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Chelsea Handler: Evolution (2020)
I was told there would be laughs, I found a little more
I love good stand up comedy, particularity if it has (a) message(s). I've struggled watching female comedians though. Mostly because their humour tends to veer in an unnecessary anatomy or relationship degrading cliche. I prefer rough edged life humour like Bill Bure or Jim Jeffries (other than the latter obsession with a certain male anatomy as well :)
I will admit, I knew little of Chelsea Handler before I watched this. I know I saw bits of her other shows and specials and remember some humour. The only reason I watched this, is I flipped onto her interview in the daily show. I usually get bored in these repetitive interviews, but she captivated me at a personal level. Her dry humour and humility, but mostly due to her emotional plight subtly displayed.
The show itself is fractured at the beginning, it's not fluid humour but still entertaining. Within 20 minutes she gets into a flow and deliveries. She actually hit me at a personal level, where even my wife looked at me and said "that's you". I got free (and likely very expensive) psychiatric treatment from Chelsea Handler. I have a real lack of empathy and it is derived from childhood. She depicts this with perfection with great humour and the genuine nature of it almost brought me to tears. This is a rare feeling for me.
I'm giving this an 8, but my bias relation to it gives it a 10. The people giving it anything under a 7 clearly either didn't watch it, or didn't understand her message. I'm guessing it's more likely they are simple snow flakes due to political reasons. People as deep as a puddle. Thank you Chelsea for a great show! If I see you on flight, I'm going to start packing my stuff, look In your eyes, and you better follow because it's time to go.
The War (2007)
PBS rarely disappoints
Some reviewers made some good points why this documentary should not receive the praise that it has. I agree with many of them. It's one sided with little context of true events that made it a WORLD war. It only caters to silo mentality of "the war". My following post and criticism will also be that, but I believe will also explain the criticisms.
PBS is across Canada, I love their content. It's usually fair and balanced, a true statement other than some other TV networks. My father donated to them, so have I. Seeing absolute dismissal of Canada's involvement by this documentary is an insult to the US closes Allie
Fact from WWII
"At war's end, Canada had become a significant military power with one of the largest navies in the world, the fourth largest air force and an army of six divisions."
Not only did Canada have A significant impacts on D-day, but the Invasion of Sicily was arguably won due to Canadian forces. Battle of Ortona is know to be the second bloodiest battle after Stalingrad. The Canadian first devision was so successful they beat the American and British troops to Sicily. Survivors from this battle said they were ordered to stand down or be shelled by Eisenhower as he wanted his troops to liberate the city.
This is just one small story. WWII was won by the sacrifices made the years before the US joined. From the Battle of Britain, or due to Russia and also all the other allied forces from Australia, New Zealand and all of Europe. PBS depicting the war like this was very disappointing. The pacific deserves mostly praise from the US, but the battles in Europe deserves a Fox 5 stars reporting from PBS. I'll still give it a decent rating as the brave men who they speak of deserve the utmost respect. But the documentary does not for its description of the war in Europe.
You Should Have Left (2020)
I kept watching
I don't normally review movies on here. Mostly because I think it's pointless since there are enough who do that cover my sentiments of movies. In this case, I felt compelled to do so due to the odd hate for this movie.
It's certainly not a masterpiece, at the most I'd call it a mildly interesting slow burn. My wife loves horror movies and will watch just about any that comes out. Most of them I wind up spending the last half on my phone due to how board I am.
I truly don't understand why so may hate this movie. There has been nothing of substance released due to COVID. Maybe some expected the shawshank redemption of thrillers or shock horror. I really have no clue. All you should expect, is your boiler plate somewhat creepy phycological thriller. Sometimes slow, but the characters are good and believable and the acting is excellent. The plot is predictable, but it still keeps you guessing.
If this is your cup of tea, watch it. If you're expecting some slasher or shocking ghost story with many cheap scares. Move on
Fear the Walking Dead (2015)
Watching either walking dead series is like being in a bad relationship you can't get out of
I absolutely loved the first 4-5 seasons of Fear the Walking Dead. Unlike Walking Dead, where the writing and pace died after the first season. Fear kept a fast paced story with creative character development, which invested you in the show.
