DaViD´82

Fascism, war, propaganda, Christianity, loss, growing up, death, problems with fathers… And yet, it’s mainly for kids. Sophisticated and stylish, the best version of a classic – in the first half, not all the way. Given all it addresses, much of it is left to fizzle out in the last act. Nevertheless, the execution and visual concept are breathtaking.

"I burn my decency for someone else’s future." Adult, gritty, cold and procedural, deliberately quite "anti-Star Wars" in every respect; often to its own detriment. Andor is its own in both a good and a bad sense, and with an uncompromising vision that is not like what we are used to seeing under this brand (whether in movies, TV shows, comics or games). Untamed and peculiar to the point where it will soon become a lasting cult classic, and like any cult classic, it won't be for everyone. But while no one will ever miss Fett or Obi-Wan, there will always be a demand for adult Star Wars after Andor ends. Of course, there's no point in beating around the bush; for all its undeniable qualities, it mostly shuffles its feet by poisoning the viewer with the opening quartet of episodes. They are boring, grey, with wannabe adult themes and uninteresting characters. But it builds up tremendously, to the point where specifically the sixth to tenth episode segment is the best thing ever produced under the Star Wars banner, it just has nothing to do with it; a positive for me, a negative for others, and rightfully so, since if you want serious adult sci-fi, you're not looking for Star Wars. It rides a wave where the ends justify the means for both sides, it's all about individuals who are damn good at their jobs, where there is no room for emotions and chatter. The political backstage backstabbing under the guise of pretense works, as does the stumbling apparatus of the Empire, its internal struggles and the tension arising purely from dialogue or the unspoken between the lines. It simmers under the surface, I never thought I'd see something so Le Carré (not to mention the obvious inspiration of Melville's Army of Shadows) in a sci-fi guise, let alone in a Star Wars guise. Gilroy has a vision and everything conforms to it (stylization, music, direction, set design), sometimes it's to the detriment, sometimes to the benefit, with the latter outweighing the former. Andor won’t leave you cold and without an opinion, which doesn’t mean it won’t (will) entertain you. If you are able to survive the failed first third and fancy some “proper adult Star Wars”, the chances that you’ll find your next favourite thing are more than slim. | S1: 4/5 |

It can't decide whether it wants to be a sociological probe à la Dycky Sunderland or a docu-series with a "how two clueless Yanks get to know the uncompromising world of lower-division football management" angle, while realising that they don't make money in football and are purely in the role of sugar daddies with marketable faces. But it’s too forced, it feels cynical, that they went into it for the documentary rather than for their proclaimed altruistic reasons. Add to that a straddling concept where one scene deals with how a guy's life sucks (his job sucks, his partner left him, his small-town prospects are nil, all he has left is the club), only to be followed by a scene where Reynolds does the obligatory funny thing. One moment you're dealing with a fan's cancer, the next you're dealing with the issue of "how fans have been screwed over by previous managements", and then it's on to like TV sports news where the duo of owners make (un)funny quips. It doesn’t feel like a whole. The more interesting sociological aspect doesn't get the necessary space, the behind-the-scenes part doesn't go deep under the hood of the club's management, if at all (and it's a pity, the story around finances, ownership rights, contract negotiations it's SO rewarding). It's rather about those two, who (logically) only have it as an appendage to many other investment activities or don't have much to offer as subjects of documentary interest. It's not bad, not really (the episodes are short and snappy), especially when the plans fall apart under their hands, but it's too much in the shadow of many other sports docuseries in concept, delivery and moving outside the sports box. | S1: 3/5 |

The Addams' nihilistic-sarcastic daughter in a "sort of Hogwarts school" in the guise of new concepts from Sabrina or Riverdale; i.e. some mysteries, murders, secrets and high-school loves like from Heartbreak High. The on paper biggest setback of a one-note central character who has a speechless prop as a sidekick is not a weakness at all. Ortega is both assured and mesmerizing, not merely imitating the iconic Ricci, and Thing is used playfully and imaginatively. The problems are elsewhere. The conception of Wednesday as a goth teen isn't always entirely happy; in the original Wendy, that wasn't a shell protecting her emotions, but her true self. The weaker detective mystery is also a shame. Above all, though, it's dragged down by the filler, of which there's far too much for just eight episodes. In any case, solid as a one-note fantasy macabre high school relationship show. There is a lot to build on, the concept is solid, just not yet fully exploited. | S1: 3/5 |

It’s watchable, but with a little of eye-rolling. Of course, even in its finest moments it is average at best (well, okay, there are some excellent scenes in the final three episodes). The biggest problems are in the concept, the characterisation, the dialogue, the non-intersecting lines (the fact that two of them don't even count is a topic in itself, not to mention that the best line is completely unnecessary), that is, aspects that, even if they improve substantially for the next series, won't be enough to lift it out of the B-movie waters. Sadly, McCreary is doing more for this than anyone else. If (and it's a big if) you can get past the degradation of "LOTR" (whether literary or cinematic), it's passable as a dozen badly written episodes of fantasy, which is criminally little. | S1: 3/5 |

A satire through the culinary arts (not original in that respect) that initially combines tension with humour while setting up the characters for a "breaking point" in an exemplary way. But everything it wants to say, it's said in the first half and... And then nothing. In the second half it's just gropes and somehow stumbles to the conclusion. Moreover, after the "break" it's downright woeful in the character work, which retroactively devalues the beginning. Everything is "aptly and sophisticatedly satirised" in the first half and the second half works just fine thanks to the actors, who do their best not to let it sink completely. It should have been a short instead of a feature film.

