elbandito1250 Reviews

Tokyo Vice (2022– )

Exciting insight into the planet Japan

[9/10 · 12 May 2024]

I borrowed this "planet Japan" phrase from another reviewer (sorry & thanks for that) because it just perfectly expresses how it feels to me as a western european who has never been to an asian country. Everything we learn about living and working in Tokyo is pretty strange and fascinating at the same time. Of course there's a suspenseful story too and also numerous interesting characters. Some folks might be bothered by the number of japanese spoken scenes, where you have to read subtitles so as not to miss any information relevant to the plot, but I don't mind. I think it's even more authentic that way.

I'd really like to watch more of this series but after finishing the last episode of season 2, I fear there most likely will not be a third season. It feels as if the story ends here. What a pity...

Ragnarok (2020–2023)

It could have been great

[7/10 · 9 September 2023]

I believe the idea behind was "why just leave this exciting stuff to the Americans? We should tell our own version of Superheros based on Norse mythology". And I loved how that started! Very promising story, great actors and of course this incomparable Scandinavian landscape. I would rate season 1 & 2 with 8.5 stars.

Then a really unexpected thing happened: Unlike the previous 2 seasons, the 3rd was mediocre from the beginning and at the same time the story became pretty weird. Most of the time I just felt sorry for the actors that bravely continued their good work but had to play this BS story to the bitter end. When I finished episode 5, I had no idea what might happen in the final episode and I wish I had stopped watching at that point.

Most likely the final episode came about like ths: The producers told the team that the series would not be renewed for a 4th season and the writers took terrible revenge by writing episode 6.

The Crossing (2018)

Clever and very suspenseful time travelling series

[8/10 · 7 August 2023]

First things first: Unlike other shows that got cancelled after only one season, that one is still enjoyable, since the final episode closes at least the most important loose ends. It does not end with a cliff hanger! Two things I don't get:

• why is the rating for this excellent series so low? It deserves at least 8 or 9 stars.

• asked by other reviewers many times before - why did they cancel such a good series? There would be enough interesting stories to tell for at least two more seasons. It's a real shame!

Overall a really clever time travelling story with good actors and interesting characters. Not even one episode is boring or a filler.

I wish they had cancelled a dozen other stupid/boring series instead and continued this one!

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022– )

So promising in season 1 and then everything went south

[4/10 · 6 August 2023]

After I could not bear this moaning and groaning support group any longer that Discovery turned into within a couple of episodes, I was so happy when Strange New Worlds popped up last year! Despite some unfortunate miscasts (Uhura, J. Kirk...) it was the closest to TOS they have produced since decades and I could not wait for season 2.

Then season 2 started and there was something wrong from the beginning. The entire crew suddenly acted like a bunch of imature teenagers and in each episode personal drama of some crew member was the main topic instead of passing exciting SciFi adventures. And nobody respects Captain Pike, who cares more for his cooking instead of leading his crew. At this point they should have renamed it to "Strange New Crew" because this actually is what season 2 is about.

Not ever watching animated movies or series, I was not aware of the Lower Decks series/characters and so I didn't believe my eyes when E07 started with animated scenes. This whole episode felt like made by hardcore Trekkies for a convention.

And then came the Musical episode 09!

Considering Discovery not as real Star Trek, I believe it was the first time I had to swith off a Star Trek episode after only 10 minutes. Indescripable nonsens! I'm sure not even Seth McFarlane would have considered to allow such an episode for his Orville.

I'm sorry but I guess I'm out now. They really managed to ruin another series of the Star Trek franchise after only one promising season.

Bring on the Dancing Horses (2022– )

Killing her targets by talking them to death

[4/10 · 22 May 2023]

I thought the story sounds promising and so I watched 3 episodes. Some real good series are slow burners, so I patiently watched on and on until I realized each new episode is exactly like the previous one:

• Hitwoman enters house of unknown target person and is welcome without asking questions. Instead of trying to escape or to fight her, the victims start endless monologues. It makes no sense to the viewer because at this time we have no clue what they have done nor why she is after them.

• Episode ends when she kills her victims.

• All target persons seem to be fine with getting killed by her (wtf?!).

• After episode 3 I still didn't know what's going on but have already lost any interest in learning more about it. It's just boring!

Recommendation: just skip it.

