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The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
I fell asleep - twice
I was disappointed with the first Lego Movie's end and was looking forward to the conclusion (5 years later?).
But the constant changes between superfast action with no dialog and the dialog with no action put me to sleep.
Bill Nye Saves the World: Surviving in a World Without Water (2018)
Not serious enough coverage of a very serious problem.
Water shortages are a serious problem and getting worse both because our climate is changing and our population is growing.
The discussion of water wars should have mentioned when Syria started a war against Israel by cutting off Israel;s water supply. The discussion of desert survival should have taken place in a real desert.
Contrary to the discussion on the show, most US tap water contains enough chlorine , ozone, and ammonia to cause toxic reactions in a significant percentage of people. Point of delivery filtering (carbon filtering, reverse osmosis, or boiling) is necessary to avoid this problem. The US has a serious problem of people drinking and washing with bottled water, because people are undereducated about water quality (this should have been made more clear).
First stage water treatment is usually oxygen rich composting, followed by settling of solids. There is a great demand for these solids as fertilizer (after drying and sterilization). So why are cities like New York burying this in landfills? The only mention of this was "Flocculation" (chemically combining small particles so they can be filtered out).
The example of water treatment on the show was very poor and not well researched. They started with a standard three stage wastewater treatment, followed by filtering, reverse osmosis, ozonation (with hydrogen peroxide and UV), followed by chlorination. After properly operating reverse osmosis, the appropriate next step is to add a mineral so that the purified water doesn't dissolve the pipes. Ozone and chlorine are of no advantage in a properly designed filtration system. Wastewater treatment stages 2 and 3 are not useful before reverse osmosis and should only be applied to the water that is rejected by the reverse osmosis.
Bill Nye Saves the World (2017)
The science is good and supports the hype, but ...
Other reviewers stress that this show is full of hype. That is true, but this is not politics. It is a response from scientists to the widespread lies hyped by others for profit. These lies are presented in entertaining ways that convince US consumers and voters. Scientists have so far failed to convince the public that the scientific method and journalistic integrity are important - one should not believe somebody because of bombast or other personality traits.
The first episode of the show (about climate change) is scientifically spot on. The next few episodes are not as well done. Specifically, the issues are not well defined or not as well researched.
Each show ends with a group discussion. The producers appear to be having trouble finding scientific experts who can explain the facts to the public. Many episodes leave out discussion of important related issues.
Bill Nye Saves the World: The Original Martian Invasion (2017)
Oversimplification leads to poor conclusions.
1) The table discussion at the end is not very useful. In particular, Wil Wheaton is not a scientist, he is an actor and science fiction fan.
2) The description of how life might have traveled to Earth ignores the "Aerobic divide." Initial life on Earth would have to be able to thrive without free oxygen. When photosynthesis developed, oxygen would have killed most of the existing organisms. Life continued to evolve from there.
That means panspermia would have required delivery of a mixture of photosynthetic cells and cells that would not be killed by oxygen. This is an advanced collection of single cellular organisms, not the organism mentioned in the episode.
3) The original experiment did not explain much (it was a fake creation of primordial soup). Primordial soup would have allowed reactions to generate a variety of chemicals, but nothing life-like would appear until some sort of envelope (cell membrane) developed to separate the proto-cell from the soup.
Bill Nye Saves the World: Machines Take Over the World (2017)
Good idea, but poor execution
The show is all over the place in its attempt to show "intelligence" in current technology and what can be expected in the future.
The discussion at the end of the show drives home the message that while some machines are "smart," we are decades away from real artificial intelligence. Calling a mobile phone an example of artificial intelligence is hype. The mobiles have only pieces of what would be required for artificial intelligence.
Most of the show is about machine learning, something that is an important part of artificial intelligence. Machine learning has not change much since I was a researcher in the field in the 1980's. The biggest difference is the larger data sets and faster processors. Real artificial intelligence will be like human intelligence, it will involve self awareness and the ability to review and learn from mistakes.