For the first time in a long time, a gripping reality show that is a return to the roots of the format. There is beauty in simplicity, it's not a staggering amount of money and so it's enough to take the tasks from Fort Boyard or Amazing Race, put a traitor on the team who must not attract attention but must sail through it and sophisticatedly thwart plans, giving the impression that he or she is helping, and then some rivalry based on "all against all but for a common goal that must be achieved together". There is a nicely devised mechanism to keep the traitor in the game, and at the same time a reason why it can pay for others to style themselves as the traitor. The challenges are imaginative; from variations on the escape room to adrenaline games to stabbing each other in the back through takes on "morality versus pragmatism" psychological experiments, tension based on the paranoia of the participants or game theory. The changing locations, the challenges, the secret quests, the various psychological jokes, they work great, but there are problems. It's "overdramatized" (generally a problem with reality shows), everyone is too "young and pretty", the opening episode does it a disservice (of course, the second one fully sells it). Also the identity of the mole should have been revealed to the audience for the second half, so they would have the space in the first half to guess as players while enjoying the second half as they go through it, how they solve things, etc. For one thing, it would make it more enjoyable, and also, after a few episodes, his or her identity won’t be much of a shock anyway. So there is definitely room for improvement in this absolutely crucial aspect for a possible second series. | S1: 4/5 |

A series with many faces. It's a spin-off, but it goes its own way. It will not be to the liking of many, it is all about current "liberal-leftist" issues. Big social issues such as racism, polarising political views, feminism, etc. are often handled in a sophisticated way, from many angles, without offering any black and white answers, but instead the cases end up in a bittersweet grey area. In contrast to this, usually in the same episode, there is a theme that gives the impression that someone in a tabloid saw the headline of an article "snowflakes XY" and based on that made an agitprop insert that will offend even a like-minded viewer by its naivety and misunderstanding. And so it is with everything. There are visible characters and a lot of caricature figures next to them. On the one hand, it works with the pragmatic stabbing in the back of top law firm office politics, countered by addressing matters of the heart in a style that even second-rate Latin American soap operas from the early 1990s would not have chosen for being too cheap. They address a current serious social issue, but there is a line about a malevolent-evil mega-conspiracy of old structures. The central characters are not dealt with across the series, but on the basis of the seasons, meaning that as a rule, they behave like different characters from one season to the next, and they don’t know what to do with them after some time. And so, in the final episodes, the main character Diane becomes another one of the lot, she does drugs, looks thoughtfully out of the window and allows herself to be crushed by the weight of time and relationships, now and then she is used as a deus ex machina in court, but she does not solve her own cases. The result is that when it works, it works, it has pace and something to say. But when it doesn't work, watching the next episode is guilty pleasure. | S1: 3/5 | S2: 4/5 | S3: 3/5 | S4: 3/5 | S5: 3/5 | S6: 3/5 |

An adaptation that isn't afraid to mess with the very foundations of what is rightly a timeless classic and yet it is the most faithful adaptation possible. An established benchmark of how to adapt the written word into film language (not telling and showing), preserving the message and yet "standing up and not being a mere illustration". Everything is subordinated to the suggestive concept of "you are there with them". The absurdity and futility of the war machine through everyday trench existential horror, which, however, in addition to the horrific scenes (through a war scene, through the simple survival without hope for the future), manages to contrast the humanity and unexpected permeations of normality in spite of everything (officers, timelessness, humanity), often without words; purely by sight, sound, suggestion, music. Yes, you could say that it doesn't build up, it just kind of flows during the last days on the front. That’s not very viewer friendly, but it’s the intention, and it works, without being the same over and over again. It cannot be denied that many of the horrors have already been handled equally impressively by other works (but it is hard to accuse the adaptation of the classic on which everyone is based of being "a bit dated"). This is a film that will inevitably divide, some will berate it because "they messed with my beloved book", others because "we've seen this before and we don't need to do it again", others will bemoan "the non-existent pace". And then there'll be those who won't sleep easy as a result, not because of the explicit depictions of wartime atrocities or the topicality "it was a century ago", but for the overall sense of the confusion of it all, even though it makes do with little; perhaps the mere pilgrimage of a uniform from the front.

If you read Walliams to your children (and you should, you'll like it as much them), for example, you'll enjoy this wacky and highly stylised adventure like a little kid, plus, it’s done as if Wes Anderson had shot a the travails of Santa Claus. In the space of eight episodes, it sticks out too much that this is an adaptation, it could (and should) have been shorter, but the kids are not annoying (in fact, two of them are brilliant), it's got style, swing and ideas, and it checks the family entertainment box in the best sense of the word. There aren’t many series like this these days, in fact, I can’t think of a similar live action show from the last few years. | S1: 4/5 |