amandanw-73131 Reviews

If You Only Knew (2011)

"phhhhhssssst" (the sound of this movie deflating as it gets worse and worse...))

[1/10 · 22 March 2024]

This movie is one of those sad cases when a movie COULD have been really good, but you can just hear the raspberry blowing as the metaphorical balloon deflates.

Because of the subject of Alzheimer's, I wish this had been a good movie. At first, I could feel Louise's hopelessness, both at her diagnosis and at her home situation in the flashbacks. My own dad had Alzheimer's, so I worry about it for myself in the future. The movie, however, was so fake it didn't let me get pulled into the reality of it, which was good for me but bad for the movie.

I see what they were trying to do with the back-and-forth through time, but it didn't work.

The dialogue was cheesy to the point of losing sympathy for the characters.

The whole movie felt like watching a first-time rehearsal rather than a finished movie. Most of the actors were so bad it was embarrassing to watch, especially Bob, Carlo, and Anna. The actors playing Louise and Breeze were ok. As for the actor playing Fred, it's hard to tell since his character was written to be such a stereotype.

The Outer Limits: Abduction (2001) Season 7, Episode 16

An adult writer's laughable view of teen society

[2/10 · 18 February 2024]

I'm the same age as Zachery Ty Bryan. I remember when this episode first aired. It was such a joke of an episode. We knew the writer was trying to make some sappy little solution to school violence. Instead, they made a thoughtless, cruel episode that does the opposite.

And of course the episode has the standard Breakfast-Club-style caricatures: the jock, the nerd, the tough guy, the rich snob, and the good girl. Those distinctions aren't so clear in reality.

The way they resolved it is so so so wrong, and so so so damaging to kids who watch the episode. They resolve the problem in the end by all of the bullies saying to their victim that they need to feel sympathy for their bully. The snobby girl's, "I laughed at you when you asked me out, but YOU need to forgive ME"... really? What did this episode hope to accomplish? Make victims of bullying feel even more victimized? More ignored? More dismissed? If I were in that position and saw this episode, knowing that my own bullies do see them selves as better than me and more worthy of sympathy, knowing that my own bullies in reality would never show any care for me at all, this episode would've nudged me in the wrong direction. Fortunately I wasn't in that exact position. I was a defeated bullying victim. And I knew that anything I did in return to them would only make me as bad as they were, so I refused ever to fight back. But I'm sure a lot of kids saw this episode and were only reminded of how they're treated every day and that NO ONE UNDERSTANDS and NO ONE CARES.

The Outer Limits: In Our Own Image (1998) Season 4, Episode 26

Nana Visitor's talents were WASTED in this episode!

[5/10 · 17 February 2024]

They had Nana Visitor. The excellent Nana Visitor. And they wasted that opportunity. They put her in one setting with one other character as the framework for yet another lame clips episode. I'm old, so for most of my life we didn't have internet or even cable TV; we couldn't just turn on any episode at any time. Unless we taped it, we'd see each episode of a show once, maybe twice if it had a re-run. I understand why old shows did clip episodes. But I still hated them, both at the time and now. But this episode takes that even further. They had Nana Visitor! They could've used her talents for a brilliant episode, similar to the use of David Hyde Pierce in an earlier episode of the series. But instead they wasted her talent on THIS. Such a shame.

The Outer Limits: Lithia (1998) Season 4, Episode 17

This episode is basically cliché porn written by a man

[1/10 · 16 February 2024]

This lame story seems to be just an excuse for porn. Throughout the episode are several scenes of nudity, kissing, and s3x among various women and one man. No surprise that the episode was written by a man. This is like a sick man's very cliché s3xual fantasy, imagining himself as the only man in a world of women... and little girls. There are scenes of nude young women showering together with their full bodies shown on the screen. And then several different young women get nakie with one of only 12 men left on the planet, doing it any various settings during various situations. And when the women get shot, of course they have to fall backwards head-first to the ground so we see up their skirt, not that it matters much since we've seen them all in their birthday suit already.

The Twilight Zone: A Game of Pool (1989) Season 3, Episode 20

BOOOOOOORIIIIINNNG!!!!!

