Venge Reviews

Fallout (2024– )

Enjoyable Ride!

[10/10 · 10 May 2024]

With close to 1,000 hours in Fallout: New Vegas, and just a bit shy of that total in Fallout 3, I was a little nervous about watching this series. So many disappointments from so many game related movies and TV shows in the past. But I was more than pleasantly surprised by Fallout the series, and enjoyed all 8 episodes.

Though others complained about the "atmosphere", I found it very believable for California's southern coastline. You aren't going to get the urban sprawl of downtown Washington D. C., nor are you going to get the bleached desert of New Vegas. Instead, get a lot of beach sand, blown inland from the nuclear explosions, covering the ruins of L. A. and it's surrounding area. The series stays away from a lot of dungeon crawling, or wandering through the wrecks of buildings, which actually only make up a small part of the gaming environment. They did a very nice job of portraying the vaults, which I really loved. The depiction of Brotherhood of Steel was a little harsh, at least to my tastes, as I never encountered them being quite so harsh in either Fallout 3 or New Vegas, but each chapter could be different depending on the circumstances surrounding it, so I was able to accept that.

The genius of the series was the casting of Walton Goggins as Cooper Howard, as he was spectacular in the part. The rest of the cast was pretty good for a TV show, but nobody really stood out. Ella Purnell was good as the lead character, but not great. Too much of a tendency to overact the cheesy vault girl parts. Aaron Moten never really convinced me of his character until about episode 8. He just seemed bewildered and weak. Moises Arias was very good in the small scenes that he had. The rest of the case was just "ok", neither adding or subtracting much from the story.

All in all, though, I found the series a very fun ride, and hope they can keep it up for a second season.

Fallout: The End (2024) Season 1, Episode 1

My Only Disappointment ... "War, War Never Changes"

[10/10 · 7 May 2024]

After over 1,000 hours into Fallout: New Vegas, and 800 hours into Fallout 3 (Fallout 4 was a total bust, and I could never get into Fallout 1 &2), I can say that the first episode of this series was a great and pleasant surprise! It caught the world far more than I ever thought it could.

Vault Dwellers, if you've played the games, were always ditzy and more than a bit idealistic. I don't know the leading actress, but she does a great job of showing that level of naivete and cluelessness. They come out of the vault with virtually no skills, and they have to decide for themselves how they will react to the world around them. The fact she only shoots sleeping pills from her gun, shows something that is simply not possible in the games, and one of the things that I found a bit unbalanced, but it does suit her character.

Walter Coggins was an inspiration as the Bounty Hunter Ghoul. Excellent choice!

The guy playing the Brotherhood of Steel recruit I found the most unconvincing, as he overacts almost every scene he is in, starting right from boot camp. Why does it take him 20 seconds before he can answer even the simplest questions? Ah well, maybe he gets better as the show goes along.

Michael Emerson was great to see again.

And the Dog .... No Fallout would be complete without the dog!!

Love it so far! I wrote this after just finishing episode 2, so still have the next 6 episodes to watch. Crossing my fingers that it stays as good.

Total Recall (I) (2012)

Stupid Choice of a Name

[7/10 · 3 May 2024]

Call this movie anything, but naming it "Total Recall" was a stupid choice. With a few minor changes, this movie would have been unrecognisable from it's predecessor, and all the comparisons would be ended. By itself, with a name like "The Drop" for instance, it would be a very good, if not exceptional SciFi movie, but when compared to the original, it just doesn't measure up.

The acting and action were good. Colin Farrell plays his part well, and the other actors were all ok. The action scenes were fun, with lots of action and excitement. The plot would have needed a few adjustments, so as not to be compared to the original, but there was lots of room for adjustments.

I enjoyed the movie in 2024 by simply not comparing it to the actual (the "real") "Total Recall". But I suppose that Hollywood could just not resist the added draw of calling this a remake. Too bad.

