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Becoming Led Zeppelin (2025)
Wonderful journey
As a Led Zeppelin fan for the past five decades, this was an amazing trip, hearing all the stories of how four incredible artists happened upon each other to make rock history.
With genuine and thoughtful interviews from the survivors of the band and a really sweet and funny interview from the late John Bonham, (a happy voice from the past) this exciting and well crafted doc had wonderful historical footage and photos showing us how Led Zeppelin became Led Zeppelin.
If you can see it in IMAX, it's amazing. Some of the live footage is absolutely fantastic and the sound quality is remarkable.
Overall, this was a really fun ride down memory lane. I just wish I were 10 years older so that I had had a chance to see Zep before John passed.
Definitely a must see for any Led Zeppelin fan!
Severance (2022)
Psychological terror of the highest order
I didn't expect much of this show.
It started off a bit slow, but immediately I felt like I was in Office Space crossed with 1984.
The sheer psychological terror of your very own conscience severed during the day at work, creating a whole different person at the office was compelling.
Adam Scott shines in his role as Mark S. And to my surprise he's joined by the brilliant John Turturro, Christopher Walken (!) Partricia Arquette and a new (to me) and wonderful actress, Britt Lower. Zach Cherry shines as well, his constant quips and foul tirades punctuate the deafening silence of the seemingly padded walls in the bowels of Lumon, Inc.
It's a cautionary tale and a real hard look at ourselves - who are we, really?
I often would say I'm a little different at the office than I am at home. This takes it to a whole new level... you HAVE to see this series.
Can't wait for January 2025 for season 2.
Hoosiers (1986)
Disappointing, had some good acting
I'd heard over the years that this was a great film. It has a folklore attached to it, 1950s Indiana high school basketball, the great Gene Hackman, Dennis Hopper, heck, even Barbara Hershey.
But wow, it was pretty weak. Predictable, poorly written, almost unwatchable at times. Hackman was semi-believable as the former disgraced college coach, coaxed back to coaching after punching a player years back and being banned from college basketball. His relationship with the principal of Hickory is unclear and not well developed at all.
He's immediately painted as the outsider, the bad guy who is taking over a mediocre team with unorthodox coaching methods, and somehow manages to get the Town on his side in an unlikely twist.
During all this, he runs into Barbara Hershey, a teacher who immediately also takes a disliking to him because he's an outsider. But after he manages to get the team winning, she changes her tune, and somehow becomes his love interest.. yeah, right. Silly stuff.
It's all really very corny 80s movie making. Some decent acting from Hackman, Hershey and certainly Dennis Hopper, who plays the inebriated father of one of the players on the team.
But as an overall movie, this whole thing falls flat. I don't get the emotional connections, the townfolks seem way too out of central casting. It feels forced and almost trying to be the emotional tour de force that it isn't. Certainly, we don't get any emotional connection with Jimmy - the boy who was the phenom that Hackman somehow got to play after seeing for sometime at the beginning of the film that he was definitely not going to be on the team. That relationship is never developed, and had so much potential.
What's really missing is emotional connections with the boys. They make fun of one of the kids because he's religious, and Hackman apparently isn't. In typical Hollywood movie fashion, this turns into a humorous moment when Hackman plays on the kid's beliefs and tells him "God wants you on the court" and the kid suddenly breaks into a smile and goes out and has the game of his life. We never learn anything about these kids, other than one was religious, one didn't want to play for some reason, and one had a dad who was a drunk. The film just doesn't make any emotional connection whatsoever with the viewer. One should be able to name all the players on the team at the end of the movie, but you can't, and this is just bad.
I don't think this movie could be made today because people would expect to know more about the players and their lives, but this film glosses over it and focuses on constant montages of the team somehow winning against impossible odds.
At certain points, it's unwatchable, like when Hackman kisses Barbara Hershey. No lead up to it at all. I laughed in disbelief at the moment.
