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vivat_r
Reviews
The Rookie: True Crime (2021)
BRILLIANT! What a laugh!
From the Hollywood commentary in general, to sending up the "true crime" genre (which makes me roll my eyes)...this was a fantastic piece of meta storytelling. PLUS, a fun precis on each of the characters and their individual quirks (and the Tim and Lucy dynamic -- the generation gap has never been wider). I feel like this episode would make an ideal entry point for someone flirting with going back to the beginning and giving the show a try.
I've been fascinated by how individual productions appear to have handled shooting in COVID-land, and this particular episode is one of the most creative takes on minimizing actors' time in immediate proximity to each other, scene-wise. The documentary style just automatically has that effect, plus a certain amount of footage and B-roll could be pulled from the missile incoming episode. It's a clever solution.
Finally, the dialogue is just so sharp, as ever -- it just SHOWS differently when the stakes of the scenes and the language of the camera itself (in the documentary frame) is so different. Great work from this team!!
Tumbledown (2015)
SO MUCH BETTER THAN I EXPECTED!
Granted, my expectations were "streaming rom com I never heard of before now" low. Because...well, y'all have been there: trolling through some platform by genre and it's an OCEAN of stuff that you've never heard of in your life for VERY GOOD REASONS!
The dialogue (writing and delivery) crackled, the characters had emotional depth and the actors made me believe them. It certainly wasn't COMEDY-comedy, though there were laughs. At the end of the day, OF COURSE it's still romantic setup+obstacles+someone running through an airport before someone else gets away (except it's a road race on an ATV)+HEA. But, really, you don't even click on the Romantic Comedy category if you're not on board for THAT.
There was honesty in the fact that when love comes along, it often does so on the opposite of OUR timetable. A partner who makes us challenge our assumptions about if and when we're ready, and maybe forces us to self-reflect and grow...? Yeah. Wow. That's a thing.
Oh, and, some decent folk music.
Love Jacked (2018)
Sweet Execution on a Classically Contrived Romance Premise
Perfect for fans of the Hallmark/Lifetime Romance genre. While #ChristmasRomance is the currently most prolific stereotype, #FakeEngagement is also a reliable chestnut that comes around regularly. So, nope, nothing whatsoever realistic about the set-up. But, I didn't come to this expecting otherwise.
My fear is always that the writing and acting are terrible. THIS delivered the low-stakes "awww, they so cute" happy that I was looking for, well above expectations. The writing and acting were just fine (and I WILL bail if those are excruciating). The family felt legit cohesive and there were some reaction moments that were truly LOL. Recommend if you just want to feel good for 90-120 minutes.