TV Show Review - Kaleidoscope (Mini Series)

Season: Mini Series
Genre: Drama/ Crime/ Action
Number of episodes: 9
Year: 2023
Starring: Giancarlo Esposito, Rufus Sewel, Paz Vega, Jai Courtney, Tati Gabrielle, Rosaline Elbay, Peter Mark Kendall, Niousha Noor, Jordan Mendoza

Description: Centered around the largest heist ever attempted, the vengeance and betrayals that surround it.

Review: The idea behind the new Netflix show “Kaleidoscope” is quite ambitious: namely the viewer can choose the order of the crime series, which would make the viewing experience different for each person. The concept is fantastic, the execution is pretty mediocre.

Before “Kaleidoscope” begins, you get a notification that you get to decide the order of the series. Therefore, the episodes don’t have a number, but a color. And to give viewers a a hand, Netflix has released the series in different sequences. For me the series started with episode Green, for other it can be Blue or Red and so on. Although you should note that White is always the finale.

The story of “Kaleidoscope” is fairly standard: a group of thieves led by Leo Pap want to rob a heavily guarded vault. How they prepare and why Leo has it in for this particular safe is told in these episodes. The final episode is the actual heist. To keep the storylines clear, each episode stand for a time period. Such as seven years before the heist, five week before the heist and the day after the heist.  

For example, in episode yellow you see how Leo puts together his crew, in Green Leo manages to escape from prison, Orange revolves around an FBI agent hunting the group and in Pink you follow the group six months after the heist. As a result, the episodes are fairly self-contained and it matters little whether you start with Leo’s escape or his plan to rob a safe, because the story remains the same. I think it would have worked better if each episode was the story told from different character’s perspectives. This way, it would be more of a puzzle that would eventually come together. And with that, White is the episode you are supposed to finish on, but I believe Pink is the best episode of the series and the perfect ending.

As a result, “Kaleidoscope” is still entertaining enough, but it’s a pretty standard heist story. It has a great concept, but they could have done so much more with it.

10s Movie Review - Insurgent

Director: Robert Schwentke
Genre: Adventure/ Science Fiction
Runtime: 119 minutes
Year: 2015
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Miles Teller, Jai Courtney, Naomi Watts, Ansel Elgort, Kate Winslet, Maggie Q, Zoë Kravitz, Ray Stevenson, Octavia Spencer, Suki Waterhouse, Daniel Dae Kim, Mekhi Phifer

Description: Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley) must confront her inner demons and continue her fight against a powerful alliance which threatens to tear her society apart with the help from others on her side.

Review: The fact that many have had enough of the seemingly endless stream of Hollywood movie sof successful YA books is not incomprehensible. However, the current young adult hype has a pleasant downside: the similarities of the many productions force comparisons to be made. For example: “The Divergent” series is very easy to compare to the series of “The Hunger Games”. Both series have a lot in common in terms of story and design, but where “The Hunger Games” addresses some relevant contemporary issues, “Divergent” has no much to offer than what can be seen on the surface. The latter inadvertently contributes to the foundation of the throne on which “The Hunger Games” currently sit.
However, when the first film released in 2014 was it turned out to actually be pretty good and quite enjoyable. After all, “Divergent” was a lot better to digest than “The Host” or “Mortal Instruments” and also a lot more lucrative, even if it was not a resounding success. Enough basis to film the remaining books of Veronica Roth’s trilogy. Because there’s no time to waste, the film’s first follow-up is released just one year after the first.
At the start of “Insurgent”, Tris, her boyfriend Four, her brother Caleb and former opponent Peter appear to have been blamed by the responsible oppressors for the massacre that ended the first film. This leaves them nothing but fugitives through post-apocalyptic Chicago, constantly searching for new hiding places. That brings them to some factions that haven’t been seen before, as well as to the Factionless, which turns out to be not nearly as helpless as previously suggested.
Although this second part still doesn’t reach the level of any of “The Hunger Games” movies, “Insurgent” is on many points a good quality film. Now that all the explanations are behind us, the story movies into a higher gear, resulting in a pleasantly smooth movie that hardly repeats itself in the first part. There is plenty of visual spectacle, but fortunately the characters all get a little more to do this time as well. Not every development works equally well, but thanks to some fine surprises, replacement director Robert Schwentke holds the viewer’s attention well. Perhaps the most pleasant element of “Insurgent” is that it’s not just another typical interlude that only serves to set things up for the grand finale. This part is mainly about the aftermath of the previous film and the makers don’t seem to want to occupy themselves too much with future films. This means, among other things, that some plot lines are already neatly ended and some characters disappear from the stage for good as a result.
I think “Insurgent” did a pretty good job in continuing in this series.

