Hi there,

Welcome to a movie review of a film I recently watched. As a means to start my weekend, I watched Spike Lee's latest movie, which is his fifth collaboration with the renowned acting legend Denzel Washington. They have both worked on remarkable movies like Malcolm X in 1992, Inside Man in 2006, and now this one, which happens to be their latest, Highest to lowest.

But things took a turn when his son was kidnapped and a ransom demand of 17.5 million dollars was made in Swiss francs. Every other thing was placed on hold until the safe return of his kid. Fortunately, the boy was mistaken for another person. Since King's son handed over his headband to his best friend Kyle, the kidnapper took Kyle instead. After it became obvious that a mistake was made, the real question was whether Mr. King would pay the ransom for a boy who was only his godson and his best friend's child. Bear in mind that 17.5 million is a huge chunk of Mr. King's wealth due to other tied-up deals and ongoing negotiations for Stacking Records.

Would you give out a chunk of your money for the safety of another person's child?

Honestly, for me, I would. Given that Kyle is not just any child, he is also a part of the family, and it is a human life after all. A part of me believes that with Mr. King's reputation and fame, he should be able to make that money back with the next big hit artist he signs. I know it is not that simple, like that, and when put in that position, people may choose to act differently. I am not a fan of spoilers, so I would advise you to check out the movie yourself and find out what Mr. King finally did.

♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟

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Datalore (S01E13)

Airdate: January 18th 1988

Written by: Robert Lewin & Gene Roddenberry Directed by: Rob Bowman

Running Time: 45 minutes

Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) is almost universally regarded as a superior iteration to The Original Series (TOS), a perception grounded in more than mere nostalgia or generational bias. The most immediately apparent explanation lies in TNG’s sheer scale: not merely in its extended run of seven seasons and 178 episodes compared to TOS’s three, nor solely in its significantly higher production budgets, but crucially in its expanded regular cast. This larger ensemble facilitated a richer narrative tapestry, enabling deeper character exploration and episodes centred entirely on individual crew members. Among these, Lieutenant Commander Data emerged as one of the most iconic figures, his unique perspective as an android providing profound philosophical depth. His origin story, relatively swiftly established in the mid-Season 1 episode Datalore, became pivotal in defining not only his character but the show’s intellectual ambitions.

The episode capitalises on this established background when Captain Picard seizes the opportunity to explore Data’s past while the Enterprise-D orbits Omicron Theta, the planet where Data was discovered twenty-six years earlier by the crew of the USS Tripoli. Once a thriving Federation colony, Omicron Theta was abruptly abandoned, its entire population vanishing without trace. An away team led by Commander Riker finds the planet a desolate wasteland, yet uncovers vital clues within an underground shelter – a desperate refuge where colonists attempted to hide from an overwhelmingly powerful and destructive force. Within this shelter, they discover the disassembled head and components of an android bearing Data’s exact likeness, the first tangible link to his mysterious creation.

This android is transported to the Enterprise, reassembled, and activated. He identifies himself as Lore, revealing he and Data were both constructed by the brilliant, reclusive cyberneticist Dr. Noonien Soong. Lore recounts that the colony was annihilated by a colossal crystalline entity, a being of immense power that consumed all organic life. The two androids, being inorganic, survived the cataclysm.

However, Lore’s introduction swiftly pivots the narrative into darker territory. Despite his identical appearance, Lore possesses a starkly different moral compass. Ironically, this divergence stems from Lore being designed more human-like than Data. Dr. Soong, alarmed by Lore’s volatile emotions, ambition, and capacity for deception – traits deemed too dangerous by the colonists – created Data with a more stable, ethical framework. Resentful and vengeful, Lore reveals the devastating truth: he was not merely a survivor but an active conspirator. He had established communication with the crystalline entity, luring it to Omicron Theta to destroy the colony that rejected him. His current scheme involves incapacitating Data, assuming his identity aboard the Enterprise, and using Starfleet’s resources to further his alliance with the entity. While Picard and the senior staff grow increasingly uneasy about "Data’s" uncharacteristic behaviour, it falls to the implausibly precocious Wesley Crusher to correctly identify Lore as the impostor. Frustratingly, his warnings are dismissed as the fantasies of a meddling teenager. Salvation ultimately comes through Wesley’s resourcefulness; he contacts the real Data (held captive by Lore) and, with his mother Beverly’s assistance, manages to beam Lore into the vacuum of space, thwarting his genocidal plot.

