NurgleTheUnclean Reviews

After Yang (2021)

Should have been a short

[4/10 · 14 August 2023]

After yang is a artsy ai movie about a broken ai servant and the people who are adjusting to being without it.

The performances are good. But it's crazy slow with lots and lots of waiting as the artsy gloom camera tries to capture emotion though capturing the still moments in their lives.

The plot is pretty basic, with a broken robot taken to a repair expert who finds it has some hidden secrets, that turn out to be a big nothingburger, as far as the viewer is concerned.

Nothing provocative or new, just slow, slow, slow. I think they could have told the whole story in 20mins, and that story wasn't even interesting.

The best part of the whole movie, was the family dance competition in the beginning (this is what keeps it from getting 2 stars). You should probably turn it off right after that.

The Premise (2021)

Amazing series for thinkers

[10/10 · 10 December 2021]

The Premise is basically a series of shorts. Each episode (for lack of a better term) is a stand alone short film, there is no reason to watch them in order since none of the episodes have anything to do with the others.

The stories are very rich and some are quite profound. I watched them in order and the 1st episode which isn't my favorite and many of the QAnon/Trumpers which seem to dominate IMDB, might have been offended by the 1st episode and not watched further, well they would probably be offended by the whole series, since many of the episodes tackle philosophical issues which would be difficult to defend from the conservative viewpoints.

This show has top notch performers, fantastic writing, gripping dialog, great direction and cinematography, and plenty of surprises. If you want to jump right in I would recommend watching episode 2 first (which was my favorite).

30 mins is a great runtime, they tell a big story in that time. My only complaint about the series is that it's only 5 episodes. I sure hope they make many more.

Fatherhood (I) (2021)

Fairy tale about a rich widower and an army of support for him.

[3/10 · 29 June 2021]

Most single parents should be able to identify with being rich, having your job allow you to bring your baby to work, having two sets of extended family provide support, friends that stick with you even when you're a dick to them, and fawned over by a fantasy girlfriend prospect, even though you treat them crappy.

This movie basically shows an incredibly privileged rich widower, with challenges that are basically dismissed by fantastically accommodating work conditions, friends, and strangers.

The child character is completely undeveloped, she is about as memorable as the extras.

It's supposed to be a tear jerker, yet the protagonist can't manage a single tear in the whole movie. Skip this and watch "Happyness" with Will Smith instead.

LX 2048 (2020)

Much better than the score would suggest

[8/10 · 14 June 2021]

I went into this movie with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. The acting was a bit like a play at times with all the over acting enthusiasm you normally would see in a play but everyone's performances were still good. The themes are relatable and understandable. What I really liked was that they took many the emerging technologies, social trends, environmental distresses, psychological/emotional frailties, and wrapped it up into a relatable story that moved along at a good pace, with enough surprises and social commentary to keep my attention while at the same time kept me guessing. While not completely unpredictable, it's got plenty of nuanced twists and turns to not only keep me entertained but kept me thinking. I watched it alone but I will probably revisit this movie with others, as there's lots of food for conversation afterward.

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)

I liked it better the first time I saw and it was called Avengers Endgame.

[5/10 · 19 April 2021]

This is an Avengers Endgame style story for DC. Super powerful bad guys, requiring a team of superheroes to defeat. I thought the performances were good, and the characters likeable. But there were so many scenes where they just lined up the heroes in some sort of poster pose, and panned around for minutes. Could they have told the story in 3 hours--certainly, in 2 hours--probably, in 90 mins -- maybe. Very corny dialogs, ala "when I grow up can I be like you? -- When you grow up, you can be whoever you want to be." barf. This is the kind of movie where you don't need to pause it to go to the bathroom; Did I miss anything? Not really, just the current heroes standing around taking in the sunset in the aftermath of a battle, again.

Monsters of Man (2020)

Who doesn't love killer robot movies?

[7/10 · 14 December 2020]

Monsters of Man is full of technical flaws and silly inconsistencies, but the robots look great, and the performances were believable, plot progression was fast enough to keep me interested the whole time.

First the robots looked great, they are humanoid terminator/chappie style, they look menacing and are effective as you would expect them to be. Though like all super vilians, they are super quick dead shots when shooting at extras, but miss too often when shooing at named characters--I give this a pass since that's every action movie. The AI/learning/upgrade element of the robots had parallels to the Venom movie, which I found nostalgically predictable, but still fun. Quirky bugs in the robots make them certainly less effective than a terminator but help to balance out a lopsided match-up.

