genehenson Reviews

Obliterated (2023)

Nothing to like

[3/10 · 21 December 2023]

I suspect most of the positive reviews about this are paid reviews or from teenagers that are getting to watch Netflix without their parents for the first time.

For anyone else, there's nothing to like here. The plot is horrendously stupid. I'm usually OK with a suspect plot if there are other good things about the show, but this is just too stupid. The writing is also pretty bad, relying on teenage jokes about sex more than anything else.

I'd be OK with all of this if there was anything clever about the show, but there's not. I took the advice of some of the other reviews and gave it two more episodes, but it never got better.

Do yourself a favor and watch anything else.

Lost (2004–2010)

Why did everyone like this?

[3/10 · 16 December 2023]

Full disclosure, I am from this era of television.

Lost is the perfect example of why network television never had a chance against streaming platforms and stopped making new non-reality shows altogether.

If you can even make it through the first episode, I'm sad to say it just never gets better. The acting is atrocious (as can be seen by the fact that none of the main cast has had success in the decade since the show ended). The writing is completely stupid. I mean written by a child stupid. I know that network TV never had Hollywood level writers, but this is bad even for them. Even the overall plot is just kind of dumb. Like what was everyone even engaged in? The whole is stupid.

The only reason this show was a success is because there was nothing better to watch at the time.

No Hard Feelings (2023)

Uninspired but passable

[5/10 · 24 October 2023]

So there's really nothing original about this script. If you've ever a teen movie about a guy that that dates a girl based on a bet, you've got the basic plotline of this one. The only difference is they flip the guy/girl role and the "bet" is from the parents.

Otherwise it's exactly what you'd expect.

All things considered it's not terrible. The acting is fine. There are a few scenes on the funnier side, but nothing LOL funny.

Jennifer Lawrence is definitely the best actor in the cast and deserved the leading role.

Much like this review, the runtime is a little too long. The whole thing could have ended about 20 minutes earlier and it would have been fine.

Black Adam (2022)

Sort of boring and predictable

[4/10 · 9 September 2023]

I think if this had come out 10 years earlier, it would have been a hit, but as it is it's just a repeat of the endless superhero movies.

I don't really have anything bad to say about any of the actors involved or the production quality. That was all fine. The issue is that there's only so much you can do with a superhero story, and this one is fundamentally they same as all of the others that came before it.

You could swap any of the DC characters for the equivalent MCU characters and you wouldn't even really notice a difference.

If you're a dire hard superhero or DC fan, then it's worth a watch. If you anyone else, you've already seen this movie and just don't know it yet.

Happiness for Beginners (2023)

Terrible

[2/10 · 3 August 2023]

I don't even know where to start with this.

I know that it's based on a book. I have never read the book, but I hope it's much better than this pile of trash is.

There's is nothing funny about this comedy. The jokes are all really boring and forced. It's so bad that I really had to just fast forward through scenes to keep my sanity. The story is boring and predictable.

I've always liked Ellie Kemper, but she always gets these really shallow roles. This one is no different. Her character has no depth or complexity. It's supposed to be about a someone having this life changing experience, but it just doesn't come through at all.

Really the whole movie just reinforces the notion that women will only find happiness through finding a man and can't grow as individuals without them.

Paradise (I) (2023)

Not terrible, but not good either

[4/10 · 2 August 2023]

I really like the dystopian genre, so I really wanted to like this movie, but, like many other movies from Netflix, the writing is really holding this one back.

Throughout the first half of the movie there are several plot points that are supposed to be shocking, but are actually completely predictable. (No joke, we predicted them to each other while watching the film.) We probably should have given up there, but continued on anyway.

The second half of the movie takes a totally different and very unsatisfying turn. It's almost like they had two different sets of writers. The first crew built the stories and characters, then the second crew just tore it all down.

It's ok for characters to change during a movie, but you need to justify it someway. This just felt forced and irritating.

On the plus side, it looked good for being lower-ish budget.

Scream (I) (2022)

Yikes. Who wrote this?

[3/10 · 21 July 2023]

They tried to do something clever and meta with this movie, and it's pretty entertaining for a few minutes. But, the novelty wears off quickly and you're left with the worst of the Scream movies.