Co-written by Robert Lewin and series creator Gene Roddenberry – marking Roddenberry’s final official writing credit – Datalore rests almost entirely on the shoulders of Brent Spiner. During development, the episode concept reportedly involved Data encountering a female android counterpart. Spiner, recognising a greater dramatic potential, successfully advocated for the "evil twin" scenario. While the trope of doppelgängers was hardly novel within Star Trek – tracing back to TOS’s The Enemy Within – Spiner’s execution elevated it significantly. He relished the opportunity to showcase his formidable range, crafting Lore as a chillingly charismatic, emotionally volatile, and intellectually arrogant foil to Data’s serene logic. Spiner’s performance is the episode’s undeniable cornerstone, making Lore instantly memorable and establishing a recurring antagonist of genuine menace.

Spiner’s exceptional work was amplified by Rob Bowman’s direction, which, alongside Ron Jones’s atmospheric score, drew heavy inspiration from Ridley Scott’s Alien. While the physical sets sometimes betrayed their studio-bound, plastic origins reminiscent of the TOS era, the sequence depicting the Enterprise’s confrontation with the crystalline entity showcased notable advancements. The nascent use of CGI for the entity itself, though primitive by modern standards, represented a significant step forward in Star Trek’s visual effects, lending the cosmic horror a tangible, otherworldly presence.

Nevertheless, Datalore is significantly hampered by substantial script deficiencies. It adopts a cavalier attitude towards continuity and features stretches of clunky, expository dialogue that feel forced. Most egregiously, the plot hinges on the near-total incompetence of the Enterprise crew. With the singular, grating exception of Wesley Crusher – whose infallible intuition and access to the ship’s systems defy belief – the senior staff behave with astonishing stupidity and carelessness. Picard and his crew fail to notice Lore’s glaring deviations from Data’s established behaviour, despite overwhelming evidence. Their collective gullibility severely undermines the episode’s tension and strains credulity to breaking point, making Wesley’s eventual triumph feel less like cleverness and more like narrative necessity born of the writers’ need to sideline the actual command crew.

One of the script’s saving graces, however, lies in its exploration of humanity’s definition. Roddenberry, through Picard’s insightful remarks, explicitly expands the concept beyond biological humans. Picard observes that humans are, in essence, complex biological machines, no less mechanical in function than Data. This philosophical thread is crucial to maintaining the optimistic, progressive core of Roddenberry’s vision, suggesting that consciousness and personhood are not exclusive to organic life. Furthermore, the episode pays direct homage to Isaac Asimov, the seminal science fiction author who profoundly shaped robotics discourse. By equipping Data and Lore with "positronic brains" – a concept central to Asimov’s I, Robot – the script acknowledges its intellectual debt and situates Data’s ethical dilemmas within a respected literary tradition.

Ultimately, despite its narrative stumbles and questionable character decisions, Datalore is a solid and fundamentally important episode. It successfully fills a major narrative void concerning one of TNG’s most compelling characters, providing essential context for Data’s existence and motivations. More significantly, it constructs a vital foundation for the series’ future. The episode establishes Dr. Soong, the crystalline entity, and, most crucially, Lore as a recurring antagonist. Lore’s introduction as a charismatic, morally bankrupt counterpart to Data opened vast storytelling potential, exploited effectively in later seasons. His presence, alongside the lingering threat of the crystalline entity, enriched TNG’s mythology, proving that Datalore, for all its flaws, was far more than a mere origin story – it was the cornerstone upon which some of the series’ most enduring conflicts and philosophical inquiries would be built. Its ambition to grapple with artificial consciousness, even amidst its scriptural shortcomings, secures its place as a pivotal, if imperfect, chapter in Star Trek’s legacy.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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Hola amigos cinéfilos de Movies & Tv, espero que se encuentren muy bien el día de hoy. Hace poco estuve buscando algo que ver dentro de las películas que me iban saliendo en internet y encontré I'm totally fine una película del 2022 dirigida por Brandon Dermer y que muestra una realidad cómo lo es el dueño por la muerte de un ser querido y que este aparezca en forma de extraterrestre, como de alguna manera queriendo dar cierre a esa relación que significó y marcó nuestra vida pero que no dejamos ir debido al dolor de saber que esa persona ya no estará más en nuestra vida. Es un tanto loca y con una premisa que no tenía mucho que ofrecer pero aún así la quise ver hasta el final, así que los invito a leer mi reseña de I'm totally fine 🎬👀.