The Vietnam War (2017)

A Difficult Watch Due To Blatant Political Bias

[7/10 · 27 January 2024]

War is always a difficult topic to watch, especially when it was as up close and personal as the Vietnam War. Yet the fault of this documentary, which technically is really well made, is not the difficult and often gruesome material of war, but the transparent political bias that shines through virtually all the writing. A good example of this is the way that Burns handles LBJ as opposed to the way he handles Nixon. Even though Johnson was the President who dragged the U. S. deeper and deeper into the conflict, sending out progressively greater amounts of reinforcements into what was quite literally a slaughterhouse, Burns treats LBJ tenderly and with compassion. He portrays him as a great elder statesman who simply was overwhelmed with a military conflict thousands of miles away that he could never quite get a grip on. Dozens of shots of LBJ with his head in his hands looking sad and despondent. It is like Burns is saying, "He may have escalated this unnecessary minor into a killing field for young U. S. servicemen, but it wasn't his fault, and he was really sad about it." Forget the fact that his mishandling of the Vietnam conflict cost close to 50,000 young Americans their lives, to Burns he was a Liberal Democrat, and therefore must be a tragic figure.

From the very first, Burns treats Nixon completely differently, even though it was Richard Nixon who would finally have the courage and tenacity to bring the conflict to an end. So in his very first introduction of Nixon, a hated Conservative Republican, Burns focuses on the shadow of Watergate, and how Nixon supposedly stabbed poor old LBJ in the back. The proof: supposed CIA and FBI tape recordings that have never been released to the public. So Nixon is portrayed in a negative light from the very beginning, because Burns is just too far to the Left to keep his own extreme Leftist bias out of this production.

Arrival (II) (2016)

Boring .... As .... Hell

[5/10 · 30 September 2023]

OK, for all the people that gained great insight from this movie, I guess you also gain fabulous insights from watching paint dry. I watched this movie for the 2nd time, simply because I couldn't remember anything ... anything ... about my first viewing, and wondered if I had actually watched it. Sure enough, I had, as I could predict certain small details before they occurred. I'd cite an example, but want to avoid spoilers.

Suffice it to say, the most exciting element of this film was the sudden volume surge in the droning, repetitive music. Those volume increases were the director's way to ensure that his semi-moronic audience would be on the ball enough to catch the importance of the scene he was unfolding. "my name is ....." Wow!! BRRRRRRRRGGGGGG!!!!!! .... you got that? Ok, we can tone the music down again.

This was like 2001, with no story and no personality. At least 2001 had a talking computer. This has a pissy. Forest Whitaker giving the worst performance of his career. I'll likely end up watching this movie again in 7 years, simply because I totally forgot it again.

Casino Royale (1967)

Simply Dreadful

[3/10 · 31 August 2023]

1967 saw two Spy Spoof movies. One of those movies nailed it, while "Casino Royale" did not.

The other movie, though not well known over 50 years later, was the James Coburn classic, "The President's Analyst". That movie has a zany, though coherent plot, great acting from Coburn, Godfrey Cambridge, Will Geer, Severn Darden, and a host of familiar but mostly unknown supporting actors. The frantic 60's psychodelic bits of the movie fit well into the plot, and though the movie is now very dated, the jokes remain funny. Coburn gave a brilliant performance of one man's totally psychotic breakdown and flight from professional responsibility, in a crazy and entertaining way.

Casino Royale, on the other hand, stuffed itself with BIG name actors ... the list is endless, and doesn't bear repeating ... but had no coherent plot, used psychodelia to look "cool" and "hip", and wasted the talents of virtually every actor and actress in the cast.

We need not even talk about the last 15 minutes of the film, where the entire enterprise was given up on, and the writers just tried for every over-the-top lame gag imaginable. Truly pathetic.

It is not often that I have been able to watch a movie with Peter Sellers or Woody Allen, and not even chuckled once, let alone laughed. I was too busy cringing.

Give "Casino Royale" a miss, but give yourself a treat and watch a truly great 1967 spy spoof, "The President's Analyst".

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)

Entertaining

[7/10 · 10 August 2023]

This is not a community college film major's review, like so much of the pretentious drivel that passes for reviews of this film. I am basing this review completely on my own experience of viewing this film for the first time, almost 100 years after it was made. I won't go over the plot, since we all know what it is. But was the film enjoyable, so far removed from the silent era of film.

I felt that I was disadvantaged, as the version that I watched had obviously had a totally new sound track composed by Nitin Sawhney, and it was so utterly annoying that I had to turn the sound completely off for most of the movie. If listened to for more than 5 minutes, you could feel your brain cells begin to melt. Pure drivel!

