Web_Of_Doom Reviews

World War Z (2013)

WWZ is plagued with bad script writing!

[2/10 · 14 February 2024]

Unfortunately WWZ which could have been a great film is plagued with bad script writing, as character motivations often make no sense with how people act so from the start of the movie the audience is taken out of their suspension of disbelief. When will script writers & directors start to realise that each scene has to make logical sense to the audience for them to invest their belief in the possibility this could happen, as we are willing to accept outlandish ideas so long as characters act realistically.

Brad Pitt's character "Gerry Lane" comes across as an idiot, who ( with the knowledge he has at the time in the movie ) puts lots of innocent people's lives in danger by acting completely irrationally so he comes across as a selfish jerk we don't like. There was no need for the Director & script writers to do that as the audience want heroes that we like & want to root for too.

For some reason the script writers want us to think that though "Gerry Lane" is incredibly stupid & dumb he some how is well respected by his peers & former bosses for past history, so is vital to save even though he has no real knowledge of how to help & on top of that only "Gerry Lane" can figure out how to save the day when specialists in their field are too dumb to be able to work out the same conclusions for themselves. "Gerry Lane" being an idiot savant just doesn't work for the audience.

There are many plot holes & ridiculous scenarios that are used to try to cause drama & move the story along, plus moments where decisions made make no sense & unnecessary risks are taken for no logical reason, as script plagued by bad writing.

Intelligence (2020–2023)

A real lack of Intelligence

[1/10 · 14 February 2024]

David Schwimmer ( who played Ross Geller in the hit show "Friends" is the hook to give this a shot, but a real lack of intelligence ( + lack of good humour ) from the script makes it poor & a waste of his talent.

Nick Mohammed created & wrote this, however it is not very good so who knows how he was allowed to get it made & the money be put up for this terrible show especially to pay for a star like David Schwimmer.

Maybe Nick Mohammed had the right friend(s), to convince someone to pay for all of this, however it proved to be a real waste of money.

There must be a lot better scripts out there that were over looked.

Overall David Schmimmer's character "Jerry Bernstein" is not a very good friend or colleague so is not likeable which is a huge mistake, as this for a start shows that the script writers Nick Mohammed, Andrew Ellard & Sarah Morgan were simply way out of their depth as a team. Lots of "Jerry Bernstein's" dialogue is quite ludicrous & sometimes is really unnecessarily mean, as most people find that not a funny thing. Ross Geller was someone we could root for, Jerry Bernstein we don't.

Nick Mohammed's character "Joseph Harries" is so annoyingly idiotic it becomes very quickly so unbelievable & not funny that the show is an immediate farce, that really has very little to redeem itself & just fails.

Considering the big budget & that Nick wrote this it is a huge back fire.

The supporting cast are also dreadful as this is mostly due to the really bad script & dialogue given to them, so I do not want to be too hard on these actors as the only people who had any power to say "STOP" this is total rubbish & should not be made let everyone down in first place.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)

Better than the first, but only a bit better

[7/10 · 2 August 2023]

Tom Hardy is again the right choice to play Venom, unfortunately both Tom Hardy + Kelly Marcel ( though a better combination than Venom's original screen writer's which included Kelly Marcel ) only deliver a decent script & having the actor Andy Serkis ( = Gollum in LOTR ) be the Director for this was ridiculous as where is the tried & trusted for such a big budget movie? ( another massive gamble risked on a "comic book movie" that fails once again, as why do they gamble? ).

As when will film studios give "super hero films" the respect deserved.

All they want to do is cash in on the hope of the audience that the film might be great, but end up letting down the audience with mediocrity.

Like the first film ( to a lesser margin but still too many times ) there are scenes where characters in the scenes do not act or react like you can believably accept as an audience member. It takes you out of the film & you can't then truly enjoy the experience from start to end. Once again the special effects are top notch but are let down by another lazy script.

We need quality character arcs ( with a bit of dark humour from Venom which there is in the movie, but could have been better still if the script overall was better as unfortunately the script got a bit too far fetched ).

Venom could have been a truly great series of super hero movies as quite frankly if you would have had a proven Director & writer team like Jonathan Nolan ( writer ) & Christopher Nolan ( writer & Director ) make Venom & Venom 2 you would have had a 10 out of 10 film with Tom Hardy as the lead actor, however we did not get proven talent in the Director & writing roles for a blockbuster film so it ended up OK.

Marvel unfortunately has been on a seriously bad decline since Disney got their hands on the franchise, as they really killed it off as compared to some of the absolute Marvel disasters at least Venom is still an OK watch however all these films had the potential to be a lot more than it proved they would be & that is simply because the corporations & the people with the power decided to put unproven Directors & writers in charge of these big budget films ( they gambled big, then lost big too ).

Venom (2018)

Too much bad directing & poor screenplay

[6/10 · 2 August 2023]

Tom Hardy is a brilliant actor & perfect casting for Venom.

Venom is a great Superhero & the special effects in this movie are fantastic so this really could have been an awesome Marvel film.

Unfortunately Ruben Fleischer was a poor choice as Director of this film as all the flaws in the script & things that needed fixing to bring the believability of script together did not happen to a sufficient degree.

Way too many scenes where characters in the film do not act in any kind of believable way based on what is happening in the scene as it's the Directors job to see the scenes are not going to work ( to save time in advance with a run through ) & to ensure the suspension of disbelief is able to be maintained. So all characters in the scenes have to act & react in a believable way, otherwise the audience get taken out of the movie ( so unfortunately this poor choice of Director who in my honest opinion has never Directed anything that ended up being as good as it should have been was the main reason this film really failed overall ).