Hello Movies & Tv movie buffs, I hope you are doing well today. Recently I was looking for something to watch on the internet and I found I'm totally fine a movie from 2022 directed by Brandon Dermer that shows a reality like the owner of the death of a loved one and that this appears in the form of an alien, as somehow wanting to give closure to that relationship that meant and marked our lives but we do not let go because of the pain of knowing that person will no longer be in our lives. It's kind of crazy and with a premise that didn't have much to offer but I still wanted to watch it until the end, so I invite you to read my review of I'm totally fine 🎬👀.

La trama nos cuenta el proceso doloroso por el que está pasando Vanessa (Jillian Bell) debido a la pérdida de su mejor amiga Jennifer (Natalie Morales) debido a complicaciones con su salud. Esto realmente marca un antes y un después en la vida de Vanessa al punto de poner en pausa su vida y las cosas por las que estaba trabajando dónde incluía a Jennifer, sin embargo, a pesar del dolor ella regresa a un lugar donde iban a celebrar la fiesta de bienvenida de un negocio en común con el cual ambas soñaban y luego de que la muerte hiciera su inevitable aparición, a Vanessa no le queda más remedio que enfrentarse a pasar unos días en aquel lugar mientras despide a personas que se encargarían de la fiesta y se encuentra con una versión de Vanessa muy diferente, una que viene de los extraterrestres y por más loco que parezca esto cambiaría mucho las cosas.

The plot tells us about the painful process that Vanessa (Jillian Bell) is going through due to the loss of her best friend Jennifer (Natalie Morales) due to health complications. This really marks a before and after in Vanessa's life to the point of putting her life on hold and the things she was working for including Jennifer, however, despite the pain she returns to a place where they were going to celebrate the welcome party of a joint business they both dreamed of and after death makes its inevitable appearance, Vanessa has no choice but to face spending a few days in that place while firing people who would be in charge of the party and meets a very different version of Vanessa, one that comes from the aliens and as crazy as it sounds this would change things a lot.

Está historia no es nada normal o tipica como las que se suelen ver sobre los duelos y como estos marcan de manera profunda la vida de los personajes, en esta película que es de género ciencia ficción y drama con comedia, nos muestran que la muerte puede llegar de forma imprevista y que el proceso del duelo puede ser diferente para todos. Es realmente irreal el pensar que Jennifer pueda convivir por unos días con una versión de Vanessa de otro mundo, con recuerdos de su vida y con la intención de que su aparición sea una forma de sanación para Vanessa quien está profundamente triste y nos es para menos.

This story is not at all normal or typical like the ones we usually see about grief and how these deeply mark the lives of the characters, in this film that is of science fiction genre and drama with comedy, we are shown that death can come unexpectedly and that the grieving process can be different for everyone. It is really unreal to think that Jennifer can live for a few days with a version of Vanessa from another world, with memories of her life and with the intention that her appearance is a form of healing for Vanessa who is deeply sad and it is not for less.

La comedia dentro del drama no me parece muy divertido que digamos pero en esta película las dos se unen para mostrar que más allá de ver la muerte como una tragedia podemos llegar a darle una despedida a esa persona que tanto queríamos de manera decente y recordando todo aquello que se vivió. Ambas hacen que la película pase super rápido, con el toque de humor en más de una ocasión puede llegar a sacarte una sonrisa pero puede ser tediosa de ver a la vez porque estás viendo a una persona lidiar con su duelo mientras está viendo a su amiga como un extraterrestre y esto es lo único que tiene para poder sanar y dejar ir sin olvidar lo valioso que fue haberse conocido.

I don't find comedy within drama very funny but in this film the two come together to show that beyond seeing death as a tragedy we can get to say goodbye to that person we loved so much in a decent way and remembering everything that was lived. Both make the movie go by super fast, with the touch of humor on more than one occasion it can bring a smile to your face but it can be tedious to watch at the same time because you are watching a person deal with their grief while seeing their friend as an alien and this is the only thing they have to heal and let go without forgetting how valuable it was to have known each other.

