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NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: A Thousand Yards (2024)
Why this show has lasted 21 years
This 1000th episode demonstrates why NCIS has been such an enduring franchise. The writing is consistently excellent. The characters are well cast, well acted and seem to genuinely care about each other. There is something for everyone here: Drama, suspense, family, love, history, mystery, grief, joy, conflict, reconciliation. All of these themes are touched on in this episode. It is a wonderful photo album of memories for those of us who have watched since this was a back door pilot on JAG. It shows the quality of the show that this episode would be just as good as an introduction to the NCIS world. It would definitely make you want to binge watch from season 1 in order to get up to date on the rich history of the franchise. A nostalgic nod to 21 years of great work. Excuse me. I have to go wipe my eyes and blow my nose now.
Glitch (2015)
Good until s3:1, then jumps the shark
This was a fascinating story idea and a fresh take on the "back from the dead" narrative. Season 1 was exciting and intriguing. The characters are interesting and have juicy secrets that you are dying to learn. Season 2 was watchable and promising that there might soon be answers to those nagging questions. Then it goes downhill. Credulity, even for a "zombie" movie began to wear thin as a crucial character dies (likely for actor availability rather than storyline). A recurring theme begins to recur a bit more often than the plot can withstand. Resolution of some subplots is outweighed by complications to others. Ok. Maybe season 3 will tie this in a nice bow. Nope. Season 3 just jumps the shark right in episode one. You don't even need to watch the episode to the end. The only character still alive who you actually care about abruptly and implausibly becomes an enemy. Unnecessary and stupid new characters are introduced instead of resolving the previous issues. The tired and boring trope of "all devout Christians are actually, secretly, homocidal nut jobs" is milked dry. Every cliche and plot trick is beat into bloody submission. And not in the fun, slasher-film way: In the "dive for the remote and stop wasting time" way. And, guess what? Most of the closure you were hoping for never happens. The most central "Why" is never answered. Watch season 1 and maybe season 2. Then stop. Just live with your sense of unresolved issues. Most of them will never be answered even if you watch season 3 anyway. Save time, skip it.
Star Trek: Discovery: Stormy Weather (2021)
Not Marvin the paranoid android or HAL
This is a new low and the trajectory seems to be trending downward. In fiction, sentient, neurotic, angsty artificial intelligence is either hilarious (as in Marvin from Hitchhiker's Guide) or horrifying (like HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey). It doesn't work any other way. In real life, lives being dependent on a computer that experiences fear, distraction and guilt would just be horrifying. It would not be, as depicted here, heartwarming and encouraging! Funny has been done, scary has been done. This is just an insult to our intelligence. And don't get me started on the incessant WHISPERING. I want to throw something at Michael Burnham's smug, self-righteous face. People bash Captain Kirk for being a melodramatic, scene stealing, narcissistic hack (rightfully, in my opinion), but Cpt. Burnham apparently takes that as a challenge. Somebody hold her synthale, she is going to whisper and cry her way into realms of cringey-ness that James T Kirk could only dream of. If you are old enough to have seen William Shatner dramatically intoning song lyrics while smoking a pipe, you will understand what a statement that is. I knew from episode 1:1, when we had that excruciatingly long speech in Klingon, that it was going to be a long road getting from there to somewhere worth watching. Still waiting.
Star Trek: Picard (2020)
Don't phaser me, but I'm enjoying this.
Yes, this is dark and violent and potty mouthed. It is not bright and bouncy and episodic like TNG. If it was a seamless continuation of TNG, everyone would be whining that "no one in Hollywood has an original thought". The plot unfolds slowly, but old fans such as myself (I watched reruns of TOS in the 70s), have more patience for exposition. The pure power of Patrick Stewart's presence elevates what very easily could have been a sad attempt by an old guy to grab those last 15 minutes of fame. Maybe both Picard and Stewart ARE grasping for that last hurrah, but if so, I am happy to be along for the ride. When Picard says in the episode "Broken Pieces" that he had "forgotten how much he loved this" (referring to space travel) you can't help but wonder if it is really Patrick Stewart being reminded how much he loves being Picard. I never forgot and am overjoyed to experience it again.
The best of it: 1. Patrick Stewart. If you've still got it, why not use it?
2. The callbacks. Objects and characters from across the different iterations. It does a nerdy soul good.
3. The casting. Every character is perfect for their role. The bad guys are loathsome, the good guys are flawed but loveable. The accents are fun and, if not good, at least not laughable or distracting.
4. The special effects. They are (with notable exceptions) subtle but beautiful and convincing.
The worst: 1. The ridiculous amount of time that is wasted. This is an online series. If we don't remember what happened before, we can easily rewatch the previous episode. Save us the extensive recap. Also, the self-indulgent (though lovely) TWO MINUTE LONG title sequence would have been great, shown once, in the pilot. To take up that much story time every episode is narcissistic and annoying.
2. The difficult to follow back stories and storyline in early episodes. This does get better as it goes along. By "Broken Pieces" I feel like I have a good grip on what's going on.
