Reviews

I agree with other reviewers, who say that this is kind of false advertisement. This show is, indeed, more about Wade, rather than Knuckles. Echidna is more like a McGuffin in this story, that prompts Wade to at least try to change. But who is really that interested in watching Wade? When the title does not even suggest his "importance"?

Don't get me wrong, the plotline of the show is still good overall. In a way a Christmas special would be. It's essentially about "physical does not matter", acceptance, and friendship. There are dozens, if not hundreds or even thousands of stories, that have this moral, and are good, and it's popular for a reason.

But this show ain't good. There is no real chemistry between the characters and kind of flat. I mean, Knuckles is, essentially, Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy, but way less complex and less funny. What made Drax a good character was also chemistry with his partners, but I do not see it between Knuckles and Wade. They feel forced.

Not as forced as the padding of the show. It should have been 1,5 hours at best. Most of the content here is absolutely useless. And if it was shorter it would have been more tolerable, because there would have been more Knuckles, who is supposed to be the main attraction, after all. As is though - at best it's an ok white-noise.

It's not bad per say, but it just does not seem to have anything truly eye-catching. Or "mind-catching" if you will. We've seen dozens of supernatural detective shows, so obviously it's difficult to bring something fresh into the genre. The original, at least, had the of the boys being... Well, you know, boys. At least, in my understanding they were in early teens, but now we have another interpretation, where they are more like young adults.

In Doom Patrol one would not care really, since it was a cameo, but in a standalone show... I would prefer to rewatch The Dresden Files, because it had a charismatic character. Or first season of The Hardy Boys (maybe 2nd one, too), since it did have good detective plot with magic being secondary. Or Locke & Key - at least, it has an interesting magic concept, even though it does become a "overly positive" story at some point. This one... I guess they want to win people over by being British? If that's the case, I would better rewatch Being Human. Or Torchwood. Or Sherlock. Anything really.

I think this is at least 3rd series in a row for me, that has nothing but aesthetics. The other recent ones were Fallout and Ripley. As with them, I can't say anything bad about the aesthetics and general style: it does look like what I would expect from a fairy tale. But the essence of the fairy tale does include the "tale" part.

It's just boring. Completely unremarkable, with quite a few moments ruined by telling things, rather then showing them. For example, pretty early in the show there is this moment, where Ogre (or whatever he really is) is trying to manage his temptation to eat a human. Most of the scene it's the girl (whoever she is) literally saying "Are you not hungry?". A good narrative would show a trembling hand trying to reach out to doorknob, but stopping (o being stopped by the other hand), or showing some more emotions, including hunger, on the face of the character (licking lips, salivating, clenching the jaw).

But alas, we have another case where book is transferred to screen in a literal manner, forgetting the whole point of such an adaptation. In a book you have to spell everything out, because you can't show things, since you can only rely on text and reader's imagination, which is dependent on how much details you provide. But on screen, you can not only tell things (which uses hearing), but also show things (which uses eyes - the main consumer of TV shows). Why modern shows has forgotten the art of visual story-telling is beyond me.

I guess reviews for the show are written by die-hard fans. Or maybe people now ready to eat-up whatever content, they can get, that looks good. I mean it, the show does look great. It gets post-apocalyptic aesthetics to the T, and is filled with little details that are capable to tell a story of their own. In a game this would be a real achievement, and it was: even though I never got into Fallout series, I can admit, that it had high detalization of the world through-out. At least in the main series games, that I did try.

But even for a game it's not enough: you need a good story, and good gameplay there, too. I never liked the gameplay part of the series, it just did not click with me unlike The Elder Scrolls, but TV shows don't need to bother with that. TV show creators' job is much easier then, right?

In my opinion, these TV show creators fail at their job. I often complain about series, that have too much talking without using visual to tell the story. This one is the reverse: there is too little of talking, or at least of talking that would develop character, world of move plot along. Some reviewers did notice this as well, pointing out, that it feels like screenwriters were writing for a game, and for TV.

If this was a short movie, this might have been fine, but for TV show - not so much. For me it was boring. Only the first part of the 1st episode was somewhat interesting to me. It was a cliche, but still a good starting point for a story: a sheltered society gets raided, and that forces a character (or characters) to go outside of that society and learn about the world. But then we switch to part of that outside world, and it's not as interesting.

It's not just Brotherhood of Steel, but the outside world in general. The creators are trying too hard to make it look "uncivilized" or "militaristic" or "sterile" or just "weird", and as result it all feels forced. As if they had a list of things to show, and they progressed through the story by checking items off that list.

At the least, I think they should have used just 1 main plotline with the girl leaving shelter. It could have become a travel-show with fish-out-of-the-water theme, and each episode could have explored all the weirdness of this strange world, while the girl was moving forward. You know, a bit like The 10th Kingdom back from 2000, but post-nuclear. Alas, we have what we have. As is, I would rather rewatch Silo. It was not a perfect show, but it was much more interesting to me.

