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Reviews
Legends of Chamberlain Heights (2016)
This show is very good but edgy....
Most of the reviews here that are bad are likely from Trump voters who, when they hear "White Sale", think that there's a sale at the KKK store for new Klan robes.
This show is actually very funny. Of course, some of the language is going to be edgy, like when a character says "My nig." (Not once have I heard "nigger".), but that's because most of America did not grow up in the inner city/urban areas such as South Central or Watts or Carson in Los Angeles where such phrases are commonplace.
Every character is a satire of other stereotypes in the real world.
For instance, "Malik" who is a grade-schooler is your Malcolm-X / Spike Lee / Michael Evans character from Good Times taken up a notch. He's the future Black Panther who rides a Big Wheel and chases the ice cream man's truck.
"Milk" is a "wigger". His mom is drug-taking, Botox-injecting, breast- implanted pleasant blonde bimbo. His Jewish step-father is totally square and apparently a closet racist.
If you experienced all of the Norman Lear comedies in the 1970s and throw in What's Happening meets early South Park, you'll have a good idea of what this show is about.
It is funny on ethnic satire grounds, but some things are just funny no matter what your ethnicity. Milk's mother "popping a tire" in her lips and having to get a Botox injection to recover her smile is one such example. Another example is when Milk's dog steals Milk's blow-up doll for masturbation and Jamal sees the dog with the doll and says "It looks like Milk's boo is going to get it doggie-style."
Those bitching about poor animation don't get it that this is the intent.
Seriously, this is a very good show. I haven't laughed this hard since the Medicinal Fried Chicken episode of the once-funny South Park in the scene in which all the men have testicular cancer and stoned on weed are bouncing around the town on their swollen testicles like Hippity Hops.
Black and Blue (1980)
An episode of Don Kirschner's Rock Concert
I voted 10 stars mostly because, well, I'm in this movie - sort of - my hand is definitely in it.
This was a concert that occurred on a Friday night, 17 October 1980 in the Nassau Veteran's Memorial Colisseum in Uniondale NY on Long Island.
I was at this concert in the 2nd row on the floor in front of the stage. I remember being right in front of Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath. (Sabbath opened that night, with Blue Oyster Cult being the second band. The next night,Saturday, the concert was held at Madison Square Garden. BOC went first and Sabbath went second for that show. I was there too but far from the stage.)
Anyway, back to the movie. This movie was actually an episode of Don Kirschner's Rock Concert which, if I remember correctly, was on NBC (in the New York market) appearing after Saturday Night Live.
The movie itself probably had more footage than the episode of DKRC.
Anyway, the Black and Blue tour was a big tour in 1980, so it is easy to see that they would take all of that footage for DKRC and would turn it into a movie. This was the era when teenagers often would smoke dope at the midnight movies such as "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" or "The Grateful Dead" movie. So, the Black and Blue movie would fit right in... And, yes, I saw it at The Uniondale Mini Cinema in Uniondale NY which was famous for starting the Rocky Horror craze.
So, keep in mind that this movie was most likely filmed on videotape and was originally destined to be seen only on television.
If you lived "That 70s Show" and especially liked those bands, this would be a good movie for you. Other than that, it's a good historical piece for illustrating the rock and roll concert-going life and the end of the 70s / beginning of the 80s. While it's not Woodstock, it definitely illustrates how times had changed in the 11 years between Woodstock and Black and Blue.
Guy X (2005)
What the Eff?
I kept expecting a pay-off in this film; it never happened. It never really made any sense. It reminded me of a really bad X-files episode. Even Alien3 was more engaging than this.
However, Natasha McElhorne is hot (as usual) and her femininity is the only thing worth watching in this film. Even Michael Ironside - such a magnetic actor - is underutilized in this film. Otherwise, everyone else seems like they were hung over the day after a frat party with a great deal of drinking.
Sadly, this is not a good movie even though it seems like it ... just ... might ... make it, but doesn't. Maybe it should be redone with different actors and a much different director.
Hear and Now (2007)
Excellent film
Wonderful film about the film maker's parents who grew-up deaf and decide to get cochlear implants when they turned 65.
For me as an engineer and who has worked with deaf folks, this was fascinating to see the prologue to the surgery and the aftermath.
This film should be required viewing for anyone considering cochlear implants so that they will know how their lives may change and what realistic expectations they should have.
I also wish to note that Paul Taylor, the deaf father, was instrumental in the invention and development of TTY technology. While not widespread among the hearing, TTY technology is a landmark development analogous to the development of the telephone was for the hearing. So, even just on historical grounds, this film is important.
It is nice also, that the deaf mother's parents are still alive at the time of the film, so it is nice to see them have their daughter finally hear after 6.5 decades.
This is a deeply personal piece by Irene Taylor Brodsky and I had tears, smiles, and many laughs my entire time watching it. I wish to thank her for this film and for HBO for presenting it.
Enterprise (2001)
Too bad
It's dead Jim.
Paramount "jumped the shark" with the entire Star Trek industry when they stopped syndicating and kept ST shows only on UPN.
Not everyone had a UPN station in their market, so this had a negative impact. I used to follow "Voyager" and then, poof, it was gone because I didn't have a UPN station in my market (long story). "Enterprise" began when I didn't have UPN. I now have a low-power UPN station so I can see "Enterprise" somewhat fuzzily. Still, it was like ST was my girlfriend and they broke it off. I loved it, but they separated from me, not me from it. I lost "Voyager" and came into "Enterprise" only recently because of UPN's policy towards syndication. Greed killed this franchise for Paramount.
"Enterprise is OK" - it's grown on me - but here's what annoyed me about this show from what I've seen:
1. They sing the theme song.
2. While I like Scott Bakula enough, I keep thinking that I need to take a Quantum Leap to another channel because I don't really see a darker side to him. None of the characters in this show really appeal to me.
3. (This annoys me in general...) There is not much consistency in the entire ST universe. I could go on for hours about this and IMDb is not the forum for it.
I love ST - I really do - I used to watch it every day in re-runs in the 1970s and saw most of the movies on the first day.
I'm sad this show is going away, but, at the same time, ST needs a new "cannon". I believe Paramount's next best step is to have a new franchise / show, say, "Star Trek - The Next Millennium" or "Star Trek - 3000 AD". By having a show so far in the future, the ST universe of that time will have little connection to the events in the "current ST universe".
What I mean by "current ST universe" is all information contained in all bits of fiction that are Star Trek related from ST-TOS, -TAS, -TNG, -DS9, -V, -E, movies, books, etc. I need to be careful though: I know that some episodes of various ST shows included characters from the future (such as the 29th century) who traveled back in time. A new ST should be placed further in the future than ANY characters ever referenced in the current ST universe.
A new Star Trek franchise that is so far in the future provides a new groundwork to rebuild ST with only the few key concepts from the current ST universe carrying over. They could design the franchise from scratch - something ST never could have done because ST-TOS was just a program without an overall fictional plan. They could eliminate inconsistencies, introduce new landscapes, technologies, etc.