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La Brea: Day Two (2021)
No science. All fiction.
Well, it had some promise. I was willing to forgive the cheesy props in the pilot. But now, they're just acting like we're idiots. When Eve says, "Those are the Hollywood Hills," how hard would it have been to get a Hollywood crew to shoot the real Hollywood Hills instead of just showing us a few mounds of dirt? It would have added such a measure of intrigue. Instead, we just scoffed.
Plus, no government bureaucrat would say that "we can't authorize an exploratory mission" (to investigate what's beyond the light) because "we don't know for certain where that light leads." Of course you don't know! That's why you have to investigate it! Duh.
And, as if many American kids aren't struggling enough to get a decent education, they have just been told that you can "carbon-date" diamonds.
This is a major flippin' network. Doesn't anyone fact-check?
The Mosquito Coast: Light Out (2021)
What's going on?
I'm almost through the first episode. If they don't tell me soon why this guy is running from U. S. authorities and putting his family through hell, I'm outta here.
The Revenant (2015)
Painfully boring
A bunch of trappers wandering through unforgiving land. Yawn. By the time the big scene rolled around, I was rooting for the bear.
Eye in the Sky (2015)
Excellent film but infuriating (Spoilers)
This film is thrilling but maddening. It's impossible to think that the West will ever win the war on terror if the US and UK are willing to hold up a drone strike on two ready-to-go suicide bombers because one child is in the way. That may sound harsh but all those involved know that if they don't take out these bombers as well as the three top terrorists in the room with them, then dozens more people will likely die.
I am also dismayed that the politicians involved were more concerned with how it would look for them and who would win the propaganda war.
Most unbelievable is that an American pilot (played by Aaron Paul) would refuse to strike when ordered. This is the military filtered through the eyes of bleeding-heart Hollywood. A soldier who gets that emotional is in the wrong job.
Thank God that Alan Rickman's military character has the last word, "Never tell a soldier that he does not know the cost of war."
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
What a disappointment
Leave it to Sorkin to take a gritty and vibrant chapter of American history and coat it with a Hollywood veneer. The clean and brightly clothed protestors bore no resemblance to the ragged, enraged demonstrators who fought the well-equipped Chicago police. The main actors turned in solid performances through I don't know why we needed 2 British actors (Redmayne & Baron Cohen) to play historic Americans. Not one American could play Tom Hayden? But the biggest malfeasance was the corruption of American history. I understand that filmmakers may make a few changes to tighten the story but why give characters words that contradict their own history? Why invent the female FBI agent? The real story was interesting enough. It didn't need false narratives.
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
Tiring
Two hours of my life and all I learned is that little has changed in 50 years, at least for those on the extremes of society. Many in the black community have managed to move ahead but the spiritual grandkids and great-grandkids of the characters in this film spent last summer protesting and burning down cities. Perhaps the film's value lies in the lesson that violence does not bring lasting change and that most Americans do not relate to either the Black Panthers or J. Edgar Hoover. They're just ordinary people who want to get along.
Altered Carbon (2018)
They should have called it "Dude, Where's My Clothes
A lot of nudity in a pretty good Sci-Fi who done it.
Wormwood (2017)
Didn't they outlaw torture?
More than 50 years after the CIA mentally tortured this guy, Netflix tortures us with his story. Sadly, it could have been a great story if the producer/director ever got around to telling it! Instead, we're dragged through six episodes of fragmented storytelling with highly-stylized editing that often distances the viewer from the narrative. What through-line does exist, reminded me of a ride on Disneyland's Space Mountain. We're going this way, then that way, then this way again. But in the end, we don't feel thrilled, just exhausted.
Miss Julie (2014)
Painfully boring
I kept searching for a reason to care about these people and what they're going through. "It's a classic." "View it in the context of the time." Nothing. Nothing worked. A lot of the problem is how it was shot. At least on stage you can choose to watch the other character's reaction. But here, Ullmann keeps cutting to the person who is speaking, rarely cutting away. The repetitive style does not build tension, but monotony. Even great acting couldn't save it.
Walk of Fame (2017)
Oh my God...
...this sucked. And, I really like these actors. They tried their best with goofy material that rarely hits the mark. I give it 3 stars for taking aim at political correctness in spots, but it's not enough. The script's silliness brings groans where they wanted solid laughs. I wouldn't mind seeing the same cast with better material.