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Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
Great plot and script
I gave this an 8, but I almost gave it 7. The reason is to counter some of the really low scores. And to counter the complete lack of imagination in the 2016. I like Kate McKinnon but I am not sure why she wanted to tie her career to that poor film. This film did a good job in tying the present to the ~30 year gap. Adding the original members was a nice touch. Their role was minimal, as it should have been. This film lacked the humor of the first two, but again, that humor did't fit the plot or characters.
There were some minor comments like the lack of information on the old homestead. Spengler was a stickler for details, but didn't leave a lot behind.
Road House (1989)
Give it a 10 because of the 2024 trash
I would have given it a 6. However, there are people rating the 2024 garbage as 10. Other folks are upset that the 2024 version is mocked so much that they gave it a 10 out of spite.
Why is this one better?
-The fight scenes in the original were better, not unrealistic CGI garbage.
-Music by Cruzados and Jeff Healey were better than the new version.
-The dialogue in the original was not great, but a first grader could have improved the script of the 2024 trash.
-Good one liners in the first, especially when Sam Elliot crushes the knee of a thug. New version? That's a joke.
-The final fight scene in the original was decent, but the CGI version of the new one was more fitting for a Marvel superhero character.
-The original was good on the big screen. The 2024 was more suited for an iPhone.
Road House (2024)
Music was the reason for two stars
I admit, that I didn't have a lot of high hopes for this remake. And it didn't disappoint.
I can somewhat understand a reason to bring remakes to a newer audience. But mostly this shows a lack of imagination in scripts and movie direction. The people should have known it would be difficult to replace Patrick Swayze, Sam Elliot, Jeff Healey Band, and, albeit a brief role, Cruzados.
The plot was weak. McGregor needs to take acting lessons, or leave that profession. The fight scenes and stunts were so unbelievable they take away from the movie. But if you have poor acting, lousy script, and no imagination, just include some awful stunts.
The scene where Daulton is repeatedly hit in the face, and just has a few cuts was just not close to being real. In the boat chase toward the end, characters fly over 50 feet the air in crashes and make unbelievable safe landings.
Company of Heroes (2013)
Wasted Time Watching This Steaming Pile
First, nobody should think there is any factual basis for this movie. There was no German weapon like this. While the Germans were working on the atomic bomb, this was fantasy. Where was the plutonium? Where was the separations facility? Where was reactor? The US had to have Oak Ridge, Hanford, and Los Alamos to scrounge up enough material for two bombs. We did not have a third one and that would have required months and thousands of people.
Then there is the Russian POW. POWs were on the brink of starvation yet this Russian's belly looked like he had emptied a Las Vegas buffet.
Next, I don't see how we lost over 100 men in Europe. Our troops are killing German soldiers at a 40-to-1 ratio. And the Allied soldiers firing on automatic never have to re-load. We know Czech workers made guns for the Germans with poor gun sights. The Germans couldn't hit people doing jumping jacks, yet the Allied troops, using the same guns, never ran out of ammunition and killed Germans in bunches.
Finally, there is the way the German troops. Sergeant Hulka's men stumbling through the obstacle course in the movie, "Stripes", were more organized than the way the Germans troops haphazardly ran to the Allied troops. The Germans must have been shooting birds, because they weren't shooting in front of them.
But I should have known this was going to be a lousy flick when the German sniper in the beginning of the film stops to smoke a hooter between shots. The American sniper somehow knows to shoot every few seconds.
What a tremendous waste of film.
The Rain (2018)
I don't like stupid scripts
I lost interest in the first episode. There should not have been only two, at least early on. Despite warnings and common sense, which the daughter doesn't have, she opens the door to the bunker. Her mother told her the person pounding on the door was not her father, who left in a Level A suit. At least go to the door with a weapon. No outside cameras in a bunker where EVERYTHING was thought out. LOL. And the family has no idea how many people were outside the bunker. But I suppose the writers will find a way to make this dumb girl become super intelligent and responsible. I guess that's why it's called science FICTION.
The Change-Up (2011)
Remove the humor involving toilet scenes, genitals, sex, and crude language....
And you have about a 5 minute movie. I expected more from Bateman and Reynolds, but I should have known better. I just thought Rogen and Hill were the worst at crude humor, but this would give them competition. Laughing at a woman going to the toilet ? A toddler spewing crap across the room? A multiple minute urinating scene? Sex with a woman nine months pregnant. I got about 40 minutes in the movie and couldn't take any more.
If this is the best some writers can come up with, maybe the writers should have gone on strike back then. In addition to absolutely zero creativity in writing, the subject of two people switching bodies, or even one person changing has been done numerous times. But then since the writing had absolutely no imagination, choosing a tired subject was no surprise.
