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bradleycarrington
Reviews
Fallout: The Beginning (2024)
Entertaining show, shallow and lackluster ending
I get that the show so far has been mainly geared towards being entertaining and not some deep rich masterfully written story akin to something like the last of us, but the world of fallout has rich lore and this was just too shallow to overlook.
First the vault tec meeting. This was perhaps the most important meeting on the face of the earth and yet Barbara still brought her pipboy, which she determined was transmitting to some unknown source, into this top secret meeting. Already not buying it. Then she brazenly admits that vault tec is considering starting the nuclear holocaust. Thats not something you casually admit to other companies to see if it sways their investing prospects. And why would they even be on board with the end of the world, the end of everything they've built, all for a couple vaults where they can run human experiments? And then Barbara goes into a speech about how this is the way to end conflict and create a true monopoly. How does she figure that? She just offered all these company heads their own vaults to run however they see fit. How does that not end in a bunch of different factions all with their own ideas on how to run things, leading to more conflict down the line? The whole thing felt shallow, silly, and poorly written. I was hoping for so much more buildup and depth to the grand reveal that vault tec was behind the war, and a little more nuance than "big bad companies evil and nuke the world in the name of capitalism!"
Then the scene with Lucy and her dad. Did not at all buy the dads performance. Just casually repeating "lets go lucy, lets get out here, shes lying" while Moldaver is revealing this awful truth about him and shattering his daughters perception of him. And then Lucy so readily accepting it? No way some lady who invaded your home and killed your friends tells you your dad, who you love and risked life and limb for, is a mass murder and you just accept it without a second thought. Again, where is the depth? Who wrote this?
Lastly the goofy brain in the roomba......seriously? This is the mastermind behind the tri-vault conspiracy? And I get it, the brain belongs to Bud Askins, the plucky upbeat vault tec executive. But after 200+ years trapped in a mobile jar of brain fluid, isolated in a vault with frozen employees, his personality hasnt changed? He hasnt gone insane? He's still the same goofy guy with the exact same goals and aspirations as before the war? It just comes off as so lazy and not thought out. It was so disappointing that this was the climax of Norms story as I thought he was one of the few characters in the show that really took his circumstances seriously and that made me care, and his final boss was a poorly written joke.
Fallout (2024)
Entertaining, but found this post apocalyptic world a bit too light hearted, and the ending shallow
My favorite part of the entire series was the opening sequence that shows the bombs dropping, and even that I had some issues with, like nukes dont explode slowly enough for people to have time to say "oh no honey thats just smoke from a fire" (watch the trinity test footage). Im all for dramatic effect, but make it realistic. That being said, the scene was intense and beautifully acted by Goggins and I got goosebumps. Sadly the rest of the series didnt have the same effect
The fallout series took a tone shift with the arrival of Fallout 4. Prior to that, yes humor and absurdity were present, but they were sprinkled in amongst the backdrop of a desolate dying world with cruelty and horror around every corner. In fallout 3, often the first person you encounter is a homeless guy begging for a sip of clean water. He's not goofy, weird, or absurd in any way, he's just a normal human. There are slavers that keep kids in cages with bomb collars around their neck. Thats the kind of world we're in. The show however feels like its turned that formula on its head. It feels more like humor and absurdity are now the primary focus with sprinklings of reminders that "oh dont forget we're in a post apocolyptic wasteland". And Fallout 4, which the show seems to be most emulating, seemed to be the beginning of that tone shift, where the colors were a little brighter, the characters a little wackier, the sense of dread a little less present. The show has taken this to the next level with brotherhood knights that act like delinquent teenagers, organ harvesting drug dealers that watch tv all day and act like stoners, and a goofy brain in a roomba being the mastermind behind a vault conspiracy. I wanted more scenes and characters like norm, moldaver, charlie whiteknife, and barbara, who took their circumstances very seriously and whose perfomances sucked me into the world.
