ryan-beauchesne Reviews

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

So disappointing and anti-climactic despite good performances

[3/10 · 11 December 2023]

I was looking forward to this but wow, it was worse than I could have even expected by the poor reviews.

DiCaprio's performance was great and captivating. Deniro felt a little out of place.

But despite that, the story, climax, any emotional connection, fell completely flat. The 3.5 hour runtime did not even help build connections with the characters. I still didn't care about any of them. We don't even feel pity for the wife, who somehow is oblivious or doesn't care that much the evil her husband is inflicting all around her?! It doesn't even make sense. At least if they used the long runtime to really develop the characters and connections, that might at least justify it, but nope - just nope.

I kept hoping that at least the ending would be worth it, but it was just such a flat, anti climactic flop. Things wrapped up with no explanation or satisfaction. Even the antagonist goes out without even seeing him. In fact, the story is just summed up by some theatre play at the end.

Just so disappointing, boring, and blah.

Lioness (2023– )

Could have been great, but a lazy setup ruins the realism

[7/10 · 14 September 2023]

This is actually a pretty good show overall, but they really started it off on such a lazy setup that it really ruins the realism for the whole rest of the season...

By "setup" I'm talking about how Cruz sets up the friendship with the target/Aaliyah. It was literally as simple as bumping into her in a store and boom, Aaliyah's like "hey be my friend and come join us for so-and-so"..

I mean getting in with the target should have been half the battle, and yet they just accomplish it in 2 minutes. It was just so unrealistic and lazy, and just ruins your suspension of belief for the whole rest of the operation and the supposed friendship she's developing.

Was really unfortunate, since if they put a little more effort and challenge into Cruz approaching, nurturing and developing a fake friendship with Aaliyah would have been much more interesting and believable especially for the rest of the series as it follows..

Oppenheimer (I) (2023)

No doubt a well made story, but overall, was just boring

[6/10 · 13 August 2023]

Maybe my expectations were off slightly. This was a character study into Oppenheimer and the tribulations of his career, and about his politics rather than truly about the science and production of the A bomb. I was hoping to see more nitty gritty into the bomb's development, and maybe some footage of its use in Japan to really reinforce the human toll and destruction of the immensely powerful weapon that they had created for the final act. Instead its just dramatic closeups of Opp's troubled face. But I feel we needed some more visuals (of war) to establish more emotion. It felt exceedingly anticlimactic.

And really, 75% of this movie is a small backroom kangaroo court prosecution that is just flatly boring and soo unnecessarily long.

As another reviewer said, you could just listen to the audio of this movie and it would be virtually the same experience. There is nothing visually interesting or exciting.

The Beanie Bubble (2023)

Boring and disjointed

[4/10 · 29 July 2023]

Wanted to like this, but just didn't feel engaging or interesting for some reason. For one thing, it jumps back and forth in time which just felt confusing when trying to understand the evolution of the beanie baby and how it became popular. Like we literally jump ahead 10 years then back 8 then forward 3 then back 3 again.. ugh.

We also found Zach and Banks both were somewhat jarring in such a strange appearance from their normal look. The dyed brown hair seemed unnatural and just strange that it was distracting. Not a huge deal here but just seemed unnecessarily distracting...

But all in all, the jumping back and forth just never led to a nice, satisfying lead up to their explosion in popularity. It actually made it all feel very anti-climactic.

So, not sure, but just something with how this was put together didn't work for me. Wasn't a fan or engaged in what should be an interesting story..

Prehistoric Planet (2022–2023)

Amazing visuals, but I would have preferred it done differently

[7/10 · 24 May 2023]

You cannot fault the visuals, it truly is amazing. And the probable life-like stories they tell around the animals are good, but there's something about this series that leaves you feeling too skeptical to really immerse yourself, and I believe I know why.

I would have much preferred that with each introduction of the animals, they give some brief examples of HOW they knew, or came to deduct, certain traits about that animals. For example, tell us that they knew so-and-so-osaur probably laid eggs in volcanic creators because maybe fossilized eggs were found in them... and that they had feathers because they found imprints in fossils.. and that they might have done this mating dance based on their decorative horns and that birds today also do this. Essentially, help us understand what is based in scientific deduction and what is just pure assumption. Because unless you're a dinosaur expert, you're often just left feeling this might all be made up, and it sort of ruins the realism you're trying to feel for this...

