stephane-372-906609 Reviews

Ahsoka (2023– )

worse and worse

[3/10 · 15 September 2023]

I have the felling the each episode is a filler. Nothing happens, no emotion there but a lot of fan service instead. Most of the reviews for this show are clearly oriented and blinded.

I do not see how Disney could continue this way with less than 10% of useful content in each episode. So boring and irritating.

Characters and story could be so much better. If only the writers got the job done and the studio stopped applying tasteless recipes. This show is a total waste with almost nothing to tell. Side characters are pure stereotypes to address a larger audience.

Star Wars is meant to be epic and mysterious. Not this sum of uninteresting and uninspired result.

Smoking Causes Coughing (2022)

Lazy direction, not compensated by the cast

[5/10 · 2 April 2023]

Collecting some vaguely creative ideas and putting them in a movie without any real work cannot make a good result. Some projects may lack some budget and compensate with creativity. Here, we get the exact opposite, with a huge cast trapped into a non-existing direction. You'll always find some people to find it's genius or whatever. These people are only trying to look cool.

The movie is excessively short and boring at the same time. The stories composing the film are all shallow and its "modern" messages are not subtle at all. Either people won't get them or people will find them simplistic.

If Quentin Dupieux started working a little bit harder, maybe the result would deserve some interest and show some respect to the audience. Here, we are served something without any care or teste. The movie is emotionless. Because it seems inspired by Peter Jackson's early works and the Metal Heroes era, it should at least have their spirit and energy...

God's Crooked Lines (2022)

How do you recognize a good movie ?

[8/10 · 20 December 2022]

Answer: You want to watch how it ends, and it catches you just after the first seconds, right until the last.

This movie is a performance in overall consistency, pace and quality. Certainly some of the best in 2022. Using a difficult subject (mental health), in a difficult place (a sanitarium with crazy people), with a difficult duration (2 and 1/2 hours), it manages to create an atmosphere, tensions, twists, attachment and beauty at all times, with charismatic actors handling all characters that you do not want to leave. These a signs of a very well crafted movie, giving a lot of care to details and to the audience, but without any easy writing or gratuitous eye candy.

Watch it, you won't be disappointed (except if you are looking for stereotypical and empty movies).

1899 (2022)

Dull copycat

[4/10 · 27 November 2022]

This show is a senseless mix of the Matrix quadrilogy and Life On Mars US. Everything in there is convoluted and artificial leading to an empty result after 8 episodes.

The budget shows in cinematography, music and SFX but the essential is missing. Great move by the director, writer and producers to have Netflix pay for their training in making movies but the audience has nothing to get from it. It would be OK if the writing itself was not pompous and superficial. It is kind of a shame to be more preoccupied by looking smart than actually working to be smart.

After Dark, which is one of the most complex story structures ever made, while managing to make sense, I was expecting much better.

Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

Fierce critic of the Z generation by itself

[6/10 · 24 September 2022]

It gathers all the tropes of the woke culture but it brilliantly shows the emptiness and anxiety of the Z generation. In this, it does an interesting job and deserves a watching.

Actresses are OK. Male actors are useless. Cinematography is not very inventive and very insta-like but by playing with these codes, it might make this film a cult one for the teenage audience.

The scenario is well-crafted enough to spread clues along the scenes and provide all the answers to the dynamics between the characters. We can appreciate this and the resulting consistency of the story.

This movie respects its audience and even if it is imperfect, the seriousness of the work shows in the overall result.

Killing Eve: Hello, Losers (2022) Season 4, Episode 8

Worse ending than GOT ?

[1/10 · 28 August 2022]

The whole season has forced the attention, the screen time and story progress on Eve without being able to create a single moment of interest. Meanwhile, all the other characters shine, show depth and subtlety, whatever happens to them. Even Pam, the pathologically introvert, has more charisma than Eve here.

This final episode is the most artificial of all. There is no chemistry between Eve and Villanelle at all, despite the efforts to shove it down our throats with never-ending scenes.

The Twelve are dealt with off screen, finishing like they started, i.e. Uselessly.

The final scene does not make any sense. Eve spent four seasons sinking, while Villanelle spent four seasons going up. "Killing Eve"... isn't there a clue for the showrunner ?

At least there could have been a political message, even if TV shows should be careful with them. But no. This is just a pure mess. Shame to the authors.

Official Competition (2021)

A real good movie creation

[8/10 · 21 August 2022]

Perfect acting, incredible picture and sets, flawless pace and story. Everything you can expect from a movie.

Yes it is subtle and smart and some people would need to watch it more than once to get it. But thanks a lot to the directors for betting on the intelligence and taste of the audience.

Luck (I) (2022)

Pixar recipe without soul

[6/10 · 15 August 2022]

This movie tries so hard hard to be good Pixar, I mean the before-Disney Pixar, but they failed with the story, making it as futile as the latest Disney-Pixar productions. The references and similarities with Inside Out are constant, without grabbing the essence of it.