The episode shows the frustration people have with the current state of voice recognition by machines. No machine recognizes a wide variety of voices and statements well. Mobile telephones lack a mechanism for the user to tell the mobile that the interpretation was wrong. It is only with practice and feedback that a machine can learn to recognize a human voice well. Having thousands of spoken examples of common words in the database increases the chance of a mobile understanding a word from a variety of people, but does not solve the general problem.
Bill Nye rides in a self-driving car, implying something about its intelligence. The controllers in these cars are not intelligent - they are programmed to use a variety of sensors to control the vehicle more safely than average human drivers. The biggest advantage of self-driving cars is that they can look in many directions at the same time, are better at measuring distances, and do not get distracted.
The current smart devices are often called "The Internet of Things." Although no device should Ever be attached to a network if it is not hack protected, most of the internet of things doesn't even contain an antivirus. Let us hope that self-driving cars will be hack resistant before they are released to the public.
Bill Nye Saves the World: Tune Your Quack-o-Meter (2017)
Would have been clearer without comedy
This episode discusses how modern drugs are tested to assure that they actually work and how that differs from "Alternative medicine drugs" because all evidence for them is anecdotal. The placebo effect is discussed and the placebo effect is the reason stringent testing is necessary.
Three discredited forms of alternative medicine are discussed. Those pushing fake medicine are criticized for using Buddhist symbolism in a comedy routine. Joking about things clouds the messages.
Bill Nye admits that some of modern medicine comes from alternative medicine.
Bill Nye Saves the World: More Food, Less Hype (2017)
Not really very informative - Monsanto deliberately confuses issues
The part of the show is "Man on the street" interviews showing the public doesn't understand Genetic Modification and its implications. The public afraid,even though (in the US) we have been eating GMOs for over 20 years without any notification. Most of the anti-GMO message is just hype (true). Current GMO seeds do not harm mammals, but the farming techniques that go along with them and the greed of the seed manufacturers is harming the US and 35 other nations.
Bill Nye's comment that he had been concerned about a lack of genetic diversity but no longer has that concern needs explanation. Each company producing GMO seeds for maze (corn) is using only one initial seed, with modifications added. However, the modifications do not significantly add to genetic diversity. Among GMO corn farmers, there are less than half a dozen different strains. Organic farmers preserve genetic diversity, but companies like Monsanto are attempting to eliminate organic farmers of corn and soybeans in the courts.
In this episode hybrids and GMO product are considered the same. GMO is said to just accelerate evolution. This is a lie.
An important distinction was deliberately omitted from the show. In nature, different plants within a species mix genes to form new (hybrid) strains of the species, and the strain best suited to the growing conditions thrives. Over time, strains diverge enough that they normally do not interbreed; creating differing Species within the same Genus. Species within a genus can interbreed, but usually do not. Eventually, a species within a genus evolves outside the genus, but remains in the Family. Species within different genus in the same family can sometimes crossbreed, but the new plant is usually either sterile, the seeds fail, or the seeds do not produce the same species.
An example is the rose family (Rosaceae). Evolution and human hybridization produced the apple subfamily (apples, pears, and so on) and the stone fruit subfamily (cherries, apricots, peaches, and plums). More recent human inter-genus hybridization has produced nectarines and plumcots (sometimes abbreviated as pluots). But all hybridization is based on using the pollen of one plant on another plant. This produces a large variety of genetic lines and only some survive.
To create a GMO seed line, a company cuts the DNA of a seed and introduces a gene from a different family. Monsanto's most popular corn seeds contain an added gene from petunias (resistance to Monsanto's Glyphosate herbicide) and an added gene from a bacterium (that introduces an insecticide into every cell of the plant). This particular insecticide is considered harmless to mammals. This greatly reduces the amount of insecticides farmers apply to corn and soybean crops.
