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Reviews
Some Kind of Heaven (2020)
Painfully skewed agenda
I watched this to learn about "the Villages" and figured it would certainly hit on the dirty side of things but this doesn't cover any of that. It follows the lives of four people, one of whom doesn't even live there but is living in his van in hopes of finding a sugar mama. One couple is a guy who is painted as crazy but is likely in the beginning stages of depression and his overwhelmed and sad wife and the fourth is a recent widow who is lonely. It is clear that the director looked for pathetic people to make it seems like a miserable and pathetic place. There is no real discussion of what it is or what real events/activities they offer. The transitional clips of events are always of small groups of people in homes or small areas to create a "pathetic" look. Pulling up images of the villages; it looks like they actually have some great and impressive entertainment and activities but you wouldn't know it watching this thing. The lighting/or lack thereof casts everything in shadows and fluorescent light to make it less appealing (for a professional production, wouldn't you think they would do stage lighting for interviews and such??). To further the sense of it being "dystopia" they do close or of facades that don't look nice or show scenes with broken stuff (like the one of the street lamp with one light hanging over) vs showing the full street and overall feel of the place. I've never been to the actual place but this "documentary" (if you want to call it that) is a depressing dystopia that seems to intentionally want to create a negative perception of a place that probably is actually a nice place (I have to assume older people flock there for a reason). Avoid it or watch it with skepticism.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
A very enjoyable, clean movie that surpassed expectations
I figured this would be an enjoyable movie but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. After watching it I wish I had seen it in the theater. The characters were engaging and complimented each other well. The humor was great without being Thor love and thunder level cheesy. The story carried through clearly and cohesively and the world was wonderful and it was just a clean, fun movie that we could enjoy with our middle schoolers (no social agendas were pushed and no overt sexual jokes / innuendos like most movies feel they have to shoehorn in)I wish it had gone over so that more movies in that world would have been greenlit.
Santa Inc. (2021)
So bad even the 10 star reviews aren't actually for the show
I tried but couldn't even make it through an episode. Utter trash. I was curious who the ones who rated it 10 were. There were 8 people, 2 said they hadn't seen it but wanted to give it a 10 because they like Seth Rogen and 3 basically said they rated it a 10 because it was offensive to Christians (and thought most of the reviews of "1" were from Christians). That leaves only 3 who possibly thought it was really good, this should tell you how bad it is. It deserves the score of 1. Don't watch, save your time.
Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures (2018)
Beautifully animated, has potential
When these were first rolling out I was skeptical. After watching a couple I love the animation style of these. The problem is that they don't really have a target audience. The narration is okay but gets tiresome after a while, without understanding the whole pictures, they seem disjointed. What would be greater is if more time was taken and they animated sections of the movies so they had full stories instead of brief clips. I understand the idea of creating introduction to main characters, but why? Tell the stories in this animation and you would have gold. I've enjoyed all of them so far but they feel more like short teasers for something bigger coming and have about the same appear for re-watch as a trailer (that is you may watch it a couple times and then move on. Potential, but need something bigger/longer.
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
Season 1 took a little bit, season two is excellent
Season 1 started out okay but was a little hard to get into initially. The language, intersectional social agenda, and flow were all an initial turn off and prevented it from feeling like Star Trek (intersectionalism was always a part of Star Trek but it came on overly strong and pushy initially in this one). We took a little hiatus because, although we enjoyed it, it wasn't great enough that we couldn't wait for the next episode. That changed about halfway through the first season. It got good and we really enjoyed it. The season finale was a little anticlimactic but still worth watching overall. Season 2 it excellent and feels like Star Trek! Season 2s directorial changes seemed to be the right choice as the show improved drastically. Looking forward to the 3rd season now
Star Trek (2009)
Still holds up
10 years later, I've rewatched this and it still holds up as a great movie. Looking through all the reviews I assume most of the negative ones are from the same people since they all like to refer to the director as "jar jar abrams". Ignore them, if you haven't seen it and give it a shot. A Trek rebook/continuation at its finest
Black Mirror: Striking Vipers (2019)
Slow with a terrible ending (and not Black Mirror terrible)
Wow, this episode was slow, awkward and no redeeming ending. The ending made me think of Lindsey and Tobias Funke from Arrested Development,
Tobias: You know, Lindsay, as a therapist, I have advised a number of couples to explore an open relationship where the couple remains emotionally committed, but free to explore extra-marital encounters.
Lindsay: Well, did it work for those people?
Tobias: No, it never does. I mean, these people somehow delude themselves into thinking it might, but ... But it might work for us.
Aladdin (2019)
More enjoyable than I would have thought
I had low expectations for this movie but saw it because my wife and kids really wanted to see it. I loved the cartoon and expected this to be a shot for shot remake like beauty and the beast was. It was very similar to the cartoon in story but varied enough to make it its own movie. The scenes were very vibrant and it had its own unique style. Naomi Scott was stunning as Jasmine. I do think they could have cast Jafar better but he did a lot better than the previews made him look. I have no complaints about Jafars acting, only that I would have preferred someone older and with a more menacing sounding voice. The additional songs were quite enjoyable. I'd recommend the movie
The Twilight Zone (2019)
Sacrifices story for liberal propaganda
As a fan of the originals (and enjoyed the subpar Forest Whitaker one) I was really looking forward to this. Positives: Peele plays the narrator well, acting is generally good, and the stories have potential. Unfortunate all of this is sacrificed to push politics. In the first episode, the comedian tells the same "joke" over and over and over. It's not supposed to be funny, and that's fine, it isn't, but it's not even a joke. It's trying to drive an anti-gun push forward, thinking it's smart when it's not. This episode also takes cheep shots at the president by saying he "should be hung by his balls" (we get it Peele, you hate Trump more than anything). Add a bunch of unnecessary profanity and you have episode 1.
Episode 2 was just not entertaining. It dealt with terrorism and I'm not sure what else as my ADD kicked in. It's a shame because I really enjoy Adam Scott who was the main character.
Episode 3 was all about how cops are racist and abuse their power to target and oppress/kill anyone with dark skin no matter how kind and cooperative they are. It actually ended with several white cops standing down against a whole group of students from the black college who have done absolutely nothing (no interaction). It's a way to show how the liberal Hollywood think police are all racist. The episode even had a BLM sign in the corner of the one characters house. The episode had wonderful acting and so much potential but missed the mark to push the political narrative that police and government are bigoted and evil and everyone should rise against their hatred to overcome law enforcement...or at least that's what I think I was supposed to get from it.
Anyway, potential but has sacrificed good quality for social agenda. I may give it one or two more episodes but so far I'm not impressed
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
I don't understand the hate?
I'm not understanding the hate trend for Star Wars and Kathleen Kennedy. It seems trendy and if you are willing to throw preconceived views out the window and actually watch it, you'll love it! It truest felt like a Star Wars movie. No crazy depth (though none of them really have...) and a fun action movie. Alden I'd an excellent job and I actually saw him as Solo, even emulated Harrison's mannerisms. Donald embodied the spirit of Billy Dee almost to a T. The empire recruitment and battle brought joy as I've always wanted to see it presented in a WWII type of way. Action and fun from start to end and even the down times worked to connect and bring life to the characters. Ignore the naysayers who claim to be starwars fans but talk like they have a stick up them and go into this movie just looking for a fun time and you won't be disappointed. One of my favorites of the new ones.