kassdo Reviews

Masters of the Air (2024)

Very disappointed....

[2/10 · 3 March 2024]

Subscribed to Apple just to watch this series... found far better shows on Apple, by time I sat to watch this show. Granted tough topic to put on film.

Looks like Hanks went very PC on this story. All the BI7s and not one displayed any of the well known aircraft names/artwork from WW2. Very odd decision.

Cast/characters were not memorable like BoB or very good quite frankly-could have been the script? But who knew Elvis flew B17? Horrible acting, talk about stuck in a character role. The director should have asked him to stop.

Not sure what Apple does to Tom Hanks, but his other WW2 film Greyhound started of pretty good but seemed to turn into an WW2 video game with various types of video/CGI battle sequences.

This B17 Flying Fortress Film never gets off the ground, sadly.

The Beekeeper (2024)

Started of so well....

[7/10 · 3 February 2024]

The first twenty minutes started of so well despite some of the required politically correct content. It was great to see Phyliss Rashad but her screen time was too short. The FBI daughter reminded me of Ambiguous Pat from SNL. Dealing with Mom Issues - Mom always like her older war hero brother. It fell apart for me with cartoonish female beekeeper assign. Then later on the even bigger lout dressed in yellow.

Those oddities aside, the premise of taking down a criminal call center empire preying/stealing the life saving of elderly via a pc hack was new to me. A great foil for Stratham Justice. Obviously for international distribution, they kept the centers/organization in USA. Not obvious bad actors like China, Russia or Ukraine. Overall it delivered the fluff I would expect from that type of movie.

Ferrari (2023)

Very good slow paced drama- ACTORS Driver and Cruz great.

[9/10 · 27 January 2024]

Enjoyable slow paced film/story. Reminded me of old classic Italian films from 50s/60s. There was a laid back cool/feel about 1957 Italian society that was hot for car racing. Almost expected Marcello Mastroianni or Sophia Loren to walk into any scene.

A lot of 2024 PC comments in some reviews regarding casting of characters. These are actors - they do pretend stuff and try to convince you it is real. But declaring actors can only play characters of their own ethnic background is just plain nonsense. Why limit an actors range? But of course this needs context, especially using stereotype characters by producers/writers /directors.

On a humorous note, Cruz was great. Not knowing much about cast, more about the subject, I was watching Cruz thinking it was Ana de Armas. Two beauties, at one point I thought to myself, this is Ana de Armas playing Cruz playing Laura Ferrari. Finally figured out it was Cruz. Good drama on a quiet rainy day.

The Continental (2023)

Failed to finish up....

[5/10 · 11 October 2023]

Disappointing finale and was very intrigued by the first episode. Lazy writing took over by 2nd episode with repetitions use of the same action karate/kung fu sequence for all the female characters. So ridiculous and boring, I watched thinking this is how Tarrentino would make a 2023 film tribute to Pam Greer/Bruce Lee. They took over the storyline contributing nothing to moving the story along. I was hesitant about even watching Ep3 but did and it got more silly about the real story behind the deceased Peacnik Kung Fu Father that inspired the neighborhood. The acting was good considering the script but all in all it did not need to be 3+hours.

Dead Man's Hand (2023)

I was hopeful too...

[4/10 · 11 July 2023]

Never saw Cole Hauser in anything but Yellowstone and recognized Stephen Doroff name so gave it a chance. Both were good for what they did with the script. The cinematography was good but the script failed. The two leads were so-so, their character names were Reno and Vegas. Think what you want about the names/background because there is not any more information in the storyline. The writers lazily used modern gambling city names for that context.

Film cliched everything - young Bonnie and Clyde gamblers, lots of confederate flags for the bad guys, cool Apache Indians/mysticism, oppressed black man even added the obligatory lesbian scene with very attractive black woman. And lots of characters/scenes who added nothing. Way too much... fewer cliches would have gone a lot farther for a better script. I usually do not spot goofs, but one scene had bad guy shot out of a second floor window. The camera stayed on the window to long and you could see the desert landscape - there was no room. Sadly can't recommend but had so much potential.

Jury Duty (2023– )

Most entertaining and original show...

[10/10 · 26 June 2023]

Not wanting to let the secret ending out of the bag - recommend watching with an open mind. I actually binged on it during a rainy Sunday afternoon. The episodes are 30 minutes and I was confused when I looked at episode summary to see there was still one hour viewing time when they were well into the deliberation phase. What could they do for final hour?

It is a civil liability suit, not a criminal case. There are laugh out loud moments. Thought the foreman was great and the Judge, who is trying his last case after 38 years, was brilliant. He is someone I would want on any case. I did get disturbed by a couple of the jurors but in the end, that is part of the fun.