The human characters do a decent job and I quite liked how the bad guys were portrayed, Jose Rosette turned in a solid tough bad guy performance, but on the good guy front most of the characters were not that compelling, but certainly passable.

For a movie that's over 2 hours I was entertained start to finish, I can think of probably dozens of movies this drew inspiration from and it was blended into a stylish modern good looking sci-fi action flick, with plenty of nostalgia, go into it less seriously and I think anyone can find something to like.

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

I enjoyed it!

[7/10 · 21 January 2020]

I read so many negative reviews I felt it needed some balance.

Terminator Dark Fate to me has all the right criteria for a Terminator movie: 1) Villian Terminator is what you would expect, relentless, indestructible, clever, powerful. 2) Lots of peril. The heroes are always on the run, the terminator chases are relentless and spectacular. 3) Lots of action. The fight scenes are well choreographed, and fun to watch, plenty of explosions, car crashes, death defying stunts. 4) A plot. The plot actually has more depth than the originals, reviewers dismiss the plot because it may have some heavy handed political innuendos that they disagree with. For me I liked where the plot went, while there weren't many plot twists or surprises, it was plenty rich enough to keep me interested the whole time. 5) Decent performances. I generally consider Mackenzie Davis an obvious overactor, however I thought she did a great job. Gabriel Luna, was in my opinion the best Terminator there has ever been, charming and robotic at the same time. Linda and Arnold, were there ever overacting selves, with all the cliches, but I wasn't bothered or distracted by them. Natalia Reyes certainly wasn't my favorite, but either was Linda in the original Terminator movie, so in that respect she played the role she was supposed to, and at the end was completely acceptable.

Overall, it's a tense thriller with non stop action that left me looking forward to the next generation of Terminator movies.

Final Space (2018–2021)

Lightfold the ship Hue!

[10/10 · 20 August 2019]

First off I am only on episode 4. Not because I am slow to watch this but I keep wanting to share what I have seen with everyone I know, so I keep watching the first few episodes over and over. First off the story! It is so big and ambitious, very much a Star Wars type story, aliens, robots, super powered villains/heroes, wise cracking mavericks, constant peril, over the top humor, huge plot development with plenty of sub-plot humor. I watched the first episode with one of my friends and he said he felt like he sat through an entire full length movie, because so much had happened in that 20 minutes. The Characters - The main protagonist is this lovable space captain/prisoner Gary voiced perfectly by Olan Rodgers. Gary's has all the right hero qualities of fearlessness, loyalty, superhero luck, wrapped up in this careless, childlike goofiness, under the thumb of oppressive rules placed upon him by the ship/AI named H.U.E. (think Hal from 2001). Quickly you are introduced to many others, the army of robots aboard the Galaxy One, and the sanity preservation bot KVN (Kevin) voiced by Fred Armisen. KVN is much more nuanced than initial appearances. KVN routinely saves the day, all the time being hated upon by Gary, the banter between these two do a lot to contrast the serious peril and magnitude of the mission at hand. The main villain is this sort of Emperor Palpatine sort of alien called The Lord Commander. He is a seriously super-powered bad guy wrapped up in this petty childlike tantrum throwing alien, he's ruthless in his ambitions and throws a stark and serious contrast to the humorous antics aboard the Galaxy One. The other supporting characters such as Avocato, the Mercenary with a personal mission, and loyal friend of Gary. Quinn, Gary's impossible love interest, bad guy special agent, turned rebel savior, along with Tribor her goofy ever questioning sidekick. Then of course there's Mooncake, the speechless troubled planet-killer alien wrapped up in a cute green beachball alien body. Each character brings something unique and fresh to an intriguing story line, full of physical and moral dilemmas it's simply impossible for me not to love. The animation - Love it, for blending modern big action 3d modeled space scenes with, cell shaded comical cartoony characters. It's a great blend that keeps me engaged with both the humor and seriousness of each episode. I don't know if it's a tag line or not yet at this point, but there's something really special when Gary says in his serious voice "Lightfold the ship Hue!" When you know, Wcheew, that was close, but were all going to be ok now.

Captive State (2019)

Very thoughtful with many real life parallels

[10/10 · 9 August 2019]

I was intrigued with the premise of this, basically life on an occupied planet from the viewpoint of the losers.

The performances are strong and believable. Sci-fi plots usually have lots of flaws but this one was pretty tight, I didn't find any glaring errors that pulled me out of the experience.

From a philosophical viewpoint the real strength of this film is the parallels it draws from real life oppression by powers today. The aliens have superior technology used to oppress the humans, much the same way real life superpowers oppress developing countries around the world.

