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Jules (2023)
Cute
As a senior citizen myself, it was great to see so many aged actors in one place as the center of a movie. Ala Cocoon, this one is heartwarming and hopeful for us of a certain generation.
Enjoyable movie, liked the idea of some random citizen being 1st contact and deciding to keep it a secret because in these "disclosure" days, don't we ALL know that to report it means they'll swoop in, take it and literally (probably) tear it apart to reverse engineer it? Apparently even us old folks know this, so that was pleasing to see.
It was also interesting to see the portrayal of how an aged persons deteriorating mental state (aka dementia) could have an impact on younger folks taking older folks seriously. I mean, we know this will be true when it happens to us, it's just kinda depressing. Only other old folks will take us seriously, seems to be the message there. Not sure that's NOT accurate (depressing in itself).
Where it lost me was the final scenes. All that build-up, all that slow road to nowhere's-ville. Granted, probably how it'd really happen, no publicity, no parades, no accolades for being the one to save an alien being, etc.
But this is a movie. We GET to play with how we WANT something to end. And those final scenes where they not only didn't get to go with the alien (unexplained, after he offered them to go aboard) but why getting dropped off in a very inhospitable location on earth itself? WTH? That is NOT understandable, not satisfying.
So, yah, watch it...but maybe turn it off when they're running out to watch the alien escape the calvary coming to get him. Just pretend it ends on a better note. Because the last 3 mins will leave you deflated. =/
Yellowjackets (2021)
slide to ridiculous
I liked season 1. It was unique, weird, engaging, kept the storyline interesting and moving along, terrific actors (besides Juliette Lewis, what's wrong with her now? She seems so twitchy in everything she does lately), etc etc..so all worthwhile. Sure there were parts here and there that didn't make sense, but it was so interesting it was easy to overlook, plus there was more interesting parts than ridiculous ones to have to overlook.
That's just not true of season 2. They've gone completely off a cliff of any kind of sense and most episodes are spent by me trying to justify it's gonna get better. It has to, because it was already so good! Right? Wrong.
It hasn't and here I am on episode 7 of season 2, Burial. Where some eejit thought it was a great story to let Shauna beat the crap out of Lottie. I'm not talking just a slap or two. This is a straight up beating that can kill a person only halfway through what this beatdown included. And she did have physical issues afterwards but it didn't really add anything to the story so it got brushed over pretty quickly it seemed.
But this is a huge problem. They throw in vignettes of scenes that just don't need to happen and/or don't add ANYTHING to the story. It truly feels more like filler than truth to the story. And to choose one person literally kicking the snot out of another to the brink of death is a glaring neon sign of WTF are you people thinking? You're ruining what was a good show. Ruining it!
Are they letting different people write each episode? There doesn't feel like much continuity of some ideas being followed here. I'm on episode 8 so I'm going to finish this season, but I am not planning on watching any season 3, 2 yrs from now. This has become crap and the only reason I was still engaged so heavily was Christina Ricci. She's still terrific in everything she does.
Deadloch (2023)
a struggle
Before I start I have to say that I LOVE Aussie tv, it's always a geat time, pushes the envelope on ideas and usually comes out ahead of everyone else in the game.
But this one was a real struggle. It wasn't ruined by the dirty language, being irish we have lots of potty mouths in our family. It wasn't the sexuality, again...irish...we can get down and dirty with the best of 'em. It wasn't even that quite a few of the characters are truly obnoxious, the kind of obnoxious that seriously...I'd shove out the front door and lock it in their faces. I'd staight up do that to detective Eddie Redcliffe in a heartbeat.
Nah, this was ruined by 2 ridiculous caricatures of human beings. Detective Eddie Redcliffe and girlfriend Cath York. NEITHER of these clowns are bearable. I couldn't stand either of them. Over the top ridiculousness mixed with irritating stupidity.
Every scene they were in was cringey to the extreme. Are they bad actresses or are these just really super sh....tty characters?? After episode 4 I didn't care anymore and I stopped paying attention to them period. I only stayed to find out the "who did it" part.
If you can tune those 2 out, you'll be ok. If not, then you'd better go with what others say and decide this is a super wacky comedy because NOTHING else after that will give it any allowances for being worth wasting 8 hours of your life on.
Comedy with a side of seriousness or Crime with a side of stupidity....either way....it's not really worth it this time.
Us (2019)
Us, They, Them. Get OUT
In the beginning, I was so excited by what Peele had to offer. I really like his comedy pieces. And he seemed to offer up a new breed of horror from a new perspective with unusual twists and turns to keep it exciting. Much like M Night Shyamalan, his fresh takes showed promise of something new and exciting to enjoy.
Unfortunately for Peele, he doesn't seem to be able to keep it consistent quality offerings. M Night's can be a bit erratic but he hits the mark pretty close about half the time. Peele isn't even hitting the quarter-mark.
