daddysarm Reviews

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)

Greatest Libretto Of All Time. Genius is beyond a "10"

[10/10 · 3 May 2024]

What more is there to say?

Some people claim to have been "confused" by the anachronistic way it is presented, as some sort of hybrid of Christ's time and the flower-power of the 1970s. What?? It is done so in-your-face that nobody could seriously be confused. Heck, the opening scene is a sort of "breaking the wall" shocker where all the actors arrive at the filming location in an old bus and start to unload the sets and props. "Confused"? Just looking for something to whine about.

Many people just don't like how irreligious it all is. I suppose I could pick a nit here or there, but while watching JCS I am always quickly pulled back into the greatest libretto of all-time, and further, I realize I am hearing some awesome singing talent and great dancing. Yvonne and Carl are stunning. Neeley is plenty good enough. He doesn't project power, but that is PART OF THE POINT. Geez, are people "confused" by that too?

The Equalizer (2014)

Denzel does "The Stare" and "The Silly"

[5/10 · 18 April 2024]

Main problem with "The Equalizer" is it is just too long. The pace is "moody" to be polite. It seems even longer due to the annoying generic sound track. Could they not afford real music? This soundtrack was neither appropriate nor good in its own way. Main character is not credible, being retired for some period of time, never shown working out to maintain his reflexes & skills, yet he is as good as ever. On top of that, the story has been done over and over & the characters are predictable stereotypes. I swear I saw Jason Statham in this exact story.

The 20 minute "search & destroy action scene" in the store at the end is so bad it HAS TO BE SATIRE. Part of the 20 minutes is DW hand-fighting a bad guy for almost 2 minutes, which is plenty of time for all the other bad guys to think, "Hey, I should probably go over there where all that noise is happening." Oh. Brother.

And I cannot be the only one who thought "Home Alone" when he picked up the barbed wire and the death-by-DIY-SKUs started. Btw, no way that drill would penetrate fast enough to kill that guy. His head would have moved forward. A drill needs to be pressed against something stiff & immovable.

Lone Survivor (2013)

Gave it a 2nd chance

[5/10 · 7 April 2024]

But once again, did not finish watching this movie. The beginning is solid, right up to the point where (according to imdb) "left with no choice but to follow their rules of engagement or be imprisoned". Right there, by obviously over-simplifying the idea into a binary decision, the movie just descends into "Oh. Come. On."

There are a dozen shades of grey between "Kill them all" & "Just let them go so they can run back to town and notify the enemy as quickly as possible". I am sure I am not the only one who can think of the dozen shades of grey. Yet, somehow, all the admirers just gloss over that core piece of stupidity.

Icing on the cake is the fact that it just happens to be the guy who survived to write the book who was the most adamant "good guy" who wanted to "Just let them go so they can run back to town and notify the enemy as quickly as possible". HOW CONVENIENT!

What do the families of the "bad guys" who wanted to "Kill them all" think of the book?

War & Peace (2016)

Highly enjoyable.

[8/10 · 19 March 2024]

Maybe benefits by not having read the book. Not having read the book is the main reason I watched it. #2 reason was it includes Napolean's blunder of going to Russia and then trying to march his men all the way back to France in the winter. Beyond that, seeing Paul Dano show up was a little disconcerting since I usually find him annoying. I thought he and everyone else performed well. No complaints with the acting. Big praise for the LOOK, the cinematography, the sets.

Only complaint really is that with no Russian actors, it just didn't really seem "Russian" to me. It seemed very English.

And then not to complain about Tolstoy's undoubtedly accurate view of the aristocracy, but the main characters were sure a bunch of fools. In a less-sweeping, less-beautiful work, I would have shut it off after an hour or two.

The Fist of the Condor (2023)

not worse than John Wick

[3/10 · 3 March 2024]

Not even in the same style. But, horrible in its own ways. I really did not have a good reason to watch it, and this is what I get. From the very first scenes, it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOOOOW. It is full of itself and its metaphysical, mystical gobbledygook.

And there is a Chinese martial arts guy who found his way to South America to be trained by oh-who-cares. And the Chinese guy got his butt kicked by some lady, cuz in 2023, women always have to be stronger than men are. YAAAWWWWNNNNN.