Apart from the soundtrack, however, the movie was entertaining ... in a deep throwback 1920's silent picture kind of way. It is strange to watch the silents now, as the method of acting was so totally different. Every gesture, every look, had to be drawn out to convey the meaning of the scene. To call it entertaining, in a contemporary sense, would be stretching the truth ... unless you are a film major in a community college ... then you have orgasms of artistic bliss. But for me ... not being a film major at a community college ... it is always a struggle that needs to be overcome when viewing an old silent film.

Traces of the Hitchcock to come are visible throughout the film, the most noticeable of which was the hand, and only the hand, trailing down the banister, as the Lodger made his way outside at a late hour. Hitchcock was already experimenting with different camera angles to heighten the suspense.

Ok, that's enough. I gave the movie a 7 simply because for a silent, it has held up amazingly well. For pure entertainment value ... for a viewer who isn't a film major at a community college, it probably falls somewhere between a 5 and a 6.

Criminal Minds (2005– )

As TV shows go, it's not bad

[7/10 · 9 August 2023]

Criminal Minds wasn't ground breaking television, but as network television goes, it was not bad. There is no way that I have watched every episode from the endless number of seasons, but I watched enough to know that it was formulaic, had some good performers and some mediocre performers, and often the cast sounded like they were reading off of cue cards. However, the episodes were largely well thought out, and built up a modicum of suspense. Also, the show was blessed with two exceptional actors, Mandy Patinkin in the first couple of seasons, and Joe Mantegna for most of the rest. Both are great, and both were able to carry the show and lift it out of the doldrums. Other regulars were less stellar, particularly the extremely bland Thomas Gibson, Shemar Moore and A. J. Cook and Paget Brewster, all four of which looked like they were play acting the characters, rather than being the characters. Matthew Gray Gubler was an exception, playing his quirky character well, and managing to pull it off. However, the show would have been beyond blase without the stellar efforts of Patinkin and Mantegna to carry it.

Criminal Minds: Extreme Aggressor (2005) Season 1, Episode 1

First Taste of the Series 18 Years Late

[9/10 · 6 August 2023]

I'd read some good things about Criminal Minds, but I have always stayed away from network TV shows. However, as I had no pressing series to watch, I decided to give it a shot, having read some good things about it. The pilot episode did not disappoint.

I've always like the acting of Mandy Patinkin, particularly in his brilliant role in "Homeland", and he was a pleasure to watch in this first episode. Funny to see him without the Saul Berenson beard!

The plot itself was pretty straightforward, with a bit of a throwback to 1991's "Silence of the Lambs". There was a bit of a problem with the writing, that kept hinting a trauma in Jason Gideon's (Patinkin) past that we as the audience are totally unaware of. I found this a little frustrating, but I suppose the details of this trauma will be revealed in later episodes.

The rest of the cast were adequate, if not especially notable. I was not overly impressed with Shemar Moore, as he performance seemed notably insincere and fake, but I see he stayed with the show for 254 episodes, so I'm assuming he got better, and grew into the role. Thomas Gibson was solid, if unspectacular, the kind of straight man that long running TV shows often need. Matthew Gray Gubler looks like a child in this series premier, but gives a convincing performance as the genius wunderkid.

I wasn't especting much, so I was pleasantly suprised to have enjoyed this pilot episode as much as I did, and will continue to watch the rest of the first season. Not sure if I will make it all the way to season 16, but who knows.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

KJP as a CIA Agent .. and other oddities

[7/10 · 29 June 2023]

Disney gets hold of the Indiana Jones franchise, and suddenly you have a Karine Jean-Pierre lookalike, globally round afro and all, doing double-duty as a CIA agent. However, apart from that lame attempt at political-correctness, Disney just let general silliness, plot holes, and questionable cast selections round out the rest of the movie. However, for all Disney's best efforts to ruin yet another film icon, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny turned out to be an enjoyable movie.

I just saw the film this afternoon, so have had little time to reflect on it, but overall enjoyed myself. The first 20 minutes, with the de-aged Harrison Ford, were a lot of fun ... very much like old times. The middle part of the movie dragged somewhat, but it did all rise to a very nice climax. The post climax final scene was touching in a strange way ... no spoilers here though.

