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rnixon1974
Reviews
Hummingbird (2013)
In which Statham underplays it
I did not expect this from Jason Statham, marquee name from so many action films. This was a drama with a few action scenes; it was nothing like Crank, The Expendables, The Mechanic or Transporter.
That is not a bad thing. Just unexpected.
Given this movie's script and characters, a studio might have decided this project would be a vehicle for Russell Crowe, Daniel Craig, Colin Farrell, Dominic Purcell or David Ajala.
Statham plays Joey, a deserter with debilitating PTSD, perpetually drunk on London's Skid Row. His only saving grace as the movie starts (in the middle of the UK winter) is Sister Cristina, a nun who feeds the down and out on the grime filled streets of the capital. She challenges Joey to be a better man.
A bit of very exaggerated luck finds Joey off the street and working for what I suppose are London's Chinese Triads. Later, a close friend of Joey's is killed by the Brit equivalent of a Wall Street sociopath. Joey, having sobered up with Cristina's encouragement, tracks down the murderer and dispenses rough justice.
By the end of the film, Joey is back on Skid Row, with a bottle in his hand. Given that denouement, I can only recommend this flick for those folks that despise anything approximating a happy ending.
Halo (2022)
I am seeing a pattern
Several years ago, I saw the reboot of the series Lost in Space. I watched three episodes of the new show and gave up. The original's humor and charm were gone, replaced by melodrama and intra family squabbling.
The Mosquito Coast remake started its run in 2021. The first episodes were serviceable, then things took a turn. As with Lost in Space, this show degenerated into family squabbling among the characters, as well as uninteresting plot tangents. When this was cancelled, I was actually relieved.
HALO is an action game. It apparently has 16 iterations out there. The game does not begin with 10 minutes of action, and then finish the episode with 40 minutes of less than riveting dialogue that barely advances the plot, or gives much insight into the characters and their motivations.
I understand that TV shows in 2024 will not and cannot be wall to wall action. Stunt work is expensive, and it takes time to do it properly and safely.
That said, I suspect HALO's writers, like those of Lost in Space and Mosquito Coast, are going for "emotional investment" by viewers in the show and the characters. The sad thing is, these writers constantly remind me they do not know how to get audience members over 25 emotionally invested. These screenwriters do not have the talent or inclination to achieve this.
In a well written script, the viewer is shown, not just told, the characters' mental/emotional state. One example: the Casino Royale script by Purvis, Wade and Haggis. Scenes sometimes had little dialogue. The movie was very effective at what it did.
Role Play (2024)
Don't waste your time
Kaley Cuoco is a comedic actress, who was on The Big Bang Theory for more than a decade. Why anyone would cast her as an assassin in an ostensible action film, I have no idea.
David Oyelowo is a classically trained actor. He can do better than this. This movie meanders around attempts at humor (many of the jokes crash to the ground with a thud) and scarce, poorly photographed action sequences.
Seth Owen is the screenwriter of this mishmash of rom com sensibilities and pseudo action. Given the wretched screenplay he did for this movie, would that Owen had stuck with television, like Seriously Weird.
Watch a TV show or film in the spy/assassin vein that has decent casting. Like Nikita.
Wipeout (2008)
This seems more than a bit mean spirited.
I watched this show today, and spent most of the time cringing.
This series, as others on this board have mentioned, is a remake of a remake of the original Japanese show. This less than original attempt does not work, to my eyes and ears.
Something else I noticed...very few contestants seem to actually win the prize money. They fall into the water and mud, ad nauseum. But very few actually win the $25,000 (or $50,000). To take this kind of physical abuse, the players should succeed more often than they apparently do.
Fans of this genre (such as it is) should look into the original Japanese series, and pass on this poorly rendered substitute. The Japanese series should be out there on the web, somewhere.
The X Files: Je Souhaite (2000)
This episode could have been better
I have been an X-Files fan for more than 20 years. There are so many story lines that make this series, to me, the best of its kind in the history of American television.
This episode is funny in places. Scully examines an invisible cadaver. Mulder ruminates for a while on how to better mankind. A clapboard house explodes.
Paula Sorge plays a centuries old, less than benignant genie. Her performance is less than impressive; she comes off as a less nasal, svelter Roseanne Barr. The humans that she grants wishes to end up in dire straits or dead, after receiving a rather twisted version of what they thought they wanted.
By the end of Je Souhaite, I was shaking my head, and just glad it was over.
This series lasted for 217 episodes. Impossible to make every one a good one, let alone great one, in such a span.
Rather than watch this, I could have watched episodes with the Smoking Man. Or one where Doggett and Reyes help protect Scully and her unborn baby.
