image from IMDB

Hello movie fans! I like movies like John Wick, Equalizer and Nobody. My officemates recommended "Polar" on Netflix. It was an unknown movie to me but they said it was good and right up my alley.

Summary

The movie is about Duncan Vizla known as “The Black Kaiser,” a legendary but aging hitman who wanted to retire. But as usual in these types of movies, assassins don't get to retire. He works for a company called Damocles who has some other hitmen in their employ. The company's boss, the over the top Mr. Blut, doesn't want to pay retirement benefits and wanted to increase the value of his company by eliminating retired assassin as was shown in the movie's opening. He also plans to sell his company so making it more valuable will increase the selling price. So he sends teams of assassins to take out the old ones who want to retire. Right...that's the main plot.

There's also a subplot in the movie about The Black Kaiser's past and a little girl whose dad was Black Kaiser's victim.

Cast

Mads Mikkelsen as Duncan Vizla

Mikkelsen played the character well and probably the best part of this movie. He is perfect as the aging Duncan Vizla who seems tired of his job and carries some guilt from his violent past misdeeds.

Vanessa Hudgens as Camille

Vanessa Hudgens plays Camille, Duncan's neighbor who seems bring out the good side of him. Not as a romantic interest but strangely, more like a daughter. She also has ties to Duncan's past which will be important in the movie later on.

My Thoughts on the Movie

image from IMDB

The movie is adapted from a comic book like John Wick and there are some elements in comics that when brought to the big screen seems absurd like John Wick world's own currency or how organized assassins in their world is. In Polar, the whole plot of a company not wanting to pay retirement benefits employees with the intent to inflate its value for sale like a regular company sounds ridiculous. But take it with a grain of salt and just enjoy the movie. Even the movie villain, Mr. Blut, looks like he came out of a comic book. He's very over the top and sometimes his scenes will jar you out of the movie.

Mads Mikkelsen carries the movie well. He's like weary and guilt ridden but has the air of a violent guy.

I particularly like the action scenes in the movie. It was entertaining for me and I'd recommend it inspite of some its flaws.

▶️ 3Speak

I shall not ruin all the details, but I will tell you that it causes one to think of the value of love. Is it worth your pride? Your money? Your life?

At first, I thought I was just stepping into a typical love story, something soft, sweet, maybe even predictable—but what I got was this intoxicating, dangerous tale of passion, lies, betrayal, and the kind of love that leaves scars you can’t wash away. Watching it felt like being pulled into a dance between truth and deception, where every step brought me closer to something beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

It begins with Julia Russell, the character of Angelina Jolie, coming to Cuba to get married to a rich coffee trader, and the role of this man, Luis Vargas, is portrayed by Antonio Banderas. Their marriage was an arranged one that was made via letters and this was already suspicious. You see how it is, one is too pretty on paper, too sweet in speech, and you just know there is something at the bottom. The tension was palpable since the moment Julia got out of that ship. There was not only a bride; she was a mystery in silk gloves.

Initially, it seems that it is Luis who has secrets. He is rich and powerful, and very self-assured and yet very weak. He is charmed and disturbed when he looks at Julia. And to tell the truth I thought so too. Something in her eyes--as though there was one thing and another thing in them. And, as usual, the friendship between them does not start as a tender or a sweet one, but as a flame. It’s intense. It is the type of passion that causes dizziness, the one that causes forgetting of common sense. Their screen chemistry was so crude, so devouring, I was inclined to lean forward, nearly ashamed to be looking at such a personal thing.

And this is where the movie sinks in. Julia isn’t who she seems. Cracks in her story are starting to emerge bit by bit. Her deception does not come out in terms but in actions, at times when she is too silent, or when she does not want to discuss. Then all at once--it unravels. Luis finds out that she is a con artist who mugged his money and disappears. The betrayal is very personal not to him alone but to me the viewer. I had been sucked in, like he was, by her beauty, her weakness, and then hit myself on the head by her lie. That moment hurt because it reminded me of real life—of those times when you let your guard down, trusted too much, and got burned.

