PennyIsMine Reviews

Unauthorized Living (2018–2020)

Light fun, but over-the-top performance by Àlex Monner

[6/10 · 3 May 2023]

This is a decent show. Nothing groundbreaking, but the characters and performances are good enough to keep me going from episode to episode. With one glaring exception: Àlex Monner's portrayal of Carlos takes the limp-wristed stereotype and attacks it as if it's beef jerky and he's a starving dog. I'm a member of the LGBT crowd and in my entire life I've neither known personally nor seen a gay man act like Carlos. Never. It's ridiculous, and enough for me to drop my 8 to a 7. If he isn't toned down in the second season, I won't be able to watch. Who signed off on his character? Netflix should be embarrassed. Someone here referred to Carlos as a spasmodic Quasimodo, I believe, and that's spot-on.

Superman & Lois (2021–2024)

Suits?

[6/10 · 8 September 2022]

The CW and DC seem allergic to creating cutting edge drama. They've found a formula that works for them, and they're sticking to it. In the last episode I watched, I compared the dialogue to that of Suits, and it was essentially the same. I enjoyed Suits, but it was a guilty pleasure. This just isn't guilty of anything but saccharine plotting and glacial pacing. Although the glaciers might not be an apt metaphor for very long.

Lois's dad is the Department of Defense. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I thought the DOD was more than a one man show. The children are boring. Superman has kids, and that's what his genes produce? I understand that they're watered down by Lois's genes, but still. And Lois. Great Caesar's ghost! I kept waiting for someone to step on her. Or for the world's most famous reporter to do something worthy of her station.

I know it's the CW. I know they can't make anything edgy. But there are ways to make something smart. I enjoyed Arrow and The Flash for a while, but they eventually began the slow decline into ... cue the music ... a nice CBN family show.

Anatomy of a Scandal (2022)

Started out beautifully...

[6/10 · 16 April 2022]

...but ended badly. I'd rate the first few episodes a '9' for production values and staying away from some easy (and overdone) tropes. But the last few sunk it to a 6.

Spiral (2021)

Spiral to be serial?

[6/10 · 27 March 2022]

If you liked the Saw movies, you will probably like this.

It seems likely that this reawakening of the Saw saga won't be the last. And while this film fails on so many points, what's most irritating is that I know I'm stuck to watching any sequels that may come. Darn them. Darn them all to heck!

There were a few clever nods to Saw films, and they were cool, I guess?

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

"I've chosen my side"

[9/10 · 23 March 2022]

He sure did. As have I.

I went in with low expectations, mainly because I didn't much care for the first film, and the reviews and reception of this was considerably poorer. Johnny Depp in the Harry Potter universe also never sat right with me. But his controlled sense of the dramatic was perfect for his character and the tone of the film. I have a sense that Mads will more than up to the challenge to portray Grindelwald in the third film. If an actor can play Hannibal Lecter.... Yeah. He'll be fine.

There are a lot of moving parts, but they're worth tracking.

The Adam Project (2022)

Let My Love Gimme Some Lovin'

[8/10 · 21 March 2022]

The music is all wrong. Gimme Some Lovin', by The Spender Davis group, is from 1966. Let My Love Open The Door is from 1980. I'm 55, and this all works for me, but it shouldn't be on a the soundtrack for a movie where Mark Ruffalo's character is 44.

But that all falls under, Who Cares? Probably nobody.

This was immensely enjoyable, and presents a slightly different look at time travel. Good performances all around and the special effects were excellent.

Sex Appeal (2022)

Nothing new here...

[6/10 · 14 January 2022]

...and sometimes, the things that were, they were cringeworthy, like holding an iPhone like a boom box, ala John Cusack. There were good performances, in particular from the lead actress, but they weren't enough to distinguish this from any other high school love movie.

Perhaps this will be more intriguing to the movie's core audience, who probably haven't seen Say Anything... or the dozens of movies cut from the same cloth.