This is low budget and they wasted what they spent. I did not watch the whole thing, so I never got to the "Great Reveal" about why the twin brothers need revenge on each other. Could not care, either.

Headhunters (2011)

is it 2 or 8?, oh, OK, a 5

[5/10 · 6 January 2024]

Extremely entertaining, especially the first half, but once the crime actually starts it becomes as nonsensical, preposterous (add another twenty such synonyms here) that the second half is probably worth 2 of 10. I could list a dozen plot-holes or whatever you want to call them, but then SPOILERS!

It simply blows my mind that anyone would call this "intelligent". Well, maybe when compared to a Disney movie of the last 20 years, but not compared to any real intelligence.

People who say it blows Hackneyed wood away are right. Most Hackneyedwood movies stink, so that is a very low hurdle. Hackneyedwood only cares about "messaging" so they can't even reach "minimally entertaining" these days.

The Bourne Legacy (2012)

better than expected

[7/10 · 11 October 2023]

Yes, as a fan of the Bourne films I was prepared to be disappointed. I was not. It is weaker than those, but also as good because it is different. First, let's get to the point: if you want to know whether this may, in fact, be a reasonably intelligent, reasonably well-acted film of this genre, READ THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS AND ASK YOURSELF: Do I Want To Be On Their Side In Any Matter Of Taste?

All in all, they might be the lowest level of thought in any set of imdb reviews I have ever seen. One review says "Too much acting"! What???? A couple others call this "SciFi". What???? Another one says something like "bad because the director decided he may as well write it too." Sorry, but I'm pretty sure the writer also wrote the previous Bournes and the NEW responsibility he took on in this was directing not new to writing.

Book of Love (2022)

what was the budget?

[5/10 · 24 September 2023]

I guess the main actor is well known & maybe the main actress is well-known in Span. I didn't recognize anyone, but that is not the problem with this. First problem is that there really is no believing that these two would get together, which I guess they do.

I have to say "guess" because I turned it off at the 1 hour mark. The first 40 minutes are good. Good characters (except for the British author, who is just a unbelievable goofball) and quick plot development. It starts off well in Mexico, but then slowly goes downhill. Second problem: the same people sow up at every book reading in Mexico. It is the same people. They drive around the country and the same "fans" are there. Maybe they didn't have budget to hire dozens more bit players, but come on, if it is always the same dozen people at the events it calls into the question the entire "#1 selling book" in Mexico premise.

Problem #3: too much social media nonsense.

Vengeance (II) (2022)

that Dunning-Kruger film

[3/10 · 4 September 2023]

Narcissistic New-Yorker preaches pablum to his / her inferiors. Where have we seen this before? How is this ever supposed to an attractive way to spend time? Then throw Kutchner's clown character on top. All the quirky characters might add up to an interesting 90 minutes, but there is a fundamental problem. BJ Novak's character is so damn unlikeable. Who cares what he thinks about these other characters?

In addition to the Dunning-Kruger of Novak thinking he has the objectivity to understand "America" beyond the Hudson, there is the irony that most of the people rating this highly are the exact people Novak is presenting as shallow, elitist twits. They love it. Yup, that's us. Great insight. Now let us get back to being shallow, elitist twits.

Jurassic World Dominion (2022)

a surplus of stupidity and quite a few truly CRINGEY scenes

[5/10 · 8 August 2023]

I've never been a big fan of the series. I'm not even sure how many I have seen, so I won't complain about a "big letdown". But when a woman is chased by a raptor, and every time they cut away & then back again, she has gained distance on the raptor, we have to say "Enough, already". To make it worse, a few minutes later, the raptors chase a truck and a motorcycle and they do a better job keeping up with those than with the woman.

Now, add the sad reality that many of the "scares" were B-grade horror-house scares. Even with all that, I thought "well, it is entertaining enough that I will finish it." Then, I realized it was going to go on and on and nothing about the ending would surprise me, so I just turned it off.

I Am Bolt (2016)

Who doesn't cheer for Usain?

