kenjackson-340-198038 Reviews

The Call of the Wild (2020)

the CGI dog is too goofy & ruins the film

[2/10 · 8 March 2020]

I loved the original Jack London film, and after the CGI remake of Lion King, I was really looking forward to this... but it fails badly.. The CGI dog is just really goofy-acting, like a disney cartoon, bouncing all over the place in a dreadfully unrealistic way, and facial expressions like a human. It just didn't work for me.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)

No Wolverine = No X-Men

[2/10 · 9 June 2019]

Without Wolverine, there are simply no interesting characters. Prof X & Magneto's verbal sparring give some relief, but otherwise, it's just dull. OK, so Hugh Jackman is getting a bit old to play Wolvie, but how about someone younger to revitalise the character. Scott Adkins would be perfect.

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)

Boring. Time to put an end to this.

[3/10 · 17 May 2019]

First let me say, I loved the first 2 films, but they seem to have run out of ideas & storyline. This film is just John Wick on the run with the world's top assassins after him, no other story or character development. From the beginning, it is just dozens of assassins popping out of every doorway, long choreographed fights with JW attacked by a half-dozen goons at a time, lots of shooting & knife-throwing in which he kills them all. That's it. It becomes boring after 20 mins, but goes on for 2 hours of the same with barely a spoken word. The occasional spoken line is delivered woodenly & tiredly. Like I said, absolutely no story or depth of character. Boring.

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

Very Disappointing

[2/10 · 21 April 2019]

Not a patch on the original, which it tries to mimic but fails dismally. Perhaps it tries too hard but loses the real 'magical feel' of the original.. The production is decent enough, the sets & dancing are ok, but where Julie Andrews played the main character with a likeable warmth, a twinkle in her eye, and a smile, Emily Blunt's version of 'Mary Poppins is just a vain cold unlikeable character, snooty put-on upper-class English accent, cold eyes, aloof & arrogant, shows no warmth, affection, or concern for the children, waving people away impatiently with a haughty imperous dismissive wave. The songs are too many, not very good, all sound the same, and have nothing to do with the story, it just feels like they've been put in at random to stretch a simplistic short story into a 2-hour boring snooze-fest, and are instantly forgettable. The story, although simple & basic in itself, wanders all over the place and has some unecessarily dark moments. Overall, there is very little of the magical feel-good factor from the original, in this travesty. Best avoided. Just re-watch the original instead.

Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2024)

Absolute PC Garbage - AVOID!

[1/10 · 23 March 2019]

Others have critiqued this travesty of a show and said it all. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with "Star Trek" as we know it. It's just a display of a politically-correct liberal agenda, where 75% of the crew are female, and any male character is either evil, weak, or gay.... and a few vague references to "Klingons" (which incidentally have nothing in common with the Klingons in all the other ST shows). 80% of each episode is spent with the characters examining their feelings & emotions in soul-baring monologues, and 20% poorly written 'action' with no relevance or continuity, where the "good & strong females" dominate the "weak & evil" males.. It's like some left-wing liberal pro-LGBT amateur stage drama. It's supposedly a prequel set before TOS, yet has technology far more advanced than even TNG or Voyager (spore drive?).. The main character Michael Burnham (adopted sister of Spock????) (It has been stated the character is a female (action-hero?) with a male name to promote 'gender-fluidity') and has only 2 expressions - either smarmy smugness or some weird pained constipated look of puzzled curiosity..... The whole thing is a total mess and should never have reached the screen.

Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1993–1997)

OK bit of lightweight fun.

[3/10 · 23 March 2019]

I absolutely loved the original series, and this sequel series had a lot of potential. David Carradine is starting to show his age and although he has slowed down, acts his part well (although, he is supposed to be the original Kwai-Chang's grandson, lived in USA all his life, but basically acts like the original, speaking hesitant broken English, barely understanding common words & phases, etc) , and apart from a few occasional class appearances from "Special Guest Stars", the rest of the cast are just dire.. Think of a corny cross between "Barney Miller" and "The A-Team". All very 1980's fashion (shoulder pads, big hair, collars turned up, jacket sleeves rolled up). The worst part of this show is Chris Potter (who plays Kwai Chang's grown son) whose wooden over-acting ability is straight from a 3rd-rate cheap daytime soap opera, and portrays the most annoyingly cliched "brash cocky arrogant cop with chip on his shoulder who never listens to anyone else" character.

In season 2, all the supernatural mysticism, magic, time travel, etc tend to 'jump the shark' and spoil it a bit.

Mayans M.C. (2018–2023)

Very disappointing poor copy of SoA. Lacks any originality.

[2/10 · 20 September 2018]

I had high hopes for this show, but sadly, I'm finding it really difficult to stay interested. It's just nowhere near as good as SOA.

Set several years after SoA finishes, the whole show seems mostly about the Gallindo cartel vs a group of rebel peasants, with the Mayans just playing a support role as the cartel's (inept) drug runners (as arranged in the last season of SoA, between Jax Teller, Alvarez, and Romeo Parada), constantly screwing up, and the whole thing is going to be so predictable;

There is no character development and the storylines are all over the place. None of the characters are believable or have any personality or credibility. Of the few semi-notable characters, Danny Pino basically plays the same psycho-villain cartel boss role as the character (Armadillo Quintero) he played in The Shield, Edward James Olmos is totally wasted as the background character father of the 2 main characters, and the 2 main characters in the biker club, the brothers, one is a traitor trying to overthrow the President, and the other is a rat snitch for the DEA. Neither of them is likeable.. And the club President has no Alpha Male leadership traits, and is a weak hesitant character, always having to be told what to do by the other club members.