El director Brandon Dermer hace que la historia se sienta íntima y que puedas ver una historia más allá de trágica, completamente natural y que a la vez te sientas que ves la relación de dos amigas que se querían y se apoyaban, pero que a pesar de la muerte aún quedan los recuerdos y las cosas que ambas vivieron juntas, esas que sin importar el pasar de los años seguirá presente mientras la protagonista viva. La actuación de ambas, tanto de Jillian Bell y Natalie Morales estuvo bastante bien aunque realmente no conocía a las actrices por lo que no sentí que está fuera una historia con la cual conectara completamente.

The director Brandon Dermer makes the story feel intimate and you can see a story beyond tragic, completely natural and at the same time you feel that you see the relationship of two friends who loved and supported each other, but despite the death there are still memories and things that both lived together, those that regardless of the passing of the years will remain present as long as the protagonist lives. The acting of both Jillian Bell and Natalie Morales was pretty good although I didn't really know the actresses so I didn't feel that this was a story that I connected with completely.

Para ser una historia donde se muestra a la muerte como algo que sucede y que no hay que verlo desde el lado negativo, siento que es una forma de decirle a los que la vean que a pesar de que no podamos impedir el hecho de ver morir a nuestros seres queridos, si podemos recordarlos con amor y hasta con alegría porque a pesar de todo fueron especiales y dejaron huellas que nunca se irán del todo. Es una historia bastante loca en cuanto a los géneros que se combinan y que a mi parecer fue un 2/5 pero que al final me hizo sonreír en varias escenas y hasta me hizo reflexionar sobre la vida y como las cosas pueden cambiar de un momento a otro. No sé si han visto esta película pero la pueden encontrar en PrimeVideo y AppleTv+ como también en otras plataformas de películas por internet, cuéntenme en los comentarios si la han visto y que les pareció ☺️.

For a story where death is shown as something that happens and that should not be seen from the negative side, I feel it is a way to tell those who see it that even though we can not prevent the fact of seeing our loved ones die, if we can remember them with love and even with joy because despite everything they were special and left traces that will never be completely gone. It's a pretty crazy story in terms of the genres that are combined and in my opinion it was a 2/5 but in the end it made me smile in several scenes and even made me reflect on life and how things can change from one moment to the next. I don't know if you have seen this movie but you can find it on PrimeVideo and AppleTv+ as well as other online movie platforms, let me know in the comments if you have seen it and what you thought of it ☺️.

Trailer Oficial

_{Todo el texto de esta publicación es de mi autoría - All the text in this publication is my own. Los banners y el separador de texto fueron editados con la versión gratuita de Canva y PicsArt - The banners and the text separator were edited with the free version of Canva and PicsArt. La traducción del texto fue realizada con la versión gratuita de Deepl - The translation of the text was made with the free version of Deepl}

I think that there are a handful of actors and actresses that if they are in something that the press are going to be on their side even if the film isn't very good. Julia Garner, I believe is one of those actresses. The reason for this might because she came out of nowhere and stole the show in Ozard. Prior to that she was an active actress but her performance in that show was second-to-none and I do include Jason Bateman in that comparison.

Since then she has been in a lot of movies but most of them never really cracked the big time. However, a lot of them were quite bad but never really faced the wrath of the reviewers like many other actors would have been subjected to. It is at least partially because of this that I believe Weapons is getting higher marks than it truly deserves.

Now before people decide to dogpile on me I am not saying this is a bad film. It is not a bad film. I enjoyed it and I thought it was a decent horror / thriller. The problem I have with the teetering at around 8/10 rating on various sites is that I feel like this level of rating should be reserved for films that are truly top-tier and well, Weapons is not that.

It's got good performances, a reasonably original story, good direction and they use jump-scares and dread sparingly rather than relying on either for the progression of the film.

There are a couple of things that I don't much care for in this movie though and this is something that irritates me about any film: The implausibility of the entire setup.

Since this is revealed in the trailer and at least to some degree in the poster as well as being very clearly spelled out for you in the first 2 minutes of the film, I do not consider it a spoiler.

A group of kids all in the same class that a bunch of kids from one teacher's class all ran away in the middle of the night without a trace. Just one student remained. The teacher is Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) and the child is Alex (Cary Christopher). The town initially turns on the teacher and the boy because no one can explain why they are not affected by this.

