Uh, once more… you know the drill…

Film

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

“May contain traces of Sam Raimi” – but other than that, it’s just another episode in the never-ending MCU, and not a particualar good one (disclaimer: I’m not a MCU fan). The only outstanding feature, the Raimi-style horror, is very dialed down.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe (2022)

Well, that one came out of the left field for me. I knew the original B & B-H show on MTV back then and liked it a bit, mostly because of the short metal-video clips. But in the years since, I unwittingly came to appreciate the work of Mike Judge, but I didn’t know that this film one was in the works.

I feared that this style of humor wouldn’t work anymore, or that they would have changed it too much (to fit the modern zeitgeist and trends), but it has been updated and modernized in a rather reasonable way, without betraying the core values. And most importantly, with all that, they’ve created a pretty good and fun movie (if you’re on board with this kind of humor and cartoon style).
★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

The Gray Man (2022)

Yet another smoke grenade of a “big, expensive, star-powered action film” from Netflix.

The plot is the usual hunt for a “McGuffin” item; the big names didn’t help either: Ryan Gosling acts as if on auto-pilot; Chris Evans has little to do, but is on constant overdrive; and the others are only underused one-dimensional side-characters.

That means the action would have to save this endeavor, but it can’t. Granted, there are one, two setpieces which looked exiting, as snippets in the trailer, but fail to fully deliver in the film.

It’s kind of OK when viewed only casually, but can’t hold stand to a closer look or if one pays attention to what is happening on screen.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

The Sea Beast (2022)

Not really bad, not really good. Pretty generic story and characters for this kind of flick.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Prey (2022)

Also pretty mediocre. It has some good ideas, but doesn’t plays them out very well. Certainly not the worst entry in the “Predator” franchise, but in my opinion also not the big shot of fresh blood that some see in it.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

The Northman (2022)

I really wanted to like this one more than I did in the end. I generally like the work of director Robert Eggers; he has his own style and vision, which I do appreciate. And the cast is also very well picked. And the theme of Vikings is also very intriguing to me (on the other hand, this film lives in the shadows of a very high bar).

But all that being said, “The Northman” didn’t offer enough for me to overlook the very, very, very simple plot and paper-thin characters.

(Speaking of style over substance: It’s been several weeks since I saw this film, and I find it hard to remember one memorable scene from it. Even the supposedly one-take of the village raid was not that great: It seemed too rehearsed in my eyes.)
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Day Shift (2022)

Has a cool opening action scene (and one in the middle), but except for those two short highlights, it’s just a mess and a collection of tropes; with boring protagonists, villains, and plot. Waste of time.
★☆☆☆☆ 1/5 stars

Red Rocket (2021)

A small independent drama, that would have flown under my radar, if I didn’t hear a couple of positive reviews for it.
Well, yeah, it was alright, but I wasn’t as hooked as those reviewers were by it (might also be a thing of my different cultural upbringing and background).
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)

I was on board for the first act or so: I liked some songs and the performances, but the premise had me rolling my eyes already from the start. In the end, it couldn’t sustain my interest over its whole runtime.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Top Gun (1986)

Rewatch – In preparation for Top Gun: Maverick, I rewatched the first film, since… forever, I guess. I dimly remembered that I didn’t care much for this movie on the first view, and that hasn’t changed now, decades later. It’s OK, and oozes the style and aesthetics of 1986, but other than that, it still didn’t leave much of an impression. Noteworthy observation: Tom Cruise may not the best actor out there, but even in this early stage of his career, one could feel the “Hollywood Star” genes in him.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Looks cool as hell and was better than I expected. It repeats a lot of (proven) story beats from its precursor, but despite that: The action alone in the final act is worth watching this (which surprised me, since its mostly “just” jets in high-speed flight and dogfights). And Tom Cruise is also still good (although still in his usual range of acting); the rest of the cast is also fine, but admittedly, they’re given pretty little to work with…
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

A very wild ride! Maybe a little bit too long (it’s well over two hours – what happend to the classic 90min action-adventures of the past decades?).
★★★★★ 5/5 stars

Nope (2022)

It was… quite OK. But I don’t get the overly high praise for it. Viewing it once was enough for me.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Hm, I really loved Thor: Ragnarok: Its shift in tone back then was cool, and made this character interesting to me, while Thor and Thor: The Dark World were just boring.

But this fourth entry in the series takes the weirdness and goofiness of Ragnarok and sets this to “overload”, while adding a good villan (for MCU standards), but whose plot is too grim for the rest of the film. And the added love-and-death drama also doesn’t get the time and intensity that it would deserve.

I’ve heard reviews which actually liked this constant clashes of storylines, but for me, it didn’t work very well.

So, good for watching once, but otherwise a pretty disappointing letdown after Ragnarok.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Outbreak (1995)

Rewatch – This came back into my memory after I heard about the recent death of directory and fellow countryman Wolfgang Petersen; and since it was available on Netflix: Why not?!

Well, I can’t recall when I watched it the last time (probably as a kid, so decades ago) or whether I liked it much back then (probably not, else I would have remembered it better).

