Change Your Image
a_athanas
Reviews
Pretty Ugly People (2008)
Basically People Suck
First of all, High School is NOT intended as a social club where people stay in touch forever. High School is for learning so that you can branch off, move on and find your calling.
It's very unlikely that such a large group of people from High School would keep getting together long afterward, even when living in far flung states and having children and busy careers. There were so many tall thin white males with brown hair that it was difficult keeping track of who was who. It's also unlikely that such a group would contain whites, blacks, fit folks, obese folks and one closeted gay man. Usually High School groups of forever friends are a little homogenous,
The former fatty gal who lost all her weight with the Gastric Bypass wanted her group of High School friends to see her new bod, so she arranged a highly involved and inconvenient get together. But let me mention here that hospitals have counseling programs for their bariatric patients to help them deal with the emotional aspects of losing so much weight. Obviously Lucy did not partake of such a program. The MAIN emotional issue bariatric patients first run into is the RESENTMENT they feel when they start getting treated like a person of value by everyone; the general public, customer service representatives, strangers, neighbors, acquaintances, friends and family. You don't need a large group of High School friends to experience this - just step out your front door. The basic gist is "What was I before, chopped liver!'?" And "NOW you like me?!" After all, for the person stuck inside a very large body (often for reasons OTHER than eating too much, such as having Hypothyroidism, Fibromyalgia, Depression, Childhood Trauma, a Pituitary Tumor, a Tumor on their Adrenal Gland, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Insulin Resistance, to name a few), sees themselves as a human worthy of everything everyone else has. But they soon realize no one else sees them that way. So Lucy had a RIGHT to be angry at her friends, but she was being fake at first to lure them out into the woods where she could tell them off. Yet, they were ALL guilty of seeing her as "less than" all through High School, and she outed each of them. Interestingly, one of the thin girls from the old High School group had gained a lot of weight over the years. She was married to Richard, who died in the end. The overweight wife made an interesting observation, saying he wasn't ALWAYS a dick to her. We are left to surmise that he became a dick as soon as she gained weight. In response, she sought the missing love and respect as a human from the Coach at her kids' school. It was clear their relationship would become more serious now that her mean husband died. Wedding vows don't say that a man can mistreat his wife if her body shape ever changes. People's bodies are GOING to change as they age, even men's: pot bellies, hair loss, greying hair, wrinkles, flattening butt, moles/freckles, lost teeth, changes in posture, prostate problems, erection//performance problems, bad breath, etc. But most wives see all this as part of the process of growing older and things to overlook when they have been married a long time. After all, none of it has anything to do with the fact they are a human they made a commitment to long ago. These things are to be expected. But MEN often act like their wife gaining weight is a breaking of the marital commitment on the part of the wife - as if they promised never to age or fall victim to the ravages of having HIS children, or any number of hormonal, endocrinological or neurological conditions that tend to befall wives more than husbands - probably because of enduring DECADES of stress from picking up messes after their lazy and childish husbands.....
I found it sizeist and racist for the black politician to call his wife ghetto and fat. The movie should have shown HER finding her way to a new and better life without him, but they simply stopped showing much footage of her after she gave her wedding ring back to her husband in righteous anger. It was as if the producers of the show were in agreement with her husband's unfair assessment of her. That was disturbing.
A movie worth watching ONCE though. See if you can detect any bad qualities in yourself as you watch...
The Cleaning Lady (2018)
Lots of Questions Remain
1. How did the mother survive giant scissors plunged in her mid back in the first place?
2. How does the shriveled mother survive in the shed feeding only on raw blended rats without getting violently ill and dying?
3. Throughout the movie it seems Alice lives several floors high in an apartment highrise, but at the end while Shelly appears standing outside the bedroom window with shrubbery in the yard, it's evidently the first floor.
4. Why didn't Alice ever notice her string of pearls was stolen by Shelly (which occurred after her first shift as her cleaning lady)?
