Change Your Image
geek_party
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The Elysian Kingdom (2022)
Awful but with one saving grace
Okay, so I watched all of S2 on live TV before I found S1 on streaming. I loved all of S2 and all of S1 until this horrible mockery episode. Yuck. Stupid premise -- omnipotent sapient dust cloud. Amateurishly abrupt reversal of the the doctor's subplot. Choppy scene transitions. Weak plot with arbitrary contrived choices. Acting was phoned in, like the players had no idea why they were being forced to mouth the inanities written for them. Lighting and cinematrography were terrible, gave me a headache. Cheap stagy fighting. And cheap re-use of the Enterprise set when we know that the girl whose mind the story is taken from has actually never seen the ship. All in all, a blight on an otherwise good series.
There was one saving grace though. At least the disposition of the doctor's daughter didn't saddle the Enterprise with a child onboard to make the whole series lame (looking at you, Worf's kid).
Shogun (2024)
Stupid ending
Mariko blows up, and that's it? Don't we even get to find out why? What a terrible way to mar up a good show. After nine episodes just to have a major character sacrifice herself for nothing and we never learn what happens to anyone else. That's just weird. Why would they stop it there? I've never read the book -- is that how it ends? I might never have started watching if it was going to end so cimpletely inconclusively. I mean all those other hostages in the locked room and that's it. I just don't get why they stopped there. It's like a dirty trick on the audience. Who lived, who died, what happened, who cares??? Dumb. Just dumb.
Kite (2014)
It adds up
One star for India Eisley. Gorgeous, delivered very well on an implausible role.
One star for Samuel L. Jackson. I mean, need I say more?
One star for gritty setting. Place unnamed, post-social collapse future. All to plausible.
One star for style. Well imagined but not overwrought.
One star for supporting cast. None of them faltered.
One star for cool tech. Amp and the bullets both nice touches.
One star for action. Plenty of it, but always in service to the plot.
Overall, the plot was a bit unoriginal, but the script was pretty good. It carried me along, kept interest up. I'm surprised its rating is not higher. Over.
Gen V (2023)
Sad come down from The Boys, but some props
Well the writing is weak, the premise is derivative, the pervy-gross-out factor is high for something pitched to mid-teens, and continuity is insultingly sloppy (dude had his genitals exploded one day and he's walking around causing trouble the next -- come on).
On the other hand, props to the producers for ensuring substantial representation of trans actors such as Derek Luh, Maddie Phillips and Lizze Broadway.
Also on the positive side, despite the first season being kind of a bore, at least the final cliff-hanger show some promise for the next season (if there is one). Time will tell, I guess.
Sneaky Pete (2015)
Suspension of disbelief
You know the narrative concept of suspension of disbelief? Well, I just couldn't with this show. Plot's good. Lead actor is good. Several of the con-side actors are good. But the plot really struggles on the family-side, and that's complicated by the unconvincing appearance of certain actors in the roles of three women. It's like they got Christian Bale to play Lorraine, Dylan Mulvaney to play Carly, and in a real coup, a young Robert Plant in the role of Julia, but they couldn't make these characters convincing as women. It got distracting trying to suspend disbelief. Anyway, it's like others said, the first two seasons are good but the third is junk.
The Man in the High Castle (2015)
This is the ending in and alternate dimension
((After the train wreck))
John: Helen!
Helen (awaking weakly): John, John ... it has to end.
(Helen dies.)
John (crying): Yes, it does. I know how now.
((John and Juliana in the woods))
John: ... and to know that out of all of them... this is the one you became. Juliana, the portal has to be destroyed.
Juliana: We are taking care of that.
John: No, it has to be destroyed at both ends. Their world, our world; worlds should not connect this way.
Juliana: Someone will have to go through.
John: Let me do it.
Juliana (hoisting her gun): No. We have business with you here.
John: Juliana, I have done terrible things in this world, but there, on that side, there is a wife and a son who have lost a husband and father because he helped you.
((They agree to send Smith through the portal with explosives. He goes through and blows up his side, walks off. The resistance blows up their side. Word goes to General Whitlock that Smith is presumed dead in the train wreck, he calls off the strike on San Francisco, just like in the original.)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949)
Cheese
I used to assume people judged old movies on a lower set of standards than newer ones, because people raved about certain old movies that IMO were terrible. But I've just binge-watched some old movies on a cable specialty channel, and I see now that even back then, they were capable of making actually good movies. I guess, like now, utter schlock could be promoted by insider-critics, propped up by big names phoning in performances, and social reinforcement.
So, now, I've decided to judge both new and old movies by the same standards.
