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Reviews
Nope (2022)
Good cinematography but not really a movie
This finally became free to stream so I watched it. Well I FFW watched. I really liked the way this film looked except for the spaceship which looked like two paper plates glued together. It very slow and boring. There is hardly a plot. I think JP has run out of ideas. There are some great alien invasion films from the 50's where ordinary people encounter a spaceship and there is a lot of tension about how to handle it. I wasn't really interested in the characters. They wasn't any character arcs to keep me engaged. To be honest I didn't even make it to the end because I had completely lost interest. I do appreciate JP using black actors. It's refreshing and a good thing. He needs to work harder on script development though.
Oh Hell (2022)
I guess no one gets this show but me?
This is a wacky idiosyncratic show. I didn't know what to make of it at first other than that the cinematography and production design was gorgeous. It tells two parallel stories. Helena as a young girl navigating through her parents loveless marriage, and her as a twenty something struggling to find love and a career calling. Of course these stories are intwined and often the young Helena's story sets up Helena's struggles as a young adult. Did I say struggles? She really doesn't struggle, in fact she skips through life quite joyfully. It's a sort of fairytale of disfunction. I really love this show. I cannot recommend it enough. The young Helena is played by a great actress. Keep an eye on her.
The School for Good and Evil (2022)
A very bad Harry Potter ripoff
As I started to watch this, I was very distracted by the short girl's gigantic eyebrows. I keep thinking that they were purposely trying to make her look unattractive so that maybe when she became a princess they could make her look pretty. I was wrong about that. I didn't know anything about the books, but to write a book about good and evil without really exploring at all what it means to be good, or how evil corrupts it, seems like a major misstep. They should have called it the school for valley girls and goth kids. The other lead actress was very good though and my two stars are for her.
In full disclosure, I fast forwarded through much of this because the story was so stupid.
Jurassic World Dominion (2022)
Nice 3D Animation but otherwise unwatchable.
This film is a train wreck. Though it is loaded with a great cast of actors, all the performances seem like rehearsals. Even Chris Pratt seems to be sleepwalking through this. The script is a big mess. The direction is lifeless and aimless. Bryce Howard is dreadful. She always bugs me. Other than having beautiful red hair and being Ron Howard's daughter, it's amazing to me that she has a career. She really cannot play a convincing character. She has the same expression whether being chased by dinosaurs or in romantic scenes with Chris Pratt.
Jeff Goldblum is in this for two short scenes, and he's the only convincing actor in this.
There is a beautiful 3D animation at the end with two dinosaurs in a lake at sunset. I'm giving 3 stars for the animation.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)
The CGI is very good but the acting and directing is uninspired.
It's hard to screw up Tolkien and there are exciting ideas in here, like how was Mount Doom created. However, many of the scenes felt like generic fantasy television, as bad as the Wheel of Time. The casting is odd including a group of directors that I do not feel are very good. It seems like they spent so much money on the CGI that they had little to spend on good actors, writers and directors. You can't stick on a pair of elf ears and expect Peter Jackson level of character development, and that's really what is missing. I am struggling to find characters that I care about. I will continue to watch purely on the the chance that I will learn more of the back story that Tolkien developed for TLOTR trilogy, and that may be enough for many of us.
Surface (2022)
The acting is not good.
I'm intrigued by memory loss thrillers so I gave this a shot. The acting across the board is terrible. There really isn't one believable scene in this. I gave up after 3 episodes. I did watch Prey on Hulu and it's the polar opposite of this. The acting is so good it stands out as one of the best movies of the year.
The Detour (2016)
This show is best when it's about the kids
The pilot episode is the best episode, and it's primarily funny because of Liam Carrol who plays the son Jared. He has that natural comic timing that you can't teach but are born with. The actress that plays the daughter is also hysterical. Unfortunately, Jordan Jones takes up 90% of the screen time. He's a good writer, but his doofus dad routine gets stale quickly. I wish the show had been about the kids instead of the unlikeable parents. Hollywood should give Liam Carrol his own series.
Under the Banner of Heaven (2022)
Slow but fascinating.
The slow pace bothered me but I enjoyed the insights into Mormonism. It shows you the power of group hypnosis whether it's a false religion or politics. I have met Mormons and they did all have this arrogant air about them, that they were a chosen people and the rest of us were on the wrong track. This Mormon musician I knew kept inviting me to these Mormon events at his church and I kept refusing. He started to get angry over time so one day I said "I'll tell you what. I'll go to your church if you go to mine" He looked confused and replied,"I already have a church I don't need to go to other churches" That to me sums up Mormons.
So I recommend this series. All the acting is very good especially the actor that played Dan and Garfield is always good. It doesn't portray Mormonism in a good light, but why should it?
Flag Day (2021)
A blatant Terrence Malik ripoff.
Penn decides to take an interesting story about a counter fitter and make a film as though it was directed by Terrence Malik. It's close to being a disaster. It's so slow and boring. All the characters are boring and uninteresting.
