I read the book a few years back and thought it was tedious and a little hard to follow. Same feeling watching this movie. I started checking my watch an hour into the movie.
Reviews
18 Reviews
I'll remember this episode
11 September 2020
Good. Not spectacular. More suspenseful than scary
14 August 2019
It was a decent movie and I don't feel like I wasted my money on a ticket. I first became interested in seeing it when I learned that Guillermo del Toro was involved because I like his films, although I was later disappointed to find that he wasn't really in charge of the movie. On the other hand, I was happy to find that André Øvredal, the guy who directed "Trollhunter," was involved. I loved "Trollhunter."
The film was interesting enough that I never looked at my watch during the film. (I know a movie is boring if I look at my watch.) It reminded me of "It," but not as intense. It started out very well, like it was building to something special, but then it plateaued. More suspenseful than scary. Not a lot of monster time on screen. The way it ended made it seem like there would be a sequel.
As an aside, I went on Discount Tuesday - $7 vs the usual $13 or $14 on other nights. The theater was at least 90% full. Other than a sold-out, one-time-only showing of Godzilla 2000 in San Francisco, the last time I remember a theater being that crowded was when I attended the Alaska premier of "Star Wars" in 1977.
The film was interesting enough that I never looked at my watch during the film. (I know a movie is boring if I look at my watch.) It reminded me of "It," but not as intense. It started out very well, like it was building to something special, but then it plateaued. More suspenseful than scary. Not a lot of monster time on screen. The way it ended made it seem like there would be a sequel.
As an aside, I went on Discount Tuesday - $7 vs the usual $13 or $14 on other nights. The theater was at least 90% full. Other than a sold-out, one-time-only showing of Godzilla 2000 in San Francisco, the last time I remember a theater being that crowded was when I attended the Alaska premier of "Star Wars" in 1977.
GLOW
(2017–2019)
Season 1 great, Season 2 good, Season 3 awful
11 August 2019
I've been a big fan of GLOW - both the original wrestling series in the 80's, and the Netflix series. Just finished watching season 3, and was very disappointed. I realized that the funniest and most entertaining aspects of Netflix seasons 1 and 2 happened during the wrestling-related scenes, where the cast members were either in the ring or training. Season 3 was almost all about personal relationships, with very little wrestling. It went from a show that appealed to everybody in the first two seasons, to a "chick-flick" or "rom-com" type of series that was directed mostly at female viewers in season 3. (I'm a guy.)
Way too many sex scenes, which I consider to be what bad screenwriters do to fill time when they can't come up with entertaining ideas.
And even though I consider myself slightly liberal, I am getting sick of political correctness and social justice being crammed down my throat, which season 3 of GLOW decided to do.
That said, I hope the series gets renewed for a 4th season, that season 3 was an aberration, and GLOW returns to what it was doing for the first two seasons.
Way too many sex scenes, which I consider to be what bad screenwriters do to fill time when they can't come up with entertaining ideas.
And even though I consider myself slightly liberal, I am getting sick of political correctness and social justice being crammed down my throat, which season 3 of GLOW decided to do.
That said, I hope the series gets renewed for a 4th season, that season 3 was an aberration, and GLOW returns to what it was doing for the first two seasons.
Jinn
(2019)
An Arabic version of "Stranger Things"
15 June 2019
In case you didn't know, Jinn is where the word "Genie" comes from. I thought this was a pretty good, though short, series. It's kind of like an Arabic mash-up of "Aladdin" and "Stranger Things" and hopefully it continues.. Apparently it's stirred up controversy in Jordan because, OMG - a girl kissed boy, but for Americans and Europeans, it's very tame stuff. From reading all the ridiculous 1 star reviews, it's very obvious that there's some kind of campaign coming out of the Arab world to discourage people from watching it. Ignore those 1 star reviews and watch it.
Disappointing
5 June 2019
This was the worst of the American Godzilla films. They should have left all the people out of it. The dialog seemed like it was written over the course of a weekend, and the acting consisted of everyone standing around in awe with their mouths agape. Even the effects weren't anything special.
They had years to get this right, and they dropped the ball.
With no Godizilla, I probably would have given it a 3. but it scores extra stars simply for being a Godzilla film.
They had years to get this right, and they dropped the ball.
With no Godizilla, I probably would have given it a 3. but it scores extra stars simply for being a Godzilla film.
Stan & Ollie
(2018)
Very good acting. A little slow.
