kevinmorice Reviews

3 Body Problem (2024)

Science is broken?

[4/10 · 21 April 2024]

"Science is broken".

That was as far as I got.

I was already put off by the credits being a straight rip off of Westworld but using strings instead of piano.

But two "physicists" saying something as dumb science is broken in the first 5 minutes, then one of them committing suicide in what appeared to be a giant tank where the only safety precaution was a handrail that you could just unhook and open, and from that point I could not care less about how stupid the rest of this might get. I watched another half hour to see if it got any better, and all that happened was some prettier people turned up and said similarly stupid things.

The Whale (2022)

Explaining my rating

[5/10 · 27 January 2023]

Brendan Fraser is excellent, if he doesn't win the Best Actor Oscar it will be an absolute travesty.

But I go to the cinema to enjoy myself. I am not interested in 2 hours of what is effectively a stage play that has been filmed to make a snuff movie about someone slowly killing themselves while their friends and family help them. I am certainly not interested in that being portrayed as some message of hope and happiness.

None of the characters are likeable. The only one I have even vague sympathy for is Dan the pizza delivery guy. The excuses given for where they are in their lives are just excuses.

The Magnificent Seven (2016)

It isn't Magnificent but...

[7/10 · 18 January 2023]

Denzel does his thing, and the supporting cast around him do enough to make it work as a decent remake. Chris Pratt seems to think he is in the original and tries to make it a bit comedic but everyone else is in a much grittier film.

As always though Vincent D'Onofrio absolutely steals every scene he is in. Even up against Denzel, he is the class act every time he appears. From his violent introduction through his bible quotations his is the only character who also develops measurably through the film.

The comments with complaints about the music aren't fair. It isn't as good as the original but it fits better with the darker tone of this version.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part IV (2022) Season 1, Episode 4

Disaster ending to an otherwise average episode

[4/10 · 26 June 2022]

The ridiculous arrival of the snow speeders at exactly the moment they were needed, coupled to the utterly garbage CGI of them flying in and not just crashing into the blast doors, then performing a ridiculous hover manoeuvre outside, was complete nonsense.

In addition to ruining this episode it also takes any agency away from the trio of protagonists.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Spock Amok (2022) Season 1, Episode 5

Proper Star Trek

[8/10 · 17 June 2022]

Discovery is a disaster. Picard is so lost in trying to fit actor contracts to a script. But this is actual Star Trek. Episodic sci-fi with good characters.

The references and stories aren't damaging by undercutting the originals (in the way that Enterprise and Discovery often did).

The only real question is 'how high can they stack Anson Mount's hair?'

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Deja Q (1990) Season 3, Episode 13

Not the best episode, but some of the best lines

[8/10 · 4 March 2022]

This is far from the best episode of TNG, but it is riddled with some of the very best lines. Especially John De Lancie, and his delivery of:

"Eaten any good books lately?", "Please don't feel compelled now to tell me the story of The Boy Who Cried 'Worf'.", "Simple. Change the gravitational constant of the universe.", "You weren't like that before the beard.", "Ah, Dr. Crusher. I see Starfleet has shipped you back into exile." "Your bedside manner's admirable, Doctor. I'm sure your patients recover quickly, just to get away from you!"

NCIS: The Helpers (2022) Season 19, Episode 13

Jimmy episodes are worth waiting for

[8/10 · 2 March 2022]

NCIS has become a slog, and is overdue for either a massive revamp or a big finish. The only episodes that are worth wading through the dross for are the Brain Dietzen / Jimmy episodes. The last one that really stood out was when it was Jimmy on the window ledge.

I have long since stopped caring about McGhee (as have the writers apparently) and have never had any attachment to the other newer characters. But Jimmy, I am going to miss.

Reacher (2022– )

Read the book, like the book, just film the book - Simple!

[8/10 · 7 February 2022]

Dear Hollywood, This is how it should work. People read a book. People like that book. You then just film the book directly. No messing about, no rewrites, no major edits, no nonsense, no casting someone 5'9" to play a 6'5" monster.