[9/10 · 16 June 2023]

Top-notch documentary. Usain, his parents and his entire entourage present extremely well. Hey, so does the entire Jamaican fan-base. There are a few lines in this that succinctly explain why Usain was maybe the most popular athlete in the world during the latter half of his career. I won't repeat them. You'll see. The only issue I could raise is it should have included more info about the field he raced against in the Olympic finals. I know it is about Bolt, but that is important. Also, there were a couple of people in Bolt's everyday life who were never introduced, but somehow Serena was there over and over again.

I guess many people were bored because it doesn't try to create controversy, which is how Usain lived his athletic career.

James May: Our Man in... (2020–2024)

Our Baka Gaijin in Japan

[5/10 · 4 June 2023]

Why did nobody teach him "gomen nasai" or "shitsurei shimashita"?

Very uneven mini-series. I watched it for Japan. I had never heard of May. He was very uneven. I mostly like his quirky sense of humor and his esoteric references, but too often he acted like a grumpy old man who thought he could do all kinds of obnoxious things and get off just by saying "sumimasen". Well, guess what Bim? The #1 example of how polite the Japanese are is that nobody ever told you to stop saying "sumisamen" when "gomen nasai" or."shitsurei shimashita" would be more appropriate. The #2 example of how polite the Japanese are was how the haiku experts didn't tell him to "Get Lost" when he was being a disrespectful twit.

Also very uneven was the choices of where/ what to film. The Osaka portion was terrible, though he did sort of hit on the reality that Osaka-jin think they're the funniest people on earth and try to make a joke in almost any situation. I find them shallow. Skip Osaka.

He goes to Nanzen-ji seemingly only because SJ went there in Lost In Translation. Then, he wastes most of his time complaining about the ridiculous little robot "guide". He is standing in a spot that has over a dozen BEAUTIFUL views/sites within a 100 m walk and they film him stand there and complain about that thing. Awful all around. I know where he was standing. You could spend 20 minutes just looking at the doors of the buildings near that spot. Nope. Nonsense TV instead.

All in all, he mostly acted like a "baka gaijin" as if that makes for funny TV. If a Japanese TV show came to the USA or England and acted like that, the locals would be CONSTANTLY correcting them. THERE is a huge difference that James totally missed, as does the audience.

The Accountant (2016)

A Positive Surprise. Clap clap clap

[7/10 · 26 May 2023]

I had never heard of it. It showed up on Prime. Figured it had a chance of being terrible, by both the plot synopsis and starring Affleck, oh, and since i had never heard of it. Well, it is actually pretty good. I'd say the first half is very good. And Ben's usual stilted acting fits in well.

I'm subtracting points for 3 reasons. It relies on far too many coincidences to keep the plot moving or to generate interest. Also, the entire idea of the CEO of a company trying to go public hiring this guy is absurd. The CEO himself even asks "Why did I hire you?" when the CEO supposedly realizes what a dumb idea it was. Also, the J Tambor scenes in prison seem to be trying to refer back to Arrested Development, which was strange for this film.

The White Lotus (2021–2025)

I guess it takes nuance to understand how bad and unenjoyable this is

[3/10 · 11 May 2023]

Toxic women and loser men. Such fun. It could be a documentary, but I did not last three episodes. Do fans of this show not get enough of these kind of people in real life? Why do they want to watch them as "entertainment"? Bizarre. The lady CFO for the google-look-alike was the most normal person of all. That is not what they generally show with a tech exec in a TV show. I just realized she is from Friday Night Lights. She was great in that too.

And I guess half the people are bisexual because there is a quota for that too. It has been six or seven years since I have been to Wailea so the scenery was nice. It did remind me that the main reason I cut down on Maui was it does more and more attract unpleasant clientele. Almost a documentary.

To top it off, it is preposterous to think the CFO tech exec would have her HS / college kids sleeping on a fold-out sofa and in the kitchen instead of getting them their own "standard garden view" rooms. Jennifer Coolidge has become unbearable to even look at. Another DVD from the library so little ventured, little lost.

