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Kpeters214
Reviews
An American in Austen (2024)
Be careful what you wish for...
...as you just might get it. Surprisingly, this was very well done for a Hallmark movie. It held my interest for its length, and I'm a guy (I'll turn in my "man card" later). Anyway, our heroine (actress Eliza Bennett, chosen for the part because of her name?), a struggling authoress suffering from "writer's block", makes a wish on a falling star and finds herself 210 years into the past and has become "Our American Cousin" to the Bennett girls. She subsequently muddles up the Jane Austen "Pride & Prejudice" story as she knows the story plot line too well. Look for a "surprise guest appearance" at the Duchess's Ball by a certain redhead. Eventually, "All's Well that End's Well", and she returns to the present time during the same taxi ride in which she started her journey into the "space-time continuum", with the "spirits having done it all in one night". Oh, and she no longer suffers from her writer's block and becomes a successful authoress with a well-chosen title for her book.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Smurfs in Space dance with Wolves
Visually, CGI stunning; plot wise, wakey-wokey. Overly long by a full hour; pretentious in setting. As with most if not all sequels, the original was better, but that isn't saying much as the first version was just like this; "second verse, same as the first". If you saw the first version, then you've already seen everything you need to know about this one. Yes, I'm repeating myself as there isn't any reason to go see this one, much less for it to even exist. If you want to sleep for three hours in a comfy chair, stay home where you can get your own snacks without having to pay an arm and a leg. Have I made my self clear; AVOID LIKE THE COVID PLAGUE.
Meet John Doe (1941)
Frank Capra's vision of America
Yes, another one of Frank Capra's movies giving his vision of a simpler but more honest America. Sure, it maybe corny by today's standards, but it fits well into what America was like before being thrust onto the world stage due to WW2. Gary Cooper was one of the American "Everyman" characters (Jimmy Stewart also played a similar character). Barbara Stanwyck was one of the most beautiful and versatile of actors, along with Jean Arthur who starred in the 1939 movie of "Mister Smith Goes To Washington". The ultimate Frank Capra movie is the perennial Christmas favorite "It's A Wonderful Life", again starring Stewart with Donna Reed. Trivia note: if you look closely when "John Doe" is doing a radio broadcast, the microphone has the call letters of "WBN", for Warner Bros Network, the film distributor.
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Overrated Teenage Angst movie
The only reason that this movie has gained cult status is because James Dean splattered himself all over the California highway while speeding. Mediocre movie.
Queen Bees (2021)
Snooze-ville @ the Retirement Home
Just because you have a decent cast doesn't mean you can make a decent movie. If this is what old folks can look forward to in retirement, there's more excitement and drama at Mickey Dee's and Starbucks. Avoid.
Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)
"Hat Tip" to Julian Fellowes
This edition of Downton Abbey is kinda-sorta a merger of two other well-known movies; The Great Gatsby and Singing in the Rain. WHAT? OK, the opulence of the 1920s in the South of France Riviera is one half of the story line, with the plot line from Singing in the Rain openly stolen in broad daylight for the back-at-home sequences for the other half. And Maggie Smith steals every scene, even the last one.
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Avoid like the CoVid Plague
It's a BAD BAD BAD BAD movie. If you've seen it once, that is one too many times. Total slapstick by has-been comics supposedly all chasing after a fortune buried under the "Big W". This might have worked in the 1920s, but in the 1960s it was way beyond its expiration date.
Every Time a Bell Rings (2021)
Charlie's Angels celebrate Christmas in Natchez
My title pretty much sums up the story plot line. Most Hallmark movies are made in Canada (British Columbia), but this one wound up in Natchez, MS; supposedly set in December, but full-leaf green was present on all the trees and shrubbery. Wandering around in the background (movable scenery) are extra actors in WINTER coats; only thing missing was the fake snow. Normal temps in Natchez in December are upper 50s to low 70s. Believability is non-existent. But "political correctness" statements abound; and that is why Hallmark is in a TV ratings decline, and why the Great American Channel (GAC) is now in ascension, with Hallmark stars jumping ship.
Fighter Squadron (1948)
WBAF (Warner Bros Air Force) movie
Lots of "typical heroics" one expects in a WBAF movie. As another reviewer has said, Dawn Patrol + Command Decision = this movie. All those "goofs" are somewhat expected for "History Lessons by Hollywood". For a much better movie, "12 O'Clock High" rates it. Max Steiner music "We Watch the Skyways" is always stirring.
Tomb Raider (2018)
Mediocrity...
