Change Your Image
AllanHy
Reviews
Leave the World Behind (2023)
Stupid movie for people who like to see how stupid people can get
I had read that this was a non-sense movie but I assumed that if it was on Netflix that it might be interesting.
Instead, the bad reviews were far too generous and I continued to watch to see how bad it could get. And it did.
Spoiler alert: all of the characters at the start of the movie were still alive at the end despite my wishing and expecting they would be dead.
And.they saved a fortune on set design by using houses on the Jersey shore with the convenient additions of CGI deer which only added confusion to the "plot." Except to give you the illusion that there was a "plot" they divided the movie into five sections with labeled break to make you think that something was happening unless you were really stupid.
The ONLY benefit of watching this movie was to give you the satisfaction (much like watching "Basic Instinct 2") was that it was really as bad and stupid as you expected.
Netflix needs to get their money back.
Sluga narodu (2015)
ONE and only ONE complaint...
I have ONE and only ONE complaint about "The Servant of the People."
This series is so hilarious, unpredictable, and well done that it needs to be seen by EVERYONE.
It becomes even more stunning to realize that it was intended as a joke and a beautiful and self-irreverent look at Ukrainian politics as a result of the corruption standards created by their Russian over-seers from the Holodomor.
The only tragic (and slickening) part of the series is that Ukraine used to be a totally beautiful country until the corrupt Russians repeated their crimes in Ukraine from the 1930's. The beauty of Ukraine from 2018/2019 makes it look like a subdivision of Disneyland, and is totally in contrast to the TV images of Ukraine from 2022/2023 which looks like Armageddon.
Netflix is missing a great opportunity by now streaming it free of charge as a lead-in to their other features
By providing it as a free public service they likely might use it as a tax write-off.
Which should also be highly appropriate for its subject matter.
I finally got up the courage and fortitude to watch the final 20 episodes including the three "fantasy" episodes of Season 3. It was also stunning to see the "dream" episodes of the rest of Season 2 which seemed like they were scripted by Rod Serling from the original "Twilight Zone."
HOWEVER, after watching all 51 episodes I had another stunning realization (and this is NOT a plot spoiler): after getting re-elected as President, uniting all of Ukraine, and hobbling the corruption of the Ukrainian Oligarchs, I now realize why Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022. Russia is run by the same type of corrupt Oligarchs as depicted in "Servant of the People" in Ukraine. The end of the subservience to the Oligarchs in Ukraine unwittingly serves as a guide and road-map for ending the corrupt subservience to the Oligarchs in Russia. Those Russian Oligarchs run Russia in an authoritarian fashion much like the Russian Czars, the Russian Communists, and the Russian Criminals. When the Communists got kicked out of Afghanistan, the Criminals took over. While Afghanistan now produces 90% of the world's heroin, 80% of that heroin is distributed by the Russian Oligarchy Mob. A story about ending graft and replacing it with honest production was intended as a satire of what happened in Ukraine (with a comedian trained as a lawyer named Volodymyr Zelenskyy) was also a direct threat to the Russian Oligarchs because it served as a road map for laughing THEM out of power.
The Russian Oligarchs had no choice but to try to destroy Ukraine and their democratic liberation role-model. Fortunately, Zelenskyy is even more talented as a REAL politician and leader than he is as a lawyer turned actor (although he is really good as an actor).
(PS, the rest of the cast is hilarious also, which makes it even more enjoyable/tragic.)
Look it up on YouTube with dubbing in English, or watch it with subtitles on Netflix, and enjoy.
Christine (1983)
A Hot Rod
Love hath no scorn like a Plymouth Fury.
This is the greatest hot rod and mixed species love story every made, where every young boys fantasy turns into a nightmare.
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Amazing
Starting with "Paths of Glory" the movies directed by Stanley Kubrick need to be mandatory viewing for anyone interested in cinema. Every single one of his movies is distinctive for its original imagery, cinematic style, plots, conceptual breadth, and time period.
