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A Man in Full (2024)
WTF did I just watch?
This limited series was something that should have been great. 3 A-List actors, a B+ (Sarah Jones *sigh*), and plenty of excellent character actors. The story was solid, the characters believable and interesting, yet it had the dumbest last scene imaginable that seemed to end the series before it had even gotten through the second act.
Maybe it was because the show was based on a Tom Wolfe novel, and it worked better in the written word. Or perhaps the translation to the small screen was Ill fated to not be a good one. But at this point, whoever green lights scripts at Netflix should be fired.
Another Life (2019)
Like a lame episode of The Real World fused with Lord of the Flies and Red Dwarf
The four stars I gave this series are all for Katee Sackoff. Her deep emotions and passion are the core of this show, really the only thing outstanding about it.
The rest is lame, pointless, and unbelievable sci-fi plot work. Disaster situations are presented like an assembly line of challenges to the crew, or more like the writers are going down a list of worst case scenarios for space travel.
The only redeeming thing about these cookie-cutter situations is the way Miss. Sackoff deals with each one.
Not to mention the frankly unqualified and a amateur crew she has to deal with. As the title of this review says, it's like a bunch of random put together to work on a space ship, never mind that an important mission would draw crew from the most qualified, trained, and mentally stable astronaut pool.
If you have any love of science fiction, you've probably already scene this show in many other forms. If you're a fan of Katee Sackoff, it's worth watching (but be prepared to skip forward a lot).
Interceptor (2022)
At the end of the movie I felt like I'd eaten something bad then threw it up again.
So to get this out of the way, the only reason why I'm giving this two stars instead of one is because Elsa Pataky was great, and watching the interceptor missiles take out ICBMs was pretty cool.
Now on to the horror that was this film.
I've seen a lot of bad movies. Not just the classics, like Plan 9 From Outer Space, but the revolting had-merit-but-sucked ones like RoboWar and Pluto Nash. And this is one of those.
It's a typical formula of the Under Siege trope (although in quality it's much closer to Under Siege 2). Terrorists attack, fly in the ointment character screws up their plan, betrayal happens, there's a race against the clock, showdown with the bad guy, good guy wins (and even though here the win over the bad guy was silly, it was still creative).
The sets were very non-military and obviously thrown together, the acting was very uneven (that includes the same actor doing a good and bad job with the same character intermittently), and the only really good part of the film was Miss. Pataky doing her thing as the Hero that Saves the Day. Before the film she went through the training to look the part of a soldier, and in her acting did the best she could to navigate the bizarre situations this mediocre script put her through.
I think the problem was that a novelist, Matthew Reilly, was directing the film (his first in fact). I looked him up and he has quite a bibliography of techno-thrillers to his name (and I intend to read a few), and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that the script might have been unsalvageable, but I feel like a seasoned director might have been able to save this movie.
Traveling Lite (1995)
Phenomenal Travel Show for people in their 20's
I came across an old episode of the program online and so fell in love with it I did my best to track down other episodes. This show was so informative about the various destinations and sights one can find when traveling that I build a couple of extended trips around it. Everything from their recommendation to use the venerable Let's Go guidebook, to what to keep in your pack when on an adventure, proved invaluable when I was out in the world. If you can find eps somewhere, it's worth a look.
gen:LOCK (2018)
It has Rooster/Teeth's fingerprints all over it
I've been a fan of Rooster Teeth's machinima (video game cartoon) Red vs. Blue pretty much ever since I started playing Halo. Their sense of humor, jokes, heck even the dialogue made me laugh so hard my gold-visor helmet would almost slip off.
To see those ingenious guys working on their own anime, and in the style of Macross (Robitech) no less, has been a genuine treat.
Keep up the great work guys!
Biosphere 2 (1991)
Hatchet job
I never knew much about Biosphere 2, and after watching this film I still don't feel like I do. The footage was strangely cut to make the Bio2 project as bad as possible, for instance putting blooper footage of presenters in it to make the promo video look incompetent, and mentioning "people losing control" while interspersing footage of the project founder dancing at an improv class.
After such obvious attempts at making both the project and the people involved look bad, I really don't feel like I can trust the conclusions drawn by this documentary.
Ted Lasso (2020)
Exactly what we need right now.