The show definitely has style. I am not talking just about the black-n-white film, which some may consider to be enough to call a media "art house". Camera work, decorations and costumes. They seem to present the era nicely and give this... "Vibe", I guess. It somehow feels realistic, even though it probably is not, if you look closer.

Unfortunately, for me, that's all there is. I did not get a connection with any of the characters showed in the first episode, and for the most part I was wondering "what is this show really about?". I get it, that it's a slow-burn, that does work in some shows and movies, but I am not sure it works here, especially, since the show is about a conman.

I am not saying it should be running at a much higher pace, essentially turning into a short movie, no. But there are just so many shots, that do not enrich the story in any way, let alone move it forward. They look amazing, yes, but from narrative perspective they are mostly pointless.

I see a lot of good reviews giving it 8/10, but I do not see much reason for praise. The show definitely has some interesting "vibe" to it, that people can like, for sure, and the style overall is not bad. But what about the story? Or maybe not so much the story, which is somewhat classical for a "noir detective" genre, but the narrative. It feels... Disjointed? There are these weird cuts here and there, including flashbacks, and Sugar himself often seems to be doing things that feel out of place and strange. Maybe there is some plot that will explain everything in next several episode (or even during the last episode of the show), but I just do not feel it. And I was just plain bored watching the 1st episode. But probably just me.

I share the notion with some other reviews, that this show is a bit uneven. I have not read the book, but the 1st episode hooked me good. Good pacing, good mystery, good science-fiction, feeling of something big and important going on. Just perfect. But soon other aspects of the show started appearing, and it became... Not bad, but probably not as good.

It, actually, kind of reminds me of Dune, and what made Dune so difficult to adapt to screen, with politics being the main problem. There are quite a lot of politics here. They do make total sense in the context of the show, especially as more information is revealed later on, but they can still be a bit boring. And sometimes on the nose.

Another problem is that I just don't believe these characters are scientists. Especially, when a cult comes into play (let me phrase it this way to avoid spoilers). I may entertain the idea, that they are smart, but that they are scientists? I don't know, they do not match the pattern that I've seen among a few real scientists, that I've known during my higher education. In fact, I would say that it is difficult for me to buy whatever occupation is for most of the characters in the show, besides, maybe the teacher guy. They do not feel "human" enough, I guess.

Nevertheless, this was overall a good watch for me. Can't say I will recommend it to everyone, but I can definitely recommend trying it, while keeping in mind, that this is partially like a prologue, based on certain things happening in the end. I expect, that things can get closer to what was happening during 1st episode.

This is definitely better than "Das Signal", which is also about a woman returning from space, and "things going awry" for her husband and daughter. At the very least it does not jump from one conspiracy theory to another.

No, instead this is a proper psychological thriller. Or, at least, it's trying to be. I think it does very well with overall atmosphere, with all the uncertainty, until it get to a point, where certainty is established. After that point it's still psychological, but probably not much of a thriller.

Despite that, the last episode was bringing me very close to tears. It was a very bitter and sad finale, that expressed very well the feeling of "no one believes me, but I don't have strength left to fight for truth". It hit close to home, and it may be familiar to quite a few people, who were telling something they knew to be truth, when they were kids, but no one, even their own parents believed them, and they had to push it down.

If this was the goal of the show - they definitely succeeded. On the other hand, I do share sentiment from some other reviewer: this probably could have been shorter. I would not go as far as to say it boring at times, no, but episode 7 (and maybe part of episode 6) did repeat quite a few things that we saw back in episode 1, since those things turned out to be flash-forwards. Which is not necessarily bad by itself, but the way it was stretched out, though - it did diminish the pressure of the story.

Still, a good watch. Has promise for potential 2nd season, but not sure we need one, because it probably would go a very different direction, considering how this one ended. I am afraid that direction may become somewhat generic.

At the time of writing, IMDB has only 3 reviews: 2 are 10/10 praising everything, and 1 is 1/10 with complains based mostly on the perceived show's agenda. I would say the latter is a bit more honest, although main character being a lesbian woman of color is definitely not something that detracts anything from this show. I would even say, that inclusivity in this scope was done right: it's simply neither here, nor their, which is the whole point of inclusivity, in my opinion.

The show has quite a few problems, that may not necessarily be because of the agenda, although I do see, why it may feel that that's the root cause. For example, that 1/10 review complained about white men being shown as villains. That is somewhat true: in the 1st episode we see, I think, 4 men, if counting those with lines, and 2 of them are definitely villains, with a goal to conquer. But you need to keep in mind, that they are from times and places, where this was kind of normal, especially, when talking about the Roman guy. Roman Empire would not be as big as it got to be, if there were no people like that.

The problem with these characters is that they are... Flat. It does not look like they have anything to them besides desire to conquer and dominate, and the desire is there just because, and not because of some deep reason. In fact, the Roman guy is also shown relatively stupid (albeit not a complete idiot), which kind of contradicts an image of an actual Roman conqueror. Those were smart, arguably had more smarts than brawn, often time resorting to politics rather than actual war, despite what Hollywood wants us to believe.