Now the screenwriters have to take some of the blame too as they had too many characters saying too many unbelievable things, as looking at Jeff Pinkner's past writing not sure how he was allowed on such a big marvel film ( as he is not good ), as at least Scott Rosenberg was involved in some good movie screenplays such as Gone in 60 seconds & Con Air however most of the stuff he worked on was not good so again that would indicate that he was another poor choice for this.

Kelly Marcel is still an unknown quantity ( she would have been the more junior writer on Venom one would imagine ) so we will have to see how she does on future productions, though really she needed to be put with much better more successful writers for us to know what her potential would have brought ( though as she is a good friend of Tom Hardy you would hope they would work well together on things ).

Let us hope future Venom films get a better director & much more proven talented writers ( who actually understand the importance of having all the characters in the screenplay act & react believably ).

Just because a film is based on a comic book film studios need to not think "it's just for kids" as first all all children deserve great writing to inspire them anyway & secondary these "comic book characters" are actually very well written stories ( in the comic books ) so have a lot more respect for the original writers & ensure scripts are much better.

Let us hope Venom 2 with Tom Hardy will have a much better script & hopefully much better Director & much better senior screen writers.

The Good Cop (2018)

Who is the Super model script killed the show

[5/10 · 25 July 2023]

Who framed the good cop got the show off to a good ( cop ) start as the script was clever & introduced us to a few of the main characters. That episode was a solid 7 out of 10, so the next episode really needed to be a 8 out of 10 at least ( ideally episode 1 should have had more of a hook to it & maybe a much better "cliff-hanger" than an unsolved 4 year old hit & run case ). Unfortunately the second episode was really bad ( cop ) as the script was poor & too many ridiculous things happen, as it was a really disappointment & tells the audience this show fails.

It is very important in any new show that the first episode draws you in & the next few episodes are so interesting ( in a believable universe ) that you start to get invested in the characters & seeing how they grow.

Monica Barbaro is very beautiful & is actually better looking than the "supermodel" ( who is very beautiful too which is the point here ) so the real question is why is she suppose to like the "good cop" as without an explanation ( that the audience can relate to ) in the first 2 episodes you look at the actor Josh Groban & the whole relationship premise is way too unbelievable ( the audience needs to have valid psychological reasons why a stunningly beautiful woman is interested in an average looking guy ) & then episode 2 ( 3 out of 10 ) just compounds this all.

The first episode says it is created by Andy Breckman & written by Andy Breckman ( which was as a decent start ) Writer David Breckman of episode 2 though begs the question why change writers at such an early stage & then why except such a poor script ( it's possible this script was a rush job as even then it is poor ).

Hopefully people will learn their lessons about the need for stories like this to "ring true" ( = be believable ) as if the universe we are viewing is too ridiculous & makes the experienced bad cop look like an imbecile ( as he forgets to turn his phone off or put on silent at least when it could get him killed is not so much as an oversight as showing no in-sight ).

Lazy writing will not be accepted by the majority of an audience plus the most interesting part of the show was the possible romance that was inferred in episode between the beautiful cop & average looking cop ( however episode 2 fails to make this connection at all so you realise this series is going nowhere & the quality is not good enough ).

Shame as there was potential here but episode 2 killed every bit of it.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

Ant-hology of ideas that fail to come together.

[3/10 · 18 June 2023]

Only worth watching once, as far too many Directorial & script errors.

It starts out OK-ish but gradually it becomes more & more disjointed.

Peyton Reed the Director was another poor choice by Disney to have direct this film as he was unable to bring the poor script together, as so many times scenes needed a more believable reaction from all of the characters in the film. However instead it was a series of incidents where very rarely did the characters react to their environment in a way that any normal human would, as this really takes you out of the film.

Jeff Loveness the script writer chosen by Disney executives ( yet another jump on the bandwagon Rick & Morty TV series writer who just joined a successful TV show after it had already become successful ) clearly has no clue how to write for a big budget super hero movie.

Why does the Disney executives keep picking the wrong people to direct & write scripts? ( it is like they actually want Marvel to fail ).

Stan Lee & Larry Lieber wrote these characters not for children, but as real life characters that had super hero abilities thrust upon them but for some reason Disney think of these characters as "childish" so they hire people they think will write for "children". When will they realise not only do adults not want to watch movies written specifically for a child but guess what children are not dumb either & they understand a lot more than adults ( such as Disney executives ) give them credit for.

Everyone ( children + adults ) want scripts that start of with intrigue, then through a series of events where people act in a logical & more importantly believable way get you to the pay off at the end of the film.

The journey should be its own reward, because of what you learn.

In this film you learn absolutely nothing of value, as it is pointless.

The most important part of any film generally are the story arcs & also the character arcs where the characters actually learn & grow from their experiences along with the audience watching ( whether that be moral lessons or just learning more about the Marvel universe IN A BELIEVABLE WAY for future film interest, however Disney executives choose the wrong directors & even worse the wrong writers so have absolutely destroyed phase 4 as character arcs make little sense ).

