paultenhout-140-413150 Reviews

Halo (2022– )

Kwan ruins the show

[6/10 · 6 April 2024]

Never played Halo, so I'm not biased here. I see a good production quality, actors speaking different alien languages fluently, good action sequences, some proper acting. This show deserves to be at least an 8. It is a very decent show, except for ..... Kwan.

I have never been more annoyed by a character in a tv show than Kwan. What a selfish, ignorant, stupid, annoying and ignorant character is that. And she got her own episode late in the first season ?!? I am watching it now and it is terrible. And I am not the only one, as I immediately looked up the IMDB scores for this episode.

I hope she doesn't make it to the end of the season. I'll revise my rating then.

Oppenheimer (I) (2023)

Most overrated movie of the year

[1/10 · 5 April 2024]

I guess since this is a story surrounding an important American context, it is doing well with American viewers. But boy, just take one step back and see the cinematographic mess that Nolan made.

The story is hard to follow, it swings back and forth in time. As the aging of Cillian Murphy is not done that well, it's hard to follow where we are and how this fits into the broader story. Scenes are short and unrelated, so now fluid story, no time to built up to something.

Characters are put into play without context. It is assumed you immediately know all about them, their background, names, what they have achieved. You need to have studied science to understand why they are there.

Cillian Murphy is as charismatic as a flattened snail on the road. He just doesn't captivate the viewer. I know he is getting a lot of praise for his role in Peaky Blinders, but only the first 3 seasons where worth a watch. He looks as if he is not really motivated or interested to play Oppenheimer. Emotionless, boring, just doesn't add anything.

And I must comment about the sound editing. My god. I know this is a Nolan movie and he does this all the time. The music, or actually, the noist is set at a too high volume and the speech at too low volume. As a result you need to turn up the volume to hear the characters but that is drowned out by the constant intrusive noise that should go for "music".

Ted Lasso (2020–2023)

Season 1 is great, the rest is not good

[7/10 · 12 August 2023]

As a football fan I was interested in Ted Lasso. Season 1 surprised me positively, because it turned out to give a lot of good insights in how to motivate people. It was really interesting, acting is good, story is good. And it was fun.

Then came season 2, where basically nothing interesting happens except for the last episode. This season was hard to get through and especially 5-9 was terrible. It's like they had to fill the gap to episode 10.

Then came season 3.....and the show hit the woke button. And then you know the show isn't good anymore. If political messaging and positive discrimination is added to the story, the original story loses value. And that happens here.

Succession (2018–2023)

The writers clearly have no management experience

[5/10 · 27 July 2023]

I understand the high ratings: the actingis very good, clearly a solid production with sufficient budget.

But, whether a show is good depends on the story and unfortunately the story of Succession is so unrealistic that it just fails to me. It has become pretentious. If you either ever worked at an office or in a management position you would see that the plot makes no sense at all. The actions of the characters makes no sense at all. Why characters are in the position that they are makes no sense at all. Every character and every action is there to move the plot forward, even if the action does not make sense and is so unrealistic. So, what you then get is a big show with a illogical story, or in other words a pretentious show.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Fan service as it should be! Great family time

[9/10 · 9 April 2023]

The title says it all. And it's definetily not only made for kids. Plenty of laughs for Adults too. My favorites: Luma got me cracking with her terribly twisted mind and dirty Bowser is really, really obsessed with peaches.

The story is a flat as you expect from a Mario movie, but that's ok. The runtime felt short, or better said: left me wanting for more. Nintendo just scratched the surface of what they could do with the Mario cinematic world.

The visuals are stunning. I didn't have any expectations but it just feels like you can touch the fabric of the characters.

The voices are fine. It felt natural, like it should, except for the ape king who really sounded too young for his age.

Guaranteed a great family time. You will like it, especially if you know the super mario games.

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

Least of the John Weak movies

[6/10 · 26 March 2023]

A true John Wick fan here. Unfortunately, this is the least of the 4. What I liked about the other 3 was how the close combat was portrayed. 1 is a 9, 2 is a 10, and I give 3 an 8. S if I give 4 a 6. In John Wick 4 it is more in the open and it just doesn't feel the same. The fight scenes are just not as good as in the other movies. It's a decent film, especially the scene with Scott Adkins is good (he steels the show, give this man a spinoff or his own movie), and the scene with the shot from above is awesome. The cinematography is great, but it just doesn't give me the vibe that the other movies had.

However, a must see if you want to get closure for the franchise.

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Visually stunning and makes you invested in the characters!

