mhmdsradio Reviews

Shampoo (1975)

An underrated classic

[9/10 · 19 March 2024]

The Robert Towne and Beatty script is a near perfect satire of 1968 middle and upper class Los Angeles, California. Juxtaposing free love of the sixties against the resurgent Nixon-led conservative movement that also produced Ronald Reagan, a male hairdresser, based loosely on Jay Sebring, tries to juggle three sexual relationships that intertwine, eventually ending in the hero of the story becoming the villain and loser as the ruse he plays comes crashing down mightily. Hal Ashby moves the story along nicely, admittedly sometimes a bit slowly, but its overall feel seems right to weave characters and plot together that include bored upper crust housewive, a philandering businessman, and beautiful hip LA all seeking real love amid sexual thrills while ignoring any consequences to their actions. The excellent 60's rock soundtrack compliments the action quite well as the film gives the viewer a peek into when the late sixties LA social classes, youth and business culture, the successful and the upwardly mobile rub up and down against each other. What a great time this must have been is cast in the light for what it really was, shallow and fleeting. Outside of The Graduate, Shampoo delivers the best view of this unique time and place.

True Detective (2014– )

Season 4 made me appreciate season 2

[1/10 · 21 February 2024]

Who knew that season 4 could be such a dog that it would actually make season 2 look pretty good by comparison. Start with a weak story, add some supernatural horror b.s. To an otherwise pointless and boring plot, toss in some poor music choices including a weird Beatles cover, solve the mystery in the last 15 minutes with characters that the viewer didn't even know existed until that point and you've got season 4. It's essentially a story about girl power overcoming an environmental disaster that tried to be weird and mysterious but even Jodie Foster couldn't save this frozen turdball. Disaster doesn't quite describe it.

White Noise (I) (2022)

Much ado about something, or nothing, who knows?

[2/10 · 4 January 2023]

When will they learn that some novels just don't adapt well to a 2 hour movie? This film had visual elements that seemed to be leading us somewhere but, without the long form detail of the book, it just became a hodgepodge of odd dialogue and image bites from the novel. Not fun, not interesting, just seemed abstract and silly. While I actually liked the themes of the nonsensical academia that feeds off itself and the epic consumerism of the grocery store, there is not a realized plot that a viewer would care about and the depth of the ideas the novel conveys just isn't there in a short movie format. There are some good novels out there that could use a movie or TV series treatment (The Nix, perhaps?) but this and others of this ilk, like Infinite Jest, just don't seem to work in the provided time frame or visual medium of film.

I Care a Lot (2020)

I Annoy a lot

[1/10 · 21 February 2021]

Ridiculous, annoying, and stupid. The story is so unbelievably dumb I can't understand who would think it a good idea to write or fund it. Some millennial dweebs, I suppose. Hopefully the writer/director gets a job driving a garbage truck and returns some value to society for this monstrosity.