Reviews

I love this movie as a kid. Way way way before I knew what a smecks blow up doll was (it never occurred to me what Bianca was until I was like 20). It was definitely more emotionally impactful to me as a child. Goslings performance is stunted by stale writing. He does his best to move through it but his acting feels "stuck".

Its also less humorous to me as an adult, maybe because Lars might be coded as being autistic and so am I. Im not sure.

Overall, its an enjoyable watch if conviction isnt as important as plot for you. I think the doll was supposed to look like Angelina Jolie. Someone said Fran Drescher?!! Lol.

I'm only on season two.... (and sheesh I almost didn't remember that tv series used to have such long seasons).

I had to pause my watching because while this show may develop into something more bearable, I think it suffers from the "character's brilliance is defined by how unethical they are" trope. While, I'd like to hope this show isn't an accurate representation of the hospital infrastructure, I know it most likely is. I also know people like House exist and that they are surrounded by enablers who never do anything to stop them.

But, I just watched an episode where House sexually harasses a 15 year old girl (who is being sexually abused by her father), and now I have to ask myself what the point of this show is?

It cannot simply be a look into the hospital atmosphere, otherwise it wouldn't be so heavy-handed thematically. Seriously, sometimes the ends of episodes feel soap-operaish. My thing is, you either want to send your audience a clear message or you don't. But, you can't live in limbo and I think trying to conflate "having something to say" and "just showing how things are" is lazy. You cannot tell me that House is just a lonely man who is afraid of intimacy but deeep, deeeep down is deserving of love one minute and then the next have him sexual harassing a child.

This show does a lot of conflating and not in a "things are complex and have many layers kind of way", but in a "we want to go too far, but we have to sometimes reel it in for our broad audience" kind of way. I keep trying to keep in mind that this show is the sign of it's times, but so far it still doesn't have an identity. Well made tv shows might occasionally blur the lines of satire and recklessness but this show lives there so no one can see that it's really confused and scared. I think it hinges on viewers giving House the benefit of the doubt, but there are different times and we now know that centrism does not exist. So if the the show wants to tell me House's inappropriate behavior is wrong, but that it can be justified by the results. Fine. But, straddling the fence is boring.

Georgia Rule is an uncomfortable drama that revolves around the unhealthy relationship dynamics of a grandmother, daughter, and granddaughter. TW: rape, pedophilia

I was not expecting to find such a brilliantly written drama. It contains explicit mentions of sexual assault/pedophilia.

This move leaves you feeling uneasy because it is a realistic portrayal of what can unfold when abuse surfaces in a already broken family dynamic. It has very few moments where it feels movie-esque, actually.

I haven't read through reviews, but I would not be surprised if the low ratings are because there is no "happy ending". Or, because that it seems none of the adults in this film quite handle the situation "right" or appropriately. In my opinion, however, that is the magic of the movie's ability to portray the complex reality of this type of situation.

Jane Fonda does a subtle but impeccable job at portraying the Georgia (grandmother) who, having not raised her daughter well, spends her time trying to rectify those bad parental choices with her granddaughter.

Felicity Huffman does a great job being the emotionally unavailable mother who is caught on the border line of trying to grapple with not having her own needs met as child and preventing her mother's plights from becoming a generational curse. Upon learning her child has been raped by her husband, she goes through stages of grief and ultimately steps into being the kind o mother she wished she had.

Lindsay Lohan does an exceptional job as portraying the imperfect victim. She has small subtle mannerisms that bring this character to life. Specifically, she brings the kind of innocence to the character that might be hard to pick out if you don't know the complicated effects abuse can have on an adolescent's mind. Her character is trying to separate herself from the heinous act she was victim of by assuming a villainous role. I was thoroughly impress with how well Lindsay and the writers portrayed this without being over the top. Because these things are seldom explicit.

If you are looking the kind of drama where everything unfolds expectedly and you trust there will be a satisfactory resolve at the end and you are unwilling to sit with some uncomfortable emotions and try to identify with characters who make decisions that challenge your reality or ideal this movie may not be for you.

I don't think its necessary to empathize with all of this film's characters. I don't think you need to approve of the protagonists decisions. All you need to ask yourself is: does this happen? Could it happen like this?

The writers must know they can create fanfare with their tweendom by creating a season that is so chaotic that it is well beyond reason (season 3 was already pushing it). They are so far beyond "out of material" but the ish show has only just started.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update: After letting it settle, I don't think the first half of S4 was bad.

Bringing in another D&D villain, especially one who speaks, was a rational remedy to the issues of having such a dull "blob" of a villain like the one last season.

The reason why I change my rating from 2 to 6and not an 8 is because the one thing that has kept us grounded is the acting and investment in the Stranger Danger Gang, and it is lacking so far.

There are 3 years between us and them, so when we needed to have that connection grounded and reaffirmed by familiarity and understanding, its roadblocked by poorly written dialogue and too many Russia cutaways.

You can't help but get the feeling that, as the audience, we missed out on something huge thing that changed everyone.

