TheGMang Reviews

Steve-O's Bucket List (2023 TV Special)

Vile and not funny

[2/10 · 20 November 2023]

We're good Steven. We don't need anything else from you. We're good on the 'content' and the hot sauce and the everything else.

This special isn't funny even though he thinks it is. It's not shocking even though he thinks it is. It's just gross and vile. It's not entertaining even though he thinks it is. He's been smelling his own farts for too long. He says as much.

Any humor or charm this dude had is long gone, completely. This doesn't even feel remotely fun like his other material. Even the bit with irrelevant Burr is completely limp, but it's the closest thing to interesting fun stunt work in this cultural diarrhea.

So your time will be better spent watching essentially anything else in the genre.

Steve could put some kind of spin on things and make it fresh or relatable or fun. Maybe charity of some kind. Cleaning up garbage. Raising awareness of something we can all get behind with a wacky silly stunt. Literacy. Anything. This special shows just how self involved empty this guy really is upstairs. Completely vapid and degenerate with nothing redeeming. Just burn out already because you've already overstayed fade away. Dude.

The Killer (2023)

Everyone phoning it in for the Netflix paycheck

[4/10 · 15 November 2023]

This is like if someone studied Fincher movies and then tried really really hard to make one. Everyone coming through with a solid good enough. Mediocre preachy script with very little to say and little value. It's a rare script structure of only rising action in each act, but it fails completely unlike "Sorcerer" or "Wages of Fear" because the real climax action takes place too close to the middle of the film and the ending is extremely unsatisfying. Hard to tell if the total nonsense sometimes spewed by the protagonist monologing is something the screenwriter/fincher/character or character is pushing. Lots of tedious scenes that don't advance anything and yet they build tension which never resolves and also never comes to a boil. Lots of unrealistic and silly loophole moments as well that break the suspension of disbelief and the audio team just couldn't crack it. Only once does the sardonic humor land the rest feels disconnected and ungrounded, probably because everyone involved is so rich and in the club they have completely lost any perspective they once had. The protagonist isn't at all likable and this film idolizes a fantastical and perverse lifestyle. In fact there aren't any likable characters at all. The middle is actually pretty engaging but the beginning and ending are pitifully underwhelming. Reznor adds nothing new or unique at all and most everything sounds like a ripoff of what other artists do to imitate his style-there are no themes and it all sounds like stock library drones with little textures added -YAWN. Klyce's sound design is also unrealistic and distracting- at times it's outright lazy with completely wrong vehicle sounds and repetitive uses of similar effects that don't fit. The cinematography is uneven at times extremely grainy in a bad way and there's no cohesive look or style at all to the film even within the chapters. It's like they just used a Fincher LUT plugin and shot in 8k so they could frame it up more specifically later. Crushed blacks, muted colors, alternating cool and warm... but in a film school way, not a Fight Club way. Fincher fanboys will likely enjoy this as will people who are fans of the genre. However the bar is so absurdly low these days this decidedly milk toast effort actually seems better than it is. The acting is just ok and honestly the casting isn't the best either, everyone is just serviceable. It's just not interesting performance choices at all across the board. There's tons of CG and rigging etc etc listed in the credits but really only maybe 2 memorable unique cinematic sequences on display. Fincherfiles will know he loves to use CG even to clean up boom mics. Maybe he should have focused on making some more memorable sequences instead. Script could have used a few more drafts as well because the novel couldn't have been so yadda yadda yadda. This film isn't bad, but considering who was involved it's just a total letdown and definitely feels like a paycheck job where everyone making it is having fun and getting paid for 30-40% of their normal creative efforts. Or maybe these old crusties should hang it up for good and make room for the younger people with better ideas and more energy. No one especially the above the line people who worked on this is hungry to do better than good enough and it shows.

Maggie Moore(s) (2023)

Disgusting trash

[1/10 · 7 November 2023]

The themes and perverse characters that are treated as normal and get no comeuppance is a window into the sickos that made this. Just awful all around. Completely schizophrenic. The tone is all over the place. It's like watching something a mental patient would write and a pervert would direct. It's an abomination. Nothing makes sense, completely unrealistic and full of plot holes. Comedy doesn't work and the drama mystery doesn't either. Acting is terrible. Jokes fall flat or are completely tasteless and disgusting. Production and design, sound and camera are all serviceable. The editing is terrible. Pacing terrible. Plot terrible. Just stay away. Even fans of these actors will find this gross and disappointing. This film is an unfocused loose stool.

