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Reviews
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: A Shadow of the Past (2022)
Episode 1 is a Prologue, and Felt Like It
Many impressive aspects to episode 1 of season 1 of Rings of Power.
But it definitely felt like a prologue.
Sweeping landscapes set up the world but there is little plot that is driving the viewer. The main action is Galadriel seeking Sauron in the far north.
A range of acting is on display, from competent to very, very good. Especially well done are Arondir and Bronwyn.
The Harfoots are a bit strange but fit into the fantasy landscape comfortably.
Overall the episode sets up quite a few possible outcomes for many characters.
The production quality is first rate for a television show. I've not seen any better production on TV. I expect the show to get awards for various aspects of the production.
In summary, the first two episodes do make me want to see how the rest of the season turns out.
Ruby and the Well (2022)
Feel Good Stories for Children
After watching the first two episodes: Ruby and the Well has a decent production quality and fits its intended audience (children ages 8-15).
Premise of the show: A magic well is the device for addressing issues in the lives of the community and is a family heirloom, and the protagonist as keeper of the well becomes the instigator in the episodes' plots.
Primary weakness in the first two episodes is that the "family" feel is forced, too forced. As the show is intended for children I do not expect a gritty, real-world take on family life, but the script seems a bit too clean and too idealized.
Put another way: this world, the town of Emerald, and the main characters don't feel real. The dilemmas presented are too quickly and easily resolved, and the people too easy to accept suggestions and directions.
The genre is fantasy of a sort and that comes off decently, but anyone past their middle teenage years will find the human interaction a bit simple.
The stories have morals and the religious organization's influence is easy to pick up, if not too over the top.
Conclusion: fine for pre-teens but the show does not stand out.
Risen (2021)
Ambitious Film That Needed Better Editing
Risen (2021) is a film that seems to have aspired to something beyond what the director and editor(s) could deliver.
Intentionally slow paced, introspective, and at times unnerving, Risen suffers from an editing decision to put the plot reveal too late into the film.
There is a horror aspect in Risen that should have appeared earlier in the film, to make anticipation for the end, an end for which some viewers may not wait.
Looking at prior reviews for this film it seems the usual overly-dramatic teenager crowd has turned up to trash this film. This film is not the worst ever (contrary to some claims.) It's not even close to the worst film ever.
To me this is a "meh" film. I could have rated this a 4 or 5, but because I skipped forward here and there through some of the slower parts decided I can't give it more than a 4.
If you are interested in watching this movie you too may want to skip a minute or two, here and there. It's approximately 108 minutes long and would be better edited down.
Foundation: Death and the Maiden (2021)
Episode 6 fills out the plots with good imagery.
As an episode, "Death and the Maiden" fills in some depth to the disparate subplots in Foundation. And it does some with some gorgeous shots.
Of special note for future episodes are the revelations about brother Dawn's flaws (as the Empire would see them.)
This episode is far better than the incels-on-a-mission are whining on about. Any reviewer who insists on downgrading what is a decently substantive TV *episode* just because black women have the leads is clearly on a mission of foul intent.
The dialogue is a bit weak in the Terminus segments, but on the whole for a small screen production the acting is decent to good. Those who are criticizing the "gun" fights on Terminus don't really have a good case, as we don't even know what kind of weapons are being used.
The strongest segment is when Empire goes to confront the religious leaders on a planet otherwise ignored. The relationship between Empire and Demerzel shows signs of strain in this episode.
As for this series and episode not following the books, so what? The books by Asimov are only a source of characters and conflicts. A TV show should not be constrained by the books.
I consider episode 6 to be the most interesting since the episode 1.
Invasion (2021)
Not an action series but a study in human loss
Those who expect an action series are angrily reviewing Invasion. Expectations of what a TV series is supposed to be is on display in the many reviews.
Invasion is about how humans react to loss and trauma.
Through the first three episodes the characters are portrayed decently, in some cases very well, in some cases not so well.
The structure of the show lacks a central narrator or the god's-eye view of what is occurring. That makes this series quite different than the typical alien-invasion show.
Too different for many viewers, it seems.
