NoWo's Reviews
Conflicting, somewhat clever, nihilistic romp.
As stated by another reviewer, this show is not woke as in put-a-chick-in-it-make-her-lame-and-gay, but can best be defined as godless.
In an infinite multiverse, no-one/nothing is quite unique, and no life has fundamental value.
Which is unexpected, considering the very obvious 'inspiration' being Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné.
For the younger crowd, Elric is a tall, lanky albino with a drug problem and access to world-shaking magic, and a tendency to mooch off the life of his lessers, literally. Also, in each universe there is a Champion. In each a Companion (short and pudgy in Elric's case), which the Champion ends up killing usually.
But this in the context of a war between chaos and order, with an overall moral framework.
All in all, the storyline is somewhat clever, somewhat interesting, and somewhat disgusting. Easy, high-school level edgy nihilistic cool, which has always existed. The kind that pushes a young Karl Marchs to put an X in his name because, edgy.
Caveat videor.
Created: 11-06-2023
Not for kids
Gruesome death abounds, but this is at its core a story of societal manipulation through historical guilt, national socialism, and plain ole vengeance.
Also, there are no 'good' and 'bad' guys, just people making operational, morally indefensible decisions, and a slew of victims.
Created: 11-06-2023
There can be only one!
Sword-fighting, Queen soundtrack, and an Egyptian-born, recently Spaniard immortal with a Scottish accent, courtesy of Sean Connery.
Honestly, what's not to like.
Writing this, I realize the lack of women in the final square-off of a violent, no-holds-barred head-lopping tournament.
At the time, it didn't shock anyone, because it made sense.
Nowadays, some would clamour for the addition of a 300-pound, rainbow-haired reality-fluid, non-binary, non-male beast.
Which would make sense. Can't decapitate if one can't find a neck.
Created: 10-27-2023
Brilliant, thinking man's Highlander
OK, still a big Highlander fan, and there are some inconsistencies in the show's timeline.
Charismatic leads (the unexpected father-son duo), well constructed characters.
Show delivers a satisfying ending, in keeping with its characters, despite a slight creative slump in the last third.
Created: 10-27-2023
Stealthily balanced gender representation.
As a movie, Fury Road was enjoyable, mostly thanks to a competent cinematography, and hard-working leads.
As for the feminist label slapped on it, mostly by feminists, I would tend to disagree. Just a pretty good movie, with two strong leads and two very different ways to redemption.
I would wonder though as to what extent Miller has been influenced by Asian philosophy, namely taijitu / yin-yang.
The mystical, female-led hidden society is described all along the movie as great warriors. And yet in the end scene, they die 1 to 1 in fighting the males.
The male-led, patriarchal society is quite literally based on stone (cave-dwellers) and fire (the two attributes of yang). It is violent, patriarchal and oppressive. But thriving, given the circumstances.
The female-led society is based on water (supposedly they live in marshes if memory serves) and air (open spaces), thus the two attributes of yin. It is also sterile and dying. As expressed in the movie: "nobody came".
Women conserved the seeds. Men extract the water.
I'm more on the fence regarding the ending.
On the one end, liberating the means of production makes for great shots of waterfalls in the desert, but one has to wonder how many weeks the settlement will survive its Socialist utopia.
On the other end, Max refusing to be part of this revolution can be construed as a condemnation, which also leaves the strong and independent female lead, well, strong, independent and single by choice, albeit not of her own. Max literally offers that he makes his own way.
A sign of things to come, one might think.
Created: 10-27-2023
Fun show, annoying girl-boss.
Disclaimer: I have not read/watched the original.
The multi-racial cast of characters seems to make sense in context. It works for me at least, without feeling forced. The actors know they're playing archetypes (or caricatures), and deliver as best as they can (which is surprisingly good) without remorse or attempt at a modern nth degree critique.
The biggest flaw in this show being the Nami character, which the show-runners try to push front and center. She's not witty, not charming, not sexy, and the writers seem unaware that being antagonistic is not a redeeming quality.
Also, for being so strong (supposedly, as the writers adhere to the "tell, don't show" policy when there is nothing to show), she's surprisingly useless, except for disrupting the group dynamic, and padding run-time with a less than useful back-story.
On a surprising note, in the swordsman backstory, a (pre-teen) female character openly admits that her male peers will grow up to be taller, stronger, faster, and overall better fighters than herself. In a 2023 show. Factual, 20th century biology.
One stands amazed.
Created: 10-27-2023
Entertaining. Visually superb. Unexpectedly balanced.
Lots of girl-boss moments in the beginning, worst offender being Wednesday herself.
Turns out, she's wrong. Often. Stubbornly so. And her actions cause damages to those around her.
So yeah, girl-boss.
Also, I wonder about casting Guzman as Gomez. The original Gomez (John Astin) was not half-bad looking, and Raul Julia had utterly stupid, Mastroianni levels of suave. Morticia is still portrayed by Catherine Zeta-Jones, who was a smoke-show in the previous century.
The whole thing gives off a "what did she see in him, is she a gold digger" vibe, instead of the much more enjoyable "still crazy after all these years" of the original. Possible female pandering that, astonishingly, ruins a good thing.
The show itself is entertaining, concise, somewhat predictable, but still good fun.
Created: 10-27-2023
Visually stunning UNTIL
the race/gender swap begins.
Dream is pretty much spot-on. Death turns black, which mostly destroys a visually-conceived character. Lucifer turns female and ugly. Worst offender is Lucien, turning both female and black, and thus proving there's a war on gingers. All this before the end of episode 2, if memory serves.
Couldn't muster the patience to watch until the Corinthian appeared, I just looked up the visuals on the Interwebs. Mildly disappointing, but this one would have been a struggle to make work anyway.
Also, everybody's been bitten by the gay fly. It does break the flow of the show at some (early) point.
Hey well, there's always the comics.
BTW, Sandman's high concept and many key characters are very reminiscent of Brit author Tanith Lee's Tales From the Flat Earth, although Gaiman never acknowledged any influence. According to recent news, he does seem to be a most repugnant person anyway.
Created: 10-27-2023
Brilliant show.
Legally realistic only insofar as StarGate is a documentary on space travel, but fun.
The central character (Spader's) expresses classical JFK-era Democrat views, but the show does strive for a balanced perspective, with Shatner's Republican caricature often being ridicule, but as often being right.
Of note, the show pictures a profound relationship between two men, without a hint of homosexuality.
Created: 10-27-2023
Throwback to the 80s
Creature feature as expected. Not a great movie, but hey, Cage fight.
Everybody is on the stupid spectrum so that the scenario can proceed, so, no preaching.
Created: 10-27-2023