But the movie doesn’t stop there. That’s just the beginning of the storm. Luis, instead of letting her go, instead of chasing justice, decides to chase her love. Imagine that—the woman lies to you, robs you, humiliates you, and still your heart insists it can’t let her go. That’s when I realized this wasn’t just about con games; it was about obsession, about the way love can turn into a sickness that consumes you. Watching Luis search for Julia was heartbreaking and frustrating all at once. Part of me wanted to scream, “Let her go!” but another part of me understood—that desperate need to hold onto someone who feels like your entire world, even if they’re tearing it apart.

When he eventually tracks her down, they do not reunite in a tender manner; it is more like fire being lit on dry wood. All the anger, lust, forgiveness and betrayal mingling into a single explosive cocktail. The scenes between them following the revelation of the truth are also among the strongest as they demonstrate the reality that love is an overwhelming mess. It’s not black and white. It’s not about good or bad. It is of two people tied together by something greater than reason, something that they are not able to undo even through pain.

Julia attempting to explain herself is one of the scenes which made a lasting impact on me. She is not only a thief, but a woman trapped in her own struggle, her own injuries. And Luis, in spite of it all, can see her suffering. This struck me in a bad way since it reminded me of how we usually judge individuals based on their actions without considering their scarring, which played a role in their getting there. Julia did not only tell lies out of greed, they were armor. And the love that Luis was forgiving was not so much love as it was to surrender.

Its film makes you experience the turns, which make your heart replace. They are with a detective on the hunt, the danger is knowingly nearing them, and still, they return to each other like moths to a flame. It is not only the suspense whether they are going to get caught or not, but whether their love will eat them up. It has that seat-of-your-pants suspense of not knowing whether to side with them or to flee them.

However, the ending was what exposed me the most. I shall not ruin all the details, but I will tell you that it causes one to wonder the value of love. Is it worth your pride? Your money? Your life? The last moments were a torment, half of me sick with them, half of me horrified by the strength the love could have. It is not the laissez-faire version of happy-end, that one finds on other fairytales, but it is darker, heavier, yet it is oddly beautiful.

The credits rolled, and I sat in silence. It was not merely about Luis and Julia that I was thinking: it was about myself and all the ways I have found myself blinded by passion and imagined things I should not have imagined, or sangled on to someone whom I knew not to be very good for me. The film reflected those nasty realities on me: that there are times when we pursue others not because they will be right to us, but because they will stir something inside us that will feel alive, though it will kill us eventually.

Original Sin is not a film but a self-disclosure, a recollection of the fragile borderline between the desire and the destruction. It was, at the same time, a seduction and a betrayal and a privilege to watch it, a pleasure to sample something sweet only to find out that it is poisoned. And perhaps it was the reason that it lingered in me afterwards. It was not the story or the acting, but the naked truth it told, that love is a risky business, yet sometimes we are willing to take it anyway: Angelina and Antonio were setting the screen on fire with their passion.

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Hola mi gente, un gran abrazo el dia de hoy, espero que todos esten super bien, feliz martes para todos, amigos la ediciòn del dia espero que sea de su mayor agrado que disfruten d ela lectura y sobre todo de las memorias que nos trae.

Rafaela es una telenovela venezolana producida por José Enrique Crousillat para Venevisión en 1977, con libreto original de Delia Fiallo. Protagonizada por Chelo Rodríguez y Arnaldo André, se distingue por su enfoque social, sus personajes fuertes y su capacidad de tocar temas difíciles sin perder la emotividad típica del melodrama venezolano.

-Título: Rafaela. -Canal & Productora: Venevisión, producción de José Enrique Crousillat. -Año de emisión: 1977. -Guion & Autor original: Delia Fiallo. -Protagonistas: Chelo Rodríguez (Rafaela Martínez), Arnaldo André (José María Báez). -Antagonistas & Elenco destacado: Alma Ingianni, Haydée Balza, Yolanda Méndez, Fernando Flores, Raúl Xiqués entre otros. -Tema musical de la telenovela: Instrumental Rafaela conpuesto por Juan Galea.