And this is kind of where the show loses me as far as the plot is concerned. Those of us that live in the United States sees exactly how over-the-top the law-enforcement reaction is to just the suspicion of one child disappearing is, but 17 at once? It would be a nation-wide never-ending manhunt that would not concern itself with various things like court orders in order to search your very suspicious looking house.

Also, the idea that all of these kids just walked out the house with zero evidence of which direction they went and nobody had caught anything on CCTV is just too absurd for me to get on board with.

I get it, this is what is necessary for the story to happen but there was no magic hocus pocus that makes it so the evidence is magically not there and honestly, as cheap of an excuse as that would be, I would have welcomed it in lieu of "oh, nobody saw anything because it was really late at night."

I realize that this is mostly because of my own quirks but I have a difficult time enjoying a film when the premise, the setup if you will, is rooted with so much impossibility when a film is meant to take place in modern day Earth.

If you can suspend this, and I think you should, it can be an enjoyable experience and I did enjoy it as much as I could. However, another problem is that this film is meant to be a real shock when the big reveal takes place towards the end but for a lot of people, it wasn't shocking at all. It reminded me of Shutter Island where your ability to enjoy that film is largely based on you not knowing what the twist will be, but I think that with that movie, as well as Weapons that a lot of people could see the twist coming about 40 minutes before it was actually revealed to us.

I will not reveal it to you because I do still think you should watch this and come to your own conclusion. It IS a good movie but I simply don't agree that it is an 8/10 movie.

Until I was writing this I actually forgot that Josh Brolin was even in it. His performance is not bad, it's just kind of unnecessary and I feel as though he was placed there because Julia doesn't seem to be capable of pulling the crowds in with her name alone. Just look at the highly anticipated prequel to Rosemary's Baby called Apartment 7A which I thought was a wonderful film yet almost nobody even saw it. Why? Because it was starring Julia Garner and a bunch of people you have likely never heard of.

Weapons is a good movie, or I should say IMO, it is better than average. I do not agree that it is one of the best movies of the year though and an 8/10 rating would suggest that is the case.

Should I watch it?

Please be assured that I am saying that yes, especially if you are a horror fan, you definitely should see this. Horror is a particularly difficult "nut to crack" so to speak and I think many people, such as myself, are going to be overly critical of all elements of it when the media kind of seems to be playing favorites with who they are going to promote. A lot of this attention to detail on my part is built on a profound distrust of professional critics and how I think they actually have a plan about what it going to be determined to be "good" and what isn't before they even watch it.

Weapons is a solid film and yes, you should see it. Then report back and tell me if you think it is one of the best movies of the year, or if it is just a teensy bit overrated.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4633694/
• Platform: AppleTV+

Rottentomatoes Rating

At this point of the movie you will say well the base of the story is almost the same as many others only that is animated and yes, is similar but at the same time is not because here comes the twist that for many people is the reason to love this movie that is the multiverse in this case the spiderverse that give the possibility to see others kind of spiderman that you read in a comic many years ago now making their presence in a movie and in a good one. Here you can see a more mature SpiderMan named Peter B. Parker, in his universe he is divorce, with depression, a little fat but with a lot of experience as a super hero. Spider Gwen the only SpiderWoman of the group, intelligent, strong and in his universe fought against spiderman who became The Lizard. SpiderMan Noir, this is the only black and white spiderman from 1933 with his hard boiled detective style and animation of that time. Peni Parker a little girl, she was designed as an anime character, her universe is in the year 3145 and she has a robot that inside has the spider with which she has a physic connection and the last but not least is Peter Porker, he is the one who brings more funny moments to this whole chaos. You really learn to care about them all and feel bad to know that there aren't in their respective universe and can die if they don't return, they are running against time. Unfortunately the movie doesn't give deep information about them and I think this was on purposoe for either sequels or probably animated tv series, recently a few Spier Man series had come out, the movie just give the necessary information for you to know who they are, but the center of everything is the mess Kingpin has created with his machine, afterr Kingpin lost his wife and son and with the machine he wanted to literately kidnap them form another universe to live with him, so he is in pain and doesn't care to create a huge mess in the multiverse to get what he wants. For that reason all those spiderman/woman/pig are in Miles Morales universe.

