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Australian director Andrew Dominik is best known for his second feature film, the 2007 Western biopic The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, a visually sumptuous meditation on celebrity and violence that earned critical acclaim. However, a compelling argument can be made that his finest work remains his feature debut, the 2000 Australian crime biopic Chopper, a raw, uncompromising portrait of criminal celebrity that established Dominik's distinctive voice while launching Eric Bana's international career. While both films explore the curious alchemy through which violent men transform into cultural icons, Chopper possesses a visceral immediacy and dark humour that arguably surpasses even his more polished later work.

There is certainly some thematic similarity between these two films, as both deal with criminals who, for various reasons, gained celebrity status. In Chopper's case, the subject is Mark "Chopper" Read (1954–2013), a convicted criminal who earned his fame by becoming the author of bestselling crime novels. Remarkably, Read began writing these books while serving prison sentences for numerous violent crimes, with the narratives loosely based on his own criminal exploits. This peculiar trajectory—from prison cell to bestseller list—provides the foundation for Dominik's unconventional biopic, which captures both the brutality and bizarre charm that made Read such a compelling figure in Australian criminal folklore.

Dominik wrote the script primarily based on Read's autobiographical books, particularly Chopper: From the Inside, which was "collected from letters he sent while incarcerated in Melbourne's Pentridge Prison and published in 1991. The film cleverly frames its narrative in the early 1990s when Chopper is enjoying literary fame behind prison walls, before flashing back to 1978 when he's serving time in Pentridge Prison. By this period, Read has become embroiled in a deadly conflict with fellow inmate Keithy George (David Field), culminating in a vicious stabbing that proves fatal. As George belonged to the powerful Painters and Dockers union, a $10,000 bounty is placed on Chopper's head. Rather than taking the preemptive strike he contemplates with his associate Jimmy Loughlan (Simon Lyndon), Chopper finds himself on the receiving end of a shiv from his supposed friend. When informed he'll return to general population to face his would-be assassins, Chopper makes the extraordinary decision to have his own ears cut off, a self-mutilation calculated to secure transfer to a psychiatric facility rather than face certain death in prison—a moment that epitomises his reckless, theatrical approach to survival.

Following his eventual release in 1986, Chopper's volatile nature manifests in disturbing ways, including physical abuse of his prostitute girlfriend Tanya (Kate Beahan) and renewed conflict with Neville Bartos (Vince Colosimo), a powerful cocaine dealer he'd previously shot. What makes Chopper such a fascinating character study is his capacity for sudden, inexplicable shifts—appearing to reconcile with former enemies one moment, then engaging in utterly pointless violence the next. Simultaneously, he works as a police informant while indulging in fantasies of becoming a state-sanctioned anti-crime vigilante. This chaotic existence escalates to the fateful encounter at Bojangles nightclub where Sammy the Turk (Serge Liistro) meets his end—a killing that, depending on which version of events one believes, was either a senseless act of violence or legitimate self-defence during a botched assassination attempt. Though acquitted of this specific murder, Chopper's continued criminal activity lands him back in prison for several years before he finally begins his literary career.

Chopper was generally well-received by critics. However, the film achieved even greater success at the Australian box office, grossing an impressive A$5.9 million domestically despite its violent content and R-rating This commercial triumph can likely be attributed to Australians' longstanding fascination with their most notorious criminals—a tendency where Australian culture can't help but make icons and heroes out of some of the most notorious criminals, much like the mythologising of historical figures such as Ned Kelly.

As a biopic in the strictest sense, Chopper leaves much to be desired. Dominik clearly wrote his film with an Australian audience already familiar with Read's legend in mind, resulting in a script that largely ignores Read's early life or bothers to explain the specific crimes that initially landed him in prison. Instead, the audience must connect the dots through Chopper's consistent portrayal as an extremely violent man, both within and outside prison walls, as he interacts with prostitutes, dealers, addicts, and police detective who reluctantly use him as an informant. The film was based on the heavily fictionalised stories from Read's books and independent research, leading to events portrayed on screen that somewhat contradicted Read's version, with one notable example being Read's claimed aversion to drugs in his early books versus the film's portrayal of him as a casual drug user.

What elevates Chopper beyond mere exploitation is Eric Bana's extraordinary performance, which would become his breakout role. Remarkably, Read himself chose Bana for the part after being deeply impressed by his early work as television comedian in 1990s. Bana approached the role with remarkable dedication, spending time living with Read to study his mannerisms and meeting his criminal acquaintances. He also gained significant weight to authentically match Read's physical appearance. The result is a performance that captures Chopper's complex contradictions—a man who could be simultaneously charming and terrifying, delusional yet self-aware, remorseful yet unrepentant.

Another significant strength of Chopper is its relative brevity. While it necessarily leaves some details of Read's story unexplored, it mercifully exposes audiences to graphic violence in measured doses. Dominik's direction masterfully balances grim prison stabbings to absurd humour without losing its grip. The saturated colour palette and jagged editing perfectly reflect Chopper's chaotic psyche.

It's important to acknowledge that Chopper is neither a complete depiction of Read's life nor entirely factual. Dominik himself admits this with a disclaimer in the opening credits, acknowledging the film's partial fictionalisation. Read would later reappear in 2009 in an episode of the crime docudrama series Underbelly, portrayed by Renato Fabbretti, and again in 2018's two-part mini-series Underbelly Files: Chopper, starring Aaron Jeffrey.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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Again, I'm a big fan of any zombie movie — it gives me satisfaction seeing how things play out, whether good or bad. I heard about The Elixir some days ago and how it's making waves, and though it's not from one of the top-rated hoods in the movie industry, I quickly saved it to give it a watch.

The Elixir is an Indonesian 2025 zombie apocalypse movie...

The movie starts with a scene at a party where a car ran through the event, disrupted it, and when they thought the driver was drunk, they checked and saw a zombie who, with no mercy, began to attack everyone. I thought the movie was going to continue like that without a proper intro explaining what caused the infection, but hey, a flash happened and it was a “5 hours earlier” flashback.