[10/10 · 17 December 2022]

Titanic was a love story on a sinking ship. Aliens was a troup of people rescuing colonists. Terminator 2 was a robot sent back in time to protect a future rebel leader. As with all great movies from James Cameron, the story is secondary to the experience. And wow, what an experience Avatar 2 is. It is visually stunning. The na'vi and the world are so realistic, you actually believe they are real. Cameron has created an entire planet of species and nature and it is all made up, but it looks to real that you might believe it actually exists. The movie is over 3 hours, but you will not be bored.

The story is quite simple: men want payback for Avatar 1 and hunt Sully down. He flees with his family to a different place, but you know that the movie will end with a battle. Men are evil, Na'vi are good. But still, as the movie progresses you notice yourself actually rooting for Jake and even more for his kids.

The movie actually does make me invest in the characters. I've seen people crying in the theater. Avatar 1 didn't do that, but this ones does. So to all the haters: you are wrong. This movie does not only stand on visuals, but also carries emotions. Despite of a simple story, but so was Titanic. Point is: James Cameron did it again. This is a must see movie!

Slumberland (2022)

Best family movie in years

[9/10 · 19 November 2022]

I didn't know this movie was out. I was pleasantly surprised. I watched it with the family (two daughters, 11 and 13) and what fun this movie is. It's funny, looks amazing, decent acting, really good story. We were captivated from start to end. A must see if you have kids! This is the best family movie out there at the moment.

Jason Momoa was a surprise as well. Good to see him in a different role. He was entertaining.

Story is about a girl who lost her dad and tries to find him in her dreams. That sounds lame, but don't let that fool you. The movie is really entertaining from start to finish.

Prey (I) (2022)

1 star compared to the original

[1/10 · 29 October 2022]

Since the original Predator gets 10 stars from me, it is easy to compare Prey with it. And thus it gets 1 star. Why? I don't see Predator as just a movie with too much testosteron and muscles and guns. What makes Predator so uniquely good is because of two reasons:

1. All the big bulky men are flawed in this movie, but still likable and you cheer for them (except for Dillon ofcourse, but he redeems himself).

2: the sheer fear that all those big bulky men display. It is acted and portrayed so good, you just feel the fear. If even these hardened guys are afraid, then this monster must be really terrifying. It makes the movie so real!

In Prey, Naru is perfect and the bestest, so there no need to fear. No character arc. She can physically do things that in the real world are impossible for someone of her weight and strenght. Remember Billy in the original movie? Who is bigger, stronger, more experienced and a way better "warrior" then Naru? Well, Billy was no match for Predator. But Naru is. Yeah right, this was disrespectful to the original.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022– )

Bad dialogue, bad script, unconvincing CGI and artwork

[1/10 · 3 September 2022]

What a disappointment. I dtruggle to find positive notes here. The show says "lord of the rings" but the dialogue and storytelling is no where near the quality of Tolkiens work. This is just another fantasyshow with a LOTR sticker on it. And unfortunately, it is not a good show either. With a bad script and bad dialogue it is difficult to elevate this show, but the acting is bad too. The show clearly trusts on it's CGI, but that gives the problem that so many modern movie have: people notice what is CGI and what is real. And in Rings of Power you see how fake it is and therefore you are not drawn into the world of middle earth. You don't feel it like in Peter Jacksons trilogy. Even the costumes and props look cheap. Again comparison with Peter Jacksons trilogy must be made. They spent time in creating armor and clothing and swords and other props that look like they could have been used thousands of years ago, looked real, unique. In Rings of Power you see that they cut some corners here, with the result that it looks fake and cheap and not realistic. So, kind of like wheel of time, but I give this show a penalty for misusing the name of Lord of the Rings and the squandering of 1 billion dollar budget. This could have been a massive show....

Outer Range (2022– )

First 4 episodes interesting, then falls into a deep hole

[1/10 · 11 May 2022]

Why...why? The series starts with an interesting premise, the first 4 episodes got me. But then....it gets bad, worse, worst. I managed it to episode 8 but 10 minutes in and I just couldn't bear it anymore. It just gets insanely stupid with characters doing things that just don't make sense. I still don't understand why this family has to lose everything. I don't understand why a father who loves his daughter would destroy her life. I don't understand why the blond young women suddenly acts like a crazy psyched up woman, and a lot of other choices that the script makes don't make sense. I'm not even starting about the hole. Don't waste your time. It's slow, and annoyingly irrational.

Uncharted (2022)

Forgettable, soulless waste of time

[3/10 · 27 April 2022]

How on earth did they manage to mess this up? Tons of interesting material with solid background stories from the videogames, experience with other succesful treasure hunter movies in the past (Indy, National Treasure), and a big budget.

Well, start with lazy writing. Just cram some references to backstories in the game into one movie. There is no real story arc here. The characters are not as interesting in the games. They just do what the plot tells them to do and they are great at it. No searching, no quests, no puzzles, no thrilling shoot outs. Tom sees all, knows all, can do everything. Why should I feel suspensed if he is mister perfect already? There is no build up, I don't feel the relationship with his brother.