I absolutely think Peele's talented. But I think creative genius's get so caught up in thinking that they have to make EVERYTHING above and beyond special EVERY TIME that they lose sight of the fact that people have to LIKE what they're making. I don't care what the artist's name is, if it's crap, it's crap.
And this...is crap.
I feel badly for all the actors and anyone else involved in this endeavor because 30 yrs from now, their descendents are going to look at this mess and think "what the heck was grandma/grandpa thinking when they decided to be involved in this mess?"
Not a great legacy for any of them. And a complete waste of time for us viewers.
Knock at the Cabin (2023)
WAY better than most of the reviews declare
I don't know what's gotten into people. I know M Night Shyamalan has a bit of a spotty record. I myself wasn't thrilled with The Village, OLD or The Happening. He has an off-beat, off-kilter way of telling a story sometimes. But never is it off-putting. Not like some of these reviews go into anyway.
But this particular story was delicious. It's telling, it's editing, it's cinematics...near perfect. (I only saw one blooper but it wasn't a biggie so no biggie)
Apocalyptic movies are ABOUT choices in a disaster. Seriously, that's the whole bottom line. Who has to do what to survive and make sure their loved ones do too. But what if part of that was deciding who of your loved ones literally had to DIE? But next up is no.... YOU don't get decide who, the victim has to decide it's them but YOU have to kill them? Holy heck batman...now what? I honestly couldn't do it. In fact, I'd choose to BE the one who died just so I wouldn't have to live with that afterwards. That's how much of a COWARD I am.
The fact this had a religious overtone to it, at first wasn't great to me, as an atheist. But it's a good plot point to base it on, the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse. I like that, just like in Seventh Sign, another good "omen" movie that a lot of people panned as ridiculous. Mystical always holds my interest if not my belief system.
The actors took it to a higher grade as well, with everyone but ESPECIALLY the kid who played Wen!!! Doing a fantastic job. Was a nice break for Bautista to show us a softer, but also somewhat more menacing side to his talents than we get with Guardians. No wrong talents in this bunch.
This movie is so much better than the 6 or less folks are letting on.
100% worth putting into an M Night Shyamalan movie-thon night with Sixth Sense, Signs (my personal favorite), Glass, Split and now THIS one.
Hinterland (2013)
Atmospheric palaver
Came for the quality detective series that the UK offerings usually provide, stayed for the scenery and sets.
UK Detective series are my #1 genre. Smart, intelligent, provides good storylines without relying on a lot of useless fight scenes or car chases. All in all good storytelling.
This one doesn't quite live up to it. The mysteries aren't really all that engaging. And it's hard to tell if it's the story or the dull delivery of it all. I'm sure these actors are terrific in other gigs, but here the whole thing seems dimmed and not because of the gloomy atmosphere.
They all feel like they're bored. With their life in Wales, with their jobs, even with the mysteries they're charged to solve. The only character on the show who has a spark of life is Hannah Daniel. The character of DI Mared Rhys isn't very likable. She seems to go around judging people and finds everyone wanting. Even the main character, DCI Mathias isn't compelling because we're left too long wondering what his whole moody deal is. With no answers, after a while, we stop caring.
But the scenery, the sets inside big old Welsh mansions, the cobbled streets headed down to the sea, all of that will keep me watching if only to feel like I'm visiting home (in a way as some of my family comes from Wales).
Even that's not enough to keep it going forever though.
Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)
Quite intriguing
I hadn't seen any trailers or anything about this movie so had no preconceptions before finding it on Prime. But I love both the main actors so figured how bad could it be? Even half bad would still be good enough for a 2 hour checking out of real life and enjoying something else instead.
Found this did the job better than just OK too.
The concept is original, the story even more so simply because who would think to have a running theme of ancestral history over thousands of years to help tie the djinn's lifetime history together? I certainly wouldn't have had that kind of creative well to pull from. So great job on original story lines and ingenuous continuity.
And the STORY...extremely engaging. Truly connects with understanding love lost, perils of loving too much or too deeply as well as how, even while great, might not be the best thing ever to happen to a person.
His need to connect, causing him to love quickly where and when he can juxtaposed with his forced isolation for centuries is heartbreaking all the more because we recognize we live through that ourselves on a much lesser scale.
I don't understand the criticisms of the ending. After watching the movie and reading them, it strikes me there IS NO OTHER ending that actually makes sense! He can't stay in this modern world. It's way too vicious on him, no matter what he does. How he's made vs where we're at technologically speaking is another juxtaposition that most of us never have to think about. But he has to because of how it's destroying him.
This story was magical...made all the more so by the cinematography through the ages from Sheba and Solomon's kingdoms to Sulieman's courts down to a modern hotel room. Very visually appealing.