Insects that were minor pests before are spreading to eat corn and soybean plants (to fill the ecological niche) and the same is true of weeds resistant to Monsanto's Glyphosate (Roundup) herbicide. Companies like Monsanto are working to add resistance to other herbicides and to add other insecticides.
For growing corn, the insecticide in the seed can greatly increase yield, but the herbicide 2,4-D is effective for farming (grains are immune to 2,4-D). In the case of GMO corn, mixing 2,4-D and glyphosate and spraying the ground around the corn plants should alleviate the need for adding further herbicides to the seeds. Glyphosate is a suspected carcinogen and is under consideration for banning by the UN. The fact that the glyphosate is often sprayed from the air onto the entire field and the plants increased human exposure to glyphosate.
The main problem with GMO seeds is that the licenses require that the child seeds not be planted. New seeds must be purchased from the manufacturer for each planting. Part of the reason is that it is not clear whether the GMO seeds will breed the same plants, and part is the way seed companies make money. One of the most important problems with GMO plants is that the farmers do not control the spread of pollen from their plants to other farms and the GMO seed manufacturers use the courts to force farmers whose crops are modified with GMO pollen to convert to purchasing GMO seeds.
One of the problems with Monsanto is they introduced a broad spectrum herbicide and 20 years later introduced seeds that is resistant to their own herbicide and that requires the use of the herbicide for the seeds to be most effective. Another is that farmers save part of the seeds each season to plant the next season.
The Defenders (2017)
Bad Character Development and Choreography
As with many TV series that mix multiple loosely related characters, there is very poor character development. The first episode is confusing because it is separate events, each about one character. If one hasn't seen the appropriate prequels (or read all of the comics), there is not enough back story to explain the character's powers or actions.
A lot of time in the series is spent in fights and swordplay. In some fights, the heroes knock down all of the opponents, but instead of the heroes running toward their goal, the heroes just stand there. The opponents all get back up again and fighting resumes (this happens several times in a single fight).
The sword choreography is clearly written by somebody who doesn't understand steel blades. Parrying (blocking) a sword swing with the sharp edge of a sword damages the edge of the sword. The edge becomes dull and it is sometimes possible to disarm the parrying fighter. Parrying is normally with the side the blade.
The Flash: Duet (2017)
Derivative and uninspiring
This review has spoilers for people who have not read the IMDb "Storyline" for this episode.
When viewing a musical episode of a series, I always compare it to "Once More With Feeling" (the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer). I look at the story and how it furthers the story arc(s) of the show, the originality of the songs, the quality of the singing/music, how enjoyable the episode is compared to the rest of the series, and whether the story fits into the mythos (world view) of the show.
The Music Meister does not fit into the mythos of either The Flash or Supergirl. Although these are Fantasy shows, there are limitations on the type of magic in each show. That Barry Allen and Kara Danvers shared an alternate reality, that was supposed to be in their heads, does not make sense in these shows.
The story arcs move forward one small step. The step was expected soon in the story arcs. The episode does not appear to foreshadow future story arcs.
The storyline was derivative of a story from which Shakespeare cribbed.
Finally, Grant Gustin (Barry Allen) kept singing flat. He sang well for most of a song, but would be flat on a few notes. The songs were relatively easy single octave ballads with consistent tempo (we used to call that elevator music).
Pure Genius: A Bunker Hill Christmas (2016)
Their dealings with the FDA are not realistic.
The incidents mentioned in the Storyline supplied by the network are less interesting than this incident which is not mentioned:
James Bell (the owner of Bunker Hill) has a rare prion-based disease and his life expectancy is a few months. He develops a potential treatment and finds a patient with an advanced form of the same disease. A short period of animal testing has been performed, but it is not enough to convince the FDA representative to allow the treatment on a human. She says that at least a year of animal testing would be required (James Bell would be dead by then).
