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Lady Ballers (2023)
Less unfunny than most Hollywood comedies
Lady Ballers is not good, unfortunately. But comedy is famously hard so it's in good company. There were some good laughs and a couple heartfelt story moments which made it overall fine.
The slap stick comedy is pretty amusing but the script is desperately lacking wit and is at times is bogged down by preachiness. The movie is way too on-the-nose with the parody which ultimately makes it more tiring than amusing and undercuts the premise. There were plenty of jokes that were funny in principle but killed by bad pacing like a sit-com that pauses for the laugh track. There's no clever line that you would miss on a first watch because it goes by so quickly and naturally in the story.
If you're a fan of the Daily Wire, it's fun to see the personalities joking around, but the movie can't stand on its own.
Ahsoka: Part One: Master and Apprentice (2023)
Stiff and lifeless
It's nowhere near as bad as Kenobi or Book of Boba Fett, but it's not exactly good outside of Kevin Kiner's score and some good graphics. It's a bad sign when the end credits are the most captivating part of the episode.
The episode is pretty lifeless. There are three action scenes and all three are stiff and awkward. The lightsaber choreography is childish and the actors look uncomfortable trying to keep an intimidating straight face. The acting and dialogue aren't much better. The actors are all fine, but there is so much dead space where they're just looking around (especially Hera). The conversations are repetitive and don't tell much about the characters. There are some clumsy information dumps like Sabine randomly pulling out a hologram from Ezra to let the audience know what their relationship.
The episode is paced terribly in every scene. There are long scenes like Ahsoka looking around a temple or Sabine unlocking a map where the audience has no idea what the characters are trying to accomplish so their actions mean nothing. There's no sense of cause and effect in the story which leaves the audience disengaged and, in my case, bored.
Worst of all is the episode's end where they pull out an obnoxious plot point that seems to have become a trend in Disney Star Wars.
Overall, my expectations were beat coming off Obi-Wan, but as a fan of Clone Wars and Ahsoka's character, I was left underwhelmed.
What Is a Woman? (2022)
Legitimately well-made journalism
The documentary has obviously got a lot of praise by critics of gender theory for bringing so much to light. But beyond that, the documentary is efficient at communicating dense information with great comedic elements and, most importantly, great interviews.
Walsh does an astounding job staying straight faced as to not tip off the interviewees to his position. In doing so, he extracts damning admissions that would raise concern among any normal person, not the least of which is a literal college professor saying it's offensive to be interested in the truth.
The documentary has little preaching-to-the-choir and instead lets proponents of gender theory speak for themselves under scrutiny. Walsh doesn't let them sneak away with non-answers and instead repeats the questions until a legitimate answer is given.
Love & Death (2023)
Elizabeth Olsen is the most charming actress in Hollywood today
A common criticism of the show seems to be that everyone already knows the story and it added nothing new. But I knew nothing of this before watching and was on the edge of my seat. The show does a good job presenting the events in a manner-of-fact way. It feels like normal people caught up in a crazy situation.
But far and away, Olsen steals the show. She conveys such a wide range of emotions and manages to make this unlikable woman endearing and personable. There's a level of sincerity behind her that comes through in every scene.
The only criticism I have is that the show rushes through the set up of the affair and the slow collapse. You don't quite get enough scenes of Olsen and Plemmons to understand how they became so motivated to set up the elaborate affair. It's also a bit underwhelming how they start to get exposed. It just kinda happens. There's no slow set up letting the audience see the spouses catching on.
Otherwise, the show is quite good if you don't know anything about the real story.
The Last of Us: Look for the Light (2023)
Joel is now creepy, selfish and heartless
I admit can't judge this without comparing it to the game. The game did this complex story perfectly while the show makes you hate Joel and feel like you wasted your time. On the surface, they're similar. But they make dozens upon dozens of small changes that make Joel a loathsome character.
