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Outer Range (2022)
Outer Limits of poor reviews
This is a.dark twisted display of Things don't appear as they seem.
You are as disoriented as the characters catch in the mysterious grip of a supernatural and unfathomable power of a Universe.
Definitely full of rabbit holes that revolve around a Dimensional black hole in the Earth which transports time and place past, present and possibly future. Where and when you have entered has not been revealed.
Even the vagabond camping girl who seemed so innocent has a past to the Range (or future as a spy but for whom?). She knew exactly what to do to Abbot (Josh) as if to challenge him. The time warp entity and Brolin's character has 200 years of experience with it since frontier times. The black hole seems to swallow up and spit out its victims as it can suspend them from aging and wipe away most of their memory like our fleeting dreams. It might even bring back the dead. Royal Abbot (Josh) uses his experience but won't tell its secrets to protect himself and hopes of protecting others. It isn't working out. A 15 second sequence shows an all powerful Government/Intelligence/Military/Scientific battalion is aware of Abbot and the bottomless black hole.
The Old Man (2022)
Not messy enough to be a good cloak and dagger - should be called The Lucky Old Man
This is way too tidy and easy to be a puzzle but good for the less engaged who want it all spelled out. Probably why the high ratings. You can see it coming for the luckiest former CIA operator that ever existed. All the characters spell out their motives like its 12 step self help program sessions.
The hand to hand brute force of one 30 something and one 70 something is not very convincing. The four legged switch blades seem to know when the Old Man is not doing too well to save the day. We have an old man with 30 years of rust and no signs of staying a hardened warrior. Just leisurely hanging out in the backwoods mourning his lost partner in hiding. And presumably losing his mental agility.
I guess getting found by the deep state will make you young again and nostalgic.
It's so bad - that its kind of good.
No - changing to a 1 and no longer care. And it is getting rehashed to even worse leaps of disbelief. This horrid production is dead.
The Orville (2017)
Better than any Star Trek in 20+ years.
Even though its full of comedy - it's a better Star Trek than the other garbage put out calling itself Star Trek. Slightly pretentious but not so way over the top in omniscient nonsense. Picard is dumb as it gets with the preaching history rewrite. Picard is unwatchable. It ruins TNG. Enough with the Space Soap Opera's of PC woke Star Treks.
The 2nd show of Season 3 in Orville was as well done as the TNG productions. The effects, monster suits, silicone make up, lighting, editing was very good. An ultra biological take on Borg and way more horrific.
It had a little humor relief. When Kelly can't get the device unstuck. They say to her - if you're doing it right - it just pops out. Then a little later - Capt. Ed comes in and notices Kelly still twisting and pulling. He just blurts out - if you're doing it right - it just pops out. Kelly isn't too amused sight gag... and coming from Ed no less.
I'd like more of this reality humor. Like someone using a banned Optical Hammer to bang the contraption back in order to get it working (when it's not looked upon but down at as a solution). But it worked.
Severance (2022)
Let the psychological terror begin.
You will need to watch these episodes more than twice (even with subtitles). They're full of condensed dialog and concepts (clues) fly by so quickly. This show is not for the uninitiated. It may get traction if it evolves into a fan base discussion.
And the Sound track is perfectly superb. I'd put it in with House of Cards, GOT, Squid Games and lesser known Game Night.
And Adam Scott - Lumon Mark surely was a stand-in for Tom Cruise.
We enter a World shown as late 1980's technologically (even though the show puts it at least early 2000's) with a spartan dystopian haunting urban landscape that exists with an equally sparse sterile inner office workplace and just as barren of human activity in an outer residential neighborhood. It has a Stanley Kubrick 2001 Space Odyssey ambiance. Many say Black Mirror vibe. The look and feel is that of the early years of Data Processing or Research Labs when Mainframe computers were massive towers in large brightly lit rooms (but no equipment is shown but for computer screens that are late 1970's - early 1980's IBM or Burroughs design terminals). The Lumon complex was actually AT&T Bell Labs advanced Optics R&D facility in New Jersey.
The Lumon building is a stark fortress maze of assumed powerful and ominous mysteries contained and concealed within. What purpose is it to be altered (severed)? The sell on Severance is that it frees the grind of Office work from life's compounding traumas such as loss, failure, guilt, resentment, etc (see the 4 Tempers below). Is it to disconnect from both working and personal life pressures? Or is it meant to accomplish nefarious and just as destructive work product and performance.