The acting is mostly terrible. There are a few good ones in the bunch, namely veterans Neve Campbell and Courtney Cox, but everyone is really terrible (even Jenna Ortega, despite her current popularity). The rest of the younger group seem like they've never actually acted before.

The writing is also bad. The entire plot is very formulaic, which is expected from a reboot, but I was hoping to at least have some decent dialog. Nope. None present. I literally laughed out loud during one of the "dramatic" speeches one of the girls was giving. It was so, so bad.

The only reason it gets a couple of stars is the meta aspect of it was kind of entertaining for a bit.

The Philadelphia Experiment (2012 TV Movie)

Really bad

[1/10 · 30 June 2023]

Pretty much everything about this movie is bad. I don't really want to blame the actors because they just didn't have much to work with.

The biggest weakness is the writing. I sometimes wonder how such bad writers can have careers in film production, then I look up their IMDB profiles and realize they don't. Hopefully they've found success in other areas of life.

The film is low-budget and really shows. Unfortunately, they went the route of putting in a bunch of bad special effects instead of obscuring things through other means. They would have been much better off simply not showing half of the movie instead of showing what they did.

Also, the whole thing is filmed in a weird skewed camera angle which is just distracting and annoying.

Basically, no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Missing (I) (2023)

It's OK if you're a teenager

[5/10 · 1 June 2023]

Most people are going to fall into two camps with this. If you were born after 2005, you'll like this. If you were born before then, you wont.

The main "catch" about this movie is the fact that every scene happens on a computer or a phone through apps, facetime, email, etc. This wasn't really revolutionary the first time that it was done, and it's a bit tired now. It honestly doesn't make for a very compelling story because most of the "acting" is done with someone fingers on a keyboard.

In order to really pull this off, you have to have an amazing story. This was not that. It's a very basic disappearance thriller with no twists that haven't been 1000 times before in other movies. You can predict the ending after the first 10 minutes of the movie.

The reason teenagers will like it is that it's full of the technology that they're in love with and it has the typical trope of the 18 year old being the smartest person in the movie and the "adults" are all bumbling idiots that couldn't find their way out of a paper bag. Teenagers also haven't seen a lot of the other movies that it's based on, so it's likely to feel fresher to them.

Since there isn't really any acting in the movie at all, it's hard to really rate how the actors did. But in general I would give them an "OK", just like the movie was "OK".

I certainly wouldn't watch it again and wouldn't watch another sequel to it.

FUBAR (2023– )

Better than most

[6/10 · 1 June 2023]

This is better than almost every series Netflix has produced over the last few years. I know that's not really saying much, but there you have it.

It's definitely predictable at times, and there really isn't anything that interesting about the story, but the acting holds up really well. Obviously anchored by Arnie, but really the whole cast does a good job.

There are some bits of humor, most of which aren't really that funny, but it's enough to make you smile or grunt. I don't recall actually laughing out loud while watching it, but, again, it's Netflix - expectations must be tempered.

Fortunately the show really doesn't take itself too seriously, so I never got feeling that it was trying to be something it's not.

All in all it's worth a watch and I'd watch a season 2.

From (2022– )

Doesn't know what it wants to be

[4/10 · 10 May 2023]

This show has a decent premise from a supernatural/horror/thriller standpoint, but can't make up it's mind about how it's audience is.

The first couple episodes of the series are great. Even though some of the writing was a little cringe, the premise was great and had me hooked.

Unfortunately, everything slows to a crawl as they spend most of season 1 on backstories and interpersonal relationships. That would be fine with better writers, but the writing here is really bad. All of the relationships and backstories are completely cliché. With a couple of exceptions, none of the actors are capable of delivering a compelling story, so everything just falls flat on it's face.

They also alternate between an adult-themed show with graphic horror/language and a your typical pre-teen drama. It really doesn't deliver on either front, so I'm not sure who the audience for this really is.

This often happens with shows like this. The basic premise just doesn't have enough juice to fill a complete season, so writers are left telling the same boring stories that have been told 1000 times in an attempt to fill time.

This would have been a great movie. It easily could have been cut down to 2 hours of meaningful content and really would have delivered.

As it stands, I'm not even interesting in watching season 2.