THIS ANT MAN 3 FILM ( A. M. A. T. W. Q. ) simply needs to be forgotten about as I feel so bad for the actor Jonathan Majors whose character is Kang the Conqueror, as this should have been his huge blockbuster hit. I think he makes a really good Kang & has potential as phase 4 needs to be written off mostly however keep the actors who deserve it. Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas & Michelle Pfeiffer are all huge stars ( who have proved many times they are fantastic actors ) so please Disney give them Directors & script writers they deserve who actually understand how a story should develop.

The most important thing about any film is the story makes sense, then the story has to be interesting & hopefully it will also give you insight. You let the audience decide what they take from the film themselves.

Each character has to act & react to each scene in a believable way or there needs to be dialogue ( or action ) that makes sense to make each scene potentially believable to maintain the audience suspension of disbelief, as they the audience will ride with you & the story telling so long as the writer & director can keep the story in the realms of truth.

There was far too many scenes in this poor film where characters did not act in a way which as an audience member you would expect them to do so. This completely takes the audience out of the film & ruins the experience for them, as you can't believe in what you are watching.

Kathryn Newton is a young actress with potential who's character Cassie Lang obviously has flaws thinking for example it is OK to go beyond peaceful protesting against the police ( doing their job & following the law ) by moving homeless people on from their choice of living illegally. As it is good the young character wants to live in a better world however harassing the police is not fair as they were doing their job so where is the character arc showing this character progression in this film ( it sends out the wrong message about how to protest as it is not the police's fault & they do not deserve their property vandalised ). At the end of the film Cassie Lang should have realised the police was not in the wrong ( for following the law ) & she should have apologised to the police officers after realising her initial views where far too simplistic & very young child-like ( naive ) in blaming them, as actually homelessness is a much more complex issue & the law keepers actually need better laws to uphold that would help the homeless. Thus she used her power against the wrong people so should learn from that as then we would see her character progression & becoming maturer.

Cassie Lang could have made amends & learnt from her immaturity.

However unfortunately the script writer was obviously too immature & thinks it is cool to blame the police ( which is not really helping anyone & in fact is putting negative messages out to the audience of this film ).

Disney need to hire more intelligent, more mature & better script writers who actually have a social conscience & understand character arcs.

( that was just one example where a character could have matured ).

Another phase 4 Marvel I will not buy & will pretend was never made.

The only reason it got 3 stars was because of the magnificent CGI ( + 1 star from base 1 star = 2 stars ) + ( another 1 star = 3 stars total for the great actors who did their best to save the film. As an awful director & dreadful screen writer ruined a big budget movie with lack of talent.

MARVEL FILMS NEED TO BE WRITTEN FOR AN INTELLIGENT AUDIENCE ( as children & adults are mostly intelligent so they will search out the best films with the most intelligent scripts & after they see this Ant Man 3 film they will be put off future Disney productions ).

Disney used to stand for quality storytelling, now it stands for lacklustre storytelling so it's time Disney fire the people responsible for hiring these dreadful directors & abysmal screen writers to rebuild Disney.

Peacemaker (2022– )

Peacemaker is surprisingly really excellent.

[9/10 · 26 May 2023]

Kudos to James Gunn for producing this 18 rated TV series as the script is very good ( 8 out of 10 ), but the performances of John Cena as Peacemaker ( 10 out of 10 for his acting & 100% commitment to the role ) & the performance of Freddie Stroma as Vigilante ( also 10 out of 10 for his hilarious performance & real excellent acting too ) really make this show something special as these are the real stars.

The rest of the main cast ( plus supporting cast) all do a good job too as with everyone doing a solid job on this show, they all helped to raise this up to a 9 out of 10 show with a logical & really fun script.

( I have watched all of series one when I made this review in the hope for a series 2, as it does not need a series 2 but it does deserve one )

I hope to see more of Peacemaker & Vigilante especially in future DC reboots ( films & TV shows ) as hopefully both John Cena & Freddie Stroma can play those parts ( with scripts as good as in this show ).

My only worry is if they have to be in 15 rated ( or 12 rated films ) as really these characters need 18 rated dialogue to be true to them, so this will be a challenge for James Gunn moving characters from one age rating to another, so the script writing will have to be clever.

The Suicide Squad (2021)

Peacemaker is the real STAR of the movie.

[7/10 · 26 May 2023]

Peacemaker ( played by John Cena ) really gives a 100% committed performance to his role ( which is more understandable with him being in the spin off TV show that is an excellent series & a real must watch. So John Cena knew this was a huge role for him & he really excels ).

Peacemaker TV show is 18 rated rightly as is just for adults to enjoy.

Obviously Suicide Squad the movie went for the 15 rating which may be why the film wasn't able to be as good as it could have been, as to get all those 15 to 17 year olds to be able to watch cuts must have been made which may be why the script was a bit hit & miss at times.

As a money making exercise having it 15 rated makes financial sense in the short term, but a 18 rated film with a more coherent script with the chains took off I think long term would have been a better watch.

Margot Robbie plays Harley Quinn great as always so is another real positive in the DC universe, as hopefully she will continue to be in the upcoming reboot films as appropriate for both Margot & Harley Quinn.

As obviously if there is a much younger Harley Quinn character then another actress would then have to do the part ( for a teenager Harley etc, but Margot Robbie should play the part if she can cover the age of character so let us hope in any DC universe reboot Margot Robbie is in it. Even if she has to play a different character or be in her own series ).

Idris Elba ( played Bloodsport ) & his performance was OK however I was a bit disappointed with some of his scenes I think he could have done better, as maybe if he had his own 18 rated TV show he would be able to do a lot better ( as those 15 rated chains, restrict actors a lot ).

