atinkerer Reviews

Mad Men (2007–2015)

"You're Born Alone, And You Die Alone" - Don Draper

[9/10 · 6 November 2022]

The central character in this show is a deeply damaged man called Don. He has a strong survival instinct, but he's incapable of loving or even trusting. He is running scared. He compensates for his insecurity and emptiness by pursuing primal things that soothing his ego. He has to feel that he's in control, even though he's living on the edge. He tries to be the "Alpha Male" conquering all around him. In reality, he is a juggler about to drop all the balls.

The others in this show are complex human beings whose characters dictate how their lives evolve and ultimately end up.

One interesting character that you follow throughout the series is Peggy. She enters the world of advertising as a total innocent, but as the show progresses, you'll see her become a worldly and powerful business woman.

The show is full of examples of the attitudes and mindset of the 1960s. The type writer was designed "so even a woman can learn how to use it". Everybody smokes, a lot. It's ok for kids to play with plastic bags over their heads. Women are treated in a way that would surely be considered sexual harassment in today's world. These unacceptable things jump out at you and startle you, and give you a flavor of that era.

The show was a hit for a reason. It's very good!

The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

Pretentious fluff

[1/10 · 22 May 2022]

This is the kind of movie that a 15 year old boy would like. But anyone who is grounded enough to not be sucked into living vicariously through the image of that skinny guy in a suit should pass it up.

Dinosaurs - The Final Day with David Attenborough (2022 TV Movie)

Long and dull

[2/10 · 16 April 2022]

I don't know how they managed to take this amazing subject and turn it into this boring documentary. They fail to convey what an exciting and important discovery the Tanis site is. Instead they show a lot of animation of dinosaurs running around and breakup the Tanis subject into little more than disjointed sound bites. I expected better.

In Like Flynn (2018)

It could have been good, but it wasn't.

[2/10 · 26 April 2020]

It starts off like a high school remake of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, a total ripoff. After that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, it gets worse. The main character, Errol Flynn, is never established as the focus of the movie and seems to get lost in the crowd. The dramatic highs of the movie don't build to a high enough impact, they don't focus on Flynn, and they don't carry the story along. You get bored while you sit wondering where is this movie going? I read the book Beam Ends, by Errol Flynn, and although it started off really bad, it did get going and turned out to be a good read. This movie has nothing to do with the book and is total fiction unrelated to the life of Errol Flynn. It is lackluster from beginning to end, and not worth watching.

Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946)

Mickey Rooney was much better than I thought he would be

[7/10 · 21 March 2016]

In the last decades of his life, I came to dislike Mickey Rooney. This was based on what I heard about the man, which gave me the impression that he was a delusional, self-aggrandizing, and self promoting, jackass.

However, I started to reevaluate him after I heard the director of Breakfast At Tiffany's say that he always regretted casting Rooney in that picture.

I had always thought that Rooney did a great job as the Japanese clown character he created for Tiffany's. He seemed to me to be the perfect counterpoint to Hepburn's pseudo-sophisticated New Yorker character.

Then tonight I saw Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946)and I was blown away by Rooney's command of the screen, and the poise he had in the character he created. The movie itself was just OK. But Rooney drew my attention in every frame he was in. For someone as young as he was in that movie, to have that kind of screen presence, really surprised me.

There was a reason he was a big deal back in the day. There was a reason he was a big box office draw back in the day. I have a new found respect for the man who's shadows I see flicker away at me in those old movies.

Tony

1776 (1972)

A joy and history lesson all in one

[9/10 · 17 November 2015]

Hi,

Blythe Danner and her glorious singing of He Plays The Violin is reason enough to see this movie.

As for the movie it self, it's a charming representation of the events that brought about the birth of this nation. See it as a child would, and revel in the joy it gives you, but put aside the seriousness of a dusty old pucker-puss professor of history. For those of us who are inclined to look beneath the surface, you will find here the motivations that moved these men, step by step, to commit themselves to revolution.

See it when you want to feel good. You may even learn something in the processes.

Tony

Cabaret (1972)

This is as good as it gets

[10/10 · 16 September 2015]

Rarely do the masters of movie making come together with the focus and resources available to achieve greatness. They've done it here.

This is a great movie.

Every frame commands attention. Every facial expression, and movement that the actors make expresses what the character is thinking and saying.

And the choreography! This IS Bob Fosse. In a thousand years from now, some theater major in some college on some yet to be discovered planet will watch the dancing in Cabaret and be as stunned by it as we all were the first time we saw it.

Maybe only one or two other movies reach this level of perfection, and no other movie can top it.

This movie is as good as it gets.

Tony

The Danny Thomas Show: Tonoose, the Liar (1960) Season 8, Episode 7

A simply touching and memorable show

[10/10 · 30 November 2014]

Hi, I was looking for this episode for a few years now, on and off, of course. The last time I had seen it was in the 1960s. It's possible that the last time I saw it could have been at the original air date of 11/21/1960 (IMDB). In any case, I remembered it after all these years. It must have struck a cord with me in some way.

Well, I managed to find the episode, and YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE! Boy did I enjoy it. It still pressed the same buttons for me after all these years.

There is a simple joy and heart warming sentiment in shows like this, that makes them timeless.

Manhattan (2014–2015)

Too many subplots

[6/10 · 14 October 2014]

This series started off well; it was authentic looking, had good character development, and it was suspenseful. There was some great interpersonal drama between the characters. It had everything it needed to grab the viewer and hold their attention, to make for a very entertaining show.

However, then they kept developing more characters, and they kept creating more drama between all these characters through more and more subplots.

There are now so many characters in play, with so many subplots, that I have lost all interest in what were once the major players and story lines.

It's like there's a big house party that starts off with a few people chatting and drinking. Then more and more people show-up, and the talking gets louder and louder. Finally, there are so many people, talking so loud, that there's no more room to even breathe.

To top it all off, I understand that they're not going to set the bomb off now because there will be a second season.

Nope. There will be no second season for me. At this point I wish they'd just nuke that secret little town in the middle of the desert, and put the writers to work on a better show.