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Cyrano (2021)
Peter Dinklage is the star of this!
It's too bad this is a musical. I say this not just because I despise musicals, but because the genre has too many annoying stereotypes that unfortunately this movie has.
I have been a fan of Cyrano de Bergerac ever since reading it in High School and I admire Peter Dinklage as an actor. As the release date changed multiple times I became even more eager to see this interesting take on one of my favorite literary characters.
I personally appreciate, very much, Peter Dinklage's talk-singing (it made this musical bearable for me). Musical aspects aside, Dinklage embodies the character of Cyrano! While the other actors hold their own, he is the real reason to watch as not only the star of the story, but of this retelling (and is why I rated this film what I did).
There were 4 things that nearly ruin the movie:
1. The entire scene with Roxanne reading Cyrano's letters through Christian was appalling and annoying. This poor woman objects to being a sex symbol, and yet this movie insists on doing that to her as well.
2. Cyrano is at the mercy of his assassins hanging from a noose over the wall.....until his assassins decide to haul him completely up and over the wall? Please don't make the bad guys stupid so the good guy can win, it cheapens the good guy's victory.
3. Christian commits suicide. I know you want a dramatic death but it's war, he can have a dramatic death that is heroic, not out of character and insanely stupid.
4. While Cyrano is dying -- the love of Roxanne's life and who she thought she already lost once before and is about to lose again -- she can't bring herself to call for medical assistance when they are just outside in a convent full of them? This is a prime example of why I hate the genre of musicals. The sheer lack of common sense and normal behavior while people sing.
If you love Cyrano de Bergerac, you owe if to yourself to see this interpretation, but this could have been, and should have been so much better.
Kung Fu (2021)
Entertaining
For context, I never watched the original series.
I love Olivia Liang in this, she was seriously wasted in Legacies. All the characters are interesting, but I do have to state the bad guy (actually gal) is a bit of a stereotype.
It's great to see the merging of cultures and just how Chinese Americans try to balance those cultures.
There's a nice balance between realism and mysticism.
New Amsterdam: The Legend of Howie Cournemeyer (2021)
About to dump this show
Please, please, be an example of the good you want to be in the world. Be informed, check your facts, and do not be an example of what you are preaching against. Last week you promoted racism while preaching against racism. Now you are preaching tolerance while not being tolerant AND preaching being informed while not being informed.
If you agree that people should be allowed to live how they want, and be who they want to be, and that people can change, then how can you discriminate against religions? If people can change their biological sex, and change their biological hormones, and change all kinds of things about them, then how come they can't change their behavior? If we can allow people to refuse treatment for their cancer or other conditions, then why laying on judgement regarding a person's life choice of religion when all should accept other life choices? Please be what you preach! Do not try to dictate which life choices are ok and which aren't. Just stop. Be the example of tolerance you are preaching.
And please, please, inform yourselves. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not require members to be married, and absolutely does not require people to "try" a heterosexual marriage if they do not think that is possible. Furthermore, a marriage is not just for children. Children are not a "cornerstone" of the religion. Eternal families are. The Church believes that we are ALL God's family, and we do not need to have children of our own to be a part of God's family, we already are.
Please, please, be what you preach. I loved this show from the beginning. I watched this show from the beginning. And I know this show wants to be an example, I know this show wants to promote good, but you aren't. You are promoting different prejudices and different biases while trying to wipe them out. Please, please, FIX THIS.
Roswell, New Mexico: Crash Into Me (2020)
What a mess! :(
There's some great moments in this, but for the most part, this is a mess, and not in a good way.
What's wrong:
First, Max and Liz never have the conversations they need to have. The show keeps pushing how "perfect" the relationship is, I assume, by bypassing important conversations so they are always making up and calm a collected but never really taking care of the underlying issue. Um, that's not "perfect," FYI. The last episode had them fighting over Liz's lies about continuing to use alien DNA for experiments and trying to say that it would always stay in her hands (as if that was possible). Come on, she's a scientist, she should absolutely know that's not possible.
