samba-97913 Reviews

Man of Steel (2013)

Loved it. Mostly.

[8/10 · 13 December 2023]

It's interesting how many viewers complained about the haters. The entire first page of reviews are all positive. There is plenty to love about this flim, especially Superman's struggles over his identity and his purpose.

That said, I gave it only 8 stars because of the film's "sloppiness," for want of a better term:

1. When we first see him, Superman has a beard. How did he shave it off?

2. Lois learns Superman's secret identity before she even meets him. Aside from messing with Superman lore, her easy acquisition of his secret removes an element of mystery that was always present in previous Superman films.

3. Superman acquired his powers gradually, by absorbing our sun's radiation and by the effect of Earth gravity on his muscles, according to Jor-El. Zod and his crew shouldn't be as strong as Superman, since they didn't grow up on Earth.

4. Why didn't Superman and the human soldiers attack the Kryptonians' obvious vulnerability: their face masks? When body blows clearly aren't doing any damage, wouldn't you think "Hm, they must need those masks to breathe. Shouldn't we aim at the head?"

5. Superman and the army concoct a plan to fight Zod & Co. Seemingly with no concern re the side effect of creating a black hole. The way a black hole works is that anything within its event horizon falls into it. Wouldn't it be self-defeating to save the Earth by creating a black hole in the Earth's vicinity?

Six Feet Under (2001–2005)

So much to love . . . and a little bit to hate

[8/10 · 25 November 2023]

First the loves: The episodes' stories are very imaginative, and the acting is very good, except for Maya, but she can be forgiven. The variety of ways a family can be dysfunctional are imaginative, too.

Now the hates: I get it that the whole premise is the dysfunctional family. But it seems to me that every character is dystunctional, not just the Fishers. None of the main characters seems to be mentally healthy, except maybe Keith, Rico, and Vanessa.

I'm nearing the end of season 5, and I've grown to despise a few of the characters. The worst is Ruth, who is so very passive-aggressive and self-absorbed. Talk about a victim mentality! Several other main characters are absurdly self-absorbed: David, Claire, and Brenda. At least Brenda has a back story that explains her issues pretty well. But there's not much to explain why Claire is so bratty and disillusioned or why David is so broken, angry, and fearful.

I probably would have liked the series better if I hadn't binge-watched it. I'm watching it mostly because I loved Michael Hall in Dexter.

The Sinner (2017–2021)

A rating of 6 to represent the percentage of it actually visible

[6/10 · 5 November 2023]

I thought the stories were interesting, and the acting was mostly good, but there were some serious distractions. First, Detective Ambrose's quirks and utterly reckless behavior. He's supposed to be a seasoned detective, near the end of his career, but apparently he's never heard of waiting for backup. Most of the quirky behavior has to do with his grunts and facial expressions. He rarely looks at anyone directly; just gives everyone the side eye.

Second, the lighting. I realize that dark scenes are all rage, but seriously if I miss 40% of what's going on, I'm gonna want my money back. The outdoor night scenes are all needlessly black---never a street lamp, a flashlight, or even the moon---so black, that the actors might as well be sitting on boxes in their underwear. As if that weren't bad enough, even many of the indoor scenes were dark. Why in the world would cops be sitting around in the dark in their police station? I'm going to continue giving low marks to movies and TV series with scenes so dark you can't tell who's winning the fight that you can hear but not see. Who's with me? Let's stop settling for this crap.

Hulk (2003)

Why'd you do it, Ang Lee?

[4/10 · 13 October 2023]

Ang Lee is a great director who either doesn't like comic book superhero movies or doesn't understand them. In any case-and I know this is going to sound silly-I'm offended when someone takes a well-established character and drastically rewrites their origin story. The Bruce Banner in this movie is troubled and interesting, but he's not THE Bruce Banner.

The acting was OK. I was neither offended nor delighted by any of the performances. If I had to guess, I'd say the reason there was no sequel is that none of the actors were interested enough to do it.

And that brings me to the split screen shenanigans. Totally distracting and pointless. Why exactly did we need to see helicopters from 6 different angles? All I can think of is that someone on the crew who had never played with the split-screen tool snuck into the editing room and instead of cutting the excess shots just pasted them together.