An old man, Dimini, owns a popular herbal company named Waris Waras. They had newly developed a special medicine that makes one ageless, and on that day, a sample was brought to him to test — which he did — and his wrinkles disappeared, his grey hair turned dark, and in fact, a once-old man became youthful again. Though his family was happy, the scene looked strange to them. This part introduced the main characters, which are Nes and her husband (Rudi), who are aiming for a divorce because the husband cheated and their marriage has been in a long-term quarrel. They have a son. Karina, the newly married wife of Dimini, is Nes’s best friend — or rather, was — until she married her father. And here comes Bang, a grown man who still behaves like a baby with his gaming lifestyle.

All of them assembled to talk about selling their herbal company, but when the dad took the newly produced drug and became youthful again, he changed his mind about selling the company, and they began arguing about it.

Suddenly, the dad’s body changed — he vomited blood, died, and woke up as a zombie, beginning to attack everyone. One of the people attacked in the compound took a car to go report to the police station, but while on his way, he turned into a zombie and crashed into the party on the way to the station, causing chaos.

As expected, the whole village was thrown into confusion and violent attacks by the zombies, tearing and eating humans aggressively.

This movie, just like any other survival movie, was filled with emotions, especially during the death scenes of most characters. I wouldn’t want to spoil it by mentioning those who died, but it was a whole lot of emotions watching those scenes of people dying while trying to survive and protect others.

The kind of zombies:

The kind of zombies here are not like the ones in The Walking Dead — these ones are very aggressive, with their bodies cracking in odd ways, and they move at crazy speeds. They also adopted the normal zombie trait of having the head as the only vulnerable spot that can kill them. However, these zombies stand still whenever it rains, and those rainy scenes got me relieved a lot. I applaud the scriptwriter for bringing such an idea — like seriously, if you watch this, you’ll definitely wish for continuous rainfall. Lol.

But then, I feel the movie could have been done as a series, or maybe there’s a sequel or part two coming. At the end of the movie, in the big city where the second sample of the medicine was delivered, an old woman took it and turned young again. I already know what’s coming next, but it ended right there. I really wish part two would be released.

Thanks for reading.

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More with Less (S05E01)

Airdate: January 6th 2008

Written by: David Simon Directed by: Joe Chapelle

Running Time: 58 minutes

One of the most enduring American myths, enthusiastically propagated by Hollywood since the golden age of cinema, is that of the intrepid muckraking reporter—lone wolf journalist unearthing systemic corruption, holding the powerful to account, and single-handedly righting societal wrongs when institutions collapse. This narrative, reaching its zenith of cultural influence in the post-Watergate era, now belongs firmly to the dustbin of history. Contemporary generations, reared within the fractured, tribalistic ecosystem of social media, have developed a deeply ingrained cynicism and mistrust toward mainstream media institutions. This pervasive disillusionment profoundly reshapes how we engage with David Simon’s final season of The Wire, in which he audaciously positions Baltimore’s news media as yet another dysfunctional cog in the city’s broken machinery. From today’s vantage point—where "fake news" is a ubiquitous political cudgel and trust in media has plummeted to historic lows—the season’s critique feels less like a revelation and more like a grimly familiar autopsy of a corpse we’ve long since stopped mourning. Consequently, More with Less, the season opener, lacks the visceral, era-defining impact of earlier seasons. Yet Simon’s unparalleled talent as a chronicler of institutional decay remains evident; the episode is less revolutionary than elegiac, trading the seismic urgency of Seasons 1–3 for a quieter, more resigned effectiveness that nonetheless cuts deep.

Season 4 concluded in a vortex of despair leaving little room for hope. Viewers anticipating even a sliver of redemption or respite as Season 5 dawned were met with brutal immediacy: Baltimore, and its inhabitants, are irrevocably worse off. The title "More with Less" is the cruel mantra of austerity, reflecting both the city’s fiscal straits and HBO’s own cost-cutting. Much to Simon’s vocal displeasure, the network greenlit only ten episodes instead of the originally planned thirteen, forcing narrative compression that subtly undermines the season’s sprawl. This corporate parsimony mirrors the very budgetary constraints crippling Baltimore, creating an uncomfortable meta-layer where art imitates life imitating corporate avarice.

The root of Baltimore’s fiscal crisis lies squarely in Mayor Tommy Carcetti’s nakedly ambitious gamble. Seeking to bolster his statewide electoral prospects against a Republican governor, Carcetti refused state education funding—a decision driven by partisan posturing rather than civic duty. The gamble catastrophically backfired, leaving the city with a gaping $54 million hole in its school budget. Forced to slash spending citywide, Carcetti targets every department, including the police force whose crime-reduction statistics were the lynchpin of his mayoral campaign. The cuts are savage: officers are denied overtime pay, forced to use malfunctioning equipment, and stripped of basic resources, breeding utter demoralisation. Most devastatingly, the Major Case Unit (MCU)—which spent past year painstakingly building a case against Marlo Stanfield’s West Baltimore drug empire—is abruptly disbanded. Colonel Cedric Daniels pleads with Carcetti for its survival, but the mayor, eyes fixed on Annapolis, dismisses his concerns. Detectives are scattered: Lester Freamon and Leander Sydnor are reassigned to a politically expedient corruption probe targeting State Senator Clay Davis alongside the ambitious State’s Attorney Rupert Bond, while Jimmy McNulty, the nominal protagonist, is unceremoniously dumped back into Homicide—a regression to his starting point in Season 1. The MCU’s dissolution is the deliberate dismantling of the one unit capable of challenging Stanfield’s reign, a stark symbol of how political ambition actively sabotages public safety.