Two hours magically spent.
The Rig (2023)
what a mess
Given the star power involved in this endeavor, I immediately thought "oh, this'll be good!" plus I usually enjoy a good disaster movie having grown up on the first forays into the genre in the 70's. Even campy disaster movies can be great fun just for the thrills of there-by-the-skin-of-my-teeth near death experiences they evoke.
But the truest disaster here was how much it devalued these stellar actors by making me wonder "what the heck were they thinking?"
Did NONE of them read the lazy script? The dialogue is brutal to have to listen to. It's so ridiculous, childish, tantrum throwing bs that it's actually comical, not worrisome. Not exactly what they were going for there, I'm sure.
Every other scene has every other actor flip-flopping on their attitude about what's happening and around and around they went.
Then throw in the most hateful character I've seen in a while and wow...just WOW! He's the main one I WANT to see die off and quickly, yet he's one of the survivors? Yah..no pleasure there.
This series had absolutely NO saving grace from start to finish. The ONLY reason I stuck it out was because I wanted to enjoy said death hateful person that never came.
Note to self: quit while ahead...turn this garbage off.
FBI: Doomsday (2018)
reviews full of ridiculousness
This will probably be more of a review of reviews than the actual show....but....
nah, I'll review the show too.
This episode is fine, full of twisty turns that keep you interested without getting too technical in how a nuclear power plant actually functions.
Sound about right for having an enjoyable, hour-long, procedural FBi show we like tuning into? Ala' NCIS, Moonlighting (OLD OLD show), Castle (such fun) or any other well-written but obviously not FACTUAL procedural show? Yah...suits me too for what I expect when I'm tuning in.
If y'all are coming here to get a college degree on nuclear physics, JAG practices (NCIS), being a PI (Moonlighting), novel writing (Castle) or...then.. what-the-actual-???...you should be in college! Not tv watching to become experts! Gawd forbid it just be FUN! (eyeroll)
This episode was every bit as fine as the rest of them...maybe more so because it had an interesting backstory to it as well (the guy being a 10 most wanted as well as a "plant" at the plant)
True Lies: Pilot (2023)
True fun
Don't listen to any negative or "shoulda been better" or not believable jibberjabber.
This opening episode was just True Lies FUN style, like the movie. The movie was pure fun, not MEANT to be a serious type action/drama/OR spy type offering.
JUST fun! This show captured that all.
Howey was great as Harry (he was funny in shameless too, Kevin Ball is fine by me), the actress who plays Helen was a great casting choice (not familiar with her stuff but appears to have her chops about her).
I hope the writing stays tight to be at least half-way plausible. That's the only area I could see becoming a problem (how do you have endless jobs where you teacher wife has to go too?).
I'm happy to see it. Hope it sticks.
The Captive (2014)
man, I wish I could
I wish I could give this a higher rating and give this a higher review. Ryan Reynolds is an all-time favorite of mine and while his acting in this movie is still stellar, this movie is pure crap.
There are just WAY too many plot holes in it to be watched without derision. I'm all for suspending belief in logic to get to the end of a great story, but thes stinker expects you to check your brain at the door and just think stuff that happens in this movie could REALLY happen.
Spoiler
he actually gets to SEE, hug, talk to his daughter 8 years after she's abducted. How? They steal his trailer full of trees he's contracted to provide on a construction job where he ends up having to spend the night due to a blizzard. They steal the trees and then leave them in a straight line up a mountain and behind a locked fence where there's been a camera installed. He follows the trees up the hill to find...his daughter waiting for him. She talks gibberish to him about a riddle of "gimmicks" that he's somehow supposed to figure out. Then, surprise, surprise, when he refuses to leave and leave her behind, they shoot him with a tranquilizer. Knocking him out for 10 mins (they state this). But apparently, when he wakes up, he's got NO CLUE as to where she went. So no frantic running around trying to figure out where she disappeared to (which would make sense). But MORE importantly...he tells NO ONE this happened!!!
But honestly, why would he? They think he had something to do with the kidnapping...from the cops thinking he sold her to pay bills he never pays after 8 years even, to a wife who from the split second she disappears blames him for leaving the 10 yr old in the truck while he ran in to pick up a pie, per usual after lessons. The cops are idiots and the wife is a HUGE......... She's spent 8 years telling him it was his fault every chance she got and he, like an idiot, just says "I love you honey" every chance he gets! I wanted to smack him for his simple-mindedness!
The side-hustle of gaslighting the mom at her job was a neat little storyline but they didn't capitalize on it enough to make it more interesting. Then they didn't follow up on the visitors to a guy they arrested who they knew was involved in the pedophile ring, which would've led them directly to the guy holding the kidnapped girl in the first place! I mean...come ON! These cops were USELESS!
