Change Your Image
societyliver
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Clueless (1995)
Nothing particularly compelling
Given the high praise I'd heard given for this movie I had expected much more than what I ended up with. While the movie can be somewhat humorous in playing off 90s cliquey archetypes, that's about it as far as entertainment value is concerned. It seemed that these archetypes were relied on far too much as plot devices to the point of making it difficult to feel invested in any of the characters as individuals and their conflicts.
With all that said, Dan Hedaya really steals the show as a wisecracking, stern and relatively sensible father figure who sits as a contrast to every other character.
Skibidi Toilet (2023)
It's pretty fun, it's just that simple
It's just quite funny and silly to watch the 'war' becomes increasingly convoluted and absurd. The animation style and humor is reminiscent of Xavier Renegade Angel, albeit with a more juvenile sense of humor. It's by no means an artistic masterpiece, but it's a fun watch on occasion, although an adult is likely to get bored of it very quickly.
I definitely think not having any dialogue was a good artistic choice, and is a major reason for the show's international appeal in much the same way that Mr. Bean took the world by storm due to its universal dialogueless humor.
By no means is it intellectual content, it's the media equivalent of popcorn. I'd still rather watch this than Friends though.
The Man in the High Castle (2015)
First season was a masterpiece...
The first season was a masterpiece, I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it. A gritty alternate history fiction that really strived to depict a world with complex characters. I especially enjoyed seeing how the politics of this world plays out, and the idea of a 'neutral zone' that people get exiled to was interesting. The only thing I would have liked is to see more of what the soviets were up to.
Aaaand then it was ruined by the second season with weird alternate reality sci-fi stuff. It wasn't at all what I signed up for, ended up trivializing the stakes and made the storyline needlessly confusing.
Emily (2022)
I cannot find any good in this
This just isn't the Emily that wrote Wuthering Heights, and it's obvious to anyone who's read it, let alone anyone whose read anything about her life or her poetry. It's a bad fanfiction, based on someone's random conjecture. Emily comes off as rude and arrogant rather than reserved and thoughtful, Charlotte inexplicably despises her, and only Emily and Branwell look like their characters.
On top of all that, I feel like I'm watching a TikTok compilation with the pacing of this film. It's very disjointed and every scene has a level of intensity that's completely unwarranted.
It's very obvious to me that this is intended almost as a sort of sly historical revisionism, meant to superimpose the writer's own persecution complex onto a well loved author, with Emily just acting as an obvious self-insert. I cannot find any good in this.
Oppenheimer (2023)
Stunning cinematography that conveys the reality of truly dark knowledge, but leaves something to be desired
Christopher Nolan per usual produces a great film. The sound design is mesmerizing and shocking, and he depicts the madness, moral turmoil and hypocrisy of a very dangerous, erratic genius extremely well, and with stunning cinematography.
Cillian Murphy does a good job at playing Oppenheimer, although I felt like there was too much riding on the back of his performance, which made its imperfections more visible. This isn't really shade on Cillian because he is a great actor it feels more like a directing issue. Emily Blunt does a wonderful job as Kitty, she does a great job of conveying the role of a woman who has lived so many lives and is beside herself and holding people accountable, without simply coming off as hysterical.
Similarly all the scientists are well depicted, even though these are comparatively minor roles I found their acting convincing and engaging.
Regrettably this movie is way too long, and becomes fairly confusing as it covers 2 separate hearings in tandem, and huge sections of the film are in black and white for no clear reason. It feels much like two movies cut together, rather than a cohesive whole.
There are 2 scenes containing nudity, one of which is a sex scene, neither of which really contribute to the plot in any way other than informing us of the fact that those people have a relationship. If I'm going to be in a movie for three hours I'd rather my time were better spent.
The sound design also suffers from some of the common issues of modern films: characters often mumble, or their speech is drowned out by the backing track.
This film is also missing major characters, for example Fermi is mentioned only in passing. Nothing of Germany or Russia's work is shown from the inside, although this isn't necessarily a bad thing, the film is very much fixated on the perspective of the Americans looking out onto the world stage, it's just worth mentioning that you won't really get a global view of things.
Trainspotting (1996)
I don't get it
This movie is extremely overrated. I'm not squeamish, but I just didn't get where any of it was going. All the characters are unlikeable, and it's mostly repeating the same idea over and over for the entire duration of the film, without developing any deeper insight.
