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Tropic Thunder (2008)
Highly overrated!
I watched this because a friend told me how funny it is. The only problem is it's not funny. I almost turned it off at least 5 times. It's a bad version of Three Amigos. Actors in a real situation that think they are in a movie. Stiller is usually hilarious (Zoolander, Happy Gilmore, Dodgeball) but he falls flat here. RDJ is not really funny. Jack Black is terrible. Cruise is not remotely funny even with all his "in your face" cursing. I am not sure why the required characters is 600 words. I am writing a movie review not a research paper but rules are rules I guess. Anyway please save yourself a couple hours of your life and skip this trainwreck!
Velma (2023)
Who thought this was a good idea?
I couldn't even make it past the first 2 minutes. Naked high school girls in the shower? Then a shower fight between two of the girls. Is this Orange is the New Black or a Scooby-Doo prequel (because we couldn't live without one of those right?) Velma showing up in the locker room looking like the guy from "I know what you did last summer"? She then attacks Daphne (who seems to have no problem remaining naked) for no apparent reason. This is the most ridiculous idea ever created. Mindy Kaling was good in the Office, but I have no idea who she thought would really get into this show. I would give it zero stars I could.
Vampire: The Masquerade - New York by Night (2022)
Amazing
I'm addicted to this "show". The storyteller is awesome! He paints a picture that almost makes me feel like I'm in the story myself. The voice actors are all great (especially the guy who plays Isaac). A very entertaining show (I don't know what else to call it).
Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
Watch the entire series before judging it!
Almost all the 1-3 star reviews I've seen are dated about the first couple episode release dates. Yes the first few episodes were weak. There were plot holes, ridiculous scenes (a 10 year Leia outrunning bounty hunters), and bad acting. The fact that people complained that Disney basically neutered Obi-Wan is highly amusing to me. He was obviously dealing with PTSD and had doubts, but anyone that didn't see his redemption coming has never seen a movie. Did Rocky never get his ass kicked and have to battle his way back? The Pursuit of Happyness, Shawshank Redemption (hell it's in the title), Gran Torino, and even Groundhog Day have main characters that redeem themselves in the end. I mean even Vader/Anakin finally redeems himself in Return of the Jedi! The last two episodes are great in my opinion and I've been watching SW since the '70s. Tell me Obi-Wan was weak in that last battle with Vader. You can't. I won't argue that Disney has jumped on the bandwagon to emasculate men and forward their agendas in a lot of projects. Stop searching for reasons to hate something before you've seen it in its entirety though. Anyways may the Force be with you!
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022)
This is Trek!
I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode and hope that it continues to impress. The graphics are amazing and they still stayed true to the original retro style of the Enterprise. The acting is excellent for the most part. There is humor, action, and philosophy as Trek used to be. The critics I've seen on here don't make valid points. One said it was "Discovery with a white Captain". Seriously? They actually focused on more than one character (unlike Disco) and a much better story. Another critic was upset because they were "insulting the 21st century". When I read that I did the biggest face palm ever. If you think that this world right now is in a good place then you aren't paying attention. This leads me into my next point. There is a stark warning for us in this episode. If this country and this world keep going down the path we are on we will end up just like Pike's narrative of their history. Sadly since compromise and healthy debate have been replaced by childish insults and stubborn partisanship (on both sides) we are probably headed to that future. Regardless, if this show continues to be like this episode then it will be a success.
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Didn't Disappoint
I was not a big fan of Homecoming or Far From Home. I enjoyed Spiderman (the character) in Civil War and the last two Avengers movies, but I couldn't get into the stand alone films. After watching this movie I understand why. Neither of the previous movies had compelling villains in my mind. Vulture, even though I think Keaton is a great actor, was forgettable. To be honest, the only thing I remember from the last movie was the Peter was outed as Spiderman at the end. Another thing I realized is in the MCU Parker didn't really do anything to earn what he has. Stark handed him some toys and he did his thing. He had no real motivation to be Spiderman. Tobey Maguire's (the best IMO) Spiderman was responsible for his Uncle Ben's death. This motivated him to do good. Garfield's Spiderman had the same motivation. So in this movie the villains (from other universes/previous films) were great. To me the film really hit its stride when the other two Peter Parkers appeared. The back and forth between them made the movie as far as dialogue goes (that and Dr. Strange who is my favorite Avenger next to Stark). Tom Holland is the weakest Parker/Spiderman, but he does a decent job here. His pain was believable when he lost Aunt May. His anger was palpable when he was trying to kill Osborne as well. So in the end I guess I'm saying that the characters from the other universes made the movie for the most part. The film did make me want to watch the old Spiderman movies again (and re-watch Daredevil whose cameo was awesome).