[1/10 · 10 February 2024]

This is the most boring episode of an Twilight Zone series. Most of the 1980s Twilight Zone episodes are excellent, as good as the original series. This episode, however, is as boring as boring can be. It's just two guys playing pool and trying to be the toughest guy. They just play pool (boring) and argue (boring). Pool is boring, and arguing is boring, and that's all that this episode is about. There's no reason to watch it if you've ever witnessed two pathetic men argue over who's better at chasing balls around with a stick. That's all this episode is. This is absolutely the worst episode of the series.

One Step Beyond: The Executioner (1961) Season 3, Episode 15

Worst episode of the series unless you enjoy hearing a dog howl nonstop, and no one does!

[1/10 · 6 February 2024]

I couldn't finish this episode. That's how bad it is. There's a dog that howls THE WHOLE TIME for the entire episode. It's like trying to watch a movie while the neighbor's dog won't shut up. The constant never-ending howling is so annoying and grating on the viewer's nerves an destroying of the eardrums that the viewer physically cannot stand to watch the entire episode. If you try to watch it, I recommend finding a website that provides accurate closed captioning so you can MUTE it, because the howling will have even the most patient of human beings screaming "OH MY GOD WOULD YOU STOP IT ALREADY!" at the screen.

The Twilight Zone: The Collection (2003) Season 1, Episode 37

Predictable but ok story, ruined by bad actors

[1/10 · 4 February 2024]

This episode COULD have been one of the best episodes of this generation of The Twilight Zone. Instead it's one of the worst, due to the terrible actors. The story, although predictable from the beginning, is interesting. But the bad actors ruin it far more than the predictable ending. The little girl is annoying. I usually like shows about kids, but they had this little girl talking in a squeaky cutesy voice that very quickly got on my nerves. The actor who played the babysitter is more interested in tossing her hair and looking like she thinks she's above this role and shouldn't have to say the lines.

Arthur: D.W.'s Library Card/Arthur's Big Hit (1999) Season 4, Episode 1

More violence is not the solution to violence!

[1/10 · 28 August 2023]

No child should ever watch this episode! This episode teaches kids that the solution to violence is --- MORE VIOLENCE!!!!

Arthur hits his little sister, and everyone in town is mad at him because of it. Arthur keeps saying he doesn't understand. No one in town bothers to explain to him why violence is wrong.

Then Binky Barnes is dared by the other members of The Tough Customers. The dare is to hit the next kid who comes along. That happens to be Arthur. Binky avoids Arthur all day so he won't have to hit him. But then Arthur runs to Binky to return the pen that Binky had dropped. The Tough Customers tell him to hit Arthur now, and he does.

Arthur's reaction is to thank Binky. Arthur says that because Binky hit him, now he knows that hitting is wrong.

This teaches kids that when someone is acting violent, the solution is more violence.

To make it even worse, no one in the episode explains to Arthur WHY violence is wrong. The only thing anyone says is that it's wrong because in both cases -- Arthur hitting DW and Binky hitting Arthur -- the victim was smaller than the person who hit them. That's it. It's wrong to hit because they're smaller? So... if someone is bigger than you or the same size as you, it's ok to hit them? And if someone is being violent, we should respond with more violence?

No wonder our country is increasingly violent. This is what 90s kids were taught.

Amazing Stories: What If...? (1986) Season 2, Episode 11

Found my old favorite!

[10/10 · 19 August 2023]

This was my favorite episode when I was a kid! The episode perfectly gives the viewer the feeling of loneliness and lack of understanding of others. And in the end, you get hope. Without spoiling it, it leaves you with hope that maybe there'll be a chance for a better life.

That's really all there is to say about it.

I thought about this episode for years. I saw it on TV back in the days of no cable and no internet. I didn't remember what the series was called. When the internet came along, I started searching. I finally found it a few years ago and bought the DVD set of the whole series so I could see it again.

Missing Children: A Mother's Story (1982 TV Movie)

So many young actors!