25 January 2019
I just saw it today. This is a tough movie to rate. The acting was very good, but the movie itself was slow and plodding. Definitely not as entertaining as an actual Laurel & Hardy movie. That said, this seems like one of those movies that stays with you and you think about long after you've left the theater. I can't say that about movies like "Aquaman", which you forget about the next day.
Bohemian Rhapsody
(2018)
Ignore the bad reviews
2 November 2018
I think the people who said "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a boring, bad movie are the same ones who said "The Last Jedi" was a great movie. This was the best movie I've seen in the last several years. There was a period of about 20 minutes in the middle of the movie that I thought was slow, but otherwise it was very entertaining, and much more witty and funny that I expected. The way they weaved the music into the movie was very well done. It helps to have a good familiarity with Queen's songs to get some of the very subtle humor. For example, there was a running gag about the song, "I'm In Love With My Car", and I wonder if people who don't know about that song would pick up on it. "I'm In Love With My Car" is a great song, BTW.
Nothing special
15 December 2017
Get Out
(I) (2017)
How did this movie get such good reviews?
17 March 2017
The trailers and commercials looked awful, but the reviews were great. So I went to see the movie. I was expecting something like an intellectual version of "Scary Movie." Nope. It was incredibly boring. Maybe the worst movie I've seen in five years. I kept waiting for something to happen, but nothing ever did. I kept wondering, "How the hell did this movie get such good reviews?" "Get Out" was supposed to be a horror-comedy, but I got maybe three chuckles out of it. The only guy who was close to being funny was the TSA agent. Almost nothing was scary. Damn, I could have seen Skull Island instead.
That said, everyone else in the theater seemed to love the movie, and there was some subtle humor that I thought was well done. Still, I found it very monotonous.
That said, everyone else in the theater seemed to love the movie, and there was some subtle humor that I thought was well done. Still, I found it very monotonous.
Good, not great
21 December 2015
Not as good as IV, V and VI. Better than I, II, and III. Didn't come close to capturing the magic of sitting in the theater during the first Star Wars film.
Too many scenes were stolen from Episode IV. Giant, evil space cruiser crossing the screen at the start of the movie, droid with a hidden message being hunted by the bad guys, bar full of aliens, good guy turned bad guy by the Dark Side, another father-son confrontation on a ramp over a seemingly bottomless pit, rebel fighters flying through shafts trying to destroy a planet-killing mega-weapon.
The way the old characters were reintroduced just didn't work for me. There was no build-up to the reappearance of Han, Chewie, Leia, Luke, and R2D2 - they just suddenly appeared on screen. The only old character with a surprising and fun introduction was C-3PO.
There were times during the movie I was actually bored and wondering when the good stuff was going to begin. But the people I went with, none of whom saw the original Star Wars in a theater, seemed to like it. At the end of the movie a handful of people in the theater were applauding.
Too many scenes were stolen from Episode IV. Giant, evil space cruiser crossing the screen at the start of the movie, droid with a hidden message being hunted by the bad guys, bar full of aliens, good guy turned bad guy by the Dark Side, another father-son confrontation on a ramp over a seemingly bottomless pit, rebel fighters flying through shafts trying to destroy a planet-killing mega-weapon.
The way the old characters were reintroduced just didn't work for me. There was no build-up to the reappearance of Han, Chewie, Leia, Luke, and R2D2 - they just suddenly appeared on screen. The only old character with a surprising and fun introduction was C-3PO.
There were times during the movie I was actually bored and wondering when the good stuff was going to begin. But the people I went with, none of whom saw the original Star Wars in a theater, seemed to like it. At the end of the movie a handful of people in the theater were applauding.
Sirius
(2013)
Wait, this is supposed to be a serious documentary?
9 July 2015
I saw this on Netflix. Really rather dull, and I ended up watching it over the course of several days because I couldn't sit through more than 30 minutes at a time before my eyes started to glaze over.
At first I thought it was going to be an entertaining, fake science-fiction documentary about how we had been visited by aliens. There was certainly nothing entertaining about it, and it wasn't until about 2/3 of the way through that I realized that the people making the film were actually serious.
Far too much new age, incoherent, conspiracy theory stuff. The Discovery Channel documentaries about the existence of Atlantis are more convincing.
At first I thought it was going to be an entertaining, fake science-fiction documentary about how we had been visited by aliens. There was certainly nothing entertaining about it, and it wasn't until about 2/3 of the way through that I realized that the people making the film were actually serious.
Far too much new age, incoherent, conspiracy theory stuff. The Discovery Channel documentaries about the existence of Atlantis are more convincing.