The next is the ridiculous politics this show keeps pushing. Are there race issues in the world? Yes. Is it a great parallel between extraterrestrial aliens and terrestrial foreign country aliens? Absolutely. So use it RIGHT. When the race or nationality card is dropped about the "prejudice" against Mexicans regarding Rosa's murder coverup, it's ridiculous. Rosa was put in the driver's seat, and as she was drunk and high, the logical assumption was she committed a DUI crime and was responsible for the other lives lost in the car accident. That is a fact of what happened and how the law looks at it, not that it's because Rosa was Mexican that she was blamed for the death of the other two teenagers, who just happened to be white. If one of those other girls had been put in the driver's seat and had been high and drunk, that white individual would have been blamed for committing a DUI crime that resulted in the other lives lost in the car accident. Again, not racism. Racism is what SOME people did after that, blaming ALL Mexicans for what Rosa did, kind of like the prejudice that's going on right now against ALL police officers for the crimes of a few (who are being prosecuted for breaking the law, BYTW).
But probably the absolute worst is the cliffhanger ending. People literally running around like chickens with their heads cut off, no plan, no involvement with the police force at all (I think the sherif would like to know about the possible bomb threats and Jenna would certainly be on board) and while Maines is a bad guy, the passive "should we really do anything about him setting off a bomb that would kill him and his children" is horrific. If these people are the "good guys" then they're almost as bad as the supposed bad guys. If they're supposed to be grey characters than that's fine, but the show is trying to push these are the good guys. Well, then they need to adjust their view to match that. Why is Max choosing to attack Flint with alien powers? That's the last action he decides to do? Throw away his gun and leave ANOTHER EVIDENCE OF ALIEN VIOLENCE? *palm smack*
What was good:
I love Max and Jenna together. They are just great, and have been from the beginning. Especially them arguing over who is "Watson." Just great stuff!
Max and Kyle "teaming" up occasionally is also gold. Keep that up!
Isabel and Maria are also fantastic together! That also needs to stay.
Guys, the season finale better be better.
Roswell, New Mexico: American Woman (2020)
COME ON, ENOUGH with the POLITICS!
It's a combination of nostalgia (I watched the original series through season 2, dumped it before the tragedy of season 3) and the topic (aliens) that I watch this show. But stop trying to make me want to dump it all the time. From Liz being one of the most "unscientific" people in the world for all her "caring about facts" while ignoring others to this season, to this current season that if Max really had the bad heart he's supposed to have, Liz would have made alcohol and sex "no nos," to now I'm just really up to here with the politics!
As Sherif Valenti said in season 1, illegals are illegals. There's the right way, the law abiding way to enter a country, ANY country, and the illegal way. Most countries of the world just deport illegals -- end of story. The US actually gives them a hearing before deporting them. And while I understand and empathize with the fear Liz has, WHY, in the 30+ years that her father has lived in the US, has he never tried to become legal? But yes, vilify people doing their jobs and enforcing the law. I don't agree with everything ICE does or how it's done, but I do believe in respecting the law while changing laws that need changing. Everyone in the world should respect the laws where they live, and if they don't like them, then change them, LEGALLY. It's pretty messed up that the son of a senator gets Liz's dad out, illegally, yet another flaunt against the law. People should respect the law that yes, we are ALL supposed to live and abide by or suffer legal consequences.
As far as the actual point of the show, alien stuff, not bad. I'm not sure why Max finding out that he isn't biologically connected to Isabel threw him for a loop. Michael isn't biologically connected to either of them but he's still family. I agree with Liz that family isn't always biological. But I do understand Max taking offense at "you came from something else." Very strange choice of words. But again, why does Max think he must be the devil that was chasing Isabel's mother when he was in a pod WITH HER DAUGHTER? IF he was the devil, I doubt she would have kept him next to her daughter. Usually Max is a little bit more intelligent than that.
Anyway, guys, stop being ridiculous with this show! Try to have actual facts and actual science and stop promoting lawlessness. It's obnoxious. Focus on the space aliens, please, not the politics of the illegal ones.
All Rise: Dancing at Los Angeles (2020)
Outstanding
I wasn't sure what to expect but I have to admit I wasn't thinking I was going to enjoy it, but I did, I so did!
Wow. Great job expressing stress and frustration that will always be a part of life, sometimes more than other times, yet also how everyone can rise above, even with limited resources and methods, with hope and ingenuity to make a positive impact on the world. We have can have a part to play with our individual talents and expertise, and it's better for all of us to do so.
