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Reviews
The Mother (2023)
Not great, not bad, decent for what it was
Basically 'Salt' but no where as good, storyline has been done hundreds of times. There's more than one bad guy though so that's a little something newer. And thankfully no unnecessary romance. I liked the way it was revealed that she was the little girl's mom and I don't think Jlo's character was ever given a name besides Mother. The acting was decent. It's a Jlo film so you don't watch this thinking it'll be nominated for an Oscar. You watch this because you're super bored and don't want to watch anything too heavy or another Rom-Com, and something with a little action; essentially a movie everyone with different tastes could probably agree to watch. I'm not mad that I watched it but will never watch again.
The Walking Dead: Here's Negan (2021)
Masterpiece? A Real Review.
The best of 10C. In context,10C has altogether been abysmal.
As Negan's backstory goes, it was as expected, a stereotypical villain origin story. Similarly to the Governor, he was a good guy who lost his wife tragically, she was his moral compass, a lot of sympathetic writing. He runs into & overcomes horrible people. The acting is good & it's nice to see old characters. It's a reward for enduring the prior episodes.
It fails to explain why'd he inflict identical pain after losing his wife due to cancer, withholding life saving medication in exchange for sex (rape) and kill people for fun and become a dictator. That's where the show misses it's mark & for people looking for an explanation, you'll find an typical ex villain story with the standard death of a saccharine sweet character, that ignores the elephant in the room: everyone went through horrible experiences & lost loved ones, they didn't turn into monsters. The only real interesting part of the episode is the ending that makes you question whether he's back to the guy before Lucille's death or the still the monster he became after.
If you hated Negan before the episode, you'll still hate him, if you loved him, you'll love him even more.
Similarly to Diverged, fans of the character are flooding this episode with "10" ratings on the level of Too Far Gone, No Sanctuary, No way Out etc. It's miles ahead of Diverged & the rest of 10C & for sure worth the watch, but this episode does not rank with TWD's greatest. This was episode was predictable & unremarkable.
The Walking Dead: Diverged (2021)
It's bad
Dreadful. How bad is it? Worse than the Tara episode. That at least added to the story. An entire episode of Carol & Daryl doing nothing. I swear on God. Provides no character development, adds nothing to a plot, answers no questions, conjures no new questions other than, why was this filmed? The acting isn't good nor bad which would have at least made the show interesting to laugh at. The episode literally has no meaning or purpose it's puzzling why it was produced. Sit on your stoop & watch what happens on the street for 40 min & whatever you see will be infinitely better than this episode. The 10/10's have to be spam from fans of the characters, by all other objective markers Diverged is the worst of TWD's entire run. TWD really wasted its loyal fans time.
The Walking Dead: Look at the Flowers (2020)
After the last two episodes Just No
How many hallucinations is Carol going to have? Are they incapable of writing anything for her other than brief happiness, then long periods of her misery?
How many people will Negan save for his redemption arc? I still question it b/c the writing is so elementary. Haven't seen a good redemption arc in years & Boy Scout Negan is nauseating, he was at least funny & interesting as a full villain( and if this show tries to make anyone believe Daryl & Rosita & Aaron etc would ever accept him it's officially jumped the shark)
I like Ezekiel & Yumiko but they're side characters & weren't enough to save this episode, they were boring too. New chick looks crazy, maybe she'll bring some freshness.
Speaking generally this isn't the show I fell in love with. No ingenuity, no spark. It felt like trudging through mud looking for something good & never finding it. Much better than s8, that was bottom, but the show's stale. I'm a masochist, I keep watching b/c I'm trying to remain loyal, habit and nostalgia for when it once was great. It's like a soap opera with zombies - predictable & corny.
Best part of the whole episode was Daryl's looks of annoyance & boredom, it mirrored mine. Hope the next episode has some life to it.
The Walking Dead: What We Become (2020)
A respectable sendoff for a remarkable character
:::::SPOILERS BELOW:::
Regrettably have not seen enough of Danai as Michonne this season almost forgot what she can do when she sinks her teeth into material. Danai was astounding. I had trepidation surrounding the set up as I have a hard time believing Michonne would wander off with a stranger, especially after the events of s9, but I understand that they needed to get her departure rolling so I decided to suspend belief and accept she sacrificed her safety in order to retrieve weapons to beat the whisperers. Danai seamlessly flowed between the emotions of suspicion, annoyance, concern, anguish, anger, happiness, sadness, joy, fear and all the in between. She was astonishing, I was mesmerized and next thing I knew the episode was nearing the end. Moreover I loved seeing the faces of all the old characters we loved and lost, production expertly seamed them together with the present. They really wanted to give her a fitting end.
By far my favorite part was her conversations with her children. RJ is another character we don't see enough of and he was adorable and had me emotional calling himself little brave man after his daddy Rick. Cailey Fleming, whoa, that little actress is fantastic, the extraordinary chemistry between she and Danai I haven't seen since between Danai and Andy Lincoln. A hard to swallow is Michonne leaving her children, but with the motivation being Rick, coupled with Judith reassuring her the whisperers were no longer a threat, reminding the audience that the only way Rick Grimes wouldn't not have returned to his family is because something was wrong and encouraging her mom to go bring him back, there could be no better reason. And Michonne with such grace and selflessness until the end helping the strangers along the way seeing & hearing the call back to when she first met Rick and Carl and how they helped her ending the episode was sublime.
I'm going to miss Danai and I'm going to miss Michonne. I hope this isn't a final farewell & we see Michonne again reunited with Rick & their kids.
Instant Family (2018)
Authentic
As a sibling of several foster siblings and adopted brother and a social worker in Social Services I was struck by how accurate and genuine this story was. Usually these stories are told in an fanatical way with complete disregard to realism also ignoring other affected parties i.e. the adopted extended families, social workers, other foster families etc. This is a well rounded story with the highs and lows. Headed bu the perfect casting and acting particularly by Rose, Mark W. & the child actors.
I laughed and I cried and I'm really annoyed I've just now found this movie and it's not more widely known. Good movies like this are rarely made anymore.
Only criticism is the way the story was neatly wrapped up at the end. Unless CA's different, typically takes years for adoptions to go through particularly when the bio parent is still at the peripheral. But I understand this is ultimately a movie for the purposes of entertainment and the audience wants the happily ever after.