filmpudding Reviews

Schitt's Creek (2015–2020)

Terrible

[1/10 · 13 January 2016]

First of all how does this show get higher than 7 out of 10 on this page and that many votes? I suspect serious Frank D'Angelo level vote tampering and ballot box stuffing if that is that case because I can't think of one single real life person who has seen this show and not hated it.

Not even my own parents who love EVERYTHING on CBC, absolutely every single show they see they love, even some other real crap in the past like Royal Canadian Air Farce and Little Mosque on the Prairie... not even they liked this show. This show is predictable, unfunny and un- watchable.

IMDb needs to do something about their voting rules and weed out some of the obviously fake positive, glowing reviews here. This show is just garbage.

The star (Levy Jr.) is also one of the worst "actors" I have ever seen on television. Shows like this are why CBC is dying as a network.

Marty (1955)

Great!

[10/10 · 10 January 2016]

Marty is a great movie and the main reason for that is the great performances given by the two stars, Betsy something (I can't remember sorry) and Ernest Borgnine who I've always been a fan of, who apparently won an Oscar for this which I never knew about. It's good to know he won an Academy Award for this because like I said I've always been a fan of that actor because he always played good characters and just seemed like a really nice guy, but also because in this movie, which I have never even heard of before, he gives just a really fantastic performance as Marty.

Marty (Borgnine) is a butcher and one of several children (the only one still living at home) of his Italian mother who worries a lot about him and wants him to find love/a wife. He has all but given up on that and thinks he is too over the hill to hope to find a woman (he's in his 30s) but he relents to her pressure and goes to a dance where he meets a woman who might have similar reservations and also fears.

Great story, very honest, and really great performances. Can't recommend this one highly enough.

Bordertown (2016)

I Care About Entertainment, Not Politics... and This Show Sucks!

[1/10 · 10 January 2016]

I'm almost through watching episode number two, and this will be the last episode of this show that I will ever watch. I see a lot of other negative reviews here but they seem to be focusing on politics, and how this show allegedly has a "pro-illegal" immigrant lean, and discusses the politics and right-versus-left or left-versus-right lean of the Fox network, whatever it is.

The fact is, I don't live in the U.S. and don't have a horse in that race at all. The only thing I'm watching this show for is jokes and entertainment value. I'm looking for good stories, writing and above all characters.

The problem is that this show has none of that. Like at all. I spend the entire time rolling my eyes and sighing in disbelief at how bad this show is. It really just comes off as desperate, how hard they're trying to sell these jokes that everyone involved must know are just not funny.

By the way, getting back on the politics/Fox thing, and this is totally unrelated to the topic of this show but I honestly don't understand - so Fox News is very right leaning but Fox network is very left leaning? I just don't get what's going on, but sometimes I read hate of Fox being "too conservative" but also of shows like this being "too liberal." Again, I live in another country.

Anyway I still enjoy other Fox animated series. I don't watch The Simpsons any more because I think it's a pale comparison of what it once was and also after all these years I'm just tired of it. Futurama was incredible, about as funny as The Simpsons in its prime. American Dad is still good, Family Guy isn't what it once was either but is still funny.

But Bordertown is really awful. I wouldn't be surprised if it got canceled before the end of this season. It's so bad it actually makes The Cleveland Show look not-so-awful, and that show was garbage. (Still, it lasted several seasons somehow, so I guess whatever few fans Bordertown has can hold out hope for this one too.)

Ground Floor (2013–2015)

Unfunny, Unwatchable

[1/10 · 8 January 2016]

I just could not sit through another episode of this show even if you paid me.

I sat through two entire episodes and tried watching a third but couldn't make it through. The writing is super lazy, with repetitive, predictable and unfunny jokes. The kind of stuff you'd expect from somebody trying to write or do stand up comedy for the very first time ever.

The actors are awful but I blame the writing. The main star is just terrible but it's hard to say if it's his fault or not, since McGinley comes across as average at best and I have been a huge fan of him in pretty much every else that I've ever seen him in, including Scrubs (which I wasn't a huge fan of overall but which is definitely a lot better than this dreck.)

I'm glad this is cancelled and if it is ever on in reruns and you're thinking "should I check this out?" the answer in my opinion is a resounding "no, no, nooooo!"