Love & Death (2023)

Very odd thing happens in the last episode...

[9/10 · 27 May 2023]

Overall it was a good story... Olson and Plemons were very good. Tempted as I was to google this real story, I resisted because the story was was suspenseful and involving. The odd thing I noticed was in last episode. There is a scene on the the court house porch with Candy and her lawyer having a cigarette during trial break. Suddenly the image of a large mosque dominating the 1980s small Texas town appears. Completely out of scale with the other background Main Street USA Town Square buildings and the characters on the porch. The mosque was never in the background of any other downtown courthouse scenes. Not sure if any other viewers saw that... just not sure why it was CGI inserted. What was that scene supposed to imply?

Ambush (I) (2023)

Had somewhat high hopes....

[3/10 · 4 March 2023]

Should have known better looking at the trailer but I paid to watch. A confusing film with way to many characters to track. Technically to many errors like mistimed explosions/stunts. In the tunnel it seemed to turn into a video game. Then it seemed turn into the classic horror film where a group of buddies all get picked off by various boobytraps. Spiders or snakes.

The point of no return is when they make a special effort to get one guy having mental breakdown out of the tunnel. They turn him over to medics and are told they have to go back down. Then the very next scene going back into hole, there is the EDP troop going with them. Everything else correctly wrong is mentioned in other reviews - rereading this... I will go back and lower my rating.

The Red Road (2014–2015)

Pretty good show - typical those shows I like get cancelled

[9/10 · 5 February 2023]

Came across show by accident - the story intrigued me becuase of my familarity with New Jersey and Lenape. The show is entertaining and Jason Momoa acting is passable. Some reviewers commenting have their racial sensitivity radar beeping with the silly and trendy comments about the diversity of actors playing Native Roles. They do not understand the back story about people with native bloodlines trying to get tribal status recognizition with BIA after the tribe has been assimilated. In northern NJ mountains, there is a group called The Jackson Whites. Thier bloodline is traced back to 1700s and made up of Native Tribes, escaped black/free slaves and English military deserters. Google that group for cool history - but the current cast covers all shades and ethnicities thatmake up the current tribe. And there is a history of mistrust between the Jacksons, Lenape and Rampapo and the whites settlers that moved into those mountains. TV story is factual and amazing, all within 60 miles of NYC.

The North Water (2021)

It's the story of a whaling ship in the 19th century... not a Disney Family cruise boat.

[8/10 · 13 November 2022]

Surprised at the comments about story violence on the ship. It's a 19th century whaler that hunts whales and seals. Not sure what people would expect to see in this type of story? That is what they did and it was brutal, especially by 21st century standards. Unfortunately, whale oil was an expnsive but necessary commodity for the times. Once scene that bothered me for accuracy was during the crew mutiny a black powder long gun was fired to get the crew attention... seconds later the gun was fired again to kill a crew member. They are singleshot / reload weapon. There was not enough time for that to happen. Understand this show may not be some people's cuppa tea, but it is an accurate historical story about the world at that time.

Bandit (2022)

Very entertaining film - value for the price

[9/10 · 24 September 2022]

Came across this ppv film and was very pleased for the fact it told a story without any subliminal wokism. I always question films that claim to be based on a true story. The script and the acting were well done. Mel Gibson is turning into anexecellant character actor in his old age. His Tommy K character was the perfect foil for the Police Detective trying to bring down his criminal empire. I did not know the lead actor but he was great as the Flying Bandit. Taking place in Canada, you grasp instantly how beautiful the country is... I hope it was all filmed there becuase the shots of Ottawa were intresting enough to make me think about touring the Captial City. A couple shots made me think old European cities that sit on the large rivers. Sit back and enjoy the film for what it is.

Confess, Fletch (2022)

Not a great film... made for tv, not big screen

[5/10 · 18 September 2022]

Brought this for $23 on PPV with the hope that it would be funny and witty like the originals. For the price it fell way short. At times, it felt like Hamm was doing an impression of Chevy Chase's doing his Fletch. Not sure why they did not let Hamm reinterpret the the character, he seemed wooden at times - most people do not even remember the orignal film. Thought the other actors were good - the script was so-so. Of course we needed the obligatory white priviledge comment. Good thing was that nonsense came towards the end. If I heard that earlier, I would probably not finished the filme. I was not expecting to be knocked over by academy performances. I am sure if I saw it free on Showtime or Paramount, my opinion would be more charitable.

The Outfit (2022)

Good slow moving film that draws you in - but the ending.