Simultaneously, The Baltimore Sun—Simon’s former workplace—faces its own existential austerity. Corporate overlords, driven by profit motives rather than journalistic integrity, demand staff reductions, including buyouts for veteran reporters. City desk editor Augustus "Gus" Haynes (Clark Johnson), a moral anchor in the newsroom, battles to preserve investigative rigour against this tide of corporatisation. His efforts manifest through two contrasting protégés: Alma Gutierrez (Michelle Parres, wife of Lawrence Gilliard Jr., actor who played D'Angelo Barksdale earlier in the series), whose tenacious reporting uncovers a sordid real estate deal favouring convicted strip-club owner "Fat Face" Rick Hendrix—who also funnels illicit support to City Council President Nerese Campbell—and Scott Templeton (Tom McCarthy), a ruthlessly ambitious reporter fixated on using the Sun as a stepping stone to The Washington Post or The New York Times. Templeton’s simmering resentment over Gutierrez receiving credit for the Hendrix story exposes the toxic individualism corroding newsrooms, where scoops are currency for personal advancement rather than public service.

Yet herein lies the episode’s central weakness: the newspaper storyline feels curiously inert compared to the high-stakes political machinations, the visceral desperation of street-level crime, or even the procedural grind of police work. Simon, having worked at the Sun, seems constrained by proximity, crafting journalist characters who lack the rich complexity of his cops, dealers, or politicians. Gus Haynes, though nobly portrayed by Johnson (a Homicide: Life on the Street veteran and Wire director), verges on saintly idealism—a beacon of integrity in a compromised world, yet frustratingly one-dimensional. His colleagues, including Managing Editor Thomas Klebanow (David Costabile), blur into interchangeable ciphers of bureaucratic inertia. Only Gutierrez and Templeton escape this flatness. Gutierrez embodies ethical journalism’s quiet perseverance, while Templeton chillingly personifies its moral decay—a young man for whom truth is secondary to career capital. Their dynamic hints at the season’s core tension but remains underdeveloped in this opener, leaving the newsroom subplot feeling like a promising sketch rather than a fully realised narrative pillar.

Simon’s mastery, however, remains undeniable when handling established characters. Marlo Stanfield, now unchallenged in West Baltimore, begins eyeing Proposition Joe’s Eastside territory—a subtle shift signalling his insatiable hunger for dominance. Bubbles, heartbreakingly, struggles to maintain sobriety post-rehab, his fragile hope a stark contrast to the city’s brutality. Herc, ironically liberated by his dismissal from the police force, thrives as a private investigator for defence lawyer Maurice Levy, his moral compromises now lucratively monetised. But it is McNulty who delivers the season’s most devastating portrait. Hauled back to Homicide as Landsman sneers, the "prodigal son," he is a ghost of his former self. The domestic tranquillity with Beadie Russell has frayed; his relapse into alcoholism and womanising isn’t a stumble but a surrender. The MCU’s dissolution extinguished his last flicker of purpose, reducing him to the hollow, self-destructive cop he was in Season 1—a regression that feels less like narrative symmetry and more like existential defeat.

Some of the season’s shortcomings—narrative compression, underdeveloped subplots—can be attributed to HBO’s budgetary constraints. Yet More with Less also hints at a more troubling possibility: Simon’s creative exhaustion. Nowhere is this clearer than the cold open, where Bunk Moreland and colleagues trick a suspect, DeShawn Fredericks, into confessing via a photocopier masquerading as a lie detector. This scene is lifted verbatim from Simon’s 1988 non-fiction book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and the Homicide: Life on the Street episode Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. It’s not homage; it’s self-plagiarism, a jarring recycling of old material that suggests Simon was mining his own archives out of necessity rather than inspiration. The scene’s power, however, derives not from its novelty but from Detective Eddie Norris’s offhand remark as the ruse succeeds: "Americans are pretty stupid people by and large. We pretty much believe whatever we’re told."

This line, one of the most devastating in The Wire’s canon, transcends the immediate context to indict the very foundation of democratic society. Norris’s cynicism isn’t just about gullible suspects; it’s about a populace primed for manipulation by institutions—from government to media—that repeatedly betray public trust. In 2008, when The Wire aired, this observation felt like a warning shot across the bow of a still-cohesive media landscape. Today, it reads as a post-mortem. Our current era of algorithmic echo chambers, weaponised disinformation, and tribalistic media consumption didn’t emerge in a vacuum. It is the logical endpoint of decades where newsrooms prioritised profit over truth, where "objectivity" masked corporate bias, and where journalists like Scott Templeton learned that outrage sells better than accountability. Simon’s portrayal of the Sun’s decline—its veteran reporters purged, its ethical core hollowed out by cost-cutting—wasn’t merely a Baltimore story. It was a blueprint for the national media’s collapse.

More with Less ultimately resonates not as a triumphant finale but as a requiem. Its power lies not in offering solutions but in diagnosing a sickness we now recognise all too well: the erosion of trust in the institutions meant to safeguard truth. Norris’s lament—"We believe whatever we’re told"—now feels less like a character’s observation and more like the operating principle of our age. The myth of the heroic journalist died because the public, burned too many times by media that lied, spun, or simply stopped caring, chose to believe nothing at all. In that context, More with Less is the prologue to our current crisis of truth. And that, perhaps, is the most devastating twist of all.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28013708/
• Platform: HBO MAX

Rottentomatoes Rating

Even though this is probably the second most intense episode I think there were certain moments that were handle a bit poorly. Aleah has been set up as this incredible shooter, they call her bullseye throughout the whole show, they even make a point of showing her shooting patch on her vest, and then when it comes time for that big heroic shot to take down Jason who was holding Maeve hostage, they give it to Grasso instead. I get it, Grasso needed his moment to come full circle after being dirty this whole time, but honestly how in hell after loosing that much blood and that white gasper looking he comes crawling his bleeding ass from his jeep all the way to the back seat of Jasons car just to pop him in the head and yeah that was badass and I did not see it coming at all, but its just too hard to believe. Aleah barely got anything meaningful by the end and that sucked because her character had so much potential, she even gets totally man handle by this Tattoed biker that was there just for shocking but did his job, I though she was done during that fight. The whole standoff scene was tense, Tom and Aleah rolling up to Maeves place, finding Grasso bleeding out in his car barely able to roll down the window to warn Maeve that everyone coming for her, Jason taking Maeve hostage after she dug up the money from the chicken feed, Harper being a kid who never stays in the damn car like she was told, all of it worked awesome but again Grasso was almost dead so I would have preferred Aleah be the one taking the shot.

