Change Your Image
doddio
Reviews
Miami Vice (2006)
Needs a better soundtrack
Miami Vice is a 2006 film that follows two undercover detectives as they try to take down a drug trafficking ring in Miami. While the film has its moments, the overall plot and dialogue are somewhat lacking. However, the standout feature of the film is the inclusion of "Numb/Encore" by Linkin Park and Jay-Z. This song perfectly captures the mood and tone of the film and adds an extra layer of emotion to the scenes it appears in. If the rest of the soundtrack were up to the same caliber as "Numb/Encore," the film could be significantly improved. As it stands, the film is worth watching for the standout track, but it could be dramatically improved with a stronger overall soundtrack.
Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers (2018)
Stylish Rubbish
After 30 years, no one has been able to prove one way or another Bob Lazar's claims about his schooling? Really?
Bob tries to pass it off as, "oh, they erased my school/work records", or "you're focusing on the wrong thing, and even if I confirm those details, you'll just want more".
Um, no. There are plenty of approaches to confirming those sorts of details, apart from official records. And it just doesn't make sense for the government to try and ruin Bob's credibility by destroying his records, because for most people, that's not going to be anywhere near enough, and it would only raise suspicions if Bob turned around and provided class photos, awards, transcripts, classmates that he worked on projects with, professors he worked with and so on.
Bob has an ethical obligation to go out of his way to prove every detail within his power, and his education and work history are the obvious and neccessary starting point. If he's unwilling to prove such details, why should anyone believe anything he has to say, let alone do another documentary about him 30 years later, with absolutely no new information whatsoever.
I'm 99% certain that Bob is some sort of sociopath, who gets off on lying to everyone - including his mom - to make himself feel special.
They say in the documentary, "the closer you are to Bob, the more you believe him"...well, yeah, because if you don't believe him and you call him out on his BS, I'm willing to bet the relationship isn't going to last very long. How many people have had to leave Bob's life because they don't believe him? You can see in the documentary how this would go, when Corbell asks Bob about having snuck out a sample of element 115. Bob gets visibly upset and doesn't want to "go there". Surprise surprise. He gets upset when cornered, which is classic cornered liar behaviour.
I am left wondering whether Corbell is lazy, incompetent or a grifter who's in on the con.
What a waste of time.
Westworld (2016)
Wow - finale of season 2
Finale of season 2 is great, well worth putting up with the unearned melodrama and excessive "profound" moments in earlier episodes.
Make sure to watch the after credits scene!
Can't wait for season 3.
Prospect (2018)
Not so much a movie as an extended scene...
If it were an episode in the middle of a series, I'd give it top marks.
But as a complete movie, it falls short. The plot and characters are underdeveloped. Seems like it would need another 30 minutes or so to round itself out. Kind of a shame really.
Us (2019)
Bungled storytelling yields a vacuous woke thrill-ride
An interesting premise, great production values, likeable characters, a few good thrills and laughs unfortunately add up to less than the sum of the parts thanks to ham-handed storytelling.
When you have to end the movie with a lengthy monologue explaining the entire thing, you've failed as a storyteller. Go back to square one, and start over.
Also, surely someone must have noticed that the evil woman's scary voice was embarrassingly pathetic.
Overall, seems like Jordan Peele needs some critical feedback earlier in the process so that he can reach his full potential and not end up like M. Night Shyamalan.
The Expanse (2015)
Great story!
A great story and strong production values more than make up for a weak script, passable acting and grating accents.
Well worth enduring the slog of the first season, as the show gets better in season 2, and then pretty damned great in season 3.
Can't wait for season 4!
Triple Frontier (2019)
Looks great, but lacks excitement, intrigue and substance
It seems they didn't want the characters to be one dimensional rambo types, so they gave them less bravado. But they didn't compensate with greater depth or intrigue. They just lazily relied on the star-power of the actors instead.
As a result, the movie is trapped in the dull no-man's land between a high octane action movie and a drawn out character study in a heist gone wrong.
Editing out 30 minutes probably would have given a better film.
You won't be missing anything by missing it.
Leaving Neverland (2019)
A masterpiece
The first 3 hours and 20 minutes were remarkably light for the subject matter, but they were just setting the stage for the final forty minutes, which explodes like a bomb, leaving me horrified, haunted, traumatized - almost in need of psychotherapy myself. I'm still reeling and emotionally eviscerated. Truly a slow burn that's worth the time.
Green Book (2018)
Great movie and a great *Christmas* movie!
There are very few movies out there that are both great movies and great Christmas movies, and this is definitely amongst the few.
Do yourself a favour, and if you haven't seen this yet, save it for Christmas Eve.
Super Dark Times (2017)
Super Dumb Times
Starts strong, meanders off course and finishes in an inexplicably darker place than it started.
The story is the big letdown here, as everything else was pretty solid. It's like there was about 30 minutes of critical plot missing. Was it left on the editing room floor? Did the writers just get lazy?
Probably not worth watching unless you want to try out feeling disturbed and disappointed at the same time.
Toni Erdmann (2016)
Toni's Weird Man
Seriously, WTF.
The father's actions in this movie are totally unbelievable, making a mockery of the rest of the film, and turning the whole thing into an excruciating mess.
Turned it off after 90 minutes.
The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018)
The Girl in the Terrible Sequel
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was great, but this sequel is abysmal - really nothing more than a big budget "made for TV" movie.
The characters are one dimensional, the acting mediocre, the plot devices contrived and the technology ridiculous.
This movie should never have been made, let's hope they don't make another.
Bird Box (2018)
Turd Box
A lazy, dull and derivative mash-up of a bunch of thrillers and cardboard characters we've all seen before.
The basic premise was most notably laid down in Monty Python's The Funniest Joke in the World, except they actually meant to make a joke.
Hereditary (2018)
Not bad, for a horror movie
This is actually a pretty decent family drama, with a few good scares, but it suffers from the "shrill wife, wooden husband" trope, which drags things down in the second half.
Seriously, producers, if your plot depends on a shrill wife, rethink it. No one wants to watch that; it's lazy, sexist, annoying and almost impossible to act well, because it's so contrived. How about a "strong wife" instead?
Humans (2015)
By robots, for robots.
A typical filler series, not worth watching, unless you're a robot, or you'd like to watch a show made by robots.
Succession (2018)
Starts weak, finishes strong - give it a chance!
Starts off as an aristocratic Arrested Development with implausible characters and strained dialog.
But by the end of the first season, everything has gelled and it turns into a spectacular combination of some of the best from, yes, Arrested Development, but also Billions and even the palace intrigue and factionalism of Game of Thrones.
Well worth the investment!
Adrift (2018)
Foul weather ahead
Could have been a great movie, if only they'd given us a reason to care. The leads are shallow supporting actors, at best. The characters live out lives of unredeemed escapism. Their fate seems like nothing more than an object lesson in the folly of self-centred, youthful hubris. You might as well watch the movie on mute, you won't miss anything.
Extinction (2018)
Katy Perry is great in this!
Unfortunately, the only thing worse than watching a family with whiny kids trying to escape an alien onslaught is watching two families trying to escape together. Thankfully, only one of them survives - a small reward for the time you'll have wasted on this piece of garbage.