That's my 2 cents.

Outlast (2023– )

Not a survival show - just a bad game show

[3/10 · 22 March 2023]

This actually COULD have been a good concept, where " Alone" meets "Survivor", bringing wilderness survival to a bit of a challenge-based game show. The team dynamic and flares was not bad either.

But the "no rules" thing, has just led to this being a ridiculous, stupid reality show of people being horrible to each other and screwing others over, to the point it has absolutely nothing to do with survival and all to do with who can be the most cutthroat..

Like when the girls were working so hard to get rid of Javier, they actually started calling him "horrible", and hoping he had burned in his shelter?! Especially when he had been nothing but the kindest person there. Wtf is wrong with these people?! Despicable.

The show needed some basic rules to work. I don't know how exactly to formulate those, but some boundaries are needed to make this a true, enjoyable competition. Of course they had to forego that for the more shallow and frivolous drama for the sake of tv.

Farzi (2023– )

Hot damn..

[10/10 · 18 March 2023]

I almost didn't watch this show because I didn't really want to read subtitles, but wow - totally glad I did. This is how TV should be. Miles better than the often slow and boring breaking bad. This was epic across the board. Characters you cared about, great acting, story, action, tense moments. A well paced story without being slow. Everything about it was great.

Repeating for character limit - I almost didn't watch this show because I didn't really want to read subtitles, but wow - totally glad I did. This is how TV should be. Miles better than the often slow and boring breaking bad. This was epic across the board. Characters you cared about, great acting, story, action, tense moments. A well paced story without being slow. Everything about it was great.

Glass Onion (2022)

I thought it was OK, with an underwhelming ending

[7/10 · 27 December 2022]

Overall I enjoyed the movie, but I did find there was something missing, or lacking. I believe the way they so quickly went through the motions of the get-together and murders upfront, then jumping back to slowly go through the explanation of it all made it so you never really got a chance to know or understand any characters first.. And then the whole rest of the movie was just explaining what happened - not really giving you a chance to guess along throughout the mystery..

Then the ending, although dramatic, didn't seem very clever at all. I guess I was hoping for some sneaky, clever tactic of spinning things around and getting the bad guy in some sort of indefensible corner that would bring him down.. But rather it was just a matter of trashing his house until he gave up..

Somehow it was just underwhelming despite being flashy and dramatic.

The White Lotus (2021–2025)

A difficult show to rate, but teeters between very boring and mildly intriguing

[7/10 · 3 November 2022]

Season 1 had a real sense of mystique and some intriguing characters, and a good production value which made it feel like you must be watching a good show.. Which was truly anchored in the really unique and memorable music score. Honestly, the music, although repetitive, was really the star, and without it, it wouldn't have been the same show at all. I don't care what anyone says, that's fact :P

Although I watched all of Season 1, it wasn't ever something I was excited to watch... It was just a series of pretty depressing character studies and events, and at times was severely boring. I found I watched half of the season waiting for some sort of plot to develop until I realized this was all it was.. But by that time I was at least interested enough to see it through and find out who would die at the end.

Season 2 tries to reinstate the same hook (someone died, watch to find out who), but these characters just don't have the same intrigue, and without the beloved music score, it just feels even more bland and pointless.

I'll likely try an episode or two more but I don't have high hopes that season 2 will be worth the time.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022– )

Not perfect, but definitely underrated (and EP#6 was some of the most epic TV I've ever seen)

[9/10 · 10 October 2022]

Contrary to HotD which I find overrated, Rings of Power are definitely underrated in my opinion here. It was partly inevitable; trying to adapt something as classic as the original Tolkien books and movies, that this would get some harsh criticism no matter what, and I think that's what's held down the rating here. But on its own, and even to me as a (casual) fan of previous Tolkien work, this series is the most epic I've seen in terms of cinematography, and has me immersed in the world while await each new episode.

Sure, it's not perfect. I can see how some aspects weren't the best adaptation, and some characters and their motivations occasionally border on a bit cheesy/silly (Galadriel a bit), but there are many great aspects that more than make up for this. There is great worldbuilding, even using the world map to move between scenes and location; the orcs and the leader Adar are very well done, the city of Numenor was absolutely breathtaking, the Harfoots are a great vague but curious plotline currently.. I'd admit the Elves are slightly underwhelming.