All in all, this movie was a mess. I can't in good grace say watch it, even for the fun of laughing at it's ridiculousness. Ryan Reynolds deserved better. Man...I wish I could.
Reminiscence (2021)
Wouldn't it be nice...
The low reviews aren't valid, I'm glad I didn't listen to them (not that I would) to decide on watching or not.
This is NOT an action movie. It's a story. And there's a lot of moving pieces in this story that don't scream out at first. Small things add up to the big reveal. But if you're not watching the small pieces, you won't understand the big story.
This movie reminds me a lot of Minority Report but without the non-stop action, it's the small pieces it reminds me of. But in this telling it's actual memories people can go visit...again and again and again. And others can see them too. At least those who have access to the machinery that provides this treat.
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to visit great memories, as if they're real, again? I think it would. But the option can get addicting. We'd want to live there. And we'd want to NOT be reminded of the bad ones.
Hugh Jackman always plays a great romantic lead, especially when he's sad or somehow having to deal with angst. Those are his niches. Seeing Miami as a city partially under water ala Venice was surreal. Given what we know about climate change, etc. I just don't see Miami as having much going for it right now, so inconveniently under water too makes me think society should just abandon it fullscale. That they don't seems implausible. Which isn't the only implausible thing here, but the other ones were sci-fi stuff...sooo.... I can live with those since I love sci-fi stuff.
I think people who like to think, like to listen to a story told by your grandparents about a time when they dealt with a different world, or someone from a different country talking about how something happens in their world, would love this piece. It's got enough logic mixed in with the twists and turns, good guys and bad guys, to keep it moving along nicely to a good ending. But you've got to pay attention to understand the ending, irony and all.
Spoiler part:
He always knew he'd get caught...the very fact we're dealing with MEMORIES that can be used against a person guarantees that. Which is why he went to his old mate Watts to discuss it all. It's also why he sends her packing right before he went off the deep-end...so she wouldn't get caught up in his shenanigans, be complicit. But he bargained his way to a finale he could "live" with...which was under sedation for the rest of his life, reliving his best moments with the person who pretty much ended his life. Where he found his most joy. Wouldn't it be nice if that WAS a viable way out?
I found it ironic that Wolverine chose to end up in a tank for the rest of his lifetime at the end of this movie. Just struck me as funny.
Dýrið (2021)
disquieting and incomplete
If I had known that The Lamb was a movie in the style of The Witch beforehand, I probably wouldn't have bothered to watch it. If I had known it was all in Icelandic so you better pay close attention to understand the dialogue via subtitles is necessary, I probably wouldn't have watched it.
So that's 2 things that would've stopped me from the get-go. Alas, I ended up watching an interesting concept based on folk-tales from Iceland and or greek mythology (in a way). But the concept fell flat. WAY flat.
This movie doesn't explain itself very well, so that viewers can understand what they're watching. I think that's a disservice to the viewer. The story relies on a folk-tale that many of us don't know about. So from the get go we're kinda lost.
If I were in a theater watching this, I'd have gotten up and left about 30 minutes in as I did with The Witch along with about 10-15 other people. Because I'd be so lost, it'd be frustrating. But I was at home so I could google to ask a few questions so I could understand just bare bones of what was happening.
The writer, director, etc simply didn't do a good job of laying any foundation for the story itself. That's so unfair to the viewer. If you're so busy going WTF? About the movie, you're missing valuable info while you're viewing it still. NOTHING makes sense then.
Until you see the "baby" move in the crib and realize it's got human appendages. (I only knew this by googling, so knew to keep my eyes open)
This could've been such a GREAT movie. It has great actors, fantastic scenery, unusual concept for the story line.... I mean..all the right ingredients! But they screwed it up by thinking they need to be SOOOOO artsy-fartsy that they would paint a Picasso but only give us pieces of it at a time like it's a puzzle. If you've ever seen a Picasso you know those faces aren't standard faces. So HOW would you know where Picasso intended his pieces to end up? You don't. Same here. There's no way to discern what they want us to even know to help us build up to the final scenes, where all the "action" takes place.
Movies are about stories. It's the writing and directing that is supposed to tell us a story. But if they give us NOTHING for the story to be based upon, we're not getting a story. We're only getting pieces of concepts that only THEY understand while they're generating it. That's an arrogant "gotcha" set-up.
But this movie went one better. It gave us NOTHING in the final scenes to show us what Maria will be left with, dealing with after Ram-Man comes to take his "child" back. Maybe we're supposed to feel bereft, like she will. Probably, given their methods here. But by then I didn't really care because obviously, we're only expected to go along for the ride. Not participate in it.
I'll be keeping an eye out for the writers and directors involved in this offering. So I know NOT to watch whatever it is then as I don't appreciate this type of story-telling.
