Change Your Image
jasonsbainbridge
Reviews
May December (2023)
So Much Wasted Potential
They show a guys erect Johnson full on in this movie, like you see everything.... That was the most shocking part of this movie. Everything else was so meandering and pointless.
They didn't focus on the crime enough, it seemed like a real whatever type of attitude from most people in this movie, the actress could have uncovered some stuff about how everything went down but it's basically just 2 hours of folks stumbling through awkward conversation then Julianne Moore decides her character has a lisp in the last half of the movie for no reason... This movie does not deserve its rating.
Its score would have to believe you're watching a thriller but it just swirled the drain until it mercifully ended.
Do yourself a favour and dump a can of tuna down the alleyway next to your apartment, watching stray cats gather to eat discarded food would be more interesting than this film.
Rick and Morty: How Poopy Got His Poop Back (2023)
This Show Occasionally Forgets
Seems we are averaging every other season is a good one at this point.
They really needed to knock this one out of the park after all the controversy surrounding this show but it's just Meh. It reminds me of a late episode of the Simpsons where it has just become a parody of its self.
Part of what makes Rick and Morty awesome is when you hear a voice for a new character and you go "how do I know this voice?" Then you look it up and it's Paul Giamatti! In this episode they just lazily threw Hugh Jackman in as a cameo for no reason and also put Predator in there for no reason.
The writing is just so lazy and underwhelming in this episode it kind of boggles the mind. There isn't even a missed opportunity to make something great I just don't think this episode ever should have been written.
And where the heck is Morty man? Three episodes out of the season Morty is barely even in any of them! What are we doing here? Please get better guys, this is Rick and Morty season 5 all over again.
One Piece (2023)
Most Fun I've Had On Netflix Since Stranger Things Season 1
When I saw the trailer for this show it looked dumb as heck but the trailer failed to capture the heart and soul of this series that shines through almost immediately in episode 1.
There's a lot that goes into making a show like this work. Very few have cracked the code of how to translate Anime to live action and it's mostly because the people who make these adaptions only understand that they ARE popular but not why.
We love the characters, we love the action, we love the set pieces and costumes and boy does this show do all of that right.
Almost every character has a complicated backstory that is well fleshed out and makes sense.
Luffy is a ray of sunshine in this relatively dark and unforgiving world filled with ruthless pirates more interested in the dark side of piracy whereas Luffy understand that piracy isn't about the bad stuff, it's about freedom, loyalty, adventure and standing up for what's right.
I would definitely recommend this to pretty much anyone. The action is on point, the characters are used to their fullest extent and the story is expertly written and executed.
You will love it!
Who Invited Charlie? (2022)
A movie that disrespects it's own rules immediately
This movie was not awful by any means, just confusing off the jump really.
Started off strong with a chance meeting between old friends on the street while the main character is breaking up with his mistress. He almost literally runs into his buddy while fleeing a group of angry Santa's and the movie begins.
Cut to months later when in the movie the Covid-19 pandemic starts. Phil's family decides to quarantine in their vacation home in the Hamptons and shortly thereafter Charlie finds them and convinces them to let him stay there because he's lonely in the city. This is where the confusion for me starts. They clearly set up a rule that Charlie is to stay on his side of the house with a literal line of tape, they set this up to seem like it'll be very important as the plot progresses but instead the next morning Charlie breaches the line and everyone is fine with it, in fact it only comes up again once the son goes onto Charlie's side of the line later on in the movie. They try really hard to set up a relationship between Charlie and the son but it comes off as forced and uncomfortable.
The movie kind of just meanders until it ends...
There are entertaining moments but overall it's just strange and seems confused about what it is and what it's trying to say.
Champions (2023)
"Look at how accepting I am!"
This movie started out really strong for a cliche type of premise ya know?! Woody Harrelson can elevate any material really, the dude is a master of his craft.... Though this one gets a little lacklustre in execution once we are introduced to the friends basketball team.
They really play the whole concept dead on the nose, like "look at this group of intellectually challenged folks, here are all the regular quirks and behaviours you see in most people with those challenges and here are the challenges they face in their day to day life"... That's pretty much the entire movie.
There isn't much nuance in the way their day to day struggles are portrayed really, there's a boss who very openly mistreats an employee with Down's syndrome, there's a scene where an ignorant person calls the team the R word and coach reverts to violence to rectify that situation, there's a woman with Down's syndrome that thinks everyone is hitting on her and they just present that info in a very straightforward manner like "here ya go, this is indeed a movie".
