bogdanvalentinneacsa Reviews

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019)

Not as bad as some haters make it seem, not that good either

[6/10 · 23 December 2019]

Unfortunately it is so hard to do anything at this point after The Last Jedi decided to ruin the initial vision of this. I feel like overall the movie does try to correct as much as it can, but it's basically trying to put a bandaid on a gun wound.

There are some good moments here and there but overall the story is just too much of a mess at this point, full of plot holes and inconsistencies.

The visuals are amazing of course and the soundtrack as always delivers. There is also a lot of fan service throughout, so if you care about these kind of things and can stomach / ignore the story problems you will have a great time.

For me unfortunately it did not feel as Star Wars, just felt like some random summer blockbuster movie.

The Witcher (2019– )

Good, could have been great ... too bad they went down The Wokecher route

[7/10 · 21 December 2019]

Review coming from a huge fan of the games and book, I think as usual both the 1 and the 10 start ratings everywhere should just be ignored, it's obviously not that bad and obviously not perfect.

First off, the great for me:

• Henry Cavil, a huge surprise for me, he is amazing as Geralt, and there were a lot of his scenes where I could just as well thing his is straight our of the games, that's how well he plays Geralt.
• Joey Batey as Jaskier, another standoff, I think he did an amazing job
• some of the action scenes are excellent

Then, for the good for me:

• I think Freya Allan overall did a good job as Ciri
• Anya Chalotra for the most part does a great job as Yennefer as well and there are scenes which you could put straight into The Wild Hunt
• MyAnna Buring as Tissaia is also great

Lastly, the bad for me:

• The forced 'wokeness' just broke the world building for me and felt really out of place (black Fringilla ? black dryads? indian Vilgefortz? Why would they think this would not break the immersion?). This will of course not be a problem if you never played the games or read the books, but for me forcing in so many characters of color in what is suppose to be a medieval Poland setting and an already defined world from all the books and games is just unnecessary and a stupid Hollywood forced cliche at this point.
• I know that the characters have some very distinct and 'strong' eyes, but I found a lot of the scenes they hugely exaggerate with this probably for the 'new audience' sake, and I just found it way too distracting and off-putting (this applies in some scenes to all of Geralt, Yen and Ciri).
• There are some parts where the CGI feels cheap (although for the most part I think it's done very well).

The 100 (2014–2020)

Stick through season 1, gets better with every season

[10/10 · 22 June 2017]

Have to say, this is the only show or movie that I had to change my rating 4 times already.

I have to admit, season 1 for me was not good. I did not really like the main character at all, I thought the acting was pretty mediocre bad and the romance seemed forced in and out of place (that was a 6.5 / 10 for me).

But still, the premise was interesting enough, and I'm a sci-fi fan that I decided to stick with it, and the season finale had me intrigued. And man am I glad I stuck through it.

Season 2 was already a lot more interesting, the acting got better, the romance was toned down and less sappy and the plot just got more interesting. That was already a 8 / 10 by then and most of the characters started to grow on me quite a bit.

Season 3 and 4 just kept getting better and better, and right now for me this show is a 10 / 10 and can't wait for the next season to get here!

Give the show a chance and power through the first season, you won't regret it.

Passengers (I) (2016)

More of a romance than a sci-fi and not a good one at that

[6/10 · 27 January 2017]

I was really disappointed at this.

Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt are some of my favorite actors, sci-fi is one of my favorite genres. So this had all the premises to be a movie I'd really enjoy.

However I caught myself checking the watch a lot during the entire movie, the plot itself was not much of a plot, and even though their relation started off interesting and believable, they lost me in the second half of the movie on both those points.

The movie does look pretty great effect wise and the acting is OK, but that's about all I can give it.

All in all a meh movie that could have been a lot better.

Underworld: Blood Wars (2016)

Turn brain off and enjoy

[8/10 · 13 January 2017]

Goes without saying from the rating I really enjoyed the movie. When it comes to the underworld series, I pretty much liked all of them so far (Awakening was a big meh but still OK).

So lets just start by saying the obvious, if you didn't really liked any of the movies in the series so far, you will not like this.

Second thing, if you really loved and are a fan of the series, you might also have some problems with the movie if you over analyze the plot, since there are some good sized plot holes when looking over the entire events that happened in the previous movies.