Spiderhead (2022)

Confused uneven mess, pass on this

[2/10 · 7 November 2023]

The screen writers completely missed the point of the short story this is based on. The last act is so stupid and unbelievable. The direction is extremely muddled and the tone changes constantly making for a total mess. The cinematography and production design is cool, but the tech props with the substances aren't very cool and needed much more thought. Lots of silly plot holes. Performances are just ok but the characters are largely one dimensional. They cut out key back story points that make this even more vapid. The jokes don't land. The more I write the more I realize what a waste of time this film is. Maybe for fans of the main actors only? Really a fail on all levels, a polished up turd. A total waste of everyone's time and resources.

Hellbender (2021)

Underdeveloped style over substance

[3/10 · 22 October 2023]

The concept isn't bad but the writing and pacing are so film school it's painful. Lots of slow scenes that don't move anything forward. For an indie, it's getting the polish job but the the editing and acting are pretty amateur, and the weak dialogue doesn't help them out. The directors utilize interesting angles but it's like they don't know why or how to WHEN to use them to tell the story. Thus the directing feels arbitrary. It's either a case of too many cooks or just nowhere near enough development. Everything is also extremely on the nose, there's not much nuance or subtlety. Tonally the film is all over and the weak production design gives away the budget level to anyone with a trained eye. They can't keep a color scheme or style beyond one scene. It's not cohesive or congruent with itself, other than being a waste of time for pimply teens. The sound mix and design is also mediocre and unbalanced. The color job is also trying to play double duty for the incoherent cinematography and is over the top in an amateur way.

I think the problem is the bar is so low these daya that any hint of competence seems amazing to most people.

What's supposed to be disturbing or shocking comes across as silly because of the melodramatic way the design and music and sometimes special effects are treated.

Wanted to like this but it's no where near as good as it pretends to be. It's worst crime is that it's not fun. It's a flat slog. Even cheesey corny horror films are fun and this just isn't. The locations are a huge crutch which add much needed legitimacy to an underbaked mediocre execution of an interesting idea. This is the the best the satanists can do these days? Seems it's called Shudder because the content is so completely cringe, it sends chills.

Cujo (1983)

A Pro jabscination slog

[6/10 · 18 October 2023]

In 2023 considering what a total weirdo braindead scumbag King has turned out to be this film is horrific on another level. First half of the film is really slow and this really just feels like it should have been a tales from the crypt episode. The plot and acting just aren't interesting or compelling enough to justify the running time, there's just nothing of note going on. The B plot is so boring and so is the exposition. Also Now that big pharma has exposed itself as completely fraudulent this film definitely takes on new meaning. Stephen King actually kind of sucks if only we had all figured it out 40 years ago. He completely a tool of the system and has nothing of value to say and what he has added to pop culture, we honestly could have done without.

Talk to Me (I) (2022)

Interesting concept mediocre execution

[3/10 · 9 October 2023]