[9/10 · 27 August 2022]

Highly reccomend this film. For some it migh be slow, but the film reminded me of The Usual Suspects> You heard words and a story but you never really knew what was true. The Cutter kept everything linked though you were never sure what he was about. During the film, absobed by The Cutter's attitude I was trying to figure out what I would say with a gun to head. It did not get a 10 becuase the "final" ending though scary, was not necessary. And itHighly reccomend this film. For some it migh be slow, but the film reminded me of The Usual Suspects> You heard words and a story but you never really knew what was true. The Cutter kept everything linked though you were never sure what he was about. During the film, absobed by The Cutter's attitude I was trying to figure out what I would say with a gun to head. It did not get a 10 becuase the "final" ending though scary, was not necessary. And it is rather cliched. Is rather cliched.

Adult Material (2020)

This is no comedy....

[5/10 · 19 July 2022]

Very sad graphic drama with bits of humor. There are not a whole lot of adult characters to like and you feel for the children. I binged the 4 hours and almost turned it off during the third episode because it was all leading nowhere, particularly during the trial.

Still not sure what the husband was about? He is up to his eyeballs managing the his aging wife "sex" career (inc. Getting her to become an escort to pay the bills) then suddenly becomes so offended he moves out with son who is embarrassed because his friends discovered his mother on the internet.

Literally the film's payoff "in the end" is much ado about nothing despite all the wasted screen time discussing how porn actress's personal boundary, tied to protecting her butt, is not doing one sex act her whole career. The draining ending leaves the viewers empty like her nonchalant acquiescence.

The Aeronauts (2019)

Another disappointing woke story of history - but not the reality

[4/10 · 29 June 2022]

These days it takes all of about 5 minutes to determine if the film you are watching will be a woke fest of virtue signals. Being a history buff, I got excited seeing the description of the film. That disappeared as I watched characters get introduced into what was supposed to be a true story. A key character of the true story was reduced to a fictional composite of multiple real life people including minor plot points from those stories. The Dog Parachute sequence was not part of this story. Can we please stick to real stories with real people if doing historical pieces. I chuckle when POC characters are introduced to fill a performer quota. Hollywood thinks they are fixing a tragic historical injustice of racial inclusion when the cold hard facts that POC did not have a prominent role in British Society. Retroactively and artificially fixing that through a screenplay defeats the efforts of DIE groups to tell the historical truth about diversity during the Victorian age. POC were excluded - but the virtue signaling found in today's historical films present inclusion moments which paint a different and confusing view to the film audience. I am sure there are historical POC stories that are inspiring and educational that can be told. This was not one of them.

The Northman (2022)

tediously slow... wish I read these reviews

[2/10 · 14 May 2022]

Paid movie ticket price to watch on demand - what a mistake. If I realized the two previous hits on the director's resume, would have stayed away. Wanted to stay hoping something was just around the corner. Left with about 5 minutes. Just too much Hocus Pocus Myth stuff.... all holds the story back -which was probably the point. There was no real story. Turning the channel is so much easier @ home than walking out of tester.

Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives. (2022)

Interesting Page 6 Celebrity Drama

[8/10 · 9 April 2022]

Being a Boston to NYC transplant the local connections made this interesting. It opens with a phone conversation where the male clearly has a Boston accent. I remember the "trendy" restaurant being mocked as overly priced for serving uncooked vegetables more than the subsequent fraud trial. The owner was also a very affluent Boston native. Top it off they show photo of Tom Brady with staff.

What I did find curious that Alec Baldwin appeared to have an ongoing twitter relationship with the Boston con man. AB had a thing for the hot blonde trendy restaurant owner. AB eventually settles for current wife who he met @ restaurant and claimed to be Spanish by birth. Turns out she was born in Boston also. Then it is implied that the conman's father was a Mass State Trooper. That made me curious if sleazy Dad was caught up in the massive OT scandal happening at the time?

It was long, but I did binge watch to see if the Boston connections were coincidence or see if there was a connection to all the con-protagonists. Never did get that answer and after seeing the final consequences did not care enough about these sleazes to research. Obvious crime does pay.

Our Flag Means Death (2022–2023)

Sadly empty and disappointing.

[4/10 · 5 March 2022]

Tuned in this show last night to get some laughs after a bleak week of global news. Sadly disappointed. Don't think I ever laughed out loud once and there was never a scene or comedic moment where I said that was clever. The group sewing scene was foolish when the sailors sitting in front of wind filled sails said they did not know how to sew? Repairing wind torn sails was part of the life.

