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jjb-sonis
Reviews
Malignant (2021)
A Fun Movie
The too serious seriousness, campiness, totally decent fighting sequences, at times ridiculous effects, and almost unnecessary ultra-violence all came together well to make this a movie I did not regret watching. I do not think the creators or actors were looking to win any awards with this one, and they won't. It was just a fun movie to watch.
If it seems like things are moving along a bit too slowly, know that the pace does pick up... I enjoyed the final 30 to 40 minutes or so the most.
Ted Lasso (2020)
Golden
This should have been dumb. I thought I was not going to like it as soon as the first episode got rolling. Way too sugary not to mention the overabundance of Apple product placement. (It is a show produced by Apple - why would they have Samsung, Google, Microsoft, etc products on display when electronics were part of a scene?) Anyway...
This is one of the best feel good kind of shows I have seen in a long time. I laughed because it was funny. I laughed because my brain did not know how it should have reacted to some bit of total goodness. I enjoyed nearly everything about the show's story, character development and acting. No complaints. All goodness here.
I am very much looking forward to watching a second season of Ted Lasso.
The Hunt (2020)
Great Action. Great Fun. (Finish The Movie.)
I am not going to describe my political or social beliefs. I just like watching movies.
Try not to get turned off by the reviews from people who either did not watch the movie, finish the movie, or chose not to pay attention to the "why" of how the movie ended.
With that out of the way...
First off, Betty Gilpin definitely knows how to get things done. I loved watching her in action, and her character and her story was definitely the best part of this movie for me.
It is indeed violent. The action is awesome. The acting is pretty decent. The writing is a bit cheesy (I did not expect anything else). It is at times funny. I really enjoyed the last 15 to 20 minutes.
Stereotypes abound. One could indeed be offended by this movie when it comes to the very, very basic "why" of how it starts off. (This movie did not give me any time to feel offended and I knew what I had decided
to watch.) When it comes to the story behind the action, missing the forest for the trees does not do the watcher any favors.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable flick. I recommend watching it.
Uncut Gems (2019)
Great Movie - Nothing Like a Happy Madison Production
First, do not go into this movie expecting it to be anything like a warmhearted comedy with a good message. I suggest one start with and keep an open mind and make no assumptions when it comes to a movie starring Adam Sandler.
This is quite the serious dramatic movie and that fact really surprised me. The story that unfolded was not anything like what I had expected. The storytelling and character development and how their relationships played out is something like how Heat was put together and presented (of course this movie is not a clone of or anything like Heat).
Key points for my rating and deciding to write this review: Great writing. Great acting. Excellent cinematography. Great character development. Great consistency of mood, set and setting. And the story the movie told was pretty solid.
I do need to mention that the pace is quite a bit slow (without making the movie dull), and at times I did feel that maybe too much time was spent with me waiting for some clue as to what was meant to happen.
All things considered, I really enjoyed watching Uncut Gems and seriously appreciated the performances of Adam Sandler, and the movies' other lesser-known actors and actresses.
Worth the watch when the mood strikes to watch something dramatic and a bit dark.
It was just $0.99 to rent and stream from iTunes, so I took a chance and it paid off.
22nd Annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor celebrating: Dave Chappelle (2020)
Awesome
I love Dave Chappelle's comedy style and creativity, and him being a recipient is well-deserved. The music, the guest speakers and comedians, the stories, everything about this are awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed all of it. I do not believe you have to be a Dave Chappelle fan to enjoy or most or all of it.
Time Lapse (2014)
Young Adult Science Fiction
*Maybe* when I was younger...
This is a young adult fiction summer date night movie. I was unable to connect with the characters and story, and the exceptionally poor writing and acting did not help.
I am indeed pretty picky when it comes to science fiction, but I often enjoy under-appreciated movies (and books) without requiring a bunch of action and special effects so long as their stories are solid and the acting is proper. This movie did nothing for me other than increase the intensity of my desire to find some other way to spend my time.
I do not want to enter the realm of screed writing. So... For me, it was a one-star waste of time.
Maybe you will like it.
