BrandoYambo Reviews

Painkiller (2023)

Oxy-What? Oxy-What? 🙄

[5/10 · 27 August 2023]

I'll spare you from saying that this isn't anywhere near as good as Dopesick, since most reviewers have already stated this. Even if that show didn't exist, Painkiller is still objectively... not very good. First of all, the woman who plays Edie Flowers (Uzo Aduba) puts on a very weak performance in this, and it surprises me to see some others say the opposite. Right from the beginning, the scene where she not only refuses to sit in the same seat as Richard Sackler, but makes them remove it from the room, is just over the top and corny, and already had me thinking this character was going to be unlikeable. I understand that she apparently represented a whole group of attorneys, which is the excuse for why she just happens to know way more details than any one person would realistically know, but her attempts to make the character so intense and quirky just came off as annoying. Unfortunately, Matthew Broderick's performance was also average at best. Taylor Kitsch (Glen Kryger) easily did the best with his character, in my opinion.

Another thing that multiple people have mentioned is that even though this series is only 6 episodes, it seemed to drag on a lot more than it should have. Pretty sure I burned through all of Dopesick in like two days; meanwhile, I started watching Painkiller three days ago and I'm just now starting episode 5.

I usually like Peter Berg, but he made so many directorial decisions that just do not work in a show like this. One scene that really got on my nerves was when Miss Flowers first introduced her case to her boss, and his response of, "Oxy-What?" must have been replayed a dozen times. It was already too much by the third Oxy-What. Also, the constant reappearance of the dead Arthur Sackler really didn't serve much to the plot and, I hate to use the word again, it came off as corny. A story about addicts and the people who helped add to the opoid epidemic seems like it would be an easy win (and it was for someone else), but telling was very mediocre and forgettable. Way to go, Netflix, you screwed up another good premise.

Elvis (2022)

This was almost painful to watch

[5/10 · 10 August 2022]

First of all, this is probably one of the worst performances Tom Hanks has ever given. It's like they just put him in a bad fat suit and told him to just "go out there and act really Jewy." I guess he's supposed to be Dutch, but he sounded like a propaganda cartoon Jewish person. The one good part was Austin Butler's performance. He looked, sounded, and acted just like the Elvis we know. It's not his fault that the writing was just plain bad. Then there's the story. What was it? Ya got me. Here we have a 2.5 hour movie that doesn't seem to know what it's trying to accomplish. Sometimes it feels like they're trying to tell the story of his manager, sometimes it's about Elvis, and sometimes there's too much focus on the artists he was influenced by. Another aspect that baffled me was use of modern hip hop music in this film. Who thought that was a good idea? I had to watch this movie over two days, not because of how long it was, but because it was just not good enough to watch in one sitting. In the end, I don't feel like I know anything new about the man... and I didn't know much to begin with. I do not recommend you waste your time on this. If you make it past the 45 minute mark and are still interested, your expectations need to be higher.

Snowpiercer (2020–2024)

What happened to this show??

[6/10 · 20 April 2022]

Like most people, I enjoyed the movie enough to give this show a chance. Season 1 was good enough, with some glaring issues but not TOO many. Season 2 was still watchable, but a clear decline in quality. As for Season 3, it has been painful just to get through each episode, and I'm only still going because I very rarely just stop watching something mid season after I've invested many hours in it already. I truly don't even know where to begin, when explaining why the current season has been so bad. Many reviews have already stated how bad of an actor the guy who plays Layton is, but even the characters who were once interesting and often likeable are barely recognizable anymore. Also, the attempts at artistic shots and dialogue fall flat every single time; it feels like a college student wrote most of the monologs. I'm currently on episode 8 of Season 3 and will, at the very least, finish with this season... but not because it is interesting or captivating. Rather, just out of a general curiosity to see where they're going with the show and to confirm my theory that it can't get any worse (even though episode 7 proved me to be painfully wrong already). You've been warned.

Billions (2016–2023)

Another great show ruined by preachy wokeness

[8/10 · 14 March 2022]

I absolutely loved this show right up until... early season 5, I think? The casting, the acting, the humor, the story, just everything. Then, as the show progresses through the seasons, the show gets overly preachy and anti-wealth, even specifically saying on multiple occasions that, "too much wealth is inherently bad." Really? To who, people who wish they had more money? There are scumbags in every demographic. Being poor doesn't make you a good guy, and being rich doesn't automatically make you a bad guy. Anyway, the other thing that bothered me a lot more in seasons 5 and 6 was the CONSTANT pop culture references. It feels like every conversation mentions a scene from a movie or a musician or something of the like; some of them I get, some I don't, but regardless it just feels so forced. Finally, without mentioning names so I can still mark this as spoiler-free, I absolutely can not believe that a certain important character is completely written off for season 6. That was the final straw for me. In the future, I'm sure I'll re-watch the whole show again at least once or twice, but there's a good chance I'll stop after S4.

Playing God (2021)

Don't expect to laugh.