Bearing that in mind, this film is a big ball of cheese. Ost. Fromage. Suris. Queso. Kaas. Original material betrayed by writers plying a formula. Tedious songs jabbed into the screenplay. A sleepy approach to both humor and drama.
And I've never understood the popularity of Bing Cosby. Decent enough voice, but otherwise a zero.
Pig (2021)
Maybe something happened along the way
I'm not surprised there being a number of high ratings for this film. It has all the elements that would draw praise from the kind of folks Feld describes to the chef in the fine restaurant.
Cage turns in a very good performance, as does Adam Arkin. Others don't get much scope for displaying their chops. The cinematography is nice.
Weak points are the execution of the theme, and the plot.
The theme seems to center on grief and how it breaks people. It's a heavy theme, and an old one, and unfortunately the script does nothing with it, so it's really a unrewarding slog.
As for the plot it moves very slowly, and it's extremely basic -- Broken man lives in woods with pig, sells truffles to some guy. Pig gets stolen, they go to get it back. Turns out pig is dead. The problem is that there are too many implausible bells and whistles tacked on to dress it up: how the truffle peddler linked up with the Feld in the first place, the weird underground club where waiters (still in uniform) beat up bums for $500, Feld turns out to be such an astoundingly famous chef that he's remember by everyone 15 even years after he left, the bad guy turns out to be the father of the truffle peddler.
With all of these improbabilities, I was suddenly struck by the idea that maybe the directors cut is more like the action-revenge film some people expected. All the odd coincidences fit better with an over-the-top kind of romp. The film has a run-time of about 90 minutes, but maybe there are 30 minutes of car chases and ass kicking lying somewhere on a cutting room floor.
Justified (2010)
I'd grade it B-
This is an overall review for the 6 seasons. I don't know how authentic the show is to life in the underbelly of Kentucky, but it was an intriguing view with gritty crime drama to go with it. The standout performance is from the actor who plays Boyd Crowder, and others among the criminal side were good as well. Less so the actors playing the supporting law enforcement people.
The earlier seasons were stronger than later ones. By season 5 and 6 Olyphant's lack of range was making it hard to enjoy, and both plotting and characterization was becoming a bit haphazard with peculiar choices and inexplicable behaviours. After the final episode, I realized that the whole plotline with Raylen and Winona contributed absolutely nothing to the story. Maybe it was bait for a certain audience demographic, but it made me think in retrospect that all that time could shown us more Dewey or Bob or Wynn which would have been more entertaining.
It was nice to see some of the actors from Deadwood again.
Unfortunately, Justified came to suffer from a similar problem to Deadwood as well -- the inability to make the villains authentic. The actors are not the problem, it's the production side that doesn't show any criminal infrastructure around them. The result is there is little to distinguish a bit player from a boss. They all seem to have one lair (a bar, a motor home, a pizza joint), and a mere couple of henchmen.
Anyway, it kept me through to the end, so 7/10.
Lucky Hank (2023)
Gets in its own way
Okay, so I've watched all of season 1.
There is something about this show, that has kept me coming back, but I really can't define what. So I'll just give some free-association spew:
The lead actor is excellent. His style is understated but incredibly authentic. His face is extremely expressive. Unfortunately, the character of Hank is not all that interesting. He's only mildly grumpy. He's only partly callous and irresponsible. He's too apathetic to be ruthless. He's depressed and troubled about being abandoned by his father, but in and of itself that's not distinguishing -- so this story thread is garbed in the mystery of the father's departure, but unfortunately the resolution of the mystery falls flat as the father was just petty and selfish, and now senile and beyond mental engagement for remorse or disdain.
The resolution of the father-trauma mystery leaves the character of Hank deracinated, and invites closer attention to the other characters who fill the negative space around Hank, and for the most part they are disappointing.
The English professors are mostly written as caricatures. But then they are humanized and blunted by the performances. The performances aren't BAD, they are at odds with the material. The comedy of the material is thwarted by the performances but gets in the way of engaging dramatic characters.
Then there is a family drama element of the story. This is a true weak spot. The petulant daughter, the feckless son-in-law, the dissatisfied wife who longs for more in her life -- are all off-the-shelf tropes. These roles neither ask nor receive much from the actors.
One bright spot is Hank's friend the philosophy professor. The friendship if very well portrayed. You get why they like each other. They seem to shed 20 years age when they are doing the buddy thing. This character provides most of the levity in the series, and the actor is who has your attention whenever he is on screen.
ON a different note, is it just me, or do some of the great reviews for this show seem like ad copy?
