andwarren Reviews

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities: Lot 36 (2022) Season 1, Episode 1

Disappointing and cliche

[3/10 · 20 December 2022]

The episode starts off with a caricature of a lazy old American watching the gulf war and eating TV dinners, then pans to a red neck in a pickup listening to "right wing" talk radio rants about immigrants (not even a hot political topic at that point in US history). This tired and shallow political commentary starts the episode off on a pretty bad foot. The protagonist is a two-dimensional arrogant veteran who is not a sympathetic character in any way, and virtually every other character is an archetype of some sort. The story lacks depth and is not particularly creative. There's also a lot of plot holes, that make it difficult to immerse yourself in the story. Overall pretty disappointing because I was pretty excited for what I thought would be a quality horror show from Del Torro.

Andor (2022– )

Honestly it's just boring.

[4/10 · 24 September 2022]

I really don't know what to say other than that I find this show super boring so far. I'm a huge Star Wars buff but Andor just isn't a compelling character to start with. After Rogue One I didn't care about the character at all, and only decided to watch this show because the buzz on the internet was that it was good, but the tone is totally unlike any other Star Wars movie or show and frankly the plot is slow and uninteresting. I think they intended for it to be more gritty and therefore interesting, but there really isn't much of a plot so far and essentially no interesting characters. Kind of disappointing that Disney continues to put out poor quality Star Wars content.

Circle (II) (2015)

Not that interesting

[3/10 · 16 October 2021]

It's really not that interesting of a film. And they basically make every jerk/bad guy a "Republican" stereotype, which is silly and cliche. The whole movie just feels a lot like they are trying to be profound with very superficial and unoriginal dialogue.

Child's Play (2019)

Quite different than the original, but good!

[7/10 · 15 October 2021]

Honestly in the beginning when I saw it's a high-tech doll of sorts I thought it wouldn't be a very good movie because it seemed to be departing so far from the original. However, I actually really enjoyed how the doll is an innocent machine in the beginning that learns to be evil because of what it is exposed to and a lack of it's own moral compass. You actually feel quite a bit of sympathy for Chucky in the first part of the movie. But then, of course, he descends into total evil and goes on a huge rampage with comedy sprinkled in. There were a few decent jump scares in the film too! It's a creative reboot that I would actually recommend.

The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020)

The sequel kind of detracts from the original

[5/10 · 12 December 2020]

The sequel was enjoyable at times, but didn't make a lot of sense. It was mostly a redemption arc for the babysitter from the first film, but it ruined the innocence of his only friend in that film... That's my main complaint.

Doctor Strange (2016)

Really enjoyable, though why the heck was the White Witch the Ancient One??

[7/10 · 8 June 2018]

Overall this movie was quite enjoyable. Benedict Cumberpatch was a good choice for Dr. Strange. I was really annoyed that The Ancient One was a bald white woman though.. She really didn't look the part. It would have been fine if it was an old asian woman or asian man, but I had a hard time taking it seriously with such a bad casting for that character.

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)

What a complete mess.

[1/10 · 2 January 2018]

