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Reviews
Rick and Morty: Rickdependence Spray (2021)
You've got to accept the whole package or none of it.
What did the haters think they have been watching for the past few years, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet?
R&M is about a family of deeply dysfunctional people, the show is funny because of the juxtaposition of that with interdimensional travel.
Morty is an amoral and horny kid whose **** keeps landing him in trouble and I laughed like a drain at 90% of this episode. Rick is a functional sociopath who would go to any extreme ends to prove a point which I believe is what was behind the last line before the credits.
Some people were critical of Star Wars Ep 8 but the way I see it is you can't spend decades watching movies about space wizards and then complain about their lack of realism and so it is here as well. If you can't laugh at an episode which shows Morty for the randy little weasel that he is are you even a fan of the show?
The Beach Bum (2019)
Even he admits he doesn't have any friends.
This movie may not be everyone's cup of tea but it is *true*.
I've lived in such communities and it captures perfectly the 'were not friends but just associates' vibe that was mentioned in other drug stories such as 'Trainspotting'.
The thing about drug users is how utterly boring they are to everyone else which probably explains a lot of the negative reviews.
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
No more than watchable
This movie had a stellar cast and an interesting premise and then .... nothing of interest happened.
It's probably the subject matter but there wasn't one single character who I gave a single damn about.
The only plus sides are Meryl Streep's performance and some of Stanley Tucci's catty asides but apart from that the movie delivered very little.
Marley & Me (2008)
Even Jennifer Aniston couldn't save this movie.
I am a huge fan of Jennifer Aniston and by rights this movie should be perfect for someone like her but the whole film was lazily put together with a weak script and predictable story arch.
Everest (2015)
Difficult to relate to.
A bunch of mostly rich and entitled thrill seekers go out and do something stupid and dangerous and get themselves killed.
The script demanded an 'ordinary guy' so that people might care about the rest of the idiots but I'm not so easily manipulated.
It's a well made film which is why it's 7/10 from me but the kind of people featured in this movie are the cause of most of the world's problems.
Ghostbusters (2016)
Better than the original
In terms of script, characters and in every other way this is a superior product to the original.
And it's a lot funnier as well.
Elle (2016)
You deserve better than this.
There is a scene in the novel 'The Dice Man' where the psychiatrist central character advises a patient that he would be a lot happier if he allowed himself to live a little. Actually what he suggests is that the patient just go out and become a hedonistic and narcissistic serial killer but my point is if anyone was actually impressed by any of this pretentious pseudo intellectual guff then they really need to get out more, meet actual people and try to enjoy themselves a bit because within sane parameters that's an OK thing to do.
I don't care who is reading this, you the reader deserve better than this movie. The only remotely relatable character is the daughter of a serial killer which might explain why she is so organised and monumentally messed up. Every other character is ridiculous to the point where they are just irritating and maybe something clever is going on here but I for one cannot be bothered to find out what that is.
There are better films about how people cope with trauma because those films *mean* something and this story clearly means whatever you want it to. No wonder the central role was turned down by almost everyone. Maybe the director believed that subtitles would convince the English speaking audiences that it was deeper than it was.
It really should have been made in black and white. That usually does the trick.
Danny Boy (2021)
Justice is lost in the crossfire .
Michael Spicer was a solicitor who committed the unpardonable sin in UK society of fighting for the rights of the weak and the powerless against the British state so when he made a grave error the entire weight of the UK establishment from the media to the courts came down on him and destroyed his life.
Brian Wood was a British soldier who was deployed in Afghanistan and who may or may not, whilst under the worst kind of pressure broken international law.
Who was right? Who was wrong? Was justice actually served in this matter? Who knows?
This is a tale of our time. In an age when assumptions about the innate superiority of white people is challenged more and more people will find it ever harder to look the other way or turn the page when they hear reports of atrocities committed against non white civilians in war zones.
To its credit this drama shows the virtues and suffering of both of the central protagonists and showed a balance which is something that the BBC often does best.
Whiplash (2014)
I had no idea that this was how talent was nurtured.
This may well be one of the most vile, offensively stupid and ignorant movies I have ever seen. If you enjoy watching people like Gordon Ramsay insulting people then you might enjoy this mess but anyone who knows anything about how to nurture talent and build a team will find it nauseatingly stupid and an insult to their intelligence.
If anyone behaved as capriciously and disrespectfully towards everyone as Terrence Fletcher did throughout this film then pretty much the entire band would begin making immediate plans to transfer somewhere else because training is about leadership and leadership depends on respect. Respect is of course a two way street which is also entirely absent from this film.
Somehow Terrence Fletcher wins competitions despite being a petty minded coward and bully who appears to know nothing about music or anything else. He can shout a lot and act like a child but somehow that creates genius on stage. Who could have guessed that being a loud, ignorant and obnoxious tool was how to succeed in the world of music.
If you still believe that anyone could succeed whilst behaving this badly in the world of music then consider how bands made up of actually talented people have split up over fairly petty differences of opinion. Someone who could actually play would last about five minutes with an idiot like Fletcher in charge.
Slaughterhouse Rulez (2018)
Some decent editing might have saved this movie.
All the ingredients are in place for a movie to rank alongside the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy which is clearly what was being aimed for but the whole thing ends up being at best a parody of those marvellous titles.
There are a few sparks of brilliance which is why I suspect that somewhere in the rushes there is a brilliant movie waiting to come out.
Maybe one day there will be a new cut issued and if there is I will probably love it a lot more than this sorry mess.
Nerve (2016)
Vee 99!
I liked this movie a lot though a lot of suspension of disbelief is required to enjoy it.