5. How does Shelly constantly gain access to Alice's unit without owning a key?
6. Why does the Prime Video synopsis refer to Alice as a married woman? I kept looking for evidence of a husband.
7. What was the purpose of Shelly making a mask of Alice's face - just so she could lay in her own bathtub surrounded by candles pretending to be Alice?
8. How did Shelly ever get a job of any kind with such a creepy demeanor and unkempt hair?
9. Did Shelly resent Alice's efforts to pretty her up by applying makeup and letting her borrow the yellow sundress?
10. Why didn't Alice do anything with Shelly's hair that day?
11. Did the makeup session with Alice trigger Shelly's memories of her mom dressing her up for her forced tricks as a teen?
12. Why didn't Shelly just tie her mom's ankle to her own bed with shackles and pimp her out to see how she likes it? She could have made big bucks (although she was old).
13. Whatever happened to Alice's boyfriend's body after Shelly forced her to cut his throat with a knife? It happened in Alice's apartment. Wouldn't someone have heard the screams?
14. What does Shelly hope to gain by shackling Alice to her bed in her apartment and prostituting her out? Enough money to repair her burned face? That won't work. Even if it could, nothing can fix Shelly's creepy demeanor and zero social skills - so she won't get a husband either way.
15. Also, won't Alice's friends, family and support group notice she missing in short order?
16. Shelly cannot summon johns for Alice with that face and demeanor and lack of verbal and social skills. Also, the minute any john sees Alice shackled to the bed by Shelly, they would have Shelly arrested. Even johns have more decency than that. They would become Alice's hero and become her new forever beau.
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: The Paragon (1963)
Not Sure How I Feel About This Episode
The episode is a play-by-play of every annoying thing this woman has said condensed into one hour. If anyone's annoyances were condensed into an hour, everyone would want to kill them too.
I think it's kind of sexist to have made a big deal about the way Alice acts, as if it's only WOMEN'S shared opinions and advice and knowledge that are insufferable to hear. Back then, MEN could do the same yet be considered wise and helpful by everyone (men, women, children).
Back then, women were expected to act more mousy, like they were the maid, even though they gave birth to the children, and were the woman of the house who raised the children and made everything run like clockwork. They couldn't expect any respect for that - that was the least they could do, and even then their husbands could get away with serial cheating on them for years at a time. If she complained, she could have risked everything. Back then, divorce laws favored husbands, and there were no high paying jobs for women, much less actual career paths.
It's kind of hypocritical that the episode faults her for being beautiful, wealthy, well married, intelligent, knowledgeable, and generous - things that society was/is constantly messaging women that they should strive for. But because she actually achieved it, people think they have to "guard themselves" from her speech. I have a feeling these folks wouldn't have liked her even if she were mute.
I guess in 1963, it was okay to hide your buddy's longterm affair that bankrupted his family, and okay to kill your wife for being great at everything, but it was NOT okay for the wife to be confident and proud of her accomplishments. For that, she must die.
If anyone in her social circle felt any kind of way about anything she said, THEY should have spoken up in real time. Maybe if they all had done so, she could have realized they were taking her speech in the wrong light, and adjusted her delivery, or just let them make their own mistakes despite her knowledge being available to help them. Her real "sin" evidently was being gorgeous and having her act together. It was a one-two punch that others couldn't handle or even admit to themselves or directly to her that they were jealous or felt inferior. If THEY didn't have such pride, they could have said something like "I just can't take perfectly good advice from you because you are more attractive and successful than me - please give me a break." Maybe then she would have toned it down a notch. But even that wouldn't have helped. She was a 10 living in a land of 6.5's. Instead, they all acted like martyrs until it was left up to her husband to speak up. If he REALLY felt like his business dealings were suffering due to her "lack of tact," then why did he wait a decade to say anything, and why did it have to come with a death threat? Did he not know anything about her before he proposed? Did he not make successful business deals already BECAUSE of her beauty, poise and ability to handle the Help and entertain? Did that not count?