The only decent scene was the death of the baby, which was truly heartwrenching, but the movie doesn't take advantage of such an emotive moment, it's just treated as a footnote in the grand scheme of things. Important events being treated as just details is a big problem this movie has, and I think that's why it fails to establish a real narrative.
This is supposedly a 'black comedy', but there's very little in the way of comedy, save a few comments here and there sprinkled throughout. Some people might say that this is intentional because it's meant to depict things more realistically, but if this is the case then a movie is not the right format for something like this, and it could have been condensed into a half an hour short film.
Grey's Anatomy (2005)
Completely absurd and endlessly frustrating to watch
Constant unrelenting drama that never seems to go anywhere, barely any actual medicine.
Had to quit watching after the Izzy incident, since the fact she never suffered any real consequences after gross malpractice was totally absurd, and in fact the show seemed to at least partially endorse her behavior because it was 'for the sake of love' and her coworkers were inexplicably pretty much fine with what she did after the fact despite freaking out about it just moments earlier.
Nigh-on all the characters are detestable, especially Meredith who is endlessly indecisive and basically manipulates and ruins people's relationships for her own enjoyment.
Bo Burnham: Inside (2021)
Neon Genesis Evangelion for Zoomers
Not only is Inside deeply funny, it's also thought provoking and emotional, parodying modern society while also acknowledging its place in it. Rather than coming off as overtly preachy, it comes off like a person just discussing what their place is in a world that seems to have left them behind.
Almost all the songs are great listens both in context and on their own, and the accompanying visuals are fun to watch. This is an artistic masterpiece that really shows what can be done with a few tools used well.
If Hideaki Anno was a YouTube kid growing up in Massachusetts, this is what he would have made.
The Good Doctor (2017)
A wholesome troubled-savant story, that happens to be written by what seem to be compulsive Twitter users
Great concept, the depiction of autism is very well done, watching Shawn gradually develop various social skills is amazing. I've gotten teary eyed many times, especially seeing Shawn overcome obstacles and talk about his struggles with an abusive father and homelessness.
Unfortunately there is way too much shoe-horning of politics, to the point that it creates absurd and unrealistic situations. For example Shawn suddenly disregards his previous views on gender, despite never receiving a satisfying answer to any of his questions, or the fact that Dr. Lim operated on her patient explicitly against her consent and risked her medical license but this is for some reason depicted as a heartwarming moment because the patient just so happened to have actually wanted the operation Dr. Lim wanted her to have.
Despite all that, it's thankfully not as drama heavy right off the bat as something like Grey's Anatomy, although it doesn't have the medical focus that House M. D. does. It sits somewhere in the middle. Some people have mentioned the frequency that experimental treatments are used successfully as a downside, but given that there's frequent complications shown on the show it does feel like there's real stakes, and the use of experimental therapies does add an additional layer of intrigue and creativity since it creates a certain amount of 'medical fiction' to fill in the gaps that can keep you guessing.
Young Sheldon (2017)
Started strong, but really faltering after the first couple of seasons
It's interesting and fun to watch Sheldon get into unique situations, and explore various problems with growing up. I especially enjoyed watching him learn how to make friends with older people and engage with them as colleagues. His social unawareness could lead to quite funny situations and it was interesting to get a glimpse into life during the late 80s and early 90s.
However in later seasons - as he's growing up - things that were 'cute' about his character now come off as immature and often downright rude, which starts to make it hard to sympathize with him. He often treats people with open arrogance and disregard in a way that adult Sheldon doesn't (outside of friendly teasing or obvious social unawareness). Although I understand that he's autistic-coded, he treats Paige with a total disregard and nobody at any point indicates to him that he should improve his behavior to redeem him, in fact they continually indulge and reward it. Other characters become similarly unlikable as the show goes on, being continually two-faced, bullying, and outright lying to Sheldon.
Furthermore the attitude the show has to religion changes later on from an earnest expression of the moral dilemmas people grapple with and the dialectic between theism and atheism, to a fedora-tipping caricature of hypocritical religious people and atheistic power fantasy that feels like one of the writers watched too many Richard Dawkins compilations. It becomes quite cringe-worthy when you spot it.