Amelia 2.0 (2017)
Amelia 2.0
This movie takes the human/cyborg narrative into areas that many writers choose not to explore. This is a compelling script, with decent performances from most of the cast. The story bogs down approximately 55 minutes in, and from there it does not truly recover, in my opinion.
I saw what the filmmakers (Merritt and Orton) were trying to convey, but the end result was not what it could have been. Angela Billman as the title character struggles valiantly with the less than stellar third act of this film, and she definitely deserves credit for her effort. Ben Whitehair delivers in a supporting role.
Lioness (2023)
Lioness could have been written (and cast) better
Taylor Sheridan is a busy man these days.
In light of this, it appears he might not have put the requisite attention into this show's scripts.
Laysla De Oliveira plays the protagonist Cruz Manuelos. She is a newly minted Special Ops member of the Marines, and barely legal to drink. Zoe Saldana plays Joe, Cruz's superior.
The show is not quite a member of the reality based community. Joe and the CIA throw Cruz into a high pressure covert operation with literally no preparation. Then, when unfortunate turns occur, Joe decides to leave this kid in place, among many well armed terrorists.
This series is entertaining in places (as others have mentioned, please ignore the scenes with Joe's teenage daughter. They do little to advance the story). Jill Wagner does what she can with her role as a fellow Marine.
Nicole Kidman has looked better than she does here. No one should have or use that much plastic surgery or Botox.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Subspace Rhapsody (2023)
This should NOT have happened
A Star Trek musical.
What in the hell are these producers thinking? Never mind the writing staff.
Other people on this board have covered the cringe inducing songs sung by the Enterprise crew. I will only add that it was somewhat unfair to Spock regarding the way the breakup with Chapel was handled.
I hope the season finale isn't another gimmick episode like the animated one, or this one. Star Trek should be actual science fiction, not some off Broadway tangent. Save this gimmickry for Lower Decks.
One last thing: to me, the best song in this hour plus trip through the looking glass was the Klingons' paean to Justin Timberlake and the late Nate Dogg. At least that was funny.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
Across the Spider verse
I understand the business side of the film industry is going to take over when the people running the studios decide the profit margins aren't where they want them. To me this POV explains the decision to give us half a movie with this installment of the Spider verse.
This is the second cliffhanger film I have seen this year. The second part of Fast X will not be released until 2025. The next Spider verse film won't be released until 2024.
Tarantino did this with Kill Bill, and I disliked this lack of a finale then.
Stop doing this, Hollywood honchos. No one should have to wait 12 months (or more) for an ending to a film.
The Recruit (2022)
Suspension of disbelief was all but impossible.
I was ready for a spy show. Something like Condor, Slow Horses, The Americans, or Counterpart.
The first episode of The Recruit starts, and this series is clearly a comedy. A bit like Chuck.
Chuck was okay, but that kind of humor did not and does not land for me.
And the cast of that show was much stronger than the cast of The Recruit.
I fought my way through several episodes of this Noah Centineo vehicle, hoping it would improve.
It didn't. It seems as if some college sophomore wrote this season's episodes during a weekend bender. The plot turns are utterly implausible, and the conceits here are enough to make almost anyone shake their head in disgust. No one with any discernment can suspend disbelief for this long. Or this often.
I mentioned the casting. Many roles are miscast, especially Aarti Mann and Angel Parker (Archie Panjabi and Jodie Turner-Smith would have been much better choices for the characters of Violet and Dawn).
Watch Slow Horses instead of this poorly written mishmash.
Treason (2022)
Another poorly written spy series
The direction is worse, however. This is another espionage show that seems to have been written by teenagers.
In no way is this depiction of MI6 (nor the SVR, for that matter) credible. The lazy showrunners must have contempt for viewers, shoveling dreck like this at us.
There are many Brits out there with some experience with government work environments. Former military members, as well. Such experts could have served as consultants on this project. If nothing else, there are LeCarre novels that could have informed these teleplays. From what I can discern, no one worthy of the title was consulted.
If this is the best Netflix can do for a drama series, then save us all some time and just stick with Trolls and Christmas movies.
Bad Prosecutor (2022)
Bad indeed
I watched the premiere of this series.
The writing in this episode ranged from lackluster to execrable, and the acting was no better.
This show does not take prosecution of criminals seriously ( the central theme of the program), so viewers should not take this subject as presented seriously in this context.
This seems to be an attempt at a police series with some A-Team style mayhem added. Kyung Soo-Do delivers lines worthy of Hannibal and Baracus, all but sneering at the camera while doing so. The rest of the cast are no more adept.
Boys who have yet to graduate from junior high will probably enjoy this South Korean take on Law & Order meets less than well thought out violence. Almost no one else will.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022)
I am sensing a pattern
Jessica Gao's forte is apparently comedy. The 1980s She-Hulk comic books featured that in the scripts. Great, right? The thing is, Ms. Gao fixates on humor more than moving the story forward, or even Jen's actual backstory and character development. Some of the jokes land with a thud; the repeated riff on Steve Rogers' sex life is a prime example.