Then there's the issue of certain elements of the show feeling hollow and not given the weight or depth they deserve. Like the scene where all the big corporations are meeting with vault tec. It seemed way too easy for a meeting like that to have been spied on, barbara even noticed her pipboy was transmitting but decided to still attend that meeting with it on? Come on. Then she just casually says in the meeting "by dropping the bomb ourselves" admitting to all these ceo's present that vault tec is considering creating the nuclear holocaust themselves. Info like that you'd barely share with people inside the company let alone blurting it out point blank to other companies unless you know they're fully on board. And all these ceo's present were ok with the end of the world, the end of their empires, in exchange for a few vaults where they could run human experiments? Maybe they were but they didnt give any indication as to why. And vault tec said this would be an opportunity to end conflict by outliving all enemies and having a single monopoly. How? When you're giving away vaults to other companies with their own ideas on how to run things how does that result in a single monopoly and not just another bunch of factions bickering and warring over the right way to do things? It feels like there's so much missing here, so much that has been glossed over and just thrown together without attention to detail or nuance. This is the kind of meeting that you'd find in a climactic scene of a show like 24 or Homeland, where multiple government agencies have expended mind boggling amounts of time and resources to get a recording of, that we as the viewer have been slowly piecing together over the course of the season, but in fallout this incredibly precious info feels unearned and like its just being lazily told to us for a plot point. The idea that vault tec started the war is something that people have been speculating since the inception of the fallout series and it didnt feel like the grand revelation it deserved to be.
Another culprit of this was the scene where Lucy learns about her father. I didnt buy the father's performance trying to stop Moldaver from revealing the truth. And Lucy seemed to accept this reality way too easily (you're gonna believe that your father who you love nuked a town cause some lady who killed your friends and family told you so?) Again just lacked depth and nuance and left me wanting.
My hope for season 2 is that we get more depth and nuance and the creators lean more into the gritty nature of the earlier fallout entries and lose some of the "oh darn i missed every shot cause I suck without a scope on" goofiness.
Fallout: The Target (2024)
Can we stop with the absurd plot armor?
Overall good episode. My biggest gripe, that completely took me out and ruined the episode for me was the turret scene when he was escaping. Like are you joking? A nearly point blank minigun misses every single shot and they escape unscathed? Is this the luckiest man and dog on the face of the earth? Or are the enclave turrets absolute garbage and should I treat the enclave as a joke? When things like this happen in shows and movies I no longer care. The stakes are gone because now the illusion is broken and its clear this character will be alive so long as the show creator wills it and absolutely nothing will be able to stop them.
MAKE PLOT ARMOR BELIEVABLE!
Sex Education: Episode 8 (2023)
Imperfect ending to a great show
Was this show wrapped up in a neat little bow? No. Did the writers hastily write a conclusion because they didnt know until the last minute that this would be the last season? Yes. Was this a flawed show but still great regardless? Absolutely.
Season 4 wasnt my favorite but I still loved it. The art direction was incredible as always and both sets and costumes were phenomenal. Did the first episode feel a little over the top and cartoony? Sure, but episode 2 and onward felt more grounded. And the character development in this season was great. Michael, Adam, Ruby, Maeve, Jean, Joanna, they all had such incredible arcs and scenes. Eric was an icon as always, but I dont know how I feel about his whole religious journey, that was an interesting addition. And even though the show wrapped up prematurely I think the writers did well with what they had.
For everyone leaving 1 star reviews cause things werent all wrapped up the way you wanted and the characters you wanted to end up together didnt, well thats life. And thats what I've always loved about this show is that its messy, raw, unpredictable, and doesnt always go the way you want.
M3GAN (2022)
Entertaining but wasted potential
So ill start by saying that the movie was enjoyable. Its a fun killer doll movie, but thats all it is. What I found most disappointing was all that could have been done with Megan but wasnt. She is an incredibly advanced AI. Like chatgpt on steroids. She has any and all information at her fingertips in a nanosecond and is a master of human relations. With that I would expect her to ensare her victims in very creative and elaborate ways. She could manipulate and gaslight to no end. Make people think they're going insane. Set up the perfect accident scenarios that make her seem completely innocent. But no, instead they lazily gave her super strength. She goes around beating people up and murdering them. Its also incredibly lazy plotwise because why would any toy manufacture give a toy the strength to toss around grown adults. I just expected more intricacy and nuance to megan rather than just an aggressive evil robot murder spree.