There was also a kid, which did not mean much, and a soldier from 1944. The soldier seemed to be the most interesting character, to be honest, because he was shown first as somewhat rude, but then also not as avert to kindness, too. I mean, he did try to help the girl, too, although did not get a chance to do that properly, partially to the fault of that girl.

That's where I do agree, that modern agenda may be taking over a bit. Not because strong female leads are bad, no, because this particular character just does not make sense. She tried to off herself, before she appeared on the island. She had no idea, what happened, where she was, what were the rules of this new world... Nothing. She sees a human, and the first thing she does is give him attitude towards his joke (or probably half-joke).

But maybe this was first reaction, due to stress? No, not really. She was giving attitude to everyone. Instead of being weary of people riding dinosaurs and shooting arrows, she behaved... Almost cocky. And she even tried to "poison" her captor right away, in order to run away, because... She likes dinosaurs.

Like, really, that's her main characteristic. The main thing, that in the end makes her say "I will survive", even though she intentionally took too many pills before this. I was a fan of dinosaurs when I was a kid, and I would be fascinated to see them up-close, but in her situation, I (and probably most humans) would first think of how to survive. And not try to domesticate creatures around me. Which, by the way, is not how things work. A wounded animal will not bond on you just because you pulled out an arrow out of its side. It will definitely not run back to you, while you're in a place with dangerous predators.

It's not just unrealistic behavior of both humans and animals, that makes this show mostly bad. It's pacing is all over the place: it started really fast, but then it slowed down to almost a crawl, and then suddenly became fast again, when it was a great time to give some more exposition. I guess creators wanted it to feel "edgy". Animation is also inconsistent in quality, relying heavily on blur in certain shots.

The storytelling is bad, too. It relies heavily on flashbacks, which are thrown into us in small chunks every few minutes of the episode. It would have made way more sense to show all those flashbacks in the beginning of the episode, all in one chunk, and then start the island story-arc. Something that's been proven to work time and time again with lots of isekai stories. This could have allowed for proper pacing, too.

In the end, I do not recommend this to anyone, really. Unless, maybe you want something running in the background, or you find main character so hot, you just can't resist. I get that, but for me it's not enough. I have lots of other stuff to check out.

In the end it went nowhere. The whole 4 episodes are, essentially, about how the creators of the show pick up an idea, juggle it for a couple of minutes and then replace it with another idea, as if it's a brand new and shiny toy.

There were psychological thriller elements, there were potential aliens, there were multiple multi-layered conspiracies, there were potential outsiders, that may know stuff that would click with the knowledge main characters have... They even had something that looked like a cult. Oh, and yeah, the main premise had a "mysteriously missing airplane".

None of that led to anything, and was ruined by the ending. I won't spoil it, but it just did not fit. If I strip away all the nonsense mentioned above, and leave only main premise and the ending - there is potential for a good story in-between. Even with several good "messages". But all this jumping from idea to idea without even providing proper closure to any of them simply destroyed all suspense of disbelief.

There was so much potential. Actors were quite good (except places, where the girl was not able to chose whether she can lip-read or not in the last episode), it was atmospheric, and well shot. But that's not enough for a sci-fi show. The story is king, and here it's a very poor king.

This is definitely an experience.

I probably have the same complaints about this one, as about the original game. It sometimes introduces mechanics that seem like one-offs, and potentially could be a cinematic instead, and some dialogues (mostly secondary ones) feel a bit rushed or shallow. But, boy, does it delivery on the narrative overall... It's the little things here and there. Some small comments, small interactions, not necessarily from Alecia or Hugo, too. They make things feel... More real. There is proper character progression for most characters here. It's not always perfect, but it is there and it makes sense. Anger, desperation, abandon, relief and even fleeting happiness. They just work. We probably should have spent a bit more time with some characters (beside Sophia) for the connections to feel more solid, but objectively they were secondary to Alecia's and Hugo's relationship.

Gameplay wise this also seems like an overall improvement on what was provided in previous game. I would say there is no drastic changes, and additions are rather minor overall, but they all fit quite nicely and give you enough flexibility and challenge. There was also this "open-world-like" section, and it worked quite well, aside from the fact that you had to walk a lot. They also could have merged chapters 14 to 17 into 1, because individually they were much shorter than the rest, and it felt off to me.

Not sure if it's really worth it to replay it even with NG+ mode, unless you just want to try a higher difficulty, but its 16-20 hours are definitely worth the (full) price.

I would not say it's bad, but I would not say it's good either. It is mostly forgettable, but aside from that I see 2 main issues, that kind of ruin it.

First one is somewhat simple: false advertisement. The ads, that I've seen suggested heavily that Henry Cavill plays a main role in the movie, but... He's not. In the end he is more of a side character and a "gateway" to inter-franchise thing they are planning. So if you went in for him specifically - you probably will be disappointed. I do understand, that doing it differently might have been difficult because of certain plot twists, but I am sure there was a way. Unless I greatly misremember the ads, that is.