The parallels are so striking and in such a novel way that while I was already sympathetic to the plights of the oppressed, I felt I had a better understanding of what it must be like under the thumb of the powerful, with a bleak future ahead.

Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

Silly, ridiculas, corny, and lots of fun

[7/10 · 18 July 2019]

CGI cyborgs, robots, nonsense technology makes for some hilarious fun! I watched this movie with my wife and a couple friends and while the consensus was mixed everyone enjoyed it. While I think different ages will enjoy it for different reasons, I think anyone can find something to like about it.

The technology of the cyborgs is pretty fantastic and impossible to believe, eating without pooping, no need for breathing, human brains that are far far far more durable than realty. This unbelievable nuance helps the silliness and the fun. The over the top cliches and corny dialogue make for lots of laughs (albeit unintentional). The CGI is top notch, its certainly not low budget.

I went into it expecting something like Pacific Rim 2 (which has very similar silliness and dialog), and it delivered the laughs and entertainment I had hoped for.

The Wandering Earth (2019)

Absurd fantasy nonsense

[3/10 · 30 April 2019]

Moving earth like a space ship is so dumb! 1) An asteroid that hits the earth and kills all the dinosaurs, didn't budge the earth from it's orbit. 2) The moon creation even that suggests that 4.5b years ago an object the size of Mars collided with the earth to create the moon. Yet it didn't budge the earth from it's orbit around the Sun. 3) The Mass of the earth is 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg. the force required to move that object 1meter per second is Force = Mass * Acceleration. or 6 * 10^24 newtons. So to change the speed of the earth by a nearly useless 1m/s or 2.25 MPH, would require the energy of 142 million megatons of TNT. Over 10,000 times the total amount of all the worlds nuclear weapons. Or in other words if we detonated every single nuke in the world in the same place at the time that would be enough to budge the earth .000225 MPH or 14 inches per hour. 4) Even if there was an energy source that abundant to move the earth to Jupiter much less another star light years away, we would simply not need a star at all. We could just set the earth to a further orbit from the sun, and use all that propulsion energy to substitute for the sun. 5) Lets be ridiculously generous and say the earth could reach Jupiter in 1 year 365,000,000 miles away, that would very roughly equate to a speed of 41,000 mph (which is way faster than the 14" per hour all the nukes in the world could move the earth). To travel to our next nearest star (alpha centauri) is 25 trillion miles away, that would take 70,000 years, or if we used the 14" per hour speed it would take 17,580 billion earth years. 6) The Hiroshima nuclear blast was 20ktons of TNT. So imagine what 700,000 of those would do to the surface and atmosphere of the Earth. And that's to move 14" an hour.

The Predator (2018)

A-Team vs. Predator

[7/10 · 10 December 2018]

Reading the bad reviews I came in with low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised with the humor, the action, the effects and even the actors. This is a fun action flick with bit of everything--A-Team meets predator meets super-predator. While it's loaded with corniness, cliches and predictability, it's action packed, fun and the humor lines well delivered.

Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)

Hillariously bad - I ended up liking it

[5/10 · 21 August 2018]

This is a high budget Sharnado of a movie. Lots of corniness, bad dialogue, lame plot, predictable, but fun. I groaned so many times watching this lame show that eventually the groans turned into chuckles and then into laughter. Mix it in with some good looking giant robot scenes and Godzilla sized monsters (that were actually frightening) and it became a fun experience. I am looking forward to getting a bunch of intoxicated friends over to revisit this gem.

Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)

Wow! Not in a good way

[5/10 · 17 March 2018]

Ok I was reasonably entertained. Bradley the main character should have been built up to be some sort of Luke Cage/mutant type because he is simply inhumanly strong, if you can get past that it's entertaining. Early in the show he has some sort of temper tantrum and destroys his wife's car with his bare hands street fighter style, tearing off the latched hood of a car--ridiculas.

Moving on, he gets into a bunch of fist fights where he simply breaks people like they are make of Styrofoam. This may have been more believable if they had some giant in that role (Dave Bautista/Dwane Johnson), but Vince Vaughn while bigger/fitter than we are used to seeing him, is not gorilla-like enough to pull off the antics of the movie.

The acting was fine and I liked the cast, I am starting to see more of Don Johnson lately and I liked him in this.

This Is Us (2016–2022)

Hillarius!

[7/10 · 15 March 2018]

This show is sooooooo overly dramatic at some point it just becomes hillarious! Every GD scene is some long drawn out poetic speech which is so unbelievable. At first you might not notice just how funny it is, because it's certainly not meant to be funny. But as you watch scene after scene it's finally kicks in, OMG everything anyone says is so overdramatic and sappy that after a while it's downright laughable. Yeah your girlfriend will be sitting next to you crying but at some point even she will "get it".