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Hello, everyone! I'm back with another review of one of those movies I had on my watchlist. This time, I'm reviewing one of the most awarded films of the 2025 awards season: The Brutalist. Directed, produced, and written by Brady Corbet.

Spanish

¡Hola a todos! Estoy de vuelta por aquí con otra reseña de otra de esas películas que tenía en mi watchlist. En esta oportunidad vengo con una de las más galardonadas de la temporada de premiaciones de 2025: The Brutalist. Dirigida, producida y escrita por Brady Corbet.

Laszlo Toth, a Jewish architect, fled post-war Europe in 1947. Like millions of other Jews, he arrived in America in search of a better life, accepting any kind of work while looking for a way to bring his wife Erzsébet and his niece Zsófia over. During this time, he fortuitously discovered the magic he had in his mind, creating wonders of what we now know as modern art or brutalism.

Laszlo, played by the incredible Adrien Brody, and his wife, journalist Erzsébet, played by Felicity Jones, formed a friendship based on a union of intellect, thought, and culture. They meet billionaire Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr., also played by the wonderful actor Guy Pearce. This duo teamed up to build Mr. Van Bursen's dream building, designed by Toth. It was a very ambitious architectural work that would change the skyline of a town in Philadelphia. But as with all large projects, problems began to arise almost immediately, as did fights and disagreements over all the vicissitudes that arise in this type of project.

The film explores the artist's life as he builds his dreams, influenced by his years in concentration camps and using the cheapest materials available, to create the great architectural works of that era.

Spanish

Laszlo Toth un arquitecto judío, huye de la Europa Postguerra en 1947. Igual que otros millones de judíos, llegaron a América en búsqueda de una mejor vida, aceptando cualquier tipo de trabajos, mientras buscaba la manera de traerse a su esposa Erzsébet y su sobrina Zsófia. Durante este tiempo, de manera fortuita, fue descubierta la magia que tenía en su mente al crear maravillas de lo que conocemos ahora como arte moderno o brutalismo.

Laszlo, interpretado por el increíble Adrien Brody, creó, junto a su esposa, la periodista Erzsébet, interpretada por Felicity Jones, una amistad basada en la unión del intelecto, el pensamiento y la cultura con el multimillonario Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr., interpretado también por el maravilloso actor, Guy Pearce. Este dúo se alió para construir el edificio de los sueños del Sr. Van Bursen, diseñado por Toth. Una obra arquitectónica muy ambiciosa que cambiaría el horizonte de un pueblo de Filadelfia. Pero como en todos los grandes proyectos, los problemas empiezan a aparecer casi que inmediatamente, así como las peleas y los desacuerdos por todas las vicisitudes que se presentan en este tipo de proyectos.

La película explora la vida del artista mientras construye sus sueños, influenciados por los años que estuvo en los campos de concentración y utilizando los materiales más económicos para realizar las grandes obras arquitectónicas de esa época.

I am no stranger to the history of modern art, and I believe the same is true for most Venezuelans, even if they are not yet aware that our country was a pioneer and has notable works of brutalism. There are also great exponents who have created works that not only remain etched in our memory, but were even featured on our old banknotes at one time. Among these are the University City of Caracas, a World Heritage Site designed by Carlos Raúl Villanueva, as well as the towers of Parque Central. Also included are the Central Bank of Venezuela, the Teresa Carreño Theater, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the National Shrine of Our Lady of Coromoto. As well as many other buildings in which we can see the buildings that have in common their large sizes and clean lines, made of the most important and distinctive material of these works: concrete. This is why I was eager to see this film.

Spanish

Para mí no es ajena la historia del arte moderno, y creo que sucede lo mismo para la mayoría de los venezolanos, incluso si aún no supieran que nuestro país fue pionero y tiene obras insignes del brutalismo, así como grandes exponentes que han hecho obras que no solo quedan marcadas en nuestra memoria, sino que hubo épocas que hasta lo teníamos en nuestros viejos billetes. Entre estos se encuentran la Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas, que es patrimonio de la humanidad, diseñada por Carlos Raúl Villanueva, así como las torres de Parque Central. También entra el Banco Central de Venezuela, el Teatro Teresa Carreño, el Museo de Arte Contemporáneo y el Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de Coromoto. Así como muchas otras edificaciones en las que podemos ver los edificios que tienen en común, sus grandes tamaños, las líneas limpias, hechas del material más importante er insigne de estas obras: el concreto. Esta es la razón por la que estaba con muchas ganas de ver esta película.

I had put off seeing it for a few months for a very valid reason: it lasts three and a half hours. However, without wanting to sound exaggerated, I can assure you that the time flew by. When a film is made for entertainment, it doesn't matter how long it is, we are going to enjoy every minute of it. It has a good pace and a story that keeps you hooked for most of the film. It should be made clear that this work is entirely fictional; Lazslo Toth and his works do not exist and never did. He is a character created solely to expose the lifestyle and decadence of the era.

However, and here comes my criticism, everything was going well for the first 80% of the film, but the ending left a lot to be desired. It was obvious that it was a rushed ending because they couldn't find a way to untangle the story and created an event that was a bit shocking but quite interesting.

Spanish

Había dejado pasar de verla durante unos cuantos meses por una razón muy válida: dura tres horas y media. Sin embargo, y sin ánimos de parecer exagerada, puedo asegurarles que el tiempo se me pasó muy rápido. Cuando una película está hecha para ser entretenimiento, no importa el largo de la misma, vamos a disfrutar cada uno de los minutos que esta dure. Tiene un buen ritmo y una historia que te hace quedarte enganchado en gran parte de la película. Es necesario dejar claro que esta obra es de total ficción, no existe o existió Lazslo Toth ni sus obras. Es un personaje creado solo para exponer el tipo de vida y la decadencia de la época.

Sin embargo, y aquí viene mi crítica, todo iba bien por el primer 80% de la película, pero el final me dejó mucho que desear. Se notó que fue un final apresurado porque no encontraban la manera de desenlazar la historia y crearon un evento un poco chocante pero bastante interesante.