[7/10 · 7 August 2021]

As usual, don't pay attention to the trailer or the fact that this is listed as comedy before drama. This movie was not what I expected at all... in a very good way. This isn't a film about two wise cracking con artists out to get the evil rich guy just because they can. This is a story of a man who lost his daughter and goes on a mission to find God, presumably to get him to explain why she was taken from him. At the same time, twin brother and sister career criminals owe a very bad man a lot of money, and are given the opportunity to con the grieving man and rob him of his fortune. This is all told to you in the first 10 minutes of the movie, which is why I am not marking this as containing spoilers. The unlikely result of this story is a well written, well acted, deep, and at times heart wrenching series of events. Alan Tudyk's performance in particular stands out above the rest for me. I could legitimately feel his pain in every scene. Please understand that I very rarely mark anything above an 8 out of 10, so do not take my rating of 7 to mean this to be mediocre by any means. Just go into this knowing that it's a lot more serious than what you may expect. I had no idea this was even being released; didn't even hear the title or read the description until yesterday, but I'm glad I watched it. Give it a chance, I think you will be too.

The Wilds (2020–2022)

Surprised at the relatively high rating on this

[4/10 · 21 January 2021]

Oh great, another show full of anti-male sentiment and claims that women are superior, when all the evidence shows the contrary. Honestly though, that's not even when I gave this show such a low rating. The actresses pretty much all did a great job with what they were given, but the show is SO boring. Episode after episode, barely anything happens. The majority of the first season is just learning all the back stories of each girl. I watched the first 7 or 8 episodes inside of a day or two mostly because I wanted answers as to what exactly was happening and why the situation was put in motion. Then it took me weeks to finally watch the last two episodes because I simply didn't care. Just not a very interesting show. When it comes to Amazon Prime, I'll stick to The Expanse and await season two of Upload.

Good Time (2017)

Adrenaline-fueled movie with a terrible ending.

[5/10 · 30 October 2020]

I won't give any specifics on why I think the end sucks, so that I can still say this doesn't contain spoilers. After all, stuff like that is totally subjective; I could say that about any movie and it technically shouldn't ruin anything. Anyway, the 80s music score and high paced high anxiety feel reminds me a lot of Adam Sandler's latest movie, Uncut Gems, which I thought was surprisingly good. Pattinson's acting is great in this, and the events really do keep me enthralled and intrigued to see what happens next, but alas, as I've already said it had a very disappointing and unsatisfying ending in my humble opinion. This is one that I don't think I'll ever watch again, regardless of the fact that I enjoyed the first 95% of it for the most part.

Tau (2018)

The dumbest AI ever to be put in a movie

[4/10 · 19 September 2020]

I've been on a sci-fi kick for months now, so when this popped up on Netflix I didn't hesitate to hit play. The story certainly has potential but the lack of character development for EITHER of the two main characters, in addition to any deeper understanding of what exactly Alex's project is about and why it's so important, are two of the reasons I rated this so low. The biggest eye roller is the fact that Tau, this supposedly supreme AI that Alex developed, somehow doesn't even seem to have a basic vocabulary. Wouldn't you think the first thing you would load into an AI that you verbally interact with should be a damn dictionary? I wanted this to be good but there were too many factors that left me not even caring what happened in the end. Sorry, this will be a one-time watch for me.

The Devil All the Time (2020)

Dark events lead to satisfying ends

[8/10 · 18 September 2020]

Hit play at 2am on Netflix, not knowing what to expect aside from a great set of actors, and I was definitely not disappointed. Very well cast, extremely well acted by every single person in the movie (and that's something I rarely say). I predicted the majority of the ending a little more than half way through the film, but that's not saying much considering how many movies I've watched in my life. One of my very few negative comments is that I had hoped to m discover who the narrator of the movie was, but now that I know it was based on a book I supposed I just have to accept that he's just a narrator. Also, I wish there was just little bit more character development for two or three people, but since it's already a relatively long movie it was an acceptable loss.

Dark and very depressing for a good chunk of the duration, but for the most part I was very happy with how everything concluded and would highly recommend this to anyone who can appreciate something that takes this type of direction. Glad I found this one and stayed up til 4am to finish it.

The Tax Collector (2020)

Won't be making anyone's list of top gangster movies

[6/10 · 15 September 2020]

Alright so I went into this with no expectations so I can't say I was totally disappointed, but this could have been done a lot better. First off, did they really try to make Shia Lebouf the scary mass murderer that the whole hood is afraid of? I'm not saying his acting was bad or anything, but scary is one thing he will never be. That being said, his character should have at least had the chance to actually do something gangsterish before getting taken out. Next, the plot was pretty generic with essentially two big crews going after each other, and it was pretty hard to believe that after the half dozen or so guys at their little sit-down all got killed, there was NO ONE else to come help?? Not exactly a very powerful gang if the whole thing can get taken out in seconds. I did like how the Bloods came to his aid in the end (don't ask me why) but the ending left a lot to be desired in my opinion. After all, Mr. Demonic Gangbanger did say he was just following orders so why did we never get to find out who was pulling his strings? Sure seems like the cartel will still be after him and take him out soon after the movie ends. I've seen worse movies this year for sure, but I truly feel like it wouldn't have taken much effort to make this a far better movie than it was. Watchable? Sure. Forgettable? Absolutely.