There weren't any AHH episodes about a longsuffering wife murdering her HUSBAND after putting up with an attractive, successful businessman of a husband who bored everyone with his extensive knowledge of the market and who was an expert problem solver after years of hard knocks and practice (that today people pay good money for in the form of a Business Consultant).
If you compare this woman to the vulgar, overt Narcissists like The Housewives (of Fill in the Blank), I'll take her any day.
The Way You Look Tonight (2019)
This is How God Sees Us
God only recognizes two genders: male and female.
God only recognizes two races: Believers (GOOD) and Unbelievers (EVIL).
WE are the ones who look at skin color or ethnicity, age and beauty. God does not consider those things.
What God DOES look at is our Spirit - PARTICULARLY WHETHER WE BELIEVE IN CHRIST OR NOT. Our Spirit is the real "US," not our bodily attributes like hair color, eye color, skin color, "beauty," height, age, or ethnicity.
This goes against everything society and culture tries to tell us: that we ARE our bodies. We are NOT our bodies. We are SPIRITS.
Believing that we ARE our bodies is what causes so much dysfunction because we are STARTING WITH THE WRONG PREMISE FROM JUMP STREET. Satan WANTS us to believe that we are our bodies. It serves his purposes in many ways.
God is a Spirit (The Holy Spirit), who lives in a body (Jesus), and HAS a Soul (God's Mind, God's Emotions + God's Free Will Decisions = God The Father).
LIKEWISE, all humans ARE Spirits who live in a body and HAVE a Soul (Our Mind, Our Emotions + Our Free Will Decisions).
NOTICE A PARALLEL? Man is made in God's "image," IOW we are made in the same FORMAT (Spirit/Soul/Body). Obviously not everyone looks like Jesus did. That was not what was meant by the word "image" in that Bible passage. If you look up the meaning of the word "image" as used in the passage in a Bible Concordance (a reference book that helps readers properly understand and interpret Bible words and concepts), it will show the word "format." Now we can understand how God can be in 3 persons yet be one person - The Trinity. We, likewise, are triune beings - 3 parts in ONE.
When we become Saved, our Spirit is aligned with and in relationship with The Holy Spirit (i.e., God's Spirit, i.e., GOD). He couldn't care any less what our ethnicity is, what our age, height, hair/eye/skin color is, or what our weight is. But He WOULD care if we were so deceived as to believe we weren't the gender He made us. And He DOES care whether we receive Christ (God's Earthly physical form and even His Heavenly physical form).
When we accept Christ, our Spirit is transformed to be like God's Holy Spirit = GOOD. Until then, we still are the cursed and fallen spirit we were born as, all humans having come from Adam & Eve's loins, who had disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden and who thereby switched their allegiance from God over to Satan. Everyone born from their loins (THAT MEANS YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD) was automatically born with Satan as their spiritual god. The ONLY WAY to fix that mess is to be re-born, spiritually, unto God through belief in Christ, which is called being Born Again or Saved.
The Shifters shouldn't have been allowed to change genders, and it would have been more Biblically accurate.
But the fact is that whatever gender, ethnicity, height, hair color, skin color, eye color, will remain with us in Heaven in our resurrected, eternal, physical bodies. But if we were sick, elderly, or overweight or had plastic surgery, that will go back to normal in Heaven. Everyone in Heaven is about age 22 - the age that Adam & Eve were created at. You're done growing, and aging hasn't set in yet.
Infants and children who go to Heaven are allowed to grow to age 22.
There won't be marriages and giving birth in Heaven, BUT females will still be females, and males will still be males.
Assuming they are SAVED, we will have the option of communicating with our former spouse(s) in Heaven.
I believe all aborted and miscarried babies go to Heaven. They grow to age 22, then stop aging. A lot of women in Heaven will be pretty surprised to meet their aborted or miscarried child (ASSUMING THE MOTHER IS SAVED).
Zuckerbaby (1985)
THE OBESE GET NO BASIC HUMAN RESPECT IF THEY ARE FEMALE
The tall, handsome, young, fit, blonde, sexy man she is stalking is married to his female equivalent. However, she barks orders at him and is demanding and cold to him. But he puts up with it because she's gorgeous.
