crryan-93110 Reviews

Heathers: The Musical (2022 TV Movie)

Solid vocal performances, great choreography, terrible comedic timing

[6/10 · 17 September 2022]

Just about everything about this production was great, except all of the characters were underplayed and none of the actors were consistently able to sell the punchlines. This is problematic for a comedy.

Heather C. Especially was quite hammy and somehow managed to miss the laughs on some of the easiest lines in the show. Veronica, rather than coming off as a wannabe rebel, is just...sad. JD lacks charm. Heather Mac has very little stage time and has literally no character traits, none of the big hearted airiness you'd expect, which culminates in the least sympathetic performance of 'Lifeboat' I've ever seen. Heather Duke was probably the best of them. Kurt and Ram were standouts-both did a great job.

Otherwise a great production, and regardless a fun watch. The songs are well performed, choreo top-notch, costumes and set well-executed, and the lighting is great and comes across really well for the recorded performance.

The weakest facet can be boiled down to the failure to commit to the darkly comedic and campy elements, which is a shame, because that's always been the best part of Heathers.

Marvel's Avengers (2020 Video Game)

Overly complicated, repetitive, glitchy, slow, boring

[3/10 · 17 August 2022]

Everything you don't want in a video game. Unsurprisingly, the game suffers heavily from symptoms of standard video game industry crunch. Two years since launch, it's still extremely glitchy and awkward. There are too many elements to the game, even just the campaign, that make it A. Hard to feel like you're making progress and B. Hard to care. If it were organized and presented more like an open-world game, it might be easier to follow and less sluggish. As it is, there's just too many different things, not enough of any one thing.

The story could have been good if the game were better made. Better graphics, less glitchy, more focused, etc. Most of the characters are much more likable than their MCU counterparts and feel more like comic characters. Playing as the Avengers yet still being "underdogs" is interesting and fun. But the combat is repetitive (also just crappy and boring) and meaningless. Just feels like they had a quota-one fight sequence every 3 minutes of gameplay, or something. The enemies are not fun to fight and there doesn't feel like there's any real skill or strategy involved or required. Lame game. Glad it's on PS+ and that I didn't spend $60 on it.

First Kill: First Goodbye (2022) Season 1, Episode 7

Just so bizarre. No people interact with each other like this.

[5/10 · 13 June 2022]

The cinematography in the scene where Apollo stakes Theo is reminiscent of SNL's "Dear Sister" sketch, also known as "Mm Watcha Say." Honestly hilarious. More shows should do this. No other notes.

First Kill (2022)

This show is somewhat fun but so so stupid

[6/10 · 13 June 2022]

These kids are so bizarre and irrational. Who interacts with their parents like this? And why? "Cal, you're absolutely forbidden from seeing this monster girl whose parents we tried to kill and whose existence is counter to everything we believe," say Cal's parents. "Mom, Dad, I brought someone home," says Cal. What kind of logic is this? As if lesbians don't know how to be sneaky about relationships.

The show waits until weirdly far in to give any indication that everyone knows about monsters, for some reason. Why the secrecy about monster hunters and the Guild if everyone knows that monsters are real?

No explanation to how the Atwoods have gotten away with feeding in Savannah for decades without anyone catching on, especially with how flippant Elinor is about killing. Seems bizarre, given that everybody knows vampires are real.

I think if the show took itself less seriously it would be more fun. As it is, it's an easy watch.

As a side note, there's no universe in which Sarah Catherine Cook looks 16. That is a grown woman.

Not the worst teenage camp trash Netflix has churned out.

Killing Eve: Hello, Losers (2022) Season 4, Episode 8

No closure, no clarity

[2/10 · 11 April 2022]

No point. Seriously, what did we gain narratively this season? What was the point of Pam's storyline here this entire time? Who are the Twelve, what is their goal? How is Carolyn involved? What was her game this ENTIRE. TIME? This makes NO sense whatsoever.

And why kill Villanelle, at this point? What does Carolyn gain from that now? And why kill Villanelle and not Eve? And WHO ARE THE TWELVE????

This was so stupid. I have scarcely seen such a worthless finale. Even GOT tied up their biggest plot lines and question marks, albeit terribly. This was...meaningless. This was stupid. This entire show feels like a waste now.

The Dropout (2022)

Amanda Seyfried does a great job. This didn't need to be an entire show.

[6/10 · 9 April 2022]

Slow. Quite boring at times. There's not really enough (interesting) content to stretch all the way into 10 episodes.

Seyfried, however, does an incredible job emulating the absurd and jarring voice, body language, and energy of Elizabeth Holmes. When she started using that deep voice, I actually thought she was doing a terrible job-I'd heard that Holmes had done voice training to achieve a deep voice for the corporate world, and figured for some reason that hers was believable and Seyfried was phoning it in. And then I watched Holmes' TED Talk-wow. Seyfried is SPOT ON. The voice, the posture, the creepy eyes, the striking awkwardness. She's got it down.

However, this could have been 5 episodes. It could have been a two hour documentary. 10 episodes is too much. It's boring.

Cruel Summer (2021–2023)

could have been a cool concept for a show

[3/10 · 8 February 2022]

But some of the lead actors are seriously bad. Like hard to watch bad. I won't name drop so you can make up your mind yourself, but some scenes are just distracting putting actually good actors against those who are just abysmal.

Additionally, the pacing was uneven-some episodes action packed and some totally empty-and many plot lines were worthless and went no where.

I liked the concept for this show but it was poor execution.

