Astrid2266 Reviews

Pastor Shepherd (2010)

Sorry, just awful.

[1/10 · 16 February 2020]

The cover of the dvd has Danny Trejo holding a baseball bat with a fierce look. It's billed on the back as an "action" movie. There's no action. Zero. Zip. Nada. None at all. Which is fine if you aren't being mislead about the content. The content is more of an indie comedy. The main character, Shepherd, played by someone called Pastor Shepherd (not kidding), is given zero billing. I had to dig around to find his name. His image, even though he is the main character that predominates every scene, is not on the cover. This is just a boring, weird, meandering movie where you desperately wait and wait for something, anything, interesting to happen but it never does. It's beneath Danny Trejo.

1 Message (2011)

Good movie with one flaw. . .

[7/10 · 19 November 2019]

It isn't what I expected. I thought it was an Indie but it's actually a Christian film. I'm watching it now and am halfway thru it. The flaw is the main character has some issues. Eating unhealthy, drinking, but she keeps saying she's 20 lbs overweight. They try to strategically not show her whole body with the camera angles but slip a couple shots in. She's not overweight at all. Not 20 lbs even. She's skinny. The actress is good at conveying this type of lifestyle of this kind of person who has the issues she has really well though.

The Conners (2018– )

Surprised I like it.

[9/10 · 9 January 2019]

I didn't watch the Roseanne reboot so don't know what that was like and when it was cancelled, they talked about doing it without her. I thought that would be stupid--to do essentially "Roseanne" w/o Roseanne. Had no intention of watching this. Saw it come up on Hulu and figured "What the hell? Might as well check it out". Was surprised that they make it work pretty well. Her death and Dan's struggles with that are handled with insight and sensitivity and all the characters are endearing. Compelling storylines and still warm and funny as always.

A One World Agenda: The Illuminati (2015 Video)

Doesn't say anything. . .

[1/10 · 26 November 2017]

It starts out as if you're going to get a well thought out, structured and intelligent delving into what the Illuminati is supposed to be but feels superficial and disconnected. I don't feel like I'm getting any real info. And the fact that it's low budget is no excuse. Truly good research and writing doesn't cost big bucks. You either have the ability to write well or you don't.

It feels like a string of Illuminati conspiracy blurbs with no depth. There are more comprehensive videos on this subject on YouTube.

The Truth Is Underrated (2008)

Been done before too many times.

[2/10 · 29 December 2016]

It's formulaic and I'm just sick of seeing guns over and over and always the solution to everything. It's a room of three stupid people acting stupid. Why not try and come up with something that reveals something new or profound-even with using the basic scenario they have here this could have been something more interesting. Something with more substance or real thought or emotion. I kept expecting something surprising to happen but it ended the same way it always does. Everything has become so vacuous in Hollywood which is probably why Independent films have become so popular. I really like Phillip Keene in The Closer and Major Crimes but this is boring.

Left Behind: The Movie (2000)

While I admire the effort. . .

[3/10 · 20 April 2013]

. . .of attempting to create a story of an apocalyptic scenario based on Biblical prophesy (not many movie makers go into that too much), the result is somewhat bland and one dimensional for different reasons. Anyone who has read the Book of Revelation (And I wouldn't advise it. It's very dark and depressing), it contains a vision of the world at it's very worst. It describes events as being a nightmare of war, pestilence, disease, human rights abuses, economic collapse, famine, natural and man-made catastrophe on a global scale--suffering that there is no escape for anyone from. It even speaks of people having to indulge in cannibalism to survive. While some of these kinds of events are taking place now and have happened in the past, the Book of Revelation speaks of a world where just about every aspect or system of society and civilization just breaks down all at once. It's a world no one could really imagine as they are events that have never occurred that way, all at once, in human history. There's no common frame of reference to compare it to. Sorry, I'm not trying to make everyone depressed or anything. It's just that this series of movies (and there are a couple other religious produced "end of world" type movies that have the same kinds of flaws as Left Behind) fails to touch the level of pain and despair that just about everyone would be experiencing in a real Biblical Apocalypse. Everyone in the movie just seems to be so much in control and pretty well behaved. They aren't confused, in despair or spiritually lost or suffering in a real, deep or profound way. They basically make the right decisions and pretty much remain on the right road. Their choices are between right and wrong where I feel that many choices in those circumstances would be between wrong and less wrong. It also doesn't depict the various ways in which society has fallen apart, the series of tragedies happening to people around the world, the riots, war, disease, etc. that would be happening. It doesn't depict the horror and terror. I suppose making a movie that could grasp the events in the Book of Revelation may just be an impossibility but there are alternative movies that may not be based on Biblical prophesy but are able to grasp the kind of pain people would be in much better. Movies like "The Road", "Blindess" or "Contagion" come closer. Even shows like "The Walking Dead" do a much better job at touching on how people truly behave and what their experience would be in a more real believable way. Left Behind also has it's own born-again Christian agenda which I don't mind too much but it gets heavy handed, arrogant, self-righteous and preachy in spots. I would never say to someone, 'Don't bother watching this movie.', just don't expect too much from it unless you are looking for a false sense of security.