Fantastic! I love this show in general, and specially this episode. Keep them coming!
Prodigal Son: The Professionals (2020)
Overall great episode but....
Kudos to the show for fixing a problem that was increasing with every episode. I loved the character and idea of Eve, but I wasn't really buying the actors' chemistry together. But the concept! Can a romance happen and last between the son of a murderer who murders for the love of murder and one of his victim's sister? Truly an intriguing question! Of course, Malcolm, like every handsome, brooding main character in a tv show can't have lasting long term relationships, so we knew it wasn't going to be long he and Eve were together but even this on screen relationship was shorter than most!
Perhaps the voicemail should have been written better, because I actually disagree that it was a romantic breakup message let alone a "clear" one. To me it's more a "our search together for my sister is something I'm doing alone, we'll see about us when I'm done." Perhaps there will be more revealed about this later, because a voicemail break up seems out of Eve's character as she did want to confront Malcom with the truth about her sister, and only turned to a note when it seemed like she wouldn't be listened to and she was already despised by the family. I don't know, but I disagree it was a clear romantic breakup, and I'm hoping there will be more to this later because even lacking actor chemistry, the relationship and the character deserve a better end than that!
Thrilling though, to see our boy (hindered through his grief) defend our dearly departed Eve for not being a suicide and catch the loaded weapon albeit the real murderer is still at large. Great lead up to a season finale.
I know the Gil and Jessica romance was led into, and I don't have a problem with it happening (technically Gil is Malcom's "dad" in all the ways that term matters) but I wasn't thrilled with it happening how it happened (Jessica being so vulnerable) and in this episode with everything else going on!
AND GOODNESS! This is what I'm talking about with the overdramatic and even melodramatic elements!
1. Why is the assassin trying to strangle Dr. Martin Whitly? Of all the ways to kill him, that seems stupid! Especially as I see Endicott as the kind of guy who would ensure Whitly see every punishment threatened to come about should Whitly break their deal actually come about.
2. And WHY is the police department literally breaking through Malcolm's door to arrest him at the end? I understand them arresting him, of course, but the theatrics of breaking down the door with SWATT are over the top!
Guys, don't let me down next episode, ok?
Prodigal Son (2019)
Great concept with outstanding actors--needs a few adjustments to plot device
While Tom Payne's Malcom is certainly the star of the show and for good reason, the supporting cast is equally talented and interesting. On the very surface the show is a crime serial, but in reality it is so much more as it delves into questions of sanity, rationality, hope, understanding, forgiveness and just how complicated human relationships are between biological family, adopted family, coworkers and friends.
I'd give this 10 stars if the show would let the characters drive plot instead of throwing the occasional crazy and/or ridiculous plot point in and the occasional "character gets the stupid stick this episode." Come on guys, write better or give me a call! Let's keep this show going on for at least 5 years instead of cancelled next season, ok?
Batwoman (2019)
Rocky start that just got worse and worse
Batwoman should be mostly focused on action, and instead we get melodrama with an ex.
I really don't know why sexuality has to be such a big thing? People, live your life and chose what you want. Why does everything have to be showcased? Especially in an action show? Please explain to me how saving the city has anything to do with the main character's sexual life and orientation? Beyond that, we have to waste time having her "figure out" that there's no room in Batwoman's life for a relationship is just, well, stupid and showcases her as an idiot. Especially when she is clearly still not over her married ex.
And then the stupidity increases as people can't tell the difference between murder and self defense and manslaughter! Get a law book if you are confused. Ok, I tried. I stuck with it through all the pointless so called "romance" and now that the show is stating a provoked person is "exactly the same" as a serial killer, I'm out. Episode 15 was my last. I'm done.
FBI: Most Wanted: Reveille (2020)
Major Disappointment
Spoiler clearly labeled!
I loved the crossover idea and the story was an excellent one, but the execution was awful. I get that these agents are human, and Jess was particularly under more stress than usual, but that does not justify "any means necessary."
My good guys need to stay good guys. They cannot become the bad guys. When they start thinking and acting like the people they are supposed to stop, I'm going to stop watching.