Viola Davis ( playing Amanda Waller ) is a very good actress but I felt the script was not very logical with her character which took away from the story, as her character motivations just did not make logical sense but with a better script they could have improved the overall story. So hope Viola Davis carries on playing Amanda Waller in future films as possible ( but let us hope future scripts make much more sense ).

The rest of the cast do a good job & overall the script is a 7 out of 10 which ultimately is why this superhero film is just a 7 out of 10 movie.

However Peacemaker ( 18 rated TV series ) is a 9 out of 10 show so I am grateful James Gunn did Direct this & produced a great TV show afterwards ( as who knew John Cena would be so great in the series ).

One good thing about this film is once you get past the inconsistencies in the script & the lack of logical character motivations ( for some of the time as often it does make sense ) the film is actually very funny & is a good entertaining watch. So don 't go in expecting it to be as good as Guardians of the Galaxy, as it is not. However it is still worth a watch & hopefully with more time & planning James Gunn will ensure that the future DC reboots coming up will be more GOTG overall quality to enjoy which means making sure the scripts make sense all the time.

Moon Knight (2022)

Very well acted & a good script

[9/10 · 12 March 2023]

REVIEWING AFTER WATCHING ALL OF SERIES ONE.

I finally got around to watching Moon Knight ( did not know of the character before & saw no ads that would make me intrigued, plus with the real disappointment of some of phase four films & the incredibly dreadful She Hulk I had been put off the Marvel Universe for a while.

However Oscar Isaac is 10 out of 10 for his performance & though the first couple episodes start off a little slow I'm so glad I stuck with it, as the performances of Ethan Hawke & other cast are all very good too.

May Calamawy also shines & I look forward to more series of this.

Now the script is not perfect, however it is still good & with the really fantastic acting & CGI it really makes the series overall very good as the series gets stronger & stronger each episode. They kind of find their groove from episodes 3 & 4 so the future potential is promising.

The only issues I can see with the show is the lack of hook to get people to watch it, plus the slow start as some inpatient people might give up on it too soon before it really comes into it's own & delivered.

Sometimes the script character motivations did not always make the right amount of sense, however other times the storylines are very good & entertaining to watch ( as the series really does get great ).

So stick with the entire first series & you will be rewarded for that.

If only the bad movies & tv shows of phase four could be erased & just keep the good ones ( as I'm just going to pretend the bad ones do not exist, as will erase them from my memory, as got to get rid of Eternals, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor Love & Thunder plus She Hulk is so incredibly bad just got to cancel that garbage ).

Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014)

Season 5 was not as good in my opinion.

[8/10 · 6 March 2023]

Seasons 1 to 4 are very entertaining, however as people got bored with the series & ratings dropped off it meant season 5 was just given 8 episodes to tie everything up, which I personally did not enjoy much.

So for me seasons 1 - 4 are a 9 out of 10 quality ( giving the show a 9 average ), however the poor season 5 ( I will give 4 out of 10 ) drags the shows overall score down to 8 out of 10 ( as there was so much they could have done way better in season 5, however it was not done that well & unfortunately for me it ruined the series. Unfortunately the writers of season 5 fell victim to trying to be "moral" & "clever" by doing the "right thing", however they ended up being "unrealistic", "dumb" & did the "wrong thing" for the audience & the legacy of a once great show. "You always need an escape route" & be much better prepared to tie up a series with great television to match series 1 - 4's quality.

If you can avoid season 5 & just read up on the era, as you will get a lot more enjoyment from the truth of what really happened than the fiction given in series 5, as your own imagination will be a lot better.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Wakanda Forever fails at it's iron heart.

[6/10 · 5 March 2023]

Wakanda Forever has a very good start & pays the correct amount of respect ( at the start ) to Chadwick Boseman ( unfortunately the film is too slow, lacks in enough action & character motivation is very poor ).

Overall I give the film 6 out of 10, however with it's budget scoring less than 9 is bad however compared to the Marvel phase 4 film disasters I list below at least it is not Ryan Coogler's fault Marvel films are dead.

Overall the casting is very good except for one exception of Dominique Thorne ( the person selected to take over from Robert Downey Jr, as I have no idea why she was chosen to be "Iron Heart" as her acting I find is really terrible. Hearing she was cast without auditions taking place is unforgivable as she really adds nothing with her bad acting. It's not like she has proved anything before, as she was obviously chosen for all the wrong reasons & really takes away more than she gives ).

I do wish her good luck in the future, however I just did not like her acting performance as hopefully with a better script she will do much better. I just did not find her acting at all believable or entertaining.

Now Lupita Nyong'o & Angela Bassett ( who with her body of work behind her anyone would accept she would not need to audition ) we're both fantastic & really did fantastic acting & are a real credit to the acting profession, as I would have preferred Lupita to have been the new Black Panther however some decisions made little sense in this film for me. Tenoch Huerta was very good casting also as I did enjoy his commitment to his role ( as they were the 3 stars of the movie ).

Just think how good they would have been with a much better script.

The overall story + script writing by Ryan Coogler in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is really poor & relies on totally illogical character motivations, which is a surprise as the first Black Panther film was a lot better ( it was like this story & script was rushed to cash in for Disney ), though I think the Directing was OK taking into account the bad script.

As the story & directing are by the same person this is a real shame.

