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jennvilandre
Reviews
A League of Their Own (2022)
Where's the baseball?
I wanted to love this. I tried to like it. I just can't. The movie is one of my favorites and I can watch it over and over. This show is a slog. I literally fell asleep.
I wanted to watch the show for the baseball, some history and good characters. It has none of those things, and the high school drama is over the top. I'm all for equality being represented in shows, but it seems all this show is focused on is lesbian drama, and the show should be renamed and targeted more towards an LGBTQ+ audience. There certainly isn't much baseball in it, and it seems to be more of a lesbian awakening story, with plenty of high school drama. The characters are shallow, poorly acted, and there's little authenticity to the 1940's time period.
There is such an opportunity to develop the leading African-American character, and instead of making her a strong AA woman in the 1940's trying to navigate a white male world, they also make her a lesbian so they split the focus of her character drama. The actor is probably the best of the cast, but I'd like to see her experience as an AA woman and not deal with the additional drama, since we have a similar story line elsewhere, and a person of color was only mentioned in passing in the movie. I wanted more from her storyline than split focus.
In general, I had to stop watching the show. I just couldn't deal with the whining characters, lack of baseball, and overly dramatic storylines of everything BUT what the movie was about. I can say it was nice to see a couple of ladies from the original baseball league in one of the scenes. That's it. Not worth the time.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)
Awful plot, horrible Grindelwald, boring!
This movie had such potential, but it was slow and painful to watch until the last 20 minutes when it finally got interesting. The first two movies focused a lot on Credence, and he's barely a footnote in this movie, which I find strange since this was supposed to be "The Secrets of Dumbledore" and he's a Dumbledore. I really thought this movie would focus more on the Dumbledore family and its secrets, and less on a political drama which really had little to do with them so really should have a different title. Firing Johnny Depp and casting Mads Mikkelsen as Grindelwald was a horrible mistake. Johnny brought a certain darkness and evil to the character, while Mads was monotone, one note and boring. He wasn't menacing, scary or believable as Grindelwald... At all. The rest of the cast was good, as usual. I just didn't feel they were given the material to shine. Luckily I watched this on streaming, because I'd be very disappointed if I'd paid to see it. I gave it 2 stars for the cast, other than Mikkelsen, and the last few minutes of the movie. If the last 20 minutes hadn't saved it, this would be a big fat flop.
1883 (2021)
Fantastic show with amazing female lead!
I don't understand the hate for Elsa or her narration, or all the negative "woke" comments. God forbid a western should have a strong female character without being called "woke liberal bs." There have been strong women throughout history and fiction. Weak-minded people just chose to ignore them previously but can no longer do so because women are tired of being quiet about their strength and fiction mirrors reality.
Elsa is simply a young woman thrown into a new exciting world with no rules and she's finding who she is and who she's allowed to be without the constraints of society. Her exploration of herself and her world is refreshing and different, and I really enjoy the narration because it allows us access to all these new experiences and thoughts from her perspective. Not only is Elsa finding a new life in new lands, but she's finding herself, her sexuality, her purpose, and she isn't afraid to be who she is. With all this comes deeper understanding of her relationship with her parents, especially her father, knowledge of the consequences of her actions and the dangers her new life presents, and, ultimately, her death. Sam Elliot's character perfectly sums up Elsa. "She's outlived all of us." I'm not sure how season 2 is going to work without the best character of the series.
As many have mentioned, the scenery is stunning. The music is equally good, sweeping and emotional. In addition to the incredible performance of Isabel May, there are fantastic performances by Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw and Lamonica Garrett. Faith Hill is really the only one I'm not a fan of. She seems unemotional and robotic.
Is the show perfect? No. But it is really, really good. Oh, and as a side note, I'm not a fan of Yellowstone.
Good Sam (2022)
Potential, if dad went away
Ok, don't get me wrong. I love Jason Isaacs. He's really good, especially at being bad. But I absolutely HATE his character in this show! He is misogyny and narcissism personified, and it's all aimed at his daughter! I get it. The writers want to give you a character you love to hate, but they really missed the mark, especially in this day and age. The relationships between most of the rather undeveloped characters are dysfunctional, at best, though there's potential there for some interesting story lines. The best story line would be Sophia Bush's character, Sam, if her father could just get out of the way! It would be great to have a strong female lead, with a female admin, even if it is her mother, and have her character develop and lead a team of young doctors. Less soapy would be good, with some more medicine and better character development, even with the short term patients. I'd like to feel something for the characters, other than just fury at her father for being a bully, and Sam for letting him walk all over her. As much as I like Jason Isaacs, his character should have died. So far, not impressed, and I don't think I can watch him bully her any more. I've had enough of that in real life. I want an escape when I watch TV.
A Fine Step (2014)
Abysmal Plot, Beautiful Horses
I'm a horse movie fanatic so decided to watch this since it looked interesting. I'm going to preface this review by saying there's still 30 minutes left to go in this movie, but it could have been wrapped up by now with all the weirdly wandering plot lines, and I really don't need to finish it to review it because I can't see the end being any better. The movie is almost 2 hours long and could have been wrapped up in 90 minutes or less. It's basically 2 daddy/daughter conflicts and an on-going family feud in a confusing plot, wrapped up with beautiful horses. The only unique thing about this movie is the use of Paso Finos and the glimpse into the Paso show world. This, however, is poorly presented at the beginning of the movie by cramming it into a scene of a farrier meeting the girl, Clair, where he deems it necessary to give her an encyclopedic description of the Paso Fino's gaits. The acting is less than mediocre, with mumbled lines and disingenuous performances, but my biggest problem with the movie was when both Clair and her father, neither of whom have ever ridden a horse before, jump on Pasos and ride off like experts! The father even tacks up his own horse, yet has never been around them previously. What?! Seriously, the only reason this got 2 stars was because I've never seen Paso Finos used in a movie before and it's nice seeing unique breeds being shown off.
tick, tick...BOOM! (2021)
Absolutely fantastic movie! Great music, fantastic cast, and filled with cameos...
