ravivenkitaraman's reviews

The Bear boasts some superb episodes but sadly, they are few and far between. Most of the show (Season 3 in particular) is the same-old same-old...marginally funny, with contrived stress and no real spine to its story-telling. The choice of music is excellent throughout, I'll give them that.

My tip for first-time viewers: go straight to the episodes that have an IMDB rating of 8.5+. (Jamie Lee Curtis and Olivia Colman make superb cameos in a couple of these.). Enjoy said episodes. Then skip the rest.

A 600 character minimum is too long to expect for a viewer review. IMDB, I hope you're listening.

I typically enjoy Malayalam movies much more than other Indian movies. The plot lines are far more realistic, the acting is much more unpretentious, the dialog is just as it would be in real life, and the scenery is often spectacular (without feeling "manicured.")

This miserable movie, however, is the antithesis of everything that good Malayalam movies typically offer. A blaring "Bollywood" sound track (intended to manipulate our feelings because the script cannot?), Shakespearean deliveries of ordinary lines (read: serious overacting), a script full of holes, too many twists for its own good....and on and on. How do I count the ways?

Avoid this stuff like the plague. It gives the genre a bad name and unfairly so; there's so much other good stuff on offer from Malayalam cinema.

Whereas GOT was fresh, well plotted, and helped us care about its characters, HOTD is derivative, boring, and over-emoted. It plays out like an amateur drama, with no clever twists or creativity, living on the laurels of its predecessor. I found myself doing other stuff while watching it (the only way I could get through this mess).

What a waste of a big budget. And sadly, I cannot think of a single character who broke the hammy stereotype. Well, a couple of the dragons tried. I'll give them that.

Advice to the producers: when you next create warring factions playing a fantasy game, at least make them interesting.

The courtroom scenes are interesting...and it all ends there. The Sabich family interaction is both unrealistic and boring...poorly written, acted, and directed. I am going to fast forward to court scenes only for episodes 7 and 8.

Speaking of the cast: Peter Skaarsgard and Bill Camp have both been good so far, so there's that. The rest, including Jake Gyllenhall...not so much.

I'm going to bite the bullet and finish the series, despite my misgivings. . I've invested too much to stop now. But if you haven't started watching yet, I suggest you don't. The show is way too uneven to justify eating into your precious time.

Much of the first episode had me shaking my head at the seemingly over-the-top stupidity and incompetence of the show's newbie cops. Just another show with tons of frustrating idiot-factor lathered on, I figured.

But then a nice thing happened. The plot lines thickened. The characters assumed nuance and complexity. Every actor came through in spades. And each episode from then on just got better. Until, at the end, I was rooting for every single player on the show. That can only happen when there's outstanding character development; so thank you, writers, actors, directors, for providing me with several hours of very high quality entertainment. Bravo.

How do you take a beautiful setting and what could be an interesting plot, and make a hash of it? Why, you make Arctic Circle Season 3, of course.

Hard to pinpoint which fails more with the show, the script or the acting. The writing provides little to no character nuance, and the subplots are basically weak soap operas. As for the acting and direction, wooden faces, wooden deliveries, and fake accents all manage to drag the show into amateur night territory.

I truly regret getting invested in this show. I wasted a good 6 hours of my time. Please don't make the same mistake I did. Pick something else.

Unfortunately, we should've cut bait 2 episodes in, but felt invested and hoped from some of the reviews here that things would improve. Instead, more of the same triteness, a moribund script, and predictable waterworks (read: sobbing at the drop of a hat) from Morven Christie. We do agree with many reviewers that she was better in other procedural fare.

Please avoid unless you're looking for insubstantial, part-time watching material.

Gotta fill the 600-character requirement, hence I'm typing this final wasted paragraph with zero content. Much like some of this show's episodes. Sorry you had to read it.

Season 1 was as fresh as they come. Great comedic chemistry, tongue-in-cheek fun, and a budding new star in Selena Gomez to keep company to Messrs. Short and Martin.

Season 2, unfortunately, is quite the clunker. The chemistry is gone, Selena's act turns stale, and while visuals and score are as good as ever, the writing has turned putrid. Unfortunately, we are invested and are therefore committed to finish watching this mess.

Interesting overall concept is spoiled by poor tactical writing, with many people doing stupid things often, absurd coincidences, and trite plot threads. The acting's ok. Pity. Could've been good.

So it's different from the book and other screen versions. So what? Interesting is interesting.

Except....this version is a veritable snooze fest. How one can take such promising themes (traveling around the world! Exotic locales!) and inject such megatorpor into them is beyond me.