I understand that the audience of this show according to Disney is not over 40 males like myself. The demographic sought is females under 35 years of age. Having said that, Peter David, Brian Bendis, Ann Nocenti and Louise Simonson have the comic book writing with humor covered. The She-Hulk series does not have to rely on what did not work so well in episode one.
Update:
I hadn't realized that Ms. Gao, Ms. Coiro and Tatiana Maslany had decided to troll some male fans of the MCU using this series as a vehicle for such activity.
This information was found in the October 14 2022 Variety.
If I had a series that had been green lighted, I would spend my time and energy making the best show possible. Not for that.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: All Those Who Wander (2022)
Star Trek meets Alien
Kurtzman and friends can do better than this.
The Gorn are chest bursting aliens? Really?
Star Trek Enterprise did better with the Xindi than this.
This series is character driven, not event driven. That is obvious. How about some more character development, but done better than the past three or four episodes.
I don't have DVD sets of Deep Space Nine. I will have to buy them, if this series keeps up like this. Frank Langella playing a corrupt Bajoran politician was more entertaining than Kurtzman's series, at this point.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part VI (2022)
Middling at best
The series has been mediocre on some occasions, and lackluster on many others.
Ms. Chow does not excel at directing these episodes, and the scattershot writing does no one any favors.
If the intent of the last 10 minutes of this episode was to make Reva's character sympathetic, that effort failed.
Here is one example of the poor writing in this series: Vader is a killer. We saw this in the early films from the previous century. He came to his senses in Return of the Jedi, and killed the Emperor.
So why does this show depict Vader sparing Reva (and Kenobi, for that matter) when he had them at his mercy? Or, more accurately, his lack of same? I understand the screenwriters were not verklempt enough to kill off Obi-Wan in this series' finale. But it would have worked much better to have Kenobi somehow escape the death stroke than to have Vader just bury him under a rockslide.
I look forward to seeing a Star Wars series written and directed by folks who know their craft.
Ms. Marvel (2022)
This Ms. Marvel is uninspired and lackluster
This show, like a lot of the recent MCU offerings, is only for young kids and teens. Adults will find little to hold their attention here.
The production values are a step above a high school play. The writing is that of a second rate sitcom. This Kamala is uninspired and lackluster.
Ms. Ali may be a decent comedienne. This show, under her leadership, has nothing in common with the Avengers comics and the 2010 animated TV show that featured the Avengers, Captain Marvel and Kamala Khan.
Watch those cartoons I mentioned to see Kamala Khan as she was originally conceived and written.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Spock Amok (2022)
It was decent
Spock and T'Pring go Freaky Friday in this episode, and switch bodies.
In a subplot without much worth, Una and La'an play Enterprise Bingo.
I am glad the series is showing a lighter side. Ethan Peck has decent comic chops, and this works in this episode.
Rebecca Romijn also can be funny. Her talents are wasted here.
Last, for the folks who plaster the words "woke" or "liberal" throughout their reviews...if this series is not right-wing enough for you, watch Hawaii Five-O, 24, SEAL Team, CSI:New York or Gunsmoke.
Being out of your comfort zone seems to be very stressful for you, given your comments.
Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
This is not a Star Wars series
Whatever this series is, it is NOT Star Wars.
I just watched the first two episodes. These were like what must have been left on the cutting room floor after Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, with a strong aftertaste of the unmitigated disaster that was most of Episode IX from three years ago.
The show's production values are not up to the level of Lexx and Continuum. The casting is inapt (Moses Ingram and Vivien Lyra Blair are particularly unsuited for their roles). The pacing is unsurprisingly laggard, a problem that seldom reared its head during Clone Wars, and occurred less frequently during the Mandalorian.
The scripts so far are of a lower quality than even Abrams and Terrio's execrable Rise of Skywalker.
Does Disney hire writers, producers and directors that actively dislike (or are completely ignorant of) the older films and TV series? Is this show (along with last year's rather uninspired Boba Fett) an attempt to "take the characters in a new direction"? If so, it's a failure to this point in time.
One last observation...like many recent remakes/updates of older series and film franchises, this show is, for lack of a better term, flat. Forty years ago, Harrison Ford's swagger, Carrie Fisher's and Mark Hamill's budding charisma and Lucas' scripts made the early films highly entertaining, on several levels.
This show has none of that. It does not even have Vader's dark humor (e.g., "apology accepted, Captain Needa") or Tarkin's understated, reptilian menace. Mr. McGregor seems bewildered and lost. He should be embarrassed by this TV series.
Star Trek: Picard: Monsters (2022)
Worse than a filler episode
This 40 minutes was wasted, as this episode was worse than filler.