It made me very uncomfortable, not really knowing what I was watching, making this movie a sort of monster patchwork, torn between Apple, old Pixar and Disney, with a sour sauce of streaming platform.

The Sandman (2022– )

Uninteresting

[4/10 · 6 August 2022]

First 30 minutes are intriguing. Then all the inspirations (who said copies ?) from other universes in movies and TC shows transpire and make this one look pretty dull. This show lacks originality and personality. The recipe does not hold at all.

Irma Vep (2022)

Mesmerizing and rich

[8/10 · 30 July 2022]

A truly original show, modern, perfectly written and acted. It breaks some codes and invents some others very elegantly. Might confuse some audiences but it is the point and if you let go just little, you're on for a very nice trip.

I appreciated the freedom that transpires from the show as a whole and the various levels of stories, intermixing between fantasy and the (not so) real world.

Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)

Characters out of sync

[4/10 · 29 May 2022]

Leia outrunning trained soldiers in the woods and having the wisdom of an 80 years old. Nope. Obi-Wan, maybe the most powerful Jedi in main SW history, now living in fear and being passive and lost. Nope. A young ambitious Third Sister outside any training orchestrating a Jedi hunt (and being a terrible actress). Nope. Sets being cheap. Obi-Wan walking the street dressed as a Jedi without anyone noticing. The third sister knowing about Leia and doing nothing about it except using her as bait. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Someone wants to kill SW again. Won't watch further episodes.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

A tough one to rate

[7/10 · 28 May 2022]

This movie is indisputably creative. It's been done by true cinematographers and only cinema could offer such an experience. The formal originality and the involvement of the actors are real and strong. But... and there is a but...

The story is weak. You can try it from any angle and this movie beats a record in the number of angles used in any movie before, the story remains weak.

Yes it makes sense in the end. Fortunately. Because the beginning is a happy mess. But when sense appears, the magic goes away.

The movie is powerful. It has been carrying a lot of spectators and let them with a sense of joy and freedom in the end. But this joy and this freedom won't last because the movie will not reveal anything to each one of the spectators. And that is where its failure stands.

In this, Everything Everywhere All at Once is not a masterpiece. It is an original take, for sure. But it misses it fails in revealing important things in people and in becoming timeless despite it really trying to.

When reaching this level of formal achievement and creativity, I really hope the "Daniels" will improve on their depth and finally reach their goal someday.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022– )

Finally a good Star Trek show !

[8/10 · 26 May 2022]

After two awful trials, we finally get a true Star Trek show, true to its roots, smart, complex, subtle, modernized. It is only the beginning and the risk to go back to the previous failures still exists. We'll see how the show keeps its pace and quality.

Production is great. Characters have depth beyond standard shallow inclusivity. PC messages are kept away, replaced by a look at the complexity of human nature. I really, really hope it will continue that way.

Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils (2022) Season Unknown, Episode Unknown

So bad, so empty

[3/10 · 18 April 2022]

I give it a 3 compared to what it should be. Same mistakes and same problems as the last three seasons. Fortunately, it is changing soon with a new production, a new showrunner and a new doctor. It seems we move from heavy damage for the show to a massive and far too long boredom. Good news is the show might survive this.

The Matrix Resurrections (I) (2021)

People still do not get it, which is exactly the point

[9/10 · 22 December 2021]

Just like with the previous movies, some will never get it and remain at the first (or maybe second) level of reading, expecting raw entertainment, spectacular action and prophetic heroes in a virtual world. Even riskier, this Matrix 4 movie takes a more mature turn with its central characters carrying their past and with explicit rejection of binary fights and wars.

The pace is perfect, the writing is splendid, the image is top notch and the acting is strong. The story is (too) smart but Lana Wachovski perfectly knows it and brilliantly plays with it under the nose of WB.. and once again of the audience. It is great that she had the opportunity to make this movie. Many clues are for a Matrix 5, especially when the main element of the plot (the real nature of Neo, Trinity and the "real world") has not been explored yet. I find it unbelievable that Lana Wachowsky and the ones who understand Matrix are still managing to remain underground. This makes things even tastier and staggering.

In this movie, new Morpheus finally takes conscience of its condition and utility. Neo and Trinity don't yet but finally take over the Matrix. Neo seems tired and senseless, which totally makes sense.

Matrix 4 is a rare movie these days that bets on its audience and on the long term. The movie is not artificially woke or preachy but deeply progressive and sincere like the preceding trilogy already was. It is a very modern movie moving away from binary conflicts and embracing complexity and doubt. But like I said eerlier, no everybody will get or like this...

The Virtuoso (2021)

Flawed but touching and full of ideas

[7/10 · 12 December 2021]

It's a slow-paced hitman story almost behind closed doors. It is well made with some original ideas and an unexpected angle behind the obvious treason(s) to come.

The chemistry between Mount and Cornish is great. So is the tension. The progression of their relation is the real central theme of the movie, which is not at all an action one. The so-called twist at the end is not a real one. Many things announce it from the beginning.

So, where are the flaws ?

