RAY-OUT Reviews

Savage Streets (1984)

annoying characters that make the flick unbearable

[2/10 · 4 May 2024]

An absolute cringe and annoying portrayal of the teens and thugs... ....Sympathy doesn't work if no likeable characters exist. Of course it works for the sister, just through pure humanity, but that's just not enough, especially when everything around it is just pure cheese!

Not that it would have changed much if the characters were more likeable or even normal people at least, given the poor execution and writing and especially the terrible performance of Linda Blair and the thugs! It's definitely not a film that's so bad it's good again! But I have to say I really liked the soundtrack.

You can only gain something from the film if you watch it for the wrong reasons.

Great Pretender (2020–2024)

That certain something is missing

[5/10 · 26 March 2024]

It's not bad, per se, but relatively boring in my opinion.

I find the characters all completely uninteresting, any information about their backstories felt without any real inspiration, everything had already been seen somewhere else.

The entire anime feels "borrowed" starting from the opening and ending with the background design/colors. (Which is stylish, but kinda lazy, because it's just completely generated) Anyone who has already seen a few anime will recognize some of the things they used, although they are all good set pieces such as: the Jazzy Tunes ala Cowboy Bebop as well as the OP. Here and there I also get strong Jormungand (for example Abi is like Jonathan) or even Black Lagoon vibes sometimes, which for me somehow robs this anime of the unique selling point that it should have had due to its relatively unused setting.

While the processing or the trick behind the scams is actually quite detailed and comes across as believable, it is staged in a very boring way.

I stopped after the third scam, it's just not for me, it all comes across as kind of boring western crime series. Which is definitely not what I'm looking for in an anime!

The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993–1994)

It doesn't take full advantage of its unique selling point!

[5/10 · 2 March 2024]

Back in the 90s I liked watching it on TV and watched it again in 2024 as a complete rewatch.

But unfortunately I have to say that as charming as the idea of the show is and as charismatic as Bruce Campbell is, it doesn't help that at least 2/3 of the episodes are totally standard for TV at the time.

Just like unfortunately hardly any of the episodes make use of the unique science fiction twist that the show could offer. It has a few really funny moments here and there, but nothing really convinces, just like the rest of the cast, who often seem rather annoying and out of place, apart from Kelly Rutherford as Dixie and of course Comet ;)

Evil Dead Rise (2023)

AI would definitely do a better job

[2/10 · 26 January 2024]

This is a perfect example of why almost all the movies from the last ~10+ years are an absolute waste of lifetime.

Untalented people everywhere, bad in almost every aspect, terrible script, awful dialogues, unlikable and forgettable characters who do illogical things because the writers don't know how the world works or worked! Abysmal bad acting, imagine suffering terrible injuries and practically not even reacting to them with more than a shrug of the shoulders and the like.

Lily Sullivan was an absolute stone, completely devoid of talent. Let's not even get started on the other brats.... Alyssa Sutherland was the only one who did at least a halfway acceptable job, but she wasn't really convincing either.

The worst thing is actually that absolutely nothing happens. Even though something is going on the whole time, no matter what happens on the screen, there is simply no tension or even horror!

The only good thing about it is that it actually has nothing much to do with the franchise, apart from a few references that could have been in any other film. Apart from the name, there isn't much and can therefore easily be ignored ;)

A Quiet Place Part II (2020)

a quiet loud place 2

[3/10 · 24 January 2024]

The first movie was already mediocre due to its poor script and the resulting logical errors, lack of character development and general predictability of events.

But the second part tops it all off, it almost seems like a hunt to find out which character can do something even more absurd than the last. The children are even more obnoxious than in the first movie, and everything is so predictable that it almost seems ridiculous.

Not so bad at first, but already noticeable in the first 2-3 minutes of the film!

"Oh, the only word the man learns in sign language at the beginning for no reason at all - becomes useful again at the end?!" "Oh, a dog is barking at the clouds!" "Oh, they're on a baseball field - they're not going to have a scene where people look up and see "something" - as has been done in several other films, right?"

This stuff is still harmless, but right from the start it shows the complete predictability of everything in the film. What follows is much worse, but I'm trying to stay spoiler-free here, therefore I will not elaborate further on that.

And something like that goes on throughout the entire film, we don't even want to start talking about the oxygen or the oxygen bottles later, and what is quiet or loud and how the films define this and how, like in the first film, it makes no sense at all and that goes on throughout the entire film and leaves you shaking your head at every scene.

If you really want to go into any of this in detail, then a bottomless hole of logic errors opens up that I have neither the time nor the desire to deal with.

The film is good on a cinematic level, Emily Blunt is also convincing again (unfortunately she has hardly any real screen time this time). Cillian Murphy is also much better cast in the male lead role, as he is simply more talented and likeable than Krasinski before.