The Watchful Eye (2023)

Falls off a cliff

[3/10 · 25 April 2023]

The show starts out OK. The first episodes introduces a familiar but entertaining concept. The second episodes builds on this and introduces some supernatural elements.

After that, the show completely falls off a cliff. It turns into a typical teenage soap opera. Seriously, everything about the show just gets worse and worse.

The writing is even worse than you'd expect. The actors are OK at best, but they really at least one great actor to hold attention. You end up not really caring about anyone in the show because they are just delivering unimaginative lines with no emotion.

The plot slows to a crawl. It seems like they are tying to do some character development, but it fails hard. As mentioned above, you really don't care about any of the characters anyway, so development just ends up boring.

By the time something interesting happens in episode 6, it's way to late the save the series.

Surely going to be a 1 and done series.

Blacklight (2022)

Bad

[2/10 · 18 April 2023]

Everything about this movie is bad.

The acting is bad.

The script is bad.

The special effects are bad.

The action sequences are bad.

I'm honestly not even sure how a movie like this gets made. I'm really not sure where to even start. It seems like the kind of script a kid would wright.

There are so many stupid scenes, like the FBI agent has a person handcuffed in his car, and decides to stop off to see his granddaughter, so he leaves the person alone in the car...with the door open...and then seems to be shocked that he escaped.

The person then steals a "getaway car", of course choosing the most inconspicuous vehicle you can get...a giant garbage truck....

That's the kind of movie you're dealing with here folks.

Ticket to Paradise (2022)

Boring and predictable

[4/10 · 13 April 2023]

If you have ever seen a romantic comedy, you have already seen this film.

The best part of the movie are the first 30 seconds. Everything that happens after that is 100% predictable.

There's nothing really bad about the film either. It's just the kind of movie that you'll forget 10 minutes after you've finished watching it.

Clooney and Roberts and kind of meh. I guess there's not much you can do with a generic script full of one-liners that have been used for 50 years.

The location is beautiful, so it's got that going for it.

I don't really have anything else to say, but IMDB wants me to.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Wow

[10/10 · 3 April 2023]

After all of the rave reviews, I figured it would be a good movie, but it far exceeded my expectations.

The flight scenes are very well done. Tom Cruise insisted on real flight footage instead of CGI, and it really shows. There's some unrealistic flying of course, but, hey, it's a Top Gun.

The sound is also well done. Tense moments have an early silence that literally puts you on the edge of your seat.

The only thing I didn't like that much was the romance. I thought the movie would have stood fine without it, but it wasn't a big deal.

There are plenty of references to the original. If you grew up watching Top Gun, this is a must see.

Cheat (2023)

Poor execution

[2/10 · 29 March 2023]

The premise of the "game show" element of this show isn't actually terrible. It's a little twist on the classic quiz show that's fairly entertaining.

The problem is the execution. They try to make it more like a reality show than a game show, so there's forced banter between the contestants and the hosts after every single question. It takes something like 20 seconds to ask and answer a question, and then you have to sit through 30 seconds of forced, fake banter. The guests aren't funny and the hosts aren't funny, so it just gets annoying. They also have way too much filler material and long, dramatic pauses throughout the show. At least 2/3 of the show is totally empty filler material or mindless banter.

To top it off they seem to have geared it towards a very young audience as the questions themselves are things that literally everyone knows. You'll see tougher questions at an average bar trivia night.

The Night Agent (2023– )

Predictable, cookie-cutter drama

[4/10 · 25 March 2023]

If you have ever seen 24 or any of the CSI iterations, you've actually already seen this series and don't know it yet.

There's really nothing original about it at all. You can easily predict every plot-line after the first episode. Just think "what's the most cliche thing that can happen here?" and that's exactly what will happen.

The acting ranges from bad to mediocre. The writing, as mentioned above, is both predictable and infuriating.

The only good thing about the entire show is that I'm happy to see Netflix try to make something that's geared toward adults. It's a swing and a miss IMO, but at least it's not another teen drama.

Rebirth (I) (2016)

Snooze fest

[3/10 · 21 July 2022]

Absolutely boring. I made it about 1/3 of the way through then started skipping forward to see if anything entertain would happen.

