More mini-verdicts of the noteworthy material that I’ve watched over the last months.

Looking over it now, at the end, I see: Lots of low ratings from me. Granted, that is also related to my general mood at the moment, but on the other hand, I already started taking notes for the next installment of these posts, and there I can actually already find a few gems on the (currently still short) next list.
Meaning: It’s not just my bad mood, but also the fact that Netflix productions suck (more than ever), as well that a a lot of mainstream Hollywood is pretty mediocre or bad.

Film

The Bronze (2015)

Good premise and also a handful nice scenes, but those often don’t reach its full potential. So, overall just average.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Oblivion (2013)

Rewatch – Luscious visuals, interesting story, good cast – but somehow missing the certain extra spark to make it really great.
★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

Possessor (2020)

This movie has a certain reputation, but I found it pretty underwhelming. Some aspects of the world looked interesting, but the film didn’t invest much time in exploring (or explaining) it. And also the characters are drawn very dim and without noteworthy arcs. (I’ve read that’s by design, but I think it worked against the film.)
★☆☆☆☆ 1/5 stars

Hustlers (2019)

Expected much more it: While the premise itself looks good on paper, the movie was mostly realized in a flat, uninteresting, repetitive and boring way.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Texas Chainsaw Massacre) (2022)

Bloody and with a rather short runtime (that’s a plus); gives the viewer what the title promises; nothing more, nothing less.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

The Reckoning (2020)

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Well, maybe not exactly, but I do remember when watching a Neil Marshall file was a great experience (The Descent!), or at least somewhat good, but in recent years, this has been slipping; and now with this, a new low point has been reached for this once promising director.
★☆☆☆☆ 1/5 stars

Cutthroat Island (1995)

An OK’ish action-adventure set in the world of pirates in 1668. It started out being quite entertaining, but somewhere along the way, I lost interest.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

It Follows (2014)

I read a lot of positive reviews for this one, but except for a few scenes, it generally left me pretty cold (mostly due to the shabby writing).
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Bad Boys For Life (2020)

Not good, not bad, just mediocre buddy-cop action.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

November Man (2014)

I fast-forwared this one mostly (yeah, yeah, shame on me…), since it was an extremly generic old-school (and outdated) looking agent “thriller”.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

Rewatch – Although I’m not the biggest fan on earth of Western films, there are some great classics in that genre – and this is definitely one of them.
★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

For A Few Dollars More (1965)

Rewatch – Not really a sequel to “A Fistful of Dollars”, at least not plot-wise, despite many recurring actors.
But nevertheless, it’s not without a good reason why this is also considered a classic in the Western genre.
★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

The Old Ways (2020)

Didn’t work for me at all. I didn’t expect too much of it anyway (low budget, limited setting), but with a better plot, dialogs or characters, it could have worked (I’ve seen such movies); unfortunately, it failed in all these points.
★☆☆☆☆ 1/5 stars

Man of Steel (2013)

Rewatch – Since it was available on Netflix and because of some upcoming movies, I was reminded of them, and tuned in again. Mind you, I have seen it before and this time I skipped and fast-forwarded many scenes, to get to the interesting parts quicker…

As usual, Snyder’s style is extraordinary at some times, but as a whole, the movie suffers from bad plot and pace and the usual problems that I have with the Superhero genre.

On the positive side, Henry Cavill (Superman) fits great in that role; but that alone doesn’t rescue this trainwreck.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Rewatch – Since it was available on Netflix and because of some upcoming movies, I was reminded of them, and tuned in again. Mind you, I have seen it before and this time I skipped and fast-forwarded many scenes, to get to the interesting parts quicker…

As usual, Snyder’s style is extraordinary at some times, but as a whole, the movie suffers from bad plot and pace and the usual problems that I have with the Superhero genre.

On the positive side, both Henry Cavill (Superman) and Ben Affleck (Batman) fit great in their roles (even Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman was not too bad); but that alone doesn’t rescue this trainwreck.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Science Fiction Volume One: The Osiris Child (2016)

A low-budget SciFi film that was just terrible for 95% of its runtime.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Evil Dead II (1987)

Regarding special-effects and cinematography, it holds up pretty well. It’s also a quite a step up compared to the precursor in terms of entertainment and splatter-fun.

By the way, despite the name, don’t expect a sequel to the first Evil Dead: It has some of the same people in front and behind the camera, and the story reminds rudimentary of part one, but this is a kind of re-interpretation of part one, not a continuation – with way more money and comedy.

It’s still a relatively(!!!) good horror-comedy; with a style that was (and still is) quite extraordinary and is still often used in other works from Sam Raimi.
★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Quite OK, while still following the usual Marve mainstream formula. But the special effects were surprisingly bad at times (for such a high budget endeavor), and most of the appeal of the movie just stems from the bait of nostalgia and memberberries from previous instances.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

The Mummy (1999)

Rewatch – Hm, I was not a big fan back in the days, and the film hasn’t improved over the years, I think. It’s mediocre-OK and watchable enough, with a few memorable scenes, but nothing more.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Windfall (2022)

That was weird. Although a bit too slow and superficial, I was on board for the ride for most of the runtime, but the very last twist/final scene was just too unexpected, unearned and out-of-character, so that it diminished all of the (already little) goodwill I had for it.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Rampage (2018)

Of course it had the usual handful of one-liner gags and cool action pieces and scenes that weren’t total garbage (and which one can expect from these kind of mainstream assembly line content productions nowadays), but as a whole, it was just trash.
★☆☆☆☆ 1/5 stars

Martyrs (2008)

Yet another one of these infamous films that were cast under the umbrella term “New French Extremity”.