The Notebook (2004)
Was this supposed to be romantic?
The relationship starts with noah asking allie to dance, her making it clear she's not interested, him not respecting her decision and then threatening to commit suicide if allie doesnt go on a date with him. Im sorry if you think that kind of manipulation is romantic, but its an enormous red flag and you should run if you ever encounter that. He then proceeds to keep badgering her and telling her he'll be whatever she wants him to be. Giving me major creepy codependent stalker vibes. They finally get together, god knows why, and there is no chemistry, watching them interact is painful. They have nothing in common and the only thing that seems to be holding their "relationship" together is physical attraction with their constant making out. They finally break up, she throws a fit and starts physically assaulting him (hallmark of a healthy relationship) and she moves away. She then meets an actually decent guy that cares about her and loves her and she decides to marry, only to throw it away and cheat on him with her toxic ex.
If it wasnt Ryan Gosling and Rachel Mcadams on screen I think people wouldnt find this nearly as charming.
I feel sorry for people that think this is what romance is.
The Orville: Identity, Part II (2019)
Cool but cliche
The fight sequences and cgi were fanstastic and it was a fun episode, but things worked out a little too well. Isaac betrays his own despite having no emotions and the same programming as them. I might be in the minority, but I prefer the episodes that are more relationship and moral quandry based as they are so much more interesting. The episode where they had to decide whether or not to give Bortus' kid a sex change was phenomenal. And it ended in a way that was heartbreaking but realistic. The big space battles are fun, but theyre too predictable. Narrow escape to recruit life-long enemies to battle new threat, robot that turned on them has a change of heart, the day is saved and the only ones lost were unnamed characters we never met. Then isaac is brought back into the fold despite nearly causing the extinction of all mankind because we love him. All in a neat bow. The orville is a fantastic show but when it comes to the battles and warfare segments, I think it could do with a few pointers from a show like game of thrones (excluding season 8), where the violence is never predictable and you never know how its going to turn out or which character will die next. Im never worried during the violent segments on the orville cause I know everyones gonna be ok. This is why I think the relationship episodes are better because you dont know who's gonna be ok (emotionally). I was on the edge of my seat during the isaac and dr finn romance episode cause wow what a rollercoaster.
Sex Education (2019)
Masterpiece
Sex education is one of those rare shows that is both incredibly entertaining and incredibly important. Like the name of the show suggests, sex education is all about teenagers exploring their sex lives and all the messy sensitive issue that come with it. Moordale Secondary School's sex ed, like many schoo'ls sex ed classes, is woefully uninformative and so the son of a sex therapist sets up an under the table sex clinic to help students with all there sexual and relational issues that arent covered by the pitiful excuse for a sex education that the students are recieving.
The show feels authentic, its gripping, the characters are iconic but flawed and ever changing, and most importantly it delivers a message of sex positivity and promotes communication and empathy over the silence and shame that so many cultures still promote. Im a pretty pessimistic person, but shows like this give me hope for the future that we can move toward a more inclusive and accepting world. I recommend this show to anyone and everyone and especially people who have ever felt like they struggled with identity or sexuality. And I consider it a must view for teenagers who feel that their own sexual education has been lacking.
War of the Worlds (2005)
Decent action thriller but absolute garbage ending.
So the whole premise of this movie is that aliens had been watching and studying our planet for thousands of years if not longer. So long that they buried robots in the ground before human civilization even formed. As one of the characters comments "this was a plan a million years in the making". And you're telling me that a super intelligent extremely technologically advanced civilization that has been plotting this for ages didn't prepare for disease? Yeah that's right, earth diseases and micro-organisms are what killed them. They had a million year plan with tech that we could only dream of, and they were blind sided by bacteria? Their millenia of studying this planet didn't reveal pathogens that could be potentially harmful to them? At the very least they didn't think to wear some sort of environmental suit to protect them from biological elements on a foreign planet? The movie wraps with the narrator spewing some religious bs about god and his genius of creating micro-organisms that saved the day. And that's it. That's the ridiculously lazy way this movie ends. Otherwise this would've been a 7 or 8 out of 10.