In contrast to many others, I think the pacing is very good, in the almost 90 minutes (without credits) enough happens, no matter how silly it is, that there is still no boredom.

In addition, as bad as I think the film is, just like the first one, it still arouses interest in more of the story because you simply want to know what the creatures are all about. Since this one doesn't address it either, it remains to be seen whether this is a good or bad thing, as we need to see at least one more of these films.

UHF (1989)

expected so much more

[3/10 · 19 November 2023]

A handful of mediocre skits strung together and a at the time cute Fran Drescher isn't enough for a whole film, especially without a real plot, which wouldn't even be necessary if what was shown would actually be funny, but unfortunately that's not the case.... The two or three good (for their time) parodies of films are not outstanding enough, you only need to watch the Rambo scene twice and you will notice that it is already getting boring and how extremely long it was drawn out, and that applies to everything. Especially Michael Richards, who does his job extremely well, so well that he even starts to get annoying on the other side of the screen -.-

more than disappointing....especially with all the praise!

Roseanne (1988–2018)

aged well and still entertaining

[8/10 · 11 July 2023]

One of the few more down to earth shows, i really enjoyed Season 1-7. In its 8th season the show did have a few weaker episodes but still outperformed most very late seasons of other sitcoms or shows in general.

Many have a problem with the final "plot twist", which I think is completely okay, the problem is everything in between, which is consistently not really funny and way too exaggerated that you only find out at the end why everything is suddenly so "out of character and series" probably makes things worse than it would have been had you known it from 9.1 onwards.

The ninth season moves on the level of unbearable and cringe, unfortunately this season massively damages the overall impression of the whole series.

However, even so many years after the end of the show, it still works and kept me very entertained for many weeks on my last full rewatch, and I'll definitely watch everything again at some point (except S9)

Also, it cannot be said often enough what a damn outstanding and likeable actor John Goodman is, who has put on an incredible performance over the years and over the entire run.

Jujutsu Kaisen (2020– )

weaker than expected

[5/10 · 24 June 2023]

Hmm... how do i start ... When you watch it, the closest thing that i can say: That Jujutsu Kaisen season 1 is like watching the Naruto version of Bleach but worse (if that makes any sense^^)

Nothing surprised me, it's just ideas and concepts from somewhere else, I just can't help but notice that someone said: I'll take this from here and this from there, a little bit from these characters and then parts of these successful scenarios etc.

The "inspirations" that were mainly drawn from Bleach stand out massively, especially with the characters, you can really see how 2-3 different characters from Bleach have been thrown together into one in Jujutsu Kaisen, some even seem directly adopted. But they also tried to copy the style, it's just too obvious, as well as numerous other influences from other successful manga/anime can be seen.

This would not be necessarily bad, but it is hardly possible to identify a unique selling point. Especially since the story is unfortunately quite weak and just creeps on itself, many episodes feel like fillers, although they aren't even fillers.

The same goes for the characters, I found each one to be flat and uninteresting. Positive compared to eg. Bleach, is that Yuuji is much more likeable than an Ichigo, unfortunately he is an unbelievable Mary Sue character. The darker than usual atmosphere is also to be commended, unfortunately not much is done with it.

Visually, the anime didn't knock my socks off either, the quality varies between moderate and very good, but the color palette just seems artificial, which often leads to a cheap overall look. Unfortunately, only the opening and endings are really great.

Personally, I can't understand the high ratings for this anime, after only a few episodes I had to struggle through to the end (with even 2 attempts) In these 24 episodes, which lasted forever, practically nothing relevant happened and I have absolutely no interest to watch more form this anime.

Star Trek: Picard (2020– )

still unworthy - but acceptable

[3/10 · 21 April 2023]

I won't write about season 1 or 2 as we can probably almost all agree what a blasphemy this was.

My rating remains low because of those two seasons and half a good season 3 doesn't make it much better overall either. Anyone who speaks of a masterpiece or something similar just because of Season 3 has definitely inhaled some toxic gases for too long, or has already seen too much Kurtzman Trek, which is practically the same thing.

Season 3 was acceptable in its last half.

The first 4 episodes were unnecessary, boring and still New Trek to the core, it all felt like the script was meant for a 2 hour movie but it was stretched into a series. Then the bad writing and the terrible dialogues and generally how the people and crew speak or behave on duty doesn't work at all and isn't Star Trek.

Then there's unfortunately still Raffi, who should have been sorted out in the very first episode. Because the only thing the character contributes is the constant reminder of the pathetic previous seasons, the character is unlikable anyway..... Especially since her contribution to the story was insignificant, it could have worked without her involvement, and every interaction between her and Worf was just cringe, which significantly harms every scene she appears in.... Worf is generally too silly, half as much would have been enough!

But the last half wasn't really good either, most of all the inappropriate humor annoyed me in really serious and dramatic moments. For example, Geordi loses his two daughters to the Borg (at least temporarily, but he has no way of knowing that) and his wife is at least in danger and in the next scene he jokes with the old crew.