Tin Star (2017)
Season 1 was great and the downhill
The first 5-6 episodes of Season 1 were 8 stars for me. The last episode of Season 1 showed me this going to be difficult to be realistic. I fast forwarded the first 4 episodes of Season 2, and still think I wasted about an hour. I quit watching when Tim Roth played a ridiculously unbelievable role where he shoots his own police officers, who were going to arrest him for murder, and they let him out of jail so he can go to AA meetings. He terrorizes a religious community, and everyone is okay with it. He should have died in Season 1, or be sent to jail for murder in Season 2.
So, I gave Season 1 an 8, Season 2 a 1. I quit wasting time on Season 3. So (8 + 1 + 0)/3 seasons = 3.
Why Him? (2016)
Another movie of jokes about sex and body parts and their functions.
I tried to watch this but Hamburg should have tried to write a film that was funny and didn't rely of gutter humor. Couldn't give it a score lower than 1. The premise was good, but not enough imagination to carry it further. What is so funny about a man sitting on a toilet, which in this case is redundant for this film. I have known IT folks that are brilliant but act nothing like the James Franco character. For example there could have been interaction with neighbors or more scenes with the business. Instead it is a character study on trashy language and little plot. I need to watch to see what else Hamburg is responsible for, so I can run the other way.
The Handmaid's Tale (2017)
Should have ended with Season 3
Seasons 1-3 were very good. Season 3 ended like the writers were prepared to end it if there was no Season 4. Season 4 is written like a college student trying to cram a semester's (or quarter's) worth of information overnight for a final exam. I think the writers were surprised and starting throwing stuff on the wall to see what sticks. The train scene where the jumped inside a tanker car (confined space) without knowing the liquid contents was stupid. Taking 5 minutes to show her going in the bathroom to shower was just filler material. I guess Elizabeth Moss required so many closeups of her mug to be a requirement for starring in Season 4. I am absolutely tired of looking at her face over and over. I will try to finish Season 4, hoping Season 5 isn't a disaster. I watched Walking Dead for about 7-8 seasons, but I was tired of the writers dragging it on and on. Same here. Write something good, or end it. And no more close ups of Moss's face. Bleh!!!
D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?! (2022)
Not a documentary but a personal vendetta
There are/were a lot of suspects listed in the Wikipedia page. This documentary deals with one man's crusade to harass one suspect. In 2016, the History Channel refused to do a special for Tom Colbert because it was only about Mr. Rackstraw. The funniest part was the interpretation of Spongebob SquarePants.
The Lost City (2022)
Watch Romancing the Stone over this
I like well written comedies, but Channing Tatum's character is too stupid to be funny. A poor ripoff of Romancing the Stone. Michael Douglas kept it an adventure with light humor. That humor was similar to the Rundown. Instead the leech scene was poorly acted and written. This was dumb and not very original.
Heroes (2006)
Great start..then decline...attempt to recapture in last season
Unlike most reviewers, I did not start watching this series until this year (2022).
Like most reviewers, I liked the first season. It was not like a lot of "brain dead" superhero shows where some villain tries to acquire a set of rings, stones, incantations, etc. To rule the _____(fill in the blank). You really had to pay attention to follow the characters, see how they developed, and how they interacted.
Sylar (Zach Quinto) was a great villain. As a side note, I thought Rami Malek's role as a villain in 007's "No Time to Die" was the down side to the film. Watching "Heroes", Zach Quinto could have played a better villain, if he wanted the role.
But I became increasingly frustrated with the failed attempts to kill Slyer. I believe if the villain was someone like Charles Manson, some of the characters would let him out of jail because he promised to be better.
And some of the characters. Like Angela. I realize she is a mother, but her behavior is all over the map. Especially in the end of Season 3 (Volume 4). Then one of the characters, the Haitian, who seemed to be more prominent in Season 1, kind of only showed up sporadically, I would have liked to have seen more of him.
Invasion: Last Day (2021)
Molasses
Couldn't be this slow. Watched first episode which only described the main characters. A lot of shows use flashbacks to set up current storyline. I see characters that are not interesting. They may be later, but the idea is to capture the interest of the viewers. Spielberg is probably sleeping through this, if he bothers with it.
Lost in Space (2018)
Dr. Smith character was not believable
I could put up with the consistent series of disasters but they are in a hostile environment. There was a situation where Penny and her mom were in a ravine and no one said why they couldn't manually drop the harpoon and retract it with them.
But the painful thing was watching Dr. Smith evade everything with schemes that worked perfectly and people blew her off when she consistently showed she was a liar and manipulator.