Vikings: Valhalla (2022– )

This Viking Story was a stretch in more ways than one

[6/10 · 5 March 2022]

It was interesting story about the spread of Christianity through the Pagan world. I liked the historical connections between Vikings and England and clearly the Viking lifestyle was changing. Some of the PC characters like Shield Maidens was foolish and that premise was substantiated during the last episode when many died. I started to binge series, but lost interest, to the point where I watched episodes when I had a chance and did not care if I ever returned. That includes fast forwarding through obligatory sex scenes. We shall see what comes next with this show - not on a must see list.

1883 (2021–2022)

Overall a pretty good western...

[8/10 · 5 March 2022]

It was a bit of a long journey to get to a very sad teary ending for major characters. Initially put off by the young daughter's narration but you need to remember great western stories like True Grit revolved around young girls stories. Have not seen Yellowstone yet, but I assume the final episode had many nods to Yellowstone, outside the geographic connection. I do wonder if wagon trains were still common in 1883 considering that the continental railroad was well established and an easier ride cross country.

Inventing Anna (2022)

Just bad soap opera junk food entertainment

[4/10 · 16 February 2022]

When I finished this 9 Part story that just crashes and burns by Epi 7 I wondered why all these hours to get here? I liked Garner as the lead and smile about the people who did not like the character's accent - It wasn't real? That is because Anna Delvey was not real. I was hoping to learn a little more about this woman and if that is what you want too, believe the silly disclaimers, because sadly you won't. I have never really watched anything produced by Shondraland and I know that this company has some hit tv shows but this got totally absurd by the end with trip to Germany and the subtle shots at German culture. I will know what to expect from that production company in the future.

The Fall of '55 (2006)

A view of a 20 year old documentary - 2022

[7/10 · 7 February 2022]

Came across this documentary by by chance and it was interesting - some other 7 and 15 year reviews enlight of today's Me Too, Epstein and minor sex trafficking. Mention this because the story telling is somewhat muddled assessing the "hysteria". Clearly in today's lens, the men identified were violated without the protections of Miranda by the county strong arm tactics. No one knows the kind of stress these men were under during the hours long interrogations.

It is never clear if there were in fact 100s of boys but it is stunning when one woman (therapist) claims all the men discovered were victimized in some sort of honey trap set by these boys. (Salem Witch Trials) Outside of one 20 year old street hustler having consensual sex with at least one of the men, the age of the boys involved is never clear which is an important fact. Sex with an underage boy or girl is illegal today. I assume statutory rape was also illegal in 1955 Boise. One "boy" was tracked down at West Point for an interview which led to his dismissal and a personal downfall that eventually leads to his suicide many years later. There were so many innocent victims to the activities of these men it is no wonder that at least in 2003

Maybe the 1963 book addresses some of my questions but like the Probation Officer and his son said - this was about the boys who were all made out to be street hustlers hiding in the city park waiting for men. So many interesting dynamics to the story but it all comes down to whether these men were paying for sex with minors. Is a shame that Miranda was not available to protect the civils rights of the men.

Beforeigners (2019– )

Quirky setup

[7/10 · 17 January 2022]

I generally enjoy Norwegian TV. Many are recorded with Norwegian and English dialogue which can make for an interesting viewing experience. I was getting turned off by the blatant immigration pc storyline (though interesting) but found myself laughing at the absurd comments or situations. Started to think is this a satirical look at Norway's immigration policy. Have not finished series yet, just wanted to find out if this is a serious sci-fi show or is it a satire/comedy? Plan to keep watching because it is funny to see the politically correct future run amok -just not sure the producers and writers conceived this show as a farce. Fish out of water storyline - Checkout "Lilyhammer" , literally a nordic light version of the Soapranos.

The Fourth War (1990)

Disappointing Cold War Chiller

[6/10 · 15 February 2021]

Never heard of this movie but being a fan of Frankenheimer, Roy and Jurgen thought it would be an interesting film. Other reviewers are pretty accurate in their comments film had its clunker moments. Not owning a Porsche, I wondered how they drove in snowy weather. I was surprised to hear US Army Colonel great an Army 2 Star by saying "Welcome Aboard" in the mountains... someone said the military advisor was USMC retired, explains that greeting. Aside from some other odd gaffs, I really wondered why a "disciplined" Army officer would be so reckless leaving his men/post for hours at a time. It had its good moments between main leads and with actor Tim Reid just never really had a big payoff after a bloody river fist fight. Did not pay for it which was a +, but could not recommend.

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

Entertaining film but....

[8/10 · 27 October 2019]

Great cast and entertaining film. Did not clearly understand the relationship with Haller and his ex wife (maybe better explained in the books)... my one issue involved a bathroom scene with the defendant and his lawyer. The story line makes a big deal about the bad guy being left handed yet at the end of that critical scene, the scumbag defendant smashes the mirror with a tremendous right hook.... not a left hook that would be expected for all the damage done to the victims.