chicksinfla-736-447643 Reviews

Elsbeth (2024– )

Elsbeth Is A Winner!

[10/10 · 28 April 2024]

Yes, it's the Columbo revamped, but actress Carrie Preston as well as the supporting cast bring a freshness to this who dunnit.

Thing is, just like in Columbo, we know who dunnit but watching Elsbeth's antics as she convinces tough NYC detectives and other naysayers that she knows what she's doing is delightful.

From her quirky wardrobe to her Midwest openness and naiveté, she is a delight every week. Contrasting her almost childish quality with the tough New Yorkers is a joy to watch.

Seeing her bring down the bad guys and seeing their dismay at being beat by someone who seems so unsophisticated is a joy. I highly recommend this show.

America Is Sinking (2023)

So Horrible It's Embarrassing

[1/10 · 28 April 2024]

Only worth watching just to laugh at the unbelievable bad acting moments. One actor, and I use the term loosely, actually read his lines. The thing is, he isn't even a good reader! And he didn't do it just once. Many of his lines were read and it seemed he was reading them cold! The acting is laughably bad. The story line is trite. The writing is trite. There were a few actual actors in the movie but not enough. The premise of the movie could have been good but the writers missed the boat. The only good part was the camera work. It was good for what it had to work with. Overall, I won't say don't watch it because it gives you a laugh once in a while when the actor reads his lines from a cue card.

Tracker (2024– )

I Wanted to Like Tracker But Can't

[1/10 · 31 March 2024]

I really wanted to like Tracker. I love the new Reacher series, but Tracker is no Reacher. Justin Hartley is ill cast and does not come across as a tough loner who can save either victims or himself. Hartley seems to have only one facial expression which doesn't help.

Actually, there is nothing to see here. The show is predictable, the plots are formulaic, the action is predictable, and the conclusions are predictable. This leads to something not worth wasting your time watching.

While Justin Hartley is wrongly cast, I don't know if anyone could make this an interesting show because the plots are so weak and predictable.

Colonials (2023)

Don't Waste Your Time

[1/10 · 28 January 2024]

Apparently shot with a hand-held camera in someone's back yard, this film has nothing going for it. Weak plot, boring dialogue, uninspired and unskilled actors make for a very large waste of time. Don't even bother. I was surprised at the age of some of the older actors. I wonder if they are film-school teaches. Whatever they are, they are not actors.

The audio is also poor. It occasionally wafted out when the background music because so extraordinarily loud.

I gave it one star because that's the lowest you can give, but some of the scenery is pretty. Of course, the film maker had nothing to do with that, but the scenery is the only enjoyable part of the film.

The Prototype (I) (2022)

Not Bad Enough to be Good

[2/10 · 24 December 2023]

I'm not convinced that this is not a graduate student's thesis. Bad actors reading their lines. Makeup and costumes reminiscent of Ming the Merciless, and sets that look like the rooftop of a school. The script was weak. The characters weren't fully developed and the script was weak.

I'm a fan of Ed Wood and watched more minutes of this than I normally would have because I was waiting for it to be good or at least bad enough to be funny. I was terribly disappointed. The film became more and more trite as it went on. I had to quit it halfway along. It reeked of a beginner's attempt at movie making.

The Aftermath (1982)

Not Bad Enough to Hate Not Good Enough to Like

[1/10 · 9 June 2023]

Like many cheaply made, poorly acted vanity pieces, this movie has long meaningless pauses, camera pan outs and crazy camera angles. I think the long pauses were caused by the fact that Steve Barkett was both actor and director and had to wait for himself to catch up. The only good part of this really boringly bad movie was the astronaut's costumes and the post apocalyptic sets. The locations, props and footage from other, better movies was the best part. The movie was so bad I couldn't even hate it. Also, the female characters were mere sex objects, incapable of defending themselves and only able to pout and be pathetic helpless creatures.

First Signal (2021)

To Say It's Bad Would Be a Compliment

[1/10 · 5 June 2023]

Some movies are so bad they are funny. Not this one. The movie reeks of a university drama class play captured on film. The acting...wait, to call it acting is an insult to actors. The performances were stilted, the script consists of one long sermon after the other, the sets are cheap, the costumes are ill-fitting and the camera work is horrible. Long, dramatic pauses, wide shots meant to suggest something...perhaps drama, and somewhat confusing plot all combine to make a failure of a movie. If it was, as it seems, a student project, then all is forgiven. If a studio project, then shame on them.