Overall it was a decent movie but it lacked any layers whatsoever, they just hand you the information like an uninterested activist trying to raise awareness about global warming.
That's all.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
Can't Understand The Hate For This Movie
This movie was everything I wanted it to be and I almost didn't watch it because of the negative attention it got... It is so good! It's funny, the character designs are great (MODOK is pretty bad but it's fine because his character is awesome) the comedy is on point, Kang is legitimately scary. They don't replace Scott in his own movie or turn him into a parody of himself (like Thor), they actually find a really nice balance between all the characters. Cassie is mildly annoying in the beginning but it's because she's a naive teenager who doesn't understand how the world works and she gets better by the end... I will never understand why this movie got roasted so hard. This is the most I've been entertained by a marvel property since End Game, for real it's really good.
Don't believe the hype! Watch this movie!!! It's extremely entertaining.
The Big Door Prize (2023)
Very disappointing
I'm having trouble grasping what this show is supposed to be about and why it exists...
Every episode I hope that they'll maybe address the purpose of the morpho machine or where it came from but instead we literally just get episode after episode of people just living their lives while casually mentioning the morpho... There isn't much intrigue or exploration into the mystery of the morpho it's just there and nobody really cares why.
This show is such a huge letdown based on the marketing. They really pushed it as a mystery with comedy elements but at the end of the day we are just watching people do stuff... It's boring. Watch Severence instead.
The Other Guys (2010)
The Best Cop Comedy Ever
I can't for the life of me understand why this movie is under a 7 rating, it's easily the funniest buddy cop movie out there. Better than The Heat, better than uh... I can't think of another example but there's a bunch and this one's at the top of the list.
The jokes land every single time, the dynamic between Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell is dynamite for comedy. The complexity of Terrys character, having so many feminine tendencies but also being so toxic in his masculinity, it's genius... And Allen being oblivious to the fact that he's a complete womanizer with every attractive woman within a 10 mile radius being attracted to him with his back story as a pimp, I just really appreciate how three dimensional every character in this movie is, the writers clearly put a lot of time into carefully constructing every piece of this movie and it shows!
Everybody, rate this movie higher. This is a legendary comedy, one of the best out there and people NEED TO KNOW!
Love (2016)
Great Show, Weird Convos
I love this show... See what I did there?
This is a comedy about two unlikely people falling in love. One's life is a mess, the others is not really a mess but he's too nice and awkward I guess.
The only issue I really have with this show is every piece of dialogue is so awkward and stumbly. I feel like the director used the ad lib out take for every scene to try and make the conversation seem more uh... Natural I think? I don't really know, but there is a lot of pointing out the obvious and a lot of "yeah" and "umm"a in this show, it comes off as a group of drama kids in an improv class.
The show gets better in later seasons but be ready to cringe HARD if you're going to give this show a try... I feel like the actors did their best with what they were given.
You're the Worst (2014)
Great RomCom Series With Powerful Drama
This show was an unexpected hit for me. I had just finished watching every season of Its Always Sunny in succession about 4 times over and I wanted to try something new...
From the opening sequence at a wedding with the main character sulking at a table in the corner, snapping photos of his junk with every disposable camera I knew I was probably going to love this show.
Shows like this remind people that their relationship is extremely functional, even if you disagree with your partner at times and have minor annoyances at least you don't actively compete with them for who can be the worst in the relationship.
Humans love shows about damaged, broken, deplorable humans because it makes us feel good... This show has that in spades but also manages to make the character sympathetic and loveable while we follow their journey through love, loss and their race to the bottom.
The Last of Us: Endure and Survive (2023)
Another Fantastic Episode, With One Criticism
So I really loved this episode, it had a lot to offer but there was one thing that bugged me about it and seemed very unnecessary...
I understand and support the need to give people with disabilities a face in Hollywood but the fact that they made Sam deaf didn't seem to have any bearing on the story whatsoever, in fact I think it took away from the retelling of Sam and Henry's story from the game... I think dialogue from Sam would have elevated the story and it really did nothing for the story having him be deaf.
They could have played with the concept showing all of his other senses are elevated and that Henry has found other creative ways for Sam to sense or avoid danger without the benefit of hearing but he was really just deaf for the sake of being deaf and it seemed super unnecessary.