The Cleveland Show (2009–2013)

1 (awful)

[1/10 · 4 January 2016]

I hate to admit it because I wanted to like it very much - I enjoyed Family Guy and like Seth Macfarlane - but The Cleveland Show was just not a very funny show.

To be completely honest I'm very surprised that this show lasted four seasons.

The characters were not very funny. The chemistry wasn't quite there and none of them rose to the challenge of making the show worth watching on their own.

Not sure what else to say. It just wasn't very funny and used the usual "shocking" race, sex and toilet jokes but it just was never that entertaining.

Z Nation (2014–2018)

Piggybacking on "Walking Dead"... and Pretty Awful.

[2/10 · 2 January 2016]

There are some fun kills in this show, but overall it's a very pale imitation of much better zombie shows, especially the one zombie show that this show is obviously trying the hardest to imitate - "The Walking Dead."

The effects are not the worst I've ever seen but they're hardly the best either. Some of them are laughable and I don't think they're doing it for intentional laughs. Blood splatter, CGI zombie eyes and gore in general are pretty sub-par.

The acting isn't bad. I'm always entertained by DJ Qualls for whatever reason, even in this where the writers have him delivering some pretty awful lines and doing some pretty unbelievable (sometimes laughable stupid) things.

But the main thing that kills me about this show is the complete lack of any logic whatsoever.

• speaking of DJ Qualls, where is everyone else at his base? There's not even any bodies? I guess he's not worried at all about power or fuel since he's obviously got tons of meat in a freezer, all the lights on and the heat cranked enough that he's hanging out in his Arctic base in a short-sleeved Hawaiian shirt with everything always turned on.

• the show begins with a camp being overrun by zombies and the few survivors get over it immediately... even their bus load of children who get eaten.

• every time one of these people comes across a radio and uses it (i.e. a walkie in a random police cruiser) DJ Qualls immediately picks it up on his computer screen. As unlikely/stupid it is to believe that this one guy and his one computer could be monitoring every signal everywhere at the same time and picking them up immediately, my main problem with this is that there are a lot of survivors all over the place. Wouldn't people everywhere be trying to use radios to call for help? Using them to contact each other? The phone lines are actually working (how?!) but I guess no one else is tying up the lines in case DJ Qualls needs to get in touch with Addie? So stupid.

• the characters are one dimensional with flawed (if any) logic and flimsy motivation. In episode one they meet up and pretty much immediately decide to band together with a strange girl they find in a cage, an obviously unbalanced teen aged sniper and an on edge "leader" (why is he the leader again?) to get the world's biggest jerk, who obviously is a liar, all the way to California because he's the cure or some such nonsense.

• none of these people think to say "hey, DJ Qualls, if you're the army can't you send a unit to pick this guy up, who have a much better chance of getting him there? Or maybe just one plane or chopper? And if not because everyone is dead, then who the heck is waiting for us in California? Anyone?" They all just blindly follow this insane plan to get him "to California" - where in California? It doesn't matter, I guess, since none of them even bother to ask. They're just like, "yep! We'd better get him to that state then!"

• if their mission is really so important to them, what's with all the side trips? The quickest way to California from NYC is not through Philadelphia then Washington, D.C. Where are they going and why? Do none of them have a map? Why is DJ Qualls not using satellites to give them the safest possible route, or questioning why they're going south through heavily populated, zombie-infested areas instead of west to California? Why are they all doing this instead of going quickly west to get rid of this jerk/use him to find a cure quickly?

• can someone please tell me why people are setting elaborate traps in order to steal their truck?! This is a post-apocalyptic world where almost everyone is dead. Guess what they left behind: vehicles. Fuel. Also, canned and preserved food. Clothing. Bottled water. Entire water towers full of water. Why are they so filthy, hungry, thirsty and desperate for transportation all the time? Why are they using toilet paper like currency? When the world went to hell did everyone use up and burn all their toilet paper before they turned? These people and this story are insane.

The characters they come across are pretty unbelievably stupid. The villains are one dimensional, have no depth, and don't last long enough to even start gaining any depth. It's hard to even care about the heroes of the story, they're so thinly written.

