Tag Archives: 4.5*

Four and a half star rating.

TV Show Reviews

Santa Clarita Diet Review – (Seasons 1 – 3) – Gone Way Too Soon

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This review is based on all 3 seasons of Santa Clarita Diet, some spoilers might be involved.

Santa Clarita Diet, aka the show that could… have been great, if Netflix allowed it. But let’s start from the beginning.

This is one of the few shows I’ve actually started to watch soon after it was dropped on Netflix. I thought the first season was decent enough, but I knew this had a lot a space to improve. Some jokes didn’t land for me, but I liked the unconventional story, so I would have rated season one probably around 3.5*.

Then the season two came around, and I’ve found myself laughing more, bonding with the characters more and that was when I thought the show had finally embraced itself fully – the weird, quirky “our mum is a zombie, but still has a functioning brain, so she’s not going to hurt us, but we might need to kill people (but only bad people, like Nazis) for her to eat” sense of humour and story started to pay off. After the second season’s finished, I was really looking forward to the third one. Back then, my overall rating of this show would’ve been strong 4*.

Year had passed and finally we’ve gotten the third season, that yet again raised a bar for this funny show, where their biggest advantage wasn’t necessarily the quirky sense of humour, but the family chemistry between Drew Barrymore, Timothy Olyphant & Liv Hewson where they were absolutely believable as a typical suburban family trying to cope with… let’s just say an interesting time of their life. I was genuinely excited to see what else will happen to them all, so you can imagine my disappointment, when it was announced not even a month after the third season aired, that the show is cancelled.

This is where I need to express my disappointment with Netflix and where I will rant a bit. I no longer feel confident with Netflix’s choices, respectively, I’m not sure whether they might’ve forgotten what actually separates them from a traditional TV station(s). Obviously, I am not an executive producer and I have never been one, but purely from a common sense point of view, wouldn’t you maybe want the creators of the show know “hey, so we got the numbers, it looks like the third season will be your last one, so you might want to wrap it up” or something along those lines? You should utilise the fact you can actually wrap up shows properly, with creators being at least notified ahead of time, so they can do something semi-meaningful with the story, rather than season 3 ending on a cliffhanger or two, and having pissed off fans all around the world. Because they have every right to be pissed off, when they invest their time (and money, after all they pay subscription to Netflix) just for Netflix to pull the plug without telling the creators.

I honestly feel like Netflix needs to understand that it’s great what they are doing – giving money and freedom to people to just do whatever they want and take risks, plenty of times to people who were not as known, or people who couldn’t do certain things on “national” TV stations – that’s brilliant and I applaud them for that. But now they’ve reached a point where they have SO MUCH of their own content, they need to reevaluate what works and what doesn’t, so far, so good. Not everything they make will be popular enough to warrant 5/6 seasons and I honestly get it, at the end of the day, they are business where they need to make money, not loose them. But, and this really big but, like Kim Kardashian + Nicki Minaj combined big, they should be smart about communicating with their creators better in terms of shows and be honest with them, regarding how their show is doing and how likely is for that show to be renewed or not.

Let me put it another way – if Santa Clarita Diet had finished with a third season, BUT the creators knew it prior to that, they would write it with a conclusive, satisfying ending, would people be mad that the show is ending too soon? Yes, because you can’t please everybody. But would the number of pissed off people be way less, than it is now? 100%. And again, I can guarantee you this purely using common sense – you can always defend a show having (only) three seasons with conclusive ending, as you can make an argument “well at least they knew when to wrap it up” or “they’ve ended on a high note, props for that”. But this wasn’t the case for Santa Clarita Diet, as not only it ended on (at least) two cliffhangers, but also the show was getting better every season!

I really hope Netflix will change its approach to their show creators and shows them more courtesy moving on, as most of the things they do I really like. It’s just a shame they didn’t handle this very well.

Now, given everything I’ve written so far, would I recommend a show that doesn’t really have proper ending? That was taken away from us too soon, so even if you like it, you won’t be satisfied with the ending? I’d say yes, as Santa Clarita Diet is definitely worth it. Each season gets better, funnier and the main actors are doing their best and have an incredible chemistry in between them, that you actually believe they are family (with Skyler Gisondo being great addition as the boyfriend character, that could’ve been annoying, but wasn’t).

