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darkeyes9090
Reviews
Sense8 (2015)
Best I have ever SEEN
I can't say enough good about it. Years of movie and TV watching and this is worth all 10 stars. This is different. Hang in there till the 3rd or 4th episode. It is the best thing I have seen in many years. Writers who are original. Writers who actually are working their butt's off to write well. Production values on par with anything else I have seen. Cinematography that is actual art. This is what film/TV should be like more often. The direction is outstanding. The sets are outstanding. It is all outstanding. It shines in the gloom of what is mostly being shown anymore. A show where you actually can't say the lines before the performer gets the chance to utter them. Characters that are not only unique, well thought out, but dare to be different, and yet not just for the sake of being different.
The Watch (2012)
Waste of time
You know you are in trouble when a cast of men entering middle age are playing characters that would usually be cast with teens. Even with teens they would be the "annoyingly dumb guys" seen in so many films.
I could not find even one saving grace for this film. The actors are all playing characterizations that are two dimensional and that they have repeatedly done before.
Nothing new is added. The jokes fall flat. It feels like it was intended for actors half their age but written buy guys twice their age who thought "those young people will think this is funny." It is not.
Spare yourself from this one.
I can not understand the fairly high rating for this film on this site. The family's of people connected with the film must be giving it high marks.
Nate and Margaret (2012)
Very well done
I enjoyed this little film more than most everything else I have seen this year. The direction, camera work, casting, writing are all well done. The chemistry between the actors is evocative. The story, as one reviewer said, could use another 20 minutes filling out the female lead's actions. But, at the same time, one of the great qualities of this film is the actor's ability to inform us through their presentation of characters. So many films and TV series depend on long laborious telling of a character's backstory to let us know who they are. With this film's level of writing and the actor's ability to present their characters, they fill in much of that for you without it needing to be spelled out for you.
What I liked most, was just watching a story that was interesting, touching and well presented, avoiding the two dimensional predictability of so much of what is being churned out of a production line industry.
Revolution (2012)
A waste of electricity watching it
The show is, to elegantly sum it up, quite horrible. As so many have noted, the science (planes fall straight down out of the sky, muskets, no steam power etc.) is bad enough, but could be ignored with suspended disbelief, if the remaining criteria for a well done show didn't also fall flat.
When one has to point to the CGI as being the only saving grace, there is a problem. The actors are bland at best and annoying at worst. They neither look nor behave as though they come from a dangerous post apocalyptic civilization. The action is terribly repetitive and formulaic. The dialog is boring and only serves as a filler between overly long fight scenes, which themselves do not serve the plot.
In the end what we get is a lot of nothing with a smidgen of plot that is revealed in dribbles and we are supposed to be tantalized enough to keep coming back for more. I might dvr it and watch the last five minutes of each show.
The idea of a post apocalyptic world without electricity excited me, but this show is a real loser. It is more the pity as there are some fine actors involved.
I do not understand this trend of formulaic sci fi with expensive budgets and excellent producers etc. turning out high tech versions of Space Family Robinson. I believe it is insulting to audiences.
To make myself hated even more, I also think that Walking Dead after the first great season is terrible. Endless dialogs revealing lives that I could care less about interrupted by zombie attacks.
That's My Boy (1981)
fond memories of an era
Watching this show brought back fond memories of both Mollie Sugden and of British comedies of those years. There really are not any plots to speak of with their only purpose being to encourage a few moments of simplistic escapism. The humor mostly relies on the characterizations of Mollie and her co stars. They are two dimensional and laden with mugging to the camera, but for me, charming. I did laugh when someone commented how terrific the theme song is. It consists of "la la la, that's my boy" repeated over and over again ad nauseum until I decided to fast forward through it after viewing the first few episodes.
I did find the series to improve as it went along. I would guess that you would really have to like Mollie in order to like the show, which I do. Of the two other lead characters, Jennifer Lonsdale, I can't find any other work she did after this series and Christopher Blake died fairly young. They do what they are supposed to do which is mainly to serve as backdrop for Mollie to bounce off of and are likable while doing it. Jennifer is very attractive and her wardrobe representing her character of a high fashion model is sometimes remarkable and sexy.
I found it to be very pleasant spending some evenings with this show.
Dying at Grace (2003)
A truth we avoid
This is a film everyone should see. Particularly if you have someone you care about who is ill and could die. I took care of my partner for 9 months in a hospice and then for 5 yrs. at home. The final days still haunt me. This would have prepared me beyond what reading, or telling me could accomplish. It was difficult to see this film as it so mirrored my own experience at the hospice and to the final days at home. The experience has shown me how terrible it is that we do not provide physician assisted suicide. Instead we put them through this process of dying and suffering through it. Plus unless you are insured, we take away everything you have so you can afford to die. This film serves as a wake up call to the reality of death.
Battle: Los Angeles (2011)
Unless shouting "hoo rah" is exciting to you, skip it.
Unless the phrase "hoo rah!" excites you, skip this movie.
Endless fighting skirmishes of aliens that you NEVER GET TO QUITE SEE other than the partial remains of a dying blown up one. I kept hoping that at some point they would show some special effects to make it all worthwhile. You get a few hurried views of the spaceship and some equipment, not particularly exciting. The battle scenes (meaning the entire film) are well done if it is enough for you to see one explosion, and the like, after another. The over use of jerky hand held camera effect is gimmicky. Lacks either story or character development. It did not hold my attention as it did not need to. I could have watched for awhile, napped and then watched some more without missing anything. After sticking through to the end, I regret that I did not choose to nap.