adriantorrance90 Reviews

Carol (2015)

Perhaps The Best Movie I Have Ever Seen

[10/10 · 20 November 2016]

I have never encountered a perfect movie.

Until now.

Well, I wouldn't say Carol is perfect. It is more of an absence of imperfection than pure perfection.

Whatever it is, this is one of the best films ever made.

Carol is a delightful, wistful movie that is heartbreaking yet uniquely life-affirming all at the same time.

It is beautifully made all the way round, with excellent performances by Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, as well as a magnificent aesthetic.

Thank you, Todd Haynes, for this masterpiece.

Gotham (2014–2019)

Well Done.

[8/10 · 31 January 2016]

When Gotham was announced back in 2014, I was excited. This was going to be the next Heroes (the first season only). This was going to be THE show. Needless to say, that did not eventuate.

I only watched seven episodes in the first season. The "Penguin's Umbrella" episode was the final straw. It was a dumb, poorly-written, poorly-acted show. It had squandered its potential.

But I heard good things about season two, so just two days ago, I started watching. (Don't worry, I read spoilers about everything else that happened in the first season, and stupidly, the second)

The show is leaps and bounds over what it used to be. The wackiness feels just right, the characters are more interesting...it just feels like less of a waste of time.

Even though I knew everything that was going to happen in the second season before I watched it, I still enjoyed it highly and I cannot wait for its return on Leap Day (March 1st in my time zone). Shout-out to Empire and Blindspot, two shows I'm also waiting for.

RATING: 8.5/10. I'd round it up but it's not really a 9/10 show.

Midnight Express (1978)

"A Movie So Good You Forget It's Complete Bullshit"

[9/10 · 5 March 2015]

If only Billy Hayes didn't write the book. If only Oliver Stone wrote his own screenplay instead of adapting Hayes' book. If only the film was more complimentary towards Turkey.

If only.

Midnight Express is a flawed masterpiece. It has excellent, engaging performances; sensitive, tense direction - and an amazing score.

That said, the film has problems.

One is minor. At the end, the film begins to kinda drag and the scenes in the loony bin make absolutely no sense. But that's kinda the point of a loony bin.

The other is quite major. The film's absolute refusal to heed to Hayes' book and its quite negative treatment of Turkish people has understandably drawn a huge amount of ire. As good as this film is, it's utter, utter bullshit. That scene where he condemns Turkey was a well-written and well-acted scene, but it does not belong in this film. It would have been better served in a fictional film, a film where there'd be little repercussions to insulting an entire nation of people.

That said, I enjoyed this film very much. It was a gripping, thrilling, pulse-pounding thrill ride that I'd pay to see again.

Black-ish (2014–2022)

Pretty Funny But Overly Militant

[18 September 2014]

The Blackish pilot wasn't bad. It had a nice warm ABC family comedy feel. However, the show (esp. Anderson's character) was too militant in its belief that black people should behave black. This aspect was kinda annoying for me. However it got better when his character learnt the error of his ways.

WHAT THE SHOW DID RIGHT: - Good cast (even the kids are pretty good but they'll probably get old fast) - Nice atmosphere (the show isn't a zany multicam laffer, but a funny yet calm single cam offering)

WHAT THE SHOW NEEDS IMPROVEMENT ON: - The militancy of the show in respect to black culture can be grating - The jokes can be hit and miss (but they're not that bad).

OVERALL: A nice African-American family comedy with plenty of potential but needs time to find the right tone RATING: 7.3/10 rounded down to 7

The Flash (2014–2023)

You Will Believe A Man Can Run Really, Really Fast

[18 September 2014]

I watched the Flash pilot today. I had high expectations for this series and they delivered them. I enjoyed the pilot immensely and I cannot wait for the next episode.

The cast is very good. Grant Gustin portrays Barry Allen pretty well, but he's not exactly hero-like. Not yet anyway. The rest of the cast is really good, esp. Jesse L. Martin as Det. West

The show has plenty of potential. It's not quite Arrow yet but there's plenty of type for that.