As I said at the beginning, this film won many awards, and Adrien Brody won an Oscar for his outstanding performance. But despite the predictions, and obviously because of the pro-Israel political theme of the film, it was not possible to win the statuette, even though it is an artistically wonderful film. The other two awards it won were for Cinematography and Best Original Score.

If you are lovers of art and cinema, this is a film you should not miss for anything in the world. It is brutal. Here is the trailer so you can fall in love with it, just as I did.

Spanish

Como lo dije en un principio, esta película fue muy galardonada, Adrien Brody pudo hacerse con el Oscar por su gran participación, pero a pesar de los pronósticos, y obviamente por todo el tema político pro Israel del que trata la película, no fue posible tener la estatuilla, aun al ser una película artísticamente maravillosa. Los otros dos premios que se ganó fue el de Cinematografía y el de mejor música original.

Si son amantes del arte y del cine, esta es una película que no deben perderse por nada del mundo. Es brutalisima. Les dejo el trailer para que se enamoren, así como me enamoró a mí.

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I found Damsel on Netflix it's a movie that has a pretty decent concept but the execution is so weak that you forget everything the minute you finish watching it, I watched it over the weekend and I kept thinking that it could have been something much better if they had put more effort into it or if they had hired someone who actually knew how to write a script that made sense. The thing is that Damsel sells you this story of a princess who is tricked into marrying a prince and it turns out everything is a trap because the royal family needs her as a sacrifice for a dragon that lives in a cave, that sounds good but the problem is that from beginning to end the movie is full of plot holes that have no explanation and characters who act like they don't have brains, Millie Bobby Brown does what she can with the material they gave her but for me neither she nor Angela Bassett nor Robin Wright look very interested in being there, it's like they had no passion for this project. The first part of the movie is super boring, it's like half an hour of pure nothing where Elodie who is the protagonist spends her time complaining that she doesn't want to get married but at the same time accepts because her village is starving to death, so you say well at least she's thinking about her people but then she acts like a selfish person the rest of the movie so not even that makes sense.

Damsel me la encontré en Netflix es una película que tiene un concepto bastante decente pero la ejecución es tan floja que se te olvida todo al minuto de terminatr de verla, yo la vi el fin de semana y me quedé pensanso que pudo haber sido algo mucho mejor si le hubieran metido más ganas o si hubieran contratado a alguien que de verdad supiera escribir un guion que tuviera sentido. La cosa es que Damsel te vende esta historia de una princesa que es engañada para casarse con un príncipe y resulta que todo es una trampa porque la familia real la necesita como sacrificio para un dragón que vive en una cueva, esp suena bien pero el problema es que desde el principio hasta el final la película está llena de huecos en la trama que no tienen explicación y personajes que actúan como si no tuvieran cerebro, Millie Bobby Brown hace lo que puede con el material que le dieron pero para mí ni ella ni Angela Basset ni Robin Wright se ven muy interesados en estar ahi, es como que si no tenían pasión por este proyecto. La primera parte de la peli es aburridísima, es como media hora de pura nada donde Elodie que es la protagonista se la pasa quejándose de que no quiere casarse pero al mismo tiempo acepta porque su pueblo está muriendo de hambre, entonces tu dices bueno al menos está pensando en su gente pero luego ella se comporta como una egoísta el resto de la película así que ni siquiera eso tiene sentido.

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The dialogue is super basic and has no depth, there's no character development, there's no emotion about anything. Elodie meets the prince and tells him things like if he really likes her or not when she just met him two seconds ago, everything feels super forced and unnatural. When they throw her off the cliff after the wedding is where the action is supposed to start but this part doesn't work well either, first of all Elodie falls from super high and lands on some branches and survives without a single broken bone, not a scratch nothing at all, she's completely fine and that already tells you the level of logic this movie has, the dragon that lives in the cave is intelligent and can talk which is something I liked because it gives the creature more personality, it's not just a brainless monster that wants to kill, it has a plan and enjoys hunting the princesses like it's a game, that's good in theory but the execution is bad because Elodie is so dumb that she can't stay quiet for two seconds, she knows the dragon is hunting her and that it can hear everything but she spends all her time screaming and talking to herself. The movie becomes a repetitive cycle of Elodie hiding, trying to escape, being attacked by the dragon and barely escaping, this happens over and over and it feels eternal even though it's only an hour, the pacing is all wrong.

El dialogo es super básico y no tiene nunguan profundidad, no hay desarrollo de personajes, no hay emoción de nada. Elodie conoce al príncipe y le dice cosas como que si de verdad le gusta o no cuando acaba de conocerlo hace dos segundos, todo se siente super forzado y poco natural. Cuando la tiran al precipicio después de la boda es donde se supone que empieza la acción pero esta parte tampoco funciona bien, primero que nada Elodie cae super alto y aterriza en unas ramas y sobrevive sin un solo hueso roto, ni un rasguño nada de nasda, está completamente bien y eso ya te dice el nivel de lógica que tiene esta película, el dragón que vive en la cueva es inteligente y puede hablar lo cual es algo que me gusto porque le da más personalidad al bicho, no es solo un monstruo sin cerebro que quiere matar, tiene un plan y disfruta cazando a las princesas como si fuera un juego, eso está bien en teoría pero la ejecución es mala porque Elodie es tan tonta que no puede quedarse callada ni dos segundos, ella sabe que el dragón la está cazando y que puede escuchar todo pero se la pasa gritando y hablando sola todo el tiempo. La película se convierte en un ciclo repetitivo de Elodie escondiéndose, tratando de escapar, siendo atacada por el dragón y escapandose por muy poco, esto pasa una y otra vez y se siente eterno aunque solo sea una hora, el ritmo esta todo mal.

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There's a bunch of things in the movie that don't make sense and are never explained, at one point Elodie sees some figures that other princesses carved in the rocks but she finds a map, something that makes no sense because to draw it someone would have had to go back to the hideout after finding the exit but that's not possible because the girl who drew it died on the other side of the cave, so nobody knows how she made the map, Elodie's dad shows up trying to rescue her but the dragon kills him and she stays hidden watching him die without doing anything, I don't know I think she could have come out and distracted the dragon so her dad could escape or something but no just act like a selfish person. The third part of the movie is the most ridiculous of all, Elodie manages to escape from the cave and magically becomes an expert warrior with a sword when she had never touched one in her life, suddenly she knows how to fight better than all the knights in the kingdom, can climb ropes at impossible speeds and has superhuman strength that has no explanation, all this because the script needs it.