This could have and should have been 30 minutes long-the exposition and character development essentially fails and isn't well written or interesting. The thing is the horror genre bar is so insanely low and tired, this seems better than it is. The woke stuff/trans character doesn't add anything and just makes the movie feel dated. Lots slow boring scenes. The possession stuff is kinda cool and somewhat effective but feels like a short film or student film. Borrows lots of stuff from other films and isn't particularly effective at ripping them off. Was hoping it would be more creepy dread instead of the jump scares. Also characters make dumber and dumber decisions once the horror stuff gets underway instead of the entire film so overall the film feels uneven and contrived. Decent cinematography and sound design but the sound mix leaves quite a bit to he desired. The pacing had me checking the running time more than once. There's really just not enough here plot wise and would have been so much better as an anthology film about the mythology of the hand with multiple storylines and characters; the teen actors just aren't compelling and you don't care what happens to them because the exposition is so weak. The film also tonally starts comedic and light, but then it loses this angle completely after the possessions start which makes it feel disjointed, again poor writing and storytelling. This feels like a first film and I wonder just how much the DP contributed to the film's overall competency. If the sardonic fun humor continued, it maybe would be interesting throughout. The weird flashback haunting stuff is kinda cool but it tends to cut away just as it gets really interesting. There are some weird creepy bits but it's often missed opportunities that don't quite make sense. Lots of characters beating on doors and knocking throughout but the motif isn't fleshed out. Motivation for bad decisions by characters both off and onscreen also continuously breaks suspension of disbelief. Some plot points make zero sense. It's far inferior than the trailer makes it seem. Again this could have been a great tales from the crypt episode or something but the writing is just too lazy and empty and vapid to support the weight of the running time and the many slow scenes that serve little to move plot forward. Again better actors maybe could carry such an ok-ish script but zoomers who this is aimed at probably think this yawn fest is good. Instead there's unearned melodrama filler. All of the stabbing stuff is really fake and so impossible it is laughable. The gore isn't over top enough and isn't creepy enough. The makeup and performances of some of the ghost entities is one of the best parts of the film but is only in a couple of quick moments. Fans of the possession genre will like this but if you were expecting something well thought with developed lore, look elsewhere. The pitiful attempts to comment on mental health as insulting as well. The symbolism they do pick to try to convey something to the audience has no payoff and doesn't link to the plot. Not satisfying ending at all and it's so pretentious and pretending to be atmospheric. None of the zoomer characters are responsible for their actions. The adults are nonexistent in their spheres of influence and the believability is zero. This movie has nothing of value to add to the genre or anything of note to say. Again the entire film would have been better as a first act to something more. I guess my expectations were far too high.

The Creator (2023)

More boring transhumanist WEF garbage

[2/10 · 30 September 2023]

Don't need to see the movie to know what this trash is. Just watch the trailer and it will be obvious. Such a trite and boring premise retread with another boring production. I can imagine the script is terrible. So unimaginative. It's pathetic. What smooth brains are going to see this? Are they giving out free boosters with a ticket? Could Klaus Schwab and club Davos and all the other scumbags pushing laughable turds like this just roll over already. We aren't gonna eat the bugs, AI is a giant spreadsheet, climate change isn't a crisis. And this movie clearly sucks. Who cares if it has visual interest when it's a husk with a message scrawled in feces.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

Indiana Jones and Dial of WEFstiny

[2/10 · 30 August 2023]

So this whole franchise it was all to push operation paperclip and gloat? What a messy film. It operates solely on an emotional level. Lots of emotional anchoring, woke ideology and Agenda 2030 subliminal messaging. Somewhere in there was a cool film, like somewhere in crystal skull was a cool film but the baggage on this one stretches down the hall out the door. Most of the film is CG and it shows. The compositing is almost there but still doesn't hold together. Acting is pretty mediocre and the supporting characters are basically cardboard cut outs. The direction isn't enough to keep momentum and there are surprisingly slow sections that further break the suspension of disbelief. Is this abomination supposed to prep for the inevitable forthcoming all CG indy derp fests that weep social justice from the edge of the screen? Ugh in real life Harrison Ford is woke and brainwashed so I guess we shouldn't be all that surprised. I think it's all backfired on them and their plan isn't working and they're desperate to keep the façade up so they poo out these smoothbrain movies. The laziness above the line all around was just so evident.

Reservation Dogs (2021–2023)

An interesting concept ruined

[2/10 · 24 August 2023]

There's some semi fresh content here and some good laughs but it's ruined by stereotypes, woke nonsense, threat propaganda, and poor show running. Some of the writing is pretty good actually and funny, well cast and decent acting. Production values decent, cinematography good. Direction decent. The first season doesn't suffer as badly but oof. There's also some perversion that's similar to the woke perverse stuff in Dave which is also an FX show.

The agenda is showing and Taika as it turns out is just another minion being told what to make and what to say. Remember he shilled for the experimental covid products. What better way to betray these marginalized cultures than to suggest that poison. This show in the end is bad medicine. And disrespects the stories it tries to tell.