I will miss this show, and I’m still secretly hoping that somebody somewhere will buy the rights from Netflix and give us one or two more seasons to finish the story properly, as I know they’ve definitely had more to say. I will recommend this with a big disclaimer, that same as Drew’s character in the show, its life was cut short and too soon, so brace yourself for that.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

That’s all for this one? Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Movie Reviews

That Touch of Mink (1962) Review – An overlooked gem…?

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It can be hard sometimes to review these romantic comedies from 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, as so much has changed – the culture, the way we treat women, how women are portrayed in movies… This movie fascinated me in this regard, as this might be one of the few movies, that has these issues, but at the same time, is surprisingly feminist…?

That Touch of Mink is currently rated on IMDb 6.7/10 and I don’t understand that at all. This movie worked for me story-wise (didn’t feel bored) and comedy-wise (got a surprising amount of laughter while watching it). To me, that’s the “riskiest” thing about these old movies.

Plenty of times you are watching an old Hollywood comedy from “the golden days”, you know where you should laugh, but you barely chuckle, as unfortunately plenty of jokes will get “old”, or the way they constructed that particular line doesn’t work anymore, or it’s been done to death etc., which is strange blaming a movie for not being “future proof”, but at the same time, you know what works and what doesn’t. This movie worked for me.

You can tell Cary Grant was getting there when comes to age (he was almost 60), if he didn’t have the charm and charisma he unquestionably had, it would’ve played much sleazier. Doris Day was charming and her character was truly puzzling me for most of them movie – the main thing about this movie is the fact she’s fallen for Cary Grant, as you do, and she’s too keen on being “the good woman” for him, but at the same time, when he “rejects” her, she is insisting on paying him back, returning everything he’s purchased for her, making something out of herself, not wanting any for free…

That’s why this movie fascinated me – on one hand it’s definitely product of its time (where woman struggles with doing everything she can to please her man) but at the same time, she’s not submissive by any means, she wants and does fend for herself. Also, making Cary Grant being the most generous person ever, where he threatens his employees with pay rises, was a welcomed decision that added to the overall enjoyment of this movie.

Also, the subplot of Gig Young being on the verge of nervous breakdown, where he doesn’t have any worries at all, and that’s what worries him, is fairly hilarious. Plus the whole thing with his psychiatrist, where he sneaked out of his office to phone his broker, just to come back to misunderstanding about his patient being possibly gay (imagine, in 1962!)… let just say, it was funny to see it played out, but also shows you how much we’ve moved forward in the past almost 60 years now.

Overall, there might be a reason for that fairly low rating on IMDb, I know both of these acting giants probably have better movies on their resume, but I genuinely found this movie to be like a warm, cosy blanket where you are there to enjoy yourself. I sure have.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Movie Reviews

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) Review – An unnecessary brilliance

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Let me start with this – I have never understood why this movie had to be made in the first place. Well, I have, to fix THE “plot hole” of all, according to some fans, as how could something as powerful as THE Death Star could have such a “glaring” weakness?!

This honestly has never bothered me, as I understand, even the most convoluted, most sophisticated things can fall apart in a instance (the virus by the name of COVID-19 has entered the chat) so I’ve always took it for granted, that was the fault, and there was no apparent reason for it. Well, this movie not only made the reason, but explained everything and somehow, not only did it well, but on top of that, we’ve gotten one of the best sequences of lightsaber and force use of all time…?

The review below will contain SPOILERS!

Rogue One on my first watch seemed like a good enough movie (would rate it 4* back then) as I liked it, I thought it was the best shot Star Wars movie to date (until The Last Jedi came along) but it still seemed unnecessary. What I admired was the balls on that movie to get us to care about bunch of heroes, just so we can watch them die, one by one, where any lesser movie would’ve had them survive with some lazy explanation (“Oh, they went to this far away planet, that’s why these characters are nowhere to be seen in the original trilogy!”) This one just said “Fuck everything, they need to die.” and then made sure they’ve died. Even on my first viewing I did like that a lot.