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
I wanted to like it
When I first heard this show was being developed I heard that it was pre-Kirk and I moaned. Didn't we try this with 'Enterprise' which was mostly boring? I decided to watch the pilot on CBS and it was interesting enough that I thought I'd give it a chance. It had its moments but for the most part season one was mediocre at best. The whole Klingon thing (the weird masks, the horrible language, the subtitles) was rather annoying. The mirror universe episodes were annoying to me (more on that later). I decided to wait and watch season two. It got better. In fact Anson Mount as Christopher Pike stole the show. Then we find out that Michael is Spock's "sister" (huh?). The whole Burnham flying around in her Iron Man suit was cheesy as well. Then they shoot almost 1000 years in the future (no canon to mess with there). Seasons 3 and 4 got a bit better and it seemed kind of like Star Trek. Lo and behold there was an episode with entire scenes without Burnham (what is this)? They bring in a new character, Book, who is likeable. Then they make him Michael's love interest so the focus is back on her again as always. Anyways here's the good and the bad in my book:
THE GOOD:
The production and effect are great and get better with each seasons. Some of the Starfleet ships in seasons 3,4 are just gorgeous!
Some of the background characters are great. I really liked Saru, Jett, and Tilly (in the beginning).
Some of the stories are pretty decent.
DIVERSITY: This one is a double edged sword for me. Roddenberry was very much in favor of this and the stories in previous series reflected this quite a bit. It is quite a skewed crew however. There is only one white guy (I don't count Saru as he is an alien). Most of the bridge crew ends up being women. They aren't strong female characters either. They are always crying or yelling or being put in the background so Burnham can have the limelight. There is a gay male couple and a lesbian engineer. Now I'm going to be brutally honest. I'm a white, middle aged, heterosexual man and I am not comfortable with two guys kissing on screen (two women is more tolerable for some reason but not too much). I am not a homophobe however. They are human beings that make choices that are different than my own. I am of the opinion that their lifestyle is no more or less important than my lifestyle choice. It does not make them lesser than me or better. I have to admit I am not used to seeing it openly expressed and I may not ever be.
THE BAD:
The setting: why, why, why did they have to go pre-Kirk again??? There are 80 years between TOS movies and TNG. Are you telling me NOTHING happened in those years? Also, Peter David wrote a series of books about a Starship named Excalibur with Cmdr. Shelby (from the TNG Borg episodes) as First Officer. They would have made a great series. There are 100 ideas but they always pass them up!
Burnham: Everything is based around her. She's Spock's sister, she Georgio's BFF, she's the XO and the Captain (back and forth). Almost every story is about her. She always saves the day. It's completely irritating. There is no character development with anyone else (except Saru, Book and the doctor/engineer).
THE CREW: No background character gets any growth (other than the few mentioned). Even O'Brien got a couple episodes on TNG when he was just the transporter chief. I mean come on!
THE EMOTION: As I mentioned before almost every episode people are crying and hugging. It's like Friends in space sometimes. In fact it was what made me give up on the show: the A. I. computer on Discovery sings to comfort Burnham in an episode as she assumes her and the ship may be destroyed. It was too much!
LACK OF DISCIPLINE: Characters routinely talk back to superiors and disobey orders. There is an episode where Lt. Tilly is stuck on a planet with 3 cadets and a newer character. The cadets act like spoiled millennials through the whole episode. They argue with each other, they argue with their superior officer (Tilly), and they whine. Picard or Sisko would have tossed them out an airlock.
MIRROR UNIVERSE: Other than the original Mirror, Mirror episode I have always hated these. Next Generation passed on them (thank God) then DS9 did way too many (I always skipped them). Voyager didn't do any that I remember. I didn't watch Enterprise long enough to find out. The DS9 (an otherwise great series even if they stole the whole concept from my favorite sci-fi show Babylon 5) Mirror episodes were terrible! The bad Sisko and Kira were so overacted that they reminded me of "evil twins" on old soap operas. The Discovery ones were really not much better (a bit better acted but nothing special).
