Change Your Image
kimharvest53
Reviews
IO (2019)
Sad How Uncomfortable Thinking Is To Some
If you had one hour left on Earth and spent it in a museum remembering humanities greatest works; this movie is for you. If you have ever studied loneliness, solitude, survival, human character, built strength and endured; this might be for you. If you like walking in some else's shoes, observing realness, thinking... try this quiet movie about regeneration. (I wonder if Bruce Dern would appreciate this movie) If you can't watch til the movies end you shouldn't be leaving a critique; sad so proud to emulate ignorance.
Toast of London (2012)
Great show and it Grows on You!
Warning: Spoiler Alert
"Toast of London" pleases on many levels. It's shocking, witty, warm, banal, quirky, emotional, mesmerizingly entertaining. It contains familiar pieces of Father Ted (crazy daily foils of common life), the Mighty Boosh (the outside-the-box humor and music) and the IT Crowd (beloved crystalized personifications) - all which pull at my heart strings.
Mixing short brilliant 'trials of the day' along with an 'ode to woes' are tossed in with hopeful grabs at fame, dodging foils and shortcomings, striving among the myriad of quirky characterizations of colleagues, taskmasters, friends, foes and strained hopeful bedfellows.
The more I rewatch each season, my admiration grows. I find it relaxing, fun, titillating, surprising; my fondness grows for each fully developed character; from his quirky yet grounding room-mate Ed; his mentoring petulant agent Jane, whose idiosyncrasies fascinate; his misogynistic, militarily single-minded (and single-handed) brother Blair, who disapproves his brothers vocation choice; the boys at the sound studio, highlighting Clem Fandango, guilty of secretly deflowering Toasts bride; the Purchases, his main adversary, the animated arse Ray and his oversexed shared wife and confidante; all topped by Brian Blessed playing their dying father! It can't get better than this!
It is easy to become attached to the song sequences with their haunting melodies and dreamlike visuals; each relating to his deeper emotions, hidden fears, desires and hopes.
Who can't relate to these foils of life: shooting the moon, and missing; falling in love, mistakenly; blabbing carelessly, forming head-on controversy; performance stung by stage-fright; obsession with uniformed heroes; unpopularity; selling out, repeatedly; shooting the moon, and making it!
#bestshowsever/Mighty Boosh/FatherTed/ITCrowd/ToastofLondon. (BlackAdder too)
Swift and Shift Couriers (2008)
Hilarious but not for touchy Americans!
I laughed so hard during this series. This show has everything not allowed in the USA. Farting, insensitivity to women, handicapped, First Nation people, all ethnics, Muslims, gays, the overweight, little people, bosses, workers, police, municipal employees and customers... everyone equally! And everyone is incompetent. Almost hurtful to watch. All the damage! But the boss is avuncular and an alpha you can just follow along watching him slip and slide through every disastrous working day. All the characters own their idiosyncrasies and never disappoint and delight. Just plain unadulterated fun. Are You Being Served / Trailer Park Boys / 10 Items Or Less / IT Crowd combo.
Black Sails (2014)
Take Our Favorite Bad Guys and Throw in Some History & lots of Eye Candy makes for a fun Saturday night!
Black Sails has been a joy for me to watch. Lots of excitement, plot twists, personality development and everyone wants a piece of the action. Favorite characters come and go unflinchingly. Relax and take the ride and check your killjoy criticisms the moment the hurdy gurdy music begins. Season 3 is proving to be a continuation of surprises and excitement. Just when the power mongers juxapositioning seems dead-on full, a trump card is introduced in the presence of Blackbeard! Edward Teach will school all! The first and second episode is foreboding and includes a ship to ship race into a raging storm with great spellbinding shots! People, let go of your petty criticisms and sit back and enjoy. No distant past can be recreated exactly. Rid the world of professional critics! Is there no sense of wonder left in your souls? Your opinions are frankly moot to the rest of us humans. A few years ago, I caught a pirate exhibition at the Denver Museum and this show exemplifies the attainment towards democracy and equality between races that in reality was true. Black Sails is an interesting study of powerful wills, desires and dreams with flaws on every side. Then again, were the pirates any worse than the powerful heads of State? A good lesson to observe during an election year in the US. Beware of agendas! Beware of power! Beware and learn from the past. Great excuse to look up some history and learn. I wonder; who are the pirates of today?