For starters, they change Joel's caring for Ellie *like* a daughter to Joel caring for Ellie as a way of coping with his daughter's loss. The way he tells her she gave his life meaning while staring creepily at her fundamentally recontextualizes their relationship. Then at the end he keeps comparing her to Sarah. It feels like the father/daughter equivalent of a rebound girlfriend which makes Joel's prior actions seem selfish.
The fireflies are also changed to be less callous and less reckless. There are no audio tapes suggesting the process was rushed. They don't knock out Joel while he's performing CPR. There's no "This is what she would have wanted" from Marlene.
That all could be fine if done well, but they change Joel's response to be completely evil. When Marlene says she has no choice, Joel doesn't say "You keep telling yourself that." Now he says, "I do." There's an implication that this Joel is hellbent on making the choice for everyone compared to the game where Joel was concerned by the Fireflies *not* thoroughly examining alternatives.
The "action" scene is reframed as Joel casually mowing down everyone, even those unarmed. Pascal portrays this with no sense of fear or anguish; he's mostly just apathetic. This could have been a suspenseful action scene where Joel is trying to save Ellie and in fear of his life (like the game). The change removes any sympathy you could have for Joel.
So what?
People will say "It's a different story than the game, that doesn't make it bad." That's fair, but I hate the show on its own merits. The problem is that they adapted the game faithfully in other episodes making Joel over his days of taking innocent life and make his care for Ellie earnest. His actions in this episode are not set-up well. The unnecessary cruelty, lack of concern for the situation and possessiveness of Ellie all come out of left field making the previous episodes feel like a complete waste of time.
The Mandalorian: Chapter 17: The Apostate (2023)
I feel nothing but apathy
This show has turned into a glorified YouTube video where you'd praise the creator for cool animation and a couple neat visuals. But as a story, this episode is terrible. There's absolutely no forward progress. It's just redundant story beats stretched out with set pieces. But the set pieces are so random and aimless that there's no point to be invested. No one thinks Mando will be killed, injured or imprisoned. And there's never any strategy in these scenes leaving the audience to wonder "how will he get out of this one???" No, it's just predictable and obvious. Maybe if this were season 1, episode 1 I'd feel differently. But three seasons in, and we've seen all of this before. It's just tedious and boring. Star Wars has been bad with Kenobi or BoBF but I've never been so utterly disinterested.
Glass Onion (2022)
Fun but painful writing
Mixed feelings on this one. On one hand, the movie is quite fun with a couple interesting twists. The actors do a good enough job keeping the story moving. I also enjoy Benoit Blanc casually putting together all the clues.
That said, the problems are twofold: the lackluster mystery and the insulting preachiness.
A good mystery invites the audience to pick up on subtle clues and later reveals evidence that recontextualizes the clues. A good mystery also rewards the careful viewer by giving enough evidence that they can put it all together in the end.
This movie has big twists that have virtually no set up. But worse, the reveal is so obvious that there's just no point to the subtle clues. There's never a wonder "how did they pull that off" or anything like that. Even the final "twist"--if you can call it that--is so painfully obvious you're just waiting for the movie to end.
The other problem is the preachiness. For one, the movie completely dates itself with bad Covid jokes. And frankly, it makes the movie feel too "real" which makes the caricatures all the more out-of-place.
But the bigger problem is that this is less of a mystery movie than it is a bad political satire. It has no nuance to it--which would be fine if this was just a fun murder mystery with silly characters--which makes the preachy messages absolutely painful. It's hard to take a movie seriously when you have Dave Bautista playing the "most viewed Twitch streamer" as an absurd manisphere caricature. It's classic Hollywood being out-of-touch with a subtle contempt for normal men who like video games.
It also doesn't help that "disruptor" hacks are the villains, but that's kinda what Rian Johnson is. I like The Last Jedi alright, but he took a beloved story with a fanbase he didn't earn and got buzz by "disrupting" expectations. He effectively hijacked someone else's work just like the villain of Glass Onion. But moreover, Johnson's contempt for tradition and historical art just oozes with his treatment of the Mona Lisa. It epitomizes his view "let the past die, burn it if you have to" (literally, if you know what I mean).