Then, cast the wrong people. Tom is NOT properly cast as Nathan Drake. And Mark is NOT properly cast as Sully. They probably never played the game, otherwise they should have acted different. The problem is that Tom and Mark can't act. They always do the same type of character so you know they don't fit as Sully and Nathan. Also, they don't even remotely look like them.

Third: defy all physics. You thought the Fast & Furious franchise had stunts that are not possible in the laws of physics? This movie will top that. From minute 1 to 100. Look man, if everything is possible because of your cgi fest and the main character is already mr perfect and knows exactly where to look, than don't let us wait for 100 minutes.

It's soulless fluff. It's a lazy cash grab. There is no moment in the film worth remembering. With a proper writer and proper casting this would have been awesome. Now I just don't care for a sequel.

One Shot (III) (2021)

Below mediocre, based on the Commando-scale

[5/10 · 13 April 2022]

When reviewing films, I like to compare them to movies that tome set the standard in their genre. This is a movie about a soldier going alone against a whole army. So I took the Commando-scale out of the closet (the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie from the eigthies which scores a perfect 10 in its genre). One Shot in this genre is really only a 5. The camerawork is absolutely awesome (a one shot movie), but in the end it's about feeling the stakes as a viewer. And in One Shot I just didn't care what happened. The story is just not compelling. I don't feel the motivation for the main character other than that he is trying to survive. But why he's there and why this is all happening...I just didn't care. And for these movies I set the bar low, because I love Commando that had the simple premise being a movie about a man killing an army to save his daughter. So, no characters to ve invested in, no good story, no fun. No good rating.

Also, I'd like to know the brand of that truck that apparently fits 100 soldiers.

Dog (I) (2022)

Excellent feelgood movie

[9/10 · 15 March 2022]

I'm a bit biased here, having a Belgian Malinois myself, but I really enjoyed this movie. It's an excellent 90 minute commercial for the breed: ferocious but oh so sweet. Acting is good, Channing Tatum proves himself here. The movie flows nicely and doesn't get boring. But I guess it is a movie for people who appreciate the relationship between man and dog.

The Batman (2022)

Great Batman, but no motive and pay-off ruins the story

[7/10 · 4 March 2022]

Let's get this out of the way: Robert Pattinson is an excellent Batman. Please let him do this role for any Batman movie in the next decades.

Then the movie itself. It was really great and tense for the first 2 hours. But then....you notice that they need to make an end. And then you notice that the story is all wrong. A couple of things: the main villain is the Riddler obviusly. He performed is actions, but he is frustrated at the end. Why? Also, what was his goal? What did he want to achieve with this? This is entirely unclear.

Also, Batman has no influence on the actions of the Riddler. If Batman was not in this movie, everything still would happen as it happened. The only thing that Batman intervened in was prohibiting a mobdter from being killed by catwoman...so that mobster would be killed 2 minutes later by someone else.

Also, the final act was hilarious. Set pieces (bad guys) positioned themselves on the single most dumbest location possible. People were fleeing to the single most dumbest location possible. All for dramatic effect, but after 2 hours of great cinema it felt like the writers were swapped with amateurs.

I've read some good comments about the car chase scene. But also this scene was totally unnecessary. After capturing the bad guy, they just leave him after they spoke with him. And instead of ruining the highwat with the reckless chase, they could have looked him up in his establishment the next morning.

Summarized: the first two hours are amazingly tense and great cinema, but the last 45 minutes make you realize it was all for nothing: no pay-off, no motive, no role in the story for Batman. So I have to give it just a 7.

Vikings: Valhalla (2022– )

No memorable characters and woke nonsense

[5/10 · 2 March 2022]

Remember Ragnar, Lagertha, Floki, Bjorn, Ivar, and so on. All memorable characters portrayed by the actors in auch a way that I immediately got invested in them. They were interesting. In Vikings Valhalla there are no interesting characters, or at least they are not set i a memorable way. All the viking men look alike and have no memorable fysical feature or interesting character trait. And then there is the leader of Kattegat......what an unbelievable woke nonsense that is that. They try to explain her situation in episode 2, but come on. No, switched off after episode 2 and I recommend you not to start watching it if you liked the original Vikings.

The Book of Boba Fett (2021–2022)

That was a sneaky one by the director!

[8/10 · 13 January 2022]

To be honest, I've only watched the first two epusodes and storywise not much is happening and the characters aren't really drawing me in. But what is, is the sneaky, very sneaky hints that the directors put in both episodes that show their "love" for the real Star Wars Universe (and not all the crap that Disney trashed out since 2010), and that makes me think that it will be allright, just like the Mandalorian played out. Perhaps, sometimes you need to take your time to built up to a great story. I have a feeling that it is happening here.

