russcampbell-1 Reviews

Lessons in Chemistry (2023)

Three episodes in. Love it.

[8/10 · 21 October 2023]

Go with the positive reviews. The naysayers are wrong. One person criticizes differences from the book. Oh, gee, that's never happened before, right? The acting is great, the story is compelling, and if it's different in some ways from the book, so what? Both can be good. It does present the challenges women faced in the patriarchal 50s. Perfectly? Is anything ever perfect? But no one can honestly say women didn't face some of the exact chauvinistic attitudes portrayed in the series. Stupidity and arrogance from men. Misogyny. And too many women willingly invested in that system. This show is well worth your time.

The Days (2023)

Good, but suffers due to a bad choice on dubbing

[7/10 · 26 June 2023]

I doubt anybody from Netflix will ever see this, but it would be nice if they did. I feel the main problem with this series is that they made a bad choice in regards to dubbing. Dubbing itself is fine and I actually prefer it sometimes, because I might be watching something at lunch or while doing some chores and I can't have my eyes on the TV every second to read subtitles. So dubbing is more convenient. But they chose American actors to do it and American accents coming out of a Japanese body is odd. They should've had Japanese voice actors speaking the lines in English, but with a standard Japanese accent. Granted, the people in that situation were not speaking English. They were speaking Japanese in the way Japanese speak Japanese, but many Japanese can speak English and, of course, they generally do it with a Japanese accent. English with a Japanese accent is not the perfect situation, but it's a little closer to reality. The perfect situation is we all understand Japanese, but since that's not happening, English with a Japanese accent seems a better choice. It gives you more of a flavor than all these Japanese people speaking English with American accent. I saw one person talking about the acting being kind of wooden, and that may be true to a certain extent, but I think it's made to seem worse since the voice actors just can't match up with the feelings and expressions that the Japanese actors may have had. And then the American accent just kind of compounds it. I'd say you couldn't fully judge the acting unless you understand Japanese and watch the Japanese version of this.

Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace (2000 TV Movie)

Good acting, etc., terrible story line

[2/10 · 14 December 2022]

The acting was good, the lighting was good, the sound was good, and the locations were good, but the story, the script, was horrible. And you can't make a good movie without a good script. There is no through-line. There is very little lead up to certain scenes so that you understand what the scene is about where it is and what's going on. It's just like "Bonhoeffer appears here and says this and he appears there and says that." You don't really get to know anyone in the film, including Bonhoeffer. And about 20 or 25 minutes into the film, when you feel like only moments ago Hitler had invaded Poland, you're suddenly three years into the war and you have no concept of that time passing and what's happened to anyone in Germany except Bonhoeffer and a few friends - and even then not much - and you hear nothing of significance about the death camps. In good movies there is a through-line and there's effort made to explain certain situations to the viewer through conversation between the actors who might be saying something like we've got to meet on Friday at the church because we've got to do this or that and then maybe a bit more build up and you show people getting to the meeting in a clandestine fashion, maybe a close call with the Gestapo, then there's the meeting so you know what it's about, the risks, people took, etc. All we know is that they were working against Hitler and if you know anything about Bonhoeffer and the history of the resistance in Germany, you know they were working against Hitler already. We need details about what's going on and something that grabs us emotionally. Of course, millions of Jews being exterminated is emotional but it's dealt with very little in this movie. I would not recommend this movie.

Anatomy of a Scandal (2022)

The viewer must accept too much hooey

[5/10 · 2 September 2022]

There's a big coincidence that you have to accept, but first "this is too much" issue has to do with the prosecutor, having worked so hard on a new identity and a career she loves, being so willing to breach ethics rules and perhaps risk being prosecuted herself to convict Mr. Whitehouse. But then, at the end there's a bad logic issue related to Mrs. Whitehouse and her move to seemingly get revenge on her ex-husband.

The logic issue is this: Long ago at "uni," the (not yet) Mrs. Whitehouse lied to the authorities to give her (not yet) husband an alibi after some drug use resulted in a death. So she's at risk. Since she revealed this, she is as open to investigation as anyone involved and those involved know what she did. They can take her down, too. Now, she could negotiate a deal with the prosecutors for immunity, but she did not go to them. She went (anonymously?) to the press. But she won't be anonymous for long and since she didn't go to the prosecution, she will have a harder time negotiating a deal to protect herself. Plus, she's likely condemning the father of her children to prison for quite some time over a death he was involved in, but did not directly cause about 20 years before. It's good for the "revenge angle" in a TV show, but doesn't really work out logically.

