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karadee123
Reviews
Helix (2014)
Lacking basic screen writing skills
This was one of the worst pilots that Iʻve ever watched to the end. I only continued watching because Ron Moore was attached, but I should realize by now that these people at the top have nothing to do with whether a show is good or not. It is their team of people under them and Moore selected some virgins - who the hell is Cameron Porsande and why is he "working" on this? He has no previous credits on anything. Did they just find him wandering on a street and said, "How would you like to write and direct a big budget sci-fi TV series?" It would have been easy to put some tension in this episode...an impending storm that threatens to blow the lab apart, the infected dude has a bomb that will explode in 24 hours, winter is coming and theyʻll be locked in the lab for 6 months if they donʻt get out in the next 48 hours....lots of easy ways, but there was no tension...and I saw they ripped off a few lines from the good TV show ReGenesis.
Pacific Rim (2013)
Crappy script
50 minutes before the actual conflict is established. 50 minutes in with the only snap to the dialog landing like dull thuds in total cliché. Tons of exposition. Ron Perlmanʻs awesomeness totally wasted in this flick.
Moments before the climax, folks have to run in and explain a ton of stuff and introduce a new antagonist to make the stakes high enough since we donʻt have much emotional involvement.
Obviously great CG, art direction, music, the actors were decent and tried to make the best of lame lines, editors did a great job too, but the guys who make the big bucks (Directors, Producers, the Studio) shouldnʻt on this, they failed all those talented people working on all the other parts. Another big budget implosion. LAME.
Strange Frame: Love & Sax (2012)
Not since Cowboy Bebop have I enjoyed an animated experience this much!
Definitely not for everyone. If you love the vanilla stories and characters of Hollywood Blockbusters, stay away from this movie. If you like to be spoon fed the plot points and donʻt enjoy digging in the subtext skip this one...but if you have depth and you like going deep, this is exactly what the Doctor ordered.
I felt like the whole movie was a walk through some exotic red light district of the future with a soundtrack and voice talent to keep that mood going. Lots of homages to my fave films in there and some of my fave playwrights too! (Did anybody else notice all the Oscar Wilde stuff?)
It is a wild ride, but not full of killing and mayhem: full of erotic asides, acid painted walls, poetry, rock and roll.
Itʻs an indie movie, so spread the word if you can.
Dollhouse (2009)
Definitely is heating up!
The first episodes we almost take it or leave it. I suspect that was Fox's messing around with the scripts and the order of episodes (ala their Firefly fubar). The last few episodes have opened up a whole range of possibilities that make the show really engaging. I do like that Joss has remained true and already has killed off a character. This is a huge risk most people are unwilling to make, but one that makes you not miss an episode! I have read that the Neilsen's are down and that Fox plans to axe the show, but I think that Whedon's fans will load on the Hulu watchings and change the paradigm just to save it....Fox might even be threatening to cancel simply to drive up the DVD sales!
Watchmen (2009)
Read the comic
I'm a big Alan Moore fan. I re-read Watchmen right before the movie came out and, yet, I lowered my expectations. Even with the lowered expectations, Zack Snyder seemed to do little with the material. It is as if he just pasted the comic in the pre-production room and said, "We don't need a script or a storyboard". The film doesn't create the swirling mass of humanity that crushes against individuality...IMHO, a very important element for the Watchmen's development and banishment. Zack leaves out so much of the contextualization that I wonder if he really understands anything of the historical back drop the comic was set against? I do understand after the studio's success with "300" their willingness to give him a huge budget, but $150 million? Isn't that excessive?