JamesD2 Reviews

Becoming Warren Buffett (2017)

Squandered opportunity

[7/10 · 10 July 2023]

Probably about 60% of the way thru it was a 9. He had some decent tips. But way too much of this documentary centered on his wife. It is difficult to see what she did that Warrented such a huge part of this documentary.

One had the sense that this was done to take what probably would be a male dominated documentary and they tried to make it more accessible for females. Like how there will be a sci-fi movie with this artificially placed love story into the plot which doesn't move the plot forward much.

Then they got into his whole philanthropy. Yes he gave away a LOT of money. OK.

Probably most of the people that are watching this are interested in his investing secrets.

Less Susan Buffet and philanthropy and more stocks.

Nathan for You (2013–2017)

Funniest TV show or movie of all time

[10/10 · 15 September 2019]

My prior favorites were: The Larrry Sanders Show The Office (UK) Bruno

You know the ROTFLMAO acronym?

This is one of the uber-few instances where it applies.

An absolute must see.

Game of Thrones: The Bells (2019) Season 8, Episode 5

Demographics and the rating of this episode

[9/10 · 14 May 2019]

I found the demographics very interesting. 45+ males 7.6 45+ females 7.6 The lowest rating sub-categories were 18-29 female 6.0 30-44 female 6.6

In other words millennial females hated this episode.

Why?

I think they loved Dany. Tons of babies over the last few years were named after her character.

So when their role model (strong independent queen leader woman) turned to the dark side, the Dan fanboys weren't pleased.

I think older people liked it more because they have been around the block and to them...yeah...they can see that happening.

The younger people are still idealistic and haven't had the school of hard knocks in life knock them around that much that they can see that happening.

Weird Wonders of the World (2015–2016)

Every episode is good

[9/10 · 15 July 2017]

There isn't a bad episode in the entire lot. In fact, every episode is good. Very solid...I did not know about 85% of the stuff there. They often set it up like a mystery...there is some weird thing going on and why is it happening? They throw a couple of logical theories, but that isn't it. Then they tell you what it is usually. I have seen lots of the highly rated nature shows and I put this as my favorite of that genre...but it isn't strictly nature like Life or Planet Earth. For some reason this does not get much love. My 7 year old picked this one out on Netflix and I have to say...I really enjoy watching it. Some of the people on the Netflix review board commented on the narrator. He kind of has a talking to kids vibe and it probably is a kids type show. But I really like this show and after every show I watch...I'll be like...man there still hasn't been a lame show yet. I really like this show and I cannot recommend it highly enough if you are interested in weird nature type shows. I conceivably could give it a 10, but I reserve those for Game of Thrones type situations.

Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (1972)

Director's Cut DVD has the original in Special Features

[10/10 · 15 March 2017]

I have seen the original film 73 times. I haven't seen the film in a couple of decades. So I rented the DVD from Netflix. It was the director's cut. I have heard that the DC was not good. Everybody was right. The director's cut was definitely not as good as the original. BUT...if you look in the Menu under Special Features, lo and behold the entire original version is right there. That is the one you want to see.

Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

Liberal crap

[3/10 · 2 December 2016]

This is one of those liberal pretentious movies. You know, like Wes Anderson movies. The ones that seem think they are oh so clever but aren't. The ones that liberals certainly rated higher than conservatives.

The first 20 minutes or so did pull me in. It had a good premise. But that was it. It kept on going on and on and on. It would have been a good 30 minute Twilight Zone episode...maybe 60 minutes at the most. Absolute most. It just dragged on and went nowhere.

I guess I have to make 10 lines of text to get this review published. That is what this movie felt like. It just kept on going to fill up its required space.

Ex Machina (2014)

SLllllllllllooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow

[4/10 · 8 November 2015]

I can't believe I watched this whole movie. Pretty much nothing happens until the end. And the end was not worth the wait.

There is no way this movie is a 7.7. There must be some people below 21 who rated this highly because everything in here is been there and done that. This movie is so slow. It just goes on and on and on.

I came on here just to warn people who think "Hmmmm...sci fi with a 7.7, I'll think I'll give that a try." Believe me, you won't miss a thing if you skip this one.

Well my review is done and I submitted it. But it got rejected because it does not have 10 lines of text. So I'll drag out this review just like this movie.

