Kassdhal Reviews

Extrapolations (2023)

Such an important topic, ruined by amateurish writing

[3/10 · 20 August 2023]

Climate change is such an important topic that it deserves to be treated well and needs to address real issues.

However extrapolations, despite a number of good actors, has chosen a very black and white vision that both doesn't represent the real issue, simplify it to give a "villain" that does not really exist, and uses way too many simplistic tropes. Where are the other issues, very prevalent, like overpopulation, religion, conflicts of views between superpowers, etc... what makes climate change difficult to tackle is not rich vs poors or north vs south, or capitalism vs socialism, it is a myriad of small issue where society needs to change... and this série argue for simplistic answers that are counterproductive.

This topic deserved a much more subtle approach than this one.

Good premises, wrong execution.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

What a sad way to part with one of the greatest character in movies' history

[3/10 · 1 July 2023]

Indiana Jones is one of the greatest characters in the history of cinema.

IJ DoD is just a very sad way to part with this beloved icon.

Five main issues here 1. Indiana Jokes has become an old and sad man that had lost the energy and optimism that he had in his entire life 2. The movie is clearly made to position Helena as the next generation but she lacks the gravitas, moral compass and character arc that would enable anything close to that 3. The villains are « meh » at best. How come you couldn't write something better for someone as talented as Mads Mikkelsen probably show the lack of drive in the writing room 4. The film is way too long. You could have cut 30min and still make it 5. Overall the film lacks charm and cohesiveness, the characters have no chemistry with each other, and it feels like a chore instead of a joy.

Crystal Skull felt like an Indiana jones movie even if it was the weakest of the série. DoD is just very weak and a very sad departure of a beloved character.

The Sandman (2022– )

Neil Gaiman's amazing story with questionable casting choice

[3/10 · 8 August 2022]

Three great casting choices : Tom Sturridge, Jenna Coleman and the always fantastic Charles Dance

The rest of the cast feels forced very often (Patton Oswald excepted) and does not give justice to what remains one of the best novels / comics written (Gaiman genius shines here).

The conflation of John and Johanna Constantine makes sense but why changing the rest of the characters from the book?

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

A gems like few others

[10/10 · 23 May 2022]

It is difficult for me to overstate what I think of this film. The script is creative, fun and original. The direction is energetic, clever and tight. The cast is too notch.

I mean Michelle Yeoh is a fantastic actress but the rest of the cast (special mention to james hong) is on par with her.

A must see. For me the best of 2022 without a doubt and possibly one of the best for a very long time...

Don't Look Up (2021)

Great movie making a very sad point

[9/10 · 29 December 2021]

This movie is hilarious.... Because we know what it says is fundamentally true of the current political discourse.

The story is very well done and executed.

Beyond Dune, this is one of the « must see » of 2021 for me.

Cowboy Bebop (2021)

Poor writing

[4/10 · 14 December 2021]

Take a great property with infinite potential, give it to untalented writers with no respect for the IP and complete it with subpar casting choices and you get Netflix Cowboy Bebop: a show with potential but bad execution.

From the outset this how was marred in controversies and choices that should have been better thought through

• why ever lash out against fans?

• why cast against type and then be smug about it?

• why give the writing role to people that are not fan of the original property?

• why the urge to "modernise " something that doesn't need to be?

These kinds of controversies work when the underlying product is amazing. And this show isn't.

Recipe for a disaster.

Dune (2021)

Dennis delivered

[10/10 · 15 September 2021]

Worried like every time a great material is adapted it usually does not deliver on expectation.

Here Dennis Villeneuve did the impossible: staying faithful to a complex and rich universe and a fantastic story with a masterful demonstration of direction, stunning visuals and solid acting.

Oscar Isaac, Stellan Skasgard and Javier Bardem in particular are impressive while Chalamet was solid.

My only (slight) issue is the fact that Lady Jessica is too emotional compared to the original character, and that we never see the emperor and the Navigators.

I was afraid that the sex and race swap of Liet would feel forced and woke but it is well done and feels natural in the context of the film.

So hat's off Dennis Villeneuve, this is another masterpiece under your belt.