If the movie were good like Knives Out, I wouldn't mind. But as it is, mocking art in a knock-off murder mystery on Netflix feels tasteless. Johnson is no doubt talented behind the camera, but this movie oozes with contempt for the audience. And honestly, that's probably why the mystery feels like it's trying to fool us with twists rather than invite us to come to the conclusions ourselves.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)
Pretty pictures with brain dead writing
The show looks great as far as effects go. The costumes look cheap and the makeup and hair design look like they're from a modern magazine rather than a medieval English fantasy, so I guess the visuals don't deserve too much praise.
But my gosh, the writing is terrible. The opening scene perfectly encapsulates the type of pretentious yet nonsensically shallow dialogue that plagues the show. One character will say something only to be met with a complete nonsequitur that maybe sounded good on paper.
But even worse, almost every story point makes no sense when you use the smallest of brain cells. Bullying in Middle Earth's heaven? Sure. Traveling snowy lands with no equipment for shelter? Yeah, why not. Jumping into an ocean hundreds of miles from land? Makes sense. There are too many examples to count.
Ultimately, the show is a bunch of disconnected pretty pictures with cool sounding trailers lines sprinkled in. There's no cohesion or complex thematic beats. It's all elementary and insulting to intricacy of the world Tolkien thoroughly crafted.
Better Call Saul: Saul Gone (2022)
Solid ending for the greatest show of all time
Breaking Bad was the best show ever, and Better Call Saul did everything better, start to finish.
Some fans will hate this finale (see the other reviews), but it pretty much played out exactly as fans predicted on the Reddit threads which, here, is a good thing. They didn't pull out anysubversion. Instead, it payed off every thread that's been set up since season 1 that hasn't yet been tied.
The episode had a great framing device about regrets which has been a prevailing since the first episode where Gene looks back at his old commercials. The show plays out like a tragedy about the slow demise of Jimmy McGill facilitated by a slew of avoidable mistakes. The series finale does a stellar job reflecting on that and ties it all together wonderfully.
Better Call Saul: Fun and Games (2022)
Bleak
This episode feels mundane and poorly-paced after "Point and Shoot." But by the end of the final scene, it all makes sense. The episode masterfully ties up Gus, Mike, Kim and Jimmy's stories in the BCS timeline comparing and contrasting the arcs of all 4. It pays off so many emotional beats from prior episodes like the "Something Stupid" lyrics. This is the episode where BCS finally feels seamless with Breaking Bad which is what fans have wanted forever but they make it so bleak, recontextualizing the characters in BB forever.
Absolutely perfect episode. This is why Better Call Saul is great.
The Matt Walsh Show: 'What Is a Woman' Arrives Just in Time for Pride Month (2022)
Well-Made Documentary without Resorting to Propaganda
I was worried this would be preaching-to-the-choir propaganda where hard, dishonest questions were asked to one side and layups asked to the other. Where the film succeeds is in its even-handedness with the interviewees. About equal screen time is given to people on both sides, and they're all asked basically the same questions. The questions are straightforward and the responses are almost entirely uncut.
As a documentary, it does a good job in showing the competing positions while bringing needed skepticism. It completely exposes how entrenched gender theory is in relativism. That was never more clear than when an actual professor referred to "the truth" as "condescending."
The pacing and presentation of material is good, but for criticisms, I wish there were more empirical analysis. It needed about 10 more minutes to go over what the relevant studies have found and how that data conforms with the positions of the interviewees. They allude to this research but don't go deeper into the results.
It's a very good movie that successfully exposes points of concern in gender theory that have been unfortunately suppressed in public discourse.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part I (2022)
Devoid of interesting characters
Obi-Wan is one of the best Star Wars characters, but if you just watched this episode, you'd have no idea. He's a wooden nothingburger of a character who's given no interesting qualities--none of the charm of prequels Kenobi and none of the wisdom of originals Kenobi.