IT'S DARK: Up until the end of season 3 into season 4 it is a very bleak and dark future. I can handle dark but not when the acting and story are subpar half the time. If I want dark scifi I'll watch BSG, or the Expanse, or any number of other good dark sci-fi.
So, all in all ST: Discovery could have been great but they seem to try to do too many things and focus on Burnham WAY too much. I will look forward to Strange New Worlds. In the mean time I'm re-watching the Battlestar Galactica re-make.
The Book of Boba Fett (2021)
They've ruined Boba Fett
Boba Fett used to be hands down the coolest Star Wars character in existence. Then episode 2 came along. I didn't care for the way they made him a clone, but the actor did a decent job so not too much damage done. Now we have this show. The first episode had promise. The escape from the Sarlacc could have been better (couldn't he have fixed his jetpack somehow?) but overall the first episode wasn't terrible. It's gotten worse and worse as the season went on (bad costumes, Boba acting soft, the cyborg millennials and their flying Vespas, terrible acting, Boba in what was supposed to be a comical scene chasing a rat catcher droid,). I could go on and on. I wanted to like this show but I just can't pretend it's good any longer. Everything the Mandalorian got right this show has done wrong. Sad that Disney can't seem to learn from their mistakes and build on their successe. 3 stars because his armor is still cool and 2 for Ming Na equals 5.
Babylon 5 (1993)
Still Holds Up
I am currently re-watching this on HBO Max (in HD). While the updated effects are great it is not what this show will ever be remembered for. This series is the best science-fiction series ever made. It is that good! Yes, Star Trek is great (and I love it too) but it only laid a foundation for this show to build on. The four year story arch (the 5th season is kind of a mish-mash of leftover plots as it was renewed at the last minute) was the first of its kind. You can see plot points in the very first episode that hint at things that happen season later. But plot is nothing without characters. This show has some damn near perfect ones. You can see how much the characters grow and change, due to the storyline, as the series progresses (especially Delenn and G'Kar). Not one character in this show remains the same throughout their run. Another improvement on Trek are the alien races. They each have their own traditions and distinctive cultures. The make up and prosthetics are very well done as well. They actual look alien unlike so many Trek races that are humans with a slight difference (I'm look at you Bajorans). There is so much more I could say about this show but you just have to see it for yourself. Fair warning: the first season is a bit bland and cheesy at times, but you have to hang in there it gets better. So many plots and story archs start in season 1 so you cannot skip it. If you love good sci-fi with rich stories and characters this is the show for you!
The Wheel of Time (2021)
What a Bore
I began reading the books in anticipation of this show several months ago. I am nearing the end of book 2. I knew going into this series that it wouldn't be a carbon copy of the books. It's not even close though. This is twice I've eagerly awaited a project only to be disappointed (the other was Dune). Hollywood can't even take a book(s) and turn it into proper entertainment anymore. The series isn't all bad so here are my thoughts :
The Pros:
*The scenery is amazing
*The landscapes and towns are pretty much how I pictured then (mostly)
The Cons:
*While the scenery is amazing the world seems so small compared to the books. They have rushed through important plots points in order to add in unnecessary fluff.
*The acting is wooden (mostly)
*Too many changes from the books (added characters for no reason, the soap opera parents in Two Rivers, Egwene and Rand having sex where as she is a crush of his in the book, I could go on) ruin the series.
*While I have no problem with diversity (the books don't explicitly detail every character's skin color) the "wokeness" (a term I really don't care for) is obvious.
*Adding in gay characters where there were none before (again I understand this is a sign of the times but it is really too much).
*There is an anti-male feel to the whole thing. The books have plenty of strong female characters (which is great) but they don't constantly bash men in every scene.
*The Dragon Reborn is one of three people in the books not five. I see them making one of the women the Dragon which would make no sense whatsoever. If that becomes the case they will lose me completely.
I will continue to watch through season's end but to be honest I do not have a lot of faith in this show. Such a pity, it could have been great.
Black Widow (2021)
Falls flat
I had wondered if this character could carry a movie by herself. Don't get me wrong I like her character but she is much better when paired with Hawkeye and the other Avengers. While it had its moments this movie is a bad version of the Bourne Trilogy (with all women as the agents). It didn't add anything to the MCU and I agree with another poster that it was basically a filler episode. The bonus scene was one of the better parts. Glad I waited to watch it on regular Disney Plus.