Hay un montón de cosas en la película que no tienen sentido y que nunca se explican, en un momento Elodie ve unas figuras que tallaron otras princesas en las rocas pero se consigue con un mapa, algo que no tiene lógica porque para dibujarlo alguien tendría que haber regresado al escondite después de encontrar la salida pero eso no es posible porque la chica que lo dibujó murió en el otro lado de la cueva, entonces nadie sabe como hizo el mapa, el papá de Elodie aparece tratando de rescatarla pero el dragón lo mata y ella se queda escondida viendo como muere sin hacer nada, no sé puienso que pudo haber salid oy distraer al dragón para que el papá escapara o algo pero no actuar como una simple egoísta. La tercera parte de la peli es la más ridícula de todo, Elodie logra escapar de la cueva y se convierte mágicamente en una guerrera experta con espada cuando nunca en su vida había tocado una, de repente sabe pelear mejor que todos los caballeros del reino, puede trepar cuerdas a velocidades imposibles y tiene una fuerza sobrehumana que no tiene explicacion, todo esto porque el guion lo necesita.

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The final battle with the dragon is so stupid, the dragon has like a thousand opportunities to kill Elodie but never does, it always waits until she's ready to attack when it could burn her alive from far away, in the end she fights the dragon with a sword and somehow wins, all the trained knights in the kingdom died trying to kill this dragon but she who has no training defeats it without problems. The worst thing about Damsel is that it had potential to be something interesting, the idea of a princess who has to survive in a cave with an intelligent dragon hunting her is good and could have been something more exciting but instead they decided to make the protagonist invincible for no reason at all, you never feel she's in real danger because you know she's going to survive everything no matter how impossible the situation is, the dragon acts like an idiot every time the script needs it to, all the men in the movie are either evil or useless and die, literally every man who appears on screen dies before the movie ends, the only one is the prince but he doesn't even talk much, the female empowerment message is so forced that it becomes uncomfortable, it's not subtle at all, they scream it in your face every five minutes.

La batalla final con el dragón es dem estupido, el dragón tiene como mil oportunidades de matar a Elodie pero nunca lo hace, siempre espera a que ella esté lista para atacar cuando podría quemarla viva desde lejos, al final ella pelea contra el dragón con una espada y de alguna manera gana, todos los caballeros entrenados del reino murieron intentando matar a este dragón pero ella que no tiene ningún entrenamiento lo derrota sin problemas. Lo peor de Damsel es que tenia potencial para ser algo interesante, la idea de una princesa que tiene que sobrevivir en una cueva con un dragón inteligente cazándola es bueno y pudo ser algo más emocionante pero en lugar de eso decidieron hacer que la protagonista fuera invencible sin razón alguna, nunca sientes que está en peligro real porque sabes que va a sobrevivir todo sin importar que tan imposible sea la situación, el dragón actúa como un idiota cada vez que el guion lo necesita, todos los hombres en la película son o malvados o inútiles y mueren, literalmente cada hombre que aparece en pantalla muere antes de que termine la película, el único es el príncipe pero el ni siquiera habla casi, el mensaje de empoderamiento femenino esta tan forzado que se vuelve incomodo, no es sutil para nada, te lo gritan en la cara cada cinco minutos.

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The truth is Damsel is exactly the type of movie that Netflix makes over and over again, movies designed to be trendy for a while with famous actors and big budgets but that have no soul, they're products made to look good in the trailer and convince you to subscribe to Netflix but when you watch them you realize there's nothing there, nobody talks about these movies a week after they come out because there's nothing to talk about. The performances are bad in general, everyone is there for the paycheck and it shows, Millie Bobby Brown who is normally a good actress here is super flat, Angela Bassett who is an incredible actress is wasted in a role where she only has to be evil and that's it, Robin Wright shows up for a few minutes and doesn't contribute anything either. My score for Damsel is 5/10 and that's being nice, in my opinion it's in that category of Netflix movies that exist only to fill space in the catalog and that's it, I don't recommend it it's not worth your time unless you have nothing else to do and even then it's better to watch something else, the only good thing is the dragon's voice actress who did a good job but that's it, the rest is a boring mess with plot holes the size of a truck and characters whose names you can't even remember.

La verdad Damsel es exactamente el tipo de pelicula que Netflix hace una y otra vez, peliculas diseñadas para ser moda por un rato con actores famosos y presupuestos grandes pero que no tienen alma, son productos hechos para verse bien en el trailer y convencerte de que te suscribas a Netflix pero cuando las ves te das cuenta de que no hay nada ahí, nadie habla de estas películas una semana después de que salen porque no hay nada de que hablar. Las actuaciones son malas en general, todos estan ahi por el pago y se nota, Millie Bobby Brown que normalmente es buena actriz aquí esta súper plana, Angela Basset que es una actriz increíble esta desperdiciada en un papel donde solo tiene que ser malvada y ya, Robin Wright aparece por unos minutos y tampoco aporta nada. Mi punruación para Damsel es 5/10 y eso siendo buena, en mi opinión está en esa categoría de pelis de Netflix que existen solo para llenar espacio en el catálogo y ya, no la recomiendo no vale tu tiempo a menos que no tengas nada más que hacer y hasta así es mejor ver otra cosa, lo único bueno es la actriz de voz del dragón que hizo un buen trabajo pero eso es todo, el resto es un desastre aburrido con huecos de trama del tamaño de un camión y personajes que no puedes ni recordar sus nombres.

"Translated to English with DeepL"

Posted Using INLEO

  Saludos estimados cinéfilos de #CineTV. Tenía un compromiso pendiente con ustedes de hablarles sobre una de las mejores series de Netflix. Hace unas semanas les compartí mi opinión sobre Alice in Borderland (T1), y en dicho post quedé pendiente de hablarles de las dos temporadas restantes. Hoy vengo a saldar esa deuda para darles mi punto de vista sobre Alice in Borderland (T2 & T3).