The Silent Sea (2021)

DNF

[4/10 · 28 December 2021]

There's a very solid idea here, extremely creative as far as I know within the sci-fi genre, but they lost their way, though I'd bet they weren't sure how to tell a story to make the central idea of the show interesting.

Passing (I) (2021)

Subtext and Context

[9/10 · 12 November 2021]

You don't have to understand what subtext is to enjoy this film, nor do you need to be aware of that which will help place the film in context, properly, such as why it was important to tell the story in the 1920's. But if you do understand those things, it helps. Most of the reviews I've read here that are negative clearly understood neither.

Sweet Girl (2021)

The gimmicks didn't work

[5/10 · 24 August 2021]

We jump back, then forward, then forward again.... Twice we see a man running on the roof of PNC Park, and although seeing him twice should cement that in our minds it doesn't, because it was never him. It was his daughter all along. The Sweet Girl who outsmarted the FBI and a professional hit man and killed....

Ugh.

Titans: Jericho (2019) Season 2, Episode 8

Great episode but - spoilers below

[8/10 · 3 August 2021]

This was probably the second best episode of Season 1 and Season 2, but the ending displayed more of the hyper-moralizing I've come to expect from these DC television shows. The Bruce Wayne episode handled it better than most, but, ugh, why does it feel like 25% of these episodes are wasted by burying it's entire cast in **feelings** (I'm including The Flash, Arrow, and Supergirl - but not Gotham, for the most part).

At the end of this episode when Dick spilled his guts, I expected everyone (or most - Hank's never going to like Dick) to be proud of him for finding the courage to tell the truth, but instead they walked out on their friend and shut the tower down.

What a bunch of whiny little mounds of fecal matter.

Deathstroke killed Garth. He killed Donna's Themyscira contact (whoever she was), and he severely wounded Donna. Hawk and Dove were with Donna, keeping those wounds from being of the mortal variety.

What was Dick to have done? Knowing where Deathstroke will be is a once in a lifetime thing. He had to take that shot, and he was the only one to do it.

That aside, Deathstroke is supposed to be able to hear heartbeats and breaths, and with the scene exactly as it was shot, Deathstroke would have heard those things from his son, along with his much louder footsteps, and Deathstroke should have known Jericho was behind him. Period.

But apparently he was being careless. Is Deathstroke's carelessness Dick's fault too?

Of course not.

Deathstroke killed his son, and the Titans abandoned their friend and leader.

Disgusting.

The Irregulars (2021)

Good enough for another season

[7/10 · 30 March 2021]

There were enough plot holes to warrant a construction-type warning sign, and it wasn't the most original story I've come across, but it's foundation in the value of kinship was strong.

The score didn't bother me a bit. Anachronisms, like current music included in the score, can set the tone of a piece. It did so here.

Boarding School (2018)

See it through

[7/10 · 25 January 2021]

This couldn't have started worse. Awful writing, and unbelievable motives made for an early rough ride. But by the time the end credits ran, this film had redeemed itself.

The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)

Dreadful, Penny, Just Dreadful

[6/10 · 10 October 2020]

Leads were boring, and the acting mostly average. Romance? Where? Somewhere betwixt the living and the dead? Were they going for a little James Joyce as well? Who knows? I'm not sure the crafters of this series were in agreement about much of anything. Perhaps they had a contract for 9 episodes and so they had to make stuff up to get there. Really disappointing.

Those People (2015)

Very brief

[8/10 · 24 June 2020]

This is exceptional writing, and even better storytelling. Sebastian too evil? No. Whether he's a rich heir or the guy who lived just around the block from you in middle-class suburbia, he's real. And so is Charlie.

The Woods (2020)

The last episode killed it

[3/10 · 14 June 2020]

As of this writing, some reviews here speak of still enjoying the series after X number of episodes. After the seeing the entire thing, I can safely say that this was absolutely horrid. I'm usually willing to forgive but I just can't. There's no resolution here, and that couldn't have been the point. Not in a murder-mystery show, because in such there is always resolution.