The cast of the movie were good to merely OK. Harrison Ford was his usual brilliant self, playing a character he has owned for over 4 decades. However, I did not find Phoebe Waller-Bridge either likeable enough, nor a strong enough actor, to carry off the amount of screen time she was given. Mads Mikkelson played his usual very solid villain, a role he seems to have turned into a very nice career. Need a villain? Get Mads! However, the "kid" ... it seems every Indy movie has to have a kid ... played by Ethann Isidore, didn't seem to have a clue how to act in front of a camera. Maybe it was simply the fact that the role of "the kid" just seemed to be shoe-horned into the story line for no apparent reason whatsoever. Who was he? Where did he come from? And most of all, why did he have to be there?

Overall, though, I'd give the movie the proverbial thumbs up, maybe simply because I'm a die-hard fan of the franchise, and saw the first instalment in the theatre way back in 1981. Maybe I just needed another chance to go see Indy one last time.

Fallen Angel: The Outlaw Larry Norman (2009)

Vindictive Gossip Under the Guise of Documentary

[1/10 · 16 June 2023]

Larry Norman touched the lives out hundreds of thousands of people, giving them hope, and uplifting their spirits with his inspired songs and live performances. Larry songs still, many years later, hold a precious place in my heart. There is hardly a day that goes by that I do not hum "I am a Servant" to myself."

And here we have a film, made barely a year after Larry Norman succumbed to a heart attack, that sanctimoniously seeks to "expose" the "real" Larry Norman. We have his ex-girlfriend telling us what a phony he is .... oh, his ex-girlfriend, no less. Thank GOD none of my ex-girlfriends have never been interviewed about a story of my life!! This self-centered blessing talks about how Larry just "faked" his heart problems ... oh, really? If the lad was faking it, why then was he hospitalized numerous times with heart related issues? Why did he have an operation to install a defibrillator? Why, pray tell, if he was "faking it" ... (the shrew comes right out and says that it was for money!!) ... did he die of a heart attack at the young age of 60?

This trash is a disgrace to documentary film making.

The Poison Rose (2019)

Ignore the Extremes

[6/10 · 7 June 2023]

"The Poison Rose" was neither a 10 or a 1, which most of the reviews seems to gravitate towards. Rather, it was an enjoyable middle of the road movie that I had no problem giving a 6. Yes, it was slow paced, and sure, not all the actors were about to be given academy awards, but the movie was an enjoyable watch, the script was nowhere near as bad as some reviewers would have you believe, and it was nice to see some old, familiar faces gracing the screen one more time. John Travolta (putting on a Texas accent, no less), Morgan Freeman (sounding exactly like Morgan Freeman), Brendan Fraser (playing a strange, strange character), and the still sexy at 54, Famke Janssen. Ella Bleu, Travolta's daughter in real life, is certainly a beautiful girl, but sadly isn't much of an actress. Peter Stormare was completely wasted in the movie, and Robert Patrick (T-1000 of Terminator 2 fame) snoozed through his role as the sheriff.

Narcos: Mexico: La Jefa (2021) Season 3, Episode 6

Good Episode, But Too Bad They Just Make S*** Up

[7/10 · 17 April 2023]

This was overall a very good and interesting episode, but the credibility of the series really suffers are a result of gross historical inaccuracies. The most glaring was the fatal drive-by shooting of "El Azul" in one of the final scenes. What the hell were they thinking? Even the most uneducated viewer can look up El Azul on wikipedia, where it is reported that he is rumored to have died of a heart attack in 2014. For a series that started out so well in the first season, and tried to cling to that in the 2nd season, it is like they have thrown out any attempt at accuracy in the final season. For me, this ruined the entire episode.

Twelve O'Clock High (1949)

A Slow Stage Play Set on a Bomber Base

[6/10 · 24 February 2023]

If you like your war movies shot primarily inside buildings on one particular base, then this classic is for you. If you like your war movies with just a modicum of action and excitement, then you will likely be supremely bored. For most of this movie, the most action oriented scenes are those with the B-17 bombers circling slowly in preparation for landing after the completion of a mission. Amazingly, none of the aircraft engines appear to have been damaged, and there is no evidence of any damage to the aircraft fuselage. The undamaged planes are simply used a prop for one of the very few scenes that are shot out of doors.

