adh-08851 Reviews

Deadwood (2004–2006)

8.6. Really?

[3/10 · 15 May 2023]

Finding myself with nothing of interest to watch I decided to try "Deadwood" again. I did try once when it first aired but only briefly and thought the high rating meant I was wrong in my original assessment.

I really wanted to like it. I do not coinsider myself to be an uneducated or obtuse person, but trying to listen to the endless, convoluted, pseudo-Shakesperean, non-sensical babble from the main characters in their endless machinations had me in a state of major boredom and annoyance. It got to the point where I had to FF past some of the gobbleygook. And the writers might have Googled to find out that the insult, "douchebag" was not coined until 100 years later.

Swearengen, the fictional Tolliver, and later, Hearst, live only to perpetrate schemes and evil. They never speak a single linear, straightforward sentence while plotting this Evil. They do nothing but sit in their rooms, drink whiskey - so much that I doubt any of them would be in a condition to plot and scheme anything ever - make threats, order a few murders here and there and lord it over their cartoonish, dim-witted stooges. E. B Farnum is a sneaky, despicable, underhanded weasel, every minute of every day who is universally loathed. It's a wonder his descendants haven't sued over this portrayal

I"m not sure why we were treated to endless scenes of Al getting BJs, his urination, and his bouts with a bladder stone, all of which had nothing to do with anything and were distasteful in the extreme. Did Al really have a stroke and miraculously fully recover in short order with no rehab of any kind?

There were plots that went nowhere. For example, the brother and sister (or were they?) who came to Deadwood supposedly seeking their father. It seems they were perpetrating some elaborate masquerade in order to... steal a few jewels from a prostitute's dresser? Tolliver shoots both of them in the head and the storyline, whatever it was supposed to be, ends. Some guy likes hurting prostitutes and savagely slaughters three of them in one day. Nothing is done about it, ever. It just goes away. I asked myself what that was all about and not for the first time in this series.

I did like Keith Carradine as Wild BIll Hickok (who I found to be one of the only likable characters) but I felt the actress playing Calamity Jane was way too hammy. Did the real Jane never speak without making faces while yelling? Maybe she didn't, but it got very tiresome here.

Maybe MANY people in Deadwood - where it's always summer - could be murdered and their bodies thrown into a pig sty in full view of anybody. I really don't know but that lost its shock value pretty quickly, as did the endless repetitions by everyone of the word "cocksucker". "Shit" and even "damn" were considered profane at that time so I highly doubt that the extreme obscenities in this series were constantly being used, especially in front of children and ladies like Mrs. Bullock or even the fictional Alma.

I'm glad for the audience who seemed to really enjoy this and voted it up to 8.6. I'm really not seeing that.

Gone Mom (2021)

I got absorbed

[7/10 · 4 April 2023]

Knowing nothing about this movie, I turned it on as background noise while I played word games on my phone.

I had no idea this was a true story and I think I actually rolled my eyes and nearly turned it off when I saw a woman past thirty whose rich parents supported her in luxury homes while she futzed around like some spoiled dilettante playing at being a writer.

I started to get interested and put my game down when Jennifer told Fotis during their first night together that her father "kind of" owned a bank. Fotis obviously saw dollar signs and began seriously wooing her.

His affairs finally force her to try to divorce him. The fairy-tale lifestyle with the mansion, the rich parents, the handsome, attentive husband and 5 beautiful children unravels in the most horrific way and nothing could save her being brutally murdered.

A very sad story and one that is all too common for many women who are unable to get protected from vindictive partners.

Operation Repo (2007–2014)

Late night TV brought me here

[1/10 · 18 February 2023]

I discovered this during a bout of insomnia and it's like some sort of fever dream. Morbidly obese repo people battle the worst actors in the world to take their cars, boats, or whatever they owe money on. I really think this is the worst show EVER.

The only reaction I had is to worry that the hugely obese Lou and his terrifying sister might very well have heart attacks during their super-fake incidents (re-enactments by those awful, awful actors) and die on the spot.

I guess the wide, squat Matt is supposed to be the muscle but he seems to do little other than posture and threaten like a dollar-store Hulk Hogan. I do congratulate all of them for reaching the very bottom of the lowest common denominator.

Adding to this disaster are the incredibly annoying non-stop bleeps, since Americans feel children might be watching this -really? - and no one, not even adults can hear all those bad words without keeling over in shock.

Dead Ringers (1988)

I suggest reading the book

[9 February 2023]

While this movie has great style and acting, particularly from Jeremy Irons (although his British accent is puzzling from someone who grew up in Toronto) the events in the book explain so much more the descent into madness and deaths of the twin gyneocologists.

The most important factor is left out, presumably due to censorship, and that is the homosexual incestous relationship that develops between the twins and ultimately destroys them. The "good" twin, Beverley, tries to establish an identity and life of his own with a girlfriend who truly loves him but is unable to fight the draw and powerful hold of his "bad" twin.

If you want a much more in-depth and intriguing view of this story, I suggest the novel "Twins" by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland. It's not a pleasant read, but it is quite riveting.

