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Reviews
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
A cheaper, far-fetched sequel
Here, we have Diana Prince working as an...archaeologist I assume...in (you guessed it) 1984 Washington DC. We know it's 1984 because the title said so, and everyone is dressed in 1980's clothes and hair and walking around a yellow and brown mall that still has customers and B. Dalton's. Wonder Woman still saves people as needed, but her heroics are kept a mystery because she takes out security cameras and depends on no one owning a Polaroid camera whenever she shows up.
Problem #1: how has she operated for nearly 70 decades in such anonymity? Did she go "underground" for nearly a century? And did she never make any friends or professional colleagues who never noticed her inability to age? It's hard to find the logic in absolutely NO ONE knowing who she is at this point.
Problem #2: There is no reason, other than lazy nostalgia here and there, to set this film in 1984, unless it was to provide an excuse for Diana to get away with being somewhat a mystery as Wonder Woman. The lack of cell phone video and social media seems to solve that problem, but aside from that, it could take place at any point between 1975-now and it would still work.
Then we are introduced to the supposed "ugly duckling" of the film, Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig). She does a decent job with the semi-serious role, but her arc is rendered pointless by the fact that she is Kristen Wiig. No attempt was made to make her look/feel insignificant other than people just ignoring her and her inability to walk in heels. When she wishes to be like Diana, suddenly, everyone is fawning over her. You can't tell me that none these (seemingly single) guys now attracted to her wouldn't have at least spoken to her previously.
Barbara and Diana are assessing what turns out to be the Dreamstone - a Kryptonite-looking rock that grants the holder one (or maybe more, not sure on that) wish. Diana apparently wishes for Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) to return.
Then our main bad guy, Lex Luth - er, I mean, Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascals), is a con man caught up in a Ponzi scheme. He has sought out the Dreamstone, and seemingly wishes he WERE the Dreamstone himself, with the ability to grant wishes to anyone and everyone, making him....successful, I guess? Look, he wants to be viewed as a successful business man for his son, so this somehow does it by allowing him to grant wishes to be people. Does he charge for them? I honestly don't know, but his business is now booming. And yes, his wig is worse than any worn by Gene Hackman in Donner's "Superman."
The catch is that the Dreamstone doesn't just grant wishes; it takes something from the wisher in return. In the case of Diana, we see her reunited with Steve, who has pulled a Quantum Leap and taken possession of another man's body. He didn't come back to life, per se, but his soul/spirit did - at least for a little while. The cost for their reunion is that Diana is slowly loosing her powers. The only way to gain them back is to renounce her wish and let Steve go.
While Max is gaining control over the world and Barbara is turning into Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman, Diana steadfastly refuses to give up her wish, demanding that she finally be happy for once. This goes on until she is handily beaten by Barbara in a fight, at which point, she reluctantly agrees to give up her wish and tell Steve bye again.
If this sounds somewhat familiar, it's a subplot of "Superman II" - hero must give up powers to be with their true love, only to be shown how wrong they were.
Now that that lame excuse to get Chris Pine in the movie is solved, Diana can now stop the Wishmaster and Catwoman once and for all, after she swaps suits for Kenner's toy line.
By the end of the film, it is impossible for anyone to not know about Wonder Woman (although, considering they have not used her WW name in two films to date, maybe that's their excuse?). It is becoming clear that their allegiance to any sort of DCEU is no longer a priority, because there is no way she saved the world from a global collapse in 1984 and is somehow still unknown to Batman and Superman in 2016.
The whole affair felt cheaper this time around. The first film was a visual marvel that captured its time period beautifully. For WW84, everything looked and felt half-assed, right down to the wigs. There's even a scene where a supposedly physically- and emotionally-drained Barbara takes a second (on camera) to flip her hair back.
Far too many plot holes, both in itself and for any other connections supposedly made to existing films, and "Justice League"-level CGI make this a disappointing sequel to such a great debut.
Off the Beaten Path (2019)
A collection of unrelated scenes edited together
Two roommates (whom we know very little about) head out into the woods to take modeling pictures. Their car breaks down, and they are forced to...pass the time? Yeah, that's about it.
The majority of this film is two young females taking to each other outside the car in the woods. They swim in a nearby creek, they eat fish that they catch, and that's it until one of them becomes ill; then they decide that maybe they should head back to civilization. The way the film is edited, we are supposed to believe that this takes place over the course of several days, but aside from complaining about feeling bad, the two leads look no worse for the wear despite being outside in the woods night after night.
From reading the description of this film, one expects a thriller or horror film, and in reality, that would've made it FAR more entertaining. Heck, even just exploring the relationship between the two roommates and creating some sort of tension Or motivation would've at least given viewers something to break up the monotony.
This film feels very amateurish. Some scenes appear to have been reused and recycled simply to pad out the running time. Random drone shots are inserted whenever time is supposed to pass. The two leads can't seem to agree on whether their acting should be dramatic or ironic.
Unlike films such as "Birdemic" or "The Room," where the technical shortcomings are part of the fun, this film simply drags on for 90 minutes. There's no real plot to speak of. It's just two girls in the woods.
The Oak Ridge Boys Live from Las Vegas (1998)
Fast-paced variety show
When it was announced that The Oak Ridge Boys would get a weekly variety show on TNN, buzz immediately began. Comparisons to "rival" group, The Statler Brothers, started almost immediately, as they, too, had a very successful show on the same network for many years. What made this show different, however, was the STYLE.
The Oaks have been playing Las Vegas for decades, so it was only natural that the show take place there. The Las Vegas Hilton provided the stage for this ground-breaking show, where they first worked for Johnny Cash in 1975 (bass singer Richard Sterban actually worked there in 1970-72 with Elvis Presley!).
What really set this show apart from the Statlers', however, was the caliber of guest stars. Musical guests ranged from country stars of the day (including Tim McGraw, Collin Raye, and Jo Dee Messina), classic country stars like Kenny Rogers, Roy Clark, and Merle Haggard, pop idols like Englebert Humperdink, the Captain and Tennile, Lou Rawls, and even Little Richard! They also had top Vegas acts like Penn & Teller, comedians that included Rip Taylor and Blue Collar star Bill Engvall, and stage shows from Cirque Engeneaux, the Living Statues, and even a New York street/break dancing group! What really hurt this show was the fact that it debuted just as TNN was being shifted in ownership and programming. When CBS/Viacom took over, less and less country music was being shown, with the name changing from "The Nashville Network" to "The National Network," and eventually, "Spike TV." From what I understand, ratings were continually high for the show, but because of CBS's programming changes, it got lost in the shuffle and never quite found a home.
All in all, a well-done, fast-paced variety show that was fun to watch!!