socalgranny-30982 Reviews

The Garden of Evening Mists (2019)

Depravity, midogyny, brutality, and violence

[1/10 · 26 September 2021]

This started out with a woman who had been brutalized by Japanese invaders in WWII finally getting a chance to even the score. But it quickly deteriorated into lengthy flashbacks of rape and torture. Her attraction to a cold, boring, and two faced "gardener" is capped with a horrific scene of masochistic tatooing and sex in a tub of water. It is depressing and the only way to get through it is with fast forward to the end where full Stockhom syndrome is on display. Avoid this one to stsy sane and happy.

The Umbrella Academy (2019–2024)

Violent, depressing story of child abuse

[1/10 · 21 September 2021]

The high point of this wtetched series is the dance scene in episode one. It is downhill from there. I only watched Season 1 because only a masochist would go forward with this poorly acted, and poorly conceived pity party of freaks and revenge.

Sanditon (2019–2023)

Petty, foolish characters, absurd plot

[5/10 · 10 March 2020]

The character of Tom Parker, an incompetent, blundering rral estate booster ruins the story. The drama employs every PBS Masterpiece stereotype of character and plot in a predictable way. Only a small twist at the end is a variation on the happily ever after theme. That was a ploy to create interest in a second series. The ploy failed. Can the BBC infuse new life into its tired productions? Perhaps it has run its course.

The Aeronauts (2019)

Entertaining, inspiring, and heart pounding

[10/10 · 3 January 2020]

To all those who think they are so smart to point out the person accompanying Glaisher was a man, they need to google Sophie Blanchard, the French woman balloonists whose exploits form a significant part of the basis of this film. It is so great to be able to point out that there was no political agenda here, just a blending of different true histories into one artful production. Will they eat humble pie? Don't make me laugh except at them!!!!!

To all the misogynists who are upset that a woman replaced a man in this story, I say just suck it up! How many times have women been overlooked by history? The number is countless. How many times have a man's achievements been overstated in a movie? Numberless. How many men have taken credit for a woman's work? You get the idea.

The point of a movie is to entertain, to inspire, and to tell a story. If this story is not factually correct, how much more interesting to have a man and a woman work together in a challenging and difficult environment in order to show us how well it can be done and how rewarding!

I thought the acting superb, the directing incredible, the special effect remarkable, and the editing brilliant. The bold step to veer away from dusty history into art and to allow a brilliant actress to really, almost literally, to spread her wings while in no way diminishing her partner was a masterstroke. If the male audience is upset, so what! The fact that women were not allowed (by men) into the Royal Academey of Sciences is the tip off as to why women have been overshadowed by men since at least the start of the agricultural age. Well, that is all over now so you poor, poor, pitiful, whiners out there better get used to it.

To all my sisters in the audience, be sure to encourage your friends and their daughters, and granddaughters to watch this amazing film. Thank you Amazon Studios.

High Life (2018)

Incredibly bad

[1/10 · 25 October 2019]

How do movies like this get made? And starring Juliet Binoche!!! Is there such a paucity of scripts sent her way that she chooses to act in this degrading role? Nothing in the description or the trailer prepared us for the laughable and absurd story line, as well as a depraved and disgusting scene of Ms. Binoche writhing in ecstacy as she has sex with a metal penis, wrapped in a condom, and mounted on what looks like a home gym. We really did have to laugh out loud. The trailer shows a man on a spaceship with a cute baby. Talk about FALSE ADVERTISING!

The premise of the movie is that a hugely costly, technically advanced and experimental space craft, capable of traveling at 99% the speed of light (LOL!) is manned by a crew of death row inmates and a crazy female doctor. The inmates are not told of the fact that they can never return to earth or that their man form of onboard recreation will be sperm donation and masturbation. This story has NOTHING to do with science fiction. It is just a sordid, boring, and uninteresting voyeuristic fever dream by a group of people with no talent and nothing to say. We turned it off after about 20 minutes. It ruined our evening and we decided to watch the equally disturbing national news instead.

Why doesn't Amazon have a way to protect its members from watching this kind of trash with some sort of ranking system for those of us who wish to avoid grotesque pornography?

Sweet Smell of Spring (2016)

Boring, predictable, silly

[1/10 · 15 October 2019]

After 30 minutes, we turned it off. Even the porn could not save it.

Goliath (2016–2021)

Season 1 is OK, Avoid Season 2 unless you want to have nightmares

[3/10 · 13 October 2019]

Season 1 was not great but had great acting and some entertainment value as well as making a pointed political statement.

Season 2 was totally worthless. Filled with gratuitous violence at a level almost never matched by any other program, I am outraged that this was allowed to be aired. Rarely has so much talent been wasted on a more disgusting production. The freakish villains, debased and repugnant, and the lame, ineffectual "good guys" along with an inane plot where the grand finale is beyond depressing means that this waste of time should be avoided and I truly wish I had read these reviews before spending 8 worthless hours watching this big lot of nothing.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Misogyny on parade

[1/10 · 15 April 2018]

If you want to see someone stab a woman in the uterus, even though she is "supposed to be" a "replicant" or a robot, this is the film for you. The writer/director/producer and every other contributor to this utter piece of trash buys into the notion that the gender roles should be males are all powerful and females should be reduced to the level of robots designed to serve male desires for any type of sexual perversion, blood lust, and subjugation of others. I watched this overlong, tedious, and boring film for about 1 hour (it runs for almost 3) and decided that I have much better ways to spend my time.

Lacombe, Lucien (1974)

Brilliant Screenplay by Nobel Laureate Patrick Modiano

[9/10 · 17 February 2018]

The film depicts the failure of humans to communicate their thoughts and feelings to each other. They also often fail to understand themselves. It is one of Malle's greatest achievements. It tells the story of a young man growing up on a farm in rural southern France during the German occupation of WWII. He first tries to join the resistance and is rebuffed. He then tries to join the collaborators and is welcomed. This is 1944 and the D-Day landing has already taken place. His fate is sealed. It is clear that he had no political motivations but simply wanted to be a part of the action and to be respected in that role.

The somewhat gratuitous nudity is only a detraction in the last scene of the film, which must have been grafted on for more box office attention.

A Werewolf Boy (2012)

Two hours of misery

[1/10 · 26 January 2018]

Maybe it is a Korean kind of thing. But his was the worst melodrama ever made. From terminal cuteness to hysterical guilt and absurd transformations. Truly, skip this and have a happy life.

Bride Flight (2008)

Melodramatic Movie with WWII and Holocaust Themes

[2/10 · 11 January 2018]

The movie was mildly engaging, especially the religious aspects where one of the couples in the movie belong to very conservative Dutch religious group and another is a Jewish Holocaust survivor who rejects her heritage somewhat. Overall pretty misogynistic since the career woman had to give up her child and remained unwed while the woman trapped in an unsatisfying marriage with a religious zealot has to strip and bare all as she commits adultery. The handsome guy, a vinter which is a big deal in NZ, who has flings with two of the women has a big funeral where everyone gets together and makes nice. At the end though, it seemed like I had wasted 90 minutes.

Bride Flight (2008)

Smaltzy soap opera, dripping with nostalgia

[2/10 · 1 January 2018]

This is the story of 4 people who flew together on a plane from the Netherlands to New Zealand to start a new life. It goes downhill from there. Most of the action is around Frank, the Don Juan of the vineyards and the scene where the simmering but repressed Ada stands naked like Venus de Milo before him and they have soft porn sex on screen, something her religious zealot husband is not able to provide. Otherwise, everything is quite conventional, prim and proper.