Bad-Good-Great Reviews

Show Me the Way to the Station (2019)

A beautiful movie about loneliness, companion and life

[8/10 · 11 August 2022]

This is what you usually say: "Beautiful" and really mean it. Yes, this movie is poetically beautiful. Focused on a little lonely girl with big heart. It's so peaceful from beginning to the end. Lou was such a beautiful dog, a mixed blood, not so pure to some pedigree means everything dog lover. But it's almost like a angelic dog species, you will not believe how this cute little dog acting like the most attractive animal in the world.

The reason that I didn't give this movie a 9 or 10 higher score is because there's some flaws in the editing. The time sequences were a bit messy, it jumped around and patched up randomly, sometimes you just couldn't understand what happened. Then somewhere along, it suddenly seemed to become a bit overly mysterious, involving after-life, eternity and incarnation. Maybe just because this story was too simple, so the screenplay writer and the director decided to twist the scenarios a little bit. But that actually ruined the simplicity of this simple movie.

Bullet Train (2022)

All the cast did their parts and had a good time, but

[1/10 · 10 August 2022]

Screenplay is a messy farce, about several light years away "Kill Bill", it just turned all the characters so dramatically exaggerated into some crazy overacting cartoon figures. Everybody in this movie was like a crazy psychopath or zombie, high on drugs or intoxicated with Bacardi 151 mixed with Vodka. The bullet train became a nuthouse. All logic and sanity were thrown out the train. What I've seen on the screen was just a bunch of mixed half-human, half-animal mutant human races trying their best to kill each other and one another. They all seemed to do improvised acting without script or directing, they just did whatever they wanted to mess up the bullet train. There are so many talented and reputed actors in this movie, but they were totally ridiculed and wasted. It is so far the most disgusting, most boring, stupidest, messiest, most pointless, most purposeless, most out-of-control farce ever made.

Golden Voices (2019)

The Gold Pond in Israel turned out to be quite shallow

[7/10 · 9 August 2022]

Very likable and easy to watch movie. But if this couple really were those who dubbed lot of good Western movies into Russian language, then I have to show my resentment to them.

There are so many good movies rarely survived after so many years, but when you got the chance to watch them, they turned out to be dubbed in Russian. You couldn't understand any original dialogue in English, every sentence was covered by the annoying, monotonous, no-feeling, no-emotion stupid voice over in Russian. All had to be reluctantly dismissed. But what could you done? Other than the Russian voice over version, there's nothing available, no matter how you tried to find it on line or in YouTube.

They were all completely ruined by the completely irrelevant Russian dubbers.

This movie simply deepened my resentment to those movies dubbed in Russian.

Westworld (2016–2022)

Decay and deteriorate are the 2 fatal trends of HBO's Drama Series

[1/10 · 4 August 2022]

Do I need to pick out one after another to prove what I've said is nothing but the truth, so help me God? "Game of Throne", after several glorious seasons, it started to decay and deteriorate. It seems that the screenplay writers and the production team were all getting tired for such long success, so they decided to waste the budget to kill it slowly, yet at the same time, enjoyed making money from HBO. "True Detective" is another living example. Its first season was obviously very good and watchable, but then, it just turned unbelievably bad to worse, until the whole series became totally weird and unwatchable. "Westworld" is perhaps the worst and short-lived. It only looked not bad for its 1st season, then immediately turned from bad to worse until completely unwatchable. It seems that HBO got some DNA defect, like having a generic inevitable cancer gene, more like breast cancer. It all looked so healthy at first, then there's a lump appeared and it grows larger and larger so fast, no surgery could save the life of the series from dying to complete dead. But "Westworld" is extremely and weirdly. The sign of getting cancer was so obvious in the late episodes of the first season, then HBO still blindly invested money doing the 2nd and the 3rd seasons. It just turned dead and blind, refused to check the huge negative market response and reviews. The 4th season, also the worst of worsts season still churned out no matter what. I am not sure how many HBO subscribers and viewers turned it off in the middle of the 1st episode, but I was one of them. It's a torture to watch, unless you like to practice your curse skill.

Justice Served (2022– )

What a messy series

[3/10 · 31 July 2022]

It looked pretty promising in the beginning, then episode after episode, it became messier and messier till the last episode, the messiest final crap. One of the problems of this series was partially ruined by too many flashbacks that became too much to watch. Then the inappropriate cast for the leading guy who just looked so evil that needed no word to predict he was in fact, a very bad guy. I ended up using fast forward when every flashback appeared. I could vote this series at least 6/10, but those ridiculous final scenes, the explosion after explosion like fireworks, simply turned me off.