Ozark: Pick a God and Pray (2022) Season 4, Episode 9

Yep, like others are saying, lazy writing. And that's putting it generously.

[5/10 · 3 May 2022]

Both my wife and I were gobsmacked at the astoundingly lazy writing when Ruth goes out and finds a bunch of heroin sitting around in Darlene's barn as if the cops wouldn't search the entire area after a double murder. It's kind of insulting, no, very insulting, that the writers think this is ok. I guess after this much time, they know that we'll likely stick around to see how the story ends through a few more episodes, but I'm not sure how they look at themselves in the mirror and think of themselves as a good writer when they pull that kind of crap.

Europa Report (2013)

Not bad, worth it for most real sci-fi folks (minor spoilers)

[7/10 · 5 September 2021]

This is one of those movies where people who only like sci-fi with blasters and explosions and dogfights in space may not like this at all. People who are more science oriented than fiction oriented will probably like it. However, I must dispute people who are saying this is very technically accurate. Overall, that may be true, but there were a couple of things that really irked me. First, on the journey out to Europa, as the crew was talking to Mission control, it appeared to me they were not accounting for the length of time these transmissions would start to take and the delay in getting an answer. Then, when they got to Europa, one of the crew said that the temperature outside was absolute zero. That's ridiculous. Europa does not get that cold, although it does get damned cold. Trying to say the temperature was absolute zero was, to me, a glaring technical inaccuracy. And the way they dealt with zero gravity or gravity much less than Earth's gravity was kind of lame and eventually they seemed to stop dealing with it at all. But, I guess it was a pretty good movie.

Take Shelter (2011)

Slow and disappointing

[2/10 · 18 July 2021]

Is Curtis slipping into mental illness or does he have premonitions of something that could be very dangerous for the human race? Great acting, but a plot that leaves you hanging. Turns out he was right, but what is the event? Do they face destruction? Something less? And they are far away from the storm shelter he built to protect them. The audience is left hanging on people they are now invested in. Crappy filmmaking from that perspective. I would not recommend wasting your time with this film.

Barry Lyndon (1975)

Long with no real impact, beautiful locations

[3/10 · 14 May 2021]

I'm not sure how this got 8.1 on the reviews, but I found it a waste of three hours. Lots of nice scenery, but I can watch National Geographic or something for that. The title character goes through life, hardly caring for anyone but himself and his son. He has a wife he doesn't appreciate and a step-son he makes no effort to bond with. He brings misery upon himself and others. Nice costumes, of course, but really just a depressing, boring film.

I Am Mother (2019)

Good movie, though the ending is a bit frustrating

[8/10 · 17 July 2019]

First, I have to say that a number of reviews here are quite arrogant. One started out saying "If you're simple-minded, you won't like my review." Another called other reviewers "morons." Very distasteful and unnecessary.

I'm not going to give a full review. That can be found from others. I will just comment a bit on the ending, where it seems that Mother was preparing Daughter to be the real mother and Daughter "killed" the robot Mother, though Mother had already told her that would not really kill her. The main thing here is that *after* that has been done, one robot shows up to kill Daughter #1 and the complex Mother and Daughter were living in still seems controlled by the robot Mother. So I can't say it was clear as to what really happened.

One final thing on some of the other reviews and a big mistake, IMHO, from some of those people who saw themselves as so smart and on a different plane than others . . . they made a big deal about how Mother knew Daughter was ready to take over as Mother, because she "passed the test" and came back for her brother. This was some, big, well-thought-out test created by this incredible artificial intelligence and no one can acknowledge that *before* the extinction event orchestrated by Mother, tons of mothers would have come back like that? It has always been in a mother's nature. But now it's some big, insightful test? And these other reviewers explain it to us like we're idiots? I wasn't impressed with the test at all and I'm not sure you should call other people simple-minded or morons if you don't see the complete inadequacy of such a test.

Dexter (2006–2013)

Interesting, but goes downhill after the fourth season

[7/10 · 4 November 2018]

I did not mark this as containing spoilers, because I am not talking about any particular episode or plotline or character, other than Dexter. But I do mention general situations found in the show.