For every superhero a villain should exist as well and this movie brought many of them, I already mention Kingpin that is the main villain in this story but theres also others that I want to mention in special Dr Octopus that here is not a man is a female, as an unexpected twist I approved it, she doesn't has like a reason to fight against Spiderman just because he has the key of the collider machine and she want, as a scientist she needs to know how it works its all obsession. The one that was truly a surprise is the Prowler because he is Miles Morales Uncle, thats kinda sad too, because he is the personification of love for Miles, his best friend, a person who guide him and advice him in many ways and suddenly he realized that the villain is his uncle Aaron and the uncle when capture him knew that the new spiderman was his beloved nephew, so sad, so twisted and the most heartbreaking moment because his Uncle died latter on so this movie not only puts everything upside down to what I knew about Spiderman but also have many emotional moments.

I thought this would be a movie only for kids but its way more than that, reminds me a lot about "Transformers ONE" that one I did see few months after came out, Im more of a Transformers fans though so Im bias on that one. Been a Spierman animated movie I thought well is going to be colorfull, with villains, with fights and actions scene but the truth is that is more than that. Spider Man Into the SpiderVerse not only show a multiverse violence and villain fights also give us a deeply and emotional scenes such as Miles dad talking to him through a door giving him an emotional speech, when his uncle dies and also when he saw SpiderMan dies, all are moments that turned his character more human. The leap of faith moment where Miles finally becomes Spider Man is a moving one, the way he rises up toward the camera as the music plays in the back is beautifully executed, that sequence alone probably explains why so many people love this movie, I honestly think this is the best movie at capturing the essence of what makes Spider Man special superhero, is that human side and that fight against the odds. The creation of every spiderman and the way how they were presented with their own swag, their own look, making them so different and unique, that takes a ton of imagination. As many movies when you have so many characters on it can be complicated to pay attention to everyone and everything and probably many people couldn't keep up the rhythm of the every scene so I get it if many think its a bit confusing for been an animated series and its very geeky when it comes to Spiderman stuff, after all one of the best animated movies I have seen in my life, solid solid 8/10

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #spiderman, #miles, #animation, #multiverse, #marvel, #kingpin, #peter, #gwen, #noir, #spiderham, #peni, #brooklyn, #soundtrack, #visuals, #comics, #spiderverse, #radioactive, #supercollider, #dimensions, #uncle, #father, #identity, #hero, #powers, #webslinger

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In 2017, Netflix has taught us that its new Marvel series, previously met with eager anticipation, are to be greeted with considerable scepticism, if not outright dread. It is no longer merely a matter of evident creative and financial fatigue, or even the anticipated decline in quality following the surprisingly strong debut seasons of Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Rather, it appears the Netflix superhero multi-series project, much like its cinematic counterpart, has become a victim of a process even its creators seem powerless to halt. Thus, each new series or season appears destined to be worse than the last, partly due to objective constraints, partly due to the enforced repetition of a narrative formula that results in increasingly drawn-out seasons culminating in ever more melodramatic and less convincing cliffhangers. Many had anticipated such a fate for The Punisher, the latest addition to Netflix’s Marvel roster, yet fortunately, it has largely managed to evade this trajectory.

The protagonist, portrayed by Jon Bernthal, was first introduced in Daredevil’s second season as a significant figure and something of Daredevil’s alter ego, pushing vigilantism to brutal, bloody extremes. Frank Castle has ample justification for his actions—which have amassed an unprecedented body count among New York’s criminal underworld—given that his beloved wife and children tragically perished in a gangland shootout. Simultaneously, his bloody and highly efficient vengeance is underpinned by his credentials as a Marine special forces officer and extensive combat experience in America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His military past, during which he uncovered the dark realities of “spreading democracy” through torture and prisoner executions, as well as his superiors’ involvement in drug smuggling, remains a source of profound, unresolved trauma. A stroke of luck for Castle is that authorities now believe him dead following one of his spectacular clashes. David “Micro” Lieberman (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), a hacker and former NSA analyst, finds himself in a similar predicament: his attempt to expose corruption in Afghanistan led to the investigation turning against him, and after barely surviving an arrest attempt, he too is presumed dead. Unlike Castle, Micro’s family remains alive, and his desire to reunite with them drives his reluctant recruitment of Castle to uncover evidence clearing his name. Castle agrees only because he believes Micro’s hacking and analytical skills will aid his quest for vengeance. Complicating matters further is Dinah Madani (Amber Rose Revah), a Department of Homeland Security agent investigating Castle’s Afghan history, who becomes entangled with Castle’s former comrade Billy Russo (Ben Barnes), now the owner of a security firm lubricated by political and business connections.

