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Reviews
Tales of Wells Fargo: Leading Citizen (1960)
Welcome to silly town
While most of the tales of Wells Fargo episodes have a really good storyline, this one falls far short. The mayor is also the sheriff as well as the local judge. One of his gang seems to have a history with Jim Hardie, so he challenges him to a gunfight, which Jim wins. After witnessing what would be considered a fair gunfight, The mayor/sheriff transforms into a judge and holds a trial, which is overseen by some town people serving as jurors. After hearing Jim Hardie's testimony, the judge renders a verdict without hearing from the jury. He finds Jim not guilty, but does find him guilty of disturbing the peace and takes his gun as a fine. Henceforth, some of the gang members decide to hang Jim Hardie, because they feel like the judge rendered a bad decision. The judge who transforms back to the sheriff, forces the attractive lady in the episode to agree to marry him in exchange for saving Jim from hanging. The sheriff saves Jim by giving him a book carved out with a gun inside. The conclusion of this farce sees Jim take the lady from the sheriff by claiming that he had asked her to marry him before the sheriff did. Sigh.
The Roast of Tom Brady (2024)
Worse than a sophomore locker room
In all honesty, I only made it through the first four "roasters", but the likelihood that the rest would actually be better (clever, clean, or even funny) was slim.
Kevin Hart grew more ridiculous by the second. How does repeatedly saying "f you" qualify as roasting Tom Brady? Drew Bledsoe was the closest to fitting with the concept, but his delivery was stiff.
Overall the sleazy language didn't make it amusing or clever but actually pretty offensive, and I've heard it all before. The women in the audience who were occasionally on camera appeared to be very pleased and excited with comments that were absolutely pornographic.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Perfect Mate (1992)
Famke Janssen is wonderful
The acting performance of most of the characters is very good, especially Famke Janssen. While incredibly beautiful, her natural presence is endearing. Captain Picard must use his greatest level of restraint when "Kamala" becomes impressed with his strength of character. The overall tone of the story is pleasing and entertaining, and the Ferengi are typically annoying.
Kamala's chosen mate is somewhat unappealing, but the character isn't made to be a total disaster.
I intend to find the other shows where Famke Janssen appears as she is easy on the eyes and ears in many respects. Too bad she chose not to appear in any other Star Trek series!
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Darmok (1991)
Smart people but can't communicate?
The premise of this episode is that the Starfleet translator software won't work with this race of people with whom enterprise staff want to interact toward diplomacy. While Captain Picard remains stumped with the terms repeatedly used by Paul Winfield, neither of these leaders attempts to do anything to find common ground from which to understand each other. What does anyone do when faced with interaction with an individual speaking a foreign language? How about graphic illustrations followed by the terms used to describe them? How about sign language? This episode was essentially entertaining in that it was pretty silly.
Law & Order: The System (2022)
Right to a speedy trial
This episode continues a recent trend where the writers create several problems that complicate a relatively simple case. Paramount to the story's legal irony is that the defendant has been imprisoned for 18 months without a trial. There is no good reason given for the delay except that it is somehow the ADA's fault.
Also, the defense attorney reveals that this is her first case and only got the case a few days earlier. While testimony shows a defense attorney had visited the defendant several times at Rikers, no explanation is provided as to why that defense attorney has vanished.
Finally, a video of the initial incident magically appears that clearly shows the defendant's innocence. Where did the video come from, and who found it?
Law & Order: Camouflage (2022)
Ridiculous Rulings by the Judge
The writers of this episode apparently felt the need to inject ludicrous court rulings to make the story last an hour. All the evidence needed for a conviction was available, yet the judge threatened to dismiss the case if the confidential informant didn't testify in open court. Just before I terminated viewing this story, the judge was threatening to have the jury disregard the murder weapon, because the "confidential informant" was being uncooperative on the witness stand.
The way the story was playing out, perhaps the judge was planning to take the defendant to a Dairy Queen for ice cream.
Spirited (2022)
Boring and disjointed
The acting was good quality, the song and dance numbers were well done, and both had little relevance to Dickens' Christmas Carol. Looking for anything funny or interesting was futile. To top it off, the movie was mind numbing in length.
Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds have a lot of talent, but why they chose to be in this movie is a mystery. Perhaps they wanted to pave the way for roles in films with more serious themes and away from the silly, frivolous films where they are known to perform.
If you enjoy watching talented dancers, there are plenty of other films that actually incorporate song and dance elements into the story.
The Sopranos: Unidentified Black Males (2004)
Irritating bombast
Growing very tired of the all too predictable temper tantrums, Meadow suddenly becomes a protector of the "Italian" culture going back to the old country. Finn has no business being anywhere near the "family" but is too weak to get the hell away.
Carmela succumbs to Tony in the pool then tries to file for divorce. Meets Tony in public to avoid a blowup..... whoops. Now she can't find a divorce attorney due to fear of retribution.
Meanwhile, Tony grows fatter, and a scene involving food is guaranteed.
Chrissy is angry about not being the number two guy after being a total douche bag. His wife stays with him for regular beatings, which is probably necessary since she knows too much.
Hawkeye (2021)
Upbeat, clever, and entertaining
This one offers great action mixed with off beat humor. Hailee Steinfeld carries her weight in more ways than one, and the understated Hawkeye moves the story up from some of the other sophomoric superhero movies.
Succession (2018)
Suffered through one
Disfunctional, humorless, cruel, and totally lacking in anything approaching entertainment. If this is supposed to be reflective of the Rupert Murdoch family, why watch any more?
The Beatles: Get Back (2021)
Bored stiff
Came for the music, left to find something interesting. Maybe a few teasers of actually playing a song would have helped, but eight hours? The early Beatles music is still the best in my opinion. In a walk down memory lane with the White album reminded that one had to suffer through some really bad stuff to hear the brilliant songs.
Billions (2016)
Great show......why all the F-bombs?
The acting is really good, the story lines for the most part are intriguing, but it seems the title of the show refers to the number of times the F... word is included in the script. No matter the situation or when children are present, out it flies.
Stargate: Atlantis: Critical Mass (2005)
Strong action plot with endearing side story
Although everyone knows the crew will figure out how to save Atlantis, the plot had good logic and suspense. I can do without McKay's speed talking, however. I was pleased to learn that Teyla actually sang the song at the funeral ceremony (ring ceremony) and felt it was well done.