danmax67 Reviews

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022– )

Fan fiction written by people who are not fans

[1/10 · 3 September 2022]

If you have read and enjoyed anything by JRR Tolkien, this show is not for you. If you just want to be entertained, unfortunately this show still is not for you. For Tolkien fans, you will get something akin to fan fiction but far worse. Most fan fiction is written by people who have a knowledge and love of the source material. This was clearly written by come corporate hacks who, if anything, have contempt for Tolkien the man as well as for what he spent a lifetime creating.

For those that have not read Tolkien (go read his works, they are amazing!), but want some enjoyable entertainment, you will not find it here. It is filled with tropes and the usual ham-fisted political and social messaging that defines most of the pablum a/k/a content being pushed on the modern viewer. In short, this show is a disaster and not worth your time.

Jason Bourne (I) (2016)

A Formulaic By The Numbers Affair

[4/10 · 14 August 2016]

I feel like I've seen this movie several times before. I know, it's a summer popcorn flick so that should be okay. Except it was actually kind of boring for a routine action movie. The acting was poor, with characters falling in and out of their accents, and some painfully mailed in scenes. The action suffered from being just plain silly - like the car chase scene, to outright painful - I'm looking at you shaky camera. I would have loved to see the final battle scene, but between the shaky camera and jump cuts, I found myself just wishing for it to end.

I admit I didn't have high expectations for this film, but a summer action flick should deliver enough to keep your attention while suspending your disbelief. Instead, I mostly just kept wondering how much longer it would be until it would end. This one goes onto the heap of the endless pablum of sequels, prequels and reboots thrown at the contemporary movie goer.