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Reviews
Leave the World Behind (2023)
Needs more bacon
Good performances and a good premise ruined at the end by Netflix's more recent trend. Movie starts well and there is enough tension to keep you on edge and just when you think you are going to find out what is actually going on they hit you with a speech telling you that you are the problem. I think this is the 3rd recent Netflix movie we've watched where they did this. None of the characters are very likeable except Mahersala Ali and he is never straight with the truth when it would be much easier to say what he knows instead of half truths. Julia Roberts is a good actress but kind of insufferable in this role. She's a beyotch to everyone all the time except when she's drunk. Ruth, is just a beyotch the entire time and hates white people for some reason while she lives like a queen with prison tats and a nose ring. Like a fast food meal that you enjoyed as you started it and regret ordering by the time you finished it, only more Bacon could have saved it.
Untold (2021)
Urban Meyer reputation rehab story
This Untold does not go into the depths of depravity that the Florida gators of that era sank to. Most of the time it feels like an Urban Meyer reputation redemption puff piece. Yes he was a demanding taskmaster; all successful coaches are but there is a lot more that went on with the Gators football team than they are interested in letting you know about. We already know that Tim Tebow was a great college quarterback and team leader and pretty much a living saint. If you aren't already a hardcore college football fan you probably don't know that Cam Newton arrived at UF the season after Tim Tebow did. A lot of things went down and he was gone. All you will learn from this show is that he was part of a recruiting class. That's it. The Pouncey brothers had an interesting career at UF. Nothing about that here. Aaron Hernandez killed a guy and kept playing for the Gators. Everything is glossed over to make Meyer look like a hero. Shows like this should be made for the hardcore football fan. Any real fan already knows more than they will show you on Untold.
The Last of Us: Kin (2023)
Did they lose their logic
After making mostly logical decisions on their journey from Boston to Wyoming, suddenly after reaching Jackson, WY their common sense flew away. A three month walk from KC to Jackson, arriving as winter hits, finding an actual functioning society that they are welcomed into and their first thought is to get out as fast as they can. How about another "3 months later" and winter is over and you've got a good grip on the territory and what you need to do to find the fireflies. Also, if she wasn't the only hope the world has for a future, the girl would have been killed by everyone that ever had to listen to her smart mouth.
The Recruit (2022)
Preposterous and Entertaining
This is a fun show if you can suspend belief in the way things happen in the real world. The main character, Owen, is really a likeable guy. The cast of characters that work with him at the CIA are suitably quirky to keep you entertained. The main story is pretty engaging and moves along at a pretty good pace and I liked the twist at the end. The biggest challenge is getting over the female CIA agent who is in charge of the operation in Eastern Europe and wants to be the Moscow station chief. If you have ever been to Belarus you will not see another woman who looks like her. She kind of stands out like a sore thumb. The opposite of what you want a spy to do.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Ghosts of Illyria (2022)
Super blood
If No. 1s blood is able to cure all of the crew members why can't she cure the Dr's daughter? I assumed that was what was about to happened. Now we are stuck with sad Dr Mumbles. If she was brought back I'm sure Capt Pike would make her an honorary crew member since everything goes on this ship.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The Last Day Pt 2 (2021)
Season 8 dream
It was fun seeing one last heist but it would have been best if Jake woke up from a coma and season 8 had never happened. The should have Newharted or Dallased this year.
South Park: South ParQ Vaccination Special (2021)
Not half as good as the Pandemic Special
Not a lot of laughs tonight. Just disappointing overall. Good to have Mr Garrison back though.
Kenan: Pilot (2021)
It's an average sitcom with potential because of the cast
This has a chance to be a pretty good show but it relies on so many of the ridiculous sitcom cliches that it can kill a scene. Please don't make the kids smarter than the parents! Ugh, that is so worn out and unfunny. Don't make Don Johnson's character the unwanted father-in-law! The nosy in-law is worn out. Make him a solid support for his son-in-law and grandchildren. The sometimes live in grand dad on the Goldbergs is a good example of tis. He's only in episodes where he can add something and there isn't anyone trying to get rid of him every episode. Don Johnson has the most gravitas in the cast make sure his character is written that way. Kenan is really good in this roll and most of the supporting cast is good. We'll give it a while.
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
I wish...