Now I’ve seen it for the second time, almost 4 years later, and I have to say, it’s growing on me. Is it still unnecessary? Yes, it is. But is it also entertaining, funny movie, with some brilliant shots and scenes? Also yes. I feel like what I want to say would be best expressed by bullet points, so:

  • Alan Tudyk is a treasure, whose K-2SO steals every scene he’s in. I’m so glad he was part of this movie.
  • Donnie Yen is always a great addition to any movie, he was by far my favourite character out of this movie, my only regret with him was the fact the screenwriters should’ve just went the full Jedi route and gave him a lightsaber. He didn’t have to be Jedi “officially”, that lightsaber could’ve just been something “homemade” like Kylo’s, but I felt it was a shame to have a character who’s one with the Force, without giving him lightsaber, so he can kick ass a bit more. Not that Donnie would need it, as he’s lethal on his own.
  • Diego Luna‘s character was much better on my second viewing as I understood him bit more, I could see that his character was through a lot and picked up on some nuances I’ve missed in his performance the first time. I’m definitely more on board with his character having his standalone TV show.
  • I’m still really happy about Mads Mikkelsen being here and having (arguably) the biggest role in any Star Wars movie (without him, making the Death Star the way he had, the Rebellion wouldn’t have succeeded -> no original trilogy).
  • Felicity Jones was alright, for some reason I felt the people around her were slightly better than her. She wasn’t bad by any means, just didn’t standout as much as I thought she should have, especially her being the main character.

There are two sequence that I’d consider highlights from this movie – the beach attack scene, that almost felt like from a war movie, and Darth Vader using the Force, powering his way through the rebels. Just for those two scenes alone is Rogue One worth seeing. And who knows? Maybe on my third viewing, it will grow on me even more.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

That’s all for this one? How did you like Rogue One? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

TV Show Reviews

The Mandalorian Review – Season 1 – This is (definitely) the way

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This review is based on the first season of The Mandalorian, some spoilers might be involved.

Something almost unthinkable happened – we’ve finally gotten a live (read, not animated) Star Wars TV show! And it only took (checks watches for some reason) 42 years! Was it worth the wait…?

Yes. I mean, I am not in the business of writing click-baits. It was.

The Mandalorian made some pretty bold choices right from the start – taking place after the original trilogy, but way before the new sequel trilogy, so we shouldn’t be seeing any familiar faces any time soon, they made the main character a guy who (almost) never takes off his helmet, and throughout the 8 episodes, plenty of things are hinted at (the way things are after the fall of the Empire, how the Guild works, what/who exactly “The Child” is) but so far, almost no explanations. But you know what? I’m fine with that.

Let’s leave the creators to build the world for now, as after the entire first season, I trust them. Don’t expect every episode to action packed, as there are some, but not all. This is more like your typical spaghetti western – slow(ish) build up, with hell of payoff. Mainly the last two episodes were not only action packed, but really well done, introducing (hopefully) a crucial villain (all hail Giancarlo Esposito, the king of bad guys, I was so happy seeing him here) for the series, showing some really cool action scenes, surprisingly funny moments… there’s plenty to like.

I need to talk about “The Child” – no, you know what, let’s call him by his real, internet name, Baby Yoda. That was not only brilliant strategy not to involve him in any marketing for this show, but make an actual puppet instead of CGI. It really works well and adds an extra layer of not only realness, but also cuteness. Yes, I openly admit that Baby Yoda is the cutest thing I’ve seen in a long time and I’m not even ashamed.

Who really surprised me in this was Gina Carano. I’ve seen her in couple of movies, and thought she was decent, but she’s definitely improved as an actress. I thought she’s definitely done a great job and I really hope to see her in future seasons.

The main reason I appreciate The Mandalorian as much, is this could’ve easily been turned into something else, something the fans were more aware of, with some familiar looking faces, or about familiar looking places/events in the Star Wars universe. And as of yet, they didn’t really do the “fan service” thing, where you feel something is on the screen just because the creators KNEW it will please the audience, get an applause, or something like that. Everything felt natural, in their place and story flew smoothly, without any major “distractions” or hiccups.

So why am I not going the full 5* you might ask, but “only” 4.5*? I’m leaving that for the following seasons (we are getting AT LEAST 2 more) as this was a great introduction to a world we’ve not been to yet, it worked and fulfilled its purpose. Now comes the harder part – delivering on the standard, expanding on the world, establishing all the rules within that universe, explaining a thing or two… but I have faith in Jon Favreau the modern day George Lucas (I might write an article about him, as I don’t think people realise how much he’s shaped the culture we live in over the past 20 years or so) so I’m almost certain after the second season, it will be the highest rating.

I have spoken.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

And that’s all for The Mandalorian! Did you see it? How did you like it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke