jrgreenjr Reviews

John Wick (2014)

Great entertainment

[7/10 · 11 June 2019]

It's dumb fun, good dumb fun. Most of the issues with this movie are drowned out with the amazing action sequences, and the fast, exhibilirating pace. It has some creative use of color, and good cinematography, but what holds it down for me is only a few cliches, over exposition, and under developed characters. It could be more creative, with a movie like this you can do anything that fits the excitement, but some things are very basic, like the exposition, some times it does a great job at the "show don't tell rule", then right after has the characters talking about John Wick's back story instead of just showing us, like I would prefer. Either way, it is entertaining, and that's all it really needs to be.

Xavier: Renegade Angel (2007–2009)

The possibilities are limitless

[9/10 · 9 June 2019]

I came across this show because of a recommendation from the podcast "sardonically" but I'm not going to lie, I had low expectations for this, I saw the animation and thought it would just be nonsense on a screen like I had seen in some adult swim shows, but this, this was much more than that. It is probably one of the most clever, funny, and creative shows I've ever seen. Starting off an episode, it's impossible to truly tell what turn each episode will take, and its nearly impossible to catch all the word play and jokes in the show on the first viewing. This show takes the limits away, so literally anything imaginable could happen, and it always seems to be clever and have a punchline to each joke, not just random for random sake. It is so refreshing to see creators have their own brand of humor, it isn't like most modern comedies where the jokes are soft hitting or predictable, I think that's what elevated this show to being truly hilarious and interesting, it is never afraid to be in its own world with its own brand, and I don't think I will ever find something like this again.

Superstore (2015–2021)

Seen it all before

[5/10 · 6 June 2019]

This show has funny moments, I might even say some very funny moments, and it has a cast of colorful characters that offer their own jokes. That is about all that is saving this from me turning it off. The characters are stereotypes, and I didn't expect much more from a sitcom, as most characters are just archetypes to set up jokes, but with the loose story line. I still wish there was more character from the characters. They all also seem so preachy and like terrible people at times, but it is unaware of it, unlike a show like Seinfeld or its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It's like it is always trying to force political messages, be it messages that I agree with, but it's coming from the mouths of selfish people, which nearly all of them are. It is as if someone saw "The Office" and said, hey I can make something like this, and took away most of what made the office special and hilarious. At best it provides harmless laughs and light hearted, fun moments, and at worst it is annoying, not self aware, cliche, and shallow. Also I forgot to mention the stereotype that every sitcom uses, of two characters, a Man and woman who swear they don't like each other, and every reason that they can't be together happens, and three seasons later they are together. I've seen this way too many times, can we please stop this predictable stereotype

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)

Engaging, but won't remember it for long

[6/10 · 4 June 2019]

Interesting story and perspective, the performance by zac Efron, and the view from Liz's perspective that he may be innocent and she put him away is interesting, but I feel there could have been more. They can't take too many creative liberties because it is a true story, but it just seems that there is barely any more to offer of you already know the ted bunny story, which I didn't. I was engaged all the way through, but likely won't remember it for long

Us (II) (2019)

A very well executed mess

[6/10 · 22 March 2019]

I'm still trying to digest what I just saw, The positives: 1). Great music, great use of hip hop, especially "I've got five on it" and the score as well, the orchestral opening song was perfect 2). The color palette and set design give it a pretty unique look and feel, the opening especially 3). Jordan Peele is very creative, and that shows in small details and in his writing and take on this type of story 4). It was funny, although not all jokes landed or were perfectly timed, especially for the tone it was going for 5). It tried to be its own thing 6). I enjoyed the minimalist opening, wish there was more of that feel than the straightforward approach, with confusing details 7). From the start I felt personality in most the characters and I cared about them 8). Some interesting themes, that could have been explored better The negatives: 1). The ending made no sense at all! Why would her doppelgänger replace her, and the real version of her doesn't try to leave earlier? why does she plan a revolt against all humans instead of just killing her doppelgänger and replacing her? 2). How is the ending a happy ending for the doppelgänger? All the other doppelgängers are taking over, their family has to live in a post apocalyptic land, yet it is played off like the doppelgänger won 3). The twist was unwarranted, like I thought it could go there, but don't really know what it accomplishes besides just shock from the audience 4). Why do they use scissors? I get the whole paper doll thing but that's not an effective murder weapon for just the symbolism 5). Why are they holding hands? Besides the fact that they're supposed to represent the paper dolls? What does that accomplish besides symbolism? 6). Some of the jokes are totally out of place, it cuts the tension when it should have weight in certain areas. It is written like a comedy even though it's going for something different. Comedy is fine if it is used well, not creating a conflicting tone to the whole point of the movie 7). It sort of devolves into a chase/thriller that has a twist ending instead of the whole meaning making itself more apparent throughout the film 8). Kind of anticlimactic feeling

After Hours (I) (1985)

Entertaining but not profound

[8/10 · 21 March 2019]

The least "Scorsese" Scorsese movie, even though it isn't profound, or amazing in most aspects, it's very entertaining and funny. It almost was like a David Lynch plot line if Scorsese directed it, and was grounded in reality

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Only Rami elevates it

[6/10 · 21 March 2019]

If you've seen any bio pic, or know anything about Queen/Freddie Mercury, you've seen this movie, what elevates it above a 5/10 is that I knew nothing about Queen/Freddie Mercury, so it was entertaining to see his flamboyant lifestyle, and Rami Malek did fantastic in this role.