Jigeum uri hakgyoneun (2022)
...Damn
Is this a great zombie outbreak show? Yes. Is it plauged by the occasional cheesy comic relief cliches at points? Also Yes. But this show goes so much further than that. In the end it's less about the zombies and more about the horrific trauma the outbreak inflicts on everyone involved. It shows the perspective of survivors as well as rescuers and military. No one is spared from the effects of this nightmare and nothing is black and white. It's honestly tough to watch at times and nauseating to see what these people have to go through, but it's refreshing in the sense that it isn't just a mindless hack and slash zombie flick and actually deals with tragedy as well as moral and ethical dilemmas. Highly Recommend.
Project X (2012)
Wow
The best pieces of entertainment are the ones that deliver on what they promise. Project X promised the most epic high school party of all time, and they delivered in spades. I also believe that the best movies are the ones that can pull you in and make you really feel what the characters are feeling, and project x nails that as well. Granted, it's not gonna be all good feelings, especially you have high anxiety, but hey, they're still feelings.
This movie perfectly captures the pure debauchery and hedonism that we all either dreamed of or dreaded as a kid in high-school. Nothing is sugar coated and nothing is held back. This is a window into the reality of "what if I let go of all inhibitions". It's a wild ride.
Ojing-eo geim (2021)
Masterfully crafted Story about human nature and desperation
The three things that I look for when watching something are storytelling, performance, and attention to detail. Squid game passes all of those with flying colors. The storytelling and atmosphere is incredible, well thought-out, and keeps you invested from start to finish. Going into this, I thought that a show about deadly children's games would get cheesy at points, but boy was I wrong. This show digs deep into the psyche of the characters and delivers some very powerful and emotional scenes, which the actors absolutely nail. There isn't much to say about the acting other than each of these actors (with the exception of the VIP's that spoke English) deliver phenomenal performances that take you on an emotional Rollercoaster. Lastly, I'm the type of person that will pause shows to spot inconsistencies or plot holes as they are very telling for how seriously the creators took the show/movie. I can tell how invested everyone that worked on this was because I didn't catch a single inconsistency. It seemed like every single detail was thought out and carefully crafted.
This show is brutal, bleak, and doesn't sugar coat anything or deliver any corny cliche's. It feels authentic from start to finish. Definitely not a feel good show or for the faint of heart, but would absolutely recommend giving this a watch.
Afterlife of the Party (2021)
Completely unrealistic and full of plot holes, but a mindless fun time. *minor spoilers*
So after Victoria Justice dies and comes back to earth to deal with unfinished business, she needs to help 3 people but they can't see or hear her. BUT, she can manipulate the physical world and move objects. So why didn't she just write notes?? She wrote on someone's black board for a dumb message, but she can't write to her dad to let her know she's ok? Also when she rearranges people's apartments, everyone is just ok with that???? Nobody thinks someone broke in?? Is this a normal occurrence for them? If I woke up and there was a trail of stuff left on the floor and things written on my blackboard, or I came back and all my yoga stuff was set up, I'd call the cops. But other than the completely unrealistic reactions, If all your looking for is a silly feel good movie then it's good for that.
Cike Wu Liuqi: Assassinating a Pretty Girl (2018)
My new favorite series
This show is absolutely ridiculous and hilarious, but still somehow manages to deliver these incredible moments that tug at your heart strings. Incredible show.
Cike Wu Liuqi: Stab Your Dog Eyes Blind (2018)
Masterpiece. I literally cried at the end of this.
This show so far is incredible. It's a fantastic comedy, but then has brief moments of other genres like action or romance, but the brief moments are so well done that it makes it seem like the whole series is an action or romance for just that fleeting moment. And then you feel ridiculous 2 seconds later for tearing up over a forbidden love story about a cartoon dog gang leader that I didn't know existed 15 min ago. Incredible. 10/10.