Perhaps Hoosiers suffers from decades of changing cultural standards, and the way films are made today influences how we look at 80s movies - but other films like Back to the Future, Stripes, Beverly Hills Cop, etc. All still hold up. I don't think this one ever held up.
I don't hate the film, but I certainly didn't enjoy it as much as I expected to. I give it six stars for the acting performances by Hopper and Hackman.
I wouldn't bother with it unless you absolutely needed something to waste a couple hours on. It's pretty mindless.
Wrath of Man (2021)
Woah, bad movie alert
I love Statham, but this movie sucks.
Bad acting, bad plot, bad ending.
Wow, just horrible. Don't waste your time.
No great martial arts work from Statham, no exciting suspense sequences, really zero plot and the ending, well let's say it's ridiculous, absurd really. Jeffrey Donovan is one of my favorites, and he's wasted, his character one dimensional. The most character development we get on anyone is a minute of Jason enjoying time with his kid, and actually being a father. Every character is a non-player character, just existing in time, with a purpose but no personality.
It's an action movie without a lot of action, no characters you can relate to, really no ending and the acting is horrible.
The preview was the most entertaining part of the movie. Skip this one.
SAS Rogue Heroes (2022)
Fun, well played history lesson
The importance of the SAS is not lost on World War II and the efforts to defeat the Nazis in North Africa. Rogue Heroes, while historical fiction, does not deviate from this message, and delivers an exciting, unique and fast-paced look at the genesis of this comando guerrilla regiment that helped keep the Nazis out of Egypt.
Funny, irreverent and full of action and emotion, Rogue Heroes is a great watch. The acting is excellent, the plot is exciting and it's a great tribute to the men who made up the SAS that would go on to defend Britain and the West to this current day. This is a must-see for fans of WWII historical fiction.
Season 2 is even better with the crew in Italy. We feel more character development and more insight into the minds of these irreverent, mostly mad men (and one beautiful French spy) who helped defeat fascism.
If I could give this 10 stars I would! Highly entertaining!!
Godfather of Harlem (2019)
Fantastic Series!
With a truly heavyweight cast, The Godfather of Harlem tells the story of Bumpy Johnson, a career criminal who rises to the top of a crime syndicate in New York City in Harlem in the 1960s.
With civil turmoil, conflicts with the Italian mafia, Cubans and the CIA, Bumpy navigates the world of crime, politics and tries to preserve the life of his friend, controversial Muslim preacher Malcom X.
It's a wonderfully told tale, dark, violent and brutal. Forrest Whitaker is amazing as the family man Bumpy, conflicted over his life as a criminal and a father and husband. Supporting cast members Vincent D'Onofrio, and such luminaries as Chazz Palmenteri and the late great Paul Sorvino round out this incredibly well cast and written show.
A peek into the sad, dark world of the1960s from the assassination of JFK to that of RFK, Malcom X, RFK, and Martin Luther King, Jr., this show winds up the tension and takes wonderful artistic license with real history. It's a fun ride and well worth your time!
1883: A Yellowstone Origin Story (2021)
Amazing but make sure you have your Xanax
Incredible acting, incredible story, incredibly sad.
Saddest thing I've watched in a long time. Tim McGraw is amazing, and Sam Elliott is unbelievable.
Performances are amazing, writing is amazing, the cruelty settlers faced on their way west is documented all too well.
Worth a watch. My only complaint is that the actors teeth are much too white and perfect for 1883. Other than that this is a great prequel to Yellowstone. It gives you a true sense for the character of the Dutton family and what they went through to get to Montana, and the hell they traversed to seek Paradise - Paradise Valley.
Mayor of Kingstown (2021)
Not so great
Jeremy Renner is making the most out of unrealistic, overacted, violent and somewhat meaningless scripts in this series. He's really good as always. The characters around him (especially the cops) are shallow, always out to lynch someone and mete out street justice. It feels over the top.