Another reviewer said this episode likely was written by an intern. I think it was written by someone with no experience (nor an interest) in science fiction.
When this series began in 2020, I had hoped that Goldsman, Kurtzman and friends would take the time to write the majority of the episodes. That has not been the case this season.
If we can't have the show's creators write more episodes, then someone could bring in Michael Sussman. Or Chris Black. Or Rene Echevarria. Screenwriters who have actually created Star Trek episodes before. And done a decent job.
Star Trek: Picard: Watcher (2022)
Not a very good attempt
This episode was below average, and that is the best I can say about it.
The writers (as others have pointed out on this board) know little about Star Trek TNG story lines.
As well, they wrote a chase that was as poorly directed as it was rendered on the script's pages.
The new, younger Guinan is nothing like the character we first saw in the late 1980s. She is not just wary but close to paranoid.
I had the distinct impression this episode was written during a weekend bender.
One point for the folks who are so put off by the politics in this show...the original series was very political, especially for its time (watch "The Arena" season one episode 18, "The Omega Glory", season 2 episode 23 or season 1's "Space Seed", the first appearance of Khan).
Gene Roddenberry struggled with the network for all three seasons to follow his vision in the 1960s. The fact that these commenters don't remember this aspect of the original series says more about these folks than the current Picard series.
Station Eleven (2021)
There is a significant amount of the narrative that is MIA.
This series started well. Episode one was leisurely paced, but with decent character development.
Episodes two through five were a mishmash of disjointed scenes, with a lot of jumping around in the timeline.
I know that many viewers value character interplay more than plot driven narrative. Still, there is far too much missing. Such as any origin information about this superflu. There is little if anything about what has occurred between Day 1 and Year 20.
What is there in the first five episodes? Characters talking about their feelings. They do so extensively. Some of these discussions are interesting. Many are not.
Folks who enjoy such discourse to the exclusion of almost everything else will enjoy this show. The rest of us will have to watch a movie or show that hired somewhat competent screenwriters.
Magnum P.I. (2018)
The writing staff needs to be reworked
For a long time, since 2007 or before, writing staffs of TV shows (and certain films) have been infiltrated by TV producers. I don't mean writers who have stepped in to produce on occasion. I mean producers who write as a side job.
The business side of Hollywood has dictated that writers be underpaid and generally treated less than well since a certain strike in 2007. That's business; I don't like it, but I do understand it.
What I can't accept is the plethora of terrible scripts that emanate from so many producers who write teleplays as a side gig.
I imagine Barbie Kligman is a decent producer. I would like her to stick to that line of work, because she cannot write a PI show. If Ms. Kligman must inflict her teleplays on the public, she should stick with shows like Secrets and Lies.
The cast on the show does well with what they have to work with. If the network needs a feminine point of view for shows like this, they should hire Natalie Chaidez or even Christina Hodson.
Eye Without a Face (2021)
The director calls this film his take on Rear Window. He is mistaken.
This film is ninety eight minutes that viewers will never get back.
The acting is subpar, the script no better. The protagonist engenders no empathy from the audience, especially at the conclusion, if one can call the final few minutes that.
The film's premise could be made into a decent movie. But not by this director.
Watch Hitchcock's Rear Window.
Or Disturbia with Shia LeBoeuf.
Or seasons one through six of the original CSI.
Just don't sit through this dreck.
Masquerade (2021)
You will not get the 90 minutes back
This movie is about a robbery gone bad. And revenge.
It is a very poor attempt at a heist film.
The revenge aspect of this movie is no better.
The thieves don't elicit any sympathy. They are ill-prepared, not clever at all, just ruthless. The actors have neither the skill nor the apparent inclination to give the audience much of anything. Admittedly, their uninspired lines are a major impediment.
The reveal during the third act is so badly rendered, it had me shaking my head. Did the director/screenwriter finish this script during a weekend bender?
Were the director and cast members double parked on the studio lot during this part of shooting the movie, and wanted these scenes in the can before their vehicles were towed?
Save your time, and your money. Watch something else.
Debris (2021)
Miscast show with pronounced X-Files tendencies
Since 1993, many producers and Hollywood moguls have tried to come up with The Next X-Files.
The Lone Gunmen, Extant and Manifest come to mind, amongst so many others. This show has an interesting premise. I wish that the performers and writers had more aptitude.
Tucker is terribly miscast. He does not fit this show in any way, shape or form. The casting folks could and should have done much better. They could have gone with Jim Caviezel. Or Seth Gabel. Or Ioan Gruffudd. Even Shane West.
Riann Steele might improve with time. I have not seen enough of her acting to say more than that at this point.
Last...enough of the mute, inscrutable children in sci fi. Hollywood hacks utterly lacking in imagination go to this well far too often.