barrywilliams993 Reviews

The Tomorrow War (2021)

Spoilers alert

[1/10 · 2 July 2021]

Don't bother.

Bunch of non-com civilians rounded up, given high-powered weapons and no training dropped into an alien combat zone all walking around looking vaguely like they know what they are doing.

Uh ... MEH.

Camp (2013)

Uh . . . What just happened?

[1/10 · 12 July 2013]

I was waiting for this thing with great expectation because the commercial teased it to be a wacky romp through summer camp. WRONG! Not only was it laced with awkward references to adult sex (including a scene of a couple doing the horizontal bop) there was also drugs and divorce. The only scene remotely funny was shown in the advertisements for the show.

I suffered through the first 20 minutes of this stupid melodrama about a bunch of dysfunctional "adults" trying to run a failing summer camp before deciding there's gotta be something better to watch. I was lucky enough to land on a competition show of people saving cat's asses.

Not funny and not entertaining. Just as Jon Lovitz said many times in the animated series "The Critic": IT STINKS!

Small Town Security (2012–2014)

Better than any scripted comedy!

[10/10 · 28 June 2013]

I guess that people don't appreciate the ability to vicariously step into the lives of other real people. The characters are not caricatures; they are real in every sense of the word.

I hope it doesn't become over-produced like Storage Wars, Pawn Stars and Hardcore Pawn. They all started out good but have morphed into a strange mix of reality and obviously scripted set ups. I'll continue to watch them for now but I can't say for how long.

The real lives of the JKK crew are writ large on the screen. The transition of Denise to Dennis is poignant on a human level regardless of what you might think about the subject of gender identity disorders. Dennis comes across as an individual that is truly tortured by his female body.

Dennis' unhappiness bleeds through when the JJK crew cleans up his little apartment in the JKK headquarters building while he goes to Atlanta for surgery to start his transition to a male body. The neglect of his surroundings is evidence of the despair of a life he cannot love.

The Captain and his love for his old cat is truly touching and you could see the reality of his loss when he had to have him put down. He says he doesn't think a new cat would help with his emotions . . . two days later he has TWO new cats.

In one episode, he gets tangled with wasabi paste while trying sushi. I did the same thing: smearing the green stuff on my California Roll like I was putting peanut butter on bread. He chokes and chokes barely eeking out, "I'm OK", just in time to stop Joan from dialing 911.

Joan is a female curmudgeon. She is both crude and prude: she uses coarse language and euphemisms depending on the setting and subject.

In one episode, she is telling the crew about her stomach virus. She tells of not being able to sit on the toilet for wanting to throw up so she goes to the office to lie down.

While in repose, she "poops" her pants. Captain Irwin (her husband) opines that he'd rather poop in the toilet and throw up on the floor to which Joan says, "Maybe it was the only way I could make poop." In most situations she is regularly bleeped. She is an anachronism to be sure. And, she is unintentionally hilarious; I nearly pooped myself I was laughing so hard.

It is unfortunate that many people don't get this slice-of-life for what it is: the human condition in its grittiest coarseness and is finest tenderness. The show is fast-paced and well-shot and presents the unvarnished truth about humankind: we are all flawed but interesting nonetheless.

I hope A and E sticks with it despite the "critics" here on IMDb and I would guess other review sites. Read the interview with Joan on Huff Post to get a better understanding of just who she is: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-archer/small-town-security- joan_b_3232554.html

The show is good! Just watch it!

Motive (2013–2016)

Not terrible but not good either

[3/10 · 2 June 2013]

I just watched "Crimes of Passion".

Meh . . .

That's all I can muster for this "twisted" cop show where we find out the killer and the victim first thing and have to wait for the motive. There is where the problem is for me. You see, the motive comes in too early so the last 10 minutes of the show are a drag. I mean, the suspense is gone.

Based on that episode and the poor reviews the show is getting, I predict that ABC will be looking for something else for this time slot before the summer is over.

There was a glaring plot hole in this episode for me. The killer uses the boyfriend's car to murder the girl. The cops find this out early on but the boyfriend seems to be unaware of the death of the girlfriend so not really viable as the killer. However, the cops never pull the security footage from the garage. If they had, we'd have gotten the motive even sooner and would've needed to sit through even more boring "who cares".

