Kaka

Overblown, epileptic postmodernism, or when the director of the most imaginative American action films of the last decade takes on a script that he wants to make into something more than action. The mix of Ritchie, Tarantino and Japanese culture can be seen at every turn, but it works at about half speed.

Great blending of fact and fiction, excellent visual effects and solid characters and motivations. Unfortunately, after the success of the first season, the second is more vivid in narrative structure and the emotional levels of the characters are more literal and longer. Apparently the creators thought that we, the audience, liked the characters so much that we wanted to see more of them at the expense of space. Unfortunately, the opposite is true, we, the viewers, have grown so fond of space that we miss it a lot, and the chatter and dissection of every fart is a bit irritating at times. It’s still watchable, I still want to see the third season, but I hope it will be back to basics.

Although the last episode of the second season has the typical ailments of the final hyped episodes, i.e. the whole loop has to be tightened in the last 50 minutes, but the fun is taken care of. At times the creators give us a popcorn ride like Armageddon, sometimes an intelligent rendition in the style of Gravity or The Martian. The work with the characters is good and at times surprisingly ruthless. I'm not sure if the strict "space" concept of the first season was fully adhered to, but at least the last two episodes in the second season have great pacing, tension and atmosphere.

A peculiar mix of life's moments that, to a greater or lesser extent, will be encountered by the vast majority of us. Giamatti in top form and probably in the best role of his career, Haden Church for a change in his only proper (big) role, if we don't count the bland villain from the big-budget Spiderman. Payne mixes just the right amount of comedy, a moderate amount of fucks, and the perfect amount of wine that will leave the viewer tipsy but not so drunk that they won't like it anymore. In places, the overlong running time bothers just a little, and the delivery of some of the actors, with the exception of Giamatti, isn’t quite perfect. Between 3 and 4 stars. A pretty successful tasting.

One of the few episodes that is more suspenseful on Earth than in space. This is mainly due to three different relationships that go through turning points and stress tests. The ending is amazing.

Finally something is happening in space. After all the sometimes unpleasantly slow parts, the eighth episode has some serious momentum. On Earth, the only interesting storyline at the moment is with Karen, the rest are basically just sidekicks, and if they weren't there, it would have little effect on the story.

An interesting reconstruction of KAL007. A solid political plot and excellently restored original footage, which, with the use of great visual effects, also serves superbly as a means of telling a contemporary – alternative – story. Perhaps the only thing that doesn’t quite work is the outline of Russian ideology and cold-bloodedness like in Chernobyl; it lacks that chilling tension and danger, but For All Mankind doesn’t take itself so seriously, so it’s bearable. Hopefully, the pace is slowly picking up and the finale could propel this back to the stars.

A funny interaction between the US and Russian astronauts (cosmonauts), with all the strange ways, opinions and ideologies that abound in Mother Russia. In this case, at least, they hit the mark. The rest is basically an endless dissection of relationships, meetings and break-ups, and thus a search for oneself. There’s hardly any space.

Nothing of substance happens and what happens has little to do with the main plot lines. A pointless escapade in Jamestown, Gordo looking for himself and lesbianism. I could have done without all of it. I want more adventures on the Moon, or a spaceshipt sent to Mars.

The preparation of the Pathfinder project is quite tedious and will probably be a highlight of later episodes. Meanwhile, not much is happening on Earth. So, in addition the routine exchange of opinions, the only thing worth noting is the racism issue. So far, we can forget about the level of the first season.