Yes, weighty matters are discussed, and agonizing decisions are made, but do not expect action. I watched this movie late at night, and it was a struggle staying awake. Good performances by Gregory Peck and his supporting cast, but he was much better in "To Kill a Mockingbird", and had much better material to work with.

The Witcher (2019– )

Cavill is Wonderful, but Writers Simply Suck

[6/10 · 3 February 2023]

Netflix has once again released a series that has incredible potential, but has been undermined by horrible writing and extremely weak casting choices. Henry Cavill was an inspired choice as Geralt of Rivia, and obviously brings a lot of knowledge and fondness to the role. He gives the series a luster that is unfortunately quickly dimmed by the horribly dimwitted writing. Eels??? What is with the Eels??? Note: that didn't need a spoiler alert. If you've seen the series, you'll know what I am talking about, and if you haven't, you will know when you witness that silly travesty.

The sets are lush and well done, the costumes are good, and the music fits well with the setting. The exception to the music is when Dandelion goes from Medival to something akin to "Pop Harp". Grating doesn't even begin to describe it. I did like the action scenes, as Henry Cavill is very believable as a athletic monster slayer.

So overall, I give a 9 to Cavill and the great atmosphere of the series. The supporting cast are sporadic and generally weak, and rate no more than a 5 or 6. The writing, and in particular the scenes added to the script that were never in the original books, was extremely weak, and garnered no more than a 2 or at the most 3. I gave the show a 6. Mildly entertaining, but falls far short of the original books and the three Witcher games.

Life on Mars: Episode 1 (2006) Season 1, Episode 1

Possibly the Best First Episode Ever

[10/10 · 6 November 2022]

I have heard great things about the British original version of "Life on Mars", so I decided to give it a look. If the rest of the show lives up to the first episode, then it should be a great show! This was perhaps the most gripping, original first episode of a series that I have ever watched. The musical score was perfect, the clothes were authentic and not overdone, and the dialogue was spot on. John Simm was convincing in the lead role as DCI Sam Tyler. Liz White was a treat as Annie Cartwright. Since I have yet to watch the rest of the series, and will be binge watching it over the next few days, I am eager to see how it all plays out.

Grantchester: Episode #4.2 (2019) Season 4, Episode 2

There is a reason this doesn't completely work

[8/10 · 17 August 2022]

I'm happy that Sidney has found "real love", after sleeping with a girl after a couple of chats. People fall in love at first sight all the time, right? But something just felt rushed and unsatisfying with this sudden romance with ... what was her name again? ... oh yes, Violet.

The reason? That after 3 seasons and a Christmas Special of following the tragic, forbidden love story of Sidney and Amanda, there is absolutely no satisfying conclusion to their relationship. After binge watching the first three seasons of this marvellous show, I got to Season 4, Episode 1, and was going "WTF? Where's Amanda?"

Of course, we all now know Amanda had gone on to the be the mother of an autistic child, while simultaneously becoming a Detective Sergeant in a seaside community, but at the time I just thought our morally upstanding alcoholic parson was just demonstrating more than a bit of unfaithfulness by suddenly hopping in the sack with the beautiful, if only just met, Violet. It felt like I spent that entire first episode playing catch-up.

Otherwise, I found this a very good episode. The tragic crime scene drew me in, the interplay of characters was engrossing, and the ending was unexpected. But if would have been so, so much better, if prior to this episode, the writers had taken the time to resolve Sidney's relationship with Amanda, and had slowly developed the new relationship between Sidney and Violet. Since so much of this series has been focused on the importance of relationships, it is ironic that the series failed so badly in this regard.

Soylent Green (1973)

Climate Change Enthusiasts Will Be Proud

[7/10 · 22 July 2022]

In the 70's, it was "overpopulation and pollution" that set the environmentalists ranting and raving about the coming world cataclysm. Hollywood happily obliged and made a movie. A damn good movie, as it turned out, with great writing, great direction, and great acting.