Rafaela Martínez es una joven de origen humilde que ha luchado para cumplir su sueño de estudiar medicina. Vive con su madre, Caridad Martínez, quien tuvo seis hijos de distintos hombres, lo que ha traído sufrimiento y pobreza al hogar.

Rafaela obtiene un internado en un prestigioso hospital cuyo director es el doctor Rafael de la Vega, quien resulta ser su padre, aunque él no supo que Rafaela existía. Este descubrimiento genera resentimientos: Rafaela siente que fue abandonada, y él vive con remordimientos.

También en el hospital entra José María Báez, un médico mujeriego que, pese a su actitud, se gana el afecto de Rafaela. Sin embargo, surgen obstáculos: José María tiene una esposa ausente, Mireya, a quien abandonó tras la muerte de su hijo, y ella regresa para generar conflictos. Rafaela se resiste al amor debido al miedo de repetir los errores de su madre; teme ser lastimada, rechazada o vivir las consecuencias de sufrir por hombres.

Además, conflictos familiares acentúan la tensión: los hermanos de Rafaela tienen distintos destinos; algunos eligen caminos difíciles y otros se enfrentan a la pobreza, la delincuencia, los prejuicios. Rafaela no solo enfrenta sus aspiraciones profesionales, sino también la carga emocional de origen humilde, la vergüenza, y la necesidad de defender sus valores.

Rafaela logró distinguirse por su mezcla de melodrama romántico con crítica social: pobreza, abandono, moralidad, remordimiento, y la relación padre-hija separada por circunstancias de ignorancia o negligencia. Esa combinación le dio profundidad más allá de la fórmula romántica clásica.

La protagonista, Chelo Rodríguez, demostró gran capacidad interpretativa al enfrentar el papel de una mujer fuerte, con dudas, dolor y exigencias morales. Arnaldo André también aportó matices importantes como galán conflictuado, no sólo romántico, sino con pasado y responsabilidades.

La adaptación de Delia Fiallo incluyó subtramas fuertes y problemáticas reales, como maternidad difícil, hijos con diferentes padre, relaciones extramaritales, abandono, culpa, lo que generó empatía con un público que se veía reflejado.

También fue importante la ambientación hospitalaria, lo que permitió introducir el contraste entre lo profesional y lo personal, entre lo ideal (la medicina, el cuidado) y los errores humanos, las fallas sociales. Esa tensión aporta dinamismo narrativo.

Rafaela (1977) es una de las telenovelas más recordadas de la época dorada del melodrama venezolano por su capacidad de conmover y también de confrontar. Tiene todos los ingredientes del género: amor, drama, conflicto familiar, sacrificio, aspiraciones; pero también los problemas reales de la sociedad como pobreza, mujer abandonada, hijos con diferentes padres, inseguridad moral.

Para tu archivo histórico, esta novela merece un lugar destacado: es una obra que representa tanto lo mejor del melodrama como su capacidad de reflejar realidades difíciles con dignidad. Sirve como ejemplo de cómo el género logra trascender el puro entretenimiento cuando se aborda con sensibilidad.

Bueno mi gente esto es todo por esta ediciòn, espero que sea de su agrado y que esta telenovela les traiga muchos recierdos y memorias. Sigan al tanto del blog que poco a poco vamos sacando del baul de los recuerdos y del tiempo, todas esas grandes historia dramaticas que marcaròn nuestras epocas. Bendiciones.

Fuente

Intensamente y su secuela deben ser mis películas favoritas de Pixar de los últimos años, sin duda el mundo interno que crearon alrededor de Riley es interesante y divertido de ver. Este título agarra la idea de la producción de sueños que tenían las películas y nos lo trae en forma de serie. Estrenada el 2024. Creado y escrito por Mike Jones.