...at its finest. Once again, Hollyweird makes another unnecessary remake. Just goes to show that there's NOTHING NEW coming from Tinseltown. Too much special effects and CGI, and plot, dialogue, etc are left to the gamers. BORING!
Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
Meh!!!
So-so mediocre unnecessary remake with just more CGI and phoned-in acting. If you saw the original, then you've seen this all before.
Jerry Maguire (1996)
Show Me the MONEY
And "You had me at hello". The two most memorable lines in an otherwise MEDIOCRE movie.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)
A waste of 2 hours out of your life
I'd give this a ZERO (0) rating if I could, but that doesn't exist of IMDB scale. A totally unnecessary movie, that deservedly ends the franchise. I'd rather sit through a "sparkling vampires CGI werewolves movie marathon" than go through this again. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!
Downsizing (2017)
What the H-E-🏒-🏒 did I just watch?
This is one of the most confused and F-U'ed movies I've ever seen. Just because you can assemble a fairly decent cast doesn't mean that it can nor will be any good. Story and plot have a lot to do with it. It BOMBED at the box office, any even the critics gave it mixed reviews. And once again, the "mankind is doomed" scenario is foisted upon us because humans are parasites on the Mother Earth/Gaia Goddess. Ya know, modern mankind has only been around for 100,000 years, while the Earth is 3.5+ Billion years old. The Earth will get along just fine if humans disappear whether through natural selection or their own folly of technology. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME.
Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021)
Don't even watch this...
...When it comes free to cable. There are other ways to waste your time.
Major Crimes (2012)
The Rusty whine and Sharon whisper Cop Show
Gawd AWFUL cop-show TV series that destroyed the "Closure" fan base. The supporting cast members maintained their characters personalities, but Mary McConnell's soft-spoken hushed whisper "LAPD Commander Sharon " made dialogue hard to understand. And she allowed her adoptive whiney-assed son ("Rusty Beck") complete access to LAPD computers, lab results, and sensitive investigative files so that he could get over his self-esteem issues by becoming an internet blogger. The final season was a disaster, with the writers already having been told that the TV ratings suck, so the show is done. That allowed them to just throw any plot line onto the wall to see what stuck; kinda like seeing if the spaghetti was done.
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
2020, the Year of Disasters...
Just keeps giving us more disasters. Only thing good about it is Gal's beauty. But not even the nudie scene by Gal can save this train wreck. Oh wait, there isn't such a scene by Gal which only makes it worse. The franchise has "jumped the shark" when they bring in re-incarnation as the main way to bring back her dead lover.
Quigley Down Under (1990)
American Western set in Oz-land
Rather unusual story for an American Western; but this ain't America, but Australia. Tom Selleck plays his usual role of the quiet but forthright character much in the same vein that Jimmy Stewart in his Old West characters. Entertaining story. Final scene has "interesting" continuity problems, as the sun is directly overhead in one shot, later afternoon in another, and is clearly setting in another; those dang pesky shadows!
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Agatha Christie meets Edgar Allen Poe
OK, maybe not fully, but there're enough campy suspense and horror to be entertaining.
Horror/SciFi version of 10 Little Indians
The Trouble with Girls (1969)
The "WayBack Machine" goes wacky
A so-called Elvis "musical" with absolutely no rhyme nor reason to have ever been made. It meanders all over the place as it never can figure out where it's going. Set in 1927 Iowa but all the women wear mini-skirts as if they just came from a Go-Go Bar. Don't waste your time with this TURKEY!
Young Frankenstein (1974)
A comedy classic, indeed
There are only a few films that I have given a "10" ("Casablanca" being one of them), and this is equal, in its own way, to "Casablanca".
It has its own memorable dialogue and one-liners, (not to mention music), and its own cast of zany characters. Sure, it's pure camp (or is that Kemp), but "redemption" of the human soul is at its core. 😜
Passengers (2008)
I see dead people...
...because I am one too. What the "Miracle on the Hudson" is, this isn't it. It's "Lost".
Barkskins (2020)
New France (aka Quebec), eh?
It tries to be a cross between "Game of a Thrones" for intrigue, and "Outlander" for scenic setting. What it is, is a jumbled mess with hard to understand accents from actors. I watched the first episode and was confused by the storyline. I lasted only 20 minutes for the second and gave up, deleting the recorded episodes and the requirement for future recordings.
The Kid (2019)
Romanization of a Sociopath
Once again, Hollyweird lives up to its own hype. This is nothing like the Westerns of the 1940s and 1950s. Smells worse than a livery stable. Avoid it.
Because I Said So (2007)
Run Away, Run Away, Run Away
It is because of the women portrayed in movies like this, that there is a reason why the robo-sex doll industry exists for men.