The Orville: About a Girl (2017)
Fantastic episode. The negative reviews are emotional responses
Initially I started this series for the comedy, but I found myself impressed by the deeper substance that the show had to offer. This episode explores social, cultural, and ethical issues with an interesting take from both sides of the aisle. What impressed me even more than that however was the outcome. Even though we may know what's right, life isn't fair, and often we have to deal with harsh realities.
This was not a feel good episode but rather a thinking episode. This is made clear by the negative reviews all clearly being emotionally driven or blinded by political bias and completely missing the point.
Colossal (2016)
Ok, I'm sorry........what???
So I loved the premise and there are some very well done parts, but what completely derails this movie is the interactions between the characters. One moment everything is fine, then Jason's character just goes insane. He threatens to destroy a city and kill countless people, but then apologizes for it and Anne forgives him??? "Yeah we're friends again, just no more late night drinking". Then Jason starts acting crazy again and blows up his bar and Anne stays by his side rather than leave. Then when Jason is about to go cause mayhem, rather than stopping him at the house, she runs over to the playground to battle him there, where they're jeopardizing thousands of lives. Why would she do that rather than trying to stop him before he got to the playground? And why was Jason's buddy, who clearly felt guilty about the whole thing, not trying to do anything to stop him? Anne's character keeps flipping back and forth between doing whatever Jason says and then attacking Jason to try and stop him.
Nothing these people did made the slightest amount of sense.
Invincible: It's About Time (2021)
Great series with a slow start
So I just binged the first season and loved it. The first episode however, not so much. It feels like the entire point of this episode is just to set up the twist at the end. But the episode itself leading up to that is so bland that it feels like a cheap DC knockoff. So by the time the twist came, rather than feeling like "oh wow what a cool show and.... OMG what a twist!!!", I felt like "finally, something actually happened".
Overall the show is great and easy to get invested in, I just wish more effort was put into making the beginning more compelling rather than just a throwaway for the big reveal.
Invincible (2021)
Compelling story with great action, but not without it's flaws.
I just binged the first season of invincible and loved it. It felt like being a kid again and watching my favorite super hero cartoon since it's basically the same thing but with adult themes. I will say the first episode is very slow and feels like a cheap DC knockoff. I feel like they did that
purposely just so they could show the twist at the end and give us that feeling of "just kidding, it's not what you expected". But the first 40 min were so bland that I almost stopped watching. Also, even though this has more of a game of thrones vibe, where you never know if a character will live past the scene, there is still no shortage of plot armor and plot holes. Some characters will be strong enough to destroy a planet without breaking a sweat, but then find themselves struggling in a fight against something that is brought down relatively easily. And then vice versa some weak characters manage to survive when their stronger counterparts are brutally killed.
So it's not as true to life as I was hoping for from a gritty Superhero show where the good guy doesn't always win. However if you're just looking to relive your youth through a gritty adult lense and aren't affected by the occasional cartoon cliche or plot hole, then I can't recommend this enough!
The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021)
Mindless fun, but not anything more.
This movie definitely has its fun and funny moments, but where it falls short for me is it's attempt to try and deliver a life lesson while simultaneously being completely out of the realm of possibility. It tries to show how a dysfunctional family comes together through hardship and in the end, finally understand one another. The dysfunction is comically on the nose and there is no subtlety to what they are trying to portray. If you're an adult, this probably won't resonate with you because of how blatantly obvious the themes are. If you are a child, this sets a completely unrealistic expectation for how the world works. Family dynamics aren't this blatantly obvious and easy to fix, and you're never going to go on some life altering adventure with the people in your life. The characters talk about how it's important to take chances and not play it safe, but they fail to mention that they have indestructible plot armor. There are countless times that these characters should have died, but made it out without a scratch. Life isn't just one comically happy ending where everything works out fine. More often than not, life is brutal. I understand that this is a cartoon and not meant to be taken seriously, but that's not how kids operate. Kids absorb this and as a result develop a delusional idea of how the world is a good place where nothing bad will happen. There are absolutely no consequences for the actions the characters take in this movie.