Grey's Anatomy (2005)
Sheer brilliance
For the first 8 dozen seasons it was brilliant wish-fulfillment fantasy for nearly-braindead women. No other show could match the ingenious concept of having average to unattractive females hooking up with buff, gorgeous male doctors. Ka-ching!
Then after the writhers finally got tired of beating that concept to death, with the smoothness of a popped-clutch they transitioned to preachy faux progressive hectoring in every episode. But that's fine, because the hook was already set deep into the maws of the landwhale audience.
Really, even after 56 years on air, Gray's Anatomy is Hollowood at it's best.
Idiocracy (2006)
Prescient
Idiocracy is one of the most insightful and prescient satires in the history of film. Framed as a silly sort of comedy, while very funny, it ends up being deeply unsettling as you recognize the collapsing idiot future world is a very realistic projection of how the real world of today is evolving.
America and the rest of the west are doomed from self-regarding stupidity and this movie shows the way it will end. No time-traveler will come to save us. Imbecilic bombastic leaders will rule over a society of complacent morons.
As for the film, fine performances from Terry Crews, Luke Wilson, and especially Dax Sheppard.
Servant (2019)
Typical M Night Shambleon
This turned out exactly as expected with Shamalayan at the helm. It's the same thing every time with this guy. I don't understand how he still gets gigs.
Step 1 -- Take an engaging premise
Step 2 -- Dig into the directorial tool-kit and weave a foreboding atmosphere
Step 3 -- Work the foreboding gears long and hard, keep it going without anything happening for as long as possible, hoping the audience doesn't notice.
Step 4 -- Realize that still after decades of as a screen creating professional you still have no idea how to plot an actual story.
Step 5 -- Repeat Step 3.
Step 6 -- Tack on some kind of last minute way to stop the story without any satisfactory delivery on the foreboding mood created earlier. Rince and repeat for the next project.
Yellowstone (2018)
Writing Improved As Series Went On
The series creator had a good idea but he lacked the writing skills to deliver on it at first. The first season in particular relied too much on coincidences and stupid choices as plot drivers.
However they added some more writing talent and after that the series improved substantially. The acting is great and the depth of characterization is very good. The plot is still a bit soap-opera-ish at times, sometimes going directions that seems to be about audience curiosity rather plot. But that is remedied by the overarching story-line that emerges as the series proceeds.
All in all, I recommend it.
The Bastard Son & the Devil Himself (2022)
Grows weaker
The series starts strong. The first four episodes feel like the creators know what they are doing with a believable world/witch society and a careful reveal that one faction is evil though it pretends to be good. The characters are engaging and feel real.
Episodes 5 and 6 have different director and they feel more comic-booky; a bit whimsical, less realistic, and the characters start to seem different from what was established before.
Episodes 7 and 8 have yet another director and they are a sharp decline. The characters start acting stupid and all of their prior authenticity is gone. They become caricatures, marionettes dangling from the strings of the director's agenda. By the time the climactic scenes unfold, it is hard to feel engaged with the outcomes since they seem to be happening to different people.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)
A real shame
Okay, leave out complaints about racially diverse actors (which I have no problem with) and diverging from Tolkein's canon (which I think was unavoidable) this series nevertheless had/has many enormous problems.
First, the plot is scattered and unfocussed. Supposedly a great evil is growing in the world, but as we learn in Ep8, all Sauron has been doing is slumming around Numenor. Also, the Harfoots story line is completely pointless. Somehow for no reason they find ?Gandalf? And set him on a path to go a thousand miles to the east of where any of the story actually occurs. Another weird story is mithril is supposed to be transfused into each and every elf to help them not fade away.
How is that supposed to be accomplished, even if they could find enough of it? And then somehow making rings will solve the problem instead. They also give us an inexplicable origin of Mordor, with apparently a long-standing system of pressurized water no-one mentioned before and a magical key from somewhere that opens it to cause a volcano to erupt. (???)
Sadly, the lumbering plot is ineptly propped up by surging the music volume absurdly whenever the weak writing under-delivers what should be a dramatic or remarkable moment.
Then there is the script. Good lord, have there ever been so many platitudes delivered with such faux gravitas? It makes Star Wars seem deft. One clunky line after another; it almost makes me feel sorry for the actors, but not quite.
As for the CGI, where did the money go? This looks no better than films two decades older. Stop-action-like monsters and backgrounds that have no depth or realism.