I also can't stand overt hypocrisy. SPOILER: Jess has been on top of Kellan's anger issues since the pilot episode while he is literally flipping out all over the place! I'm sorry. Dude, get it together yourself, especially as you are the leader. END SPOILER.
Also please find better and more adult ways to show anger and frustration. It doesn't take much acting to kick and throw stuff around a room to show someone is upset. If an actor can't show us he's upset in a more subtle or adult way, then get a better actor. Can we have our professionals be professional, please?
FBI: American Dreams (2020)
Guest stars shouldn't take over the show
I enjoy FBI: Most Wanted and was interested in a crossover but I felt Omar took a back seat in his own show. I miss Missy too, but I love my Omar just as much and he should have been more prominent in his own show. Guest stars should always remain guest stars (hence the name) unless you choose to add them to the main cast.
Also, I understand these people are human and they have a lot of stress, but when my good guys start looking a lot like the bad guys (ends justify means, my point of view or protecting what I think, believe, and love is better than anyone else and I have the right to enforce it however I want or "need to") then I'm not happy.
Omar is a great character played by a subtle actor and I would really like to see him developed more.
Catherine the Great (2019)
All that's wrong
What do audiences want, do you think, in a period drama? I know it's Hollywood so historically accurate is probably not too high on the list but it's nice. We also expect lavish costumes and sets and fine acting. Certainly the first two (fine costumes and sets) are handled well in this series, but I can't tell if the acting is fine because 90% of this is basically adult film. How much "acting" does it take to be naked and look like you are having sex?
When will Hollywood realize that story and character driving plot are what makes something compelling and interesting? We are all adults here, we understand how lust and sex work. What we want to know and see is what Hollywood thinks of the story of Cathrine the Great. Please, please, tell us a story. Give us fantastic characters to love, to hate, to worry over and to perhaps love and hate simultaneously. If we want lavish costumes being ripped off bodies just for sex couched in a pretending of a story, we know where to get it if that's what we're after. For the rest of us who expected a finely crafted story well told with amazingly complex characters played by fine actors, we will look elsewhere.
To the people involved with Cathrine the Great, figure out what industry you want to be in and make that choice. Minimum, don't falsely advertise your product.
High Fidelity: What Fucking Lily Girl? (2020)
Still dismal with one shining ray of light
The show still suffers from its main problem, the story and character. Who wants to watch loser and unlikable people pass on every single opportunity to become a better person? Stellar casting can't save the main problem, ho hum characters with dismal, boring story.
Kudos to Thomas Doherty! His Liam's energy and smile brighten up the boring and dismal mood. The only real question is, what has to be wrong with him to be attracted to Rob?
Spoiler alert: The "breakup" with Jenny, his High School girlfriend is hilarious! His character Sebastian on Legacies (set at a High School) had a love interest with the character Lizzie played by a Jenny Boyd. As before stated, the show doesn't lack talent, it just lacks good characters and good plot.
High Fidelity (2020)
Talented Cast, Story Still Pathetic
I'm not sure why Nick Hornby's writings are so popular, nor the adaptions of said work. All his main characters are really terrible people who finally find someone who will put up with them (someone they don't deserve at all and someone who certainly deserves better than them) and, after multiple screw ups rise to a lesser level of jerkdom to be able to remain in the relationship with the person they still don't deserve.
The gender swap is intriguing, except if I can't tolerate a jerk, swapping gender isn't going to fix the fact that the main character is still a jerk. As the title of this review states, the cast is talented, especially Zoe Kravitz, but character and plot is what makes a story a story and keeps me coming back. Cancel this loser show about losers and give Kravitz something worthy of her talent!
Believer (2018)
As a documentary, it's one sided, but the film has good intentions
It's obvious that Dan Reynolds is passionate about this subject and wants to help people. That's great, and clearly something needs to be done with that appalling suicide rate! But I wouldn't call this a documentary. It's one sided, and using only definitions from one side.
I think Dan Reynolds saying everyone needs to talk to each other and to understand the other view is very needed. Often when people are saying "enlighten" and "educate" they rarely feel they may need it more than the people they want to "enlighten" and "educate." It's human nature, unfortunately.