I guess that's just the way it is in the real world but it didn't seem to have any bearing on the story of Sam and Henry.
Anyway still a great episode! This show just keeps the hits coming, the big final scenes of this show are extremely impactful and very, VERY well done. I love this show!
Your Honor (2020)
First season was good, Season 2 isn't pulling me in
When I heard Bryan Cranston was going to be in another hard hitting drama about the legal system and the trials and tribulations of being a parent I thought it sounded awesome... And it was! But it seemed like the story ended after season 1 and since it was successful HBO decided to extend this one off to another season.
It has a real Dexter New Blood vibe to it in the sense that they're reaching for a story that isn't really there.
It's not horrible so far but I just can't force myself to care about these characters no matter how hard I try.
Maybe it's because there are better shows running simultaneously but it's just not as interesting as the first season.
The Last of Us: Long, Long Time (2023)
Probably Not What You Wanted, But What You Need
When it comes to adapting a game to film I think a lot of producers, writers, directors forget that in translating a video game there is a wealth of characters who's back story you never get see wether it's to save time or wether it's just not important enough within the game universe to add a long cut scene explaining what makes a certain character who they are.
In the case of Bill the game drops hints about what happened to him, but if you're using Bill as a narrator he's not the type of guy within the game that would open up and explain to the audience (in the game it would be Ellie) that he had a whole life before he was such a bitter, lonely, rough around the edges recluse... Which is why this episode is so important and follows to a T the "show don't tell" rule for film and TV shows.
Personally this episode was really touching and necessary. Sure there wasn't a lot of action but Bill always stuck out in my mind when thinking about the first game and it's nice to know his back story and what made him the person he is when we met him in the first Last Of Us game.
Very well done, the people behind this show are knocking it clean out of the park.
Fall (2022)
Surprisingly Good
At first I thought to myself "there's no way this could be interesting enough to fill out the run time" then I watched it and the anxiety inducing situations that occur over the course of this film are actually quite inventive and interesting.
I really thought this was going to be a deep water type thriller horror where nothing happens for an hour then people die and they expect everyone's fears to drive viewers to watch it but I have to say it's a great watch!
I'd even say the characters are likeable and their back story is relatable.
I'd definitely recommend this one, not to be cruel to folks with a fear of heights but because it's actually good.
Did I meet the letter criteria? Yes I did.
The Last of Us: When You're Lost in the Darkness (2023)
Everything You Want It To Be
As a massive fan of both games and the story as a whole I was very cautiously optimistic about this show.
This is the sort show that could get horribly mangled by the creative process of adapting it for the screen because it seems like many writers, directors, producers have no idea what to do with a video game adaptation, this is not the case here likely due in large part to naughty dog visionary Neil Druckmann being involved.
The tone, the characters, hell even the nature of the virus itself is accurately and flawlessly executed in this first episode.
I'm glad they went with a longer run time because there is a lot of ground to cover setting up this story and it may have broke some of the tension and intrigue splitting it into two parts.
There is also still some surprises and the stuff that needs to be tweaked in order to adapt a game into a show was also pulled off flawlessly.
I'm just so happy it's great so far and I can't wait for the next episode!
Spirited (2022)
Can't "Wrap" My Head Around The Mediocre Rating
I purposely refrained from checking the rating on this movie before I watched it because that can reallly cause an automatic bias for but I think the makers of this movie really nailed this one and I was SHOCKED to see such a low rating because to me this is an instant Christmas classic!
I had no idea it was a musical until the first song started. Usually I'm not a fan of musicals but the music was incredible, with lots of winks to the camera and fun little borderline fourth wall breaks, very funny and a real return to form for Will Ferrell as far as his comedy goes.
Ryan Reynolds's plays a very complex and interesting character and his arc isn't what you expect from a Christmas "change your ways" type movie.
There was a twist at the end that I didn't see coming either.
At the end of the day it's an original twist on a Christmas classic and you really need to give it a chance, it's very very good.
Moonlight (2016)
I did not like it
It felt aimless then ended. There was a message in there somewhere I guess but it was boring as heck so who cares? The Oscars are lame and wrong.
Honey Boy (2019)
Easily Top Ten For Me
I think Shia LaBeouf did an excellent job of portraying himself as neither good nor bad and his father in the same light. If you look at this as a fictitious retelling of Shias life it's a very touching, heartfelt story.
I've watched it multiple times, I love it.
Stay Gold Honey Boy.