Bordertown: Ihmisen tahra (2019) Season 3, Episode 1

Beautiful and heart-wrenching...

[10/10 · 26 May 2020]

...As art so often is. Set against the cold snow of Finland.

Crisis Hotline (2019)

Loved it

[8/10 · 22 April 2020]

It held my attention from the beginning to the end. That's more than I can say for some better reviewed films I've watched during this horror-movie-worthy-dalliance with Cov-2. Sometimes polishing removes the veneer.

Vienna Blood: The Last Seance (2019) Season 1, Episode 1

Turn of the century new specialization in medicine

[9/10 · 20 January 2020]

I'm a sucker for this stuff. Can't wait to read the books off which this show was based.

Too many comparisons to Sherlock in these reviews. Benedict Cumberbatch had quite a bit to do with the success of that series. Matthew Beard is not Benedict Cumberbatch. He's not supposed to be. He's the cool, collected, scientist. And he plays that rather well.

When he ran up the stairs to change for dinner, the way his hands moved, he seemed - to use modern definitions - somewhat feminine. It would be interesting if that's something this show explored - what it was like to be gay in 1906 Vienna for a student of Freud.

Fractured (I) (2019)

Kept me interested and guessing until the very end

[8/10 · 15 October 2019]

And isn't that more than half the point of entertainment? Being engaged? Indeed it is. Well acted, well-written, every question is answered. Loved this.

Soul to Keep (2018)

Awful, awful, awful. Don't waste your time.

[2/10 · 6 July 2019]

It started out feeling like a good movie without the budget it needed. That changed very quickly, and it ended as the opposite, a horrible film that should never have been funded.

Don't Knock Twice (2016)

Just when the ending seemed to...

[6/10 · 19 February 2019]

...save it, it didn't. I expected to be writing something encouraging, such as, stick with this, the ending will surprise you. But instead of being clever about it they took it in a direction that wasn't clever and left questions. Nothing wrong with questions left in a horror movie, but it really needs to be properly set up so we can make reasonable guesses as to what happened when they stopped short of giving us the final scene. And that - well, why not stop the Exorcist before the priest throws himself out the window? We know why.

The Practice: Oz (1999) Season 4, Episode 5

Harlan crying...

[10/10 · 13 October 2018]

...at the end of the episode is one of the most powerful and poignant moments I've ever seen on TV.

Harry + Max (2004)

Awful

[2/10 · 15 October 2005]

Reading some of the comments, I am nearly speechless that others (and I mean no offense to your taste) liked this movie, or thought that it was well written. The writing was horrible, the situations were horrible, Harry's behavior was that of someone on meth - cold one moment, rejecting Max's advances, and then asking another person if Max had the same feelings for him that he had for Max. Incredible! I honestly saw no sense in it whatsoever.

To compare this to other forms of art, saying that this is a painting - it's kindergarten finger painting at best.

How this was nominated for an award I'll never know.

The Passion of the Christ (2004)

Not supported by scripture

[4/10 · 20 April 2004]

I understand that Gibson wanted to demonstrate that Christ suffered for the sins of mankind, but isn't the Crucifixion enough to demonstrate this? The torture that Jesus suffers in this movie has two fatal flaws: 1) Nobody could have lived through the torture being inflicted on Jesus [who was clearly human at this particular point, not a mixture of human and divine]; 2) It isn't supported by scripture.

Matthew and Mark speak of Jesus being hit on the head once with a reed. Luke and John speak of no such violence whatsoever.

To give credit where it's due, the movie itself is beautifully shot, the cast is solid, wardrobes realistic. But that's all I can say.

According to the Bible - which is the word of God for Christians, not the 14 Stations of the Cross (an invention of Catholics) - the torture depicted in this film did not occur.

Shame on Mel Gibson for this work of fiction.

But he isn't capable of realizing his mistake, and, sadly, neither are many moviegoers.