PROS:

• Fun tone

• Good acting

CONS:

• Somewhat cheesy dialogue but that's forgivable

Overall, I rate it a 8.5/10. But I'm not rounding it up to 9 because its not a 9/10 show yet. I'll round it down to 8.

Constantine (2014–2015)

Great Fun

[18 September 2014]

I just saw the Constantine pilot and I'm impressed with what I saw. It was a fun and entertaining episode and I'll tune in for the next episode.

What the show did well:

• Good special/visual effects

• Fun atmosphere

• Good-humored

What NBC did well:

• Compatible scheduling (airs after Grimm on Oct. 24)

What the show needs to improvement on:

• Not too much. The show's "flaws" are probably what was intended.

OVERALL: A very cool new show. 7.8/10 rounded to 8.

Z Nation (2014–2018)

Best Walking Dead Ripoff Ever

[8/10 · 18 September 2014]

Z Nation is an unabashed ripoff of The Walking Dead. And it's a really really good ripoff. Hell, it's more fun than Walking Dead.

Don't get confused. WD is the better show. But it can get pretty boring at times. It's prestige drama, but prestige drama is often code word foe "boring show that is critically acclaimed."

Z Nation? NOT prestige drama. And that's a good thing. Because it's the most fun zombie show on TV. While it has zero chance of matching The Walking Dead's popularity, but that's OK. The producers know this, which means they can practically do whatever they want.

What it did right: - Just about everything

What it did different (to WD): - A more mission-based series (as opposed to WD which is mainly just aimless wandering) - Smart zombies (These zombies are F***ING smart, man. They can play dead, they can knock on doors, they can hide their zombie scars) - Anyone Can Die - A major character meets his or her end in the pilot.

What it did wrong:

• The acting's just a smidge wooden, but that's probably the point - Dialogue's wooden, but, again, that's probably the point

OVERALL: Pretty good show and a worthy substitute for The Walking Dead, and arguably a more interesting show. 7.9/10 rounded up to 8

Red Band Society (2014–2015)

Pretty Good But Needs Work

[8/10 · 17 September 2014]

The Red Band Society pilot was pretty good but its clear that this show has quite a fair way to go.

The pilot did a lot right:

• The pace (quiet and slow) was appropriate for this type of series

• An adequate amount of humor injected throughout

• Competent performances by the cast

but it needs to improve on this:

• The coma narration needs to be less cheesy

• The characters need to stop trying so hard to be "hip" or "anti- establishment"

• The show can be pretty cheesy at its attempts at drama (but this is forgivable as a show of this nature will more often than not lend itself to cheesiness)

Overall, it's clear that, with the right amount of time and the adequate honing of acting and scripts, Red Band Society could well be one of the best dramedies on TV. It's definitely not there yet, but you can feel that it's not too far away.

Rating = 7.5/10 (rounded to 8 - although that 8 may be a smidge overgenerous)

Lord of the Flies (1990)

A Pretty Messy Disappointment

[6/10 · 9 September 2014]

This film...This film really annoyed me.

This film could've been great. It could've been amazing.

But it was just...alright.

Now being an alright movie isn't a bad thing.

Unless it could've been much, much better.

This film was so, so, so messy. I mean, this movie, it seemed like the film didn't really know what it was gonna be. The film was just so disorganized.

On the other hand, the performances were pretty good. The kids are not bad actors.

But this film was kinda dull. It seemed a bit meh.

And when something did happen, it only happened because of STUPIDITY.

I mean, this film could've been great if instead of killing off a couple characters, they'd slowly kill off the entire cast. That would've been fun.

But we ended up with this.

Lord of the Flies was a disappointment.

I give it a 6/10. I'd give it a 6.5, but I'd have to round up to 7, which is too high, so I give it a 6.