  Greetings, fellow film buffs of #CineTV. I had a promise to share with you one of the best Netflix series. A few weeks ago, I shared my thoughts on Alice in Borderland (S1), and in that post, I promised to discuss the remaining two seasons. Today, I'm here to fulfill that promise and give you my perspective on Alice in Borderland (S2 & S3).

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**𝔼𝕤𝕡𝕒ñ𝕠𝕝**


  Tanto nadar para morir en la orilla, una frase que solemos decir los venezolanos y que significa que se ha hecho tanto esfuerzo por algo para que al final no se obtenga nada a cambio. De esta serie tengo mucho que decir, pero más que todo lo que dejaré claro desde un inicio es que me gustó muchísimo porque toca el tema de La Muerte como un personaje real, en este caso es un juego.

**𝔼𝕟𝕘𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕙**


  So much swimming only to die on the shore, a phrase we Venezuelans often use, meaning that you've put in so much effort for something only to get nothing in return. I have a lot to say about this series, but above all, what I want to make clear from the start is that I loved it because it addresses the theme of Death as a real character, even though in this case it's a game.

  Existen diferentes opiniones de lo que sucede después de morir. Algunas personas lo han experimentado y han regresado de esta contando su experiencia personal. Algunas experiencias coinciden y otras no, por lo que deja abierta la idea a que cada quien imagine el más allá como mejor le parezca.

  There are different opinions about what happens after death. Some people have experienced it and returned, sharing their personal experiences. Some accounts coincide, while others don't, leaving the idea open for each person to imagine the afterlife as they see fit.

  Así fue que comprendí la serie completa con sus 3 temporadas luego de verla. Como bien dije en mi primer post sobre Alice in Borderland, lo asocié con la historia de Alicia en el País de las Maravillas y sí, tal vez hubo similitud en ciertos aspectos como los apodos o nombres de ciertos personajes, ¿pero en cuanto a la trama en sí? Nada que ver.

  That's how I came to understand the entire series, with all three seasons, after watching it. As I mentioned in my first post about Alice in Borderland, I associated it with the story of Alice in Wonderland, and yes, there were some similarities in certain aspects, like the nicknames or names of some characters, but in terms of the plot itself? They're completely different.

  La temporada 2 me gustó más que la primera y la tercera, aunque cada una tuvo su desarrollo hecho de manera estupenda y equilibrada, manteniendo un orden en la historia que no se pudo haber hecho mejor. Sin embargo, la segunda temporada resalta entre todas porque hace una explicación profunda de lo que ocurre realmente en este mundo o juego.

  I enjoyed season 2 more than the first and third, although each season was superb and well-balanced, maintaining a perfectly ordered storyline. However, the second season stands out because it offers a deeper explanation of what's really happening in this world or game.

  Enterarte que los que sobreviven en este universo eligen quedarse para subir de nivel y llevar los juegos a un extremo más complicado y de alta peligrosidad, fue algo inesperado y admito que un poco cruel para mi gusto. De ahí que diga la frase introductoria de tanto nadar para morir en la orilla.

  Learning that those who survive in this universe choose to stay to level up and take the games to a more complicated and dangerous extreme was unexpected, and I admit, a bit cruel for my taste. Hence, the introductory phrase, so much swimming only to die on the shore.

  Sí, muchos de los que sobrevivieron en la primera temporada debieron seguir viviendo en la segunda, pero ocurrió lo que desde mi punto de vista entendí como inevitable. Esto me hizo cuestionar la trama y preguntarme: ¿y si los que murieron durante todo el juego, en la vida real, era su momento de morir y por más que lo intentaran no iban a sobrevivir porque simplemente era su hora y su momento de pasar al más allá?

  Yes, many of those who survived the first season should have continued into the second, but what I understood as inevitable happened. This made me question the plot and wonder: what if those who died throughout the game, in real life, it was their time to die, and no matter how hard they tried, they weren't going to survive because it was simply their time to pass on to the afterlife?

  Esto lo confirmé cuando vi la tercera temporada y adentrarnos más profundamente en este mundo que me resultó más bien lo que yo conozco como El Limbo o El Purgatorio, según mi religión. Pero antes de continuar debo explicar mejor mi comprensión sobre la serie. Soy católica y creo que hay un Paraíso y un Infierno y entre ambas partes está el Purgatorio, un punto intermedio donde expías tus pecados o quedas como alma en pena por la eternidad, a menos que alguien haga oración por ti en esta vida.

  I confirmed this when I watched the third season and delved deeper into this world, which seemed more like what I know as Limbo or Purgatory, according to my religion. But before continuing, I should explain my understanding of the series. I'm Catholic, and I believe there is a Paradise and a Hell, and between the two is Purgatory, an intermediate point where you atone for your sins or remain as a tormented soul for eternity, unless someone prays for you in this life.

  Fue lo que entendí cuando vi al padre de Usagi, una de las protagonistas, interactuar con su hija en este mundo. Eso me dio a entender que este universo al que muchos consideraron un juego era lo que yo conozco como el purgatorio, donde la vida y la muerte se disputan por decidir quién se queda, quién continúa su camino o quién regresa a la vida.

  That's what I understood when I saw Usagi's father, one of the protagonists, interact with his daughter in this world. It made me realize that this universe, which many considered a game, was what I know as purgatory, where life and death struggle to decide who stays, who continues their journey, or who returns to life.

  Lo que significa que la decisión no está en quien participa en el juego, sino en algo más que se escapa del control de los participantes. Y de allí que concluyera que a todo aquel que le llega su hora en esta vida, por más que lo intente, no podrá evitarlo y los que sí tienen la oportunidad de librarse de ello (es decir, los sobrevivientes de este juego) es porque su hora de morir no era y por ende, no le tocaba.