Inside Out and its sequel must be my favorite Pixar movies of recent years. Without a doubt, the inner world they created around Riley is interesting and fun to watch. This title takes the idea of dream production from the movies and brings it to us in the form of a series. Released in 2024. Created and written by Mike Jones.

Sinopsis: Paula Persimmon es una directora reconocida, encargada de producir sueños para Riley, se cree intocable; pero cuando una valiosa asistente renuncie y Riley al crecer, exija nuevas experiencias en sus sueños, tendrá un reto para mantenerse. Para ello contará con el apoyo de un nuevo asistente y su deseo de adaptarse a las nuevas circunstancias.

Synopsis: Paula Persimmon is a renowned director in charge of producing dreams for Riley. She believes herself to be untouchable, but when a valuable assistant resigns and Riley, growing up, demands new experiences in her dreams, she will have a challenge to keep up. To do so, she will have the support of a new assistant and her desire to adapt to the new circumstances.

Fuente

Este título puede haber sido perfectamente una tercera película, pues logra con tan solo 4 episodios contarnos una historia que abarca mucho: desde la entretenida historia de Paula para adaptar los sueños a una más grande Riley, pasando por la competitividad artística entre cineastas, hasta mostrarnos de manera simbólica y metafórica lo que pasa en la mente de uno cuando sueña.

This title could easily have been a third film, as it manages to tell a story that covers a lot in just four episodes: from Paula's entertaining story of adapting dreams to a grown-up Riley, to the artistic competitiveness between filmmakers, to showing us in a symbolic and metaphorical way what goes on in one's mind when dreaming.

Los personajes, nuevos en su mayoría, logran captar la atención desde el comienzo, al tener personalidades peculiares, teniendo buena química entre ellos. A su vez, la comedia funciona en demasiados niveles, así como la creatividad del mundo y los sueños que se muestran, es variado y entretenido de ver.

The characters, most of whom are new, manage to capture the audience's attention from the beginning with their quirky personalities and good chemistry between them. At the same time, the comedy works on many levels, and the creativity of the world and the dreams that are shown is varied and entertaining to watch.

Fuente

Tal vez lo único criticable, es que se queda corto, y uno espera más avances en la vida de Riley, sientes que evita situaciones más críticas.

Perhaps the only criticism is that it falls short, and one expects more developments in Riley's life; you feel that it avoids more critical situations.

La animación es excelente como siempre y no defrauda en mostrar de la mejor manera las diversas ideas de la serie.

The animation is excellent as always and does not disappoint in showcasing the various ideas in the series in the best possible way.

Si te gustaron las películas, esta serie no la puedes dejar de ver. Recomendada.

If you liked the movies, you can't miss this series. Recommended.

Calificación personal: 8.5 de 10.

Personal rating: 8.5 out of 10.

We'll Always Have Paris (S01E24)

Airdate: May 2nd 1988

Written by: Deborah Dean Davis & Hannah Louise Shearer Directed by: Robert Becker

Running Time: 45 minutes

Even within the often-derided first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the series demonstrated a remarkable capacity to deliver substantive, high-quality storytelling within the stringent confines of a 45-minute runtime. This achievement, however, was entirely contingent upon the talent and, crucially, the focus of its writers. Regrettably, "We’ll Always Have Paris" (Season 1, Episode 24) stands as a prime example of how the latter element was absent. Despite possessing a genuinely compelling emotional core and a promising premise, the episode falters under the weight of a rushed, underdeveloped science-fiction plot, resulting in a finished product that feels profoundly unfulfilled – a missed opportunity that lingers like an unresolved chord.

