Change Your Image
jenstruk
Reviews
Maggie (2022)
A fun show but unwatchable in places
I really hope the director and actors read these reviews. This show had the potential to be great but the writing and the acting are not entirely believable in places. I get that this is a sit-com, although comparing it to the greats like Friends, it's just not there. I did try to binge watch bc Iiked the series idea and the main actor, her best friend was a bit annoying trying too hard to be funny which makes it well, not. My biggest issue and I took off 3 stars for this...there are an abundance of eating scenes....with utensils scraping, slurping through straws and outright mowing on sandwiches....talking with their mouths full, smacking and crunching. I've for sure noticed the "movement" created by the likes of Roberto Redford and Brad Pitt, who in a bid to make their scenes more realistic, tend to eat food in their scenes and everyone else has followed suit from commercials for potato chips and other crunchy foods to all of film and television.
But as someone who suffers from a brain sensory disorder called Misophonia, it's literally painful to listen to. Imagine the feeling of nails being scratched down a chalkboard x 1,000 and plugged into your nervous system with an electric cattle prodder. That will give you some idea of what a trigger sound feels like to a person with Misophonia. We are not crazy, weird or too sensitive. We were born with a brain that cannot properly process these sounds. Eating and mouth noises is the biggest trigger. 20% of the population suffers from Misophonia! So it's a big issue and a disability that is being ignored. We have to mute the sound constantly and miss dialogue because of it. Seriously, who wants to listen to another person eat even when you don't have Misophonia? This series has overdone it in that department....especially Maggie's Dad and the best friend. I wanted to punch them in the face and shove that sandwich up his a$$. Ruined the show for me entirely.
The man who played Maggie's psychic also overdid it trying to be funny and had a lot of eating scenes.
There just doesn't seem to be that connection between cast members that makes a show believable. It seemed like a lot of nervous energy going in in the scenes with more than 2 people. I can't really put my finger on it but the energy was off in some scenes.
Phoenix Rising (2022)
Brave and Poignant
Brave, poignant and extremely important viewing for today's society that struggles with an enormous amount of domestic violence and narcissistic abuse in every level of society. No one is immune and Evan Rachel Wood rips herself wide open to expose just how true this is even as an A list Hollywood actor dating a rock icon. Victims are shamed and slandered while abusers are often given all the rights due to extremely outdated laws and a corrupt criminal justice system. Evan has helped change this through speaking out. It takes an enormous amount of backbone, integrity and strength to stand up and speak out about this kind of thing after being systematically tortured, isolated, manipulated, abused, harassed and controlled. It is a targeted demantling of your entire soul, carefully crafted so slowly by the narcissist who has selected you, groomed you and put you up on the highest pedastal during the love bombing and future faking process only to suddenly drop you down to the fires of hell where you are tortured and laughed at, mocked and devalued. It's difficult to explain unless you have lived it. I have, I was almost killed by my ex narcissist abuser and the criminal justice system failed me in a big way with 19 charges being dropped on technicalities, then refusing to arrest him over and over despite him reoffending while on conditions and allowing him to not appear in court 6 times without any consequences.
He has now moved on to abuse new victims and still hasn't been rearrested even while on probation. He is similar to Manson but on a smaller scale....being a metal drummer for a band with some small time success in the late 90s and early 2000s and a Psychic medium in our state. He preys on vulnerable empathic women in exactly the same way, he even uses some of the same phrases which was triggering for me to watch. I have an enormous amount of respect for this woman for standing up to her abuser and speaking her truth. Facts and evidence don't lie. This film takes you through the heartbreaking journey with her in shocking detail. I stand with Evan Rachel Woods. Heartbreaking but must see film. Thank You Evan.
Unaware (2010)
HOW did this film win ANY awards!?!
I am thoroughly amazed that this film boast several awards! The fact that it is an award winning Indy film, and its interesting description made me an eager viewer...but I am now sorry I wasted 5 bucks through On Demand and my time on a Sunday afternoon....I barely made it through the first 25 minutes before I was on the fence about turning it off....the female actress is, in a word: AWFUL. Her annoying forced laughs, sighs and tee hees for the benefit of the camera became just excruciating to listen to...it was painfully obvious that they were trying really hard to "act" like a couple in love, but when there's no chemistry, there's no magic for the screen. It is simply NOT believable. To make this film work, you need that....you need the audience to invest in the characters, to care about them, to BELIEVE they are REAL.PEOPLE. Especially with found footage genre, these are supposed to be real film footage clips...and people in real life do not act that way with each other...whoever cast her was an idiot because it blew the film. She isn't a very pretty girl either, so the shots of her porky legs and feet while she sighs and babbles to herself about how excited she is looking at her ring made it even more difficult to watch. Good looks draw people in but its the chemistry on screen, that believability factor, that keeps them riveted. This girl has neither and that becomes annoying and boring to watch. That's a waste of my time and money. The male actor wasn't much better....but he was better than her and with the right female lead he might have been better than he was...I had to fast forward through him eating an apple, for me, that was the scariest scene in the movie...just disgusting. I will say she gives a good scream and the more action that went on towards the end, the better they were because they had something to work with in the scenes besides just themselves. When it was just the 2 of them improv-ing their relationship (which could have been cute, funny, sweet and magical, I mean he proposed!) But it was the most unromantic, boring proposal ever! Because they were NOT believable as a couple. The reason The Blair Witch Project was so successful was in great part due to the fantastic job the actors did...they had real chemistry with each other, they were real friends...the audience came to care about them as people because they were very real with each other and not at all "acting" for the camera. This film needed that, too many viewers will be lost before any action even takes place because the director failed to realize the importance of chemistry even in the most simple and monotonous of daily human interactions. What a shame!