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Cobra Kai: Eunjangdo (2024)

What a rush! Breathtaking episode.

I grew up with the movies in the eighties. These movies were (and are) very important in the lives of Ralph Macchio and William Zabka. In every episode they give their full 100 percent. You can feel how important this is to them to give the saga a worthy closure.

For the last 5 episodes some things were predictable. Mary Mouser is not a good fighter as she also is not a good actress. I don't understand how she got the part in Cobra Kai. Watching Rayna Vallandingham, she looks more like Biography Courtney Henggeler to be her daughter. She would have been better cated for the role as Sam, fighting wise and acting wise.

Watching the last five episodes, I was wondering how the writers could get an escape out of the tournament eliment and they got it. The tournament is not the environment you want to get closure for these series. Silver getting in between of Cobra Kai and Miyagi Do was great. The big fight where everything got messy was breathtaking. Again; everything came together like two half deck of cards that got shuffled together by a magician.

I am very curious where this goes towards in the last 5 episodes.

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

Was not that bad.

I have heard te stories about how bad the movie was; Gaga is not an actress and too much songs like making this movie a musical. None of this was true.

Gaga is fine to watch as an actress. That was not the problem. The problem is that she was not Harley Quinn. Everytime I saw Gaga, I just saw her, not Harley. Gaga brought is the songs. Sometimes nice to watch, sometimes misplaced and too much (unnecessary). Joachim's performance was, again, good. But watching this movie as an extend of the Joker in the Batman universe, it falls too short.

Naming this movie The Joker, I expect to see The Joker as in Jack Napier and not Arthur Fleck. Seeing at the end Jack Napier killing Arthur, is anticlimatic. Like this movie and the first should naver be named The Joker, but Arthur Fleck.

Even the reason why the name of the sequel is partially French is not logical. Even bacause the french people are known for not communicating in a different language than their own.

So sure the movie let me down storywise as a viewer. But it was not a bad movie as it was. I had high expectations for this movie, like many other fans of the first movie and the sequel just could not deliver. But it is not up to the movie maker to fullfill my expectations. It was me who let myself down for watching this movie with expectations that did not match the movie I was watching.

The Shadow Strays (2024)

All that fuzz because of Monji?

Don't get me wrong, I liked the movie. It is about a female assassin who wants to free a little boy Monji whom she just met a day ago. Storywise it did not make any sense. Just because the boy ate her noodles soup, they got a bond I guess.

In the beginning we get to meet this female assassin called "13". She is disguised and fights very good. She does not make any sound with her mouth when she fights. It is like watching a silent disco. But the killing goes wrong a bit and she is sent home by her employer.

At home she gets bored. Her neighbour Monji gets kidnapped by some maffia characters and she decides to get Monji free and kill everyone who gets in het way.

At Monji's house, she meets Jeki. He is a thug who works for the Maffia and had to clean Monji's house so there was no trace back to the Maffia. The same Maffia who owns the police so it would not matter if there were any traces that led the police back to them. But anyway, Jeki starts helping 13 and they get a bond as well. Not as special as 13 has with Monji, but a strong one nevertheless. I don't know how, I watched the whole movie, but they get close. So when (spolier alert) Jeki dies, 13 screams. And that's weird. Sure not only she cries for a thug she just met, but when she fights she screams a lot. The silent disco changed into a female tennis match.

But we are not watching this movie for the story. For people who love endless fighting scenes, this movie is golden porn to them. Like John Wick's dog got killed, a dog he did not really know or had a special connectiuon with, 13 just needed a thin excuse to kille people. Monji was her little dog she loved.

So why the high rate for this movie? The choreography of the fightinh scenes are terrific. Awesome maybe. As a viewer you are in the middle of the fighting scenes. Camerawork is top, acting is fine. The only thing I missed is that 13 was a kind of baba yega in the beginning, but it had noting to do with the rest of the movie. That was a pity.

It Ends with Us (2024)

Movie with a great message for young women.