It is stunning as to Kubrick's GENIUS that not only is every one of his movies unique, but how does someone who directed "2001 A Space Odyssey" in 1968 go on to direct "A Clockwork Orange" in 1971?
The contrast of EVERYTHING in those two movies makes my head spin.
The Fountainhead (1949)
A tale told by an idiot....
I have long heard of the wisdom and cultural significance of Ayn Rand and "the Fountainhead."
I finally had an opportunity and the time to watch it thanks to the library and "movie recycling" machine of TBS.
The plot emphasizes the conflict between the Individual and Collective.
It is pure ideological stupidity.
What Ayn Rand describes as Individuality is egotism and stupidity. What she describes as the Collective is the symbiosis of the group for its mutual benefit.
It is almost like she is fulfilling the dictum of Erik Hoffer in that the most fervent Communists become the most fervent anti-Communists.
Except that she has no understanding of either Communism (which became an authoritarian attempt to replace the inherited royalty with criminals) versus Democracy where the leaders (and their wealth) are held accountable by the members of society.
The acting sucks. The plot sucks. The sense of how and why people in society make economic decisions sucks.
The value of seeing the movie is that it might be useful as a benchmark for ineptitude by anyone who advocates it or speaks highly of it.
An Enemy of the People (1978)
"It has happened before and will happen again."
I am sure when this play was written in 1883 it was viewed as "revolutionary" because the majority of society did not understand the methodology of science.
We assume a century and a half later, mostly because we are communicating over electronic images, that our technology and education will overcome such anti-technology and self-destructive stupidities.
Wrong.
When you realize the suppression of science that resulted in the lead in the water of Flint Michigan, the destruction of the Challenger space shuttle, or the political lies of the 2003 (non-existent) Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction, or the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the fragility of truth and science becomes terrifying.
Looper (2012)
Some idiots should not be allowed into theaters
Some idiots should not be allowed into theaters.
"Loopers" was an excellent movie and the science and science fiction made sense if you were awake during the movie or had a smidgen of intelligence.
The reviewers of less than 8 seem to be idiots that were not awake or listening to the movie. This is intelligent science fiction, not Ewoks or flying dragons.
My only flaw was the prosthetics (that looked like bad CGI) so that JGL would look more like Bruce Willis. While the resemblance was necessary, JGL has such a noticeable persona that it was difficult to realize that it was him rather than some other actor.
But this was not another "2009: Lost Memories" but rather a mixture of "Terminator" and "Blade Runner" and "Rosemary's Baby."
And the "surprise ending" made sense if you have any understanding of time travel or parallel worlds.
The High Crusade (1994)
The Worst Science Fiction movie ever made
I you have read the book by Poul Anderson and had the assumption that the book had a shard of intellect as to what 13th Century feudal Englishmen would do if they had access to (what we would regard as) 23rd Century technology, then you are in for a horrifying disappointment with this movie. Apparently the directors thought that if you could take the story of Christ and turn it into a satyric comedy, then you could do the same thing to Poul Anderson's book. At least the "Life of Brian" had some humor. And the special effects were actually better. This movie is a total waste of time. And intellect. And the money I paid to buy it thinking that it had any resemblance to the book which I just bought and read for the third time. Read the book which is about how guile and barbarity can overcome civilized sloth and don't waste your time with the movie.
The Expendables (2010)
mindless violence
Incredibly bad. Incredibly stupid.
SouthPark's "Team America" had better fight scenes and a more credible plot.
If this is American Values then we are in a world of hurt and deserve to get our butts kicked. There are real Bad Guys who run and ruin countries and there are real Good Guys who work to stop them. (Try our US Special Forces as an example.) But taking a bunch of mercenary has beens and having them try to get rid of the Bad Guys is a joke sort of like a old timer Biker Movie.
This movie is an incredible waste of time and will make you stupider if you watch it.