Second thing is a bit more complex: the movie does not really know what it wants to be. At first it starts as a clash of ideas of a spy from a novel and a real spy. That part was quite enjoyable, really, although, personally I would have doubled down on the "real" aspects, to show even more how reality is more cruel, dirty and generally not idealistic. But the level that they did was kind of fine, too.

But the real problem is that they abandoned that idea relatively quickly, which started the next portion of the movie. It became the "spy novel" thing all the way. But not really all the way. It felt like they were trying to keep it real, until they dropped that as well with some serious plot holes (even for a spy novel, like the "server authentication" thing).

Closer to the last 4th of the movie they seem to realize that and start going more into the "stylish" aspects of proper spy movies, but it feels a bit forced and all over the place. There was the scene with smoke of multiple colors, which I liked, since it looked really cool. But later they also had a... "Oil skating" scene? I think it did not fit not only the earlier "pseudo-realistic" approach, but also the wacky spy action approach.

I am also not sure I see Bryce Dallas Howard in her role. It won't be much of a spoiler, I think, but she kind of "becomes a spy" at some point. They even gave her a make over, with blonde hair and weird make up, which was really bad, and did not suit her at all. And she just did not fit that role. The clumsy novelist - perfect match. A spy - no. I was reminded of her role in "Jurassic World" franchise, where her character did not make sense most of the time because of all goofiness, and she just did not connect with me.

Still, as I said, it was not necessarily "bad". I can totally see it as a one evening movie, that you watch and forget right after. Probably would have been better if it was at least 30 minutes shorter, but we have what we have. Just don't go in expecting much from it.

Initially, I got a feeling, that it's successor to Bulgakov's "Heart of a Dog". I mean, the premise is somewhat similar here, in a sense that we also have a human being, that appeared thanks to a scientific experiment, and we are meant to see the world presented through the eyes of that experiment. Even some scenes in the very beginning were very reminiscent of what you can see in Vladimir Bortko's adaptation of Bulgakov's work. But the comparison does not go further.

Bulgakov's work was more... Subtle, more elegant, even though it also could be quite vulgar at times. It was also more multi-faceted, unlike "Poor Things" that has a very large focus on sexual relationship. That's an important topic, especially considering, how polarized society can be about women's sexual behavior, but still hardly the only topic you can (and should) explore in such a story. Granted, other topics are also touched here, but they seem even less than secondary.

"Heart of a Dog" was also way more than just "weird" (which was rather rare, really). It simply was way more funny, satirical, since it was using various humorous instruments in the narrative. "Poor Things" is mostly a one-trick pony in that regard: just apply a logic of complete disregard for self and/or society's norms. It does work in some cases, but for me it was mostly like "ok, so this is supposed to be funny, but it's not really that funny".

Of course, one could say, that the movie is not supposed to be funny, but it is rather supposed to make us think deep thoughts... But is it? It does not really go that deep. Yes, I can see the places, where it could be through-provoking, but the narrative is still surface-level, if not to say superficial. Maybe if it was a TV show with like 12 hour-long episodes, it could get deeper into topics and become sort of "Black Mirror", but we have what we have.

From cinematography standpoint it is good. It definitely will be not to everyone's taste, since it can feel really weird. I was reminded of "Clockwork Orange" more than once. Lack of music in certain scenes also added to the general atmosphere of weirdness. Actors were great, too, something tells me filming certain scenes might have been quite fun for them. It is generally a very art-housy movie. My only complain in this regard would be the black-and-white earlier in the movie, because it felt inconsistent, when they switched to colors briefly multiple times, before full switch.

This movie once again proved to me, that sometimes you need to be in a certain mood or even state of mind to appreciate certain art.

When i first tried watching it soon after it became available digitally, I found it boring, and was barely able to get through 20 minutes. That impression was not necessarily wrong, though. Even compared to David Lynch's adaptation, it felt slow, and if you compare it with John Harrison's TV series it was almost static. I was not alone feeling this way, too: I heard similar sentiment from people in my circles, and found quite a few reviews saying the same, too.

But in light of the 2nd part coming out, I decided to give it another try, and... I liked it. I would still consider it a bit overhyped, but it still was quite good. I think what changed was my state of mind: due to various events in my life, I've been feeling "small", and what Denis Villeneuve' adaptation is really good at is providing sense of scale. Something, that I think the other adaptations failed at, for the most part.

Lynch went in for "the weird", especially if you look at Harkonnen men: even people who did not watch the movie have seen memes with Feyd-Rautha and Baron. Harrison, I think, was a bit more religious. He was a bit closer to the sense of "fate" from the book, but it was somewhat one-sided and mostly "contained".

What made Paul's story impactful, for me at least, was not the he saw the future and tried to change it or even the way he behaved in general. It was the fact, that he felt as if he was being crushed by all of the responsibility falling on him and his kin. Those who read past the first book will understand what I mean.

