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Reviews
The Menu (2022)
Not a comedy and shouldn't even be called a dark comedy
This had no intention of being a comedy, it's a horror film with some moments that might make you laugh just by how out of place they are in such a setting. I didn't see too many scenes that were intentionally trying to make me laugh, just how the characters reacted to some of the situations were laughable. And a great point that was made in the dialogue is that many of them didn't even try very hard to escape and if they actually did try they probably would have. That's exactly how I felt about the whole concept which made it unbelievable. I did want to turn it off during the suicide scene, it was a bit much even though I was anticipating something like that to happen I just didn't know what and when and that scene just took all the steam out of this possibly being comical. Too grim and you just couldn't escape that moment, it set the tone for the rest of the movie. What made it falter for me is the irony of creating a pretentious presentation to criticize the phony world of foodies. We have a suicide cult meets the world of high cuisine. What a combination. I give some credit for the outlandish concept and actually following through with it. I think it would have been better presented as an actual comedy and would have been a far more enjoyable film. Or at least give these people a chance at redemption. And all the blind loyalty around this figure wasn't entirely believable. I mean the woman who stabbed him in the leg with scissors hardly seamed like someone who was all in on a death cult ending. There was a lot of commentary that was well received in the movie and that's partly why I liked part of it, I feel the same sentiment about these types of people and although I feel it would be amusing to give them a taste of their own medicine executing them hardly felt satisfying in the end. How many of those cooks in the kitchen would just run for their own lives after seeing their beloved chef go up in flames. I think a majority of them would be out the door once the threat of his retribution was gone. Overall an interesting concept but would have been better written in a different light. Dark comedy no, just dark.
Midnight in the Switchgrass (2021)
Just kept going and going and going
Mixed bag on this one, I liked how the story was going, it was fairly well laid out mystery, just too much was going against it that stood out and mostly the pace and repetitive feeling scenes that didn't really add much to the story progress. For the most part it was rather flat in the story arc with just a few high points. This made it seam to go on forever, I genuinely stopped and thought more than once, "how much more of this is there going to be?" One thing that just didn't match up was the "touching" ending where she's in bed and she gets some compliment from her partner about being tough, yet his last scene with her was how he explained he wasn't staying with her because he was concerned her actions were going to get him killed, because she refused to follow instructions earlier in the film that put her in danger and could have ruined the case they were working on. It just didn't work out for the narrative, just felt dumb for him to compliment her in the end like that, that was just so out of place and not genuine. I was thinking a better ending is that she died for the sake of saving this girl she earlier felt that she was to blame for her potential murder. Just so horribly uneven story telling. Bruce laying flowers at her grave would have been a much more dramatic ending. And him taking on another partner who's got a similar defiant fire in her. And the family guy cop character just sucked, I didn't like him the whole time, he seamed just odd and inhuman. They tried to give him some heart-felt sensitive characteristics but he came off very weak and impossible to believe he was going to save the day. And how odd they made the scene where him and the murderers wife suddenly hear a noise outside and then he's out in the field pointing his gun at nothing, it was so stupid and didn't make sense. So the opportunity for him to save the day just didn't happen, so what was he even in this story for? Based on how they put this narrative together most scenes were just written for them but they chose for some odd reason not to use the obvious choices, for what end? Some sort of unnecessary distraction? I don't get it. This strong woman had to save the day on her own I guess, you can't have a man save the day anymore I guess. Why didn't they then have that neighbor lady come in and do something brave??? That would have been a nice twist. So many lost opportunities for some interesting scenes. I see why it has low ratings. We didn't turn the movie off so I'll give it that, we kept watching till the end so I'll give it credit for that, but not much more.