Silo (2023– )

Globalist Agenda Garbage

[2/10 · 22 August 2023]

Filled with NWO propaganda including population control. The writing and acting is just plain bad. Poor lazy dialog. Poor plot development. Forgettabl. The direction is very ho hum. Lighting/cinematography is decent but the production design is uninspired at best. The enhanced cg sets etc are pretty terrible as well. Overall everything about this show is serviceable but lazy, uninteresting and soulless. Uses the same formula as Severance the other steaming hot load of garbage pushed out by Apple's pathetic attempts at content - withholding information from the audience as a crutch for a complete lack of content, creativity or meaning. Go outside and garden instead of watching this absolute trash.

Command Z (2023– )

WEF talking poitns are Catnip for the smoothbrains

[2/10 · 19 August 2023]

Full of World Economic Forum/ Agenda 2030 schlock. Terrible writing even for predictive programming. Soderbergh keeps getting worse as a filmmaker and this uninspired turd is no exception. This is certainly not worth anyone's time, but I think we can be certain Uncle Klaus, YNH and the rest of the WEFscum pleasure themselves to drivel like this. It's so laughably bad on every possible angle. People who trust Pfizer and Bill Gates probably love this kind of content. It strokes all the mkay-ultra talking points. What's really ironic is this show thinks it's smart as it non stop virtue signals complete and utter nonsense and lies via bland uninspired dialog and milktoast student film performances. Is there anything redeeming here? Not really. Again ol Steve Soder brings absolutely nothing to the table. There are amusing moments and a gag here and there that show some semblance of watchable content, but don't blink or you will miss it because mostly if you have any functional brain cells you'll be dodging the massive spurts of diarrhea coming from this nothingburger content.

Alone UK (2023)

17 producers and 3 directors and its still ruined

[2/10 · 19 August 2023]

They've totally destroyed the format. Instead of experts it's mostly vapid randos. It takes an absolute plank to mess up the formula of this show and they have done it with AloneUK. It's very simple. The editing is worse, the music is worse, the production values are worse. The casting is again worse. They cast people who can't use an axe or even struggle to start a fire... yes it's that bad. Worse they are all fairly uninteresting and very little backstory is provided. The stakes are the absolute lowest ever for this spinoff. The best part of UK tv is the cussing and nudity, here there's so cussing but the show starts with a man's bare buttocks. What a turn off.

Victoria (II) (2015)

Overrated

[3/10 · 11 July 2023]

First 30-40 minutes is interesting but as it drags on The characters make the dumbest decisions. The long take aesthetic doesn't really work. Everything is in a few seconds radius of the club for the irl logistics.

Camera work is impressive and sound is also. The story is simple and intriguing but wears far too thin. Should have been a 1 hour and 10 min at most, there's tons if dead space and lots of entering and leaving, you know all the stuff that isn't normally written or filmed or left in the edit. This movie suffers from this constantly. The acting is good overall but the character motivations and relationships are so strained and unbelievable. Interesting, semi forgettable. But mostly just lots of boring moments and an few interesting sequences with tension. But it moves so slow you will likely be predicting what's coming once the real plot points are revealed. Good effort but not impressive or masterful to anyone but very simple unsophisticated folk.

Evil Dead Rise (2023)

Massive yawnfest

[2/10 · 10 July 2023]

Right from the first 5 minutes the formula is broken and it make for tedious and uninteresting uninspired filmmaking. It's nicely lensed but the acting misses the genre. The sound is decent but the visfx are awful in a bad way not in a campy fun way. It's so tired I can't make it through the entire running time. The characters are bad and they way they are directed is flat and boring. This is such a yawn fest could only be recommended for ultimate fans. The digital blood and gore ruins the aesthetic set by the previous films. The comedy elements fall flat as well. Just overall this is so bleh, so milktoast and it's weeping wokism. Just awful, should not have been made and adds nothing to the franchise, only detracts. Painful. Big L for the satanists.

South Park (1997– )

Should have ended years ago

[2/10 · 7 July 2023]

Once upon a time this show had a lot going for it. In 2023 it's tired and dumb. The writing has become tame and milk toast. It's repetitive and dull. It used to at least seem intelligent, but maybe it was just I was young and naïve. Just end the show now, it's unwatchable in current form and I don't think it can be saved at this point. I don't think I had a single laugh out loud moment the entire season this year. I doubt I will even bother with next season, it's just a waste of time with essentially nothing redeeming. Would rather just watch old episodes that were actually funny and had interesting plots.