Marvel Phase 4 ( in general ) has been an absolute disaster as in my honest opinion Black Widow was ( 7 out of 10 ) which looked below par compared to Marvel Phase 1 - 3 ( which in general were 8 to 10, out of 10 scored films ), however you accept Black Widow's own movie should have been done sooner & with a better script ( yet now it looks great in compassion to the vast majority of the other phase 4 films done, as the standard of Marvel films is phase four is mostly awful ).

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings I gave ( 7 out of 10 ) however this film had so much potential to be way better but was another real disappointment. The slide in Marvel quality could have recovered. Then came out Eternals ( 5 out of 10 ) which was were Marvel films died. Sony owns Spider-man ( so I've not watched no way home yet, as Eternals ruined it for me ), but as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was on Disney plus I thought the fist movie was so good I'll watch that, however D. S. I. T. M. O. M ( I gave 2 out of 10 ) has got to be one of the worst sequels I have ever watched, then I decided to watch Thor: Love and Thunder ( I gave 5 out of 10 ) so at this point I knew Marvel was 100% dead which is a real shame.

The only marvel film I have any real hope for is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as with James Gunn in charge at least it will be great.

So to sum up Black Panther Wakanda Forever ( 2022 ) is a forever disappointment compared to Phase 1 - 3 ( including Black Panther 2018 obviously ), but compared to the rest of Phase Four it is an average film ( so though it did not kill Marvel films it also did not give any hope for phase five that Marvel could some how actually recover, as personally the Marvel Universe is ruined for me "Eternally" as I have lost my "Love" with the lack of "Thunder" ). The Disney decision making process with Marvel films has proved total "Madness" to me, as Disney obviously put the wrong people in charge in deciding who should be writing the stories, scripts & directing in phase four as instead of looking for quality scripts that could stand the test of time they seem to give US$Billions to people who's politics they agree with unfortunately most people want talent over forced political opinions.

Now James Gunn is in charge of DC films it will be interesting to see if he is able to raise DC's quality up to Marvel Phase 1 - 3, as how could Disney be so reckless to have allowed DC to take away their asset?

( still Disney did not use Jame's Gunn talent instead they relied on Disney directors to make decisions with no history of any success ).

Disney use to stand for the best quality, now it has lost that image.

The Sopranos (1999–2007)

Starts off fantastic, slows down & ended mediocre.

[8/10 · 8 January 2023]

The Soprano's is another fantastic show, that unfortunately can not deliver the last season that it deserves but still worth watching.

It is very difficult to keep up the interest & probably the show really should have ended with just 13 episodes in the last season as there was a lot of unnecessary moments that just did not need to be there.

Overall though a very good show that is definitely worth your time as the good ( watchable ) parts of the show vastly out weigh the bad ( incredibly annoying parts, which were rare but are still in the show ).

I do think the script writer himself may have over romanticised his characters at times, however the truth is often stranger than fiction so as a viewer I'm happy to suspend my disbelief & enjoy the storyline.

I give it an 8 out of 10 as I think there were much more avenues of interest that were overlooked by the show, which could have replaced a lot of the mediocre parts that occasionally dragged out pointless scenes ( maybe the pointless scenes were seeds for the future that never had the chance to grow, but that is why every episode needs to be more griping ). Still an 8 out of 10 show is still overall an excellent viewing experience, so I'm happy with what I got ( I just can't help it if I saw a lot more potential especially with the idea of Witness protection for some of the secondary characters, with actually seeing how they may have felt forced to testify for the safety of their own families ).

Alpha Dog (2006)

Worth watching this true story once

[5/10 · 22 December 2022]

True stories like this can be moral tales however it is all too easy to make certain characters 2D when in reality people are 3D in all ways.

Even evil people can have extreme emotions & this could have been showed better ( so more people can realise how easy it can be to be incredibly stupid, if you do not have real empathy with other people ).

Nobody is completely evil or good & often human beings go through a range of emotions whether good or bad, plus will question themselves over & over a lot more than this film is able to do ( as it is always very difficult to try to have retrospective empathy especially after evil deeds are done, as no one wants to be seen as supporting real evil deeds ).

Overall the film can be seen as a lesson to learn, however not enough is done in my honest opinion in showing the remorse from the guilty including the selfish remorse of destroying their own lives through their own incredible stupidity, not to mention their real lack of compassion.

The point of this film is there was so many ways this could have been resolved a lot better, if all the people involved had of used much better judgment including informing the authorities before it kept escalating.

There was opportunities for a lot of different people to have helped.

The film is worth watching once, however it should have been better.

The Black Arrow (1948)

The truth will out.

[6/10 · 22 December 2022]

A nice action adventure set after the war of the roses, with a good moral tale where the desire for true honour ( good ) can defeat evil.

Of course things could have easily gone the other way & evil could have won if not for a lot of good fortune for the heroes, however the film is definitely worth watching once, as the acting is very good as all the actors take their parts seriously like acting in a good play.

A good example of a film with a good script, good directing & a good acting cast who show the audience can except this so long as all the involved take the story seriously & give the story the respect it needs.

Unfortunately the film is a basic formula & does not really stand out in any special way, however I enjoyed the actors giving it their all.

The Three Musketeers (2011)

Awful film with wasted talent ( unbelievably wasted talent )

[1/10 · 22 December 2022]

Shockingly awful of a needless remake ( with a ridiculous script that is truly awful ). The shocking part is apparently the movie cost $75m to make & they made the cardinal mistake of using an unproven Director in Paul W. S. Anderson who proves no matter how many talented actors you give a film if the director & script are bad so will the film be.