At a time when the world is on fire (in some areas literally), and as a planet we are all depressed, anxious, and uncertain about our future, the timing couldn't be more perfect for this positive and upbeat show to be airing. Not only does the determined lead make those around him happier, he does it by determinedly being helpful and warm with every homespun bit of wisdom he dispenses. It doesn't hurt that he quickly attracts the other sincere individuals that populate the pocket universe of this football club into his circle, to quickly form a strange yet wonderful work/team follower family. For the first time in quite a while I find myself looking forward to the weekly episodes, and with each one I watch I end the episode with a smile on my face.
The Professor (2018)
A waste of having Johnny Depp in a movie
This movie is a typical "short time" narrative, a man finds out he's going to die soon and wants to make the most of the time he has left.
Having Depp play that kind of role should have been amazing, his rich voice and energetic acting style would have lended perfectly to a man with his societal restrictions released as he tried to make the most of his remaining life.
But the script was uninspired, giving us boiler-plate narratives on using your time wisely and talking honestly with the ones you love. There was so much potential to have those same scenes but with more meaning and better dialog, and with the character being a professor there was a real opportunity for some Dead Poets Society-level Carpe Diem moments instead of the collection of milquetoast platitudes that we actually saw spun.
This movie could have been better in so many obvious ways it almost hurt to watch it.
Betas (2013)
Why cancel the only startup show that knows what it's doing?
First let me preface by saying I've been working in web development for a long time. A very long time. And as much as one might think that this show is kitschy and cute, that's true, but if you pay attention they get a lot of the jargon right and capture the spirit of what happens when people are trying to get a new technology idea off the ground.
The research, brainstorming to think of something unique, then trying to find some way to make it into a unique app that will scratch that "itch" and will make users choose you over everyone else, it's all here.
Why they canceled this show is beyond me. Silicon Valley is similar but takes a more antagonistic approach. Start-Ups: Silicon Valley was okay but the producers of that reality show decided to choose the most a-typical startups imaginable.
If you want to see a fun version of what's happening in the startup culture of SF these days, this is the show to watch.
Serenity (2005)
A film that brought something great, something beautiful to the big screen
It's a funny thing when you see something expand before your eyes beyond the sum of it's parts. In the movie Serenity, it's the Firefly-class transport ship. Each piece has a certain value, but put it all together and you have a ny-indestructible starship that will take you anywhere.
The characters in this movie are the same, actors drawn from gritty Vietnam soldier stories, light and funny ABC comedies, and even a cheesy WB sci-fi program, come together and produce not only a t.v. series, but also a movie that tugs at your heart strings and doesn't let go of your emotions.
The backdrop of space, resistance, and the search for freedom allows those who live within it to appeal, to touch the viewer in some way. We hope for kaylee to get together with Simon, we wait for Mal to really see Inara, and that somehow River will find peace.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Another Indy movie must be made, if only to restore the franchise reputation
I remember seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark at the Wellfleet Drive-In on Cape Cod when I was 5 years old. The movie was so intense in spots, especially the Wrath of God Nazi-melting ending, I ended up hiding in the back of the car and peeping above the back seat so I could "safely" watch the rest of the film.
That movie set a standard for me, the perfect amalgum of the old action/adventure serials of the 1930's giving us a smart and witty rogue who always fought the bad guys no matter what crazy situation he was thrown into. He got the girl, saved the precious artifact, and made sure the world stayed safe from the bad guys.
But this film, this construct of creative genius's, show not only are they well past their prime but how they have encapsulated themselves into their own little world and not realized how badly they have maimed the treasured memory their fans carry of Indiana Jones.
The film, on paper, has all the aspects of a great film: fascist bad-guys, rare and exotic antiquities, remote locales, double-agents, hostile natives and lethal fauna, and even the return of a long-lost love with an important (if predictable) secret.
But put together in the ham-fisted way they were, with poor direction and mediocre screen writing, it wrenched my heart to see the mess that appeared on-screen.
I will not fault the actors, but I lay the blame squarely at the feet of the producers, writers, and directors. I *wanted* to like this film, very much so. I saw it with my brother, and for a week afterwards we were in a kind of shock; we would say to each other, "Yeah, that was a pretty good film." After a time though, we slowly admitted to ourselves, "God, it was awful. Why was it so bad???"
Another Indiana Jones movie must be made, if only to wash from our mouths the terrible taste of this one.
