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Reviews
Nope (2022)
Everything is Too Clean
This movie is odd. The first thing I noticed is everything spotlessly clean. I mean work gloves, clothes, cars, horses, buildings. It's all wayyy too clean for anyone familiar with raising horses and just generally living. The other thing is that, after losing his father, he's supposedly broke and considering selling the ranch but can afford to go buy a bunch of high end security cameras? And since when can a Fry's check out clerk making minimum wage monitor cameras for you (or give a crap)?
Another aspect is horses running off randomly. I've never seen a horse owner react with a shrug of their shoulders if their horse goes running off to the hills. It feels like whoever made this film has never actually done any research into basic care for horses on a ranch.
The premise is different and interesting but connecting with the characters and the scene is difficult.
Invasion (2021)
Slow paced on purpose
If you want fast paced gritty action with plenty of alien gore and explosions, this show isn't for you. It's much more a slow and steady build over the 10 episodes of season 1.
Things I like:
Slow pacing. Time for characters to develop. You get glimpses into what is happening and occasional peeks at the alien.
The alien concept is really unique and it's not so simple to figure out their intentions.
Overall the sense of intrigue is well done with a diverse set of characters who are integral to the plot.
Things I don't like:
American soldier being very stereotypical "American". Swears at everything. Yells at everyone if he doesn't get what he wants. Basically completely culturally ignorant to the extreme.
Also, JAXA apparently hinges it's fate on communication with a laughable spacecraft on a single woman. It's a bad Americanized take on Japanese culture at least in that respect.
Those are annoying but not show stopping flaws. I stuck with it and season 1 has been a treat with an excellent cliffhanger. Looking forward to season 2!
I asked chatgpt to author a review about a slow building moody tv series. Here's a snippet lol.
"Invasion embarks on an ambitious journey, weaving together the lives of a diverse cast against the backdrop of an impending alien invasion. While the show does exhibit some minor character flaws, it manages to maintain its grip on a compelling narrative." Id say that's fair enough.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Change of Heart (1998)
A diamond in the rough
This episode started out as a somewhat boring character development piece. The love affair between Worf and Jadzia is explored as they are sent on a mission together. While enroute they discuss their honeymoon plans. There is also a side story about Chief Obrien and Doctor Bashir wanting to beat Quark's winning streak at Tongo. But the Tongo story really gets in the way of what turns into an interesting interplay between the newly married couple. Worf admits to trying to modify his personality to be "compliant" to Jadzia's wishes. When the Jem Hadar catch them off guard in the jungle and Jadzia is critically injured, Worf takes it personally. He decides that his attempt to modify his personality was a mistake and he must fall back on his warrior roots to complete the mission. Duty comes first and Worf must leave Jadzia, who is near death, for 44 hours in the jungle to make the rendezvous with an important Federation spy. Ultimately, Worf abandons his duty to the federation (quite surprisingly for Worf) and takes Jadzia to safety instead. The spy is killed along with his knowledge that could have saved millions of lives.
For what appeared at first to be another puff piece, this episode really put some depth into the relationship between Worf and Jadzia. A welcome change over the usual Bajoran orb stories...I was impressed.
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Star Trek: Into Brainless
As I said on my way out from the theater, "Well, I didn't hate it".
On the good side, I liked the character development of a more humble Kirk (though it was pretty heavy handed). I liked Khan's character overall.
I have some technical issues and plot issues with this movie that kept me from loving it.
Technical Issues First:
1 - A free fall from space toward Earth would result in *ZERO* gravity. Instead we get the dramatic but dumb tumbling gravity everyone going every direction scene. Maybe simulating zero G would have been too expensive given the budget constraints(? as if there were budget constraints here).
2 - Why does every space movie have sound effects of objects whizzing by in space? NO AIR = NO SOUND!
There are more, these were the big ones that stick in my mind.
Plot Issues: So, an inside agent blows up a library (aka super secret research center). Within hours (minutes?), Star Fleet figures out and declares war against the prime suspect (Khan). Then Khan shows up and starts shooting everything that moves then beams himself to the Klingon home world. He didn't kill everyone, just some people, really just one character that we know. Seems pretty ham handed for a guy like Khan. Then, while Kirk is off to seek vengeance, we learn that the top admiral of Star Fleet has a secret base with a giant ship built to kill Klingons apparently...and this is why Khan blew up the library and made an assassination attempt on Star Fleet top brass? But then Khan beams to the Klingon world and kills Klingons to save Kirk...because Kirk is a man of conscience? Oh, and at the end, the dreadnought ship CRASHES INTO AND DESTROYS MOST OF London! Meh, at least they got the bad guy. No need to dwell on the cost of life involved.