Getting On (2013)
Best Last Episode Season 2 - Ever!
"I don't trust you and you shouldn't trust each other but also must paradoxically work together; like in the Treasure of the Sierra Madre..."
I am obsessed with the finale of season two. It is brilliance. The story line, the expressions, the timing, watching the complexities as an explosion of dashing dreams, adjustability, transformations, fear-facing, fast thinking and faulty decision-making abound. Too many great lines to count. "I am allergic to animals, how many cats do you have." "7!" "He's not really one of us..." "I'm not dying anymore?" "Not fast enough for Medicare!" and the "You have many layers..." amazing line! I believe one of the best season endings ever! A total delight. Can be watched over and over again. A few highlights: Laurie Metcalf and Mary Kay Place schoolgirl bantering passing notes is hilarious! A stark contrast to the meeting's subject matter. Alex Borstein's quick marriage overlooking everything practical and maybe even her own feelings. Niecy Nash throwing in the garbage can her one dream in a simple gesture. Mel Rodriguez' s many layers, one being a small scream while being interrogated to the disgust of the women. The hospital's unbending hierarchy on the hunt for scapegoats. And Mrs. Lee and her stressed daughter and exquisite grand daughter with an eye shot I will never forget. There isn't a wasted moment and gives a lesson in universal expressions, so unlike the usual botox blank look we are getting used to. Thank God for a third season to come!
And oddly enough the song at the end gave me a very important and needed epiphany.
Schitt$ Creek (2015)
Worth Checking Out This New Gem!
Schitt's Creek
I have gotten more than a few belly laughs out of this new show. The minute I heard the cast members I had to check it out. It is fun, witty and spontaneous. As the characters develop, they become relatable and likable.
Playing the mother: Catherine O'Hara as Moira, the prima-donna fading star; her distant snappy observations are a cutting joy. The father: Eugene Levy as John, his quirky stunted characterization is most welcome being the dry straight man stumbling for reason. His son (and co- developer), Dan Levy, plays his son David and the resemblance is remarkable. The family's ennui pours through him in waves with him having to change and grow. A frightening development to consider! Annie Murphy plays the sister Alexis and she exemplifies the nymphet player with curiosity and heart. She flits through life slipping across wet stones. The bickering between the two kids is pretty funny and endlessly relentless. They are gonna have to wake up soon and they will probably be dueling rivals the whole way towards enlightenment.
Once this family's finances evaporate through embezzlement and all their earthly belongings are confiscated, they have one choice left; to migrate to a long before joke purchase of some funky little nowhere town.
Next, Culture Shock: mingling with the town folk. It is a small town run by a redneck mayor with little manners, crude tendencies and overactive bowels. The motel desk gal is a down-to-earth type with no less a sharp sensible wit with a practical acceptance of life. Rounding out the town folk includes the mayor's wife, the local waitress Twyla, is actually Sarah Levy real life daughter, Ray the real estate agent and his fellow town councilors and the mysterious hunk Mutt, among others.
It is the meeting of the minds, from opposite realms, but nonetheless, equal in frustrations, war-of-wills, and difficult adjustments. Full of funny family observations, teenage frustrations and splintered parental control lost over the years, if ever attained. But the love is clear and they will need each other.
Each character has endearing qualities, tying you to their plight. You sense the road they must travel and can sit back and enjoy their frustrated efforts while watching their old dreams evaporate and new insights develop.
A delight! Kimharvest /Also check out 'Getting On'! Another new great show!
The Expendables (2010)
Best Time I've Had!
Interesting, funny, witty, entertaining, educating - these reviews are great! Way more fun than the movie! I have had hours of fun reading the reviews, gave the movie a 2 because it is the cause of all this banter. Otherwise, Stallone had a great idea and cast. Time for an intervention. Too cliché for words; if there was a script, we couldn't hear or understand it. If there was cinematography, it was too close and shaky to view. If there was a story line it was cut out. If there were great actors, they were hobbled. If there was chemistry, if fizzled. If there is a reason for Part 2, it is to get it right! Suggestions: How about adding a twist? How about using a tripod? How about the actors speaking lines, maybe adding up to a plot? How about men acting age-appropriate? How about adding an older woman who kicks their asses? Why are all Stallone's women all helpless victims? How about an army of empowered women out thinking the retirees? Why is there no sexuality in this movie? How much Viagra could this bunch use, they can fight over that! That alone would give older women something real to fight over - to stop the oldsters from 5 hour extended sessions. Just a thought!
