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missypowers
Reviews
Ms. Marvel (2022)
Charming lead and interesting origin story...
I kept watching this in spite of the first few episodes being very teen oriented because the lead is so damned charming. It got more interesting as we got into her family history.
I thought the special effects for her powers were pretty fun for a tv show. I really liked the costume she winds up with by the end of the season. The origin for the name Ms. Marvel was a bit of a stretch but I can let that pass.
I liked that they subverted the mean girl trope with the character of Zoe and she winds up being a self-described "allie", a fun nod to the well-understood subtext of superhero comics. If you know, you know. Definitely give it a chance.
Spirited (2022)
Would have been better w/o the songs
I really liked the concept of this and the chemistry between Ferrel and Reynolds is great but the songs were pretty bad and if you have an ear like mine you very much hear the auto-tuning they had to do for Will Ferrell and Octavia Butler. The dance numbers are just barely passable. Seriously, I've seen flash mob videos with better choreography.
If you can get thru the cheesy musical numbers it's diverting enough if you're looking for something new to watch and don't mind one more interpretation of "A Christmas Carol". I did kind of like one goofy number that Ryan Reynolds does in a deliberately bad Cockney accent.
What If...? (2021)
First episode? Zzzzzzzzzzz....
This is so boring. I don't know what else to say. I never cared about Peggy Carter as a character in the first place. I certainly don't need to see her as "Captain Carter". The voice acting is really goofy, despite some big names (not Chris Evans sadly) and the animation is just meh..
It looks very computer generated which would be okay if I cares about the characters and the story. I think the creators over-estimated how much anyone cars about Peggy Carter. I was one of those that thought her story should have ended when she died off-screen in "Captain America:Civil War".
This is not good at all. Disappointed because I had this in my queue for awhile. I was totally prepared to enjoy it. After looking at what the other episodes are about I've determined I don't want to waste any more time on it. I would say it's okay for kids but it just might confuse them when they are ready for the actual movies.
Kingdom: Episode #3.3 (2009)
Really stupid, implausible circumstances...
Let's just say there is a lawyer who somehow allows himself to be assaulted in a life-threatening way and doesn't press charges. Then there is a medical researcher working on a cure for a genetic disease whom but for some reason she does experiments that involve a glowing guinea pig. I know this is meant to be a lighthearted show along the lines of "Midsomer Murders" but good lord, this was dumb.
Criminal Minds: Roadkill (2009)
People aren't this dumb, are they? First scene wrecked the whole episode for me.
What I'm about to rant about happens before the credits so I don't think it's a spoiler but I'll tag it anyway.
The first victim had plenty of time to run out of the middle of the road and down the embankment. Why the hell did she just stand there with her hand out? She's competent enough to check her vehicle herself but she's too dumb to just turn right? This kind of stupidity colors the whole episode for me.
Collateral (2018)
Forgot what a snoozer this was...
I like the lead but she was soooo boring in this. I get she was going for closed-off, no-nonsense but I just -*did not care*. I was bored and looking for a show like this and figured I'd re-watch and all my initial impressions came flooding back. Her performance is robotic and unemotional to the point where I don't care about her or the crime. Billy Piper was good but not enough for me to endure several hours of the droning, soul-numbing performance of the lead.
Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009)
I've come to really look forward to watching this one...
A few years back I added another favorite version of A Christmas Carol after deciding to overcome my prejudice and watch a CG animated version. I LOVED it.
The voice acting is impeccable and Jim Carrey does a great job with all the voices he does. The animation is gorgeous and it sticks very closely to the source material most of the time. The only thing stopping me from giving this 10 is a silly sequence during the third visit that seems to be there simply to exploit the 3D experience which I don't really care about.
Amber (2014)
Wish I remembered these reviews before watching...
I read these reviews a few days ago but today, they went right out of my head when I chose to add this series to my Amazon Prime viewing. The acting was great but the story became more and more convoluted and confusing as each possible answer to the mystery was rejected. It is not a spoiler to tell you that, unless they have another season int he works (unlikely as this series is from 2014) you will be left hanging. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME.
The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising (2007)
Dreadful adaptation...
Clearly the screenwriter and the director of this film were just hired hacks with no investment in the source material at all. They changed so much, so unnecessarily, seemingly in order to create this cliché-filled dreck meant to appeal to someone's notion of the taste of the American adolescent. They aged the main character by 3 years, made him rather surly and disrespectful of the elder Old Ones, and gave him a trio of surly, bullying brothers who are disrespectful of their parents. The family in the book are loving and supportive and, while there are a few sibling squabbles, everyone gets along pretty well. There is so little connection to the source material, it makes one wonder why they bothered. Such a waste. *ETA--I can't believe that the screenwriter for "Shallow Grave", "Trainspotting", and "A Life Less Ordinary", three films I love, wrote this travesty. Of course he also wrote "The Beach", another crappy movie (sorry Danny Boyle, I love you but that was unwatchable).
City of Vice (2008)
Awful sound editing made it impossible to watch
The history of the police as we know it today is a subject I'm very interested in so when Hulu added this show to their line-up I was immediately intrigued. I watched the first episode with my husband. We agreed that the sound editing is atrocious. The background sounds are far too forward in the mix and overwhelm the dialogue. There is nothing wrong with the actors' performance. It is not a case of mumbling performances. It is most definitely a case of very poor quality sound mixing. I tried to watch with closed captions but I couldn't manage to activate this function in Hulu in spite of changing my settings to allow for it. I gave up when I realized the second episode was not going to be any different. It's too bad, although now that I see this is a show from 6 years ago and it only enjoyed one season, it's just as well.