And I have to give koodos to this Ep#6, which was the first big orc battle we had and the explosion of the volcano that leads to the creation of Mordor. This episode was absolutely epic, breathtaking, edge-of-your-seat cinema, from the battle scenes to the volcanic blast. I had to check Twitter after watching this episode and I wasn't surprised the consensus was that this was maybe the most epic piece of cinema people have seen in a series..

So, this show gives it an A++ on effort. It's got an A from me as a viewer, and I will eagerly keep watching.

House of the Dragon (2022– )

I'm trying to like it, but it's so far just talking inside a dark castle

[5/10 · 10 October 2022]

I'm a big fan of GoT, and I am trying to like this show, but I actually don't even understand the such high rating here.

As one other reviewer put it, this is literally like a soap opera. It's just endless talking and drama inside a dark castle, or briefing outside in the gloomy and foggy weather. The only action or conflict we had was the Crab Eater guy, who was intriguing at first, but they ended that "years long war" with a silly single day battle and a completely anticlimactic killing of their leader.

In GoT there were many different characters and plotlines going on all the time, so it was easier to find characters you really liked, or hated. In HotD, there's not a single character that I have any sort of elevated emotion for, and especially less-so since the character/actor change for the time jump.

Overall, it's just a single, dark, boring, soap-opera-esque plotline that has failed to make me invested.

Alone (2015– )

Concept makes it the best survival show, but production is terribly sensationalist, and latest season was terrible

[7/10 · 8 August 2022]

Positive note: the concept of 10 people surviving as long as they can by themselves (and no camera crew) with only 10 items, is the best premise of a survival show currently. Giving them 10 items makes it a bit more reasonable in giving someone a chance to survive a long time. To me, any survival show that has any sort of camera crew (non tripod or non POV shots) are immediately unreliable in their realism. So it's good this show relies on the survivors filming themselves.

Pain points: it's overly sensationalized, cheesy editing and ridiculous cliffhangers at every commercial break. The latest season in Labrador has every promo commercial showing "polar bear region! Oh my!" with clips implying someone will encounter one. Well, the whole season, no one even saw a black bear in person let alone a polar bear.

Latest season: I was excited tor Labrador, and sometimes a season just depends on the people themselves, but this one was just boring. The last few remaining contestants were not "surviving" by any means. It was just a competition of who could starve the longest. Literally, the winner of the show had decided to "fast" the remaining 12 days.

Further, I can't completely blame them. They had to abide by local regulations meaning they could only fly fish in the river. Well, only being able to 'fly fish' in a survival scenario is ridiculous especially being somewhere like Labrador where catching fish could make all the difference. So they were forced to rely on hunting grouse and squirrel only... So, no wonder they starved. (A couple people did catch fish but it was short lasted).

So, if you want to give us a show of people in a competition of survival not starvation, at least put them somewhere where local regulations are not going to extremely limit their ability to get resources.

And showing more of them crafting, hunting, fishing, rather than wasting episode time in pointless recaps and dumb cliffhangers could really make this show an iconic one rather than just "the best of mediocre survival shows" that relies on a good premise and cheap, sensationalist promotion.

Primal Survivor (2016– )

Contrived, wasteful, sensationalized

[4/10 · 9 June 2022]

There's no doubt this guy is quite knowledgeable and I really enjoyed the early season, or maybe it was his previous show Survive the Tribe. But this is not a true survival show. It's just a series of quick disjoined demonstrations on some survival tactics. He'll catch some fish, then they'll rot because he doesn't have a fire. Then he'll use them as bait, catch a huge fish, still not have a fire ready, then cook and eat the fish in two minutes. Obviously 90% of that fish went to waste.

This show is so contrived and setup it's hard to even attempt a suspension of belief... Like he can be walking through the Amazon, starting calling out noises and find natives and just be like, "hey how's it going?" and they're not surprised at all to see him? Or he approaches some natives' horses grazing in the wild.. so he goes up to them, then decides to ride their horses? And then after when he meets up with the natives they're totally cool with that? Or how he puts himself into precarious situations with dramatic music and fast cuts just to create this contrived suspense.. It's just annoying.

As I said, Hazen is very good, and with the right concept of show it could be excellent, but this is just silly.

