sramv Reviews

House of Lies (2012–2016)

Sharp, biting, fun

[10/10 · 17 February 2014]

This is a fantastic show. It's caustic but it also has heart. The cast is excellent - Don Cheadle is amazing and the rest of the cast plays off him really well. DC is able to project so much just with a look or a gesture at times. The show is also refreshingly NOT dumbed down. They don't feel the need to explain everything - the viewer is treated as a reasonably intelligent person who is able to put two and two together. Hope the show never loses that! If you are new to it I suggest you start with the excellent pilot and watch through the series sequentially. It really is a serialized dramedy in my opinion, so you get to watch the plots and relationships evolve over time. This has become one of my favourite shows of all time.

Almost Heroes (2011)

Unfunny, with too many 'jokes in bad taste' to count

[2/10 · 10 July 2011]

Based on the pilot, this show tries to hard to be 'over the top', with joke after joke in seriously bad taste yet no actual funniness. For example, it's supposed to be funny when an overweight, insecure shop girl head butts her mocking, attractive coworker, giving her "the worst concussion they've ever seen" at the ER. It's supposed to be funny that everyone is such a loser with no grasp on reality. That the security guard takes home a mannequin from the store, for 'date night'. That the predatory sports shop owner verbalizes nothing but abuse and threats. It's like they just came up with every loser-y cliché they could think of and threw it in, thinking it would be funny. It isn't. Because it's all just so creepy and there's nothing and no one to like.

Watch at your own risk!

Unknown (I) (2011)

A pretty blatant copy of some TV shows and movies

[5/10 · 26 May 2011]

I thought this movie would have a big 'twist' but having seen the whole Bourne trilogy plus the original Bourne Identity, as well as Nowhere Man, this movie seemed incredibly derivative. It's pretty much just a big long chase, with a little twist which you totally see coming if you've seen anything along this line before, and maybe even if you haven't. Lots and lots of long drawn out car chasing. Villains always on their heels. Lots of fighting. It also kind of reminded me of another movie of Leeson - i.e., Taken, which is also one big long chase. So between the plot being so derivative, and the similarities with Taken, this just didn't have much new or interesting for me. Also, while the lost/stolen identity plot worked well in earlier works along these lines, it really seemed out of touch with current information technology, which made it even easier to figure out the 'twist' than it would otherwise have been.

The Man from Earth (2007)

feels like a play - a really good play....

[9/10 · 6 June 2010]

While I watched this movie, i felt like I was in the room with the characters experiencing a sense of urgency as I tried to figure out what to ask this guy telling his amazing story.

The conversation is very entertaining while at the same time exploring some pretty big themes like what is truth, do we really know who we are, and what is our tolerance for having our core assumptions turned upside down.

Great performance by David Lee Smith as John Oldman.

if you are one of the lucky people who will really love this movie, enjoy!

Witchville (2010 TV Movie)

appallingly bad

[1/10 · 24 May 2010]

I wasn't hoping for much but I got even less than that! This 'movie' was not only bad - devoid of any real plot, wit, or meaningful context; lousy special effects; terrible acting; and laughable direction - it was also a throwback to the most simplistic and misogynist view of magic and witches I have seen in ages. At first I thought they were depicting those views in order to turn them on their head but no- that really was the lens of this movie on the world of magic and female power versus civilization. Even the campy stuff wasn't fun because it seemed not to have any sense of humour about itself and how really really bad it was. If you like to watch things that are really really bad in order to laugh at how bad they are, you might find this a treat of some sort. It really is that bad. Did i mention it is bad?

Supernatural: Lucifer Rising (2009) Season 4, Episode 22

Great finale finishes off Supernatural's best season yet

[8/10 · 16 May 2009]

This was a great finale. If you watched the whole season, you might not have been too surprised by what transpired, but it is an amazing set up to what is sure to be a phenomenal season five. If, that is, you don't mind the whole angels thing. Cuz with Lucifer rising, the heaven and angels are going to be involved for a while. Some people seem to hate the Angels but I think the show has done an amazing job with them. If Lucifer could get kicked out for pride and being a very naughty angel, why couldn't other angels be SOBs worthy of some heavenly recrimination too? The "Green Room" where they hold Dean to keep him from intervening in Sam's fateful showdown with Lillith was pretty neat. We got to see some more Angel arrogance and manipulation. The bowl of Sam's favourite hamburgers was a perfect symbol and a reminder of the importance of context. in that green room in that bowl in that scenario in that quantity, and with Zaccariah as host, they looked pretty unappetizing!

Smallville: Doomsday (2009) Season 8, Episode 22

lackluster all-over-the-place episode, makes one wonder how much lower the series can go

[5/10 · 16 May 2009]

They've been dumbing down this show in so many ways for quite some time that it is not really surprising that this finale was so poorly done, and that good old Clark has regressed from having the emotional IQ of a teenager to that of a grade school child. Full of plot holes (time travel or no time travel) and poorly conceived, written, sequenced, edited and acted - it displays a real lack of empathy for its audience - if this show was a Prime Minister, the ruling party members would have their knives out, but it looks like horrible finale or no horrible finale, we're doomed to have a season nine. If I were Aaron Ashmore, I'm thinking I would not be too disappointed to be exiting about now. BTW, Jimmy Olsen has a kid brother named Jimmy Olsen who they now say is the 'real' Jimmy Olsen. oh that is a perfect example of the incredulity- and ire-inducing inanity that pervades this episode.