The Big Lebowski (1998)
The F Word
If they pulled the gratuitous F Word, which added zero to the movie, out of the script, there would be no lines to learn.
I give the Coen brothers more credit for writing.
Sweet Girl (2021)
At least try to make scenes realistic.
Watched less than 30 minutes. I get tired of unrealistic movies. Jason Mamoa is supposed to play a tough fighter, but his fight scene on the subway is closer to a tryout for Dancing With the Stars. Could have snapped the man's arm, completely turns his back. But I quit when his daughter has a man in a choke hold and ignores the trainer. I guess it was supposed to show her rage. It showed me to another show.
I Care a Lot (2020)
Good and evil lines are blurred
First thought is that while Rosamund Pike is excellent for this role, she has played villainous characters in Die Another Day and Gone Girl, that I hope she doesn't get type cast. She is good enough she may not as seen in her other movies, it is just, IMO, her villain characters stand out.
I remember watching Clint Eastwood in The Unforgiven, and noticed there is little difference in the "good and bad" characters. Note, I am not inferring that this film is as good as The Unforgiven.
There are also problems with the characters. I was not impressed with the role of the Peter Dinkage character, as he probably could have hired more competent henchmen at Wal Mart.
Some of situations in the second half of the film were not as believable as they were presented. And I had two or three other endings going through my thoughts, but they did not develop. That said, I was happy with the ending.
Men in Black: International (2019)
Hemsworth doesn't pull it off
Hemsworth, IMO, couldn't pull off the role of a wise-cracking sophisticated agent. He isn't a natural and forces his role so much it really is difficult to watch. Although too old, this was the type of role made for Hugh Grant.
And the plot had all of the originality of a third-grader's essay on "What I Did Last Summer".
In the first MIB, the weapons didn't play a big part of the film, while Hemsworth pulls his if he hears a cricket chirp.
The acting is horrible, the plot is a dud, and the roles have no character. The only good thing? The title role wasn't given to Russell Brand.
Ghostbusters (2016)
Colossal waste of money and talent
This much talent and nothing worthwhile to show for it. Some times sequels are difficult to make. But with imagination, some sequels are excellent, like Star Trek, Harry Potter, Alien.
I was looking for something fresh. Even an attempt at a prequel could have held promise. But I held off writing a review until I saw the trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, to be released in November 2021. Trailers aren't the entire movie, but it shows infinitely more promise than this film.
The plus side? I don't think the producers have to worry about it being pirated.
Secret Obsession (2019)
8 x 10
Brenda Song must have an 8 x 10 of someone important in a compromising position because she didn't get here by quality acting.
The Innocent Man (2018)
Life in a Small Town in a Rural Area
I agree with one comment that this could have a reduced number of episodes, but it helped me like it was.
This is the 100th anniversary where Oklahomans massacred African Americans in Tulsa and murdered and stole from the Osage Indians. Why should this surprise me?
I just saw their Gov Stitt cheering an anti-abortion bill last week. So does pro-life include executing innocent people and defending to keep them in jail, or does God wink at that because you can say "anti-abortion"?
Stowaway (2021)
Unbelievable Starting With Anna Kendrick
First, Anna Kendrick was not believable in this role. Someone lost a bet for her to be in this film. Kim Kardashian would have been as believable.
The design of this space vehicle is so flawed. Not sure why the tank was 450m away (moment arm?) with no access system. There seems to be no method to perform maintenance on something that will be in the harshest environment for 2 years. I could give a 6 year old some LEGOs and get a better design.
Last Three Days (2020)
Not really a good film, BUT...
It is light years ahead of another recent time travel film based on ingesting a chemical. This was basically a love story with a messed up story. There is no pretense of an Oscar here. Comparing it to Synchronic is like saying a man with a nickel is richer than a man with a penny.
Synchronic could have been a decent sci-fi film. It had Anthony Mackie. More money. And a great story line. But poor writing doomed it with too many logical flaws, failure to develop characters, and lack of heart.
Save your time. Avoid both. But this does have a flawed love story.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
Dane DeHaan as officer is the fantasy
Dane DeHaan is more believable as a Bond girl than a military officer/leader. Probably would have been much better with better casting.
Synchronic (2019)
Great story ruined by poor script.
I suspect the only reason Anthony Mackie did this film was because of the filming location. It wasn't because it was a well-thought out script. Why have the chemist in the film without following that character? Anthony Mackie's character plays a person who shows comprehension and logic and almost immediately fails to reach the third grade level of intelligence. Really frustrating to see a great sci-fi premise flushed down the toilet of incompetence. The end did not make sense because the audience can only make speculations.