65 (2023)

This one is real rubbish, folks

[2/10 · 10 July 2023]

I love SF and tend to be very forgiving of gaffes, but there comes a point where I want to demand to speak to the editor.

Problem 1: Mills's people know how to put people in cryosleep and travel through the vastness of space, but they don't know how to detect an asteroid belt from a distance?

Problem 2: Mills refers to the animals on the planet as aliens. No, they are natives, and he is the alien.

Problem 3: He and the girl speak different languages. He mimes some of the words, but at other times he simply repeats words several times, as if saying it frequently will make her understand. Miraculously, she does! But honestly it's like talking louder to people who don't speak your language.

Problem 4: There's barely a plot; just a series of dangers to overcome.

Problem 5 (my biggest problem with the film): About 50% of the film is shot so dark that I have no idea what happened. This is a style in film-making that I detest. Yes, I get it that they're going for realism. But if that's the case, the characters should be stumbling around in the dark; they shouldn't be able to see any better than the audience can.

The Marked Heart (2022– )

What I expected . . . and then not!

[7/10 · 5 May 2023]

What I expected was a soap opera with all the usual melodrama, heaving bosoms, and political corruption. I certainly agree with other reviewers about the overacting, and there seemed to be a lot of extra characters who served no obvious purpose (e.g., the singer and the detective. Why?)

And then there was Simón. His unrelenting machismo was beyond annoying.

So the aspect of the series that I didn't expect was the exploration of love vs. Obsession. It happened mostly in the 2nd season. Zacarías has insisted all along that although he's a monster, he did what he did out of love for Camila. As Zac's plans continue to be thwarted, he unravels and finally faces his demons. The series ends with Zac making the ultimate sacrifice to save Simón's daughter, Samantha. Although his act is out of character for the Zac of the 1st season, it's completely in character for the introspective Zac 2.0.

Greenleaf (2016–2020)

God only knows why I watch it

[5/10 · 18 April 2023]

Please excuse the pun; I do know why I watch it and why I give it as high a rating as 5 stars (I'm being generous). I started watching in order to see the behind-the-scenes operation of a megachurch, but I'm sure I'd be better served by watching a documentary on the subject.

The premise that a megachurch is as corrupt as any other business is good, but this series is nothing more than a soap opera and can't explore the subject in any useful way. It is infused with melodrama and fake piety. Do real-life pious people truly signal their piety with "God is good" and the requisite response "All the time" at every turn? Pastor James Greenleaf speaks in sermons. All the time.

It's interesting to note that Charity Greenleaf is played by an actress/singer who is from a megachurch family herself. I'd love to know what she thinks the show is trying to portray.

On top of everything else, I'm hard-pressed to find any likable characters. The children are spoiled brats. The adults are self-righteous cheaters and grifters. The only likable ones I can think of are Corinne, Aaron, and Kevin. The main characters are all hypocrites.

So why 5 stars instead of 1? The premise is good, the Southern accents take me back to my childhood in Georgia, and (more seriously) the LGBTQ issues were handled well.

Say Your Prayers (2020)

Quirky and dark

[7/10 · 26 February 2023]

I had to watch, if only to find out which atheist writer was being satirized, Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens. Hitchens, it turns out. First, the actor looks like Hitchens. The clincher is that the character Huxley's book is called "God Is Awful," and Hitchens's book is called "God Is Not Great." The character captures Hitchens's arrogance pretty well, but his cynicism doesn't. I simply can't imagine Hitchens being willing to shoot somebody for the publicity. Hitchens's beef was more with religious institutions and leaders than with followers.

I agree with others that there were a couple of big distractions in the film: the detective, who seemed like a caricature, and the men's choir. Was that meant to allude to Greek tragedy? Who knows?

FBI (2018– )

What's with the shouting?

[5/10 · 14 January 2023]

I'm enjoying the show enough to have made it to season 2. I like the 2 main characters, Maggie and OA, and hope they will be further developed.

Many reviewers have complained about the Jubal character's shouting, and I agree it's very annoying. If he's shouting because it's a big room with a lot of people in it, how come no one else needs to shout? The way he shouts makes me think he has significant hearing loss. But it's not just the volume, it's also what he's shouting: he cycles through "Go, go, go!" "Let's go, people!" and "Let's go, let's go!" in every episode. He's more like a high school football coach than an FBI leader type. He doesn't seem to add anything; the team is always one step ahead of him.

