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Reviews
Spaceman (2024)
Not for those wanting Sci-Fi
The movie is Sci-Fi because the location is in space, but it could have been written in any remote location with the same effect. All the characters are well defined, believable and mostly understandable. The spider can be real or not real, but it clearly serves as the vessel for the deeper self-exploration of Jakub's consciousness.
The movie itself is clearly a slow burn, which requires becoming absorbed in Jakub's emotional struggles and difficulty resolving childhood pain, but the end of the journey is rewarding enough for the lack of sizzle or action. The visual effects are enough to keep the viewer engaged, even though the dialogue is necessarily flat for most of the movie.
It was a pleasure to see an Adam Sandler character not using obnoxious voices or immature comedic quips to keep the audience entertained. His character is clearly tormented and confused and Sandler does a great job portraying the emotional struggles of his character. The role requires more bandwidth than we are used to seeing in his characters. Overall, well done and worth the watch.
Fast X (2023)
Some times one bad actor can spoil the whole bunch more
Jason Momoa's portrayal of the villain Dante Reyes was just awful. He was acting more like Jack Nicholson's portrayal of the Joker in Batman. The goofiness and aloof comments were just ridiculous for an evil villain and made the intensity of the rest of the characters out of place. Jason Momoa made the movie more a comedy than an action thriller. He needs to go back under the ocean and stay out of sight.
The action scenes were of course over the top and the supporting characters did what they do best, keep the story alive. It was nice to put in some footage of Paul Walker, the tribute was nice.
The car driving action scenes were very thrilling and the special effects amazing as expected. Only in the FAF franchise can cars defy the laws of physics and never become un-drivable, as the last 9 movies have demonstrated as well. The action was non-stop for the first 15 minutes of the movie, and the plot was completely developed in the first 5 minutes of that time.
The funnest part of the movie was the inclusion of every actor in the previous films. Helen Mirren! What she adds to any scene is just immeasurable.
Hopefully in round 2 of this saga, Jason Momoa will have figured out he wasn't just the bad guy, he was also the bad actor. Staying tuned for the next one.
You're Killing Me (2023)
Nothing worse than BAD
Writing. When the point comes to explaining how the girls are paralyzed yet awake, the bad guy says, "It's a combination of lorazepam and propofol" ,that was PUT IN THEIR DRINKS TO paralyze them. WHY, do writers get so lazy they insult the audience with ignorant dialogue? Propofol is white, IV only and does not paralyze anything. Lorazepam is a sedative and anti-anxiety drug that paralyzes NOTHING. They make a good plot, with decent actors and mildly suspenseful action. Then they add worse than ridiculous statements to make it all less interesting or intriguing. Lazy writing, poor research and really bad editing.
Beast (2022)
Idris Elba will look back at this and cringe
Quite simply, the children in this movie were annoying, idiots and unbelievable characters at best. Their acting was as poor as a kid in a grade school play. Idris plays a surgeon with the common sense of a 10 year old, while his idiot kids manipulate his character around like a puppet. By the end of the movie, I was hoping the lion would eat the family.
The movie could have been so much better by making the kids afraid, more terrified, and using a lot less ignorant, rambling dialogue. Idris is his usual believable character, but given a supporting cast of rodeo clowns, he becomes lost in the confusion of the bad acting and the children's nonsense dialogue.
The smartest character in the entire movie is the lion, because the writers gave him all the characteristics of a wolf, avenging human and a navy seal. If you're expecting to see a lion do what a lion does, watch Sigfried and Roys last performance instead.
Pig (2021)
A pig, truffles and a tormented soul.
The story is not complicated, but the emotional journey is only felt by someone who has suffered loss. Nicholas Cage finally gives a performance without his superficial, whining, off the wall craziness. His character is genuine and carries you through his emotional torment, genius and sadness with a believable performance. He reconciles the loss of his wife through the loss of a pet pig he loves. The pig representing the love he had for his deceased wife a decade ago. The line of the movie that tells the most of his character's message, "We don't get a lot of things to really care about", hones in on the theme of most people's lives, remember what is important in life, not the fame and fortune, but those you love. Great movie, great directing and a solid performance by the cast.
Boss Level (2020)
Great action sequencing with a cool storyline
Solid 7-8. Frank Grillo is a spot on action character and delivers really funny one-liners. The movie was entertaining and very fast paced. The supporting "villains and assassins" we excellent and funny as well. Unfortunately, Mel Gibson was cast in his usual fodder roles of late, as a "we need a bad guy", so call Me, he's always available. Fortunately, he only had a small part in the movie.
The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007)
OK, it had its' moments
Some of the story is engrossing, especially the character who played Cheryl Dempsy. The actors portraying the doctors, cops and FBI agents are cheesy but, if you listened to them instead of watching them, they made the story's dialogue interesting. Overall though, it was not very entertaining.
Hunters (2020)
Honest review without bias.
First off, the show is meant to cover a horrible time in history, with over-the-top characters and a comicbook-esque comedic way.
The seriousness of the topic itself lends to the backdrop of the atrocities of both those involved and those who benefited from the Nazi regime outside of Germany, including the USA.
The characters are mostly "stereotypical" Jews, who they themselves or their families, survived Nazi atrocities, along with other non-Jewish characters who want to fight criminal injustice. Close observers will hear theme music and character references to 1970 TV programs. With closer observation, you may hear reference to the "Electric Slide" which didn't occur until the 1980's, so that was a goof.
Each character is developed a little at a time, and has a back story that is disclosed over multiple episodes.The good guys and the bad guys are all given equal time being developed, and all the characters are strangely visceral.
The elephant in the room that creates the negative reviews is the comic book like, or over-the-top acting of the characters in various scenes. It is clearly purposeful and purely for comedic effect. It works superbly and has the audience picking their favorite character very quickly. They are "Deadpool" like remarks in an otherwise horrific scene.
Finally, the show itself covers the topics of war crimes, American Nazi sympathizers, Political corruption, FBI corruption, Vigilante Justice, Black Power, Anti-Semitism, Family, Love, Hate, Racism, all wrapped up in the 1970's clothing, cars and scenery.
The show is fun, entertaining and has superb acting with great characters.