Meanwhile, Leia and Reeva absorb the runtime. Both are written like they're supposed to be cool and edgy, but they come across as whiny and obnoxious. Leia's nonchalantness undercuts all tension while Reeva's impulsive, overacted outbursts undercut any intimidation the Inquisitors possessed.
Frankly, the show is just boring. I love Star Wars and they're counting on it because this show offers absolutely nothing that's captivating.
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Emotional movie with great self awareness
This is the best MCU movie since Infinity War. I'm so tired of these subversive stories that undercut emotion for cheap laughs. No Way Home though is humorous in all the right spots and emotional when it's supposed to be. It's one of the few MCU movies to have palpable stakes, but it never comes at the expense of a fun movie. That, and it has excellent awareness of meme culture.
What If...? (2021)
Absolutely disappointing
I love the MCU and even loved WandaVision. But the shows have gotten progressively worse since.
"What If?" has beautiful animation and good voice acting but downright atrocious pacing and storytelling. Every episode so far has rushed through the plot points without any care for interesting storytelling.
But worst of all, the show comes across as overly preachy. It often sacrifices character consistency for a "message" which is never compelling or poignant.
People say the episodes are too short, but shows like "The Simpsons" were able to tell complete stories with compelling themes in far shorter episodes. Ultimately, the writers of "What If?" just aren't clever enough to tell good narratives based upon the interesting premise.
Big Shot (2021)
Shockingly captivating
This is not an A+ All around, but it's perfectly fun and emotionally captivating.
I thought this would be an annoying woke Disney product where Stamos has to learn to coach without whistles and instead coach the PC way. But shockingly, they did a great job showing the girls learn to appreciate his strict style and did a great job showing him learn to treat them with more care like a loving father. The show makes Stamos' character really likeable despite his flaws and doesn't make comprises to fit a cookie cutter template.
I'm actually impressed that Disney was able to churn out a show with an excellent message in 2021 that isn't bogged down by identity politics. They show is sincerely heartfelt. They don't tell the viewer which characters to root for and instead let us gravitate to each of their stories. I thought the show had great emotional climaxes because the characters felt like real people.
Anyway, huge recommend. Go watch so Disney can greenlight a season 2. They have a lot of story to tell as not everything was wrapped up.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
I'm convinced people who have poor reviews didn't understand the movie
NO SPOILERS
First off, the timeline in this movie is flawless. The absolute best, most coherent and consistent time travel use in any movie. The complaints in these reviews completely misunderstood how it worked.
Second, the other complaint is Thor. Was he weaker? Yeah. Was I disappointed? Yeah, but it follows the progression of his character. He lost his whole family, swore revenge, almost saved the day and missed it by a foot. His demise into self loathing makes perfect sense and allows other characters to shine in battles. Thor tends to be overpowered so this leveled the playing field.
Third, the pacing is slow and ponderous. But it asks you to follow the characters and their emotions and reactions to the snap. The slow pace allows the characterization to shine and not be overblown by tedious fighting like some scenes in Infinity War.
Overall, I don't get people's desire for overpowered characters with aimless action scenes. Endgame does a great job creating small moments for personality and giving everyone a chance to shine in battle.
The Simpsons: Halloween of Horror (2015)
Best Episode in Recent Years
I love this episode. It gives me faith that they can still make good Simpsons episodes. What the post season 12 episodes lost was the small, relatable nature of the show and they got too ludicrous. Halloween of Horror dials it down to the classic days and focuses on Lisa overcoming fear. Right out the gate, this is a focused episode. You don't have 15 minutes of loosely related gags before getting into the plot. We see Lisa go to a Krusty haunted walk and get scared in a hilarious but sad season. This leads to Homer having to stay home with her for Halloween inside. But when some people take revenge on Homer, Lisa has to overcome her fears and let go. Their relationship is perfectly captured and capped with a needed and well deserved emotional climax. I can't explain how happy I was to watch a great post season 12 episode.