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

That's why there are no Club Meds on the Irish coast

[8/10 · 8 May 2023]

The most amazing thing about this film is the inability of so many people to realize that "the point" of the story is a microcosm of the Irish civil war, the war that is mentioned a dozen times as happening right then over "on the mainland". That is "the point". You think Colm's explanation of his actions are irrational? So was the civil war, according to McDonagh. You think there is no satisfactory conclusion to the feud? Well, bitterness over the civil war lasted another 50/60/70/keep-counting years, says McDonagh. Question: is Siobahn leaving the island supposed to symbolize the IRish who left Ireland due to the war? Seems so to me.

Beyond that, TBoI is full of awesome dialogue, including a few of the most "I never thought I'd hear somebody say that exact sentence" sentences. Kerry Condon is awesome as Farrell's sister Siobahn. Farrell and the guy who plays Dominic also great.

It is not quite as good as In Bruges, but if you give credit for the symbolism, it is not far off.

[Rec]² (2009)

definitely not Recommended

[3/10 · 29 April 2023]

I loved the first film. This is far far inferior, which is not that surprising. Sigh. Right from the beginning, the Spanish SWAT team act like a bunch of amateurs. They just yell at each other, can't fight off tiny little demon kids, and generally look like they have neither training nor any toughness. The old saying "frightened school girls" comes to mind.

Another problem is there is so much time spent EXPLAINING things. The first film greatly benefited by not having that. Stuff just kept happening in it. No explaining going on.

I stopped watching when the teens got involved. What a bringdown from the quality character of the TV reporter in the first film to a bunch scared, soon-to-be-dead SWAT losers and dumb teens in the second.

Belfast (2021)

Entertainment, not a political tirade. This turns off many viewers who need political rants

[9/10 · 16 April 2023]

One of the most entertaining films of 2021. Probably a step ahead of King Richard. Reminds me of Yesterday in a way, being a heart-warming film without a political edge that are both greatly enhanced by the single artist soundtracks. And, people who demand a political statement in every film or who don't like how the artist's music was used come to imdb to downvote both of these films.

Almost everything was done well: the use of B&W, but color in a few "escapist" scenes, the cast, the dialogue, the humor, the family relationships, up and down the family hierarchy, and of course VAN THE MAN.

I would give it a 10, but there are a couple of over-the-top scenes: Dad singing and High Noon. And the scenes are too choppy overall.

4 Minute Mile (2014)

I'm a sucker for films about track, but

[6/10 · 10 April 2023]

This really is not good. At first I thought it was going to be about Pre. Nope. Then it mad me nostalgic for a foreign film (maybe Spanish) I saw 5 or so years ago, called 100 meters. 100 Meters is a MUCH better film. Set your viewing priorities accordingly.

This is a hugely unoriginal story about poor kid with terrible family life who needs to win a scholarship to get away from it, and the once-great record-holder, now bitter, broken old man who sees redemption if he can get this kid across the finish line. Hugely unoriginal. And maybe being in dreary Seattle depressed them all. The acting overall is stoic.

Panic (2000)

just doesn't check boxes really

[5/10 · 2 April 2023]

It is well made. The son is great, both the actor and the lines they gave him. He was great overall and especially when conversing with Macy.

However, WHM Is miscast, just as he was in The Cooler. Please stop the May/September romances with WHM. They seem laughably contrived. And, it isn't even clear what he is supposed to see in her, other than "and now for something different".

The plot in general lacks credibility, so much so that there is no exploration of what is really going on with the "family business".

I guess the comedy was that they couldn't decide if the girl lived in an apartment or a house. I swear he rang apartment door buzzers the first time he visited (stalked) her but then she lived in a house the second time.

I'd rather watch Grosse Pointe Blank for the sixth time.

Brad's Status (2017)

Excruciating. Worst thought-through first 15 minutes in film history maybe

[2/10 · 30 March 2023]

It is almost entirely meaningless, BORING voice-over combined with Ben Stiller trying to look constipated, or maybe depressed. Who cares which? It is excruciating. It is not even good enough to be depressing.

I didn't finish it. I lasted maybe 45 minutes, probably less. I couldn't bother to care how long. I mainly gave it a chance since I haven't been to Harvard Sq in a long time. So, I got my views of The Square, Harvard Yard, some T buses, the Lars Andersen bridge, the Mass Ave (MIT) bridge, the Charles and I WAS DONE. Far worse film than I could have imagined.