Conversely, Sugarbaby has to be super sweet, accommodating, giving, complimentary, and self-sacrificing just to keep his attentions for 10 days. After which, he doesn't even intervene to keep his wife from beating her to the floor and kicking her at a disco. He just stands there and watches. Then, when his wife has beaten her up and left her on the floor, she hits him and grabs him to take him home. Presumably, they live "happily" ever after.
Sugarbaby goes back to her miserable life, hoping to entice another lover who is out of her league for a short, unfulfilling affair with a candy bar.
Predictably, the movie shows Sugarbaby stuffing her face with treats in her apartment each night. However, since 1985 we have learned lots of medical conditions can lead to weight gain (without eating 24/7 junk). Also, since 1985 science/medicine/naturopathy have offered helpful methods to reverse these conditions and cause weight loss. Sugarbaby could have had one of those conditions, but the writers had to show her eating junk because they made wrong assumptions about fat people. (BTW fat MEN are never scorned to the level of fat WOMEN.)
It isn't the fact Sugarbaby works at a mortuary that she gets no respect from the general public and can't find a significant relationship with a decent man. (Most ppl who mistreated her didn't even KNOW where she worked.) If she looked like Huber's wife, no one would care what her job was. They probably would have thought it was hot, in a twisted way.
Huber's job wasn't anything special either.
Sugarbaby, in her current unfortunate state, sets her sights too high for the norms of society in 1985. Yet, she ignored a bona fide offer of romance from a polite widowed subway official several years her senior who most likely had a high salary. She could have realized her romantic goal, not had to work anymore, and had the time to work on her weight and health. She could have even had children with him. So Sugarbaby was just as shallow as everyone else, but not about weight but rather about AGE.
Cagney & Lacey (1981)
If Only New York Allowed Citizens to Carry a Concealed Weapon
Pretty well done, but:
(1) there was waaaay too much annoying talk and interruption from Isbecki. A completely useless character and a SPACE FILLER. If he was removed as a character altogether, the show COULD have focused more on issues and important details. But when the Writers were out of ideas and creativity, they would just bring in a few scenes with Isbecki. His existence added nothing to the series.
(2) it was unbelievable that C&L chased perps in dresses and heels,
(3) Mary Beth had too many responsibilities at home to play Detective and a lot of their family problems were actually CAUSED by the fact she wasn't home to take care of her husband/apartment/kids (if the husband could have concentrated on his career instead of homework and pancakes he would have made much more than Mary Beth was earning as a cop, she wouldn't have been under so much stress that she inadvertently gave herself breast cancer, she would have been able to recuperate faster at home, her oldest son wouldn't have gotten into toying with guns, she wouldn't have had to be jealous of their nannies or pretty blonde neighbors, she and Harv wouldn't have had so many stressors and arguments, etc., etc.).
(4) they both spent way too much time blabbing in the locker room, Women's room and at Flannery's to be effective at their jobs. In real life, they would have gotten canned for bringing all their personal drama (about their families, individual lives and relationship with each other as friends/colleagues) to work.
(5) Christine should have disowned her father by Season 3 for refusing to acknowledge his alcoholism or go to A. A.
(6) Christine shouldn't have waited until her father died of alcoholism to join A. A. herself
(7) Christine spent so much time on her career and sleeping around with Major Disappointments, she never got married and ended up an old maid with no children and no legacy, except a dead alcoholic father who used to be a crooked cop. She can walk fast with the wind blowing through her bouncy hair in NYC all she wants rushing to and fro with her pretty face, but she had her priorities all wrong and she ended up with nothing.
(8) the majority of story lines/crimes wouldn't have even EXISTED if New York SIMPLY allowed citizens to conceal carry a gun. Instead, only the criminals had guns, because they don't CARE about gun laws. Next time you watch an episode, think about how the story would have been nonexistent or turned out COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY if NY allowed its citizens to carry a concealed, loaded firearm.