No thanks. I'll watch reruns of Columbo. Hey! There's an idea! What about a remake of that gem? Now, who to cast as Columbo . . .

Robot Combat League (2013– )

Rock 'em Suck 'em Robots

[1/10 · 19 March 2013]

This is a completely lame piece of crap! I only made it through about 20 minutes of the first episode before I erased it and canceled the series from recording.

The "robots" are a glorified Rock 'em Sock 'em game that has been scaled up and gussied up with lights and costumes. I was expecting the heads to pop up . . . seriously!

And the contestants . . . who the hell are these people anyway. I mean, Amanda Lucas? I had never heard of her and I don't care about her. It's terrible of me I know but I just don't care. So what if her adoptive father is famous.

Look, just bring back a "Battle Bots" format. I think it would work better than this waste of money and time. Unfortunately, SyFy doesn't need a winner so much as it needs filler. The really horrible "movies" like "Battle of Los Angeles" prove that. Shameful!

SHEESH!

Boston's Finest (2013– )

Gawd!

[1/10 · 7 March 2013]

I struggled to watch 20 minutes of this terrible show. The female cop that drones on and on about her dysfunctional family made me want to both puke and cut my own throat.

By the end of the first 20 minutes, I was like a wild animal caught in a leg trap: I was willing to gnaw off my own leg to escape. Thankfully, all I had to do was erase the recording from my DVR and move on to something worth watching. I don't remember what but I know it was better than this drivel!

You know the old saw: You only get one chance to make a good first impression. Wahlberg, you missed your chance with me. I won't be back.

SHEESH!

Boston Med (2010– )

Why would anyone watch a scripted drama?

[10/10 · 12 August 2010]

I have never been a fan of scripted medical dramas. I never watched "Grey's Anatomy" (well, 1 episode maybe 2 and some bits and pieces) nor "ER" because the stories were melodramas more about the staff than the patients. I did watch "House" for several seasons but mostly because of Hugh Laurie. I found the stories fairly entertaining because the who-done-it "feel" that the medical cases had (past tense because I have moved on).

Then along comes "Boston Med". The drama is absolutely REAL life and death. When the time is "called" on a patient it is because a real human has died. It is not about the tests or the technology or the medical "sleuthing". Boston Med IS real life, real death and real emotions.

I once asked a guy why he was a skydiver and he told me, "Because I experience an otherwise unobtainable feeling of the closeness of death; the experience of not being sure that I'll survive." I thought he was crazy and maybe he was . . . just a bit. Boston Med has allowed me to vicariously experience what that must feel like.

The closeness to the patients and doctors gives me a feeling of the pain and elation that must be experienced by both the patients and doctors. I see the doctors and nurses exhibiting what I epitomize as true motivation that drives someone to dedicate an entire lifetime to helping all of the rest of us live our lives.

I can feel the true depth of the Human condition and the fragility of life. I see people fight against all odds to survive by bravely stepping across the line that marks the beginning of a trip that could mean extended life or end in sudden death.

Thank you to all of the families that allow us to experience their lives as they face uncertainty. I can only imagine how tough it must be to openly deal with the emotions of their personal tragedies while cameras watch (a situation that is totally foreign to the majority of the Planet's humans).

I cannot imagine what it must feel like to have a beating heart in the palm of one's hand; to have the burden of carrying another human to the edge of eternity and back. But now, I can get a small sense of what it must be like.

I'll never stop watching Boston Med.

The Philanthropist: Nigeria Part II (2009) Season 1, Episode 4

Come On!

[3/10 · 15 July 2009]

I hate being treated like I'm stupid! I hate it even worse when sorry writers don't do their research. Hurricanes don't hit Nigeria.

So, I've decided that "The Philanthropist" is not going to figure into my viewing schedule. NBC has gotta do better or lose me as a viewer all together.

Law and Order Criminal Intent was really quite good (I thought) but now D'Onofrio is just phoning it in most of the time and the writers are making little effort to make the headlines into unique shows. A few episodes have been so close to national news stories that I didn't even bother to watch the whole thing.

But I digress. NBC . . . do a better job . . . OR ELSE! I mean it! Now, I am going to watch Nova scienceNow.