The FDA representative happens to be Dr. Wallace's wife. That would not be allowed in the real world, because of conflict of interest restrictions (it does enable a fight between Dr. Wallace and his wife). In this case, fast-track approval would normally be given for two reasons. First, the patient has less than one month to live, so only about one month of animal testing would be required (they had not performed a full month of testing). Second, this is what is known as an "Orphan disease," a disease that is rare enough that the normal three-year testing cycle (including over a year of animal testing) is reduced to under a year total. The justification for fast-track approval of treatments for orphan diseases is that normal testing requirements are too costly for rare diseases.
The Ruins of Lifta (2016)
Lifta is a contested empty village just West of Jerusalem.
This film is about attempts to find a future for Lifta that is acceptable to both Israel and the previous residents of the village. The Arabs feel that Israel is an occupying force and must leave, while the Israelis feel that all of Israel is theirs. This film concentrates only on Lifta and stays away from the "refugee" issue.
The takeaway is that there will be no peace until the Arabs in Israeli territory accept the existence of Israel (or destroy Israel, or are expelled from Israel).
This movie was informative about the relationship between the Arabs and Israelis. Lifta is the last empty village from which Arabs were expelled. Those who lived there (and their descendants) want to rebuild the village, while the Israeli government plans to demolish what is left of the village and build homes and parks.
Important history was omitted from the movie. During the lead-up to Israeli independence, the Arab League nations dropped leaflets on every village saying that the Jews would kill all of the Arabs. They encouraged non-Jews to flee the land and villages in strategic locations to attack Zionist (later Israeli) vehicles, people, and infrastructure.
Lifta was on the main road into West Jerusalem from territory the UN assigned as Israel. Attacks from such a strategic location caused the Israelis to expel all of the residents of Lifta. The film does not mention that Arabs in villages that did not attack were allowed to remain in their homes and become Israeli citizens.
The main problem with the film is the attempt to compare the WWII Holocaust and the plight of those kicked out of Lifta. This is a mistake because there is no reasonable comparison. The people of Lifta were expelled in retaliation for attacks, while over 6,000,000 European Jews were killed in a genocide.
The film also does not give any background about why the residents of Lifta attacked Jewish settlers or the related issue of why Arabs left the region and became refugees.
The word Palestine is used in the film to refer to Israel before independence. However, Palestine includes Jordan. Jordan was designated by the League of Nations as the Palestinian Arab homeland in 1922.
Hating Obama (2014)
Interesting discussion but several factual errors
This video is a discussion of why President Obama's popularity poling is so low. The initial guess is that it is a result of racism. The alternative presented is that people disagree with the president's actions or are disappointed with his progress toward his campaign promises. The problems President Obama inherited from George Bush are mentioned, but the systematically obstructionist congressional leadership and the big money behind them is not mentioned.
This video fails to achieve any answers, because they failed to interview a representative sampling of the population and allowed use of false information. What it does show is that the support for the President among the ordinary people being interviewed is much higher than the opinion of people who are politically motivated. It also shows that those who are politically motivated either choose to use poor information or don't know any better.
A variety of people from various walks of life are interviewed, but almost all of them identify as African American and most of the general public interviewed are from a single beauty shop. Members of the general public who were interviewed almost all have high praise for the President and think that the complaints are due to racism. The politicians and those who claim to represent religious populations tend to have a low opinion of the president.
Those with a low opinion either call President Obama "The worst president ever" (patently false, he has not been accused of treason), think that ObamaCare is a fraud that is decreasing availability of health care for the black community (false when one examines the numbers), or that black unemployment has increased under the Obama administration. Only one person thought that the President is not keeping up on his promises.
Several people who hated the President hated him because of his support for equal rights, regardless of sexual orientation. However, it was the federal courts that required states to permit "Gay Marriage", not the President.
The number presented for black unemployment at the start of the Obama administration was false. The real black unemployment number in January 2009 was estimated at 43% (plus or minus 4%).
The Bush (43) administration deliberately misreported the federal debt by omitting the costs of military incursions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Adjusting for this misreporting shows that the federal debt increased by a much smaller amount under the Obama administration. One opponent of the President used the falsified figures from the Bush administration to try to show that the Obama administration caused a huge increase in the national debt.