The narrative begins conventionally enough: the Enterprise-D heads towards Sarona VII for much-needed shore leave. Captain Picard engages in a fencing session within the holodeck alongside Lieutenant Dean (Dan Kern), only to experience a deeply unsettling temporal glitch where both men inexplicably repeat the same gestures and dialogue. This unsettling phenomenon soon escalates; reports flood in of similar time-loop anomalies affecting nearby starships and agricultural colonies. The source is eventually traced to a distress call emanating from a small planetoid within the Vandor system. There, the brilliant but reckless scientist Paul Manheim (Rod Loomis) has been conducting radical experiments probing the boundaries of time and parallel universes. Tragically, the experiment has catastrophically backfired: Manheim’s entire crew perished, the scientist himself lies gravely ill, and the sole survivor is his wife, Jenice Manheim (Michelle Phillips). The name instantly transports Picard back 22 years to his student days at the University of Paris, where he and Jenice shared a passionate, ultimately unresolved romance. Haunted by the memory of abandoning her on a crucial date to pursue Starfleet, Picard is forced to confront the ghosts of a life path not taken, now complicated by her marriage to the ailing Manheim.

Jenice’s arrival aboard the Enterprise immediately injects a potent cocktail of awkwardness and unresolved tension. While Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) battles to save Manheim’s life, her own simmering jealousy towards Jenice – and her unspoken feelings for Picard – adds a layer of palpable interpersonal drama. Simultaneously, the ship becomes increasingly ensnared in bizarre temporal anomalies, with crew members encountering disorienting echoes and alternate versions of themselves. Resolution hinges on two critical actions: someone must deactivate Manheim’s malfunctioning device, and before that, navigate his lethal security systems. Data (Brent Spiner), logically immune to the temporal distortions affecting organic minds, proves uniquely suited for the task. His successful intervention restores the space-time continuum to normalcy just as Manheim, miraculously recovered, is reunited with Jenice – a reunion Picard observes with quiet resignation.

On paper, "We’ll Always Have Paris" presented The Next Generation with a golden opportunity: a deep dive into Picard’s pre-Starfleet past, exploring formative experiences that shaped the reserved, duty-bound captain we know. The script, credited to Deborah Dean Davis and Hannah Louise Shearer, does partially succeed in this regard, weaving Jenice’s presence into the fabric of Picard’s character in a way few early episodes attempted. Furthermore, the title’s direct lift from Casablanca’s immortal line ("We’ll always have Paris") is no accident; it serves as a deliberate, affectionate homage to the classic Hollywood romance, framing Picard and Jenice’s encounter within a context of lost love and bittersweet nostalgia.

Director Robert Becker deserves significant credit for translating this potential into tangible visual moments. The sequence where Picard utilises the holodeck to recreate a Parisian café of his youth is a masterclass in economical, evocative production design. The matte paintings depicting a futuristic Paris skyline subtly integrated with familiar landmarks, combined with the meticulous detail of the café set – the warm lighting, the period costumes – create a remarkably immersive and melancholic atmosphere. It’s a scene that feels genuinely lived-in, offering a rare glimpse into Picard’s private emotional landscape. Equally commendable is Patrick Stewart’s performance. His chemistry with Michelle Phillips is palpable and deeply affecting; their scenes together, particularly the quiet conversation in the recreated café, rank among the most authentically romantic and emotionally resonant moments in the entire first season. Stewart conveys decades of regret, longing, and quiet dignity with minimal dialogue, a masterclass in subtlety. The script also deftly leverages the nascent, unspoken tension between Picard and Dr. Crusher, with McFadden effectively portraying Beverly’s professional concern warring with personal jealousy – a dynamic that would be tragically excised following her departure after this season.

