Fleharty Reviews

Hit the Floor (2013–2018)

If it weren't for Brent Antonello and Kristian Kordula.....

[3/10 · 8 September 2023]

.....kissing (devouring each other) in each episode, this tripe wouldn't be worth the time I spent on it. The truth is, it's the only reason I watched it.

I'll thank them and the producers for giving us that much, at least. Ibsen, this ain't; but it doesn't try to be. It's "Hooters" in different costumes. Predictable, snoozy and boring. There have been myriad opportunities over the eight decades of television to make it anything but vapid and vacuous, but smart money is not on entertaining and educating; it's on stuff like this, more and more. I gave this one star each for Brent and Kristian, and one star for diversity of the females in the "cast". The other seven stars I'm giving to almost anything and everything else.

Walk on Water (2004)

Plenty of turns and pleasant surprises

[8/10 · 5 December 2022]

This was, I thought, going to be a gay German/Israeli movie.

It wasn't. I was prepared to be fine with that, because who doesn't like a nice romance between to guys who take awhile to connect with each other?

Instead, this was about limits each man had, and how they resolved for themselves to act on what was important to them.

I didn't see much of this coming, and I appreciated that,.

Good acting, a good story, nice direction---each and all, nuanced and not obvious.

Well done to everyone associated with this film.

I hope you'll all work together again.

(Well, not all; Himmelman can't......and ain't that just too bad.)

Cheers from Montana;

Montana Griz.

Life Sentence (2018)

Fruit Which Hangs So Low, It Must be Dug Up.

[2/10 · 8 December 2020]

If this is what defines current-day comedy, Jesus, take me now. Characters from the Millennial Comedia del Arte, spewing dialogue so predictable, I can count on two hands-----in the first episode----the number of times I could predict the punch lines to ultra-weak setups. The on-screen people (I won't write 'actors', because then it would imply I mean all of them, and that wouldn't be fair to those who aren't flavor-of-the-month print ad models) are trying. Mostly to remember their lines, god bless 'em, and deliver them in fewer than 15 takes. I appreciate that talent agents have difficult jobs, and I appreciate that they have a big sigh of relief when the next mortgage payment can be made as a result of landing a role for a client. But how do the agents sleep at night, knowing they've all but hobbled said clients from ever getting hired for a future Buick commercial? The script is formulaic. A joke (that's being generous) every 30 seconds, and at each 17 minutes, time for an advertisement (which aren't on Netflix---though I wish they were: I'd time myself to watch the ads and mute the speakers in-between 'em). I believe producers and writers have created an ascendingly moronic audience while at the same time, delivered descendingly artistic or genuine entertainment for those who have the dreadful choice each day of Xbox, Playstation, Tik-Tok, YouTube, Netflix or Amazon Prime Video. So many choices of Vapidity for the Sincerely Vacuous. Where on Earth does one start? This medium has now been around for 80 years. Technology has taken it places that people from its inception to even ten years ago couldn't have imagined. Packaging and delivery is now as efficient as Friday Night Pizza. So why haven't the writing, production and acting kept pace? Until the viewing public launch their own version of the climactic scene in "Les Miserables", barricading their brains and time from the onslaught of destructive, muzzle-loaded boring boorishness, we have no one to blame but ourselves. It has been said before, and it's being repeated right now, the reason there are no modern Mozarts, Shakespeares or Judy Garlands is because the public doesn't demand any. Please. Start demanding, and stop compromising, beginning with "Life Sentence". The title implies what should be given to most of the people associated with this drivel. And absolutely no chance for parole.

The Umbrella Academy (2019–2024)

Creative, inventive and mostly compellingly interesting

[7/10 · 30 July 2020]

But I'll be danged if I have ever seen a performance from Ellen Page that is not exactly like whichever one preceded--or succeeded--it. The rest of it, though, and the rest of the cast, keep me hangin' on. I'm hoping Season Two will be at least as good as Season One.

Happiness Adjacent (2018)

The 'Love Boat' episode we never saw

[6/10 · 2 July 2020]

First: the entire film was shot on an iPhone. The production equipment cost was $799.99. This is the future of film-making, and that makes titles like this possible. Second: I've wasted more time on worse movies from big studios. This wasn't a waste. The story was told tightly. The characters made as much sense as they could, and are people I'd probably want to know (although the couple would be at a few backyard barbecues, or for run-ins at the neighborhood farmers' markets). Hank, though.....a version of Woody Allen's everysinglecharacter with whom I could actually enjoy a conversation. I worked at sea for a cruise line for years, and yes, this script could've been lifted almost word for word from the very similar encounters I saw between gay guys and a male-female couples while plying the Briny Deep. I'd watch this again. Unrequited Love is never an out-of-date subject. Unfortunately.

Merry Happy Whatever (2019)

This time, I wasted only three minutes.

[1/10 · 2 December 2019]

Because that's when an audience laugh track gave me couch rage. There's no excuse. Cheerfully, Jeph