High Maintenance (2012–2015)

See the woke mind virus in action

[4/10 · 30 June 2023]

I thought This show was interesting and funny when it was online. The first episodes are great but as it goes on and becomes more and more diluted. The vignette style stories become set pieces to nothing. Laughs more and more rare. More and more boring. The worldview becomes suddenly so obviously from the brains of people who don't live in the real world but a fictional version of NYC. Then it starts getting super woke with normalizing cross dressing in front of kids and gender identity nonsense. Way ahead of its time, but has not aged well in 2023. I remembered this being funnier when the world wasn't so infected by woke propaganda, but this show is a great example of how it starts sneaking into civil society. Now just look at what NYC has become. A nightmare post covid hellscape where pizza causes climate change so it must be banned. Can only imagine that Sinclair is working his woke poison on Dave on FX these days which is why that show just keeps getting more and more perverse and less entertaining. After this revisit, there's no way we'll be watching the HBO reboot, but seems the reviews are the same- interesting and fun idea in the hands of writers with a dry well of ideas and an agenda that comes on strong and vapidly pisses itself away just as fast. Yuck.

Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm (2022)

Aquawoke Yawnfest

[2/10 · 14 June 2023]

Hugely disappointing. Another franchise that should have just stayed dead if it's going to be this bad. This postpandemic version is full of subtle woke messages. There's global warming nonsense about c02. There are dali llama jokes while frylock wears a bandanna that says suck my dongle- weird as this came out well before that real life incident. The animation is missing the charm of the original. The voice acting is tired and uninspired. The direction does not support comedy animation, it doesn't work at all. The plot had some interesting concepts but the writing itself isn't funny. I did not once laugh out loud. It's not attention grabbing and feels disjointed. It had some of the same old jokes but they don't play them in a funny way for some reason. I liked the first movie ok, but this one you should skip to preserve your memory of the show. Hopefully they didn't f over the guy who plays frylock yet again and he got paid good money for this schlock.

The Rehearsal (2022– )

Painful

[3/10 · 10 June 2023]

Starts out funny and gets old fast. As the show goes on it gets more and more evil. However there's no payoff. It just builds cringe on cringe without any way to alleviate or satiate the audience. BUT we're not left wanting more, we are left wanting our time back. It's definitely not all bad, but this deserved 3 eps max.

Nathan is a master of the Satanic humiliation ritual and this is a pinnacle.

But this just turned at the end into some weird trans agenda crap. By then there are zero laughs and you wish it had ended at episode 3 or 4 when it had potential to be entertaining and not just a massive downer. Would have liked to see Nathan just get himself in deeper and deeper with rehearsals not just layer upon layer of compulsive obsession. There's more for Nathan in this show than the audience and that's why overall this is a fail with some incredible moments. I guess Nathan is just a less musical Demitri Martin: funny for a minute but now, like a smelly hobo, no one wants to be close. Just like with Barry, should have just ended it when it still had spark.

Knock at the Cabin (2023)

One of his worst offerings yet

[2/10 · 25 February 2023]

Bautista carries the entire film. Visually forgettable. The fx/cg is truly awful for 2023, but the compositing maybe worse. Conceptually the film is interesting but grows tired quickly and never actually comes to a boil. The ending is similarly lackluster and abrupt. Worse thematically the film almost pretends to explore interesting concepts but can't get over it's own lack of mythos. It feels confused like it does not know why it exists or what it is trying to say. Overall it just feels really low effort from Night. There are several moments that leave such massive holes the film can never recover and once the tension lets off for those paying attention, you will already be so far ahead of Night's popsicle stick cabin that nothing will be surprising or engaging.

Fire of Love (2022)

Relies entirely on the talent of the subjects

[4/10 · 25 February 2023]

The filmmakers add essentially nothing of value here and did not even use AI to clean the old footage to make it pristine, which would have been the most valuable thing they could have done. July's voiceover has completely the wrong tone and is painfully annoying; overall weak performance as well. In it's best moments the film compiles multiple perspectives and archival footage of key moments but unfortunately it falls flat. The score is pretty fantastic and carries the film. The sound fx and mix didn't work and felt like a raw foley session. In fact the way it is assembled, most of the film felt like a parody of Life Aquatic which no doubt was a massive influence. All in all, if you have seen this couple's work and know the story you don't need to watch this.