Hell's Kitchen (2005– )

A cooking competition with no cooking

[4/10 · 30 November 2022]

I just started watching this late at night. I usually really enjoy cooking shows and contests, like "Top Chef" where there is silly drama, but we see the creations and processes of coming up with and preparing a dish.

This show has none of that, as it is all about the (melo)drama and not the cooking. If you watch one competition until the end when one chef is the winner, you've seen all of the seasons. We see no cooking skills, just the unbelievable repetitiveness of Beef Wellington, halibut, scallops, risotto, lamb and a few other dishes.

We get increasingly ridiculous and mean-spirited "challanges" and punishments that also have nothing to do with cooking, i.e. Shoveling out horse stalls? Really? We watch a bunch of grown people bitching, snarking and throwing tantrums like children, most of which is no doubt scripted. In between that, we have Ramsay's "All of you, get over here! Get out! Oh, come on! IT'S RAW!!" and screaming bleeped curses over and over and over...

I have no idea how this show lasted so long.

47 Meters Down (2017)

So, I liked it.

[7/10 · 23 October 2022]

I didn't love it, but it was much better than I was expecting. As someone with a little claustrophobia and definitely a fear of "what lies beneath", I could feel the sisters' terror as they plummeted into the dark depths.

The CGI sharks were VERY well done, and acted more natural than in many other movies. They didn't have super high IQs, and weren't on a mission of vengeance on humans. They acted more like what they are - not diabolical but animals, perfectly designed predators who circled, left, came back - cautiously checking to see if there might be a meal in the offing.

They were much more realistic than the evil, maniacal sharks, i.e., in "The Shallows" who, for some unknown reason, is obsessively driven to kill one woman instead of feeding on the immense whale carcass right in the vicinity. I don't demand thrillers or actions movies to be perfectly logical or true-to-life, but that was utter, eye-rolling nonsense.

47 Meters Down is filmed quite beautifully and between the dark water, the realistic panic of the women, the fear of running out of oxygen, and the glimpses of sharks kept my attention throughout.

Crawl (I) (2019)

I'm alarmed by the people who think this is a great movie

[1/10 · 27 August 2022]

When in the right mood, I really enjoy a disaster or survival movie, even if it may be a little cheesy or far-fetched. Caught this by accident last night and was all set to enjoy it for what it was. I adored "The Reef", "Open Water" and "Black Water". I didn't even mind "47 Meters Down" and the silly "The Shallows" so I'm not picky.

"Crawl" is stupid, dumb, so outrageously unrealistic, and terribly boring. Heroine gets attacked by massive alligators (how did they get into the basement, even if there were basements in Florida?) yet the bites from these monstrous gators with a bite force of around 2500 PSI are merely an inconvenience. Could the producer not have Googled to find out the damage done by an attack of even a small gator? I felt personally insulted by this movie.

Anyway, I got so bored and annoyed I started doing a word game on my phone and turned this awful movie off so I have no idea what happened to the two morons. The dog was cute.

North Face (2008)

Gutting.

[25 June 2022]

All I have to say is that this is one of the most if not THE most, grueling and disturbing movies I have ever seen. It haunted me long after I watched it.

The Many Saints of Newark (2021)

What a letdown

[4/10 · 3 June 2022]

I recall watching the original series, seeing the excellent flashback scenes with Johnny Boy Soprano, Olivia, Janice, Tony, and Uncle Junior and thinking I would SO watch a movie set entirely in that era with those actors.

So, we get this prequel instead. I put off watching it because I expected to be disappointed. My hopes weren't even all that high since I knew nothing could equal the OS. Even my low expectations were set too high. Again, what a letdown.

Safer at Home (2021)

I thought this might be a good rainy day movie

[1/10 · 16 October 2021]

I was wrong. I couldn't finish it. A bunch of annoying millennials sit around video chatting, spouting nonsense, and trying to play stupid games after taking drugs. The group is structured to hit all the "woke" buttons - two Beta white guys, a smart Asian woman, and an interracial gay couple. I don't know what happened after the shrill "Jen" hits her head and not one of these geniuses think calling an ambulance is a good idea as they all fuss and argue over what to do. I checked out there. I posted with with Spoilers, but it's hard to spoil a movie as bad as this. Bad, bad!

The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020)

Could have been so much better

[5/10 · 24 September 2021]

I love werewolf movies, so when I happened on this one, knowing nothing about it I thought it was perfect for a rainy fall day. The vistas were awesome, it was creepy and mysterious and I would have loved it if not for the lead actor, Jim Cummings.

I was expecting horror, but then wondered I was wrong and it was really supposed to be a spoof or comedy. Every scene Mr. Cumming is in, he's screaming, attacking someone out of the blue, crying, or getting drunk. He's full of self-pity and on the verge of hysteria all the time. I couldn't imagine a police force keeping someone so unstable on since he has zero self-control, ever.

But I enjoyed the other performances quit a lot, especially that of Riki Lindhome as Detective Robson and did like the deliberate bits of humour. If someone else had the main role, I would have given this a much higher rating.