Netflix’s Marvel series distinguish themselves through a commitment to realism, rendering their plots and protagonists far more plausible on New York’s actual streets than their garishly costumed cinematic equivalents. In The Punisher, this realism reaches a new, potentially unsettling level. Frank Castle is no superhero—his abilities are entirely human, and he frequently endures the grim physical consequences of ballistic impacts. He is not even a conventional hero, owing to his morally dubious tactics, which include torture, mutilation, and killing sprees, raising questions about whether he derives a twisted satisfaction from it all. Yet Castle remains a complex character, retaining vestiges of humanity while acutely aware he can never rejoin normal society. Bernthal’s performance elevates the role, cementing Frank Castle/The Punisher as his finest work by that point.

The decision to pair Punisher with Micro as both partner and moral counterpoint proves astute. Much as Punisher served as Daredevil’s foil, Micro—played with brilliance by the relatively unknown Moss-Bachrach—fulfils a similar role here. While rooted in the original comics, the character draws significant inspiration from Edward Snowden, avoiding geeky stereotypes. He embodies Castle’s closest approximation of a conscience, while Micro’s family, whom Castle occasionally visits, represents an idyllic substitute for all he has lost. The Punisher’s grounding in reality is most evident in its exploration of the fallout from Western “spreading of democracy” in the Middle East—a trauma from which neither the modern world nor Castle has recovered. This extends beyond the protagonist to his superiors, mired in corruption and human rights abuses, and his comrades. Here, the producers reveal their expected salon-leftist convictions: one antagonist, an alternate version of Castle portrayed by Australian actor Daniel Webber, espouses pro-Trump rhetoric, defends gun rights, and descends into deranged terrorism. Similarly, Madani’s character is reduced to clichés, functioning less as a credible federal agent than as a token emblem of “political correctness,” her authority undermined by predictable romantic subplots.

The series’ greatest flaw, particularly this season, lies in its drawn-out pacing. The narrative crawls through early episodes before accelerating near the end, still weighed down by superfluous instalments. The finale epitomises this issue, following the penultimate episode’s spectacular showdown with an anticlimactic, unconvincing confrontation between Castle and the primary antagonist. Despite these shortcomings, The Punisher was a compelling series. However, its creators had to exert extraordinary effort to prevent the anticipated quality decline in the second season.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

(Note: The text in the original Croatian version was posted here.)

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Episode 5 of Terminal List Dark Wolf, I continue to watch this series even though plot quality is tarting to faint to be honest, at least this episode really goes into some dark places, not just the typical shooting we been getting but real uncomfortable territory with torture and questioning who the hell you can trust in this mess. The first scenes throws you right into Hastings torturing some guy he captured from the ambush and the whole thing looks brutal at first but when things going to get dirty they skip the shot or point the camera somewhere else like they want to keep it PG, I think the series needs to separate itself from basic action shows where everything is clean and perfect. The guy turns out to be working for German intelligence which makes the whole situation even more messed up because Hastings basically tortured a friendly for nothing, the poor bastard dies and Hastings tries to do CPR but its too late, Tom Hopper performance during this scene is good although not enough for my, I want to see him loose his cool, you can see his character breaking down when he realize what he has done, all this could have all been avoided if the guy just said who he was working for from the start instead of playing tough guy, but I guess when someone is cutting you up and threatening to kill you its not easy to think straight, specially when the torture gets to the point where Hastings brings lye, a chemical to disolve organic material; which sizzles the guy wounds and finally breaks him.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26576161/
• Platform: PRIME VIDEO

Meanwhile Edwards is still alive after getting shot a few times in the back but it was no his plate so nothing mortal, I mean the series still need him for the story and at least they show him struggling with his injuries instead of just walking it off like nothing happen. He teams up with Eliza even though she literally shot him in the back not too long ago, which seems pretty stupid but desperate times I guess and you can tell Edwards doesn't fully trust her but he needs her help to figure out what the hell is going on. Their whole partnership is weird because Eliza claims she has her own mission from Mossad to find out who this mysterious Shepherd guy really is, what is his agenda and she keeps insisting that the ambush wasn't her fault even though she betrayed the team by taking the bearings. The whole thing about Mossad maybe being the good guys here is an interesting twist because we been thinking they were the bad guys this whole time, turns out the CIA might be the ones hiding stuff which wouldn't be surprising considering how shady Haverford has been acting throughout the series, always keeping secrets from his own team and making deals with people we never see.