All these people giving the show a 10 are extremely generous. Dexter never encounters a lock he can't pick in seconds. There never seem to be alarm systems or video systems and he does a lot of things in daylight, yet his activities often go completely unnoticed. One of my favorite episodes in terms of ridiculous writing is one where he leaves a crime scene saying he's going straight back to the lab to do some work related to a death that the police are very, very interested in, but actually goes somewhere else for a long period of time. The detectives go back to their offices - the ones Dexter shares - soon after Dexter leaves, but not a single detective ever asks where Dexter is. That one was totally unbelievable. As the seasons go on, his ability to move around unencumbered by the requirements of his job just grows and grows.

I'd say give this show a chance. It's not without its own (hey, let's face it - warped) attraction. Just know that sometimes you have to completely suspend your understanding of reality.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Next Phase (1992) Season 5, Episode 24

Interesting, but ultimately disappointing

[5/10 · 29 October 2018]

Other people have pointed out the convenient factor that the floor can support them, but they can go through walls and equipment. That crossed my mind, but I guess I can deal with it. What seemed odd to me was the fact that they would not deal with the treachery by the Romulans that would've caused their deaths and they also did not discuss the technology that the Romulans were working on that would make people invisible and able to pass through objects. Both of these issues seem pretty damned important, but they just totally drop them at the end with no resolution whatsoever.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Suddenly Human (1990) Season 4, Episode 4

Strong episode with a bit of humor but falls a little short

[8/10 · 26 June 2018]

Other reviews will provide a synopsis of the episode, but my main comment here is mainly to say that it doesn't seem that realistic that Picard would not suggest to Jono that he could go back and visit his human family and still return to Endar, his Talerian father. With the two civilizations at peace, nothing would prevent him from keeping a foot in both worlds. I can't see the Enterprise crew failing to address that point, so therefore I thought the writing was a bit weak regarding that possibility.

24 (2001–2010)

Overrated, for sure

[5/10 · 18 March 2017]

I used to hear about this and it seemed the consensus was that it was so great. I have only recently started watching it on Amazon Fire TV. I've been underwhelmed, for sure. The writing is really not very good. It's too lazy and formulaic. How incredibly stupid can Kim be? Does Teri just accept that it's OK for Jack's job to put them in so much jeopardy? Can the criminals be any more stupid? I know that sometimes in shows like this you have to suspend reality a bit, but there's just too much that's not realistic in any way at all. I'm about 15 or so episodes into the first season and it's just too ridiculous. I can't continue with crap like this. Bye, 24, I hardly knew ye . . . but I knew enough not to continue to waste my time.

Manchester by the Sea (2016)

If you like being depressed, watch this movie

[4/10 · 25 February 2017]

MINOR SPOILERS

Like Remains of the Day, this movie has a lot of great acting, but ultimately it's entirely depressing. In Remains of the Day, the main character was emotionally stunted and in this movie the main character is emotionally damaged. So you get to see the damage and how it occurred and how he can't get over it and that's about it. The music is very depressing, also. I thought this was going to be much better, so basically I wasted my time and money, but fortunately it wasn't much money. I won't be recommending this movie to anyone.

The Caine Mutiny (1954)

Good acting, not a lot else

[6/10 · 6 February 2016]

I was expecting more when I watched this movie for the first time today. In other reviews, I've seen some criticisms of the special effects, which I found ridiculous. I mean, come on, it's an old movie, what do you expect? You have to just go with that and deal with it. The plot is much more important.

What was odd to me was this love interest thing that seemed to have no place in the movie and the overbearing mom issue that was never really addressed. It's a movie about a mutiny and suddenly people are off in Yosemite romancing each other? It just didn't seem to work.

And then the court martial. The win was a little too easy. And the speech at the end by the defense lawyer. Hey, that captain was off his rocker, but because he'd supposedly done some other things well earlier in his career, the men on that ship were supposed to let him get them killed? And the idea that after he'd exhibited unbalanced behavior that his plea for "help" was supposed to be trusted by the officers and if they had listened he wouldn't have freaked out in the typhoon? Maybe, but not real plausible. I think most people would be quite wary by that time and would have trouble trusting him when he asked for help.

Anyway, Bogart did a fine job and there were good turns by the others, but the movie just kind of fell flat, IMHO.

