Steve Sanyal

I am starting to get tired of seeing Netflix executives ruin Japanese and Korean series with their meddling. The first season was great. The second was good too. But two episodes into the third it was clear this was Hollywood meddling. Squid Game’s ending was already ruined by this nonsense and I didn’t want to waste my time on seeing Netflix ruin AIB too.

Season 1 was entertaining. Interesting characters and the loose tie into historical events. Great action too, and the overall plot was good albeit a bit childish at times. Season 2 was just plain depressing. The overall message around peace is great, but also kind of hypocritical given that so much of the show’s appeal is clearly violence. This season could have beem great if it was done in much fewer episodes. But 24 episodes felt self indulgent.

This was a very well written and entertaining show, and although I don’t include any spoilers in terms of plot I do have some in terms of theme. Damon Lindelhof is a singular talent and he employs his patented mystery box style where the viewer thinks they understand what is going on, only to be rewarded with another compelling twist or turn in the plot. What was different with this show though is that it was a mix of comedy and drama, and the mystery box is resolved all in one season, which is unusual. But one season is really all this show needs, perhaps because of its unique blend of comedy and drama. Perhaps especially since it’s a comedy, its rather light hearted yet no doubt controversial interpretations around Christian theology may turn off some viewers. But the theme around humanity being juxtaposed between two concepts of superior beings - one in God and the other in Artificial Intelligence is a very compelling one. It almost feels like a Kurt Vonnegut novel.

Easily the worst Marvel movie I have seen. The overall theme and message that redemption is not an easy path is a good one though. Yet the writing felt like one tired trope after another, which is disappointing given the all star cast. I had difficulty believing Harrison Ford as General Ross. It would be like casting him as J Jonah Jameson. He is just too beloved. I am also not crazy about how the Captain America character is now so gadget focused. There is no more vulnerability in the character and he is some sort of hybrid between Cap and Iron Man. They need to help us care about Sam Wilson as a character and that hasn’t happened for me.

This is a fun movie to watch with my teenage kids. Light hearted, fun, some good one liners and decent action. Not an Oscar winner by any stretch buy it knows what it is does it well. Good cast too and that certainly helps.

Entertaining show and great cast. The premise of the show is great. It deals with serious topics while maintaining a decorum of playful banter. I do feel though that it doesn’t need a third season to tell the story and a lot of season 2 felt self indulgent in its writing style with every character’s lines trying to say every line as clever as possible. But after a while it grated on me.

Gritty film. Great characters. The plot is simple but very potent. Entertaining martial arts too!

Feels like Netflix wanted to jump on the Only Murders bandwagon. I like Ted Danson and some of the other cast but the writing is average in this show. The humor is forced and Danson’s chill vibe really needs someone with more energy to create some balance. Two episodes in I am wondering whether to keep watching.

From is a mystery box style show. Every time you reveal one of the mysteries, it shows you another one. It’s created by some of the same people who created Lost, including one of the main characters in that show who plays the lead in From. The premise is pretty simple and compelling (SPOILERS FROM S1E1 only). A family goes on a road trip and finds their route blocked by a fallen tree. This fallen tree seems to symbolize the end of their lives as they know it. When they turn back, they come to a town with a single road through it. When they follow that road out of town it ends up taking them back to the town. They learn that at night gruesome monsters come out and devour anyone they encounter. There are many things to love about the show. There is the mystery of the town and the monsters themselves. There is a rich ensemble of characters and their relationships, as well as the supernatural experiences many of them go through which also leads to more character development as well as advancement of the plot. There is also an incredible level of suspense, because important characters do die, and often in very gruesome ways. There is also an underlying symbolism around what the town represents in each of its inhabitants personal journeys. I highly recommend it.

Some spoilers ahead Seasons 1 and 2 were great with the latter veering into time travel. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and the world building the show did. Season 3 seemed to go where so many shows have gone - alternate timelines. It started tearing down what I enjoyed about the show. Season 4 continued down the alternate timeline path and then basically did a cop out ending which seemed to just steal from Netflix’s show Dark, which I felt did it much better. The fourth season was tough to watch. I stopped caring about the characters, the plot became a caricature and I had my phone in my hand a lot to get through it.