It did not. Just get yourself a nice can of paint. You'll have more fun watching it dry.

Interceptor (2022)

Wow

[1/10 · 29 June 2022]

I imagine this will be up for an award for worst movie of the year.

No redeeming qualities at all. Whoever made it didn't know how to use google as, apparently, no research went into it whatsoever. The acting is as bad as can be expected.

Really, I'm just wondering how it ended up on Netflix.

Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)

Dissapointing

[3/10 · 9 May 2022]

The plot is 100% predictable. If you've seen any romantic comedies before, you know how it's going to go. That's fine on it's own as that's just what romantic comedies are. The acting is pretty good and the production quality is fine.

The real reason I give this a low rating is that they decided to include a subplot about a 17 year old girl who takes naked pictures of herself to give to a 40-something year old man. While she never gives them to him, she instead gives them to a 13 year old boy.

I'm not entirely sure why a sublot about raping minors is included in a romantic comedy. It doesn't add anything to the overall plot of the movie at all. It's done in lighthearted way that makes it seems like either of those actions is "no big deal", but, in fact, every law enforcement agency in the United States has a very different view about sexual relations between 17 year old's and 40 year old's, as well as relations between 17 year old's and 13 year old's.

John Q (2002)

Decent, but could have been better

[5/10 · 8 May 2022]

First, Denzel is as good as he ever was and is the only star in this film.

This movie itself is mostly entertaining if you can look past the bad writing and poor character development. It really could have been a great movie with better writers. Anyone that knows even the smallest thing organ transplant knows the entire plot here is totally bogus.

Furthermore, the film takes what continues to be an issue in 2022 and trivializes it with outlandish Hollywood tropes.

Still, Denzel is great and it's somewhat entertaining.

Also, Anne Heche continues to be one of the worst actresses in Hollywood.

Sideways (2004)

Better with age

[9/10 · 5 May 2022]

I first saw this movie almost 20 years ago when I was in my early-mid twenties. I remember liking the movie, but not really connecting with the characters in a meaningful.

I just watched it again, almost 20 years later and it's like a totally different movie. I think you have to have real life experiences to really understand what the characters are going through.

The movie isn't really about "anything" in particular. It's just a couple guys going through things we all actually go through in life.

If you try watching it and don't really care for it, don't sweat it. Just let it breath for 20 years and come back. I guarantee it will have aged well.

The Batman (2022)

Long and boring

[3/10 · 5 May 2022]

There are some elements of The Batman to like. It has a unique visual style and there are a few really cool scenes.

There are a lot more things to dislike.

First, Robert Patterson's batman reminds exactly of Abed's batman from Community. He's was actually OK as Bruce Wayne, but his Batman 100% seemed like someone who is not batman trying to play batman.

Second, Zoe Kravitz just can't act. Period. Her catwoman is the worst that I've seen in a long time.

Third, the movie is at least 60 minutes too long. Very few movies can pull of anything more than 120 minutes, and this isn't one of them. I couldn't wait for it to finally end.

Fourth, it's boring. Despite there being some good scenes, for the most part it's boring. Look, it's a freaking superhero movie. The story is fundamentally the same as every other batman movie that's ever been made. They tried to dress it up as some kind of new mystery movie, but there's nothing mysterious about it. We know who the bad guys are. We know who the good guys are. We know how it's going to end. Just get on with it already.

If you haven't seen it, you might be interested to see the visual style which is kind of fun, but don't bother watching it all the way through, you know how it ends.

Bullsh*t: The Game Show (2022)

Too much fake drama

[3/10 · 3 May 2022]

This show could have been pretty entertaining. Howie Mandel is always an entertaining host and concept of the game show is pretty fun. It's pretty similar to some popular board games.

However, they producers have decided to create this false sense of drama in the show where contestants have to "call out" the person guessing trying to be funny and dramatic. It really just comes off as totally annoying and off-putting.

Would love to see this show continue with a new set of producers in charge of casting and coaching.

As it is, it's much better to watch it on mute.

Personal Shopper (2016)

Boring

[1/10 · 30 April 2022]

One day someone made a movie. Nothing happened in that movie.

Seriously, nothing happens. Also Kristen Stewart is not a good actress. She has zero range of emotion on screen.