Richard Jeni: A Big Steaming Pile of Me (2005)
Most Quotable Quotes, Most Indelible Images, our most Common Quiddities Revealed
In "A Big Steaming Pile of Me" Richard Jeni is a master investigator of the human condition bringing to light our most common and uncommon human quiddities; unmasking our common threads; unveiling our vulnerabilities and then tying them up with a big shiny multifarious bow. He gave us so many studied brilliant slices of life. We quote from him continually, even after not seeing the comedy special in about 5 years.
Some memorable moments: the good & evil struggle in all human relationships; the echoing high-pitched sci-fi warning sound when you know you are in too deep and you are damned if you do & damned if you don't; the PMS plus wine syndrome; pricelessly trying not to notice a waitress's copious breasts; slipping into the darkness of the porn room; the resonating "eeeekkk" inhale women make as nervous passengers in the car; everyday something reminds me of another Jeni observation.
I always felt the audience that Richard played this brilliant monologue for sounded underwhelmed. I somehow felt he might feel they didn't enjoy his observations enough by their response. It was just that his stories ended quietly and not with uproarious applause. I had hoped he didn't take that wrong. I love this hour show. I think it is quite brilliant and hope to God he knows it now. He is in the top 10 best comedic hours for me. Rest in Peace Richard. And thank you.
Circus of Fear (1966)
British bank heist ends up at circus winter quarters complicating the who-done-it.
This is a perfect "B" movie. It starts off as a well-planned bank vehicle heist at the draw bridge of London Towers. The crime follows perfect timing among the thieves until a snag happens. Once the heist is completed the haunting theme starts and the movie begins. We follow astutely honorable Leo Genn, as Elliot the Scotland Yard investigator, to Barberini's Circus settling in its winter quarters. Somehow the money trail ends there. Who, what, where and when is a windy road with great characterizations and scenes. Christopher Lee is the hooded Gregor, masked in mystery also kept by his lovely niece Natasha (Suzy Kendall) who fancies Heinz Drache; the attractive circus ringmaster with a secret edge to him. Barberini, deftly played by Anthony Newlands, has all the bigness of a circus owner; making policy and calling the shots; a powerful personality in his Russian hat and odd accent. Maurice Kaufmann is Mario, the controlling jealous boyfriend of the beautiful playgirl Gina, played by a beguiling Margaret Lee. Add to the mix Klaus Kinski, the oddly affected criminal trying to tie up ends; Mason, the imperfect money deliverer; hard boiled crime leader Jackson; Manley, the sweet local police lieutenant; Cecil Parker as the incredulous eye-popping Sir John; Skip Martin as the conniving midget Mr. Big; and the idiotically sweet Eddie (Eddi Arentt), the circus owner's right hand man and clown wanna-be. It is an interesting story; a good mystery, with a fabulous theme weaving interesting characters with mysterious agendas, starkly filmed, with a surprise ending well worth the wait. It is on my A list. Enjoy.
Novecento (1976)
This 'movie' should be wiped off the face of the world along with the 'director'.
Cheap Shots. Anyone can show the worst most horrid cruelty, but don't call it art and don't use it to prove some lame point. The director deserves no respect EVER for he lost any respect or decency when he made this horrid picture of which I can only hope, a bunch of fascists get a hold of the 'director' and give him his due. You are off history's list. The ugliness of this movie proves the 'director' is no different than his hated fascists. I have to admit this movie which I saw in about 1978, has ruined my life to an extent. It has hurt my sensibilities, my heart, decency and damaged my memories. This is the only movie in my film watching career that I wish I had never witnessed. It killed a certain beauty of life for me and erases the unwritten code all other artists have followed of taste, talent, creation, and beauty. I'll hate him forever.