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She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022)
Impressions based on the first episode
It's really good.
Tatiana Maslany was impressive as always and I can see a lot of potential for the series. She's going to be really fun and if gets heavy, everyone who has seen knows she has incredible range.
The special effects, sets and action are all pretty damned good, and for the most part the writing was solid.
I hope the one "girl power" moment isn't repeated because it's pretty divisive, you don't have to hit us in the face with the inequality issue, just give us an incredible female character. Tatiana can easily be that. Give the audience a bit of credit, we don't need everything spelled out for us.
There are obviously a ton of criticisms from guys that resent anything written for women and the rating is going to be artificially skewed as a result, but don't be misled. This show looks really good.
The Good Doctor (2017)
Could be entertaining but the premise is broken
If the premise as sold by the trailers is that autistic people can integrate and be contributing members of society, the show shouldn't have featured a superhuman main character.
If a man with his abilities is struggling to fit in, what does that say about people with his disability but no incredible gifts?
This could be a fun show, and from the pilot they showed someone we can empathize with. The dynamic is nothing we haven't seen before, but there's a reason for that, and it could work.
Smallville (2001)
90210 With Super Powers
There will never be a show on television about superheroes that makes me happy. Not ever. Why? Because the things I and people like me want to see do not make for network success.
Smallville is a perfect example. It has the best acting, the best effects and best overall production value of any superhero show in the history of television, but to succeed, it has to cater to the lowest common denominator, and those people don't really care about the Superman story.
No, those people need the same drama every other network show needs to succeed. They needs pretty people in conflict. All the time. The formula for success is nine parts people hooking up or failing to hook up, and one part plot that is relevant to the theme. Add to my frustration the fact that this show has been on for a decade, and has had a relatively limited cast of characters, we have had to watch the same conflicts with the same characters repeated over and over. How many times does Clark have to save Lana's life before she stops automatically assuming the worst of him in every single situation? OK, so we finally got the answer to that question, but how many seasons did it take? He had to save her life fifty times (that she knew about) before she'd give him the benefit of the doubt if he was five minutes late for a date.
OK, that's what frustrates me. I accept that network television will never make a super hero show that I like, and I appreciate why. If I'm ever going to see a super hero show that is faithful to the subject matter, or advances the plot points that don't necessarily involve someone getting laid, or can think of ways to challenge Superman that don't involve kryptonite in nine out of ten episodes, it will have to be on HBO, because HBO is AWESOME, and does things properly.
All of that said, I have seen every episode of Smallville, and despite the things that make me grind my teeth, there have been moments of brilliance. Some of the visual effects and their expression of "super" situations have been masterful (bullet time, catching the car, ripping the door off a flying plane etc.). Their casting has been extraordinary, in particular Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum. The good parts have been so good that I have literally seen every minute of this show, hoping for a "good bit". That fact speaks volumes.
One last thing, though, and if I was King of the Universe this would be written into law: If a television show spends an entire season building to an epic battle between the hero and Doomsday, that fight is REQUIRED to be longer than thirty seconds. No exceptions.
Finding Bliss (2009)
Uninspired and Unoriginal
This was a truly mediocre film, one tired cliché after another. I honestly didn't expect much and would never have bothered to leave a review, but the previous reviews were to preposterous to have been genuine.
Wooden acting, terrible dialogue, utterly predictable plot and possibly the worst sound track I have ever heard; there is really no reason to see this film. I am actually a fan of Lee Lee Sobieski and keep hoping she gets a break into bigger roles, but this film was a serious bump in the road.
Absolutely terrible.
The Unit: Play 16 (2007)
Easily the best episode thus far in a good series
I have watched every episode of The Unit up to this point, and while I have enjoyed this series it hadn't genuinely moved me, until Play 16.
The loss of a brother in arms was illustrated in heartbreaking detail. The reverence with which they handled the body, the solemnity of Gerhardt's vigil, the absolute adherence by his comrades to martial ritual in preparation for the funeral, the brutal reality of the bullet collection, and the sharp echo when Ramirez failed to respond to roll call, are all perfectly crafted moments that bring this show to an entirely new level.
Definitely the jewel of the series.
Strange Wilderness (2008)
Candidate for worst movie ever.
If you laughed at this movie, you were probably so stoned you would have laughed at a bag of potato chips. Save your money and buy a bag of potato chips, at least when you're done you can eat them.
So much talent wasted in this movie, it's really a shame. I didn't expect much, but I definitely expected more than what they delivered. Predictable, cliché circumstances that we've all seen a hundred times, clumsy, awkward dialogue that was almost certainly written in a single weekend and couldn't possibly have been rehearsed, there simply wasn't anything even remotely funny about this movie...
Except that it ended.
Angel: Not Fade Away (2004)
Best Angel Episode of the Series
I know that a lot of people needed a happy ending and didn't get one; what we got instead was an incredible story with an epic climax. I don't know if I've ever seen a series finale that moved me on so many levels.
I've watched the episode a dozen times. Lorne's exit and Wesley's death crush me each and every time. The Angel in this episode was the Angel this series had almost forgotten... Tough, noble, and willing to fight to the very end no matter the cost. A champion.
I have always preferred the Buffy series over Angel, but the Angel series finale was infinitely better than the Buffy series finale.