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
One of those almost perfect movies
Lessons in futility and humility. Even though I've watched this so many times it's hard really to know what you're supposed to get from this movie other than entertainment. But what an odd way to be entertained. The initial setup and first stint in his incarceration to me felt like he got off pretty easy, they seamed to have rather routine lives and he could have done this time, 2 years and he'd be back out and free to do what he wants. But if that were the case there wouldn't be this film. So part of me just has that pessimistic view of Hollywood where things just happen because it's entertaining, not because it makes any sense and not because it's remotely what would have or could have happened. It just seams odd that over the years the more I've seen it the less I truly understand it and part of that might be the revelation that there is nothing to understand it's just entertainment. He's a man on a self destruct mission? A man who is looking for redemption but never achieves it. A symbol of the nature of man's inhumanity toward man? A story of an un-redeptive spirit? It's quite layered or rather flat depending on how you turn it, you can read a whole heck of a lot into it if you really want to give yourself that liberty. But I really liked my original take on it when I saw this movie as a teenager. A glutton for punishment gets his handsome serving. This man is figuratively and literally digging his own grave. And you're given a few one-liners that are hard to forget. Beyond that a shallow reading of this film is just as fair as a much deeper one. Just the artful way this film told the story I can only put in the same class of a handful of other films. That alone earns it high praise. But the thing that got me to watch it again was the 50 eggs line just came to my mind and I was going to just watch that scene, but ended up watching the entire thing again. There was a bit more taken away from it this time, I really paid attention to the scene with his mother this time and this was a guy who was heart-broken and was a child who never knew his father and then in the church he's looking for a spiritual father and was disappointed again by the absence of a holy father in his moment of contrition. You can find a whole lot more than what's really there but there is enough to where you don't have to look too deep.
Universal Basic Guys (2024)
I've really liked this series so far
Just a few episodes in and I like it. It's got some messed up humor and I actually avoided this show for a long while because I really really didn't like the concept. And after watching it the whole idea they get paid $3000/mo doesn't seam that interesting so I thought this was a really strange angle to take. One thing that I liked was that there is some really clever and detailed site gags that, some are pretty subtle and easy to miss, but it's not too often you see that kind of detail. It's well paced and so far I like the stories they are pretty well thought out all the way to the end, so I give the writing on this some deserved credit. I do see I'm in the minority here on this show, but that doesn't bother me so much, I've got strange tastes in other things and this show kind of fits the bill so far. And 8 is pretty strong, but I'd rather give it a 7.5. 7 just seamed too low for how much I liked and and an 8 is just being generous. Feel a bit charitable I guess. I just found this an easy watch but do see why this isn't that well received overall.
The Great North (2021)
Bit of a mixed bag
Some of it is utter garbage and yet there's a portion of it that is easy to watch. One thing that is way off that really bothers me every time I watch an episode is the intro is one of the worst I've ever seen for a cartoon, it's really low effort and how did they not go back to the drawing board before releasing that. It's so useless as an intro. Now I'll contrast this intro with Brickleberry. These aren't even similar shows but you know what you're getting watching that cartoon intro. Watch The Great North opening, you have no clue what you're about to see(yes I can skip it and by god I do it as soon as possible) In the beginning I was quite a bit disappointed to be honest, it's not that great but it's fair, I've put it on before bedtime and it's a safe show to nod off to. That's not exactly a glowing recommendation. What would I have changed? I most certainly would not have centered the show around the daughter, she's just too dumb and blindly optimistic it's not even funny. I'm 7 episodes in and I'm seeing really poorly written stories and obvious plot holes, but it's a cartoon so big deal. But this thing feels like it's being formed episode to episode and there was never any grand scheme or plan for this shows story. Nothing sticks together or feels remotely cohesive like this was a project to employ these specific voice actors and that it's being held together just for their sake. It doesn't feel like the characters are even considered, how they interact with each other and have to coexist, there isn't much of that. Everybody has their safe space they can escape to and then pop on scene when needed. This show is just nothing I look forward to watching, just happens to be something that I'll put on when I can't find anything else to watch. Pretty much sums it up.