The strongest stories are the ones occurring in Japan and in the desert of Afghanistan. The story about the family in NYC is a bit forced with the adultery. The story about the boys on a school bus (in the UK?) feels a bit out of place. The sheriff's story in Oklahoma still confuses me as to what happened to him.
Currently I've tentatively rated this a 6 based on the work of presenting the actors, but I'm being generous in the belief that episodes after the third one will find a way to have the characters progress in their journeys more than we've seen so far.
The Lost Symbol (2021)
Pick a Trope, Add Some Actors without Chemistry, and Under-bake
The Lost Symbol - it seems the writers wrote down all the tropes and stereotypes they could, but them in a big basket, and then just drew out random, overdone, elements.
Pseudo-science, mysticism, war veterans, etc. Sure, Dan Brown is into some of that stuff, but the choices made by the producers just presents us with a buffet of nonsense.
And the worst bit is that the protagonist is not someone about whom I care. He seems miscast, and his dialogue is too simple for someone supposedly so highly educated.
It's all under-baked. Too little thought and care went into this show (after having watched four episodes.) Crime scenes not properly presented, law enforcement not doing their job, the CIA as bad guys but in roles that are not what the CIA does, etc.
So the ideas are poor, the acting very hit and miss, the dialogue is often bad.
All very disappointing.
The Celebrity Dating Game (2021)
Someone at Disney/ABC Must Be Delusional
Whoever at ABC gave this show a green light should seriously doubt their career choice.
Michael Bolton must have had a Disney contractual obligation to fulfill, otherwise why is he a co-host?
Zoey is just wrong for this kind of show.
It's all too forced, too empty.
Your time is too valuable to spend watching Celebrity Dating Game.
Intergalactic (2021)
An Addiction To Dystopian Writing
A preface: Intergalactic will get low reviews from those who are triggered by the social landscape portrayed in this series. For example, white males in large part are portrayed as either monsters or whimpering simps. This will trigger some viewers (and review writers here), as will the dominance of people of color in the major roles. My somewhat negative review of Intergalactic is not one of those.
Instead, Intergalactic fails mostly from the repetitive nature of the story, and how slowly the plot moves in the early episodes, and how unrealistic it is in being science fiction.
The timeline is set in the near future and the presentation of Earth is overly dystopian. Vastly, unrealistically dystopian.
And while much of what goes by as "science fiction" today
is not well thought out as far as reality, Intergalactic has a grand failure in its story that can't be ignored: somehow in only a bit over a century from now humanity has exhausted all the livable planets in our ENTIRE GALAXY.
That is just nuts. Now, there very well may be no human-friendly planets elsewhere in our galaxy, but Intergalactic posits at least several, as named and portrayed in the series. And somehow in just the span of a couple of human generations we ruin them.
This is a product of writers who want so badly to push dystopia that they can not put together a reasonable timeline and backstory to life on planets.
As for the characters: it is difficult to really like any of them. Only in the middle of season one do we start to warm up to a couple of characters.
The main character is the daughter of a senior official in the police state and also the daughter of the leader of a rebel gang on an utopian planet, and is basically clueless until she has hard lessons about how messed up her mother and society are. We learn even less about the rest of the characters, other than the near-magical Emma, a human who appears to have transcended her humanity by ingestion of the mysterious substance that allows humans interstellar travel.
It doesn't really make much sense if one thinks very deeply about it. Emma is treated as a "terrorist" but we never see her cause terror and the story does not explain why Earth's police state wants to call her a terrorist. Somehow the leaders of Commonworld (the writers' rather heavy handed allusion to the Common Wealth) just have to be nasty people and call people terrorists. It is all a not very skilled attempt by the writers to make Intergalactic into a parable against the UK of our times.
Production negative: far too much of the show is shot in low light. This has been trendy for years for low budget productions (a lot of shabby set design can be hidden in the dark.)
If one is into dystopian fantasy then this show may be your cup of tea. This writer found it a bit of a slog to get through it all.
San Andreas Quake (2015)
No Redeeming Qualities
So, San Andreas Quake is a bad movie.
But it is not only a bad movie, it is a stupid movie.
And I use "stupid" not because I have no other words by which to describe this movie, but because "stupid" means unintelligent, dimwitted, uneducated, and just plain dense.
