lone_samurai678 Reviews

The Devil's Plan (2023– )

Great concept, terrible execution

[6/10 · 7 October 2023]

The concept of strangers competing for a prize by solving puzzles and mind games is pretty interesting and I have always loved reading related mangas. For me The Devil's Plan pales in comparison to other popular works and here is why

1. Game organisation - Some puzzles have a series of rules, which can get a little complex to make sense of how the game is actually working. It would have been 100 times better if they could have shown a simple demo of how every game will play out. Many times even the players were confused as to how the game is working. Even after the competition ends, they don't say what could have been the right strategy (although i don't feel that most of the games had much strategy involved)

2. Puzzle quality - Tbh puzzles were not that complicated and neither had a 'eureka' moment when someone figured something out. They were simple and quite boring (the only complex part was that the rules were not very clear on playing different games)

3. Competitors - I think the wrong group was selected for this competition. Someone is a youtuber, someone is a blogger etc.. Like in one of the episodes there was an extremely simple maths problem to solve (high school maths) but most of them couldn't figure out the right way to do it. I know this kind of variety works well in anime/manga but it's tough to replicate that irl.

In my opinion people who are attracted to drama and can ignore the intellectual-competition aspect to some degree will enjoy this show.

Oppenheimer (I) (2023)

Mixed feelings

[7/10 · 21 July 2023]

The story is presented really well and through the eyes of Oppenheimer. 90% of the movie feels like a flashback scene which though looks really cool, doesn't actually feel like something I would watch again. As in classic Nolan style 3 timelines are running simultaneously - before the atom bomb dropped, after and the present. I feel like this could have been handled better especially in the second half of the movie. The two main events in the movies the bomb explosion and the last act felt underwhelming. Actually the bomb explosion scene for which everyone was waiting so intently for was underwhelming beyond belief - Nolan should have used CGI 100%, it looked like an explosion from the 90s. There were so many characters and sub-stories that it felt like someone compressed an entire tv series into a 3 hour long movie.

Movie critics will give this a good score owing to its incredible style and presentation and most of the audience will do the same. But purely from an entertainment point of view this was 7/10.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Tried a lot of different things, few worked

[7/10 · 3 June 2023]

I am the biggest fan of the first movie, in fact I watch it nearly every month and had very high hopes from this one. First of all, the good part. Animation is on point and looks really cool. Some shots had a static texture overlayed on the 3D character which looked cheap but everything else just blows your hair back. All the action seems very seamless and flows naturally from one scene to another in the well known spidy fighting style. Some jokes land pretty well (not most though).

Now the bad part, the overall tone of the movie was much more casual/comedic (going the MCU route) than the first one and I REALLY don't like unnecessary humour. There are multiple characters that take up a good chunk of screen time whom I didn't care about a single bit and found myself checking the phone multiple times during the movie. In fact Miles only took 10% of the screen time. I always cherished spiderman as a hero who is witty, funny and relatable (although I am not white) but super special, and this movie somehow shatters that "specialness". Everybody is a spiderman - a dude on a wheelchair, a pregnant women, overweight people, dinosaurs.. it felt like artistic thinking took the front wheel instead of common sense. The other thing that I disliked was that how there was SO MUCH "talking about your feelings" in the movie, which was almost non-existent in the first. I went to watch a action packed adventure and got almost a therapy session for 10 other characters whom I have no interest in.

To really like this movie you have to be 1) NOT a spiderman fan 2) super progressive in your thinking I would have given it a lower score but the animation team really created a masterpiece which will be referenced for times to come. Hugely disappointed by the youtube critics for not pointing any flaws and following the herd and giving it a 10/10.

Evil Dead Rise (2023)

Filled with plot holes

[6/10 · 23 April 2023]

It has a interesting opening but is quickly followed by the main story with no context. Although the plot is pretty straightforward but there are a lot of questions that are unanswered like how is the opening sequence related to the main story? What powers does the evil really have, in one instance it's able to break ground and elevator, and in other it's not able to open a door. Is it a ghost or some other supernatural being? Is there one or many of them?

The movie definitely has some entertainment factor but left me more confused than entertained. No one calls the cop or anyone else for help during the entire movie. Somehow after all the commotion and screaming no one in the entire building has any clue of what happened. Sometimes the evil has the ability to control electrical items and sometimes not - which was very weird.

Squid Game (2021– )

One time watch

[7/10 · 4 October 2021]

Keeping it short Pros 1. Interesting initial episodes 2. Good cinematics (although some shots were too dark)

Cons 1. Horrible soundtrack 2. Avg acting (in many cases overacting) 3. Multiple wasted side stories / appearances.

The Boys (2019– )

Season 2 is a shipwreck

[8/10 · 1 April 2021]

Engaging first season, disappointing second season.

Invincible (2021– )

Trying hard to impress

[6/10 · 30 March 2021]

Watched the first 3 episodes. Good fighting scenes and interesting plot but character development is a bit off. Overall story seems rushed with some cliche one liners. Animation wise it's not a masterpiece either but is definitely watchable.

The Man in the High Castle (2015–2019)

A definite watch (only the first season)

[8/10 · 6 December 2020]

After the first season it was all downhill. Most of the sub-plots of Juliana were mainly fillers or didn't make sense at all. After the first season it was as if they were changing whatever they like, just to forward the story.

I am a sci-fi fan and the way they introduced sci-fi them in this, it had great potential but the execution has very bad. Characters lost the realistic touch and so did the story.

You can definitely stop watching after the first season.

Young Justice (2010–2023)

season 3 is just the worst

[9/10 · 18 July 2020]

Season 1 and season 2 are just awesome, with complex plots and interesting stories. Overall you get a sense that this piece is for adults and not children. After flash point paradox this is the first piece by DC that I found super engaging.

Season 3 however is just pathetic. I have no idea who wrote it, the whole season is so boring I had to forward multiple times. The characters behave largely in a non-sensical manner. The whole season revolves around characters that anybody hardly gives a f about. The last episode told everything about how good this season was when Black Lightening was nominated as the leader of justice league, who displayed 0 leadership, 0 skill, 0 decision making and 0 usefulness throughout the season. I just really hope season 4 is like the first 2.

In short, season 1 and 2 => 10/10 ; season 3 => 3/10