From the Earth to the Moon (1958)

Really pretty bad

[4/10 · 3 January 2015]

I guess this contains spoilers, but only about one plot issue and some special effects. Pretty bad special effects (some not so bad, some awful). During the meteor storm, they show a meteor coming at them that looks like a perfectly round metal sphere that they punched holes all over in a perfectly symmetrical pattern and then placed sparklers in the holes. Kind of like a big golf ball with sparklers sticking out of each dimple. Not even close to what a meteor would look like, especially with the uniform pattern they applied. And they deal with the rapid acceleration problem when fired from the cannon - at least they try to - by having three spinning tubes and some special gas to protect them. This really wouldn't protect them, but at least they (or Verne) gave it a shot, but then don't address how the stowaway survives the launch. I wouldn't bother with this flick.

Behind the Candelabra (2013)

Great acting, but the movie is so-so

[5/10 · 28 December 2014]

Although I thought all the acting was great, I was not really enthused about this movie. It shows Liberace - who we all know was gay - in a relationship that ended similarly to others before it had. There was no great revelation or interesting point to key on. Liberace dies and the movie pretty much ends. I'm wondering why this movie was made. And I support gay rights. One of my good friends is gay. So this doesn't have to do with discrimination. It's really just that there was nothing of any real depth here. I think this was based on the book by Scott Thorson and if the movie is any indication, it was just written (and the movie was just filmed) to make some cash. There is nothing that truly contributes to understanding Liberace at anything other than a superficial level.

The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

Disappointing, to say the least

[4/10 · 4 January 2009]

This was a movie that was "just there." I remember being doubtful about Ratatouille. After all, rats and food? Didn't sound like the best combo, but Ratatouille grabs you and pulls you in. Not Despereaux. I was waiting for it to happen, but I was sorely disappointed. The plot was meandering and had no drive to it. I think I chuckled at one thing during the movie, but mostly it was devoid of humor. My kids may have laughed once, too. They didn't leave with the normal "can we get that on DVD" questions. You're waiting for something to happen, for something to peak your interest, for a little heart palpitation, a little humor, an interesting plot twist. It's just not there. One person called the movie a "hack job" on the book. I can't speak to that, since I did not read the book, but I hope - for the author's sake, at least - that the book was better. I'd recommend that you wait to rent this movie. Your kids may like it, but I doubt they will find it as good as Ratatouille, Cars, Shrek, or some of the other quality kids films, so don't waste your money in the theater. For a $5 rental, it's OK. But for the big bucks they charge at the theater, no way!

Capote (2005)

Hoffman was terrific, but the film was not all that great

[6/10 · 20 May 2007]

I'm seeing this late - in May 2007 - and I enjoyed it, but the film was, ultimately, just kind of there. Hoffman was wonderful as Capote. He's quite an actor and deserving of the great reviews and the Oscar he got for this, but the film just didn't grab me. It was interesting to watch Capote working the angles to get the story, it was heartbreaking to see Perry Smith's talent and intelligence (at least as portrayed in the film) having been wasted, it was interesting to see how Capote manipulated Perry to get what he wanted, but it didn't add up to a great movie. It's not something I'd heartily recommend to someone. It's certainly going to take someone who likes more cerebral movies to watch it (too many people think movies are for disconnecting your brain). I liked it for the performances, but it could have been a better movie. In the final analysis, I was a bit disappointed.

The Santa Trap (2002 TV Movie)

Not all that great, but my kids seemed to like it

[5/10 · 8 January 2006]

I am writing the second review of this movie, but only because the first reviewer recommended it for "all ages of children." Well, perhaps that's not correct. First, there is some mild language (one character says "what the hell", there may be other examples, but that actually may be all) and there are some parts where one character is calling another stupid and showing disrespect. Neither of these are horrible, but it's better to be aware that the movie has this so that you can avoid it, if desired, or make a point of discussing it with your kids. Actually, I'm no prude who never cusses, but my kids aren't old enough to judge who/what/when/where, yet, so I like to avoid it (or at least an overabundance of it). Overall, this movie was not too bad in that department. One of the main things parents of young kids will want to know is that it "outs" the Santa Claus myth in a big way. But since Santa is "trapped" and does turn out to be real in the movie, then there's also a way out of the predicament. This movie is OK for the kids, assuming the other issues don't make you overly concerned, but it's not fare that too many adults are going to watch more than once.