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021)

Terrible

[1/10 · 9 January 2022]

We couldn't finish watching this lousy movie just because the 1st part of it simply and easily turned us off. The leading young female actor was a very bad and very unlikable person on the screen. We couldn't even understand how such ugly and plain young woman would have the possibility to become a model. Then the long conversation in the taxi went on and on between this young woman and the other better-looking, more matured woman was just too long to watch.

This is a terrible and uninteresting movie, not a good wy to kill your time. Not recommended at all.

Red Notice (2021)

cemturc already said it all

[1/10 · 13 November 2021]

"Awful cemturc13 November 2021 Terrible acting. Terrible writing... Terrible story... Terrible dialogues... Terrible scenes."

I couldn't stand more than 15 minutes to watch myself turning into a moron, so I just quit in time. This is one of the most ridiculous, shallow, absurd and totally unnecessary productions. Don't even understand how these two leading male actors could still be seriously taken as "Actors", and got fans.

E il cibo va (2017)

Talked about many things about Italian food but

[3/10 · 13 November 2021]

But actually said nothing about it. The worst thing of this documentary is the narrator at the beginning. His weird English almost turned me off immediately. Then it started with this and that about Italian food, blah, blah and blah, showed us a lot of the food stands, food peddlers, praised the wonderful cuisine, complained the messy transformation of the traditional Italian food in America. But there's nothing in this documentary to let us know about more Italian food, just blah, blah, and blah. I've lost interest in the middle of it. Given it a 3-Star is already too generous. If you like to see many people eating together again and again, then this documentary is for you.

One Shot (III) (2021)

If you could put the math, the numbers and the capacity of a truck aside...

[7/10 · 8 November 2021]

Then this action packed movie is quite watchable; at least I didn't give up in the middle of it and cursed loudly as I used to do when watched a lousy B-movie soiled my day. This movie is actually quite good, the only thing that's not right is the numbers of the terrorists who appeared in a mid-sized truck, and how they got on the island in the middle of nowhere without transportation. The Seal team and the CIA lady needed chopper to get to the island, how these terrorists got on the island without even alerted the terrorist detainees black site? If you could put your logic, IQ and, well, the basic elementary math aside, then it's a quite exciting combat movie. Scott Adkins did a great job as usual, and I like him a lot, his acting has become better and better.

The Power of the Dog (2021)

Just let the dog lie down in the dust

[2/10 · 11 October 2021]

Very disappointed at this movie. When it started, it looked so grand with hopeful prospect, the panorama scene of the west, the drive of the cattle...everything just looked great with fantastic cinematography. Then it started to slowly crash and burn. Lot of the scenes came up unnecessarily clueless like the dialog came with them. The scene then from bad to worse. Drank at the bar, dined in the hotel's restaurant, the dialog just felt more and more meaningless and lame, the laughter from the neighboring table felt forced and phony, same as those from the cowboys. Scenes dragged along with deadbeat paces, trying so hard to prolong the duration of the movie. Nothing felt natural but fake scene after scene. Where's the dog? And where's the power from the dog? Was it so difficult to make a movie a bit more logic and reasonable?

Everything in this movie just gave you a forced, awkward, do-nothing drag-on. What is the purpose of this movie? To show us how a ranch boss suddenly found out he's in the closet too long and decided to become the sequel character of The Broken Back Mountain? Did we need such long period to reveal the story of personal evolving progress?

At first, I thought those viewers who gave low ratings were biased and homophobic, but after I've tortured myself to watch it and fast lost my patience, I had to agree with these viewers' afterthoughts. This is a terrible movie disguised in western genre but looked fake through and through.

I'm Your Man (2021)

What a great movie from Germany

[8/10 · 11 October 2021]

Maren Eggert & Dan Stevens both shine in this fantastic movie. I first noticed when Dan Stevens first appeared in Downton Abbey, he was already quite outstanding, and I've also predicted that he'd have a bright acting career. My guess then has been proved totally correct. But I didn't know Mr. Stevens is a language genius. His linguistic talent has amazed me when he played roles in the American movies already, now, he speaks fluent German language too. What a genius level actor!

This movie is so unique, but the thing that really makes feel good is it's such a CLEAN movie! It also makes you feel good. I highly recommend it.

My Way (2011)

Well made and pretty good, BUT

[6/10 · 8 October 2021]

The hand-held shaky camera work completely ruin a good viewing experience, not only you'd hurt your eyesight but you'd also get an headache. This is the first time that a Korean movie gave me a spinning headache and dizziness. Maybe it's because the camera crew got to hold the camera to follow or chase the two running foes and opponents all along to catch the actions, but the shaky camera really make it very difficult to watch.