Knight and Day (2010)
Truly funny and terrific action sequences
This is a really enjoyable film. I think it holds up very well over time. Cruise is funny and his stunts as usual are terrific. I don't really understand the low ratings on this other than at the time critics seemed to really want Cruise to have a flop. Cruise has proven himself to be one film best actors and producers. There is great chemistry between him and Diaz.
The Bubble (2022)
Nothing remotely funny about this
This movie was painful to watch. I only watched because my brother said there were some funny scenes. I did not come across any. Apatow and Adam McCay both seemed to have lost their funny bones lately. It's a shame because we need humor now more than anytime in history. I think it's time we stop green lighting films for these old hacks and try to find younger filmmakers with a different take on humor.
Mr Inbetween (2018)
Stop what you are doing and watch this show!!
I don't understand why this show didn't get more attention. Season one aired in 2018, yet I just discovered it last week. I binged all 3 seasons in 3 days. I couldn't stop watching it, it is very addictive. Scott Ryan who plays Ray the main character, also writes every episode. Because of this, the character is so well developed, realistic, and complex its astounding. Scott Ryan is a great actor but maybe an even better writer. The episodes unfold like puzzle pieces coming together. Some episodes are hysterically funny, others heartwarming and charming, and some terrifyingly violent. You never know what you're going to get and what is amazing is that it all makes sense in Ray's life.
I really don't want to give anything away because for me not knowing anything about this show was a real blessing.
This is one of my favorite shows of all time. It's up there with the Sopranos, the Wire, Battlestar Galactica, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad. It's fantastic and compelling. I love it.
Beauty.
Deep Water (2022)
If a movie can't hold my interest longer than 15 minutes it gets one star.
I imagine the book is probably pretty good, as are most Highsmith novels, but the script is awful. The acting is awful. The direction is tired and lazy. They market this as an erotic thriller but there is nothing thrilling or sexy about it.
Windfall (2022)
A bad story idea + a bad script = a very bad film
The opening credits reveal that Jason Siegel wrote the story for this film. This was the first warning sign that it was going to be a bad movie. However Jesse Plemon is a great actor so that kept me interested. I watched the first 20 minutes before I started fast forwarding and I eventually quit watching. This is such a hack idea for a movie. I feel like we have seen this movie before but never so horribly executed. It's painful to watch which is why I gave upon it.
Raised by Wolves (2020)
A Sci-Fi Masterpiece Season 2 Review
I just finished the season two finale. It was brilliant of course. I can't think of of another series that keeps you on the edge of your seat and constantly guessing the way that RBW does. Every time you think you have put the puzzle pieces together and have divined where the show is heading, something comes along and breaks the puzzle altogether. The show plays with the notion of heroes and villains but on a macroscopic level. The future of humanity is at stake and there is this mystical merging of humanity and technology and atheism and religion. The robots seem more emotional than the humans. The humans are constantly in flux, desperate for something. An answer maybe. RBW creates such an unusual and beautiful world, but it is filled with many dangers. Giant serpents are flying through the sky, an ocean is filled with acid. Under the earth something is generating a signal that some interpret as God, while others try to suppress it because it is deadly and dangerous. All the while a psychotic, assassin robot is raising 6 human children because it was programmed to do so. At times you wonder if every character on the show is just insane. It's a planet of the insane, or maybe it's the birth pains before some reawakening of the planet. It's the perfect show for our times.
Doom Patrol (2019)
The first season was interesting but by season 2 I wanted all the characters to die violently.
It's hard to tell if it's the bad acting or the bad script, but none of these characters are likable or redeemable. I'm not sure if Diane Guerrero is a horrible actress or just awful in this part, but every moment she is on screen is agony for me. The same goes with Joivan Wade. Every episode we have to watch these self loathing characters in endless monologues about how unhappy they are and how many regrets they have. There is virtually no action in this series. Ittherapy session in hell.
Pam & Tommy (2022)
I'll watch Lilly James in anything
I'm only watching this because I think Lilly James is the best actress working today and she is beyond pretty. If you disagree I would ask that you watch the series War and Peace. She is sublime in that. It's unfortunate that
She is covered in makeup and prosthetics, but her acting shops are still there.
The guy who plays Tommy is awful. He's just a creepy guy and Tommy was always funny and charming.
Seth Rogan. I hate him.
After Life (2019)
Season 3 review - The third year of depression.
When I first began watching episodes of season three I actually stopped to make sure I wasn't watching season 2 again. I did learn that I never finished watching season 2 and I just bailed on season 3 after 3 episodes. Nothing has changed. Tony, an overweight, and alcoholic, unattractive man who hates his job is still obsessing over the loss of his wife and like previous seasons he gets drunk and watches tapes of his wife every night why petting his dog who seems to hate him. You have the sense that their marriage only existed on tape. He tapes here mixing a drink, doing laundry, driving the car. It's insane and if his wife had not died of an illness, she would have left him because instead of "being" in a marriage he is making a student film about his marriage. So naturally, after Tony's wife passes, he realizes he has no life to live. The film lost its funding and he's force to face himself, off camera and in reality which he does poorly. He is clinically depressed, he walks like he's walking through mud. His shoulders are slumped and is face wears a permanent frown. He has lost all interest in sex, a symptom of depression. So much so that when a sweet, caring blonde falls in love with him he can't even look her in the eye or hold her hand.