Oh yeah...I was thinking the whole time I was watching this...this would be perfect for a half hour episode of the Twilight Zone. Maybe if there is some Twilight Zone clone that lasts an hour, you can stretch it out for that long. But you really can do the whole basic story in a half hour.

Kahaani (2012)

Overrated

[7/10 · 17 January 2015]

It was OK. It wasn't bad. Maybe a bit better than average. The woman, I could not stand. She had that artificial trying to be cute/great mother/great wife that you see so often in movies but never in the real world. You know...all the men throwing themselves at her feet and kids adore her. Mrs. Perfect Woman.

Yeah. Whatever.

Top 250? No way in hell.

If you are having doubts about investing 2 hours of your life watching this thing, it does not live up to the hype.

Maybe they could have made a 1.5 hour movie out of this. But the extra time in it killed it. I was looking at my watch at the end. I could not wait for it to end.

A Separation (2011)

Highly skeptical first 35 minutes, then it lives up to the hype

[9/10 · 29 November 2012]

Well this got a lot of hype. Top 200 movie of all time. Glowing reviews. Something like 96 on Rotten Tomato.

But a foreign film and the subject matter didn't' exactly look to be all that exciting. It looked like it had the potential of being a boring politically correct Hollywood foreign film Sundance snoozefest. Subtitles.

For the first 35 minutes it sure looked that way. Then things started to get interesting and it was nonstop the rest of the way through.

Boy what a great movie this was. Worth every inch the praise it got. Great, great movie.

Great acting. Great plot. Seemed very real. Didn't even notice the subtitles.

Network (1976)

Worst overacting of all time?

[2/10 · 22 August 2012]

I absolutely hated this movie.

Mild spoiler below

I have never seen so much shouting and screaming in my life. Every character is very, very serious and has to yell and scream and throw a mini-tantrum every scene. Watch the employee GET FIRED. Oh wait, let's hire him back. Oh let's FIRE the employee. Oh wait, let's hire him back. Oh let's FIRE the yaaawwwn.

All the actors are very, very serious because you know how serious it is to produce a network TV show. Such mellodrama. They are acting like it is the ER and the president is getting shot.

They every character has a rambling speech that goes on and on and on and on. Very serious stuff. You can tell because they have those lines in their foreheads when they speak.

More yelling. More screaming. Life or death. About a news program for God's sake.

There is has never been a film made with less subtlety. No subtlety at all. Just screaming, yetlling and overacting.

Just horrendous, horrendous acting. How did it get all those Oscars? Because Hollywood loves movies about themselves. See Shakespeare in Love for example.

It was pure agony to finish this movie. I had to break it up into four parts. I give it 2 stars because I wanted to see how they were going to end it. The whole seemed pointless.

I have never disagreed with so many reviewers in my life. I suspect it is because a lot of people saw it back in the day. Old movies have a positive bias I noticed. Most don't hold up that well. I just saw Patton yesterday and I give that a 10. This one does not stand the test of time. By the way, I was 9 when this was released so I am old too.

My overwhelming emotion in watching this movie is I wanted to tell all these actors and actresses to sit down and shut the hell up.

Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)

Boring Stupid Movie

[3/10 · 1 December 2011]

7.6? Have you all gone mad? This movie sucked. I laughed about 3 times.

Painful to watch. As with all romantic comedies, once it hits the dreaded one hour mark, go away because the "comedy" part goes and is replaced by the "romance".

In other words zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

And the first 50 minutes were no prize either.

If you are a straight male, do not be convinced by your significant (or insignificant) other to endure this crap.

If you want to see something funny have haven't seen before, go rent Saxondale. Or see The UK version of The Office again.

Americans make comedy. Britian makes humour.

The jokes in Crazy, Stupid Love were so obvious and predictable, I was covering my head with a blanket to stop the agony.

I remember when my baby had an infection and she was pooping all over the place. Cleaning that up was more fun than watching this movie. Because after 20 minutes, you were done. This just kept on going on and on and on.

Yo Gabba Gabba! (2007–2020)

This show rocks

[8/10 · 6 February 2011]

The songs are very good. I have about 6 DVDs (or my daughter does to be slightly more accurate) and there are about 12 songs that are very, very good. Like good enough that I would listen to on my own. Very catch stuff and some are pretty sophisticated musically.

Now not every song is the children's equivalent of "Freebird". But about every other episode there is a really good song.

They have lots of original songs but I was blown away by their choice of cover songs. They covered not one, but at least two songs by an obscure group called The Free Design. I have always believed their songs would be perfect in a children's show setting and it came as quite a shock to find somebody else had the same vision as I.