Do people need to feel loved? Absolutely. Do people need to feel accepted? Absolutely. Do people have to completely agree with each other to love and accept each other? NO. And this is where I feel the one sided nature of this documentary.
It's an "ok" protest when members of and supporters of the LGBTQ refuse to attend a wedding of a Mormon simply because he's Mormon, but the LDS church is bigoted for supporting and promoting heterosexual marriage and a "bad" protest against same sex marriage. Anyone else see the double standard? Of course people are entitled to their own opinions and choices on how they will handle certain situations, but please tell it how it is. Bigotry means HATRED, not difference of opinion.
But by all means, please talk. Please spread love and acceptance! The entire world needs it, but also please understand that love and acceptance do not mean everyone thinks and feels exactly the same. That's actually the exact opposite of open minded; it's close minded.
Inhumans (2017)
Boring and full of flat characters
The visual effects are probably the only things that were interesting in this.
There was no world building. Only a quick show and some lines from a few characters tell us the basics of a have and have not society. Nothing about how and why this world exists, just that it does.
The characters were not developed. We see some glimpses and get a few lines about powers. That's also it.
And ALL of these characters are incredibly stupid. Life or death decisions are about as well thought out as when someone decides to put on a pair of slippers. Yet it's such a shock when things don't go well....seriously?
And lastly, how in the world could a Shakespearean or Greek tragedy type plot of betrayal, revolution, revenge, brother against brother, and life or death situations be less exciting than a yawn? I have to say, two hours never felt so long. And I have only myself to blame for continuing to watch as I hoped it would get better. It didn't. If this was green lighted, I know I don't need to waste my time on the rest.
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
Visually stunning, but lacking in what matters most
That would be character. Great characters well thought out and well fleshed out, and who themselves have character. You know: integrity, honor, intelligence.
I certainly didn't like CBS insisting everyone pay for their specific service -- I subscribe to Fios and that CBS doesn't care ticks me off. Several people I know didn't bother to watch the pilot for that very reason, but I chose to watch it and judge from there. Perhaps it would be worth paying for yet ANOTHER service.
No. Not even close. In fact, I was so annoyed after watching it that it has taken me this long to write a review.
Supposedly Hollywood is all about female empowerment. We have a female Captain and a female First Officer in Discovery -- something we haven't seen before even if we have seen one without the other. And not even 10 minutes in we have the female Captain give an order that the female First Officer blatantly disobeys except for the fact that she wants to. What are we to take from this? Females apparently can't commend as no one, including other females, will respect their authority and command, and females are terrible subordinates because they don't respect and obey authority. Thank you, Hollywood, for taking viewers out of the supposedly enlightened future, out of even the level of enlightenment we have in 2017, and putting audiences back into the 50's.
Don't waste your time on this one unless you are looking for eye candy.
Suna no onna (1964)
So Much Promise, Ultimately Disappointing
Woman in the Dunes, like most Eastern fare, truly has the symbolism down. The fact that an entomologist collecting and trapping bugs only to share a similar fate is marvelously used, especially with the skill and care taken to show and develop the inanimate character of the sand that becomes his cell and permeates his whole existence for the most part.
But that is where the skill ends, unfortunately. The human characters get far less development than the sand and we begin to be told motivations instead of shown. What's worse, the told motivations make no sense, like the ludicrous stated reason for the man's imprisonment. To top that, sometimes told motivations even contradict the previously shown motivations/character development! We are meticulously and masterfully shown as this man shed all other objectives for a single goal, that, at the end of the movie, we are told he abandons for a reason that makes absolutely no sense.
Yet another example of plot driving character is where the main character, slightly desperate for something not essential for life, actually contemplates a bargain with his clearly untrustworthy captors to commit a despicable act for what he wants in return. Now I understand Japanese morals are different than those of my Western self, but from the comments of another Japanese character in the movie, clearly it is a despicable act even to the Japanese. Yet, without really showing why the main character, until this point shown as a fairly decent man, would even THINK about this nasty bargain let alone possibly go through with it on the hope that arguably bad guys would keep their word, we are just expected to believe he would?
This movie starts out great and is beautifully shot, but without better character development and shown motivation for the human characters, this became a two hour disappointment.