What If...?: What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands? (2021)
Amazing!
After watching the dimwitted Thor episode (and posting a review) I had to come back to the best episode of What if? This is the kind of story this series should be doing. Cumberpatch is top notch in this. I could feel his pain, panic, and desperation every time he tried to save Rachel. A bitter story of what someone would do to save someone they love. Best episode so far!
What If...?: What If... Thor Were an Only Child? (2021)
What if we made a bad Disney Princess movie?
Not funny. Tried to be that and lighthearted but fell flat. Party Thor was a moron who should definitely not been able to wield his hammer. He was even drawn like a Disney prince...with a dimwitted smile. Also you're telling me party Thor would have chosen boring ass Jane over all the other hot women on the planet? At least in the movie there was an emotional connection. Try harder Marvel!
What If...? (2021)
Poor start, but great 2nd act
Episode 1's flaws have been listed to death so I'll skip that. Episode 2 was great. An actual original story of what if T'Challa had been abducted and became Starlord. I won't add spoilers but I thought they did a great job, especially with the Thanos angle. There were funny moments and a few touching moments. Hearing Chadwick's voice one last time was bittersweet. All in all a great effort. If the rest of the episodes are like this one it will do great.
P. S. Please stop with the it's too "woke" or "socialist". Apparently if there's a minority main character or a strong female character then it's woke 🤔(I will admit making Carter stronger than Steve in Episode 1 was ridiculous) And I don't know what's socialist about being a hero. I'm not sure these people even know what they're saying. Their cult just have lines they have to parrot constantly.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)
Great start
It's hard to evaluate a series on one episode, but I think there is a great foundation here. The action is on par with the marvel movies. The acting is good. As others have said, you learn more about each character than you do throughout the entire Marvel movies. There is not much more to say than that. I've seen at least one reviewer dissappointed that Sam pulled the "race card". Now I've watched this episode twice now and the only thing I could see was where his sister said "You don't have a loan, for us". Us could mean "our family" "us working class people" or any number of things. "Us" doesn't have to mean black people. People read into things what they want to.
Tenet (2020)
Completely lost
Let me atart by saying Inception is my favorite movie. Interstellar was good, bot hreat in my opinion but I can see why people love that film. This flick is neither of those. Trying to grasp any semblance of a plot in this movie is bear impossible. It jets into the action so quickly it leaves hardly any chance to catch up. I compare it to watching a plot-heavy tv show starting in season 2 with no ability to see what happened in season 1. There are a couple scenes that were excellent (without spoilers I will say the airport scene was one of these). Overall, I have to agree with others that the dialogue was muffled most of the time, that action scenes had headache inducing volume, and the characters were bland. I did not care for any one of them. I am a big fan of Kenneth Brannagh (sp?) . Some say his character was the lone bright light of the film. I completely disagree. His Russian oligarch was a cliche Bond villian. Not even a good cliche either. In conclusion, I don't know where Nolan was going with this film. It seems like he took everything from his other movies and threw it at the wall to see what stuck (the complex plot of Inception, the volume of Dunkirk, the action of Dark Knight, etc.). I had such high hopes for this film, but it left me wishing I had just watched a 2.5 hour trainwreck.
Mulan (2020)
Not Sure What People Wanted
I've never seen the cartoon version but my daughter has and she loved ir. I promised I'd take her to see this when it came out in the theater. Well, that didn't happen. Although the price tag was a bit high I decided to shell out the 30 bucks (I'd have paid 50 at the movies). We both found the movie enkoyable. It was dramatic, funny in parts, touching in other parts. The scenery was amazing. I'm not sure what people were looking for in this. Apparently there is a talking dragon and singing in the carroon. I'll pass on both. This reminds me of another Disney movie people under-rated because they didn't understand the point: Tron: Legacy. Just chill out and enjoy a movie rather than getting your quarantined panties in a bunch!
Star Trek: Picard (2020)
Yawn
The first episode was amazing in my opinion. It made me hopeful that the series would be great. But the quality of each episode dropped after that. I barely made it through episode 5 and almost turned it off several times (The fact that CBS' all access app is terrible didn't help). I think I'm done with this series. I watch sci-fi to escape the train wreck that our world has become. There is no hopeful future here. There is crime and death and darkness. I can turn on the news and see that. The characters are bland (especially the lady that calls Picard "JL"), the story is boring, and the attempt to make Star Trek edgy (the swearing, the sex, the bars, etc.) Is too much. I'd rather watch re-runs.