What We Started (2017)
Pretty Decent History as I Recall It
Having lived through and thoroughly enjoyed and loved the house and rave days of the 90s and early 2000s, I will state that this documentary did a pretty good job of telling the stories with good artists from back in the day and the newer artists of the modern scene. They did spend time interviewing the solid standards like Oakenfold, Tïesto, and one of my favorites, Carl Cox (I loved my experience at the Moonshine Over America that stopped by in my area). There were a lot of other solid DJs, artists and groups that they could have spent some time talking to to give a more complete story of what went on during the acid, house and original (as some would say, "illegal") rave, and general early EDM days, and some more of the great and newer DJs of today's scene (Orbital, RIchard James, FSOL, the Anjuna artists, the Ultimae folks, etc.); I get that they had only so much time and money to make this.
Overall, I truly enjoyed viewing this. Great interviews, great interviewees, great soundtrack, and a pretty good and very accurate story was told.
Jojo Rabbit (2019)
A Story of Love, Kindness and Understanding Developed through Shared Struggle and Learning That Hate Solves Nothing
This is a beautiful story told in a beautiful manner with an absolutely wonderful ending. I am not a crier, but I could not help but let the emotions that just kept building up during the movie and peaked with the final scene turn into a minute or so of crying some tears of whatever goodness was affecting me by the time the credits began to roll. story just wrapped up so wonderfully.
This movie is sometimes listed as a comedy and there are certainly fun and funny overtones for much that happens during it. As I saw it, this is really more of a human story told in a light and humorous manner, but it is the humanity that the characters fight to keep and learn to reunite with that matters most. Watchers get to enjoy seeing the lives of characters be saved by love, kindness and understanding through shared struggle and learning that hate solves nothing.
My usual wrap-up for the movies I love: Awesome story, awesome writing, awesome acting, awesome everything.
In my humble opinion, this is definitely a must watch. Certainly a 10/10 for this one.
Medical Police (2020)
A (Mostly) Funny and Solid Spin-off
Getting straight to the point with this review.
Stay away from Medical Police if the comedy you enjoy must be built upon a soul-stirring, thought-provoking and deeply intellectual foundation.
Otherwise, if one or more of the following apply, this show might be for you:
* You are a fan of the original shows.
* You enjoy comedy that is stupid by design.
* You are a virologist.
* You are an aspiring virologist.
* You are curious about virology.
* You are interested in learning about a remarkably militant CDC.
Jenny Slate: Stage Fright (2019)
Not Just a Standup Comedy Special
When taken for what it is worth and what it is meant to be, this is a pretty enjoyable show. There are indeed a few kind of blah moments. It is one part storytelling and one part comedy show. It is not meant to be just another standup comedy special. (Even the description of the show provided by Netflix that one can read before choosing to play it states as much.) The story told is personal and interesting and there are a few (and I do mean a few) touching moments that some of us can identify with (examples of unconditional love from a member of her family, stuff that might keep us from being as confident as we would like to be when doing what we do for a living, etc.). The comedy bits are also at times personal and often funny. I enjoyed this and it is worth giving it a watch if you want to enjoy something a bit deeper than the typical comedy special (not that I don't like the typical standup comedy specials performed by proper comedians, this just isn't one of them).
Brightburn (2019)
I Began Wanting to Like This Movie
This movie started off good enough to watch when the time is right to give something new a watch... I wanted to give it a fair shot as the story sounded cool, and the creators and production staff tends to put out mostly good quality work.
The mom and dad thing is incredibly corny but I was able to push past that. The awkward kid thing is a bit much but I let it go. The story grew more interesting and I was starting to enjoy it despite the corny family dynamic and the excessive awkwardness of life as a kid. In general, the acting and the script the actors were working with were just not very good.
The action came on fast, and the movie was never slow and boring. However more time could have spent wrapping things up more completely and putting some context around most of what happened regarding almost everything. Instead, it was just the kid being evil, the parents and everyone else being entirely vulnerable to and helpless against anything and everything the evil kid did, and absolutely no one was tasked with putting any effort into trying to figure things out what was going on or find a way to put a stop to it all.
Bam! Everyone is dead and a plane crashes.
Like I started off writing here, I began wanting to like this movie. But despite it being enjoyable at times, I could have lived my life just fine having never watched this movie.
Undone (2019)
Great New Show
Cool concept, solid story, good acting, and totally enjoyable and fun to watch (too easy to binge). I really loved watching this show.