Naruto (2002–2007)

Without the filler, it could be perfect

[7/10 · 13 March 2019]

Good *very strong, fleshed out characters * the length of the show gives us a lot of time to invest in and care about the characters *very lore heavy backstory with a lot of lore to dive into and appreciate the craftsmanship of this world * the first three arcs are very interesting and exciting to watch * the battles can be very exciting and interesting, every character has their own abilities, strengths weaknesses * slow progression so we have time to learn along with the young characters * having this show through the eyes of children gives us a great perspective, they learn their abilities while they learn what's important about growing up (friendship, love, morals, doing the right thing, etc.) *these characters backstories alone are worth watching for: Gaara, Rock Lee, Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Itachi, Haku, the third hokage, Neji, Orochimaru, Hinata, kakashi, Guy *Great art style, especially for the early 2000s *pretty impressive dubbing (mostly) *good music (does get repetitive) *for someone who isn't used to Japanese story telling or anime, this style is very refreshing/exciting for me Bad *way, way, way too much filler, about one third of the episodes are filler, and this is not including the filler scenes in the canon episodes * some characters back stories are either not fleshed out enough, or just aren't that interesting or unique to them (they may be personal, just similar to others like a lot of them are bullied, misunderstood, etc.) such as : Sakura, Choji, Kiba, Shino, Ino, tenten, jariah (kind of), kankuro, temari, kabuto (kind of) (it's not that these are particularly bad characters, they are just not as interesting or fleshed out as the others) * it seems to go on too long, this may be part of the filler problem, you could probably condense the show to 100 or so episodes and cut all filler/dragged on episodes/repetitions/flashbacks, and have a near perfect series with strong stories and that doesn't hang around too long for the excitement of the show to wear off * very repetitive, for a while it seemed it was just naruto fighting, he was nearly defeated, then had a flashback about his friends or his childhood, then utilized the nine tailed fox to win, this happened many times it seems like. This also happened with other characters (choji, kiba) where they just had a flashback and that have them the motivation to win. The same music (even though I like it) is used over and over, they could have had some variation. Not every character needed a flashback, we could have seen their back story before, then we realize why they are fighting *the two last arcs aren't as interesting or exciting, seem to somewhat tread the same ground in different ways

Captain Marvel (2019)

Painfully average, serviceable

[4/10 · 13 March 2019]

Good * it at least attempted to have its own identity * the blockbuster portion was creative to show its 1990s Earth * the location was one not used before in a marvel film (L.A.) * the concept of the story was interesting, (not so much the execution) * some funny moments *a few practical effects looked good * if you care about the marvel lore, this helps some, although it isn't necessary you can just look up what happens and it has the same effect Bad * everything that it does was already done better by another marvel movie (humor (guardians of the galaxy) , visuals (guardians) acting (most of the other ones), character development (iron man), the fish out of water concept (Thor), cgi (guardians)) * every aspect was painfully average and serviceable (cinematography, editing, writing, music, one exception was acting) * it's not that Brie Larson wasn't the Actress for this role, it's just that she was likely poorly directed, she never really emoted, she was mostly just stone faced, which was ironic because her whole character was about dealing with emotion * absolutely nothing was memorable * there was a whole sequence in the climax that was full on copying a Star Wars space battle, sound design, music, pacing, the effects * the jokes often did not flow well with the plot, the whole movie had to slow down and stop to say a joke (think of a jj abrams film where the joke is said, and it's related to the situation, then immediately the action continues, so it doesn't ruin the pacing) * captain marvel was barely an interesting character, she had the bare minimum to make us care about her, with little emotion or relatability to her, this is partly due to the stone faced performance and poor writing * bad villain * the huge budget should have shown more, mostly lols like it went into cgi that looks bad

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)

Good, more of the same

[7/10 · 13 March 2019]

Good * visually impressive still, adds new colorful visuals onto the first one, even if it's very similar to the original * focuses more on wyldestyle, develops her character more * has its own story, adds onto the themes of the original by making it about growing up * has funny jokes, even if some are repeated or references to the first * I like the concept of queen wantanabe, could have lead to more interesting scenes with her though *fun, visually stunning, funny, adds onto some characters from the original * kind of a good fake out for the villain, kind of obvious in some ways

Bad * copies the format of the first (similar structure, with the parent and the live action and the same plot resolution style) * most of the impressive things about this we've already seen before (visuals, jokes, fast paced) * for about the first act, I had no idea what this movie was going for, in a bad way, like they started writing and didn't know where they were going with it until later on * will Ferrell's portions were literally phoned in, all that was new from him was like 6 voice lines, he didn't even film anything, even in the live action portion he was just yelling from the distance *could have gone so much further, since the original was so creative, it party fell into the sequel problem where it tries to recapture what the original did, but partly breaks it by adding its own things that work * terrible marketing