The House Bunny (2008)
Faris is stellar, as usual
Faris was the warm pink frothy center of this film, and while her bunny-isms took a little while to get used to there was a definite theme of Pollyanna outgoingness to her character that charmed all. I would give this an 8 out of 10 but Lindsey Lohan's careening through scenes as the "straight man" to Faris' comedy diluted the laughs and generally skewed the comedic timing. I barely even recognize her from Mean Girls, both in looks and acting. She reminds me of a summer-stock extra suddenly finding themselves with a speaking role. And while the sorority house motley crew was a bit too motley to be believable, I did enjoy their role in being clay ready to be molded by the happy-go-lucky House Bunny.
Walt: The Man Behind the Myth (2001)
He shaped the world we live in
It was great seeing a more balanced biography of Walt Disney after all these years. I felt like there have always been 2 extremes: the sugary and perfect Walt who loved children, and the diabolic Communist smasher that hated Jews. Well, here's a news flash: he was human. Walt was a taskmaster, and perfectionist, but he was dedicated to entertaining people and making them laugh. This movie showed us how he was a 12-year old at heart, full of the vigor that made his cartoons great and prone to being naive when it came to labor and politics. To work for Walt was probably a roller-coaster, being "under the eyebrow" one moment when he was concentrating on a project, then elated when he dispensed a single iota of praise from his gruff businessman persona. The next second he could transform himself into a character from the storyboard he was demonstrating, brimming with energy and enthusiasm like a middle-aged Huck Finn. People have tried to villify him over the years, pecking away and trying to drag down his overly-sweet reputation perpetuated by the studio after his death. But you can say this about him: he loved children, wanted to make people laugh, and in some small way felt that by making the childhood of others happier, he was a happy child himself.
Poirot (1989)
The quinticential Poirot
At first I was somewhat lukewarm towards the Poirot series; although my family was enthused with the episodes I found them a bit bland. The Sherlock Holmes programs from Ramada starring Jeremy Brett made them seem boring in comparison (and perhaps a vague memory of Ustinov playing Poirot didn't help much). But after seeing Finney in Murder on the Orient Express I was interested, and during a stay at isolated Bar Harbor, Maine I decided to check out an episode of Poirot from the local library (oddly enough the same one reviewed here previously).
Suffice it to say David Suchet is the definitive Poirot. He has in the past played American movie chieftens and diabolical Middle Eastern terrorists, but he portrayal of Hercule Poirot transcends them. The settings are perfect, proficiently replicating the Art Deco feel of the early 1930s. And Poirot's fastidiousness and simple directness make him unique amongst Agatha Christie's creations.
I highly recommend viewing these episodes.
The Fountainhead (1949)
It was so close...
I saw the movie before I read the book. I remember that I saw the movie when I was going through a classics phase in college; Jimmy Stewart, William Powell, Cary Grant, etc. So I started in on Gary Cooper one day and rented this. When I watched it, the theme of man vs. society was new to me and I enjoyed the individualist overtones it represented (considering how individualistic I'm surprised it made it through the hollywood studio machine). But later when I read the book, and then watched the movie again, I saw how it was a rushed, almost confused mock-up of the novel. The beginning was rushed, not surprising given the length of the book, but then the dialog was tampered, giving certain characters lines others had in the book. But the killer of the movie was the delivery by the actors. Raymond Massey was perfect for the role of Gail Wynand, and Patricia Neal was good for the part of Domonique, but she lacked the firmness of her in the book. Gary Cooper, as much as I liked in the man in Sgt. York and Ball of Fire, simply couldn't bring life to the role as Roark had in the book. First, he looks somewhat haggared and drawn, the opposite of the kind of being that Roark is. And his glances at Neal in the quarry were romantic yet lacked the energy of Roark in the book, and the subsequent romantic overtones were ridiculous, mockeries of the tight sexual tension that existed in the book made obvious for cinematic purposes. The coup de gras were the interchanges with Roark and others, especially Wynand. The delivery was...limp. I may be judging Cooper too harshly, as it might be difficult to bring to life the voice of such a potent character, but the evergy that the words from Roark in the book contained were lacking when Cooper talked, too much emotion on the face and too much nervousness in his movements.
The Fountainhead is ripe for a remake. In this day and age audiences would be more receptive to its ideals, and it could be done much more faithfully to the novel.