I wish they had a better plot for WW84. I wish they had continuiity of characters. I wish they had some logic even though it is a super hero movie. Diana's mother wouldn't let her train to be a warrior as a young woman in the first movie but in this movie she was letting her run the death race at age 10. Steve had never seen an escalator in this movie but was living in London in the first movie where they had escalators for decades before WWI. President Reagan has one wish and that is more nukes, really? Cops randomly beating citizens with night sticks in the streets. Cmon writers, be better.
Away: Spektr (2020)
Ugh just use some duct tape
Really the smartest people in the world don't take duct tape with them when drilling a hole in the space ship? The air is going out; easy to plug a 3/8" hole. The technical part of this show drives me nuts.
Breaking Bad: Kafkaesque (2010)
What's up with the insurance?
I like the show but it has a fatal flaw. The entire premise of the show is that Walt has terrible insurance so he has to sell meth to pay for his cancer treatment. He's a state employee who would have better insurance than almost anyone else. In this episode Hank has terrible insurance. Hank is a fed who would have better insurance than Walt. As someone who has to buy his insurance on the exchange I understand about compromise on coverage. My teacher friends and government employees have great benefits.
Greatest Events of WWII in Colour: Hiroshima (2019)
Way too much hand wringing
Too much time is spent on moral equivalence and hand wringing over the "ethics" of dropping the bomb. The presidential adviser who was against it was in favor of a blockade that would have killed many more Japs than the bomb did. The other option was an invasion which had been approved and was being pushed for by the army. That would have killed a lot more Japs and probably a million US soldiers. The bomb was the only logical way to get the Japs to surrender. Not sure why anyone has any qualms about this. The Japs started this and were notoriously cruel in victory. They deserved everything that got dropped on them.
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Great fun
I made my wife watch this with me last week while the entire world is shut down because a few old people died. It is one of the funniest movies ever, zombie genre or not. After it was over she said her face hurt from laughing so much. It was probably the 3rd time I've seen it but it cracks me up every time.
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
Get the small things right
The opening scene says 1975 and they are listening to a classic Glen Campbell song when young Jean changes the radio station and Werewolves of London is on. FFS that wasn't recorded until 1978. It's the little things that let you know how sloppy this movie is.
Hustlers (2019)
Like Show Girls with less nudity
Might be worse than show girls. Not feeling the hype. The story is OK and predictable. Performances are OK. Movie is just OK.
Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (2020)
Love Jane Levy but...
I couldn't make it through the entire episode. I just didn't like it. Not sure who the audience for this will be but I guess their parents tell them to go to bed before 10 pm.
Bless the Harts (2019)
I really wanted to like this
Being from the county that this show is set in I was hoping for something a little more authentic. I'm really tired of Hollywood and their fake accents. They went for the biggest names they could get but missed the mark.
Yellowstone: A Thundering (2019)
This show is fun
It doesn't have to be believable people; it is a TV show. The characters are all over the top and that's OK for a summertime adult soap opera. It looks like season 2 will be more exciting than the first season. Over the top fights, ridiculous cowboy games, billionaire hedge fund guys, cattle vets who double as ER doctors, mad Indians and sexy politicians. Oh, good lord, does Kelly Reilly own every scene she is in?
Drunk Parents (2019)
Just rent "The House" instead
This has made it to Red Box in record time. Two stars for Salma Hayek's contributions and minus nine stars for whoever greenlit this steaming pile. The same premise was done a couple of years ago with Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell playing the parents and they decided to open a casino instead of having a yard sale. Better idea and much better movie. Just rent that one instead. Thank me later.
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Almost had it right
Mostly a fun, well done flick. Could have done without the SJW robot. Donald Glover does a good Billy Dee Williams impression. I didn't think I would enjoy this as much as I did.
Bodyguard: Episode #1.1 (2018)
Slooooow
It's well acted and starts with a great scene, then nothing happens. The most exciting thing that happens after the first ten minutes is a spilled cup of coffee m
Le Mans: Racing Is Everything (2017)
Almost had it
Ugh, the voice-overs just kill this. The info and footage is great but whoever decided that the voice-over should sound like it was coming from a transistor radio from the 60s should never get another job in film. This just makes it difficult to watch. There are so many good story lines and just as you are enjoying the story they cut to some footage with a voice-over that is from someone clearly not involved in racing and then they make that worse by the fake radio announcer sound.