Toys of Terror (2020)

I thought I was dreaming

[1/10 · 16 September 2021]

I happened on this during a bout of insomnia. I sometimes like really bad horror/scifi movies but this is another category. It was totally formulaic, with the typical, sulky, bored teenager eventually being the hero. The acting was atrocious, especially from Hannah who is strident, shrill, bossy, rude, and obnoxious. The two little kids were cute and weren't bad actors.

Since I tuned in a few minutes after this started, i had a hard time figuring out the family dynamics. At first I thought Rose was the mother of the little children, but that turned out not to be. Then I thought Hannah must have adopted them, since they are clearly not the same race as she, but oh, well.

The long singing sequence with the toys made me wonder about the target audience of this movie. It can't be children since there are elements of horror, but it's not something that appeals to most adults.

This is one of the worst movies I've seen in many a year, but it nearly reaches the "So bad it's good" category.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Sylvia (1958) Season 3, Episode 16

Bizarre!

[10 September 2021]

I like John McIntire and really wanted to like this, but it was very off-putting watching the daughter - a 50 year old woman - pouting and crying and saying "Daddy" to a man the same age as she was, an indulgent daddy who coddled her as though she were a fragile young teen.

I thought maybe she was brain-damaged, perhaps in an accident, but no such thing. It was all just too creepy and weird. Was it impossible to find an actress at least 20 years younger to play the daughter?

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: Where the Woodbine Twineth (1965) Season 3, Episode 13

A never-forgotten episode

[9/10 · 28 August 2020]

I know I saw this when I was very young, but the only things I remembered about it were a girl, the words, "Where the Woodbine Twineth" and that it scared me quite a bit. Just saw it again last night and although it no longer scared me, I was engrossed from start to finish. The atmosphere of dread pervades unrelentingly and I think it's heightened by the perfectly normal setting of a lovely house and sunny days. The acting of the entire cast is subdued and perfect and very impressive by adorable Eileen Baral, who is the lonely little girl with a cast of made-up friends - or are they?

When Hitchcock veered from suspense to horror, like "The Jar", "An Unlocked Window" and this episode ,he did so with great style, effect, and impact.

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: An Unlocked Window (1965) Season 3, Episode 17

It still scares me

[10/10 · 10 July 2020]

The one-hour AHH were, IMO, never as good as the half-hour ones. Mostly they seemed to contain a lot of filler and dragged at times, but not this one. I still remember seeing this episode when it first aired, with my cousin. We were about 15. I also still remember the actual chills I got up my back at the very creepy reveal and how my cousin and I grabbed each other, gasping. There was nothing much horrific on TV in those days as there is now, so we weren't expecting this and it had such an impact I've never watched it again.

The Good Liar (2019)

Could have been much better *SPOILERS*

[30 June 2020]

I caught this on TV with no prior knowledge of it and got hooked immediately. This type of online love scam is proliferating rapidly so I found this film quite timely. Someone upthread said it was too hard to believe the bright, educated Betty could be so easily conned. Not true. Lots of smart, successful, business-savvy women and men get scammed this way every day.

Not much I can say about Ian Mckellen and Helen Mirren that hasn't been said. They were fabulous, particularly the former who could switch from mild-mannered, endearing grandather type to cold-blooded criminal and back again without batting an eye. Watching them together was a real treat.

However, once the end of the film arrives, it makes many earlier events puzzling and even nonsensical.

In my (very) humble opinion, the German interlude and flashbacks could have been eliminated since I feel none of it was pertinent or drove or furthered the story in any way. Same with the revealing, huge exposition dump at the end. It all fell kind of flat. This would have been a much better, tighter movie without those segments. I would have loved this movie to end in a simple "Gotcha" with Roy hot-footing it back to Betty's house for the money and finding the place emptied out except for the pad showing a zero balance.

Servant (2019–2023)

So disappointing

[2/10 · 22 April 2020]

I caught the first episode by chance and thought it looked interesting. That didn't last long. No one does anything that even remotely makes any sense. Okay, I can buy that Dorothy is in some PTSD phase of denial where she wants so much to believe something she's not in reality, but her husband? He finds a baby in their home and instead of demanding to know where it came from and who are the parents or - you know - calling the police, he does nothing at all. He's too afraid to do so.

His answer is to call Dorothy's brother to help him figure it out. Does the brother say, "We have to call the police!"? No, he decides to get some part-time P.I. and take off to Wisconsin to play Sherlock Holmes and find out where the babysitter comes from. No one one dares to just ask her. The husband is such a wimpy neckbearded soyboy I wanted to hit him and I see why his wife shows him such contempt. He doesn't have to the guts to stand up and do what any normal human being would do. He takes out his frustration by bashing eels to death.

I know it's trendy to film dark scenes, but this one is so dark all the time it's nearly impossible to see what's happening. Chef hubby, who just seems to stay home and cook meals for himself and Dorothy and maybe do a catering job now and then, even does his cooking in a kitchen with virtually no lights on. Everyone walks around in the dark. Are they trying to save on the electricity bills? I"ve watched 3 episodes so far, hoping it would get better, but it has not. I think I'll pass on the rest of this nonsensical and NOT creepy or scary tale.