The Interview
(II) (2014)
Not worthy of an international incident
25 December 2014
Just finished watching it at seetheinterview.com. I would rather have gone to a theater, but the nearest ones showing it were an hour away.
This type of movie isn't one I normally spend money on, but I figured I should do my patriotic duty and see it.
Parts had me laughing out loud, while other parts were boring as hell. Seth Rogan played the straight man, and wasn't particularly entertaining. Nor was the guy who played Kim Jong-Un. James Franco's portrayal as host of a TMZ-style gossip show was a little too over-the-top for me, but he was the most entertaining person in the movie.
I feel it's safe to predict no Academy Awards for this one, nor the downfall of the North Korean government because of the movie.
This type of movie isn't one I normally spend money on, but I figured I should do my patriotic duty and see it.
Parts had me laughing out loud, while other parts were boring as hell. Seth Rogan played the straight man, and wasn't particularly entertaining. Nor was the guy who played Kim Jong-Un. James Franco's portrayal as host of a TMZ-style gossip show was a little too over-the-top for me, but he was the most entertaining person in the movie.
I feel it's safe to predict no Academy Awards for this one, nor the downfall of the North Korean government because of the movie.
Twin Sisters
(2013)
Fascinating and Touching
24 October 2014
This is one of those treasures you unwittingly stumble across every so often. I came across the movie while browsing the PBS website. It's the story of twin infant girls in China who were adopted by different families - one from California and the other from Norway, and traces the communication and visits between the two.
I don't know that there was a deep message or lesson, but it was just fascinating to watch the two girls growing up and seeing how attached to each other they were, even though they lived so far away. Although it doesn't delve into the scientific aspects of nature vs. nurture, it also gives some insight about how much genetics and environment has to do with the development of people's personalities.
On top of that, the photography and music were excellent.
I don't know that there was a deep message or lesson, but it was just fascinating to watch the two girls growing up and seeing how attached to each other they were, even though they lived so far away. Although it doesn't delve into the scientific aspects of nature vs. nurture, it also gives some insight about how much genetics and environment has to do with the development of people's personalities.
On top of that, the photography and music were excellent.
Pacific Rim
(2013)
Good, dumb fun
14 July 2013
I was always a big Godzilla fan, and enjoyed "Pacific Rim." It's the most mindlessly-fun movie I've seen in several years. I'm tempted to go again just because there was so much going on at the start and end of the movie that I feel like I missed some things.
Don't go expecting Shakespearean character development or a deep philosophical message. It was a little like Avatar in that it's all about the visuals. Very little effort seems to have gone into the script and acting. In fact, the best acting in the movie was done by the little Japanese girl who showed genuine terror as she was being chased down by one of the Kaiju.
I watched in 3D, and thought it detracted from the movie. Everything outside the very center of the glasses was blurry as hell.
Don't go expecting Shakespearean character development or a deep philosophical message. It was a little like Avatar in that it's all about the visuals. Very little effort seems to have gone into the script and acting. In fact, the best acting in the movie was done by the little Japanese girl who showed genuine terror as she was being chased down by one of the Kaiju.
I watched in 3D, and thought it detracted from the movie. Everything outside the very center of the glasses was blurry as hell.
Avatar
(2009)
It's all about the visuals
22 December 2009
The visuals are worth a rating of 10+. Unfortunately, the plot and dialog are recycled from other movies to the extent that you get mad at Cameron for putting so little effort into that aspect of Avatar.
Avatar is a mix of Dances with Wolves, Aliens, and Jurassic Park. Of the three, Avatar reminded me most of Jurassic Park, in that it took CGI to a whole new level. I really hate how CGI is overused in movies, but I loved the way it was used in this one. Some of the close-ups of Na'vi faces genuinely looked like real actors wearing makeup, rather than being computer-generated.
Over the last 5 or so years, this movie comes closest to actually living up to the pre-release hype. The movie trailers didn't do it justice. Avatar isn't in my top-5 movie list, but it's probably in my top-10 list.
Avatar is a mix of Dances with Wolves, Aliens, and Jurassic Park. Of the three, Avatar reminded me most of Jurassic Park, in that it took CGI to a whole new level. I really hate how CGI is overused in movies, but I loved the way it was used in this one. Some of the close-ups of Na'vi faces genuinely looked like real actors wearing makeup, rather than being computer-generated.
Over the last 5 or so years, this movie comes closest to actually living up to the pre-release hype. The movie trailers didn't do it justice. Avatar isn't in my top-5 movie list, but it's probably in my top-10 list.
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