In a future, post-apocalyptic Los Angeles brought about by nuclear decimation, citizens must live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation, mutants and bandits.

Over 200 years after a nuclear apocalypse devastates America, a violent raid by bandits on an underground fallout shelter forces one of its residents to set out into a barren wasteland filled with radiation, mutated monsters, and a lawless society of those who remained on the surface. Brilliantly made, the combination of horror, shock, thriller, gore, cyberpunk and steampunk, lands just gfine, being accompanied by a brilliant soundtrack and great acting and writing. This is another good adaptation of a good game universe into TV media. And the fact that a small handful of people say it’s bad makes it even better. Seven popcorns and it jumps into the Movie Vault.

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A bartender-combiner urgently needs to pay off a debt. He persuades his brother, a fiery bouncer, to arrange a bachelor party together, without the knowledge of the owners of the club where he works.

The story is predictable, and starts from believable and slowly descends into total chaos. There are some good jokes that land properly, but that’s about it. A lot of good Romanian actors, but the script wasn’t as good as I expected. Some meta jokes were fun too, but that was about it. It was a decently funny movie, but not one that I’d see another time. Three popcorns is enough.

To be fair, the support marketing videos were better than the movie itself.

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In a dystopian world, a woman spends her time playing an illegal and dangerous game, hoping to find meaning in her world.

Brilliant little dystopian movie, with a lot of cyberpunk elements, about a MMORPG game and the interactions of its players inside the game and outside of it. It’s dark, gritty, with an excellent soundtrack and good reflections about mixing reality and virtual reality. If it feels like a live-action “Ghost in the Shell”. Made in the days when games had real movies as cinematics (Red Alert 2, MechCommander), this blends properly the game and movie arts into a great movie altogether, in a movie as good as The Matrix. Six popcorns and goes into the Movie Vault.

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A woman opts for a cloning procedure after she receives a terminal diagnosis but when she recovers her attempts to have her clone decommissioned fail, leading to a court-mandated duel to the death.

This is a good absurd drama bordering on absurdist tragic comedy. I love the setting and the plot, and the acting of Aaron Paul makes it so much better. The music is tense, the jokes are very dark and land exceptionally well and it all feels like a long Black Mirror episode. Four popcorns.

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An artificially intelligent PC and his human owner find themselves in a romantic rivalry over a woman.

Funny romantic comedy with a touch of cyberpunk technology. I love the chemistry between the two main characters, and I love how they made the artificial intelligence not all-knowing, but made it like a baby that needed guidance and showed the process of learning. It’s the early days of “Her” and Siri, it shows a fictionalized method of how big data companies train their AI on your information. It also benefits of a brilliant soundtrack, culminating with Giorgio Moroder’s “Duet” and the song “Together in Electric Dreams”, by Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder. It even has Richard Branson as an executive producer, hehe. Five popcorns and jumps into the Movie Vault.

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In this comedic prequel event series to the Ted films, it’s 1993, and Ted the Bear’s (Seth MacFarlane) moment of fame has passed. He’s now living back home in Framingham, Massachusetts with his best friend, 16-year-old John Bennett (Max Burkholder), along with John’s parents, Matty and Susan (Scott Grimes and Alanna Ubach), and cousin Blaire (Giorgia Whigham). Ted may be a lousy influence on John, but ultimately, he’s a loyal pal who’s always willing to go out on a limb for friendship.

It’s raunchy, politically incorrect and extremely funny. It won’t win whatever the TV equivalent of Oscars are, but it’s definitely a very good miniseries. Hope they’ll make a second season, or even more, somtimes. Until then, six popcorns and a definite recomandation from me.

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“Constellation” stars Noomi Rapace as Jo — an astronaut who returns to Earth after a disaster in space — only to discover that key pieces of her life seem to be missing. The action-packed space adventure is an exploration of the dark edges of human psychology, and one woman’s desperate quest to expose the truth about the hidden history of space travel and recover all that she has lost.

Great fractured movie which seems to be overcomplicated and complex and keeps you wondering what the fuck is happening. Already saw 6 episodes and I’m hooked. Can’t see what else the series brings. Four popcorns.

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A fateful decision made in 1960s China reverberates in the present, where a group of scientists partner with a detective to confront an existential planetary threat.

So yeah, as expected, this is the Dumb and Dumber version of the book. In comparison to the Chinese tv show it feels very rushed and sometimes comically flawed. While the action is moved from China to the Western world, with a lot of elements being dumbed down and people’s stories were rushed (or completely skipped), I think it’s still a fairly decent TV show, especially in the last three episodes, where the story covers some of the other books of the trilogy. There’s no world where this is as good as the Tencent one, but it stands properly on its own as a decent introduction to the universe devised by Liu Cixin.

What is missing: the great connection between Wang Miao and Shi Quiang (who are named Auggie Salazar and Da Shi in this version) who barely interact with each other; the absolutely great dark sci-fi theme song, soundtrack and mood of the sound design

What I hated: this being a Dumb and Dumber production, half of the cast is Game of Thrones B-listers. Mike Evans is played by the High Sparrow, Samwell Tarly is somewhat a billionaire and drops fucks like he’s Samuel L. Jackson, and the no balls bald Varys is now a Pope. There are others, but who gives a fuck by now.

What I really hated: D&D, in their classic mode, tried to blend in elements from the other books and mostly failed.

Here’s an article detailing all the changes and differences between the book and the D&D series.

My final opinion is that the TV show is an unfortunate attempt at breathing life into an universe that didn’t actually needed it, but if it gets popular enough to draw some people to watch the Tencent version or to read the book, I can see that as a success. Three popcorns.

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A dutiful damsel agrees to marry a handsome prince, only to find the royal family has recruited her as a sacrifice to repay an ancient debt.

Game of Thrones meets Stranger Things meets How to Train Your Dragon meets The Lord of The Rings. Good fantasy story, pretty predictable here and there, with great visuals, good acting and a lovely dragon (with the awesome voice of Shohreh Aghdashloo). All in all, a great fun evening watch which gets four popcorns and it’s great for kids aged 10 to 110.

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Piciu and Bila seize an unexpected opportunity from a Romanian client and move to Los Angeles. But they soon realize that they have unwittingly fallen into the world of the credit card rip-off mafia.

Just as good as the first one. It’s silly, it’s raunchy, it’s brainless. It’s fun. Fuck your uptight opinions. Four popcorns.

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Miami Bici is the story of Ion and Ilie, two young people from a small dark city in Romania who go to Miami in the middle of winter, to live both the “American Dream” and the Romanian dream of “getting rich quick”.

Funny popcorn movie, with a pretty predictable story and low hanging jokes. Nevertheless, they land just fine and it’s a great comic relief on a rainy day. This won’t win any Oscars, but it’s definitely a good watch. Four popcorns

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On January 25th 1985, dozens of the era’s most popular musicians gathered in Los Angeles to record a charity single for African famine relief. Setting egos aside, they collaborated on a song that would make history.

The untold story of how the global hit “We are the World” almost didn’t happen! 46 of the biggest pop music stars had only one night to turn chaos into magic. As told by stars who were there, this film reveals the rollercoaster ride to write and record the groundbreaking song that would go on to raise millions for famine relief in Africa, win 2 Grammys and become a global sensation. Putting most of the greatest artists of the time under one roof. Among them Quincy Jones, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Daryl Hall, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles and many others. Six popcorns and jumps into the Movie Vault.

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