This new adaptation delivers that almost to a T. In quite a few scenes you can see glimpses of hesitance, reluctance, despite a seemingly brave front. He feels... More human, I guess. It resonates with my own feelings: I am scared, but I know, that there are things that I need to do, no matter how scared I am of the world consuming me. The only moment that I did not like was when Paul mentioned his father's death: it was too emotional, when in the book there is a specific very vulnerable and powerful moment related to mourning much, much later.

Aside from that personal resonance, it is quite a good movie by itself. It's a a breath of fresh air even, considering how different it is from the overly "clean" shows. It feels very close to original, even though there were some little (and not so little) changes here and there, and it feels... "Grounded". You can believe what's happening on screen and relate to it to an extent, despite it being a fiction.

Definitely want to see 2nd part, and hope, that it won't stop there: I would love to see God Emperor adapted as well, because it affected me even more than the first book. But something tells me it may leave out certain sensitive topics.

The game felt stiff. Not just the characters and their animation, but overall. I mean, in the first 20 minutes (maybe even less) you see multiple characters, but they do not feel distinct at all, and feel like robots, even when they try to joke. What's worse, the story they are trying to follow is just... Boring. I did not get into the original show, because I felt like it had too much politics than anything else, but at least the first episode grabbed my attention for some time.

In the game, though... It's just too slow. Don't get me wrong, sometimes it makes sense to have a slow start, nothing wrong with that, but here it feels too tedious. What adds to that is how empty and sterile everything feels. As if there are no real details. Maybe it is because it is space (although the show had much more clutter around), maybe it's because the art is not using cell-shaind that worked great for previous Telltale games, but it just feels too clean, like most modern movies.

Even the gameplay feels worse. Seems like you only get 2 choices for everything, and they seem to have even less meaning than in other games. But the the way how character movement feels is extremely outdated. It reminded me of "Dreamfall: The Longest Journey", but that's a game from back in 2006, it was low-budget and still felt much better.

I guess I just expected too much. I liked most of the Telltale games, even Jurassic Park one, which a lot of people disliked. I knew they were far from perfect, but the writing was generally good, the story grabbed you and did not let go till the end. They were exciting. But not this one. Or maybe I got spoiled by all "Life is Strange" games.

This game definitely needs more attention, than it's been getting since release. Don't get me wrong, it's not "best game ever" and it's never been "game of the year" candidate. But it's a really solid B-Game. You know, like B-Movie, but a game.

The story is... There. It's ok, do not expect any plot twists here, characters are flat and, to an extent, stereotypical. Main villain is just a brat and is just annoying. The lore, though, seems interesting by itself, I would not mind exploring some proper RPG in this world, and the fact that it's also a western with vampires - it just adds more to it. But it is more about experience, I think. It is extremely linear, but environments do feel relatively unique, and they do present quite a few moments, that just feel good.

What is really worthy in this game is combat. Yes, it's not Devil May Cry, not even by a longshot. But it does involve juggling between melee combat and several types of range weapons. What's more it feels satisfying. Like there is this "oomph" to your actions. You also feel a bit more vulnerable than Dante or Nero, so you may want to be a bit more strategic.

It does have a few issues. Bugs with some achievements (I had one), low-resolution models inside the game (when you look at your character or weapons), periodic dips in performance... The switching between weapons is also kind of inconsistent: in some cases press of a button switches between several weapons, in some you literally "equip" a weapon, in some you just press a different button. You do get used to that, but something tells me it could have been done better, still.

Overall, I am not sure if this game is worth replaying with its New Game+ mode, but as a one-time fun experience - definitely worth the time. Probably, at a discount in terms of price, though.

I watched the 1st episode yesterday and something felt off the whole time. I could not put my finger on it, but interestingly, I was able to understand what after I watched "Enter Magneto" episode form X-Men animated series from the 90s. There are 2 main things, that I feel "wrong".

First thing is that there is a lot of talking for the sake of telling things. X-Men from the 90s is dated, for sure, but even that series used little things to tell you more about characters, their emotions, about the world and its rules. Facial expressions are the obvious things: they were exaggerated to make them more obvious due to limitation of the medium, but they worked. In "Enter Magneto" Beast is in prison and his intent to stay there is clear way before he actually voices it to Magneto.

In the new Avatar? We had something like a 2 minute rant from Aang about how he does not want to be an avatar. His emotions on the matter are clear and understandable, when said out loud, but... There was not that much things shown to really make them believable, to make them have weight. I may be misremembering original show here, but I believe we saw way more little things showing how "connected" Aang was to his tribe, how happy he was with it, and... That he was still a child. Original also showed us the guilt that Aang had after learning about genocide, while new adaptation seemingly brushed it off.

Second thing is that it's... Too clean. And this is true not only for this show, but for a lot shows and movies in recent decade or so. There is even a good YouTube video about how recent media is too "clean". There is practically no dirt or dust or blood or debris anywhere. Everything is just picture perfect, and to me that ruins the immersion.