Dianne Wiest - heavyweight talent - is wasted as the prison teacher and mom to the McLusky boys, and I'm four episodes in and sadly don't care what happens next. Little to no character development has left me kind of cold. We're picking up in the middle of these people's lives and we don't know much of anything of how they got to where they are. I feel like they're exceptionally complex characters who deserve a backstory - even 4 episodes in.
It may hold my attention for another couple of episodes but it's nowhere near an 8.2 on any planet at this point.
Nobody (2021)
Funny, black and a great ride
Bob Odenkirk steals the show as the most unlikely retired deep state "auditor," living a quiet suburban life, but hiding a dark secret.
When that secret comes for his family, things get really real.
Nobody is a great ride. Absurd, silly and thoroughly enjoyable. Stay tuned for the cliche gratuitous violence, the one named Russian mobster and the insane stunts.
Have fun!
George Carlin's American Dream (2022)
ZZZZZZZ... meh
Not exactly riveting.
Interesting back story on Carlin & his genesis, but really a snooze fest overall. Something about the way they put this together is incredibly long winded & tiring.
I felt like this story could have been told in 2 hours instead of what, nearly five?
The Righteous Gemstones (2019)
Started off funny, but went off the rails
This show had promise, but it's gone completely over the top in season 2 (we made it to episode 4) and we're done.
What was a not so thinly veiled parody of televangelists in season one has now become open mocking and absolute absurdity.
The acting has become almost unwatchable and the plot line makes zero sense at this point. The scripting is just profane and stupid.
It's just not funny anymore. Kinda feels like a endless bad SNL sketch. Don't waste your time.
The Secret of My Succe$s (1987)
Silly, 80s formulaic comedy but fun
Classic 1980s kitsch comedy, formulaic and silly. Completely implausible, but a feel good flick.
That's what makes it good. Add in a charismatic Michael J. Fox, fresh off of Back to The Future and Family Ties, plus a great soundtrack, and this 80s silliness just works.
It's such a time capsule of how the world was in corporate America in the 80s. Useless executives, hostile takeovers, CEO excess, just stupid and fun.
So much hate for a fluff film.
The Americans (2013)
Sheer brilliance
From start to finish, this compelling series set in the waning years of the Cold War about an ordinary suburban DC family with a deep dark secret is incredibly well done.
Suspenseful, well acted with amazing story telling that will keep you binging for hours on end.
A must see for anyone who likes drama.
Repo Man (1984)
Cult classic 80s brilliance
Repo Man is as much absurd satire as it is a film that kind of takes itself seriously. Hilariously stupid and pointless, it captures late early 80s Southern California aimless punk Otto (Emilio Estevez) as he goes from supermarket pricer to professional car thief being mentored by gruff but brilliant Harry Dean Stanton (Bud) in pursuit of a Chevy Malibu rumored to be worth big money, as it's clearly possessed by alien life forms and hunted by mysterious government agents.
Abounding in 'Easter eggs' hidden throughout the film (plate of shrimp, anyone?) and a few great cameos, this wild romp cascades through silly science fiction themes while Otto is just trying to make a buck and romance a girl he's managed to meet along his journey.
It's a brilliant, stupid ride, but one you have to take and you'll either get it or not.
Your Honor (2020)
Cranston is brilliant but the script & cast is weak
It's a statement about a series when a main character with the potential of Jimmy Baxter, the New Orleans "mobster" is just mediocre. The actor playing him is good, but not really believable.
Baxter's wife has potential as well, but she's just flat. There's little or no character development beyond Cranston and his annoying, emotional hemophiliac of a son.
Cranston as usual is brilliant. His supporting cast is almost non-existent.
This show feels rushed, like they needed a script and they tossed it at Cranston to get him working.
Cranston carries the show.
It's worth a watch but not the best stuff I've seen on Showtime, for sure. 6/10.
Patriot (2015)
Brilliant - Amazon should be ashamed for canceling this
Dark, plodding, funny as hell. O'Quinn & Dornan put in amazing performances. And Kurtwood Smith hits it out of the park.