Adam Ruins Everything (2015)
Adam Ruins Everything is a great documentary show
Disclaimer: This review is based only on the first episode. The first episode is often a pilot and is not always representative of the series. It often takes 6 or more episodes to work the kinks out of a show.
NON-SPOILER SUMMARY
This show discusses ways in which the public is being ripped off or lied to by marketing hype, by well-meaning charities, misguided health advice, and other similar topics. The show is well researched (references to back up arguments are provided on the show or web site). This show does not waste your time, several topics are covered in one episode instead of the usual 1/2 hour per topic.
SPOILERS BEGIN HERE
In the first episode:
1) Adam describes how the De Beers cartel controls almost all of the world-wide diamond market, how their advertising campaigns led to the now widely accepted idea of a diamond engagement ring (including force feeding the idea of spending two month's pay on the ring - money that a new family needs for other things), and that diamonds are a poor investment because of the huge mark-ups by De Beers and Jewelers. The show suggests that if you want an engagement ring, you should use a cheaper stone, like a sapphire (I would suggest semi-precious stones instead - De Beers controls a large percentage of the Sapphire, Emerald, and Ruby market as well).
2) Tom's shoes (buy a pair and Tom's will donate a pair) is an example of charity gone wrong. Donating money to relief charities allows local decisions about what is needed (we in industrialized countries often donate the wrong things). In fact, donating items overseas that can be made locally depresses the local income. (not on the show: Economists say donating money pumps the local economy and often adds three times the donation to the local economy).
3) Donation of clothing, blankets, and other items overseas usually doesn't provide what is needed. It is better to donate used items locally. Relief organizations at the location know what is needed and donating money to these organizations is much more effective.
4) Canned food drives for food pantries are usually not very efficient. Donated food is often either expired, unhealthful, or is not what the people eat. Donating money to a food pantry (I would add homeless shelters) allows the pantry to purchase better food at wholesale prices. An example on the show is a pantry buying three cases of vegetables for $1.00, much less than supermarket prices.
Personal anecdote: when I lived in a homeless shelter, most of the donated food was sugary, and it made several of us sick. Also, one of the pantry workers remarked that they had to throw away a lot of canned food, because it was expired. The one or two year expiration dates on canned food are arbitrary - canned food does not spoil unless the can is damaged (the can is rusty or the button has popped). Except for fresh foods and baby formula, expiration dates usually give less than half of the time until food spoils.
5) Giving blood after a disaster can be helpful, but when people wait for a disaster then too much blood is donated and a lot of it spoils before it can be used. The show uses the example that after September 11, 2001, a huge number of people nationwide donated blood and 300,000 units of the blood spoiled). It is better to donate blood on a regular basis. (personal addition: After a local disaster, donating blood locally is useful. Blood banks usually run low toward the end of the year, so donating in November and December can be very helpful).
6) Adam also makes remarks about GMO vegetables not being unhealthy, but pesticide residue is unhealthy.
This is my biggest quibble with the show. The agricultural subjects are not well covered and I hope the show actually covers them in a future episode.
My personal research shows that the GMOs vegetables are tested to assure that they not toxic for humans, but the common corn (maize) and soybean GMOs lead to high levels of pesticide and herbicide residues in the resulting food. Part of the reason for high chemical residue is inappropriate farming practices. Since most of the feed in the US for cattle, swine, and chickens is GMO corn and soybeans, the residual chemicals concentrate in the meat - the levels are much higher than in the vegetables. Furthermore, the way GMO seed is sold reduces the variety and hybrid vigor of crops, opening the door for future agricultural disasters.
Backstrom (2015)
Decent acting, terrible writing, needs a real show runner
My vote is 5 for the pilot, plus 2 for potential.
Another review indicates that the writers do not know Oregon law enforcement. That and many other issues indicate the need for a good show runner (producer who is as involved with the writers and casting as a director is with the actors). They also need a real Portland police officer to read each script before shooting.