GameFace (2017)
I ended up enjoying this
I never really "got" Roisin Conaty, I saw a lot of her on game shows and saw her featured in Man Down and seeing her in a stand-alone role was interesting. It took a bit to warm up to the show but it eventually got me invested to the end. I have a criticism regarding how the characters were used though, the funniest bits were the interactions between the parents and it would have been far greater if this was more a family centered story rather than the struggle to achieve some stardom and failed confused love interests. That trope got warn down on me I was tired of seeing the obvious intentional mishaps that were easily avoidable. Yes, make the mistakes, but don't make it the theme of the show. I think if they made her parents more central characters it would have taken off far more and had a bit more lasting power. These are the characters that shaped her own character and it would have been a better use of the screen time. The cat obsessed mother who shows more attention to the cats emotional well being than her own children was really well done and if they pressed harder into that relationship and the father who was emotionally stunted and horribly flawed yet available for support at all times was an interesting and entertaining combination. The focus on the drug addicted brother could have been replaced with more time with the parents and I think it would have worked so much better. I was pretty much on the fence about Roisin Conaty before seeing this, but it was an endearing production that made me like her more. It just would have been more interesting if the walls were further down and you'd get to see her connect to the roots she clearly can't escape and would have probably been funnier and more entertaining if the show was more about her embracing that part of her life instead of keeping it all at an arms length.
Bob's Burgers (2011)
Wasn't a huge fan from the beginning
I liked the earlier seasons much more than the later stuff, but even from the beginning I never felt like I was a huge fan from the start, it just had a few fun bits here and there that made episodes worthwhile. But as the series progressed the payoff became fewer and far between. And some characters are just plain aweful but some reason they keep getting used becuase they have to be, there's very little risk taking as this show is solidified in it's fan base that any major changes would result in riots. It's a shame it can't mature any further and take some risks at this stage and it's stuck using some really idiotic characters. Man if Bob could get a divorce that would be awesome. It would be great seeing him dating different women who change the dynamic of the show. I just realized after watching the last episode that I didn't even bother looking at the daily burger name because so many have been so dumb and pointless to the show, it's a tiresome joke that I just didn't even care anymore about it. Might as well have been "Another Stupid Burger Name on a Poppy Seed Pun". I still watch when new episodes come up but in this Season 15 after 4 episodes I think I mildly laughed maybe once and I think it was Bob's reaction to how utterly stupid or absurd a situation was but that's pretty much his whole character persona, just some Dad going for the ride because he has no other choice. Think I'm just bored with the whole thing but still seams to be dropping 10/10 ratings so some people are still loving it.
Hypnotic (2023)
Too convoluted and crappy Affleck acting.
I really liked the premise from the beginning it was going quite well but then it just breaks down over and over until it's a mind mincing mess. After reading that the budget on this was estimated at $70,000,000 I'm just baffled at what that was spent on, there isn't anything in this that looks like they spent it all, considering that to date the estimated Worldwide profit is $16M it's just unbelievable they put that kind of money into this, it sound like money laundering to me more than funding a creative project. I just honestly don't know where they demanded that kind of money on this movie. I like to be a conspiracy theorist for a bit of fun and it would be fun to imagine that the only reason this movie received this kind of money was to fund some organized crime or some secret government initiative. Look up the "Office of Strategic Services" (OSS) it's on the CIA's website. I like this as an explanation for this gross overindulgence in funding this film because creatively there was no justification. And Ben Affleck is just horrible in this and I can't blame him too much because the character just sucks. It's a dumbed down persona that has idiotic responses to everything around him. But that's seaming explained away in the end, but it just really isn't. It's just lousy character writing. It's hard to get emotionally involved in a story when the characters don't really portray any believable emotion. Overall BOOOOOOO, HISSSS, Get off my TV Set you overpaid over-funded phonies.
Brothers (2024)
A lot could have been changed to make it much better
I stuck in there till the end and it was becoming a bit of a chore to watch. Far too many repeated scenes. How many times did he have to call his wife to get chewed out. It was made clear that he was disappointing her over and over again. Why not bring her further into the plot then. How many time did they film that scene? Her mad at him and him feeling like a piece of crap? You made that plot point very clear early on. The cop character was also just way overblown, just pick a lane, is he a sadistically violent person or a compete idiot, a sniveling coward or is he a slapstick comedian? It was all over the place with this character and it just didn't play well for me, just stuck out and felt like this didn't fit in. I also really didn't like how quick they bring him back into the main characters life. No breathing room for him to do anything it just made no sense for the plot, so this guy needs him to get these valuable gems for him so he's going to beat him up so bad that he might cripple him? My thought was wouldn't they have already agreed on term before he was out of jail? Another thing that was largely absent was lover between these two brothers. I just wasn't felt at all for the most part and made it hard to believe they would help each other. They really needed to create some sort of bond beyond crime from the beginning it was animosity between them from the start and it never let up. And many scenes that were supposed to be funny just had poor comedic timing, either it went too long or the punchline wasn't really there. So much empty space in this movie I felt this could have been whittled down significantly so it just felt drawn out. I liked the punchy beginning, but the rest of the movie didn't hold onto that spark. I still don't get why they didn't bring the wife along for the ride, just seamed wasted. With how convoluted the story got they certainly could have woven her into some sort of support role toward the end. She knows her husband has a soft heart and a gullible sensibility so she should have understood how he got sucked into the whole mess, so I don't see how they didn't try to convince her to cooperate somehow. The ending would have had a better rounded out feel to it that way. I'm a fan of Mr. Dinklage so I give some bonus stars just for him.
