Change Your Image
mj-04155
Reviews
Come Play (2020)
Babadook ripoff
At best, mildly entertaining while vastly inferior to the original idea. I am surprised the producer has not been sued for plagiarism, and surprised for the raving reviews which must be from people who never saw Babadook, a truly scary movie with great acting!
Parfum (2018)
Intriguing story, terrible payoff
The only thing that kept us watching was the obscure murders - the characters were neither likeable nor pitiable. It is such an important quality in a show for the viewer to connect with the characters. There was none. They were flat, had no history, no depth. The screenwriters bothered only to hint about their damaged pasts but giving us no chance to understand them. So many puzzling scenes that are never developed or explained. Why did young Elena always so passively and repeatedly let herself be abused by the boys? What girl would not try to scream, fight or run? Why later in life, she and Toothless go to a hotel where she gets cut up, yet later she neither goes to a hospital nor does the police question her. That part never comes back up? What kind of sexual abuse did Butsche suffer? It is only hinted, never fully revealed. In total agreement with the other reviews about the misogyny, violence,etc.
The Haunting of Hill House (2018)
Trite, bad acting, bad script
I could watch only 20 minutes...unconvincing plot, bad acting, awful sets (where in the US is there an ancient Gothic castle?), too much drama, too little content.
Wild Wild Country (2018)
Netflix does it again...
Although the story was intriguing and kept us watching, the story telling was annoying with excessive flashbacks and overstretched. To get one idea out, the directors had multiple characters narrating, each telling the same thing in different bits, so to create "suspense" but really without getting any deeper. Some ideas were re-hashed to death, while crucial aspects of the cult were either excluded or barely exposed. It could have been done in 3 episodes without all the "fillers". Ultimately disappointing.
Black Mirror: Crocodile (2017)
No character development
Even though I thoroughly enjoy the series, this particular episode had poor story-telling. The main character, Mia, had no development, so she goes from a normal person to a cold psychopathic killer. The writers should have given us a glimpse of her true personality over the years after the accident, employing elements of callousness, greed, anger, etc. None of that and they expect us to believe she becomes a murderess... pretty bad!
A Gray State (2017)
long, repetitive and ultimately disappointing
The story does not provide any insight on any the alleged conspiracy theory, neither does it delve into the psyche of the protagonists. To me the story is nothing more than the sad unfolding of a young person's mental illness with a tragic ending. We know nothing about the protagonist's childhood, family upbringing or intimate relationships. All the movie does is interview friends and family who speculate on and on his apparently disintegrating marriage. Did he suffer from PTSD? Paranoid schizophrenia with delusions of grandeur mania? Very few concrete facts, a lot of speculation...
Top of the Lake (2013)
Insufferable characters behaving bizarrely
After enjoying watching season 1 almost 4 years ago we were excited about the season 2 release. Although the story contains the elements for a good police/mystery drama, it unfolds in an uneven, fragmented, and mostly disappointing way. I get that director wanted viewers to see how "damaged" the characters were, but please, do not make them act as lunatics. Not only they were damaged, but they were weak, irrational characters who behaved in deranged ways. Examples: Robin goes to court (?) to confront a man who had abused her previously, he goes into a room where she is waiting, locks the door and starts moving menacingly towards her. She does not raise her voice, does not try to leave the and does not defend herself until it is too late. Are we supposed to believe a police trained DETECTIVE would react this passively? Why would Miranda and the police chief decide to have a surrogate child while they were still lovers? During the ongoing affair, he was still married, and she herself had a fling with Robin's brother. If the body propped at a street curb was the brothel's owner who was shot AT the brothel, why was he moved? And who then was the body inside the ambulance? There were so many incongruences throughout the story so it became almost annoying to watch.
Sorjonen (2016)
Wraps up to quickly
I stopped watching after episode 9. Despite good acting and interesting story lines, the mystery wraps up too quickly and simply. This particular episode was very hard to follow how the crimes and/or criminals were interconnected. Why was Elina kept alive under the lake? If she was a liability, why wasn't she killed altogether? What were the papers in the car trunk that warranted a crime? Why did the gynecologist destroy evidence? The main character, Kari, makes it all too simple at the very end, tying everything together in one sentence. Not convincing. I enjoyed the series but believe there was a need for more episodes per story, so the viewers can have a better understanding .