Cobra Kai (2018–2025)

No need to like the movies

[8/10 · 21 November 2022]

Most likely because I practiced Karate myself for many years when I was young, I did not like the Karate Kid movies at that time when they were released. I always felt the stories and especially the fight scenes were totally unrealistic and overdone and I never understood why so many people liked them.

Although pretty much the same is true for this series, it is somehow different in a good way, very entertaining and - thanks to William Zabka - funny as hell at times! Ralph Macchio also does a good job and both play their roles very likeable and self-mockingly. They deserve maximum respect for their level of fitness, which is remarkable for folks of their age. Some of the teenage characters are pretty annoying, others are quite okay, but mainly they just add a lot of teenage drama to the story.

Resume: you don't need to like or even know the movies this series is based on to enjoy it. And it's a shame that William Zabka had to grow so old until it was noticed what a great comedian he is! I really hope to see more of him soon.

The Man Who Fell to Earth (2022)

Don't expect SciFi here

[6/10 · 20 November 2022]

I can't believe that I'm almost the only reviewer here who noticed that this is not a SciFi story at all. Basically it's just a prolonged, very kitschy, melodramatic love story in a fantasy setting. Not worth mentioning that it checks all of the required pc boxes.

The first episode started really promising and after that the whole thing went straight downwards each following 20 minutes or so. The story hit rock bottom when they started playing Jazz music to the fusion core, in order to align the frequencies. And although this didn't make any sense at all, they periodically sneaked in totally unneccessary religious agenda.

Most actors are quite good but have to behave like morons in their roles. To tell the story 4 episodes would have been quite sufficient. I rate this with 6 stars mainly for the actors, cinematography and effects. If you expect an interesting SciFi series then better skip this one.

Animal Kingdom (2016–2022)

Roller coaster ride

[8/10 · 10 September 2022]

This series from start to end feels like a roller coaster ride and it's also highly addictive. Great acting and each episode is suspenseful like hell. I'd even give it a 10 - but I feel I should rate the entire series here, so I have to cut 2 stars only for the final season.

Not that season 6 is bad or lame like many other final seasons of great series are, this is really not the case. But these flashback jumps every 5 minutes are more irritating for the viewer than it adds value to the story. They better should have made a whole flashback episode instead.

Actually that's all I have to say about this series but unfortunately more characters are required for a review. I personally wish most reviews were shorter and that's why I usually ignore very large reviews.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022)

Why Tatiana???

[4/10 · 8 September 2022]

I'm a huge fan of Tatiana Maslany. So - despite of the low ratings - I decided to give She-Hulk a shot, at least for a couple of episodes. Now after watching 3 full episodes I have 3 questions: 1. Did they blackmail Tatiana Maslany to take this role?

2. Why is She-Hulk not animated instead of (mis)using real actors for this?

3. Who exactly is the target audience for She-Hulk?

The storyline & gags apparently are for pre-teens. But probably most of them will not prefer court room stories with a 35 year old green lawier. And since this series is not really funny/thrilling/interesting, it does not deserve real actors.

Mr Inbetween (2018–2021)

Your friendly neighborhood hitman

[10/10 · 8 October 2021]

This Aussie show is one of the best and most entertaining series I've seen in years! There are so many promising series lately that start with a great first season, #2 is still watchable, and #3 and all following seasons are just unbearable. Unlike those, all 3 seasons of Mr Inbetween were able to maintain their top level with each episode and this is really remarkable!

Also it's so refreshing to watch yet again a show that did not construct a weird storyline around totally unrealistic characters, just to implement the usual PC agenda at all costs (like most other new shows do), but instead focuses on the story, dialogues, humor, action and amazing acting. Especially Scott Ryan and Chika Yasumura are outstanding and in some scenes funny as hell! It's a great pity that Mr Inbetween ended with season 3...

Nobody (I) (2021)

A new action hero is born

[8/10 · 17 April 2021]

I still can't believe that Saul Goodman just totally convinced me to be a super badass killer with pretty good fighting skills! Unlike John Travolta or Antonio Banderas, he plays this character as if he did action movies since decades and also unlike the above mentioned, there's not a single scene where he appears ridiculous in this role.

This movie does not take itself too serious and that makes it so enjoyable and entertaining. Also very funny to watch old Doc Brown blasting several bad guys down with heavy guns like the Terminator's Grampa. Perfect Popcorn action movie. If they do a second part I'll definitely watch that too.