Until the 1990s, women were used as screamers, love interests, or as a surrogate for the audience. In a modern procedural show, all supporting cast must fulfill a significant role. Audiences are let down if a female detective is not written as intelligent and hard working. That is the only way that a woman can attain the rank of detective in a major US city.
Aside from Oregon not using lethal injection, the writers obviously do not know the difference between felony (second degree) murder and first degree murder (killing with intent and planning). An accomplice who commits a felony, but is not part of planning to kill is committing second degree murder. No US state executes people for second degree murder.
Attention to detail is the heart of producing a procedural. There are several lapses in continuity. The worst lapse in detail is that no police station should display the US flag at night in the rain. Every boy scout and every desk sergeant knows that this is a federal crime.
The show Grimm is set in Portland and is a little loose with the law and other details. However, a fantasy show is allowed a lot more latitude by the viewers than a procedural show.
Finally, the discussion of generations of police officers is wrong. The behavior of detectives depends more on the police chief when they are promoted than the age of the detective.
Jimmy's Hall (2014)
A story about Ireland in the depression, but as important today
This story highlights the struggle for individual respect and liberty that has been going on since the reformation. Today, people often attach words communist or socialist to the struggle of the individual. This film reminds us of the other side of the story: greed and power are the feudal and capitalist side of the story.
One flaw in the movie is that people assume the struggle between Jimmy and the priest is communism versus the church. But Jimmy was not a communist. Jimmy was a grass-roots liberal who supported his community and occasionally spoke out against the concentration of power. The church represents this concentration of power and the struggle to maintain the concentration of power.
During the 1920's, a large percentage of the world's "Wealth" was tied up in speculative investments. Corrupt politicians sided with the land holders and the "Robber barons". By 1924, economic experts started to announce that unfettered greed would lead to an economic crisis in the USA and Europe. In 1929, the US stock-market crash vaporized much of the world's wealth and centralized power among an even smaller percentage of the population.
The movie includes a lot of history that most people in the US and UK who were born before 1977 already know. However, for most of the world, the Irish history and the extent of the struggle between the rich and poor during those times is new.
This struggle continues today. Instead of hereditary land owners, we have large banks and other institutions that "influence" most of the world's "capitalist" governments. The government favors for corporations and privatization of government services that starting in the late 1970's continues to this day and is responsible for the depression of 2008.
Without government support for those who were thrown into poverty, the 2008 depression would have been as bad as the 1929 depression. I think the writers were trying to remind us about the consequences of unfettered greed.
Much Ado About Nothing (2012)
This movie brought out the best in the actors.
The acting is great. I don't know if it was that the main cast had worked together before or that it was shot in (and around) Joss Whedon's house (designed and decorated by his wife Kai Cole), the small crew, or if they were inspired by redoing one of Shakespeare's famous plays.
Some people have complained about the lack of color. Black and white was an artistic decision. It also meant that a modern house could be used with fewer worries about costuming, backdrops, and other crafts. Since this was a privately funded production, cost was a big issue. On the other hand, when Joss Whedon has produced and directed a film, it has never exceeded its budget.
The movie is in Elizabethan English. The use of words like "wherefore" (why) may confuse some viewers. Subtitles with a modern translation might be helpful.
Rewind (2013)
Good Show. Good Science. Good Action
This is a pilot for a series, not a TV Movie (as categorized by IMDb).
Although the plot drags in places, about half of the show is an "edge of your seat" experience.
This pilot contains the most ambitious time travel explanations I have seen in movies or TV. The science works (with General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics of massive particles). The explanation of how changes to the past ripple to the future and the simulations are realistic.
Whoever researched the science behind the show did an excellent job, but the science concepts are above the heads of most viewers and may cause dissatisfaction for some reviewers. Many of us are used to lots of jargon, but that is deliberately skipped here.
I think the general public would accept this show as an action-drama.