The change in the story, writing and pace in the current and last season have changed as dramatically as a car hitting a wall. The story is complete nonsense with so many glaring holes and the action scenes are extremely lazy and almost laughable. The worst part though, is they picked up the awful paint drying formatting Walking Dead has used since the second season.
1. Slightly shocking first scene with good gory zombie effects
2. Fill remaining of show with boring dialog that can be summarized in 20 seconds
3. Slightly shocking ending that makes you believe the next episode will be good
I still watch Walking Dead, even after 9 seasons of this rubbish format. I don't understand why I can't just leave it and stop watching. It's a winning format for AMC, we keep watching and they can just keep replacing writers or any of the creative team with hobos that wonder to close to their NYC head office.
So here's my star rating
First 5 seasons (still worth watching) 8/10
Current and last season 2/10
The Hornet's Nest (2014)
5 out of 5 for the Service Men 0 out of 5 For the documentary maker
I have the utmost respect for the women and men sacrificing themselves for us in this war that the documentary was made from. I have no respect for the maker of this fluff piece. These soldiers deserve better than fake danger footage he claimed to be in.
It's ridiculous that this actually glorifies their plight, with the utmost grievance. David and Christian, don't make any more documentaries that glorify our brothers deaths
Turning Points of History (1997)
Most Truthful History Channel Documentaries Ever Made
Ignore the other reviewer as they clearly have an agenda. To discredit this based on image editing (and wildly exaggerated at that), is a mockery. First off, black and white to colour filming and particularly TV, had a 20 year transition. So you can certainly have colour shots followed by black and white. Secondly, this is mostly irrelevant to the true content and trivial reason to discredit the producers. Most impotently, The narration is perfectly done by Cedric Smith and many people interviewed were either directly involved with the historical event (reporters, politicians, x CIA) or are historians. You simply need a search browser and internet access to fact check. These are very accurate. You can watch many online. For example, the episode on Guatemala can be found by searching 'A Coup: Made In America'. It's broken into 5 parts and will auto play all 5.
Now for the actual details.
This was a Canadian history channel produced TV series. Created back in the not so distant past, where the history channel actually created shows on history, rather then brain numbing reality shows. It almost seems like an alternate reality now.
This series focused on political and military turning points with some episodes geared to Canadian history. What I truly appreciated of this series is it documented many coup that occurred in the mid to late 20th century
Some Examples are
Operation Ajax, the removal of democratic elected president Mohammad Mosaddegh which converted Iran to Religious fanaticism and many blame for the beginning of Islam hate of the west
Coup on Guatemala where democratically elected Jacobo Árbenz was removed after implementing social reforms on minimum wage and transferred unused land owned by United Fruits to the poor. A young doctor named Che Guevara witnessed this all first hand.
The removal of Jean-Bertrand Aristide from Haiti, conveniently after he started to make reforms to help redistribute the massive gap of wealth between the poor and the rich
There are a number of really great episodes on the world wars. The battle of Britain was beautifully told. Commonly unknown stories as well like the Battle of Otona. Canadian and American divisions separately raced to defeat Germans in Cecily. The Battle of Ortona was one of the bloodiest street battles of WWII.
It's a real shame this series is not available anywhere now. I guess some of the episodes considered to truthful on the impact of capitalism and how western governments have campaigned to destroy many countries in South America, Middle East and Africa.
Ironically, they stopped producing and airing this series shortly after Goldman Sachs gained majority interest in the History channel.
Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (2014)
The whole truth and nothing but the truth
This is my my first review. Like most, I enjoy just reading through and making my decisions based on the how I relate to how the reviewer associates to my interests. IMDb and it's user base delivers. But in this case, I feel the need to return the favor.
I watched this documentary and was somewhat disinterested at first. The assumption that most informed people would not relate animal husbandry to a large environmental issue, is insulting. I was wrong to pre judge.
My review and verbal diarrhea of expressing how the makers of this masterpiece, won't make it justice. We can't do anything about the 60 year holocaust, Occupation 101 so well brings to reality. We can neither cry and think of the crimes we would do watching those in Earthlings. This documentary brings a reality to our everyday choices and hits our conscious at a personal level. I enjoy meat and may always do so, but I won't say this did not change me. I hope it does the same to many others.