originaliko Reviews

Unforgotten (2015– )

Season 5 - still one of the best

[9/10 · 19 March 2023]

Often people write reviews after only a few episodes or maybe at the end of season 1. However, you seldom find reviews from the perspective of later seasons. I've just finished watching season five of Unforgotten and after all this time I still find that this is one of the best British crime TV shows.

I wasn't sure about the future of the series and whether there would be another season after season 4. But season 5 is both a continuation and a renewal. The show manages to retain its charm while exploring new themes and introducing new characters.

Season 5 has been well received by critics, with reviews describing it as "bleak," "angry," but still retaining its charm. The well-crafted cold case drama is more poignant than ever and packed full of heavy-hitting themes.

Unforgotten continues to be a gripping and engaging TV show even in its fifth season. If you're a fan of British crime dramas, I highly recommend giving it a watch.

The White Lotus (2021–2025)

Colonizers visits Fantasy island

[7/10 · 20 August 2021]

I mostly liked it. I didn't like that it start with a coffin. I spent too much time trying to find who would be killed. Before realising that it didn't matter. This is not a mystery show, it's... something else. I don't really what it is.

In some part it's like Fantasy Island. People come broken in some way on the island and returned to their lives rejuvenated, mended or changed in some ways.

And then there's this allegory of the colonisation; a bunch of white people - and Paula, the only tourist, and person of color without a last name - go to an island, make a mess and leave to go back where they came from. People are killed and/or imprisoned, dreams are broken, without any consequence for the colonizer.

Monster Hunter (2020)

There's no ending ? !

[5/10 · 17 February 2021]

They wanted so much to start a franchise, they didn't even bother writing and end. This right here is make you lose a star or maybe two. The film could be told in 2 or 3 sentences and you wouldn't miss a thing. But what do you expect from the title ? There's nothing special here, it's a man vs. monster movie. The story is basic. The effect are good. The actors do a fine job with what the got. All in all, if the title make want to watch it, knowing what I (and others) wrote, it's probably for you. If not, watch something else.

Moonbase 8 (2020)

2 and half episodes in : not funny, not interesting.

[4/10 · 10 November 2020]

And I won't continue watching obviously. There's absolutely nothing special here. Maybe at one point in time stupid and incompetent people doing stupid things was funny, but after the last 4 years it's definitively not anymore. When reality exceeds fiction, the fiction doesn't seems that interesting. I vote 4 because it's not trash, it's just....meh.

Teenage Bounty Hunters (2020)

Not the target audience, loved it !

[8/10 · 16 August 2020]

First I know that is series has not been made with the like of me as the target audience. I'm not young, a woman or even christian.. and I loved it ! I start watching because I was bored and wanted something very light, expecting to stop watching halfway through the first episode. Boy ! How wrong I was. The premise of teenagers as assistant bounty hunters is of course totally unrealistic but that's the only thing I find totally far fetched. What's really keep me watching is of course the two leads and their portrayal of fraternal twin sisters. I don't think I ever saw this kind of sisters relationship before and if I can't judge on the veracity ( I don't have a sister nor a twin) I like how different it's seems from everything else I add saw in a long while. I'm at episode 6 right now but I can't wait to see the rest

Invasion (2020)

Enjoyable

[7/10 · 26 July 2020]

I did like the first one. Not a great film a but an enjoyable different kind of blockbuster. The follow up, Invasion is in the same vein. It doesn't make a lot of sense but it's really fun to watch. the main difference between your average run of the mill american blockbuster and this is mostly in the way the human antagonist are portrayed. There's no evil or villain and you understand why people act the way they are. Most people are not black and white, they're grey.

Time Trap (2017)

Didn't expect much. Was pleasantly surprise !

[8/10 · 13 August 2018]

I'm a sucker for time travel movie. If it's around time travel (in all the different forms) I've probably seen it or it's on my watchlist. Like the title of this review said, I didn't expect much. The last few low budget movie I've seen about time travel were very disappointing because of bad acting, script who wants to be more clever than their writer or just plainly bad. The story is simple enough but most of the time you don't know what will happen next. It's start slowly and almost cliché with a bunch of teenagers who decide to explore a cave (don't you watch the news people ?! :-) and then things start happening that I didn't expect. It's not easy to find a good, entertaining low budget sci-fi movie with a good enough cast and special effects, so kudos to everyone involve. Like others said, this need a sequel. I want to know more about the end !