Be Cool (2005)

Underrated. Love the various memorable side-characters

[8/10 · 9 January 2022]

This is a fun movie to watch. Light, enjiyable and many funny moments. Although the movie is about Chilli Palmer and Linda Moon, all the side characters steal the show. Raji, Dabu, the Rock, etcetera made me chuckle each scene they were in. Recommend.

Arcane (2021– )

Visually stunning, but story is a mess

[7/10 · 29 December 2021]

At the moment of writing this review, Arcane stands at a rating of 9+. In terms of visuals, this serie definitely deserves a 10. It looks amazing. I don't watch cartoons often, but since Invincible blew me away, I thought I give Arcane a go as well. But what was I disappointed.

First of all the main characters Vi and Powder. They just don't grab you. Vi seems invincible and the bestest ever from the beginning, so there is no character arc here. And Powder has the most illogical character arc I've seen since Game of Thrones Season 8. Seconds after the main villain kills her "father" and friends, in the same scene, she crawls into his lap after her sister calls her a jinx. That does not make any sense. And in the next episode we learn that she is called Jinx since then. My brains got fried here. So you didn't like it that your sister called you a jinx, but are ok with it if everybody else does it. By the way, also her, years later we learn that she became just as invincible as well. No story arc here. Just cut away to a decade later and she's the bestest, or second-bestest ever.

Then there is the main scientist. He's sloppy, has proved nothing and is only noticed because his room blew up. So, they offer him a position and funding for research. That does not make any sense. And it gets weirder. After some good inventions, without asking, he is offered a position in a governmental board while everyone can see it's not his cup of tea. It just fell out of the sky. It doesn't make sense.

Storywise things are happening that does not make any sense, but are done to get the plot rolling. The end of episode 3 made me cringe, but after the ridiculous 4th episode I stopped watching.

True Story (III) (2021)

Little gem on Netflix

[9/10 · 26 November 2021]

True Story was an unexpexted surprise. With Kevin Hart and Snipes in it I feared it might be another buddy comedy-action show, but this is more like a drama, with lots of twists and turns that keeps you in a grip. Both Hart and Snipes give a real good acting performance. I'm not a fan of drama movies or of either of one of the leading actors, but the story and their performance captivates me, espacially as of episode 2. Currently the rating stands at 7,2 and that truly doesn't do the show any justice.

Free Guy (2021)

Hadn't had such a good laugh for a long time

[9/10 · 25 September 2021]

Way better than I expected, and I had some expextations. Still, I knew this is a Ryan Reynolds movie but his tone is much better. Not that I don't like the r rated deadpool jokes, but this movie was way more sophisticated with its jokes. Also, good story and lots of fun winks to onlinegsmes ofcourse. If there is a sequel, please more screentime for Dude. He had the best lines LOL.

The Green Knight (2021)

Pointless movie, waste of time

[3/10 · 15 September 2021]

I knew what to expect when I watched this movie. It's slow paced, not a blockbuster type of movie. But that's ok. As long as the story is ok, and you can feel for the protaganist. And that's where this movie fails. It looks amazing and the acting is good, hence the 3 stars, but what's the point if the protagonist is a loser, only makes bad choices and just doesn't have any charisma to feel for him? What's the point if you don't built a story towards an emotional end? Instead, the movie's message felt like "my life was bad, has gotten worse and will only get worse so off with my head". And then it's over. They could have done so much more with this.

The Running Man (1987)

Subzero? A plain10!

[10/10 · 9 August 2021]

The story was far ahead of its time, and its well depicted in this movie. The first time I watched this, it was "brains off", and enjoy the popcorn and the movie. It's just a Schwarzenegger movie. But now, when you think about it, it's no longer far-fetched. Bur most of all, it's still entertaining, and my favourite one-liner movie....

Masters of the Universe: Revelation (2021)

Oh the money you could make with a story centered around a real male hero

[1/10 · 24 July 2021]

Interesting to see how franchises are getting destroyed lately with woke, political agenda that no one asks for or wants to see. The version of (s)He-Man is not different. You would expect that with this drawing style this serie could not go wrong....but alas. This is not He-Man. Avoid this garbage. Such a shame. I was a huge fan, but just like star wars 7-9 I will pretend that this serie does not exist.

Mortal Kombat (1995)

Way more fun than the 2021-version

[10/10 · 20 June 2021]

After watching the 2021-version of Mortal Kombat, I couldn't believe that the original movie got a lower rating. The cast for the characters is spot on, it's got the right humor and a plot that matches with the game. The 2021 does not have all of this. Ofcourse, you can see that the 1995 version had a way lower budget and special effects are 25 years better now....but the 1995 movie is more fun to watch. Is it a 10? No, but compared to the 2021 version it is.