Then odd presentation of Captain Shaw, who is portrayed as a total joke, even lying on the ground crying in one scene, which just doesn't fit. Ditto when the entire bridge crew suddenly starts crying when threatened by Vadic, just embarrassing. The crew generally behaves like toddlers, e.g. When everyone comes onto Picard's holodeck session, like crawling into their parents' bed -.-

Some extremely weird behavior of the leaders, more often than not crew members are just left to die for no reason for example as Picard and Co, fleeing from the Titan over several decks. In general, it wouldn't be so bad if there were such inconsistencies from time to time, but unfortunately it's constant.

Still, the last few episodes have had an impact on me that I definitely wasn't expecting beforehand.

From complete unwatchable crap to guilty pleasure material, it's still an achievement that I don't want to deny ;)

Even if I don't want to be a doomsayer, the next "series" will probably be the same as before. Since the people responsible won't learn anything from this small success, Picard season 3 is probably just an anomaly.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

It probably won't be the worst part forever

[5/10 · 12 April 2023]

Watching the film again in 2023 might not be a good time for a reevaluation.... but after nearly a decade of Hollywood producing nothing but crap. So that once mediocre and even bad movies now feel like a blessing because we didn't know it could get much worse!

This doesn't make Indiana Jones 4 a better film, but I appreciate the "entertainment factor" of the film more now than I did in 2008.

The very poor writing as well as the absolutely awful CGI still catches the eye. The plot about extraterrestrial interdimensional beings, doesn't feel as extremely inappropriate as it did back then, but Shia LaBeouf is still annoying.

House of the Dragon (2022– )

It's Always Sunny in Westeros or Essos

[6/10 · 17 March 2023]

Honestly I was expecting absolutely nothing when I got into this series, the later ones and of course especially Season 8 of GoT just left their scars on me.

What can I say, after one season we're back exactly where we were with GoT, namely terrible writing. So much doesn't make sense, contradicts characters' personalities, the concept of time doesn't exist again, ships and dragons are jets again, people don't age (sometimes the wrong ones), the focus on characters who are insignificant and nobody cares, etc. The weird modern feminist undertones everywhere, doesn't add to the upside either. You don't have to follow every episode live, one birth after the other, which then finally ended in body horror. It's funny that you show something so disgusting, but you can't even see a breast anymore. Nudity probably doesn't exist anymore, so we got a weird foot fetish scene and a teen jerking off on a window frame. (Oh yeah, and it's getting dark again, please someone teach them how to film night shots)

It actually started off okay, apart from the white Rastafarian who just stays weird until the end. The fact that HotD was running at almost the same time as the extremely awful Rings of Power probably contributed to the fact that this one seemed a lot better than it actually is. Unfortunately, after 2-3 episodes you realize that there really isn't a real plot and everything just creeps along. I will not go into any content of the series, except that the time jump has massively damaged the series. Practically nothing happens until episodes 7-8 and even these may each have a real plot for 30 minutes. They should have summarized the few key dates from E1-7, and E8, bad as it was written, should have been Episode 1. Virtually nothing prior to this is really necessary to understand what is happening.

The biggest problem with the series, it doesn't have a single likable character at all, apart from Ser Harrold. (which is trapped in a time capsule and doesn't age) The show tries so hard to push Rhaenyra and the Queen, but it just doesn't work. Neither of them is a good person, not even in the slightest to have any sympathy for them. That goes for absolutely every single character on the show, all of whom are horrible people doing horrible things all the time. Absolutely every single person could die and I wouldn't care at all and it probably wouldn't even affect the show as nobody would notice they were missing as they're not memorable.(The chances of wishing them dead are higher than caring for them) The writers also have absolutely no idea about drama, which you can tell from the fact that they have to kill an insignificant person in each episode, but they presumably consider them to be "important". Ohh, the guy we saw for the first time last episode is dead! Who cares?

My interest in further seasons is low, currently HotD is just guilty pleasure material and nothing more.

Dark Skies (1996–1997)

The very close encounter

[7/10 · 26 January 2023]

I really liked the ~first third of the series, quite dark and surprisingly scary especially the alien portrayal. Which unfortunately aren't presented as cool later and from then on look like the Asgard from Stargate : / Still has a few good episodes after that, but once Jeri Ryan joins the show (I don't blame her, but that's where it starts) the "stories" start to feel cheaper and poorly executed, and sadly drift away since then to a series that is no longer so special.

Still would have liked to see the 70's and 80's from the point of view of the series. Too bad it couldn't come to that but wouldn't have been as good without Frank Bach anyway :/

RIP J. T. Walsh.