From the little details to the plot as a whole this movie was bad. My biggest complaints involve Luke, Snoke, and the Finn side-plot. The first we see of Luke he takes the lightsaber from Rey (the anticipation of which was the only thing that made me come back to watch the next Star Wars movie) and throw it over his shoulder. This is such a huge turn away from the character we knew and an insult to the fans who eagerly anticipated the conclusion of that cliffhanger. We later see that Luke attempted to murder his nephew as a child. Not a believable thing for the character of Luke to do.. He is the guy who wouldn't kill his father even when Obi-Wan and Yoda wanted him too! Next is Snoke. This character made no sense in The Force Awakens, but I was willing to hear an explanation of him in this film. There was none. He died in a pretty cool scene, but now we are left with an inexplicable overpowered Emperor Palpatine knockoff who doesn't fit into the existing Star Wars universe at all. Finn was an unnecessary character in The Force Awakens who was clearly just comic relief and to diversify the cast. In this movie it was worse. The side quest his character and Rose (random frumpy chick) go on was utterly pointless and not even entertaining. It also included the most explicit political commentary in Star Wars to date, which is ridiculous and does not bode well for the franchise. (Yes, Star Wars has always had political themes and politics has been involved in the plot, but it has been very abstract and fictitious in a simple good versus evil way.) And when Finn was about to sacrifice himself and we were all cheering because we thought that was the end of his character, he is suddenly stoped from sacrificing himself by someone else's (potential) self-sacrifice. That is such nonsense. Now for the less important criticisms.. The movie begins with a fairly comical scene involving Poe, which went too far and just became awkward in my opinion. Later in the scene bombs fell out of a ship in outer space.. I know it is sci-fi, but come on, we all know there is no gravity in space. That is one of the defining characteristics. The "code cracker" character was ridiculous. The stutter was so idiotic and he just happened to be taking a nap in their prison cell, what? The anti-climactic end of admiral Ackbar was a disgrace. Not to mention the silly admiral who replaced him and caused the whole pointless Finn side quest. The way Leia saved herself from death in outer space was silly, and pointless because the actual actress is no longer alive to act in Episode 9.

I'm done listing things actually, I have too many more things to say. But generally this movie is bad for Star Wars as a franchise and though I have been a huge fan my whole life I probably will not go to see episode 9.

The Red Pill (2016)

Advocating for a silenced minority

[10/10 · 20 November 2017]

I heard about this documentary on youtube and after watching a Ted Talk by the filmmaker I had to see it. Honestly, my expectations may have been too high but it was still a very good documentary. The production value was great and it was a topic which really doesn't get any mainstream media attention (unless you count htitpieces on buzzfeed, vox, or huffingtonpost). She focused on the issues that the MRA movement is most concerned with and which your average person can easily get on board with. She also exposed some of the flaws of the modern feminist movement, which is in desperate need of self-evaluation. She mostly avoided some of the most controversial points, which may actually have been wise because this film got a huge backlash as it is. There were some pretty compelling arguments made in the documentary and there were some very sad stories presented which I think will raise peoples awareness of men's issues. It would have been good to hear more about the accusations made against the MRAs however because they were sometimes quite severe. Also, there could have been a little more from the feminist perspective.

Rick and Morty: The ABCs of Beth (2017) Season 3, Episode 9

What happened? One terrible mess of an episode in a usually brilliant show...

[3/10 · 15 November 2017]

I don't get it.. This episode was full of attempts at humor that only made me cringe. The song "I have a poopoo in my butt" was something an awkward child would come up with. Also the basic premise of the episode - guy gets trapped in generated world and has sex with animals to produce offspring he can eat - left me feeling so embarrassed for the creators and embarrassed to be watching the show. Entire episode was a pathetic attempt to be funny by being extreme with the use of messed up sexual humor and "potty humor" for lack of a better term.

HarmonQuest (2016–2019)

Funny show, but it does not live up to its potential

[9/10 · 15 November 2017]

I really do enjoy this show and it has left me unable to breathe from laughing at times, and so I have rated it very high. However, I am often frustrated by what I see as lost potential.

The show starts very strong with a great guest star in the first episode who plays along well and is hilarious. However, many of the guest stars are either unfunny or not a good fit for this show (Chelsea Peretti, Aubry Plaza, Gillian Jacobs). They need to be more selective of guest stars.

Spencer and Jeff are great regular cast members. Spencer particularly is hilarious and carries the show. Dan Harmon himself can be funny (even if most of his jokes are along the lines of "Oh sh**!") but he needs to prepare better. He often bumbles around and makes unfunny jokes that are just awkward.

Erin McGathy is the biggest thing holding this show back. I could not believe it when I saw she was back in the second season. Not only is she not funny, she is completely unfunny. I usually cringe when she attempts to make a joke. Her only positive contributions are when she says or does something stupid that the others can make a good joke out of.

To end on a positive note, the show is very creative and the production value is high. Very funny, but I hope that changes are made before season 3 (and I do hope there is a season 3).