Attempted Rape? BOOM
Mugger? BOOM
Liquor Store thief? BOOM.
Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019)
Unlikely Ending - Major Holes
The doctor gave her 8 weeks to fully recover, but she pushed the envelope and ran the marathon at 6 weeks. More than likely she would have had a recurrence of her leg injury and not been able to finish the marathon because of her stupidity in participating earlier than her doctor recommended. The fact that she completed the marathon without re-injuring her leg is highly unbelievable. That is where they lost me. Most likely her rotten attitude would not have allowed her to succeed either. It is highly unbelievable that her friends and acquaintances would have supported her that much given her rotten attitude. What is the lesson here? That if you are a fatalistic negative person that everything will turn out right? Unlikely. She is very narcissistic and not even that attractive. her new found confidence is not commensurate with her looks. Very hard to root for her. not a feel good movie. Just a head scratcher.
Dead to Me (2019)
Very Good - But Why Must Jen Be An Athiest in This Even Tho She's a Christian in Real Life?
The fact that Jen's character is an athiest doesn't add anything necessary to the plot. Also Christina Applegate is a Christian...
I was able to see the writing on the wall several times, so not all the twists and turns were surprises.
Jen (Christina) is obviously a Narcissist and Judy is an Empath in the series. Both Judy's boyfriend and Jen's dead husband were Narcissists too.
You realize that Jen's deceased husband cheated on Jen because of her preventative double-mastectomy. What a shallow narcissistic dweeb. He cheats on her with a vacuous waitress with megaboobs.
The black cop that Judy dates for awhile could have been played by a more attractive, believable hookup.
It's odd that the whole point of the plot seems to be that "you should never steal a rock from the Petrified Forest or your life will be cursed until you return it," which requires even more faith to believe than believing in Christ, which Jen's character is unable to do despite the fact that she is financially blessed and has two wonderful sons. I'm surprised that Applegate, who is a Christian, would be involved in Executive Producing a series that sends an anti-Christian and pro-fable message.
One wonders what Jen will do (in any sequel) about the possible murder charge for shooting Steve in the head, who is now floating face down in her pool. I guess she will allege self-defense, and with his hit-and-run history and money laundering activities, that will make him a pretty unsympathetic as a victim.
Jen & Judy will run into issues after all this (in any sequel) because one of them is an Empath and Jen is a Narcissist.
The Mother-in-Law is a piece of work, but was fun to watch because her lines were so concise yet devastating and well-delivered. But she was complex because she had her good points too. I would like to see more of her in any sequel. It's easy to see how her son, Ted, became a Narcissist too. Jen clashes with her because she too is a Narcissist.
Catastrophe (2015)
GOOD SERIES, A LITTLE TOO RAUNCHY
No need to show so much debauchery and no need for so much cussing in order for the series to be good. What makes the series good has NOTHING to do with the debauchery.
The female lead causes most of her own problems by being a selfish, childish person who is not ready to be a mother. Half of her problems would evaporate if she knew when to shut it. She is completely ungrateful and has no idea how lucky she got with her American husband. The English men she would normally have in her dating pool are all creepy, weird and effeminate. She should have taken his offer to move to the USA in a New York second.
I mostly feel sorry for the delightful and well-mannered children who are constantly ignored and shoved into the background while the couple engage in fruitless, manufactured drama. They wouldn't even know what to DO if either of the children were misbehaved or had special needs (like they thought their first child might). The children act more adult than their parents. I can't believe she smoked pot while she was breastfeeding, or drank wine while pregnant.
The couple has no business having the lowlife friends and acquaintances they do in their inner circle. They need to wipe the slate clean and start over with other married folks, hopefully with a tiny bit of class and with some morals.
Terms of Endearment (1983)
Definitely Worth Seeing a Few Times
That's what it will take to pick up on all the details.
None of this drama would have happened if Aurora and Emna would have made smart decisions.