Don't believe what I said? Try to watch it.

Blue Bayou (2021)

Top review by jamuckley Sep 15, 2021 has said everything that I want to say and, MORE

[8/10 · 8 October 2021]

Top review by jamuckleySep 15, 2021 8/10

"Powerful and Moving American Tragedy"

~Blue Bayou written and directed by Justin Chon is a powerful new film about a Korean-American, Antonio LeBlanc, played by Justin Chon, who is fighting for his family and his status as a US citizen.

Adopted from Korea at the age of 3, Antonio lives in Louisiana. He speaks fluid English. He is married to a US citizen, and he and his wife are expecting their first child. He is a stepfather to Jessie (Sydney Kowalske), the daughter of his wife, Kathy, played by Alicia Vikander, who calls him daddy.

Victim of racial profiling by a police officer, he is arrested and then his immigration status is called into question. Kathy and Antonio seek the counsel of a lawyer, played by Vondie Curtis-Hall, who informs them that before the year 2000, US foreign adoption laws were very ill defined, and in many cases immigration paperwork was never filed by adopting parents. In Antonio's case, his adopting family abandoned him after 6 months and he bounced around in foster care for much of his young life after coming to the US.

The film was a powerful representation of the uncertainty and difficulty many immigrants face in the US. It was both deeply saddening and moving as you watch the turmoil the family endures, especially the child affected by it all. The film brings awareness to an important issue that has yet to be addressed and has been the cause of many, many deportations of adults who have lived in the US for 30 to 40 years and some times longer, do not even know the language of their country of origin, who are deported to this foreign land without any family connections or similar ties to the country they are being sent.

Blue Bayou is an official selection of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. The film contains some beautiful cinematography of the Louisiana bayou and breathtaking sunset shots taken around New Orleans. The screenplay also stood out in the way that he portrayed both the struggle and impossible choices the protagonist faces. Also, his own identity as an Asian American, looking for his past and a cultural touchstone and comparing it to the over thirty years he spent in Louisiana feeling like an outcast as the "other."~

I found this very helpful.

No Time to Die (2021)

No wonder he's tired to keep doing the video game-like 007 crap

[1/10 · 8 October 2021]

I was very disappointed to watch this thoughtless and pointless 007 movie. Too many almost non-stop over-the-top actions, close combats, gun shootings, blasts, car, motorcycle chases, so many killings, explosions....what else is new in this last and the latest 007 movie? NOTHING! It's so shallow and hollow at the same time. So tired to watch the cliched scenes repeated itself again and again. Is there any interesting story line, scenarios, plots, or is there any of it? This 007 franchise has turned itself into just a video game like soul-less B movie. There's nothing new, not a scene ever felt like never watched before. Even the main villain has turned out to be so lame. No wonder this guy decided to quit. No wonder I too, have decided to quit in the middle of it.

What a boring waste of time and money.

El verano que vivimos (2020)

On the contrary, this is a very beautiful movie.

[7/10 · 7 October 2021]

I have to point out to rauural, the one and only reviewer who wrongfully abused this movie without even seeing it. This is a Spanish movie, not a French like what he blindly sneered at. It's beautifully shot in the Galician, area, an autonomous community in Spain's northwest, is a verdant region with an Atlantic coastline. The love story happened in a huge local vineyard. We used to see movies telling romances happened in the French wine country, but this movie provided us with a totally different triangle love story that happened in the wine country of Spain. The actors performed quite well, handsome and pretty, a completely different outcome against what that rauural reviewer said in his(or her) 28 Feb 2021 review. Again, even I don't speak Spanish language, I at least know it's not a French movie and, you can easily find English subtitles on the web.

The Year of the Everlasting Storm (2021)

A mixed bag of collections about people in the pandemic era

[4/10 · 7 October 2021]

I've faithfully watched this documentary-like movie. The best one among these segments is the 2nd Chinese one that had fully portrayed the tough situation during the long lock-down in Wuhan, the family, a young couple and their little son, all of them suffered a great deal of miseries. Their marriage is on the rock, the husband seemingly lost his car sales job, their little kid is completely stressed out.... On and on, this segment is a real movie performed by two great young actors with a so great kid actor. I could never imagine a kid would be able to act like a real son to these two actors.

The 2nd better one is the 1st Iranian one. Told us a 90 years old granny tried to visit her children during the severe pandemic that hit Iran so abruptly hard. The huge lizard and the granny are the two bright spots in.