IMDb on the Scene - Interviews: Captain Marvel (2019) Season 1, Episode 50

unimaginative, with poor characters

[3/10 · 27 July 2021]

What a bore this movie is... it is beyond my understanding how a major studio can deliver a movie that combines (i) a hero with almost zero character and unlikable, (ii) an antagonist with no strength of threat whatsoever, (iii) superpowers defying imagination, obtained for no reasons or after no struggle, (iv) plot contrivancies, (v) poor supporting characters.

Even if the delivery is good (marvel style), the movie is overall incredibly poor for a movie of such a budget and ambition.

Probably the MCU movie to avoid if there is one...

Kaamelott: First Installment (2021)

A very worthwhile addition to the TV show

[10/10 · 27 July 2021]

Is it as perfect as the memory of a great TV show wazs? No. But is it a great movie in its own rights for lovers of Arthur and the Chevaliers? Yes.

In a nutshell, this is enjoyable and a great start of a trilogy. Astier delivers in the mood and spirit of the past stories with good additions.

Obviously there are a number of coincidences but the humour is there and the stories picks up where it left at the end of Season 5.

Very good addition to Astier's world.

The Watch (2020–2021)

Awful adaptation from a great source amterial

[4/10 · 3 July 2021]

I don't know where to begin. The Watch serie is one of the greatest stories of Sir Terry Pratchett and one of the most sharp and funny satyr of society there is... and the producers of The Watch decided that there was no point in staying fidel to such amazing source material.

For some unknown reasons they went with a dark, gritty material and to change fundamentally both the dynamics and the personality of the characters.

Shame on them.

While the production value is not bad, the underlying story and the casting choices are awful.

Amongst others, why in hell would you (i) cast a small frail girl to play angua?, (ii) cast a tall unbearded man as Cheery, (iii) have Sam being layed by such a dark character and, last but not least (iv) why would you ever - especially after the fantastic portrayal by Charles Dance in Going Postal -cast someone with zero charisma and no screen presence, to play Havelock Vetinari, one of the most incredible leaders ever portrayed in litterature...

Avoid...

X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)

really badly done

[3/10 · 31 August 2019]

Sad to say that the only good thing in the entire movie is Halston Sage as Dazzler who appears a grand total of 1 min in the movie. Everything rings wrong: from Sophie Turner's poor impersonation to the crappy redemption-based scenario to the villains that have no substance and no characters.

Even Jennifer Lawrence, used to much better scripts undoubtly, delivers a really sub par performance

Were it not for Michasel Fassbender and James mc Avoy, my rating would have been 2.

It is really really sad to see such a great storyline of the X-Men universe been wasted

Kaamelott (2004–2009)

Completely unmissable and completely untranslatable

[9/10 · 5 May 2019]

I was in the US when this show was released and thus did not watch it before 10 years later. I never understood the hype surrounding it... until I saw it and then I discovered light.

Alexandre Astier and his cast have created one of the funniest shows ever on TV with characters that will last generations (Perceval, Leodagan, Yvain, Lott, Merlin, Karadoc; Bohort, Guethenoc, ...). The show is full of quotes that are incredibly funny, all the while keeping some real messages about the loneliness of power and humanity.

Can't wait for the movie.

And as would say Perceval with an "Objet redondant saisi par la partie sporadique" in the hand to the "Deux Petits Pedestres": "C'est pas faux!"

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)

Easily the worst of the franchise

[2/10 · 18 December 2017]

It's difficult to even know where to start...

• bad plot: check
• mediocre acting: check
• bad characters with no interest: check
• no emotions: check

If it was not for the special effects which are stunning and for the fact that this is a Star Wars movie, this movie would get a razzie (or several). For a moment I was wondering if they paid for the script to be written by a 10 years old. There are so many plot twists that are unecessary and incredibly bad...

Add Snoke coming and going without any reasons, Luke dying with no reasons, Leia dying and coming back to life for no reasons, none of the characters bringing any sense of semblance to the movie.

Stopping there but this is awful.

Don't know what Kathleen Kennedy and Rian Johnson were thinking but this will stay as possibly a franchise killer.

The Orville (2017–2022)

Excellent and insightful

[9/10 · 9 November 2017]

Yet another excellent input from Seth McFarlanes. Clever, subtle, intelligent and not in-your-face; This show is a great way to address important topics without feeling it is a political show.