Antlers (2021)

Disappointing, Disgusting, Tasteless

[2/10 · 29 December 2021]

This movie looks and sounds slick because a bunch of real artists put the work in on behalf of the writer director. The script and direction is terrible but not dismal. It is Muddled, confused, and lacking any clear vision. Worst of all it's completely disrespectful to First Nations peoples, and using Green as a prop is even more insulting. It gets just about everything wrong with the source material and even manages to be unmemorable in the process. It's a slow yawn fest with small twists filling in the laborious runtime. Almost nothing happens plot wise. Wendigo has almost nothing to do with the Plot, it could be any monster. Lots of wasted opportunity and it just completely falls flat. Unsatisfying winding to say the least, but the piss poor writing leading up to the putz that this movie manages to ejaculate on to its audience is nothing short of life you will never get back.

Back to the Titanic (2020 TV Movie)

disappointing reality tv schlock

[3/10 · 15 January 2021]

National Geographic continues its decline into dumbed down mediocrity. This 'documentary' plays like a cheap reality show. The fake drama is so forced it's almost impossible to watch this. There is almost no good 4k footage of the wreck in this. Mostly the same footage over and over and then reaction shots or b roll inside the sub. These are the people who crashed into Titanic but there's no mention of it here. Poorly directed and shot this is really a shadow of what it could have been. 5-6 minutes of great content stretched into 45+ min of stupid tv tropes. The expedition itself seems half baked, especially with technology available today. The narrator is awful. The only interesting person is the historian.

Greenland (2020)

Never makes a lasting impact

[4/10 · 22 December 2020]

Starts off pretty promising but it's just terrible. It devolves into total nonsense. The direction and performances are so all over the place. Some of the acting is just crazy bad. Amazingly uneven and despite a few really fantastically realized sequences it fails in what it wants to be. The science is dumb and so the threats and consequences portrayed are dumb. It really lags in the middle. It's so poorly thought out. None of the little details ot big ones are convincing. Why do all the handwritten notes look like they are written by the same person. No way Gerard Butler uses flowery cursive. Plot is also unfocused. Had medium hopes for this movie. Did not deliver on even modest expectations.

Monsters of Man (2020)

It's not incompetent filmmaking, but it's not competent filmmaking

[3/10 · 15 December 2020]

This is a prime example of an interesting concept and plot, poorly written and even poorly executed. It definitely has the stamp of someone so close to their ideas and project that they couldn't see the forest for the trees and a lack of self editing. Sometimes when you are so close to a project it's hard to put yourself in the audience's shoes... That being said, there are some cool sequences. The setting is cool. The camerawork is relatively sophisticated and well done. The acting is extremely uneven and overall not great. The sound design is decent. The music is all over the place, but mostly tells you how to feel and calls attention to itself. There's not much in the way of themes here just ambient cue after ambient cue that is far too common these days. Unfortunately, the film is largely tone deaf and didn't work for me. There's not much in the way of work towards suspension of disbelief and for sci fi there are some implausibilities and dumb stuff that just doesn't work especially for how largely serious the film takes itself-- but it's tonally all over the place. There's awkwardly inserted exposition and very little character development so consequentially it's hard to care about any of the characters. As an audience you can emapathize, but that's not enough, especially with all the bad acting. The gore feels unearned, especially the onscreen murder of children. Huge turn off and again goes along with the tone deaf nature of the directing here. The plot itself is very ambling and honestly considering how simple it is, a little hard to follow at times. It's so inconsistent. The fx however are pretty intense and will please fans of the violent gore genre. The CG is actually pretty decent considering and the mocap/compositing feels fairly natural. The editing could have used a few more passes and might have been able to turn this film into something better than the 2+ hr version, it gets repetitive and feels unfocused. For example restructuring and would be more effective with 25-40 minutes cut. This could be a 5 or maybe even 6 star but it just missed the mark. It's like made for cable tv level content with a better budget and production management.