I have to say that the 3rd segment may be the worst. The 4th one about spying on people with malware is just too long that really need your patience. All the other segments are just too bad and insignificant to watch; I can only use one word to describe all of the bad ones except the 1st and the 2nd ones. For the 2nd one, I'll rate it 8 or 9 out of 10. The 1st one 6-7/10. The 3rd one, a California one, 0-1/10. The 4th, 6/10; if you have the patience to sit it through. As to those left, the last one from Thailand, 0/10; even worse than the 3rd part.

One Second (2020)

A pretty mediocre story line and some minor flaws

[5/10 · 5 October 2021]

There were lot of running and chasing in this movie. For the story itself, the contents were not that much, just tried to tell you how tough the Chinese people had to deal with during the Culture Revolution. The time frame background of this movie was about the last two or three years of the long 10 years long purgatory-like life and living in a remote and poor village. The Chinese under the iron-clad control of the Chinese Communist Party were suffering but already tamed thoroughly by Chairman Mao and his peers with forceful brain-washing feed. The story itself was actually not that complicated and by modern day standard, actually quite boring, a single and direct line of the development and, well, very very slow.

Two flaws that immediately caught by my eyes: 1) Too many almost looked new bicycles. It's totally absurd during that poor era. And all the bikes not only looked quite new, well maintained, looked like manufactured by the same bike factory.

2) The little brother of Sissy Liu was a wrong cast. Just like those bikes, he not only not looked a bit similar to his older sister but simply looked like a modern day kid attending private school.

I could also tell that the director and the screenplay writers were very very careful not to step on the red lines stipulated by CCP's censorship.

They only feather-touched the unfair injustice when any person could be damned as a criminal and suffered so many years in hard labor and imprisonment.

The song sang by the leading young actress after the movie was not only not good but also very unnecessary.

Watchable, but not especially outstanding.

Falling for Figaro (2020)

Watchable but something not quite all right

[5/10 · 1 October 2021]

Just can't believe the opera teacher is full of vulgar bitching words from her mouth all the time, the typical usual British "Bloody" curse word has been changed to "F" word just to give an easier pass for the American viewers.

I could never believe that a famous opera soprano would have become such a cold, cynical, rude, heavy drinking old woman.

The other letdown of this movie is the leading male singer. What a sad, nervous-wrecking face, a quite unwelcome and unappealing face.

Shall We Dance? (2004)

Could he be that faithful to his marriage and his wife?

[6/10 · 19 March 2021]

John Clark (Richard Gere) is actually a hypocrite that has been forced to maintain his faithfulness to his wife and his deadbeat marriage, if Paulina (Jennifer Lopez ) willingly shows that she's attracted to him and is actually in love with him. I think if Paulina says she loves him, John Clark will immediately throw away anything in his life, his marriage, his parenthood, even his career. But the screenplay cunningly not allow such situation to happen, so in the end, he cannot but to reinstate his love and faithfulness to his wife.

Don't be fooled by the phony outlook of this movie, you have to admit that this guy is actually a hypocrite. It's actually a triangle intertwined situation among this guy, the dancer and his wife. He is forced to go back to his wife since the dancer only gives him an obscure and uncertain signal that makes him retreat back to his boring marriage and his lifestyle. If the dancer clearly tell him that she also has the feelings about him and asks him to be her lover, I think this guy will throw anything away and jump into her embrace. This guy is not only a hypocrite but also a coward who has no guts to change his trapped marriage.

Red River (1948)

One of the best western movies and beyond

[9/10 · 19 March 2021]

John Wayne had really shown us that he could really act and he really got that kinda aura that indeed made him stand alone among all the other actors who usually played macho male dominant characters. This is an epic western movie that not just being an unique one but also beyond the so-called "Western Genre" movies and should be respectfully included as one of the greatest movies ever achieved in the movie history. It's like what the "Lonesome Dove" novel portrayed about the cattle drive up north, part of the American history that made America and Americans great.

Land (I) (2021)

A heart-felt film custom made for the baby boomers and older

[9/10 · 9 March 2021]

As long as you could stop your curses to the stupidity and naivety of this women's first 1/3 part of this film, you'd find it's actually a great story about all survivors' painful experiences to deal with the tragedy in life, the constant struggle to face themselves and how to heal and move on. Yes, nobody could share with your personal loss and pains unless a person who got the similar tragedy as yours. Public sharing with your personal feelings is nothing but a wishful thinking, like those AAA meetings or talk to the shrink. Nobody but you and you only could decide whether go on with your life alone or not, if you don't have the courage to kill yourself for the escape.

Age actually plays a major part of the eyes of the beholders. When you become older, either your heart would become more stubborn or more dandy, it all depends on your own choice.