I guess my feelings are that this movie is a mix of being a really simple, heavy handed, and incomplete morality play combined with hints of what could be a very complex and unexplored and ignored plot. I didn't hate it but I don't love it either.
If, at the end of what I assume will be a trilogy, Star Fleet emerges as the enlightened version that we know of from the original Roddenberry vision then my whole attitude toward these two movies will shift. For now, it's just not there for me.
Any why does the Enterprise have a giant beer distillery in it?
Jackie Brown (1997)
I didn't even know this was Quentin until AFTER I watched it!
So, I appreciate a wide variety of movies including action as well as drama. That one director can span across a wider range than many really says something.
This movie really lets you enjoy the characters in a way I haven't seen many movies do since the '70's. I wouldn't say I dug into this quite as much as I did in watching "Network" (a must see), but it definitely came close. It was a long movie and I enjoyed every minute of it.
A nice and enjoyable drama with lots to sink your teeth into but not so overly complex that you have a headache at the end. Jackie Brown is the sh*t!!!
Prometheus (2012)
Too confusing and too many exploding heads
I have heard that there are 30 minutes missing from the theatrical release. If that is the case then they chose to cut out any scene that could have helped this movie hang together better as a film.
The people heading to the planet were not "scientists". The character stereotypes didn't fit at all. It would be more appropriate to call them explorers, or "adventure seekers" or even treasure seeking pirates than to call them "scientists". Just watch the actual Mars rover science teams to get a feel for how that generalized stereotype might behave when faced with exploring a new planet. There was also supposed to be a difference between the "science team" and the "hired help" that was pretty blurry most of the time...why was the hired help there exactly?
I lost track of how many heads exploded and how many different types of infections were going on during the movie. And, I just didn't care who died...it wasn't even clear who the hero was even in the end. I guess the formerly impregnated girlfriend is angry now and wants some answers so she is...going to confront a planet of other angry aliens in an act of...? Revenge? Retribution?
There is so much more that didn't make sense to me, these are just the highlights.
Quantum of Solace (2008)
Had to watch it twice to remember seeing it at all!
Just got done watching QoS for the second time, the first was a few months ago. Truly, I didn't remember any of it except for the building explosion at the end...which doesn't bode well for any movie, much less a Bond movie.
What I do like is the new Bond created with the casting of Daniel Craig in Casino Royale. Bond is now a much more complex character and we know a lot more about his dark past and partly what motivates him to do what he does. He seems barely in control of himself and the contrast with Sean Connery from the original films is what really makes the franchise reboot successful or at least have some potential.
That said, I agree with some other comments in that the characters in this film seem to drift in and out of scenes that have nothing or very little to do with advancing the plot. Even Camille, the most significant of the secondary characters really didn't have a whole lot to do with the story other than her quest for vengeance (which could have been more interesting if they played that against Bond's internal conflict some). She mainly piggy backed with Bond to finally kill her arch nemesis the general but didn't do a whole lot to help Bond out otherwise, he would have been better off without her. Felix took a backseat until he gives Bond a short bit of information then we hear nothing about him until he gets promoted.
And maybe it's just me but I'm really tired of amazing computer interfaces that make no sense but are really flashy and apparently have all sorts of amazing gee-whizzery...it just doesn't make the story compelling, the characters don't have to work for the information they need it just falls into their lap. The jumpy action shots make it difficult to determine just exactly what is happening and how Bond makes it out of his predicaments. Finally, don't get me started on the random "fuel cell" powered hotel in the middle of the desert...mummy, how did we get here and why? Who put this hotel here? Fuel cells generate electricity in a "power plant", not by putting random hydrogen tanks all throughout your hotel...oh, except for boringly predictable plot devices and a fiery climax to the movie.
So all in all I didn't hate it, I'll just have forgotten it all over again in 3 months time. I haven't seen "A View to a Kill" in forever but I'll never forget Grace Jones and Max Zorrin's blimp, that was just FUN!
La leche y el agua (2006)
What a great short!
This is such a great short. I was really struck by it when I had a chance to see it during the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival and if it plays at a festival near you I highly recommend it. It amazes me that, in just a few minutes, this simple story tackles complex emotional topics that cause you to ask fundamental questions about life and death that we don't often consider. The story is filmed in such a way that the quality of the lighting and the setting and pace of the story serve to place the viewer in a contemplative mood. Nothing happens so quickly that the ideas presented in the film seem rushed nor so slowly that the story becomes boring. The ending arrives soon enough without belaboring the point or trying to find all of the answers to the questions that are raised. My only regret is that this film is not distributed on DVD so others can experience it as well.