There has been said a lot about this movie, or to be precise, the way Blake promoted this movie. The way she seemed to promote her products casted a shadow on this movie. Like she and her husband desperately need the income of her products. I don't buy that.

About the movie, it is slow paced. That Justin Baldoni (Ryle) is a neuro surgeon is hard to believe. It get followed up with uninteresting conversations to get them built up a relationship. Still she remembers her first love, Atlas. After many years she gets in touch with Atlas, what casts a spell on her relationship with Ryle.

The scenes with Atlas are spot on. The script is wonderful written and acted very great. It gives a big contrast with the scenes with Blake and Justin.

I get why Blake is proud of this movie. I wanted to see this movie in the cinemas with my 15 years old daughter, but she was not allowed because it is for 16 plus. I am going to watch it anyway with her, because the message should be heard by all the young women in the world, to protect them from unhealthy relationships. As a father I feel I am obligated to her to let her watch this movie. And since she is a fan of Blake's movies, I know she will like it. The biggest message, what really got me, was the next to last scene where Blake had her conversation with Rily, what he would say to his daughter in the same situation. That was power. Sure, wrong actor still casted for the role, but a very strong script again giving the viewer a powerfull message. Love this movie, thank you.

Speak No Evil (2024)

Remake of a movie with same name of 2022.

Last week I saw the McAvoy 2024 version of this movie and I was blown away by McAvoy's performance. He does deliver as an actor. So I had to see the original version as well.

From the beginning the movies are the same; A couple with a daughter gets invited to stay at the place of an other couple with a son who cannot speak. During the stay the couple with the daughter find out that the other couple is not what they seem to be.

The original version is quite good. Story wise it is made better. The end is different and more realistic. The 2024 version is dominated by the acting performance of McAvoy, which is, remakable. The acting of the 2024 version is better, but story wise made into a happy ending. And when I saw that movie, that was the only thing that bothered me.

Two movies, start very similar, but at some point they get on different tracks. So if you ask me, which movie you should watch, in this case I would say both. 2022 because of the better story and the 2024 version because of McAvoy. I won't spoil the ending of the original version, but to be honest, it is the only suitable way to end a movie like this.

Terminator Zero: Model 101 (2024)

Not quite correct.

Thirty years ago I liked mango cartoons and I sure likes Terminator 2 ; judgement day. So when I heared about this, I was excited. Many years have passed, and I had high expectations about these episodes. They sure did not deliver.

• Quality of the drawing has not improved. Even Akira has better quality and more detailed images than this.

• The terminator opens his mouth from time to time, sometimes because it is hurt. Terminators don't know pain. They don't open their mouths if they don't have to speak. Even Cameron knew this thirty years ago. When the Terminator's cover is blown, he does not have to open his mouth at all, because his voice is computer generated and produced by a speaker. Not, like human beings, my their mouth. That's why they can imitate other people's voices.

The first episode could not convince me to watch further. It is not exciting, no action, the voice overs are dull and forced. Even more; we have seen this before but then better.

Fly Me to the Moon (2024)

Was this about the moon or a predictable romantic movie?

When I heard about this movie, I thought it was about the 1969 moonlanding. It wasn't really. The moonlanding was just an excuse to make a romantic movie with Johanson and the handsome guy from the Magic Mike movie.

Good points about this movie is the acting, Woody, Ray, at the right places. Soundtrack is welldone.

Now what I did not like so much is that they made a romantic movie out of this. Like Magic Mike falls for Johanson and Johanson, even when she has a hectic job, wants to know more about Magic Mike. That did not make any sense. And ofcourse there were some struggles and as a viewer I already know they will overcome those obstacles and did not care how. There was a moment I fell asleep because everything in this movie felt like I had seen it before already.

At parts in the movie people say how good Johanson is in her job. Actors don't have to say that about characters. It was like watching a Stallone's Expendables movie, you can pick any one of them. As a viewer I want to think that for myself. I don't want my food to be chewed in front by someone else. Ans that was how this movie made me feel.

Cobra Kai: Best of the Best (2024)

Tory's story... Wow!