The sad fact is, despite the claim of "its not SOA - it's a different show"..the subplots are lazily similar... "both based on outlaw biker gang, both written & produced by same person, both having 'handsome bad-boy taking his shirt off" star, both "trying to get away from working for cartel", both having a rat snitching to the feds, both with the main character's ex-love returning to town, and both having "child kidnapped by enemy" .....and. it will always keep being compared as "the Mexican SOA"... and will always fail in comparison. Depending how much money Sutter & FX network make from selling "Mayan"merchandise to the latino wannabe-biker audience (the leather vests, t-shirts, coffee mugs, jewelery, dolls, etc), I can't see it being taken up for a 2nd season.

Rampage (2018)

Entertaining nonsense

[7/10 · 15 June 2018]

The Rock doing what he does best - being cheesy corny OTT hero. This was an amusing film, corny but fun. 'King Kong meets Godzilla' type action. A scientific experiment to produce a viral pathogen, results in a gorilla, a wolf, and a crocodile, becoming mutant gigantic aggressive monsters who go on the RAMPAGE in Chicago. The army launches rocket, missile, and bombs to try and destroy them (I wont give the ending away)..... but just one fundemental flaw that the plot forgot about; when the monsters get wounded or killed, any scavenging rats, flies, cockroaches, etc that feast on the mutant flesh & blood, would then also get infected and also become giant mutants.... but perhaps that will be the plot for the sequel.

Wraith (I) (2017)

Words cannot describe how bad this film is

[1/10 · 15 May 2018]

Where to begin.... predictable story, just about the worst wooden acting, boring characters, and overall, just a complete waste of time.

The Last Movie Star (I) (2017)

WOW... Powerful, Emotional, Honest,

[9/10 · 10 April 2018]

I chose to watch this film, frankly, because I was bored and wanted to waste a couple of hours, not really expecting too much... but WOW.... This has to be one of Burt Reynolds finest films. Forget about his previous cheesy corny guffawing, winking-at-the-camera roles, this is a powerful raw honest, emotional film, that not only echoes his own life, but also makes one examine their own lives, mistakes, and reflecting on one's own direction in life. Burt thoroughly deserves an award for this film. If you don't get a lump in your throat at the end, you are made of stone. Well worth watching.

The Titan (2018)

Could've been better - the ending ruined the whole film.

[2/10 · 4 April 2018]

It could have been a good film, but let down by 99% of the film being about the process of creating genetically-altered mutants and their training in a lab environment (basically, just injecting them and watching them swim in a pool).. No mention of how they would actually survive and what they would eat when on Titan. And the final scene shows the one remaining mutant (after all the others die off during training) standing on Titan - alone. Pretty pointless trying to create a new mutant race on another barren planet, and only sending one man, without a female to breed with.

SEAL Team (2017–2024)

Poor rip-off of The Unit

[4/10 · 15 February 2018]

Whereas The Unit was a top-class show with good characters, interesting dialogue, exciting action-filled missions, and good back-stories & sub-plots, SEAL TEAM is a poor copy (using Navy Seals instead of Army Delta Force), cliched 1-dimensional dull characters, wooden acting, and lazy boring missions. Overall it's kinda ok, but nothing special.

Stargate Origins (2018)

10-min episodes, No continuity with rest of SG franchise

[2/10 · 15 February 2018]

I am a huge Stargate fan, watched the film and all the other series, and was really excited about this show. Alas, what a let-down. Amateur acting and poor sets make it look like a college fan production., and 10-minute episodes that barely get going when they end. Disappointing.

A Ghost Story (2017)

Slow, dull, and boring. Don't waste your time on this rubbish.

[1/10 · 7 February 2018]

Watching paint dry is more exciting. What was the point in having known actors in this? Every scene is stretched out, the camera fixed on a wall for 6-7 minutes where nothing happens. There is minimal dialogue. Casey Affleck spends practically every scene standing silently draped in a white sheet. There is no CGI or 'ghostly' effects. It's a bloke standing draped in a white sheet. It would be laughable if it wasn't so bad. Altogether, a dull boring amateur movie. Don't waste your time.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)

Absolute garbage

[1/10 · 3 December 2017]

The first Kingsman film was good; entertaining, good characters, great action, and left the door open for a great sequel... Unfortunately, this tripe fails on every level. I started to have doubts about 7 minutes in, and it just got worse. Some big-name actors who are seriously let down by a poor script, non-existent storyline, one-dimensional comic-book characters, poor hammy acting, ridiculous & OTT 'effects', and the most ridiculously peurile and immature attempt at humour. It comes across as more of a bad spoof of what the sequel should have been. Don't waste your time on this one. It stinks.

The Bastard Executioner (2015)

Disappointing garbage

[2/10 · 22 January 2017]

Oh dear. After the success of Sons Of Anarchy, Kurt Sutter should have taken a break and come up with something much better than this tripe, but it seems he tried too hard to be 'edgy' and didn't bother with an actual storyline or interesting characters. This could have been good, but sadly, there is only so far the story could go. Knight retires and lives quiet life with family. Family gets killed. Knight becomes travelling executioner... And that's about it. Barstard Executioner is just dire. Dull predictable plot, lazy script, weak characters with no depth, and just relies way too much on silly & unnecessary OTT gore to make up for the boring storyline. There's a reason it got cancelled after one season - yes, it really is that bad.