pai-rai Reviews

Punisher: War Zone (2008)

So over the top trashy

[1/10 · 20 June 2019]

Ridiculous overacted and underwritten dialogue, so bad it can only be ironically appreciated. For what it's worth this seemingly indy look budget production made by bloody beginners. It's cheesy not in a cringe way but but laugh out bad characters and idiotic stunts. This is a goof of a movie, a parody almost that takes itself seriously. It might as well have been a straight to video release sold for a buck truck stop sale bins.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2019)

typical tina fey nonsense

[3/10 · 13 May 2015]

typical tiny fey nonsense. a reload of both the office and 30rock, accompanied by the background music of 30rock. a story about a girl from the middle, maximized ignorance and naivete by making her have lived in a cult bunker for 15 years. but the funky brightly colored redhead being cutsie and naive with an entirely interchangeable ..yawn.. bald gay black noname. the dialogue and jokes fall flat, the single camera feels misplaced in this show, and jane krakowski is playing HER character again, and oh so well, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but overall the character has holes all over it. shotty workmanship. i don't feel like this is a show you would like if you're used to much better half hour comedies

End of Watch (2012)

cheesy main plot but great character work and tactical demeanor

[7/10 · 26 April 2015]

the truthful side stories / sub plots hit bigger than the corny plot and unimaginative dialog of the antagonists in this movie. really bad actor choices for the villain side and hackneyed writing ruin the moment for me.

reviewing the outstanding weapon handling and tactical drills, they clearly had a great supervisor for Hollywood standards. the art department deserves credit too!. funny side note for me was the mentioning that Jake G's character was a marine before, much like he was so many years ago in jar head. For what it is, it is good entertainment with accurate and real tactical situation that pump up the adrenaline level, and mild painful humor when the oh-so-serious villains plot an ambush or whatever they do.

Getting On (2013–2015)

So different yet familiar

[5/10 · 11 November 2014]

there are a lot of layers to this show. first of: it has a lot of heart. i mean a lot of it. it's uncomfortably funny but the awkward transferred stillness warms your insides. i detect some distinct scrubs influences. borstein 's top notch performances to subtly increase the funny level by a thousand, within the hard-to-notice situations. funny you have to find. i like that. cinematographically speaking, it is a single camera sitcom? dramedy? there are influences of mockumentary style filming also. extreme-closeup shots and the like. good show. niecy nash or whatever her name is shines in this well written roll. not at all the exaggerated black stereotype she had played in her past. and mel rodriguez? fogettaboutit. he might not have the Latin accent he sports in many of his previous roles, but this man is downright funny, even in this rather serious character. solid. B.

Surviving Jack (2014)

surprisingly fantastic

[9/10 · 28 September 2014]

this original mid season replacement is much more than it looks like. the cast works really well together. it's part high school sitcom, part snl sketch and part family sitcom. not surprising, seeing as bill lawrence is an ep on this show. an outstading performance gives meloni, a perfect fit for the rugged, one liner-slinging dr cox-ish tough love guy. a father i can really relate to. doctor (i work in radiology too), ex military, libertarian. the music department does a good job and the single cam perspective gets used without any issues on my behalf. not much more to say, i hope it comes back with slightly stronger writing, the episodes so far are pretty much isolated from each other, so i'm not sure if that even should change. i never cringed at any dialog, which tends to happen with bad shows, but this is not a bad show! and guess what: it's not trying too hard to be 90s, it just subtly is.

Obvious Child (2014)

too diverse

[3/10 · 27 September 2014]

the cast of this indie hipster dramedy is very diverse. not at all racially, but regarding the talent of the individual actors. you isolate their performances and you see just how ridiculous this ensemble choice was. on one end the far too talented jenny slate, that borough a little bit of her potty mouth charm into the role, the legend richard kind, who remained more on the sidelines and on the other end, the deep end of the kiddie pool, jake lacy was drowning. he should be banned from any auditions, never to be cast again, his truly effort- less, loveless and talentless portrayal was so astonishingly mind numbing, the only word to describe it would be abysmal. i followed his career on and of since his brief TV gig with joanna garcia, the full-on flop called "better with you", shana goldberg-meehan's most despicable work, after her long time success as a co ep on friends. 3 out of ten stars is the rating for the basic outline and plot.

Glory Daze (2010–2011)

Good idea - poor realization

[2/10 · 5 January 2011]

I really thought a lot about how many stars I should give Glory Daze. The title is certainly clever, and when you read the plot of the series, it kind of reminds you of early seasons of the abc family show "Greek", which is outstanding. In comparison: This one blows! Most of the castmembers' performances are not credible, actions are poorly executed without any credible emotions. Of course there are some common stereotypes that are butchered by bad writing. I will overlook the time-slot and the station that broadcasts it, for I'm not watching live. The creators chose for this dramedy sitcom with multi-camera setup a diverse ensemble cast. You can do that, if the actors can actually act, and more importantly, act together. But I'm astonished of the crude amateur performances. Cinematographicly speaking, there's nothing special. It's pretty solid what you see. I would really love to praise this show, but as I wrote in the title, the idea of a couple college freshman rushing a fraternity is soo poorly realized. I am totally for a diverse cast, but in the mid-80s it was very rare or even non-existent that you find a group/clique with a Jewish guy, an Asian, a next-door whiteboy, a jock, a fanatic Christian, geek and whatnot altogether. It's just NOT believable. Sloppy, lukewarm written crap called dialogs fill the voids of music. Not vice versa. And the 80s?? Where are the 80s in this show. The pilot itself felt so forced that I only watched more to write this review to spare the readers the ocular pain that is caused by this show! They played like twenty 80s songs and mostly when it didn't fit! The wardrobe is bad, not 80s bad, just "we make a 80s show but don't really know how to cloth them, so we just give them some contemporary plaid shirts, blue jeans and some Nike sneakers." When you watch an 80s show or movie like Back To The Future, and then take a look at Glory Daze: You're gonna laugh/cry. It's ... bad. Unfortunately. They couldn't even imitate the presence of the 1980s! I'm still not sure if 3*** are too much, much I'm willing to overlook the fact that I personally hated it. Only thing good about it is that they didn't use laugh tracks, but that would have been a first time for a non-studio sitcom. It wouldn't have surprised me though. No recommendation from me, but if you think this review is too harsh and the viewers voted it with 6.something stars, do yourself a favor and watch it. Suit yourself, I warned you. Greetings, A.P.