The action scenes in this episode are pretty intense, specially that fight between Tal and this massive dude in Munich who looks like he could crush her with one hand but somehow she manages to win. The fight is vicious and you actually believe she could win because she uses everything around her, throwing paint in his face and eventually setting his head on fire which was funny AF and felt like something out of a horror movie with his entire face on fire and long beard plus had that paint too that turn the fire kinda gree, right when he had his head on fire Tal tooks her gun and shot him like three times. She throws up afterwards which felt real because that would mess anyone up, the amount of punishment she took, even trained killers who are suppose to be use to violence, it shows that even the toughest people have limits when it comes to taking a life, honestly I dont understand why she didnt took the computer from the begining, she was too short on time but I guess it would be way more rewarding if she just kept his computer hacked remotely and Shepherd feeding more data. The whole sequence in Munich shows how dangerous this mission is and how everyone is getting their hands drity at some point, Tal manages to steal his laptop and some hard drive from what might be the Shepherd safehouse but you can tell she barely made it out alive and probably has PTSD from that fight.

Edwards and Eliza driving around in that bright blue Mini Cooper was probably the dumbest thing they could do when everyone is looking for them, like who thought that was a good idea for staying low profile when you are trying to avoid getting killed by multiple intelligence agencies. Of course they get spotted by some motorcycle assassins who plant a bomb on their car and blow it up, killing Eliza instantly or at least thats what looks like, it would be weird for her to survive and show up latter on, well I got to admit it was actually shocking because I thought she would stick around longer and maybe even become Edwards lover. The whole car bomb scene happens really fast and Edwards took it like a champ going away the moment he say her laying on blood, no drama no nothing, you can see the motorcycle weaving through traffic and like they are professional, not like random thugs but actual trained killers who know what they doing, which makes the threat feel more real. Edwards survives again because of that plot armor but now he is completely alone with just the bearings and more questions than answers, plus he doesn't know who he can trust anymore since everyone seems to have their own secret mission or hidden agenda. Edwards takes Eliza bracelet before leaving the scene like he is going to avenge her probably?, probably something that belonged to her daughter that she mentioned earlier, it shows that despite not trusting her completely he still cared about her as a person and had feelings for her because he just gave up too fast after getting betrayed and shot in the back by Eliza. The episode also does this thing where Edwards checks the bearings and realizes they fake, which means someone switched them before the convoy even started, so the whole mission might have been compromised from the beginning and nobody knows who the real enemy is.

The episode ends with Edwards being the only one left standing and moving forward with the mission, well who knows whats the mission at this point, but you can tell he is messed up emotionally, losing Eliza right when they were starting to work together again, not necesarly fully trusting her but it was working for the short term, plus Hastings is off somewhere in Austria dealing with his own demons after torturing an innocent man to death. The whole Shepherd mystery is still hanging over everything and I still don't know who the real bad guys are, could be the CIA, could be Mossad, could be both since everyone seems to be playing their own game instead of working together. Episode 5 definitely cranks up the intensity, the torture scenes make you uncomfortable on purpose and the whole thing about not knowing who to trust keeps you guessing until the very end. Although it was a cool episode it never feels raw like for adults only because it kept cutting the good stuff, right when things getting drity like the torture scenes they get cut off or when Edwards was not "trusting" Eliza at all after a couple of minutes talking he gives in and holds hands, like wtf she shot you in the back. The series is doing a good job of showing how war and espionage can break people down mentally, not just physically and how the line between right and wrong gets blurred when you in survival mode, specially on this black ops missions. Im giving this one an 7/10 because even though some parts felt a bit convenient there is more trauma and more gray almost dark areas, the acting is good enough and the action is great, but dont watch this series expecting something raw or complicated, its just logical that this is not the intentions of the series.

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This is a cross post of @syberia/alice-in-borderland-a-series-that-invites-us-to-reflect-on-life-and-death by @syberia.

A review about a series with a very interesting philosophical message.