The Mummy (2017)
Not great, but it's not as bad as people say.
To make clear, I'd actually give this a C+, but as a protest vote against the unnecessary hate I'll put 9. I understand the problems wholly and don't want to tell you they aren't bad, I just think they were as criminal as most blockbusters.
The script needed a rewrite due to off dialogue and hazy explanations of plot points. The movie also could've been severely trimmed. It would have been much better at just an hour and a half.
What worked is that you had a good sense of the goal and the events leading there. Again, not perfectly executed, but there was substantial cohesion. They do hit the Dark Universe setup and it isn't necessary but it doesn't derail the film. Russel Crowe played his part quite well making it enjoyable. On the other hand, Tom Cruise is sometimes given some odd one liners, but aside, he pulls off a fun action hero.
The best aspect, for me, was the tone. They work in lots of creepy imagery laid in passable action scenes giving a fresh feel which was enjoyable to watch.
The movie is by no means great, but all the reviews tanked my expectations so low that I continuously found myself pleasantly surprise.
Wonder Woman (2017)
I hated BvS yet this hit me emotionally.
Superheroes in the comics were written to be these larger than life heroes that save you from those you can't fight, but inspire to fight those who you can. Wonder Woman in this movie embodies that.
At the beginning of the movie I was worried. The way the action was cut was strange, they had unnecessary slow motion, the dialogue was a bit off and the story seemed like it was going to fall into a cliché route.
Yet, as the movie continued, the themes of nobility, honor and sacrifice came into fruition and it became a battle of morals. When she first runs into the battle field, it's an awesome moment to watch, but they had been building up the idea that honor is fighting your own battle to protect others without hesitation and it lands.
At the end, you learn who the villain is and this has definitely gotten the most flack. However, this stuck with me best because Wonder Woman assumes her duty to save men from an "indestructible" threat. Meanwhile, they make their own personal sacrifices, validating the journey, filled with slow, thoughtful moments, to get there.
This left me inspired because of how well the creators realized the symbolic significance of the characters, both Wonder Woman and her fitting companion Steve Trevor.
Blood Father (2016)
Somehow in the cliché premise, they delivered complex characters
This movie has a terrible title and the synopsis sounds cliché. That said, I was so pleasantly engaged. Mel Gibson is captivating in this, reminding us why he's one of the best actors. Erin Moriarty-who gave a great performance in Jessica Jones-also gives a great performance, exchanging some great dialogue scenes with Mel. The movie takes a cliché premise and really adds some heart into it. Gibson's character is an ex con trying to live a pure life while also trying to take care of his daughter who is going down a bad path. He wants to turn her in so he doesn't face more time but knows she won't survive alone creating a great moral dilemma. The movie is really at heart a father-daughter road trip movie with two rich characters bonding over their poor life decisions. This could go very wrong, but everyone involved did a great job adding a heart to this movie.
28 Days Later... (2002)
Poor direction and lighting plagues this great writing
I was really looking forward to this. The beginning is pretty good and the characters are instantly realized. This is far from a bad movie. The story goes an interesting direction and has a clever end that was almost thrilling... But the direction is terrible. There is so much shaky cam and poor lighting it's impossible to tell what's going on. A gun will shoot then the camera will flail and you won't know what happened. The lighting is off. It's often too Bright or too dark. I'm not nitpicking. It was legitimately hard to follow what was happening. If this was shot more like a Romero movie where it focuses on the characters with more subtle action it would have been an amazing movie.
Silence (2016)
A flawless film
I generally don't like to accuse people who don't like a well received movie of "not getting it." But after reading several negative user reviews, I'm convinced people did not get Silence.
Silence is not telling you the priests are doing the right thing. It is not telling you that Japan is evil. It is not telling people to convert to Christianity. It is merely portraying historical fictitious events as they happen and it does so masterfully.