Oppenheimer (2023)
I'm among many who thought this was overrated
This film offers a deep dive into the portrayal of Oppenheimer's life, but it leans heavily into dramatization that breaks any sense of realism. Characters often feel more like caricatures than believable humans that actually had these experiences, exaggerated lines delivered in mannequin like postures that hold no emotional weight breaking any authenticity. The film's near-worship of scientific achievement comes off as uncritical, glossing over the moral complexities and consequences of the atomic bomb. While the cinematography was well ordered and everything seamed in it's place the overall dramatic flair detracted from an already interesting story without the need of this heavy support. There should have been deeper exploration of the moral conflict many of these participants would surely have endured. There were attempts that seamed laughably reduced to the equivalence of a person weeping into their hands as they peak out the side of their fingers to make sure someone is watching them show some emotion. To the laughable outburst of Matt Damon showing some rigid military force. I just had this nagging feeling the entire time that I just wanted to stop watching and I eventually buckled and walked out of the room. I listened to the movie from the other room and I could picture the scenes perfectly fine without any help and glad I drifted out of interest and eventually it was turned off in my absence, so I wasn't the only one who lost interest in this. And I wonder if I'm overcritical because normally I'd be drawn in by the historic context of the story, it should be enthralling for me. Another gimmick that got old fast was the flashes of simulated atomic activity that kept periodically appearing on screen. Holy crap did that bother me. Once, fine, twice, alright, but I lost count, middle finger to the visual director on this as there were a myriad of other ways to depict this without the jarring visual effects. Contrast these little flairs with the very stiff and dry investigative hearing scenes. Just grossly disproportionate.
Have I Got News for You (2024)
What a brain dead show
The US version of "Have I Got News for You" tries to mimic the cleverness of its British counterpart but instead serves up a heavy-handed dose of left-wing bias that drowns out any semblance of humor. Rather than engaging with news stories, the panelists resort to predictable partisan jabs, turning what should be a lively debate into a monotonous echo chamber. This overt agenda undermines the show's potential for witty commentary, leaving a viewer feeling more like they've stumbled into a politically charged lecture than a fun quiz show. Instead of showcasing diverse viewpoints, it feels like a preachy seminar, alienating anyone not aligned with its narrow perspective. It's a missed chance to blend comedy with critique.
The Callisto Protocol (2022)
Got bored with it way too easily
I looked at my gameplay time and I was at 50 minutes and right before I shut off the game I was standing in a corridor thinking, do I really want to spend my time doing this same crap over and over and over again. The movement tutorial at the beginning was just so familiar that I felt like I played this type of fame a million times, then it gets to the combat, that was a bit different, confusing at first as it's like a cinematic semi-slo-mo high energy fighting. But I just couldn't see playing combat like this through the entire game. I just got through playing Fallout and the combat system was getting tedious and I just wanted to play through a story mode so I put on cheats for that. Now onto this game, it just had the same stifling effect on me. Too much of something I don't need to enjoy a game. Reminded me of other action fighters where the combat is stylized to the point it's too much of a distraction from whatever you're supposed to be experiencing. I just don't know with this game, I wanted to just go along with the story and I was starting to just look for a god mode so I can just experience the game's story but couldn't find one so I gave up. There is no way I'm going to put this much time into playing this game with a game mechanic that I find irritating and unnecessary. I'll say it looks good, things all look a bit plasticky and too polished. But visually it was a really well done game. But gameplay?! Why do I have to stomp on enemy corpses to get drops? And why would I want to do that repeatedly for hours? I already uninstalled the game and I'll probably have to just watch a youtube video to watch the story if I'm so inclined but I don't think so at this point. Got the game for free on Epic Games platform so I'm out nothing, that's a good thing.