Marcella (2016–2021)

Marcella Season 2 : The Joker Origin

[5/10 · 21 July 2018]

This is what happens want you throw things at a wall and build a story with what sticks. Want I started watching season 2 I did remember almost nothing from season 1. Maybe that's why I watched, or maybe season one was a lot better. I don't I have ever dislike a main character so much. The way Marcella is written is baffling, she's supposed to be a strong albeit a little dark person, but in the end she comes of as a paper thin crazy person. Almost no other character seems to be more than unidimensional.

As for the story and the mystery, I don't want to go into much details but there's a lot a plot thread who goes nowhere and are forsaken without any resolution. So much secondary characters stories who don't server any purposed, are semi-mysterious (I'm thinking about the lesbians couple for exemple, what are they doing ? Why ? Where did they go ?

All in all I would skipped watching season 2. Maybe if there's a next one where marcella don the full joker outfit :-)

If you have watched season 1 and don't want to watch season 2 you should at least watch the last 10 minutes of the last episode. It's so mind boggling crazy and bad !

Instinct (2018–2019)

the worst cop show I've ever seen

[3/10 · 26 March 2018]

And I've watched almost all of them. Being not a native english speaker I've sometime have a hard time deciding if an actor is bad or not. But I really feel likes the acting of Alan cumming here is really bad. Or maybe it's just the really just the worst dialogue. The whole classroom scenes are preposterous. It doesn't feel at all likes the kind of talk a professor would gave. It's empty and the banter with the student(s) totally ridiculous. Nothing seems to work here. The premise is cliché but at least with good scenarii and dialogue it could (probably) works. As it is, it's a disaster

The Place (2017)

a very faithful remake

[7/10 · 18 March 2018]

This movie is an italian remake of the (web?) series, "The booth at the end". In a coffee shop a man is sitting at a table. People comes to him to make a deal. They ask for something and in return the man assign them tasks. The bigger the favor, the harder the task. Most of them are horrendous acts to perform (murder, robbery, rape, killing a lot of people with a bomb). All day long people are coming and going to ask for a favor or to report the advancement of their tasks. I rated the series 10* but I rate this movie only a 7 because there's absolutely no original story, every character and associated tasks came from the series. It's exactly the same but in italian. The actor playing the man is the same type too. So nothing original, but still a very entertaining story

Stillwater (II) (2018)

bad but entertaining

[6/10 · 18 March 2018]

After a few minutes you get a sense that this is a very low budget movie with mostly almost amateur acteur. Most of the time I get bored by mid movie and either stop it or fast forward to see the ending if I'm curious enough. In the end I watch the whole movie even if I was infuriated most of the time by the stupidness of the characters decisions. But at the same time I was amuse enough and curious enough to continue watching. This is the kind of movie who should work (and I'm sure a lot of people would feel thtat way), but for me it was interesting enough to found it fun.

Dead Shack (2017)

Nothing fancy

[5/10 · 18 March 2018]

This is a low budget "zombie" movie you can enjoy if you're really bored and don't have any other option. The story is not that great or original but the younger actor are entertaining enough even if the dialogues are neither great nor very original. There's a little gore but not enough to be disgusted or even gross out.

Golden Exits (2017)

Boring and flat

[4/10 · 18 March 2018]

I see three main reasons to see a movie, to be entertain, to learn something or to feel something. Miraculously, the movie manage to do neither. There's no character development. There's a plethora of characters who's live seems to be impacted by the arrival of the young australian but the end of the movie not one has changed, not one has learn something. The only impact she has finally is in their dialogue. I have a hard time constructing any argument so here is the bullet points :

• the music is flat
• the image is boring
• there's a lot of great actor but no great acting
• most of the dialogues are movie dialogues, not people dialogues.

In summary a very disappointing little boring movie. This is the kind of movie which does'nt serve any purpose.

The Gateway (2018)

could be intersting. is just boring with a stupid ending

[4/10 · 16 February 2018]

This movie really need two things to be passable. Editing and an ending that makes sense. From the get go you can see that it's a low buget low sci-fi movie. The acting is nothing stellar but good enough for the most part. the story could almost be good with a little more introspection but instead is totally flat, unidimensional and boring. And the editing is really bad, the entire movie is a succession of scenes, there's no sense of time or place. And the last twenty minutes are bad. I won't spoil it here if you courageous (or masochistic) to see this movie till the end.

Black Mirror (2011– )

season 3 : it gets better

[6/10 · 23 October 2016]

Didn't care for the first 3 episodes but it gets better with episodes 4, 5 and 6. I give the whole season a 6 minus.

• episode 1 is about social media. I absolutely hated it. Community did way better with a lot more satire in the 8th episode "App Development and Condiments" of season 5.

• episode 2 didn't feel like a black mirror episode and the lead is so annoying it's painful to watch.

• episode 3 is not subversive, not new and pretty boring

Then things start to get better with episode 4 and finished grandiosely with features length episode 5.

TL;DR : skip episode 1-3 and watch'em letter if you get bored.

The Magicians: The Mayakovsky Circumstance (2016) Season 1, Episode 7

bad pacing. very bad editing.

[5/10 · 1 March 2016]

I really liked the books and like the TV show enough so far to keep watching it, but man is this episode bad. I understand that adapting a book is not easy task and that budget can be limited, but the whole travel to Antarctica and the foxes scene at the end are so short compared to the book ! And the editing is bad. I don't normally notice it and it wasn't very good in previous episode but here it's very noticeable. You go from one character, on story to the next without any rhythm. There's steep cuts mere milliseconds after a sentence, you don't have the time to breath. They tried to stuff to much in one episode and the result is not good at all.

The Art of War II: Betrayal (2008 Video)

Exactly what you expect

[5/10 · 29 October 2008]

I don't know why people are giving this movie such a bad time. It's exactly what you expect of this kind of movie. It's an average movie worth watching if you don't pay to much for it and have some time to kill.

The acting is average, the plot is OK, almost a test case for this movie genre with very bad people wanting to kill the main character. Their some plot hole and some situation turnaround. Nothing too dramatic, just what you expect. It's look exactly like a Wesley Snipes movie and his fan will (have ?) probably enjoyed seeing him fight once again.

I've seen far worst movie than this one.

The Happening (2008)

A huge letdown from anyone Shyamalan, Wahlberg and Deschanel

[4/10 · 11 June 2008]

I'm just back from the theater where i went to see the happening and I really feel that Shyamalan let me down.

First let me say that the story as a whole was a good one. But the treatment is totally bogus. As another commenter said, the action start right at the beginning of the movie. I don't really know if it's a good thing, most of the movie have pathetic introduction to every character, but sometimes it's the price to pay to care for them.

The biggest problem with the movie are the dialogs. Most of the things the people says through the film are crap. I don't know anybody who speaks like this. All the lines between Wahlberg and Deschanel seems totally artificial. No wonder, their acting seems totally odd. I don't know, how it would be possible to seems natural saying the crap, they have to say.

Globally after the introduction of the happening and the Wahlberg character where he speak the only really relevant dialog (and the key of the movie), I started to find the time really long.

Tell No One (2006)

Your heart will pound in rhythm.

[8/10 · 10 March 2008]

It seems there's not a lot a french people commenting on this movie (or any other for that matter).

Tell no one is a brilliant movie if you like thriller. I didn't read the book from Coben, but after watching it, if almost find it hard to believe it's adapted from an American novel. I think that Guillaum Canet did a marvelous job in translating the book into a "french movie". Make me wonder how this movie would have been, directed by and for Americans.

The film start slowly and gains momentum during it's course. As you learn to understand the characters and feels more attached to them, you're embroiled into the the life of the main character and your heart beat in rhythm with the action : slow, fast, slow, faster, faster..

until the end...

A very nice movie