Paul W. S. Anderson had not shown any ability before the film he could handle a big budget historical action film which requires a director to understand how to direct quality acting & surprise surprise he showed no ability after it had been filmed ( what a complete waste of talent & finance ). Paul W. S. Anderson had only directed total action films like Resident Evil: Apocalypse which showed no sign of good dialogue.

Alex Litvak & Andrew Davies ( who helped a bit "maybe made the coffee" for Richard Curtis & Helen Fielding when they did Bridget Jones Diary 1 & 3 as I guess they had a different coffee boy for no.2 ) How did these 2 writers Alex Litvak & Andrew Davies get the script writing job for such a big budget action film & even more amazingly how could they mess up so bad as the book is so much better as to be honest it is shocking how they could ruin such a great book so much.

When I look at the mis-casting especially of the key character played by Logan Lerman ( D'Artagnan ) who simply was not up to the task & then we see the unbelievably talented cast of actors mis-used after that this has got to be one of the biggest wastes of talent in movie history.

I feel so sorry for the many many great actors in the film who were no doubt let down by the director, script writers & producers in this farce.

There was no need to make another film about the 3 musketeers & their was certainly no need to make one which was as terrible as this.

Wednesday (2022– )

Favourite day full of Woe, or full of Wow.

[9/10 · 14 December 2022]

Wednesday is a fantastic show ( reviewing the show after season 1 ) as very much looking forward to season 2 ( though high standards will need to be kept as it is 9/10 for me, however there is the potential for it to get even better as would love that but if it retains it's current level the fans will be happy ).

The main star "Wednesday" Jenna Ortega is simply the perfect casting for Wednesday, however you still need an excellent supporting cast, great script & good directing which this show has, the only reason for me not to give it a 10 out of 10 is because there are a few script issues that could have been done better ( however these are not major issues just minor things so I'm happy to let those things go, as overall the experience is very entertaining ).

Emma Myers ( who plays "Enid Sinclair" ) does a great job as "Wednesday's" room mate & friend, as helps show another side to "Wednesday's" character development which is important for character arcs which are especially very intriguing with "Wednesday" being part of the "Addams Family" as naturally she is drawn to the macabre ( so this all adds another dimension to it all ).

Moosa Mostafa ( who plays " Eugene Ottinger" ) might be one of the "B cast" however I really enjoyed this character so I hope we return at some point to the "Nevermore school for outcasts" & see all the other character arcs there develop also ( as there are already a few back stories with some intrigue ).

A great season 1 start, let us hope all future seasons are as good or better.

The Lost City (2022)

The lost opportunities as no romancing the stone for sure.

[5/10 · 10 November 2022]

I'm a big fan of Sandra Bullock so was very disappointed with this film as not up to the quality I'm use to in her movies ( as the script was too ridiculous ).

The basic premise was a good idea & if the film had Channing Tatum & Brad Pitt both vying for Sandra's affections throughout & the film took itself much more seriously ( with the character motivations & what a real person would actually do in each situation ) then the comedy moments could have had a good contrast as the film has to feel more real for the comedy to work best.

A truly great film is Romancing the stone & this film is quite similar to that except this film The lost city is half as good & barely watchable once really.

The script needed to be more serious adventure based instead it was more like a comedy sketch film where the characters were way over the top silly.

I was expecting a good romantic adventure ( with humour ) & got a poor film as I felt a bit sorry for Da'Vine Joy Randolph ( who played Beth Hatton ) as her character arc would have worked a lot better in a more serious film, but the script really was not helping the talented cast this film had in it, though Daniel Radcliffe is just not good in his role as a villain ( apart from Harry Potter I've never seen him do well in any other part including this role ).

I think Daniel Radcliffe needs to play a nice guy & trying to act in roles that don't suit his real life personality just doesn't translate in film, so instead of trying to distance himself from Harry Potter just be a nice English gentleman as it's much easier to play a role that is more similar to your real life self.

Only true great character actors can play believable villains & that comes from years of putting the work in usually in theatre to understand how to do it.

So the film is a 5 out of 10 ( not worth buying but is worth watching once ).

Just go into with low expectations & know it is a silly attempt as adventure.

Enola Holmes 2 (2022)

Learning to work together

[8/10 · 6 November 2022]

I enjoyed the first film ( I gave it 8 out of 10 ) & I enjoyed the second film about the same so I will give this 8 out of 10 also. I like all of the character development in the film & this film delivered on the promise of the first.

The film is very loosely based on real events & I think the script handles this very well overall, though sometimes the characters have to rely a bit too much on good fortune than using their intelligence which I think is an error.

I personally enjoy when the Holmes characters consider every conceivable outcome & plan ahead ( in these films a bit too much good luck is required ) however this is just a minor point overall as overall the script is enjoyable.

Like the first film the script is generally a PG script but because of the fighting & violence ends up with a 12 rating, as I think you should either go for a PG film ( for full family viewing ) or if you are going to go for a higher 12 rating then the rest of the script should match that for the audience.

That being said it is still an enjoyable film & a worthy 8 out of 10 for me.

I see again this film has been given 1 or 2 stars by people ( that is their opinion so that is fine ) who seem to think having people of different races play characters in the film some how ruins it for them ( as it is not then in their eyes historically accurate ), however personally I do not see this as a real issue as it does not take away from the story which is light hearted except for the odd scenes of violence but no one I feel watching this would be fooled into thinking this is supposed to be a non fiction historical story.