Sick of It (2018)
Really couldn't get into it
I really couldn't get into this one, found it annoying to watch, just an endless stream of nonsense. And the baby episode was the limit for me. Who thought an entire episode of listening to an infant cry was entertainment. And the scenarios are so easy to get out of, yet this guy is a stupid sucker who falls for all these dumb situations. Crying baby? Wear fricken ear plugs. Some guy tries to rip you off, stop giving him more money. If he was a more likable character who had this defect it would be more endearing. He's a miserable guy with an annoying miserable inner voice. Where's the entertainment factor?
Jackpot! (2024)
So many things wrong with it
The plot is just off, why no guns? It's too easy? And why would anyone follow rules when the goal is to kill someone for money? So if someone just wants to snipe this person and end the "lottery" and spoil it for anyone it would be over in a heartbeat. And so many times where she just puts herself in peril just for the sake of the plot was so annoying. And considering that the rules say no guns, but they can throw petrol bombs, my first instinct was bow and arrow, a cross bow or just the idea of a poison blow dart...so many way to kill someone without a gun that would be just as effective. This one plot hole just makes the story too dumb and hard to believe it was given a green light. The line at the end that Hollywood is so lame a youtuber and a pro wrestler can be stars just wasn't even funny it was a fact. Yet there is nothing wrong with that if it's a good story and well written, this is neither of those things. You have one of the dumbest ideas for a story and in there they try have a touching serious moment that it was impossible to stay engaged and not sit back and think how horribly formulaic this plot point was that it just had to be included to make a film complete even if it didn't fit with the narrative. John Cena had a few funny lines I'll give credit for that. But there really wasn't anything redemptive about the entire production.
Benidorm (2007)
Starts out strong
I really liked this show to start, the unique way of having an entire season run the length of the guests' stay on vacation and you get to see how the story progresses from episode to episode and some of the plots carry over to the end. It's just really hard to accept how dramatically this series changes in quality after the first 3 seasons. Things just become too far fetched too many characters seam unnecessary and their situations become far too repetitive. One thing I noticed as the seasons go on is how much the characters become less and less likable, just had little to no interest in some of their stories. One thing that was awful was how they make the "dumb" characters unbelievably dumb, there's no way they could possibly function if they were this stupid and it's just not funny the majority of the time because they are not convincing. I give high ratings for the first few season's, after that, it's hard to rate them as they are so inconsistent. I just don't feel it's even worth adding them to the equation as they would just lower the overall rating too far to be far to the first 3-4 seasons of this Series.
A Bigger Splash (2015)
Could have been far more compact and then been more impactful
Also the title could have been more apropriately titled "A snake in the grass" because the scene where she fearlessly grabs a snake and tosses it aside is about as symbolic of the entire film as any of the long drawn out overly dramatic and the characters tolerate far more than I found would be realistic. Grab snake, toss aside, end movie. This is pretty much what this movie was about and unwanted guest who should have been quickly dealt with. But hey you need to make a film and pad that story with 2 hours of repetitive scenes. To say something good about it would be to say it was performed well, the actors convinced me they believed they were the people they were pretending to be, although I think it would have made a better movie if this was laid out as a comedy. I think it also would have been more poetic that she got her voice back at the tragic death of the man who was manipulating her and trying to break up her life. At the end it was an attempt at one of those unraveling of scenes and a dramatic conclusion but it wasn't done all that well. Has sort of the stupid police officer from "No Country for Old Men" vibes to it. I'm glad they didn't have a more in depth investigation as this would have made this movie at least a 3 hour snooze fest to try and make any sense of it. This move makes me feel like this was styled as a low budget indie film but forgot that those work because they have very strong story-telling and or interesting characters. This lacked in both respects.
Gloria Bell (2018)
What is good about this?