Brilliant storytelling and absolutely one of the best series I've seen on TV since the Sopranos.
Figures Amazon would cancel it.
Spy Wars (2019)
First hand accounts of spy history
Wow!
I thought this was just going to be another dramatized show with actors, but while it is that, they also get first hand interviews with key people who actually were involved with the remarkable stories of these intelligence operations.
Amazing stuff - really brings history to life.
Great show!
Motherless Brooklyn (2019)
Compelling and well done
Edward Norton once again shines in a role so well made for him.
The lonely, Tourette's afflicted gumshoe on the hunt for the killer of his boss, Frank Pinna, wanders into a world of NYC power politics the likes of he's never seen.
Aided aptly by the stellar performances of Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alec Baldwin, and Willem Dafoe, Norton's character navigates late 1950s Manhattan, where a power hungry Baldwin as the Borough Authority Boss runs a brutally tight power game, but holds a dark secret.
Visually well done and acted, this was an enjoyable ride. Edward Norton is just understated yet convincing enough as Lionel Essrog, tortured soul detective.
Mbatha-Raw is so convincing as Laura and she really shines as well.
Overall, this was an enjoyable film and I give it an eight.
The Affair (2014)
Still not sure why I watched this
This show just was just the story of a human trainwreck. Awful people, weak minded, driven by ego, lust and fueled by alcohol and bad decisions.
I still can't figure out why we sat through as many episodes as we did.
At first it was compelling, but by the fourth season, the plots were reaching ever harder to make this show work. It was a soap opera that never seemed to end.
Then, to toss the whole future story of Joanie in with some garbage plot line about a dystopian world affected by phony sea level rise due to the myth of climate change, and it all just went really rogue.
Glad it's over so I can stop wondering what happened to Noah Solloway and his trail of human wreckage.
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Horrible
Worst movie I've seen in years. Zero plot, total shock value sex, drugs and foolishness. Absolute waste of almost three hours. Nearly unwatchable. Don't bother.
Designated Survivor (2016)
Awful
Jack Bauer gets a pen and a phone. Unconvincing and poorly written. Disappointing.
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Cinematic Ambien
When you fall asleep listening to Bradley Cooper ramble on with Jennifer Lawrence about absolutely NOTHING in the middle of this film, wake up 22 minutes later and notice that you missed absolutely NOTHING, it's time to give this piece of junk the review it deserves. I feel this way mostly since we entered into the on-demand contract to watch this drivel on the advice of the Academy and hundreds of delusional viewers who somehow feel this film has something to offer. Silver Linings Playbook is a poorly scripted and marginally acted film. It fails to deliver ANY semblance of anything. The script is horrible, the story is beyond boring, the "chemistry" between any of the actors is invisible, if not completely absent, and frankly, I couldn't have cared less how it ended. I think I laughed twice in two hours, that is, when I wasn't snoring. Jennifer Lawrence's apparently Oscar-worthy performance was completely overshadowed by the fact that she said NOTHING for nearly two hours. I mean NOTHING. Between her and Cooper, it was incomprehensible gibberish, and it went on and on like Ahmedinejad at the UN. Just two plus hours of rambling. The mindless, worthless script overshadowed Cooper's apparently reasonable performance as well. DeNiro was the only bright spot, but his performance was forced and he wasn't believable as Cooper's father - not even a resemblance. Bad casting. Wait, Cooper's character might have been adopted - I'm not sure. I might have missed that during my 22 minute snooze. Eh, didn't matter anyways if it were the case. The chemistry there was horrible as well. I can't even give away anything about the film in a spoiler because there's frankly NOTHING TO SPOIL here. I could tell you the ending and it wouldn't mean a thing - you could go ahead and watch away with nothing to look forward to except wishing you'd spent the $6 on a latte at Starbucks or a couple of discount rentals of decent films. Stay away from this film unless you really need some sleep.