Rating: 3/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 112: Suicide Squad

Director: David Ayer
Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Crime
Runtime: 123 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Cara Delevingne, Jai Courtney, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jay Hernandez, Adam Beach, Scott Eastwood, Ben Affleck

Description: A secret government agency recruits a group of imprisoned supervillains to execute dangerous black ops missions in exchange for clemency, which inevitably leads to chaos.

Review: DC Comics got a crazy follow up for “Batman V. Superman”, which was a big and epic film, but was way too long and didn’t meet our big expectations. “Suicide Squad” is a daring film with fun characters, but it’s a bit messy.
“Suicide Squad” is set right after the happenings in “Batman V. Superman”. Amanda Waller decides to fight fire with fire, in the crime filled world they live in now. She assembles a groups of criminals that are all messed up in their own way. She wants them to fight the evil in the world and finally do something good. If they don’t cooperate, they will be killed.
The start of the film is an introduction to the characters. That’s a big part of the opening, but the film is very fast paced and holds that tempo the entire film. But some of the members of the suicide squad get more attention than others. Especially Deadshot and Harley Quinn get more focus, but they are also the most interesting characters of the bunch. Both Will Smith and Margot Robbie do a fantastic job portraying them.
Jared Leto plays the Joker and he does it in his own way. His interpretation is okay, but he doesn’t succeed as well as Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger did with their performances of the same character. And the Joker isn’t in the film that much either. Cara Delevinge as Enchantress is just strange. I didn’t like her and her character never gets interesting. And I hated that weird voice she had.
The editing of the film is the biggest problem. It’s very messy and it sometimes looks like scenes were cut and it was all edited without giving it the proper attention.
“Suicide Squad” has enough entertainment and is very fast paced to keep my attention the entire runtime. Overall the film is messy, but Will Smith and Margot Robbie make up for a lot. It has action and humor, but it’s not DC’s big comeback.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 93: Terminator Genisys

Director: Alan Taylor

Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Science Fiction

Runtime: 126 minutes

Year: 2015

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke, J.K. Simmons, Matt Smith, Courtney B. Vance

Description: John Connor (Jason Clarke) sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back in time to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke), but when he arrives in 1984, nothing is as he expected it to be.

Review: “Come with me if you want to live!” This and many other classic quotes from the previous Terminator movies are heard in this long awaited sequel. Or is it a prequel, a reboot? Lots of messing with timelines.

The futuristic war against Skynet is finally won, thanks to John Connor, here played by Jason Clarke. Skynet did manage to send a T-800 to the past to kill Sarah Connor, John’s mother. John sends his most trusted partner Kyle Reese back in time to protect his mother. It’s better that you don’t know more about the plot, but it does get complex.

There are lots of references to the previous movies in the franchise, and some look like they have been literally copied. What makes this movie extra fun is the return of the big man himself: Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s like he’s never been away. Emilia Clarke is good as Sarah Connor and Jason Clarke does a good job as well. Jai Courtney, who plays Kyle Reese, is really great to look at, but he isn’t a very good actor.

The role of Arnie as Terminator is more human and his relationship with Sarah Connor is sort of touching. It reminds you about him and John Connor in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”.

This movie is pure action and in that section the movie isn’t very original. It does all look very spectacular and grand.

I read a lot of reviews for “Terminator Genisys” (why is it spelled like this by the way) and I read many bad ones too. I didn’t think it was a bad movie. You shouldn’t expect it to live up to “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” or even the first film “The Terminator”. That’s the problem, many people compare it or expect too much. Just take it as it is, which makes “Terminator Genisys” a good action/ science fiction film, entertaining as hell and for the fans a lot of nostalgia as well.

Rating: 3,5/ 5