...of Broadway greats! I'm talking everyone from recent stars to downright legends make cameos in this movie paying tribute to the great Jonathan Larson. I had no idea that he had another show out there, and I don't understand why this movie hasn't been done before now. Jonathan's sound is very apparent in the music of tick, tick... BOOM! If you're at all familiar with RENT. Andrew Garfield seems an unlikely choice, but does a brilliant job. Lin-Manuel Miranda has his fingers all over this, as you'll see if you pay close attention to casting, and it's brilliantly done with Ron Howard as a producer. A can't lose team.
Transplant (2020)
Could be outstanding, currently adequate
Transplant has such a great premise to it with a well-rounded cast of people, making it very relevant in the current culture. Hamza Haq as Bash, a Syrian refugee trying to continue his medical career in Toronto, is good in his roll. You rarely see a Muslim lead character, and this is one of the great things about this show. Unfortunately, the show has missed the mark for several other opportunities. A huge opportunity was missed to clearly identify what role each character played. Many of the reviews I've read mention a lack of nurses. They're there, but hard to distinguish because no one's roles were clearly established at the beginning. Torri Higginson's character is head nurse, which we find out several episodes in, therefore everyone wearing scrubs similar to her would also be a nurse. Also, why is Ayisha Issa's character always so angry and mean? Here is an opportunity to write a character of a strong, intelligent black female surgeon, and they make her angry and hateful to everyone, including her boyfriend. Why not allow her to rise above her struggles and be a great doctor and human? And then we have the two white female doctors. Comments have already been made on screen about the head of the ER not being good enough to be the Chief (John Hannah's character). So why wasn't the script flipped and a female made Chief, and John Hannah made head of ER? Why does Mags (Laurence Leboeuf) look like a neurotic mess willing to please anyone? Again, we have an old white guy in charge of the women and POC. Not that I don't love John Hannah, but, if you want a progressive show with progressive themes... opportunity missed! And if this is a medical drama can you please TRY to get the medical terminology correct? What doctor says "stitches" in place of "sutures"? There have been so many mistakes like this, I think it's time to hire a (better) medical consultant. In general I think the cast is decent, even if the characters are not developed quite correctly. Hamza Haq, John Hannah, Torri Higginson and Jim Watson are great. Theo and Bash are my favorite characters and work well together. Story lines are OK, but need to be more nuanced and developed. Characters need improvement and upgrades! Again, this show has a plot which could be groundbreaking, but is currently mediocre. Maybe it will improve.
Carnival Row (2019)
Great Combination of Fantasy, Celtic Lore, Steampunk and Fresh Ideas
This show grabbed me within the first 15 minutes. I love Celtic legend and the writers take a spin off Tir na Nog from ancient Celtic myths and the fair (fae) Folk, combining it with creatures from other myths and legends, as well as steampunk elements. The plot has something for everyone with war, mystery, murder, mayhem, political intrigue, magic, and a love story (or three), of course. The scenery, effects and makeup are fantastic. I love Orlando Bloom and I think this is one of his best performances. Both he and Cara add depth and believability to their characters, and their chemistry is fantastic. Yes, there are references to political issues (race, immigration, war, discrimination, many more) and it's done very, very well, and even in context of issues throughout our history back to WWII. I'm really looking forward to the second season!!
Cobra Kai (2018)
Better and Better Every Episode
I'm rewatching Season 2 for the second time. I watched Season 1 a few times. Each episode gets progressively better and better. Season 3 has been announced and it's hard to wait a year! The writing is fantastic with characters you love (and love to hate) from the original movies, plus new younger characters to draw in a new audience. The writers stay true to the original story for Karate Kid fans of old, and there is plenty of 80's nostalgia without being too campy. Original characters make appearances in Season 2 and I think next season will bring an even bigger character return if the finale is leads us in the direction it hints for Season 3!! This is seriously one of the best shows on right now. Possibility even better than GoT!
A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
Way to ruin an award winning book Disney!!
Absolutely horrible movie adaptation of one of my absolute favorite books. I broke down and decided to finally watch it after avoiding it just based on the trailer. 20 minutes in and I knew it was going to be as horrible as I predicted. Disney made sure to make it as PC as possible and glitzed it up to make the Mrs. W's more like fairy godmothers and the scenes more Alice in Wonderland and less scary than the book. I remember parts of the book being incredibly terrifying. The only scary scene in the movie was more Pirates of the Caribbean scary, not terrifying. So many key scenes and aspects were left out, some of which include the fact that there were also twin boys, the Murray's lived on a farm with an orchard, stone fence and star gazing rock, the Mrs. W's first appeared as bag ladies, the boy who dropped his ball in the synced bouncing scene. Many of these elements come into play later, in either this book or the series, and were completely ignored. The only saving grace of this movie was some of the acting. Charles Wallace was excellent. Calvin would have been great, too, had they actually delved into his character and his relationship with Meg properly. Meg, one of my all time favorite female characters and an inspiration as an awkward adolescent, was totally flat and unbelievable. Was it terrible writing or terrible casting? I don't know. But terrible, nonetheless. Madeline L'Engle would be as disappointed in this movie as I was. I hope Disney stops here and leaves the rest of the series alone.