Even if you fast forward through the first 15 minutes, they will still feel like an hour.

Drive My Car (2021)

Self-inDULLgence on turbo.

[3/10 · 17 February 2023]

This is made for a tiny, hugely self-inDULLgent demographic. You really have to love acting. You really have to love Chekov. You really have to love being sad. You really have to love being so sad that you really cannot show any emotion, comatose is it?

The decision to watch this balanced my overall love for Japanese films with my having hated the only Haruki Murakami novel that I ever tried to read. When I say I hated it, well, that was even though I think I read only 50 or 60 pages, which, I don't know may have been only the 1st 10%.

To honor a guy who writes books that are much too long, the film-maker took a 24 page short-story and made it into a film that is 100% too long. I made it to 2 hrs and just did not care anymore.

Ticket to Paradise (2022)

Came for the scenery. Got nothing more

[5/10 · 28 January 2023]

Did people actually pay to sit in a theatre to watch this? The story is preposterous. The main characters, especially Julia, are not likeable and show no chemistry. If they want to go standard predictable re-unitement romcom, they cannot make Julia's character so BITTER. It makes the standard predictable re-unitement preposterous.

And what was the idea of Julia walking around in some ugly jumpsuit thing. Skinny legs in the shorts, big butt in the jumpsuit. She should sue the person who made costume choices, unless she did it herself.

It started badly when the daughter "graduates from college" and then "is a lawyer". What? What happened to Law School? Does that not exist in the romcom alt-universe?

Yesterday (III) (2019)

I will watch this 10x in the next 10 years. Crazy under-rating here

[10/10 · 27 January 2023]

I doubt there is any other film where my rating is so far above the imdb rating. This has so much going for it.

The soundtrack is The Beatles. Huge Win. And they did a fine job choosing, performing and integrating the songs. The scene where his parents and the neighbor cannot be bothered to sit quietly for a few minutes to hear Let It Be for the FIRST TIME is one of the funniest scenes ever.

That leads to the other Big Win in this: it is frequently hilarious and the comedy is almost always deftly done. I have to add Himesh, who I had never seen before, sort of looks and sounds like Russell Brand, who plays rockers in at least a couple of films.

Only possible complaints: The Rom part of Rom-Com is not handled as well as the Com. Rom takes over the film too much in the end. And a few of the later scenes with Gavin are just Strange. But, there are things to nit-pick on in every film, even the "10"s.

So, I am amazed people complain about the coherence of the "alternative universe" or whatever it is. This film is a FANTASY. IT is not a Science Fiction treatise.

A View to a Kill (1985)

For Bond, weak and goofy. Overall, some fun

[7/10 · 25 January 2023]

I guess I had never seen this before. I remember the opening scene, but nothing else. If you had to differentiate this from an average Bond film, it'd take one word: GOOFY. It is so goofy that they just play it for slapstick sometimes. Aside from that:

Walken has a fan club, but he is weak weak in this. He talks a lot. He smiles a lot. Great villain, eh?

Grace Jones has her moments but overall seems like just another "Something Different" in a film that seemed to focus on being different than most Bonds.

Moore is too old in this. It shows.

Ask someone from your local fire department to explain the 9 or 10 things wrong with the fire scene in City Hall.

The plot? Horses? Or chips? Or horses? Or whatever.

The Worst Person in the World (2021)

genre = narciss-com

[4/10 · 27 November 2022]

This is the 21st century womansplained to us, by a man, one of those men who seem to think they have to always try to think like a woman, because, well who knows?

All 4 stars I give are for the lead actress. She is excellent. Her character is a total mess, and she does a wonderful job delivering that. Her character, Julie, is a complete narcissist. Julie is also indecisive and has no idea what she really wants. So, life is always about Julie, but that doesn't actually mean anything. Julie could actually be fun in small doses, so the title is obviously ironic. But, small doses only.

Being about Julie, who has no focus nor direction, it is no surprise that the film suffers from the same faults. Thus, I didn't even finish watching it. It was not bad as far as I watched but it was obvious where it was headed. It was headed to 3 stars or 2 or ....