Onibaba (1964)
Great Story Wasted -- Remake Needed Here!
I have no idea why this is considered such a great movie. The concept is a good one, but all exploration of the human condition and any tension and suspense fades as the movie sinks into slow moving porn.
The situation is a tense, suspenseful one: two lonely women resigned to a horrible way of obtaining food to survive -- killing compelled warriors for anything of value they happen to possess. Most of these men are just like the missing head of their household is -- compelled to leave home and fight -- and you can't help but think their man is in the same danger from other people just like them. One day a man they know from their deserted village is able to get away from the war and return home. This should just heighten the story and the tension, instead for a good hour of the movie we are bored to tears with:
1. Long and multiple shots of both women's bare or half bare chests for absolutely no reason at all. 2. Multiple and identical sex scenes that lose all plot and character development in boring and meaningless repetition. 3. Lots and lots of similar to identical shots of running through the tall grass which I assume is to lull us into boredom so when something might actually happen at some point we will supposedly be surprised -- I mean scared.
The end was reasonably satisfying, but it's not a good sign I was also just really glad the movie was over. This should be remade. All the elements of a truly impossible situation and desperate and deprived characters to delve into the dark side of human needs and nature, but with a completely wasted hour of repetition, all that is buried deep. It's also something to note that the scary legend of the deep pit and the demons punishing people for their sins aren't used with better skill and been developed more.
Onmyôji (2001)
Great Story and Themes Terribly Executed
Great story, everything else is just awful!
The Good: The story is a fantastic one full of the universal themes of revenge and power vs love and forgiveness.
The Bad: Some of the special effects were good, but most of them looked really bad -- like a low budget film from the 70s. For a movie made in 2001, this is really inexcusable -- especially when you see what amateurs at home can accomplish in their free time. One character's pet bird makes a Jim Henson Muppet look realistic, and don't get me started on some props dropped right in front of the camera, provoking either eye rolling or laughter during what is supposedly a tense scene. It made a bad horror movie from any decade look like a masterpiece in comparison.
But I could even handle the awful effects/props if it wasn't for the acting. This is just depressing because I'm familiar with some of these actors' other work and they are talented and skilled, but you'd never know it watching this. Overacting abounds in this, especially during the last half hour of the movie, so much so I almost quit watching (and I regret not doing so). If you are debating on watching this, hope for a remake and move on until it comes.
Emerald City (2016)
Should have spent more time in pre production
For all the interesting and unique takes on the Oz world (Toto being a K-9 dog, the yellow brick road being a path coated in poppy pollen), I find the story and the characters are lacking. Add to that a lag in story telling and you've got a series that should have spent more time in pre production.
We are introduced to many different places and characters all at once -- with dizzying speed at times -- but while at each location time seems to drag and we get little actual introduction to the characters except for their names and profession.
On top of that, the show's main goal seems to be striving for weird -- which is saying something as Oz already had plenty of strange. Don't misunderstand, weird is fine if there is a purpose to it, but there seems to be no purpose to this additional weirdness at all. Clearly more time should have been spent in pre production on character development and story telling, with additional attention to editing in post production.
The City of Your Final Destination (2009)
Happiness Truly Is Individual
This is finely crafted and tightly woven storytelling. The story is carefully told through a truly stellar cast and meaningful dialogue. It is a character piece, if you are looking for anything other than drama with subtle humor, you will need to look elsewhere.
The characters are complex and full, with intricate ties to each other, and make up a rather odd family. With the introduction of a new person in their world, they can work through past pain and navigate current predicaments to really see what they want from life. This holds true for the new character as well.
I thoroughly enjoyed this quiet but powerful story with real and compelling characters.
Wu ji (2005)
Be Careful What Version You See
Besides being badly marketed as a martial arts movie (it's not), apparently this movie has different versions, some with such inept editing that vital plot points are missing -- so viewer beware.
I watched it in the original language with English subtitles and no editing. And I very much enjoyed it. This is a visually stunning Asian fairytale/legend comparable to The Princess Bride as it has all the great elements of romance and revenge. There's even the fun of a mistaken identity!
Being a fairytale, this is not a story of great character development or a deep plot, but a story of concepts. It's one of hope, what love really is, and taking responsibility for your life and your actions.