The first three episodes of season 6 were afwul to watch. Bad acting, bad fighting, boring conversations. In episode 4 Tory spiced it a little with her emotional story.

Episode 5 is what I wanted to see throughout the previous episodes. Emotional wise, story wise, action packed, it made all sense. Where the first three episodes were written by a moron, episode 5 reminded me why I am a fan of Cobra Kai.

The teenagers had to fight their own demons, they had to fight eachother and have to fight their opponents in the tournament. I hope they can keep the next episodes on this level. Secretly I am on Robby's and Tory's team, no matter what happens.

Inside Out 2 (2024)

Emotional.

I went to see this movie with my 15 years old daughter. The movie is about Riley who goes into puberty. That goes along with a bunch of new emotions. It is up to her how to deal with that.

First of all; the movie is beautiful made. The characters are so detailed, especially the skin of Anger. The colors are beautiful and the creatures are funny looking. The whole idea about the emotions work and I am hoping for more sequels to come.

What Riley is going through, emotions wise, was relatable for me for my childhood and is for my daughter as well. We had a long and interesting conversation about our emotions afterwards. That was very rewarding. Reflecting our emotions in specific situations and reflecting other people emotions was an outcome due to this movie. I really liked that.

I am Joy all over. My daughter put Joy aside the last couple of years. She is more a sadness kind of girl. It is up to her if she wants to be that person. Now she is aware, she knows that being sadness is a choice.

Wonderful movie. Very clever. Only thing I would have liked to see different is that I did not think the voice of the orange emotion suited the character. I think I would have liked Steve Buscemi instead. But that's a more personal thing I guess.

Go and see this movie.

The Marsh King's Daughter (2023)

Don't really know why this movie was made.

This movie is about a young girl who grows up with her parents in the forest. One day, when her father is away, het mother escapes with her and goes to the city. Her father gets arrested. After that she grows up in the city, has a husband and a child. 20 years later after her father escapes from prison and finds her.

The first part of the movie is quite boring. We get to see how a father teaches his daughter how to hunt. Of course the same skills come in handy when she has to hunt her own father down. And that's the part where I got lost. Her father found her in the city. He leaves enough clues for her to know that he did. She decides to go back to the forest to hunt her father down. Her father, who clearly is in the city.

OK, I guess her father went back to the forest as well, don't know why. They could have settled everything in the city. In the forest she finds out that her stepfather followed her. He gets shot and killed by her own father. Her father followed her back to the forest. He captured his daughter and throws her in a pit. Then he goes back to the city for his granddaughter. The daughter gets out of the pit to prevent that.

So here I get lost. The father is in the city for his daughter and granddaughter. He kind of stalks them there. For some reason he goes back to the forest to capture his daughter who lives in the city. Why didn't he capture her there? How did he know his daughter would go to the forest too? Then in the forest after capturing his daughter, he goes back to the city for his granddaughter. He could have taken her the first time he went back from city to the forest.

When the daughter tracks down her father, we get to see how all skills learned come in handy. A little broken twig tells us her father did that. Why not a random animal? Even though she knew it was her father, he still manages to take her.

Weird movie. I don't understand what the moviemaker was trying to achieve making this movie. What did he or she want to tell us? The movie as it is, is quite boring. Yes, filled with pretty and handsome people, that also did not make any sense.

Dogman (2023)

Well...

I don't quite know what to think about this movie. It is about a young boy who gets to live among dogs because of his bullying brother and father. He gets a special bond with the dogs of which even Cesar Milan would get jealous of. That was quite an interesting beginning, but had nothing to do with the rest of the movie whatsoever.

He talks to a psychiatrist and tells about a woman he fell in love with. Very boring part and just time filling without any purpose. If this was a psychological study of why he became a drag, I don't understand why the mother was not a bigger part in it.

I must admit, the way the main character Caleb owns the drag scene is admiring worthy. Very beautiful and strong performance. But it doesn't stand between a weak story and an ending that was Home Alone like. Sure I liked the part where the dogs got the villains, but it was totally misplaced in a Besson movie. In that way I am afraid that Caleb's show gets burried beneath a layer of dirt and that's a pity. He deserves so much more. But even his performance could not cover a weak and "all over the place" story.