Yet, for all these strengths – the promising character exploration, the Casablanca homage, Becker’s direction, Stewart’s performance – the episode’s core premise feels fundamentally undermined by its execution. The central "hard" science-fiction plot concerning Manheim’s time-manipulation experiments is executed with such perfunctory haste that it borders on an afterthought. The scientific rationale is thin, the stakes feel abstract despite the immediate danger to the ship, and the resolution via Data’s logical prowess, while logical within the show’s framework, arrives with minimal dramatic build-up. While the special effects depicting crew members encountering temporal echoes (notably Data meeting himself) were reasonably innovative for early TNG, their novelty wears off with astonishing speed. The repetitive nature of the time slips quickly devolves from intriguing mystery into a tiresome gimmick, sapping narrative momentum rather than enhancing it. Crucially, the frantic pacing dedicated to resolving the temporal crisis actively detracts from the rich character drama at the episode’s heart. The profound emotional weight of Picard’s reunion with Jenice, the exploration of his youthful choices, and the complex interplay with Crusher are consistently overshadowed by the need to cut back to flickering lights and repeating dialogue on the bridge. The science-fiction element, instead of serving the character study, feels like a distracting obstacle clumsily bolted onto it.

Ultimately, We’ll Always Have Paris is a frustrating near-miss. It possesses the ingredients for a standout character-driven episode – a strong central relationship, evocative setting, capable direction, and stellar lead performances. However, the decision to anchor this delicate human drama to a rushed, undercooked temporal anomaly plot fatally undermines its potential. The episode squanders its most valuable asset: the opportunity to truly deepen our understanding of Jean-Luc Picard. Instead of a poignant meditation on lost love and the paths not taken, we are left with a story where the most memorable aspects are overshadowed by the very mechanics meant to drive it forward. It serves as a stark reminder that in Star Trek, as in life, even the most promising beginnings can falter without the sustained focus and narrative discipline required to see them through to their natural, fulfilling conclusion.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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Hello! 💙

Fuente de imagen

Esta propuesta de Guillermo del toro resulta ser diferente porque en realidad no hay ningún monstruo de hecho los monstruos terminan siendo los propios humanos al menos bajo la perspectiva que yo pude percibir esta película, ya que la historia simplemente va de un mago de un vidente charlatán que pasa de una feria a tener su propio espectáculo Pero de alguna forma a otra se las ingenia para estafar a todos y engrandecerse a sí mismo al punto de casi creerse su propia historia, es una manera de verlo de cómo nuestros traumas de cómo nuestras mentiras nos pueden llevar a ser completos monstruos Y esto es no de manera literal pero sí es cierto que el personaje hace cosas tan cuestionables que por un instante sí esperas que le pasen cosas malas.

This proposal by Guillermo del Toro turns out to be different because there are no monsters in fact; the monsters end up being humans themselves, at least from my perspective of the film, as the story is simply about a magician, a charlatan fortune teller who goes from working at a fair to having his own show. But somehow he manages to swindle everyone and aggrandize himself to the point of almost believing his own story. It's a way of looking at how our traumas and our lies can lead us to become complete monsters. And this is not in a literal way, but it is true that the character does such questionable things that for a moment you do hope that bad things happen to him.

Fuente de imagen

De hecho podemos ver que casi que todo lo que él toca o lo que hace si ven en un principio puede aparecer una ayuda o un sujeto muy ingenioso la verdad es que termina teniendo su merecido y muchas veces y viéndole terriblemente mal porque su ego le gana es interesante porque mi parecer la película redacta muy bien lo que son los anti valores humanos Por decirlo de alguna manera ya que este personaje simplemente es desagradable pero a la vez te encariñas con él porque es un embustero bastante divertido entretenido Por así decirlo pero sí sus mentiras llegan a tener consecuencias bastante terribles.

In fact, we can see that almost everything he touches or does may initially appear to be helpful or very clever, but the truth is that he ends up getting what he deserves, and often we see him in a very bad light because his ego gets the better of him. It's interesting because, in my opinion, the film does a very good job of portraying anti-human values, so to speak, since this character is simply unpleasant, but at the same time you grow fond of him because he is a rather amusing and entertaining liar, so to speak, but his lies do have rather terrible consequences.

