Magnífica 70

Irritated that HBO thought it would be idea to dub this series in Spanish. Brazil speaks Portuguese. Leave the real language and just add English subtitles. Simone Spoladore is beautiful and Garib, who plays Manolo is an excellent actor. Lots of great actors in the series.

What a disrespectful way to treat your Lusophone Portuguese Speaking community here in US. Why does HBO dub Spanish over all Portuguese films and series? Such a disappointment. Just so you know Portuguese is spoken by 266 million native speakers. Our language is beautiful, and deserves to be heard

In 1970s Brazil, an odd collection of misfits and losers come together to make low-budget films. 'Magnifica70' might, on this summary, sound not disimillar to Tim Burton's movie 'Ed Wood', except for the fact that, in the beginning at least, few of its protagonists are under any delusions about their cinmatic abilities; rather, most of them are looking to rip each other off, or, as is the case of the hero Vicente, a mild-mannered censor, have more carnal motivations. Somehow they create art, and do battle with the dictatorship at the same time. A portrayal of the censorship office brings to mind another 'Brazil', that of Terry Gilliam. It's a wonderful conceit, but it only half succeeds. Thirteen episodes is a long time to tell a story, and its basic texture (part comedy, part macabre) is soon established but takes a long time to play out. It's certainly original, and a welcome contrast to the mainsteram detective dramas that seem to dominate our screens, but it's not quite as gripping as it promises. It's still worth watching and will likely in hte mind when other, more forgettable series, have passed.

Rather odd show, about a low budget movie producer, a con artist actress, and a odd director in an even odder relationships. The movie being filmed is a low budget mild softcore reminiscent of a mild Jesus Franco movie, odd love scenes, chains and very little plot or connection.

The show also jumps around a lot, elements are dropped, other things have little to no explanation. Still I cannot say its not worth watching, as odd as it is it, it still has some history and life storylines that are interesting. Such as trying to get around a censorship system that is both strict and a little ridiculous.

Overall not the worst thing you could spend an afternoon watching, but maybe more of an acquired taste.

I wanted to like this, I really did. But it was a struggle to get through the first season. There were so many ridiculous plot lines and absurd interactions between the characters that I barely got through it. Then I tuned in for the second season and instead of getting better, it immediately went even more absurd and ridiculous. I had to give up rather than commit to watching 20 more episodes of what is essentially a poorly structured farce.

I managed to enjoy a few aspects of the show, but the repetitive nature of the scenes and the plotting just wore me out. And given the central subject matter (sex in the movies...and elsewhere), the series was remarkably tame and frankly boring. I don't understand how Brazil could be this far behind in cinema, as I've watched SO many brilliant international movies and series.

If you can be entertained by simple-minded plotting and mediocre writing, give it a shot. The actors aren't all that bad. But you'd really be better off seeking better entertainment elsewhere.