Cobra Kai (2018–2025)

Should have ended earlier

[7/10 · 23 January 2023]

Season 1&2 = 8.5 Absolute fun, nice nostalgia flashbacks and self-aware of how silly it actually is. It was the only way to make a sequel series over 30 years later that worked so well.

Season 3 = 7.5-8 It's already beginning to crumble here, as Johnny & Daniel are pushed too far into the background, still very entertaining nonetheless. The biggest problem here is the increasing focus on the kids, who let's be honest are all unlikable except for Miguel. (Which becomes more and more annoying and an *** in the following seasons). Just like their relationship dramas, which are not only extremely forced, but nobody is interested in them either, since the kids anyway change friends, partners and dojos in the episode rhythm.

Season 4 = 6.5 You immediately notice the impact of Netflix and its typical topics...extremely harmless compared to other series, but still noticeable. Starts very weak but still managed to get some nice and fun episodes.

Season 5 = 5 Pretty crap, guilty pleasure material! Drifts off to a totally standard Netflix series, which also includes the bad writing! If it were Season 1 you wouldn't even know it had anything to do with "The Karate Kid" and the few times it does, it feels idiotic.

Wayward Pines (2015–2016)

Would be better off as a 5 episode mini-series

[3/10 · 17 January 2023]

Starts okay, apart from bad writing and okay to bad acting but especially the terrible CGI & green screen is annoying, I mean Come on the show is form 2015! Why does it look so bad?

It was still kinda watchable until the middle of season 1, everything after that makes little sense to watch as the full mystery is simply unraveled in its entirety. What's the point of a mystery-series without a mystery -.- After that, it's just messing around and all the weaknesses in the series come to light in full. The writing and dialogues are so bad, people react to things or say things they don't know yet.

Since the series doesn't have any likable characters from the beginning and they only annoy you with their terrible Lost-like flashbacks that don't matter at all. Will it be even worse in season 2 because you have to deal with the already annoying kids and the loss of the main character, stopped after 3 episodes in S2 because everything just repeated itself.

Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters (2017)

Godzilla weaker than ever

[3/10 · 7 November 2022]

I rate all 3 films as one, because they don't work individually and are absolutely identical. (80min talking over sub-plot nobody cares 10min mediocre cheap CGI action)

The three films together have a whopping 4.5 hours of running time, but they only offer a plot for a maximum of 30mins, absolutely nothing happens the rest of the time. Only repetitive dialogues without any sense and influence on what is happening. They run from one MacGuffin to the next without them advancing the plot.

In addition, Polygon Pictures CGI just seems cold and lifeless. It all looks the same, if you didn't know that it's another film, you could mistake it for BLAME! Form 2017!

A absolute waste of time in my opinion. Take a look at the first part and form your own opinion, if you don't like it you can skip the other 2, they are exactly the same.

Children of the Sea (2019)

could have been a fever dream

[4/10 · 12 September 2022]

Maybe it made more sense in Daisuke Igarashi's manga, but the story is here just pseudo-intellectual nonsense.

Studio 4°C has always had a strange and unique style. Here we have breathtaking 2D images, partly sketchy, images visually based on traditional animation, extremely reduced pictures and also CGI rendering all mixed together. Everything on its own looks really great That would make a nice little psychedelic dream-like movie if there weren't moving 3D objects placed in a 2D environment that would tear you out all the time, because they just look out of place. For me personally, 3D should never be mixed with 2D, you always see it and it is always a foreign object.

The Terminal List (2022– )

Good and entertaining but nothing more

[6/10 · 25 August 2022]

There's no question that it has good moments, but to me it still feels like a 2-hour film that was stretched to 8 hours because they wanted a series for Prime. Good cast, good acting, etc. Still a standard revenge story and among those not a standout. Because so much garbage has been produced in recent years, it makes this "normal" series stand out a lot, but that doesn't make it great, in comparison maybe but that's it.

In addition, the lighting sucks! Definitely a conscious decision, but every room, no matter where, is lit exclusively with desk lamps, floor lamps and wall sconces.... giving the show a dark tone is fine, but when you reach the point where you can hardly see anything anymore....

Amazing Stories (1985–1987)

What wasn't amazing is the writing

[5/10 · 19 July 2022]

Possibly the worst written anthology series out there. Actually everything is good, the show had a good production value, great actors, stars from the past and those who still had their careers ahead of them. Almost all episodes are based on good ideas. It's kind of an art that practically almost all of them were written so badly that they really annoy you when you watch them.

Parker Lewis Can't Lose (1990–1993)

aged well - pure early 90s feeling

[8/10 · 14 June 2022]

Innovative, overly stylized series with impactful sound effects and camera shots. A consistently talented and likeable cast, this is a teen sitcom that wish there could have been more. Which brings me straight to the point, my rating is based on the assumption that Season 3 does not exist for me. With Season 3, the series is heading in a completely different direction. Almost everything that made up this series has disappeared with this season.