doc_phantoms Reviews

Life on Our Planet (2023– )

Pretty Terrible

[4/10 · 3 November 2023]

This show fundamentally feels like it was made based off of user viewership data. As a result, you have a show that only makes sense if you use it to fall asleep. It is repetitive, so general as to be uninformative, and narrated in such a ponderous slow manner as to render one soporific.

The visuals of the show are OK but they are not astounding. Being told that they are by the same folk as did Jurassic Park, I can buy it if they have not honed their craft since the first film.

The first episode fundamentally serves to set up the rest of the series and it makes me wonder, in retrospect if they had a more concise show in mind and had to stretch it out to the point that it is so thin.

Later episodes at the very least are built around some central theme, but since they keep going back and forth through time and feature some cataclysmic event, it feels like you are just watching the same thing on repeat.

Honestly, you are better served by watching literally anything else than this snoozefest.

65 (2023)

Bad but not bad enough

[4/10 · 9 April 2023]

This film manages to avoid some cliches and contrivances inherent in its premise but by doing so ignores why a film such as itself would be appealing. Instead of leaning into the zaniness of its concept, it plays the horror of the situation tiresomely straight. When the film ended, the best I could say was that it was a film. It is not good, and therefore not worth watching again. But it is also not bad enough that its badness would make it worth watching.

The setting gives us Earth as a death world. So the charismatic appeal of the dinosaurs is mightily tempered by the fact that they are indistinct from any generic alien that would occupy a death world.

I will say that the acting is sufficient, even good, for its incredibly sparse cast. The main actors worked well together.

But that is not enough to really elevate the film from where it stands: ok at best but nowhere near its best. If anything, lament that the combined talents of all involved would result in something so worth forgetting.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 (2017–2022)

Decent Start, Needs to Grow

[7/10 · 21 April 2017]

One of the problems with reviving a cultural monolith like MST3K, is that it needs to be done perfectly or it will be deemed a dismal failure.

This reboot does a pretty decent job in updating many aspects of the show to 2017. The DIY aesthetic is still there and exploited pretty well. The cast is very solid. The change to Gypsy was a long time coming and well-executed.

The films that have been chosen are not particularly stand-out awful, but definitely fodder for riffing.

The main issues I have with the rebooted series can be ascribed to growing-pains as the cast and crew (re)acquaint themselves and fall into a groove. Although fondly remembered, the first two seasons or so of MST3K are far from stellar for similar reasons: the chemistry needs time to brew, everyone needs to get the feel of the format, and they need to find their strengths and exploit them.

The Host Segments are somewhat weak. While they have always been hit or miss, in this series they are rather disposable. This might be remedied once the crew decides on the relationship between Jonah and the Bots. Joel was "the Father" and Mike was the "Brother." Jonah is kind of awkwardly tossed into there and they simply abide.

The Riffing is pretty good but way too fast-paced. While it is naturally scripted (for maximum effect) it is way too jam-packed and the Riffers stumble over themselves trying to get as many in per film. It really weakens the impact of jokes and kills off the all-so-sweet illusion that they're organic. Some of their strongest riffs were the prolonged gags that they gave more than a second's notice to. As a consequence of this rapid-fire pace, they really miss opportunities to focus on exploitable moments or they create awkward transitions that really do not sell what could have been apexes of the episode.

As I said, the quality is there: they just need to see it and grow into it. So time will tell if they do so. Their pacing of riffs is perhaps their key area that needs improvement.

That said, for a reboot: they have updated the series and format well and just need to fine-tune it and surpass the growing pains.