So that's about it. The main problem is the incredibly lazy writing. Some decent actors are wasted. The characters are shallow, unbelievable and we form no real connection with any of them... in short, skip this show.

Still Standing (2015– )

More Old People Jokes from CBC

[1/10 · 19 December 2015]

The host of this show seems harmless. He's the guy from Murdoch Mysteries (the Newfoundlander policeman) and CBC has brought him over to host this show too.

In the show he goes to a small town, meets some of the people and then does a stand-up comedy show for them with shots of them all laughing their heads off.

The problem is this show is not actually funny and I'm sure to these people he really is a cut-up and the jokes (about them and their town) are super hilarious to them but to everyone else it's just basic inside jokes.

Plus the obligatory jokes about Ottawa and how the Toronto Maple Leafs suck and all the other basic jokes we've all heard a million times before. Nothing special here.

The people all seem nice and CBC is definitely following its mandate to show different people in different parts of the country but I wish they would also have a mandate to actually give us funny jokes. After years of lame shows like Air Farce they seem to just be continuing their efforts to make unfunny throwaway garbage like this. Whatever happened to actually trying to make funny shows, like Kids in the Hall?

30 Minutes or Less (2011)

Not Good

[1/10 · 18 November 2015]

I love Danny McBride in pretty much everything else I've ever seen him in but I couldn't stand this movie. I made myself get through the whole thing constantly reminding myself that it had to get better but it just never did.

There were a couple of pretty good jokes that made me laugh a bit, like the guy on the floor in the bank and the ink packs were definitely funny parts. But overall it was just one bad joke after another. Too bad because the premise is great, that two guys kidnap a pizza delivery boy, strap a bomb vest to him with a timer and also remote detonator, and tell him to rob a bank and get $100,000 for them by that night or he'd blow up.

I also like Jesse Eisenberg in the few things I've seen him in, but just couldn't stand this movie at all. I guess it's probably huge fun for potheads, but overall it's just one bad joke after another, and pretty predictable.

Die Hard (1988)

One of the Best

[10/10 · 7 November 2015]

"Die Hard" is simply put one of the very best action movies that's ever been committed to film. Absolutely everything about the movie is perfect, or very close to it. Starting with Bruce Willis as the star, who finds himself caught up, totally unprepared, in a "terrorist" situation where a Japanese corporation's L.A. office building is taken over by heavily armed, highly trained German terrorists (or mercenaries, or maybe just thieves.)

Alan Rickman is an incredible villain in this who steals every scene he's in.

The best part about this movie is that it is much more believable and realistic than other action movies. He's a flawed cop, barefoot, and he actually makes mistakes and gets very badly hurt. The good guys aren't perfect. It's largely luck as well as his own toughness and ingenuity that get him through each gunfight, and his need to get his wife (who works for the corporation) back from the bad guys.

Incredible story, pitch perfect acting, lots of great comic relief moments (the dad from Family Matters is in it!), fantastic action sequences. This movie is a must see for action lovers!

Jesse James: Lawman (2015)

Writer, Director, Producer, Cast, Crew.... All Should Be Ashamed

[1/10 · 21 October 2015]

This is a horrible excuse for a movie and I use the term movie very loosely here.

The plot/script has the depth of something written by the average grade schooler. The movie is only about 70 minutes long plus credits and even that is a huge stretch for this basic plot, there are no twists and turns at all.

The only reason to watch this poor excuse for a B movie (and really it is more like an F or a G movie at best) is that Kevin Sorbo and Peter Fonda are in it. How they got these guys to be in this movie is beyond me. They must have thrown a ton of money at them (which I believe since obviously no money went into the actual producing of this low/micro/zero budget mess). They must have fired their agents after this since they obviously did not read this terrible script before signing on to do it. How can this embarrassing non movie be anything but horrible for their careers? Peter Fonda won an Oscar and now he is somehow doing crap like this?

It probably also helped that their parts in this movie probably only took about a half hour to film. Which is another problem in this movie, the two "stars" on the poster are almost never actually in it. I hate movie posters that lie like that, such a rip off. Instead we get no name actors to go alone with the no name, zero talent production team, who should all be ashamed of their lack of talent and their lies in presenting this as a movie starring Kevin Sorbo and Peter Fonda.