Fuente de imagen

Es una película que sí puede ser muy lenta de hecho dura las dos horas y media pero creo que sí te gusta la filmografía de Guillermo del toro quieres ver algo del cine noir de verdad que esta película es totalmente para ti debo decir que no la conocía Y ahorita sí puedo decir que es una de las mejores películas de Guillermo del toro, y me atrevo a decir que es una de las más desconocidas

It's a film that can be very slow—in fact, it lasts two and a half hours—but I think that if you like Guillermo del Toro's filmography and want to see some real film noir, this movie is totally for you. I must say that I didn't know it before, and now I can say that it's one of Guillermo del Toro's best films, and I dare say that it's one of his most unknown.

The Hoodmaker

Image Source

Now that I have decided to watch the remaining episodes of Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams in their broadcast / series order, I get to experience the rest of the stories that I have not yet read. As a result, these will all be new material to me, and I'm excited to get through more Philip K Dick as I slowly work my way through his novel, Ubik. I am savouring that book, I'm enjoying it a lot.

The Hoodmaker opens with a woman and her scarred face observing a crowd. A tiny riot breaks out, and among it there's a hooded figure, which, I imagine is where the story's title comes from. It appears that the woman observing the crowd is going to be a central character to this story, and the hooded one is going to be some sort of link to an antagonist. Little time is wasted here.

This is story about telepaths. I didn't realise that this was such a recurring theme in Philip K Dick's work, so perhaps what I thought was a framework for Ubik in the short story anthology I recently reviewed wasn't the foundation. Perhaps his work is all intertwined. This story also has shades of Minority Report, which now, seems an obvious comparison to this, and other works he's produced.

The way Philip K Dick depicts telepaths in his fiction reminds me of the way it is handled in Babylon 5. It turns out the woman with the scarred face is a telepath. She's interrogating the man, formerly wearing the hood, in order for the agency to understand motivations. Oh, and of course, to and to help solve the "crime" of the Riot - and to remove the threat of no surveillance allowed that the Hoods enable.

That's the central kick of this story.

The what is clearly demonstrated. Telepaths are used to help control the populace, identifying dissent before it breaks out into riot, but the titular hoods prevent a "Teep" from being able to read others. This is a little bit like controlling body armour. The "good guys" have telepaths, and they're controlled in a way, but so is the defence mechanism against them.

Therefore, The Hoodmaker is all about control, and the adaptation (bearing in mind I haven't read the story this is based on - yet!) weaves (pun totally intended) different layers of narrative interest into the fifty-five minutes of storytelling on offer.

The colour grading on this short film, is particularly interesting as a storytelling element, too. Colours are muted and slightly desaturated, giving the world a numbing feel, as though the noise of it all would otherwise be too much to present in full colour. This is an excellent storytelling element as the film also touches on the torment experienced by telepaths "just for existing" - the intense noise of an enormous din of thoughts.

There's a steam-punk and slightly 1930s / 1940s detective setting to this episode's costumes, but with more modern vehicles and weapons than you'd expect of the era - telephones and keyboards in the background of scenes like they're ordinary items making it hard to place the when.

At this stage, whether these adaptations are good or bad, they're all going to win my time, owing to the fact that Philip K Dick's storytelling always relates whatever speculative "what if" into a "now what", particularly for the human characters depicted. To go back into some puns, the ending of this tale is left with some unstitched threads at the end, to make thinking about this story a satisfying conclusion beyond the one presented.

Lupin is a Netflix original serie based on the books of the French author Maurice Leblanc. Leblabc started writing books about Arsène Lupin, a gentlemen thief in 1905. There are dozens of books about Arsène Lupin. Lupin carries out clever thefts. The stories stand out for their cleverly constructed plots, humor, and surprising twists.

Season 1 and 2

The Netflix series is set in present times. The main character in the series is Assane Diop, a clever and charismatic criminal who draws inspiration from the stories of Arsène Lupin, played by Omar Sy. There are already three seasons of this French series. The first two seasons, both 5 episodes were launched in 2021 and cover the same subject; Assane Diop want revenge for the death of his father who was falsely accused of a crime agains the wealthy Pellegrini family and died in prison. Diop uses the tricks of Arsène Lupin to find out what happened to his father and trie to achieve justice for what happened.