Romulus (2020– )

One of the best history shows

[8/10 · 16 March 2021]

Romulus is a surprisingly good and entertaining history series. It does so many things right that went wrong with Barbarians. I can't believe the low rating! Obviously most viewers nowadays prefer such series where all main characters look like models and Rockstars in a history setting, combined with CGI and a bunch of cheesy fantasy elements... If it's that what you expect then go watch Barbarians. Otherwise you will definitely enjoy Romulus.

We Children from Bahnhof Zoo (2021)

Wrong name

[2/10 · 21 February 2021]

The main problem of this series is the refernce to the original! Obviously they just paid for the rights to use the name "Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo" to pretend that this is a remake of the original story. But if anything, then it's a below average mediocre adaption, very loosely based on some characters of the original book/film. Considering the producer's intention to use this misleading name just to attract (and disappoint) as many viewers as possible, I'd generously rate it with 2 stars. If they had named this series like "Berlin Drug Story" or so, then maybe some would contemplate to rate it with 5 stars.

Warrior (2019–2023)

Awesome action in historical setting

[10/10 · 11 November 2020]

Of course you'll have to be into classic eastern martial arts to enjoy this series as much as I did. Most of this kind of movies just have a very poor plot and most martial artists are just OK actors, while others are really bad. And that's fair enough for the majority of the fans to still enjoy the action. But this series has so much more tto offer and although I loved it from the first episode, it's getting even better with season 2. Exciting story, interesting characters, excellent acting, setting AND fight scenes. And dashes of Tarantino and Spaghetti western. All in all it's great entertainment and really hope the story continues!

Fleabag (2016–2019)

Special sort of humor required!

[10/10 · 26 August 2020]

I watched the first episode together with my wife and she hated it from the beginning, while I instantly loved it! This special sort of humor is always highly divisive. Either you love it or you hate it. In my experience for shows like Fleabag there's no such ratings like "quite entertaining and funny at times"! Phoebe Waller-Bridge is incredibly talented in so many ways, I can't tell what's more adorable about her work in Fleabag: the acting, the uncommon storytelling, the firework of weird gags...? Everything is fresh and unique. I really hope there's much more coming from her in the future, both as actress and as writer!

Das Boot (2018– )

You are looking for a suspenseful, extremely well acted series to watch?

[9/10 · 25 July 2020]

Then go watch Das Boot! If you are a big fan of the 80's original movie or the books it's loosely based on - this is probably not your thing and you'd better skip it. Is it historical correct? Definitely not. Does it have the usual agenda concerning LGBT and female main characters, which is apparently mandatory nowadays? It does. But much more important is what else it is: it's suspenseful, entertaining, heart-warming, exceptionally well acted by the entire cast and the set and scenery is incredibly detailed and artistic. That's just perfect entertainment!

Killing Eve (2018–2022)

Guys who usually read 3 lines of the plot: give that one a chance!

[9/10 · 7 June 2020]

I remember when I first read the plot of Killing Eve and I was like OK, just another series for women and most likely particularly for fans of Sandra Oh. I have not heard anything about Jodie Comer at that time. Meanwhile I finnished the 3rd season and I can't remember a single episode I would rate with less than 8 stars so far. Jodie Comer is just so amazing in her role of the psycho killer, it's hard to believe at times that she's just a young lovely exceptional actress. And altough I never before thought Sandra Oh has ever deserved any acting award, she fits quite perfect for her character and the chemistry between the both of them is great. If you like Killing Eve go watch Fleabag! You'll definitely love that too.

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

Wasted opportunity...

[5/10 · 27 October 2019]

That was a quite entertaining action movie - not more, not less. There's no intention at all to watch it a second time. But it completely failed as a worthy sequel of T1 & T2! Please don't get me wrong but why do they nowadays just replace each and every legendary main character of classic movies/stories with either female/black, asian, latin/gay characters (or a combination of the above)??? Although mature Linda Hamilton really rocks that movie (in fact she even is the only positive surprise), the new main protagonist Dani is a totally waste. And old Arnie explaining how he changed from one of the most scaring killer machines in movie history to a domesticated, diaper changing stepfather and hubby - wtf??! To fix that somebody should send a couple of Terminators back in time to that point when they started to write the first script lines of dark fate so there would be hope this unworthy sequel will never exist.