The only reason I am reviewing this in 2020 is because the new PeacockTV network is highlighting this movie, and that is how I just watched it.
San Andreas Quake is evidence that the film schools have churned out too many wanna-be producers, actors, and writers.
And this movie is not so absurd as to become a cult favorite in a couple of decades, because it's just so boring on top of being insulting.
That the heroes, if they be that. all survived is a shame. This movie would have at least some redeeming quality if a few of the characters had died, which given what the characters did in the movie would be expected if the writer(s) thought through the script.
Avoid.
Max Winslow and the House of Secrets (2019)
Max Shallowness and the House of Stereotypes
Max Winslow and the House of Secrets is what happens when film makers just try too hard but do not have what it takes to create a well-told story.
Besides that nearly everything about this movie is derivative of other recent works - the phrasing of the title is the first clue of how prominently this movie depends upon familiarity with the cinema productions of the past few years - what is at the heart of the issues with MWatHoS is that it just doesn't work in the end.
The final scenes are very, very disappointing. It's as if the writers just gave up. And the movie is short so adding another 10 minutes or so of a more meaningful climax and solution did not happen by wanting to cut short an overly long production.
The main characters are very one dimensional, simple takes on personalities. Even classics like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory present stereotyped children with more meat than what is found here.
And the continued treatment of computers as magical machines is ironic, but I guess the presentation of a "tech" billionaire as a savior is pretty on-target for the current society.
I do not recommend paying to watch this movie. If it comes on TV as an afternoon special then perhaps some kids may find it entertaining.
Star Trek: Picard: Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 (2020)
Strong Ending For An At Time Slow Season
The finale is very strong in delivering the dilemma and resolution to the basic story of season 1 of Picard.
Some of the early episodes were slow, full of backstory, in essence an extended prologue to introduce new characters.
Yet the finale is engaging to watch, if a bit predictable.
Having watched Star Trek since TOS was first on TV, I find it disingenuous of many who complain that this is "not Trek". The Not-True-Star-Trek fallacy has unfortunately shown up in reviews for Picard.
From the beginning, Star Trek shows have been centered on the idea that conflicts can be resolved if only the participants are willing to think and act differently. From the first few episodes of TOS the characters were shown to overcome their weaknesses and to rise above fighting.
And that is what Et in Arcadia Ego presents. It is essential Star Trek.
One of the few weaknesses of this episode (and the whole series) is the Narek arc. It is not clear what really happened to him and there is awkwardness in the continuity of the character.
Overall a highly recommended finale to season 1.
Top Million Dollar Agent (2015)
Self Parody Provides Insight Into a Sick Society
Top Million Dollar Agent is the schlockiest of "property" shows. The agents come off not unlike children who found their parents' closet and dressed up in clothes to play adult.
If the credits are to be believed, some assistance for this show was provided by an Ontario body of some sort. Evidently this show gives Ontario some sort of visibility in the morass of small-screen entertainment.
If you want insight into how ignorant real estate agents can be, just listen to them (not watching the screen, just listen to their words) describing a property as they walk potential customers through room by room. So many times the sentences (if indeed they finish a sentence) are nonsense.
The quest to appear super-rich is one of the great sicknesses of contemporary society, and this show certainly exposes how shallow that aspect of our society has become.
Selling Houses with Amanda Lamb (2015)
Practicing the Art of Decoration... or Deception.
Selling Houses with Amanda Lamb is very typical of UK property shows. That is not a compliment. There is a fixation with "the property ladder" in these shows (see also Homes Under The Hammer).
The specific problems with Selling Houses is that Amanda all too often gives advice that is at best superficial. Staging a house is important for selling, but that is hardly a new revelation. Some of her advice is downright tacky - for example using "stickies" to cover up out-of-trend tiles. And some of the work recommended is clearly beyond the ken of the house owners, given the poor quality of work (bad paint jobs, improperly attached electrical outlets, etc.)
There lacks any sense of critical evaluation of what is going on in real estate.
But that is ok with these type of shows, as they exist to reify the "property ladder" mentality, and the general culture of deception that is endemic to the real estate business.