Many of the original songs are good. To be frank, you have a better chance of finding a good song in this show than on the radio these days. Some of the better songs are "Listen", "Different Shapes" "Riding my Bicycle"

Starsky & Hutch (2004)

Criminally underrated

[10/10 · 18 July 2010]

This movie is seriously underrated. A 6.2??? You have to be kidding me. This movie is sometimes laugh scream out load funny. Everything about it was great. The acting was great. Very subtle. Tons of great big name comedic actors of this generation. I cannot understand why people did not love this movie. Perhaps they saw the TV show and didn't like this version because they were comparing it to the TV show and this was a bit of parody. I don't remember seeing the TV show back in the day as it wasn't my bag. So I saw this with an unbiased view. All I can say is this movie's rating is one of the most off I have seen on IMDb. I notice comedies don't fare well on here. Owen Wilson was very cool and understated. Vince Vaughn did his usual bit. I have seen this twice now and it was almost as funny the 2nd time around. This movie will stand the test of time.

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Most overrated film of the year

[2/10 · 16 September 2007]

This movie was poor. I was bored out of my mind. Maybe the first 20 minutes of so was somewhat interesting as there was a big chase scene. That was followed by another chase scene. Which was followed by...well you get the drift. Actually this is all not true. The entire movie was one big chase scene. It is difficult to find a part where there was not a chase scene. Maybe if Bourne walked for 10 seconds that was a new scene. Each camera shot was one or two seconds max. It was MTV style direction. Total headache inducing cinematography. There was virtually no plot at all. I was bored. This is a good movie to go see at a drive in because you can talk throughout the whole second half of the movie and not miss a thing. This got a 8.4 on IMDb??? I was scanning the movie theaters yesterday and no less than six (6) movies were granted with a 8 rating or higher...in one theater alone. For perspective, a 7.9 was the #250 top movie of all time. Give me a break. People are getting way generous with these 8s these days. Talk about grade inflation. If you liked "Independence Day" or "Armegeddon" and "films" of that ilk, then perhaps you will like this. If you have a brain, do not go see this movie.

United 93 (2006)

Surprisingly understated. Surpassed expectations

[9/10 · 13 September 2007]

I have to tell you that I really did not intend to see this movie. I have to confess to being numb on the subject of 911 due to the overdose of it in the media over the last 6 years. I was really expecting this to be in the line of "win one for the red and blue" and all that but it surprisingly was not at all. It was the most realistic movie I may have seen. Of course one can roll their eyes at such a statement considering the subject matter, but the acting was really understated which is almost unheard of in these types of flicks. In fact, due to the subject matter, this would have given them a license to go over the top with the melodrama, but they did not.

The director really showed both sides of the story here to an extent with respect to the fact that the terrorists were nervous as well and both sides were praying to their various Gods. You really got the chilling feeling the moment the passengers heard that two planes hit the towers as it probably took them a few minutes to process that information and what exactly it meant. It also really captured the confusion in the air traffic control towers as basically it took time for people to realize what was going on and nobody really knew what to do. What could they have done really? Not much in retrospect.

Anyway, I really can't stand melodramatic movies. What a shock it was that this was the LEAST melodramatic disaster film I have ever seen when it could very, very easily have been the most.

I am burnt out on the media overkill of 911, yet this movie still managed to be perhaps the most intense movie I have ever seen.

The Break-Up (2006)

Don't believe the negative reviews

[7/10 · 5 June 2006]

This movie is very funny. Thus far, it is the funniest movie I have seen since 40 year old Virgin. The key here is the humour is very subtle in nature. My gf and I were laughing out loud at many parts the audience was silent in. The reasons why it was so funny is the character's dialogue was frighteningly close to my gf and mine's daily "dialgoue." The writers were very spot on. An example of what I am talking about is the scene which I saw in a preview somewhere when Jennifer says "You should take out the garbage because you should WANT to" and Vince counters with "Who wants to take out the garbage?" The audience gave only a few nervous chuckles in this exchange but I found it to be very funny as it was so spot on. My gf and I both agreed that it was the most accurate depiction of a couple's arguments ever recorded on the celluloid (or whatever they record things on these days).

I think the vast majority of people will not "get it". But the screenwriters are geniuses and Vince and JA are both spot on. Very realistic portrayals, nothing overacted here.