Ironically, the year used in the movie is 2022, the same year in which I am reviewing this film. Happily, the dire predictions of movie haven't come true. The entire current population of the world, it has been calculated, if stood shoulder to shoulder, would just fill up the borders of the small American city, Gary, Indiana. Acid rain has become a concern of the past, people in New York are moving to Florida, not sleeping in the stairwells of apartment buildings. But that has never stopped the hysterical doomsayers. In the 80's, we were warned of the coming Ice Age, and Hollywood happily made movies about the earth freezing solid. As we entered the 2000's, it was "Global Warming", until it was shown that the mean temperature of the earth has actually been falling. Now it's "Climate Change", and those that don't believe that the climate is changing are called "Climate Deniers" .... and Hollywood has happily made a lot of climate changing type movies, full of big waves and big storms and more dire predictions. Ahh, Hollywood, ya gotta love it!

But getting back to the movie. If you can overlook the absurd doomsday plot, "Soylent Green" is a good, engaging flick, that even entertains to this day. Charlton Heston was still in his prime, and gives a great performance. It really is a Heston tour de force, with great and touching support from Edgar G. Robinson. The rest of the cast are adequate, but nobody really stands out.

So if you are a doomsday "Climate Change" radical, this movie will give you goosebumps. For the rest of us, just turn off your brain and enjoy a good SciFi flick.

The Pacific: Basilone (2010) Season 1, Episode 2

In a word, Intense

[9/10 · 11 January 2022]

After the rushed feeling to the first episode, this second instalment in the series takes a deep dive into the confusion and unforgiving deadliness of jungle combat. Focused around a frantic defence against an unceasing Japanese offensive, the battle evolves not so much as a strategic set piece, but as a blind, confusing rush of images. It came down simply to "hold or die". Well directed with great filming and sound, the only downside was that during the lulls in the action, when the marines are catching a much needed breather, it seems like the actors are trying too hard to appear introspective. Actors school 101. However, on the whole, this was an intense, riveting episode that was a great improvement over episode one.

The Pacific: Guadalcanal/Leckie (2010) Season 1, Episode 1

Not as engaging as it could have been

[6/10 · 10 January 2022]

Though the combat scenes were well filmed, the first episode fails to truly connect the viewer to the cast of characters that we see portrayed on screen. The first 20 minutes or so of the episode take us through various "back home" vignettes, that in a very rushed manner try to quickly give us a feel for the main characters, yet so little depth is put into this effort that they might as well not have bothered. For example, what do we learn about Pvt. Leckie (played by James Badge Dale) other than the fact that he has a religious bent (we see him lighting a candle at church) and he is enamored of the girl who lives next door. In an awkward moment right out of a 40's wartime movie, he stands at the door of the church and tells her that he will write to her, while she mumbles a confused, "Ok". That's it for Pvt. Leckie until next we see him headed toward the beach at Guadalcanal.

The historic perspective of the first episode is also lacking. We are told of no preparations for the marines prior to the Americans first offensive action in the Pacific theatre of operations, we are not told why the U. S. is beginning their operations on a tiny island in the Solomon chain, and when it is asked in the episode by the clueless marines themselves, no answer is given. I suppose the writers/producers of the show felt that everyone knows the overall strategic objectives of the Allies in the Pacific, or else they didn't want to bog the series down in needless details such as why the characters we are to care so much about, are enduring such horrific conditions on the tropical hellhole. Even when we get to the actual fighting on Guadalcanal, we are not given any strategic objectives other than "Let's go out there and kill some Japs".

Sure, the battle sequences are well shot and engaging, but having been rushed to the point of that first battle, and having had nothing explained up until that point, it was again not as gripping as it could have been.

Overall, the first episode of the series was a major disappointment, particularly when compared to the unforgettable first episode of Band of Brothers, "Currahee". Hoping things improve.

Day One (1989 TV Movie)

Endless Moralizing

[6/10 · 9 July 2021]

It is probably impossible for Hollywood to produce a good movie, or in this case mini-series, about the Manhattan Project without devolving into a debate about morality. A solid start to "Day One" was ruined by what became endless moralizing between the characters. I was hoping for a detailed movie about the Manhattan Project and the development of the first atomic bomb, and instead got a simplistic, contrived, high school level argument between the those against the bomb (obviously the good guys), and those who wanted to use the bomb (obviously the bad guys). We have all heard the morality of atomic warfare debated countless times, ad nauseum, we didn't need a movie about it as well.

There were some good performances in this drama, that were rather wasted. Brian Dennehy was very solid as the driven and goal oriented General Leslie Groves, even if the writers were guilty of turning the General into more a of caricature than a real person. David Strathairn was believable as the stressed out J. Robert Oppenheimer. The tragic hero of the piece, Leo Szilard, was performed well by Michael Tucker.