So personally I do not mind the casting as I think all the actors did very well.

I think the overall message is one of people coming together & working as a team is better than trying to do too much on your own, though of course we are all human beings & do also have our pride & want to be rewarded accordingly for the achievements we make ( however it is true in life that there are occasions when asking for help is a strength & not a weakness ).

I'm curious if they will do a third film as I definitely would like to watch it so long as it is as good as the first 2 ( or hopefully even better if the people in the film acknowledge their characters good fortune to still be alive & are more careful & thoughtful about how to stay safe while doing such work as dangerous as a detective, as good luck doesn't last so don't push that ).

In the third film I would want the main characters to have again learned from their previous mistakes both the good & also the bad characters.

Enola Holmes (2020)

This is elementary enjoyment

[8/10 · 6 November 2022]

I am a big Sherlock Holmes fan ( original books, old & new movies + old & new TV shows ) so I hoped this kind of alternative universe film where both Mycroft & Sherlock had a sister would be both interesting & a good film too.

I was pleased to see that the film ended up being quite good as I would say it was more of a family film that you could watch with your family & all enjoy. It is a 12 rating as some of the fighting scenes I guess would make it so, though the general story was maybe more PG ( yes the story could have been a bit more of the more serious side, though I personally still enjoyed this script ).

I thought the two young main lead actors playing Enola ( Millie Bobby Brown ) & Tewkesbury ( Louis Partridge ) were both excellent in this film & the light hearted way they both played their characters gave them great chemistry as each other's love interest & I was glad how their character arcs were done.

My only real criticism of this very good film ( I'm looking forward to the sequel very much ) is that the full range of Enola's abilities were perhaps not shown as I enjoyed the fact that she is a new detective so learning all the time, but I think seeing her use a bit more deductive reasoning in a few more scenarios would have been better ( especially if she needed to say escape from a place as maybe she would still fail, however seeing her logic would have been good though if you can accept how the story is scripted it does technically work ). This is why I'm only scoring the film a very good 8 out of 10, as I think they missed a few good moments ( that you would expect from a Holmes family member who had been educated so well ), though still a really good start.

I just hope the sequel can improve upon the second with more deductions being made, while still keeping the great acting that was in the first film.

I was surprised to read some 1 star reviews complaining this film is some kind of feminist atrocity, as I actually think it was more about equality of opportunity set in a time period when there was the suffragette movement which actually was supported by a lot of men ( & also was at the time not by some women as change can be a scary thing, if you empathise with people of that time ).

So for me this film was well reasoned & balanced as you can say there was some historical inaccuracies, however personally I did not mind them as they were not integral to the plot especially as the script was generally quite light hearted ( though again ended up a 12 rating due to the fighting scenes it does seem, as taking out those scenes would be a mistake which then means they could have pushed the rest of the script to be more 12 rating too than PG ).

I think overall the director & script writer found a good positive balance in the story that is both progressive & also fun to watch as I did enjoy this movie.

I think some people are too quick to judge a film because there are many "woke" films out there, but in my open this is not one of those "woke" films.

However society is full of different people with different options & we are all entitled to interpret films in our own set of morality so each to their own here, as for me this film was about men & women both finding their way in life.

Sons of Anarchy (2008–2014)

A really good show up to season 6, but season 7 ruins it.

[8/10 · 3 November 2022]

Sons of Anarchy was a really good show & must watch TV especially in the first 5 seasons & season 6 was on the decline but still was overall quite good.

For some reason the change of the staff writer to Gladys Rodriguez ( who helped write the scripts in season 7 ) made the show go from being believable to totally ridiculous & the character arcs made no logical sense at all as this final season was a total bore fest & left me as a viewer feeling really let down.

There was so many good ways to end the show & this last season was not it.

Now Kurt Sutter was still listed as the main writer for season 7 which makes you wonder what happened, as did he lose interest in the show, or knowing it was the last season did he want to put way too much into it & got it so wrong.

Unfortunately Gladys Rodriguez was the variable that wasn't able to save the final season, though ultimately Kurt Sutter was in charge so takes the blame.

Hopefully Kurt Sutter has learned from his mistakes with this season 7 fail.

Overall though the first 5 seasons are must watch & if the last 2 seasons had been better this would have been a true 10 out of 10 show it was for a while.

Season 1 = 10 out of 10 Season 2 = 10 out of 10 Season 3 = 10 out of 10 Season 4 = 10 out of 10 Season 5 = 10 out of 10 Season 6 = 8 out of 10 ( the story starts to become a bit too convenient ) Season 7 = 1 out of 10 ( the writing becomes lazy & makes little sense )

Total score ends up being 59 out of 70 so 84.3% score dragging a 10 out of 10 show ( after 5 seasons ) down from a 10 ( 100% ) rating to a disappointing score of only 8 ( 84% ) stars, as the last season is so bad it would probably be best not to watch season 7 at all & just use your own imagination as a fan.

The shield was a great show & needed 3 more seasons but they kept the quality of writing high, where Sons of Anarchy needed 3 more seasons so they just dumped everyone into 1 final season 7 & forgot about the writing & ended up ruining the legacy of the show & any real shot Mayans MC had.