Babylon (2022)
just like cotton candy...
Just like cotton candy...this mess has NO substance or value. It's literally a circus, complete with elephants, clowns and schtick. From the get-go the audience is bombarded with style. Flash. Excess. Everything Babylon had in the bible that made them want to destroy it. As if that's the ONLY thing we're looking for.
It's not. I for one want STORY. Not just images trying to tell a story that comes up as empty and classless as this does. Babylon is living up to it's name in everything it threw at the camera in the first 30 minutes.
I can live without all the big name stars and all the big grand cinematography if the story is good. If all I'm looking for is flashy picturesque wonder then I'd like this movie. But I'm not so it doesn't. And since I'm not, I wasn't interested in the story after getting through the introductions. That excess turned me off. I didn't like that Hollyweird history to begin with so making a movie about it just seems...yah...self-indulgent like many others have said better than I.
Greenland (2020)
wow...just...wow
This is an outstanding apocalypse movie. Not the usual offering. For all the naysayers, it's obvious their opinion must be ignored as flawed. Straight up. They're looking for 2012 (a favorite of mine) or San Andreas (another favorite of mine) for just non-stop action. That isn't this.
This disaster movie jumps right in and doesn't let up one second. But it's not about relentless environmental disaster. This is HUMAN disaster that won't let up.
It taps into what made The Walking Dead pretty specatcular in the beginning (then became a repeat of the same tropes season after season).
How we're such rotten humans we'd kidnap a sick child from it's mother because it might get us to safety over being left out in the cold, literally.
How we'd shoot an invalid woman in a wheelchair because her husband didn't wheel her fast enough out of a looted pharmacy.
How a relentlessly ignorant bigot would demand a "chosen" person (Gerard Butler's character) didn't deserve a wristband because he wasn't born in the US (he keeps his scottish accent in this movie). Nevermind he's a structural engineer and the bigot is an obviously uneducated entitled redneck. (stereotypes abound)
All of that is happening while an extinction level comet is about to hit the planet.
As humans, we're the worst. And our best isn't enough to overcome that in the end when there's just so MUCH worst going on. I think I prefer the comet to any of those awful awful humans.
Great reason to decide that if/when an extinction level event happens, I'm just hunkering down. I have cupboards full of food to last me 6 months. I'll figure the rest out as I go. Just so I don't have to deal with those awful humans.
The Little Things (2021)
(yawn) it's like WE'RE on stake out
I love a good crime procedural show. CSI, Law & Order, etc etc. And I don't need non-stop action like you see in all os Liam Neeson's movies. I'm a reader so I'm happy to follow the plot until the grand reveal starts to happen.
But this was NOT any of those slow-burn build-ups. Unfortunately it wasn't even good writing for much of it. Pointless sentences uttered by 2 top-notch actors who can't give any more intonation to their utterances because they're weighed down in very mediocre writing.
We knew who the bad guy was way too early in this movie for it to be a movie built solely on "anticipation" on nabbing said bad guy. Someone opined this was a movie to show how tedious cop work can be. Umm.. I think we ALL already get that. But we don't pay (or want to pay) actual money to sit there watching the flies land on different leaves while a slow season change is happening. And that's about the pace of this movie for much of it. There was NO mystery to any of it. No anticipation of something different coming up. No joy in finding out some new clue that might change what we "THINK" we're watching. Nothing. That's the problem. The bad guy reveal lost all momentum with nothing else to go for it.
And now, character issues. I'm a huge Denzel fan. But he was boring here. Is he allowed to BE boring as an actor? Sure, if the part is boring. But this cop has some bad history. Despite that, even that wasn't enough to make the character more interesting. The bad thing he did was apparently just getting obsessed the way people do and having it impact his life. Hmm....gee...that sounds like...life. Again, boring. Nothing huge.
Rami's character. Rami is a very specific niche, for good or bad, that's true. His pensive jaw-clenched look is just his natural face and it is what it is. It's perfect in some roles, not in others. For THIS role...as a tense, stick-up-the-arse cop role here you'd THINK he'd be perfect. But he's not. He doesn't appear to be comfortable at all. Ever. Maybe that's the point? I don't know but it didn't come off that way. It was an ill fit somehow. Even his holding a gun on the bad guy, looked like he was untrained for holding a gun. WTF? So weird. He's a cop for gosh sake! He should know how to hold a gun. His whole body language all the way through was AWFUL.
Jared Leto was the ONLY one who seemed to fit his role. And his goofy, awe shucks, murdering madman demeanor brought some enjoyment but it's not enough on it's own.
I'm not gonna say don't watch it...big name stars are in it, sooooo...but yah, maybe play some family games or something to make your evening more enjoyable while it's on.
George & Tammy (2022)
Another heartbreak story...
