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georgeritmeester
Reviews
The Stepfather (2009)
unnecessary remake
I never saw the original, but my summary is based on other reviews found here. Reasonably entertaining, but too unrealistic because:
1) The mother is of normal or superior intelligence except when it's time to add two and two. Her neighbor tells her the guy looks like someone on America's Most Wanted, and she doesn't even check it out when it only takes a few clicks of the mouse.
1a) Even when the neighbor dies shortly after advising her of the above, the mother still suspects nothing.
1b) Even when she learns the guy quit the job with his sister as soon as she wanted his social security number and other info, she's still not suspicious.
1c) In real life, the mother would kick the guy out of the house and tell him to get lost after finding out what he did to her younger son. Instead, she treats it like a minor incident hardly worth mentioning.
2) Same problem with girlfriend. Smart enough to go to college but, aside from all the other suspicions the son relayed to her, when he explains how the guy could not have known the neighbor fell down the stairs and broke her neck, because all the mailman told him was that the neighbor had an accident, she just blows it off instead of considering that suspicious.
3) How did the guy get into the mother's email? He may be living with her but it seems unlikely she would have volunteered the password to her email.
4) Nobody in real life could still function normally after being stabbed in the neck with a large piece of glass.
5) Even though his suspicions continued to increase as time went by, the son never once goes to the police, when all he would have had to do is ask them to check out if the guy was the one on America's Most Wanted.
6) The concluding scene is a plot device that was apparently popularized by Silence of the Lambs. But here it makes no sense. The guy would be dead or in jail awaiting trial, not free to move to another town and assume yet another anonymous identity.
7) I'm not sure anything here is actually a spoiler alert.
8) Modernized thrillers usually make the story more believable. If that was the intent here, it failed miserably. Perhaps the most egregious scene is the one where the sister is about to head for the airport when she discovers the wind blew a table umbrella into her pool (or was tossed there by the killer). Instead of just leaving it in the pool until she returns from her trip, she wastes precious time trying to retrieve the umbrella from the pool while a lightning storm is in progress - more important than making sure she doesn't miss her flight or get electrocuted, I guess. But this idiocy had to be introduced to have a plausible scenario for the guy to be able to murder her quickly without any witnesses. A close second is the fact the killer doesn't turn off the ringer on the murdered ex-husband's cellphone, which he has to keep using to send and receive text messages making it appear the son's father is still alive and still communicating. And a close third is the fact that the mother allows the new guy to keep the basement door locked when it's her house - not his.
9) That being said, reasonably entertaining when you're in the mood to just flake out and take a vacation from your mind. But if you're chomping at the bit to watch a great movie, better save this one for another time.
Scott & Bailey (2011)
American TV COULD LEARN A LESSON
As this and other shows/movies illustrate, trying to solve crimes provides way more drama and tension than good guys and bad guys shooting machine guns at each other. And the actors are believable as experienced police detectives, unlike with so many American shows where the alleged FBI experts, street-savvy cops or whatever look like they just gave up a modeling job yesterday to join the FBI/police force/etc. And the personal issues the two main detectives are dealing with seem real rather than contrived, as is so often the case with Hollywood-type crime dramas. Scott and Bailey has one thing in common with Perry Mason. In Perry Mason, once Perry confronts the real killer in court, the killer always caves and confesses. It would be interesting to see an episode where Perry still has to prove it to a jury's satisfaction in a new trial. In Scott and Bailey, they always solve the crime just at the end of the episode, but never have to prove it in court. The show always ends without a trial for the actual perpetrator. This is not a huge problem as the viewer can be confident the available evidence will be sufficient for a conviction. However, some episodes end without any understanding of the motive behind the killing. Perhaps the motive is revealed but not always readily apparent? This isn't necessarily a negative. Many episodes are so complex one can certainly enjoy a second viewing, unlike with paint by the numbers Hollywood crime dramas. However, things do proceed at a brisk pace. I find that I often have to read an episode summary to clearly understand the entire episode. But this probably has as much to do with the British accents as anything else. I often can't make out what was said (thus often missing key points) and wouldn't mind having sub-titles for this show.