  This means that the decision doesn't lie with those participating in the game, but with something beyond their control. From this, he concluded that everyone whose time in life comes, no matter how hard they try, cannot avoid it, and those who do have the opportunity to escape it (that is, the survivors of this game) do so because their time to die had not yet arrived, and therefore, it wasn't their time.

  Sin embargo, regresar en la tercera temporada para ver cómo funciona todo este mundo de muerte resultó bastante interesante y considero que era necesario hacerlo. Esto hizo que la serie obtuviera un enfoque donde no todo era sobrevivir o morir, sino reflexionar sobre lo que significa tener que morir y aceptarlo o sobrevivir y valorar más tu propia vida. ¿Y tú? ¿De tener una segunda oportunidad, seguirías haciendo lo mismo o harías lo que realmente quieres para vivir feliz? Por eso le doy a esta serie sus 5 estrellitas completas, se lo merece.

  However, returning in the third season to see how this whole world of death works was quite interesting, and I think it was necessary. This gave the series a focus that wasn't just about surviving or dying, but about reflecting on what it means to have to die and accept it, or to survive and value your own life more. And you? If you had a second chance, would you continue doing the same thing, or would you do what you truly want to live happily? That's why I give this series a full 5 stars; it deserves it.

𝕋𝕣𝕒𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕣

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩. 𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞, 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭!

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐨 al 𝐆𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐨 𝐝𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝. 𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐬 𝐚𝐥 𝐌á𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐨 𝐂𝐚𝐝𝐚 𝐀𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞, 𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐚𝐬í 𝐬𝐞𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐜𝐨, 𝐜𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚 𝐲 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐨!

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Recursos 【Resources】

Although it is rather unrewarding to label any period a 'golden age', given the notorious tendency to view the past through rose-tinted glasses, in the case of cinema this could reasonably be said for the 1970s. Science fiction enthusiasts might assert this even more emphatically, as this ill-fated era—at least where Hollywood was concerned—delivered them a string of achievements that would enjoy the reputation of undisputed classics for decades. The reason for this likely lies in a fortunate confluence of circumstances: the old Hollywood empire had collapsed, yet the new regime had not yet sufficiently entrenched itself, leaving auteurs—such as the more notorious figures of New Hollywood—less constrained by commercial, censorship, and other limitations. This allowed them to craft new worlds far more convincing than the exploitative schlock that had preceded them, and far less infantile than the family-friendly blockbusters of Lucas and Spielberg.

One such classic is Westworld, the directorial debut of esteemed novelist Michael Crichton. Though buried by 'mainstream' criticism upon its release and overshadowed among geek audiences by the slightly later popularity of Star Wars, the film now enjoys the status of an undisputed genre classic. Nothing demonstrates this more clearly than its television remake—the eponymous HBO series—which was arguably one of the most hyped television events of 2010s.

The plot of the original film is set in an indeterminate but relatively near future where technology has advanced sufficiently to produce robots, or androids, nearly identical to humans in appearance and basic detail. The Delos Corporation capitalised on this, constructing an amusement park whose main attraction is androids offering guests—willing to fork out (a then-legendary sum of) $1,000 daily for the privilege—the full spectrum of services, from violence to sex. The park comprises three distinct themed zones, one of which, dedicated to the Wild West, hosts the nominal protagonists: Paul Martin (James Brolin) and his friend John Blane (Richard Benjamin). While the stiff Paul—a first-time visitor—struggles to adapt to a world where he can act with impunity, the far more seasoned and relaxed John indulges without inhibition in escapades straddling both sides of the law. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, real drama unfolds as the park’s maintenance team begins recording a series of disturbing incidents: the androids inexplicably cease following commands and programmed routines, instead displaying hostility toward guests.

Today, the original Westworld is often viewed less as a standalone film and more as a source—a kind of matrix—from which subsequent, far more famous works have drawn. This includes Cameron’s Terminator, which utilised the motif of the humanoid robot as an unstoppable killing machine, and Jurassic Park, interpretable as Crichton’s own variation on the theme of a futuristic amusement park gone catastrophically awry. Viewed through today’s lens—and inevitable comparisons with HBO’s prestige megaproject—the original Westworld appears like a tiny egg from which, only after decades, the T-Rex that would leave audiences agape finally hatched. By modern standards, its special effects technology was exceptionally primitive, compounded by MGM—the titan of Hollywood’s classical era—undergoing its major relocation to Las Vegas at the time, with executives unwilling to invest even a modest sum by contemporary benchmarks.

Crichton, disinclined to reinvent the wheel or indulge in experimentation, directed the film in a 'dry' technocratic style, trimming events down to a lean hour and a half without major issues. His inexperience is most evident in the overextended early sections, where the protagonists’ adventures resemble a cheap Western all too closely. This is exacerbated by the irritating use of slow motion in scenes of fairly explicit violence, which feels clichéd, and the puritanical handling of the sex scene between Paul and the robot prostitute—rendering Westworld even cheaper in tone, closer to the heavily censored television productions of the era.

The film becomes far more compelling in scenes depicting the park’s backstage operations: the nightly collection of android 'corpses' for repair, or technicians—led by the excellent Alan Oppenheimer—debating then-novel concepts like 'infection' in complex computer systems. Things truly ignite when the androids launch their bloody rebellion. This includes Yul Brynner’s striking transformation from the heroic gunslinger of The Magnificent Seven into the sinister, relentless killing machine of the Gunslinger—a role that became one of the genre’s most iconic figures. Even more refreshing is the subversion of cliché: it is the harmless 'beta' Paul, not the 'macho' John, who survives the Gunslinger encounter, entrusted with the task later reserved for Final Girls in horror cinema. Paul’s reliance on intellect and ingenuity over brute force lends Westworld the depth that cements its classic status—perhaps even more so than its pioneering use of computer pixelisation for the Gunslinger’s POV shots (reminiscent of Predator).

The unconventional ending—where the hero, instead of escaping the park and ending the nightmare, simply stops, exhausted, to ponder what has happened—further elevates the film. It underscores Crichton’s refusal to shy away from posing profound questions, answers to which countless filmmakers would pursue over the following decades, sometimes with remarkable success.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

(Note: The text in the original Croatian version is available here

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