The actors are great, and the cast makes sense, while keeping a certain lightness and off-the-surface humour that makes tough topics being addressed with fun and light touch.

A very worthwhile show that I hope will last for a few seasons.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)

I'm sad, angry and grateful

[6/10 · 9 August 2017]

For me the Valerian comics series is one of the best of all time, and I've been reading it for ever. Indeed the 5th elements has a lot of inspiration from the series itself and it's no surprise as Luc Besson has been a fan of the series forever.

I was happy when he announced he would bring it to the large screen... but ...

1. Valerian comics is all about ... LAURELINE, not Valerian So why, oh why, taking on Cara Delevigne for the role. Sure she's pretty but she does not have the charisma nor the character to take on one of the best role in Science Fiction. I knew, going on, that I would be disappointed by the cast and indeed I was...

2. Valerian is a normal guy, not a Don Juan In the book, the reason why Laureline is in love with Valerian is because he is a solid and experienced man, full of strong values. He is not a lady-player. Thus the relationship between the characters in the movie falls completely flat, even without considering the obvious lack of chemistry between the two lead actors.

3. There are few of us who are fans of the comics but... Why changing small things like the Transmuter from Bluxte, and rename it as in the movie????

4. Rihanna... why such a stupid story line? Well, everything is in the question... the character is flat and stupid, the death lines are beyond stupid and could have been avoided.

However, despite these shortcomings, the movies has some great achievements - The picture is magical and the graphical experience is wonderful. That will remain a cult movie for the years to come. - The atmosphere of the world is well transcribed, albeit with some small unnecessary changes that are infuriating - The scenario is not amazing but is Valerian-compatible. However, it could have gone to the end of "L'ambassadeur Des Ombres" and explain what happens to the human race

Overall, a 6/10 but more fundamentally, I just don't get how someone (Besson) who is so much in love with the comics and has captured the spirit of the world (9/10 for visuals and world building), can fail so much in the character development (2/10) and the choice of the cast (4/10).

Sleeping with Other People (2015)

Old story with great actors

[8/10 · 10 December 2015]

Obviously this is not the most original story of all time BUT the script is well done and very funny. Alison Brie and Jason Sudeikis are demonstrating they are very good actors with great capacity to enter into their characters back stories and atmosphere.

Boy and girl meet, fall in love and... well you probably already know the end result but there is a cast of great supporting characters supporting the two leads. Everyone will appreciate and have a good time watching this movie and getting enthralled by the exchanges between the two leads.

Definitely recommended.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015– )

Network TV is awful

[6/10 · 11 September 2015]

Well, after 3 shows that were quite disappointing, it's clear that (i) Colbert is a fantastic host but (ii) being on CBS basically kills his potential.

This new show is passable, barely saved by Colbert's talent but offers pretty much no fun and no depth. In a nutshell, it's just another bland network TV show without much interest.

The inability to bring the best of the best TV host in the US on CBS demonstrates why it is way overdue that network TV shall disappear and cable shall take over. HBO has done it for TV and movies, Comedy central demonstrated it in reverse by letting Stephen Colbert go and lose most of his potential.

Stephen, please come back to cable and do what you do best instead of losing your soul and wasting your potential on CBS.

Noah (2014)

Awful

[1/10 · 23 June 2015]

Well this is the absolute proof that even with good actors you can make one of the worst movies of all time. Beyond the scenario that makes absolutely no logical or scenaristic sense (let alone any consistency about the underlying world in which this story is supposed to happen), this is overacted, the characters have no depth nor any kind of personality whatsoever. On top of that the colours and the lights are badly done.

This is absolute crap of a movie that does not deserve any minute of anyone's time. Pass this movie and go see anything else out there, as anything else will bring you either a smile or a feeling, which this movie don;t provide.

How to waste 100m budget...

Galavant (2015–2016)

Really funny and light hearted

[9/10 · 26 January 2015]

A really good show, funny, intelligent and happy. A pleasant surprise. I hope for more!

Galavant is set up in a mythical 13th century and is full of revisited myths like the courageous knight, lost love, kidnapped princess, etc. The addition of systematic humorous references and funny songs makes for a very light-hearted show that allow to really spend good time in front of the TV.

The scenario is well developed, the characters originals and the actors are good and bring the same joy to the play.