It (2017)

A rare combination.

I have seen this movie many times and it does not get bored. The acting of the kids is phenomenal. The movie itself is a rare combination with everything in one movie; horror, thriller, drama, romance, comedy. Your emotions will go all places. This is a movie that kinda is perfect. Well cast, well written, camera work awesome. They should make more movies with ingredients like in this one.

Where I would think Pennywise would take over the movie, fortunately that did not happen. Skarsgard as Pennywise is great, but the focus on the kids turned out to be an excellent choice. Unfortunately we have to do it with two movies. But they are worth watching again and again.

Shogun (2024)

Looks like The last samurai to me.

I like this kind of miovies and series. So I was very pleased these episodes scored very high on IMDb. So I had to watch it.

For me, after watching the first three episodes, this is a no go. It looks very much like The Last samurai, although the Samurais are replaced by Shoguns. There is a white fellow who gets captured and learns the way of the Shogun. Similar story, stretched out over many episodes, does not have the heart and soul of The last samurai. But still manages to get a higher score. That's strange.

So Hiroyuki Sanada has played in both as well; Shogun and The last samurai. But in Shogun he is the leader of his tribe and his part is played by someone else. Tom Cruis has been replaced by an other white guy and that's it.

What disturbed me the most is that there is a lot of talking going on. During the talking, a younger man gets emotional and shares his anger in front of everyone. By doing so, he says that his bloodline will end. And so it happens that his ashes and the ashes of his baby ends up in two doggy bags for his wife. That did not make any sense. Cutting his thumb off would have been enough.

Ferrari (2023)

Story going all over the place.

Since Ron Howard's Rush 2013 is like to watch car racing movies. Ron set the bar really high and ever since there was no movie to top it. Not Le Mans '66 2019 and not this one.

First of all the story goes all over the place. Every scene gives you an insight of Enzo's life without connecting the dots. There is no character development to share some sympathie for the characters. It is just a sort of study about the man's life what should have stayed as a story.

The race sequences were not exciting. Something I excepted to see in a movie about Ferrari. When you know that Masserati was terminated there was no rush in finish the race as a race. So why didn't Portage change the tires or why did Enzo leave that choice to Portago? At the end it was Enzo's car and his name on the line.

Acting was average. Did not know what Dempsey was doing there. Penelope wasn't acting great, come on. I hear people say she acted Oscar worthy. I still have to see that movie with her in it. This wasn't it. I guess I expected to much of this movie as a Ferrari car lover myself in combination of a fan of the movie Rush 2013, that in all aspects this movie was about to fail. But then again, if you can't top a movie made ten years ago, just don't give it a try. Leave Ferrari as a book. Not everything has to be transformed into a Hollywood movie, just because there had to be a movie made.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)

What's up with the singing?

I have seen the movies with Katniss and I liked them. This one not so much. I did not like the female main actress. Her acting was not loveable and I just did not believe it. Why did she have to sing?

The writers have been up and down in every corner to make links between this movie and the movies before, but the links could easily be forgotten as well.

There were so many flaws and ideas that made no sense at all, like the birds who could copy human voices with a device. What was up at the end of the movie? Since this is a prequel, what kind of effect did it have for the other movies? Was Katniss Snow's child?

The only plus was the male actor. But he could not carry the whole movie on his shoulders. This movie is just a waste of my time. It was better if I wasted on Napoleon, but can't go back can I?

Jawan (2023)

A mix of everything what makes you want to throw up.

If I would have to write a review about all the things that are wrong about this movie, it would be a very long review. Nowadays movies are not what is used to be. Movies with srk in the past had a soul (DDJL), a heart (Mohabbatein), were thrilling (Darr). Movies of today are poorly written with a lot of action that makes no sense at all. We get to see the scenes in normal speed and when someone important shows up we get to see him or her in slowmotion. That effect wears out.