We're shown the medical procedure to be severed using a deep brain implant of our new recruit Helly. The team job title "Macrodata Refinement" ie Refiner or MDR - is to find patterns of integer numbers pulled up and floating on their computer screen. The goal is to encircle the numbers reacting to a cursor as if rounding them up and then sending them to be disposed of into an elimination bin. This is accomplished with staring into the screen with an unthinking subconscious mind while wondering through the field and responding to patterns when visited upon by a compelling emotion to that of foreboding fear (no thinking - just intuition to get rid of those bad scary numbers).
What is the inner self switched on at Lumon's work center World up to? It sure looks like a neural link under vision (optics).
They don't know what their work product does but it's probably for the good. How delusional - follow the money and power mad megalomaniac visionary.
Something has gone wrong with the last refiner Team member. This is why the replacement is now onboard. This is Helly - the new girl.
But the new recruit has a rogue inner person that isn't at all like her fully onboard gung ho outer person. She is as cheerfully reluctant inside (Inie) and wants out as much as her enthusiastic cheerful self wanted in while OUTside (Outie).
But she is of great value to the team (to be complete) and in accomplishing the do or die (deadline) goals for Lumon's mysterious unknown enterprise.
The reluctantly promoted not comfortable in his role now Team leader (Mark) plus the existing seasoned Team must get the New girl turned around for the mission using persuasive peer pressure and friendly subtle behavioral conditioning (rewards). It's not going well according to Hoyle. Plan A isn't working - time for Plan B - and most likely Plan C, D, E and F.
Why is the requirement of 4 worker bees in a cubicle cluster of four desks? The imperative is to have 4 (it's revealed in The Tempers - that of Woe, Frolic, Dread, Malice.
The draw is of course Christopher Walken (king of creepy) - Optics and Design. A clue is blurted out by him with his assistant to the MDR team, "we should get back... can't leave the nest empty".
The management Team seems to not operate in the same mode and are more aware (in a bridge between inside and outside) at a much higher level than the working Team. Their job is to closely monitor and influence the refiners to keep them on the straight and narrow (outside and inside). On top of all the recruit issues there seems to be leaks and glitches in the seasoned refiners that need special tweaking. The management team answers to a malevolent entity only referred to as The Board. You don't want to get the silent treatment from The Board. Failure is probably not an option.
Any rebellion by the Team is met with strict reprisals to the Break Room. But more like a timeout to get you to break... if you catch the drift. The clash is how does free will stay outside and compliance hold true on the inside. Chance meeting and use of the senses (viseral ones - like smell) must be minimized on the outside world.
We will see how the wheels start falling off and the powerful cult puts the wheels back on as events escalate into exposing the true psychological terror behind the curtains.
The Last Duel (2021)
Matt Damon is a lightweight
A waste of $100 Mil on a well done period reproduction with poor casting and sloppy editing and script. The 3 chapters needed more discernible camera work to perspective and more change of key wording in dialog. The preponderance of different angle and dialog for motive to enthrall the audience was required than to create boredom with near exact dialog 3 times over.
The lead should have been given to an up and coming talent and not wasted on an old name box office draw. An equal to lesser known like Adam Driver should have been cast.
The female lead actor was very good and played the part convincingly and was graceful and stunning. They might as well had more backstory on why she was so bold and brave beyond the times. Everything revolved around the damsel come bride.
So then we get to shallow dumb looking blank eyes Matt (over exposed in so many lackluster roles). He has gotten slightly better at hiding it (bland). The lead has no depth or grit to commanding presence or display of raw outrage. Poor Matt just cannot do frustration or passion well. The script spent plenty of time on Latin and German but not one French insult (for so well known) in amusement and beguiled contempt. The only slight French was the Countess who did an accented witty line and about face sneer. Afleck as Count did somewhat well (snub) in his scenes when dealing with his Knight. The Count was the catalyst for the conflict but no informants or gossip network at his disposal. Just poor story telling and direction.
The key turn of events has no consistency. Why would a jealous preoccupied brute offer his pride possession (wife) to flatter his nemesis (charm him) without some outside influence never revealed by a different version of dialog? We get the same witnessed scene every time
The production would be better off and a success if the scripts had half the audience say those days were of the circumstances AND the other saying isn't it better for all concerned today with legal civil means.
The Great (2020)
A Most Wicked Satire
The comedy is dark, irreverent, gross, grim, cavalier, dismissive, malicious and LOL outrageous with intermissions of debauchery, cruelty and deception - in a nothing personal lighthearted ironic kind of way.
The Zeitgeist of the day will occasionally sneak in a snarky phrase of today's dare I say memes.
This show will be up for best in many categories (costume, set, screen play, editing, direction)