stubbornpanda Reviews

The Real Anthony Fauci (2022)

Terrible Production

[4/10 · 29 December 2023]

The score is for the very poor production of this movie.

It is truly unfortunate that the style of film completely detracts from the essential information being covered.

Constant music. Jumpy editing,. It all translates too much like a small conspiratorial youtube production. This is a huge mistake!

If the movie wants to be taken seriously. Cover the information seriously!

The movie completely lets down the book.

If this had been put together properly if would have had a chance of reaching a mainstream audience but this simply is not good enough.

This should be remade. There is enough information for a series .

I was truly angered by the conspiracy style chosen to convey this information.

Read the book, forget this below par movie.

Harry & Meghan (2022)

A Calculated Effort

[3/10 · 8 December 2022]

This is clearly an attempt to reclaim the story about themselves, using todays political environment to push forward their message. There will be nothing new for the viewer who truly dislike the couple and their decisions - the documentary will for sure confirm all those suspicions of wanting more publicity and exposure.

If the aim is to keep the focus on them as a couple, the royal family, the press, them as victims - this series is successful in doing so. There is very little coverage of the charity work or political causes they support, this is slightly confusing if centre of attention is to move away from them as a couple onto their causes, maybe in the next episodes?

For Meghan and Harry there is a balance to be struck here, they have to stay relevant to be used for engagements and build a business but the way in which they are portrayed is of utmost importance as this is the very currency.

History will tell if this play for a potential long running series will serve them positively.

Death to 2021 (2021 TV Special)

The Blind Spot

[4/10 · 28 December 2021]

The media has this year again shown itself to be empty of substance and void of any in depth examination and I was really looking forward to a programme having real guts in its examination of people and subjects. Death to 2021 continued the narrative everyone already hates - a biased one.

Fox News is awful, CNN is awful, neither have anything to do with news - If a satire programme cannot see its own bias towards either of these ideologies, the blind spot becomes the comedy.

Comedy can really bring people together when it shines a light on the absurdities we are all subjected to all the time, especially after a year like this one. This was missed.

Hugh Grant and Diane Morgan are still great but this was a real wasted opportunity.

South Park seems to be the only programme having a real go at showing corporate and political craziness on both sides.

Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy (2021)

A complicated issue marred by todays narrative

[5/10 · 13 January 2021]

There is a lot of responsibility when taking on the retelling of historic events and shine a new light on the drug epidemic. What you choose to include or leave out says essentially everything about a filmmaker and their intent. Watching the documentary it becomes clear that the focus is on the inner city black American community as opposed to the impact of Crack to people across America. Personal stories from former crack users and dealers shape a major part of the documentary. Personal experience is always important and gives good insight but a complicated subject of crack and drug use in the 80s and 90s that has so many moving parts of politicians, police, medical establishment, money and society as a whole, require a much more detailed examination. The narrative of white people being shown as the elite and suppressors will no doubt alienate some viewers. I believe an examination of the many grey areas could have given the subject more nuance and not drive the simplified black victim white suppressor narrative that takes away from this hugely important topic of drugs, poverty and criminalisation of drug users.

The biggest issue I have with the film is what appears to be an intentional removal of former LAPD officer Michael Rupperts historic confrontation with the Director of Central Intelligence John M Deutch at the town hall meeting in Los Angeles in 1996. A townhall meeting actually featured in the documentary. Ruppert, while working for LAPD, had uncovered CIAs involvement in drug trafficking and confronted Deutch at the town hall which led to his resignation shortly after. Why this was not included I am very unsure of - it forms a very important part and should have been included.

The film wants to dispel the stereotypes of American black people and communities and tell the story of crack through personal stories but seem to just replace a popular narrative of that time with another popular narrative of our current time of 2021. A shame as there is enough material to have made a whole docuseries with many different aspects.

Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015)

Are actors struggling for work ?

[1/10 · 1 August 2015]

There is either a situation of extortion or bribery of the cast of this series. Or simply the wrong script was sent out before the actors signed the contract. - Mistakes happen all the time! The other scenario, and maybe more feasible, is that this little production is a trip down memory lane for a group of people who once did a film together. Whatever the excuse I think I might be due a refund from Netflix, or a one to one with the director as I am technically a shareholder.

Universal Studios apparently turned down the idea of a re-release of the original film a couple of years ago. Instead someone at Netflix must have had a meltdown and thought the level of humour would suit their audience. Netflix... We used to be friends...

Best of Enemies (2015)

The erosion of TV debate

[7/10 · 27 July 2015]

For anyone interested in how we arrived at todays angry confrontations and four way screaming matches on news programs - this documentary might be for you.

"Best of Enemies" covers the ten televised debates from 1968 between conservative William F Buckley Jr and liberal Gore Vidal. The debates,for all the wrong reasons, helped inspire TV networks to move towards the format of screamfests we now know. The focus being the act of conflict of opposing opinions, rather than substance. Today you can almost hear the producers scream at debating participants "energy people.. energy! And Go! "

The film homes in on the verbal confrontations of Buckley and Vidal. The arrogance and intellectual wit of both men combined with their serious character assassination attempts of each other is a spectacle. It is however, also the very distraction from the subjects they discuss and you can almost hear the future echos of a Jerry!.. Jerry!.. in the wings (be it a highbrow jerry springer chant). This is emphasized by the fact the debates are not shown in their entirety but instead edited to fit the documentary. Instead commentators in each corner of Buckley and Vidal provide the social and political context around the subjects. The film hereby focuses mainly on the confrontational segments. A deliberate choice of the documentarians, but it comes at the expense of the viewer missing the very important piece to understanding why Buckley and Vidal were the debating heavyweights of their time - detailed positioning of argument!

The accompanying storyline is the struggle of ABC news and their bid for ratings. It does detract from the debates but provides more media history context.

The film can be seen as an introduction to Vidal and Buckley but will not provide a thorough insight to either of these two political warriors. Mainly The documentary shines a light on the subject of TV debate and where the erosion of TV journalism might have started.

With the recent loss of Christopher Hitchens and an ageing Noam Chomsky,it seems that the times of fearless intellectual exchanges between debating parties is over. Gutsy political commentary, social criticism and satirical wit appear to no longer be coming from intellectuals but comedians. Once Bill Hicks and George Carlin. Now Bill Maher and Jon Stewart. But even they cant live forever. Who will replace…

Gore Vidal was asked as one of the last living legends of the literary scene why no one seemed to be taking on the mantle of work and standard of writing of him and his peers. Vidal replied "Because no one took on the mantle of reader". Maybe we also didn't take on the mantle of viewer.

While We're Young (2014)

Sigh...

[3/10 · 11 June 2015]

When you are above 35 you kinda look forward to seeing something that might challenge the way everything has already been presented to you repeatedly. It doesn't even have to be revolutionary. But with this film you realise you have just sat through another movie where you got served everything just as before. The mundane couple who have just had a child, acting bewildered in the presence of people "of a certain age" that don't. Josh and Cornelia defending their childless state, and for a second you think hm...where could this go..Nowhere interesting as it turns out. Just like most other mainstream films they do not have kids as a result of a traumatic physical problem - and not because they have chosen to (but we can all breathe a sigh of relief, they succumb in the end). So nothing new here. Cornelias hip hop class, Josh getting a "crazy"hat, all from hanging out with people in their mid 20s...and the slight awkwardness they display around them, sigh...how many times do we have to sit through age difference being spelled out in the same way? It is almost like every age group have to identify with these stereotypical differences ....and if you don't...then I just don't know (".") jeez. I am sure there was a message in the film but the mediocrity unfortunately drowned out everything else.