In some ways it is a lot like other dystopian stories such as 'Fight Club' and 'The Purge' in the way there is a hyperreal society where powerless and desperate people are manipulated into dangerous activities for the amusement of controllers or 'watchers' as they are described in this tale.
So sit back and pretend that the story is set in a very different America because on that basis it is very entertaining.
Peterloo (2018)
Beware entertainers bearing messages.
I believe that most people today would have some sympathy for the demands of the Chartists who simply wanted the right to vote in a system that represented them.
Ken Loach however is for better or worse a left wing polemicist and it is for that reason that many people disliked this movie. As someone who does not buy into that paradigm I saw the movie for what it was.
The movie itself was stagey, preachy and so obsessed with showing the rich in the worst possible light that it became tedious. Having said that it was generally historically accurate so that was something.
It's a Sin: Episode #1.5 (2021)
Don't overthink it.
I adored the character of Lydia and had I not known people just like her in real life would consider her to be too good to be true but even though I am one of her biggest fans I believe she was wrong to blame the Keeley Hawes character for how her son turned out.
It was the character's only bum note in the entire series but we are all victims of victims of victims. Why blame a person for being homophobic when society has formed them in that way?
We Are Who We Are (2020)
Young people are annoying. that's the point.
Most young people are insecure, alienated and resent their parents so when people are critical of the central character they are missing the whole point of the show.
I liked the Mum a lot and even if the show is an unrealistic depiction of life on an overseas base it captured a lot of what it means to be young.
How can people forget this?
Lynn + Lucy (2019)
Stunning, poignant and heart breaking in equal measure.
Anyone who compares this to a soap opera is quite simply not paying attention. It is the tale of the end of a friendship as intense as any marriage.
Can't Get You Out of My Head (2021)
Utterly brilliant.
This should be required viewing for any person planning to join an organisation or belief system of any kind which has a 'Grand Plan' to change the world. The last century should have taught everyone where those sort of cults always lead but here we are.
Endeavour: Zenana (2020)
The Flanderization of Morse.
This was where I stopped watching any of the Colin Dexter character shows because this was the episode where Morse turned into an irritating and unwatchable jerk.
Apostasy (2017)
Haunting, heart breaking and brilliant.
On one level this movie is a domestic drama about a family in Northern England but so much more is going on here. As someone who has flirted with a number of religions and met a number of controlling 'elders' it rings utterly true.
Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017)
My estimation of Denzel Washington just went through the roof.
As an autistic person it is often irritating to see people like me portrayed in the wrong way. I am sure that shows like The Good Doctor are made with people with good intentions but they usually miss by a mile what it truly is to be on the spectrum.
This film does not do that. Autistic people are not super heroes with special powers. They have remarkable memories and for various reasons often have driven personalities and that means that they are often *very* good at one thing and an absolute **** show at everything else and I cannot think of any movie or show which portrays this as well as this movie.
Miss Sloane (2016)
I'm an actual liberal and I found it mind meltingly bad.
Some claim that this movie is propaganda and it is but it is *much* worse than that because it is bad propaganda which is the kind that converts no one.
If anyone thought that The West Wing was a liberal smugfest then you wouldn't want to see this. Alternatively if you really enjoyed The West Wing then this movie is probably for you but here are my criticisms of it.
Jessica Chastain's character is supposed to be good at her job yet in every single scene and every line of dialogue she comes across as a student union yahoo. It isn't just the hard right who have their collection of braying idiots and here is a prime example.
This whole movie is like watching an alternative version of reality where a person isn't immediately fired for insulting a client and I don't just mean doing so in a Don Draper sort of way but by literally laughing in their faces and then offering to work with them. I mean, really?
The story line is silly, the cast are all idiots and nothing is believable.
This movie is smug, pretentious and utterly unbelievable on every level.
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
Crazy mad fool.
Some movies capture a time and place and this is one of those movies. You may not care for circus life in the middle of the last century which is a fair enough reason to avoid this film but for those who want to see the social dynamics between the huge family who worked together to put on a show then few movies show that disappeared life like this one does
Entertainment (2015)
End of the line.
The opening scene of this movie show the comedian in a plane junkyard surrounded by the unwanted and the obsolete and that sums the rest of the movie up.
The Misfits and The Wrestler are movies about people at the end of the line with no where else to go. They are masterpieces of cinema because their central characters have a spark of joy or life within them but this movie has no place for such things which is why it missed the mark.
Billionaire Boy (2016)
I'm the world's biggest cynic but even I know the world isn't this bad.
I have no illusions about people or society, we are just monkeys when all is said and done but even I know that human beings are a lot better than this.
David Walliams doesn't like people. That much is clear in all of his work but this one really shines in terms of it's bleak dystopian view of life. It's like a nightmare version of a Ken Loach movie with nothing to be hopeful for.
The Falklands Play (2002)
These braying self important ****s got people killed.
People died in the Falklands War. They were maimed and burned and some of them never recovered so to see Margaret Thatcher denouncing any possibility of peace as 'appeasement' and seriously comparing the Falklands crisis to the late 1930s is pretty stomach churning.
In this drama Margaret Thatcher is as much of a monster as Freddy Krueger. She is a sociopathic egomaniac and little different to the dictator of Argentina, General Leopoldo Galtieri.
For some reason the rights of the Chagos Islanders were not a priority for the British Empire. They were not white therefore their self determination counted for zero so spare me the BS about how the British Empire supported democracy.
Maxxx (2020)
Unexpectedly Brilliant
I assumed that I wasn't going to like this show but as it developed over season one it rang more and more true about the world of music and celebrity and I am someone who has seen both close up.
Was Don Wild evil? Possibly but he was 100% genuine. He is exactly what successful people in the music industry are like.
If you want to be rich and famous it's surprisingly easy but only as long as riches and fame are *all* you want.