Aurora was a narcissist and control freak, but she was right to tell Emma to choose a more stable man than Flap. However, if Emma had listened to her mom, Aurora wouldn't have ended up with 3 beautiful grandchildren.
Emma was annoyed growing up with narcissistic, controlling Aurora and married the first man who looked at her twice. Then Emma proceeded to have more children than Flap was intetested in having. Emma took too long to notice that Flap was his own kind of narcissist who thought he could cheat on her with his young female college students (using his teaching job for "access"), while she slaved away carrying the heavy load with 3 kids at home. Finally catching Flap practically in the act, Emma moved back home with the kids to her mom's house in Houston. What Emma SHOULD have done was take advantage of her mother's wealth and get a college degree and find a WORTHY husband. Aurora certainly would have been happy to pay for Emma's college because Emma was her only child and Aurora was a wealthy widow and enjoyed having Emma living at home. There was no reason Emma had to leave home unprepared or marry an immature cheating jerk.
Aurora also made bad decisions in men after her husband died. Sure, Jack Nicholson's character was sexy and exciting, but he was obviously a perpetual playboy who was never going to settle down. Aurora had multiple men interested in settling down with her. The tall fellow could have been a good choice. But Aurora didn't want stability apparently. I would have thought the astronaut probably had multiple STD's and was a narcissist who would talk about his glory days until he died. But Aurora made a play for the astronaut and demeaned and humiliated herself in the process several times. Her grandchildren would have benefitted more had Aurora made a stable choice in one of her many viable suitors other than the astronaut. But Aurora was selfish and immature. But I enjoyed Jack Nicholson's character in the movie and he definitely added a lot of excitement and humor.
Maybe if Emma hadn't married Flap and put herself through the ringer moving every few years, and constantly worrying about who Flap was cheating on her with NOW, while she did all of the grunt work around the homestead with the children, she might not have gotten cancer.
The children got short shrift in the movie being depicted as burdens. Emma was overburdened because Flap hardly helped even when he WAS home, and she was distracted wondering who Flap was porking, so she acted like the kids were secondary. Yet when Emma moved back home it seemed Aurora was finally going to give the children the adoration and attention they deserved. Maybe Emna was just too distracted by Flaps flops and their financial troubles to fully enjoy her children. She could have considered working and having fewer children to balance out their finances, but Flap would have continued cheating anyway - he just would have been able to buy nicer clothes and drive a nicer car WHILE he cheated.
The one who really had it good was Aurora, who was gorgeous, smart and classy, married well so that when her husband unexpectedly passed she lived comfortably, had a maid and a cook, made wise decisions with her money, didn't have any expensive vices, had plenty of worthwhile suitors, and her daughter became a baby factory producing multiple grandchildren for her to enjoy and their father, Flap, had no interest in remaining in their lives in a big way so that Aurora could have custody of them. Of course Flap was relieved when Emma passed because then he could hit all that young stuff at his teaching job without looking over his shoulder (plus maybe he could finally go after Emma's BFF, at least for one night - which is about as far ahead as Flap was ever able to think). The dumb thing Aurora did was waste one minute trying to get serious with the astronaut. In the end, he finally came through for Aurora, but it took a long time and can a leopard really change its spots? She will always have to be checking his sports car for foreign panties, and what will Garrett do when Aurora really starts aging and losing her looks and when the hrandchildren get older and really need hands on help with big issues? Will Garrett stick around? And do Aurora and Garrett ever actually marry? Does he make a tangible commitment to her, or can he sell his house and move on at any given moment? What are the grandkids going to think of Aurora when they realize she isn't married to Garrett and that "Grandpa Garrett" is just a horny neighbor and has-been astronaut with a drinking problem?
If only Emma had stayed at home with her mom and gone to college, married better, and Aurora had married a stable suitor. Emma might not have contracted cancer, may have had kids with an honorable man, and Aurora could have a stable home for those grandkids to come visit and Emma may have been able to live nearby in Houston with her husband and kids.
I think the moral of the story is that bad choices in men damage lives and peripheral lives..