3. Maybe I'm old but walking around F-bombing may be cute when you're 20 but for educated, civilized people in their 50s, 60s, 80s to be casually effing in normal conversation just sounds contrived and unnecessary.
4. The level of graphic violence in that one episode was excessive and very un-Trek-like and I hope it is not repeated.
7/10- I recommend for all who are longtime fans and can "get" the callbacks. Very young and/or non-fans may find it too slow and too hard to follow.
Instinct (2018)
Fake Americans!
I really wanted to like this! I stayed with it for all of 2 seasons and it just never got better. The writing is so bland. I couldn't tell you the plot of a single episode. I forgot the story before the credits finished running. Then there is the obvious PC message. It comes across as LOOK!! OUR STAR IS GAY!! LOOK!! OUR MAIN CHARACTER IS A WOMAN!! LOOK! THE BOSS IS A BLACK WOMAN!! LOOK HOW WOKE WE ARE!! OK. Your virtue signal has been received. And then there is the acting. I kept thinking that all of the cast is so likeable, why do they seem so stilted and awkward? It's because the main characters are playing Americans and half of them are not actually American. You can pull that off in a 2 hour movie, but episode after episode, faking an accent, trying to fake that American "feel"- it just doesn't work. And weirdly, the one person who is not American (his character or in real life), Naveen Andrews, also comes across fake and forced, like he took this job but would rather be somewhere else. I would love to see the main actors play to their own nationality. I think they would be more comfortable. Also, I do not buy Daniel Ings as a gay man for one second. If he is gay irl, then I don't buy him being attracted to Alan Cumming AT ALL. Zero chemistry. I think everyone involved can do better. I look forward to their next projects.
Courageous (2011)
Deeply moving and emotional Christian film
First off, this is a Christian film. There has been no effort to deceive anyone about that. If you are an evangelical Christian (or are at least open to Biblical morality) you will love this movie. Particularly if you are a Christian man who would like some encouragement and hints on how to be a great father and man- run, do not walk to see this. If you are not a Christian and are hostile to hearing about Jesus, save yourself and everyone else the angst and whining by NOT GOING TO SEE IT.
I think this genre of films is maturing and getting better with each effort. The cringe-worthy Christian films of the past seem to be giving way to better quality, better acted offerings. Is this going to win the Oscar for best picture? No. But is it an entertaining, uplifting and memorable film? Absolutely. The story is compelling and applicable to real life. The action scenes are just as good as any cop show. The emotional scenes are well acted and not distractingly cheesy. I loved it.
My only few gripes: One of the main child characters is cast with a stunning little girl who is very obviously of partially African-American heritage yet is cast as the child of two white people. There is one actor in a prominent role who is very distractingly bad but you don't see her for long stretches, so it's tolerable. My biggest complaint- that men like the ones in this movie do not exist in real life. I know that the goals the men set in this movie are attainable and are what God calls men to do. I believe that every Christian man would benefit from applying the concepts discussed in this film to his life. Sadly,in my experience, men like this are as much of a fairy tale as Prince Charming. That's not the movie's fault, though.
Zodiac (2007)
You can't make this stuff up
This is one of the most exciting and engaging movies based on a true story that I have ever seen. You are sucked in from the very beginning and you CAN NOT tear yourself away until you find out the end. The acting is impeccable and the plot unfolds evenly and without unnecessary baggage. Movies based on true stories tend to fall into one of two traps- either they embellish until the "truth" is barely distinguishable or they work so hard to tell the "true story" that it becomes dry and boring. Real life has too many boring bits. This movie manages to stay quite true to known facts while taking just enough license to make the characters more sympathetic and to keep the tension of the story. There are a lot of jumps in time in order to skip those boring bits of real life but they are done in a way that is easy to follow.
This is a must see for true-crime fans or anyone who admires superb acting and storytelling.
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Filmed in vivid BARF-O-VISION!
After being a huge fan of the first movie I rushed to see the second one. It was terrific despite being marred by too much hand-held camera work. I was hoping that installment #3 would keep the momentum of the plot while getting a better grip on the camera. Sadly, no. The plot pretty much evaporated and was entirely replaced with pointless action scenes which might have been exciting had they not looked like they'd been shot by a drunken epileptic. I spent over half of the movie with my hands over my eyes because the blurred and shaky images gave me extreme motion sickness. I spent a good portion of the movie plotting an exit strategy from the packed theater in case I should actually have to throw up.
From listening to it, I don't think I really missed that much. Nothing terribly earth shattering was revealed in this movie and it was pretty much one scene after another of Bourne having to kick someone's butt. Normally, this would not be a problem for an action movie- I don't expect high art in this kind of film- but I do expect to SEE and ENJOY the work the actors and stunt men went to in order to film the action scenes. The camera work here is so bad that all you can really see (if your stomach can bear it) is a big blur. What a waste of great action talent! One fight scene in particular (one which ends in a shower stall)was probably choreographed wonderfully, but I guess we'll never know for sure.
This was a sad and forgettable (as soon as possible preferably)end to what could have been an incredible trilogy. I recommend you skip this one and see instead "The Shooter" with Mark Wahlberg. It has a similar plot, lots of action and you can actually watch it without hurling.