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Reviews
Tiny Beautiful Things (2023)
Could be great
Here's the thing about this show: the book is definitely tacked onto another show. The storyline looks at the life and history of a middle-aged woman, Clare, who has had experienced a lot of adversities in her past, her husband, and her teenage daughter. The show jumps to Clare's past, which is quite dark in parts, such as coping poorly with her mother's death and dealing with a heroine addiction, to the present as she tries to pull her life together. In the present, she is recruited on a voluntary basis to be an agony aunt, and each episode addresses the themes of a new problem letter for Clare to answer.
Clare's life and the explorations of relationships around her are interesting enough. It feels like the Dear Sugar parts were shoehorned into the show, as the tone can jump from teenage Clare openly grieving and coping with her pain through sex, to adult Clare writing a response which is usually ripe with sentiment. It feels like the show is trying to be like This Is Us without striking a good balance of tone and storytelling.
I would like the show if it didn't include the Dear Sugar sections. Without them, it makes for an entertaining dramedy. With them, it just doesn't work.
Spree (2020)
Could be so good!
The film had such potential to be good, especially with Joe Kreevy as the protagonist. The film is shown via streaming on smartphones and split screens, and follows Kurt (Kreevy) as he films his pickups as a ride-share driver. He desperately wants to be a viral sensation and believes the best way to do this is by killing other viral stars while livestreaming.
Sounds promising, right? However, with the writers and director being middle aged white men, this is so poorly written. Each character is a stereotype, from the bigoted right-wing guy to the 'angry black woman' comedian. No one talks the way and interacts with others this way at all.
There is one or two funny moments but that's it. This could be so good but it's just... Not. Such a shame for Joe Kreevy to have to waste his time on this.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Probably good for its time?
Man, is this film a slog. The first 20 minutes is very slow, just watching these vapid characters on a road trip (for some reason) to an old cabin. They pick up a creepy hitch hiker and seem pretty grossed-out by him (rightfully so) but they don't seem massively bothered as well and keep powering through with their trip. Eventually one-by-one, they break and enter into a house next door and meet Leatherface. The gore and violence is more implied than very explicit. Eventually it's just Sally, then for 45 minutes, it's her just screaming, constantly. It's tiresome, it gets old really fast, and it's not scary. I'm sure for the 70's, this was scary, but now it's outdated. Don't waste your time.