So, now a rewatch… a partial rewatch: I must admit that I fast-forwarded it a lot after around the halfpoint – I just didn’t like it much (this time, definitely).
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Lightyear (2022)

Way better than what I expected. A fun space adventure; not great, but pretty good.
★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

The Lost City (2022)

It had some funny scenes (of which many were already teased in the trailer, a common issue nowadays), and the cast was also OK, but in the end, it was a pretty generic, mediocre mainstream action/adventure comedy. One could pick a worse movie than this — but there are also many, many out there that are much better…
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)

I wanted to like it more, but at these times, I’m a bit fed up when it comes to meta-humor and memberberries. The film starts off very entertaining and can keep it up for a while, but around the midpoint, it looses steam and begins to dwindle to a simple buddy/action comedy.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

The Devil’s Advocate (1997)

Rewatch – Watched it again, after I-can’t-remember-how-many years: Yeah, it’s still good, but not great (Al Pacino is, but Keanu Reeves is sadly not on the same level as him, although it works well enough in this case).
With turning a blind eye to the downsides, I’ll grant it four stars, just because.
★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

I heard so much praise for this classic, but… it’s not really my cup of tea. I can appreciate it now more than I probably could before, but it still won’t go into my hall of fame (far from it, actually).
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

The Ritual (2017)

Interesting first and second act, with a spartanic, reduced atmosphere of horror and scary elements. Unfortunately, the final act was a small letdown for me, so I’ll rate it just as “good”.
★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

Guns Akimbo (2019)

Reminded me a bit of Crank (hm, need to rewatch that again; I wonder how that one holds up after all those years…) and was entertaining enough at certain points, but won’t win any awards from me. If you can, watch it; if not: you won’t miss very much.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Werewolf by Night (2022)

So, this is sold as a “TV Special”, whatever that is supposed to mean. But it’s not based on an existing TV show, and it’s more or less just a short film, that stands (currently) on its own feet.

That being said, let’s get to the verdict: It was OK. Granted, a different style from Marvel than before, but at times I couldn’t make out whether it’s meant to be an homage, or a parody (or both) of the classic horror movies of the 1930s and 1940s. Anyways, it was not bad, quite well produced, but won’t leave a big impression with me.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

TV

Ted Lasso — Season 2

OK, so I will stick around for more, but honestly, I don’t quite get the overwhelming praise for this show.

I don’t get the feel-good aspect of it, the drama has been done elsewhere better, as well as the (little) humor, even by the same (co)creator (I think I’m repating the same items that I’ve brought up on the last season’s mini-review…).

It’s good enough to hang on (especially since season 3 is supposed to be the final one), but the bottom line for me is: It’s OK, but nothing special.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

The Boys — Season 3

Anything I wrote above about Ted Lasso, I could also write here about The Boys (if I’d replace “feel good” and “humor” with “blood” and “violence”, of course 😏 )

There are certainly some points that raise this show above an average one, but I still think it relies too much on shock value (even though they don’t actually overdo it, thankfully).
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Better Call Saul — Season 6

Wow. A slow burning milestone. Had a few minor, tiny issues with one or two plot points in this final season, but after all, this is how a prequel/sequel hybrid can work masterly. Very well done and highly recommended (but be prepared: The whole show is a slow paced affair).
★★★★★ 5/5 stars

Black Bird — Season 1

After the trailer, I had hoped for a well-written psycho duell behind bars, with (at least) two smart lead characters. Alas, that is not this show. Somehow it manages to drag on for too long with untinteresting stuff and at the same time glances over the fine details that would make the plot compelling.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

King of Stonks — Season 1

A german production (uh-oh), inspired by the Wirecard scandal. Just watched it because I heard and read a few (semi-)positive reviews – and immediately regretted it!
★☆☆☆☆ 1/5 stars

The Walking Dead — Season 11 (Episode 1-8)

Kind of OK. More of the same. It drags on and has nothing new to tell. But since it’s supposed to be the last season, I’ll stick around till the bitter end.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Westworld — Season 4

Well, what a clusterfuck! The previous season was better, even if that one already left the original concept in the dust, to wank about the same AI tropes as others did before, just in a new setting (and I’ll give the show that: It looks slick and stylish as hell, kudos to HBO for giving it so much production value).
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

The Umbrella Academy — Season 3

Interesting development: Although I’m not too keen on superhero stuff anymore, and I also didn’t like the previous season too much, I very much enjoyed this one (minus the usual minor nuisances).
★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

Light & Magic — Season 1 (Docu-Mini-Series)

Interesting documentation about the origin and history of ILM. It was good, I just wished it had shown/explained a bit more of the tricks and effects. Weirdly enough, despite it being already multiple hours long (which also focussed a lot on the personal stories [which was totally fine]), for me it could have been even longer , if they could have added more details about the creation of the actual effect shots; even if no footage exists…
★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

The Dropout — Mini-Series

Very interesting look into a story from which I only knew very little before, except for some headlines and summaries. The cast is all great (didn’t recognize Sayid first). I can’t judge what parts of it were accurate, and which one were exaggerated, but overall I had a slightly nagging feeling at the back of my head during all episodes that some aspects were either not explained well enough/in detail and/or were glossed over or shortend for drama purposes.

So, while I really liked it, it felt somehow a bit weird and “off” in terms of flow and focus (but I guess that’s also common issue when trying to dramatize real-life events for a film or TV show…).
★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

Dark — Season 1

I finally dug into the much-hyped show from my home country; and since I know fear the quality of most of the native TV- and Film productions here, I expected the worst…

Gladly, this was not quite as bad, but I still don’t understand what others see in this show.

Maybe it was because I’ve seen almost all of the older actors from other productions, but this first season felt very much like a typical, german TV production (I couldn’t even detect any increased budget or improved production values), just with a mystery touch.

Additionally, if you have (like I have) seen a few films or series that deal with time travels, you’ll soon get where this is going and what “surprises” and twists may occur (granted, that comes with the territoy, resp. the theme).

And while this first season even holds back on this (even a bit too much, in my opinion; it drags a lot), one will soon feel like being in a time lapse and “time-travel-overload-mode”, with too much happening and too little space to breath. So far, I’m quite disappointed by it.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars