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Zebra7
Reviews
Squid Game: The Challenge (2023)
Waste of time. If you still want to watch, use fast forward!
Couldn't stand the OTT acting especially when they're told someone's being eliminated. They're so shocked every single time screaming OMG with wide eyes and open mouths like they had no idea what they signed up for. Ridiculous. Surefire way to ruin a reality show. It's like booking a table at a restaurant, you go there, sit yourselves down and when a waiter comes over and asks you "are you ready to order?", you go, "OMG" horrified! Absolutely stupid and fake.
Also many games are designed in a way that makes it quite easy for the production team to manipulate who gets eliminated.
Thank goodness for the fast forward button. I finished the whole 10 episodes in just under two hours. That's just watching the actual game parts. Shows how much unnecessary filler scenes are there.
The Following Events Are Based on a Pack of Lies (2023)
Poorly written, disappointing overall
I wanted to like the drama and what it's trying to convey but instead of writing a vulnerable main character, she came across as just stupid and incredibly naive.
Even the supposedly intelligent, self sufficient famous author (not some lonely struggling woman with no social life), kept ignoring a red flag after red flag for no reason especially when the male villain wasn't that convincing to begin with. He wasn't exactly the dashing prince was he, nor was he particularly charismatic or likeable. He was just shady and sleazy. Didn't see why anyone would find him attractive, let alone fall for him.
He concocted some bizarre, far fetched story about his colleagues being kidnapped to steal the author's money, and lo and behold her money completely disappeared. He kept changing his story and giving her the classic "you'll get the money soon" line every single time. Yet what did she do? Absolutely nothing and even covered for him when she wasn't even in love with him as she claimed. Ridiculous.
She finally had an epiphany in the last episode all of a sudden and decided that he'd been deceiving her all along. Duh. She also turned into a psychic out of the blue as she somehow knew her dog was put in a bag and thrown into the lake. How the hell did she know that? Alice never told her the dog was in the bag.
Then came the monologue about how male criminals get away with crimes against women on a regular basis and I do get what the writers were trying to say but don't just let the characters sit on a bench and "explain" on and on whilst showing images of real criminals. Felt so out of place. Didn't help that the actress sounded like she was memorising the lines. Maybe they were trying to be quirky but didn't quite work imo. Trying too hard.
All in all, disappointing. Maybe a drama to put it on in the background. Not for a serious watch.
A Classic Horror Story (2021)
Did I misunderstand the film???
So, after having watched it to the end, I took it as a satire and not as an actual horror film, but reading many of the reviews, it's surprising that only one other person seems to have mentioned this so far, so I could've got it totally wrong.
Anyway, my rating is a 6 based on my interpretation of this film as a satire of our society craving for "creativity", "originality" and "realism" yet at the same time condemning and complaining about it (this is a broad gist of it, there's more to it).
I didn't rate it higher, because it seemed a bit "preachy", though I get it's not meant to be taken too seriously. Also, it seemed like Netflix was using "reverse psychology" to get a higher rating, like the last scene where everyone was bashing the film and the "male viewer" gave it a thumbs down, as if to say "don't be like them". Well, I may be reading too much into it, but not falling for that BS! Ha Or maybe I and the hundreds of others are doing exactly what the film intended to prove by complaining about it! Lol
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Sums up our current society perfectly to be honest.
Imawa no Kuni no Arisu (2020)
Fun drama great for binge watching but overall average.
The first few episodes felt fresh and exciting, but dipped in the middle and I kept hoping for the latter episodes to reach a climax and in parts it seemed like it was on the way there, but then kind of fell flat in the end.
The plot itself isn't bad at all and definitely binge worthy, but can't rate higher than 6 because of terrible acting. Cringey and awkward all round. I've seen some of the actors in other films/dramas and I know they can do much better, so I assume the fault lies with the director himself.
La casa de papel (2017)
Enjoyable thriller
The series definitely kept me entertained though I had to suspend my disbelief in some parts to keep on watching as the plot relies heavily on "luck" and some of the characters' disposition or willingness to put emotion over logic/reason. Even the Police were too emotional when they were supposed to be level headed. Some may call that "being human" and this may actually have something to do with the Spanish culture which I am not that familiar with, so possibly didn't get to appreciate, but rather found it annoying. Having said that, all the characters are likable and it is a good solid drama that will keep you guessing in some parts.
Cardinal (2017)
Average crime drama
After having read all the amazing reviews, I was quite disappointed with this show as it's FULL of clichés. Characters and plot we have seen so many times before that it all felt tired and too predictable. I just knew what was going to happen with the main story, sub story, character development that there was zero tension, so much so that I didn't get to invest in the story or empathise with any of the characters.
As someone who watches many crime dramas from all over the world, this was nothing special. I would only recommend it to people who have nothing else to watch. It's good for killing time I guess.