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Grawdey
Reviews
RuPaul's Drag Race: Werq the World (2024)
Zero Stakes - Skippable
This episode's premise was sold as either a verse composition contest or as a dance contest, but it was judged on neither. It was judged on aesthetics.
The editing is a nightmare. One queen in particular is shown as being very shady/villainous on stage and on confession cam, then later we are served their struggle story, presumably as an attempt to make them more relatable, but it honestly did not make sense.
This episode is completely skippable. There is no real guest judge even though surely there must be another model out there somewhere who is willing to smile and clap their way through a main stage appearance.
From the start of the episode it is clear that there are no stakes. All but three performances are textbook mid and the viewer is left unsatisfied at the end. Completely skippable.
Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs the World: The Weather Ball (2022)
Unqualified "Judges" do what productions says
In what world was Veronica's performance a win on this episode!? She was a bottom for sure! She sold a cute drawing in the workroom promising a rose, then delivered an elementary school production of little shop of horrors. Then the attitude out of her! However much production tells the judges to fawn and laugh and act like they are falling in love, the audience most certainly not.
Meanwhile Icesis and Ra'Jah CRUSHED this challenge. Crushed it! And immediately got placed as safe, presumably just so that every girl could have a win. IF THE RESULTS MEAN NOTHING, WHY PAY THREE JUDGES SALARIES?
So, they undervalued the top queen, making her re-evaluate why she even signed up for this level of disrespect, and she walked. Leaving us with weak Canadian representation and a rude cis English woman being unfairly favoured. Completely unsatisfying.
If you invite a winner back and she is crushing it, pay homage. This whole production just seems tacky and uncaring now.
Bling Empire (2021)
Fake, badly written and repetitive
This feels like a low budget MTV reality show from 2002. The storylines are repetitive and uninteresting. Even if you want to turn a blind eye to the artifice, the personalities are either completely hollow or just the worst, nasty, gossips that nobody likes.
Most irritating character - Jamie. Every time she has a scene the camera has to pan her body while the other characters are all like "OMG, what's your outfit?" And it's honestly always just tack. Also, the writers put the majority of the gossip and drama starting on her but then also have her saying "I'm a really private person" a couple of times.
It's just exhausting rolling yours eyes this many times watching this stuff.
RuPaul's Drag Race UK vs the World: Semifinals (2022)
Manufactured winner placement - AGAIN
One of these top two placements is so so deserving and has been super overlooked the entire season. In short, she should have been the overall winner of this episode. The other was a manufactured placement, and I am just done with this season. A very notable oversight of a very polished queen.
RuPaul's Drag Race: She's a Super Tease (2022)
Produced outcome
Way to edit the absolute F out of the lipsynch to save the producer's favourite. It's insulting to the audience to not represent the challenging queens.
In my opinion, JLO does not have enough memorable fashion looks to be relevant for this category. Coupled with the fact that she didn't make it to set, it just seemed really forced. Like, honestly JLO?!
Canada's Drag Race: The Reunion (2021)
Definitely an over reach
Not enough drama in the season to get any entertainment value from a reunion. Half the episode hosted by Brad reading leading questions from prompt cards and reeling tape from previous episodes. Having to sit through a ton of formulaic responses that you just know will be revisited during the finale. And then more lip-synchs than usual on a season that cannot get the knack of shooting, framing, and editing lip-synchs. This episode should have either been a challenge, or just dropped entirely.
Eternals (2021)
Formulaic, with wasted cast
Same old formula. If, after 30ish Marvel movies, you're still into it, I respect that. I also appreciate that this movie will hold a lot of value for anyone who is a big fan of the Marvel universe.
However, there is nothing fresh here is terms of the shock moments, or any of the plot, or performances. Do not expect iconic performances from living legends such as Hayek; everybody is shackled by the crushing weight of the formulaic writing and directing. IMAGINE LANDING SALMA MF HAYEK AND UNDER-USING HER LIKE THIS!!!
Overall, a very 2D experience.
Ava (2020)
Absolute rubbish
Writing, both storyline and dialogue wouldn't even get a D on a five year old's homework. How does this kind of thing get pumped out and promoted so heavily on the Netflix algorithm?! Avoid at all costs.
Last Christmas (2019)
Cheesy but heartwarming
It's a little too cliché but it honestly ends well with some great performances.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)
God awfully written!
It really seems like they just didn't care about the writing at all for this instalment. Terrible dialogue and crazy fast emotional escalations in cliché-ridden exchanges. Don't even bother for the fight scenes- the dialogue ruins literally everything about this. It's AWFUL!
Barbarians (2020)
Tedious
Tedious exposition coupled with zero character development in the opening episodes makes this super missable. Don't be fooled by the bot reviews raving about the use of Latin language - that does not in any way relieve the boredom.
Rebecca (2020)
Flat, flat, flat
DuMaurier deserves so much better. Why even attempt to remake a Hitchcock masterpiece if all you're bringing is the latest set of Hollywood teeth?!
Cursed (2020)
Laughably half-assed
The MOST casual attention was paid to the writing, lighting, costume, direction, and story telling. The acting is awful. The action scenes are awful. The dialogue is awful. Don't even bother.
Canada's Drag Race (2020)
Fantastic queens - incompetent, rude judges
If you only see one line of this review, please note that the judges on this version are limp, heartless, and totally incompetent. Jeffrey B Chapman is not qualified and it shows. Brooke Lynn Heights displays zero charisma, or comedic or emotional intelligence. Stacey McKenzie looks great but her voice is difficult to understand. Yet, each of them will cut to the bone (without ever giving a shred of heartfelt praise) when critiquing the queens for what they themselves so evidently lack.
The queens are fantastic, though. Truly stellar creativity and runway serves. It is worth watching the show for the talent; just be prepared to see the performers you are falling for be treated without dignity by the judges who do not deserve their place.
I hope there is a second season, but with a new panel. A sharp queen with wit, poise, and heart is desperately needed. And they're closer than the producers may realize.
Bless the Child (2000)
Rambling trash
This was a terrible film. The acting had great potential with the big names that were on the cast list so I blame the direction (or lack thereof) for the lackluster delivery, non-existent screen presences and slow movement.
The plot was rambling and predictable; it was only my die-hard film fan friends that encouraged me to stick it out. I thought that it was ending at least thrice only to be disappointed in the final scenes. There was no real denouement, character development or moral lesson as would have been rightly expected from a potentially great script. The effects were hazy and obvious, reminiscent of Technicolor or the bad old days of smoke and mirrors.
The character's were clichéd and exaggerated portraying only the obvious arch-types of villain, victim and savior-savant.
A pathetic attempt all round, I would recommend this title only for the most devoted fans of the supernatural horror/thriller genre.