[10/10 · 12 August 2023]

What I like best about this movie is seeing the actors in some of their earlier (or in a few cases, later) roles. I watched this for Mare Winningham. I was surprised to see Polly Holliday (Jill's mom on Home Improvement), Noble Willingham (Mr. Binford on Home Improvement), Peter Scolari (who was on Honey I Shrunk the Kids, the series), Jane Wyatt (Amanda on Star Trek) and Anne Haney (who has been in just about everything). Mary McCusker played Melissa, even though the page says her character was named Carol, for some reason. And of course, Soleil Moon Frye is probably the reason most people watch this movie.

The Wizard (1986–1987)

My favorite show as a first-grader

[10/10 · 18 July 2023]

This was my favorite TV show when I was in the first grade. I barely remember it now, but I remember how much I loved the show. The episode I remember most is the one that had the little girl in it. She was standing in front of a mirror. The little girl surprised one of the other characters by stepping through the mirror, because it wasn't actually a mirror and wasn't actually just one little girl; they were twins. I found out years later that the actress who played the twins was the same little girl who played Alice in the 1985 Alice In Wonderland that I'd seen on TV a couple years earlier; I wonder if that's why they did the mirror trick...

Coincidentally, at the time this show was popular, my dad had a friend who was also a short-height man and was a toymaker. My dad took me to visit his friend. I don't know his real name, because my dad told me he was Simon. Maybe the man's name was also Simon; I don't know. I didn't think he was the real Simon, though. Anyway, this "Simon" gave me a little wooden toy he'd made. I wish I still had the toy; my mom threw it away at some point. (My mom never understood which things were the most special.) I wish I could find this show airing somewhere online. I've found low-quality versions of some episodes on YouTube, but I wish I could see all of them again in full quality.

Monsters: All in a Day's Work (1989) Season 1, Episode 21

Rare bad episode

[1/10 · 20 April 2023]

This series is usually good, but this episode is just plain boring.

Nothing else to say about it, but this thing requires more characters, so I guess I will have to say more. The episode has some magic stuff and they do some spells and stuff, and it just is not very interesting. The story is never explained, like why is the guy following him and why does he want the boy and why did he follow a stranger to get to the boy who he did not even know and other stuff that does not make sense if I think about it but I really do not care because the episode is so boring. Just boring, that is all, so the end.

The Twilight Zone: Replay (2019) Season 1, Episode 3

Perfect fit with original Twlight Zone series of the 1960s!

[10/10 · 19 April 2023]

This is a PERFECT Twilight Zone episode, one that would fit in with the original series. The original Twilight Zone often addressed important social issues, including racism, as the original series aired in the early years of the Civil Rights Movement. This episode fits perfectly with episodes like "I Am the Night - Color Me Black".

I just finished watching "Replay" about half an hour ago. I'd been skipping around the 2019-2020 Twilight Zone episodes at random, just clicking on random episodes without knowing what they're about. I wasn't expecting such a heavy episode or such an engaging one. I won't spoil any of it. I went into it not knowing a thing about the episode at all. I'd been playing episodes in the background while I work, but when "Replay" started, it pulled me in pretty quickly, and I couldn't take my focus off of it until it was over, and now it's over and I still can't take my focus off of it!

Amazing episode. The actress who played the mom seems real, like it's really happening to her and not just a show. It's rare for me to be so engaged by an actor, but the mom really had me focused the whole time. She was like a real person, like someone I could know in reality.

When the camera shattered, I actually gasped and my hand automatically went to my mouth, as though I were seeing a real camera drop in reality right in front of me. The episode is that engaging. That's when I realized how into this episode I was.

The Twilight Zone: The Wunderkind (2019) Season 1, Episode 5

This is T***p

[10/10 · 18 April 2023]

This episode is a near-perfect analogy of the early years of the T***p administration. The only difference is that in reality, the world hated T***p, but in this episode, the world loves the kid.

Why do these reviews require six hundred characters when I can say what needs to be said in fewer characters? There's no need to read any further in this review because my first paragraph says all that needs to be said about this episode. It is a good episode. Good acting. The kid is not the best, but he's good enough. The singing and dancing is embarrassing, but it is meant to be, so that's ok, too.