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
A chaotic mess with amazing graphics
The first Star Wars movie I remember seeing in the theater was Empire (my parents tell me I saw A New Hope but I was 4 so I don't recall that). I've been a fan since then. I loved episodes 4-6 and even enjoyed episode 3. 1 and 2 were mediocre at best. I have endeavoured to keep an open mind with the new iterations. Rogue One was excellent and Solo wasn't great but wasn't nearly as bad as most say it is. Episode 7 was pretty good and episode 8 left a,lot to bed desired. Anyway on to episode 9:
This movie seemed to crawl at a snail pace (the guy next to me fell asleep until woken by his friend). It then blasted off at rocket speed
to different plot points which seemed very confusing most of the time. A lot of things were left unexplained: how did Palpatine survive his fall into a reactor? How are Ren and Rey suddenly so powerful they can use the force to stop/push a transport ship from ascending to space (a feat Vader at the height of his power never used)? Are Fin and Rose the Ross and Rachel of the galaxy? They seemed to be starting a romance but now are just civil to one another. Why no explanation of Palpatine fathering a son? I could go on and on.
While the graphics and fx were amazing the dialogue seemed forced compared to the other movies. Most of Fin's lines are him screaming peoples names as they are in danger. Also while it was nice to see Lando again his presence in this movie seemed like an afterthought and really was a disservice to his character in my opinion.
To sum it up, I realize this review is just a chaotic rambling of my thoughts which makes it very similar to this movie. The epic story that Lucas began decades ago deserved a better ending.
The Misery Index (2019)
Awful
That describes this train wreck of a "game show". First of we're supposed to be impressed that it's hosted by Jameela Jamil (who?). Secondly this show proves that just because you add the Jokers to the mix doesn't always make it funny. Anyone recall Jokers Wild?
Captain Marvel (2019)
People are being way too hard on it
I can't add much than many of the others have said. I don't understand all the hate on this movie. Was it the best Marvel movie? No. Was it the worst? Hardly (the 2 that come to mind for me are Thor: Dark World and Iron Man 3). I thought it was a pretty good origin movie. Seeing Phil Coulson again and Nick with two eyes is pretty cool. I think people expect way too much sometimes.
P. S. Goose the cat was awesome!
Update: I recently re-watched this movie and I have no idea what I was thinking giving it an 8. The whole movie is bland. Brie Larson is wooden and can't act (at least in this). There are so many cringe-worthy one liners it's insane. The story sucks and the "bad guys" are laughable. The two best things about the movie are Goose the cat (as I said earlier) and the music. I can't wait to see how hard the Marvel's flops. Disney do better!
Justice League (2017)
Flat
Two disclaimers: 1. I prefer Marvel(I collected Iron Man comics into my early 20s) and 2. I know very little of DC save for Batman and Superman.
Like many reviewers I think this film fell flat. As a movie it wasn't horrible. As a DCEU movie it didn't add much. It appears I'm one of the few people that actually enjoyed Batman v. Superman.
Anyways here's my 2 cents:
Plot: like many others have mentioned it felt far too similar to Avengers (otherworldly devices opening portals, bug demons rather than aliens, a god-like supervillain). I would have thought they'd go out of their way to avoid this, but apparently not.
Characters:
Batman: he felt a lot less badass in this one than BvS. Maybe this was because of all the powerful allies around him.
Wonderwoman: She remained the same from her solo movie and she might be the only actor that got their character "right".
Aquaman: after all the disrespect this character has taken (from Family Guy to Big Bang Theory) it seemed like they tried too hard to make him a badass.
Cyborg: very flat. His suit dictating some of actions seemed kind of silly.
Flash: far too boy scout-ish. Obviously the comic relief.
Superman: probably the second best acted character in the movie. His rebirth was actually kind of cool (I know most hated it) but I agree with another reviewer that he should have stayed dead for a few movies.
Steppenwolf: quite possibly the worst villain they could have chosen. He's the Loki with no personality and his references to "mother" and Darkseid make no sense to casual movie goers.
Synopsis: it's not a horrible movie just a horrible movie in this series IMO. Maybe the next WW movie and the Aquaman movie bring life back to this franchise.