I read the book last year and the biggest change I could spot was that it was a slightly less ridiculous sports car that he borrows from the bankers wife.

National Champions (2021)

Good film, but requires previous knowledge

[7/10 · 28 January 2022]

The problem is that the underlying subject is too niche. You need to have at least some background in how US collegiate sports, and the US sports draft systems, work in order for the entire movie to make sense.

No amount of great performances from great actors can turn that niche subject into a popular movie. And there are plenty of them. JK Simmons is great. Uzo Aduba (new to me) absolutely smashes her role. The supporting characters are rounded out to prevent them becoming cheap stereotypes.

The extra twists are unnecessary, and often distracting from the main story, and the ending falls flat, but it is still worth 110 minutes of your time.

Midway (2019)

If Marvel did Midway

[5/10 · 22 January 2022]

Lots of CGI, lots of overly-pretty people, with badly faked accents, doing the physically impossible, complete abandonment of the laws of physics and bad guys with no depth, development or character.

Huge chunks of the history either ignored, or rewritten, in favour of special effects.

Given how much actual footage is available for reference, this is a complete travesty of a movie.

The 355 (2022)

It is a bit of a mess

[5/10 · 14 January 2022]

Considering the cast, this is a bit of a mess.

The story makes no sense, even if the McMuffin wasn't magical in the first place, at any of the multiple points that they have it, they could just destroy it.

The bad guy could just kill them all but just walks away, leaving them in an apartment with its own armoury in the next room.

In particular the timing and continuity is just a shambles.

Here is my favourite example. The gang are following a suspect in Morocco. He goes in to a men-only bath-house. They realise that neither of the white girls can follow him, so the black girl comes down from remote overwatch, changes her outfit, buys some soap to give her an excuse to enter the building, meets her team-mate outside, goes in to the building to follow the perpetrator, and he is still making his way down the same 20ft hallway. If they hadn't made it a thing then you might not notice, but they go out of their way to telegraph all the steps she has to take!

Quantum Leap: Shock Theater - October 3, 1954 (1991) Season 3, Episode 22

I hate this episode, which makes it one of my favourites

[9/10 · 13 January 2022]

The flexibility of QL gave them scope to have comedy episodes, drama episode, faux horror episodes, but this was the first episode where I was genuinely scared by it. Knowing it was the last episode of the season also brought in the potential that things could actually go wrong and end the show.

The compilation of flashbacks and Scott Bakula actually doing impressions of the other actors for the first time also gave a previously unseen twist to this episode.

Belfast (2021)

90 minutes of arty photography

[3/10 · 5 January 2022]

An interesting study in "what is the weirdest angle that this scene could possibly be shot from?".

If you want to stare at 1950s postcard images of Belfast for an hour and a half while nothing of a story happens in the background, this is the film for you.

If you want to be entertained, pick literally anything else available.

Blade Runner: Black Lotus (2021–2022)

A half rendered unplayable video game

[5/10 · 17 November 2021]

The backgrounds and NPCs are perfectly good but the major characters are just not good enough. With the exception of the pink jacket, it isnt even on the level of the 2001 Final Fantasy movie. As for story, if there is one, that goes beyond the first episode, it is just a Bourne Identity rip off. Amnesiac lead turns up in a world we recognise with a link to their back story, superhero level skills and occasional flashbacks that appear exactly when they have plot relevance.

Last Night in Soho (2021)

Technical masterpiece

[9/10 · 29 October 2021]

Primarily this is a technical masterpiece of shooting, choreography and editing. But beyond that it is a really well constructed horror story with engaging characters.

It makes no bones about borrowing from other work. There are more than a few nods to other films; the Shining and Bill and Teds Bogus Journey jump out but there are plenty of others tucked in behind them.

The 'surprises' are all foretold, so you have no excuse for not seeing them coming, you just had to be paying attention.

The only slight miss for me is that there are a few jokes thrown in. I thought they worked to lighten moments throughout the story but the rest of the audience around me seemed distracted by them.