In general, I think the writers are being a bit lazy. Jubal's lines are just one example. Another is in the human trafficking episode in which characters who certainly should know better keep saying "the Ukraine" instead of just "Ukraine," which has been standard since the fall of the Soviet Union.

This show has enough potential to keep me watching for a while.

Whitechapel (2009–2013)

Almost perfect

[10/10 · 27 November 2022]

I really love this show, for all the same reasons everybody else mentioned: great acting, story line, character development. We learn the back stories nice and slow, as it should be. D I Chandler is very complex and interesting. I've seen OCD characters before, but his portrayal is the most realistic I've seen. And not done for laughs, thank goodness.

Since the show is about a homicide, we have to expect murders, and boy do we get them! Most of these police shows seem to be trying to outdo each other with bizarre and gruesome ways to kill people. "Criminal Minds" was the worst, and I had to stop watching it after a while. If I want really sicko stuff, I'll read Dean Koontz. I think it would be refreshing to have a few run-of-the-mill murders, e.g., a mugging gone wrong, and use such episodes for more character development.

So now let me get to why my headline says "Almost perfect." The one and only thing I actually hate about the show is the weird transitions between scenes, filled with creepy flashes of images and grating sounds, as if the camera is having a seizure. Once or twice during an episode that focuses on the creepy, OK, but every transition in every episode? That's not art, that's laziness.

Bull (2016–2022)

Jumping the shark

[6/10 · 2 September 2022]

I'm into the 5th season. I absolutely loved the first few seasons But I swear the writers must've suffered brain injuries, because they've turned the show into a musical, of all things. There was absolutely no reason to resort to such a gimmick, and the actors so clearly have no background in musical theater I'm embarrassed for them.

The acting on the whole has been pretty good, but some of the characters seem superfluous: Chunk and Diana come to mind.

The premise of the show-psychologist who's adept at reading people-is clever and somewhat believable. But I have to wonder at the 2 employees who were former law enforcement officers who are now so ready to commit federal crimes for their boss, and without even being asked to. That just doesn't seem believable to me.

Kidding (2018–2020)

Not completely sold yet

[7/10 · 4 August 2022]

I really want to love this show, because I'm a big fan of Jim Carrey. Two things are troubling me: (1) The music is awful (perhaps that's intentional), and Carrey is a mediocre singer at best. (2) The casting seems off. Carrey is 60 years old and looks his age, yet his children appear to be about 12 years old.

I plan to keep watching though, as I'm finding the exploration of grief interesting.

Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2024)

Interesting premise, but that's about it

[2/10 · 16 July 2022]

What I like about the series is the time-travel premise. It's interesting to see how a crew deals with being transplanted into a society 930 years in the future, although. Wells's "Time Machine" did it better. I think the writers did a decent job of showing what's familiar to the crew and what isn't, likewise alliances among historical enemies.

But I have to agree with others re that most of the characters are such emotional wrecks that they wouldn't have been able to graduate from Starfleet. The mushroom engineer and his partner: vomit worthy. The trill and their partner: vomit worthy. Michael's constant stage whisper: almost unbearable. Tilly: seems to be channeling every giggly girlish role played by Drew Barrymore.

I've hung in there to season 4, but I'm ready to call it quits. I just don't care enough about these characters to see it through.

Stargate SG-1 (1997–2007)

Plenty to love

[9/10 · 28 October 2018]

I'm watching the series for the second time. There's still plenty to love-interesting stories, great and often funny dialogue, drama, political intrigue-but my critical eye is seeing things I didn't notice before.

Michael Shanks rattles off his lines at top speed and without feeling, almost as if he's being paid by the word. I can accept a bit of bad acting, but the character of Jack O'Neall is really problematic. The leader of off-world missions will constantly find himself or herself in first-contact situations, where diplomacy will be absolutely essential. Yet the Air Force chose O'Neall, who's about as xenophobic and disrespectul of other cultures as they come. He deliberately substitutes Earth words for alien words he encounters and even calls aliens by American first names instead of their actual (and easily pronounced) names, for example substituting Marty for Martouf. He also uses racial slurs in describing aliens, e.g., calling the Goa'uld snakeheads. He also appears to have no compassion; he often has to be talked into doing the right thing. I still love the show, just liking this character less and less.