I suggest you avoid being bored to death by this silly version. Skip!

"Mass" packs a massive punch thanks to its four protagonists and fine screenplay. No background music or stunts relied on, and none required, to move the audience....this drama is as organic as visceral as they come. I'd give it a 10 except for what I thought were a couple of throwaway scenes to start the film.

I was one of those who was able to review a preview of the show (which corresponded, roughly, to Episode 1). I was impressed by the local flavor (South Africa!) and the opportunity to get an insightful look inside a Zulu community. In addition, the plot seemed promising (serial killer!) and the characters interesting.

Alas, everything only flattered to deceive. The show goes downhill quickly and flatlines into trite themes, and the writing and direction don't help any.

Avoid this mess.

The first two seasons had me. Tight plotting, solid teleplay, and a mess of interesting characters. But it all got repetitive after that, going through the motions until its merciful end. 9 stars for seasons 1 and 2, 5 for the last two.

Innovative twists and turns, clever serial killers, flawed but fan-worthy central characters.... I mean, what's not to like? Also, the effort to pack in sub-plots and minor characters is remarkably successful; at no point does it feel that the episodes have any filler.

One more thing: In my opinion, the show actually gets better from season to season, and the fourth season is my favorite both from a plot standpoint and as the culmination of Bron's lead characters' story arcs.

In the middle of episode 2 so it's still early and I do plan to finish watching the series (and revise this review if needed). But so far, this lacks any subtlety, and the director and script writer try to create tension and suspense using jaded film techniques rather than allowing the story to develop organically.

Failing grade for now.

An all-star cast does full justice to Aaron Sorkin's script in this quintessentially 60's protest flick end courtroom drama. In addition to star turns by Redmayne, Baron Cohen, Langhella, Rylance, and Gordon Levitt, I loved the cameo from Michael Keaton.

There is a noticeable drop off in quality of plot and script between the two seasons, so despite the same actors and the same general innuendo, season 2 feels relatively dull and vapid. I'm hoping that season 3 returns to the glory of the first season....they had a good thing going there for a while.

This cornball comedy thrives because of its star. Jason Sudekis can inject warm, genuine humor into any situation and this is no different. Sure we've seen the story before a hundred times, and sure it's schmaltzy, but it's vintage Jason! And just for that, it's worth it all.

De Dag has you on the edge of your seat throughout its 12 episodes (think early seasons of the Keifer Sutherland show 24) but there's a realism that elevates it to an entirely different level, plus the twists are much more imaginative. Hats off also to flawless writing and acting.

There are some by-now-standard HBO attempts at wokeness and Mason is certainly not (yet) the clean cut hero that your grandparents grew up reading about and watching. But that said, this is an extremely entertaining and put-together mystery where everyone is flawed but interesting, and the story evolves really well. Just push aside any preconceptions you may have of Perry, and sit back and enjoy the noir.

It's hardly a classic, but the pieces are interwoven smartly, the characters feel genuine (and genuinely broken), and the story-telling moves briskly. Definitely worth a watch.

I read the book 50 years ago and saw the movie 40 years ago. I don't remember either very well except that I liked them.

This series, however, has left a deep and I think lasting impression on me. It helps that I love Italy and I like the music of the 40s (particularly the jazz) but that was just gravy for me. The real meat was the pathos that the directors managed to create amid the satire and horseplay you would expect. War is horror, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise in the name of a " higher cause."

Congrats on a mini series beautifully and poignantly executed.

Unnecessarily melodramatic, highly unrealistic, with idiot-factors sprinkled liberally throughout the series. I can't remember a single authentic moment, but I can remember lots of annoying ones.

If you limit your viewing to sophisticated, intelligent TV, give this one a wave as you drive by it, and do not look back.

I just finished Season 3 and IMO this is the best offering on TV today in the spy genre. It's detailed, feels authentic, and the plots and scripts are tight with very little wasted screen time. Add to that great locales and solid acting, and that puts it at the very top of the category, along with The Americans, and significantly ahead of other genre offerings such as Homeland.

Just plain lousy in every way. For those of you who have stopped watching network TV after graduating to good cable, watching this nonsense will remind you why. The production crew's sophomoric attempts to create a suspense-a-minute affair succeeded only in making me cringe.

My heartfelt advice: don't even start watching, otherwise you'll feel invested and compelled to waste even more of your time in an effort to finish it...like I did. (Shame on me. I should have trusted the negative reviews out there. )