Foundation (2021– )

Missed the target

[4/10 · 26 October 2021]

The main problem I have with this interpretation is not the massive rewrites, the woke recasting, the budget effects and props, the unnecessary fractured storytelling, ... but is that it keeps leaning on fundamental ideas from the books that it hasn't bothered to explain while at the same time it rambles around trying to explain other inconsequential nonsense.

Infinite (2021)

Made for TV, should have been a series

[5/10 · 25 August 2021]

The idea is there, the repeatability is there. You can basically recast at will so never hit cast costs for returning actors. You can flashback infinitely. Why did someone crush this into a terrible short movie?

Mare of Easttown: Sacrament (2021) Season 1, Episode 7

Hit and miss, depends what you wanted

[7/10 · 13 July 2021]

So the acting and the story and the end of the series, as a TV show, is great. It closes things off and does pay off for the viewers who just want to watch the end of the story and get closure on the series.

But, OMG, is it a mess of holes.

Nevermind the gun timeline that has been pointed out by several other commenters:

Ex-cop loses his gun but doesn't report it... John Ross who is in jail for murder, is not guilty of murder, would be re-tried for perverting the course of justice, probably released having served >8 months... Billy Ross is only guilty of perverting the course of justice, probably released by >8 months... Lori Ross would be arrested and charged with perverting the course of justice, whatever revised sentence John Ross gets she would get the same (or similar)... The daughter and DJ would certainly not be staying with her, especially DJ who she has no real familial connection to: he is the child of her convicted murderer husband and the original murder victim, CFS are definitely taking him away to foster care...

Lucifer: Bloody Celestial Karaoke Jam (2021) Season 5, Episode 10

Good idea, but doesn't fit where it is

[7/10 · 30 June 2021]

I get what they were going for, and it isn't a bad episode, but it just doesn't fit where they have put it in the bigger series arc. Dennis Haysbert's arrival gave the series a big jolt of fresh impetus but then the format of this episode distracts from that.

Rare Beasts (2019)

Too clever for its own good

[5/10 · 25 May 2021]

I couldnt keep up. I think I understood the concept, that it was meant to show her interpretation of the unfiltered versions of what was inside peoples heads rather than the external versions of what they actually say. But with that in mind, I still dont know what this film was trying to portray.

The Father (I) (2020)

Watch with caution

[9/10 · 22 April 2021]

If you have elderly relatives, or know anyone with dementia, then you will find this movie a terrifying watch. Having been in Anne's position myself I feel desperately for her character and I would have this movie firmly categorised in the horror category.

Hopkins is absolutely at the top of his game and the script, sets, supporting cast and direction provide an exquisite but heart-breaking composition.

The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers: Hockey Moms (2021) Season 1, Episode 4

Bit rushed

[7/10 · 19 April 2021]

The whole point of a TV show instead of a movie is that you get time to develop characters and plot lines. This episode seems to rush through too much rather than just spreading it over 2 episodes and having the moms practice in one and then have the competition in the next episode.

Locked Down (I) (2021)

Half a decent film

[5/10 · 9 April 2021]

There is half of a decent film hidden in here somewhere. The first hour or so hints that it could have been a lockdown relationship stress movie that could have rung true with so many of us at the time, and then the second half it wanders off into trying to be a heist movie, but not a very good one. And through that second half there are glimpses of what the first movie could have become.

It is exactly the point where Anne Hathaway dances into the garden that it goes horribly wrong.

SAS: Red Notice (2021)

What did I just watch?!

[2/10 · 15 March 2021]

What an absolute mess of a film. Wouldnt even qualify as an episode of Strike Back. If that was Sam Heughans audition for the James Bond job he is not even going to a look in as an evil henchman. And how does Ruby Rose keep getting these jobs?!

I hope Andy Serkis managed to pocket a wedge so we can see him again in something better but everyone else involved in this film needs to seek alternative employment because movie making is not for them.

Cosmic Sin (2021)

Very long TV episode

[3/10 · 8 March 2021]

It is like someone took an episode of the Outer Limits and tried to stretch it to a film, but missed out some big chunks of exposition on the way. Also something either went massively wrong with the writing, or editing, as characters leave and enter the story at random and not just as a result of the chopped up timeline.