It is no surprise to me Gladys Rodriguez was not asked to write for Mayans MC, though to be fair the very successful Sons of Anarchy staff writers ( from season 1 to 5 ) were not involved also in that project that suffered because of the really dreadful final season 7 as that turned off viewers from this genre.

The most important part of any show is the writing, as everything else has to evolve from that as great actors still need great scripts to make a great show.

Daughter of the Dragon (1931)

The daughter son Fu Manchu wished for...

[7/10 · 26 October 2022]

Anna May Wong ( Ling May ) & Sessue Hayakawa ( Ah Kee ) both star in this film about the daughter of Fu Manchu ( appearance by Warner Orland ) in a very well acted film ( by these 3 legendary actors ). This is a moving drama & thriller, as unfortunately the script does have a few too many holes in it however the main three acting performances ( mentioned above ) carry the storyline that mostly makes sense really well & make this a 7 out of 10 film.

The film loses a scoring star for me as some of the supporting cast don't quite hit the mark, then loses another scoring star as mentioned above as the script is not quite as logical as it needed to be. Finally the last star is lost as the film does drag a little so a bit more character development with the emotions of the love interests in the film could have made the film much more interesting, dramatic & ultimately made the film more logical as well.

Overall a very good effort & you end up with a good film you can enjoy.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1943)

Still the nursemaid...

[8/10 · 26 October 2022]

A well written & acted film with a very good enjoyable family movie plot that generally makes perfect sense & takes you on an adventurous journey that has real heart & soul in the characters, which you can enjoy throughout.

There are a few moments in the film that were way too convenient in the plot that pulls the score down 1 star & some of the scenes could have been done better with more of an explanation to the audience of what the characters motivation was to act in a certain way which loses it another star for me.

Overall though how a film should be made, so when you see it was made in 1944 it does make you wonder why so many films made 60 to 80 years later do not realise the importance of a very good script & it being acted in a truly believable way by very talented character actors who are a real true credit.

Definitely worth watching a few times & can enjoy watching with the family no matter their age, as there is some good morals to be learned in this story.

Wild Target (2010)

Wild target seriously misses the mark

[1/10 · 22 October 2022]

It amazes me how some people really enjoyed this film ( or so their reviews state, as it begs the question are they real reviews or friends of people who made the film or maybe they were paid to write such positive reviews by an organisation or person who wants a higher score - though after reading a few of them I believe it just shows the diversity in what people do really enjoy ).

For the people who actually enjoyed this film I am happy for them, however for the majority who did not ( as this really is a financial flop worldwide ) I can see why this film is so atrocious as the screen play writer Lucinda Coxon has not been trusted with any other films of this potential ( I agree with this ).

With a talented cast, a proven director & a very good premise this film really should have been very good, however the screen play by Lucinda Coxon is so totally incoherent & makes such little sense it really is beyond bad... as after reading this screen play why this film was allowed to be made is beyond me as the producers & any other people involved with the power to prevent this awful attempt should have just all agreed to fire Lucinda Coxon ( who I'm sure is most likely a nice person, however screen writing is not your talent ).

Rupert Grint is not considered a good actor, but he does have name value however a film like this can really harm your career path if you wanted to try to show your potential ( thus was made in 2010 & I can see why no one really wants to take a chance on Rupert as his performance was 1 out of 10 too ).

Luckily the rest of the cast mostly have proved how really talented they are in other films since this absolute disaster of a film, as I watched it all the way to the end just flabbergasted at how truly bad it was & it still got made this way.

This film was not funny, was not clever & really is as bad as a film can get.

Bad Company (2002)

Good film action with some scripted bad company to go with it

[6/10 · 21 October 2022]

A good cast, well directed in general however some of the attempts at humour just do not work in the scenes they are in or work with the character arc.

Overall the movie makes sense, however sometimes things within the film make no sense at all & they really take away from the film & that is why the Director should have insisted those things were done more realistic then the who film plus the Director would have ended up with a better performance.

With a bit tighter script this could have been much funnier ( when the scenes that needed that were available ) & could have been much more exciting & interesting in the more serious scenes & the action packed scenes ( though I did think overall the action scenes were very good, except for some people survivor situations where really they should have never survived at all ).

It is a shame as like many films this had real potential but ended up mediocre.

The King's Man (2021)

King sized mistakes within what could have been a very good film

[5/10 · 21 October 2022]

The King's Man (2021) had a very good premise, an excellent cast & the potential to be amazing, however far too many "King sized mistakes" in the film's script & how it was directed make it very frustrating to watch. Far too many ridiculously totally unbelievable scenes in the film take away from the ability to suspend your disbelief, as they go so far over the top there really is no coming back from them & those scenes end up ruining some very good acting ( generally the fight scenes are way too ridiculous to drive the story & action forward & instead they drive you crazy how totally silly they become ).

Certainly not up to the standards of the first film ( or even the second either ).

With a better director keeping things more real ( = needs to find that edge between fantasy & reality ) this could have been a very good film, however this is so far past the line of believability it becomes frustratingly totally & utterly unbelievable that the story gets disconnected & it all falls apart.

It is such a shame the fight scenes could not have been made to feel like they could have happened & some of the story driving scenes could have all kept a tone of believability in them as a lot of the film was actually well acted in it.

Some of the characters were way too 2 dimensional & needed to be much more rounded, so we could believe their character arc motivations better.

Worth watching once ( just don 't expect it to be as good as the 1st or even the 2nd which though had some issues was still a better effort than this one ).