This is a MUST see for folks who like country music. Or good music. Or story telling music. Or just...music.
Par for country music, it's about having a life full of heartbreak, turmoil, big personalities, too much excess against too little control. If I knew nothing about George Jones and Tammy Wynette I could tell you their story just by their music.
Don't get me wrong, that isn't a BAD thing. I PREFER songs that tell stories. I was HUGE into old country in the 60's, 70's right up to country pop of Achey Breaky Heart of the 90's. As the daughter of an Oklahoma Cowboy (yes, CAPITAL C!) I enjoyed my fair share of barn dances, barn raisings and plain ole' barn snogging with a cute teenaged Cowboy. Makings of a country song right there!
So I knew who Jones and Wynette were from the start. Even so, this series brought so much more to light. Wrapped it in a big bow of showing what their turmoil was that fed their music. Beautifully. I cried over just listening to that old music. Knowing what the lyrics meant.
Showtime did one helluva job on this endeavor. I'd watch it again just to watch without all the emotion clouding my eyes. Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon are PHENOMENAL...the rest of the cast top notch to boot. But Chastain and Shannon ARE Tammy and George forever more now.
Don't miss it or you'll miss out on the music. Everyone needs to hear the music. And understand it better by watching where the music came from.
Bandit (2022)
Duhamel steals your heart while stealing from banks
There's no other way to say it: This is Josh Duhamel's BEST performance yet! He has ALWAYS knocked it out of the park with every acting job he's been in. But here we're seeing a man truly get better with every role he does. He sits in the skin of the bank robber/conman/actor/boyfriend/husband/daddy role as if it IS his own. Nothing about this came off as "acting". Not once, from any of the actors involved. So huge kudos all around. But especially Duhamel. This would not be as great if it had been any other actor playing the Flying Bandit-whom I'd never heard of before this.
I'm a huge fan of Mel Gibson too (despite the drunken drama of years gone by) and he's done an excellent job of a low-key loan shark who becomes mentor and best friend of the Flying Bandit. Their camaraderie is palpable...transcends just acting parts. Wouldn't surprise me to know they actually go to each others houses for BBQs on weekends.
Every other actor was top-notch too, but those two made this movie what it is. Terrific.
Watch it, enjoy it for what it is. An excellent story of a true life renegade presented the way all movies should be-as if they're sharing their story with us over dessert after a great dinner. 100% all in on this one!
I hated to see it end.
Fire Country (2022)
can't no more
I started off really loving this series. I like every actor in it, so many great ones here. The series topic is not only relevant but provides potential for endless great stories. Especially the con camp. I've heard of these, so this coverage of it was a great idea.
So what's wrong? Well, seriously...they TALK too dang much! Mid fire they're stopping to have heart to heart chats ALL THE TIME! It's freakin' ridiculous!
Tonights episode was the one with the old codger who wouldn't evacuate. So the team decides to help him prepare to stand his ground. But at one point, he makes a point of saying they need to stop yakking and get back to work. I actually clapped for him! Because they WERE only yakking...AGAIN!!!! Then when Gabby snapped back they were working as fast as they can....um.. HELLO...NO you're NOT! Old Codger was right and had every right to call y'all out on it! It's move 2 branches, chat, hoe 4 feet of line, chat, grab a hose and water down the house for 5 minutes...guess what? CHAT!
Jeez, I hope (no, I KNOW) our real firefighters don't behave this way. They don't have TIME! But seriously, this is the thing that's gonna break for me in this series. It's ANNOYING.. every 5 minutes!
Fight the fires then go back to the station and have your feelings meeting. Like in the real world.
I'll probably watch a few more episodes but I don't see me sticking with this series. Too MUCH touchy feelie stuff when it's not appropriate.
Shotgun Wedding (2022)
Way better than people will allow
I enjoyed this movie. It is lighthearted rom-com with action, jokes, family interactions we can all relate to set in a beautiful place. Not anything there to dislike. But seems a lot of people will or do. Just can't relax enough and let it be FUN without getting all negative. This was never intended to BE an academy award winning, one for the ages, cinema experience. It delivered EXACTLY what it meant to. Two hours of laughter, tongue-in-cheek action hilarity in a beautiful setting.
J. Lo has always been given a lot of guff over her acting skills. Some of it's true, but it's also way too harsh in light of the idea that she just LIKES to be doing it! She's excellent in so many other areas, I'm good with enjoying her enjoyment out of being an actor. Awards aren't what she's after. She just likes doing it. What's so wrong with that?
The show has enough other star power to help it along. Josh Duhamel is always good in my opinion. He knows how to deliver. He's got the good looks and the moves. They've also go Cheech! To help and Lenny Kravitz to fill out in other ways. Plus, they've got that Coolidge chick who seems to be in EVERYTHING now'a'days. Guess her ships come in HUGE now. I'm not a huge fan, she's about on a par as J. Lo for ability but again, she LOVES what she's doing! I can see that.