6 Bullets (2012)

Yes, this movie indeed is unexpectedly better than thought

[6/10 · 21 February 2021]

Unlike the pathetic Steven Seagal, JCVD's recently movies all turned out to be quite good, and this 6 Bullets is no exception. I have no problem to give this movie a 6/10 rating, could even give it a higher one, if these flaws were not so obviously serious:

1) Usually, a guy so well-experienced like JCVD played, the first thing when he infiltrated the enemy compound was to neutralize the CCTV system. But the guy simply overlooked it to accommodate the scenario. 2) The 14-year girl's finger was cut off, but she didn't seem to pay too much attention to her finger wound. Usually, when we carelessly cut our finger, even it's a tiny hairline cut, the wound would drive us crazy, the throbbing pain would be non-stop even the bleeding stopped. We'd keep raise our arm and keep our wounded hand or finger upward and high enough to reduce the throbbing pain. But this director and the young actress just overlooked this important detail, making the movie suddenly became quite fake. 3) There seemed to have no refrigeration in the butcher shop, front and back. If the weather temperature was not sub zero, then what the hack?

But none of the above-mentioned flaws would devalue this movie's watchable value. It's actually pretty good, as most of the reviewers said.

A Tale of Mari and Three Puppies (2007)

10/10 for the dog, 8/10 for the sister, 5/10 for

[7/10 · 12 February 2021]

All the other supporting actors, young or old. 10/10 for the earthquake special effects, 2/10 for lousy screenplay, 3/10 for the annoying blend soundtrack background music, 9/10 for the beautiful camera work. The dog that played the real dog is amazing, she acted better than all of the Japanese in this film. The little girl is also fantastic. She deeply moved us. The father actor is not good, the grandpa actor is a little better. Worst are the screenplay, the directing, those supporting actors, but worst of all is the soundtrack, so annoying and irrelevantly remote from the on-going of the storyline.

The young brother and his little sister took off to rescue their dogs without taking anything is okay, cos they were young, they didn't know how to prepare their trip, no food, water, no flashlight, no medical stuff, no proper rain gears. But how could their adult father not knowing these basic common knowledge and common sense. He just took off with a flash light and what (a phone or what?) He didn't even wear rain gears, no backpack containing food, snacks, water, medicines or medical stuff just in case he might need them...he just ran off. What a moron!

All of the supporting actors, male or female, young or old, they were not good, very pretentious and awkward. We must blame the lousy sceenplay and the director.

We know it's based on a true story that really happened in 2004 in Yamakoshi villiage, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. If this screenplay could be crafted and scripted by a better screenplay writer or a script team, it might be one of the great movies in 2007, but this screenplay was very bad. The Japanese production company simply missed a great opportunity to make a great movie. What a waste of all of those manpower, choppers and all of the settings and beautiful scenes of Yamakoshi village in Niigata Prefecture!

I should have given this movie a higher 9 or even 10 out of 10, but all the negative parts were too many, except the dog and little girl actors saved it for 7/10.

Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

One of the worst movies ever watched!

[1/10 · 10 February 2021]

There are so many clueless scenes that only the morons won't find out:

The two race cars rushed to the cliff, but we only saw one car fell over and crashed down. The other car after Jim bailed out in the last moment, the car should continue to dash over and fell down from the cliff. But we didn't see what happened to that car.

They were fighting in the empty villa, but then suddenly it shifted to Griffith Observatory. The distance between the villa and the Observatory we saw at first was so far away, but these young men could suddenly appeared in different location. What the hell?

The black nanny suddenly appeared at Griffith Observatory in pajama. How come? She just walked over?

The high school students in Dawson High were just a bunch of what? Morons? It seems nobody, except the cops, in this movie are normal enough. Parents, high school students, they all either like morons or mentally abnormal people.

The soundtrack is just terrible! Loud and annoyingly irrelevant. Directing was also lame. All Acting were over-the-top exaggerated and pretentious. The screenplay was also so bad. What a mess!

Glory Road (2006)

Not a great adaptation from a true story

[5/10 · 9 February 2021]

If based on what we have seen in this movie, the coach was not a good, think-out-the-box instructor. His coaching was too traditional and rigid, only when he finally loose his tight grip on how the basketball team persuaded him to let them play what they were good at without any predictable format and strategy, otherwise, this Miners would have been a losing team from the very beginning.

The script was not crafted in a tight, more interesting than "Hoosiers (1986)", he's definitely not on the same level as Coach Norman Dale of Hoosiers, but an accidental miracle medicine man who save the Miners by his only out-of-the-box idea, i.e., recruiting black kids to compete in the NCAA March Madness College Basketball Championship. The screenplay just showed how he was helpless during almost every game.

This movie by Disney is just a lukewarm production, watchable but definitely no great in the least.