Abbie Cornish is great in a seductive role by a woman in a real-world body, and very well hidden intentions. The ambiguity is played with talent until the very last moment. The choice given by the virtuoso with the first bullet is also greatly introduced and deeply makes sense. At this point, the relation is perfectly balanced and open. In this, the movie is a great success. But then comes a kind of necessity to once agin kill the white male. After that, the waitress follows exactly the same toxic and inescapable path as the virtuoso. Sad. And meaningless.

It would have been so much better at so many level to make the two characters extract themselves from their toxic path and habits by making them join instead of letting them stuck or dead.

Foundation (2021– )

Too clean and stereotyped

[5/10 · 3 October 2021]

Without any consideration for the source material (which just serves as a distant inspiration here), this show feels much too clean and dull.

It is extremely difficult to project oneself into the story, which is particularly slow, simplistic, with neutral or stereotyped characters, without real background and with capabilities coming out of nowhere.

As many other say, better read the books!

Dune (2021)

First successfully made ambitious movie in 20 years

[8/10 · 18 September 2021]

Finally a movie comes up with a high budget, an ambitious vision and a real originality in all cinematographic aspects.

Far from the Disney/Marvel imagery and ideology and away from any kind of current-day stereotypes, it is a pleasure to watch a movie with its own aesthetics and narrative.

It would be irrelevant to compare to the book. Let's appreciate this movie for what it is, i.e. The original work of a great director reaching even greater levels here. Denis Villeneuve may have started a masterpiece that has been missing to the cinema world for along time now, with both an impossible adaptation of a reference book and a capacity to demonstrate that cinema is still an art that can reach masses with high quality and subtlety.

I wish this Dune movie a great success that will open to the next parts of it and write a brilliant and needed page in cinema history.

Reminiscence (2021)

Empty shell of a movie

[5/10 · 5 September 2021]

Lisa Joy and the Nolan team seem to be people of recipes. Always the same recipes. High budget appears through lighting, casting, sets and effects. But that's about it. No feelings, no attachment.

The reminiscences (hum hum) of the Film Noir genre are here but they are dull and miss the intended immersion. Characters are too shallow and clean. Story is too gentle and weak. "Noir" is never reached during the movie, replaced by some preachy and pseudo-philosophical dialogues.

Sci-fi background ? Once again, completely careless about science, especially for the real mechanisms around memory and the real consequences of massive floods. This creates false representations of reality, just for the comfort of the writers. Useless, pointless.

It is sad that this kind of people have the hand of high budget movies and high-end technicians. They seem not to know what to do with all this.

The Tomorrow War (2021)

Nothing to save (including earth)

[3/10 · 8 July 2021]

The story is non-existing and the little there is, is utterly predictable. No care at all for consistency, character development and originality.

Action scenes are bad. So bad. They carry all the current gimmicks and techniques of the moment. Nothing thrilling or impressive with the CGI. The monsters have no identity. The picture is soulless.

Hollywood is digging its own grave with movies like this.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

So many missed occasions to make great cinema

[5/10 · 4 January 2021]

Acting from the main character is unconvincing. Adele Haenel does not carry emotions properly, imposing her own personality, which does not fit the story. The sets are poor rather than minimalist and the compositions do not add anything to what was there to take. Photography could have been so great. The story is emaciated and shallow. Without the modern politics attached to the main role and movie crew, It is likely that nobody would have found it interesting. This movie will not change anything for anybody, making it artistically forgettable. Something was to be told there but never really was. We got stuck at the "summer romance" level. "The Favourite" or "Blue is the warmest color" are much stronger and well-crafted movies on the same topic. "La belle noiseuse" remains the absolute reference for painter/model relationships, with also a very slow rhythm but so much more suggested and felt, especially through the painting scenes. I'm sure this Jacques Rivette movie was in the mind of Céline Sciamma when she directed.

Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks (2021) Season Unknown, Episode Unknown

As flawed and badly written as usual since series 11

[2/10 · 2 January 2021]

The opening sequence where the Dalek shell is stolen summarizes all up : filled with inconsistencies and unlikely events (a single driver transporting alien stuff stops alone to get some tea), missing major details on the screen (hand traces on the side of the truck when the driver collapses), looking cheap despite subsequent budget, etc. Then follow many occurrences of the now usual ridiculous action scenes, empty dialogues and lazy writing. Nothing to save here. Two companions leave and we still wonder what has changed with them. Some scenes are here just to make the ending more intense but they fail. Ryan has not evolved at all despite repeatedly saying it during this episode. Graham pretends he would stay but looks clearly exhausted. And Yaz remains as useless as usual, despite badly playing some sheer determination. She just looks frantic. Captain Jack is here but has no space to bring some freshness and energy. He won't save the show. I hope Gwen Cooper will come and punch the Doctor in the face to wake her up. The franchise is still broken after the previous episode and seems to have nowhere to go. Any new revelation about the Doctor's past won't change anything now and I think that the writers finally realized that after pretending it would create new major possibilities. Sorry guys, you don't write the future by rewriting the past. The only way would be to erase these two series, purely and simply.