The Staircase (2004–2018)

Gripping story hampered by poor documentary technique

[7/10 · 18 August 2018]

The story itself, with all its plot twists, rivals a good murder mystery, but I would've enjoyed reading about the case rather than watching the documentary. The technique seemed amateurish to me: long, too-close closeups, blurry shots brought into focus (instead of edited out), pointless scenes where nothing is happening.

The rest of my criticism is admittedly unfair, but I'll say it anyway, because it definitely detracted from my enjoyment of the series. I found several of the people involved very hard to watch and listen to: Martha, who spoke in "up talk" (making every sentence sound like a question) and was so vapid; Caitlin with her "vocal fry" (hard to explain; just look it up); Michael, so dripping with self-pity that every time he opened his mouth, I couldn't help but think he was lying, his false bravado, his self-sacrificing-but not really; and the lawyer Rudolf who grinned and hammed for the camera and was overall so glib you'd think he'd forgotten his client's life was on the line.

And then there was the scant treatment of family members who didn't defend Peterson, which makes the whole enterprise seem very biased. Why didn't we hear more about Caitlin's research that led her to doubt her dad?

People who like documentaries more than I do will probably like this one.

The Titan (2018)

Skip this one if you like yourself

[1/10 · 29 June 2018]

What's wrong with this movie is well covered in the many, many negative reviews. I can't help commenting on my favorite logical glitches in it.

Glitch #1: If humanity must colonize another planet in order to survive, which would be easier, genetically transforming human beings to survive in an inhospitable environment or . . . oh, I don't know, building a habitat on that planet for all of us?

Glitch #2: Once it becomes clear that the experiment has failed, the "hero" is sent to Titan anyway, because it's the only place with an environment where he can survive. Or is it? Which would you do, spend billions to send a single person to Titan or build him a habitat on Earth with Titan-like conditions where he can live out his life?

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2015–2019)

So much talent packed into one show!

[10/10 · 23 June 2018]

I'm delighted to see so many glowing reviews of this show. A lot of the focus is on Rachel Bloom, and for good reason. Aside from her great singing, acting, and dancing, she's a real risk taker-not afraid to let the audience see her ugly, crazy side.

The entire cast is musically talented, but Donna Lynne Chamblin in particular blew me away with her beautiful, powerful voice.

Folks who don't enjoy musicals might not dig this, but it's a shame, because the songs are incredibly funny. The humor goes by at lightning speed sometimes; I wish the lyrics were available. If you DO like musicals, you're gonna love the parody of "Pool" from "The Music Man." Likewise a parody of a song from "Chicago." Very smart song writing, indeed.

A very quick joke about Cornell University almost made me spit coffee on my screen. I won't tell you the joke-don't want to spoil it.

The Next Step (2013– )

Not the Worst Show

[19 December 2017]

The only reason this is not the worst show is that TMZ is still on the air. The show does have a plot--a thoroughly predictable plot, but I can live with that in a show that's aimed at tweens. It's hard for me to assess the dancing talent because the choreography is so bad. You don't just put ballet, hip-hop, and gymnastics in a blender and hit "mix." Having all three elements in a dance is not a terrible idea, but they have to be brought together with finesse, not because the studio is a democracy (everybody gets a voice). And choreographing an ensemble dance routine and learning it in a day is completely unrealistic. It's unclear what the studio choreographer's role is, since the routines seem to be made up by the students themselves. In fact the studio owner doesn't contribute much, either.

There's nothing one can say about the music; it's simply unmemorable.

The gimmick of the behind-the-scenes interviews doesn't work. These kids can't act, and their drama is overblown. It's really a caricature of teenagers and depicts teens as universally self-absorbed. The other problem with it is that some of the interviews happen in the middle of the action. For example, a given actor is in the middle of a dance; then the scene cuts to an interview with that dancer commenting on the very dance that's ongoing! There's no logic to that.

Finally, the acting is just phenomenally bad. I want to just chalk it up to the actors' youth, but I can't, because there are some pretty terrific child actors around.