With animation lack of details is understandable: there is a lot of manual work going into each frame even with modern technology, and bringing in the imperfections "the right way" is difficult. It is definitely possible ("Invincible" adaptation is good at that), but difficult and we understand it almost intuitively, so it does not ruin suspense of disbelief, when we see it. But with live action? Dirtying clothes or skin should not be that difficult, and it can make it more realistic and relatable.

There are some other minor things, too. For example, wind does not look as exciting here, simply because it's not as visible. It looks like dust magic rather than wind. They also re-ordered certain things. Not in terms of chronology, but in terms of when a thing is told to the viewers. It does not necessarily make things worse, but it does not bring anything either.

This brings me to a thought, that we need to stop with adaptations for the sake of adaptation. When you adapt a story from one media into another you need to elevate it in some way. You can criticize, say, "Attack on Titan", "My Hero Academia" or "Demon Slayer" anime adaptations for quite a few things, but what they did really good, and what really hooked lots of people was that they elevated the respective manga. These adaptations utilized the technics of the new media to make things look exciting, to increase your heartrate, when you see something truly insane.

But what has new Avatar brought compared to original? Special effects? I mean, they are not bad, but original show was not about magic, really. Magic was just part of the setting, a tool. Did it bring stellar performance from actors? Yes, it may be to premature to judge based on 1 episode, but I would say no. To be honest, I disagree with majority on "how good the casting is". I think only uncle Iroh felt good, but others - kind of "meh". Even Gran-Gran looked as if it was a young woman who was aged with make-up.

So no, I do not think this is a good adaptation, that everyone was expecting to get. Good thing, that I did not have expectations for it.

You definitely should not expect X-Men action here. Not only because it was never truly marketed as an X-Men movie, but also because "The New Mutants" comics were not so much about action, either (although had way more of that, that the movie). Or at least the comics that I read more than a decade ago.

The comics were about self-dsicovery, in a sense, and the movie is kind of about that, too. Personally, I would say that it stays true to the source in that regard. Obviously original were not "horror" or even "thriller" for the most part, but I think there were "horror-like" titles in X-Men franchise, too, so that's fine.

The main problem of this movie is that it does not really commit to psychological part of either "self-discovery" or "horror" (although this one could be a body horror, too). Because of that it does not really deliver on both. Perhaps if it was a TV show and worked with the sense of danger similar to how "The Magicians" 1st season did, it could have worked better. As is, though... It's not necessarily a bad watch, it's not exactly memorable either.

What I can saw with confidence, though, is that if Disney (or Sony or whomever holds the rights now) does not bring Anya Taylor-Joy as Illyana Rasputin into MCU - it will be just plain stupidity. Magik is a great character with lots of crazy stuff going on with her, and Anya is just the best casting one could have done for her. Since Disney has been gunning for girl power lately, she could be the best candidate to help them do something really proper, while bringing X-Men as well (through the nature of Limbo).

I guess this a show for keeping in the background. You know, when you like to have some noise, while doing something. I actually do that often, when I code, for example: put a TV show or a movie on one side of the screen, and code on the other. When in that kind of mode, this show may look decent, since it has quite good dynamics, but... When you start to think about it seriously it makes little to no sense. The woman has a kid, and we are led to believe, she cares about him, and sacrificing her own food for him even. But then, she has an abusive ex, against whom she does not have a restraining order (and probably did not even try), and then she takes the kid with her to a random "billionaire" that wants her to clean for him without much of an afterthought, that it may be dangerous.

Not only that, but she also completely ignores the requirement to not enter prohibited area on her 2nd day. Or 1st one depending on how you count really. Don't get me wrong, even "The Beauty and The Beast" had this kind of thing in it, and numerous other stories, too, but they always either tempt the character to break the rule or force through some kind of accident. There was no accident here, and I do not think closed doors tempt people that much to risk a job one needs to literally survive.

But I guess, that's what you would expect from a person taking her kid inside guests' rooms in a hotel, she is cleaning at. Taking the kid to the hotel, because there is no one to look after him? That I can understand. Taking him inside the rooms? Definitely a no-no, and in real world would probably result in her getting fired pretty soon.

These seemingly little things break the whole atmosphere that the show is trying to build. Since this is supposed to be a thriller, the damage is outright fatal.

Dammit, it was starting so good... I really liked it more than Dead Space (both original and remake). Where Dead Space seemed to build the atmosphere mainly by turning off lights and jump-scaring you with monsters, this one seemed to be doing much more than that.

Firstly, it was using proper cinematics when required to show intense situations, to let you feel "the strain" of it all. The way camera was moving, the way the frame was "dirtied" (this does not necessarily mean actual dirt, it means that a frame is not "perfect" and that can help with immersion). It felt like they are really putting you into the game, at last to an extent.

