aboard Destiny.
If you feel the need to compare the show, Battlestar Galactica would be the closest thing to it. Stop pressuring the creators to go back to that SG-1 type of show and let them do their jobs.
Stargate: Atlantis (2004)
Better than Star Trek
People are gonna hate me for saying it, but there it is: Stargate is better than Star Trek. Don't get me wrong, Star Trek is a great show. Historicaly , Star Trek set the bar for Sci-Fi shows and I am a big fan of TNG and Enterprise series.
However, Star Trek was always more "Fi" rather than "Sci", technologies mentioned in it are mostly fictional and the solutions for the problems the crew runs into on the show are most of the time far-fetched and sometimes borderline ridiculous.
Stargate, on the other hand, beginning with SG-1 and continuing with Atlantis, creates a believable scenario, by relating to actual historic facts (aliens pretending to be gods in order to enslave/study/help humans). It also presents us (usually) with decent and plausible explanations for the technologies used or for the events taking place.
What I love mostly about Stargate is how it managed to create a Sci-Fi show where the characters have to rely mostly on their wits to solve difficult situations or to defeat technologically superior races, and also that it manages to throw in some quality humour.
The cast is brilliantly chosen for both SG-1 and Atlantis, creating a family-like environment and making a great show to watch for everybody.
Clash of the Titans (2010)
Mature and Classical Era Percy Jackson?
Well, given the last few "epic" movies that have disappointed us more and more, I can't say I was expecting much from "Clash of the Titans". But I really did not expect yet another gross insult to Greek mythology.
10 minutes into the movie, after the narrative and a few corny, over- the-top CGI shots of Olympus, I knew this movie was going to be bad, but against my better judgment I watched it until the end.
First of, saying that the movie "deviates" from the original myth is a huge understatement. It is basically a collage of the most popular items in Greek mythology. Take one son of Zeus, add a huge powerful Kraken that has nothing to do with said son of Zeus, mix it up with a bit of Medusa (oh how fans love Medusa) and finally add some "touching" scenes of beautiful flying Pegasi and the classic Hollywood "hero gets the girl" and you have a mainstream high-budget crap-fest because "Hey! Who cares? People are so ignorant they don't even have a clue who Perseus is. They just want epic battles".
The sad truth is that people actually fall for this crap. I'm not even going to bother to enumerate all the things wrong with the story, most literate people will know for themselves, the others... well they probably rated it 10 because they liked the shiny sword.
The story would not have been SO bad if at least the acting and directing was worth "the ferryman's bribe". The only decent actor in the movie is Liam Neeson, but even he manages to make a mess of things. It might not be his fault, the dialogue is so sketchy that you'd actually think it's all improvised.
To sum it all up, "Clash of the Titans" is the "original bad copy" of "Percy Jackson", more bloody, more action, more and more CGI.