That all being said, the movie was pretty damn fun. Great action scenes, some pretty awesome locations to shoot in and in my opinion a pretty satisfying ending if this is the last in the franchise. Again, there are some plot holes in there, but I just got straight past them and was never bored during the entire movie.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Excellent addition to the star wars universe (spoiler free)

[10/10 · 16 December 2016]

First off, this movie is taking a totally different direction than The Force Awakens. It's way more serious and adult orientated, and I for one loved that it did that.

Parts of the movie are a bit slower during the newly introduced characters history / buildup but I did not mind that at all, and once the action gets going it looks amazing and is filmed and directed beautifully.

There is also some comedic release especially from one character in the movie that works absolutely every time. The acting overall I'd say is always good to great especially from the main characters and I feel like Felicity Jones did an amazing job as Jyn Erso.

Overall I'd probably give this a 9.25 / 10 and it's still behind Empire Strikes Back and a New Hope for me, but I'd say it's better than Force Awakens (which was another movie I loved) and I might even like it better than Return of the Jedi.

The VVitch: A New-England Folktale (2015)

Know what you're getting into!

[7/10 · 18 February 2016]

To start, just so you know who's actually writing the review. Young fellow here, didn't watch any 'classics' horror movies but I do enjoy horror movies in general as long as they are not just gore type of movies. I'd say my favorite horror movies are The Ring and The Conjuring.

So, past that to The Witch.

I'd start by saying the movie was not what the trailer lead me to believe. This is not as much about scary moments or jump scare and more about a family coping with a lost child, and the movie trying to build suspense and just make the viewer feel uncomfortable. Because of this, I can see why some people will see it as really really slow with not much happening.

Some PLUSES for me: - Anya Taylor-Joy (the older daughter) is amazing in this movie and I also think Ralph Ineson (the father) did a good job. - the score is really really good, there are periods of intense silence and periods of creepy music at just the right times to build tension - the cinematography with nice wide shots combined with the score works really well in most moments

For the MINUSES: - I felt like the other child's acting was pretty bad and over the top and just took me out of the movie in most scenes where they are the focus (thankfully there were not THAT many) - a bit too slow of a pacing during the first half even for my taste

So, just like I said in the title, KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GETTING INTO. If you go and expect your typical horror movie with jump scares and a hidden 'baddie' slowly revealing itself along the movie in scary scenes, THIS IS NOT IT. This is mostly a family drama that tries to build suspense and make the viewer feel uneasy.

On a side note, I caught this on a premiere showing with a theatre half full and the occasional comments, coughs and even laughter from some 'individuals' took me out of some moments. If you do want to watch this in the cinemas, I would recommend waiting and going way past premieres and on a awkward day / time so you have the cinema close to empty. Or, if you have a sweet setup at home with a good sound system, I would just watch it at home.

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)

Great fun, good return of the franchise

[10/10 · 7 January 2016]

All this negativity on review pages just made me write my first review ever :)

Context on my Star Wars, I have seen all the movies a looot of times, absolutely love the originals and as for the prequels ... meh ... let's stick to I don't hate them.

That being said, I absolutely love this movie! I simply cannot believe that the first 4 pages of reviews on IMDb are 90% REALLY negative, jeez.

For what it's worth, I saw the movie 4 times already, 2D, 3D and twice on IMAX. First off, I would say if you can and you have a good one around, see it on IMAX, otherwise just skip normal 3D and go for 2D. Secondly, about all this negativity around and people talking about rigged ratings, money being put into ratings etc. just ignore it. 3 out of those 4 times were with a full packed cinema room and ended with people clapping at the end and cheering on a lot of fun parts of the movie.

The new characters are VERY likable, the cinematography is gorgeous, and the movie is FUN. The story does have some pretty big conveniences along the way to advance the plot and will leave you with a bunch of questions for the sequels but hey, it's STAR WARS. I never expected any Godfather from it, it's suppose to be fun and enjoyable and boy was it. Definitely my most fun movie experience since the first Avengers.

Would give it a 8.5 / 10 but just to balance all the hate I'm going for 10 (even though it's not really fair since the people giving it 1's and 2's are DEFINITELY over reacting a LOT)