Cold Harvest (1999 Video)

Laughably Bad Movie

[3/10 · 28 October 2022]

There are movies that are so very bad that they are actually funny. Cold Harvest is one of them. Silly, cartoonish Kung Fu action combined with comically stereotyped bad guys make for really belly laughs. The acting is stilted in many scenes. That could be because the script and the acting is nothing more than a vehicle for fires, kung fu, and six-shooters. That can ire more than two dozen shots. It's hard to sit through because no one can stand that much fun. But it's a good way to pass 30 minutes or so. The giveaway is in the one sentence long plot summary. This movie could have been a short feature or a video game.

Awake (III) (2021)

Longest Movie in History

[1/10 · 10 October 2022]

Sheesh. It took me 3 days to watch this movie. It was so slow, I paused it often, taking time out to cook. Clean, sleep and even took time out to watch paint dry. The characters were not developed at all. We got bits and dribbles about Rodriguez's character but not enough. Rodriguez looked like a weekend from hell even before the "incident." The scenes were jumpy and certainly not seamless. Miles of headlights in the dark seemed to be for nothing more than to add minutes to an already overlong movie. What this movie needed more than anything was to be edited down by about 30 minutes. But then it wouldn't have counted as a movie, I guess. Nothing could save this poorly executed, poorly written movie.

The Orville (2017–2022)

Love, Love the Series but Who is This Ensign

[10/10 · 1 August 2022]

I think Season 3 is the best yet. No longer just a parody but a show with chops of its own. Believe me that I can suspend disbelief with the best of them, but who is this young actress playing Ensign Charly Burke and how did she get so much air time! A new character yet she talks back to the captain, drinks with the top officers and acts like she's superior to almost everyone. It detracts from the plot line for me. Other than that the story lines have been good. The episodes about Topa were perfect. I hope there is a 4th season!

Ghosts (2021– )

A Breath of Fresh Air

[10/10 · 8 October 2021]

What a delightful romp! A refreshing change from the brooding, intense, macho male led drama series and "reality" shows. Good writing, great casting, good comedic timing makes for delightful entertainment.

La Brea (2021–2024)

The 80s Wants their Lead Character Back

[1/10 · 5 October 2021]

Network TV needs to come back to reality and know that the dirty-looking, scruffy, unkempt lead character is no longer what we want.

La Brea (2021–2024)

Is this a Film School Project?

[1/10 · 5 October 2021]

Bad acting is the main character in this episode. It appears to be inspired by a combination of Lost, and Journey to the Center of the Earth only poorly executed and horribly trite. I mean, come on, a man has visions. Gimme a break.

The Tomorrow War (2021)

OK Time Killer for a Weekend Night

[3/10 · 4 July 2021]

This was about as satisfying as a lukewarm cup of coffee in the morning. There were a lot of explosions and a lot of light. The background noise was very loud. I don't know if this was intentional in order to drown out the boring, trite dialogue or not. A couple of interesting new faces but the old plot brought the whole thing to a 3 out of 10 stars.

United States of Al (2021–2022)

More Story, Less Flexing Would Be Nice

[3/10 · 25 June 2021]

I have tried to like this series but the only believable character is Al, played by Adhir Kalyan. The other characters are one dimensional, The constant muscle flexing by the one dimensional character played by Parker Young makes me want to let my breath out. The whole series should have centered completely on Al and not involved so many trite attempts at comedy. This show never found its rhythm.

Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2024)

Star Trek: The Whisperer

[2/10 · 27 November 2020]

First, let me complain loudly in in a regular voice about Michael Burnham's whispering. WHY? Has she had some horrible throat disease we aren't aware of! This is not Star Trek! Where is the science fiction? There is no sense of wonder. No hope for a future where people are equal. No strong leader. Instead we get Michael Burnham who whispers most of her lines and cries often. The sets are great. The plots are occasionally silly. The characters are amazingly weak and one dimensional. We get it, in the future women are strong and men are dithering fools. In the future humans have only 3 facial expressions: sadness, smugness, and confusion. The only good performances are by Michelle Yeoh, who plays the adorably villainous Philippa Georgiou and Doug Jones who plays Saru.