The acting is terrible by the way. Just not as bad as the script and direction. Or lack of script and terrible direction I should say.

A terrible effort all around though I don't think any real effort went into this.

The costumes and set are even pathetic. Couldn't they at least have put a little effort into this thing?

A blemish on Peter Fonda's acting resume, nothing more, but luckily this non movie is already forgotten so hopefully nobody else ever makes the mistake of trying to watch this travesty.

Spun Out (2014–2015)

Awful

[1/10 · 25 August 2015]

Spun Out is awful.

Even without the fact that one of the cast members is apparently a perverted psychopath who puts cameras in girls' apartments to spy on them, it is just bad in general. It is not funny or even just good on any level.

The actors are terrible at acting and also terrible at comedy, they can't even deliver jokes. Then again they probably do not have their hearts in it really because the scripts they have must be written on used toilet paper.

Worst comedy ever, worst acting ever, worst scripts ever, all adds up to worst show ever.

Plus a dirty peeping pervert. There is nothing I can think of about this show that makes it one bit worth watching.

Sunnyside (2015)

Un-Good

[3/10 · 18 August 2015]

I know un-good is not a real word but it somehow seems to fit this show perfectly.

The writing is really awful, the acting is mostly awful too, and the show as a whole is bad as well. The entire concept behind this show is just flawed.

This is yet another pretty terrible sketch comedy series on Canadian television.

There are a lot of people I recognize in this show and I think it may be the same people from Hotbox which is another confusing, annoying, unfunny mess of a sketch comedy series. How do these shows keep getting made and how do these people keep getting work? I am almost ready to give up on Canadian TV.

I give it a three because other shows are actually easily worse (such as the Hotbox that I already mentioned) but it's definitely not worth watching either.

Aziz Ansari Live in Madison Square Garden (2015 TV Special)

Not Funny

[1/10 · 5 August 2015]

Not sure what this guy's appeal is or where all the hype is from (he apparently sold out Madison Square Garden so he must have a pretty large fan base) but I did not find him funny at all, at least not based on this television special. He has other, earlier television specials so I'm assuming they are probably a lot better as they are higher rated here on IMDb.

Perhaps it's just a question of him running out of material after using all his best bits in the earlier specials? I'm not sure what the reason is but this one hour special did not make me laugh even once, or even smile one time.

A lot of the jokes aren't just bad they're predictable or "re-hashed". How many times do we need to hear jokes about how nobody likes vegetables but bacon is amazing? He seriously did like five or ten minutes on that, including a meat vs. vegetables basketball game act out that made no sense at all.

Yawn.

Man Up (II) (2015)

OK premise, bad movie

[1/10 · 4 August 2015]

Man Up is a decent premise for a movie - basically a slacker takes a year off so he and his girlfriend can be in the same classes in college (though he pretty obviously does not have any plans to ever actually go to college, which infuriates his mother and rest of his family), then she drops the bomb that she is pregnant. He gets kicked out of the house, she dumps him and moves away until the baby is ready to be born, and he has to move in with his best friend Randall and "man up" to try to win her back.

The story isn't awful but the acting of the two leads is pretty bad. At times it feels a bit painful. Also the writing is not very good with some really obvious plot holes and bad jokes, such as "my neighbors have a baby and it is so annoying, it cries like a baby!"

I made myself finish watching it because I almost never bail on a movie before it's finished, but I kind of wish I hadn't. Thought it would get better at some point but it really didn't.

Die Hard 2 (1990)

Great!

[10/10 · 24 July 2015]

I thought Die Hard 2: Die Harder was a great movie and I honestly think it is very underrated as an action film classic. It definitely suffers a bit regarding people's opinions of it because the movie it follows, the first Die Hard, was such an awesome and even perfect action movie that there is no way for any sequel to even come close to living up to it at all.

The second movie also takes place at Christmas and this time John McClane (Bruce Willis) is reunited with his now back together family but at the airport in Washington D.C. where his wife is going to be landing the air traffic controller tower is taken over by terrorists who hold all the planes in the sky hostage and will make them crash unless the authorities release the military prisoner from Central America that is being flown into the airport that day on a U.S. Army aircraft.

The action and story are amazing with more great performances and humour, I recommend this movie and the first three Die Hard movies without reservation! #1 is the best!