Uncharted (2022)

So Disappointing, Terribly Miscast

[5/10 · 30 April 2022]

This had so much potential. The cgi was good, and they were on the right track with a few things here. I liked how they were weaving these fantasy environments into hidden aspects of the real world (like the fountain scene with the giant puzzle contraption under the street). I thought this could have been a way to bridge the original Uncharted to realism. I didn't mind the "unrealistic"-ness of the action scenes, as it's based on the game and I can go along with that. But the acting and story are where this failed.

Now I think to be fair, the actors did a SOMEWHAT barely-okay job of capturing a bit of the persona and wit of the original characters. But, there's just zero resemblance, and zero believability with the scrawny Tom Holland being Drake, and ultimately as you watch further, you just do not feel like you're watching a movie about Nate and Sully. I tried to convince myself it was just younger versions of them, but still didn't work. And on the other hand, Mark Whalburg doesn't seem old enough to be calling him "kid". Those lines felt so forced it was awkward.

They missed a lot of great opportunities here. The cgi and some of the environments WERE good, but they could have done so much more. Too many shallow dance club and social scenes for me.

I would have loved to see a few smooth, continuous movement shots.. giving a little tribute to the game.

All in all, sad they didn't put more consideration into this.

Reacher (2022– )

Episode 1 piqued my interest, then turned away at episode 2

[4/10 · 25 February 2022]

Not having ever read the books or even seen the movie, I saw the reviews and decided to give this a try with an open mind and no expectations..

Episode 1 was this cool, tough, quiet and mysterious Reacher who seemed like he might have an interesting backstory..

I turned away at episode two when he's helping on the crime scene and just becomes this absolutely ridiculous all-knowing, indisputably accurate detective down to the finest grain of sand detail.. just lost all suspension of belief, even if it wasn't supposed to be taken overly seriously..

I guess it's for some but not for me. Don't need another boring detective show especially when the guy can figure out every detail of a crime by looking at a single scuff on the ground...

Nah.

Outer Banks (2020– )

You want to like it but it's just so stupid and annoying

[6/10 · 11 August 2021]

Has all the components to be a good series.. and you really want to like it, but ugh.. all the purposeful stupid mistakes the kids keep making, and their overall total lack of any sort of reasonable behaviour in these situations they find themselves just makes it so ridiculous and annoying..

StartUp (2016–2018)

This show kills it

[10/10 · 14 June 2021]

I would say this show is slightly underrated even at an 8/10. It kills it on storyline, acting, and interest/excitement. What I love is that it very well equally blends the business/"success" side of the story with the criminal/violence side of the story, and it makes for a great show. Especially the latest season; it's just getting deeper and better and more twisted, and I love it.

Electric Dreams (2017– )

Blah.. nothing new here

[4/10 · 19 March 2021]

Just feels like your typical futuristic technology setting that's trying too hard to be witty and clever. Just kinda boring.

Unauthorized Living (2018–2020)

Wanted to like it and kept pushing through it.. but struggled to stay interested

[8/10 · 5 February 2021]

Edit: I recently updated this to an 8 score. Season 2 really steps things up. There were still strange decisions made by the writers, contrary to how you would think the plot would develop, some of which were frustrating. But if a show frustrates you, it's likely because you're invested and care about what happens. And that was true for me. At the end of the series, I was sad it was over and it's one of those shows that lingers in your mind.

This show has all the makings of a program I would like, and I thought premise of a veteran kingpin confronting Alzheimers was actually a unique spin. It's a bit tough to describe, because it's not a "bad" show, but it's not "good" either. Even after pushing through several (very long) episodes, I find it just interesting enough to keep watching, yet I don't feel gripped... or eager to see more... or in suspense of the story.. or caring about any characters.

Some of the acting is really bad (Lara), which doesn't help, and yet, some of the other characters (Ferro, Nemo) are actually pretty good.

It's a bit of a mixed bag, and overall it boils down to be fairly flat. I may give it a couple more episodes and see, but it's starting to feel more like "forced" viewing than just somewhat I am excited to watch.