So if you're looking for some mindless cartoon entertainment for the night, sure, give this a go, but please don't try to take anything meaningful away from this and I'd advise against showing this to kids.
2012 (2009)
Excellent Disaster Movie
If you're a fan of disaster movies, you can't go wrong with this. The special effects are easily 10/10 and at just over 2 hours and 30 minutes, there wasn't a single time I got bored. It was a thrill ride from start to finish. The only reason I don't give this movie a 9 or 10 is because of the suspension of disbelief that needs to occur in order to fully enjoy this. Don't expect to find super accurate science and expect characters to narrowly escape certain death at a completely unrealistic level. However, for me, as long as the acting is believable, which it is, I can usually look past unbelievable scenarios. This isn't a survival guide type movie where they show you how best to survive a doomsday scenario. This a blockbuster movie where the characters survive through sheer luck and plot armor. But if you can get past that, this movie has some of the most intense and heart racing disaster sequences I've ever seen.
Movie 43 (2013)
The Masterpiece of "what if" movies. *Minor spoilers*
I was genuinely surprised to learn about the bad reviews for this movie, because I loved it and thought it was absolutely hilarious. The humor is very juvenile, but what makes it so perfect is these Hollywood titans taking it seriously. The juxtaposition of these megastars giving their signature performances with material that seems like it came from the mind of an 8th grader is just pure gold. And even though the humor is crass, a lot of it is done in a clever way like the parents homeschooling their child, but also bullying him to give him a full school experience. Or the reason for the ballchin skit being "a metaphor for the flaws that people create in others so they don't have to take a chance on life and on love". It's nonstop satirical hilarity.
I will say that this movie is for more open minded people. If you like your raunchy comedy in one realm and your Oscar winning actors in another, then you probably won't like this movie. But if you're someone that isn't too precious about things and doesn't take life too seriously, then this movie is a unique experience that you won't find anywhere else.
Spontaneous (2020)
Never seen another movie like it.
So I'm a big fan of horror/disaster movies and I always get a kick out of the deaths/mayhem. This was the first movie I've ever seen where I was genuinely wishing for the mayhem to stop. And not because it was gratuitous or got tired, but because something about this movie felt very authentic and relatable. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time praying for the next death not to come because these kids felt real and I didn't want their story to end. Although the premise is obviously ridiculous, the characters in the movie take it seriously which is such a breath of fresh air from all the movies that know they are movies and make the dialogue consist of nothing more than snappy repartee and quotable sound bites even in the face of despair. Which is not to say there isn't any witty dialogue, in fact it has some of my favorite lines I've heard in movies, but they all feel well placed and authentic. These characters just feel genuine and so you as the viewer can't help but sympathize with them and feel the same sense of dread over their potential demise.
Overall, this is a very unique movie that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend.
The Happening (2008)
What is with these reviews?
So I'm only giving this a 10 because these abysmally low reviews aren't accurate. In actuality I'd give this movie a solid 7. 8-9 if you're really into disaster movies where things start out normal but quickly descend into chaos. If you like movies like bird box, day after tm, quiet place, etc then you'll like this. But these reviews make it seem like this is as bad as cats or the last Airbender. It's not. It's actually a decent movie worth a watch and I personally really enjoyed it. Granted, this movie isn't on the same level as something like sixth sense, so if you're expecting this to be a masterpiece, you might be disappointed. But if you're in the mood for a good unnerving disaster flick, you can't go wrong with this.
The Darkest Hour (2011)
Wayyyyy better than the imdb rating
So this isnt a 10/10 but im giving it just cause the 4.9 rating is absurd. I generally agree with imdb and have never really enjoyed anything rated below a 5, but I'd say this movie is at a least an imdb 6 and a solid 7-8 for fans of this genre. I love sci-fi, and in a market thats saturated with bad storytelling and horrible acting, this movie was very refreshing. Acting is good. Plot is good enough to stay invested. For what it is, its solid and worth a watch. If you're looking to get your alien invasion fix for the night, this movie will scratch that itch.