Character Review:

Eleven: Her dialogue is awful!! Milly Bobby Brown tries her darndest, but it is Disney show awful. They write her as the same naïve and isolated child she once was, but at the end of S3 that is not who she is. She is traumatized, hurt, but ready to move on and thrive. She is being bullied (and its heavy handed) but neither her inner dialogue (letters to Hopper) or actions do a good job at creating the sense of loneliness and ostracism they are clearly trying to portray

Mike: I am not sure if it is Finn's busy schedule or what, but he is kind of scarce in this first half. He feels different or like he's trying to be the same and I guess that makes sense with Lucas straying away. The first half is not Mike focused, which it totally, fine. But, it does feel slightly jarring with El also feeling sidelined

Dustin: as adorable as ever, he spends most of the first half with his girlfriend. His alliance with Erica is refreshing since (outside of his girlfriend) they still seem to be the only ones in this show who can put things together

Lucas: the writers are doing this sweet baby an injustice by giving him the flat cliched arc of wanting to fit in and using basketball (eyeroll) to do it. He is distant except that he is still clearly wanting to be close to Max. I just wish the writers would take the time to give him just a little bit more complexity (I feel like they dulled him and El out)

Joyce: Maybe the closer we get to the 90's (in the show), the more Winona's acting will mellow out and the closer she will get to reliving her peak. With neither Will nor Jonathan being involved in anything major, Joyce (and Murray) spends most of her time trying to figure out if Hopper is trying to get in touch with her. The whole storyline is incredibly tedious and feels draining to get through

Max: Max is the most important character in the first half. Sadie Sink's performance (even through the dialogue) is amazing. I was very impressed with her ability to convey inner emotional turmoil stemming and conflicting desires

Nancy: I have never appreciated Nathalie Dyer's performance as Nancy. However, I do appreciate that her character takes initiative to get the ball rolling for the mystery they are trying to uncover.

Robin: While Maya Hawke isn't a bad actress, I do think the nepotism of it all is the only reason we're seeing her again so much this season. She doesn't add anything to the show outside of being someone for Steve waste time with until he's needed at the end.

I guarantee you've seen this show before in some kind of variation. The writing is predictable. The pacing is slow.

That's not inherently a problem. But, when you add poorly written dialogue and poor acting to a show that's predictable and slowly paced: you get this drab affair.

This show is so underwhelming that it can't even make use of its ensemble cast: Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, and Melanie Linskey's efforts to raise the stale atmosphere of this supposed-to-be thriller, are all foiled by shallow direction and unimaginative writing.

Overall, the shows problem is: these are not characters that you want to know.

The show has spent a good amount of time, so far, bringing in characters who are curious about the infamous events of the ladies' past. But it fails to deliver the same level of curiosity to its audience because it doesn't to give you characters to which you can connect.

These kinds of shows are tv shows of tv shows. They poorly attempt to write real humans through the lens of television characters.

The flashback scenes exacerbate the dullness. None of the young actors give particularly captivating performances. On top of the poor writing, the show quickly collapses into itself.

It's an interesting premise and it could've been done well by people who could actually write dynamic characters.

The dialogue is chalky and unnatural. Filled with exposition. Again, Dexter hasn't run across one woman who has common sense. Except his delusion of Deb who actually says everything we, the audience, would like another person to say to him. Poorly acted by anyone who isn't Michael C Hall. But it's difficult, the writing isn't good. The the plot points, so far, are all very predictable.

The writers of Dexter are lucky the new generation doesn't care about writing quality and acting, otherwise, this show wouldn't get renewed.

This move is 40 minutes too long. It's not thrilling. It begins on a mystery but after about 1hr 30 in you realize you're probably not going to get any answers. If the goal was to tell the story of a washed-up officer and a detective on the edge, well, it didn't do that well either. Because the film spends so much of its time trying to convince you it's a mystery thriller. Disappointing. I understand why there wasn't a lot of buzz around this film.

Most people won't like this as a first watch. The ending is predictable (I clocked it in the first 7 minutes).

The twist isn't surprising it's the now cliche "unable to deal with the pain of losing someone character hallucinates that they are still there"

I was able to figure out the ending when I saw pictures of the little girl, Taylor, and they didn't have any of her past 3-4 years old and she's supposed to be about 10. So yes, as a first watch this thriller ain't so thrilling.

But boy oh boy are these kinds of movies enjoyable on the second watch. Because now you are looking for all the clues that this was a hallucination. And this movie does an absolutely great job at it. Because unlike mommy, daddy knows this isn't real! I recommend you rewatch! And you can observe all the little nuanced ways the dad lets us know he's only in on it for the sake of the mom. It's the way he can't remember certain things that happened with the child, the way he isn't panicked when she disappears, the way he often forgets to include her in the plans.... watch it intently and it actually becomes a very decent thriller...

The first 7 episodes of this show were simply brilliant. A beautiful metacognizant, self-aware, inside-out spin on the comics. The first 7 take the big screen, box office feel of Wanda and Vision and brings it to a small-town corner of the universe. Then episode 8 ruins it with a lot of exposition dialogue and over the top acting (and not in the way that it worked very well in the first 7 episodes but a load of "if you didn't read the comics we're just gonna explain this through uncreative narration". Then Series Finale is even worse. I'm upset. I want a show that can start and end well. This wasn't it. Agatha was set up to be an incredible villain and a great match for Wanda just for it to be ex-machina'd at the end. Also white Vision was useless? Too many nods to the comics without payoffs. Also also, they literally don't know what to do with most of the non-main characters in ep 9; they just sit around and watch in the finale. Just standing around doing nothing. So ugly. 6/10 stars and then a point off for the Fox Quicksilver red herring.