Silence portrays a priest struggling with whether he should apostatize (renounce his faith) and save other's lives, or to let them die, appearing selfish, for what he believes is right. Now you may think that one side is right but Scorsese presents both sides showing that it is a gray area. It is less about religion and more about the cost of your beliefs making it more powerful than most movies.
People complain about the run time. Those people were watching it, not experiencing it. The run time is long, but it is for a reason. Many similar scenes seem to repeat, however in between each the movie introduces a new idea so when you see it again it inflicts a different mood and different opinion. Taking a viewer and putting them in the story and experience the events is true storytelling. If you check your phone, you are only gipping yourself of a great experience.
In addition to what's been already said, it's important to point out that the slew of reviewers claiming "this is NOT good film making or good basic storytelling" are completely ignorant to film. You can say you don't like it but ignoring the fact that this has an amazing score, some of the most beautiful camera work and cinematography, Garfield's amazing method acting and at least presenting beliefs in an objective matter.
Silence is a flawless movie. If you don't just watch it but experience it, it will captivate you.
Sing Street (2016)
Gets worse the more you think about it
I want to explain my rating system. I usually consider a 9 an A 8 a B, etc BUT adjust base off how overrated a movie is. I initially gave this a 9 but had to change it seeing the ridiculous praise.
Again, I stress it's perfectly good and you should see it BUT Sing Street is really overrated. It's one of those I enjoyed but you realize flaws in retrospect.
The movie is a thematic mess. It's about "living the dream" (and is really one the nose with it) but fails to explore it (especially since La La Land did it way better). Instead of being about him doing the band because he enjoys it, he does it entirely for Raphina completely undercutting its main theme. He is set up as a music prodigy but his brother and friend end up knowing way more and are more deserving of living the dream. Then, he intentionally stops trying in school, fails and is okay with it. This is such an insult to real musicians who go to school to learn the nature of music OR at least have SOME talent!!
Possible spoiler: Then the end is even more ridiculous. He runs away with Raphina to England. It works as feel good but makes no sense: how will he pay? where will he stay? how does he plan on getting accepted anywhere with no talent? what happens when he and Raphina go through a high school break up like EVERY other high school? what will he tell his parents?
This movie is a ridiculous, overrated movie that is perfectly okay.
Suicide Squad (2016)
Great and terrible at once
This movie is really frustrating because it had serious tone issues and plot issues that distract from a great movie. When it's good it's amazing but every time I got on board there would be weird editing or such that distracts. I don't want to say the people who liked the movie were wrong because it is fun and does have a dark vibe to it that are great. On the other hand, David Ayer was made a dark movie which was then mixed with the studio throwing in more Guardian style scenes. I like both styles, just not together. It tries too hard to be Guardians, even using a song used in Guardians, to the point where it doesn't have a focus. A lot of scenes were edited a little too quickly and felt out of place. I think if this movie were edited right, it would be amazing. The entire squad, Harley and Deadshot, is charismatic, likable and has a story with individual traits. If you go in looking for that and fun action, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
The Little Mermaid (1989)
The start of the Disney Golden Age!
The Little Mermaid is stunning. It's absolutely beautiful. This is a movie that I liked and couldn't place my finger on why. I found it bothering that it seemed to give the message that looks are more important than personality... but as the story progresses I think it becomes obvious that Ariel isn't a hero and has been making childish decisions the whole time and that to me is what makes this so spectacular. Throughout, you buy Ariel as a character in such a beautiful story. This movie so perfectly portrays innocence. It also shows her father have a great arc about learning to let go. Aside from having a well told story, the music is some of the best Disney has to offer. Every one I could listen to on repeat. Lastly, the art Disney offers in the Golden Age is breathtaking. The Little Mermaid has such beautiful visuals (especially Ariel ;)) that put you "Under the sea." Definitely see this masterpiece!