The writer didn't know if this movie had to be a thriller, action movie, romantic or a comedy. So he mixed it all up and turned it into a turd with a flague on top of it with the letters SRK written on it in the hope it would save the movie.

It didn't. IT's a soulless, heartless movie. Yes, the situation about the farmers in India, breaks my heart. But to use that as an excuse to make a bad action film around it makes me cry.

Approaching the Unknown (2016)

Mark is a Strong actor, but this movie has flaws.

This movie is about an astronaut that travels alone to Mars. When he leaves earth he looks outside the window and sees earth. How is that possible? When you leave earth, the bottom of the spaceshuttle faces earth. There's no window there.

The astronaut faces little problems and meets weird other astronaut in space what has to make the movie a bit exciting, but as the movie progressief, the events did not really matter.

Then a fuse burns and a part of the water supply gets dirty. How did that happen? If a fuse in my house burns, the water in my watercooker stays as it is; it is a closed system. But not in the spaceshuttle. So it leads to more so called problems. He gets condens in the shuttle and his Plants dies but ultimately he also fixes that problem.

He talks to a guy on earth who says that if there is an error, he has to go back on earth. As a viewer I don't get how that is a bad thing, so I am not engaged to the story or the astronaut.

Movie is not interesting. Even the acting of Mark Strong cannot save a movie that has a lot of flaws and doesn't make sense.

Heart of Stone (2023)

Was OK.

Heart of Stone is a movie about a secret service team within a secret service team. I must admit; well found. I watched this movie because Matthias is in it. Fine actor, had a smart role unfortunately.

This movie is full of cliches. The movie starts with a Cameron - Schwarzenegger feel; True Lies. Fun humour (what gets away when the movie proceeds in this case) seeing a lot of Galdot action in the snow. In the middle lot of talk about this device called the heart. Bit boring. At the end kind of a Schwarzenegger feel again, Total Recall; where a team gets out of air.

Action sequences are fun to watch, a thrill. Gal Galdot is a beautiful woman to watch, nothing more than that. She comes up for equal rights for women in movies. Or maybe for her own paycheck even though she puts in less work in the result (Red Notice). What I don't get is she didn't defend her female boss being called "the king" like only men can be at the head of teams. Why wasn't she called "the queen"? Why didn't Galdot stand up against that? I guess standing up would not affect her paycheck in a good way.

Fun movie to watch, for once.

Misfit: The Switch (2022)

Acting is not the only thing that is bad.

I watched this movie with two girls; one 14 and the other 4. The last one liked it, but she likes everything you give her to watch.

The story is stupid, boring, something like we have seen before. A girl want to go to a danceschool but because it is in a different area code than where she lives in, she has to switch with a girl who attends that school. That already does not make any sense.

Acting is terrible. When the actors talk, they shake their heads like they have Parkinson. These people don't talk like that in real life. The main actors act as bad as the background actors. The dancing isn't high level. I'm not a dancer and even I was not blown away by what I saw.

I thought the main actress was bad and it could not get any worse; I was wrong. The Asian girl is very cringe worthy to watch.

The only one who can dance, Timor, didn't dance. What was up with that? He shared the same stage with Michael Jackson once, and now we get to see him in a low quality dutch movie.

If you like dutch movies with bad acting and predictable storylines, this one is definately one for you to watch.

Adipurush (2023)

Skeletor was in the wrong movie.

I watched ten minutes of this crap. That was enough to know not to watch te rest of it. I pity the people who watched this in cinema.

What I didn't like is that men move in slowmotion. There isn't really happening anything. So I fastforwarded it a bit. Then there were a bunch of dementors of the Harry Potter movies and even Skeletor came by. Maybe because Netflix' Grey Skull ain't happening anymore, Skeletor still needed a movie to play in.

Even though I was curious to know what more funny / stupid stuff would happen, I also knew it would be a waste of my time, so I shut it off to write my review about the first ten minutes of the movie.

The Flash (2023)

Wasn't that great, was the writer on a strike?