VERY recommended

The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore (2015–2016)

Only for blacks?

[3/10 · 23 January 2015]

I loved Larry Wilmore in the daily show and I had big expectation for him to replace Colbert (tough shoes to fill). Overall, after a first week, I am very disappointed... it seems to be only about black issues and black people. Even the message "I voted for Obama because he is black", is a HUGE mistake, even if it is true... how can you start like that and then be credible to criticize the like of Fox News who can now say "I vote for a white guy because he s white".

Overall , this first week of show left me a very bitter taste. Larry Wilmore had a unique chance to make an inclusive, fun and incisive show to replace Colbert and right now it feels like "you re not black, we don t care about you" kind of show.

Hopefully it will change because when he s talking about more broad issues, he's good... that would be a shame to lose that because of a too narrow demographic target that makes for division, not inclusion.

Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009)

Really deceiving and bad

[2/10 · 15 January 2015]

As a fan of SF shows, and while having liked the 1978 series when I was a young kid, I found BSG new series a absolute disaster.

Well I was expecting a science fiction show and we have a complete purge. It's all about mysticism, nothing is ever explained. The sequences are put side by side often without sense or reason, everything is about some kind of religion (with not-subtle systematic references to the Mormons).

On top of that a number of actors are frankly not up to the task, including Katie Sackhoff.

How did this thing stay on for 5 years is beyond my intellectual ability. This is just plain bad... Science Fiction deserves better. Compare this to Stargate who was on at the same time, Stargat had some cool things, it was fun and overall a good time spent. BSG is just not worth it.

The Hunger Games (2012)

lack quality beyond Jennifer Lawrence

[5/10 · 5 August 2012]

Quite disappointed by this movie. It's not bad (hence the 6) but it feels (i) long, (ii) a Politically Correct version of Battle-Royale (without the vista of the Japanese Master), (iii) lacking polish in the story (not real depth for any character), (iv) lacking charm, (v) lacking any depth or character development

Very disappointed after all the noise that was done around this movie. I was expecting something both more subtle and more deep.

This movie barely scraps the surface of a potentially interesting world but depict it so badly that it feels very very bland and too soft...

But: Jennifer Lawrence is beautiful, full of charm and she will go very far... This girl definitively has something that screams "star" in her...

Hellcats (2010–2011)

Mid-America...

[4/10 · 16 February 2011]

How to summarize this show (at least at half the first season)? A lot of very cute girls in short skirts, dancing around and singing (not very well), blended with a dreadful "serious" plot and constant references to moral grounds, as well as hard-to-bear religious references. In short: made to please the eyes of the men everywhere and avoiding the moral grounds in bible belt. With so many good and funny shows out there, it is almost painful to watch. However, Aly Michalka is a real eye candy and would deserve a show a little bit more developed. But it's worth looking at the show just for her (with the occasional glimpses on her cheerleader colleagues)... 4 out of 10, for the girls...

Lucky Luke (2009)

Bof...

[4/10 · 22 March 2010]

How to summarize my feelings after having seen this movie? mixed at best... Jean Dujardin is still a great actor and his depiction of Lucky Luke is a true representative of his strengths. The cast is also good and funny. However, the scenario is dubious. The plot is weak, with pieces from various albums being thrown into the mix relatively randomly rather than forming a consistent movie. As a true fan of "Bande Dessinee", it is good to see live version of some of the characters forming the true spine of Lucky Luke but it still feels like some kind of elaborate parody of Lucky Luke rather than a true depiction. Diving into the youth of Luke, with such "tragic" origins feels misplaced too... only the relationship with Belle was a welcome and funny innovation. As a summary: should have been better. Luke, Dujardin, Morris and Goscinny deserve better!

Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer (1984)

Delightful

[9/10 · 4 January 2010]

The TV series was relatively funny and watchable but did not let any great memory. This movie however is playing the dream and let you a long and delightful taste. Simply put, with 15 years in retrospect it appears to me being one of the best anime movie I have seen. The atmosphere of the film is light and joyful, using the characters we all knew from the series, but it adds a layer of complexity and philosophy (movie level...), of deep down narration based on old legends allied with humour that makes it a thoroughly enjoyable experience. This is one of Mamoru Oshii's finest production in a career that counts among the richest and more creative. Definitely to be recommended.