The Handmaid's Tale: Mayday (2019)
Beautiful
I loved this entire season, and I cannot imagine a better finale. The way this episode ended was simply perfect. Writing, cinematography, acting, and storytelling at its finest.
Tau (2018)
As Enjoyable As Getting Stabbed In Your Eye
A rotten mix of Her, Ex Machina and a dumpster full of used diapers sitting in the summer sun for a month. This movie became really unenjoyable and quite absurd about ten minutes in. If you want to watch a movie featuring a par for the course always looking good damsel in distress interacting with a delusional sentient machine suffering from dementia with all things driven by a decent story with lackluster dialog and weak acting then you might like it. SFX and camera work were good and that's the only reason I will give this movie two stars.
If I wasn't the type of person that needed to know how stories ended then I wouldn't regret the time wasted and forever lost watching this movie.
Game of Thrones (2011)
The Story of "A Song of Ice and Fire" is not Being Told
*** Includes Spoilers - Do not read this if you love the books and have not started watching the show yet! ***
First, if you have not started with reading the books, then I suggest waiting until the show is finished. Then again, maybe I will be too nit picky with my review, and you can simply enjoy watching and reading...
Summary:
A great production and a great show when based only on its own merits, but is a disgrace to the story of "A Song of Ice and Fire" and does a great disservice to the fans of the books it is to be based upon. The shows do not come close to being true to or measuring up to the quality of character development, world building and the just plain excellent storytelling enjoyed when reading the books. Season three did an especially bad job sticking to the story told in the first half of "A Storm of Swords" as it just goes off, messes a lot up, and tells it in a way that I suppose would be required when only ~10 hours of time is made available.
Details:
Since each season and every episode of this show have Martin's blessing, I am assuming that he is okay with "Game of Thrones" being loosely based -- in an extreme manner -- on his epic masterpiece of fantasy literature.
I could tolerate the first two seasons as they were not too incredibly far off from the the first two books (still, very far off). But the third season takes things way too far regarding the show's deviation from the books.
I watched the premier of the third season until I saw how badly the storyline of every primary protagonist of the books was going to be abused by the very excessive of creative license taken by the writers (and maybe Martin himself as well) of the show. What really struck me was that for some reason Selmy was on his own when he came to save Daenerys and that a simple yet important character such as Strong Belwas was absent. I decided at that point to stop watching. And the season ended and I was determined not to care, not even when the "Red Wedding" became national news during a slow news cycle.
However, as time crept on I came to terms with the fact that the show and the books are not the same and that the overall quality of the show cannot be compared to the far superior and actual story of the books. "Game of Thrones" is not "A Song of Ice and Fire" and I now view the show as telling one story and the books telling another.
After thinking on it, and being somewhat persuaded to do so by others, I decided to just watch the third season since I had mostly enjoyed the first two. The quality of production and (for the most part) dialog and acting are superior to just about anything else TV - I rank the show on its own merits being on the same level as The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire as far HBO shows and most any other shows on TV go. But, still, despite the fact that I have come to understand the show as being a very condensed and exceptionally loose adaptation of the books it is to be based on, and despite the fact that I do enjoy watching the show, I can only say I really half like it because of how much I loved reading and re-reading the books and how often I have to ask "Where is that character?", "Why did they leave that key event out?", or "Why would they change that when it would be just as easy to stay true to what was in the book?". Add to that the alternate story for Asha that starts up in the season finale of season three really irks me. Not to mention the bones I have to pick regarding Bran's story...
If only HBO could dedicate more than 10 episodes at ~50-55 minutes each for a season, maybe the story of "Game of Thrones" would be much more in line with the actual story of "A Song of Ice and Fire" and would be a much better show because of it. However, that is not the case. It will be interesting to see what they do with the second half of "A Storm of Swords" and exactly how great the show itself can be while still messing with my book-reading mind.
Yes, I enjoy the show, but my love of the books necessitates dropping my vote to a 5/10 and it's getting a 5 and not less because this is in part a show that is being overseen by Martin himself and I have come to appreciate how he has agreed with and influenced in whatever way he can the story being told in "Game of Thrones" and how it is being told.
Now, can we book fans please get "The Winds of Winter" sooner rather than way too much later???