The Flash begins good. Good action. Affleck had great action on the highway, the kind of action Batman deserves. Miller is fun to watch. But when he goes back in time to meet himself the movie gets boring. The cgi is indeed awful to watch. Overall you get to see the difference between Marvel and DC. Spiderman no way home was awesome. This was kind of a cheap knock-off. Somewhere at the end putting Reeves in it, Nicolas Cage, George Clooney and so on, was misplaced. They had no significant part in this movie whatsoever.

Barry did go to the past two save his mother and father, but never got to find out who killed his mother and why. That's what I would have liked to know if I was him.

Fast X (2023)

Mamoa rocks!

Every time a F&F movie comes out I think, WHY? Nobody asked for it. And every time I love it. I don't like the afro American actors anymore. They don't add much to the franchise. Vin Diesel is leaning too much on his "Family" concept. Michelle is cool and Mamoa, oh come on, he was funny, awesome, great! He might be the next best Joker character.

There was a lot of action going on. Of course far fetched and not possible, but that's what F&F has become after part 6. If there are going to be Two more movies after this, it will be Mamoa versus "the cringe Family". And that's fine by me. Mamoa, kill the F&F family and with that, the franchise and start your own spin-off.

Btw: my daughter and I did not like it much for Dom's brother to die. I don't know what the actor's name is, but he is fun to watch.

From (2022)

First two episodes were great, the rest mediocre.

I read in an article that these Stephen King like series were great and yes, the first two episodes were great. You get introduced in the madness of killing people in a small village. Concept is great, dark. People get killed in a gruwesome way.

From the third episode it gets boring. Not much happens. We get to see the stories behind the village people and not much from the killing people. The edpisodes become more like a drama instead of horror.

Acting is ok. Some actors like the old Asian man, the parents of the two kids, are very bad actors. They make it hard to watch. The extras aren't great either. Every episode there are different extras. How did these people get in that town? They don't add much to the story.

Overall, ok series, not worth the watch.

The Mother (2023)

Made no sense at all.

I watched Enough, starring JLo, with my 14 yo daughter and we liked that one a lot. Since this one is rated 16 (don't know why) I pre-watched it. It was boring.

• We have all seen it before.

• Stupid things that made no sense were piling up.

• JLo is a beautiful woman, but she is not a bad-ass like Noomy Rapace.

I don't know why people who are that rich still bother to make movies. Just go enjoy your life. Do good things for people. Skip making mediocre movies no-one asked for.

The movie was predictable, not exciting at all. When there was a bit of action with the snow scooters, it lasted not long enough. The background music wasn't solid, the story about bad people going after a teenage girl because they wanted her mother, but they managed to kill a bad-ass CIA agent in a second, did not make any sense. Seeing a woman like JLo putting back her dislocated shoulder was hilarious. And of course, at the end of the movie, out of the blue, she was the mother of the year. I am a guardian to a little girl who isn't my child. It took us a very long way for her to call me her dad.

This movie did not make any sense.

Sankuchuari -seiiki- (2023)

Ok tv series with great acting.

I did not know what to expect when I heard about Sanctuary. But after the first episode I was hooked. Enno plays a young "cowboy" making a mess in the traditional sumo Wrestling like an elephant in a porselain closet.

Acting is good. The elderly people who play villains are cringe worthy to watch. They are just bad and act without depth or emotions. In the Western society people talk more about emotions or they would not let an elderly treat them with disrespect, only because they are older. Eastern customs are so different, sometimes in a good way like Enno discovered, but sometimes the Eastern customs are different not for the better.

The episodes were ok to watch. From time to time exciting, but most of the time what we have seen before. I must support a fellow review writer, who wrote that the ending was weird. The ending, the final battle that did not take place, was a missed opportunity. We get to watch 8 episodes to get a crippled finally, what's up with that?

Overall I give this series a 7. People who rate it a 10 and dislike reviews which are lower, are as bad losers like the sumo wrestler who wrote bad postings on the internet about Enno. This is not a 10, but still I would recommend to watch it.