Secondly, there were just those little things here and there, like little unnecessary movements made by characters, they made it feel just a little bit more "natural". And it was also little details in the environment, too. In Deas Space I always wanted to run, and could not, because I needed flashlight, which works only if you aim. Callisto is much brighter, but I never wanted to run here, because it just felt wrong. Something was telling me, that I need to be cautious, and move slowly, even though logic told me that this is a safe area, and everything is scripted either way.

There was also combat. Yes, it turned out to be somewhat repetitive pretty quickly, but the way you were introduced to it, and the way it felt... Like "heavy", "difficult", "important". You know, like, with fighting scenes in movies: sometimes they have this weight, that you feel even though you are not participating.

My point is, I wanted to play the game further. Yes, the second prisoner (Elias, if I remember correctly) seemed a bit forced as a guide, perhaps, since he is a prisoner, he probably should be that knowledgeable if he is in his cell most of the time. But there is enough doubt regarding him, that maybe there will be an explanation. I really wanted to know what will be next, was really excited... Until on the 2nd evening I could not load my saves. Half of them. Apparently, in some obscure cases the save files become 200+ megabytes instead of 200+ kilobytes, and that makes them unloadable: the main menu just hangs, at some point changes into black screen, but nothing loads anyway.

But, ok, I cleaned those up, lost maybe 10 minutes of playtime, not that big of a deal. I mean until within next 1 minutes from that save I need to go through a door, but instead of loading the room, I get a black screen. And this bug is (or at least was) present on PS4/PS5 even. And there is no solution for it: for some people restarting the game from the very beginning worked, but for some - nothing worked at all. I've tried multiple things on PC to no avail, and I am not that invested to replay almost 2 hours to find out if that door will open for me or not.

So trying for a refund. Luckily, in total I got just a little bit over 2 hours, and since there is evidence of bugs, there is a chance that I will get my money back.

This is a good game. Far from perfect, but good. I enjoyed most of my hundred hours in it. But you probably should not expect The Witcher 3 here, even though I had some complaints about that one, too.

Firstly, it's a shooter, not a slasher. Personally, I find it as a good shooter myself. It was fun shooting at things here, although, I was usually using like 2 guns (a submachine gun for rapid fire and a gun with a silencer for more precision and stealth and I changed the exact models only a couple of times). With a perk from Phantom Liberty, which started highlighting vulnerable areas it became even more satisfying. My only complain is that NPCs practically never threw grenades at me, which prevented me from getting 2 related achievements. I think I saw a grenade from NPCs maybe once. Don't know if I was just too efficient killing them or it was a bug, but this felt strange to me.

Secondly, I think open world here is even less interesting. This is partially because I prefer "middle ages" to "modern" or even "futuristic" setting. But partially because side quests are... Mostly forgettable. I am not talking about NCPD hustles, but about gigs and actual side quests. There are some good ones or, at least, those, that do have good moments, but for the most part they feel like fillers and have little to no visual impact on the world of the game. They can be fun even without that, of course, but overall nothing special. And I think the best ones were "spy" missions, where you needed to investigate things, and depending on what you've found (or not), whom you talked to or not, results changed. I think Witcher 3 had way more truly interesting side quests.

But I think the main point of attraction here is the main story and Phantom Liberty. Main game's story does have side quest lines, which are engaging, too, but they are nothing compared to the main plotline and Phantom Liberty. Those truly immerse you in the story. You are not a talking head talking to other talking heads: all cinematics are done from your first person perspective and you do feel in the action, and it is good. If you watch it as a movie - you probably will still enjoy it.

Choices are still mostly flavor, though. There are certainly some, that do change the available endings or particular details in those endings, but for most part it's pure role playing without real consequences. But the endings... Those... They differ a lot. Neither is perfect, in my opinion, there were little things, that irked me, but each one of them stirred either deep emotions in me or made me think. Not just about the world, but about my own life.

And this is great. There are too few games with stories like this. You can see real progression for Johnny and V. Something that felt clear-cut in the begging truly becomes muddled by the end of the game and making certain decisions does become harder. Surprisingly, what most would consider "bad" choices do lead to somewhat better endings. They are bitter, but they do feel... Real, I guess?

This is, actually, another good thing about the game: it feels real. Yes, some things are futuristic here, since it's the future, and some are exaggerated and overly pessimistic, since cyberpunk genre implies that, but there are lots of things, which are relevant to us now. It makes you ask yourself things. For example, do you really want a world where you can feel this level of loneliness tearing you up, making you insane just because you want to survive?

If this does not make it a good story, I don't what does. And with a fun gunplay, and some interesting mechanics related to cyberware - it is really a good game. Even if the original release was really bad. But that's also a lesson: if you care to put in time and effort - you can build a good thing, which will be remembered.

Maybe this game is just not for me.

I've tried playing the original twice (or maybe even thrice), and did not get that far, and now I've tried the remake twice, too, and I still have the same complaints: it's just not that atmospheric or interesting. I know, sounds strange, when people are praising it for the atmosphere. But it does make sense if you think about it just a little bit.

