warnerdang Reviews

The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978 TV Movie)

It's bad...but there is worse.

[2/10 · 3 December 2023]

If you're a fan, you'll find a place for it in your heart. If you're not a fan, you'll hate it. Unless you have an affinity for late 70's made for tv trash, then it's a lot of fun.

The premise is corny, and the dialogue leaves something g to be imagined. You can see how rushed the entire production is and trying to apply "real world" culture to a sci-fi space opera always leaves something lacking like in this production.

The only saving graces is that the characters are played but the actual actors, and there is some humour in R2D2 being credited as "himself".

You will realize very quickly two things.

1. Why George Lucas spent years trying to get his hands on all available masters 2. It's still not as bad as the Disney "Rey" trilogy which obliterated anything good about Star Wars.

One Day at a Time: Hello, Penelope (2018) Season 2, Episode 9

Very well done

[10/10 · 7 February 2023]

How the production uses existing prejudicial thought within society about mental health to show us that not only is it real, but that medication and therapy are REAL ways to cope with these group of diseases was extremely well done. This episode shows the real effect of ignoring ones health and the parallel between a physical disorder (I. E. the need for corrective lenses) and the mental disorder (I. E. depression & anxiety) were spot on.

Hopefully this episode goes to adding to the normalization of mental health disorders in western society but importantly within the veteran community where it is still so shunned.

Cobra Kai: Party Time (2021) Season 4, Episode 8

They dropped the bar...

[1/10 · 3 February 2022]

By far the worst episode of the series. Had so much expectation based on the title taken from the line in Karate Kid III. What we got instead was poor writing, hammy acting and a mishmash of every know teenage angst trope used over the last twenty years.

The only redeeming value was the much needed character development and exploration of the son.

The Goldbergs (2013–2023)

Know when you're done....

[6/10 · 1 January 2022]

The original premise of the Goldbergs was great, a standard family sitcom based on some semi-autobiographical family info from the show runner. The 80's nostalgia was great as it was generally non-specific regarding chronological release of products and events which also added to the fun of the show.

Anchored by veterans such as George Segal and Jeff Garlin, it introduced us to a number of up and coming young actors and we've been able to watch the grow-up in their characters.

Fast-forward several seasons and the gags are becoming tired and the innovation has left the writing. Season 8 was lackluster and you hopped that season 9 might wrap-up some loose ends but instead we see "fresh" story lines that are not fresh and take away from the original uniqueness of the premise.

Combine that with the sad passing of Segal, which wasn't handled very well, and the dismissal of Garlin because someone accused him, even though he's not been charged or found guilty of a crime shows that this program has truly indeed jumped the shark.... The Fonz would be proud.

Full disclosure: S01-S04 we're great television, the downward spiral of each subsequent season has spoiled the entire enterprise.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Far Beyond the Stars (1998) Season 6, Episode 13

It does not get better than this

[10/10 · 25 December 2018]

Having watched literally every episode/movie of Star Trek in its 50+ years, including all of the garbage, this is without doubt the best of the best.

in my opinion this is the best episode of Star Trek they have ever written, acted and produced. The ability to deal with not just the USA, but the world's ongoing xenophobia, and absolute racism across all cultures has been a main stay of this "universe". Avery Brooks rendition of "Benny" a 50's black writer who is absolutely discriminated against, is one of the best performances by any Star Trek actor.

Of course this is just my opinion, but I feel his performance holds a candle to William Shatner in Star Trek II, Patrick Stewart in Chain of Command (specifically Part II), Christopher Plumber in Star Trek VI, and of course Ricardo Montalban also in Star Trek II.

The Week Of (2018)

Almost the worst...

[1/10 · 5 May 2018]

Easily bottom 5 of all Sandler movies. Little Nicky was more palatable.

The acting was forced and there was little chemistry between any characters. The premise was horrible and Sandler does not come off as a shlub too well.

The best part of the entire movie was Sandler and Rock chatting on the porch. It was an end credit scene that seemed unscripted and this natural.

Try Sandlers other Netflix movies they are considerably better...

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

Mixed Bag

[7/10 · 14 December 2017]

Listen, this movie is a mixed bag just like most films these days that are either sequels, imaginations or in this case, both.

It's not that this movie is bad per say, it's just that it's not new. If you are new to Trek, you will enjoy this. If you're a fanboy, listen to Shatner's advice and "get a life". If you're somewhere in the middle like me, grew-up with it, watched it all, enjoyed it; you may or may not like this movie.

I found it entertaining and the talent was not too bad. Some of the ideas were OK, but again nothing fresh.

At the end of the day it's a solid 6.5 because of it's lack of vision and depth. If you want to understand why this movie is the way it is, go watch Wrath of Khan, arguably the best Trek movie and one of the best pieces of science fiction ever put together.

Knight Rider (2008–2009)

Disgraceful

[1/10 · 11 February 2011]

Had a lot of high hopes for this show. Terrible writing mixed in with a "transformers-esque" car. Knowing the TransAm wasn't available the Mustang was a great choice but it was over complicated.

Casting wasn't the greatest but also wasn't terrible but plot lines were not well put together or executed. Unfortunately the dismal ratings ended the show before the cast could possibly gel.

It's difficult to bring back pseudo-cult programing but it has shown to have been done successfully over the past few years. The best example may be Glenn A. Larsons Battlestar Galactica which has spawned a spin-off and a potential feature film.

If Knight Rider had taken a similar approach which was to create something new based on an old idea it may have had a shot.

Final rating: This show sucked a**