It's like an SNL skit. It's not always perfect, but it's fun. I'm happy to watch a FUN offering to fill in a sat night with my feet up. I enjoyed it!
The Equalizer (2021)
All things being equal, this ain't
I was all in for this reboot in it's own style. Queen Latifah? Heck yah! Chris Noth? Definitely yah! (don't care about his "me too" debacle, I don't know anything about it and not gonna go there on this). The rest of the people on the show? All of them quality players.
But the script writing, continuity in it's OWN stories, cohesiveness in behavior of the individuals, and it's background plots are ALL pretty bad.
One episode Robyn is treating people with appreciation, respect, real love for them, how they assist her on the cases, what they bring to the effort of saving folks.
Next episode she's the snottiest B on the block who condescends to EVERYONE. Rude in how she DEMANDS something from them on a case and what she expects. Just an awful person. It's become regular that she tells Harry she needs something, some magical piece of evidence that he tries to explain would take HOURS or days to capture and she trashes him with "well she doesn't have hours". Like he can literally control this so he's supposed to pull this magical evidence out of thin air or something. It's uncalled for, fantasy expectations of her cohorts and undue abrasiveness for something Harry or Mel canNOT change just because she stamps her feet. And she always asks people to "be safe" but when they say it to her she condescends to them with "I'm always good, people need to look out for me" posing. It's TIRESOME! Boring! It's come down to Latifah isn't actually acting really. She's posturing the role. Like it's only about attitude. Her attitude sucks though.
Seriously, there's really only one thing that's ruining the whole show and that's the star of the show. And I didn't want to come to this conclusion but it's truly the only one.
I can't finish watching the series...I'm done at season 2 episode 15. All things being equal...this ain't.
Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities (2022)
More like Cabinet of Crappola
Once again, a director/producer/actor's reputation is expected to be enough to propel a moviei or tv show to brilliance. And once again, we're left with complete and utter nonsense. They just keep throwing every trick they always use to offer it up as "art". And we fall for it and then wonder why we don't get it, or why it somehow missed the mark. I'll tell the secret no one wants to say.
They're NOT doing their best! They cobbling together crap by using crazy and strange cinematography being acted out by usually A+ actors we already love or think highly of and calling it good. They give NO effort to intelligent story-telling, cohesive plots that make sense or has some other kind of relevance to hold onto. They're selling their garbage relying on name recognition alone.
I'm done buying. They need to start giving quality effort or they're gonna get the reviews they deserve. Give me a good story or I'm putting your garbage out with the kitty litter scoopings as it deserves.
NONE of the episodes of this series was good. NONE of them. This was a complete waste of time. I actually quit watching after episode 4 because it was just insulting.
1899 (2022)
Pseudo intelligent idiocy
Fans of science fiction will flock to this because it's very stylish, seemingly intelligent and delivers non-stop beautiful and catchy imagery that makes it appear as if it's gonna deliver some kind of enlightenment when it all clicks together in the end.
Only it doesn't. It's all just stylish, seemingly intelligent and delivery of non-stop beautiful and catchy imagery.
None of it "CONNECTS" (one of the shows favorite words) throughout all 8 episodes. It depends upon us just going on the ride, letting it all just wash over us, with it connecting magically in the end. But they don't provide any THREADS to actually connect it all together. None of these people have backstories to tell us why they're also on the endless loop of rides on doomed steamships. We're allowed to know that Maura is the daughter of the mastermind behind it all. That Daniel is her husband and Elliot (the boy) is her son...but too late to actually care. We're given random snapshots of her being in a mental hospital, but no reason WHY. Then it's the boy who's in the mental hospital, but no reason WHY. And behind teh scenes is a villian who's only there to get "the key" to do some villianous thing, but no reason WHY.
Embarrassing that I watched this trap of a show through all 8 episodes hoping it would connect in the end. Suspecting that it never would.
In the end, I was right.
Evil: I Is for IRS (2021)
Almost done...going going gone
I generally save a review for an end of series, end of season kind of timing. Rarely do an "episode" as a stand alone because they're usually tied together as a story. Which, yah, this one is tied to others as the story. But it's the STORY that's become such bullsh!t that I'm considering removing this show from my line-up to watch.
Season 1 was terrific. Enough wackiness mixed with common sense stories that it's believable. Confusing but within the realm of possible.
Season 2 has gone off the cliff of any kind of cohesive story line to connect to others or make sense. It's like watching Twin Peaks wackiness while on acid so nothing makes sense and afterwards you can't make sense of anything you've just watched. It's just scene after scene of STUPIDITY! Like it's important and has something to do with a STORY! It DOESN'T!!!