Warehouse 13 (2009–2014)

1987-1990 - Friday the 13th: The Series - Redux

[8/10 · 8 July 2009]

I liked the series because it was pretty original. It showed good imagination by the writers and the stories were always interesting. The only thing unfortunate about the show was the title.

The premise of the show involved people that searched for cursed objects. Once found, they went into a special vault. The objects always had terrible power over the unfortunate people that they came into contact with.

Where Warehouse 13 seems to differ in that the objects have pedigrees from historical people. The Tesla weapon and the Ford electric car are both indicative of a connection of the objects to historical people.

And, in the pilot, Lucrezia Borgia. That is all I'll say in case you missed the pilot.

I think this show has real promise. They don't have to "keep it real" and there is no need to suspend disbelief to enjoy the stories because all of it is "impossible". Quotes because we can't truly know what is impossible.

I'm Through with White Girls (2007)

Another Lame Black Comedy

[1/10 · 28 January 2009]

The movie is plainly offensive to both whites and blacks. I found many of the "jokes" to be racist towards white and playing upon stereotypes. The same sort of thing in a "white" movie would draw howls of protest! What amazes me is the fact that there is a paltry number of "review" and the majority of them have glowing praise for this vapid piece of tripe. Frankly, I think the fix is in! I think it is an effort by the "reviewers" to puff up another lame black "comedy".

For me, the only thing that was missing was the black guy in a fat woman suit.

SHEESH!

The Mentalist: Red John's Friends (2009) Season 1, Episode 11

I don't like faked scenes!

[8/10 · 9 January 2009]

Overall, I like "The Mentalist" enough to watch for a few more episodes even though it is a bit of a retread of other sleuth shows. The main character's past as a phony mentalist reformed by a tragedy is a bit pedestrian to me and the whole idea of "looking for the mysterious murderer of my wife and child" is a bit of a throwback to "The Fugitive".

That said, nothing bugs me more than having a completely fake scene.

Sometimes I see in documentaries and commercials a scene showing a fire or smokestack that is obviously a reverse of the original. A zoom out is reversed to zoom in for dramatic effect but it is obvious (at least to me) that the smoke is going down the stack or the fire is leaping toward the logs. I hate it! And, it really gets my (old) goat when the scene is static and I can see no reason (dramatic or otherwise) for it to be played backwards.

In the latest episode of "The Mentalist", the scene of the key being pulled back into the hole is actually a reverse of the key being pushed from the keyhole and lowered on the string. That means there is a hole in the plot that couldn't be resolved (they never succeeded in pulling the key back up) or the director was just too lazy (or pressed for time) to do the scene right. I think it is more likely the former meaning the whole "frame" is shot to hell.

Another point about the scene is the glaring fact that old key locks like that one can be easily picked with the key IN the lock. Therefore, it is not necessary to go to so much trouble to set the "frame".

One other scene that looks plainly wrong is the one after Jared is picked up from prison. The black SUV is shown speeding from screen left to screen right but on the wrong side of the road! For some reason, the director didn't like it going from right to left. It looks ridiculous because it gives the impression that the vehicle is in a country with right-hand drive vehicles like Great Britain.

For me, little things like this completely kill the "spell" and can collapse any suspension of disbelief on my part.

I'll keep watching "The Mentalist" for now. But, in the past, stuff like this has irritated me so much that I have stopped watching a show ("24" - which just got boring as hell after the novelty wore off) and moved on to suffer through other crud ("Lost") until the plot holes and other gaffs forced me to move on again.

Grindhouse (2007)

If it wasn't Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez

[2/10 · 13 September 2008]

These would be just another pair of B movies. There is nothing really outstanding or funny about these movies. Death Proof was really terrible. All of that stupid prattle! Geez! I could barely stand it! Really, the best parts were the campy fake trailers.

I was expecting movies that actually had some sort of plot; some direction. Instead, I got movies that just drifted toward a conclusion. Even B movies have some direction for the story.

I was hoping for something more like Kill Bill (campy but with a decent story) or Natural Born Killers (one of my all time favorite movies). Instead, I got what amounted to a couple of bad B movies.

Very disappointing . . .