Undercover (2019–2022)

Better than the hollywood junk

[10/10 · 15 November 2020]

First season was amazing, and despite a few reviews saying otherwise, definitely loving season 2 as much if not more than season 1. The antagonists perhaps aren't quite as intimidating, but JP as a character is good, and actually the suspense is equivocal if not more so than season 1. Not sure why so many reviews paint it as "expected". I think they actually took what seemed like would-be a predictable plot line and actually added in a lot of turns that were unexpected and definitely suspenseful. Still an A+ from me.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)

The Needed Evolution of Borat.. but with an Unfortunate (but Understandable) Lacking of Borat as Himself

[8/10 · 24 October 2020]

This was the needed evolution of Borat in the sense that it was much more story-focused with many scenes purely for plot over laughs, and a moral to the ending. Especially with a strong supporting actress (Totar was actually the star I believe), it was expectantly a slightly different feel and resultantly also less hilarious overall than the original, but still very funny and very enjoyable. I am glad they did it this way, though, for if they just made a shallow, meandering series of gags like the first film, it would have felt repetitive and lacking anything new. So, I think they did the right thing.

The reason I give it 8 stars is that there is just something lost in not being able to see Borat in his original character form. Of course it is understandable and nothing can be done about it, but part of what makes Borat so funny is his facial expressions and goofy looks. This is sorely lost with all the disguises and costumes, and at moments you could even confuse yourself wondering if this is the new Borat movie or just another 'Who is America?' series..

As usual, silliness and jokes aside, Borat works to expose the ignorance of people's belief systems, and especially that of far right-wing conservatives and Trumpism, tackling such critical current issues as the rise of conspiracy theories into mainstream populism, misinformation, misogyny, and more. The negative reviews here are clearly the Trumpists griping about being called out through this film. One reviewer even complained Borat should have been more 'fair' by equally attacking left-wing figures. Well, perhaps there's some truth in that there was a missed opportunity or two to poke a little fun at the Left, but let's be clear, Trumpism and the far-right is so far gone in the embodiment of moral corruption and anti-intellectualism, it deserves all the criticism and ridicule it gets.

The Politician (2019–2020)

Not a potential President you can root for

[4/10 · 29 June 2020]

Yes the main character is gay but that's not the basis of this title. The protagonist is just not a particularly likeable character at all. In fact, he's quite annoying and I just don't find myself interested in his success. I get they are making him vulnerable and naive to start so they can build him up, but there's just no qualities to admire aside from his whimsical determination, nor is there a glimmer of the better politician he could eventually become. Has nothing to do with him being gay, as I was actually hoping this would have had more of a (even a very loose) Pete Buttigieg inspiration.

It all just comes across as silly, cheesy, and over-the-top.

After Life (2019–2022)

As step down from Season 1

[7/10 · 26 April 2020]

Season 1 was "brilliant" as Tony says, but season 2 was a clear step down for me. Right away, the basic plot line has been reset - which makes the whole season feel very repetitive. As some other reviewers have also pointed out, I also am beginning to find Tony's two tones of self sorrow or overzealous spieling to be getting a little repetitive and borderline annoying too (although sometimes funny).

Definitely the worst part of the season is this psychiatrist character being continually incorporated. He's a disgusting character (which is fine) but doesn't really add anything at all to show - zero comedy effect, zero character development for Tom (who's seeing him now), and he's not really even an antagonist. So, he just seems like a filler character who's extremely unpleasant to watch.

I was hoping Season 2 would be the next phase of Tony's grieving as he starts to overcome his loss while trepidly beginning to see a new woman, but no, it's all just reset - and I wouldn't be surprised if it's just to squeeze an extra season out of this premise, as I'm sure this was renewed for at least two more seasons from Netflix after the first one was such a success - and once his "grieving" is gone, it's not really the same show anymore, is it?

Almost Paradise (2020– )

Super lame

[1/10 · 11 April 2020]

These 10/10 reviews gotta be fake. I admit I fell for them as I figured I'd give it a shot based on some good comments despite the lowish rating, and was quite mistaken. Immediately pretty lame with cheesy Americanized bad guys and over-eager DEA can't-help-but-be-the-hero cliche. Blah.

See (2019–2022)

Would have been great if they stopped before the "no sight" aspect of the concept..

[3/10 · 5 November 2019]

I've been waiting for some sort of well-produced story around the idea of a far future setting where modern society has collapsed and been re-taken by nature, and then where humans and society/tribes re-emerge in a landscape laden with the bones of our current world. That right there would be cool.

Adding this "no sight" thing was just stupid, and an attempt to make the concept more mainstream along the lines of all the birdboxes and quiet places, etc.

Now it's just dumb and an awesome concept/production wasted..