Yesterday I watched the latest episode (not sure which they are all about the same). Someone (I think Many Moore's character), says to Kate "You were not in the way, you were the way." (Coughing up my sip of beer) that was some funny ass over the top corniness that we both laughed over.

It gives a whole new perspective to the show and now I think I want to rewatch episodes because there's a whole new way to appreciate it now.

Crying Wolf (2016)

Short and simple

[3/10 · 25 August 2017]

This short isn't anything you haven't seen before. Kidnappers hold some important guy's adult kid hostage for ransom. Important guy calls friend at MI6 to conduct rescue. Half a dozen or so commandos search a remote building. Kidnappers armed with blades, take all the commandos out even though they are outnumbered and outgunned. It's sorta like a Kung Fu movie where martial arts experts take out guys with guns, except that there's no martial arts. The commandos are inept, the kidnappers don't seem skilled either. The fight scenes are dull slow-mo hack fests with all the cliché victim actions.

It's short so it's not a big waste of time, but a waste of time none the less.

Better Call Saul (2015– )

Better than Breaking Bad

[10/10 · 2 June 2016]

This is a fantastic series. The performances are so compelling and the dialogue is so smart that I am completely drawn into every episode. I liked Breaking bad very much but I feel like Better Call Saul explores the vulnerabilities, aspirations and tribulations of characters that are easier to identify with much better. Reah Seahorn (who I loved on on Whitney) really shows her depth as a serious actress as Kim Wexler. Kim is probably my favorite character, she's an inspiration in her perseverance in the face of adversity, and her strength of character. But it's the perfect combination of villains and heroes in balance that keeps you thinking and interested in all the characters and the directions they go. Oh and the cinematics are simply gorgeous. If you aren't watching this series you are making a big mistake.

Under the Electric Sky (2014)

More of an Infomercial than a documentary

[6/10 · 10 June 2015]

Right off the bat you see that the "documentary" is made by Insomniac, the same people who host EDC. It follows a few groups of concert goers to the Electric Daisy Carnival in 2013. It starts off entertaining and visually spectacular, but soon digresses into what seems like a promo piece. Approximately 350,000 people show up to this event and it's pretty much just about the positives about the event (which I am sure it mostly is).

Other than a little puff piece about EMTs helping people in need, there is no coverage of the economics, sanitation effort, parking, traffic, food, actual security, event erection, and teardown, local public opinion, actual injuries, drug/alcohol overdoses, legal hurdles, logistical challenges, etc.

Where they lose me is when the Texas girl gets picked out of the crowd of vast people to get up on stage with her beloved DJs Above and Beyond, and gets to participate in some token gesture of pushing a button starting the music up again. This was clearly scripted.

Overall it's an enjoyable watch, but fairly repetitive. Watch the 20 minute 2012 Tomorrowland official video on youtube (which is fun), if you want that video to last for 85mins, then this is the flick for you.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

Heavy handed ideology, with massive technical flaws.

[3/10 · 3 November 2014]

While the plot is interesting enough to stay awake through, this move has so many glaring technical flaws it became simply ridiculous. The CGI while very detailed, fluid and spectacular, is also glaringly unnatural, and distracting.

The human mission is also very technically flawed. With enormous systems which would require constant supervision and maintenance are simply treated like a light switch to be flipped on and never need to revisited. Lame dialog "this relay is bad go get another one." to some kid who grew up in an apocalyptic wasteland, who would have no idea what a relay was not to mention the specific type of relay, as well as they are in a dilapidated facility with what appears to be no maintenance parts or anything else to conduct repairs with.

While I get that the apes are advanced and not to be confused with real wild apes, I can give some leniency for sci-fi. But they are apes, not aliens, I am reasonably familiar with apes and their limitations especially from what has been demonstrated in the previous movies. They overreach their technical as well as physical ability, very quickly. The basic parallels between the mentality of the humans and apes is reasonably clever and thoughtful but a bit slow and near the end down right heavy handed.

Here's the spoiler. Once the apes capture many guns from the humans the movie goes down hill fast. The apes who have no familiarity with guns other than being shot by them, are now able to fire 2 assault rifles simultaneously in each hand while on horseback in a full gallop and actually hit targets other than than themselves or the horses the're riding on?!?! The complexity of loading a magazine with the correct ammunition, then chambering, switching the safety, aiming, trigger control, loud sound tolerance, etc, is completely dismissed. This is why soldiers basic training with a rifle is 8 weeks long (granted not all 8 weeks are rifle training) and the rifle is anatomically designed to be fired by a human not an ape. But you get the point, an ape no matter how smart wouldn't be able to simply pick up a rifle and do much more with it than use it as a club.