The Manhattan Project is still awaiting that great movie that will walk us through one of the most remarkable, if diabolical, accomplishments of mankind. Sadly, Day One was not it.

3rd Reich: Evil Deceptions (2016 Video)

High School Level Drivel

[3/10 · 10 June 2021]

If you were expecting a deep look into the methods employed by the Nazis under Adolf Hitler to sway an entire nation of people to their will, look elsewhere. This limp documentary uses a constant backdrop of archival footage to lend some type of legitimacy to the bland, repetitive commentary. The text could easily have been written by a high school student, and is full of gross generalization, well known facts, and unsupported hypothesis. The overly dramatic music becomes repetitive very quickly, as does the nonsensical narration, and the question becomes how long you can stand the combination before you simply switch off. Definitely not recommended.

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)

Slow, Self-Indulgent, Repetitive and Sappy

[6/10 · 10 June 2021]

This movie is a perfect mirror for the ego of a director who sees the need to put his own name into the title of a movie. This is a director stroking his ego by turning a 1:45 movie into 4:02. Half of this movie could easily have been left on the cutting room floor, and the end product would have been far more watchable. What could have been a good story became absolute drudgery in the extreme. I couldn't imagine having to ever sit through this vivid example of directorial self-gratification again.

The Social Dilemma (2020)

Taking Themselves Too Seriously

[6/10 · 9 April 2021]

The spooky music and funny camera angles don't increase the reality that this documentary is trying to portray: that social media is controlling the shape of the world we live in. Call me a complete skeptic, but I find the entire premise to be complete and utter BS. These guys all, without exception, take themselves far too seriously. Guess what, boys and girls, there has been political division since the dawn of mankind.

In the 1860's, half of America fought the other half of America in a war that killed over 620,000 soldiers. The Left (Big Government) has always fought toe-to-toe against the Right (Individual Liberty), with the sides rather evenly balanced. In the long, hot summer of 1967, 159 race riots erupted all across the United States. Downtown Detroit was almost burned to the ground, with 1,400 buildings destroyed, 43 people dead, and 342 people injured, over 5 full days of intense rioting and destruction. All of this happened before the advent of social media, before smartphones, and 17 years before Mark Zuckerberg was even born.

This documentary, though interesting, and definitely filled with some serious concerns such as our adolescent population's addiction to mobile devices, is actually an overblown farce. These brainiacs seriously think that they are somehow responsible for all the chaos in the world. Seriously? Give me a break. Yes they are guilty of monetizing the internet, but that doesn't translate into every evil of the past 10 years being the fault of Facebook. Hey, I'm not a big fan of Facebook and the freaky Zuck, but the world has been a messed up and violent place for thousands of years, and it wasn't Facebook, or Twitter, or Snapchat, that made it that way.

Boss Level (2020)

One of the Best Action Movies of the 2000's

[9/10 · 8 April 2021]

The 80's and 90's had a lot of great action movies: Die Hard (1988), Terminator 2 (1991), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) to name just three. Since then, good action movies ... really good action movies ... have been few and far between. Recently, with the rise of the PC culture, it seems like Hollywood no longer has the stomach for doing what it takes to make a really good action flick, probably afraid that they might offend someone.

So it was a pleasant surprise to watch Boss Level, which turned out to be one of the best, possibly the best, action movie since 2000. It has all the ingredients. A clever storyline that grabs you immediately, a great protagonist played brilliantly by Frank Grillo, and hot action scenes that just keep on coming, yet never get tiresome as those in say, The Transformers got tiresome after the first 30 minutes.

As mentioned, Frank Grillo is born to play the hero in an action movie. His narration is spot on, and his character has that self-abasing sense of humor that we've seen in other great of the genre, like Bruce, Arnold and Harrison. Mel Gibson is menacing as the villain, Will Sasso gives as solid performance as the henchman, and Naomi Watts is not only a wonderful actress, but is also very wonderful to look at on screen. Rio Grillo, Frank's actual son in real life, was a complete surprise as one of the better child actors that I have seen in quite a while.

If you love action movies, definitely give this one a look, you won't be disappointed!