jsampsonstunts Reviews

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Another Winner From Wes Anderson

[10/10 · 13 March 2014]

I have been a big fan of Wes Anderson's movies since the first time I watched him and the thing that I enjoy the most about a Wes Anderson film is that he always takes his situations, whether they are trivial or very big with huge stakes, and he makes a great adventure out of it with fantastically well written characters who are entertaining and who we will develop real feelings for. In this sense I think Moonrise Kingdom is his best movie yet and I do not say that lightly at all because as I said I love all of his movies (all the ones I have yet seen anyhow).

This movie is about a boy named Sam, an orphaned boy who is at scout camp, and Suzy, a very misunderstood girl, who both decide to run away together. The young actors both do a commendable job. The rest of the cast are all people who are either trying to catch them to bring them back or helping them on their adventure in some way. Bruce Willis and Frances McDormand stand out as does Bill Murray who always tends to shine in all of Wes Anderson's movies.

Do not miss this movie! If you like Wes Anderson's other movies at all this is for you.

The Rick Mercer Report (2004– )

Makes me Sad

[3/10 · 16 October 2013]

I really wish that I liked this show. Rick Mercer was the best part of This Hour Has 22 Minutes back when he was on that show but when he left he just stopped being funny or informative or relevant. This Hour Has 22 Minutes also took a nosedive after he left. It's like a great band where the lead singer goes off to be a success on his own but then the band and he both end up flopping.

Rick Mercer is a shadow of his old self. In this show most of the time is wasted with him going off to do pieces in locations. The other reviews pretty much nailed it where he will go to say try out a tourist diving lesson where you swim with the seals, then it's just like ten minutes of him swimming around with footage of seals swimming around and him coming up for air every couple of minutes to say something that's supposed to be funny but really just makes you groan. I'm not sure when Rick Mercer became a hack one liner comedian but watching him is like watching my wacky uncle at the Thanksgiving dinner table make horrible jokes about the turkey. "Gobble gobble? I'll gobble him up! Haha! Look how funny I am!" The episode I just saw which will also be the last episode I ever force myself to sit through had him go to paramedic school. He had another guy try out the nitrous oxide then made horribly lame jokes about politicians. More predictable jokes follow where he drives an ambulance and turns on the siren because there is an emergency, he is hungry and wants Kentucky Fried Chicken.

This show literally makes me sadder than any drama on TV because of what this great man used to be. His black and white pieces on This Hour Has 22 Minutes used to be the funniest couple of minutes on television and they also almost always had something very important and right to say. What happened to this guy? The rest of the show is him sitting at his desk in the CBC studio (in Toronto I presume) where he reads equally horrible jokes. The two Canadians who just got released by Egypt and complained about cockroaches and cramped spaces... on their Air Canada flight home. I rolled my eyes so much at this show I have to go see my optometrist tomorrow.

Please Rick Mercer if you read this go back to what you used to do because I hate having to think of you as the hack who is ruining himself on my TV every night. Maybe you need new crew and writers. I don't know what the problem is but what you're doing just isn't funny or relevant, I'm sorry to say.

Meet the Family (2013– )

Pleasantly Surprised!

[8/10 · 15 October 2013]

I have seen both episodes and I say this show is very entertaining if you are a fan of hidden camera shows. Unlike most hidden camera shows which play a prank on a bunch of people like on Candid Camera or Just For Laughs Gags, this show is about a girlfriend who sets up her boyfriend by inviting him home to meet her family for the first time. But of course her family is actually actors pretending to be her family. The reactions of these poor boys to the things that the family members get him to do are very funny. One episode had a mother who was drunk with two broken arms so he had to feed her punch from the big punch bowl and sing Christmas carols at the table because she wanted to pretend it was Christmas. You have to like your pranks a little mean because the father got fired from his job and got the guy to tape record his last will and testament and told the guy he was planning to kill himself, and the boyfriend looked like he was going to be sick. At the end of the show they tell him that it was just a joke and he wins money or a free trip. The show isn't perfect and could be better but as far as just laughing at a prank on someone it is very fun to watch.

Package Deal (2013–2014)

Sad to Say - "Pass on This"

[1/10 · 15 October 2013]

Package Deal is a show I was really looking forward to seeing, I saw the pilot episode "on demand" and it was not very funny but first episodes of shows are often not that good. I remember I didn't like the first episodes of Simpsons, Arrested Development, Parks and Rec, Family Guy, Futurama and many other comedies too when I saw them. I think it is because they have to set up what the whole show is about and all the characters and their relationships so there is not much time left for making jokes etc. So I gave it a second chance. The problem is the show just keeps getting worse. The story is about a guy who has a girlfriend he loves but his two brothers feel threatened by her so right away it is very stupid, what grown man is beat down by his grown brothers like this? And why would two grown brothers give a crap what girl their brother is just dating, they're not even engaged or anything. The one brother is Harland Williams who I loved in small parts in There's Something About Mary and Dumb and Dumber and I haven't seen him do stand up but I bet he is funny, he just seems like a funny type of person. But in this he is not funny because the jokes are just stupid. The other brother is terrible as a nerd, very one dimensional characters here. The two leads are bad actors and or the writing is so bad that nobody could be funny in this. I am so disappointed by how bad this show is I can't even really put it into words. Do yourself a favour and take a pass on this show. So sorry to say this because City TV made some new shows this year and did try obviously but whoever made this show failed big time to deliver a good show, a good cast or any good comedy. Too bad.

The Conjuring (2013)

Good!

[7/10 · 15 October 2013]

This movie is good, if you are a fan of the genre of possession type movies or really scary horror movies about real evil then this is a good movie for you. We saw it in the theatre and it made my girlfriend jump several times in her seat so if that is what you are looking for check it out for sure. I was scared by it in those places too, it is a well done possession horror movie. The story happens in the 1970's this is a good write up of the story from the page: "Carolyn and Roger Perron move their family into a dilapidated Rhode Island farm house and soon strange things start happening around it with escalating nightmarish terror. In desperation, Carolyn contacts the noted paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren, to examine the house. What the Warrens discover is a whole area steeped in a satanic haunting that is now targeting the Perron family wherever they go. To stop this evil, the Warrens will have to call upon all their skills and spiritual strength to defeat this menace", it is a good horror film! Not quite as well acted or as scary as it could be but still solid.