The one thing I like is the little English village where it takes place. It's charming and friendly. However this town is filled with most obese losers who shares Tony's struggles with depression. All the men in the cast are fat except Tony's boss, who is a thin beta male, and probably gay though he is in a bad marriage. Everyone Tony works with is struggling with depression too, and it made worse that they all hate where they work, and barely make enough money to survive. Only Tony has a livable home, and that was purchased by his wive's parents before she passed. So Tony has no career, no friends, no hobbies other than drinking and watching video of his dead wife. He is a loser with a capital L. Here is the twist though. This loser at life, who is drowning in wine and self pity, acts as though he is the only enlightened person in the village. He is an atheist and he ridicules a coworker for her belief in astrology and the after life, yet Tony spends hours a day talking to his dead wife at her grave. When a man in a car who doesn't stop at a crosswalk Tony throws a rock through his window. He could have yelled " slow down" but his anger drives him to violence, a repeated pattern if behavior. In another scene he goes to a bar that his father hung out at to spread his dads ashes. Instead of spreading the ashes in a flower pot out front or on the sidewalk out front he dumps the ashes on the carpeted floor, which makes no sense since he surely knows that they would be vacuumed up that night and taken to the town dump. When the bar manager calls him out on his broken logic, Tony gets mad and through the ashes in the mans face. This act of violence brings him great joy and he bursts into wild laughter while the owner of the bar must rinse his mouth if a dead's mans burnt ashes.
After the third episode I couldn't take it. The show is so depressing and mean spirited. I couldn't watch anymore.
A sho about losers could be entertaining if the characters evolved and rose above their problems, but after three years of watching Tony drink and mourn fir his dead wife we know he will never change. He is a loser forever and he seems to be quite comfortable with that.
Ragdoll (2021)
This show is odd and quirky but I'm hooked
This is such a strange show. At times it's hard to follow, but it really grew on me; and I can't wait to see the next episode. I'm totally hooked on it. It's different but different is good.
You (2018)
Season 3 glorifies murder and adultery.
We know there will be murder, but let's throw in some adultery, deceit and polyamory too. Two murderous sociopaths get married. It was a premise that could have worked, but the writers seemed to want to make a mockery of marriage. So the wife has an affair with an effeminate neighbor boy. The husband pursues an affair with the boys mother until she is killed by his wife, so he then pursues an affair with his boss, an extremely hot librarian who just left an abusive husband.
In short every marriage in this season is a train wreck, and the writers want to portray marriage as an out dated and impossible convention because man's desires for sex and murder are too great. I think the worst thing about this season is what it says about our culture today. We can no longer be entertained by a simple murder mystery, we need wall to wall sex with multiple partners and multiple murders. Every character is deceitful and morally bankrupt. There is only one character who displays any decency and he's a blind homosexual. What are the writers try to say there?
Foundation (2021)
Anyone else notice that the 10 star reviews are from people that have no previous review history? How strange.
It is never a good sign when a positive review says "great CGI". The main problem with this series is that there is zero character development. I felt nothing for any of the characters. There are some good actors cast in this but there is also some very bad acting going on which pulls you out of the show. I do admit the show looks good but it is not engaging in any way. Perhaps it's an over used word on these reviews, but it is true this series is boring. Maybe a better word is dull. There is a romance at the heart of this, but there is zero chemistry between the two of them. So when you see sex scenes between them it's almost comical. One of the leads is awful. He's just so wooden. So wooden that I remember thinking that even his walk seems forced and unbelievable. I love sci-fi, especially when there is a lot of science and math woven into plots. Unfortunately the science is talked about in this story just in passing. There are mentions of solved equations and algorithms for predicting the future in this series but it is never explained or fleshed out. So without strong characters or firm science, there is very little to holds one's interest. This is the type of series where you forget what happened immediately after finishing an episode.
I know that one star reviews seem excessive, but I think they are mostly in response to 10 star reviews that seem to be written by people who have not even watched the series. I've written this before, but my belief is that 10 star reviews should be reserved for films like The Godfather. I may have given 10 stars to Once upon a Time in Hollywood. I did that because I really loved that film and I was emotional after watching it, but looking back it should have been a 9 because it's not a perfect film like The Godfather is.
The watermark of a great film is remembering the names of all they characters and even their lines. I cannot recall the name of a single character in this series.
Billions (2016)
9 stars for season 1 and 2 stars for the last season.
The first season was great but let's be honest, the writers said everything they wanted to say in that first season. By season 3 I was so tired of the same old speeches and the same old storylines retold with a sprinkling of new characters that it became difficult to watch. I think taking Axe's wife out of the show coincided with the decline in writing. Taylor was an interesting for awhile, but by the end she too was a cliche of herself, and I fast forwarded when she was on the screen. It's clear the writers ran out of ideas after 2 seasons. The last season was dreadful.
I am a firm believer in ending a series In it's prime, but if a show becomes popular the need to keep the cash cow alive seems to be too great even if that cow is near death. So the producers of a show about greed became greedy and turned art into a bad franchise.