Search Party (2016–2022)

I have never been less prepared to guess how a show would end based on the first season

[8/10 · 8 January 2022]

Every season, in way, felt like a totally different show and a different genre. The main cast does such a great job working within those different genres and adapting their characters to them, and none better than Alia Shawcat. Dory became so many different people throughout the series, from altruist searching for a lost girl, to complete narcissist, murderer, Stolkholm syndrome victim, cult leader-and Alia Shawcat was so good at embodying each of those, while still being so distinctly Dory Seif.

The series has some weak points. Trying to make Julian a main character was so weird and poorly executed. All of season 4 (save for the last episode) was a bit of a snoozefest. Aspen in season 5 contributed nothing meaningful. Keeping up with Chantal's family was usually boring.

Overall, though, I enjoyed it a lot. The show keeps viewers on their feet and at no point does anything expected. From the first episode, which shows us a vaguely self-centered hipster deeply unsatisfied with life and searching for meaning, to the last episode, which shows us a well-meaning cult leader on the search for enlightenment get caught up a zombie apocalypse of her own creation, there is so much absurdity and hilarity that it can be hard to pause. The chemistry between the main cast is so fun to watch and consistently turns the most ridiculous scenes up to even higher levels of ridiculousness. The show is fun. The characters are awful, but you love to hate them. The storylines get messy, but you have to trust that it pays off.

Dickinson: Sang from the Heart, Sire (2021) Season 3, Episode 5

I don't even know what they want us to feel about Sue

[6/10 · 22 November 2021]

It seems like every episode Sue is a different person. This isn't the fault of Ella Hunt, who is really giving it her all out here. All of the conflicts given to Sue are just so awkwardly worked in and contradictory. Previously, Sue pushed Emily to publish her poetry instead of just giving it all to Sue, because she wanted the world to see Emily's poetry and she didn't have the emotional strength to be the sole bearer of Emily's soul anymore. And in this episode, she gets mad at Emily for sending a poem to someone else for review. Doesn't make sense.

Also "I'm still his wife, he has to do what I say." girl? Since when? Austin hasn't been doing what you say since mid-season 2. That's like the major point of contention this season. Why would you say that? Why would you believe that your drunkard adultering husband will agree to go to a singalong for his estranged father's birthday just because you want him to? Girl?

I like Sue. Or, I want to like Sue. I loved her in season one. Season two was a weird time for her. Season three feels like an identity crisis the writers don't want to acknowledge. It's like by giving in and giving us the now drama-free romance between Emily and Sue, they don't know what else to give us when it comes to her. It's just awkward every time she's in a scene.

Shirley (2020)

Just go watch Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

[3/10 · 22 November 2021]

Essentially the same film, but Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Is much better and doesn't claim to a biography of someone despite no semblance to that person's life. This movie meant nothing and accomplished nothing.

Kim's Convenience: Friends and Family (2021) Season 5, Episode 13

Weird ending for a show that knew it was ending

[3/10 · 20 June 2021]

Typically, when sitcom writers know the show will be ending, the finale is written to close up storylines in a happy way that will leave fans content with the way they've watched the characters grow and their relationships evolve. Most of Kim's Convenience felt like that, and I figured in the final season we'd see our 6.5 main characters all end up happy with themselves and each other--as in, Jung and Shannon's slow burn relationship would end on an uptick, like actually going on the Astounding Trek together, or even just happy; Kimchee finally feeling confident as AM at Handy, or finding something that made him happier; Janet and Gerald finding impactful things to do with their photography degrees we watched them spend 4 years working towards; Appa and Umma retiring, or opening another store, or getting some opportunity to travel like Umma mentions multiple times throughout the series.

Instead, Jung and Shannon break up, and Jung is still working as a backboy at Handy despite having his degree now; Janet is volunteering at some place since it's the only way she can even kind of use her degree, and Gerald is back working at KC, also not using his degree; Umma has a debilitating disease, and Appa really does nothing.

In all, the viewers spend years watching Shannon and Jung fall in love, Janet get her degree and try to find herself, Gerald gain some confidence, Kimchee...moving up the ladder? Appa and Umma are fairly stable characters and oftentimes it's that stability and wisdom that helps the younger characters deal with their own issues. At the end of all of that, literally everything feels like it was, more or less, for nothing. It's a very disappointing ending for characters I'd grown to care a lot about.

I also felt that, for a show that owes so much of its heart to the very real, charming, consistent side characters that pop in as customers at the store, this final season and especially the last episode was lacking when it came to scenes and storylines with these characters.

Honestly just a weird ending. Like the writers watched every single beloved and revered sitcom ending and said "Okay, now don't do any of that."

Also surprised that the final words weren't "See you!" but maybe that would have been a bit much.

Cruel Summer: Proof (2021) Season 1, Episode 8

There's one member of the main cast who can act...

[2/10 · 6 June 2021]

...and she wasn't in this episode. Kate is the only character who doesn't feel completely flat and uncomfortable 100% of the time, and Olivia Holt is really the only actor in the main cast with stage presence or dynamic expressions. Her absence was extremely noticeable this episode.

Additionally, nothing actually happened in this episode. Like, nothing. Genuinely. Nothing in this episode felt like it contributed to the story at all. Just Jeanette moanin and groanin, a conflict between her dad and the girlfriend that doesn't make sense or mean anything, weird scenes between Ben and Vince where it doesn't seem like either of them really wants to be there, boyfriend of the year doing more awful things, and Mallory...yelling? Being generally rude and unpleasant to everyone? That's the episode. Nothing gained.