Kaka

A bit weaker and less gripping than the first season, but the ending builds an interesting bridge between Season 1 and 3, with something that Felix started grandly, only to (probably) lose control of in the third season. Luna is terrific once again, and the writers aren't afraid to show with lucid clarity the few clean mistakes made by the otherwise great drug kingpin and business visionary Gallardo. I’m looking forward to the next season.

The best episode of the whole series and just a hair short of a full rating. This is how I imagine the plot and its outcome. Two over-the-top dialogue scenes and the overlap of Felix's capture will be on full display in the next, third series, where things will get unleashed.

A gauntlet thrown down to all the cinematographers and one of the best films of all time. Similarly to James Cameron's Titanic, Sam Mendes works masterfully with set design and visual effects, which are not "for effect", but subtly create the story (or are an integral part of it) and help to enhance it in key scenes. Breathtaking work with sound and overall amazing cutting-edge filmmaking for lovers of impeccable craftsmanship, who don't necessarily need a very sophisticated story or screenwriting flourishes to satisfy their fantasies – you won’t find that here. But on the other hand, how many filmsshot in one take without editing are there?

A season finale that actually repeats its concept for the umpteenth time and therefore leaves the viewer basically immune and somehow uninvolved in the whole thing. I'm actually looking forward to the last few episodes when it will be over. Still good and suspenseful filmmaking, but unfortunately one-note.

A wild finale with the election and Acosta saying goodbye in style.

Clouds of chatter and no progress. Mexico volume 2 is beginning to lose momentum and fails to keep the viewer's attention at the level of its predecessors.

A dud. Not only is it impossible to see this as a worthy conclusion to the trilogy, because except perhaps for Episode VII, the films are so jumbled, inconsistent, and stylistically disjointed as to be woeful, but Abrams also fails in the purely filmmaking elements, where it doesn't matter if you're a die-hard fan of the original films or just a lover of sci-fi worlds. The acting is still pretty solid, but the screenwriting is a disaster full of clichés and clunky dialogue, and the jaw-dropping moments are few and only found by the end of the first half (the duel on the water). I hope this ordeal is over. This makes the fantastic technical aspect of this otherwise quite empty colossus all the more disappointing.

An episode consisting partly of scraps of Felix's memories plus a look at the emotional side of his personality. There’s also one major murder, but otherwise nothing revelatory.

A buddy movie from a director who lived it. Berg is otherwise a class better action filmmaker and has more dynamism in most of his films. It strikes me as very similar to when Michael Bay stopped doing what he could do and started experimenting with stuff like Pain and Gain. The funniest is Pearl and the foul mouthed Iliza Shlesinger.

An uncompromising, frenetically edited dialogue cannonade, focusing on a narrow time span in the main character's life. Similar in concept and similarly frantic and unhinged as Joel Schumacher's Phone Booth. The essential difference is that while Phone Booth switches to a "meaningful" conclusion at the end and touches on the emotional arc of realizing life's mistakes and wrong actions, the protagonist in Uncut Gems has nothing of the sort, so we need to look at other parameters. For example, the haunting soundtrack, Sandler in a very atypical role for him as a Jewish merchant, Julia Fox (hopefully she'll get more roles), and the convoluted, volatile but well thought out story. A small, controversial film for connoisseurs who appreciate a filmmaker’s unconventional approach.