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Fallout (2024)
Does ALL the Music have to be from Cheesy 40s Radio?
This takes me out of it sometimes. Maybe some scenes work with it...but music is important, and the really bad choices stand out. Otherwise I'm enjoying it mostly; Michael Rappaport is great in everything & have had a bigger role with fewer F words. He talks like that off camera naturally and it makes him less funny. I do think some familiarity with the game is helpful to enjoy it, like most video game adaptations.: Overall, fans of game movie adaptations who play the game are more into the movies in part just out of excitement that a game they love is actually a movie...gamers have stronger attachments to games than movies in general which makes sense .. avg game these days takes 50 hours to play; made like a movie with talented (real) actors & directors, usually over several months (unless you have a lot of free time) vs a 2-hour movie. I couldn't really get into the game; even had a copy & traded it in without getting very far. I prefer video game adaptations to all the reboots & sequels, which seems to be the only ideas leffA tv series format is much more forgiving. Like Game of Thrones had only 8 episodes & was like the last season, it'd have been panned and cancelled. TV shows can redeem themselves over time. ChatGPTdoesnt write better scripts (as evidenced by HBO's 'Monarch' garbage); good writing is #, and like a few less-rambly reviewers said, it was lazy and nonsensical in several scenes - the sun worshipping orgy, the sex/childbirth scene to name 2. Make the Ghost of Tsushima movie already!
Tokyo Vice (2022)
Love this show
Might be a little biased because of my fascination and love for everything Japanese, but Ken watanabe is brilliant and the characters are all engaging and layered. Adelstein's acting could get better, but all of the complaining about accuracy and racism or cultural appropriation or smoking - give me a break. If you want 100% accuracy watch a documentary. A lot of the same people who say that stuff will also say it about Batman movies. I just hope that it doesn't get cancelled prematurely like so many other smartly written HBO series' because the marketing budget was crap. Sure, it's exaggerated but the story is good, directing top-notch, and the depiction of the Yakuza is more than just fingers getting sliced off. Satos good/bad character playing the criminal you root for ala tony soprano is brilliantly constructed and acted.
Poolhall Junkies (2002)
Missed Opportunity - Direct/Write OR Star - not Both
As a lifelong student of the game, I admit I am reviewing from a position of bias. With so few quality movies centered around pool, it's easy to elevate otherwise mediocre films in the minds of fans. I loved this movie right away, and still have the worn out VHS tape. Yet when you step back and look at the cast, the script, the fantastic display of skill... it makes you wonder why virtually no one saw this movie. Christopher Walken? Chazz Palminteri? Woah... Then I thought about the one thing that always bugged me a little. I could never shake the feeling that the lead actor just wasn't on the same page as the rest of the cast. It was as if he was a stand-in, helping them to run lines. I enjoyed every other aspect of the film so I never really looked into it until years later, discovering that Mars Callahan was not only the lead actor, but the writer and director as well. I suppose there are a handful of exceptions where this manages to work out OK, but the Mel Gibsons, Harold Ramis', and even Ben Afflecks are few and far between, and for most of Hollywood's history, it was a pretty universal truth - directors shouldn't star in the films they're directing. Maybe it's a little bit of hubris or ... I don't know, but I think Mr. Callahan did a wonderful job writing and directing this movie... but a lead actor with a resume that puts them at a different comfort level with such seasoned actors would have improved the overall quality of the film quite a lot, in my opinion.
In Full Bloom (2019)
How do you watch without subtitles?
I have been tracking this film since it came out, as the synopsis made it seem like one I'd enjoy. It has been a frustrating wait (for any subtitles anywhere) that I've all but given up on at this point, but what I can't understand is how anyone is even reviewing this movie without being fluent in Japanese. I see a couple that mention it, but I am shocked at how many actually watched it & reviewed it, good or bad, with so much of the dialog totally missed without the subtitles. I mean, you can't even rent it on Amazon with them..they just don't exist! I've never come across anything like this.... I'm someone who uses subtitles for everything, just because so many shows/movies these days include mumbling actors, poorly recorded audio tracks, and my TV speakers are crap... but I've never been unable to find any subtitles at all, even for the most obscure titles.
F9 (2021)
Unwatchable
As a former fan of the series, I had to come here to announce that I bailed somewhere around the 20 minute mark. Granted, the last installment was pretty terrible too - Charlize Theron as Dr. Evil was just a bridge too far for me... Yet I was able to stick around and derive some entertainment from the cool cars & familiar characters. F9 on the other hand, felt like they just grabbed a copy of a Marvel/DC script where a mysterious cube with the power to destroy the world drops into their lap and causes bad guys to come after them. That is pretty much the entire "plot". It feels as lazy as the dialog, and it might as well be titled "Car Chase Shoot 'Em Up for Asian Market many Explosion Buy Dodge". The opening chase where you have a car chase THROUGH THE JUNGLE..just awful. I mean, you kind of expect the silliness, like why they each have to drive their own car, but seeing Letty become a bulletproof Ricky-freakin Carmichael on that dirtbike was pretty much it for me. I gave it a few more minutes, but I just couldn't hang on. It's time to stop.
Power Book III: Raising Kanan (2021)
Interesting so far
I'm only through the 1st episode, so it might be premature, but halfway through, I'd seen enough to know it's leaps & bounds better than the previous spinoff series. That one was a real stinker. Higher hopes here.
The Man in the High Castle (2015)
Love the Interesting Premise but Worried about Longevity
I'm admittedly somewhat biased as a viewer already very interested in period pieces, especially WWII & just about anything related to Japanese history/culture. Producing a truly original screenplay having to do with WWII is a victory by itself in a time when studios hesitate to gamble on anything without a built-in audience or team of superheroes.
It is because I see so much potential in the series that I am concerned about the writers dooming the show to a premature cancellation by deciding to head down the Multiverse rabbit-hole instead of exploring the incredibly rich source material already built into the storyline. When characters started teleporting between worlds by concentrating really hard, I couldn't help but feel like more of that might appeal to the sci-fi geeks but could also send it off the rails and headed towards an abrupt cancelation shortly after season 4 premiers. A show this expensive won't be able to afford any sustained drop in viewership.
If they wanted to keep the idea of the alternate realities, maybe they could have had the resistance movement racing against Hitler to acquire time travel technology. That would even be easier to swallow than the magical films. Better yet, just focus on the fascinating Cold War style competition between the Japanese & the GNR. Or go deeper into the hypocrisy of the Nazi's eugenics policies when they affect those in power. The way that is tearing apart Smith's family this season is the most interesting storyline going. The political power struggles and espionage alone could make a great show, leading up to the eventual triump of the American Resistance over National Socialism.
Don't get me wrong - 8 stars means I enjoyed the show. I don't spend this much time writing reviews for shows I don't like. The acting is superb - especially Oberst-Gruppenführer Smith, Inspector Kido, and the Trade Minister. The addition of J. Edgar Hoover was great. Not all of the casting was perfect - the portrayal of Himmler seems to go against everything I've read about the man, and I'm not sure Hitler's death did much to advance the story.
The references highlighting the impact of Japanese occupation on American culture are creative and show an attention to detail that keep the world interesting. A lot of it makes sense and feels almost plausible if you consider what a post-war occupied America might be like. The writers concede that despite its underlying and unparalleled evil, a society like this might actually have progressed much faster technologically (60s-era black and white video conferencing).
Anyway, that's my take. I hope I am wrong about the multiverse stuff and that they figure out how to keep the show going for many seasons to come.