The characterizations too are awful. Elrond is a cypher. Galadriel is a nasty harridan. Paricularly jarring and weird was Galadiel's conversation with Adar in which she spewed an over-the-top vicious agenda of genocide against the Orcish race that literally painted her as more monstrous than them. Meanwhile, the harfoots pretend to care about each other, but turn out to be cruel. Gil Galad is a conniving manipulator. Durin whines about Elrond not crossing half of Middle Earth to visit him, but did he ever visit Elrond? No. And why did they make each of the races into a gross stereotype of one of the nations of Britain? Especially the elves. They should be wise, magical and beautiful. Instead they are mundane and mostly played by actors who are not attractive.
All of that is bad enough, but on top if it there are numerous illogical things, miscues and continuity problems. How did the Numenoreans get 500 men and horses into those few little boats? How did they know where to go when the landed in Middle Earth? How could they be galloping from the west in full daylight while the sun had yet to rise in the village to the east? Why are the dwarves such incompetent miners that they can't put up supports in their excavations? Why did the orcs who can't operate in sunlight dig their tunnel on the surface of the ground with just a few hides to cover it?
To be fair, there were a couple of good things. Halbrand made an unconvincing king of the south, but he's not bad as Sauron. Adar is a cool character. And Old Durin was pretty well played. That's about it.
Overall, I think the problem was putting two very inexperienced and inept showrunners in charge of such a complex project. Everything suggests they were out of their depth.
It's a real shame how this has turned out. So much money and so much hope all gone to waste.
The Winchesters (2022)
Ugh, not good
Yet another show mysteriously handed to untried and wildly inept showrunners. It's like plague wiped out an entire generation of producers and senile executives are hiring anyone they can find who happens to be breathing.
The pilot offers annoying stock characters, played by posers with no chemistry. Derivative, unoriginal, artless, over-wrought, unengaging preposterous situations. Plot and pacing reminiscent of a pokemon episode. Set in the 1970s but riddled with self-regarding writerly 21st century anachronisms.
It airs too late to be intended for children, but maybe network schedulers were misinformed about who its for.
The Titan (2018)
Tedious, unworthy, redundant
The pace of this hot mess is just so slow. I kept waiting for the introductory part to wrap up and get on with the story, then I paused and realized it was more than halfway done and nothing had happened yet.
It could have been a movie about genetically altered heroes making a new start for humanity on Titan. Instead it was just another Frankenstein story, with TV trope angst.
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)
A sharp decline from 1 and 2
I don't know what happened to this movie, but it's like if John Wick was melded into some hideous hybrid with a Disco version of a Jackie Chan movie. The fights were ridiculous. They turned the whole hotel chain/assassin's code thing into a giant ball of cheese. And the fights were ridiculous.
47 Ronin (2013)
OK entertainment about a sick culture
Keanu is his usual one-dimensional self. The other actors do a reasonable job of humanizing a stilted legend-style story.
What stands out, of course, is they\ absurd cruelty, rigidity and lunacy of medieval Japanese culture. That is a relic of the past should be denounced completely.
Yellowstone: The Unravelling: Part 1 (2018)
Good lord what a pile of stupid
One preposterous whirlwind of bad luck and inanity after another. Every episode gets further from any kind of sensible reality. Maybe if the first episode had begun with Dutton meeting three witches in the woods and laying a curse on him this writing would deserve some suspension of disbelief.
Yellowstone: A Monster Is Among Us (2018)
Sheer stupidity
It's too bad this show keeps having characters doing stupid things. Experienced cowboy rides out to find two tourists clinging to the cliff. He goes to his horse to get some rope to pull them up. But he doesn't bring the horse to do the pulling!?!? And the tourists act like inexplicable idiots too. C'mon, stop writing idiocy.
Yellowstone: The Remembering (2018)
Preposterous
Of COURSE the wife gets her head bashed in the moment the show needs drama. A little less coincidence-driven plot would be good. It's just hard to suspend disbelief.
Yellowstone: No Good Horses (2018)
A ludicrous array of bad coincidences
Of COURSE there was a crime in progress in the middle of the desert.
Of COURSE there was a rattlesnake, apparently of the unusual kind that attack humans instead of flee from them.
Of COURSE the fleeing guy cracked his head on a rock.
C'mon. Lazy writing.
Cutter's Way (1981)
A seventies movie released in 1981
One of those weird 70s kind of movies where no-one behaves normally, many events are driven by the characters' stupid moves, and it stops instead of ending.
While there is a skeleton of a plot about a bad rich guy who deserves justice for a crime and they try to blackmail him, most of the time spent in the film is about the three main characters interacting. But who were they to each other? Why did they hang out together when it appeared that they all hated each other? Why should the audience care about them?