Nice music track if you're into some of the 70's-80's chart toppers but they aren't all that well orchestrated throughout the movie. Sure it plays when she's dancing and in her car at appropriate times. But just atmospheric music to emotionally support the scenes didn't seam to exist much. At first I thought this was meant to be in a different era as the disco music didn't match up to the age of the characters, but I figured out why it felt off is because Julianne Moore looked far too young and when she was asked in the bar if she had any "work" done and laughs and says "no". Holy crap what a laughable moment for sure. Julianne looks younger than when I last recall seeing her in the film The Big Labowski, that was over 20 years ago and I didn't even know this was Julianne Moore while watching it. I didn't pick this movie out, I just happened to sit down while it was on and I kept thinking, "she looks familiar". It was just funny that I didn't come to the realization that it was her until after that scene in the bar being asked about "having work done" it was such an odd and out of place scene, just ask myself why did they have to put that in there? Were they pointing out how clearly she had "work done". Back in 90's she was known for being quite beautiful. This movie fell apart when John Taturo came into the story as their interaction was so awkward and filled with horrible dead air that I couldn't for minute think this woman would give him a second glance. Maybe about halfway through my girlfriend starts hitting the skip scene button on the DVD player. And I was happy to see this narrative get sped up a bit, it simply was not enjoyable to watch. There was one interesting scene toward the end that I wish was earlier on, they could have made her a more passionate character and this guy was just one of many lovers/dating prospects that they could have filled the screen time up with. It was just way too drawn out and unnecessarily so, this is a Divorced woman who's back into the dating scene, there would have been a better character profile of a woman who didn't put up with any nonsense, there was no reason this guy go this far into her life. It just comes down to really bad story telling. With very little meat on the bone to digest. In the end I really liked seeing Julanne Moore and John Turturro again, but this wasn't an ideal setting for either of them.
Cook Off! (2007)
Lots of familiar faces here but oh my God is this bad
The familiar fake/pseudo documentary style movie that was very common around this time. The Office was done very close to the time of this release so that gives some context, and this style of comedy had many hits and misses and from what I recall the majority were misses. What is sad about this is that this premise does have some comedy gold baked into the idea but they went so hard on making almost every single character on the screen had a similar unconvincing performance no matter the type if they were shallow, attention seeking, or a weirdo. Every single character felt so unbelievably unbelievable it was impossible to watch this without that fact constantly being enforced. It was hard for me not to think that a lot of the people in this were just happy to have a paying gig for the day. I appreciate how hard it is to get something on the screen and I was tempted to rate this a 1 but there were people on this production who put every bit of their talent into getting this produced and unfortunately it was wasted talent in this production.
Borderlands 3 (2019)
A lot going for it but fails in some crucial areas.
Gameplay saves this game by far, very enjoyable and satisfying shooter action. Some of the characters are fun and some just plain suck. But can't love everything so it's forgivable. One thing I found annoying was in-game adverts, and the creepy in-game "hey play a game in a game for science" nonsense. Talk about an immersion breaking element. If I paid full price for this game I'd be upset that I was paying for some research project to be put into a game. If science was so clever they could come up with a mobile game that does the exact same thing, wait I'm sure they have. I found a thread discussing this mini-game and someone made a good point about how the the research results didn't even mention that people were given in-game rewards for participating. Just odd that this wasn't mentioned it's not like people are doing this for "science" but like a trained monkey for a reward. I find that beyond disgusting and immoral. As soon as I saw that pitch in the game I walked away, I"m not going to play some idiotic simple game that could be done in a phone app just to get some game rewards, and I though of how twisted this is, some researcher though, let me use people like trained monkeys to do some free research work. You can say this was for a greater good but there is no actual proof that this research will do any absolute good for the whole of humanity or that some day it will be used to benefit a multi-national company to do nefarious things with it. And using an actor from a popular comedy show about nerds was cringe for me, like that was any proof of this being a good thing. Peoples blind trust in Science is as dangerous as any other blind faith. Like someone commenting on a forum that this concept of helping science gave them the "warm fuzzies" participating in this experiment. How lowly and pathetic does one life have to be that a non-sense pattern recognition game that could have been implemented on mobile devices just as easily is such a great achievement for that person. Way