I've seen worse for sure, but this movie is highly overrated, if you are sensitive to technical flaws like I am this movie will frustrate more than entertain.

Breaking Bad: To'hajiilee (2013) Season 5, Episode 13

The biggest flawed episode so far.

[3/10 · 13 January 2014]

While it wasn't the worst TV I have seen this is completely ridiculous episode in so many ways. First, Walter is so much more careful in previous episodes that it really out of character for him to be so reckless with the whole desert money thing, and the hit on Jessie thing.

I was willing to overlook that to a point until the big final shootout thing. This scene was so riddled with technical flaws that it just made the whole episode silly.

First these bad guy backup seems to arrive in about 5-10 mins, not sure how far away they were when Walter called them but it seemed way too fast. Hank and Gomez should have rushed to a covered position behind the front wheel of the SUV as soon as they saw the other vehicles coming. But here's this biggie. There's 6 guys 3 with rifles 1 with an automatic shotgun and 2 with pistols, at about 30 yards of distance in supported firing positions with 2 soft targets in the open, with clear weather and visibility. This scenario there should have been 2 shots, one to the head of each Hank and Gomez, in 1 second. If they were really bad shots then maybe hit them in the chest instead.

Oh no, they proceed to fire off hundreds of rounds which seem to be all aimed at the front fender of the SUV. Not one bullet can find Hank or Gomez. Unbelievable! I think this firefight would have been over faster If I was out there throwing rocks at them.

I like a good firefight like anyone, but this was just plain stupid. They could have easily fixed this scene by introducing a sandstorm, have Hank and Gomez dive for hard cover, increase the engagement distance, put lesser weapons in the hands of the bad guys, light off some smoke grenades, fire from moving vehicles, or any combination of these things.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)

2 for being bad enough to abandon half way through.

[2/10 · 9 August 2013]

I was in a mood where I could tolerate a cheesy action flick (I liked the A-Team) so I figured I could at least bear GI Joe Retaliation.

I was wrong. While there was a good cast of actors who general turn in decent performances, the dialog was unbearably corny. I was constantly moaning throughout the first half of the movie. The martial arts scenes were about the only redeeming part and even those had some cheesy crap to f that up.

Super lame gadgets and props. I thought the hand fence melters are just absurd, immediately going down hill, then they throw out this carbon fiber katana thing later.

Ridiculous costumes, unrealistic battle scenes, lame props, terrible dialog, thin plot. At least I only wasted an hour on this POS.

I think if I had watched the whole thing I would have given it a 1.

Broken City (2013)

Enjoyable film filled with good performances.

[7/10 · 9 August 2013]

I recently saw this movie and was pleased with it on many levels. While the main plot holds it's own, the various sub plots were to me the most memorable. I am a bit of a Mark Walhberg fan, finding his performances to be very believable. He doesn't disappoint here either, his reactions to seeing his girlfriend's movie premiere are so perfectly delivered, and the writing for this sub plot has all the natural course of events spot on. From initial uncomfortableness , to eventual uncontrollable outbursts, it's all so natural and believable. Russel Crowe also delivers as usual, well cast as the mayor. Catherine Zeta Jones and a bunch of relatively unknowns, all put on great performances, nobody felt out of place.

Another thing I found refreshing was how when the plot twist came, I didn't feel attached to the original mission, and was able to get on board with the new direction the movie took. Good likable heroes, making tough choices for the right reasons. The movie finished with a good message about morality and making the right choices in the face of self sacrifice.

Sons & Daughters (2006–2007)

Probably the best prematurely cancelled show ever.

[10/10 · 15 October 2006]

I remember hearing radio spots for this show that were funny enough that I chuckled in the car. The actual show was even funnier. Normally you have a favorite character in a show, but this one it's nearly impossible to pick one. Every character brings so much to the show, from Cameron's Larry-David-esquire-always-in-troubeness, Sharon's condescending rivalry with Cameron, Don's quirky nerdiness, all the kids and their peculiarities, the parent's banter, and Whitey's explanation of a pastie being the difference between going to jail and a legal dance show. The show had a HBO/Showtime feel to it without the profanity and nudity. I can't say enough good things about it. Every episode was a gem.

I simply couldn't believe that this show was cancelled after only 10 episodes. There were more laughs in 10 episodes of "Sons and Daughters" than in every episode of "Friends" combined.