Over the years, I’ve seen some of them, out of interest; and like most of those, Martyrs also has a few nice ideas and memorable scenes… – but the plot doesn’t hold up over the course of the film, and isn’t as “deep” or “thought-provoking” as it may thinks or wishes to be.

The last act is even a bit boring, except for some spikes of gruesomeness. So, one will be left with having seen some scenes of extreme violence, but not much more.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

The Big Short (2015)

I would lie if I told you that I’d now fully understand how exactly the finacial crisis of 2007+ came to be, but at least I gained a slight and entertaining insight in the (un)doing of it; and the cast wasn’t shabby, too.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Ratatouille (2007)

Rewatch – Holds up pretty well and can considered as one of the Pixar classics – but…:

Like on my first time watching this film, years ago, I still think this one (and the Pixar movies in general) is a bit overrated: Of course, this one/all of them are beyond all doubts in terms of state of the art of animation and technology (of the respective time of creation); and the plots and characters have way, way more depth and thought put into it than on other, more mainly child-oriented mainstream animation films.

Yet still, even though I like actually all moving parts of it, in the sum of it all, Pixar movies never transcent their limits (in my opinion) to become a great or a masterpiece film.

But that’s just a personal feeling of mine…
So, subjectively 3 stars, objectively (from my point of view) 4 stars.
★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

Metal Lords (2022)

Oh dear lord! I had hoped for a wacky, but also likeable coming-of-age film, with some of the usual tropes of that genre, as well as maybe a few new ideas or twists.
But what I really got in the end was a generic and boring experience with no memorable scenes or characters – in other words:
Just another Netflix run-of-the-mill production to fill their content library.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

The Kingdom (2007)

Rewatch – It was as good as I remembered it. Not great, but very well-made, with a handful of outstanding scenes. Listed here with a rating of 3 stars, but you could also see it as 3.5 stars.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

The Cabin In The Woods (2011)

Rewatch – I already watched this one, way back, when it was all the rage years ago; so the plot as a whole and the twists didn’t suprise me anymore. It was a fun film back then, but a bit over-hyped, I thought.

Now, rewatching it again, my verdict has not changed much: Yup, still entertaining, but with the plot known to me, it lost a bit of its halo and so I’ll rate it down a notch (which also means: If you’re into this kind of story and will watch it for the first time, just rate it a bit higher, maybe 3.5 stars).
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

The Bubble (2022)

Oh dear, yet another botched Netflix production: Way too long, no humor at all that I found funny (I can’t remember that I’ve laughed, giggled or even grinned even a single time at any of the attempted jokes!). And as film-making satire, it’s just too goofy. It may have worked as a collection of short skits on YouTube, but not as a movie!
I’m proposing a new name: The Clusterfuck.
★☆☆☆☆ 1/5 stars

TV

Dota: Dragon’s Blood — Season 2 (Only episode 1 & 2)

Weird, because I actually liked the first season (it was nothing spectecular, but entertaining enough), but this second season totally lost me right from the start.

It also didn’t help that it came without a reacap or summary (as far as I could see), since it has been a while since I saw season one, and other, more memorable films and series stuck with me more than this one; so I couldn’t really enage, since I had these nagging questions stuck in my brain: “Where have we left off? What are they trying to accomplish? And who are these people, anyway…?!”.

After episode 2 I was done with it: I couldn’t connect the least with any of the characters, their motivation and arcs, or with any of the usual tired medivial fantasy tropes.
★☆☆☆☆ 1/5 stars

Doom Patrol — Season 1 & 2

Skipped and fast-forwarded it a lot (especially season 1), but near the end of season 1, I somehow came to peace with it and accepted it as the ultra-wacky and weird, non-sensical mess that it is.

Season 2 is more of the same, but now I knew what to expect and I even grew fond of the characters. Still not a good show, and also not something that I’d wholeheartedly recommend; but it’s tolerable and even a bit funny at times.

Maybe I’ll continue with season 3 (but not right away), maybe not; not sure yet…
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Black Mirror — Season 4 & 5

Most episodes are way too long, and yet lack world building, which makes it partially also too unbelievable. Additionally, having just the same, singluar writer for all the episodes of this show also takes its toll. These two recent seasons are definitely a regression in comparison to the already lackluster previous season.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Archer — Season 6

I still like it – which is suprising for a comedy running for that many seasons; I wonder how it will hold up in the future, as I’m only halfway through… (I think the show is currently at season 12?!).
★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

Brooklyn Nine-Nine — Season 7

Counterexample to the above mentioned opinion on Archer:
As I already indicated on the mini-reviews of previous seasons: BNN is slowly running out of steam and going stale for me (as sitcoms often do after a while).
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Space Force — Season 2

Oh wow, what a nosedive. The first season was a good little comedy show, but this one didn’t have any story worth to tell, the characters were shadows of themselves and humor of any kind was missing. Ugh!
★☆☆☆☆ 1/5 stars