1. she's pulling on her panties outside in the driveway? She's really suddenly that stupid?
2. Sylvia is pouring blood over Leland's head in a bathtub where he's lying fully-clothed? WHY? NO point to that!!
3. Ben KNOWS it's "Maggie" he's having sex with, he's called her out on it several times, but after having sex on the floor, Vanessa calls and he's SURPRISED? We know he's not that stupid, he's actually the smartest of the 3 IMO but he can't connect dots?
That list could go on for days but...it's frustrating even just listing them because it brings the issue of the writers, show runners, etc disrespect for us the viewers front and center.
Do they seriously think we're so stupid we'll just keep watching despite this bullsh!te they've been delivering week after week now?
Thank goodness I was binging instead of wasting my time week after week waiting and hoping for a good episode to arrive. I discovered this bs in 1 day...saved myself time.
So many dumb story lines. Too many dumb story lines to be worthwhile after this episode.
Ps: forgot one of my biggest "I hate this" part. Those DAUGHTERS! Holy heck!! They never shut up, they never talk in a normal voice and they never behave themselves in a normal way! Seriously...whoever thought they were cute needs to be fired.
Yellowstone: Watch 'Em Ride Away (2022)
Beth's nastiness
I am and have been a diehard Yellowstone fanatic, emphasis on the fan. I don't even care when red hats swear up and down it's THEIR show despite the very heavy hand of "woke" aspects liberally (haha) sprinkled in the series. Yellowstone has something for truly just about everyone.
But after 4 years of watching I finally felt the need to review. Because this episode BOTHERED me. It's NOT Yellowstone worthy. It's sole purpose felt designed to fill in the hour with scenes that will segue us into the 1923 presentation. After the fight (more on that below) John Dutton specifically says the family has always had to fight to get the land, then fight to keep it so in one sentence he brushed off the fact that his daughter is a disrespectful hooligan who feels the only way to solve a problem is with nastiness or punching. Apparently he LOVES that she does it even while he's threatening to ground her (that's what every chastisement he serves up at her is-like she's a teenager). Yah good old-fashioned values for sure. Yeehaw.
As others have covered, this show has become WAY too much about Beth and her rampant nastiness followed closely by her acting like a petulant mewling kitten to get what she wants out of Rip. Meanwhile Rip's backbone has somehow been left in a pasture to rot somewhere. He can dish it out to the guys, but when it comes to her he's a pandering lounge lizard. It's getting to be a HUGE turn-off. Especially since we KNOW that the only real reason Beth got Rip (he's so far out of HER league it's ridiculous) was because he DIDN'T let her call all the shots. Beth needs to go to jail for something, they've got tons of reasons to choose from since she walks around all day looking for someone to threaten and vandalize. Please...1 six month sentence. Knock the brashness right out of her. Fix everything Daddy John never thought he needed to teach her.
I am not a Summer fan at all. I actually DO advocate for environmental changes, protections, regulations and oversight. But I am the daughter of an Oklahoma cowboy and great/great/great granddaughter of a 100% Chiricahua native. My grandmother's story is phenomenal and actually in a few (local) history books. So my whole belief system coincides with the cowboy and native philosophy. Take care of the land, but it's also there meant to help US survive.
Summer is an elitist that needs to go back to California beaches or her commune. And not because she's a "hippie" as some have said (she is) but because she's an arrogant know-it-all who thinks that just because she stomps her feet she's gonna get what she wants. And John actually LIKING her is just...it's not even fathomable. I didn't think so last season and I'm REALLY not on board with it now that they've written it into the story line that she has to be involved 100% of the time! If there's any ONE thing that'll make me stop watching, it's this. She doesn't just not fit. She been written into the show for a dramatic affect that makes NO sense. It's insulting to us.
The fight? Whooooeeee.... I thought it was ridiculous. But given what Summer acted like at the dinner table I actually liked watching it happen. Thing is that's all MANUFACTURED outrage scenarios. It's got no real purpose! Beth and Summer would NEVER come to some mutual understanding given their personalities and here's the thing. They don't HAVE to! Mark my words, it's going to come about that they show the elitist how she's wrong to judge cowboys just because she's a vegan. This is ridiculous. Who cares if they can get that point across? I don't!
But Beth's behavior at the table was WORSE! Because her daddy had told her to NOT DO IT since it was all family for once. She did it BECAUSE he told her not to! She couldn't stop herself! Childish temper tantrum. AGAIN.
The ONLY saving grace of this episode? Monica's laughing at them all. She said it straight up and laughed AT them. Which made a sad Kayce laugh too. THAT was the only few minutes to enjoy this episode.
They better get rid of Summer soon or I'm gone. I can't standthat stupid storyline. And give Rip back his b@lls. They'll find them in Beth's mouth.