back when the folding software came out many many years ago I dedicated some processing time to it like so many other people and it was a nothing burger. Big deal, same for this thing, the effort they put into the propaganda on selling this mini-game implementation is beyond creepy. As this just shows how far an organization will go to get something from people they wouldn't ordinarily get from them. And this can be used in very illicit and harmful ways if done by the wrong people so conditioning anyone for this type of public interaction really should be handled far more pragmatically. Juxtapose this with how this game also rewards your aiming ability with the complete obliteration of the target in a violent blob of red mist when you land a head-shot. Yeah, what a perfect platform for serious science research. Absolutely ludicrous. Beyond this aspect which bothered me so much which I eventually just ignored but still find it disturbing. I also found the story annoying, the social media character is pretty dumb and not very enjoyable to play through. I really found myself getting bored with it and I really wanted to find a way to just cheat my way through this just to get through one play-through of the story and then play again in a more arcade fashion. Hunt for better weapon drops and test out the different Skill trees. As this is really this games strong point. It's a satisfying shooter with challenging bosses with more combinations of gameplay/weapon choices than you'd ever get to fully explore. And not long into gameplay I just wanted to plug in some cheats and just have some fun. This is where I felt let down by the game the most, is the balance. So often picking up weapons I can't use due to level requirements and by the time I can use them they aren't that much better. So I think 7/10 is fair and maybe a bit generous on some aspects of the game.
Wakefield (2016)
Was very good for the most part, but then...
The film excels in its exploration of themes like isolation, self-reflection, and the impact of one's absence on loved ones. The cinematography and score complement Cranston's performance, enhancing the film's introspective and sometimes claustrophobic atmosphere.
The film falters significantly in its ending. After a gripping build-up, the conclusion feels abrupt and unsatisfying, lacking the depth and resolution the story warrants. It wraps up Howard's journey in a manner that feels rushed and inconsistent with the careful narrative development that precedes it. This poor ending undermines the strong character study and thematic exploration, leaving me with a sense of disappointment despite the film's strong start.
The Station Agent (2003)
One of those films I find it hard to place in a top list, but it's up there somewhere
Such a great story. Hard to imagine where it could be improved. It's a unique setting with characters struggling in their own paths yet they come in and out of each others lives with a bit of friction but eventually slide into place. Everybody plays their part beautifully even the minor roles and people who are in just one or two scenes. It's an unusual mix of characters and even the boisterous food truck character is likeable in his own way and even though he's painted as a pest he's given a genuine heart and friendly nature when it counts. The female lead although a bit of a whirlwind, they offer a solid background that explains her uneven temperament. Just one scene that stuck out and it seamed like it was an obligatory scene to put into as many films as possible around this time was the weed scene. Especially because the energetic food truck guy acted more like he was the type to snort drugs rather than smoke them, so that scene just felt a bit out of place because if this guy was into weed, there would be a lot more scenes of them hanging around smoking more than just cigarettes. That's why it just stuck out because he would have been the laid back pot-head rather than this hyped up nosy neighbor type. It wasn't too much of a distraction as it was such a short scene so it wasn't even a negative just felt off and a bit odd.
Don Verdean (2015)
Really bad, quite low effort and just didn't land at all
There was plenty of comedic talent it just went underutilized. The premise was fine, but how in the world did they put this together and think they had something worth showing others. Overall just horribly low effort in every corner of the screen. There were a few decent performances, but not enough to make this even remotely believable. It was like it was produced as a very shortly rehearsed long winded sketch, that didn't have the benefit of refinement. It took me no effort with very little imagination to come up with a better story arc than what was put on display here. This is just another movie I've seen that convinced me that it takes very little writing talent to get something made in Hollywood. I had done better in my teenage creative writing phase and clearly I took the wrong path as I could have done a heck of a lot better than whatever you want to call this thing. Would have been better if they just did a Steve Martin "Leap of Faith" rip-off than what this was. At least steal the personality of the enthusiastic lead in that story to make this more watchable. Yikes, just unbelievably bad, I give 3 stars for the few people who actually tried hard to do their part, the rest should have called off sick or found some excuse to get out of doing this, must have been hard up for cash because I can't believe any other motivation went into showing up for this production.
