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Parents (2012)
I waited and waited for some amusing situations ...
... but instead all I got stupid.
There simply isn't a likeable character in this series, and the female lead was easily the most irritating. Okay, I suppose we all feel like punching a colleague now and then, but we don't show up for an apology (hoping to perhaps get our job back), only to do it again. I think the idiot husband Nick must have gotten on all viewers' nerves. How does someone raise a family with no concept of finances? Nobody was remotely sympathetic. I'm thinking that Tom Conti was ready to fire his agent for being trapped in this, although part of me was glad to see he was still alive, even though he never came close to saving this series.
Doomsday Machine (1976)
Annoying, racist, sexist, cheap...what else could we want?
I admit I tuned into this because it was hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (aka Cassandra Peterson) and I was reading her autobiography. Her book is worth your time; the movie isn't, unless you like sniggering at cheap movies. I liked the motorcycle helmets painted silver that were part of the "astronauts" outfits.
I could have done without this dialogue: The Chinese were described as "chopstick jockeys". And when the women joined the crew, the old guy remarked that they could wash socks during their trip to Venus. One of the wimmin saved the old guy with an oxygen tank when they were in the funky room full of recliners (oops, on board their space ship). I would have let the old guy croak.
About 15 minutes into the movie, I spotted someone who looked remarkably similar to Casey Kasem...and it was really him. Whoa. I had no idea he was ever that hard up.
Perhaps I wasn't paying attention, but does anyone know exactly why the Chinese were so keen on dropping The Big One? I realize it was essential to the plot. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention.
Britain's Most Evil Killers: Lewis Daynes (2022)
Some upsetting sibling performances
Like the other episodes in this series, the families of murder victims are interviewed. What bothered me about this episode is that the two sisters of Breck Bodner seemed to think they were on MTV instead of a murder documentary series. Both were made up and dressed as if they were waiting for their dates to arrive. Neither displayed any real emotions about losing their brother; instead, one bragged that she got a lot of Instagram messages about Daynes' arrest. Compared with the genuine anguish and regret displayed by Breck's mother, the sisters were especially grating. One did mention that since their father was from Texas, where the death penalty existed, she wished that Lewis Daynes had committed his crimes in that state.
The Carrier (2015)
Starts out promising...but can anyone explain Magic Immunity?
This movie began on a promising note: a global bacterial plague with no cure is taking down country after country, and a few nervous soldiers are shooting anyone who even looks a bit peaky.
A woman and child are driving to an airport, as one of the last flights out of the UK is waiting for them...but they miss it. An adorable little boy is left staring up at the airplane as it flies overhead.
Cut to The Carrier, a dilapidated 747 which is having its own problems. A few of the escaping passengers on the plane are getting all puffy-faced, which means they're infected. One tall guy is the boss of the cabin and passengers (we don't know how he got the job) while the pilot tries to get them to a plague-free country.
Here's where the storyline goes off the tracks. If this plague is so infectious, how come the non-infected on the plane aren't infected by the sick ones? And how does one man survive by chopping off his infected arm?
The unexplained immunity enjoyed by the main characters keeps on working while they wander around a deserted airport, taking keys from infected bodies and walking through makeshift morgues.
I won't give away the rest of the film...well, not much. Some pissed-off, infected males show up. Bad guys are dispatched, but good guys finish last. And the final insult is that we don't know who survives, who doesn't, what happened to the co-pilot's kid, and where that darn plane is headed.
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)
"The package is still on the plane." Still my favorite MI.
After watching all of the Tom Cruise/MI films from 1 to 5, this one is still my overall favorite. The pacing never drags and Rebecca Ferguson had become one of my favorite actors by the end of this film. Cool, collected, great shoes.
Even though there are always some breathtaking stunts performed by Cruise, the first six minutes of this movie comprise my all-time favorite...right down to Cruise's facial expression when he's discovered by a baby-faced terrorist seconds before "getting the package off the plane".
While other reviewers have questioned why the bad guy (who is also wonderfully played by Sean Harris; his Solomon Lane is equally effective - by turns meek and terrifying - when compared to Philip Seymour Hoffman's villain) continues to work with Ferguson's character after many failures, I think this happened because he knew he made the repeated mistake of adding too many backups to her assignments. Still, it bugged me slightly too, hence the 9 star rating.
Lastly, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames are given more expansive roles in this film than previously. (I confess Simon Pegg has been a favorite of mine, beginning with Shaun of the Dead.) We get to know them better than before, Pegg has the funniest lines, and the film ends with a successful IMF instead of a successful Ethan Hunt. Doncha love team players?