If you do that, you may realize, that the atmosphere is achieved here with just 2 tools: lighting and "jump scares" done by monsters. And within the first hour of the game you already get a situation where you are forced to lose the light for the sake of progression (literally, there are no alternative routes here), and soon after that a "jump scare". Just 1, but you disabled light specifically for it, and nothing else, really. Because if I was an engineer like Isaac, I probably would be going to a fuse box (with just 3 fuses, duh) to open an electric door, but would rather try to override its controls, which are definitely near that door itself. I mean, I have a source of energy with me (plasma cutter), so jump-starting a door should be easy.

And yes, I know this is part of simplification of reality for the sake of the game overall, but it just does not work for me in this case. Resident Evil games a notorious for puzzles that often make little sense, but there you are put into a completely unknown and mysterious environment or into one which is somewhat familiar, but clearly had "dark secrets". You buy into the weirdness, because you expect a mystery and a secret. But Isaac has been to Ishimura before, if I am not mistaken, and if her has not, it's a man-made ship in a highly volatile environment (space), so it would be done with proper logic applied to it for the sake of safety and resiliency. So to me, an engineer albeit software one, such "puzzles" just ruin the immersion.

Even if I do close my eyes on these nuances, apply "it's just a game" mentality, I still can't get immersed, because there is nothing else, that works towards the atmosphere. Think about it: literally like 5 minutes into the game, when Isaac is closed in a room, with his colleagues on the other side of the glass and monsters suddenly appear, what is Isaac doing? Nothing. Well, ok, he does say like 1 short phrase with almost no emotions, but that's it. Control of the character is not taken away from you even for a moment, even though it would have made sense to do that and show him... Dunno running for the exit or banging on the glass. Really, anything at all, that would show at least a semblance of panic or concern for his colleagues. This might have been ok in 2008, but since remake was being done, why not adjust it? Mafia did work on that, even though the original was already good, why not here?

The dismembering mechanic is also kind of... Well, not "boring" per say, but firstly it also does not make much sense (although maybe it is explained later in the game), and it soon becomes somewhat tedious, the novelty goes away. Does it make the game more difficult? Probably. Does it make it more engaging? Maybe. Does it really feel unique? In the end - no. I would much rather prefer the dismembering mechanic be applied only to bosses (which are in the game), specifically so that the encounters felt more personal, even intimate. But when you are doing it on regular basis with regular monsters it just gets too old. Especially since often there is no real dismemberment even: I saw multiple times, how a limb was not severed, even after multiple shots at the same place, but the monster still died. It contradicted the "lore" even.

Again, maybe this is just not a game for me. I prefer more personal and, possibly, cinematic horror games. If you are like me in that regard, you probably won't like it either. But if you are looking for a "meaty" shooter with some puzzles and jump scares?.. Maybe that's a game for you, indeed.

This movie is just too slow. And there is nothing wrong with slow movies, sometimes that does make sense, but not here. As some reviewers has said, it would be much better as a "Black Mirror" episode.

The concept is interesting. Humanity has been willing to grow children outside of the womb for generations, that's one of the reasons surrogate pregnancy became a thing. There has even been some progress with artificial womb quite recently. Exploring potential future of this tech - is a ground for a good story. The movie even adds more modern context with too much of synthetic/processed food, and AI replacing humans in some roles. As mentioned - perfect ingredients for a "Black Mirror" episode.

But the movie feels like a chore. There is not really a proper exploration of the world outside of this new form of pregnancy, despite the long runtime. The pod system itself has kind of a strange place in this world, too. It's new, but at the same time somewhat "widely accepted", which does not really make sense, considering society is not portrayed as "dumb".

The exploration of psychology of the couple is also subpar. They seem to transition from mood to mood quite easily, essentially showing somewhat flat emotions, even though parenthood is definitely a more complex thing (and I'm not even a parent). It is surface level, as if the authors were scared to show some "edge".

It would have worked much better if edited into a much shorter run, like 40, maybe 60 minutes. It would have been then a good quick dive into potential future. More like a "what if" rather than food for a deep thought. Or vice versa - as a TV show, like 5-6 episodes, where they could have explored society of this world and psychology of the soon-to-be parents and their relationship. I mean, "Upload" TV show works, even though it's definitely more of a comedy. Perhaps, someone will adapt "The Pod Generations" to a similar format?

This would be an unpopular opinion, but the movie is shallow and overrated. Don't get me wrong, it's great stop-motion animation, especially for the time, and character design is great, too, but that's all there is to it. And maybe a couple of songs.

There is practically no story here. It's essentially like quite a few modern movies, especially those super-heros' ones (not only Marvel): things are happening, but they are happening more because authors chose to make them happen, rather than characters were following their desires in some way or form.

I was not hooked by anything within first 20 minutes and was mostly forcing myself to watch this till the end. I was not a fan of "Corpse Bride", but even that one was much better in my eyes, since it did have a plot, even though a flawed one.