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
I can't even finish this one
I watched a good portion of this and I tapped out at the Lawrence Fishburne's scene. He talks a big game and makes a big grandiose "I got you by the balls" type of speech and in the end is like, alright, you get what you want. Wait? What?!?! He really puts in a hamletesque performance and in the end just bends over and that is that. I just couldn't watch anymore, the writing in this is so dumb and it's clear what this series is all about just nonsense gibberish in between scenes of lavish blood sport and stylistic murder. The first film at least had a completeness to it, it felt like a lot of thought was put into the construction of the entire story. This? Give me a break. Milk this hog for what you can get before you have to butcher it. I avoided this series for 10 years and finally watched the first one and yeah I was right, lots of Hollywood hype for one movie, then exploit success with mediocre followups. It becomes less about the art and more about how to crunch the numbers before people catch on to what's really happening here. It would be more entertaining if they had a body-count in the corner of the screen. That's what most people who are tuning in are watching this for.
John Wick (2014)
Nice and tidy complete action movie
It's a bit hard to rate this one for me as I'm rating this after starting the second film in the series. This movie looking back on it just had a completeness to it. It just didn't need a sequel. And after watching a portion of the following film I realize this series isn't much better or worse than the old kungfu films of the past that I grew up loving. There would be a foe in the film and then lots of under-skilled fodder for the masters in the arts of combat. You really watch for the fun fight scenes in those old martial arts films, the stories were really like how old pornography used to be, story was filler for the climaxes. And this series, just based on the next film is really just combat blood-sport pornography and if that's what you're looking for this is the series for you because I'm not even finished with the second movie and boy the characters and story dramatically decline and there is a reason for that, this movie was complete and stood on it's own, it was very artfully done. But for me the ending of this was the last chapter in this entire series, the rest of the franchise is just milking the character for all they can get and good for them I'm just not sucking on that teat. This character started and ended with this one film.
Defending the Guilty (2018)
I felt they focussed on the wrong character.
It was written around the junior solicitors when it should have been focused on just one main character and since it was the same type of ladder climbing story for the juniors and their bosses. It was redundant and unnecessary and quite honestly rather boring and the main character was largely unbelievable, they state he's 29, has a girlfriend, presumably went through a higher education yet acts like he's a 12 year old who got caught in class with a boner. It's just not a realistic persona. Yet also at the same time his character is clever enough to figure things out and even trick his tenacious fellow trainees...it's all a bit of a stretch. Yet on the other-hand you have Parkinson's character who was quite solidly built as a character. She's unlikable yet capable and still has a desire to climb the ladder of her profession but doesn't want to show any weakness, she deals with deceptive people all day and has a streak of deception in her. Also the story really is about how manipulative courts can be and it's less about truth and justice and more about a win/loss ratio. The writing should have been simplified from the beginning, don't scrap the junior/trainee staff but don't give them such lengthy side-stories. They really should have been background noise for the senior members of staff. All that wasted drama and then they created these weak caricatures with no depth and are just fodder for these younger trainees. All these quick banter scenes with the Barristers and their pupils was mostly dumb and pointless, could have been cut and no one would have known. IF they focused more on Katherine Parkinson's character I think they would have had a really good and enjoyable watch. Her point of view had more to it than any of the rest and had a lot going on yet it was focused on this guy and his stupid gimmicky melodramatic headphone soundtrack. I was getting annoyed when the music went loud and we're just watching this guy traveling around, or traversing a scene that could have been used to tell more story, what a waste. I think there must have been more time figuring out how to squeeze another one of those scenes in there than was spent on setting up the court scenes. And like many people have said, it was often difficult to hear what they were whispering to each other in court so following what was going on there wasn't always easy. This was another part of the production I felt was lacking, and that was communicating to the viewer, what they made clear was that the main character was some sort of spazy dork who inexplicably had some sort of "affair" with a juror yet can barely string a full sentence together around his teachers/mentors, but at times I couldn't understand what in the world they were discussing in some of the court scenes or even some of the quick "banter" dialog was indiscernible mumbling/grumbling.