Is Genesis History? (2017)
file under fantasy and science fiction
I gave it a 3 because it's very well made with excellent production values. However, it's such a godawful load of crap that I can't even be bothered giving an example, except to say that it quickly devolves from outlandish claims about the origins of various geological formations to going on and on about the Bible.
Step Brothers (2008)
reading the dictionary is more entertaining
I was stunned by the review from SidelinePictures. This may be the single most godawful comedy I've ever seen in my entire life, and probably ranks in my top ten of the worst movies I've ever seen in any category. So bad, in fact, that it makes a lousy movie like Staten Island look like the work of a comedy writing genius. So bad that you're angry that you wasted one and one-half hours of your limited lifespan watching this irredeemable garbage. Far from laughing throughout the entire movie, I can't recall if there was a single scene that made I or my wife laugh (though admittedly there may have been one or two). Will Ferrell is an amazing talent, but not even Charlie Chaplin could have overcome a script that's beyond atrocious.
The Misfits (1961)
interesting theme but poor character development
There are a number of interesting things about this show, as detailed by other reviewers. Unfortunately, it all gets ruined by the never-ending incredibly bad behavior of the sociopath in the group. If he had a redeeming quality, it could be not only tolerable but offer an intriguing additional element. As it stands, his only quality seems to be his deep commitment to incessantly behaving like an insensitive and mean-spirited idiot just because he can. My wife and I had to give up on it after four episodes even though we were somewhat interested in the fate of the other characters, as the sociopath is just too irritating and never gives you a break.
I only realized just now that readers may think I'm reviewing the Clark Gable movie. Sorry 'bout that. This is actually a review of the British TV series with the same name.
Sightseers (2012)
5 minute sketch stretched into an insufferable movie
I was very surprised that every review wasn't along the lines of that of carliebseattle. This is close to being the worst movie I've ever seen. No plot - everything happens by happenstance. No exploration of character to glean the roots of the ongoing psychopathy (which, as this movie suggests, is apparently contagious). Most of what is intended to be comedy is not in the least humorous. There is a little bit of twisted sexual humour, but it's like giving a handful of popcorn to someone who hasn't eaten for three weeks. I've seen a lot of bad movies, but not many like this - ones so bad that it makes you angry you wasted your time watching it. The surprise ending is slightly satisfying, but doesn't come close to making up for the boring and misguided buildup. I'm only giving it a one out of ten because I'm not allowed to give it a zero rating. Warning - Don't be misled by the reviewer who claimed that you would like this if you loved Harold and Maude. You wouldn't.
Staten Island Summer (2015)
atrocious
Maureen Donohue is really lucky she stopped watching after 15 minutes. This is probably the worst teen comedy I've ever seen. It's filled with ridiculous plot devices that are just plain stupid without any redeeming humor, such as the handyman using jet fuel to destroy a hornet's nest. Another unfortunate aspect is that it may encourage dangerously irresponsible behavior among teenagers who watch it and think it reflects how a teenager behaves to be considered cool or to attract the opposite sex. But the movie isn't just stupid and not very funny. It's also quite offensive. The scene with the ice cream truck driver swearing vociferously in front of a group of small children was completely unnecessary. It did not advance the story in any way, and if this were happening in real life, somebody would be calling the police. The most offensive aspect of the movie is reserved for it's implication that it's normal behavior for a boy in the third grade to dry hump whatever is handy while fantasizing about diddling his babysitter. Who is the lame-brained sicko who wrote the script, I wondered. Was I ever shocked to discover it's the head writer for SNL, Colin Jost, who has won numerous awards. He seems to be a few bricks short of a load when it comes to sexual intelligence, and I'm referring to the overall depiction of boy-girl relations in the movie, not just the particular scene I mentioned. After seeing the movie, I wasn't surprised to discover that he names Norm McDonald as a primary influence for his stint on Weekend Update. McDonald was by far the worst ever on Weekend Update in the history of the show, at least up to Seth Myers (haven't seen it since). In fact, McDonald was so bad that it was irritating to have to sit through Weekend Update before seeing the rest of the show. That Jost thinks McDonald was so great is just weird. Maureen is no longer enamored with Animal House. But, believe me, you're way better off watching Animal House again than wasting your time on this piece of garbage, especially disappointing since it has a number of SNLers in the cast.