Season 3

Season 3 of Lupin was launched in 2023. Assane Diop is still a most wanted criminal in France. He fakes hist own death to protect his family and returns to Paris. In Paris he gets a message from his mother, which he hadn't seen in years. She is kidnapped and Diop is destined to save her. The kidnappers have all kinds of tasks for Diop like stealing jewelry and paintings which he must deliver them. Diop tries to find a way to track down where they keep his mother so he can save her.

My opinion

I already knew Omar Sy from one of my favorite movies; Intouchables (201!), which is a must see if you ask me. Only his smile makes me laugh too. He was the main reason why we started watching this series. I didn't mind it being in French, just like I didn't mind it when watching Intouchables. The story is good, there are a lot of nice plot twists and a lot of humor too. We finished watching season 1 and 2, which we finished within a week or two. We really enjoyed it. After that we started watching season 3, but actually season 3 is a bit disappointing (at least, for us). It starts to feel a bit repetitive. It also becomes somewhat unrealistic because Diop is now a “most wanted” criminal in France, yet he frequently appears in public and is hardly ever recognized. I know it’s a fictional series, but for me they could have stopped after the first two seasons. We’ll let the fourth season, which is currently in production, pass us by. But the first two seasons are truly recommended for those who enjoy suspense and humor.

Season 1 & 2:

Season 3:

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Greetings!

source It's been a while here, and I'm happy to be back to review a Bollywood movie titled "Inspector Zende.”The movie is a 2025 crime movie which stars actors like Manoj Bajpayee who acted in the movie as Zende, a police officer who arrested the serial criminal whose name was Carl in the movie.

PLOT

The movie is about a jailer who escaped from the prison with other prisoners. He had lied to be celebrating his birthday on a particular day and in the course of the celebration, he got everyone drunk and as a result escaped from prison.

It's at press release that, Zende got to know and he immediately left for home at the milk shop and went home to dress up for the task of arresting the culprit and his gang which took them time to do, but at the end, their mission was accomplished against all odds and Zende was celebrated and rewarded. He later retired as ACP.

THE REVIEW 

When I first saw the title of the movie, I was so elated to see the movie, being it a crime movie, but when i began to see the movie, i was kind of disappointed as it's so boring. 

The first thing that put me off in the movie was how a prisoner was able to organize a party to celebrate his birthday and get the other prisoners including the officials drunk and escaped from the prisons. I think things like this shouldn't have been allowed in a prison and it's an affront to the law.

Also, the way the police department in the movie carried out their operations is unprofessional, their investigations were nothing to write home about as they were not professional enough about it, at a point, I began to wonder how those police officers were getting their information about the culprit as there's no intelligence investigation in all their operations. 

Also, the hostile environment the police from Mumbai found themselves at Goa was surprising and not good enough. How can you be working to achieve the same purpose and be hostile to each other? That's the situation between the Mumbai police and those from Goa. Even, when the culprit, Carl was arrested, those the rivalry between the two states police almost led to his escape if not for inspector Zende who was determined to get Carl arrested. 

However, as boring as the movie was, there's some take home in the movie, the passion and efficiency from the Mumbai police department can't be overemphasized and this was seen in the way all of them acted, including Patil who by the reason of fear allowed Carl to escape when he could have got him arrested in the first place, but at the end, he was one of those who made Carl arrest a success.

Also, the financial contribution towards the success of their mission really got me thrilled and I'm happy to see these kinds of officers in existence. 

I would also talk about the commissioner, the wife of Zende. She was an epitome of love and support and this she displayed with the way she performed her roles in the movie.

Aside from all of the aforementioned, the pictures and the musical tones in the movie really embellished the movie.

RATING 

I would like to rate the movie 3/10

Thanks for reading. 

Poster picture sourced. 

All other images are from the movie screenshots.